Once upon a time, Emi Isa was just another child born into a small family of shinobi from the Land of Water, who pledged their loyalty to the Village Hidden in the Mist. While the Isa seemed like just another common household, one of Emi’s parents kept a spectacular secret that would endanger their lives. At the time of her youth, it was common for children to become orphaned by the tragedies committed in the name of her mother’s second life as a hachihashi. While Emi was a mere infant, Emi’s mother disappeared, and was held for three days before being put to death for violating one of the society’s cardinal rules. As to be expected, Emi’s father sought out his wife and the Hachihashi Society desperately, but was also slain at the site where . I know it may sound cruel, but such was life in those times. It would take years for her to learn the truth behind her parents’ untimely death; as it was an era of secrecy for the Hachihashi Society; their numbers were few and they only gathered in seclusion, keeping their evolutions hidden beneath heavy cloaks and jagged daggers. They met in a temple deep underground, in a place where only the Hachihashi could venture safely. that deterred nosey spies from ever spreading the information of their meetings. They did not gather into traditional family structures, and if knowledge of their clan ever leaked, those guilty would have their tongues cut, their eyes plucked, and their arms would be amputated as needed for fellow clansmen in need of a replacement. In their youths, Hachihashi were commonly implanted into prestigious families as adoptive offspring, and trained to keep their powers secret via strong influence from the ever-watchful Hachihashi Society. In the case of this Isa family unit, Emi’s mother outlived her usefulness to the clan by settling down as a mediocre ninja, and breeding with a low-status shinobi from the Hidden Mist. After a very brief deliberation period, the High Council of Eight elected to start over with Emi, and redeploy her with a new family. Once her parents were out of the picture, Emi became a special project of the society, as no Hachihashi child would be left to wander the world alone by their own kind.
Hachihashi Indoctrination:
In the wake of tragedy, Emi was planted into an orphanage, and there she remained from the time her parents died, until she was of age to receive shinobi training- just as her benefactors intended. On assignment from the high council, someone had adopted Emi, and became an medical apprentice to an accomplished field corpsman. She was promptly adopted by a new master named Ukyo Koyanagi, and like Emi, he was born from the Hachihashi. Ukyo was the adopted second-son of an affluent household with investments in the water country’s shipping industry. As was expected of every prestigious family in this era, Ukyo served as the Koyanagi family’s sole contribution to the Hidden Mist’s shinobi army; and with his Hachihashi genetics, he excelled as such. He was a field surgeon, and took pride in his ability to sew just about anything, or anyone back together. His methods were unique, and he was frighteningly quick with a scalpel. But Ukyo was also nurturing. He gave her an alternative to the mundane academy program, and provided her training that would manifest and refine her hidden potential, to reach extraordinary heights. And rather than serving in some rough-neck shinobi squad, Emi would only shadow Ukyo on special assignments that favored her training. Rather than exposing Emi to missions in the killing fields, Ukyo introduced her to espionage and assassinations in the realm of politics and global influence. It may have been something about how the world worked at that time, but Hachihashi Society intended to affect the entire balance of the Water Nation. As Emi’s hachihashi genes began to show in her appearance and capabilities, Ukyo taught her the importance of keeping her evolution a secret, and clan jutsu that enabled her to conceal the transformation. Even as a child, she was beginning to develop hachiashi traits uniquely different from the likes of Master Ukyo. By her teens, Emi styled bangs to cover the six extra arachnid eyes on her forehead, which resembled perfectly-rounded rubies.
A Scheme of Ascension:
By the time Emi reached young adulthood, the prestige of the Koyanagi had grown significantly, and their family’s affluence made them a valuable asset to the Society. Emi had become an heiress to the Koyanagi name by day, while her Master Ukyo graduated from serving as a shinobi, to owning their adoptive families freighting company. The spiders spread their webs wide across what were once the meager Konayagi family, and created a fleet of vessels that spanned as far as the sea was wide. By night, Emi had become an influential tool for the operation, and represented both her family, and the high council at elite social gatherings, like galas and ceremonies. She would attend the events as an invited guest from the Koyanagi family, often wearing exotic and daring appearances that would capture the attention of targets dictated by Master Ukyo. Her methods would range from simplistic strategies like using the party as a means to steal valuable information from an estate, to entertaining elites, and getting close enough to slyly kill a target without alerting a crowd in public. Sometimes she would be asked to take it a step further and extract info from individuals, and that was where she learned to shine the most. Emi enjoyed the game of meddling with the lives of these people who lived in their bubbles. It never felt like reality when she floated through the rooms of countless parties dripping with gold. It seemed as if she could have anything she wanted, as the power of manipulation was hers among her targets and marks, but at the end of the night, she often returned home to her master, who had evolved into a father-like role to Emi, and often awaited her return from missions.
And in the twenty-third year of her experience in life, Master Ukyo had come to Emi with an important mission that asked more of her than anything he requested in the past. It had become Emi’s time to take her place within the society’s great scheme of ascension, and she was given the task of using her nobility to wed herself into an elite family from the neighboring tea country. While the journey would prove quite a challenge for Emi, she would create incredible opportunities for the Hachihashi, and further expand the Koyanagi family’s sphere of influence in the shipping industry.
The mark chosen for their scheme was one of several heirs to the Ebihara family, which were incredibly wealthy, and numerous enough that Emi could afford to be fickle about her groom. In a matter of weeks she transitioned from moving into the country to creating a presence among the aristocracy that controlled the region. She joined them for brunches, and attended sparring matches. She made her way closer to the Ebihara, and it didn’t take long until she found a suitable mark: the third of their fortune’s seven heirs. Using her charisma and months of planning, along with the help of youthful good looks and pheremones that caused males to feel pleasure and attraction in her presence. Needless to say, Emi became a treasure to the Ebihara family, and used her talents to merge their wealth into the Hachihashi Society’s living bank; the Konayagi family. When visiting their estate to meet her mark, Emi played to their interests and acted as an emissary of her family business. She floored her company with her confidence and strength of character, and her beauty in their presence seemed awe-inspiring, if not rare to the seclusion of their estate in the fire country. By nightfall, Emi would don her kunoichi uniform and stealthily raid the family’s estate for records and useful information that would aid Ukyo once he attempted a corporate takeover with the Koyanagi Corporation.
It took several months for Emi to gain a stronghold on the Ebihara family and fortune, and it only costed her an ongoing engagement with the fourth Ebihara heir, which had fallen hopelessly in love with her. As her ferry arrived on the shore of the hidden mist, and Emi made her long-awaited return home, she was eager to tell her master Ukyo of her accomplishments in person. In her excitement, Emi arrived home a day early, and discovered the Koyanagi estate in dire straits, but not in the fashion you’d expect, like what a parent would expect when their kid has a party while they are away. Blood was spilled along the floor of the estate’s main hall and Emi followed the trail to her master’s study, where he lay on the floor, taking his last breaths. Ukyo appeared in his raw Hachihashi form, which was tough-skinned and covered with hardened spikes from his forehead to his elbows, knuckles, and et cetera. He lay mutilated, in a bloody mess with all six of his arms sloppily amputated, along with his pride as the heir of an empire that he created from a mere few fishing boats. As he lay dying, Ukyo lowered the only barrier left himself and his pupil, and told her the truth behind her true family, the Hachihashi Society, and her fate as a member of it. He pleaded for her to understand and forgive his culture, and informed her that the Society would be dealing with her directly from that point forward. Another clansmen would come to her soon, and she would have to conform with their demands, and good things would come of it if she did. The mutilation of Ukyo was merely an act of gifting his arms to another Hachihashi ninja who had been told to take Ukyo’s after losing his own as a casualty of battle. Apparently, the Society decided that Ukyo was no longer of use since Emi had grown into power of her own. They had simply pruned him. But he did not intend for Emi to see him this way, and Ukyo put up quite a fight when the recipient of his donation came to collect the appendages personally, and primitively. The thief used an advanced toxin created by so few Hachihashi, that it proved effective on the clansmen who did not possess his ability. Ukyo lost his mobility after a single dose of the assassin’s poison, and the crazed assassin had a field day with him. Using a makeshift hacksaw he molded from sticky-gold webbing, the killer sawed off Ukyo’s arms after forcing him to reveal them in combat. Emi managed to seal off his bleeding and prolonged his life using the medical techniques Ukyo taught her. Though weak and steadily withering, Ukyo maintained the resolve to tell her the truth about her past, and the order of eight spiders who controlled their lives.
In the weeks following Ukyo’s untimely demise, Emi had to cover for Ukyo’s murder and created a rumor that he was slain in battle elsewhere. The fragile Konayagi family relied upon Emi to take on Ukyo’s responsibilities, and she attained a position of power between two elite families, just as the Hachihashi Society intended. However, no emissary or messenger came for her as quickly as she expected- the order kept it’s distance, watching from the shadows as Emi became burdened by duty and mourning. She returned to the Tea Country, and committed to the wedding, which became a bitter affair in the shadow of Ukyo’s death. During the ceremony, the audience in attendance consisted of mostly Ebihara family members, with no members of the Konayagi willing to cross the sea to attend. It was this night that a stranger took a seat at the rear of the ceremony; he privately revealed himself to Emi during the reception. He was another Hachihashi parading about as a priest from a temple in her home country, and he claimed to have come to show good faith on behalf of her order, the Hachihashi Society. His name was Father Noya Daisetsu, and he began casting doubt upon Ukyo’s last words as the night went on, under their breaths amongst their aristocratic party. He explained that Ukyo was slain as a measure to prevent him from usurping the Society, just as Ukyo intended to eventually do to Emi once his Konayagi operation finished taking over her Ebihara. Father Noya insisted that Ukyo created the lie about the limb offering in order to save face with Emi, and keep her love and loyalty through to his death. The counter-claim worked on Emi long enough for her to succumb to the instructions of her new acquaintance, and Emi received her official welcome to the Hachihashi Society as a recognized member.
The Web of Fate
In time, Emi returned to the Hidden Mist, and Father Noya brought her to the inner sanctum of the Hachihashi Society; a temple hidden deep below the hot spring caverns below the village. She became a trusted member of the Society once her regional influence became a crucial power for them; and as such they risked teaching her their deepest secrets. For years she’d come to serve her order as a member of respected status, well until she reached a respectable position even greater than her Master Ukyo ever aspired for her. As an elite within the order, and the sole female with her level of status, she received the title of Brood Mother and became one of the eight High Council Seers of the order. They revealed a mystical entity to her known as the Web of Fate, an aura of immense chakra that permeated the deepest recess of the cavern with a fine, web-like residue that glowed a bright blue hue, resembling visible traces of chakra. The elders taught Emi how to read and perceive this massive flow of chakra, and to navigate it, as only Hachihashi could. For ages this Secret Order existed to oversee and maintain this giant web, as it held the key to all perceivable existence: past, present, future, and all the paradoxes in between. The elders were capable of climbing onto those fragile web strands without them snapping beneath their weight, and could foresee the outcomes of several future realities of their hachihashi kind by simply running a finger along a thread of the web. With this powerful tool at their disposal, the Order of Eight constructed an elaborate organization that existed to protect this power for generations to come; and manipulated their way into power and influence around the ninja world.
In order for Emi to amass the skills she’d need to navigate and read the Web of Fate, Emi was chosen for a ritual performed only once per generation, when a new member is chosen to join the Order of Eight they are taught a forbidden technique known as Kimera no Jutsu: a necessity for attaining the needing abilities to access the Web of Fate. A Hachihashi must use the Kimera no Jutsu to sacrifice several of the their own kind in order to manifest new abilities, and ultimately, immortality, as it took several lifetimes to attain enough skill to properly master the web. Emi chose to hasten her learning by turning on the elders who saw fit to destroy everything she loved in life. Unlike Ukyo or the other Hachihashi who came before her, Emi was not satisfied with the explanation she was given for the self-destructive design of her clan, and elected to rebuild it from within by completing the uprising Ukyo spent so many years preparing. An uprising was due for this order, and her judgement was swift as Emi wasted no time, and absorbed her first elder during the sealing ceremony. Her attack was vicious as she was being celebrated and helped off of the table where they performed the jutsu sealing as she committed the attack: the ultimate heresy. Her rage was hidden and her plans were calculated. While Emi was not the best-trained killer, her raw talent was incredible and she instantly benefited from stealing the life force of the first elder; as her body transformed irreversibly that very moment, and her hachihashi limbs shot outward from her body and pierced her foes with hardened black fingers. That night, Emi managed to murder and absorb three of the eight High Council members; but had to retreat once the remaining elders regroup and revealed their own advanced abilities which still overpowered her. She narrowly escaped the temple that night once the other clansmen within the society got wind of her betrayal. Her bones were broken, and one of her arms were even lost in the fray, yet a new regenerative ability she absorbed from the third councillor allowed her limb to regrow before the next morning came.
The Reign of Madame Web
That night would forever change the path of Emi’s fate, as she outcasted herself from the Hachihashi Society, and changed her appearance radically by absorbing so many hachihashi at once, that she would need to relearn many of her transformation jutsus to conceal her new true form. The Hachihashi blood flowing through her veins had become so dominant that her lower body evolved into a spider like thorax and anus, and her appendages relocated and extended themselves. Emi disappeared at once from Ebihara and Koyanagi fortunes, and went into hiding as her Hachihashi brethren began a bloody, and vengeful hunt that spilled blood all the way from the Hidden Mist to her Estate in the Tea Country. Expecting this kind of reaction from her clan, Emi had their assets frozen and hidden in advance to the Kimera no Jutsu ritual. She protected her master’s mighty fortune from the society, and hid them in a vault in an undisclosed location in the fire country. In the following few decades, Emi dedicated her life to taking over the Hachihashi Society, and one by one, she managed to unseat and devour the elders who currently controlled it. In the time it took to accomplish her plans and destroy the society, Emi watched as the fire of her youth began to wither, and she became an elder herself, in her 50’s as she assumed the role of Madame Web, and with it the loyal followership of the hachihashi still alive to witness their new queen, and her bloody hands. Her power became godly among the ninja of her era, and her authority became unquestionable as she learned the ways of the Web of Fate. And while Emi may have attained power in order to end the cycle of self-destruction celebrated by her ancestors, Emi was not capable of creating a new sustainable way of life for their order, and she witnessed as it crumbled in numbers and influence. Changes at the turn of the century led to a revolution on the Hachihashi people which Emi welcomed, and the decree of secrecy was finally lifted from their people, with the exception of the Web of Fate.
Under her leadership, the Hachihashi became respected members of the shinobi of the hidden mist, and spread themselves across the continent over the next several decades of Emi’s reign. The spiders finally existed as a clan of free people, but as a result, their order began to dwindle to little but the Madame and her Web; as the local clansmen disappeared from her side, and knowledge of the Web of Fate came down to Emi and a select few others, meant to maintain it in the event something ever happened to her.
As the health of her clan reached the pits of disparity, Emi resorted to the Web of Fate to uncover the future that was destined for her clan, and the village hidden in mist alike. Almost twenty years ago, Madame Web made a deal with a young adventurer who had uncovered the Sacred Temple of the Spider, and sought after the heiress of the Koyanagi family Emi once was. His name was Benjiro Matsui, and he was a bothersome curr from the Stone Country who was managing to dig up the connections between the many affluent Hachihashi who originated in the water country. Seeking the fortune of Emi Koyanagi to save his own noble family, Benjiro collected a small army of mercenaries from the middle-seas and hunted down the Spider Queen’s lair. They fought through the Madame’s own army of spiders, which she gained sentient of control of using some of the many abilities she gained using her forbidden jutsu. Countless spiders were slain as the army plunged into her temple, and nothing but Benjiro and a couple of his best men made it onto her throne room floor. They found a pristine hall covered in gold and lit torches, and an exquisite goddess of spiders who watched intensely as they stormed her palace. Attempting to take something that wasn’t there, Benjiro claimed that the Madame used her clan to steal the fortune of Emi Koyanagi using their implanted operative, her master Ukyo. Benjiro intended on confiscating the fortune on behalf of the Water Country, but Emi was quick to correct him and reveal that she was indeed Emi Koyanagi herself. She saw through his claims and intentions, and ensured him that the fortune he wanted was not there, and that she had an offer for him that would end with him being rewarded with the entire fortune if he agreed to meeting her terms. The Spider Queen foresaw Benjiro’s scheme with the Web, and chose to use him to her advantage since the village of mist would meet it’s demise to the eternal winter that would eventually doom it, and her clan. She revealed a small orphaned child from underneath her robes; a baby boy wearing a red cotton cap and garments, in a basket made of straw. His name was Jomei Koyanagi, or so she claimed urgently, upon revealing him. She made him a deal: if he would raise this hachihashi child, and send him back to her in fifteen years once his hachihashi abilities were fully revealed, she would grant Benjiro the treasure he desired, or else she’d kill him then and there; and he’d never manage to find that fortune if he managed to escape her temple with his life in tact. With no choice but to take her deal, Benjiro Matsui took the child Jomei, and left her sight at once. As Benjiro her temple left with the child of burden, Emi warned him that he should urge Jomei to manage his abilities secretively, as he would be at risk to remaining Hachihashi of the world who still believed in sacrificing weaker specimens, as being a Koyanagi would make him extra valuable. In order to protect his foster son more effectively, he resorted in branding him with his own name, Matsui.
While she did not tell Benjiro, her scheme was intended to ensure that her clan would see the next generation, and a vassal would eventually arrive to awaken her from the next phase of her plan to save the future: reincarnation. In her collected wisdom, Emi devised a new method reincarnate herself and achieve a new youthful form, so that she would regain the vitality needed to rebuild the web of fate once the hidden mist was destroyed by the unending storm. During their lifetimes, each Hachihashi is capable of molting at least once; a process where their bodies are saved from certain death by secreting sticky webbing until they are encased in a cocoon, and undergoing a healing transformative process. Most Hachihashi use this process to gain their special abilities, but Emi had yet to molt, and molting after receiving her Kimera no Jutsu sealing would result in something drastically different and uncharted. Her theory was full reincarnation, but she predicted that the full molting process would take her years to fully reincarnate. Once the diplomat left with the key to unsealing her special molting process, Emi ordered her remaining army of giant arachnids to guard her temple ferociously, allow no one but the Hachihashi to enter domain again, and began a long sleep she expected to last about a decade. She remains asleep till this day, awaiting Jomei to awaken her from her reincarnation slumber, still clinging to life despite her slumber lasting several years longer than expected.
