Shaman of Konohagakure
Disclaimer: Naruto and its characters are created by Masashi Kishimoto, This fanfiction has been written for entertainment purposes only and without intention of infringing upon any copyright.
I was born a civilian.
Raised as a ninja.
And I slowly grew to learn, I would die a ninja.
I learned everyone would die one day. The innocence that you have a child, that you're invincible, that you wont die, not now. Those thought processes, they end as you grow up.
You learn that no one is safe.
So, what better way is there to die? A ninja was the path I took. However, my life took a slight turn. Some people believe your life is mapped out the moment you're born while others think you forge your own path. Only the wise know the answer lies somewhere in the middle.
I was born in Fire country not far from the ninja village of Konoha. Close enough to be known by a few but far away enough not to be disturbed by ninja.
I was born into a centuries old, shaman, tribe.
Tribes in this day and age are few and far in between. Tribe's date back to when ninja villages where not villages but mere clans roaming around and fighting one another. Unlike clans, tribes where not ninjas nor where they family members.
They were made up of civilians who had crossed certain social lines. Witches. Devil worshippers. Sentenced to death by the law. Little did people know they were doctors and healers and in rare cases fighters. A type of people more in tuned with the world around them. They had not shut off from mother nature like the others.
I was born as a Haruno, we all shared this tribal name. I wasn't an important child. In fact there were too many of us born into the tribe that year.
We were killed like flies.
It was not an act of cruelty, it was a necessity. Only the chiefs child was safe. That was how it was. The rest of us were hunted and killed to keep the balance. Too many and we would all starve. Like a tree with too many fruit to ripen, all the fruit would be stunted in growth unless you relieved the tree of some of its load. It was natures law.
An inky blue flooded around the silver moon and crimson bled into the brown, beaten earth. Howls echoed into the night and infant and children's wails pierced the ears of the slumbering.
A young mother with muddy, light, brown hair grasped a crying baby to her chest. She was frightened, eyes alert and running away from the carnage. No one could ever get used to these rituals. The young mother ran into the woods, turning around every few seconds. Forward, back, forward, back. There was a giant black panther in mid pounce. Her eyes widened more than they already were, her face pale and the beast landed on her. The squawk of a vulture sounded above her. Flapping its wings in front of the cold moon, it swooped. She watched as the monster swiped her baby in its claws into the darkness of the sky.
Then there was silence. They were gone. So was her child.
The howls could be heard again. The crying. The animal noises. That is what these people where. Animals. Someone else had just lost a child. How many would they destroy? The chiefs men where master shapeshifter's. They turned into heartless monsters during these times of plenty.
An ashen wolf, galloping almost like a large horse ran across the woodlands. In his mouth he held a toddler with a bright pink tuft of hair. He was knew there would not be any targets this far out, he wasn't set to kill. His fellow men may had caught on to this. His absence would be noted.
Suddenly his black, moist nose twitched.
A female.
What is she doing this far out?
The giant creature raced towards the woman with dirtied, light brown hair who lay on the beaten forest floor. She was startled as he came closer, his heavy breathing sending mist into the cold night air. The woman's face contorted and she raised herself as if she would attack.
The ashen wolf dropped the little baby gently to the floor and he lowered his head to the woman in submission. The baby began to cry. The young mother who had just lost her child to these men looked at him in utter surprise.
"Please." The ashen wolf said in a deep human voice.
"Take this child away from here, please."
The woman was speechless, mentally and physically tired from the night ritual, the loss of her first child. She could have another one, but that wouldn't replace the way she felt. The Haruno's had taken her child and she couldn't live here, she couldn't risk this ritual occurring again.
The large wolf growled and his fur pricked. The woman looked at him in fear. "Take the child, to a village, somewhere safe. The others are coming to check on me." There was urgency in his voice and underlying sincerity.
"I beg of y-" Before he could finish the woman had snatched up the baby and ran into the bushes, her scent getting further away.
He hoped she would look after it, and if that's what she intended to do, make it safely to a village. She was gone, and so was his child. Into the thick foliage never to be seen again. He wondered if it would make any difference if the baby died tonight, he probably wouldn't see her again.
He couldn't afford to think like that seeing as he had risked so much for his baby to be safe. She had her mothers hair, he smirked, maybe one day he'd see that pink tuft again.
The tired ashen wolf ran back towards his home, before he could make it other shape-shifter's surrounded him. Some acquaintances, some friends. Wolfs of bigger stature, (he was small for his position in the crazy hierarchy of the Haruno's), big cats and different breed of birds, all large and intimidating.
"We know what you've done." A firm voice echoed. "Rachu informed me of your deeds" Rachu was the ashen wolf's comrade. In dire situations you can see who your real comrades are. And the ashen wolf knew he was alone on this one.
A dark figure entered the circle. A wolf twice his size, bristly fur of the blackest shade and piercing eyes so rich a brown they could have looked red in the moons glint.
"You should be hanged."
The ashen wolf's blood ran cold and the thumping of his heart was loud in his pricked ears. So I really have been found out. He gave a quick glance to his comrade Rachu before his eyes went cold.
"As an example for others. However, seeing as your wife has died giving birth tonight to a still born that should be punishment enough, the Gods have given you your punishment."
The beasts around him dissipated from their intimidating circle to finish the balancing ritual.
He hadn't known about his wife's death, he knew she was due another child, but not tonight. Any night but tonight...
He listened to the cries in the night and the sick howls. That was the night he lost his warmth, his love. Things were not fair in this life. They were necessary. And the coldness and loneliness he felt would be what he would live with for the rest of his life.
The ashen wolf's shape smudged into weird shapes until he was in the form of man. A shaman man clothed in the Haruno tribes warrior robes. Red emblazoned with a white, hollow circle. The circle symbolising life has no beginning or end and the red showing that sacrifices must be made.