Ninja (2 page)

“I'll meet you later in the village,” she says. “Aren't you going on the mission?” I ask.

Cho shakes her head.

“But I thought all the ninja were going?” I say.

“I've been chosen by the Grandmaster for a special task,” she tells me before she heads back down the steps. As I pluck up the courage to enter the temple, she calls out, “Good luck! And watch out for that second step.”

Chapter 4

Grandmaster

I pass through the gate and into the temple's court-yard. In front of me is a large open square of gray gravel. On the other side is the temple – a tall wooden pagoda with a spire that pokes out of the top like a spear. To my left there's a beautiful rock garden, a mountain stream flowing through it and into a pond.

The place looks empty. But I know the Grandmaster is waiting for me inside the temple.

As I'm about to step onto the gravel, I quickly pull my foot back.

I almost forgot. I must be nervous. This was how I failed my first attempt. The gravel is there to test a ninja's stealth-walking skills. The Grandmaster heard me crunching across the court-yard before I even got close to the temple.

I take three deep breaths to calm myself and I start again. Just like Sensei Shima's lesson, I point my lead foot and I place my toes down first. Bit by bit I step onto that foot, letting the side then the heel touch the ground. This way I make no sound.

Half-way across, I head for the garden.

I don't want to make the same mistake I made on my second attempt. As the Grandmaster is blind, his sense of smell, as well as his hearing, is more sensitive. Last time he smelled the rich fertile earth of the paddy fields on my feet. This was another lesson in how to be invisible – a ninja must remove or cover up any smells that might give him away.

I stand in the mountain stream to wash the dust off my feet. Beside me I see there's a juniper bush. I remember the Grandmaster likes to burn juniper wood in the temple, so I pull off some leaves and rub them on my body. The plant's woody smell hides all traces of my scent. Once my feet are dry, I stealth-walk across the rest of the court-yard.

So far, so good.

I enter the temple. Inside, the main hall is cool and dark. A polished wooden floor leads to steps and a platform where the shrine is. At the center of the temple, a bronze Buddha glistens in the light of two candles.

In front of the shrine, on the platform, sits the Grandmaster.

He is cross-legged on a cushion and his hands rest in his lap. He is so still he could be a statue. His face is old and wrinkled with a long gray beard. His eyes look straight at me, but see nothing.

In the palm of his right hand is a blood-red flower.

I creep across the room and am almost at the shrine's steps, when I remember Cho's warning.

Watch out for that second step.

I look closely at the step. There's a row of pins sticking out of the wood. They weren't there the last time.

I climb onto the raised platform, jumping over the second step. In just a few more paces, I'll reach the Grandmaster.

I'm so focused on getting to him without making a sound that I almost don't see the second trap. But a glimmer of light, like a spiderweb caught in the morning sun, alerts me to the danger. A thin cotton thread stretches across the room at ankle height. On one end is a little bell.

I'm now glad for all Sensei Shima's training. In lessons he'd make us walk through the forest looking closely at everything we passed to spot any traps – rocks we could trip over at night, or bushes and trees in which the enemy might hide. He'd tell us, “
It's not what you look at, but what you see
.”

I step over the thread with great care and approach the Grandmaster. I can almost touch the flower and the Grandmaster still hasn't moved.

I stop for a split second. I can't believe I'm about to earn my black belt. There
must
be another trap. But I can't see one.

Just as I reach for the flower, the Grandmaster grabs my hand and pain rockets through my body. My body freezes as he presses a nerve point in my wrist.

The Grandmaster turns to me.

“Never assume a man with no eyes cannot see.”

Chapter 5

A Lesson from an Ant

“I'll never be a ninja,” I say, and I hang my head low.

“Your life is an unknown road,” replies the Grandmaster, as we walk along a stone path through the temple garden. “How can you be so sure?”

“But without my black belt, I can't go on a mission.”

The Grandmaster turns his blind eyes upon me.

“A black belt is nothing more than a belt that goes around your waist,” he says. “
Being
a black belt is a state of mind. When your mind is ready, then you'll be a black belt.”

“But I've failed
three
times,” I sigh.

“Failure is success if you learn from it.”

“So what did I do wrong?” I ask. “I avoided all your traps.”

The Grandmaster smiles. “That you did. But you made three mistakes.”

“
Three
!” I blurt out.

“The first mistake was coming in through the door. A ninja must always never do what his enemy expects. Come from a different direction – the window, the roof, from behind or below. When you came through the door, your sound shadow gave you away.”

“My sound shadow?” I ask.

The Grandmaster points to the sun, then to my darkened outline upon the ground. “Like the sun makes a shadow of your body, so it is with sound. As you passed through the door, you blocked the noise of the mountain stream. For a moment, the sound of running water became softer and I knew you had come.”

“You noticed
that
?” I say, amazed.

The Grandmaster nods. “Close your eyes. What do you hear?”

“I hear the stream trickling and birds singing.”

“Do you hear your own heart-beat?” he asks.

“No.”

“Do you hear the ant that is at your feet?”

“No,” I reply. I look down and see an ant carrying a leaf across the path. “Grandmaster, how can you hear these things?”

“Taka, how can you
not
?”

I understand now the Grandmaster is teaching me an important lesson in how to look and listen. I must watch and listen to
everything
around me.

“Your second mistake was not to match your breathing to my breathing,” the Grandmaster says.

I don't understand. “How would that make a difference?” I ask.

“I could sense you as you got closer. You need to be in harmony with your target,” he explains. “Remember, for a ninja, a small error is as deadly as a big one. When you jump over a canyon it doesn't matter if you get half-way or miss by an inch, you still fall to your death.”

The Grandmaster drops his blood-red flower into the stream.

As I watch it float away, he goes on, “Your third and final mistake was to let doubt enter your mind, to become unsure. At the last moment you stopped for a split second, didn't you?”

“Yes, Grandmaster,” I admit, and I bow my head in shame. “But I just didn't think I could do it.”

“Always believe in yourself,” the Grandmaster says firmly.

“How can I, when I keep failing?”

“Take your lesson from the ant,” replies the Grandmaster. He points to the insect still trying to drag the leaf across the stones. “Whatever the size of the task or the things in its way, the ant never gives up.”

With a last tug, the ant pulls the leaf off the path and carries on with its journey through the grass.

“You see, Taka,” says the Grandmaster, resting his hand on my arm. “It doesn't matter how slowly you go, so long as you don't stop.”

Chapter 6

The Scrolls

“Grandmaster!” cries Cho, running through the gateway. “The Scrolls have been stolen!”

We both turn to her in shock. The Scrolls are the secret teachings of the ninja. Written upon them is everything the Grandmaster knows, and all that the Grandmasters before him knew – weapon skills, hand-to-hand fighting methods, the Seven Disguises, the Sixteen Secret Fists, the Death Touch, deadly poisons and even ninja magic.

“What happened?” asks the Grandmaster.

“I visited the Hidden Shrine as you asked,” replies Cho, out of breath, “but when I got there it had been attacked.”

“What about Monk Osamu who was guarding it?” asks the Grandmaster. On his old face I see worry for his old friend.

“He's alive but badly beaten.”

“Does he know who did this?”

Cho nods. “They were samurai. They wore the black eagle crest of Lord Oda's army.”

The Grandmaster gives a deep sigh. “This comes as no surprise.”

I clench my fists in anger at the news. For as long as I can remember, Lord Oda has been our enemy. While some samurai hire the ninja as spies and assassins, most do not trust us and a few, like Lord Oda, want to destroy us all. What makes it worse for me is that this samurai lord murdered my father during the Battle of Black Eagle thirteen years ago. Because of him, I never met my father.

“We must get back the Scrolls,” the Grandmaster says, slamming his fist into his palm. “Lord Oda must not learn our secrets. If he does, our clan is doomed. He will defeat us. Tell me, when did the attack take place?”

“Early this morning,” Cho replies.

“We still have time,” the Grandmaster says. “Black Eagle Castle is a day's march from the Hidden Shrine, but a ninja can speed-run there in half the time. Send our two best ninja at once.”

“All our ninja are on a mission,” Cho tells him.

The Grandmaster strokes his gray beard, thinking hard. “Cho, you must go alone then. It'll be very dangerous, but – ”

“I'll go with Cho,” I say.

“This is
not
a test, Taka,” replies the Grandmaster. “You could get killed.”

“You told me, being a black belt is a state of mind. That I must believe in myself. Well, I can do this if you give me the chance.”

“I know how you feel about Lord Oda,” the Grandmaster says. “You want to fight him for what he did to your father. But you
cannot
allow the wish for revenge to take away your focus. That could lead to failure.”

“I seek justice, not revenge,” I reply. “To get back the Scrolls will be justice.”

The Grandmaster stares at me. I know he can't see, but it feels like he's looking deep into my soul.

“So be it,” he says with a grave look on his face. “Complete the mission and
nothing
else. The fate of our clan is now in your hands.”

Chapter 7