The Tales of the Ninja Coder

The Shiemesu Raisei campaign proceeds, slowly. Sakito and I have subdued the opposition we found in the three towns in Sanigata — truly, there was very little opposition to be found. Nearly all we did was kama-work; I hardly even had a chance to get out my manrikigusari at all.

Since then, we have been slowly expanding out grasp to include a few other towns in the area. I have just eradicated a few enemies in a place called Keisai. Our next target is another small town called Yokuaru Shitsumon, where Sakito will take the east side and I the west side. (I have some hope that I might get a chance to use my manrikigusari there.)

In the meantime, Clan Hekoayu is becoming a greater and greater annoyance. We have met with them a few more times. More and more of my clanmates in our division are becoming quite disturbed at the way the Saitekika campaign is unfolding, under Hekoayu’s guidance.

Our branch of the clan is the Kokakumanzoku division. We are tasked with ensuring that the peasants in our clan’s territories are fed, sheltered, and not badly treated. We have noted problems with the long-range effects of Clan Hekoayu’s plans. They do not lay out any specific plans to oppress the peasants, but if we follow their plans, we can see that the peasants will suffer.

And we have raised these concerns, and Hekoayu seems disinclined to listen. Now one of our Nichiren priestesses, named Suzuha, is becoming a focal point for our unrest. She has written a letter to explain that this plan is disharmonious, and we must adjust our Way. Riki is trying to manage things as well, but he needs support.

There is little I can do. Stabbing or poisoning our allies would bring dishonor upon us. When I can, I speak up in meetings on behalf of the peasants, and of Harmony.

After defeating the Hakkā in the morning, the rest of Saturday was an exercise in frustration. I arrived at Ichimen only to have my chain break almost immediately. I went back to Castle Noriaibasha for a new one… but of course, Satonori wasn’t there to get me into the armory, so I could do nothing.

I looked through the lists of specifically identified enemies and determined a few that could be assigned to Satonori and Haruna. And I did some major work on the revised version of our Bright Square technique, which would be useful on Monday.

That took until sundown. Then I left the castle, wondering if anyone would contact me on Sunday to say, “We can get you into the armory now!”

Sunday passed uneventfully.

Then I went in yesterday morning and showed Kento the new Bright Square techniques, and he passed them on to Seijun. And Satonori got me into the armory, and I picked up fresh weapons and went to Ichimen and slew two fierce enemies before meetings took over my day.

And as I was getting ready to leave, there was an urgent call from Seijun. It seems his team was trying to use the new Bright Square technique, but they were getting carved into sashimi by the opposition. They needed help, urgently, and perhaps it was all my fault? I raced to Ichimen to see what was happening…

…and it turned out that only half of Seijun’s troops had been briefed on the new tactics! No wonder they couldn’t coordinate with each other! This was most definitely not a flaw in the kata I had devised.

This is one of the things that drives me most insane about working with Clan Noriaibasha. The moment anything goes wrong, urgent messages are sent hither and yon, and everyone must drop everything they’re doing, even if it means abandoning the pursuit of another enemy that we’re just about to kill.

They say that I might have access to the armory today. I pray that I can make progress against the unending tide of bureaucracy.

It turns out there was an entire other gang in Shiryō-no-Hako, whom we had completely overlooked. The Kanhyū gang: They operate in the alleyways and back-streets, but not on the rooftop. I’ll have to get in there in close quarters. My manrikigusari will only be in the way; I’ll have to rely on nothing but my kama.

Seijun says the entire district should have been cleared already. But he understands how the nobles’ excessive dithering has messed up everything about our schedule.

In the meantime, the final phases of the campaign will be doomed to failure unless I improve our clan-wide Bright Square tactics. When I have the time, I am trying to combine my own improvements with Ginsaku’s. I have Kento’s blessing for the project, but I still must find the time to actually do it!

On Friday morning, I was lacing up my tabi and getting ready to journey to Castle Noriaibasha when I received a message from the Shomei-gumi. It seems my contact there, Kaisei, has left the group to pursue other ventures.

Luckily, with heralds’ groups like Shomei, “he has left to pursue other ventures” is not a code phrase for “he has gone to join his ancestors”. I am sure that Kaisei — who I found to be intelligent and pleasant, and with good taste in shōchū — is still in fine health.

But it does make me wonder about the health of the Shomei-gumi. When I first joined them, my contact was Megumi, who placed me with Clan Noriaibasha. Then she left and was replaced by Kaisei. Now I have an entirely new contact. Such rapid changes do not bode well.

Still, Noriaibasha is pleased with me, and will likely take me in as a full clan-member when my contract is complete. All I need to do is wait.

It seems there has been a problem with the steel in the ninja-tōs forged by a particular smith. Under certain conditions — very rare conditions, but still possible — the steel will shatter into ten thousand pieces, leaving the sword’s wielder with a bare hilt in his hand (and a very surprised and dismayed expression on his face — though probably not for very long).

I will need to go buy myself a new ninja-tō, as soon as I can.

Luckily, my duties for Clan Noriaibasha only involve using the kama, manrikigusari, and kusarigama. I can wait a few days before I need to replace my sword.

Yesterday, we tested a potential new warrior. The Keitai Team is running low on fighters lately. Young Akinori has left the clan to seek his fortune among the upstarts of Ōmi Province. This is a normal course for a young, motivated warrior like him. Just as it made sense for me to move to a larger, older clan like Noriaibasha, it makes sense for him to have gone to a small, new upstart. But we were low on fighters even before he left, and so it would be nice to acquire new ones. Sadly, yesterday’s prospect wasn’t skilled enough.

I’ve been slaying Mōjin fighters in Keishutsu as fast as I can, but there are a huge number of them. I think I’ve got them almost all destroyed by now; later today, I hope to have Jun-ichirō the scout do another pass to make sure they’re all gone. But I just got a message from Kīchi, one of the Tendai monks in charge of the Teitōken campaign. It seems the generals and nobles have noted some potential problems with our strategies in Kurabero-no-Hako and even in Keishutsu. He would like to meet with me and go over our plans.

*sigh* If only they’d noticed these problems before I was nearly done in Keishutsu…