Part 9 (2/2)

'Fly, tengu tengu, fly!'

Jack couldn't believe it. The boy wasn't only an expert at stealth-walking, he was fast too. Then Hanzo disappeared with his team.

The other ninja groups were at various stages in the climb. Miyuki was halfway up, Tenzen not far behind. Jack realized this was his chance to prove himself. All his years as a rigging monkey would pay off once again. Throwing himself at the rock face, Jack clambered hand over hand with practised ease. He soon levelled with Tenzen and then, to Miyuki's utter astonishment, pa.s.sed her too.

At the top, Jack turned round and waited, taking the opportunity to catch his breath.

'Gruelling, isn't it?' commented s.h.i.+ro, the boy who'd laughed at Jack's earlier attempt to conceal himself. He was waiting for the last of his team to join him. 'Soke does this every every glade lesson. I don't know why we can't just walk back for once.' glade lesson. I don't know why we can't just walk back for once.'

'That wouldn't be any fun!' said Kobei, clambering over the lip.

s.h.i.+ro rolled his eyes at the boy, then ran on.

Noticing Miyuki haul herself up the last few metres, Jack offered his hand. But she ignored the gesture. Tenzen, however, clasped Jack's outstretched arm and pulled himself alongside.

'There's ninja blood in you!' he said, grinning. 'I've never seen anyone climb that fast.'

'Let's go!' interrupted Miyuki. 'We've still two teams ahead of us.'

Running on, they emerged from the woods and out on to open gra.s.sland. The village was now in sight at the top of a long slope. Jack could see the other teams not far ahead. Tenzen and Miyuki broke into a sprint, determined to catch them. Jack did his best to keep up, but he soon lagged behind. He simply couldn't maintain the ninja's pace. For every step he took, they seemed to take two.

Miyuki forged on. But Tenzen, noticing Jack struggle, dropped back.

'Try Dragon Breathing,' he suggested.

'What's that?' gasped Jack.

'It's a secret cyclic breathing pattern. Follow my rhythm. Inhale exhale exhale inhale exhale inhale inhale exhale Inhale exhale exhale inhale exhale inhale inhale exhale. Repeat.'

Jack copied Tenzen. It took him a few tries, but as soon as he got the hang of it, the running immediately became easier. More air reached his lungs and the process focused his mind. Now he seemed to fly up the slope. The Way of the Ninja certainly contained some surprisingly effective techniques.

They pa.s.sed s.h.i.+ro's team and powered on to the village, neck-and-neck with Hanzo's group. But there was still one more obstacle to go a high boundary hedge. Miyuki was beside it, ready to boost them over.

'Come on, Jack!' she cried encouragingly.

With victory in sight, Miyuki had apparently put aside her malice towards him.

If we win this, Jack thought, I may just win her over too. I may just win her over too.

Jack sprinted up to Miyuki, put his foot in her hands and she threw him high into the air. Only as he pa.s.sed over the top, did he register the devious grin on Miyuki's face.

But by then it was too late.

18.

BLOWING Z ZEN.

'Always look before you leap!' said Miyuki, peering over the hedge with an expression of utmost innocence.

Unable to stop his descent, Jack had landed face first in the village manure heap. As he floundered in the rotting compost, he heard the arriving ninja teams burst into laughter. Jack was fuming though more with himself at trusting a ninja like Miyuki. Now he was a laughing stock.

Tenzen nimbly jumped over the hedge, suppressing a grin as Jack wiped dung from his eyes.

'Every new ninja falls for that old trick,' he said, offering Jack a helping hand Jack swallowed back his pride. He couldn't allow Miyuki to think she'd got under his skin.

'An old and rather dirty dirty trick!' he replied, to which Tenzen laughed good-naturedly. trick!' he replied, to which Tenzen laughed good-naturedly.

'Think yourself lucky,' shouted Miyuki, her face creased with amus.e.m.e.nt. 'I was going to put thorns in, just to make a point!'

'I don't think Miyuki likes me very much,' commented Jack through gritted teeth.

'It's not you,' replied Tenzen under his breath. 'She just doesn't like samurai. Being born in the winter, she was named ”Beautiful Snow”. But sometimes Miyuki can be as cold as her name. She'll thaw given time.'

'I hope so,' replied Jack, taking a look at his manure-covered clothes with disgust.

'Miyuki taught you a good lesson. Another time it could be a pit, a moat or even some samurai's spear. You'll never make that mistake again.'

Jack had to agree. He'd also be far more wary of Miyuki in future. Flas.h.i.+ng her a breezy smile to show he could take a joke, he headed back to the river to wash himself down, while the other students returned to their homes for the day's ch.o.r.es.

Despite immersing himself several times, Jack still couldn't s.h.i.+ft the acrid tang of manure from his hair. He reckoned it would be a day or so before that faded, though the embarra.s.sment of the prank would linger on far longer. He'd already heard Miyuki nicknaming him 'the Smelly Samurai'. Not that the name-calling bothered him that much. He'd suffered far worse at the Niten Ichi Ry Niten Ichi Ry. His cla.s.s rival Kazuki, along with his Scorpion Gang, had taken particular pleasure in persecuting him for being a foreigner. But at the samurai school Jack had had his friends to turn to. Here, among the ninja, he was alone.

As he made his way back to Soke's house, Jack heard a haunting, soulful sound drift through the air. His curiosity roused, Jack followed its plaintive song across the open gra.s.sland and into the trees that bordered the valley's mountains. Reaching a steep slope, he found a narrow pathway winding up the valley side towards the sound's source.

Jack climbed, rising above the treeline, until he arrived at a cave that looked out over the valley in the direction of the village. Inside he found Soke, cross-legged before a s.h.i.+nto shrine, playing a long bamboo flute. A slow languid melody rose and fell in time with his breathing, echoing off the walls to create a never-ending waterfall of sound. The old man's eyes were closed and he appeared lost in meditation.

Jack sat down at the cave's entrance and waited patiently for Soke to finish. He studied the old man, his wrinkled timeworn features at odds with his role as a deadly ninja Grandmaster. Yet again Jack wondered why Soke was so committed to helping him.

The Grandmaster put down his flute. 'This shrine is in honour of our mountain G.o.d, Yama-no-kami Yama-no-kami,' he explained, as if he'd been expecting Jack. 'I play to appease him.'

'Your G.o.d should be very happy then,' replied Jack. 'It sounded like an angel singing.'

'I appreciate your compliment, but there are far better players than me,' said Soke, humbly bowing his head. He held up his flute. 'This is a shakuhachi shakuhachi,' he explained. 'Komus, the Monks of Emptiness, use it as a spiritual tool to attain enlightenment. Have you practised meditation before?'

Jack nodded. 'Sensei Yamada taught us zazen zazen.'

'Well, this is the art of blowing Zen. Instead of sitting and contemplating a koan koan riddle, you focus on the playing of a song.' riddle, you focus on the playing of a song.'

Soke reached behind and produced a second instrument. 'You look like you'd benefit from some suizen suizen.'

Pa.s.sing Jack the flute, he taught him to hold it vertically like a recorder. Then he showed Jack how to position his fingers over the five pitch holes.

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