Black Bujutsu

"Stay in that stance. It isn't good for fighting, the only thing this is good for is your posture." He looked down at his knees watching them slightly tremble. "Stop moving. Keep your face up and if you want to look, use your peripheral vision. That's what its there for."

He nodded and punched in the air in front of him. "Your body moves too much. Again. If I saw you trying to punch me, your body is telling me you're going to try and hit me already. Its about surprise, strength and power. Watch me." He stopped punching and watch the black masked monk enter a similar pose to him, and started to punch the air. "See my movements, fast, sharp, and my body doesn't telegraph what I'm about to do."

He nodded. "I see. I'll keep working at it."

"Good. I'm not expecting you to master these skills in a few months, but at least in a few years." He punched the air, controlling his breathing. "Good. It does seem that you learn these skills fast."

He smiled. "I've been doing this for years. Not the first time I studied unarmed combat. Especially in my past line of work."

He nodded at the masked monk. "Stay in that pose, you don't need to punch for now, I'm going to be giving you a lesson here about the human body. I'll only talk about these things once, so don't forget them." He stopped punching and nodded.

He watched as the masked monk produced a scroll and unrolled it in front of him. "This is a scroll about the human body, we know inside the human body there are bones, muscles and organs. What I want you to focus on and learn are the positions of the places between the bones. I'm going to teach you a form of fighting that targets those areas of the body." He smiled and nodded. "I'm looking forward to learning from you."

He bowed his head. "Good Masanari. Now listen."

He listened to the explanation nodding. "This sounds a lot like judo and aikido, using the joints to attack and fight. Very good for one on one fights, but when you have to fight against a group it isn't that effective. He looked at the masked monk. "I have a question."

"Ask."

"I can see this is effective in one on one fights against other samurai and soldiers. What happens if I'm in a situation where I'm going to be fighting against more than one?"

"They're right. You do have a good mind, and understanding. This is a good point. That's why you need to really understand how the human body works. You need to dispatch each one as fast as you can, before they have a chance to rejoin the battle. A strike to those locations between the joints, can put your opponent off balance, or on the ground. Than you need to use your other skills to kill them, and move on."

He nodded. "That makes sense, thank you."

"Lets see if you really did understand. You can stand now. And come and punch me. I'll show you what I mean." He nodded got out of the horse riding stance and stood in front of the masked monk punching him. "To slow." He felt his body being thrown into the air, and grunted as he hit the ground. "See. I saw your movements, and attacked your joints causing you to fall on the ground. Again." He stood up and tried again, only to be on the ground again, this time the masked monk, held on to his arm. "If I added pressure here, your arm would be broken, and you'd be no longer able to fight. Or I could use my dagger to stab you in the neck, and move on."

He felt the tension in his arm lessen, standing up and rubbing his arm. He looked at the masked monk bowing. "Thank you. I've learned a lot from you. I want to try again."

He saw the masked monk shake his head. "No more today. I feel my blood starting to boil. If we continued, I might break a few of your bones, and we don't have the time for healing that, and the others would be angry at me for getting carried away. Go back to your meditation and study the scroll of the human body. Memorize it, so that when you look at someone, all you can see of them is the joints between their bones. No matter if they're covered in armor, they're the weakest parts of the human body."

He nodded, bowing at the monk. "I shall study it hard." He received the rolled up scroll, placing it in his robes and waited for the monk to leave. He turned and walked to his room, looking at the bruise that was starting to reveal itself on his arm. "This body feels weak, even though I've been doing muscle training, a simple attack to my joints, and it falls apart." He threw the scroll on his futon and stared at his arms and legs. "There's muscle, but still he's right. A simple strike to the joint, and I'm on the ground. What if I targeted people with my sword at these locations?" He smiled. "It seems, I'll need to carry more smaller blades on me in the future."

He knelt in front of the scroll, unrolling it and spent the rest of the day in study, memorizing the location of the joints in a human body. "This isn't bad at all. Its almost the same understanding of the skeletal system I learned back in school. It shouldn't take to long to remember these details." He closed his eyes, and started to fight against imaginary opponents using both his sword and his hands to target the joints.

After time he opened his eyes and looked outside at the moon shining in through his window. He sighed. "Looks like I missed dinner again. I get to focused during my training." He opened the door, and saw a bowl of rice, and boiled vegetables with a note next to it. He looked at it in confusion, picking up the note reading it with a smile. "It seems that he has taken a liking to me, making sure I eat. He's very different to the other monks here."

He picked up the rice and vegetables back in his room, and ate them while looking over the scroll in silence. "I can't punch in those locations, It wouldn't stop them. I need to do what that monk did. Grab them, and put tension on those points, that's when it hurts, and the bruise appeared." He looked at his wooden sword. "When I use that, I have to use both of my hands, but when I use a shorter blade, I would only have to use one hand, so my other hand I could be doing these grabs, or throwing daggers in those points."

He smiled and looked up at the moon. "I wonder how my father is doing this night." He walked to his door, sliding it open and stood outside admiring the moon. "Hello son." He felt his heart race, turning and bowing towards his father as his silhouette came into view. "Your son greets you father. How have you been?" He looked up at his father, and saw his tired face. "You look tired. Is everything well?"

"No not everything is well. House Oda has taken the young lord hostage, they won't hurt him, but with him being there its forcing his father to bend to the will of the Oda house." He looked down at the ground, kneeling. "I'm sorry father, I'm not strong enough to be able to protect him, at this point."

"Son. You haven't even been put in his service. You still have time to train and practice. This isn't your fault, but those who serve the lord now. Come lets talk in your room. I have much to discuss." He waited for his father to enter the small room, before he got up and followed him in. He saw his father look at the scroll he had left open. "I see you're learning about bujutsu, what other things have you been learning?"

"I've been learning sword work, the mind of the people, footwork, and now I'm learning bujutsu. I still have more teachers coming to teach me that I haven't met yet, so I'm bound to learn many more things."

"You have more than one teacher?" He nodded. "I have six teachers in total, one of them is Sojobo. Many students chase after him to learn his way of the sword. He seems to have taken a liking to me, and is more like a monkey than a famed monk."

"Appearances can be deceiving. If you change the shape of your body, accent of your voice, or even its tone, people will think of you differently." He nodded. "That is a good point father. I won't forget those words."

"Good. It seems this place has been looking after you well." He looked at his father. "Father. Will you be staying in the shrine long?" He frowned at the ground when he saw his father shake his head. "I still have duties to my lord, and I'm needed to go to him, and keep him safe while the young lord is held hostage." He saw a cloth package in his father's hands. "This is for you. Something to help in your training, but you'll have to learn how to use it yourself." He looked at the cloth wrapped package in his fathers hands, bowing and lifted his arms to receive it. "Thank you father.

"I must go now. I won't be back for a few years. Grow strong, so that when I return, I can teach you about our family, and family skills." He bowed at his father. "Farewell. I'll do well here, when you see me next I shall be strong."

"That's what I want to hear son. Farewell." He heard the door slide open and close behind him. He looked at the cloth wrapped package and unwrapped it staring at the strange daggers in side. "I know what these are. Throwing daggers. It seems that father has many skills and secrets, and I plan to learn every single one of them." He picked up one of the daggers and felt the weight of it in his hand. "It fits in my hands perfectly, and if I practice I could use it to target the opponent's joints. I'm impressed, father knew what I would be thinking, by looking at the scroll I was reading." He put the throwing daggers on the ground next to his wooden sword. "I'll need to work out how to carry them, while also keeping them hidden."

He frowned as he looked at his robes. "I don't have anything to carry them in, and if they were in my robes they'd cut me. I need to make something to carry them in." He looked at the cloth wrapping, and smiled as an idea came to him. "All those pelts, I've collected from rabbits, I can use them to make a pouch to carry them in."

He wrapped the throwing knives back up in the cloth and placed them back on the ground. "For now, I need to make the pouch, until then I can't really carry them around." He looked at the scroll, sighing. "I need to get stronger. I'm glad father can see I have become stronger, but its not enough for him to take me with him." He shook his head sadly. "Still not strong enough to protect my young lord."

He clenched his fist. "I need to get stronger faster. I don't have time to have fun here, as I've seen others do. I need to be serious about my training and study here." He look out his window looking at the cloudless sky admiring the stars. "This is the thing I like the most about this place. The stars. I can see them everywhere. Can't be tired of them at all." He looked at his futon, falling into it. "Tomorrow is another day. I must get some rest, and practice hard when I wake up."