Ninpocho Chronicles

Ninpocho Chronicles is a fantasy-ish setting storyline, set in an alternate universe World of Ninjas, where the Naruto and Boruto series take place. This means that none of the canon characters exists, or existed here.

Each ninja starts from the bottom and start their training as an Academy Student. From there they develop abilities akin to that of demigods as they grow in age and experience.

Along the way they gain new friends (or enemies), take on jobs and complete contracts and missions for their respective villages where their training and skill will be tested to their limits.

The sky is the limit as the blank page you see before you can be filled with countless of adventures with your character in the game.

This is Ninpocho Chronicles.

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Private Finding My Way

Uchima Shoma

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A stealthy ninja is a dangerous ninja

It wasn't the first time those words had passed through Shoma's head. He'd first heard them from Toshi during their sparring session a couple of months back when they'd gone at it in the park just outside of the Oak District. He'd gotten his ass handed to him pretty squarely that night, but he'd come away with a whole new understanding of the shinobi mindset. It's not about being flashy or using the coolest Jutsu. It's about lying in wait for the perfect opportunity, luring your opponent into the position that you want them in, and not exposing yourself needlessly. He'd had plenty of time to mull that over, and now he was ecstatic to hear his own conclusions more or less echoed by his teacher, though not in the way one might think.

Shoma was seated on the grass outside the academy, watching and listening closely to his instructor's teachings. He was a young man, likely recently promoted to Chuunin, but he had a strong reputation as a savvy and especially dangerous Taijutsu artist. From what little Shoma had seen, the reputation seemed to be accurate.

Come on up, Uchima Shoma. I'd like to demonstrate what I mean.

Shoma sprang to his feet and strode to the center of the circle. He was still a fair bit shorter than the instructor, but not by as big of a margin as his other classmates. He stood a few feet in front of the instructor and assumed a fighting stance. Left foot in front, right foot behind, weight centered, light on his feet.

Good stance, Shoma. Now, if I assume the same stance, which of us has the advantage?

Neither of us, we're neutral.

Correct. And if we stay like this and neither of us attacks, what will happen?

I guess nothing.

Correct again. Now, what you might remember from our last class is that the aggressor, or the person who attacks first, typically is not going to try to cause any damage on the first strike. The first attack is almost always either a probe to determine how good their opponent's defenses are, or a feint, designed to trick their opponent into opening up their defenses. We worked on throwing those kinds of attacks yesterday, but today I want to go over a couple of philosophical and tactical reasons that we should almost never try to be the aggressor.

First, remember that combat is always a means of defense first and foremost. We never attack someone who does not pose a threat, either immediate or in the foreseeable future. If I see a man walking down the street, and he hasn't said anything or done anything to me or anyone in my village, and I have no reason to think that he will, then why would I attack? Likewise, if an altercation begins, we want to allow our opponent to first justify any actions that we may take against them, and that means letting them attack first. That way, you avoid to moral low ground of attacking a non-threatening target.

Second, a more practical reason for the purpose of winning the fight is that if we have a very good defense and we anticipate the first probe or feint, then we get to maintain our defensive ability while our opponent, by nature of attacking, is forced to sacrifice defense in at least one part of their body and give us an opening. Let me demonstrate.


Here the instructor took a half-step forward, and extended his fist slowly. Shoma, moving at a demonstration pace, ducked to the side and took his own half-step forward.

Good, I see you've got the gist of it already, Shoma. Pay attention, class. Because Shoma was not looking to attack first, and he understood my strategy, he was able to respond to my jab appropriately by ducking out of the way and moving forward for an attack of his own. Now, in this stance, my weight is forward, making a kick a difficult option. My punch has missed, and I will have to re-chamber if I'm to throw another one. That means that Shoma has effectively put himself in a very effective defensive position, but because he ducked and came forward rather than backward, he has also improved his own offensive position. Look at my left side now, class. There's an opening that wasn't there before. Where is it?

The circle of children responded in unison

Your ribs!

The instructor smiled and replied,

That's right. Shoma has a clear shot at my ribs because I took the initiative to extend my arm for this first punch. Shoma can now take advantage of this opportunity to throw a low hook into my ribs. Go ahead and throw a light punch, Shoma.

Shoma obliged, throwing the hook and stepping to the outside at the same time. He saw the grin on the instructor's face widen.

It looks like someone has been reading ahead. Look at what Shoma did, class. As he was throwing his punch, he stepped so that he's no longer in front of me. He's square to my ribs now and if I want to attack him, I have very few options. I can either throw a side-kick, which would open me up to a trip attack, or I can try to reset my position, but if I try to reset my position, then Shoma can cut the angle and move behind me before I can rotate around. This is a very, very bad position for me to be in, and it happened all because I threw the first punch at an opponent who recognized the opportunity it would provide him.

Now, I know you all have been taking beginner stealth classes, and I want to impress upon you the understanding that stealth isn't just about hiding from your opponent when he or she doesnt' know you're there. Stealth can also be about hiding your intentions during a fight. When Shoma threw that hook, he wasn't looking to just damage my ribs. No, he wanted to get behind me, where just about any attack he throws will be very, very difficult for me to defend. Isn't that right, Shoma?


Yeah, I thought changing the angle would be good, and your weight is all moving forward, so I thought it might be hard for you to come back around.

Great instincts, Shoma.

The instructor came back to a neutral position, turned and bowed to Shoma who bowed back.

Thank you for the demonstration, Shoma. Now, everyone please break into groups and let's get some light sparring started. Take turns being the aggressor and defender, and try to use what we've learned. Aggressors try to think about how the defender might react to your attacks and try to be one step ahead. Defenders, take advantage of the openings your aggressors leave you and try to hide your intentions so that they can't react to your counters. This is a game of deception as much as it is a fight.

Shoma walked back to the circle where he was approached by a classmate who was about the same size. There weren't many that fit that bill in the class. In fact, Shoma and the other boy were the only two who were anywhere close to the instructor's height.

Want to give it a try?

Sure, let's go.

Alright, I'll be the aggressor first. It looks like you get the defender stuff pretty easily.

Ok, great. We'll switch off when the aggressor gets a clean shot.

The other boy nodded and they assumed their positions in an open patch of grass. They were just far enough apart that they couldn't hit one another. The other boy, Macha was his name, would have to move in for his attack.

The first attack was a front snap kick aimed at Shoma's head. Macha hopped forward just a little bit to close the distance. Shoma had been expecting a punch, but thankfully the appropriate reaction was about the same. He ducked his head slightly to the side and blocked with his forearm. In the split second that he realized it was a kick and not a punch, he extended his blocking arm to attempt a wrap up of Macha's leg. Macha might have been expecting that though, as he was sure to re-chamber the leg before Shoma could get a grip on it.

The second attack was a spinning back kick. It seemed Macha was quite fond of using his legs. Shoma saw the transition as it was beginning, and managed to step in the same direction that Macha was spinning. This put him far enough to the left that Macha would have to over-extend the spin in order to hit Shoma. When Macha realized this, he attempted to reverse the spin and quickly square back up to Shoma, but this forced him to spend an extended amount of time on one leg, leaving him vulnerable to Shoma's low sweep, which knocked him cleanly on his ass.


That's pretty good. I thought for sure you were going to try to take my back like you did in the demonstration.

Yeah, I thought about it for a second, but realized you'd probably see the same thing coming so I tried something I didn't think you'd expect.

You hid your intentions. Can you show me how that thought process went?

Sure, let's reset and do it in slow-mo. I'll tell you what I was thinking at different spots.

The two squared up again and ran through the same sequence step-by-step, Shoma explaining how he'd initially mis-read the first kick, but how the reaction had worked anyway. He'd wanted to tie up the leg to set up a sweep, but when that didn't work and Macha had thrown the spinning back-kick, Shoma had changed directions to stay on the inside of the kick, and then revisit his original plan by sweeping the leg.

They worked like that for the remainder of class, taking turns as the aggressor and working through different reactions to each other's mistakes and misdirections. Shoma occasionally caught the instructor looking over, a smirk on his face. Privately, Shoma could tell that he'd finally picked something up faster than his classmates had. He was finally good at something. He finally stood out, and for the first time since arriving in Konoha, he felt like he was really getting somewhere.

[CA Application]
[THREAD LEFT]
 

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