The most powerful ninja

''' The most powerful ninja, by Yan Li Tao. '''

Once, many moons ago, there was a young man by the name of Hyung Hee. He had heard countless rumours of a wise and very old master ninja who lived in a nearby monastery. As he had always aspired to be a powerful ninja, he decided to see him. On his sixteenth birthday he bid farewell to his family, packed a few belongings and travelled to find him.

The monastery was rumoured to be hard to find, but because he arrived unharmed and without much trouble he became overly brash in his manner. Upon finding the Master, Hyung Hee quickly introduced himself and asked to be told the secret of becoming a powerful and feared ninja.

The Master looked him over from head to toe, seemed to reach a conclusion and said, "Very well, if you would learn the secret of becoming a powerful ninja follow me and I will show you."

The master lead Hyung to a door at the end of a corridor. When the master opened the door Hyung felt an warm breeze sweep over them. No matter how hard Hyung strained his eyes, he could not see a single thing beyond the doorway, not even a shadow or a silhouette. The wind that spiraled out from the door brought a sound like the din of a thousand voices screaming mad chants. Hyung Hee, being the foolish young man he was, decided this of course would have to be a test. Stiffening his resolve along with his upper lip, he proceeded to follow the Master through the darkened doorway.

On the other side of the doorway was a very small landing, barely big enough to fit both the master and Hyung. Beyond the landing a stone stairway dropped away into the darkness. The master continued on, leading at a sedate pace. By the time they reached the fifth landing down Hyung was growing very impatient, he could barely stop himself from speaking but somehow he managed to restrain himself. However, the master seemed almost to read his mind and sped up, leaving Hyung in the dust.

After what seemed like days they finally reached the bottom of the staircases. Hyung couldn't see what was so special about the room to warrant its being hidden away at the bottom of the monastery, almost as if it had been buried at the bottom of a pit. The room was perhaps ten feet square and contained nothing except ten wheels and a lot of dust.

Each wheel was a different colour and a different size. Not able to hide the confusion from showing in his face, Hyung turned with a puzzled look to the master. The master gestured in economical movements towards the wheels and said, "You must keep all of these wheels turning, for one hour. If you succeed you will then know the secret of how I became a powerful ninja."

Hyung once more grew cocky thinking to himself that this was an extremely easy task. As before, when he couldn't conceal his puzzlement from showing in his features, his smug cockyness was now revealed in the lines of his mouth.

The master stepped back towards the wall and told Hyung, "You may start now". Hyung stepped foward, and with renewed vigour, began to turn the wheels. As the hour drew to a close, Hyung was satisfied with himself, of course it had been as easy as he thought it would. He turned with a smug look towards the master only to find him quietly pointing towards one of the wheels; it had stopped turning. Once again Hyung turned towards the wheels and started them turning. Unlike the time before, he worked up quite a sweat and was soon blinking the perspiration out of his eyes. Constant movement kept him pacing back and forth between the wheels only to be defeated once again by overlooking a wheel.

At the end of the first day the Master left him there, frantically turning the wheels. It is rumoured that his voice has become one of many, wailing up the winding staircase, and to this day he turns the wheels, now because he knows no else.