Probably the biggest and most important part of being a ninja is being as silent as the grave. I know that isn't shown much on the show, but it's true. A ninja needs to be invisible. There are many many factors that go into ninja-ness, but today, I am going to show you how to be stealthy.
Probably the most unstealthy ninja on the team would beme or Kai. Me because I tend to talk a lot, and Kai because he is arrogant. Prattle and arrogance have no place in stealth. If one is used to saying the first thing that pops into one's head and the constant sound for one's own mouth, he tends to be less noticeable about the sounds around him. If someone is arrogant he (even perhaps subconsciously) wishes to be made known and to get attention. So the first step to stealth is to listen. The next is to put aside all pride and arrogance. You want to be completely unknown.
Next you must be aware of your surroundings. You must know where every obstacle is, every person, every object. You need to take in the whole area. You may need to hide somewhere. A ninja is constantly assessing. Assessing how long it would take him or her to move from point A to point B, how visible it would be, how much noise it would make, and then what to do from there. You must realize that sometimes being completely silent won't make you invisible. It is really really hard to be completely silent, pretty much impossible, so don't try. Try to be quiet, not silent. The goal of stealth is to be unnoticeable. You want to blend in with your surroundings. That means no stepping on twigs, but if you have to, wait until there is a louder noise that will drown out the twig. Blending in also means where an outfit that blends in. Sometimes black is not the best. Just don't wear a neon sign. Unless your hiding on a neon sign.
Now we get to the niddy-griddy good stuff: the walk. You really don't want to stomp up to whoever your sneaking up on. Let me describe a few different kinds of walks:
The primary walking move, the shinobi-ashi was to walk carefully and with poise, first placing the fourth, then middle toe on the ground and smoothly rolling down to the heel. The shinobi-ashi was a great walk when time was in abundance, as the gentle and flowing nature of the foot roll allowed almost silent movement.
To utilise uki-ashi or the floating foot, the ninja would walk entirely on the tips of their toes, with neither the heel or full foot touching the floor. This was perfect for moving close to an opponent silently but required practise and strength in the toes to utilise effectively.
The walk of the fox known as the kitsune-bashiri was similar to the dog walk, with the ninja keeping a low stance. However, the kitsune-bashiri was much more of a fast movement, with the ninja walking on all fours, but this on the tips of the feet and fingers. Much more difficult to master, the fox walk was however much quicker once mastered and of course allowed the ninja to keep their height low.
To walk in the Yoko-bashiri style, a ninja would place their back against a wall or fence. With the legs and arms in the star position, the ninja would cross both moving to the side and back to the star position.
The inu-bashiri was essentially to walk like a dog on all fours. The ninja would move forward with their knees almost fully bend, and their back leaning forward from 45 degrees to more. This stealth move made it easy for the ninja to spread their weight across four points and was useful when the ninja needed to keep their height low.
To utilise the most silent, and most difficult method of moving stealthily was to do the shin-so-toh-ho also known as the deep grass rabbit walk. The ninja would go to a crouched position, placing the balls of their feet on the top of their hands, walking effectively on the palms of their hands. Hard to master, and not a fast method of movement the shin-so-toh-ho would require much practice before a ninja was truly at ease using this technique.
So try those and practice. Practice, practice, practice. Being stealthy takes practice.
One last thing before you stop reading and try those. Breath. Most people when they try to be stealthy slow their breathing or try to stop breathing almost all together. Yeah, don't do that. Just control your breathing. Every time you make a move, breath. Unless your sitting for a bit. Don't hold your breath, just don't breath heavy either.
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