”Our blood is strong”
- The Heroine who Started it All -
A simple yet effective mantra, that one particular clan lives by in the northern reaches of the Lightning Country. The Lightning Country was home of the Village Hidden in the Clouds, Kumogakure. Our story begins with a small recall of a woman named Chigokai Temuri, a warrior from the Chigokai clan. This clan was a matriarchal powerhouse that had been restoring themselves to their glory days. In her prime she was a finely toned women with raven colored hair and deep blue eyes, and her blood manipulation would be renowned as some of the best concentrated weapon creations they had seen.
Terumi was born bearing abilities of the Chigokai automatically making her a treasured member of the clan. Being placed so highly among the ranks would bring certain duties that she would be expected to uphold. Terumi's life in many ways had been paved out for her. Everyone in the Chigokai Clan had a role to play and in order for the Clan as a whole to succeed, people needed to play their part. Terumi wore the responsibilities placed upon her with pride. For she had been tasked with bringing glory to her household,.
As a female Chigokai blood user she was given some of the best training the clan had to offer, and given full support in becoming shinobi. During her ninja training Terumi found that she was adept in many forms of Chakra Manipulation expanding beyond her ability to control blood. She was turned out to have a vast amount of Chakra and was easily able to grasp the concept of Medical jutsu. To her, using blood ninjutsu was just like utilizing ones very life essence, which in turn improved her Bloodline skills two-fold.
With the creative use of mixing her Blood Ninjutsu with her Medical Ninjutsu, she achieved a high survival rate on the field. Being a field medic was like breathing to her and was easy enough to manage. She wanted more out of the position but she made sure to play her role and stay within the lines of her duties. She gained many accolades during this time, which brought honor to her household.
Much of Terumi's work up to this point was done in her early twenties. However at some point a woman has to fulfill other roles within their community. For the Chigokai women, it was the task of bringing in new strong blood. While the Chigokai blood users would always have the highest respect and regard, the clan had fell out of prominence compared to their old days. They were able to re-establish themselves by doing away with some older traditions and inviting “new blood” to the table. Over generations they were able to see a sharp increase in the number of blood users and even some abnormal warriors that would too bring fame to the clan.
There was a great deal of hope placed into Terumi's legacy as her mother and late great-grandmother were both Chigokai blood users as well. They were living proof that the Chigokai clan's plan of inviting new blood was increasing the rate at which they were seeing strong blood users be born.Terumi was confident that she could rear at least one blood user daughter into the world. In order to prepare for this she needed to get a proper examination done. It was nothing out of the ordinary, just a check up to see her health before trying to mate. However these times would be the most life-changing for the young Terumi.
Upon her first two examinations she was met with devastating news. The young shinobi found out that she would never be able to continue the family legacy. She was barren and unable to conceive a child. While this news did not hurt her status as a shinobi, it did not bode well for her lineage. More than that, it was just hurtful. These people (the Chigokai clan) may be strict warriors, but they were still human too. She silently wept bearing this burden alone and began to plan the next steps of her life.
Instead of focusing on what she couldn't change Temuri decided she would become more involved with her work. However the medical field did not suit her any longer, and she needed something more immersive to get her away from the issue at hand. Temuri resigned from the Medical field and immediately applied for Anbu training. She spent the next few years giving herself to the shadows of Kumogakure.
- Fog of Love -
Temuri took on as may assignments as she could. She didn't want to spend a moment in the village when she didn't need to. Her heart was dead set on danger like some kind of death wish. One year Temuri was sent on a personal bounty from Merchant trading company stationed on the outskirts of the Spine. They were situated between a series of water-ways that merchants used frequently to cross the harsh mountain area. The Hazanatta Trading Corp. had been lost four of their boats and the merchandise inside of them. The crew of some ships survived while other boats were completely annihilated. The only things that they had to go off is that the attackers seemed to erupt from the waters after heavy fogs began to appear. The deep fogs were a tell-tale sign of these bandits attacking. So in order to catch them the trading company prepared eight decoy ships with a small detail of mercenary and shinobi on them.
Around one in the morning, heavy fogs began to roll around the boats rising unnaturally almost as if they were alive. Temuri observed the fogs awkward patterns and began to apply Chakra sense to the surrounding area. She gradually got a response from her readings to a multiple jutsu being woven into the fog. It would seem that the bandits were adept at using Ninja arts. She took it upon herself to hunt down the strongest of the pack
Upon making it to the decoy ship that had the strongest chakra signature, she found very few bandits, it would seem that the strongest one and a few grunts came to this one while the rest were more evenly spread out amongst the other ships. Temuri immediately took down one of the grunts with a blood lance, piercing through his leg. While she didn't kill the grunt they were pinned to the ground. She aimed another at their head, this time going for the killing blow. A man with pale blue skin, and shark-like features appeared from the back of the grunts and swatted her blood lance away with his bare hands coated in chakra.
“Not exactly a dumb one I see.” Temuri uttered, as she observed his style of fighting, or as much of it as he revealed. The man scoffed and responded, “Seems we have a viscous viper here, Go on men, look for the captives while I hold this one off. Get Jokai out of here otherwise he'll get caught up in this.” This was unlike what she thought. Normally these bandit types did not throw themselves in the frontlines for those under them, hell most organizations did not operate that way. She admired his style, it was hard not to. “A man of honor, and they said there was none against thieves.” Temuri jumped back giving herself space and allowing the grunts to collect their man. “Thank you for the intermission, now that they're safe we can cut loose!” the bandit leader said, while she was taken back by his attitude and the way he made his moves.
The kunoichi responded with, “Ha, you truly are an interesting creature. I'll have your name before I have your head” she said in a commanding tone while taking a extended posture. Blood began to form from the pores on her palm, and then gushed out like a torrent of water. She molded it as it gushed outward, the blood becoming a Naginata like shape. The shark-like man also took a stance expanding his legs out square, and creating the outline box with his arms. Water began to swirl around him, and with a huge grin he said “Shimatsu, I'll have your name before I have your heart, haha!” However Temuri only laughed, rushing into the fray without telling Shimatsu her name. The two clashed, hand and blood blade, their lives intertwining with each strike, whether they knew it or not...
- More Recent Years -
We fast-forward back to Kumogakure in more recent time, focusing the perspective of a odd blue skinned boy. He sits alone, in the Ancient Forest near the closest source of water and life one could find in Kumogakure. This young boy sat patiently and quietly his eyes intently focused on the water before him. It was easy enough to say he was lost in thought possibly, but his eyes were too alive for one daydreaming. As the boy sits, his legs kicking in the water, a mature woman with a warrior's build and deep raven hair appeared behind him, her skin smooth but her face hardened telling signs of her battle-hood. She spoke in a commanding tone, one that would rattle weaker souls. “Ena, what are you doing out here again? Trying to run from training?” The boy turned around, looking at the woman almost immediately. His eyes were soft, his face more childish in appearance than his age would let on. He spoke in a somber tone with a hint of surprise or excitement, “No mother! I'm sorry, I just wanted to watch the fish swim. I'm sorry I won't do it again without telling you, just five more minutes please!” She sighed, her hardened look being replaced by a more embarrassed one as she glanced away from the boy.
“You're never this worked up over things … Fine, you may observe for five more minutes, then it's to training with you. Enatsu, you have no idea how hard it was to get you into the program …” The boy looked down saddened, as if he knew he would shame her with these kind of antics. This look brought pity to the hardened woman, so instead of prattling on, she walked closer and plopped down right behind him. She turned his head forward and placed her arms around his shoulders and neck. Her arms were strong and defined, he could feel her warmth and the slight beat of her strong heart on his back.
The woman rested her chin on his head and then spoke, “Tell me, what do you see when you look into the waters.” Enatsu sat quietly for a moment, as if he was fishing for his answer. However he made no notions that he was troubled by the question, he only focused on the water more. “I'm not sure, I just feel at peace here. It just feels right here, like I belong....” stopped for a moment, before speaking up again but this time with more confidence, “I just feel like if I take my eyes off it for too long, I'll lose something important.” She tensed at his response and slightly moved back, Enatsu turned around immediately, “Mother is something wrong?” Her face was a little red, and he worried that something was happening, but she pulled headband down over his eyes. “Nothing my sweet guppy, you just reminded me of someone I used to know”. With a smile she reminisced on times of love long ago.
“Enatsu … have I ever told you what your name means?”
- The Seed of the Sea –
Chigokai Enatsu was a curious case for clan members, an uncommon one at that. For one thing, the most prominent members of the Chigokai clan were women. However he was born in an advantageous position compared to other males. For one thing his “Chigokai Clan” parent, the parent originally from the Chigokai Clan, was a woman meaning hat he will her name and officially be recognized as a member of the clan. However there were other complications with this birth.
For example when he was born Enatsu had pale blue skin, and two series of slits on his face that were reminiscent of fish gills. There were a number of things different about him compared to the rest, and the biggest issue was still that he was a male, who knows if they saw him as trouble. However these were issues for the other clan members, not for the hardened warrior that gave birth to the feeble blue baby. When Temuri first saw Enatsu she was brought to tears by the sight of him. She held her hands out shakily and tried to keep a straight face but she couldn't. As soon as she felt his little warm body in her hands, she began to cry uncontrollably for this creature was truly her miracle child, a gift from god.
Enatsu grew up on the Chigokai Clan complex where women ruled in their society, and life on the complex wasn't as bad as one would think. His mother was normally busy with work, as she still had a duty to uphold. So during most days he was watched by aunties and played with his numerous cousins on the grounds. He was a rather shy and reserved boy, always self conscious of his appearance, and the kids did as expected of children their age, they poked fun at him for his physical differences. However if any kid from outside the clan tried to make fun of him, his cousins would normally fly into a fit to protect him. Imagine how rough it was for those boys to get beat up by a mob of girls. Needless to say despite his differences, the Chigokai Clan still respected him as a human being and a child of the clan, especially one born from a Blood-user.
When Enatsu was 7 years old, he began his training with his clan. Most of the children who had potential to become a true blood-user, were detectable now or they could at least force qualities out of them, such as an increased healing speed to open wounds, or even the rarer ability to manipulate their blood already. Luckily there were very few from his generation who could do such, so the standards were more manageable than normal. They would cut across the hands of the children to allow the open wound to heal on its own, it was a crude but effective method of picking up on the self regeneration ability every true Chigokai had. They underwent other test such as chakra manipulation, weapon based combat, geometry tactics etc. However Enatsu didn't perform well in majority of their small tests. The only thing that stood out was the nature transformation testing, a test where you apply Chakra to a special type of paper that reacts depending on your elemental affinity. Fire burned the paper, Lightning wrinkled it, Wind cut the paper in two, Earth turned the paper to dirt, and Water made it damp. This was't a test most children could pass but if they could it was noteworthy. Most trainees papers didn't react at all or and the few that did took some time to get their paper to make a reaction. Enatsu's paper and any of the papers near him were soaked completely wet when trying this. Even so, these were a stricter preliminary to what they would be studying in the academy, and if he could not cut it here did not think he would do well there. He was deemed a low-rank, average-potential type student, while it was nice that he had a strong chakra system and strong elemental alignment, it did not matter if he would reach his ceiling early on.
He left the compound, and made way for the Ancient Forest. Out there by the waters, he felt an unusual calm over himself. When he was here at this spot, he never worried about anything nor could anything break his peace. It was as though the waters themselves became a bastion for Enatsu. The young boy removed his clothing and jumped into the water. He swam around, twirling and doing different motions at random, truly a child just enjoying their playground. Eventually he found himself on his back drifting in the water, his mind was totally blank in sync with the sounds of the depths as the calm waters washed over him. Unknown to him there were watchful eyes on Enatsu, a presence in the distance.
Temuri had been watching the whole ordeal, since the Clan examinations. She always hated how they put so much stock in figuring out the successors before checking each child's individual skills. Temuri had learned well on the outside that there was so much more to people, and even those in the lowest positions could make the most of themselves when guided properly. However Temuri did not believe her son to be the waste of time their testings made him out to be. The best way to describe it is that she would not allow for her son to lack in the eyes of his peers. The raven haired warrior shadow-stepped to the lake, her presence still going unnoticed by the young boy. She began to weave hand-seals, her chakra becoming more volatile with each sign. Anyone with even beginners experience in chakra sensing would have noticed the large amount of energy behind them, but not a 7 year old novice. She then stuck her hands into the water releasing her stored chakra into the blue. She began casting a high level water ninjutsu, Supreme Aqua Realm. Her goal was to ensnare her son in a Water Prison and begin his training, however as if second nature to him, he felt the waters change.
In the instant that she had touched the waters and influenced them with her chakra, Enatsu's body knew what his mind did not, and so on pure instinct he dove deeper into the water and began swimming down. It mattered not for Temuri for she had a far greater reach than he could swim, her jutsu would catch up. However Enatsu had no plans of staying still and waiting for the impending doom, the young boy reached a large boulder in the lake and positioned his feet on it. He couldn't see the incoming jutsu, but he felt every change in the water. This prompted him to wait until the dangerous feeling got closer, he waited for it to get to the point that he could smell it if it had an odor. Once it was close enough, he summoned all the strength that he could and kicked off the rock. It wasn't that spectacular of a kick off, but with each stroke of his legs, he gained more propulsion, even an amount that was abnormal for an adult. He sped past the bad feeling, completely evading it and shooting out of the lake, like a slingshot only to fall back into the water a few meters from where he shot out from. Enatsu swam to the closest piece of land he could find placing his torso and arms on the dry land. He escaped one weird predicament only to be greeted by a familiar voice.
“I see that the examination didn't do your true talents any justice. Well this is perfect since I was looking for a good reason to use all of my vacation time. I guess training you for the next three to four years will be a sufficient reason.” Of course there would be things she had to work out to make this a possibility, but in this instance she saw a potential in her boy, that the Chigokai household was not used to. This type of potential is one that she would grow and nurture, so that her son could live a fulfilling life within this village and her clan. She began weaving more hand-seals and then released them summoning five sharks made of water. These jutsu sharks flopped into the water, then thrashed around once they became acclimated to the environment. She smiled at her son, it wasn't the good kind of smile that he learned to know. She placed her foot on his arms (that were resting on the land) and kicked him back into the water. The young boy was rattled by his mother's sudden actions, he raised his head looking at her face only to see the toothy grin again, and her follow up statement. “Swim.” It was a simple yet authoritative command. The water sharks began their pursuit of Enatsu, and the shinobi in training began to swim as if his life depended on it.
- At the end of a Training Montage-
It has been five years since Enatsu privately trained with his mother. He was 12 years old now, though body a bit larger than the average child that age. His face was still quite soft at this time, the most childlike thing about him besides his age. During these past five years he had learned a great deal of what it meant to be a shinobi in ability, survival and overall theory, but he still lacked the vital experience he would need to grow. His mother felt she had nothing more to truly teach him as his journey from here on out would be completely decided by his decisions. He was still rough around the edges, but he was confident that with his skill he could climb the ranks in time.
Today he was tasked with taking the Genin exam to become an official shinobi in the village, something his mother had arranged since she was his private instructor. It was a simple test of skill to ensure he could perform the basic shinobi techniques. With the repertoire of jutsu that his mother taught him, he added his own flair on the basic jutsu. When asked to do a Clone Ninjutsu, he performed the Water Clone Ninjutsu, proving he had gained an elemental mastery in his training, it was impressive even among the other late bloomers.
He was able to perform the transformation jutsu without too much trouble, though he still lacked in detail when doing it. For example his examiner had a patch on his vest that Enatsu completely missed during the transformation. While he had a powerful control of his element and chakra, he was still lacking in precision and accuracy. This prompted some worry for the examiners as the transformation jutsu should have been easier than the clone jutsu. It was a bit weird but nothing to take off many points for.
He was tasked with showing off the body switch jutsu in reaction to an attack. He decided to impress them by performing another water clone jutsu, and body switching with that but he got nervous by the incoming attacks and his timing was thrown off. Things didn't look all too great for him but he had yet to give up. The next test was a basic battle demonstration, where the students would use their strongest jutsu up to this point against a summoned creature. Their goal was to show the examiners that they had the basic groundwork to creating complex and powerful jutsu.
The proctor summoned a golem to the field for students to take their best shot at. Enatsu had messed up on 2/3 exams he had taken so far, so he believed needed to make up for them in this last one. He wanted to show off his abilities more than ever here, which was unlike his normal behavior. This was simply put a final chance to prove he wasn't a waste of time.
He rushed weaving hand-seals, and brought forth chakra from around him. There was a stir in the air around him as chakra formed visibly like an aura around him. He was charging chakra in a matter of seconds, and had enough energy to perform a B-Rank ninjutsu, yet the aura as still rising. They saw that as it progressed he was able to amass a massive amount of chakra albeit it was volatile and wild, the swirling of it could be likened to whirlpool. Enatsu didn't care for controlling the chakra only gathering more, and when he felt that he had enough gathered, he could proceed with advancing the jutsu. He infused he amassed chakra with this natural affinity, the water element. The giant ball of chakra that he was creating began to ripple around the edges vibrating more violently with each surge.
Enatsu gritted his teeth as he pointed his massive ball of chakra at the golem. He had to give this energy shape other wise it was nothing more than a volatile bomb, so he crafted an image into his mind, a large spiraling lance, this image would serve as the basis for his jutsu creation. He focused himself, burning the image into his brain while his chakra responded, taking form of this lance. The power twisted and swirled around his arm, the whripool becoming a refined tool that extend over his arm like a giant weapon. He wanted to go further with this, just expanding the Jutsu to a bigger rank wasn't enough. He focused the water chakra he had built up and then searched for a bigger source of it, the very plants outside would have to make due in offering up their moisture, the sweat off the ground from their earlier work would also be applicable. He summoned as much of these sources as he could to serve as his catalyst, mixing them with his chakra to create, an even deadlier move.
Within three more seconds, the giant lance grew twice the size of when it was originally summoned. The torrents of waves became more violent and erratic and it was now comparable to the size of the golem that had been created. The giant torrent of water wrapped itself tighter around Enatsu's arm, and the boy lunged forward with a battle cry. His arm flexed back, the weight of the water tearing at his skin, but he grimaced at the pain enduring the slight damage. He brought his arm forward and downward, crashing the giant torrential lance into the golem. The creature put its arms up defensively to take the brunt of the attack. When the tip of the water lance met the golem, it immediately began drilling into it. Enatsu would not be shamed by this creature, so he charged more chakra into he lance expanding its power.
Within seconds the torrent broke through the Golem, and rammed into the ground. He released the water after thoroughly pounding the golem, only to find that there was no trace of the summoned creature, and all that was left was a crater in the ground filled with his summoned water. The examiners were utterly shocked that a Student could use such a high level technique, they could only wonder what kind of animal trained him for this test. With his results from this test they didn't want to risk him battling with the other students and causing great harm. His grade was passing, while his application was sloppy and overall needed a ton of improvement, the sheer power and potential he held was more than enough to shock the proctors and excite them. They were about to add a diamond in the rough to the ranks of Kumogakure.