Akira nodded to the first boy who asked him to help. For Akira however he wondered if his younger brother would have been a better tutor for the kid. His brother had always been stronger in the bloodline's abilities than Akira had been, it had always been something which Akira had used as a way of improving his ability with Ninjutsu, especially at the age that this young boy was at.
Still, he would do what he could, the head of the Saito Clan would be unlikely to give his time to a non-clan member, such was the younger brothers pride.
The second was another young boy, pride filled him, Akira could tell by the way he spoke. Still, perhaps it was guidance that the young boy required more than anything else. Pride was a flaw, and often created many problems in a fight. Still, these were things which he would look at in more detail later. He could be wrong, sometimes people project a false pride to hide other weaknesses.
Welcome to todays class. I will begin by discussing briefly some wars that this land has suffered, both recent and old. The purpose of this is to show the myriad of opponents you may face and the scale of those battles. You can't possibly fully appreciate them until you are a part of something like it, but to know what to expect does allow you to take precautions towards it.
He looked at each of them, seriousness rarely left his features anyway, but still it was clear that he was speaking quite seriously here.
The first war I will speak of will be that which placed Kumogakure on the map of the world. We had been founded many years earlier but with a small population we had remained hidden mostly. Still the village had been found and destroyed, twice, by the people who had invaded and taken the land now known as Lightning Country.
Our people had fled and reformed the village a third time, the invaders had called the land they had conquered home for about a hundred years. Yet a group of swordsmen invaded the lands to attack them. These swordsmen would become famous for killing the rulers and driving back the invading forces from these lands. What goes unspoken outside of Cloud lore is of the efforts of our forefathers.
Our forefathers heard of the swordsmen and their attacks, and so decided that what they needed was an opening. So they moved through the mountains which had protected them, inviting the third and likely final destruction of our village, but they desired that moving against them was for the greater good. Though our forefathers died during this, few returning, they created the opening that was required for those swordsmen to achieve their glory.
You need to understand that though they never had songs sung about them in distant lands, they didn't need them to. They knew what they achieved, and they performed their duty for the good of all.
It was a tale of loss, a tale which showed that victory wasn't always achieved through life and glory, but sometimes death and sacrifice. That Cloud still stood was testament to their success.
Next I would speak of the demon wars, wars I was involved in during my youth. These wars were horrible, it was in our village, fought in our streets, they showed no mercy, killing raping, performing ungodly acts on anyone and anything they could. We had our champions fight them, and in the end Shinbatsu fought their leader, the king of the demons in a one on one duel which would secure Shinbatsu's glory in our legends, and to many as a god.
Now despite this we have been plagued by the demon world still. We worked against their leaders, fought them in many great battles, heroes were born and tales told of their exploits. Masao and Rin, Hisae, Ryuuto, Ryuujin, there are even tales told of myself, though I was but a child, your age, and yet I have never felt deserving of the praise I received.
Often the tales told, the fame you receive, it will not feel like something you deserved, it wont be anything earned. But people will look for the positives, they need something to focus on, a positive, and over time those tales will seem all the more real.
The tales told of me was on how a young ANBU graduate joined the fight, killed dozens of demons, helped fell a commander of the demon kind, and saved the Saito clan. I was young, twelve years of age, and I had just graduated from a much harsher ANBU environment than the current environment. However in the battles fought I was bound by the demon minions, I couldn't kill enough of them to make any difference, and others who were more experienced than me were forced to save me.
Tales were told, but I felt like more of a nuisance than an aid. So remember this lesson too. For even if you do gain fame, it may not be for something that you yourself desire to be told, but sometimes the victory is found in the telling of the tales, the removal of the fear that it brings. With the tales came my rise, and thus people felt confident that they were safe as long as I existed. I have worked hard to live up to that expectation.
It was more a burden than something he desired. Something he had been forced to live with, not something he had sought out.
Then there is the war between Bear and Marsh countries. Two armies which couldn't be more different. Bear Country had trained armies, small but competent, they had Cloud and our allies, as well as Star Village to call on for aid. While Marsh was rallied by a mere dozen missing nin, they had bought weapons and armed farmers. Their army was monstrous, but untrained, and purely there to overwhelm the enemy allowing their few number to be able to take out individual shinobi, stopping themselves from being overwhelmed by our number.
We massacred them, but in doing so we stunted an entire countries population. The vast majority of the male population between fifteen and forty were killed in that battle.
We won, but then we were forced to prop up their economy for a decade. The battle itself was horrible, we could kill them like fish in a barrel, but still they came. And then occasionally shinobi of great strength struck out, killing our number, and sometimes we would fall to their overwhelming numbers. It was horrible. I watched, acting as general for the shinobi forces, but after that battle I retired. I could no longer act as a shinobi and needed to seek out answers which only a god could grant.
