Move Like Smoke

It takes Ru barely a minute to reach the steppes and true to his word, his plan, he hops off the road and then heads a short ways further round to ensure, he hopes, there is sufficient distance between him and anyone who might be on the path.

At this time, the crack of dawn in spring, no one will be venturing up or down the mountain from the village and so anyone that might be on the route will have been posted there by Master Ento. Which also means there are no distractions, not that Ru believed there would be for his mentor is not someone who would be unaware of potential issues if this were done at a later hour.

Yet, the Kangaroo is confident that the best course of action for the first stage of his ascent proper, he does not count the steppes as being a part, is to scale the less steeply angled rock face. And so that is precisely what he does, making quick work of the climb by using his legs to launch his body from ledge to ledge until there are no more present. Regrettably, it appears as though the last storm which rolled through must have eroded away some of the ledges he would have used to scale higher still.

As a result Ru is forced is disembark well before he had hoped, leaving him on the lower section of the mountain. If the ledges and handholds had remained he could’ve scaled up to near the midpoint.

Thankfully, he does not dwell on this unfortunate development. Rather he feels it serves as a reminder that things will not always be as they were. That is something, not in those exact words, Master Ento has proclaimed many a time.

Yet no sooner is Ru on this lower plain of the mountain, having stepped out into the open area dotted with thick trees and wide bushes, than he feels it necessary to duck low behind a flowering berry bush. The reasons why are quite simple, there are figures not far up ahead.

If he were not trained the Kangaroo might feel panic, but he is and so does not. Instead what he does is watch carefully with eyes like a hawk.

Curiously the figures, he counts five in all, do not move a muscle. He thinks that strange, odd, uncharacteristic and yet they have to be a part of his Master’s test. Their silhouettes alone suggest warriors, fellow ninja.

The trainee is aware he could pull his training sword. He is not inclined to, at least not as yet anyway. Rather, he thinks it better to move in close, to get a better view of what forces he is up against.

Without further ado that is precisely what he does by slinking out from behind the bush, low and slow, only to silently creep in the direction of a nearby tree. Once reached, he presses his back against its rough surface, waits and listens.

If the closest figure, or any of the others for that matter, has heard Ru’s movements the young Kangaroo neither hears nor feels anything to suggest as such. It’s a positive sign, he believes, for surely Master Ento would not expect him to best ninja acting as ninja. That he feels would be most unfair.

Shoving such thoughts aside but keeping his breathing steady the pupil turns and climbs the tree which has been his refuge for almost three minutes. For him the climb is but a simple feat, because of his strong legs and better than they should be for his species arm muscles too.

And once up in said tree, Ru feels some of the unease that had been sat in the pit of his stomach evaporate. It shouldn’t and he knows that but these feelings are involuntary. He has no control over them.

Still, it does not escape him that these figures are just as capable of climbing trees as he is. If they were not then they would not be what he hopes soon to be, ninja. In fact, he doesn’t know what they would be.

Forcing both thoughts and feelings aside this time, the Red Kangaroo deftly leaps from one tree to the next, following a route picked out in seconds.

The noise that is created by his actions is barely a decibel, and on the first few occasions results in a fleeting smile which creeping across his lips. Yet, with the gap between him and his targets, as Master Ento called them, quickly shrinking, the trainee cannot escape the fact that he is no closer to having learned what it is he is facing. Principally that is because the thick trees provide too much cover for him to get a glimpse through their foliage. Its why, when he feels he can get no closer without risking exposure, Ru climbs from atop the canopies of green into them proper.

Alas, he is not positively awarded for these actions as he continues to be thwarted by the density of the leaves and so is forced, against his better judgement and wishes, back to ground.

Slipping behind another fruit bearing bush, this time with berries of deep dark blue, Ru returns to observing the figures, who somehow remain as little more than outline to him even though he is much closer now. Said discovery, if he should call it that, confounds him for at this distance there should be more to them than there is.

Unease creeps up his back rapidly turning his blood cold. With very little to go on the Red Kangaroo thinks this can be only one thing, a trap. If that is true he could be pounced upon at any time, which is why his eyes do quick sweeps eager to meet what he thinks is soon to come. But he one pounces on him. Rather, he finds he is alone, with no sounds to be heard.

That lack of noise, as well as the poor definition of the figures, he finds to be most baffling. Yet, for all his curiosity, barely contained, he does not allow himself to forget that he has a test to conquer, and so draws his wooden training sword. Then he readies himself by dropping into a squat with the sword out at his side. He breathes deep several times only to, in a flash, burst forward.

The closest figure, the one his eye has paid most attention to, he delivers a flurry of strikes against and is about to continue on when he stops because he’s noticed that the figure has not reacted at all to his efforts. Brow furrowed with confusion, as this is not what he expected at all, the pupil turns. In doing so he discovers that these’ figures’ are nothing more than dummies.

In response, his head drops low, only to quickly begin shaking from side to side. Yet again his Master has got him. He truly thought he was meant to face five enemies at once. He should’ve known better. Still, he delivers a quick series of strikes to the other four, further away than the first, and as such would not have been seen if he had indeed paused while people were present.

With the ‘threat’ dealt with, Ru returns his ‘blade’ to the loop which is fashioned to the waistband of his loose fitting knee length bottoms.

Taking a breath, the young Red Kangaroo cannot help but laugh, now that all the ‘combatants’ have been dealt with, about how good his mentor got him.

Others might be miffed, annoyed, irritated, by what transpired but not the young trainee. What he feels now is barely anything at all. The emotions were fleeting, as they should be for a ninja, and so have passed. It’s why he returns to the task at hand, climbing. However, he is under no illusions that each ‘combatant’ dummy will have to be felled if stumbled upon. For that will be a part of his Master’s test, he thinks.