A/N: Oh, hi there. I haven't posted in the Naruto board for sometime, but then plot bunnies hit me and... well, here I am.
This is a little side-story of mine that I whipped up, and will probably become one of my main ones because I enjoy it so much. My friends pushed me to publish it, so here it is. (I will still work on my other story on this genre, just... once I get past that major writer's block...)
With that said, this plot and style is different than my usual satire (and more recently, incredibly formal) style, and it's more or less an exercise for me and a story for you readers. Reviews are, as usual, incredibly appreciated.
A few notes to keep in mind:
1) The first few chapters will be short as I set the stage, and will get progressively longer as the story unfolds.
2) Some liberties with chakra have been taken (if you squint really hard, you can see all the references to movies/TV series/books/games). This is my perspective on how a primitive society would harness the energy.
3) All the main canon characters will be present. I only mark this as AU because it deviates from the plot.
- To expand on this, all plot differences will be explained, instead of something like this in an author's note.
4) There are no OC/main-character pairings as of right now. So don't get your panties in a bunch.
5) Time/location usage will be present. "X amount of time ago" denotes past/flashbacks; "Present Day" denotes current time; and "X amount of time later" denotes a time skip.
I'll try to keep A/Ns to a minimum to allow optimal time to enjoy the story, meaning that I'll state the encompassing disclaimer here and won't ever waste your time with it anywhere else. You won't see another one this large (because, let's face it, we all write long notes for the first chapter) unless it's important.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto series, its affiliates, etcetera. I also do not own the picture used for the cover.
Approximately 275 Years Ago
Unnamed Village – Land of Fire
There were whispers amongst the small village within hours, and they spread like wildfire. A few families huddled in their homes, and watched from slits in the wooden boards. Some were brazen enough to stand to the sides of the dirt streets, and watched with wide eyes.
Five bedraggled survivors of the great fire huddled together in a cluster as they moved, seemingly oblivious to their audience. Behind them, in the distance, the dark, billowing smoke of the large fire darkened the cloudless sky, as the once largest farm in the whole village – the pinnacle of the village's survival – turned to ash.
Only two of the survivors were children; they huddled amongst the legs of the adults, with tear-stained, ashen faces. The three adults – two males, and one female – moved forward with a grim determination. Not once did they ever look back to their previous home. The placed their hands on the children's shoulders and gently pushed them along.
It was a four hour walk to the next village, and the group arrived as the sun sank below the distant mountains. The village was more of a small port – it was on the edge of the land, bordering the ocean. With the salty air, and the smell of cooking fish in the breeze, the children, who had remained silent since the incident, conceded to the adults that they were hungry. After some bartering, or rather, begging, one of the men managed to find them a singular room in an inn, and secured the remnants of the dinner that had been served.
When the children had been put to sleep, and the quiet sounds of their crying had abated, the three adults sat amongst themselves and ate whatever was left of the procured food. The remnants where split equally, and they ate in silence until the woman spoke in a quiet, but hard, tone.
"They've gone too far."
"Jun-" the man to her left began.
"No, I will not hold my tongue, Shin. You saw what I saw today." She left the words hanging in the air as the screams of her burning family echoed in her ears. "We..." – her voice caught, and she swallowed – "we are nothing but collateral damage, to them. To this stupid power struggle."
"It has to stop sometime," the man to her right murmured.
"Sometime can't come soon enough, Nobu. We have to get out of here, before it happens, again."
"And what do you propose?" he asked, quietly. "These… reformed 'monks', or chakra fighters, or whatever they are, are going to fight over land and power disputes constantly until someone strong enough can rein them in. Wherever we go, we'll likely become victims once more."
"Then we find somewhere they haven't been, yet, and never will be," Jun stated, as if it was the most obvious decision in the world.
Shin shot her an incredulous look. "There is no such place."
"There has to be. Somewhere safe, where we can raise the children. We could find like-minded individuals who have also been devastated by this power struggle, and we could forge a new, peaceful community."
He shook his head. "It's impossible, Jun. A pipe dream."
"I will not-!" She cleared her throat as the children stirred, and lowered her tone. "I will not live in a place with no hope."
"We must forge on." Shin glanced to Nobu. "Tomorrow, we can try to find somewhere to relocate, where we can rebuild, and-"
"And what?"
The question hung in the air as gloomy silence descended upon the trio.
"We have nothing left," Nobu finally said, his words carefully articulated. "And we have nothing left to lose. Either way, our lives will never be the same. We might as well be optimistic." He nodded in Jun's direction.
"We have the children to think about," the other man argued. "We cannot just drag them around and put them in harm's way because of some ideal-"
"Can you honestly say that wherever we relocate, it would be safe for them?"
Shin sighed, defeated. "Fine. Five weeks – a month. If we make no progress on this pipe dream, then we move to my option."
Jun glanced at the children, and briefly closed her eyes. "We can do it, if only for them."
Approximately 270 Years Ago
Unmapped Island
"We lost another boat in that storm, and we saw the driftwood floating in the sea earlier today. No survivors were found."
"Damn." Nabu's hands gripped the railing of the wooden boat, to the point that his knuckles turned white. "That's the second boat so far."
"We still have three others, besides us."
Jun quietly approached the two men, having appeared above deck after calming the nightmare-plagued children. She looked around at the others on their small vessel, who had given the expedition leaders some privacy by moving to cluster together at the other end of the deck. Shin turned to her as she spoke.
"And they are losing hope by the minute. I told you this was a pipe dream, and they're just now realizing it is too good to be true."
"So they just threw away their lives and savings to go on a wild escapade, hm?" She placed her hands on her hips. "The loss of lives is a tragedy, but they will continue on, just as we will."
"I can't believe I let you two continue on with this plan," Shin continued, in a sort of rant. "You will drive these people into the ground-"
"Land!" someone cried, and the two paused in their argument to spin around.
The cry had echoed across the waters; it had originated from one of their three sister ships. Nabu relinquished his death-grip on the railing to lean forward and peer into the distance. With Jun and Shin at his sides – and the stirring of the rest of the passengers moving towards them – they eagerly searched the horizon for any interruption of the blue sea and blue sky.
At first glance, there appeared to be nothing. Nabu suddenly pointed, however, at the small, hazy brown and green line that just barely registered against the sky. An exuberant cry rose up from the remaining four ships, as couples and families embraced and excitedly chattered about the new prospects. A smile split Jun's face – a rarity, nowadays – as she turned to her family and embraced them.
"We've found it! We really have!"
Shin lightly shrugged out of the hug. "So you say. What if it is just another already-mapped, already-inhabited island?"
"We've been out of charted territory for some time, now," the other man murmured, with a hint of awe. "This should be a completely empty island, save for any sort of wildlife."
"We will see."
—
They could see the island clearly, when the sun set, and were able to send their first scouting party ahead the next afternoon. While the women waited, whispering their hopes and dreams amongst themselves as the children played, spirits began to rise. Smiles were present, for the first time in months, and even the tune of music could be heard as some hummed.
It was a joyous occasion when the men returned with what constituted to them as a feast. Wild animals had been captured, along with a variety of some familiar fruits, and they had brought back the bounty to share. Tales were shared on each boat of the lush jungle they had found, filled to the brim with resources. The best news, though, was that there was not another man or woman in sight.
A few more scouting parties allowed the men to create a rough map of the island on some of the scrolls they had brought with them from the mainland. Meetings followed, and they discussed the best and most lucrative location to settle their initial camp. Weeks of working with nature and her resources followed, and the men built their first tentative settlement along the bank of the island's only river.
"What will we call this place?" Nabu asked Jun, as the women and children made their first venture into the new land.
She thought for a moment, before murmuring, "Ichiru. Our 'sliver of hope.'"
Eventually, weeks turned into months, and months into a year. The group had created a society loosely based on what they were familiar with, yet implemented changes that they had agreed on due to their ideals. It was a very basic life, where everyone was somewhat equal with their voice; and yet, they had oddly fallen into gender roles. Women and children tended to the homes, and some crops, along with duties around town, while the men handled the hunting and building.
Jun had bonded the people together with the ideal of a chakra fighter – or rather, any use of chakra – being bad. They were the cause of the people's pain, and therefore, they had no place in their new society. Any practice of chakra abilities was forbidden, with no punishment devised due to the general agreement of the idea.
Gradually, the people fell into an easy but rewarding lifestyle. People were happy, families flourished, and their civilization grew. The new children knew nothing of badness, of greed or pain and suffering. Ichiru fell into a period a peace and prosperity.
Of course, where peace and prosperity tread, chaos follows closely behind.
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