The Tales of the Ninja Coder

Skillful reconnaissance has discovered a new enemy: The sponsors of the Keiten Mokuba army. They are backed by a powerful consortium of merchants and nobles called the Dōga-gumi. They are well stocked with chain fighters, including a dangerous group headed by the notorious daimyō, Eizō.

As Clan Noriaibasha’s pre-eminent chain fighter, I have been chosen to eliminate this threat. I am honored, and only slightly daunted.

It will be my task to slip through Eizō’s defenses, penetrate his castle, and assure his demise. If I can also discover any of his correspondence with the rest of the Dōga-gumi, so much the better, for I must launch an offensive against that gumi as soon as Eizō falls — while his troops are in the greatest disarray.

I have already started scouting Lord Eizō’s security. It seems he has some sharp-eyed archers as part of his guard staff. I must be quite careful — if I am spotted, there is no hope. If I am well prepared, I can pluck one arrow from the air as it speeds toward me, but two at once would surely leave me quite dead.

I wrote, before, that being selected to represent Clan Noriaibasha at the warriors’ gathering in Hiroshima is a great honor. And so it is — but it also means that I must spend some time preparing! Akane is busy packing my luggage for the long journey. Since I will be representing the clan, and will probably have to attend various social functions, I must bring at least one formal kimono. I will also need food for the journey, and tabi that slip off easily for occasions when the Emperor’s guards inspect the carriage at checkpoints… It is quite a lot to prepare, and I have not much time.

Aside from that, I must have all our opposition in Ogaribamen cleared away before I go. Otherwise, Makishi and his team will not be able to do their work in my absence.

Since Amon and the people of Clan Hekoayu are still identifying exactly who our opponents are, this makes my life quite difficult. I have been given very little time to find and kill these people. It seems every day, I receive new orders: “The twin rōnins? They are still targets, but now you must kill them separately, not together!” — “Don’t worry about the enemy ninja who wears the signs of Ten and One; he can wait for later.” — “The two merchants, the fat one in the green kimono and his skinny partner in blue. They must both die as soon as possible!” “Will Friday suffice?” “Can you make sure it’s done tomorrow? Preferably in the morning.”

Amid all this chaos, I persevere.

There is a small city in Sanigata called Ogaribamen, which we must soon take control of as part of the Saitekika campaign. For the past few days, I have been tasked with trying to devise a way for my fellow-ninja, Sakito, and I to collaborate on this task.

Today I have new orders: I am to go there myself. Alone. Once there, I should scout around enough to find all our opposition — then, slay them all! It seems Sakito is busy at the moment, and Kento is confident in my ability to kill our enemies without needing assistance.

Just the sort of assignment I enjoy. The only way it could be any better is if Ogaribamen were a large enough city to make rooftop fighting practical. But, as it stands, there are a fair number of enemies there. Soon, I will have them all identified. And shortly after that — most likely, tomorrow — the carnage will begin.

Added a little later: I have arrived in Ogaribamen, found a good sushi restaurant, and gotten myelf lunch. (One of the most tragic things about winter’s coldness is that it makes it too cold to really enjoy sushi. But now spring is on the rise, and we are having the first, early, warm days!)

Now I am sitting at a table outside the restaurant, calmly eating my sushi… and watching the town’s activity around me. I have spotted a few Ayamari already, as well as members of the Shōgakukin and Taishoku clans, who we often have to battle against. This is the art of hiding in plain sight, scouting the enemy while being unseen.

But now my sushi is done, so I must go.

I have slain all the Black Star fighters in the village of Iraisho, as Kento told me to do. This morning, there was a meeting of the priests in charge of the operation, and I told them of my achievement. I was afraid they’d tell me, “No, you fool! The Red Star gang!”

I need have no such worries. Kaimei, the leading priest, says this is fine.

Unfortunately, it seems the message has not gotten to the samurai, who reports that there are still Red Star personnel in the area, and can something be done about them, please? There are several other details which have changed since she received her most recent instructions; since she has been out in the field, it is sometimes hard to keep her posted.

But I have confidence that the Iraisho operation will come to a successful close soon.

In the meantime, there is much to be done regarding the shrine to Bishamonten. I am likely to spend the rest of today bowing, praying, making the requisite, ceremonial motions with my ninja-tō, and examining the omens and oracles that the priest casts.

I have been sick for the past few days. On Monday afternoon, I was in Yokuaru Shitsumon, scouting out the opposition. It is clear that I will need to master a particular technique to have any hope of prevailing here. It is called the hikichigaido attack — a kata using the kama that should really be quite simple.

Still, it eludes me.

I do not know if this is because of my illness, or if there is something I am misunderstanding. But now I am in the courtyard of Castle Noriaibasha, practicing this technique. I must hone it until I can go back to Yokuaru Shitsumon and eradicate a pair of enemies who will otherwise cause us trouble there.

Practice, practice…

There is a bandit from Yoshino who has been causing some problems for a while. He’s been a minor enemy until now — now that Haruna, Satonori and I have finally managed to eradicate many of the Ayamari in Ichimen. Now, it is time to deal with this rogue.

Unfortunately, he’s a border-runner, who strikes into the city and then melts back into the forest when I try to pursue. Seijun is assisting me in trying to corral him so we can do him in.

It’s not going well. He is very wily. But we will persevere.

Rain drenches Ichimen. The Ayamari are everywhere, my kama blade is dull, and half the links in my manrikigusari are about to break. I need new weapons, but the armory lock is jammed, and there is no way to get replacements.

I am reduced to my ninja skills and ingenuity. I must do all I can, with no blade.

It is easy to say, “Ganbarimasu!” It is harder to have the spirit that one can actually achieve victory.

This morning, I stopped by Castle Noriaibasha very briefly. In the chamber that I share with the others, I said hello to Fumiaki and Chifumi. (Ginsaku, as usual, had not arrived yet.) Chifumi will soon be leaving us to join one of the clans of Settsu Province, headquartered in Naniwa. Today, her replacement has just arrived from the monastery, and Chifumi is training her.

I made my polite greetings, then took my manrikigusari from its locker and departed for Ichimen. I have much to accomplish there before tomorrow is done.

In one week, we shall have two more warriors in the Keitai Team to assist me and Ginsaku. Two of the fighters I have recently tested were able to perform the Three-and-Five Strike, and have accepted positions with our clan. Haruna is a somewhat junior kunoichi. She is shy and deferential, but she has good warrior skills. With some training, I think she will be quite deadly. Then there is Denkurō, who is more skilled and experienced. He knows how to use the Jeikyū grappling hook, and has experience in city fighting and rooftop combat.

In the meantime, I have now arrived at Ichimen, and I’m ready for a little rooftop combat of my own. The Machigaeru gang are running scared, but not yet vanquished. And there are still those Hikone mercenaries to deal with.

There were storms and rain over the weekend, and I hope the roofs will not be too slippery. May Amaterasu shine Her sun on me today! I will need luck to assist my skill, for I have so very much to do.

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!

In Ichimen town, the district of Miseru-Kakusu is going to be of critical importance to our campaign. It sits in between Ichiban’yōshi and the Migaku region, and there will be a lot of to-and-fro happening there. It’s a rough, lawless place, where I’ll have to do a lot of interesting things with my manrikigusari.

Even the city guard don’t go there. Underworld gangs rule the area with a brutal hand. Clearing out such vermin is one of my chief pleasures in life.

If I can get this done before Akane and I leave for Ikaho Onsen, I will have cause to be very proud of myself. Especially since most of tomorrow is occupied with meetings inside Castle Noriaibasha. Any time I spend in meetings is time I can’t use to hunt down and destroy the Miseru-Kakusu gangs.