The walk up to where his village lay took forty minutes. There was no road or path of any kind; that might have given the village's location away to someone who ought not to know about it. So, Kenshin had to travel cross-country. He occasionally gave out certain bird cries at certain points, being answered with the same. There were ninja guards all over these woods, with orders to capture anyone trying to approach it. He remembered when Flojo had first come to the village.

Flojo had known where the village was, and had a letter of introduction from his father, but he didn't know to contact Tajiri-sensei in town, so he'd come tromping straight up the mountain like some idiot. He'd taken out four guards on his way up, giving them serious injuries, before he was captured. Once the matter was cleared up, it had taken Flojo an entire week to recover from the injuries the ninja guards had given him on the way up.

Flojo. That was the reason he was here. He'd trained, and trained, and trained, but he was still no match for Flojo. Even with ascension, which he could only do for less than half a minute, he only matched Flojo's strength. He needed to come back home, to train in ninjutsu with his people, so he could become strong enough to avenge his father. It had been a whole year-and-a-half since he had left here, chasing after Flojo. He was ashamed that he had still not completed his goal. Still, the ninja would respect him; he was the jounin, after all.

He continued up the mountain, already in the proper mindset for training. But, first he would have to see to a lot of things. As jounin, the clan was his responsibility. He had left his uncle in charge of the clan, but he'd been away for far too long. He would do what needed doing now, then train, leave the village and kill Flojo, and be back a week after leaving, to do what was his responsibility.

Kenshin came out of the forest, to a small clearing. There were people moving about, some cooking or working, children playing at being ninja, and other groups of genin training here and there. He was finally home.

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*INTERMISSION*

We interrupt this thread to bring you ... Flojo's Big Post of Ninja Terminology! A number of readers (if anyone's reading this. That'd be a good thing to know; if you are, PM me) may be wondering what a lot of the terms in this thread mean, particularly those who are not familiar with martial arts and their terms. The following are definitions that may help:

genin - a ninja of the lowest class; they have graduated basic training, so to speak, but are still more like grunts than leaders.

chunin - these are like officers. They give lessons to genin and those who haven't reached genin level yet. They are also in charge of the genin.

jounin - the leader of a ninja clan. This is the highest rank that exists; all ninja in the clan defer to the jounin.

shinobi - another term for ninja.

kunai - originally a type of gardening tool, the kunai is used mainly as a throwing knife, although it can be used at close quarters. It looks like an ordinary dagger, with a ring on the end of its hilt.

shuriken - these are the infamous "ninja stars"; basically multi-bladed throwing knives with no handles. They are usually used only as distractions, or to stun the enemy.

shozoku - these are those cool black suits that ninja wear. They have many hidden pockets for carrying crap, like shuriken, kunai, or whatever else ninja need for their mission

hitaiate - these are metal headbands ninja wear to protect their foreheads from swords, clubs, and the many other things that cause death

shinobi-aruki - this is the ninjutsu technique of walking quietly.

ninjutsu - for the uninformed, this is the art ninja practice. It is NOT karate, or judo, or whatever else. It is ninjutsu.

metsubushi - literally translated as "misdirection of attention", the metsubushi includes common things like smoke bombs or flashbang grenades, although anything, including a rock, dirt, or toilet paper can be a metsubushi. The purpose of this is to make to opponent think you're somewhere else, or to stun him while you go in for a vital strike

And now, back to your regularly scheduled thread...

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