The King's Eye

Prologue: The Legend of the King's Eye

Geass.

The Power of Kings, or at least that was what it was once called.

And for many centuries that have followed since my first encounter with the powers of Geass, I have stood as the immortal guardian of the Code that gives the power of Geass to those proven worthy to carry it.

This is my story.


I was born many centuries in a small village in a land known as France. I was an orphan through most of my childhood, that is until I met a kind nun who offered me a place to stay. As it turned out, she was the carrier of the power of Geass before I. She offered me a way to be loved by others, and I quickly accepted (she game me my Geass), but it came at a price. After a while, I found the 'love' offered to me by way of my Geass to be hollow, and believed the nun to be the only one who truly loved me, only to have her force her Code upon me by forcing me to carry out upon her her only wish: to die. I was heartbroken. The one person whom I believed to care about me had been just using me to accomplish her own selfish goals. I more or less completely withdrew from society altogether. That is, until I met… him.

I gave its power once to a boy named Lelouch, a banished prince who sought to create a better world for his disabled sister to live in peacefully. A boy who loved the world so much that he would be willing to sacrifice his own life to change it for the better. The boy used his Geass abilities to gain power, and in time united the world under his banner through fear and conquest. He then allowed himself to be killed in public, believing that, having focused the world's hatred on himself, he could drag said hatred down to Hell with him.

His plan was called the Zero Requiem, and it worked. For a while.

After a few years of nominal peace, those who had once stood in the way of the boy and his quest for world peace rose up and once again threw the world into chaos. The boy's younger sister, chosen by the people to rule this peaceful world as his replacement, was soon assassinated by her foes in a manner very much similar to that of her deceased brother years earlier. With that swift and cruel act, a royal bloodline that had ruled over large parts of the Earth for more than 2000 years disappeared into the night…

or so they believed.

The truth was that Lelouch and I had conceived a single child shortly before his demise, which was born in secret. A boy was born in secret after his father's passing. An odd little boy, born with blonde spiky hair despite the fact his parents' respective hair colors were black and green. He also had vibrant blue eyes which seemed to be able to pierce into your soul with just a glance. I gave him the Arashi, which I was told was the Japanese word for 'storm'. A fitting name, considering the turbulent world that had led to his conception. We moved back to Japan shortly after his birth and took the name Namikaze as our family's new name. I don't remember why we chose that one in particular, but it sounds pretty cool, wouldn't you agree?

It was a couple years later when the chaos began, with the assassination of that boy's sister. General public disorder on a global scale ensued almost immediately, and society as we had once known it tore itself to pieces. The Dark Days had begun.

I had once believed that society was capable of repairing itself and regaining its lost glory, but as the months stretched to years, then to decades, then to centuries, it quickly apparent early on to me that the society that was, the society the boy I once knew had given his life to create, was no more, and would never come back. For the first time in as long as I could remember, I wept for the boy and his world. It was with great blessing, however, that our son and his eventual family not only survived but flourished during these troubling times. Over the decades and centuries that followed, I passed on the power of Geass to a chosen few in each generation, but soon put an end after a few had become drunk with power due to the gift they had been given. After these failures, I distanced myself from the clan, choosing to observe from the shadows, hoping that I would one day find one who would be capable of shouldering the burden that comes with this great power.

Some two hundred years after the chaotic beginning of the Dark Days, I began to experience hope once again, in the form of a unique young man who referred to himself only as the Rikudo Sennin – the Sage of the Six Paths. He had been blessed by the gods with command over the elements of Fire, Water, Earth, Lightning, and the Winds, as well as a spiritual ability to keep these elements balanced in perfect harmony. He also carried a set of ideals he believed that people should live by. He called these the Ways of the Shinobi. His teachings caught the interest of several influential members of my son's clan, and through hard work and much training, the Namikaze became the first shinobi clan. Other clans soon followed example, and the Shinobi Era was born.

Many more years passed afterward. I forget how many, but still no one worthy to carry the Geass has emerged. The clan prospered, despite the still troubling times we lived in. Sadly, with the birth of the Shinobi Era, various clans who had feuded during the Dark Days took their fighting to whole new levels, leading to troubled times almost as bad as before the Rikodu Sennin's arrival in the newly formed Elemental Countries. However, even in times of great evil and lawlessness, there are still signs of hope. Now long ago, the Senju and Uchiha clans finally put an end to over a century of violence, joining forces to form the first Hidden Village, Konohagakure, built not far from the clan's homeland in the forests for the Fire Country. An invitation to join Konoha (as they prefer to call it) was sent to the current head of the clan the other day, who immediately accepted. The clan rejoiced at the prospect of peace, but I was still a little skeptical, especially of the Uchiha leader. Something about that man seemed just a little bit off.

Some 60 more years passed before I finally found the person I had long waited for. Among my former clan, a young boy named Minato proved to be quite the prodigy among the clan members. He reminded me so much of my own son – that same blonde spiky hair and those piercing blue eyes. After he passed his Genin Exam (which he did in record time I might add), I revealed myself to him and offered him a Geass contract, which he accepted without fear. His Geass was most unique. Most of the Geass abilities I have seen over my existence have dealt with various methods of controlling the minds of others, but Minato's didn't. Instead, it gave him the ability to move at speeds faster than light. Unfortunately, he couldn't control his direction so well, as evident the first time he tried to use it, when he accidentally crashed through one wall and out another in the women's side of a hot springs in Konoha. That in itself wasn't all that funny, but the accident unfortunately revealed the location of his peeping sensei, a self-proclaimed super-pervert by the name of Jiraiya, to the bathing kunoichi, who proceeded to beat the poor guy to within an inch of his life. I never laughed so hard in my life. Anyway, young Minato found a way to control his direction by placing a seal on his trademark tri-kunai and focusing on that seal when he used his Geass ability. He field tested the ability to amazing success in the finals of the Chuunin Exams. The method of his victory at these finals was so shocking and awe inspiring, the Daimyo of the Land of Fire personally stepped down to the ring, conferred upon Minato the rank of Tokubetsu Jonin, and practically begged him to explain how he was able to pull off that trick. He introduced his Geass to the crowd as a long-since dormant kekke genkai called the King's Eye1, which allowed him to move as fast as a flash of light, using his special tri-kunai and seals to guide his direction. He called this technique the Hiraishin no jutsu.

With the King's Eye and the Hiraishin at his disposal, Minato soon became a legend among the Elemental Nations. After one particular incident during a war with Iwa, he earned his nickname, Konoha's Yellow Flash, and the first flee-on-sight order ever issued in the history of the bingo book. Afterwards, hell bent on learning the secrets of the King's Eye and the Hiraishin, Iwa began capturing members of the Namikaze clan one by one, hoping to gain the secrets of the Hiraishin and the King's Eye (to no avail) until there was only Minato and myself. He would've gone off and destroyed all the Earth country in vengeance had he not recently met a young redheaded kunoichi refugee from the former Whirlpool country named Kushina Uzumaki, who seemed to have a calming influence on him, despite being a rather loud and obnoxious tomboy. It was love at first sight for those two. She may have been a tomboy, but she was also one of the nicest, most loyal people I have ever met. She was like a sister to me. In a manner of months they were married. Ironically enough, he was named the Yondaime Hokage upon his return from his honeymoon. His predecessor claimed it was just a coincidence, but personally I think Sarutobi planned it this was so Minato would get stuck with all the paperwork while he lounges around reading those perverted orange books Minato's sensei writes. A few weeks after returning came another surprise for the pair – Kushina was pregnant with their first child, a boy they later found out to be. They chose to name their child Naruto, after the lead character in Jiraiya's first book, the only book he ever wrote that wasn't perverted, apparently. Despite having to help Minato with Kushina's mood swings and odd late-night cravings, those 9 months were the happiest in my life. I really was looking forward to being an aunt for baby Naruto.

Then that day came.

It was October the 9th. All was normal until a massive earthquake violently shook the village. Everyone was caught surprised and shaken, but there were luckily few injuries. A couple hours later, Minato received reports from the Fire/Rain border saying a large nine-tailed demon fox, the Kyuubi, was rampaging toward Konoha, and would reach the village in less than two days. Minato, with some twisted logic that even I couldn't figure out, reasoned that I should be sealed into the Hokage's Forbidden Scroll, believing that I would be safe from the Kyuubi's attack there, and that he could release me after the crisis was over. I pleaded with him to let me stay with Kushina, as she was very much pregnant at that point,, and could go into labor at any minute. Alas, my arguments fell on deaf ears, as he shunshined behind me and knocked me unconscious. I awoke in a trans-dimensional void, trapped until Minato would come along to release me.


…and that's my story. That was more that twelve years ago now. I can only guess that Minato didn't survive the Kyuubi's assault, and apparently didn't tell anyone that I was still sealed in here. Sometimes, I find myself wondering how Kushina and young Naruto are doing. Are they still alive, or did they too perish in the attack? Have they lived a good life? Did Naruto become a shinobi like his father? Normally I would say I have all eternity to ponder these questions, as I have these past twelve years, but something feels… different. I can't shake the feeling that I'm about to be released soon. I suppose until then, I'll just have to wait and hope for the best…

to be continued…


1 – I don't know Japanese (except the phrases they use in the manga and anime) and as such do not know what King's Eye translates as. If someone knows, and is willing to pass the translation along to me, I would be happy to replace the English text with its Japanese translation. Thank you.

Next time on The King's Eye: The story finally picks up with the present, and we learn the fate of the young boy our storyteller has yet to meet. Stay tuned for the next chapter: Enter the Knucklehead!!