(lii.)

"Now, when he turns around again, you fire another arrow."
"But--"
"And then, when he turns, to examine the second arrow, you leap across the chasm, and--"
"--but, Sensei--"
"What?"
"...why are we doing this?"

He stared, angrily, at his young protege.

"What do you mean, why? The arrows are a distraction! They--"
"No, no, I understand that, Sensei, but, I mean, why do we need to distract them?"

The Sensei reared back. "This is the nature of man. If you attack him, and he notices, he will fight back. This is why you try to distract him, so that you can hit him without him noticing."

The young protege shook his head. "No, no, I mean, why are we attacking in the first place?"
"Why?"
"Yes."
"We are ninjas, are we not?"
"We are."
"Of the Toyota clan, correct?"
"Right."
"And what is our role, in this modern era?"

The young protege sighed. "To protect the innocent drivers of the world from evildoers and car accidents."

"Precisely."
"But, I'm still confused--"
"Do you remember Frank?"
"Wetherill? Of course I remember him. He was aweso--"
"He's in there. They 'arrested' him, on undue charges."
"That's bullshit!" -- he paused, drew another arrow, then asked -- "wait, why doesn't he just use his mad ninja skills?"

The Sensei hit the young protege in the back of the head. "Frank is not a ninja!"


[chapter liii.]