The Way of the Shinobi

Chapter 2

After I eat my lunch of fish, rice, and bread, I give the scroll to Akihiko.

"Hmmm . . . " he says, studying it.

After a while he sets it down.

"Do you like this level?" he asks me.

"I'd rather be in base level three," I admit.

"You and everyone else in this level," he groans. He rubs his eyes with the palms of his hands. "Look, Kuma," he says. "Seni thinks you should be moved up to the next level,"

"Really?" I ask in amazement. I can barely contain my excitement.

"Yes. Finish your classes here for today and you can be moved there tomorrow."

"Okay! Thank you, sir!" I reply. I begin bouncing up and down. Akihiko must think this is immature because he rolls his eyes to the sky. I can hear him mumbling something about being 'overexcited'.

The rest of my classes go by in a happy blur. Physical training. Climbing practice. Poisons. I even enjoy meditation for once.

After dinner, I take out my rucksack and beginning packing all my belongings into it. I've only just put my large collection of shurikens into the bag when I hear Ashikaga's annoying voice coming from my right.

"Why are you packing up your stuff?" he asks, his finger up his nose.

Normally I would be annoyed with the nose-picking, but not today.

"I'm getting moved up to base level three!" I tell him, folding a pair of pants into the bag.

"Oh, hmm," he says as if this is the most boring news of the century.

I ignore him as I place the last of my belongings into the rucksack. I slide it under my bed. I decide I should go to bed early tonight in preparation for tomorrow. I slide into bed, shut my eyes tightly and try to fall asleep. But I can't. My usually comfy bed seems bumpy and rough tonight. My pillow seems unusually warm and my blanket strangely thin. I toss and turn all night, trying to get comfortable. When I finally get to sleep, it seems like only minutes later that I am woken by a sharp rapping sound on the door.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," I mumble as I crawl out of bed. I notice that Ashikaga and Suketomo are still asleep.

I open the door to reveal a girl standing at the doorstep who looked to be about my age. She had raven black hair tied up in a messy bun, and extremely dark brown eyes.

"Hello!" She says in a cheerful, energetic tone. "Are you Kuma?"

"Yeah, that's me," I tell her.

"Well, my name's Ena and Seni sent me to pick you up," she tells me. "Do you have all your stuff ready yet?"

I'm a little offended that Seni didn't think I was capable enough to move to the base myself, but I'm sure she's thinking for the best, after all. At least I won't get lost this time.

I go back inside and hastily snatch up my rucksack from under the bed. When I come back, Ena is waiting on the small path that leads to base level three.

"Are you ready?" she asks. I nod my head in response. "Good," she says.

I climb down the steps onto the path. We walk along for a few minutes in silence. It is rather awkward, so I ask, "When do I start getting missions?"

"Well," she starts off. "There are five different types of missions, and you get picked to train for just one." She starts counting off on her fingers. "There's espionage, sabotage, infiltration, assassination, and guerrilla warfare."