The Tales of the Ninja Coder

In every town and city in Nippon, in these days of eternal strife, one can find the Mōjin fighters. They are always ready to attack an unwary warrior. Like ninjas, they like to operate in stealth; they will never attack a target who has his wits about him. It is only the unwary who fall prey to their surprises.

But how to be on guard against them? Their tactics are strange, and their ways unknown to most fighters.

There will be a gathering of warriors and strategists soon, to discuss this very question. Many sages, fighting monks, and senseis will be there, ready to teach and explain the techniques they have developed. It is some distance to travel, for the gathering is in Hiroshima, on the shore of the Seto Inland Sea, far west of Kansai.

We cannot send all of the fighters on the Keitai team to this gathering (much though we wish we could!). Kento regrets that he cannot go. But I am one of the warriors who had been honored by being chosen to go and represent Clan Noriaibasha. Along with Satonori, I am instructed to train and learn, and bring back the teachings to Tsukimi’s team.

Along with us two ninjas, the clan is also sending Jun-ichi the scout, who has shown himself to be quite expert at spotting the Mōjin, and his friend Daichi, a monk of the Amidist branch of Buddhism, sworn to serve the needs of the poor and dispossessed.

Thought Jun-ichi and Daichi will be helpful, still Satonori and I are the only warriors attending from Noriaibasha. Being chosen is an honor, and it shows that I am well-regarded.

I have spent the past few weeks mostly scouting, lurking in alleyways and reconnoitering territories in Sanigata. On the rare occasions when I’ve found enemies who must be removed, it has been a simple task to slay them with my kama.

Aside from those few, occasional instances of combat, I have spent much time in meetings with Clan Hekoayu.

Yesterday, I spent hours doing kama practice, learning the hikichigaido maneuver, trying to understand it — or at least make it work correctly. Having reached the point where I can follow it by rote, I went back to Yokuaru Shitsumon this morning. There is a warrior there who I needed to kill, for the good of my clan.

After much waiting and lurking, I finally spotted him. Quickly, in my mind, I recalled the motions of the hikichigaido attack. As he drew close to me, I sprang from my concealment and attacked with my kama.

He blocked the first strike, but the hikichigaido is a two-part attack. With my left hand brushing across his eyes, I whirled and completed the maneuver… leaving him dead at my feet!

I was slightly surprised that it had worked. I was even more surprised to see two of his allies coming toward me — and one of them pulling a kusarigama from his belt!

It has been too long since I got to use my chain skills. I am afraid I may have gone a bit overboard… both of my attackers were on the ground in moments. I made a quick getaway, knowing that Yokuaru Shitsumon is now safe for our forces.

The only way that could have been better is if I’d had an excuse to use the rooftops. Sadly, Yokuaru Shitsumon is one of the small towns of Sanigata; there’s just no point.

This week, I am assigned to learn about the Chiri-dō ryū, which is a strange and complicated fighting style that we will be using in the Shiemesu Raisei campaign. Every morning, I must arrive bright and early at a castle owned by one of our allies, where they train us in the courtyard for hours. It is grueling and unpleasant training, but my orders are to learn. If we do not understand this fighting style, we will not be able to even begin our campaign, much less succeed.

Makishi is with me, and we occasionally amuse ourselves with comments and criticisms of the Chiri-dō’s failings. Truly, it also has many powerful moves and promotes many excellent strategies. But we see some ways in which we wish it could be improved.

I am very busy this week, and the training gives me little time to write any of these tales. Perhaps I may manage to send a few short messages soon, but I cannot guarantee it.

I have lately been studying Living Stone kata using the manrikigusari. Very few chain-fighters even realize that you can use it in a Living Stone style. The more advanced warriors among us know that it’s possible, but I myself haven’t bothered to do so. Well, except back when I was at Clan Nettobuku, where Jimon and Bunmei insisted on doing everything in the Living Stone ryū… but that was when we were using the Mūtou grappling hook, which made it much easier.

So I have been studying, and yesterday I spoke to Ginsaku about it. A good thing I did, because he said he has been studying a scroll by a sage from Clan Yamazaru. Yamazaru was once the mightiest of the clans to come from the city of Ōtsu, in Ōmi Province, until they were eclipsed by Clan Tokugawa and its superior strategies. But Yamazaru is still a force to be reckoned with, and more importantly, they still have the esteemed Kurokkufōdo-sensei among their ranks. Kurokkufōdo-sensei was among the first to recognize that the lowly chain, despised by most fighters, could be a truly effective weapon; the mere fact that Ginsaku’s scroll is by one of Kurokkufōdo-sensei’s colleagues makes it worth taking seriously.

And so I am studying it, and learning. But soon I must rejoin Seijun and his samurai team in Ichimen; while they work in the streets, I must clear off the rooftops. With my chain. It’s just the sort of work I love.

In the meantime, I have a message from my contact among the Shomei-gumi this morning. He wants to know what is wrong with the warriors they have sent, and how they can be improved. I have told him, quite honestly, that knowledge of the kama is not enough. We need fighters who know how to use the manrikigusari, even if it has no grappling hook. We need warriors who understand the very basics of footwork, of attack and defense — the fundamentals of fighting. Far too many “fighters” know only one or two attacks by rote, and perhaps one block, and no dodges. And when they have exhausted those few moves, they have nothing left, no adaptability.

I have now done three days with the armies of Clan Noriaibasha. The pace of life in such a huge clan is very different from that with a small, fresh clan like Tenya or Nettobuku. Even their castle is so large that I know I will never learn the names and faces of all the people in it… and this is but one of the many castles that Clan Noriaibasha has built.

They tell me it will be some time before the armorers can issue me a wakizashi. In the meantime, I perform what missions I can with my kama — though this clan does not think in terms of missions that take a few hours or a day, so much as in terms of entire campaigns that take many months. One such campaign is still taking shape, and will involve action in Settsu Province as well as some coordination with Clan Zenbutsura. There is a meeting tomorrow to discuss strategy for this campaign, which I am ordered to attend.

Indeed, there are a great many meetings at Clan Noriaibasha. This is no surprise, but it does bear some mention, as it is a great difference from the small upstarts I’m used to. This afternoon, for example, I spent more time in one single meeting than I would have in an entire week at Clan Tenya or Clan Nettobuku.

That meeting was to plan the strategy against a group called the Narisumashi. I have already been dispatched to take down some of their minor members, using my kama. I did so this afternoon, then reported back to my captain, a man named Kento. He is generally satisfied with my performance, but says I should talk to another fighter named Akinori about the Narisumashi’s tactics, and I should check with the priestess Sachi to ensure that I am proceeding in righteousness and harmony.

We never checked in with such priestesses at Clan Tenya. We didn’t even have any such, until a few days before I left the clan. (Even then, her view of the Way seemed… cloudy and subject to change. But I have no wish to speak ill of others’ skills.)

Tomorrow, I will speak with Akinori and with Sachi. And soon, I will gain access to the armory and be issued a wakizashi, and become a more useful member of Clan Noriaibasha.

There is a fair in Iga tomorrow. Akane and I will be having friends over to join us at our house, so we have made sure it is clean and welcoming. Between bouts of cleaning, I have spent the day playing with a ninja-tō kata that my friend Michio described to me recently:

“I can see that there will frequently be situations where I have to hang from a tree branch, roof, or overhang, stab an enemy, then haul his body up into the place where I am in order to avoid being detected. And I have a kata that seems to work for that. It was a good learning exercise.” Curiously, I have never had to solve this exact problem, though it’s similar to one I’ve dealt with before.

So I agreed to work out a kata for it, without having seen Michio’s. Then we can compare them. It will make a good way for him to check how well he is learning the martial arts, too.

Well, either it’s harder than it looks, or I’m going at it entirely the wrong way. But my focus has been very scattered these past few days.

I did not go to Yagyū today, of course. But while I was practicing in the yard in front of Akane’s and my house, I got a message from a herald anyway. A singularly unhelpful message, much like the previous message from one of this herald’s gumi yesterday: It specifies what weapon skills and fighting styles I would need to know, but nothing else. There is no mention of any of the things I need to know to decide if I am interested or not.

Where is the clan’s headquarters located? Would I be constantly on the road from Iga to their castle, and exhausted by all the travelling by the time I even arrived every morning? And is this with a clan at all, or with a larger army? Where do they fight, and what are their objectives and strategies?

On Monday, I have appointments with two other herald gumis. Perhaps I can have lunch with a friend along the way.

What I said this morning was wrong. I was given a mission this afternoon!

Ryōji assigned me a pair of tasks. One, I have hardly even looked at, for it will involve a greater understanding of the clan's combat styles and tactics. But the other...

There is a nest of bandits in the forest. Clan Tenya mostly uses the bō staff when doing forest work; we often pose as peasants and travelers, so swords are unwise — they would give us away. And the clan uses an interesting bō style, the Shokubai-dō. It is one of the Three-Headed Dragon styles, so at least a few of the moves are familiar — except that the other Three-Headed Dragon styles I know use the three-sectional staff and the ninja-to, so even the familiar feels unfamiliar.

But I have found the bandits, and scouted out every weakness in their camp, and can slaughter them at any time. Ryōji is putting a few other matters in order, and will observe my final execution of them tomorrow morning.

Before lunchtime tomorrow, I will have proven that I can be a useful member of the clan. This will be good.

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.

 
I have improved my knowledge of the clan's new and special kata, so that I no longer feel that I am useless to Clan Nettobuku. Yesterday, I was even able to aid Bunmei by taking out one of the targets he was too busy to handle on his own.

In Henshukoku, I have been continuing with my ninja-ken kata, ensuring that I am still adept with it in case I find a clan that needs blade-work instead of sansetsukon experts. For now, I am doing my kata in the Journey of a Thousand Steps ryū, so that later I can revise the whole sequence into the style of the Living Stone school and compare the differences.

However, I am already starting to figure out some ways to use acrobatic rolls and other defensive techniques that are new to me. Not all the time, but I've managed to slip a few in here and there, and I'm getting better at them. This is a good thing, as more fighting groups are starting to see the uses of acrobatics.

At Clan Nettobuku... in addition to Benjirō, who joined us just over a week ago, we will soon be adding another ninja. He is a young, untested fighter named Saimei. He seems likable enough, but I am not sure that he has enough experience in dealing with larger teams. When the new year comes, I look forward to finding a different clan.

And I am revisiting Ōtsu, to see how the city has changed under the new Lord Mitsuhiro's rulership. The rooftops are as flat and inviting as ever, and I think it will be a most excellent place to practice my skills.

 
I was wounded today after dealing with an unexpected sneak attack last night — I slew the intruder, of course, but not before taking a nasty cut.

Despite my wounds, I persevered today, and worked hard to improve my skills, as I have vowed to do. Today, I performed my first successful Living Stone school kata using the Mūtou grappling hook.

And even if the sansetsukon kata Jimon and Bunmei have developed is difficult and intricate, I have begun to understand it. I will improve, and become an even better ninja, whether wounded or not.