The Tales of the Ninja Coder

For many years now, starting with my time with Clan Iwinaga, I have been largely cast in the role of a city fighter, working on rooftops with my chain and grappling hook. When employed by clans and armies, it's always been other people who fight in the mountains or the forests. Alternatively, there are times when I work on my own projects, and fight with the ninja-to wherever I can. When I was with the Totemo Akarui-gumi, I mostly fought alone; even if I knew Amon was battling other foes somewhere else, I couldn't actually see him doing so.

Over the past two days with the Yaneura-gumi, however, I have been working alongside a man named Teruyoshi. While I've been doing Pagoda Bearer style work with my ninja-to, he has been leaping from rooftop to rooftop, whirling his manrikigusari and grappling hook about. It's quite an interesting change.

Of course, the fact that I also know grappling-hook styles has made me that much more effective in supporting his efforts. We've been working well together. It is refreshing and pleasant.

I have been very diligent in my visits to the town of Seinikki, where I have been stealthily observing the underworld operatives who are causing troubles. It seems there are 31 of them, a most inauspicious number. Each one will require special techniques to defeat with my manrikigusari. So far, I am nearly ready to deal with three of them, and I have singled out two others for special study.

These five are likely to be the most difficult of all. If I can take them down, the others should be much easier.

In the meantime, I have also made my first visit, under the cover of darkness, to the town of Kusatsu, at the intersection of the Tōkaidō and the Nakasendō. Kusatsu is a tightly guarded town, where no swords or staffs may be brought. Peasants' tools, such as the kama, are no problem, and it is very easy to slip a manrikigusari past their guards.

I think it would be to my great credit if I could get a representative from Clan Saezuri installed in a place of power in Kusatsu. (Of course, the large numbers of operatives from Clan Toyotomi in Kusatsu won't make that easy... I'd rather see clan Te-no-hira grow in power in Kusatsu, but they are only recently arrived there, and will have their work cut out for them.)

There is much work to be done, and Kusatsu is in the other direction from Yagyū, where I must go often to seek for employment.

I have not made a report for quite some time. As I wrote before, my time with Clan Nettobuku is done, and not by my choice.

I returned to Castle Nettobuku to inform Commander Kobushi and Lord Tai of my decision, and to take my leave of the other clan-members. Everyone seemed sorry to see me go. (Jimon was not there that day.) Daigo, in particular, seemed quite stunned and somewhat upset.

Kobushi and Tai were both pleased by my professionalism, and promised to give good report of me to any other clans that might ask. They say that the campaigns Nettobuku has engaged in, and the skills required of me, have been completely different from what I originally was told. As true as this may be, however, I feel that the ability to adapt to unexpected and changing circumstances is a necessary skill for a ninja. My failure to do so disturbs me greatly.

Shortly after leaving the castle for the last time, I became ill, and spent two weeks recovering. Since then, I have been in Henshukoku, practicing my skills.

I have reconsecrated the town's shrine to Bishamonten. I have cleared out some space in the yard of the house I share with Akane, and set up some practice dummies that I can use to practice strikes against. The yard now qualifies as a small dōjō of its own, set up for practice of both sansetsukon and ninja-to kata as well as the weighted chain. (I'm still in good shape with the chain... but I've gotten very rusty at using the Pirōto-style hook, which is far more popular than the Mūtou-style that Nettobuku favored.)

I have set myself a training regime, and I spend part of each day doing kata and drills. I have been converting one of my ninja-to kata into the Living Stone style, for a firm grounding in the Living Stone ryū is an absolute necessity. I have also been learning the art of poisoning my weapons, and adapting my kata to take account for the poison's effects.

And I go every day to Yagyū, to spend time in the inns and hiring halls where messengers from the martial clans and armies come to recruit skilled warriors for Nihon's never-ending battles and war campaigns. But right now, everyone is preparing for o-shōgatsu, so there are no messengers to be found. I can only hope that things will improve once the holidays are over.

 
After observing our clan applicant's basic kata and stances (and his difficulty with more difficult techniques), I set out on the road back to Nagoya, the tightly-guarded city. (You may recall that I have three targets there who must be slain.) I was unsurprised to discover that all three were gathered together, in a narrow, cramped section of the city where it's hard to swing a chain effectively.

I managed to take one down with my kama by surprise, but then the others scattered... and called reinforcements, who arrived almost immediately. These were not the usual city guard, but other, more personal allies. I should have known these three would have friends.

Given their numbers and range, I had to do some very clever work with my manrikigusari and grappling hook. In particular, the Mūtou hook was useful in catching and strangling one target, who wore the emblem of the Meisabokkusu mercenaries and was about to escape. (We've had some trouble with the Meisabokkusu before...)

I was able to remove two of them (and a few of their companions), but one still eludes me. Now I must chase him across the hostile rooftops of Nagoya. I hope my chain's links are strong enough...

 
I have been doing acceptable, if not inspired, work with my kusari-gama lately. But now comes a painful challenge: I have been assigned to assassinate three individuals of the Bāgu clan (one of our arch-enemies). These three targets are all in Nagoya, the stronghold of Oda.

General Oda Nobunaga rules Nagoya and the surrounding province with an iron fist. The populace there are downtrodden and terrified, and guards patrol everywhere. It is an unfortunate place for a ninja to have to go.

But I will go anyway, and do my best. I knew when I became a ninja that working in Nagoya would be necessary sometimes.


Edited to Add: Immediately upon entering Nagoya, I was set upon by the city guard. I have already had to do some truly impressive work using both the manrikigusari and the Jōgesen three-sectional staff techniques... and I haven't even gotten a line on any of my targets yet! Truly, Nagoya is a difficult city for a ninja.

 
I have been fighting hard using the three-sectional staff and the chain-and-grappling-hook at the same time, scampering over the roofs in Nara, the ancient capital, and chasing down our Takusan Clan enemies in the lakeside city of Hikone. It started off as something incredibly frustrating, as there were some bits of the Jōgesen-style footwork that were still eluding me. But I finally got those (with a bit of help from Bunmei), and today, the chase and the battle has become almost thrilling.

I remember what it's like to do ferocious battle across the rooftops again.

Unfortunately, I now need to head back to the castle for a major planning meeting, where we will plan the beginning of our Hitotsu Rokko campaign, which begins next week. Luckily, clearing the foes in Hikone and Nara will be a major step toward our campaign goals, so I'm getting a head-start on that aspect of things.

(I swear, I didn't choose the music on purpose! It just happens to be beautifully appropriate.)

 
I am spending all my time running back and forth between Heian-kyō, the ancient capital, and Nara, where some of our contacts dwell. Bearing these messages in and out of the cities is an important job, requiring a ninja's stealth.

Tomo just found me on the road, and let me know that there is unrest in Heian-kyō. "One of our contacts there has been slain," he says. "Strangled, apparently by a chain weapon. We will have to track down the perpetrator."

This will probably involve a whole lot of rooftop work. Normally, I like working on the rooftops... but have I mentioned how the architecture of Heian-kyō involves a lot of really sharply sloped roofs, and some very shiny and highly-polished tile? It's slippery stuff.

This is going to suck.

 
Today, I spent 10 hours carving a trail of death through the cities of Futa Sanjūichi, doing some truly outstanding work with the kusari-gama. Joint locks, throws, some truly inspired tricks with the grappling hook. I left a trail of dead and bleeding bodies in my wake, and baffled many foes with my skill and ingenuity.

Finally, back at Castle Iwinaga, I showed General Wāro some of the special kata I have recently been developing, which I hope the armies of Clan Iwinaga will find useful in my absence. He was quite pleased, and even Araki, who rarely finds merit in anyone's techniques besides his own, said he was impressed with the way I'd integrated the chain and the moves with kama's blade.

Though I wish I could have spent the day with Akane, or helped cheer up my friend Teruaki (who is having a bad time lately), I am at least pleased to have turned in such an impressive finale. I sit writing these words in an Okinawan restaurant, midway from Heian-kyō back to Iga, where Akane will shortly join me for dinner.

(Later, upon arriving home: Ah! It turns out Teruaki will be able to join us for drinks and companionship. He'll arrive shortly, and we'll break out some sake... After today's performance, General Wāro will certainly not quibble if I'm a little late tomorrow.)