History of the Shinobi

THE NOT TOO DISTANT PAST...

Ryan Woolganger walked around to his classes in ninety nine-degree weather. People, judging by the sweat that coursed down his face, thought nothing of it. But they were sadly uninformed about the real problem. The sweat was not from the heat. It was from the cold fear that clawed at his heart, drove the breath from his lungs, and caused him to look over his shoulder every other second.
The note was simple,

After school, draw out your walk to home until we summon you back. When we have done so, return to the lunch room. We will see if you have what it takes to be one of our family.

So, Ryan did just that, and when he got to the forest, the fear spiked until it became full-fledged terror. He whipped around and saw...... Nothing!! No matter what he did, he could not shake the feeling that he was not only being watched, but followed as well. Still walking backwards, he abruptly stopped when he felt the......something behind him. Then a loud, authorative and echoing voice called out "Why are you so afriad Ryan? Get your ass back to the school. Now!! Ryan hesitated, then bolted. Not for home like any sane person would do (as well as call the police) but for the school. His fear of these people far outweighed his faith in the police. And more disturbing? His faith in his family to either protect him or help him fight.
Once inside, Ryan saw a group of people sitting in a semi circle around a teenage boy who could not have been more than sixteen or seventeen. While the boy looked straight ahead a second young man, who looked like he had seen his fair share of bar fights pointed at a spot in the center of the cafeteria floor,
"Sit!" Ryan made his way to the spot but suddenly felt very self-concious about HOW EXACTLY to sit. The young man`s voice took on a more patient tone,
"Cross-legged."
Ryan sat and looked up to see the boy, who remained sitting on the chair, fix him with a calm, benign glance. Without really meaning to, Ryan relaxed to some degree. Then an odd sound came from the left hallway. Frowning at faint tapping, Ryan turned his head and beheld a bizarre sight. A man in his late fifties or early sixties, carrying a walking stick hobbled into the room. Looking up he smiled. Ryan noticed that some of his teeth were missing. As soon as "bar-fighter" started to speak, Ryan whipped his head around. Despite himself, he was interested,
"Ryan, this is hour Master Historian, Nicholas. Your job is to listen and absorb everything he tells you... but first," he paused as he withdrew a very odd picture of a slight man garbed all in black, holding a Katana over his head. "Bar-fighter" continued, "Is this what we promised you? To become an assassin, a harbinger of death?" Ryan thought he knew where this was going and answered immediately and with enthusiasm, "Yes!" Ever so slowly, "bar-fighter" started to rip apart the picture. After each piece had been torn from the picture, he dropped it carelessly to the floor. Then with a very flat, yet firm voice, said, "No. No. No.... And no. That is what... Well I`ll let Nicholas tell you the history of our noble order."

With that Nicholas hit the bottom of his walking stick on the ground to get everyone`s attention. he then began in a raspy, but confident voice that bespoke wisdom with every syllable...

"It is far more difficult to to pinpoint the employment of of the ninja and ninjitsu, otherwise known as the art of stealth, than to tie your shoes. Do you know the real title of the ninja, Ryan?" When he did not answer right away, Nicholas cackled happily, care-free.
"The answer is shinobi. Most people who think they know everything say it was about 600 AD. but I`m getting ahead of myself. There were numerous influences on the shinobi. The foremost being that the shinobi were brought into being as a group that fought battles for Samurai. The Samurai were worse than tyrants, if you can imagine that. There was a prince who is said to have employed Otomoro Sahito as a shinobi spy. No living person knows why. Even I don`t know. That part of my job was lost centuries ago. But I do know one important, necessary event," Nicholas` eyes glazed over as he drew on his memory.
"By the year 850 AD the ruling house of Tang was in decline. The house met its demise in 907 AD. The resultant chaos brought untold trouble. Despite their oaths of fealty, some generals escaped over the sea to Japan. While they were strong in body, they were also strong in mental capacity. So its no surprise that they brought new war strategies with them. However these generals were not the only new-comers to Japan." Here Nicholas stroked his chin, squinting as the memories surged around in his head. Then he continued,
"By 1020 Chinese monks were crossiing the wide sea to walk along Japanese soil. While they brought never before seen fighting philosophies, they were also known for their unique medicinal herbs. These Chinese monks, who owrshipped God above all else, taught their lessons to the Japanese warrior monks. Or as the Japanese government called them, Yamabushi. They did not stop there howver, they taught those who would become members of the first shinobi. For aproximately a century, the mixture of Japanese and the native Japanese tactics that were the pre-cursor to Ninjutsu, developed essentially without rules. You see, Ryan, the samurai lived with what they considered honor. When they went into battle they yelled their pedigree for all to hear, before they rushed headlong into the fray. They believed treachery beneath them, and that Ryan is where Ninjutsu came into the fold. Everything a samurai thought was dishonorable, say for example poisoning, the shinobi could perform without guilt or remorse. There once was a samurai, Daisuke Togakure, who lost not only his title, but his lands as well. In 1162 Daisuke was meandering through a stretch of mounts of southwest Honshu. From what I remember from my predesessor Ryan, Daisuke met a chinese warrior monk by the name Kain Doshi. Kain convinced Daisuke to renounce his bushido code. The two developed Ninjutsu. Daisukes`descendants commemorated the first Ninja school, or in other words, ryu. It was called Togakureryu." Seeing Ryans face light up, he quickly continued,
"Oh, it has long been destroyed...... Some of the ninja leaders were jonin. They had been samurai but these same samurai fled their daimyo when either they had lost in battle, or they had fled rather than commit seppuku." Nicholas` face hardened when he gave the details, "Seppuku was where the samurai took a shoto or short katana, and stabbed their abdomen while their brethren lopped their head. The most famous Ninja strongholds were the Iga and Koga provinces. however men were not the only people who were shinobi, women played a part as well. Females called Kunoichi, were ideal people to play as concubines, dancers or servants. They were successful spies and prime assassins. The most important part of the Ninja work was the money. Shinobi were paid to the extreme, and thus the lower classes were made wealthy. Again, like I said, Samurai could not always win in open battles. The shinobi were used in all aspects of warfare. Thus Shinobi were feared, needed, and despised all at the same time. In modern movies and stupid, useless comics, the ninja wore all black with only their eyes showing. This is a misconception which is from the Kabuki theatre. They more commonly wore navy-blue for night operations, but if they were smart and wanted to survive, they blended in with their targets. Ninja tools and weapons were fashioned from farm tools, if these items were uncovered, they would not betray the ninja`s identity. Do you think they used throwing stars?" When Ryan grinned, Nicholas shook his head, "No. Absolutely not. The shinobi believed in practicality, if something is effective, it is acceptable. The eight tactics taught in many ryu were: Body skills, Karate, spear-fighting, staff-fighting, blade-throwing, use of fire and water, fortification, strategy and concealment.
"Then came the infamous Nanbukucho Wars. Essentially for fifty years in the 14th century, Japan had two different Imperial Courts, which fought for the entirety of Japan. The Northern court was controlled by the Shoguns. The southern by the emperor Go-Daigo, who incidentally wanted to rule in his own right. Shinobi plied their services to both sides. The Northern court won and suddenly Japan had the puppet emperor system. Shortly thereafter the Ryu`s were destroyed and the shinobi were decimated.