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 Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 11:31 pm
 The StoryIt has been centuries since the Rokudaime Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto, died protecting his village in the Fourth Great Ninja War. Time passed and each village returned to their normal level of power. But one day, for no reason, war unleashed its fury and the once allied villages became enemies once again. Blinded by greed, power, ladies, and money, the village leaders sent all their men to fight. Years passed and only a continent covered in blood could be seen.
Each village's power was reduced to almost nothing, and most of the major clans and bloodlines were in extinction again. In an attempt to prevent another defeat, the Grass started mass production of biological experiments under the earth of the Grass country to one day try to conquer everything.
Some blame a missing-nin organization for the bloodshed, arguing that they were manipulating the war from the shadows; others blame the villages themselves, saying they invaded first.
Still, the real reasons for which the war started are unknown. The results of the war were noticeable, as somehow the Uchiha clan was reborn along many other bloodlines that were forgotten in history. Many pointed to the advisers playing with nature. Some said that the art of the ninja was no longer an art of the shadows, but an art created in a lab. Whatever is the truth, no one can truly tell.
One hundred more years have passed since the end of the Fifth Great Ninja War, a hundred peaceful years. However, the peace was soon shattered. The sealed Go-Ryu Masters, five shinobi who had been masters of their respective elements, had been mysteriously unsealed by the Fifth Dawn, the mysterious missing-nin organization, and they agreed to work together for world domination and power. The unsuspecting villages, with defenses low after the longest peacetime in history, were quickly swept over. Suna, Konoha, and Kiri, the three stronghold villages, were quickly claimed by the Masters, while Kusa, Yuki, and Oto, which had been attacked by the Fifth Dawn a year prior, were claimed by the Fifth Dawn. The Earth Master tried once to take Iwagakure, but was repelled by unexpectedly strong forces. And, with Kumogakure buried under a mountain of snow, the Lightning Master was content to remain second wheel, sticking with his beloved mother figure, the Water Master.
In a totally predictable move, the Masters turned on the Fifth Dawn and in a show to intimidate them, attacked Oto just for spite, killing many Fifth Dawn shinobi in the process, including the younger brother of the leader, Rikki Amadeus. Understandably furious, Amadeus vowed to take revenge on the Masters.
The Kages of the Master-invaded villages disappeared without warning and are now presumed murdered by the usurpers. There is only one exception to this and that was the Kazekage Souseiji Isshiki, who led an underground rebellion movement against the Wind Master. Many shinobi tried to flee the dictatorships, and indeed, some succeeded, but many failed. Their punishments ranged from torture to death. The refugees that managed to escape their native country turned to the free villages, Iwa and Ame, or even to Fifth-Dawn controlled villages for help, and there they were welcomed with open arms, for each village needed every ninja it could take for what seemed to be the biggest yet war in history.
A few months passed since the villages were taken over and signs of rebellion started to show in the Master-controlled villages. The Masters of Earth and Water had a long-standing rivalry and even hatred. This caused the atmosphere to be extremely tense as the Water Master upped defenses in Kirigakure.
Eventually, the war against the Masters came unexpectedly to an end, although in retrospect you could tell that it was coming. The free villages and the Fifth Dawn barely managed to make a dent in the Masters' hides, but 700 years of limbo does strange things to the mind, and the Masters began their infighting. The Earth Master went on an uncontrollable rage, slaying the Wind Master and invaded Kirigakure to boot. She dueled with the Water Master and the end result was a truce, or rather, more accurately, both of them disappeared. The Fire Master tried to invade Takigakure, the Fifth Dawn base, and was killed in his efforts. The Fifth Dawn dissolved shortly after. The shinobi world rejoiced. Alliances formed and trade blossomed. The grace period had come.
It was broken shortly after the Chuunin exams concluded. Fire Country's feudal lord was suddenly assassinated, leaving no male heirs for the throne. His nephew ascended to the throne and hired an army of samurai, assassins, and powerful mercenary shinobi to serve his evil intentions.
He first headed to Kusagakure, subjugating the massively weakened shinobi village almost immediately. Then the daimyo turned to Iwagakure. Though Iwagakure successfully repelled the invasion and decimated a large proportion of the daimyo's army to boot, it was not without its losses. Its military might shriveled up and it closed itself down in an attempt at defence. Many more villages and countries withdrew into isolation. Overnight, villages and whole countries disappeared from the maps...
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Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 11:33 pm
 KONOHAGAKURE
The Founding Story, Age of Wars
Konoha wasn't always one great, united village. In fact, when the Senju Clan of the Forest first arrived in the Fire Country, it was a disoriented place plagued by much inter-clan wars. Though his followers were greatly disappointed, their leader Hashirama, on the other hand, was cheerfully confident that he could make his dream of building the most glorious shinobi village here come true. Even his most loyal followers couldn’t help but scoff at such a preposterous claim.
If there was one place to be called "the root", Konoha actually began on a tiny agricultural village situated on the western frontier of the future shinobi village. It belonged to a group of Shinto priestesses, whom had agreed to grant Hashirama and his Senju clan temporary housing for the coming winter months. The head priestess among them held the gift of prophecy, but she was only able to prophesy calamity. To challenge her "cursed" gift, when she predicted a great famine the following year, Hashirama claimed there would not be one, at least not while the "Senju Clan of the Forest" remained her guests.
He was quite determined to keep his promise.
Now, the Senju clan was divided very accordingly by those had inherited their famed Mokouton kekkai genkai and those who had not. Those who had not inherited their bloodlimit ability fell under several categories: the Suiton users, the Doton masters, the medical specialists, those who commanded Genjutsu -- but an affinity for the Fuuin arts pervaded through the clan as a whole, tying them together. The main branch that wielded Mokouton, with Doton arts to aid them, carved out a great artificial river that snaked around the area, bringing water and thus life to the villagers' crops while with their powers the Suiton branch called forth the rain. Hashirama and the main branch also fought against the various mudslides and desertification that resulted from heavy drought and deforestation in the northern area: the result of human ignorance from decades of neglect. In less than a year's time, not only had the Senju clan successfully fought the drought and replenished the nearly destroyed forest at Konoha's northern border but also allowed for a year of plentiful abundance, thus successfully avoiding famine.
The villagers loved them dearly and worshiped the Senju. But Hashirama did not wish to become a god in their eyes for he knew that with the following year, when the cycle of inter-clan wars is reset, that meant his people would be involved in some vicious, meaningless battle. His dearest wish was to bring peace and stability to the numerous surrounding tribal villages in the area.
His first interaction was with what was later to be Konoha's Hyuuga clan. The first meetings were not pleasant: they were a highly superstitious and heavily Shinto-influenced group, moreover, they simply distrusted foreigners. Hashirama had failed to even gain audience with the leader of Hyuuga village the first time around and so, he proceeded to the neighboring Akamichi village for now.
Here Hashirama discovered a miscalculation in his plan to restore the lands: he had not considered that the drought would spread well beyond the lowlands. But the village he had taken care of produced more than enough food for their people to survive through the winter and so Hashirama convinced them to barter some of the extra food in return for peace with the Akamichis. This plan worked well and eventually, the Akamichi clan's long-time friendship with the Nara and Yamanaka also secured peace with the latter two families. The Naras were more than pleased when the Senju clan also helped bring back life to their deer-grazing pastures: their lands had suffered severe damage from the drought. Of course, the two families also greatly enjoyed conversing over remedial herbs, but that was another story.
The next challenge was more difficult: settling a dispute between the Aburame and Inuzuka. Hashirama was most certainly dismayed at discovering the only reason that the two tribes were fighting was because some of the Aburame's insects had bitten the Inuzuka's canines and the Inuzukas were nowhere near pleased that their animal partners had fallen dangerously ill, with their chakra systems tampered with by the Aburame's destruction bugs. Further research showed that in the Inuzuka territory, there were certain types of flowers that attracted those bugs and unfortunately, the Inuzuka pups liked to play in those same said flowers. To counteract the flower's odor, Hashirama ordered his clan to plant certain trees that omitted heavy odor that the bugs despised. Within the following season, Aburame and Inuzuka came to a truce and by the next winter, all the clans that had come to peaceful terms hailed Hashirama's brilliance.
Meanwhile, Hyuuga village had heard of the deeds of Senju. Though still suspicious that a single man would be able to bring peace to the entire region, they too gave their challenge to the Senju clan. Martial arts of the time did not know how to properly incorporate chakra, unlike their family's prided arts. If within a season's time the Senju could develop a Taijutsu style that also effectively utilized chakra, then Hyuuga village will join the alliance. Hashirama pondered over this challenge and did much research on the existing Taijutsu styles within the area. It was only then he realized that the other clans bitterly disliked Hyuuga due to their very fighting style, which the other clans had deemed as cowardly. But Hashirama realized it wasn't cowardly, it was simply intelligent. The Hyuuga did not make brute force the centerpiece of their school.
Growing quite fascinated with the Hyuuga Jyuuken style, which attacked the source of the opponent's chakra system so that it couldn't be used, Hashirama began pondering over what would be an effective method to create a Taijutsu school that also used chakra like the Juuken Kempo but in a much different manner. Though it was only implied at the time of the challenge, Hashirama gathered what the Hyuuga family really wanted to see was not necessarily victory on his part but rather to test the Senju Lord's ability of invention. Thus, Hashirama collected and carefully extricated facts surrounding the Hyuuga from the rumors.
The time of the arranged meeting between him and the Hyuuga lord quickly arrived. Finally, Hashirama had the answer. If the Hyuuga clan focused on close-ranged Taijutsu that attacked the shinobi's source of strength, then the answer was simply not to let them get too close. But he had promised not to use Ninjutsu, so Mokouton was out of the question and the Hyuuga clansmen were also respectively hardened warriors. By studying the basic elements of a local style called Goken, Hashirama developed a method that effectively utilized his clan's gift of legendary chakra control: converting spiritual energy into pure physical strength. The style he perfected became known as Gouwan and hailed by the other clans as the "Herculean" style.
While the Hyuuga clan boasted that the Senju head of family will not be able to even touch their leader (hence that became the gauntlet line), both clans were up for surprises. Hashirama had never faced off against the Byakugan before but the Hyuuga lord did not expect Hashirama to complete a whole new Taijutsu style so quickly either. Here was where the battle line was drawn: while Lord Hyuuga underestimated Hashirama and his ability, the Senju lord instead was careful. Instead of attacking directly, Hashirama used his new Gouwan style to indirectly tamper with Lord Hyuuga's footing. And when the dust cleared, though Hashirama had not directly injured the Hyuuga leader, Lord Hyuuga's arm was indeed grazed by a piece of the flying debris. Fate was decided. The goal was for Hashirama to land in a hit on the infamously untouchable Hyuuga clan and by all means, he did fulfill the challenge. A promise was a promise. Hyuuga clan graciously submitted to Hashirama and his Senju kinsmen and in return, though under much protest from his own family, Hashirama granted them full autonomy for all clan affairs -- completely unaware of the consequences of his actions, stemmed partly from knowing so little about the Hyuuga.
Time passed. The clans he had united peacefully joined under their common banner. Senju, which had always been a monarchical order, became more profoundly so during this period. Nor had the families under them minded: the Senju had earned their respect, after all. This served to the advantage of Hashirama and his family. The Senju had always been many-faceted in talent to begin with but now, they have under their command an even greater repertoire in the form of their new allies. Thus the Senju alliance was born. To the rest of the world, the "Senju Clan of the Forest" became not a solidly distinguishable family of their own but rather a composition of many different peoples. And to the Senju, "family" became a very broad term... To teachers, their precious students became just as close as their own sons and daughters and to lose a comrade to external enemies became a slight as gravely perceived as to lose their own blood-kin. Hence it was in this time Konoha's legendary tradition, the passing on of "the Will of Fire", came to be.
The time that the alliance rose to prominence was also the time when the rivalry with the powerful Uchiha clan (and the peoples that clan had forcibly subjugated) began. A series of vicious battles ensued: it was always a race to see which alliance could gain the favor of the local or foreign damiyo who had a request. But Senju with their greatly multi-faceted talents were always a step ahead. Yet, as always, rivalries bring great tragedy and finally, with both families suffering cruel losses, Senju and Uchiha came together with a mutual plan for peace. Though the leader of the Uchiha, Madara, heavily protested, the treaty was still signed. Even if the treaty skewed slightly in favor of the Senju, his clan was tired of the violence.
In such a manner, all the clans now under Hashirama, with the consent of the Fire Country's feudal lord, became known as Konoha village, the first of the Great Shinobi Villages. An election eventually took place, with several names submitted as choices for a leader, and Hashirama easily assumed the mantle of Shodaime Hokage.
However, Uchiha Madara seethed with the results of the election. A struggle for power ensued between Hashirama and Madara but in the end, not only had all the clans of Konoha backed Senju but even Uchiha themselves turned their backs toward Madara's bid. Embittered and angry by this betrayal from even his own family, Madara was driven from Konoha; his own clan had accused him of being too power hungry and in the end, they had ultimately abandoned him. However, while Uchiha itself did not betray Konoha, the damage was done. As a result, the Senju did not trust the Uchiha all the while Hashirama worried that this distrust would infect the current peace. Though it was not in his lifetime, his fears would prove well-grounded. Uchiha would never again truly recover the village's trust.The Prospering Era, Darkness Falls
Six flourishing years passed, with Hashirama as their leader. A cunning man, he proved to be skillful in diplomatic affairs, extricating promises from the damiyos of other villages to maintain his"one shinobi village per country" proposal. He got his way and the present shinobi system was established. Though Konoha was not the oldest of the Great Villages, Konoha had indeed become the first among all equals.
But older extant shinobi villages despised the very idea of a rapidly growing Konoha's existence and Kumogakure and Sunagakure dared to wager the First Great Shinobi War against the infant village. Hashirama proved to be equally cruel as he was kind: because of his clan and village's greatly varied talents, he easily crushed his solely Ninjutsu specializing opponents -- while to add insult to injury, his brother took to the task of swamping Suna's desert lands. To display his contempt and in a show of defiance that Konoha will remain on the map, Hashirama left the battlefield filled with the skewered bodies of his enemies. Stricken by this show of power, the enemy nations retreated from their previous stance.
However, the Senju's retaliation may very well have doomed Konoha. To compensate for lasting peace, Hashirama chose to distribute a secret that his clan had well guarded: later to be his greatest mistake -- the bijuus, tailed demons of legend... Chakra monsters, all of whom Shodaime and his clan had personally captured and granted as gifts to the other shinobi villages. Though Hashirama had kept the most powerful bijuu, the Kyuubi no Kitsune within Konoha entrapped, that very distrust of granting Kyuubi to any other village other than his own proved to be a grave error: what he had feared soon came to pass. Uchiha Madara returned, but only long enough to release the Kyuubi no Kitsune from its Fuuin prison and ordered the monster to attack Konoha.
To minimize casualties, Hashirama was able to diverge the battle to the Valley of the End, where he defeated both Madara and the Kyuubi under his control. His wife, Uzumaki Mito, who had followed him took the Kyuubi into her body, becoming the first Jinchuuriki of the demon fox. Hashirama knew that despite his arch-nemesis had suffered severe wounds and fell into the river gorge below -- the very river that had opened up from the gaping ravine of their battle, a witness to the ages -- he suspected Madara to have had escaped with his life. As long as Madara lived, his beloved Konoha would never be safe. But exhausted, Hashirama was in no condition to give chase after such a battle.
He was brought back hastily to the village by his own clansmen for treatment. Madara was presumed dead by most but stubborn as ever, Hashirama insisted on confirming it, seeing as it was his fault and thus his responsibility that the former Uchiha leader presents an obvious threat to not only the fledgling village but nearby civilian strongholds as well. The Senju clan tried to reason with him that he needed to stay, to protect his own people. Unfortunately, to their dismay, he simply responded he was protecting the village by going after the very cause of potential disaster. It was decided then: Hashirama's brother, Senju Tobirama, would inherit the position as Nidaime Hokage in his absence.
It would be during the Nidaime Hokage's reign that the Konoha Military Police was established: a supposed gesture of good-will to the Uchiha clan but in reality, deference to the Senju-controlled Council of Elders' demands. After all, they had wished to keep closer reins on Madara's former clan.
Occasionally, Hashirama would return home, to check on his family and students. To his great satisfaction, they were all faring well. But all happy stories draw to an end. He and his brother's little prodigy, Sarutobi Hiruzen, was quickly growing into an intelligent, strong young man. The last goodbye came too quickly and before long, Hashirama left Konoha for the final time, this time accompanied by his brother. They had named the sixteen-year-old Sarutobi as their successor: the future Sandaime Hokage, who at the time was the youngest ever to inherit the title of Kage.
At the gulf of Hi no Kuni, their nation of Fire, Hashirama and his brother parted ways: Tobirama, hearing that the Five Tails have broken free from Kiri's control, set out to retrieve the Gobi from the east while Hashirama searched the central continent. At Takigakure's borders, Hashirama met Akatsuki's future Kakuzu. Though he survived the murder attempt by the bounty hunter, he would never live to confront Madara again. Whatever became of him remains a mystery, nor did Konoha ever hear of his brother again.
The closing of the era of wars had taken two of Konoha's greatest heroes.
The Professor and the Prodigy
The Sandaime Hokage will be known as the greatest of Konoha's Hokages and will bring about the Golden Age of Konoha. Nicknamed 'the Professor', he was a master of many fields and practiced more techniques than any other contemporary shinobi. However, when the Second Great Shinobi War broke out after a recon team's failure, this time a war fiercely brewed between Konoha and two shinobi villages, Iwa and their ally Ame. All of the prosperity during the early years of Sandaime's reign near instantly vaporized: Konoha had won the war but only just barely (they had to eliminate Iwa's ally, Amegakure no Sato, from of the equation first). A whole generation had nearly been decimated. To make matters worse, when the Sandaime announced his successor, one of the three Sannins had turned traitor and fled, founding a shinobi village of his own with a desire for none other than Konoha's very destruction.
Old and exhausted with political matters, the Sandaime retired and left the position to his youthful successor and hero of the Second Great Shinobi War, Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage.
If Sandaime's reign was the Golden Age, then Yondaime's was the Silver Age. The young leader's brilliant charisma quickly captivated his followers and Konoha rebuilt herself with renewed vigor. His wife, Kushina of the Whirlpool, came from a lineage of famous Fuuin masters - the same as that Uzumaki Mito - and she became the new prison of the Kyuubi after an aged Mito handed over the bijuu. But then disaster struck: the ghost from Shodaime's time, Uchiha Madara, reappeared. Threatening them with the life of their newborn son, Madara seized the opportunity to release the Kyuubi from Kushina, whose seal was weakened during the length of her pregnancy. The Yondaime lost his life in exchange for his village's safety but managed to seal up the hostile demon, entrusting it to his infant son Naruto.
It was during this time that the village finally realized exactly how so they had taken for granted the gifts of the Founding generation. No longer were there the great bijuu puppeteers of Shodaime's time. However, as it was a secret that Minato married the ruined Whirlpool Country's princess, Kushina, for their own reasons, the council was set against openly proclaiming Naruto's lineage. Part of it may have been for security issues (notably Iwa still held a grudge for one man slaughtering an entire army of theirs), partly was for their challenge to the newly reinstated Sandaime: even if the boy was hated, even condemned to life as a Jinchuuriki by his own parents, will the child still love Konoha like his father had?
Legacy: the Sennin Generation
But Naruto more than fulfilled their expectations. Despite rank-wise being formally only a Genin, pushed by his rivalry and later desire to retrieve his missing-nin Uchiha friend, the boy kept scoring greater achievements and even developed an S-rank technique that defeated the very nuke-nin criminal who had once tried to make an attempt on the Shodaime's life. His ability of forging lasting friendships quickly won Suna’s favour with their future Godaime Kazekage, as well as other achievements which included successfully bringing back the wandering Sannin Senju Tsunade as Konoha's Godaime Hokage (under the Sannin Jiraiya's insistence, after their teacher, the old Sandaime, was murdered fighting his renegade student: the serpent Sannin Lord Orochimaru).
Remarkably, Uzumaki Naruto even settled the long-time hostility between Kumo and Konoha, which had remained dormant but high, for Konoha was still furious of Kumo's attempt to abduct the secret of the Byakugan line while Kumo was angry that a high-ranking shinobi of theirs had been killed. (The then Lord of Hyuuga spared no one who threatened his daughter's life. Though it was more than a decade ago, the deed had been concluded by the clan leader's own twin brother's life -- an exchange to prevent a war.) Ironically, Naruto later became friends with Kumo's Killer Bee, the brother of their Yondaime Raikage. Not only that, the Yondaime Raikage himself too had taken an interest in Naruto, for his curious philosophy...a shinobi child who held dear ideals which were certainly unorthodox for any shinobi. The first to think with his heart, and not his head. So dangerous, so foolish a notion, yet the charm of nobility won over all -- including the steely heart of the sitting Raikage. Naruto would proceed on to master the Sage Arts and defended Konoha from the threat of Akatsuki. Later, he participated also in the Third Great Shinobi War heralded by Madara. But Konoha had paid a terrible price for Rikudo's legacy: all physical infrastructure of the village laid in ruins and the Godaime fell into a coma after she had used up all her strength to protect the lives of every single shinobi within the village. After all, it was the people whom were important, not buildings of wood, stone, and steel. The traitorous Danzo took the opportunity to claim the Hokage title, all the while planning the assassinations of key villagers who knew of his past ties to the shadows. However, the villagers, in unity, managed to overcome his plot. Godaime recovered, and she remained Kage through the rest of the Third shinobi war.
In time, she abdicated her seat in favor of Naruto. He was named as the Rokudaime Hokage, bringing Konoha the closest to the Golden Age that had flowered during the Shodaime's time. With his friendly ties to so many countries and shinobi villages, Konoha easily flourished. His 40 year reign stabilized Konoha and brought great peace and prosperity. Rokudaime's generation became famous as the era that had produced the most Sennin-level shinobi, a period that no other era can ever hope to rival ever again.
But peace is a fickle thing, never to bring permanance. When the Fourth Great Shinobi War broke out, Rokudaime Uzumaki Naruto was killed defending his people. His grieving friends, in his stead, protected the village for the remainder of their lives while allied nations, particularly the mourning Godaime Kazekage -- the Rokudaime's longtime friend, Gaara of the Sand -- in his memory, continued the international trading pacts and paid respects to their ally's loss. Konoha became a legend, the only village that could land in an utterly hopeless situation and yet just one singular talented shinobi of theirs could wholly turn the tables.
The Nanadaime, Sarutobi Konohamaru, who had inherited the position after the Rokudaime's death was able to somewhat stabilize Konoha during his reign. But after Konohamaru's Bronze Age, the centuries that followed would be known as the "Dark Age of Konoha" -- filled with internal strife as numerous clans struggled for the position of Hokage. Blood from murdered Hokages that never managed to sit long in office stained all sides, staining Konoha's history as red as the dark secrets of the "Bloody Mist".
But with the closing of the ages, a new story begins.
The Six "Dawns" of Nirvana
Konohagakure no Sato's recent history along with the story of the shinobi world was recorded in secret scrolls passed down from generation to generation to their high ranking officers of each village in hopes of preventing the great mistakes of the past. Each scroll was sealed with a special Fuuin jutsu and came to be addressed as Dawns. The story that lasted to the aftermath of the Nanadaime Hokage's reign was only the prologue, the Book of Creation.
Each "Dawn" represented the start of a new era: whenever it was an era of peace or war the scrolls kept records of the action that lead to the said moment in history along with records of the techniques and DNA evolution that succeeded to properly earn its place in the shinobi world. The following explain the first five books, with the Sixth Dawn being the current stage of time in the world. Historians have long argued that the First Dawn must have in actuality been written sometime late in Nanadaime's reign, not the Hachidaime's.
The First Dawn
All villages enjoyed a long period of peace and were bound by diplomatic and personal friendships that kept any signs of hostilities away from anyone’s mind. Memories of past conflicts were now recorded in war memorials such as statues, poems, songs and other forms of art. At this point Konoha was the center of power as their current Hokage led the shinobi alliance and kept close contact with all the other Kages. Small shinobi villages slowly merged with the five great countries but were allowed to keep their signature forehead protectors.
The Second Dawn
The second Dawn started about 90 years after the First Dawn. Starting with the death of Konohagakure's ruling Hokage at the hands of the ruling Mizukage's second son who saw an opportunity for expansion in the said recorded event. This completely broke any friendly relations between both nations and lead to a cold blooded war that left scars on the very earth that gave home to the human race. Left without a ruling leader, the Kage alliance was left to its luck and so some Kages used this event as a step to more power, while some stayed loyal to Konoha.
The alliance between villages was completely broken and so the world was divided into two different factions. Konoha along with Oto and Kusa formed the Tsuiraku Ha "Falling Leaf" alliance. On the other side Kiri, Kumo and Iwa formed the So Koun "Striking Rain" alliance. Hostilities between both factions continued for hundreds of years and ended in the second destruction of Konoha.
The Third Dawn
With Konoha in ruins, the remaining shinobi of the alliance had no choice but to surrender. This led to the mix of many kekkai genkai among the villages, though Hyuuga, honoring Shodaime's promise, fought fiercely to prevent separation from their beloved native village. The Uchiha accepted sectoring into Oto's lands, and eventually, the Hyuuga too were forced to compromise. They however sent their cadet branch members to the outside world, so no one other than Konoha would ever truly possess the Byakugan. The few shinobi that still remained fiercely loyal to Konoha, Hyuuga included, were forced to band together as a small guerilla force that slowly gained clout as they fought the So Koun from the shadows.
Although most of these attacks were similar to acts of terrorism, they led to the fall of many VIPs from each side. At the end of the year 192 of the conflict, a new sign of hope rose from the ashes of destruction. A young shinobi known as Uchiha Kenkaru united all the remaining clans and ninjas under the Konohagakurian banner. With his ability to lead and the aid of his wife, Senju Kamishina, the two led a head-on strike on enemy land, slowly piercing through hostile territories and eventual forced the disbanding of the Sou Koun alliance.
Many scholars described how the gods seemed to walk along the two and how their love brings peace to the land. With Kamishina, the Senju clan once more stepped from the shadows and slowly began reestablishing themselves. With their old territories back under their control, Konoha once again established itself as a symbol of power and peace. The village started rebuilding with the combined forces of the Senju, Uchiha, and many other clans and thus the war hero Uchiha Kenkaru was named the first Hokage of the new Konoha: the "11th Hokage" for those following the old chronological timeline.
The Fourth Dawn
With the new era of peace forged, the villages knew that starting another war would only lead the end of their existence. Villages were no longer big and the people living in them were too scared by the past to ever raise a sword ever again. Deferring to his people wishes, Kenkaru forged an alliance between all the villages. This alliance was not based upon friendship; instead it wasestablished upon the need of keeping the ninja arts alive, to preserve the living and to stop future generations from starting new wars. Kenkaru stayed as the ruling Hokage for a decade, when his duty was passed to his son Uchiha Kohryuu, who later passed it to a young shinobi known only as Cerbi. Although the reasons for these changes are unknown, some expostulates it had something to do with Kenkaru's ability to manipulate the tailed beasts. This was made clear as Kenkaru absorbed Cerbi's demon into himself before his son passed the title of Hokage to his lover at the time.
The Fifth Dawn
The Fifth Dawn began with rumors of an organization known as the Bringers of the Fifth Dawn. In actuality, the Fifth Dawn was founded by shinobis that were victims of Kusagakure's bio-experimentation lab, of which surviving victims included the Juugodaime Senju Zephyr. As for the experiment itself, it was a procedure dedicated to the improvement of shinobi via chakra alteration. Little is known about its location or its existence, for some is only a rumor but with the rise of shinobis such as Suki Koy, Uchiha Ryuugetsu and Uchiha Mahiro, this rumor out to be a brutal reality.
Despite the Juunidaime's wishes, the Council concluded that it was impossible to entrust a potentially new world crisis to the hands of a young woman. Instead, they named Rasen of the Hyuuga clan as the Juusandaime. A clever diplomat, and a man pacifistic by nature, Rasen was popular among nations: he always knew where to tread, offending none but obtaining Konoha's dearest wishes at the same time. Rasen seized this opportunity to further stabilize Konoha.
Though he would rule for a long time, one day, the Juusandaime vanished. For a time, Konoha investigated the incident, but eventually closed the case, claiming all leads were lost.
Civil war nearly broke out when an infuriated Hyuuga clan threatened to defect from Konohagakure no Sato itself if the investigations were not properly reopened. They suspected murder, that foul play had pervaded through the village's High Council. Though the Senju clan had regained control of the High Council over the decades, they were not faring much better either: with internal disputes and the last threat of civil war between the village and the royal family when their head of family was murdered. Much hatred and distrust was fostered between the villagers and the Senju Council.
In the villagers' eyes, the presence of the Senju could not stabilize the village, because they had lost their clout centuries ago: when the dying bloodline first relied on science and the labs to recover dwindling numbers. To the Senju's eyes, the villagers had become ingrates. Just when all hoped seemed lost, Akki Cerbi at last stepped up to the mantle of Juuyondaime. As she had been once chosen by the Juunidaime himself, no one questioned her claim.
The 100 Year Disaster, Restoration
The Lady Cerbi rebuilt Konoha. Though it was apparent they had long passed the village's prime, it was a comfort to know that Konoha was at least recovering. But the clans of Konoha still could not comfortably work with each other. The hatred was not left buried.
Then the Fire Master came and in one brutal decision of fate, all they had toiled for disappeared. Lady Cerbi was missing, most presumably murdered. For the first time, since so many centuries, the clans of Konoha came to terms. Alone, they could not defeat the Master; that was obvious with the high amount of casualties from even the most daring of clans. In turn, even the noble families traded honor for the defense of their home. In this period, for the first time since the murder of Juusandaime Hyuuga Rasen, Hyuuga clan agreed to cooperate and even loosened some restrictions placed on their members by their honor code and took on tasks as guerilla fighters for the village. Together, the villagers took down many supporters of the Fire Master, as well as cornering the dishonorable traitors.
However, while the many factions of Konoha were finally coming to agreement, Lady Cerbi's student, Fukushima Akane, was in exile and many of the major families had lost their leaders. What remained of the troops under Lady Cerbi, now under Lord Akane, and those who fled the village were miles away, somewhere in the Earth Country. Thus once more, the main village itself turned to the Senju clan as their supporting pillar.
In a cruel twist of fate, upon receiving news of his son's murder, Akane abandoned his people. The villagers that had been in exile were left without a proper leader.
Fortunately, the Fire Master's ambitions would ultimately prove to be his own undoing. Besides the sabotage done by Konoha's smithing community, led by Hyuuga Nyame, in a failed attempt to conquer Takigakure no Sato the Fire Master was slaughtered by the Takikage Michiyo Nakamura and her defenders. In a stunning turn of events, Konoha found herself free.
A new Hokage was chosen, a royal descendent of the Senju line: Lord Zephyr. He began to rebuild the village, creating alliances with Iwagakure and Kirigakure. A charismatic man, Zephyr was popular among his allies, especially for his kindly actions such as sending aid to Kirigakure when it was most desperately needed after a duel between the Earth and Water Master left the village in ruins. By the time the next Chuunin Exams came about in Iwa, Konoha was able to participate.
This peaceful period continued until suddenly, the Fire Country's feudal lord was assassinated. Having only one daughter, there were no sons to inherit the throne. His nephew rapidly seized power and attempted to pin the murder on the princess of the Fire Country. Resentful of Konoha's power, he turned against all shinobi, hiring samurai and mercenaries to serve his intentions. This army attacked Konoha periodically. In addition, it swept into unsuspecting neighbouring countries such as Grass and conquered them while they were preoccupied with Iwa's Chuunin Exams.
Under the Juugodaime's command, Konoha defended against the Fire Lord's invading forces with certain success. However, they had to fight a vicious two front war: against the damiyo and the nomadic lines of Konoha whom fell victim to the damiyo's generous offers -- offers that Konoha had previously refused to give. But before Konoha could restore the princess to her throne, the Juugodaime vanished before the eyes of the world. His fate is unknown, and the Council selected his student Nara Shikamori as regent until proper elections can take place.
Whatever the following years may bring, one thing is certain: the very country of Fire is no longer friendly territory to Konoha and their very village itself is embroiled in a state of civil war. Though the struggle between the nobility and the nomadic lines is an ancient, delicate matter ... it was not permitted to continue under such conditions. All the while, it grows increasingly difficult to aid and prove their innocence to the devastated countries that the Fire Daimyo had usurped -- a single village could only do so much alone. Worse, the presented face to the conquered territories was that of the Fire Daimyo's mercenary shinobi army. In their eyes, why couldn't Konoha stop the daimyo? Or were they his accomplices as well?
Civilian cities are growing increasingly wary of the shinobi population - and of Konoha.
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Posted: Thu Jun 08, 2006 11:34 pm
 KIRIGAKURE
Records of the history of Kirigakure were officially erased by the Water Master upon her ascension to the position of Kage, but a few, albeit unclear, fragments of history still remain. It is known that Kirigakure was one of the oldest ninja villages, its population having broke off from the Fire Country around a thousand years ago. Some say that a family of samurai traveling by ship encountered a storm and were shipwrecked in what later evolved into the main island, while others say that the population of Kirigakure was initially made up of fishermen fleeing from a tyrannical reign of terror. Regardless, Kirigakure gradually evolved into a ninja village of its own right, assimilating with the population of the Water Country and eventually being adopted as their official ninja village.
Oral history holds that the past 7 or 8 decades before the Water Master's tyrannical reign were uneventful for Kirigakure. Apart from the fact that Kages flew by like cherry blossoms. Pandora la Ansa, the guy she took over from, Itou Reiko, and of course the Kage preceding Mistress before his disappearance, Kawanami Seiko. The tradition of the bloody Mist, where Academy Students were required to fight each other to the death before becoming Genin, was erased a long time ago and Kirigakure was mostly peaceful, although their military might was not compromised.
The Water Master, Mistress, did not rule unchallenged. There were frequent rebellions from the gypsy population which she dearly hated (so it was perhaps ironic that her secretary was half gypsy) and one and a half years into her reign, her mortal b***h enemy and the Earth Master, Rain, invaded. Now Mistress was still loyal to what she ruled so she fought Rain in a battle to the death. The two Masters vanished after destroying half of Kirigakure and haven't been seen since.
And so it was perhaps only natural that after the paranoia and rigidity of life under Mistress that life after Mistress returned back to normal. Kirigakure became peaceful again, rebuilt by Senju allies from Konoha, slightly isolationist and simply concentrated on doing its job. The power plays of the Council almost put a stop to that. Their dissatisfaction with a promising young ninja of the village with Kage potential, Saitou Andou, led to a successful attempt to remove him from the village. Saitou was framed of a crime he did not commit and was forced to flee. However, the Council's machinations were discovered a few months later and Saitou's record was cleared.
It's perhaps because of this incident that no new Kage has officially been announced yet, even though two years have passed since Mistress' fall.
While the Council went on with thier senseless chase after Andou, Takasuchi Hadara waited and made plans within the Hidden Mist ANBU. During missions to the mainland he realized that while the Fire Daimyo grew strong, the Mist grew weak. Without a Mizukage the Hidden Mist would fall after the Hidden Leaf. After he expressed his concerns to the council he was promptly dismissed from the ANBU. He kept contacts with them and the Leader of the Seven Swordsmen however, and a plan formed. The Council would be overthrown and a vote held by the Jonin to determine a new Mizukage. But history had other plans.
On a normal day several ships were spotted on the horizon, moving quickly towards the shore. Several patrol boats attempted to stop them but they kept going. Crashing into the harbor over a hundred members of the Umi Clan, weilding axes, stormed into the village. They attacked everything in thier sight, meanwhile the Jonin were called away from the the front by the Council. Taka had enough, and went to the council's chambers and enacted his plan right there. With the council detained by the ANBU Taka took effective control, organizing the ninja tocounter attack on three fronts. They attacked from the Grove, Marketplace, and Academy.
Taka personally lead the attack through the marketplace, where he met the Umi leader in one on one combat. Ultimately Taka defeated him, and allong with the other ninja, pushed the Umi back into the sea. Afterwards the Jonin voted Taka in as Mizukage. Nothing was heard of the Umi for some time, until they came back, and, in a suprise move, swore thier loyalty to Taka and the Hidden Mist.
Now the Hidden Mist waits and secretly gathers it's forces for the inevatible war with the mainland.
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Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2011 6:21 am
 SUNAGAKURE
The village of Sunagakure has had a bloody and deceiving past; the village has had Kages with cold hearts and with lust for power and greatness. This is a common desire for sure, but it drives men insane and make them do the most foolish of things, and turn on each other when they should stand as one. This is the tragedy that has struck the people of this country time and time again. The desire for power is a dangerous thing and it has but one price - death and destruction.
While the nobles and warlords fought over land and bigger territory, they forgot the people. And the land, as they fought, held the spilled blood of innocents: villages and people fell into oblivion and disappeared. The various clans were no better, they fought not only the other clans and nobles but themselves as well: this was not a country of peace or prosperity. At that time, it was a country where children were trained to kill at a very young age and where their parents often were the cruelest teachers. But you can't blame them, this was how it had always been and it could not be easily changed, because traditions and laws are ancient and so are the people and their way of thinking.
This was the way the people of Sunagakure lived for centuries and the Kages, nobles, warlords and nomadic clans saw to that this ancient way was obeyed even is it would be the end for the humble people that lived in the country. Now to talk about its treacherous nature, the village of the Sand has always acted in the best interest of its Kage, not for its people, but its Kage. And they have all been lusting for power. It was just their nature to be the way their predecessor was, but not all wanted this.
The circle that had been going on for hundreds of years were suddenly stopped by our great Kazekage Gaara: he was better then his father before him, not as bloodthirsty or greedy for power as the others. He wanted to build up the former glory that had been Sunagakure, their military power, their knowledge and their power.
Yes, their power, for in the old books of Sunagakure in the tower of Shizuna lays ancient books and scrolls of power so great that it would consume the world, and it has been the Kage's duty to keep it hidden. But the Kages of Sunagakure were fools, they forgot where the scrolls were hidden and this knowledge soon became a myth.
Under the years that Gaara was Kazekage, Sunagakure was rebuilding not to its former glory but very close. But the nature of a thing is not easily changed and when Gaara died, the circle continued for a few decades more, till the great Clans of Sunagakure took matters into there own hands and formed the Elders. They were the ones to choose the Kazekage and after that it became a little better but the people still took the worst beating and the village soon stated to fall apart again. This continued and most of the people left Sunagakure and many buildings were left empty and disserted. Those who stayed were two of the great Households, the Enzeru Clan and the Masihiro Clan.
However, as time passed, the Masihiro clan declined and it stopped being a major power in Sunagakure. By the time the Kage Hayashi Kochou disappeared, the Masihiro clan had fallen to such obscurity that few people were even aware that it had existed.
Speaking of Hayashi Kochou's disappearance, it happened unpredictably one day on a mission in the desert. The village was in turmoil and the elders, wanting to solve the problem, quickly chose a rising young ninja to take the mantle and become Kazekage: Souseiji Isshiki. However the young man refused. He did not want to become Kazekage unless his brother did too alongside him. Desperate, the Elders compromised and Suna became stable once more, with the two new Kages holding bright and promising ideas for the future.
Only time could tell what would become of Suna after this unexpected development. It was the first time Suna, or any village for that matter, has had two Kages. And time did. Twin Kages worked well for a while, but for purely personal reasons, the younger brother Nishiki left to become a Sennin: Nishiki wanted to better himself. A year after, Sunagakure was invaded by the Masters, and Isshiki disappeared.
The Wind Master, Sin, ruled Sunagakure with an iron fist, but admittedly, he did rule it well. Isshiki had in the meanwhile stayed in the village under a different name and appearance. He began to slowly build up the renegade force with those loyal to him. An opportunity presented itself when the Wind Master summoned the Earth and Water Masters to Sunagakure for a meeting. It did not end well, and while the Water Master managed to escape unscathed, the Earth Master drove the Wind Master to the ground and the rebel force dealt the last blow to Sin's remaining followers. And so Souseiji Isshiki ascended to Kage-ship for the second time.
However, the war had taken from Souseiji Isshiki what years of S-ranks could not. Isshiki was more agitated, stresed and perhaps a little unstable. Fortunately, he was aware of this deficit and abdicated for the position. The most questionable part of this decision was that he left the position to a 10-year old boy, Hikaru Monterio. That this boy disappeared mere weeks after becoming Kage was not a surprise.
With Hikaru missing and the village in dismay, the Wind Daimyo saw that the only option was to close the village and operate his own military force. But the village council members had a different proposal. They wanted more time to find a suitable candidate for the title of Kazekage. The daimyo granted this, but gave them only two months to find one.
It seemed easy at first, just find someone perfect to become Kazekage. Except that no one could agree with each other on the possible candidates. But within the month that passed, they managed to shorten the list of candidates to two respectable shinobi, Ishida Kira and Urashima Tenzo. Both were very gifted shinobi and highly intelligent. But the matter was which one would become Kazekage. This would be decided in a battle outside the village in the deserts of the wind country that occurred one night. At the end of that battle, only Urashima Tenzo returned to the village as the victor. It is unknown how or why this battle occurred between these shinobi to this day.
With Tenzo named Kazekage, the young man was left to deal with the turmoil that was left due to the absence of Hikaru, the previous Kazekage. The village economy was too low and villagers were in peril. The shinobi forces were severely depleted as there was little money in their budget. And finally there were tensions between the village and the daimyo. It looked like things were against the young Kazekage. But he got to work right away, putting Sunagakure in deep isolation from the shinobi world. The people of Suna stayed quiet and vigilant as change came to the country. But what kept them quiet was the fear of the idea of not knowing what was to come.
But Tenzo made good on his promise. He brought the village back to stability and the village has returned to normal, if not better than before. The village's economy was better than ever. It was at its highest that hadn't been seen since the Twins were Kazekages. The tension between Tenzo and the daimyo hasn't changed at all but they managed to reach a mutual agreement for the best of the country.
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kouri-chan_xx Vice Captain
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kouri-chan_xx Vice Captain
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Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2011 6:26 am
 IWAGAKURE
The small village of Iwagakure, nestled between two mountains in the mountain range of the Earth Country, had always been a peaceful place. Ruled by a council of seven long before the first Kage was ever elected, the people of Iwagakure believed that they would always remain a peaceful place.
The village lacked for nothing. They had plenty of water from the river in the canyon, and as well from the plants in the badlands - water-based flora that was both plentiful and solely unique to the country of Earth. The ninja trade prospered, even though the village was peaceful. People preferred being protected by nin who had no wars with other nations, as they were less likely to turn on the customer or become ambushed by an enemy village. Everything seemed perfect in those days.
Then, one day in a year most had forgotten, chronicaled in only the oldest, dustiest, most moth-eaten tombs in the Kage's office, two factions broke apart. The quarrel was simple: one faction wished to join one of the fighting nations in their war, the other wished to stay neutral.
The two opposing sides tore the Village Hidden in Stone into a fifteen-year civil war. During that time, thousands of people were slaughtered. Nobody would walk out in the street for fear of a kunai lodging itself into their spine. Or worse, the thought for being a part of one of the factions and getting caught by their enemies, the only thing awaiting them being weeks of torture for information they didn't have, hoping and praying for a quick death that would never come.
In the end, when both sides had lost many fighters and everyone had become exhausted from all the fighting, negotiations took place. Both factions agreed that they would be ruled by a sole person, a Kage of neutral standing. The Kage was chosen, a young lad with a lot of potential and one of the sharpest minds ever seen in Iwagakure. Peace was once again at hand, and people were able to walk about the villace once more without worrying about death being just around the corner.
For a long time, Iwagakure remained fairly isolated and peaceful. The ninja business once again soared, peaceful nin more precious than ninja that had village enemies. But, as life has proven many times over, the peace didn't last.
Nearly fifty years before Rokudaime Uzumaki Naruto, one ninja thought that the village would get more business if it entered in a war with the other fighting countries. He believed that the economy would bloom, and hardly anyone went against him. After all, Iwagakure had never been in a war that wasn't with itself...who knew what would happen?
But there were those that believed it would bring ruin to the village. None of the nin had trained themselves to fight in a war, unlike other villages. They would be up against men and women who were trained from the beginning to be soldiers in wars against each other - Iwagakure wouldn't be able to keep up.
The loyalists, those who supported the vote for going to join a warring village, fought against the rebels, those who wanted peace, in the second civil war to bring Iwagakure to it's near destruction.
For over one hundred years the rebels hid out in the caves outside the village, fighting tooth and nail to keep the loyalists from getting what they wanted. Each side lost many ninja, more than the first war ever did. Civilians were fleeing right and left for other villages, terrified that they would be attacked within their own homes.
Friends turned on friends, each supporting a different group. Families were torn apart in the appalling destruction. Houses were burned to the ground, the earth screamed in agony as it was being torn to shreds from the constant waves of chakra that ran through it. In one instance, a fight between two of the strongest ninja on each side, half of a mountain was destroyed. That day, the sky rained with stone, killing more people, innocents and fighters alike, than the initial blast ever did.
Finally, when both sides were nearly exhausted and Iwagakure was turned into a ghost town, most people having either joined a side or fled, both leaders were killed fighting each other. They had been perfectly matched, and took each other to the grave.
At this point, nobody could remember what the fight had been about in the first place - only the written chronicals by a very brave scholar told of the entire conflict. When the two leaders were killed, the loyalists were dealt with accordingly. On the rebels' side, there was a middle-aged jounin who had a useful bloodline. He could change the density of earth and rock, and used that to the fullest advantage; trapping the enemy up to their necks in the solid-granite floor of the canyon brought the hundred-year war to a close.
With the loyalists' surrender, the rebels elected the ninja that ended the war as the new kage. His first act was to declare that, as long as the village remained relatively peaceful and protected, he and his descendents would hold the Kage post. Then he set to rebuilding the once proud village.
Now, one hundred and fifty years after that horrible war, his descendant holds the office of Kage. The village has slowly been repopulating itself, and the trade has slowly been growing once again. And each year, to remember their past, the village holds a festival to remember the day the war ended. Many obstacles confronted Iwagakure in the years since the Taidas' reign started - invasion, the Fifth Dawn, and the continued attacks of the Earth Master, Rain. However, Iwagakure held strong like its namesake of stone and successfully repelled all the invasions.
When word came of the Fire Lord's assassination, everyone felt ill at ease. The village itself felt this wasn't the correct course of things and even the wild animals surrounding the village became more violent and untamable but only to outsiders. Without being told, the village of stone began to go into war. When Kusagakure fell, Stone Shinobi were dispatched to various other nations to give support, whether they wanted it or not. The people were shocked at this order as the Tsuchikage gave the decree himself. "We are all one nation. Whether we wield the fire in our hearts, the water that sustains us, the earth beneath, the air that caresses us or the lightning that charges us; we are all one nation. And we are a damn BADASS nation!" However, there were fears that by sending out the ninjas of stone, the village of Stone would have the defenses of a pebble. This fear soon came to be tested as the village was attacked.
The road was treacherous and the enemy unprepared. Sure, they knew of the rocky conditions and the wild beasts but never had anyone seen the earth churn and boil and erupt as if it were alive or the massive scale of the beasts that laid waste to the men. Yet, they pressed on. Whatever drove them, it was a great force and it lead them to the gates of the village. A massive battle ensued, much like when the Earth Master attacked. It was true, several of the village's top defenders were gone but still, this is the village of stone. Leading the charge, the Tsuchikage went underground. Not to run but to fight. He had crafted a jutsu that only one of the Taida clan could possibly use.
The army of the Fire Lord found itself stuck literally between a rock and a hard place as the ground gave way and revealed an army of stone soldiers impervious to most Jutsu and weaponry.
At the end of the day, the land was wasted but Iwa still stood. Not sure if its defense could take another hit, the path to Iwa vanished within the course of a night. Sealed within itself, the village of stone became not unlike a tomb.
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Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2011 6:32 am
 KUMOGAKURE
After what was known as the Hundred-Year War, Kumogakure, the Hidden Village of the Clouds, was in dire straits. It had sustained heavy losses during the war on all ranks, even the Students, many of whom were forced to fight. It slowly began to rebuild though thanks to the many missions it received due to its strong standing during the war. Sadly, however, even though they had all these missions, a majority of the ninjas and civilians were in a state of poverty. The Raikage that was elected after the war, Iwa Sango, had to use most of the money to pay reparations to villages they had destroyed during the war. This though being a peaceful and generous maneuver by the Raikage still angered the villagers.
It went on like this until one day an elite Jounin became sick of it. He rallied the villagers and staged a coup. It was a bloody battle that was finally ended by the death of the Raikage, who was murdered by his own ANBU bodyguard who had defected. Thus, the dark reign of Zin Ryo began. His first order as the new Raikage was known as The Great Purge. A horrific period in Kumogakure followed, where countless innocents who were considered loyal to the deceased Kage or were raising rebellious ideas were put to death! Ryo then stopped paying reparations and instead put the money towards advancing weaponry and sadistic scientific experiments. The village itself prospered, growing stronger, while the people in the village remained poor. Soon the forces of Kumogakure grew to the state it had been during the Hundred-Year War. Ryo, promising a revival of the once great village, mobilized the troops to perform a surprise attack on their once allied village of Sound. A great siege occurred and much of the village of Sound was destroyed.
It seemed over for the Sound, but then word got to Konoha and Kiri of the siege. Fearing another hundred-year war, the two villages joined forces and attacked the Cloud forces from both sides. The bottleneck surprise maneuver completely put the forces of Cloud off balance and soon they were in full retreat from the three combined village forces. It all ended with Ryo whose forces were pushed all the way back to Kumogakure itself. The allied forces over ran the village killing Ryo and his supporters. The village was in ruins, Zin was dead, and the innocents of Kumogakure were left homeless.
One ninja from Konoha, seeing that the innocents that were going to be left behind would surely die unless someone stayed behind to help them, made an important decision in his life. He spoke to many of the men in the allied force about the great good of the people of Kumogakure disguised by the evil that Ryo created and even convinced a few to join his quest. The ninja as well as a few other volunteers stayed behind to lead and rebuild the village. The ninja from Konoha became the new Raikage and his name was Aburame Tsuki. He was a generous Raikage and rebuilt the village better then it ever was before. He was even able to restore relationships with the villages the past Raikages had waged war against.
The Jikan Clan rose to power in this era as the strongest clan after the Aburames and they made a great deal in the village's power. Their head, Jikan Choro, became representative of Kumogakure on behalf of the greatest clan present and the clan provided the village with many outstanding ninja.
The Raikage passed away years after the rebuilt of the village, but not without marrying a native of Kumokagure and bearing one son. When the time came his son, Aburame Kyo took over as the new Raikage of Kumogakure. He ruled the village hoping to surpass his father and create the perfect village.
The Jikan Clan became the most influential Clan after the death of Tsuki, the Aburame Clan shrunk and the Jikans soon became the strongest clan in the village, still loyal to the Raikage, they fulfilled their job as ninja and protected the village from dangers whenever they arose. The ANBU was led by Jikans as well, Jikan Tsurugi had led the primary squad ever since Kyo became Kage and maybe even longer and his brother Yoroi aided him as second man. Together they were the commanders of the ANBU and they became the Kage's most trusted men.
But Kyo didn't stay Kage for long, after a while, Raikage Jikan Choro succeeded him after Kyo put down his term, proving that the old still can replace the young and hoping to lead Kumogakure into an era of peace and alliances just as his two predecessors did.
By the time Choro took over, Kumogakure had shrunk a lot in military power, a re-organization was necessary and it soon came. A fluent economy was set up, since Rai no Kuni was rich in metal ore, weapon industry was the most logical choice, and since there were a lot of good weapon smiths. The high-quality products were sold like hot cakes, this boost in money was just what was needed for the reformation. Ninja were trained and the once dying ANBU was replaced. This time, Kumogakure was back as a worthy village among the five main powers.
That is, until Choro passed away. His death seemingly triggered all sorts of bad luck, as trade started to slow down and eventually, of course, the Masters were revived. But, for better or for worse (most probably worse), before the Lightning Master could stake his claim on the village, it was completely wiped out by a freak avalanche, and you could never tell that it had even existed in the first place.
Kumo's Revival
But people... people are resilient, people never change. Among the funeral in the snow, the survivors picked up their heavy hearts and moved on. It could be said there were hundreds of now displaced citizens of a once-great nation. These survivors were shocked by this sudden event and were so confused as to how such a great nation would fall so easily. The survivors of Kumo were greatly varied -- some Shinobi, but even more the average inhabitants.
All shared grief.
It wasn't long that these people moved on, down the familiar mountain that they lived on. The base welcomed the people as they all gathered...they were so lost...
It was then a few surviving ANBU brought the refugees to the cave where they had been trained. It was a decent shelter as the few shinobi were able to make fire and feed off the land. The cold would take the better of them however, as nearly six-hundred people could not hope to survive on the meager charity of the harsh nature.
It would be then that the hunting parties came.
Only weeks after Kumo's demise, mercenaries from all corners of the world began to hunt these refugees, to eliminate the left-overs of a once-great village. It was the scattered ones to be killed first. The people by the base of the cave were hidden for the first few days, however, a convery from the Lightning Daimyo led the mercenaries to the hiding population of the village.
The mercenaries came in numbers, however the Kumo ninja fought for their dying people. They weren't in vain, but not in success, either. They fought and fought...
When it would seem all hope was lost, a young man came, with a popular and well-known Sennin named Miesko Roar Luka and though young and quiet, the beautiful girl helped turn the tide of the deep conflict. The man's name was Satsuki Biorr Yuria. With a few hundred now laying dead, it was another heavy setback for the villagers. Many had lost their will to live -- however as the precious days after the 'Battle at the Base', the fate of this village would be decided. Satsuki implored his people to not give up hope, saying that this isn't what the village would want. He spent hours upon hours speaking to the people -- the children -- often reminding them, that they didn't have the right to simply give up. It was their job to earn the blessing that they were alive.
Because these 'talks' would take place near a massive bonfire, they became known as 'Satsuki's Fireside Chat'. The villagers, still reluctant, wiped their tears and raised their chins. With a weak smile and a still-broken heart, they decided to rebuild their Village Hidden in the Clouds. The next few weeks would be known as the 'New Divide', as the villagers labored at digging deeper into the caves that had sheltered them so lovingly. Satsuki's Plasma-release helped with controlled explosions. The few Earth-release ninja tunneled many different tunnels to confuse any mercenaries still to come.
It proved a smart idea as the sadness had finally come to an end.
In the next few days, a beautiful underground cavern would be found and it was decided that this would be the new home of Kumokagure's people. In the middle of the massive cavern were two gigantic crystals, dozens of meters in height. Laughing, many of the kids climbed the crystals and raised their hands, yelling, proclaiming that this was their new village.
As many villagers raised their hands, bringing and offering their jobs to the table, it was realized that medics, engineers, blacksmiths and even Jounin had survived. There were many cooks and many tailors too! ANBU would leave the village solely at first, going back to the ruins to recover whatever they could.
The Lightning Daimyo continued to send supplies to the best he could. The Raikage stressed the need for natural resources.
The village -- slowly and surely saw that their was true hope. In the few months following, Satsuki Biorr Yuria would spend countless hours sculpting the two massive crystals with his plasma. He would go into a coma carving this symbol of hope, having already exhausted himself with the blasting of the mountain.
It had been a few months since the destruction of the village but now, the winter had left. Satsuki's eyes slowly opened one morning, the medics around him smiling and running outside, screaming. He couldn't make this out and slowly stood up, forcing his body to move.
The man walked outside to see the people smiling up at him, screaming, happy, clapping. The Sennin who he'd arrived with, Roar, his teacher, smiled, putting his hand on the surprised ninja's shoulder. He'd been voted the Raikage unanimously.
The Juugodaime Raikage continued his work over the next two and a half years, the village once again gaining respect. The village also continued the Juugodaime's Fireside chat, when in the morning, the village would wake, making tea and filling the Crystals of Hope. The Raikage would sit in the middle with a massive fire. This would be a village-wide discussion where no person needed to be silent, even the children.
In addition to this, the elders had a massive village-wide dinner everyday. The many cooks would spend the day working on various foods the Gennin would go out to collect with ANBU supervision.
New-Kumo still carries on the tradition of it's ninja carrying swords, the Gennin are all given one sword of their choice by the village's genius sword smiths.
The Raikage spends time in his office, often sending letters to the various clients, making sure it is known his village is once again a power.
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kouri-chan_xx Vice Captain
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kouri-chan_xx Vice Captain
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Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2011 6:37 am
 OTOGAKURE
After the nine tailed demon child, Uzumaki Naruto, slew our great leader, the first Otokage, we retracted away from society. We remained in hiding, amongst the rice fields of the Rice Country, stabbing our fangs into wandering shinobi that passed through our lands. Through our paralyzed prisoners we began to learn about the world, other villages, and most specifically - more about ourselves.
Soon after a hundred years of solitude, Oto opened up for business. The walled fortress of a village began doing missions for the Rice Country, causing a massive power shift from the Feudal Lord to the Merchant Alliance of the eastern coast. With the backing of the Merchant Alliance, who footed the bill of the massive uprising ninja village, the second Otokage set in motion the rise of the Hidden Sound Village.
Fast forward now to the time that the Otobe clan bloomed within the walls of Otogakure. The clan was unknown to the second Otokage, and the Otobe only came back to Oto's service once the Third Lord came into power. The skills shown in several Chuunin exams, and the odd sensing capabilities shown in many tracking missions, of that singular clan gave Oto that very much needed 'one-up' over Konoha's Uchiha clan.
After a short fifty years of peace, and a rising amount of graduating students from the academy, the Fifth Lord found Orochimaru's hidden Kinjutsu scrolls. Upon studying those scrolls, the Kage went insane and murdered twenty students at the Otogakure Shinobi Academy - an act which sent reverberating messages throughout the ninja world. Then, when the Sixth Otokage was selected, the scrolls were destroyed. However, the Kage made sure to keep a single list of the scrolls within a secret location, which was completely unknown to her fellow villagers. Evil was still afoot in Otogakure, and it could be felt by any who passed by its masterful walls and lanes.
Forty years later, the Otobe clan began their plotting to kill off the sixth Otokage. Hideyo Otobe had planned to murder the Kage in secret, and secure the village as his own. In a violent and ill-planned attack, he and a good portion of his clan was torn to pieces by several Elite Jounins along with the Otokage himself. They were betrayed, then went into hiding once more.
Thirty years after the massacre incident, the Otobe clan came out from their underground sanctum. More clans, such as the highly skilled Hana clan, began to bloom in the promising village, which caused the village to become stronger with each passing day. More ninjas, more power, more missions, and more money began to thrush into the ninja village. Otogakure became a village that no one wanted to mess with, and even when there wasn't a Kage for roughly thirteen years (before the Otobe returned), the village was simply exploding into the world.
However this triggered a turn of bad events: Kages going missing, or giving up their positions. One such Kage was Scarecrow Karasu. His past was shrouded in mystery as well as his motives, but that did not matter as he was soon replaced, forced to resign after the Fifth Dawn claimed Otogakure for its own. But the new Kage was also replaced, by one Makashima Shou.
Under Makashima's leadership, Otogakure began to thrive again. The Fifth Dawn offered much aid and Oto started to prosper. Then Makashima abruptly decided to become a Sennin and travel the world. The task of Kage fell to a young lady, Uchiha Saiya's hands.
Saiya took to the task of leading the village considerably well. She lasted longer than the previous 4 Kages before her put together, and the people of Otogakure were happy. But soon a time came of great weakness and depression, when the village's population of shinobi dropped drastically. Many villagers left the village and hard times fell upon Oto.
The decline in high ranked Shinobi put Oto into an incredibly weak and unstable position. The village gladly took in any passerbys and treated them as family. Slowly getting the academy students to graduate and become shinobi would take a while, any sort of allies they could find for the village now would be necessary for the survival of the village.
Relying on the fact that the Rice Country was smaller and out of the way, the Sound faded back to avoid the concurrent belligerence of Konoha and regroup the small remaining amount of ninja. Not only this, but the country focused most of its functions towards the eastern coast, where the country had access to trading ports. This helped the country prosper without relying on the inland countries for supplies.
The people of the Sound stayed quiet and happy. Being close to major port cities near the coast, Otogakure was able to sustain itself and stay far away from the border to Konoha. The majority of small villages fled towards the east and towards Otogakure as well, seeking protection in the shinobi village. Oto blossomed with life renewed after such lonely and hard times. In the care of their new Kage, the Otogakurians received attention much needed and were able to connect and trade with other small villages within the rice country, relieving the tension that had been building between the villagers and Kasuke's passive beliefs. This helped the village economy prosper and grow to a healthy and dominant role.
With their new found workers and funds, the villagers including shinobi all worked hard to rebuild the destroyed academy and soon enough the academy was fit with fresh walls and fresh students. With the spike in population of non-ninja, the academy was integrated into a normal school due to issues with building a separate school. It began again as an even stronger institution, civilian and shinobi students integrating like they had never done before.
While the eastern portion of the Rice Country prospered, the western did not. The border to Konoha was often raided by bandits and many small villages were pillaged and defeated. Otogakure has taken small steps to defend their border and plan on making more missions to recover bandit villages and return them to their rightful owners.
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Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2011 6:44 am
 KUSAGAKURE
In the times of the Great Shinobi Wars, Kusagakure was a small, tight-knit village of Shinobi and farmers. The Kusakage of the time was reluctant to join the fray of the Great Wars. This caused dissension in the ranks of the higher level shinobi. Some doubted the strength of the Kusakage and of the village, while others openly rivaled the Kusakage, dishonorably setting duels. In these duels, ex-honored shinobi fell to their deaths at the hands of their Kusakage: an act which silenced the unrest of the villagers.
News came of the Hidden Sound and Hidden Cloud joining together and crushing the Mist. The new Kusakage, in debates with his advisers, settled for a plan to send diplomats to the Hidden Sand and the Hidden Stone. As this is being done, the Grass would then begin to mobilize all their shinobi, pulling them from missions and summoning absent shinobi clans that lived close-by. They would gather them to the main Hidden Grass Village, getting them ready for the siege of the Village of Sound.
An advisor to the Kusakage, an elder member of the Takehashi clan, was also informing all the shinobi in his clan of the Kusakage's plans. Since the Takehashi clan had been one of the clans to rival and disapprove of the Kusakage's plans from the beginning, they came up with a treacherous plan of their own. A few members however were loyal and didn’t listen to their radical thinking clan members.
While the Kusakage sent the diplomatic ninja to the smaller shinobi villages to enlist help on their endeavor, the shinobi of the Takehashi Clan were quick to slay these loyal shinobi, making it so help never came. In the place of diplomats, the Takehashi clan sent informants to the Sound and Cloud villages telling them all of the plans of the Grass village in turn for safe haven in their villages. The Cloud and Sound accepted the deal and began to mobilize their own shinobi to the location of the Hidden Grass Village.
In the night, the Sound and Cloud began their attack. The Grass, not expecting an attack to happen yet, were easy pickings. The Sound Shinobi entered from the North East, directly into the hills that were covered in tall grass. The Cloud entered from the very lake the Villagers of the Grass had made sacred. Following the water ways, they attacked the middle embankment, where the schools and dojo were; also they struck the lower embankment where the shop complexes were. The Grass put up a great fight, although in times of battle some act differently. Clans, such as the Daichi, were a great clan before the slaughter of their village. The Daichi in the "Battle of the Tall Grass" let down their village by retreating from the hills instead of holding their position. During the battle, the village was devastated by the Sound and Cloud Shinobi. So very many shinobi were killed, however, many of the younger and lower level ninja had secured themselves in a bunker under the Kusakage's Tower.
The village was devastated; buildings were in ruins and corpses lay every direction. The Kage was badly wounded in the intense battle. He appointed a medic ninja to become the next Kage; and with the council's approval, she began rebuilding the village.
Many years have passed; the village is stable but still pretty weak. Kitai worked hard to keep Kusagakure working. However, the strain was getting to her so she decided to step down for a while. A new Kage has been appointed, and is ready to go that last step to return the Grass Village to its true glory. The village is prospering nicely and peace seems to be looming around but who knows what will happen next.
As the new Kusakage, Omi Ryden began to organize the village and the rebuilding of Kusagakure. At last, things seemed to calm down under his motivating words. However, the village could not know rest yet though. This man's genial facade hid much more than could be imagined. He was cruel, taking young orphan urchins as well as old people, and even kidnapping children and adults and experimenting on them in his labs. It appeared that he wanted to create the perfect bloodline and believed that it could be done genetically. This all happened in the dark and nobody knew until a hidden scroll was found within the Kage's office. It was a scroll written before the disappearance of Kitai.
This scroll was indeed the will of Kitai, Kusagakure's noble Kage. Within this scroll stated her successor if anything were to happen to her before she could pass down the title of Kusakage. It was a woman who went by the name of Tenmoki Yuki. This woman, who most had not heard of, was a dear comrade to Kitai and loyal friend. Yuki, suddenly taken by the request on the scroll was indecisive at first, but later came to believe that her iron morals of hope and determination could help the village greatly. She discovered Omi Ryden's cruel experiments, and, horrified, challenged the man to a duel, but did not expose his actions.
However, there were those that doubted the strength of this woman, which caused the village to be somewhat divided. Omi Ryden accepted her challenge, but the council stepped in to stop the rash actions both Tenmoki and Omi were about to take. Tenmoki realized that a fight would do more harm than good and instead concentrated on making sure that justice was served. The very next day, the newspapers were reporting the horrific experiments in detail using data than Tenmoki had scrounged up. Omi was arrested and put under maximum security.
A while after Tenmoki's ascension, however, the former Kage, Omi, escaped. His whereabouts were unknown to his students and to the Kage herself. Was he going to he betray Kusagakure? No one really knew. As a precaution, Tenmoki gathered together the higher-ups of Kusagakure and made them a part of a secret organization known as "The Shepards." No one knew who the Shepards are except for the Kage. None of the other villages had heard about these men and women. Nothing was written about them nor spoken about them. They were a secret weapon to keep Kusagakure safe from others. And so life went on.
However, one dark day, the Kusakage Tenmoki Yuki was murdered by a missing-nin by the name of Sakaki who had a grudge against her. Sakaki was quickly found and dealt with by the Jikan clan, but this event caused a chain of events to happen: the village blacksmith Smi turned traitorous and killed a number of people in the village. There was anarchy, and the Shepards were forgotten. Kages came and went and it seemed that the position of Kage was cursed. Whoever took it would come to a sticky end.
Seeing Kusagakure's plentiful herb fields go to waste unsettled the Fifth Dawn and they claimed it for their own with no opposition. A senior member of the Council, Konpaku, was appointed to keep order in the village. However, recent visitors to the village report alarming things: the old streets of glory now filled with the dead, and the constant stench of blood in the air... some of the more exaggerated stories have claimed that the fields are now blood red. The rumours may be exaggerated, but it is no secret that Kusagakure is not as great as it was. Rumours of Konpaku's disappearance sealed Kusagakure's grave and it was invaded and subjugated by Konoha almost immediately.
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kouri-chan_xx Vice Captain
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kouri-chan_xx Vice Captain
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Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2011 6:45 am
AMEGAKURE
Kept in Oral History.
Amegakure escaped invasion and subjugation by the Fire daimyo's forces only due to Iwagakure's spirited resistance. Knowing this, they have withdrawn from the international political scene and upped their defenses.
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Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2011 6:47 am
 TAKIGAKURE
The Fifth Dawn fortress does not archive their records but divides up the secrets, with each member to hide the strings they hold on the actions of the shinobi world. No one knows the full story other then Amadeus.
Now that Amadeus has disappeared, and the Fifth Dawn scattered, Takigakure's recent history is lost. With the Fifth Dawn's only remaining member protecting the village as the Takikage, it was quickly taken into perspective that the Fifth Dawn had been disbanded.
Takigakure itself has withdrawn from global affairs in reaction to Konoha's power play. The alliances and cease fires that had been dealt about during the time of the Fifth Dawn were severed. Takigakure remains loyal to its own shinobi. While the other villages strengthen their armies, Takigakure is awaiting the day they try to tread on their territory, untrusting of the villages and their leaders from their lack of communication.
The Waterfall Village knows much of the going-ons outside of their village, for they have eyes in each village, watching and waiting until the time of action breaks the Dawn.
The only village that Takigakure has remained in contact with during the many years after the Master's defeat was Yukigakure. Being that the Takikage has a strong bond with the people of the Land of Snow, the two villages share knowledge of the going-ons in the world of today.
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kouri-chan_xx Vice Captain
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