Ninja Love: Saizo Kirigakure

Chapter 28

As a little girl, I had always loved swimming in the stream near the temple. The other shrine maidens and I could spend hours on end splashing around and chattering about everything from boys to the latest fashions. However, as I got older grandfather kept me in more and more, on the grounds that, as a shrine maiden, I needed to be more spiritual, and the gossip at the pools didn't help me. Eventually, the visits stopped completely. The only way I could get to my old hang out was by sneaking out, which I did very rarely.

Now as I stood before the colossal waterfall, I remembered my early days at the temple, and it brought a smile to my face regardless of the fact that I was only here for training.

I stood facing Saizo and the waterfall, which towered at least thirty feet above us. Water gushed over the edge, creating a fine mist and thunderous roar as it clashed with the river below. We stood close enough to it that we were not pelted with water, but could easily cross its path if we wanted.

I was dressed in simple black swimwear, which consisted of a strip of cloth twisted around my chest area and tied in the back, and a wrap around my waist that tucked between my legs and also tied in a secure knot in the back. Saizo had a wrap around his waist as well.

"Alright Misaki, today we'll be doing waterfall training." I could barely hear Saizo's stern voice over the roar of the waterfall. "You can start with jumping in the river and swimming against the current as hard as you can, and when you get to that big boulder over there," he gestured to a large rock situated next to the waterfall, "get up on it and try to scale the waterfall."

I gaped at how easily he told me to climb a waterfall. His green eyes bored into mine, waiting for me to move.

"Well?"

When I refused to budge, Saizo sighed and strode over to me. Before I could quite register what was happening, he scooped me up and tossed me into the shallow part of the stream. The initial impact and chill of the water nearly made me neglect to get a strong foothold in the rushing current. My feet connected with the pebbled bottom, and the cool water swirled around me as I resurfaced, shivering and gasping for air.

Noting that Saizo was watching me with a rare amused smirk, I scowled at him as I wiped the sopping hair out of my face. As I surveyed where I had landed, I noticed that Saizo had tossed me a good distance into the stream, making sure I landed far enough to avoid injuring me, but not so far that I landed in the dark center of the river. I edged away from the sharp drop off uneasily, not trusting my rusty swimming skills enough to save me from the strong current that was sure to be at its worst there.

I turned towards the bank where I had been standing, a complaint on my lips, only to realize that Saizo was no longer standing where I had left him. Panic momentarily flooded my mind, until my eyes caught a skin-colored blur to my right.

Splash!

The force of Saizo's dive into the center of the river splattered me with water and caused the chest-high liquid to swell to my shoulders.

He reappeared, unfazed by my malicious look. "In order to avoid detection, you need to be able to dive deep, and hold your breath for as long as possible. However, even before that, you need to have the strength to swim upstream." He tread water effortlessly against the pull of the water, and beckoned me in.

"O-okay." I stepped cautiously towards the sudden drop, praying to the goddess that I didn't drown here.

It took a couple of tries, and some one-step-forward, two-steps-back occasions, but I finally made it to the very base of the waterfall.

Stepping back on to the bank, mildly exhausted, I looked up at Saizo for a sign of approval. He had his arms crossed, and his face revealed little to nothing of what he thought of my progress.