A beam of light broke through the slits of the straw window shades, slowly crawling down the wall as the dawn crept further into the sky. It came to eventually rest on the eyes of the sun-weathered face of a middle-aged man. He blinked a couple of times before fully opening hazel colored eyes to the full morning sun that beamed a warm mirth on his face. With a groan the man looked over to see his wife had long exited the bed as the smell of breakfast wafted into the room as if on cue. A warm smile crept over his face as a man named Juu Todoi swept his legs off the bed and stood up to a full stretch.
Life as a farmer had been weird. Settling down into civilian lifestyle had been difficult at first as he was an ex-shinobi, discharged after a spinal wound ensured he’d never jump from roof-to-roof ever again. The first two years had been a blur of painkillers and alcohol but that had been before he met the amazing woman in the kitchen fixing food. Through her he sired two children, worked some off jobs using a few of his remaining shinobi skills, and bought a farm. It wasn’t anything amazing, as all he grew was cotton and even that was just a very small patch of land, but to Todoi, it was everything. He still hadn’t quite mastered waking up before the sun, though as he had heard most farmers did, but made the personal excuse they probably had animals to tend with too.
After a quick ten minute stretching exercise to warm up old muscles for the day’s work, Todoi walked into the kitchen to find his wife with her long red hair and a focused face working diligently on flipping flap-jacks. With a quick little shoot of chakra into the soles of his feet, Todoi crept up behind his wife and slid his hands across her waist earning him a genuine squeal and swat. The ex-shinobi stepped back with a snicker as the emerald-eyed fury shot at him with more angst than a Chuunin in charge of wild Students; and he loved every second of it. After seeing that her scolding still had no effect on the man, she relented a little smile and turned back to the pancake that was very near burning. Flipping it off onto a stack she asked him to call in the kids from their early morning chores, but not before chiding him for being lazier than his own kids about getting out of bed; Todoi knew full well she could of waken him at any time.
Sliding opening the front door the man stepped down the small set of stairs, one slow step at a time, before reaching the soft grassy earth of his front yard. The sun was cresting just above the dawn, and the warmth filled him with energy as he called out for his children with a mighty bellow. Out in the fields with the cotton patches two heads, a red one and a blond, peeked up with beaming faces. There was the collective call of “Dad!” as he stepped out further to greet the children that would be rushing his way. As he moved to greet them, a warm breeze blew in from behind the children and passed Todoi. He caught the scent of horses, steel, and weapon oil. His heart leapt wondering if it was the Shogun moving more of the Samurai down towards the Southern Bay, but something in his gut told him, ‘no.’ He cried out suddenly in a panic for his children to move faster but the quick shift in mood only made them hesitate, a moment of pause that would be their last.
The thundering pounding of hooves vibrated through the earth, but Todoi felt them in his heart long before he saw the horse and the strangely armored Soldier crest the hill. A longsword was gripped tight in the man’s left hand, and before the father could scream a defiance, he watched in helpless horror as the solider ran down his children. A fury he hadn’t felt before in a long time exploded from his center as chakra and adrenaline unlocked the First Gate subconsciously. Todoi’s foot dug into the ground and twisted before launching the farmer from his door way to the horse some thirty yards away in a blink. His fist collided with the helmet, crushing the steel into the helpless soldier’s face before he gripped the horse’s neck and saddled it, ignoring the clearly broken hand.
Instinct took over from there. His back was already exploding in fiery pain, but he pushed it back as he kicked the horse to rush back from where it came. He crested over the hill in a couple of seconds to see exactly what waited beyond. An entire platoon of heavily armored soldiers was attacking the lower part of the village below his farm. He heard screams suddenly tearing into the air as homes burst into flames or became completely frozen in the blink of an eye. Todoi quickly broke his vision of the horrible war crimes he was witnessing, and took a focus on the people committing them. Looking to see anything familiar to report, the ex-shinobi finally recognized the emblems painted onto the shield and armor of the Soldiers tearing apart the village beneath; Tenouza. He jerked the reigns and turned the horse back to his farm, screaming for his wife to quickly meet him outside as he kicked the horse towards his home. However, before he even got back to his front yard, he saw the same Soldiers from below ransacking the upper part of the village that rested behind his farm. His wife screamed and he saw her being dragged away out of the corner of his eye near the back of his home. The same rage boiled over once again and the farmer flicked the reigns to charge faster at the men dragging his wife away when the entire world suddenly turned sideways. His head hit the ground and everything went black.
An unknown amount of time passed before Todoi finally regained consciousness. The sky was red with fire and blood, and the smell of burning bodies prevailed over every other horrid scent. The farmer recognized this scene from his years of tenure as a shinobi; it was war. Todoi’s training kicked right in, and he quickly began to try and stand only to find his leg broken and trapped under a horse. Without hesitation he gathered chakra to his hand and cut the broken limb off with a quick slice before switching the chakra to a healing on to stem the bleeding. He nearly passed out again, multiple times, but took the pain as he healed enough of his severed leg to keep him from bleeding out as he went to go fulfill one more task as a Kumogakure shinobi.
Dragging himself over to the fence of his cotton farm, he broke off a piece of it and used it to stand on his good leg while he hobbled towards the back of his home where he had last seen men dragging away his wife. Yet, instead of pausing at the bloody patch and drag marks on the ground, he limped by and headed towards a metal flag pole standing out of the ground without a flag waving. Grasping it with bloody fingers he dropped the fence wood and pulsed a little bit of chakra into the pole to undo the seal beneath that allowed a small metal box to pop up from beneath the grass with a little red button covered in glass. With his free hand, Todoi smashed past the glass with his broken hand, pushing down the button right as he began to fall. The pole quickly split into four sections, separated, and began to rotate causing a flashing red light to blink all of about three times before the entire device became suddenly frozen; along with the arm that had just let go of the pole.
Todoi’s frozen arm snapped off and he fell hard to the ground, crying out in pain that was beyond his limits of handling. A cold sweat took him as he felt warm blood thawing the frozen wound.
“Goddamn, savages.” A masculine, but nearly friendly, voice suddenly said. “You know, I have to say, despite being the very dredges of the backwoods, you serfs keep surprising us with,” metal knuckles rapped against the frozen warning beacon, “this hedonistic technology. I wonder how many of those lights were seen? Do you have any idea how close I was to having a perfect mission? Do you?!” The cold bite of frost suddenly took Todoi’s leg/stump forcing him to finally open his heavy eyes and see in the clouded red morning sun a face of madness. A deep blue mark shaped in the form of a tribal tattoo covered half of his face throbbed with a pulsating glow, clearly drawing in energy to his body; while apparently also effecting the man’s brain. He was heavily armored in thick platemail but moved as if it was simple clothing. His eyes were colored purple and a two-day beard growth was taking to a face that was clearly rejecting the hair’s ability to collect dirt and oil and leave it there as a handsome face was bismirched with blemishes all across his cheeks.
“Answer me, serf!” the madman screamed again as the cold crawled up over his abdomen. He could feel his stomach freezing over and the acid inside trying to burn through. He could feel his lungs stiffen as he gasped for air to even breath, let alone answer the Knight that was questioning him. Blood bubbled at his lips as Todoi's eyes narrowed in clear panic.
“Ah, never mind. It doesn’t matter. This entire country will burn soon enough regardless of who knows…” The knight raised a hand up and a lance of ice formed at his fingertips before spearing the ex-shinobi’s skull and ending his life. A smile slowly crept its way up the man’s face as he called excitedly,
“Glory, for Tenouza!”
“GLORY, FOR TENOUZA!” a company of Soldiers rang out in response behind him.
Villages all across the Lightning Country all saw the same attack at dawn on this day, though some where to less success, and others went off flawlessly. The theocracy known as the Republic of Tenouza, a land that has for years gone through great lengths to avoid conflict, has suddenly turned face. Scores of troopers known as Soldiers led by powerful living weapons known as Knights have begun to attack the farmlands and smaller villages of the Lightning Country. They’re sudden overwhelming might comes as not only a surprise, but a concern as well as the morning moves into afternoon and not a single Samurai of the Shogunate is to be seen anywhere to defend their lands. Calls of panic rise up as an all out Holy War explodes onto the scene, and with no one answering the call, the eyes of the people turn now to the only remaining light of hope to keep the Holy Church from ravaging their lands; Kumogakure. A hidden shinobi village high in the mountains that has fallen on hard times since the vanishing of a great deal of their own troops, and a lacking of new recruits as the 15% problem crawls towards lower percentages. Can the Village Hidden in the Clouds turn back the sudden tide of holy fury? Or will an even darker draconian age take root in Lightning’s future?
Life as a farmer had been weird. Settling down into civilian lifestyle had been difficult at first as he was an ex-shinobi, discharged after a spinal wound ensured he’d never jump from roof-to-roof ever again. The first two years had been a blur of painkillers and alcohol but that had been before he met the amazing woman in the kitchen fixing food. Through her he sired two children, worked some off jobs using a few of his remaining shinobi skills, and bought a farm. It wasn’t anything amazing, as all he grew was cotton and even that was just a very small patch of land, but to Todoi, it was everything. He still hadn’t quite mastered waking up before the sun, though as he had heard most farmers did, but made the personal excuse they probably had animals to tend with too.
After a quick ten minute stretching exercise to warm up old muscles for the day’s work, Todoi walked into the kitchen to find his wife with her long red hair and a focused face working diligently on flipping flap-jacks. With a quick little shoot of chakra into the soles of his feet, Todoi crept up behind his wife and slid his hands across her waist earning him a genuine squeal and swat. The ex-shinobi stepped back with a snicker as the emerald-eyed fury shot at him with more angst than a Chuunin in charge of wild Students; and he loved every second of it. After seeing that her scolding still had no effect on the man, she relented a little smile and turned back to the pancake that was very near burning. Flipping it off onto a stack she asked him to call in the kids from their early morning chores, but not before chiding him for being lazier than his own kids about getting out of bed; Todoi knew full well she could of waken him at any time.
Sliding opening the front door the man stepped down the small set of stairs, one slow step at a time, before reaching the soft grassy earth of his front yard. The sun was cresting just above the dawn, and the warmth filled him with energy as he called out for his children with a mighty bellow. Out in the fields with the cotton patches two heads, a red one and a blond, peeked up with beaming faces. There was the collective call of “Dad!” as he stepped out further to greet the children that would be rushing his way. As he moved to greet them, a warm breeze blew in from behind the children and passed Todoi. He caught the scent of horses, steel, and weapon oil. His heart leapt wondering if it was the Shogun moving more of the Samurai down towards the Southern Bay, but something in his gut told him, ‘no.’ He cried out suddenly in a panic for his children to move faster but the quick shift in mood only made them hesitate, a moment of pause that would be their last.
The thundering pounding of hooves vibrated through the earth, but Todoi felt them in his heart long before he saw the horse and the strangely armored Soldier crest the hill. A longsword was gripped tight in the man’s left hand, and before the father could scream a defiance, he watched in helpless horror as the solider ran down his children. A fury he hadn’t felt before in a long time exploded from his center as chakra and adrenaline unlocked the First Gate subconsciously. Todoi’s foot dug into the ground and twisted before launching the farmer from his door way to the horse some thirty yards away in a blink. His fist collided with the helmet, crushing the steel into the helpless soldier’s face before he gripped the horse’s neck and saddled it, ignoring the clearly broken hand.
Instinct took over from there. His back was already exploding in fiery pain, but he pushed it back as he kicked the horse to rush back from where it came. He crested over the hill in a couple of seconds to see exactly what waited beyond. An entire platoon of heavily armored soldiers was attacking the lower part of the village below his farm. He heard screams suddenly tearing into the air as homes burst into flames or became completely frozen in the blink of an eye. Todoi quickly broke his vision of the horrible war crimes he was witnessing, and took a focus on the people committing them. Looking to see anything familiar to report, the ex-shinobi finally recognized the emblems painted onto the shield and armor of the Soldiers tearing apart the village beneath; Tenouza. He jerked the reigns and turned the horse back to his farm, screaming for his wife to quickly meet him outside as he kicked the horse towards his home. However, before he even got back to his front yard, he saw the same Soldiers from below ransacking the upper part of the village that rested behind his farm. His wife screamed and he saw her being dragged away out of the corner of his eye near the back of his home. The same rage boiled over once again and the farmer flicked the reigns to charge faster at the men dragging his wife away when the entire world suddenly turned sideways. His head hit the ground and everything went black.
An unknown amount of time passed before Todoi finally regained consciousness. The sky was red with fire and blood, and the smell of burning bodies prevailed over every other horrid scent. The farmer recognized this scene from his years of tenure as a shinobi; it was war. Todoi’s training kicked right in, and he quickly began to try and stand only to find his leg broken and trapped under a horse. Without hesitation he gathered chakra to his hand and cut the broken limb off with a quick slice before switching the chakra to a healing on to stem the bleeding. He nearly passed out again, multiple times, but took the pain as he healed enough of his severed leg to keep him from bleeding out as he went to go fulfill one more task as a Kumogakure shinobi.
Dragging himself over to the fence of his cotton farm, he broke off a piece of it and used it to stand on his good leg while he hobbled towards the back of his home where he had last seen men dragging away his wife. Yet, instead of pausing at the bloody patch and drag marks on the ground, he limped by and headed towards a metal flag pole standing out of the ground without a flag waving. Grasping it with bloody fingers he dropped the fence wood and pulsed a little bit of chakra into the pole to undo the seal beneath that allowed a small metal box to pop up from beneath the grass with a little red button covered in glass. With his free hand, Todoi smashed past the glass with his broken hand, pushing down the button right as he began to fall. The pole quickly split into four sections, separated, and began to rotate causing a flashing red light to blink all of about three times before the entire device became suddenly frozen; along with the arm that had just let go of the pole.
Todoi’s frozen arm snapped off and he fell hard to the ground, crying out in pain that was beyond his limits of handling. A cold sweat took him as he felt warm blood thawing the frozen wound.
“Goddamn, savages.” A masculine, but nearly friendly, voice suddenly said. “You know, I have to say, despite being the very dredges of the backwoods, you serfs keep surprising us with,” metal knuckles rapped against the frozen warning beacon, “this hedonistic technology. I wonder how many of those lights were seen? Do you have any idea how close I was to having a perfect mission? Do you?!” The cold bite of frost suddenly took Todoi’s leg/stump forcing him to finally open his heavy eyes and see in the clouded red morning sun a face of madness. A deep blue mark shaped in the form of a tribal tattoo covered half of his face throbbed with a pulsating glow, clearly drawing in energy to his body; while apparently also effecting the man’s brain. He was heavily armored in thick platemail but moved as if it was simple clothing. His eyes were colored purple and a two-day beard growth was taking to a face that was clearly rejecting the hair’s ability to collect dirt and oil and leave it there as a handsome face was bismirched with blemishes all across his cheeks.
“Answer me, serf!” the madman screamed again as the cold crawled up over his abdomen. He could feel his stomach freezing over and the acid inside trying to burn through. He could feel his lungs stiffen as he gasped for air to even breath, let alone answer the Knight that was questioning him. Blood bubbled at his lips as Todoi's eyes narrowed in clear panic.
“Ah, never mind. It doesn’t matter. This entire country will burn soon enough regardless of who knows…” The knight raised a hand up and a lance of ice formed at his fingertips before spearing the ex-shinobi’s skull and ending his life. A smile slowly crept its way up the man’s face as he called excitedly,
“Glory, for Tenouza!”
“GLORY, FOR TENOUZA!” a company of Soldiers rang out in response behind him.
Villages all across the Lightning Country all saw the same attack at dawn on this day, though some where to less success, and others went off flawlessly. The theocracy known as the Republic of Tenouza, a land that has for years gone through great lengths to avoid conflict, has suddenly turned face. Scores of troopers known as Soldiers led by powerful living weapons known as Knights have begun to attack the farmlands and smaller villages of the Lightning Country. They’re sudden overwhelming might comes as not only a surprise, but a concern as well as the morning moves into afternoon and not a single Samurai of the Shogunate is to be seen anywhere to defend their lands. Calls of panic rise up as an all out Holy War explodes onto the scene, and with no one answering the call, the eyes of the people turn now to the only remaining light of hope to keep the Holy Church from ravaging their lands; Kumogakure. A hidden shinobi village high in the mountains that has fallen on hard times since the vanishing of a great deal of their own troops, and a lacking of new recruits as the 15% problem crawls towards lower percentages. Can the Village Hidden in the Clouds turn back the sudden tide of holy fury? Or will an even darker draconian age take root in Lightning’s future?
Only the Gods know.