"Our target is a scroll hidden inside of the building we have to get in and get out with the scroll and without getting detected," Takaharu said to everyone.
They were running a training mission to test their skills as a ninja team. They had all killed before of course. Takaharu and Fuuka were still getting requests from clients begging for their services. But now that they were in the middle of the Last Ninja Race they didn't have as much free time to take hits as they used to. So all of them thought this training was pointless. That was until they saw Nagi.
"Shit," he muttered as he triggered a pitfall trap that he was straddling for his life.
"What were you doing Nagi?" Fuuka asked him as they all stepped on him to get over the pit.
"I w-was setting up a trap," he said with difficulty as he got himself over the pit.
"For who there's no one here but us?" Yakumo asked.
"Probably Kasumi. He never did get her back for the laughing poison." Takaharu said looking at him as he rubbed his neck.
They went on and then Nagi tripped another trap. Spears had narrowly missed him. They all crawled under them and looked at him.
"Let me guess. Takaharu embarrassed you before, so you wanted to get even with him now too?" Kasumi asked.
"Something like that," Nagi said as freed himself.
"You need to get over this joking phase. It might work against naive people. But not against seasoned ninja assassins." Fuuka said with a smile as they made their way to the room where the scroll was.
Takaharu grabbed the scroll. And then there was a soft whimpering sound coming from Nagi. They turned to see Fuuka had silently put him in a wrist lock.
"Smoke bomb to do something in the chaos?" Takaharu said with a smile.
"Yup," Fuuka said showing the small smoke bomb she had wrestled away from Nagi while she held him twisting his hand.
"You're easy Nagi," Yakumo said looking at him.
"Please let me go Fuu-chan. It hurts." Nagi said to her.
"Good," she said as she yanked him out of the room. Their mission was completed.
"Ojiisan, what are you doing here?" Nagi asked seeing his grandfather sit at the table sipping a cappuccino.
"I built this dojo. So I can come here and enjoy a cappuccino when I want," he said looking at the five of them.
"So we failed our mission didn't we?" Takaharu asked without asking handing him the scroll. He opened it and it said: Yes you did. All written in Kanji.
"But we got the scroll," Nagi said looking at everyone in disbelief. They had gotten the scroll and none of them were caught by the fake guards that had been set up.
"But we didn't work as a team," Kasumi said.
"You were too busy setting up pranks to get revenge. And we didn't help you out of those spots because we all thought you got what you deserved." Yakumo said.
"And you even pushed me to turn against you in the end," Fuuka said.
"In a real-world fight that could cost someone more than a training session but their lives," Takaharu said looking at Nagi as their grandfather threw a rope around the banister and pulled himself and the chair he was sitting in up to the ceiling.
"In a word you were all..." he said and disappeared in a puff of smoke with a party ball popping open and a single word popped down written again in Kanji.
"NAIVE!" it read.
"What are you reading?" Kasumi asked Nagi who was sitting in a corner a pile of books in front of him.
"Rereading. I got a bunch of ninja manuals a long time ago. I figured after today I should revisit them." Nagi said with a sigh. He hated that he was the reason why they failed. So he was going to make sure that it never happened again.
"You're easy Nagi," Yakumo said with a smile.
"Doing this might not be for you. But it helped me get so many licenses. And I can use them to fake my way anywhere my target is." Nagi said defensively.
"He's right Yakumo." Takaharu said.
"His way of learning may work for him. But don't forget Nagi, that the world isn't in a manual." Fuuka warned.
"Gero Gero Gero!" the Gama Gama Gun sounded alerting them to a new Yokai monster, having been born.
"Now I can show you what I have learned from these manuals," Nagi said with a smile as they went rushing out to face the Yokai.
"Out of my way humans. Kasha-sama is coming through!" Yokai Kasha said as he dashed by on his rollerblades. Knocking over everything in sight. He then saw a child crying for his mother during the attack. He thought he would have some fun and grabbed him.
As he rollerbladed away with the child screaming a voice said. "Kawarimi no Jutsu!"
He looked at the child as Takaharu slashed him with his Ichibantou. He then regrouped with the others. "Let's go," he said placing his shuriken into the Ichibantou.
"The Henge! Nin nin nin, nin ninin nin! Nin nin nin, nin ninin nin!" the Ichibantou sounded as they started their henshin.
"Shuriken Henge!" they said together.
"AKA JA! AO JA! KI JA! SHIRO JA! MOMO JA! NINJA!" the Ichibantou said as they were transformed into the Ninninger.
"Seasoned assassin AkaNinger! " Takaharu said.
"Snipping assassin AoNinger!" Yakumo said.
"Sneaky assassin KiNinger!" Nagi said.
"Sexy assassin ShiroNinger!" Fuuka said.
"Smart assassin MomoNinger!" Kasumi said.
"Shuriken Sentai Ninninger!" they said together.
"We are assassin's and you are marked for assassination yokai," Takaharu said to it.
"Get them!" Kasha yelled for the Hitokarage to attack them.
It wasn't long before they were split into individual fights with them. And like always Fuuka and Takaharu were out front fighting the hardest and best making it look like child's play taking on multiple Hitokarage with their Ichibantou, Gama Gama Guns, and Karakuri Hengen in its sword form. But they weren't alone this time around. The last few fights had put a fire under Yakumo as well. So he was with them. Using Karakuri Hengen in its claw form.
"Now this is what I call a race to the Last Ninja title." Takaharu gloated getting pumped up.
"Intriguing Taka-nii," Yakumo said as he clawed some Hitokarage.
"Boys always thinking with their lower heads," Fuuka said as she fired her Gama Gama Gun at some Hitokarage that thought they were safe from her.
"Wait for me. I wanna fight too." Nagi said as he struggled with his Hitokarage.
"Nagi maybe you should leave it to those three?" Kasumi warned as she helped him.
"I'll be fine, I spent the morning training with those manuals remember." he protested. Running off to join them in the fight with Kasha.
As the three of them fought Kasha they found that his speed was no joke. Just when one of them thought they had him cornered he would slip away. And when they teamed together to fight him, he managed to dodge all three of their respective Ichibantou strikes. They even added the Karakuri Hengen and Gama Gama Gun strikes. But nothing worked.
"Let's see if you can match this speed?" Kasha said as he skated away after knocking all three down.
"Just like the manual says. When an opponent is fast get ahead of him and set a trap." Nagi said as he created a pit hole in front of Kasha.
"Now the finisher!" Nagi said almost gloating that he had beaten a Yokai that was giving the others so much trouble. But Kasha had other plans jumping over the pit and dodging the slash from his Ichibantou sending Nagi into the wall and the pit.
"Don't underestimate my speed," Kasha said with a laugh as he skated away with Nagi struggling to get out of his trap.
"Someone help," Nagi said as he clung to the top portion of the pit as he undid his henshin.
The others were there running to find out what had happened. "You did alright I guess," Takaharu said helping him up and out of the pit.
"You're too easy Nagi. You acted as if you had it in the bag with that kill. I don't know what is in those manuals but they aren't helping." Yakumo chastised him.
"But it was like in the manuals. It was set up for the finisher." Nagi protested.
"Nagi, did you listen to me this morning? Life isn't in a manual. There will be times when you are presented with a task that is nothing like you have ever trained for. At those times you need to go with your gut. On the surface here today you did great. But you failed to take into account his speed. The calculation must have called for him to stop like a normal person. But he is a Yokai who, going by everything he did here, likes to live on the edge." Fuuka said looking at him.
"Fine, I'll go and fix this. I'm going!" he said running off.
"Awww, such a child," Kasumi said with a slight smile.
"I'll go find him," Takaharu said running off after him.
"Calculating his speed and trajectory he ran and the next likely target..." Nagi said as he thought about all of this.
"Kasharira Kasharira!" Kasha yelled as he chased after some people.
"Found you. Going to finish this quickly." Nagi said as he quickly placed the shuriken into the Ichibantou.
"Shuriken Henge!" he said henshining into KiNinger.
"Kasharira Kasharira!" Kasha said playfully as he skated until he was kicked from behind by Nagi.
"I know how fast you are now," he said to him.
"Well, aren't you confident? Alright, let's have a race assassin boy. Let's dual." Kasha said to him.
"Alright, you're on," Nagi said boastfully.
"Just what I hoped for. Kasharira Kasharira! Try and stop me!" Kasha said skating off.
Nagi saw him as he skated away and knew the best way to catch up to him as fast as possible using all the knowledge that he had gathered that morning. "Shuriken ninpou! Mizu no Jutsu!" Nagi said placing the Goton Shuriken in place and spinning to the water element then spun the shuriken.
"MIZU NO JUTSU!" the Ichibantou said then spun the Ichibantou so that the blade was pointing towards the ground.
"Jabujaabu Ja!" the Ichibantou said as it shot out water and he rode the Ichibantou like it was a witch's broom and rode after him chasing after Kasha with all his might.
"Kasharira~Kasharira~," Kasha said as the chase was on. As Takaharu found the two of them as they ran off.
"Really?" Takaharu asked seeing this.
"The Henge!" the Ichibantou said as he pulled it up.
"Shuriken Henge!" he said spinning the shuriken in the Ichibantou henshining into AkaNinger.
"Shuriken ninpou! Mizu no Jutsu!" he said.
"Mizu no Jutsu! Jabujabu Ja!" it said. And he flung the blade as it started to shoot out water and he jumped into the air and landed on the blade and started to ride it like it was a surfboard chasing after the two of them.
"Oh he caught up…" Kasha said as he saw Nagi flying behind him. "Then how about this?!" he said as he cranked up the speed.
"I'm not going to lose!" Nagi said as he did the same.
Takaharu wasn't far behind them. "Huh?" Takaharu said as he stopped the flow of water and landed and undid his henshin. "Shit, I must've overshot them," Takaharu said looking around for a sign of his cousin and the yokai and not seeing anything.
"I did not expect to encounter you here." a fox-masked yokai said stepping out from behind a tree.
"And who are you yokai?" Takaharu asked. He felt something was unique about this yokai. Something that he couldn't explain right away.
"I am Izayoi Kyuemon. A retainer of Kibaoni Gengetsu, whom your grandfather sealed away," he said to him.
"Then you should be more careful who you reveal yourself to in the future...if you make it through this fight that is." Takaharu said as he tried to henshin.
"No need to rush into a fight you might die in, grandchild of the Last Ninja," Kyuemon said pointing at him. The feeling that he had was keeping Takaharu in place and he couldn't explain it to himself as to why he was hesitant to fight this yokai who was the retainer of the family's sworn enemy.
"I'm sure we'll see each other plenty in the future," Kyuemon said as he summoned a bunch of leaves to fall around the two of them. Takaharu slashed through two leaves that were going to cover his eyes as Kyuemon disappeared.
Nagi landed in a junkyard and rubbed the back of his neck looking around. "Common, how did I lose him?" he growled. His nerves were getting the better of him right now. He wanted to show everyone that he was more than just a prankster. But every step he made seemed to show his limitations.
"Because you aren't anything but a wanna-be!" Kasha said coming up behind Nagi and attacking him.
"Kasharira~ Kasharirato!" Kasha said skating up to a truck that was coming towards them stopping in front of it, causing the driver to stop.
"What do you think you're doing? Get out of the way!" the driver said leaning out the window.
"Shut up!" Kasha said as he pulled out a ring and placed it on the hood of the truck as it started to glow. The truck instantly transformed to look a lot like Kasha. And then sped away knocking out the guy behind the wheel as Kasha watched. "Kasharira~ Kasharira!" he gloated as the truck sped off.
Nagi saw the truck coming at him and tried to run away from it. But it was now a puppet of Kasha. And was only designed to kill Nagi. All with an unconscious driver in the driver's seat.
"In that case..." Nagi said summoning a scarecrow duplicate for the truck to run over.
"How do you like that?!" Nagi asked as he watched.
"Looks like my decoy worked like in the manuals," Nagi said happily. Only to be shocked from out of his hiding place as the truck tried to run him down and not the duplicate.
"This isn't going according to my manuals!" Nagi said running from the truck as Kasha laughed a little as he watched him running from the truck. But Kasha thought of another little trick to play on the young ninja.
He threw another ring and it clamped onto his wrists. And then literally yanked Nagi to the truck. Chaining him to the side of it as it rushed by. With Kyuemon standing above them. "Fine work," he said holding up his gord. All as Nagi clung to the side of the truck as it sped up.
As he went rushing past, swinging with the truck's movements three figures came onto the scene. "Just like Nagi. Now we have to save him...or let him die and make this race easier with only four." Yakumo said to Fuuka and Kasumi.
"Now now Cloud-kun. We are training to work as a team." Kasumi said with a smile.
"And he IS our cousin. Familial bond and all that." Fuuka joked.
Yakumo chuckled. "You say that like we haven't been killing our father's and mother's for generations," Yakumo said with a smile as the three of them went to work saving both Nagi and the driver.
"You think you can save him without beating me?" Kasha said gloating at his own work with Nagi.
"We already said you were marked for assassination. It is time to make sure that happens." Yakumo said as all three of them pulled up their Ichibantou.
"Shuriken Henge," they said together.
"AO JA! SHIRO JA! MOMO JA! NINJA!" the Ichibantou said as the three of them went in to try and be the team that they were supposed to train and become. With the three of them working together as one fighting Kasha.
Ao Ninger then pushed the blue button on Ichibantou. "The Waza!" it said.
"Shurkin Ninpou Ougi! Nin Dragon Slash!" Yakumo said and spun his shuriken before the attack.
"AO JA! NINJA!" the Ichibantou said as he attacked Kasha. "Ninja Issen!" it said as he gave a final slash. It sent Kasha flying backward and landing at the feet of a yokai that had been resurrected earlier that day. But he wasn't like any yokai any of them had seen since they had gotten their Ichibantou. He staggered past Kasha who looked up at him.
"Y-You are..." Kasha said seeing him. He was in awe of seeing him before him. "First spear of the Kibaoni Clan, Gabi Raizou-sama!" Kasha said looking at the back of Gabi Raizou. He jumped to his feet like having been slash never happened. Seeing this yokai gave him a second wind somehow. "You guys are as good as dead. Now that Raizou-sama is here." Kasha said almost hiding behind him.
"I am fed up...with underlings fighting, that is," Raizou said.
"Eh?" Kasha said shrinking a little. As the others watched as Raizou pulled out his sword and swung his sword in a full 360. Slashing through Kasha. Who fell down and exploded. Sending the Sealing Shuriken flying.
"What is this guy's deal?" Fuuka asked as he started to walk towards them.
"It's no use," Nagi said as the truck raced along in the quarry. "Taka-chan! Cloud-kun! Fuu-chan!" he said looking off. He knew that the three of them would know how to get out of this. He looked at the guy in the cabin of the truck out cold. While he was an assassin he never thought about actually watching someone die that he wasn't the cause of. He had killed a couple of people in his life and watched them die too...but this was different somehow.
"How am I going to get us out of this?" he asked thinking about the manuals. "AARGH! There was nothing about something like this in those manuals." Nagi yelled think it all through.
With one swing of his sword, all three of the Ninninger fell with explosions all around them. Their henshins were undone. They were in a little pain which they never felt while fighting as Ninninger. The suits kept the pain to a minimum. But right now Kasumi was struggling to get to a sitting position. And Fuuka and Yakumo were wavering as they kneeled on one knee. Both looking like they were about to fall over. As Kyuemon came to the fight scene unbeknownst to the fighters. He was the one that brought Raizou back. And he chuckled a little and picked up the Sealing Shuriken. And walked away.
"Is that it? I had heard that you were 'Ninja Assassins'. But since I have been dead the meaning must have changed. Because you are some of the weakest 'Ninja' I have seen." Raizou said gloating. The three of them looked at this yokai not sure if they were good enough yet to give him so much as a hangnail. "I can't even truly wake up fighting you three," he said looking at them. He then sent another slash at them.
But Takaharu showed up just in time and stood in front of them. "KIN NO JUTSU!" his Ichibantou said. He tried to shield the others from the blast.
"What?" Raizou said seeing this. And with immense difficulty, he sent the slash behind them creating more explosions.
"Baka! Where have you been oniichan?" Fuuka demanded as he took a step back after sending it flying.
"He's strong. I have no idea how I managed to send that flying." Takaharu said.
"With a little help," Yakumo said gingerly holding up his wand.
"From me too," Fuuka muttered gripping her Ichibantou with the Goton Shuriken placed in it so tightly that she almost dug into her hand.
"Arigato," Takaharu said to both of them.
"You better be. I got nothing left for someone this strong bakaniichan. And Nagi is still in trouble." Fuuka said to him.
"You go to Nagi. I'll try and fight this guy." Takaharu said.
"You better make it through this Taka-nii," Yakumo said as the three of them went to help Nagi.
"You are definitely the strongest guy I have ever faced," Takaharu said to Raizou.
"The Henge!" the Ichibantou sounded.
"Shuriken Henge!" Takaharu said spinning his shuriken.
"AKA JA! NINJA!" they heard as Takaharu went into the fight with Raizou.
"Come on. What do I do?" Nagi asked himself. "Think this out what would Taka-chan and Fuu-chan do here? Hell, even Cloud-kun could just magic himself out of this," he said to himself. That's when he remembered what Fuuka had told him after the first blunder with Kash.
"Life isn't in a manual. There will be times when you are presented with a task that is nothing like you have ever trained for. At those times you need to go with your gut." he heard her say. He thought for a moment and he came up with the answer...or at least he thought he had.
"Okay, here I go!" Nagi said. He just managed to break the chains with brute force. He opened the door to the cabin and grabbed the driver. "Where's the damn break? Shit not working." Nagi said he then pulled the driver out of the cabin.
"KI NO JUTSU!" his Ichibantou sounded.
"Ki no Jutsu!" Nagi said.
"Moku Moku Ja!" it said. And he created a net and threw the driver first. Who landed it on it no problem. But Nagi wasn't so lucky. He missed the net by several feet. And started to fall to the bottom of the quarry.
That's when Fuuka, Yakumo, and Kasumi already henshined caught him on Byunmaru. "We have you, Nagi," Kasumi said.
"I'm proud of you Nagi. You did that by yourself. No manual. Just you." Fuuka said.
He rubbed the back of his neck. "But next time...think about how big of a net you would need," Yakumo said to him.
The fight with Raizou was going about as well as Takaharu thought it might. Raizou beating Takaharu with slash after slash. Kicking him around and then knocking his Ichibantou out of his hands. "Is that all you got red guy?! I was hoping for more from you. Your ancestors killed me after all." Raizou said to Takaharu as he stepped on Takaharu's chest.
Takaharu didn't speak. He just tried to free himself from under Raizou with a Substitution Jutsu. It worked and he grabbed his Ichibantou. Raizou sent the straw clone at Takaharu who sliced through it. But he was sent flying before it hit the ground.
"Struggle all you want, it's no use. Tho I must say this. You have their courage. You knew that you were beaten before you started. But you never backed down. I commend you for that red guy." Raizou said to him.
"Arigato," Takaharu said to him. He stood up. "And I'll show you some more of that courage right now," Takaharu said. "Shurkin Ninpou Ougi!" he said holding his blade.
"The Waza!" the Ichibantou said.
"Violent Ninja Slash!" Takaharu said.
"Nanja nanja! Aka Ja! Ninja!" it said as he rushed Raizou then jumped into the air. "Ninja Issen!" it said as he came crashing down on top of Raizou. Takaharu put everything that he had into this blow. He knew that if he didn't he was going to die right here and now. And he broke through Raizou's defenses and slashed him. It took almost everything he had to be standing. But he didn't know if he had done it and defeated Raizou. So he didn't want to drop his guard for a second.
Raizou tilted his head back and then let out a big EH. "It looks like you have some fire after all red guy. I'm finally awake!" Raizou said. In his head, Takaharu was cursing up a storm. That was all he had. And if he was going to die his last words were not going to be an endless stream of curse words. "Here I go! Now, this battle is truly life or death!" he started powering up.
But before he could deliver the blow that would kill him Kasumi came in between the two of them. "Shuriken Ninpou! Mizu no Jutsu!" she said spinning the Goton Shuriken. And she created a wall of mist.
"Trying to run?!" Raizou asked.
"Here is our chance Takaharu-kun. Let's retreat." she said.
"I hate having to run. But discretion is the better part of valor." Takkaharu said.
"That is right. Our mission is to make it back alive. If we die you won't have a chance to beat Ojiisan we have to live." Kasumi said to him.
"RED GUY!" Raizou yelled through the mist. "My name is Gabi Raizou! I want you to be stronger the next time we meet!" Raizou said.
"I'm not the only one you need to worry about. Fuuka, Yakumo, Nagi, and Kasumi are just as strong as I am!" he said Kasumi looked to him. "And one of us will show you that the Igasaki Ninja Clan is stronger than ever before!" Takaharu yelled. And the two of them left Raizou in the mist.
"Taka-chan" Nagi said seeing the two of them.
"Shall we go?" Takaharu asked.
That was when Kyuemon laughing walked in front of them. "You again?" Takaharu asked with a sigh.
"That was in the shrine from the old dojo!" Fuuka said seeing Kyuemon left a mallet up.
"And that's a Sealing Shuriken!" Nagi said seeing what was in his other hand.
"So he wants the Sealing Shuriken too huh?" Yakumo said eyeing up Kyuemon. Then Kyuemon turned the Sealing Shuriken into a darker version of their shuriken that they use with their Nintality. But this one had the word SMASH on it.
"You shouldn't assume that you are the only ones that can use these. Or the Shouken no Jutsu. Gashadokuro Shoukan no Jutsu!" he said and he used the mallet striking the air in front of him. And summoned a giant yokai called: Giant Youkai Gashadokuro. "I look forward to next time we meet Ninningers," Kyuemon said to them vanishing before them. Then popped back up. "...assuming you survive this," he said and vanished again.
"Won't this day just end already!" Takaharu grumbled as all of them summoned their mechas.
"The Shoukan! Dareja?! Dareja?!" the Ichibantou said as they pushed the button.
"Shuriken Ninpou! Shoukan no Jutsu!" they said together.
"Dare ja, dare ja?! Da~re, dare ja?! Dare ja, Dare ja?! Da~re, dare ja?! Shinobimaru! Dragomaru! Dumpmaru! Wanmaru! Byunmaru!" the mecha were summoned. And they were truly working as a team now. They learned from today and knew that working together is just as important as working apart. And they managed to beat this giant yokai without too much difficulty. And everyone was just glad to be heading home after a long mission.
Nagi packed the manuals away in the box he had gotten them from. "You done with the manuals Nagi?" Takaharu asked seeing this. They were all sitting around after a long day trying to relax and recover from the mission.
"Yes. I read them all. And like Fuu-chan said sometimes I need to trust my gut more than a manual." Nagi said with a smile.
"I am wise beyond my years," Fuuka said smugly.
"So are you going to try for the Last Ninja?" Yakumo asked.
"Dunno. But I must admit the race is kind of fun." Nagi said with a smile. And then Takaharu smirked as he watched everyone laugh and enjoy themselves after a very hard and long day.