....Ken was now revered as a god in the Kazeshin village. But since he had made that annuoncement , people didn't fear him anymore. The village people respected him as he was also the new Soke ( Grandmaster ) of the village Dojo.
"A grandmaster at such a young age.....the boy must be brilliant. " Such was the talk between the entire village. People were now really Psyched about the new and authentic martial arts..... Ninjutsu in it's truest form.
The admissions at the Dojo were about to begin. Ken had kept an entrance test for the admission process. It was an obstacle course. He designed it himself , so that talented amateurs could complete it . There were now almost double candidates than there were before.
People had seen what Ken can do . They knew very well that he was a true ninjutsu master. Even the servants were participating in the round. People were both excited and nervous...
Ken was a righteous boy , he was going to make no exception with Shin. Shin , with all the others participated in entrance round. Ken wasn't worried about Shin , as he knew his brother's potential. The judges of the test were 2 . The first one was , obviously, Ken and the other one was .....
RYO
Everyone was shocked to see Ryo, the finalist who simply threw the match, when faced against Ken, a 50 year old man who was once Ken's opponent. Shin, too was startled to see Ryo, with unquenchable curiosity he ran towards Ken and asked him 'Elder brother, isn't that Ryo, what is he doing here, how is a judge in the process ?' Ken became serious and with a deep voice 'That's Ryo sensei to you....and to me too, Shin.'
Everyone was dumbfounded. Shin's mind was blown, so was everyone else's. Shin said 'What do you mean "sensei", how can he be your sensei, he just gave up the match against you in the final round of the tournament. He doesn't seem anywhere close to being a fighter, him being better than you or your sensei sounds like crazy talk.'
Ken interrupted Shin by saying ' That's enough Shin, if you noticed that he gave up the match, you should pay attention to the fact that he also made it to the finals. There's no denying the fact that he's my master, he was the one who taught me all that I know today. If he were to really fight me in the tournament, there's no way I would've won. He would've beaten me in the first few seconds. ' Shin asked ' Then why did he give up the match ?' Ken answered by saying 'Ryo sensei is a specialist in the art of Choho (Espionage) one of the most important of the 18 disciplines of ninjutsu. The moment I challenged the headmaster I knew he'd be up to something. So I asked for sensei's help. It took Ryo sensei a single day to figure out his whole plan. Hence we decided that master Ryo will enter the tournament as a contestant and throw the match against me so that I got to beat the headmaster. '
Everyone was disgusted at the headmaster's plans and astounded at the unreal genius intellect of Ken' .Everyone bowed to Ryo sensei. Ryo came ahead and said 'Quite the feisty one, isn't he? Your brother! ' Ken said' I'm sorry sensei , he'll know better next time. ' Everybody bowed in respect to Ryo. Ryo announced 'Let the first round begin!!' Ken chose the officials personally and ordered them to take the candidates to the examination rooms , the first round was a written test of 10 min. where the candidates were to write their opinion of what Ninjutsu is and why they want to learn such an art.
The test began, 10 min. later all the answere were collected. There were many answers which were really strange, many were stupid and some were good. For example,
I want to beat up people I don't like...
I want to get revenge...
I want to get girls by showing it off....
but there were some good ones like,
I want to learn it as a way of life...
I want to be able to take care of myself and my family...
Shinzo wrote "I want to perfect my life skills. And I want to learn it, so I can keep the authentic art alive."
People who gave these answers were selected immediately. Now was the second, and a more dangerous round.