The Japanese Ninja Surprise (3 page)

An hour later, Stanley and Oda Nobu stood on the platform of the
Shinkansen
—Japan’s famous bullet train! Oda Nobu held on to Stanley’s hand tightly. Even so, as the big sleek train whooshed into the station, Stanley felt himself lifted ever-so-slightly off
his feet. Oda squeezed his hand tighter.

“Today, I will show you the westernmost tip of Japan, Stanley-san, which is also the southernmost tip,” he said. “There we will see many wonderful things, including the first cherry blossoms of the year. Perhaps we will chase the opening blossoms all the way to the north.” He smiled warmly.

Stanley felt much better than he had the night before. He felt proud again to be Oda Nobu’s personal ninja. Then
something occurred to him. “Oda-san,” he said. “Where are your bodyguards today?”

Oda Nobu laughed. “I’m afraid I gave them the wrong instructions. They are waiting for me at the movie studio. But so what?” He smiled and spread his hands. “I have my own personal ninja with me. Why do I need bodyguards?”

That made Stanley feel proud, but also a little nervous. What if something happened? He was responsible for the great movie star’s safety now. He and he alone. Then again, Oda Nobu was the most famous warrior on the planet. Who would dare try to hurt him?

Stanley thought about these things as
they settled into the comfortable chairs on the bullet train. Almost immediately, the train slid out of the station. Within moments, they were racing through the Japanese countryside.

“The
Shinkansen
travels at nearly three hundred kilometers per hour,” Oda Nobu said, as the towns and fields outside became a blur.

“Wow!” said Stanley. “That’s…that’s nearly two hundred miles per hour!” He suddenly realized his teachers were right. Math was really useful!

As they rode, Oda Nobu reached into his pocket and pulled out a small square of shiny paper. He made a few quick folds and twists, and there was a
perfect little frog! He gave it to Stanley, pulled another square of paper from his pocket and—
swish, snap, snick!
—presented Stanley with an elegant long-necked crane.

“You’re really good at origami, Oda-san!” Stanley said. “Almost as good as you are at karate!”

Just then, the door of the train car opened and a man walked in. He was wearing a dark suit and dark glasses.
He noticed Oda Nobu and slowed down, before walking past.

Stanley saw that Oda Nobu was suddenly frowning and tightly gripping the armrest of his seat.

“Oda-san!” Stanley said. “Are you all right?”

Oda Nobu released his grip on the armrest. He nodded. “Stanley-san,” he said, “I must tell you something.”

For a few moments, Oda Nobu stared out the window at the hills rushing by. “You and I are very much alike, Stanley-san,” he said at last. “When I look at you, I see myself as a young boy.”

Stanley was stunned. “You were flat, too?”

Oda Nobu laughed. “No. But I was also…different. In my own way.” He turned to face Stanley. “Look at me, Stanley-san. What do you see?”

Stanley smiled. “I see the greatest movie star in the whole world!”

“Look more closely,” Oda Nobu said. “What do you see when you watch my movies? You see this handsome face. This perfect smile. You hear this deep voice.

“Stanley-san, when I was your age, I wanted to be a karate master. But this face, and this smile, and this voice made me different in other ways. And so, instead, I became an actor.”

Stanley listened quietly as Oda Nobu spoke.

“Instead of learning karate, I learned to act,” he continued. “I only
pretend
to know karate, in the movies.”

“But I’ve seen your movies!” Stanley said. “You are a master!”

Oda Nobu shook his head sadly. “No, Stanley-san. When it is time for a big fight scene, I am not in it. It is my stunt double you see in the movies. He looks like me. But unlike me, he really is a karate master.”

Stanley couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“It is why I have bodyguards,” Oda
Nobu said. “On the movie screen, I can defeat all enemies. In the real world, I can defeat no one. I cannot even use my ninja star. It is only to make me appear tough.”

They rode in silence for a few minutes.

“Stanley-san,” Oda Nobu spoke. “Here is a lesson I learned and that I wish to share with you. These things that make me special—this face, this smile, this voice—these things make me
what
I am, but not
who
I am. Do you understand?”

“I think so,” Stanley said. But he wasn’t sure.

“
Who
I am is the boy who wanted
to be a karate master,” Oda Nobu said, and placed his hand over his heart. “He is still in here. But I forgot about him for too long. I got confused by
what
I am. And now I think it is too late for him.”

Oda Nobu looked very serious now. “Stanley-san, your flatness is what makes you special. But you must remember this: Being flat is
what
you are. It is not
who
you are.
Who
you are is a very bright, very funny, very curious young boy. It is who you are, flat or round. Always remember that, Stanley-san. Flat or round.”

Oda Nobu had said that they would see many wonderful sights at the end of their journey. Stanley was not disappointed.

Everywhere he looked, he saw hundreds of cherry trees, each covered with thousands of pink blossoms. The blossoms swayed in a warm breeze blowing in from the East China Sea.
Standing there in the bright sunlight under a deep-blue sky, Stanley thought it was the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen.

“Someday, Stanley-san,” Oda Nobu said, “I will visit you in America. We will go together to your nation’s capital, Washington, District of Columbia. Did you know that you have your own cherry trees there?”

Stanley said he hadn’t known that.

“Oh, yes,” Oda Nobu said. “In nineteen-twelve, the people of Japan, as a sign of friendship, gave your country three thousand cherry trees. And now every spring, you have your very own Cherry Blossom Festival. Yes, I believe
that someday we will go to it together.”

Oda Nobu smiled down warmly. But then he looked at Stanley closer. He frowned. “Stanley-san, I am sorry to say that you are still a little creased from being folded up last night. But I know something that may help.”

He hailed a taxi, and they took a short ride into the countryside. Looking out the window, Stanley saw something amazing: There in the distance was a volcano! Smoke rose in a dark plume from the crater at the top.

“Oda-san! Is that a real volcano?”

“Oh, yes,” Oda Nobu replied. “Japan is a group of islands formed long ago by volcanoes. In fact, although Japan
is a very small country, more than ten percent of all the active volcanoes in the world are found here.”

The taxi pulled to a stop in front of a beautiful low building. Stanley recognized the words
inn
and
spa
among the Japanese characters on the sign.

“Here we are,” Oda Nobu said. “Now you will discover one of the advantages of living in the land of volcanoes.”

They walked along a raked gravel path until they came to what looked like a gigantic stone swimming pool. The big volcano smoked in the distance, and the swimming pool appeared to be smoking, too.

“Throughout Japan you will find hot
springs,” Oda Nobu said. “The water comes from deep underground. It is heated by the same forces that make the volcano erupt.”

Stanley stood in the warm steam rising from the hot springs. He felt his wrinkles melting away. It felt so good.

Afterward, he and Oda Nobu found a stone bench in a bonsai garden. They sat in silence, as Oda Nobu made one origami figure after another. When he finished one, he would hand it to Stanley.

Stanley lined the creatures along the bench. A dog. A cat. A grasshopper. A swan.

And then a small flat boy. Stanley
knew who that was supposed to be.

“You have a brother, yes?” Oda Nobu asked. Stanley nodded, and Oda Nobu made another paper boy, this one not so flat.

“And a mother and a father?” Oda Nobu said, and handed him a paper mother and father. Stanley sighed as he lined them up on the bench.

“You miss your family, don’t you, Stanley-san,”

Oda Nobu asked.

Stanley admitted that he did, very much.

“Well, I am sure they miss you, too, very much,” Oda Nobu said. “Perhaps, then, it is time you went home.”

Thinking about how much he missed his family, Stanley could almost hear his mother’s voice calling his name:
“Stanley Lambchop!”
The voice sounded so real!

“Stanley Lambchop, you were supposed to be down for breakfast four days ago!”

Stanley whirled around and there they were! His mother and his father and Arthur, all hurrying toward him!

Arthur was the first to reach him. “Sorry,” he said. “They made me tell
where—” Arthur gasped as he recognized the man on the bench beside his brother. “Oh, my gosh! It’s the Seventeenth Samurai!” he cried, bowing several times. “I salute you, Master Oda Nobu, greatest of all samurai warriors!”

Oda Nobu smiled and bowed to Arthur.

Mr. and Mrs. Lambchop joined them then. “Young man,” Mr. Lambchop said to Stanley sternly. “
Can
and
may
are two entirely different words. Just because you
can
mail yourself halfway around the world does not mean that you
may
. Your mother and I have been worried sick.”

“Sorry, Mom. Sorry, Dad,” Stanley
said. He gave them big hugs and then hugged his brother, too. He was so happy to see them all! “But I’ve been having such a good time! I ate raw fish, and I went to the movie studio, and do you know that Japan has more than ten percent of the—”

“I don’t want to interrupt you, dear,” Mrs. Lambchop interrupted him. “But I think we should get going. We shall hear all about your adventure on the way.”

Before anyone could say another word, the sky darkened. Stanley looked up, expecting to see heavy clouds blotting out the sun.

Instead he saw two ninjas, their
faces hidden by black masks, racing along the rooftops on opposite sides of the garden. Between them they held an enormous black cloth. At the far end of the garden, two more ninjas held the other corners of the cloth.

When the racing ninjas reached the end of the roof, they stopped. Then all four snapped the cloth and it billowed up like a huge
parachute. Screaming “Aiiii-
eeeeeee!
” in unison, they leaped high in the air and floated down into the garden.

The next second, Stanley was struggling to untangle himself from the black cloth that now covered him and his family and Oda Nobu. All of them were shouting in panic.

Then, loudest of all, Stanley heard Oda Nobu call,
“Stanley-san! You must help me! I am being kidnapped!”

The Lambchops struggled for another long minute before Stanley was finally able to find the edge of the cloth. He quickly pulled it from the others and, looking around in the bright sunshine, his heart nearly stopped.

Oda Nobu was gone.