When the Diamond Maelstrom formed around the Village Hidden in the Sand, it locked the village out from the outside world. That did not stop Shinobi from trying – individuals or entire cells arrogantly believing they could push through the deadly storm to reach the outside world. Few of these expeditions were successful at penetrating the storm, and fewer returned. After the first year, said expeditions dropped severely in number as they led to unacceptable losses.
Some daredevils continued trying, however, be due through overconfidence or a certain patriotic zeal driving them to break their silence towards the outside world. Several years after the Maelstrom arose, a three-man cell of Shinobi decided they would try. The cell’s members were Kawaguchi Takumi, Kiyabu Sumiko, and Koizumi Kouji. The three departed silently with the permission of a senior shinobi, not even warning their families as they disappeared into the sand in the hopes of establishing contact with the outside.
Like for all expeditions before them, the journey was brutal. The true events that took place within that all-consuming veil are known only to the three, but when the cell emerged from the Diamond Maelstrom, they did so without Takumi. Wounded, tired, and having just lost their teammate, Sumiko and Kouji realized there was no way they would ever make it back to Sunagakure. The two traveled for some time, but eventually settled down in a small village in the hopes of waiting out the Maelstrom.
Somewhere during this time, Sumiko and Kouji fell in love, had a child, and got married. During his youth, they taught Hikari in the ways of the Sunagakure Shinobi, even penning scrolls of instruction for his later reference. He grew up talented at chakra manipulation but relatively weak in body, having little skill at taijutsu but great aptitude for ninjutsu.
And then that terrible day came. Whether through bureaucracy, forgetfulness or sheer bad luck, the order for the three-man cell to pierce the Diamond Maelstrom never made it to the higher-ups. Instead of ending up in the list of those who died in the service of the village, the trio instead made it into the Bingo Book. The Diamond Maelstrom subsided, and soon Sunagakure’s ANBU slipped from the gates to do their grisly work.
What started as a calm, clear night turned into chaos and fire for the child. Shinobi came to the family’s home, strange masked men who attacked his parents. The last thing Hikari remembered was the embrace his parents gave him before turning to walk out the door to face their fate. What followed was a deafening roar and a blinding blast, and a flare of all-consuming pain as Hikari lost consciousness.
When he awoke, he did so to the sight of an old, bearded face leaning over him. The man introduced himself as Kuma and explained that he had found Hikari half-dead inside of the ruins of his home. He had used the arts of ninjutsu to heal the boy’s wounds, but he could not save… his arm. It was only then that Hikari looked down to find his left arm missing from the shoulder down. Suddenly the memory came to him, and the boy wept like he had never wept before.
Kuma lifted the boy up and held him in a grandfatherly fashion, allowing him his grief. He neither gave advice nor asked questions, but simply remained silent as the tears of loss flowed down the boy’s cheeks. It was comforting for Hikari to have someone there, even if that someone was a stranger.
In the days that followed, Hikari got to know Kuma better. The old man was a rogue Shinobi, he explained, having fled his own village many years before as he grew a distaste for killing. No matter how much Hikari pressed, the old man refused to tell him which village he was from. His hair was stark white with age and his skin was leathery and brown from the years out in the sun, so it was impossible to tell what country he was from.
Through some unspoken agreement, the two began to travel together after Hikari visited the smoldering ruins of his home and retrieved what he could – several of the scrolls his parents had written and some ash-stained souvenirs of his old life. The goodbye from his home was as tearful as his initial awakening after the disaster had been. Afterwards, Kuma never asked for Hikari to leave, and Hikari never left his side.
The first gift Kuma gave to Hikari was a crude hand-made prosthetic arm, made from hollowed wood and filled with chakra-sensitive string much like in a shinobi puppet. Though inelegant and lacking fine articulation, it meant Hikari had two usable hands again. Kuma revealed he had been a puppet-maker before he left his village, along with a medical ninja. To train him in the use of the arm, Kuma and Hikari practiced simple ninjutsu until Hikari could form the simplest hand seals almost naturally with the arm.
Over the next few years, Kuma and Hikari traveled the land. Kuma trained the boy in the Shinobi arts, while trying to impress upon him the importance of benevolence and empathy in daily life and regularly replacing his prosthetic whenever he outgrew the last. They helped the needy when they could, wherever they could. The two helped rebuild homes after storms, brought lost travelers home, and healed the sick. At the same time, Kuma continued teaching Hikari as his parents had done, discovering his natural chakra affinity with water. Though Hikari had trouble learning Kuma’s medical techniques, the old man taught him to replicate healing jutsu through water jutsu. The boy’s water ninjutsu came in useful during their travels, creating canals to lead overflowing rivers away from villages or keeping sinking boats afloat long enough for the people to evacuate.
Yet in secret, dark emotions festered within Hikari’s heart. Kuma taught him to help and to love, yet all Hikari felt when he thought of his parents’ home was hate. Kuma had explained to him the masked Shinobi were most likely ANBU, Sand ANBU going by the description of their gear that Hikari gave. Sunagakure had murdered his parents, and for that, Hikari wanted revenge.
When Hikari turned 18, after six years with Kuma, the old man told him it was time for the two to split. Kuma revealed that Hikari’s secret was easy to read – his actions and healing tainted by the fury in his heart. Kuma had taught Hikari as much as he could, but the boy’s emotional turmoil was a problem he would have to face alone, without his mentor’s help. Though Hikari was sad to part with his old mentor and surrogate grandfather, he did so as he understood Kuma’s reasoning. Their goodbye was far less tearful than with his parents, as Hikari knew that one day he would meet Kuma again. The old man gave him one final gift – a true shinobi prosthetic. Though Hikari had little skill with taijutsu, Kuma wanted him to be armed in case of emergency. The prosthetic was like a swiss army knife, hiding many different weapons that could be switched out and deployed with just a moment’s attention.
Hikari turned to the spirits and the elements to seek his peace. For the next years he lived almost as an ascetic, seeking peace through meditation, communion with nature, and life among beasts, far away from civilization. This approach, however, failed him, leaving him without any answers, only more questions.
Hikari decided to instead turn his attention to the rage of the world, facing down the greatest dangers the world had to offer and escaping unscathed. After all, nature’s anger was roused periodically and eventually quelled itself. He walked along the rims of a volcano, plodded through a violent storm with his head straight, and explored the deep bowels of the earth. His last challenge came in the form of the waters, that one element he had so much in common with, and it turned out to be his greatest challenge yet.
His shinobi reflexes and abilities had saved him every time he had faced his previous challenges, but against the rage of the sea he had no defense. The small boat he had acquired soon went under below the massive waves, tipping the boy into the torrential waters.
Hikari was convinced his time was up. Cold panic gripped his chest. His concentration was shot, making it impossible for him to focus his chakra for a jutsu that could save him. Instead he flailed wildly but found it impossible to peek his head above the cold water long enough to get a good breath. Instead his lungs filled with sickening, salty water, and soon Hikari found his world going dark.
Seek. Feel. Smell. Feel. Live. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.
Before the water could claim him, something saved him. Something old. Something powerful. Hikari found himself lifted from the waters by something massive and translucent. It took a shape, and color, as if it flowed together from pure water. It was like a fish’s head, with Hikari seated on top. It spoke to him, introduced itself as Kyuryu. It explained what it was – one of the Ancients. An Ancient of the Water Court, at that, servant of the legendary and dreaded Suijin.
As Kyuryu began the trek towards the coast, it explained its own personal situation. Kyuryu was an oddity among his people, professing interest in the surface world. Somehow, strange news had reached even the darkest depths. Tales of artificial hybrids between Ancient and man, abominations against nature. Kyuryu, despite Suijin’s lack of interest even upon hearing that, sought passage to the surface world to investigate these rumors. In return, it needed… Not a vessel. It clearly did not wish to call Hikari that, due to the connotations. Instead it described itself more as a passenger, a symbiote of some kind, as it was incapable of treading land for a long time without someone like Hikari to ‘carry’ it around. It figured Hikari would owe him a bit of a favor after the rescue, but also offered the boy power in return for his passage.
Hikari, grateful for Kyuryu’s help and by now quite attuned to the elements, accepted the help. Overjoyed, Kyuryu returned Hikari to the coastline, leaving him standing waist deep in the water. All Hikari had to do, it explained, was drink the sea water once Kyuryu was submerged again, before losing its shape and returning to its natural watery shape. Taking the leap to trust this strange creature, Hikari went down to his knees, ignoring the chill of his already-soaked clothes, and brought his lips to the waves.
Along with the water, something else surged into him. He felt bloated, not just in the food sense, but as if his veins and cells were filling with more water than they could hold. Sweat dripped, then streamed down his face, more and more water emerging from his pores, soaking his face and hairs. It wept from his eyes, filled his lungs…
Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. Live. Feel. Smell. Feel. Seek.
And just when the boy was sure he was about to die, his body straightened and sucked in fresh air. The discomfort and the flow of water from inside his body ceased instantly. He realized that it had been Kyuryu’s voice he had been hearing, bouncing around inside of his skull, instructing his body on how to deal with the sudden influx of elemental chakra. He could feel the Ancient in his mind, and the two conversed further. They were one, now. Kyuryu gave his word he would leave when Hikari asked him to, and in return Hikari promised he would aid Kyuryu’s search.
Hikari knew that there was no further use trying to learn from the elements. Certainly, meeting Kyuryu was some sort of sign. He had received power, almost at the price of his life. A lesson for his hubris. Searching the world and the elements would not magically grant him knowledge or inner peace. The only way to obtain that was to face the source he had subconsciously refused to face. Sunagakure.
Ancient and man found their goals aligned. If there was any place to learn about human-Ancient hybrids it was Sunagakure. That was how Hikari found himself on the road to the Village Hidden in the Sand, his heart in turmoil but his head clear.
