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Hey guys, I'm back with a new chapter. Sorry it took a while to post this. I was working on some issues in the story. I should be able to post faster now. This chapter will have some combat in it. Enjoy!

It has been two weeks since I started my training. I finally got the endurance training done. I'll be completely honest: it was the worst weeks of my life, but it was well worth it in the end, I can now run about a mile and a half before breaking down. He told me we will work on it once a week.

Once we were done with that. He helped me increase my senses, he said they were not as strong as they should be. He started me out with different kinds of prey, that I figured out pretty quickly; I know my food. After that is when it got tricky: I had to do a lot of scavenger hunts last week, but those are done. I wonder what's next?

The sun began to raise, I could feel the warmth of it on my back. We were meditating; grandpa said it is a good way to wake up and become more alert. We started doing this every morning since last week. It does help a little. The water in the river was flowing peacefully and the birds were singing; this is a great meditating spot.

"All right boys," grandpa broke the silence, "time to go." He got up and started to do some stretching. Ian followed.

"What are we doing today?" I asked as I stretched; I felt something crack in my back. It felt nice.

Grandpa started walking away and said, "Hand-to-hand training." I followed immediately. Finally, after these few weeks of torture, I am learning some sort of combat. This will be fun...I hope. We followed grandpa until we reached an opening in the forest; it looks like a campsite the humans would use.

"Okay," grandpa started, "in order to learn anything with swords or other weapons, it is best to be familiar with your hands. Ian and I will improve your coordination and teach you some basic moves for now." I'm so excited.

"Now," he continued, "first you will learn the correct stance I was taught by my Sensei, there are many different forms, but I will be teaching you one."

He put one foot ahead of the other he explained that it was so he could back up if needed or so he can take a hit without falling back. It's a strong stance. "Now you try," he said.

I put my feet just like how his were and raised my fists.

"Good," he said, "I want to test your reaction time," was all he said before he took a swing at me. Instinctively I flinched and covered my face with my arms, I was met with a strong hit on my left arm. I fell back a few paces.

Grandpa sighed, "Fast reaction time, but no form, looks like we need to work on that." He set me back up so I could try again. My arm was probably bruised, but I wanted to learn. Throughout the next hour I got hit a lot in a lot of places, but right when I was about to give up and take a break, I blocked his hit by grabbing his arm.

My eyes went wide and my tail started shaking; I did it, I thought. "I did it," I said still surprised.

"Congrats," Ian said, "but can you do it a second time," he threw a punch at my gut. I grabbed his fist with my right arm while my left hand grabbed his arm. "Wow," was all he said.

"Good job, next we will learn how to block kicks," grandpa explained, "this is much more difficult to master, but in time you will perfect it."

"It took me a whole week," Ian pointed out.

"Now get back in your stance," I followed his order and got back into my stance. "the best way to block a kick is to turn with it," he explained, "I'll demonstrate it with Ian first."

Ian got into his stance and grandpa threw a kick. Ian turned and put his arm on grandpa's leg to the side. Grandpa turned with it and threw a punch with his left arm. Ian quickly spun and grabbed his hand Ian bent his arm until grandpa had his arm behind his back. Then the fight stopped.

I was amazed, it all happen so fast and so smoothly. Is this how people fight like, and to the death? One wrong move could put you in a lot of danger. This is exciting. "Awesome," I said.

"Indeed," grandpa walked up to me and put a hand on my shoulder, "and you will master it in time."

"Well let's go!" I exclaimed excitedly.

We worked on hand-to-hand for two weeks; I still haven't mastered it, but he said I was skilled enough and that we will return to it later. The next thing he taught me is how to track: he said if I'm on my own, I'll obviously need to hunt. Grandpa and Ian had me track them on some days and caribou on others. I asked if I could track other wolves but grandpa said it was too dangerous.

Once we were done with that, they worked on my stealth, they had me hide my scent in many ways: being down wind, getting wet in the river, and some other things I hope I won't have to do again, but if I have to to survive, then so be it.

I have been training for a month and a half now, and so far I have no regrets. I haven't lost much weight, but I do feel healthier. My appetite increased as we started training so nothing really changed. I think I am going to accept being a ninja and leaving.

The next morning, I woke up before Ian; that was the second time this month. Not bad. I decided to go out to the river and meditate after a breakfast. I grabbed some of the leftover meat we had from yesterday and cooked it up. It was delicious. As I was about to go out, I ran into dad. "Morning dad," I greeted, quiet enough not to wake anybody else.

"Good morning, Luke, how'd you sleep?" he asked.

"Fine," I answered.

"You normally not up this early," he pointed out.

"I know, I was going to go out and meditate after having a little breakfast." It wasn't little.

"I see," he said. I started walking out the door when dad called to me, "Luke!" I looked over to him, "Your mother and I are very proud of you."

"Thanks dad," I said as I walked out the door.

While I was meditating, I could feel the sun rise on my back. It's a nice feeling. I sat there for a good twenty minutes before I heard footsteps; it was grandpa and Ian.

"Hi," I greeted.

"Good morning," Ian said, "I see you woke up before me. That rarely happens," he pointed out, while rubbing his eyes.

"Why are you so tired?" I asked, "you went to bed the same time I did."

Grandpa stared at Ian with a stern expression. Ian flattened his ears and lowered his head.

Grandpa answered the question for him, "I caught him coming home from the human city," he said, not sounding happy.

It was silent for a moment. I didn't know what to think. Honestly, I think it's awesome, but I felt like that was the wrong thing to say in front of grandpa. So I said, "Really?" That's the best thing I could think of.

"Yes," Ian responded, "it was a stupid and dangerous idea, but I made it out safe and I found a few interesting things." He pulled something out of his pocket; it was rectangle and black with a white outlining.

"What is that?" I asked.

He looked at it and said, "This is what the humans call a smart phone. It is a way of communicating from long distances, really far distances," he explained. "I have yet to figure it out how they fully work, but I grabbed four just in case," he said, sounding a little boastful.

"I didn't know you were fond of human technology," grandpa mused, looking at the phone, "but you still broke rule number one."

"I know," Ian said, "and I'm sorry." His tail dropped.

"I accept your apology, but you still will be punished," grandpa explained.

"Today," grandpa changed the subject, "you will choose your weapons and start some battle training. We will start with a spar. I was going to spar with you, but now, I decided to have Ian do it with you. That should be a good enough punishment." Ian flattened his ears. "Ever since his second spar, Ian tries to stay away from violence. There was an...accident last time," he explained. He looked away from Ian.

After he mentioned that, I remembered a time three years ago that Ian came home with a large gash on his leg. He told me he fell off a tree and cut his leg, but now I have a feeling that is was not the case.

"Grandpa," Ian started, "stop worrying about that, I've recovered from that, it's okay."

"I know, everybody has their own fears, and mine is endangering my family in any way, shape, or form. It's just something I can't get over ever since Lilly passed away, I feel like I failed her." It was silent again. Grandpa cleared his throat, "But enough of that, let's get down to business," he declared.

"First thing first," grandpa started, "you need to choose your weapon or weapons. Follow me."

We followed him back to the cave where the weapons are at. Grandpa went to the back of the den and grabbed the box. I could hear metal clinking inside of the box. The thought that these weapons killed many people in the past sent shivers up my spine. They will also be the weapons to create peace hopefully when I'm done with them.

Grandpa opened the box and a lot of weapons fell out onto the ground. "Pick a weapon and I will tell you about it," he explained.

I looked at all of weapons; I kind of wanted a sword, they seem like something that shouldn't be too hard to master compared to a lot of these other complex weapons. I picked out a long sword and showed grandpa.

"Ah, Dakota's katana," he pointed out, "He had nightmares whenever he had this sword in possession, so he gave it to me. He was very skilled with it; give it a try," he encouraged.

I went outside and grabbed it with both hands, the sword seemed a little too heavy for me. I swung it around a few times in the air and I almost lost balance. It was too heavy. Next.

I decided to find something other than a sword. I found something that is a short stick with a curved blade making it look like an L. "The kama," grandpa stated, "no one in our team used this, we mostly had swords. Are you considering this one?" he asked. I nodded and he told me to try it out. I went outside and did the same thing I did with the katana. This one didn't feel right; I didn't really like it.

I went back into the box and took a look at a few weapons. The most comfortable of them all so far was the katana, so I decided to back to swords.

I picked up a shorter sword. It felt perfect as I grabbed it. Grandpa walked up to me and said, "This was what I used. I got it when I earned my black belt. It has served many years in the military and it never lost its edge. I went everywhere with it."

"Cool," I said, "just picking it up felt comfortable. It is light unlike the katana. What is it called?" I asked, looking at it.

"The ninjato, pretty much a shorter and straighter katana. I prefer it over the katana," he claimed.

I went outside and swung it around. This was definitely my sword. "Okay," I called to them inside, "I'm choosing the ninjato."

"Great," Ian said happily as he walked outside, "I'm using the katana, I was trained with that. Good luck," he said.

"Okay," grandpa started, "I will set you both up in different places then you will have to find the other. Remember: no maiming. The first to have their back on the ground loses. I'll move Luke first. Once you hear me howl, you may begin." Seems fair enough. Ian and I both nodded as grandpa guided me to my location. We walked for a good five minutes to the base of a large oak tree. "Wait here," grandpa ordered.

"Okay," I returned.

I stood there for a while, looking over the sword I chose. On closer inspection, I noticed the widest part of the blade had the word Wolfe engraved into it. That's awesome.

I heard the howl. Time to start.

Immediately, the fur on my neck rose as I started to walk back to where we were. On my way back, I thought of something: what if Ian tries to ambush or flank me, he has ninja training after all. I decided I should use my tracking skills I was trained on.

I opened my mouth and took a deep breath and caught grandpa's trail and a rabbit's trail right away, but no Ian. I extended my hearing to its max; maybe I could hear him. Nope. Let's keep moving towards the direction I think he is.

I found a clearing in the forest and I tried picking up his scent two more times, but I found nothing. I think he is masking his scent. Damn it I cursed under my breath. Why did not think of that; I'm pretty much a sitting duck now. Might as well wait for him to come for me then, I decided. It was silent for a long time; I had my eyes and ears on full alert. I have no idea where he will come from, so I had my sword at the ready.

After standing there for a while, I heard something in the trees behind me. I turned around and squinted my eyes in the sun. Clever, hiding himself in the sun, but I could hear him. "Come on out Ian," I whispered. I would rather fight in the open right now. I don't want to hit a tree with my sword and lose my grip, so he'll bring the fight to me.

I heard more sounds, but they were moving to my left. I followed the sound with my eyes. Soon enough, Ian came out of the trees. Time to fight.

My heart started racing as he charged me. He had his sword raised up to his right. He was going to slash diagonally down to the left. I only had little time to react, but grandpa said I have one of the best reaction times he's seen. I side-stepped to the right.

Ian missed, but his recovering time was better than mine. He used his current momentum to spin and did a side swing. I had the time to bring up my sword to block it. He hits hard, I almost lost my grip. Both of our hands went back from the blow. I took the time to back up. Defence, then offence. Ian swiftly advanced forward; he was about to chop down by my feet. I quickly jumped and he missed. Offence time. I was about to take a swing when I landed, but he used the same spinning trick as earlier. I blocked it, but then my heart stopped, I dropped my sword.

Ian turned to make his final attack to claim his victory, but as he did, I instinctively put my left foot over his right and grabbed his wrist. I squeezed as hard as I could. He dropped his sword. I kicked it away.

Ian took a few steps backwards in order to recover. He knew as well as I did in hand-to-hand combat, weight was an advantage, so he tried to go for his sword. When he went down to grab it, I rammed him with my shoulder. Ian grunted and landed hard on the floor. I quickly grabbed his sword and pointed it to him.

"Checkmate," was all I said.

His eyes were wide, "how did you do that!?" he asked in utter shock.

I shrugged and threw the sword down in the grass and helped Ian up. "Dunno, I just did it out of instincts, I guess."

I heard clapping behind me and turned around to see grandpa. "Good," he said, "I told you using your weight in hand-to-hand is effective." He walked up to me, put a hand on my shoulder and said, "I'm proud of you. You will make a great ninja."

"I will teach you some of the basics this week," he told me, "Today, we will work on your grip and basic attacks. Those are your weak spots that I can see right now."

"Cool, but, can we have some lunch first," I smiled sheepishly.

Grandpa chuckled, "You and your food."

Hope you enjoyed this chapter. This was my first combat scene; I would greatly appreciate some tips from you guys on how to write better ones. See you next chapter!