"Masanari. Its time to wake up. I saw what you did in the training ground. Most interesting." He sat up, bowing towards the orange masked monk standing in front of him. "Your student greets you." He looked outside in the darkness. "Isn't it still night?"
"Yes. Very observant. We need to go to a special location on the mountain to learn what I have prepared for you. Hurry." He stood up, collected his things and ran after the masked monk. "May I ask what you'll be teaching me over the next few months and years?"
"My skills are very different to those here, you might say I have a different taste in warfare to them, and as my teacher long ago only choose one student to pass his knowledge down to, and now I do the same. Consider this secret training skills." He bowed at the back of the masked monk. "Thank you. I won't let you down."
"Good. We're here now." He looked around at the field he was in, turning to the masked monk in confusion. "I just see that we're in a field. I don't see anything special about this place." He ducked as he heard a sound and saw a shadow of something slash above him. "Very good reflexes. I wouldn't of killed you, I just wanted to see what you'd do."
He stood back up and stared at the masked monk. "Look around you. This is a field. Every tool a farmer uses to work the ground for farming can be used as a weapon. From the rope in my hand, to a hammer or axe used for chopping wood, and polishing rice. All can be used, if you know how to." He heard the whistling of the rope as he stared at the silhouette of the masked monk. "You said rope?"
"Correct, this here is just a piece of rope I found on the ground, and tied a weight, and a blade to it. It is a difficult weapon to use, but for samurai hunters like myself, its perfect." He watched as they stopped spinning the rope in the air, and saw the curved blade at one end and the large ball weight at the other. "You said you're a samurai hunter?"
"Correct. Those who have fallen from the Bushido or have done something terrible to their former lords, I'm tasked with hunting them down, and taking their heads back to their lord. All for a fair price, I don't do this for free."
He nodded. "I can understand why you don't take on many students. If too many become hunters like you, than your source of income will become scarce."
"Hahaha. Something like that, but also other reasons as well. These aren't important right now, as I've decided to help you become a samurai hunter. I know your family well, and they're the best at what they do. With my skills, you'll be unstoppable for your lord."
He bowed at the masked monk. "Thank you. How do I learn?"
"Easy. Go find a piece of rope about this long, and I'll show you the hojojutsu to keep them there so they don't fly off, and kill someone you didn't mean to." He nodded walking away from the masked monk. "A rope. Where would I find a length of rope out here at night. He walked silently into a hut, and stood staring at all of the tools here. "All these tools can be used as weapons. If you don't have time to draw your sword or your sword was taken from you. You can always find something on the field of battle you can use. A helmet, or even a kama like this one." He turned and looked at the weapon the masked monk had in his hand. "That's a very interesting weapon."
"It is, and its just made with the equipment you'd find on any farm. I built this here, so that one day, my student would also learn from me." He bowed at the masked monk. "Thank you again for this chance." He smiled as he stood up. "This is like the video games of Hanzo Hattori, running around killing people with that weapon in his hands. I do hope that since I'm a Hattori, I'll get that chance to meet him soon."
"Masanari. You need to be focusing, and not daydreaming." He nodded. "I'm sorry, I was just thinking about a famous warrior."
"Who might that be?" He scratched his head, feeling his face start to heat up. "I was thinking how someone like Sojobo or any other samurai be able to fight back at someone who uses long range attacks with something like that."
"He isn't that famous, but you do have an understanding. This here, is what gives me an advantage when I fight, and when I fight I fight to win, and take the head. Not for glory, or fame. Just for coins, knowing that justice has been made." He stood in silence, listening to the words of the masked monk. "Hurry up. we don't have all night. Take the kama and the rope. I have a weight her suitable for your size." He picked up the rope, frowning. "Isn't this too long for my small body?"
"Yes. We'll have to cut the right length for you, as you become taller, the rope will have to be lengthened, if too long now, you won't get any power in your strikes, and if too short, it would just take your own head."
He watched as the monk cut the rope after measuring him with his eyes. "Here is the length you need. Before you put the kama and weight on it, you need to learn how to turn the rope."
He watched as the monk tied large knots at either end of the rope handing it back to him. "This is how we start to learn. Come. Follow me, we need to go back to the field." He walked out of the hut, holding the roped in his hands. "This is perfect. Here. Lots of space to move around."
He looked at the waist of the masked monk. "I see you don't carry a sword with you."
"Yes. I don't I have no need of a sword, I have all of these tools instead. Why would I need a sword when I have this here with me?" He nodded. "You really are a samurai hunter. I'm glad that I'm not your target."
"Enough about me Masanari. We don't have time for questions. Now all you need to do is whirl the rope at your side, and control it until the knot doesn't hit your body." He looked at the rope nodding. "I can do that."
"Let me see you try than." He started to whirl the rope at his side, watching it spin around. "You can't be looking at the knot, you need to be looking at your target." He looked at the masked monk as he spun the rope at his side. He felt the knot hit him in the back of his head. He rubbed the spot where it hit. "Not as easy as it looks." He nodded. "I'll get there. I can do it." He clenched his jaw fighting away the ringing of his head, and started whirling the rope again. "Stubborn good. A hunter needs to be stubborn. Again."
He felt the rope slip out of his hand as it flew into the sky above him. "Your grip wasn't tight enough. Again." He waited for it to fall back on the ground, picking it up and started again.
He wiped the sweat off his face with his sleeve as dawn light started to cover the mountain. "We stop here for the night. Go do your normal training that you do, and only practice this at night, or when you're aware no one is around." He bowed. "Thank you for your lesson."
"Be back here at midnight to continue your training. Remember this training is secret, and the things you learn, you can't tell others, or let them see your training. If I find out, than you'll be on my hunting list. I'd even do it for free."
He bowed at the masked monk. "Don't worry about me. I'll keep my mouth shut and the skills you show me hidden."
"Good, now head back, get some rest, and continue your duties as normal." He bowed and waited for the masked monk to leave the field. "What are you doing? Just go, I don't like being bowed at." He stood up straight and walked out of the field. He turned and saw the masked monk, starting to work on the field. "He's a strange one, but his teaching is good." He walked back to the shrine, and checked on the death garden. He put on the gloves, and cut off the dead flowers, and fruits, making sure the plants were healthy, and not trying to poison each other.
"The death garden is looking nice." He turned, bowing at the yellow masked monk. "I'm following the requirements that you asked me to do."
"Good I can see that. Make sure you follow the guides on the scroll I gave you perfectly, if not I'll still take that finger of yours." He bowed again, listening to the fading steps of the masked monk, and finished his work in the death garden. He took his gloves off, washing his hands in the mixture he was given and left the garden, returning to his room.
He sat on the futon, closing his eyes imaging himself spinning the rope next to him while he wasn't looking at it. He opened his eyes and looked at the wall in front of him. "Even if I use peripheral vision I can't control it. There has to be something that I'm missing."
"It seems that you seem to be stuck on something Masanari. What is it, maybe I can help?" He stood up and bowed at Sojobo, as he stood at the entrance to his room. "I'm just trying to work out how to control something in my hand as it moves, while I'm looking at something else."
"Is orange teaching you how to use a kaginawa?" He looked at Sojobo in confusion. "What's that?"
"Its what we use to climb walls. We use rope and a hook to throw up at a wall." He smiled, nodding at Sojobo. "That's it exactly. When I'm looking at the top of the wall, I end up getting hit in the back of the head by it, or lose my grip on the rope and losing control of it."
"This I can help with. Follow me." He followed Sojobo out of his small room, and to a wall. "I'm sure you weren't given a hook to practice with. Let me see the rope."
He handed the rope to him. "The rope is kind of short to use practically, but for practice its suitable. Watch how I spin the rope around. The key is in your wrist, and distance from your body. If you're holding to close to you, you'll hit yourself, if too far you'll lose control and it'll fly out of your hands." He stood watching the grip of Sojobo as he spun the rope around. "Once you feel that you have enough speed, you make sure you release at the angle you want it to go in. In this case of the wall, it should be about here." He watched as Sojobo let the rope go, and saw it fly to the wall, with the knot hitting the top of the wall, falling back onto the ground. "Just like that. Your wrists should be strong enough to use this, you just need to make sure you keep the right distance from it. Now you try." He picked up the rope, and started to spin it, while looking at the top of the wall. "Its too close." He nodded, as he moved his arm away from him slightly. "That's too far." He moved it closer. "That's the spot. Now spin it faster. If too slow, you'll get hit in the head." He increased the speed of it spinning, while staring at the wall. "See you can do it. Not hard at all, now you have to practice the throwing part, but I'm sure orange can teach that to you better than anyone else."
He stopped the spinning rope, bowing at Sojobo. "Thank you for your guidance." He looked up and saw the orange masked monk staring at them both. "Hello orange. I'm just giving him advice in how to throw the kaginawa, since he was having trouble with it."
"Kaginawa?" He saw orange staring at him and nodded. "Yes. A kaginawa."
"It seems my student is quite astute."
"Orange, I do have a question, why are you teaching him how to use the kaginawa anyway?"
"Why not. Yellow is teaching him how to play the sakuhachi. We all have our reasons. Come Masanari. We need to continue your lesson of how to use the kaginawa, I want to show you how to throw it." He bowed at Sojobo, walking behind the orange masked monk. They stopped walking once they were away from the shrine.
"Clever thinking. I approve of this. I think we'll keep this as the cover for your future training." He bowed smiling at the masked monk. "Remember, if you say what you're really doing, you're dead. No excuses, and no matter where you're from. Understand?"
He nodded. "I understand, and I follow your guidance."
"Good. Now back to the wall. We'll look at throwing the rope, since you've go the distance between your body figured out." He followed him out of the forest, and stood in front of the wall again. "Show me."
He started spinning the rope around in his hand. "Good. Now spin faster."