Prologue Part 1: Eyes of Blood
Our tale starts by following the footsteps of a family that had their roots in distant lands, far from the countries were shinobi dwell. From those distant lands a family known under the name Silvans. The Silvans were a family of travelers and adventurers for generations, exploring the wilderness and wandering in unexplored territory in search of things of interest, things that most people would classify as legends. One has to know that the existence of shinobi and their abilities is not found across the entire world, and the tales of those shadowy warriors who possess control over the elements and mastery over the martial arts to levels mortals could only dream about reached far and wide. Those tales formed into grand legends that stirred the interest of many but due to the rumors of war and poverty many were held back from traveling to those lands to discover if those legends indeed hold true. Of course occasionally those with a brave and stout heart wander into those lands were the legends are formed and the Silvans family was such a stout and brave group. Having given ventured into those worlds they were confident to become part of those legends that became the myths of shinobi.
Of course many countries and their citizen are lacking in trust and hospitality, something the first generations of adventurers had uncovered the hard way yet the Silvans seemed to had thought they could solve this by actually becoming part of their civilization. Having taken on the name of Nishimura, meaning ‘western village’ in the Japanese language, that what was spoken by most people in the land where shinobi dwelled the Silvans had effectively become a clan when they settled down in a shinobi village. Slowly as time passed the Nishimura clan became accepted by the other clans in the village despite the fact they couldn’t truly blend with the shinobi society. Whenever it was a problem in the genes or maybe the origin found in the distant lands the Nishimura clan was incapable of molding chakra nor did they possess the strength to excel in Taijutsu, forcing them to just be civilians among the world of shinobi yet the simple fact they were accepted as a part of society had driven the elders of the clan to write down the way society worked in a shinobi village, yet their lack of ability always haunted them…
It was during this era, an era where war and bloodshed were common that a huge difficulty was found in the ninja society. It was common knowledge that certain clans possessed powers others could only dream about, powers that made them far stronger and superior than those that lacked them. Kekei Gekai was what they called those powers, more commonly known as Bloodlines. History had proven that humans are often controlled by their emotions, both the good and the bad but sadly it are the bad that usually ruled superior. Greed, Hatred, Jealousy… So many dark emotions had spawn from the conflicts between Bloodlines clans and lesser clans, or those without bloodlines. Often the latter were forced into submission due to the superior wealth, power and influence of those with a Kekei Gekai what in the end resulted in even more conflicts. It were those violent and grim times that gave rise to a dark shadow that would remain engraved into the shadows of society for many generations to come. The greed and jealousy that developed during those conflicts gave rise to many ideas but one of the most interesting and terrifying ones likely was the following.
What if we could create our own bloodline?
Such a power always comes at a cost, a very expensive cost as the future would reveal. Secretly the lesser clans had come together, trying to find a idea on how to gain this power that had ruled over them for generations and among them was the Nishimura clan who snatched onto the idea that they could finally become shinobi like those around them. Scientists were gathered deploying science in an attempt to find a solution to how they would obtain their own Kekei Gekai and when the first basics were formed plenty of people volunteered to be the first to wield this power, but the result could be expected… The experiments were too damaging on the hosts their body and in the end they perished from their injuries or were injured so far they couldn’t live normal lives. Of course the research was turned into a halt when nobody wanted to take the risks, yet the greed and jealousy that ruled their hearts forced them onwards and with no volunteers present they did the thing every mad scientist would do, force people to be their experiments… And it indeed happened.
They had kidnapped a member of the Uchiha clan alongside a case of serial kidnappings to continue their experiments but by the time the news of those events reached the public, and more important the authorities of the village the research was considered forbidden and under a manhunt by the ANBU nearly all people involved were hunted down and sentenced to death. Back then many believed this was indeed the end of people attempting to steal a power that wasn’t their own but little could they had known how wrong they had been… A handful of scientists had escaped before the ANBU invaded the hideout where the research was held and in panic fled to Kirigakure, hoping to go into hiding to escape from the grim fate that had been awaiting them if they had stayed in the shinobi village they came from. For years the research had faded into the shadows of the past yet soon would be resumed by the offspring of the first generation. Among that offspring were the latest generation of the Nishimura clan who had settled down in Kirigakure, trying to live a normal life after their child had been born but sadly enough the past had caught up to them…
Blackmailed by former colleagues and survivors of the first generation the Nishimura clan left Kirigakure together with their daughter to continue the research that had begun generations ago. The ragtag team of criminals and rogue scientists had formed into an organization known as Mesuki Karuto, or Eyes Cult with a new approach to the problem their ancestors had faced. Actually the suggestion came from the Nishimura clan members who suggested that a traditional transplantation wouldn’t work so they started their research into finding a suiting method to bring the power of a Kekei Gekai into their host, and amidst this research a girl called Nishimura Sayuri was born. Sayuri as a child had been very ordinary, a kind and gentle girl who got along well with her parents and the other children of the village but that all brutally changed when her environment had turned into something a bit unorthodox for a child to grow up in, or at least the type of place one would want their child to grow up in. In the end one could already imagine how a child would grow up in a criminal organization right? It was indeed as one would suspect it would have gone.
Forced to mingle with criminals often stronger than her Sayuri became a skilled talker, often deploying charisma and some darker advantages, like exposing the weaknesses of the criminal colleagues or even blackmail to get what she wanted. As a teenager she often even became called ‘a silver-tongued witch’ and while she lacked the abilities of a shinobi she certainly had the wits to control them, but even with this ability it seemed fate would bless her with a gift many would dream about. The hideout of the Eyes Cult was near a small port town in the borders of the Water Country so often she wandered to the port or on more rare occasions a secluded lake in a nearby forest, and that day she had once more visited the lake. Honestly the only reason she went there was to get rid of the annoyance those male brutes and thick-headed scientists gave her yet when something glowed brightly in the depth of the water. Maybe it was because of that curiosity, or maybe a childish element still within her teenager mind that she dived into the water and followed the light, soon to stumble upon a mysterious and ancient looking status of a serpent.
For a moment she was surprised and disappointed at only having found a giant status yet when she was about to leave a mysterious voice of a male resounded in her ears. The voice told her that he could sense the desire of power within her, the desire to be given what had always been kept away from her, a birthright one would call it and soon asked her if she was interested in finally receiving such a power. Knowing she couldn’t answer literally, since then she would swallow water and drown in the middle of nowhere the teenager found her own words forming in her mind and the male voice spoke again, telling her how he had been a shinobi who had gone against the commands of his lord and as punishment had his body and soul severed and buried separately. His bargain was simple, she would be given his powers as a shinobi if in return she would find his body and burry it someday. Knowing that it likely would be impossible to find the body of a death man, who might had been dead for ages she decided to play the game and accepted to bargain, suddenly feeling the coldness of the ice fade away, the power of the Haku having blossomed within her.
Deciding to secretly hone her skills the girl returned to the cult, like a growing darkness waiting to seize control. During this time the foundation of the second attempt of the eyes cult was made in the creation of a scientific object only known to reports as ‘Blood Mirror’ a term given due to the fact it was a small orb seemingly soaked in blood and when looked into it the orb gave a reflection of the person soaked in a red color akin to blood. The essence of this object was to forcefully drain a person of their bloodline and convert it into the host, but little did they know they would replicate a malady that haunted the shinobi world for generations. Once more they had arrived at the death end of their research for nobody wanted to volunteer for the experiments so they returned to the same idea of their ancestors, kidnapping people… Yet they had learned from their former mistakes and adjusted their selection of targets. The first victim was a young boy of a side-branch that once belonged to the Hyuuga clan, a successful kidnapping that unaware of it themselves would cause the destruction of most of the cult. It was a unknown fact that this boy possessed a elder sister called Shirogane Seiren who doted him like a treasure and once she lost him hunted any clues and tracks like a bloodhound and discovering of the cult’s existence infiltrated it with the sole purpose of destroying anything tied to her brother’s kidnapping, and rescue the child in the process.
Amusingly enough one person was aware of the kunoichi’s intention, the sly Sayuri who approached Seiren under the guise of being a ANBU from their village. Together they plotted the death of the cult members yet secretly Sayuri intended to use this as her stepping stone to become the new leader while in return Seiren helped her as long as her brother’s survival was guaranteed. In the meanwhile the cult had forcefully extracted the Byakugan from their kidnapped victim his eyes and applying it to the Blood Mirror in order to proceed with the next step. Now the cult had targeted the children of the village due to them being weaker targets and used them as the experiments for the Blood Mirror, a grim event that would blemish the innocent childhood of a certain girl.
Chapter 1: The Crimson Realm
It all came together during the childhood of the girl who was once known as Shikino Akari. The Shikino were a small shinobi clan who dwelled within Iwagakure, a place where they had served loyally for many years. However, their service would have come to an end when their first and only daughter would have been born. Given the name Akari, a reference to her bright and cheerful demeanor that often served as a light in the darker times their daughter would end up being the reason why they left behind their lives as shinobi. You see, despite her name Akari was born with a fragile body that caused her often to fall ill, something that required the attention of her parents frequently.
It was a choice the authorities of their village respected after so many years of service, and retiring as simple merchants the Shikino started to raise their daughter in peace. Still it appeared that fate had another decision in store for them. It all happened in an early winter evening when Akari was playing outside the house of her family when all of a sudden a masked figure grasped a hold of her.
The screams of the child quickly alerted her parents who in a rush came outside, just to see the front-yard of their home being found empty. While a hunt for the stranger was started, for reports of multiple kidnappings from individuals wearing the same masks started to spread around Iwagakure the lack of clues about their whereabouts made things difficult…
For Akari however any help had likely been too late… Chosen to be the first victim of the batch of new kidnapped specimen the girl was rendered unconscious while they did their experiments on her in an attempt to transfer the Blood Mirror into her. If it succeeded it would have been easy to break the child’s mind and tame her into being a sentient weapon, and if it failed they could easily just dispose of her.
The first time she awoken in that new world was still freshly engraved in her mind… Blood covering the wooden floor and corpses covering the space around her like a sea. In a daze she had crawled back onto her feet as she saw her sight being replaced by a blood soaked world and while she screamed in agony a old grumpy voice spoke to her, holding her with a arm to restrain her while wrapping bandages around her eyes,
“It’s best to keep your eyes closed from the world now young child. Not like that crimson world has anything for us to offer.”
It was like this she met the old man, who she later came to call ‘Kuma’ because he sounded like an old bear. That kind gesture had been the first step in her recovery from the insane red world. The old man who saved her was a victim just like her but he was far stronger than she could ever imagine herself being. No matter how much she would want to try that, as a child she could never see that blood soaked world like he did. During the year she had spent as a victim in the cult she learned more about shinobi and the ideal appeared in her mind that she would become strong enough to prevent anyone from having to see the world like she did. Still the following four years she was forced to spend in custody, locked within the dark room with only the old man as her company and the occasional visits from a girl who seemed to had been part of the group who kidnapped her. She’d never received an answer why they did this, but the girl seemed interested in the fact Akari survived.
Finally after four long years the ANBU forces of Iwagakure found the whereabouts of the kidnapper’s their hide-out and staged a rescue operation. The mission was a success, and while all the kidnappers were thought to be captured or killed in action only two survivors were found in the room full of corpses.
When Akari was saved from the cult one could say she did a total take-over. The usual playful and cheerful child had become timid and withdrawn and often was even gloomy in a sense. She locked herself inside, afraid of the twisted world her sight showed her and only found joy in reading books, the lifeless things that didn’t turn into grotesque things. Some even remember the cries her mother made when the girl screamed at her to stay away, mistaking her for a hideous creature.
Yet not all hope seemed to be lost for a recovery… A talented doctor within the medical branch had volunteered to try to cure the Blood Mirror malady that Akari suffered from. The first interactions with this doctor went ‘difficult’. He quickly learned that removing the bandages covering her eyes when a living being was in her sight made Akari drop into a state of paranoia, bordering to hysteria but more curiously was the fact that the Blood Mirror was in fact a tainted Byakugan.
For days he spend trying to convince Akari that the things she saw were just illusions made by the mirror, and that he would make a medicine that would cure her of that ‘red world’. However, Sayuri who had survived the raid on the Eyes Cult hideout by going into hiding had decided that it would be useful to see how the girl would develop and assassinated the poor doctor.
With hope for a cure being lost Akari became even more withdrawn, but the chance encounter with the very same man who had been a victim like her created a small light within the darkness. The man revealed that just like her he had been forced to see the world in such a grotesque nature, but if she truly dreaded the living then perhaps she should have tried to make puppets so she could have friends.
Hesitant her parents allowed the old man to teach Akari how to create her own puppets and amazingly enough they were one of the few things that didn’t appear like a monstrous abomination in her eyes. The old man seemed pleased by this, who noticed Akari’s eyes had a certain insight that helped the carving and creating of the puppets far more than normally.
When Akari became of age where she should have gone to the shinobi academy she instead became an apprentice at the old man’s atelier, learning more about the existence of puppeteers and their puppets. Akari’s puppets were quite unique, perhaps it was her talent or the fact she poured so much affection into them the puppets often looked just as if they had been living things. A puppet of a dog would have looked just like a dog until one noticed the chakra strings attached to its body, or the moment one of its traps revealed itself.
All in all it was a beautiful sight to behold. Still little could anyone have guessed that an accident would have turned this admirable craft into something much darker… At the age of 17 it happened… While at home Akari had just taken a shower and after she dried her body and was getting ready to get dressed an accidental glimpse of herself in the mirror made the girl notice that there wasn’t a young teenager standing in the mirror but a vile creature of the crimson realm!
Her mind finally caved in as screams followed and her parents were forced to hear Akari’s sobbing from within the locked room of their daughter. She had to escape… Escape from the crimson realm and stop being one of those ‘monsters’. In the end the sight of the little dog puppet at her feet made the girl get an idea… She wanted to become a puppet just like them.
The days that followed were tragic to say the least. Her parents desperately tried to convince her that a cure could be found for her eyes, not to mention that such a practice was taboo but the girl dismissed them as a fool’s hope. Even the old man seemed hesitant to teach her such forbidden lore, in the end to become a Human Puppet was a dangerous surgery that wasn’t only considered the greatest taboo in their society but it also required a talent only a few possessed and while he was capable of such things the man believed that she had to consider the choice carefully. Still he understood her desire to escape from the Crimson Realm, it was a tainted world where everything appeared like a grotesque creature to the point that only a life of seclusion awaited one.
In the end he accepted her request and explained that he’d try to preserve her body as well as possible, the jest that he’d make her the most beautiful puppet in existence causing a smile so bright to come from the girl that he found his own heart breaking. For days he spend doing the surgery, carefully storing the heart of the girl within a special compartment while he removed most of her organs. The process was a difficult one, but his promise to bring her back as a puppet whose beauty was unmatched gave him a zeal that would cause him to work so diligently to deliver that promise.
Still the work he had to do was of the highest difficulty. While the conversion from human into a being that was closer to an actual puppet had been proceeding just like he had intended he wanted to leave a gift for the girl, an attempt to deliver the cure she had searched for so long. Days he spend using pinpointed surgery and chakra manipulation to try to cleanse the taint of her eyes and while one of them was cured of the malady, regaining the white color the Byakugan was said to possess possessed the other remained crimson, an unfortunate inability to reverse the damage that had been caused, but at least he could lessen it.
Still there was no lack of devotion to his work as the man continued to modify the surgery in such a way the girl retained her human look as much as possible. The softness of the skin was preserved and while it felt cold to the touch, only natural with the lack of blood now flowing through her veins she still remained to look like some expensive doll.
“Poor child, nobody should have made this choice as the result of someone else their actions.”
Tears rolled down the man’s cheek as he wondered how different this girl’s life might had been if she had not been a victim of the Eyes Cult. She likely would have been a bright and cheerful kunoichi who would have the chances everyone deserved to have. However, even if she had forsaken her humanity he’d at least want her to remain looking as much as a living human as possible.
A mere glance at his apprentice’s puppets shown that this was the right thing to do. Those puppets were filled with such affection that it felt like they were living things, the closest representation of the actual thing they were meant to resemble. Seven days had passed since the surgery began and finally he attached the secret compartment that housed her heart to the body, cleverly concealed under the flesh that had been preserved by using a small trapdoor mechanism. The moment it was installed and he stepped back the girl opened her eyes again and the miracle of his creation had been successful.
The sound of breathing, cleverly faked by using several mechanisms that made it appear like she was breathing, not that she needed it now that she was a puppet was accompanied by the light noise of her feet stepping onto the ground. From the false sense of warmth that was capable of being produced by a small heating contraption that made it feel like her skin had a natural feeling to it, to the sound of breathing… He had truly done everything in his might to make this a true puppet who was the closest thing to a human.
“Thank you Kuma-sensei.”
Feeling droplets of water, a mockery of what might had been tears run down from the corner of her eyes Akari could feel only an immense joy at the fact her reflection in the mirror finally looked the way it was meant to be, not only that but it appeared her vision was closer to how it had normally been. No more did the people around her look like grotesque creatures and after embracing the man Akari stepped back while she waited for the old puppeteer to speak.
“I did everything I could Akari, I pray this is a choice you won’t come to regret.”
Nodding her head lightly the girl raised a hand, activating the chakra strings to manipulate the small dog puppet she had carved before she manipulated it to move toward her, a soundless bark coming from the creature.
“Hehe, I guess I got a lot to study before my puppets can be as great as this body.”
The man smiled weakly as he nodded his head lightly, aware that what was about to happen next would be a world of trials for Akari and her parents. Indeed when the girl arrived home her parents were perplexed at how their daughter looked nearly the same as she did as a human. For Akari, despite the fact they were her parents the years she had been forced to see every living being, including her parents as monstrous creatures had left the girl slightly nervous but the moment she spoke, calling them ‘Mama and Papa’ her parents broke down into tears as they ran toward her in an attempt to embrace the human puppet… Their daughter had finally returned.
Chapter 2: Loyalty to the maker
Yet for Akari the hardships had only just begun. In the end for one as young as the girl had been the existence of the religion within Tsuchigakure was something she had yet to understand, or become aware of what sort of dark taboo she had committed. Despite the difficulty adjusting to their daughter’s new existence the Shikino tried their best to acknowledge Akari as a human being, not once had they mentioned to anyone that she was a Human Puppet, and rightly so if one knew how community would react toward her.
It all went wrong on a simple winter morning. Wandering through the village Akari saw a family weeping at what appeared to be a dying canine. A closer look revealed the dog was in fact a young Inuzuka pup who was drawing its last breaths, likely having had a defect at birth. As innocent and kind as she had been Akari thought about how she would be capable of making those crying people cheer up again. If only she had known back then what a result her idea would have caused… In the middle of the night she went back to where she had seen the dog and tried to explain that she wanted to help him. The dog himself was too weak to resist, and partly curious about why a stranger would want to help him when his pack had forsaken him and deemed him as beyond rescue.
In the end he watched as the girl used all her strength to carry the worn-down body of the Inuzuka dog toward the one she believed could save the dog… the old puppeteer. The old man looked perplexed as Akari arrived at his atelier with the dog and upon being asked what she was up to the girl begged for him to teach her how to make the Inuzuka dog into a being like her… To give him a second chance at living.
The old man was speechless when he heard Akari declare that her existence as a Human Puppet had given her a second chance at living in her eyes and while he was hesitant to teach the girl such a forbidden practice his emotions made him unable to deny this child’s request.
The moments that passed were the most intense that he had ever felt when making a puppet. The sight of Akari explaining to the Inuzuka dog how she would give it a healthy body to dwell in, of how she devoted her entire mind to absorbing the details of how such a surgery worked and while she was nervous the skillful guidance of the old puppeteer allowed the child to extract the heart of the Inuzuka and safely place it within a compartment that would house it.
Afterwards the two of them started to modify the malfunctioning corpse of the dog. It was clear that the dog’s body had been too weak to survive by normal means. Some of its organs had been malfunctioning so as a result she tried to remove them and replaced them with special mechanisms and other machinery that faked their purpose. In the end after a whole night of working she had succeeded in converting the Inuzuka dog’s corpse into a ‘living’ puppet and placing the heart inside it Akari could only let out a cheer of joy as the dog barked happily at her, seemingly having regained his vigor.
The family would be delighted to see their dog back wouldn’t they? In the end nobody liked to see someone they loved dying. Sadly it was just a child’s naivety to think their reaction would have been like that.
“Umm… I brought your friend back.”
The girl declared her arrival bashfully while she gestured at the Inuzuka dog beside her, the creature barking in a greeting toward the family who had been his pack for so long.
“Hakouro, is that you?”
The dog barked again and for a moment the look of surprise lingered on the family’s face before it twisted in a sharp glare toward the child.
“What have you done to our pack member?! Y-You took away his chance for a peaceful afterlife! Dooming him to spend his life tormented for eternity! You accursed witch!”
The family started to shout at her, and in surprise Akari shook her head, trying to reason with the strangers.
“But he’s back, didn’t you want to be able to remain with him?”
One of the adults of the family, likely the father stepped forwards and bolded up his fist, growling in anger while he replied in angry shout.
“But not as this--- this thing! You turned our Hakouro into an abomination!”
The man’s fist landed against her cheek, making Akari be pushed backwards from the force and hold her cheek in surprise.
“W-Why… I was only trying to help…”
The moments that followed were pure torture for the girl. She could only watch as the family ganged up on her and beaten her up, labeling her a witch and a monster for doing something like that to their dog and after an hour they finally ceased, leaving her collapsed on the ground.
Soft sobs came from the girl while she felt the small cracks in her skin, the layer that the old puppeteer had tried to preserve having been damaged by the cruel beating the family gave her. Why were they being so cruel… not just to her but to the doggy they called Hakouro.
The living puppet looked silently at her before it barked softly.
It seems I’m no longer welcome in my pack, but thank you for trying to save me.
Feeling the light lick of the Inuzuka dog’s tongue against her cheek the tears that rolled down the girl’s cheek only intensified when she finally crawled back on her feet and walked toward the atelier of the old puppeteer, her stepping unsteady while she was being followed by the Inuzuka dog.
“A-Akari what happened to you?!”
The old puppeteer shouted in surprise as he saw the damaged skin of the girl, quickly taking her inside the atelier while the dog followed after them. While she was made to lay down onto the table of the puppeteer Akari retold the events that happened, making the old puppeteer sigh softly in return.
“Typical reaction from a resident of Tsuchi no Kuni… To think they’d respond to your kindness with such violence.”
Scowling the man carefully started to mend the cracks in her skin, slowly making her look as good as new while he noticed the droplets of water that were leaking like tears down her eyes.
“Was what I did really evil? Am I nothing but an abomination and a monster?”
The old puppeteer sighed softly as he gently lifted Akari’s back upwards and replied in a gentle tone.
“Why don’t you ask the one you tried to help?”
Looking down at her side Akari noticed the Inuzuka dog had remained at her side, gazing up at her with a look of concern. It was clear from the affection and concern for her that it was displaying that he was grateful, but what surprised her was when its barks seemingly conveyed as words to her.
”Despite how they responded I am still glad to be given this opportunity and while I might have lost my pack I have gained a new one in return.”
The dog lightly licked her hand while Akari smiled softly in return, hearing the old man continue speaking.
“The fact that you hold such feelings, the efforts you make to help others show to me that you’re not an abomination but nobody else than the girl called ‘Akari’.”
Akari nodded her head lightly, and while she lightly rubbed her hand over the Inuzuka dog’s head she couldn’t help but think that the true abominations were humans like the family she had tried to help. But at least in the end one person was grateful for the help she had provided.
Chapter 3: Path of a Kunoichi
The months that followed easily revealed the after-effects of the events that had unfolded. In fear of being beaten up again Akari started to interact a lot less with other people aside from her parents and the old puppeteer, growing distrustful of them. At the same time due to her peculiar circumstances it was decided that instead of making Akari attend to the shinobi academy, in the end she was already 17 years old the village would instead deploy a training program that if she succeeded with the examination at the end of the training she would be given the rank of a kunoichi within one of the branches
If there was one thing the teachers had to all agree about then it was that Akari was an unusual student. Whether it was studying technical stuff like the workings of how a village functioned, the ancient religions of the village or combat prowess upon the battlefield Akari was able to demonstrate a talent that most instructors would desire but most fascinating was how she used her condition to an advantage. The lack of exhaustion and the near inability to bleed made the girl a nuisance to counter in combat but also made people suspicious about her unusual condition, and her mastery over puppets granted her an unorthodox way of fighting that usually left her opponents off-guard. Still it was the insistence of one teacher that believed her prowess and seemingly serious nature when in combat would serve well within the ANBU forces that the moment she succeeded in her examinations that the girl would be signed up for the ANBU corps, given the rank of an ANBU the moment she completed the initial training program for the ANBU corps.
Still she would have a long way to go before she’d truly be able to be considered a real kunoichi. But for now all she wanted to do was see the times she was on duty go by as quickly as possible so she could return home and play with her puppets some more.
