The Hand of Death

Chapter IX

"The difficulty of tactical maneuvering consists in turning the devious

into the direct, and misfortune into gain."

"

The Art of War

"

~by Sun Tzu~

There were 100 students in my class, all of which were at least two years older than I. The good news was, this

was

my coming of age ceremony. My Genpuku. If I lived, I was Shinobi. The bad news was? The class lasts a year and about 80 people died in the last class.

The setup was simple. Spy, steal, demolish and kill... Oh! And try not to die. The instructors started in on us immediately,

"Listen up children! I want you to stand still! If someone hands you a package, take it!"

After that several people walked out to us with bundles in their hands. I assumed they were the graduating class. There were only twenty of them left so not all of us got a bundle. One of the graduates looked at me as he passed. He just shook his head and laughed. Those that did get a bundle later found out it was the old students' gear: ninja uniform, ninja-to, and shurikan, among other things. The rest of us were issued what we didn't have after the ceremony.

The sensei gave us a pile of new weapons to work with: throwing knives, kamagusari, which is a sickle with a two foot handle and a six foot length of rope or chain attached to the handle and a heavy weight on the end. The shogue, a double bladed knife where the second blade makes a nasty hook to cover your fingers with a rope attached to the handle and a weighted ring at the far end. The metsubishi, which is a small wooden box that holds sand or some other blinding powder. Uchi-ne, wooden darts with feathers and metal tips. They did little damage but were much more accurate than the fukiya darts. And finally, the manriki-gusari, a six foot chain with weights at each end. We all practiced with them constantly.

When they had given us all the equipment we would use they made us change into our new clothes. They were dark brown sets of shirt and pants with a belt. The clothes came with a black hood and tabi boots. The boots were pretty common in Giapan. They were just more practical for everyone living in a country constantly at war.

Both the shirt and pants had maroon-ish stains on them in various places. Better to hide blood stains in the future apparently. Although I think some of mine

were

blood stains. There were some very suspicious holes in my clothing. The outfit

did

remind me of a man that stopped me one time as a child to ask me what I was doing.

The clothing also had metal plates sewn into it to provide minimal protection from weapons. By their expressions I could tell the plated clothing was heavier than the other students had expected. It was actually lighter than what Grandfather had made me wear. Then we were shown where we would sleep. It was a large communal room in the dungeons. The bunks were secured to the wall in ten rows ten high. I was assigned the third row, second bunk.

We were immediately ordered to store our things in our chest, which was anchored to the wall at the head of our small bed. I put mine away just in time to be rushed out the long passage by one of the Sensei. We entered and exited through a tunnel that passed under the gardens of Shiro Shotoku. Once there we were run for three hours through the woods. Every time someone fell out we were forced to loop back around and jog in place until they were able to rejoin us. I was in great shape but even I was almost sick a couple of times. This run would be done every morning.

When we returned from this first run, we were formed up into ten rows of ten. We just stood there trying not to faint. Well, I was trying not to faint some of the others gave it up and went down. The Sensei were screaming at them and kicking their unconscious bodies but clearly, when you're out. You're out. When it became obvious that some of them may never rise an old sensei climbed the small steps to a commander's stand at the head of our class.

"Children!" All of theSsensei stopped yelling when they heard him. "I am Shishou Shi."

His name means, literally, Master Death. I already didn't like this guy. "It is my job to train you so that you may be the best ninja our House can field while culling the weaker ones from the pack. Over half of you will die this year. And not by my hand or anything my instructors do. The half that die will decide their fate all on their own. Look at your brothers and sisters on the ground!" There were a good fifteen kids on the ground in various states of exhaustion. "I can tell you from experience... Of having run this school for twenty years. That these pathetic looking... weak and worthless excuses for mononofu... Unworthy of even the simplest of tasks for our House... will be among the students who complete this course successfully."

What?

He stared at all of us for a moment before continuing. "Of those on the floor, most will go on to be Master Assassins, while three or four will continue past that to Grand Master of Ninjutsu." I literally could not believe what I was hearing. "When I was a student in this course,

I

was one of

them

." He pointed to the,

for all intents and purposes

, dead bodies on the floor for emphasis. "Soon, ten of you will forget I said this. Ten of you will assume it was some kind of joke. And five of you will die this year because it was Inari's will for you to go and there is nothing anyone can do about that..." Inari is the rice god, the god of farmers and the god of mononofu. "For those of you still awake, go get some rest."

We were released to get cleaned up and bathe. In Giapan we cleaned up with soap and water first and then used the hot bath to relax in. I waited to go last to the baths as I do not like being rushed if I can help it. By the time I got to the tubs I was bathing with the fifteen who had been passed out during Shishou Shi's speech.

One of them had just settled into the tub. "I am not going to make it."

The others seemed to agree with his assessment. I looked around at them. They didn't look special in any way but I knew enough to know Shi had no reason to lie. Once their self-destructive conversation ended I commented, "So no one told you what Shishou Shi said while you were all unconscious breathing dirt?"

The girl to my left grimaced, "Who is Shishou Shi?"

I smiled. "Apparently, he is the man in charge of this school."

The boy to my right asked, "I

think

we are all going to regret this, but... what did he say?"

I laughed a little looking at them. "As I stood there, breathing heavily but otherwise fine, staring at you poor creatures passed out on the floor, he said a quarter of us will die this year but of the ones that will complete the course. You fifteen are all but guaranteed to make it."

All of them looked stunned. One of them asked, "How!?"

`

I shook my head and laughed. "I - have - no - idea."

"Do you think he was joking?"

"His name is

Master Death

. I do not think he has a sense of humor." I said.

Their attitudes were much improved after our talk but I still did not know what it was they had that I did not.

The sensei had several courses laid out in an underground complex below the town. The

courses had everything from a three foot high wall to a three story tower with no ladder. The instructors ran us through this at least once a day for the first month. Rope climbs, wall climbs, swimming, underwater swimming with an air tube, hiding, sneaking, running and jumping. Lots of jumping.

Acrobatics was a mandatory course in the evening. The instructors also spent a great deal of time on teaching us how to move. It was slow and subtle, so as not to attract the human eye to you. All of this while hearing every sensei yelling, "You cannot speak! You cannot scream! You have no mouth!" Over and over again like a mantra. They

shortened

our sleeping time to three hours instead of four. Well OK, I didn't suffer from this but most had trouble for the first month.

What I had trouble with was that we were fed bland rice, fish and water only. The whole year I was there.

That

was boring. Exercise in the morning with more running, followed by rice and water. Fantastic.

They started us on weaponry the second day by taking us to the shurikan target range. Our shurikan were large. They were about a hands breadth wide and weighed as much as a knife. The range itself was another large empty room, about 200 feet by 100 feet with pillars holding up the twelve foot high ceiling. Wooden dummies lined every wall except near the entrance. I went to the far end after I saw how terrible most were with their shurikan. I tried to look natural and blend so as not to attract attention to myself but one of the instructors caught me. I didn't know her name yet.

"You! Throw

that

! At

that

target!" I threw and sunk it into the dummy's head. She stared for a quick moment.

"Do it again!" I did. She looked at me calmly. "Shotoku Hiro?" I nodded. "Do not be ashamed of your skill. Simply practice." And then she walked away.

I continued to throw at the dummy, trying very hard to forget about the others. Soon though, one of the older girls noticed and had caused a crowd to gather around me.

"How did you get so good?" she asked in harsh tones.

"I had a sensei that taught me."

She was quiet for a moment. "Well if a runt like you can do it, it cannot be too hard." She

walked back to her target along with most of the other students. Most of the fifteen from the baths stuck around though.

"Can you show us how to do it?"

I nodded and showed them how they were holding it wrong. "Place it between your thumb and forefinger. Then just aim and throw it over handed like a knife at the target."

The instructors watched without comment. Near them were some of the graduates I saw at the ceremony yesterday. They all seemed a little curious. I could see them talking amongst themselves. The instructor that had yelled at me walked over to them and said something. I couldn't hear what it was, but they all got quiet again. They spent most of their time laughing at the feeble attempts to use these things.

The ninja that I was working with got much better in a short amount of time. We would practice together on most things after that. Two of them became my good friends that year. Their names were Goemon Ino and Fujibayashi Sanuro. They were both about two years older than I was but that did not seem to matter. I spent most of my time trying to get better with the bow and arrows. They had always been a weak point for me. When one of the instructors gave us ninja-to he sat us down to explain it.

"It is said that a samurai's soul is in his katana. If you wish to destroy a samurai you simply steal his katana." He drew the ninja-to and looked at it. While looking it over, he said, "You are not samurai... A ninja's soul is in his head and in his heart. To destroy a ninja you must stab him in the

chest

or remove his

head

." He let that sink in a moment. "Let the Bandai preach about the beauty of life and war and what it means to be samurai... In Giapan, the victor keeps his honor. So, keep - your - honor!"

We all nodded. He went on to explain the ninja-to was straight because it is easier to lean it against a wall and use it as a step. Then you just pull it up by a lanyard after you. A three foot step does not sound useful until you are trying to move without sound. Then it is of the utmost importance. The handle concealed two poisoned throwing darts. The end of the sheath, which was pointed to make it easier to dig into the ground when it was being used as a step, also was removable to reveal a small manriki-gusari chain.

When the instructors gave us fukiya, the blow-gun, I showed my friends how I had learned to use it. Soon others began to join our little group. The instructors, as always, didn't seem to care. They had simple rules for the school, survive and succeed.

I found out later, that the girl who mocked me at the target range was named Shotoku Shingan, and she was my nemesis from the beginning of the year. If I slipped, she was the first to laugh. If she slipped, it was usually because I tripped her.

"You did that on purpose!"

"Are you going to place blame when you fall in the woods on a mission?"

I continued to run with the others. She would make light of my abilities. She would make light of my knowledge. She would mock my size. She would mock my skill. I hated her. But I never mocked her. That would be beneath me. Stepping on her hand accidentally when she was hanging from the second tier of the tower?

That

was not beneath me.

"You are on my hand." she gritted out. Trying to be quiet.

"Oh! My apologies, Shingan san." I moved my foot.

"You are as inept as you are stupid!"

The sensei noticed. "Quiet! You cannot speak!"

Our first test came against the Etorofu House. These impoverished samurai were almost priests in their shunning of wealth. Their small island was the home of the Yamabushi, like Brother Yuri back home. The monks weren't bad when it came to a fight either. Anyway, just because a House shuns wealth does not mean all of its members do.

Our target was a Shugodai of a Kokujin of the Etorofu. Apparently he had been a very naughty boy. He had been siphoning off his master's wealth to his own discrete locations on the mainland in the Tiger empire. His Kokujin had his own people handling the money issue. Our job was to eliminate the Shugodai so as not to cause a loss of face for his lord.

We sailed as a small group, only eight ninja, to an area where our sensei had chosen on the island of Etorofu. He wouldn't help us. Just observe our performance. Once there, he gave us a clear description of the target and where he could be found. We were to infiltrate Toshi no Shichirobei at the middle of the hour of the Rat which is from 11 pm to 1 am. Eliminate the target so it looked like an accident and then head back to the exit before anyone knew we were there.

Shiro Shichirobei was a desolate castle, if you could call it that. It looked like a big stone block with a low wall for defense. The terrain was, well, barren. Small hills, not many trees and humid. I never wanted to come back here. This placed looked like a storage yard for Death. The sentries were few because the people were few. The Etorofu just don't have that many samurai to call upon.

We were broken into two groups of four. My group scaled the wall at the end of the hour of the Boar, just before 11 pm. I had the foresight to pick a place where the guards were busy talking to each other rather than actually watching. Sanuro, Ino and I had been joined by another student named Fujibayashi Tsugu. The four of us made it over quietly and unobserved. When we found shelter in the shadow of the stables we heard the alarm being cried by the sentries. Someone had been spotted.

I saw them corner a ninja and told my team we would have to help. Tsugu slipped away at that point. I didn't notice and I don't know what his reason was. We threw shurikan at the Etorofu. Mine and Sanuro's hit two unarmored samurai in their heads, dropping them. Ino's hit another in the thigh. He fell to the ground with a yell. The two remaining men turned to see us, and that gave the caught ninja time to slip into the shadows of the city and get away. The two Etorofu charged us. Sanuro threw caltrops after Ino threw a smoke grenade. We ran away to the sounds of them cursing our ancestors.

Ino whispered, "Hiro, we have to get out of here. Our surprise has been destroyed."

I shook my head. "No. The Kokujin has asked us to do a job and the Koga do not fail. We will get into the castle and handle the Shugodai."

Sanuro pleaded. "But it will be obvious that it is not an accident. They know ninja are here."

"Yes, and those ninja have a man to kill."

I lead them through the city, occasionally stopping and waiting for guards to pass so we could move through the areas they had cleared. Once we arrived at the castle we set a fire in one building and ran to the far side of the castle walls. While everyone was running to look at, or deal with the fire, we slipped in. Then it was simply a matter of making it to the castle itself and scaling to the rafters of the second floor where our target lived.

We waited for him in the rafters over his currently empty suite. There was a lot of shouting as we waited. Eventually things settled down. Time crept by until we saw a man come into the suite with several others and he was barking orders about the security of the castle. He fit our description. When he finished with his orders the others left and he yelled for a servant. The old man arrived and soon left to get his master's request for sake.

While he was fuming to himself I pointed Sanuro to watch for anyone else that might approach the suite. Then I dropped down behind the man, slipped my left arm under his chin, pushed his head forward with my right hand and stepped back. The whole thing took just a fraction of a moment and then there was the snapping sound of his neck breaking. His windows were open so I drug his body to one and let him drop to the ground below. I rifled through his things and took his daisho and his money box. That way it would look like a ninja theft for money as the man was known to be rich.

His body had landed in a deserted portion of the yard so it had not been noticed yet. We slid down the outside of the castle wall to the ground. We were cautious as we slipped out the far side of the Toshi and made our way back to our Sensei. He led us to our boat where we found dead bodies and one live ninja. It had been a long night. Eight ninja went into the city, four came out. We pushed off and helped the sensei sail us on towards the Koga lands. Sensei had us stow our hoods and that is when I saw that Shingan was the fourth to make it.

Sensei asked as he stripped the dead and set their things in a box, "Shingan san, can you tell me why you are not dead?"

She did not raise her head as she answered. "Because Hiro and his friends distracted the guards, Sensei sama."

"That is correct. Can you tell me why these four

are

dead?" He asked as he tied rope to the feet of the dead.

She thought a long time on that. "I do not know."

He nodded. "Hiro, Ino, Sanuro, do any of you know why these ninja are dead?" as he tied stone weights to the other ends of the ropes.

I replied, "I am not sure sensei. Tsugu was with us when we went over the wall but he slipped away when Shingan got into trouble. I did not see what happened to him."

He nodded as he started dropping bodies over the side of the boat. "Actually, you saw

everything you needed to see in order to know what the outcome would be. The moment he left your side, I knew I would be doing

this

with him." He emphasized dropping the first stone into the water as Tsugu's floating corpse was carried down into the deep. He continued to drop the other three stones and sat down when all was finished. He gave a sigh. "Now with all of that said Shingan, do you know why these four are dead?"

"Because they did not work as a team. We all approached the wall on our own without thought." She said with solid confidence.

"Better. Now if you can change the way you behave on the next mission you may survive again." He smiled. And looked at me. "Hiro!"

I looked at my friends and back at him. "...Yes, Sensei sama?"

"Where is the money box?"

I looked at Ino. "Ino. The money box."

Ino replied, "What money box?" He said while holding the cumbersome thing under his left arm.