Kenichi’s teachings and vision of how Akatsuki would best be served by her inhabitants quickly brought him as much fame and power

as the Great Rabbit’s adventures had. It was for these reasons that the people spoke and he was placed as ruler of all the northern lands

of Akatsuki. The world, as far as they could explore without crossing the great oceans to the east and west, ranged from the cold

northern ice lands of what is still called the Arctic Circle (it seems that the earliest Akatsuki scholars had taken a liking to this name)

to the hot and arid jungles of the lower provinces located far south of the center lines.

And in all the Shogun’s realm, peace prevailed since animal-kind had first began studying and adhering to his teachings.

But as was learned from from the great long-eared samurai, discipline of one’s self and skills keep the samurai upon the path

of the straight and righteous. But not everyone across the great expanse of Akatsuki saw the wisdom of the shogun,

or the need and love of peace that his realms prospered from. And it would not be long before the Great Wyrm would raise it’s

ugly head and begin it’s siege upon animal-kinds glory.

Kenji’s sleep was once again disturbed by this nightmare. A nightmare riddled with war, famine and death. And all that was left from

the equation ... was time. Kenji had studied greatly the romantic love of mankind with their beloved religions. All of which were reigned

by gods and powers that seemed all but bent around on mankind’s destruction. He knew that in the end, if some belovlent force

had indeed not assisted in mankind’s mistake, than it was nothing short of the simplest of all forces which brought about their demise,

Chaos.

“Chaos is neither good, nor is it bad.” His words of teaching young Masaru came flooding into his still foggy conscientiousness.

“I must meditate upon this,” decided Kenji as he dressed himself and donned his sandals. Soon he found himself sitting upon the

bank of his small pond, overlooking the slow flowing water. The sound of it, the soft singing of the early morning bugs and small

birds faded to the slow, calm sound of his breathing. He floated within the ocean of the vast aura of Akatsuki herself.

He studied the eddies, the flows of the colors, the sounds of her inner heartbeat. He watched as the colors about him shifted,

many of them seemed tainted with a darkness he could not comprehend himself.

.

Takeshi awoke less than refreshed as well. He had spent far too many hours in the past week wandering from scroll to scroll,

from book to book in Kenji’s massively libraries. While Masaru had more than proven himself as guide through the murky and

disorienting assortment of writings, he had also taken a good toll upon the samurai’s inner chi as well well. So as he watched the

young fox begin his apparent assault on the meditating Kenji ... he only smiled. “I wonder what fitting punishment the old turtle

would bestow upon child for his disturbance,” wondered the samurai.

Masaru had begun his assault by removing his own sandals and donning his wooden bokken sword as he disappeared off the porch

and into the high vegetation of the garden. The samurai peered through the sleep laden fog that still clouded his vision as he attempted

to follow the young scribe’s progress through the field. “Apparently, scholarly wisdom is not the only thing that Kenji has taught the

boy,” pondered Takeshi. He had lost all sight of the boy, and he was a trained professional. It was not till the samurai had settled

himself completely, cross-legged, on the porch ... when he noticed it. Something. Something was not quite right.

.

The young fox sprang from the tall grass, but not in the direction of the resting master! Ninja! Using their still sheathed katanas

the two feline ninja retaliated on the young fox.

“THUD! SMACK! TWACK! TWA-TWACK! SMACK!” One ninja fell. The other locked swords with the young fox and made it a point

to bend down to his own level, eye to eye, “Today, you fall small one!”

“I think not!” exclaimed Masaru.

Takeshi barely caught a glance of what happened next, as he freed his own wakizashi with a barely audible “CLICK!” and he was

in full sprint to the rescue of Masaru.

Masaru jumped in a spin, smacking the feline in the face with his now bristly tail, flipped over the ninja and buried the bokken deep

into the ninja’s back.

When the samurai had finally reached the scene of the battle, both ninja were now bowing to Masaru and praising both his

skills of stealth and swordsmanship, “Indeed, you have been practicing well, small one! Your skill is more than welcome by our clan

whenever you should like to assist us!” Masaru bowed in return, blushing as much as a red-haired fox could muster, “Domo arigato.”

“Well, I see that peace is also not in my plans for today as well,” Kenji proclaimed in a slow gruff voice.

Takeshi, still standing with his sword drawn, was staring at the two feline intruders, ready to strike, a look of puzzlement upon his

face, “What is the meaning of this? And what are these? Ninja?”

Masaru took the lead, in an attempt to distract his master from the displeasure of the interruption, “Good morning and Akatsuki

be with you, good samurai! Yes, these are indeed ninja. They are our friends and allies from the mountains north of here.

I take it that you have never seen ninja before? They are indeed far more than legend.”