3-4. Your Ninja Way? 

The great forest on the back of the Giant Black Tortoise Genbu, is a mystical place used for training ninja of all ages, though that training has been increased as of late. Within the forest, there are encoded symbols and their translations carved throughout the forest, on rocks, upon trees, in hard to find and difficult to reach places. You’re tasked with answering a single question. “What identifies your ninja way… what does a ninja fight for?” The answers to their question, lay within the forest. Each ninja is expected to announce and reason their answer to the proctor upon their return… if they return. The forest is filled with large and strange animals and rife with predation. Every contestant must watch their back least they be devoured by animals that have fed and stalked ninja training here for centuries… making them far beyond the league of mere Genin.

So it was hide and seek was it? Fantastic. She knew this game well. She was good at it, even in this setting, unusual as it was.

See, the trial in itself was simple. The entrant had to go in to a forest where there was all manner of frightening creatures, plants, perilous pitfalls and possibly even shinobi saboteurs; all in order to find out the answer to a very ambiguous question. What is your ninja way? What does she fight for? The Solution, the instructions said, was hidden throughout the area in the form of encoded carvings. A secret code that could supposedly reveal things that not even the person themselves would know. However, it wasn’t this rumour that boggled the mind of the young Genin. It was where the setting was located. For this treacherous forest she was to explore was not where a forest would normally be. It was in fact, sitting atop the shell of a ginormous tortoise named Genbu. And that, was where she was now. Standing on the edge of this monstrous beast’s shell looking down the maw of the first trial. And grinning from ear to ear. This was exciting.

The forest was, in short, spectacular. Decorated with shades of green found in both Kiri and Konoha, the whole area seemed to made of towering spine like formations. The air was filled with the musky scent of a light rain just passed, a breeze that carried a warm touch; and though the layers of grass and mulch, Ritsu could almost feel the ground move ever so slightly. It was a bizarre feeling, one that the Jugo enjoyed as she strolled through the terrain. Her deep brown eyes flitting about trying to spot anything that could hint at being one of the carvings but of course it wasn’t so easy. After all, the instructions that she had been given said that they could be find ‘high and low in hard to reach places’. Which meant that it could be anywhere. From on top of those spikes to underneath one of tree roots that snaked in between the fallen leaves, it could be absolutely anywhere. No, there had to be a trick to it, that didn’t involve sensory jutsu (Ritsu had yet to master those kind of techniques), or having some genetic eye advantage. She needed to find her own way. Her ninja way whatever that….. There. Right there. Perhaps this wasn’t going to be as difficult after all.

It was purely by chance she spotted the carving. Her gaze wandered from branches scraping along stone like walls to the place where her next step would be; when she noticed something strange. A rock half jutting out of the earth...that was completely free of insects and moss. And beneath it, hidden in the shadows was the top of a character. The character for Love.

Love? That’s what she fought for? The young lady couldn’t help to share a giggle with the giant tortoise. What was it exactly that the cosmos thought that she loved? Ritsu enjoyed her food, and she connected with nature in a way that was not easily described. There wasn’t really anyone in her life she considered beyond a ‘casual friend’ and her family….
This was clearly the answer for some other protagonist, so Miss Kasen carried along. This time though, she had an idea how to identify where the carvings might be. Which is how she also found the second one. Money. Now that was a tad closer to the truth. She could picture herself throwing down with someone for a couple bucket loads of cash and some new equipment, clothes. Even a house maybe. But no. Filthy, bloody, rich was an appealing concept but that was more of an ‘if an opportunity comes knocking’ kind of deal. A far cry from her real reason for getting up in the morning, whatever that may be.

She found the symbol for Fame up in the crook of a tree near a recently deserted bird’s nest and Glory close by one the base of one of those spikes. And just when she thought she had found the least truthful of these deep and meaningful encoded messages, there hidden within the honey stained hollow of an old tree was Friendship.
“Crikey” she caught herself yelling to the watchful eyes in the forest “What sort of person do they expect us to be? Some energetic child dressed in fluro shades spouting off cheezy catchphrases? No one is really like that. Bloody hell!”

This was starting to get ridiculous. Almost to the point where even she was getting irritated. It seemed that all that she could find were the most shallow and predictable answers…. But then again, maybe that was the point. Maybe the easiest to find were the easiest to answer. And if you really wanted to know the truth deep inside, then logic dictated that you would have to look deeper into the forest. Now that… that made perfect sense.
So that is what she did. Looking past the rocks and trees and nooks and crannies of the forest, the young shinobi turned her focus on to the more… unusual places. Like an old dried wasps nest still clinging to a tree fork and under the leaves of a potentially poisonous plant. At one point Ritsu thought it might be inside one of the furry curls of a large fern she found growing out of a broken spike. So she had carefully worked her way up through its drooping leaves towards it’s centre, using one of its thicker stems as both bridge and guide. All the while though, as she maneuvered through the emerald masses, there was two feelings...two very overpoweringly conflicting feelings battling away in her gut. One that said that the answer was a mere tightrope walk away, the other…. Well she tried to ignore the other. Because there, just beyond her reach she could almost make out a piece of the carving. Her true answer. Her ninja way. The meaning she was looking for….


CRACK!!!!

She didn’t see it. How the hell could she? Long green arms in freaking long green leaves, patiently waiting in silence for the young avian to get closer. It was almost as if it knew… it knew that this one had Ritsu’s name on it. And ‘Ritsu’ was the name of a tasty morsel creeping closer...closer. She had gotten so close. Arms reaching out, eyes squinting to perceive the tiny words of translation, the word was right there. She took one more step…. only to be swiped at by one of it’s...whatever those were.  If she had not jumped off and dropped to the ground, then it wouldn’t be some broken branch lying on the ground weeping. It would be Ritsu.

“Great rivers of Kiri! I don't even think cousin Ashi could eat all of you”

The smile on the genin’s face could not have been brighter. There, standing at almost seven foot with eyes of mustard yellow and mandibles the size of her arm; was the biggest praying mantis that she had ever seen. Gracefully picking it’s way through the leaves to loom before it’s next meal. But it was not meant to be. Looping her long red scarf about her neck once more, the genin took off in a run, following a path she had taken before with the gigantic insect right on her tail. In through the trees around the spikes, stumbling over roots and ditches, over rock and water; the predator never let up. But that wasn't the only impending danger. Though the female was quite fit for her stature and her memory was above average, her energy was running out and so was the area of familiar territory. It was only a matter of time before it caught up or she got so far off track that there was no chance of her finding her way back to the fern. And that… was when she got the idea.

With hope filled determination fueling her movements, Ritsu rapidly sprinted forward, adding a little more distance between her and the mantis before suddenly turning around. Then she charged at it. The girl who had been the shortest of her class for the last three years, ran head first for the towering insect...only to veer left behind a tree just as it swung its scythe like arm in her direction.  It was a close call but the short lived victory would be hers. Wood chips exploded from the tree as it ripped out its arm from the wedge in the wood and continued after the fleeing ninja. This time though it was no longer hungry… it was angry. And it was getting faster. Ritsu kept running though. Back over fallen trees and upturned rocks, past the carvings of Glory and Fame that she had brushed off as unstable pedestals for self important people. Until finally… finally… just past the hornets nest; the clever Miss Kasen came across the garden bed of possibly poisonous plants. But she didn’t stop. Oh no, Ritsu had to be sure. Still sprinting at full tilt, she ran, jumped, tumbled through the back end of the plants and kept going. When, and only when she could no longer smell the minty odour of those plants, did the female stop and turn around.

It was gone.

It was a flimsy plan. Had it not worked, Ritsu would have probably kept running until she had run right off the end of the tortoise’s shell. But there was no need for that. See, while reaching under the leaves to look for the carving earlier, she had noticed something. Where the large purple flowers were blooming, the grass below it had turned a nasty shade of brown. Having jumped over them, Ritsu had avoided most of it and got away with just having her coat being completely destroyed. But that mantis with its size and hunger, it probably would have brushed up against every flower on the way through. Sure, it wouldn’t be enough to kill it, but it was enough to bide her enough time to go back to the fern tree and finally read what that carving had to say.

-----

- 4 hours later at the Proctors station -


“Miss Kansen. Do you have your answer? What is your ninja way? What do you fight for?”

Ritsu grinned. She looked a mess. Her jacket had long since been discarded from damage beyond repair, her shirt had its own fair share of holes and her hair was matted and tangled with leaves and twigs. Every inch of her slight form was covered in dirt, bug juice and sweat and yet none of this phased her. Ritsu had done it. All on her own using her own knowledge, her own experiences. She did it her way.  And so when the proctor came over and asked the question, the Jugo looked him right in the eye puffed out her chest and said one word.

Respect.

There was nothing more to say.

-------
Words: 1871