The Tales of the Ninja Coder

Yesterday was a highly productive day for me… which means, I left a half-dozen fresh corpses in Sanigata.

Kento and Sakito have been busy dealing with the kama-wielding thugs of the area, and Kento has asked me to concentrate on the more advanced chain fighters of the Keiten Mokuba army. This operation requires me to do some Living Stone style techniques with the manrikigusari. Since the manrikigusari chain is so flexible, unlike other weapons, that means that the standard Living Stone techniques make very little sense. They must all be adapted to work differently with the chain.

But I figured out how to do that, and then started my surveillance of the Keiten Mokuba. From time to time, I’d spot one of their scouts in one of the cities of Sanigata — and when I engaged them in combat with my new Living Stone techniques, I found them quite easy to slay.

After a day full of spilling my enemies’ blood, I went to the capital for dinner with Akane at a fine restaurant, and all was well.

Today, much as I might want to continue eradicating the Mokuba army, there is a four-hour meeting with Clan Hekoayu this afternoon. And there was a major meeting in the morning. I have little time for field operations or combat today.

But tomorrow, I expect I can make up for it!

The past two weeks have been full of short missions to scout and kill enemy kama fighters, separated by long, long meetings to plan our strategies in the Saitekika campaign. At least one of these missions took me into Nagoya, the city of woe. But it turned out that I have learned much about Nagoya’s alleyways, and evading its security. Since my mission didn’t require me to sneak across the rooftops, it was easier than I expected.

I’m sure my next visit to that accursed city will be twice as troublesome, just to make up for it.

In the meantime, we are trying to find new ninjas to replace Ginsaku. There were two applicants who were barely competent. Then came one who was quite skilled, and who was a joy to spar with when we tested him. Unfortunately, circumstances did not allow him to join our clan. Kento and I are both disappointed that he will not be able to fight alongside us.

Finally, yesterday, I tested a new fighter. At least, he claimed to be a fighter. When I asked him to describe the benefits and drawbacks of various fighting styles, he gave me only vague platitudes, like someone who has read about fighting but never entered real combat. When I asked him to demonstrate some simple kama kata, his motions were awkward and clumsy. I could not imagine how he might fare in a real fight — he would be at least as dangerous to his comrades as to any enemies.

I told him there was no point in continuing any further. We will have to keep searching for warriors who are actually useful in combat.

The past two days have been full of glorious combat and other field-work. I took down the kama-wielding Naihō fighters in Zaiseikyōiku, slew the big, burly rōnin in Masugata, and I have made much progress in stalking and reconnoitering the other Naihō in Ogaribamen and Bumon.

Alas, today will be mostly occupied by a four-hour meeting. Also, I have to spend a bit of time assisting Shinju, the mercenary, with the consecration of the Bishamonten shrine for the Tsuiseki project. Perhaps I may find a spare hour to go back to Bumon and see if I can whittle down the Naihō Cadre’s forces a bit… but I am not very hopeful.

I have returned from Hiroshima and the warriors’ gathering. It was quite an experience, and I am still trying to understand all that I learned and experienced.

There were many others there, from skilled mercenaries to ascetic monks to peasant fighters, and I spent much time meeting new people and exchanging stories and sparring with them. In the evenings, there were grand carousing sessions at the inns.

When I returned to Hoshiakari and Akane, I was quite exhausted.

Since then, the past few days at Castle Noriaibasha have been extremely busy. In my absence, it seems one of the nobles decreed that it is not sufficient that we take the region of Zaiseikyōiku. We must also capture the nearby territory called Kihonzaisei. This is a substantial new undertaking, and our schedule is already tight.

This is not made any easier by the large number of meetings I must attend to come back up to speed on the current situation. Makishi and his group want some more of the gangs who lurk in our target towns eradicated. Sakito was supposed to have made inroads in Zaiseikyōiku, but he has been busy with other campaigns.

In the meantime, the yamabushi woman, Kaoru, is continuing her katana course. I missed one session when I was away in Hiroshima, and then there was another when I had just returned and was still too tired from my journeys. I do not know if I can ever catch up. I do not know if I will even try. I have too many other things I must spend my time and energy on without trying to learn the katana right now.

A ninja’s life is very busy.

In our meeting with Clan Hekoayu yesterday, they alerted us to the presence of a gang operating within the Tōzayokinkōza district in Bumonrokaki. They are called the Suraida, and it seems they are quite crafty and dangerous. Before we can complete the Saitekika campaign, we will have to remove them.

Clan Hekoayu says their warriors can do this, easily.

Of course, it falls to me to actually make it happen on Noriaibasha’s behalf. Whatever Hekoayu claims is possible, I must provide — but not necessarily today. I have not yet been given the order to eradicate them; for now, I simply have to ensure that I could do so, if the order were given.

As soon as I have time, I must go to Bumonrokaki and do some scouting. I must observe this gang and their ways, and learn their weaknesses, and be sure that I can slay them when the time comes. But this afternoon is full of more meetings…

The Chiri-dō ryū is not a set of kata that one uses in a duel or small fight. Instead, it is the kind of grand, overarching strategy that arranges the sweeping movements of a full-scale fighting force across large territories and varying terrain.

It is quite unlike anything I have ever had to learn before, for we ninjas generally operate in very small bands, if not alone. It is like the teachings of the mainland general-sage, Sun Tzu.

In the meeting with Clan Eshidieru this morning, we spent much time examining all the particulars of how we can use the Chiri-dō style in our Shiemesu Raisei campaign… and it seems the Shiemesu Raisei campaign and the Saitekika campaign will have interlocking objectives, and each one will affect the other!

And I, along with Kento, Makishi, and Amon, am involved with both of them.

It is all very confusing, and it means I must be involved with meetings with Clan Eshidieru (who are teaching us the Chiri-dō and advising our strategies on the Shiemesu Raisei campaign) and other meetings with Clan Hekoayu (who are advising our Saitekika strategy… albeit somewhat unprofessionally on occasion).

I must find some way to keep my combat skills sharp. Or at least find the time for some kata in the yard.

Yesterday was full of meetings. First, a variety of clan members met with two representatives from Clan Hekoayu, who are trying to provide guidance on the Saitekika campaign. Then, after lunch, we had a very long session with a man from Clan Eshidieru, the architects of the Chiri-dō ryū. We asked him how we might use it to achieve the strategies laid out by Hekoayu, and he was able to give us useful guidance.

Then we went to an enkai for a clan-member who will soon be having a baby. Much sake was drunk and people were happy. Eventually, most others had left, and Makishi, Amon, and I were able to discuss some of our feelings about the way one of the Hekoayu representatives comports herself.

This woman, named Kimiko, seems very easily flustered by even the simplest questions about the Hekoayu plans. It is as if she expects us to simply accept all their plans with smiles and awed gratitude. But the fate of the entire Saitekika campaign hangs on the soundness, both the harmony and the righteousness, of these plans. If we see flaws, we must point them out.

So far, we have not done so. We have simply asked for clarification, and even that has resulted in her making sour faces and acting disturbed. Yet there are serious flaws we can see, and we are pondering how to diplomatically point them out. Makishi, Amon, and I are warriors; we do not have the silver tongues of Tendai priests.

Perhaps I will discuss my concerns with one of our priests, and see if they can relay the problems to the Hekoayu.

Now that I am a full member of Clan Noriaibasha, I am allowed to attend the special meetings that happen twice every week. On Tuesday and Thursday mornings, we city fighters of the Keitai Team meet with the Nichiren priests, the artists and carpenters and the tea masters. We discuss matters of philosophy and artistry and strategy and battle, and how all these things are interrelated, and how they affect our Way and our relations with the peasants in the areas we control.

These meetings are — with occasional exceptions — restricted to full clan-members only. Kento allowed me to attend one early in my tenure here, and it was most enlightening.

Now, I can attend whenever I want… except that I am so busy trying to rid Ichimen of Ayamari, there is no time for me to spend in meetings that aren’t directly related to the Teitōken campaign!

On that score… there are 32 Ayamari that we must kill by the end of the day tomorrow. And fully half of them are ones that I must slay, by myself. I will be quite busy.

The Teitōken campaign proceeds. Every day, there is at least one meeting to discuss our plans. Sometimes, I simply meet with Seijun, Rajan and Nayumi to coordinate our tactics, but other times, Seijun and I must meet with the priests of the Nichiren and Tendai orders, and with some of the nobles, to discuss the overall campaign strategy.

That strategy continues to grow and evolve. We have captured perhaps half the territory of Ichimen, and already we are finding difficulties in holding onto what we have taken. Even though I eradicated our opposition in Ichibanyōshi and Keishutsu, we have found that now a group called the Norikaeru are moving into those districts —and expanding into the rest of Ichimen, no doubt.

I am still busy in Migaku and Shiryō-no-Haku. And I am bedeviled by the need to constantly go back and forth from battling in Ichimen to attend meetings in Castle Noriaibasha.

Seijun and I have warned the priests that we must take account for the Norikaeru. We can only hope they see how inharmonious this campaign is becoming.

Just after lunch today, we will test another warrior to see if he is skilled enough to join our clan. We need more ninjas and mercenaries, but I do not dare to have much hope.