The Tales of the Ninja Coder

I arrived at the castle yesterday morning, collected my weapons, and went out to Zaiseikyōiku to see how things were progressing. Imagine my dismay when I discovered that Sakito had killed the wrong targets. I gave him very precise instructions, but he apparently did not understand them.

Luckily, the people he killed will not be missed… or at least, their deaths will not be traceable back to Clan Noriaibasha. He has at least that much competence at his ninja skills.

But the people we do need killed are still very much alive. Snarling curses upon Sakito and his ancestors, I set about finding and slaying them…

…only to be visited by Makishi, who asked me to return to the castle for a meeting with Sakito, Kento and him, to discuss our progress in Ogaribamen and Zaiseikyōiku.

I was very good. I did not state, “Sakito is incapable of following simple instructions.” Instead, I simply reported that we still have people to kill, and I am taking care of that today, and I had been doing so before I was pulled back to the castle. After the meeting was done, I spent the rest of the day in Zaiseikyōiku, frantically hunting down and killing enemies.

I have more to kill today. Then tomorrow there is another of those strategy-planning meetings which will occupy the entire afternoon. Before it starts, I have sworn I will have all our opposition in Zaiseikyōiku cleared away.

That is why I am very busy.

Someone in Clan Hekoayu needs to die. Possibly multiple someones.

For some weeks now, they have been providing us maps outlining the territories we’re supposed to be capturing and subduing. In many places, these maps are extremely detailed. This is no coincidence: It is because we specifically required them to give us very detailed maps. After all, we are the ones who will have to operate in these territories, waging life-or-death battles.

Yesterday, I was in Zaiseikyōiku, following the map I had been given. It claimed that the little alley past the marketplace was an excellent shortcut to the back window of the Iron Monkey inn, one of the more important taverns in town. Being able to sneak in the back could be quite important.

Imagine my surprise and dismay, then, when I went down the alley and found a small building up against the back wall of the inn — completely covering the window. Imagine also that it was nothing compared to my surprise and annoyance at finding that the building housed a group of thugs affiliated with one of the gangs of the town center.

Luckily, they were also startled by appearance. Luckily, I have much practice in quick-draw techniques, and was able to pull out my kama and defend myself before the first one’s attack could strike me. And luckily, I was able to escape unharmed.

Whoever produced this map should not be so lucky.

I spent the rest of the afternoon checking other details. There is a place where the map says the gap between two buildings is eight feet wide. It is actually ten feet. If I had attempted to leap that gap unprepared, I could easily have fallen to the street below, risking broken bones or even death.

I have reported the problem to Amon, Makishi, Kento — and of course, to Sakito, who is the only other actual ninja in the field, and who is hence relying on these maps just as much as I am. I have urged them to escalate matters to the priests and the nobles, and to ensure that someone has harsh words with Hekoayu.

For now, we cannot trust anything in these maps. It seems that at least nine parts out of any ten are correct. In any ten claims that the map makes, only one is incorrect. But which one?

I awoke before dawn today, to have a meeting with the samurai who will be fighting in the forests as part of a small project that I am assigned to. It is called Operation Iraisho. While she fights in the forests, I must handle some scouting in the small village of the same name, and ensure that there will be no opposition — especially not from a group called the Red Star gang (who often wear such an emblem on their kimonos). A nice, simple operation.

So I have been creeping through Iraisho, keeping alert and ready for any trouble. Along the way, Kento came to visit me. He had a few questions about another operation. When I answered them, I also said, “And things are quiet here. No members of Red Star in evidence.”

“Red Star?” he asked. “But what about the Black Star gang?”

As you can imagine, I was quite confused. “I… was told to watch for a gang with red stars. Should I be looking for black ones, instead?”

In the end, I left the village, along with Kento, and we are going to talk to Kaimei, the Nichiren priest in charge of this operation. If I kill the wrong people, it will reflect badly on the clan!

I am no longer dealing with only one campaign. I had thought that my association with the Teitōken campaign was done, having pacified the city of Ichimen. Now I find that there is one final push happening this weekend. They may need a ninja on call, just in case they encounter any resistance that requires assassination or city operation.

Hence, I must hold myself in readiness, prepared at any moment to rush to the battlefield. I will serve, but I hope I am not called.

In the meantime, the Shiemesu Raisei campaign is becoming contentious. Ryōsuke wants to have everything complete within six weeks. The other warriors have all just pointed out that we are trying to learn an entirely new ryū, and we have no idea how long anything will take. We certainly do not wish to commit to an untried, unfamiliar strategy and claim that we will have such-and-so accomplished, and then discover that we can only accomplish half of it in the time allotted.

Ryōsuke is adamant about the six-week deadline. We will see what we can commit to — if anything.

Aside from that, there is a problem occurring in Settsu Province. I need to deliver a message and some small supplies to one of our operatives there. It will be an interesting case of courier duty, combined with some reconnaissance — when I am done, I should report back to Tsukimi on what I saw while delivering the message.

It will be a busy day.

Yesterday, Kento and I met with Rajan, Seijun, and another of the forest samurai. Rajan has a scroll written by some warrior-sage high in the clan, describing some battle tactics which are supposed to ensure the safety of our warriors.

This scroll is very confusing, and at least one of the manrikigusari techniques that it calls for makes no sense at all. It’s a needless flourish which won’t make us any safer or assist us to strike the enemy harder.

Over and over again, the scroll says things which are completely unclear. Many times during the meeting, all five of us were scratching our heads and asking each other, “Do you know what that means? No? I don’t, either.”

Since these techniques were presented to us as “guidelines”, not orders, Kento made me very happy by saying, “I can tell you now: My ninjas will not be following these guidelines.” Rajan thinks the sage must know something we don’t, but even he must admit that he isn’t sure what it could be.

He is trying to set up another meeting, where the sage himself can explain to us why and how these techniques can help. We shall see how that goes.

In the meantime… today may involve another trip to Nagoya. It’s supposed to be a simple pick-up: just meet with our operative at a restaurant, where he’ll pass me a message that I must bring back here to the castle. But things have a way of going wrong in Nagoya. Wish me luck!

I have been busy in Ichimen, even as the winter becomes colder. The Keishutsu district remains solidly in our control, and the gangs of Miseru-Kakusu remain in disarray. I have moved on, to the neighboring districts of Kuraberu-no-Hako and Shiryō-no-Hako. I have also spent much time in meetings with Seijun and Rajan, the samurai who will be waging battle outside the city. We have agreed on how we will coordinate our efforts, and they have introduced me to Nayumi. She is another samurai who will be assisting them.

In the meantime, the nobles and priests continue to argue about what our strategies should be in those areas.

We are now fully committed to striking using the Bright Square strategy. But Jōichi’s plan involved capturing certain warehouses with the Floating Word technique. And Floating Word is completely incompatible with Bright Square.

There is consternation in the high towers of the castle, as the nobles are becoming aware that this campaign will probably not be done on time. I see messages going back and forth, as they ask Kento how we will capture the warehouses. “What tactic can we use, if Floating Word is not available to us?” Kento has just gone on winter holiday, however, and he will not return until next week.

In the meantime, I am sneaking through Kuraberu-no-Hako and Shiryō-no-Hako, trying to identify all the people I might possibly be asked to kill. As soon as the nobles figure out what to do and who the enemy is, I intend to present them with those people’s heads.

I have just spoken with a man from a clan called Supurānku, who have need of fighters. They are growing quickly; already they are large enough to meet my size requirements easily. But they are still a young clan, and they retain the mentality of one. According to the captain I spoke with, the clan “strives to retain the culture of a small, young, and eager clan.”

This is exactly what I do not need. I told him of my misgivings, and this is a great step for me. Normally, when a clan’s representative tells me that they like my skills and they want to move forward with negotiations, I do not know how to say, “I am honored, but I must respectfully decline, for your clan’s Way and mine are not in alignment.” But I am learning, and I told the captain that I was doubtful.

It only makes me angry then, to have this politeness and professionalism returned by the sudden arrival of one of their heralds, who tried to convince me that I should continue negotiations with Supurānku, and that I will never find an army that gives me what I need. He proved entirely unable to notice my polite statements that we had nothing further to discuss, and I spent far longer talking to him — and listening to his unwanted pep talk — than he deserved.

So even as I am learning to say, professionally, “Your clan is not for me”, it seems I must work harder on learning to say, professionally, “You are irritating me and wasting both our time. You will go away, now.”

When the captain left, my impression of Clan Supurānku was simply that it was a nice enough clan, but not for me. Now, my impression is one of distaste and, honestly, anger. But I have no time for rage; I must put on my tabi and prepare to journey into Yagyū, to meet with a man from Clan Kaiketsusaku, who may perhaps be more reasonable.

This is the initial WordPress post, that normally just says “Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!”

I could delete it, but it makes a great honeypot for spammers, so I’m leaving it here. Anything that comments on it will be assumed to be a spambot and dealt with accordingly.

 
I spent part of my weekend practicing more kata with the ninja-ken, only to discover that there may soon be a massive upheaval in the ranks of the ninjas. The news is traveling far and wide that the weaponsmiths have made decisions that will make it awkward to use the new batch of ninja-ken. Even the yamabushi have heard about it, and are looking at us with some mixture of sympathy and pity.

But there are still a great many clans that rely on ninjas. Not just ninjas, but ninjas who use the Pagoda Bearer school of ninja-ken fighting. Awkward or not, I'd best make sure I'm still skilled with it.

In the meantime, I have also paid another visit to Ōtsu, and am quickly getting acquainted with the new order of things there, under Lord Mitsuhiro. The local underworld is thriving, and there are many contacts and "people of interest" that I should befriend. The rooftops are still as inviting as ever for a ninja. And, while it doesn't actually affect my work in any important way, it's nice to see that there are a few new okonomiyaki stands where I can grab a bite to eat between assignments.

Back at work for Clan Nettobuku now, I have some difficult enemies to deal with in Hikone — it seems some real opposition is developing in the Ātosugijei district... and once I deal with them, Bunmei is busy with quite a few Ayamari, and could use an assist...

 
I could try to describe this in ninja-speak, or I can just dump it in modern terms. Either way, I'll just use the established ninja names.

A week or so ago, Jimon was placed in charge of the front-end (urban-fighting) ninjas. Jimon is fairly new at my workplace. Like Bunmei and I, he's a pretty damn smart guy.

In fact, a large chunk of my distress comes from the fact that both Bunmei and Jimon are really smart guys. Either (or both) of them may honestly be smarter than me. They certainly have a hell of a lot of knowledge about Ruby, and Rails, and they're really well-versed in all kinds of cool-ass programming techniques.

Honestly, the two of them move pretty fast, and I'm really having trouble keeping up. I feel "old and busted", and like a tired, old dinosaur that's getting edged out by the newer, quicker creatures.

It doesn't help that Jimon is pretty good at pointing out when he thinks something has been done in a less-than-optimal way... but not nearly so prone to compliment something when it's done well. (Or maybe it's just that he actually thinks my stuff sucks. It would help if there were anything I'd done lately that I could point to and say, "I'm actually proud of that. I did a good job on that, and I know it.")

Half the time, I'm not sure what he's talking about, and I feel like I'm too stupid to understand. The other half of the time, I think he's just a really lousy communicator.

Regardless, I've decided that the best thing I can do is improve my own game. To the utmost. There's no sense in asking him, "Hey, do you just think I completely suck? Or are you great at slamming on stuff, but incapable of giving praise?" Nobody's ever going to respond well to that kind of thing. Instead, I should simply work to "lengthen my line", as Joe Hyams learned from Ed Parker. Improve my own skills, work on doing the best job that I can possibly do — and don't give a damn what anyone else is doing, or how well they're doing it, or even what they think of me.

That last bit is going to be the hardest part. I've always been a little too concerned with other people's opinions of me. But if I work hard enough on improving myself, maybe I can at least shut those doubts up for a little while.