Story Title: The Extra Mile
Summary: To prove that humans are still strong enough to protect a sealed force that could destroy the world, the March of the Gods is held once every ten years. Teenagers are cocky, but attitude alone won't be enough to overcome those 7349 KM.
Warnings: AU. Not a high-school/college/work-environment/someone-gets-sent-to-another-world/two-people-are-somehow-bound-together/vampire/werewolf/furry AU, and not quite a 'someone-has-to-save-the-world' AU, but an AU nonetheless. Horrid word order, since this chapter is my attempt at imitating the writing of an eight-year-old girl. Inconsistence in capitalization and choppy sentences for the same reason. It's a prologue that is supposed to explain stuff, so it's kind of boring. Other than that, nothing quite yet.
Chapter Title: Prologue, The Era of Men
Word count: 5,273
Disclaimer: 'Naruto' and everything it entails belongs to it's creator, Mr. Kishimoto, and the companies publishing it. This work is purely fan made, and I make no money writing it.
Beta'ed by: No-one. It was read through four times, but is still littered with mistakes. Sorry.
The following report has been written by Moegi. I wrote about the March of the Gods, because I originally wrote one about another legend, but my dog ate it. Sorry Mr. Iruka! I did try to use pretty words though.
A world actively governed by Gods has many special rituals and such. The biggest, most flashy ones are, of course, not always the most important. However, they do hold more interest than simple praying and monthly offerings. The biggest, though admittedly not the most flashy, since it is hardly seen by anyone other than those participating, is called 'The March of the Gods'.
A misleading name, since the gods merely send their flames of light to beacon the course of the trek, rather than participating themselves, but it has been called 'the March of the Gods' for a very long time, and people are not quite willing to change it.
To explain what this ritual is, and why it is done, I need to tell you one of the oldest legends in the world. The story of how the Humans became the race the gods chose to sit on top of the food-chain. The story of the beginning of the era of Men.
Several hundreds of years ago, there was a small creature that lived inside an old forest. It was a very ugly creature, feared by many, although it had a kind heart. Truly, the only thing that it had that was not utterly repulsive to look at was it's long, beautiful tail.
Because the other creatures in the forest avoided it, it passed it's time watching the humans outside for the forest as they struggled to live in the human-unfriendly world. Humans were small and fragile, and they could not overpower the bigger, more dangerous creatures inhabiting the world, who lived in the more fertile, more livable lands.
But even so, those weak, fur-less, awkwardly built creatures worked their very hardest to create a place worth living in. The small, ugly creature admired them greatly, and watched them every day. Then, one day, a small human girl, no older than five, and an a little bigger human boy, around seven years old wandered into the forest to find roots to cure their sick grandmother.
But the large animals that lived in the forest did not like these intruders, and wanted to kill them. The small, ugly creature, who had seen the two siblings enter the woods wanted to save them, stepped in between the humans and the beast of the forest, hoping that his ugliness would scare the large monster away. However, the beast had already lunged, and though he feared the ugly creature, his attack could not be stopped. And though the small creature was ugly, he knew it to be weak, which lessened his fear.
In a desperate attempt to save himself, the ugly creature held his tail in front of him to protect him. The vicious beast of the forest closed it's teeth around it, and bit down, injuring the beautiful tail. However, the taste of it was so foul, that the monster immediately retracted it's head and ran away to rinse it's mouth of the filthy taste.
The two human children, grateful for the ugly creature's help, bandaged it's tail and gave him a piece of their bread, before leaving the forest with the root they needed to make their grandmother better.
Awed by the kindness bestowed on him by these small, weak and ugly animals called humans, the creature prayed to the gods for a way to help these humans. He wished for his skin to be as strong as stone, so that he could protect them. For his claws to be as sharp as diamonds to vanquish their enemies. For his breath to be warm to heat them on cold days. For his tears to be large, so they could form rivers to water the crops. For his heart to be brave, so he would know no fear. For his ears to be sharp, so that he could hear the wind's voice and warn the humans for when the sea would be vicious. For his eyes to be bright so that he could find those who were lost. For knowledge he could use to save those who were weak and ill. For a life of a great many years, so that he could watch over them grow peacefully.
Touched by the creature's selfless wishes, the gods, still naive as their world was still in it's early youth, they granted the creature all of his wishes, for every blessing another tail sprouting alongside the one that the children had wrapped in a bandage. The creature grew and grew, until it reached the tips of the trees, his new tails quivering in happiness as he realized his wish had been granted.
Proudly he walked out of the forest, towards where the humans were, to tell them that he would protect them and become their saviour. However, all the humans saw was a very large, very ugly creature with many tails, vicious claws and flaming breath. Fear struck their hearts, and they readied their spears and arrows and attacked the beast once he came close. But the creature's skin was as strong as stone, and he could not even feel their weapons as they hailed upon him.
The beast was confused, as he didn't understand why they were attacking them. Then he noticed the two siblings that had bandaged his tail, and happily reached out to them. However, they didn't recognize him, and cowered behind their old grandmother, who stood in front of them protectively.
Irritation shot through the creature, as he had expected for them to recognize him and did not understand why they feared him. One of his tails flicked because of his irritation, turning half the village to dust because of it's sheer power. He didn't realize it himself, however, as he was still focused on the children.
Then one of the humans, whose pregnant wife had been in one of the houses that had been destroyed by the ten-tailed monster's attack, grabbed a spear and charged towards the beast, driving the spear straight into it's left eye.
Fury overtook the creature, and the gods realized that not even a heart as friendly as that of the small ugly beast they had blessed could stand such power as the beast lost it and destroyed all in it's path. However, the power they had given him was far too great for even themselves to take on.
To destroy the monster, they released the balance of the elements so that storms, volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis and other unstoppable natural forces would destroy the beast. The larger creatures that inhabited the world attacked the ten-tailed monster, but were all vanquished by either his claws or the rampaging nature around them.
Then the gods heard a soft prayer, coming from one of the siblings that had recognized the beast from the forest when the creature turned it's back on their village to wreak destruction elsewhere. Their prayer was much more selfish than the beast's had been, as they asked for nature to be calmed down so that the world would become inhabitable again, so that they and their friends and families wouldn't have to die. The gods, who would eventually be destroyed because of the demon's power, realized that they could use this soft prayer to destroy their self-created enemy.
The gods struck a bargain with the humans, that ten human beings would be sacrificed to stop the beast. The humans, knowing that it was the only way for their race to be able to live on the planet which was now far too vicious and dangerous for them to survive long, agreed. The older brother of the siblings gave his life first, as the price for the gods to remove the beast's soul from it's body. The soul was ripped into nine pieces then, each of which was sealed in a person, who was then killed, their ashes saved in sacred jars.
To uphold their part of the bargain, the gods granted the humans five orbs. The first on they place in a volcano in the southwest, one half of the mountain collapsing as the magma inside retreated to the center of the world, where the other half remained in the shape of a large, half-moon shaped cliff circling a straight expanse of ground, with one opening in the cliff leading to a cave, where the orb resided. 'Here you shall build a village' they said. 'The people living in this village shall protect the orb from harm, and in return it shall calm the fire sleeping deep below your feet, as well as the one that burns high above you, in the sky.'
The second orb they placed in a dead, desolate land in the west which had been the place of the original human settlement, but had been destroyed by the demon's fury. Four high pillars of stone rose from the ground, growing diagonally towards one another until they nearly touched. Then the gods placed another large rock on them, as a platform, where the orb would rest. 'Another village shall be built here to protect this orb. And in return, the orb shall calm the wind, enough to not become a deadly foe upon every encounter.'
The third orb was placed on rocky ground, where no one had lived before, as it had lacked the resources needed for surviving. The humans murmured among themselves, alerted by this choice of placement, north of the the Demon's final resting place, but the gods took no notice. And as they place the orb on the ground, the earth let out a deep groan, and mountains higher than had ever stood on their world before rose from the ground, taking the orb with them. They grew and grew until the tips were hardly visible from where the people were standing, rising high above the clouds. 'The orb rests in a cave on the top of the highest of these mountains' the gods spoke. 'It will take time and great effort, but you shall build a home there, to protect the orb, In return, it will calm the earth, and guide you to see many different colours grow on it's outer shell, but also lead you beneath, to find the rare beauty hidden below the surface.'
The fourth orb was placed East of where the ten-tailed beast had been defeated, where once a beautiful forest had stood. Now, however, there was a large crater in the middle of the trees, coated in what seemed to be iron. When the gods had released the force of the elements, a stone of a unique sort of iron had come from space, and crash into the world, leaving the crater. But as the stone had been made of metal, it had molten and, as a fluid, it filled the crater as an iron lake. The alien metal had hardened since the impact, but when the gods placed the orb in it, it once again became a liquid, glowing a soft pink as electricity beacon to freely dance on the surface. A large platform formed in the middle of the metal lake, followed by a long bridge connecting it to the edge of the crater. The orb rested on the middle of the platform, sparkling innocently. 'We cannot take away that which was not of our creation. This substance was not meant to come here, as it once belonged to another world, one which had long since perished.' the gods spoke, 'however, around the edge of this, you will create the fourth village. It will be your duty to protect the orb, what you do with the liquid you must decide on yourself. The orb will tame the raw energy which comes from the heaves when the clouds look dark and heavy. But keep in mind, this energy is different from the other elements, and will be drawn towards the orb, as well as this liquid brought by the heavens. Though not the destructive force from before, we cannot entirely tame the lightning.'
For the last orb they took the humans to the southeast, where the ocean raged. They threw the orb inside the water, and let the angry currents wash it away. The humans were scared, for they did not know how to protect something that was take by the waves of the ocean, but then the waves became smaller and smaller, and the ocean retreated, leaving behind a large expanse of land. Where the ocean stopped it's retreat, it calmly nibbled what would later become a beach, nothing like the waves as high as mountains that the people had come to fear. And there, in the center of the new land, there lay the skull of what had once been the greatest, most fearsome beast of the ocean. In it's opened beak, ignorant of the gaping eyeholes and the razor-sheep fangs, lay the orb that the gods had thrown in the water. 'Here, the last of the five sacred villages will be built. The skull that is now the home to the orb that tames the oceans and guides the currents of rivers and lakes once belonged to the very first creature we made on this world. We trust that you will honor it, and keep it from decay like the clams have for many years.' the smallest amongst the gods spoke.
Then the gods took the humans back to the place where the ten-tailed beast had lost it's life, the exact center of the circle the orbs were placed in, and took the younger sister of the boy that had given his life to stop the demon, aside from the rest of humans. "Right now, humanity is weak." they told her. "However, humanity must keep the nine pieces of the beast's soul safe, and as such, we shall create a test to see if they are still strong enough. For now, we shall give your race fifty years to begin building the villages just as we ordered them to. After those fifty years, you shall be summoned back here, and we shall tell you of the test we created. It will be your task to pass the words we shall give you then to the next generations."
Then they turned to the entire human race, a group only around a thousand men strong, and said "Humans. You must now divide yourselves so that every one of the sacred grounds chosen to build your villages on will be inhabited. As you can see, the only reason that you have all been able to see these places, is because we have taken you there. The distance between the sites is large, and once you have made a decision, should you decide to go elsewhere the journey will be a long one."
Then, five golden paths appeared, one leading to each one of the orb's resting places. "The orbs are placed in a circle around this land, humans. All land inside that circle, with the exception of the span of terrain belonging to the villages, shall be forbidden for any human to enter, and instead be ours. You may not, and can not enter this land anymore once you step on one of these five roads unless we summon you. However, the world is large, and there is much to be explored and conquered outside of this circle. Before, there was an era in which the beasts were the mightiest, but we have been shown that this was a wrong decision. Now, we have decided to start the era of Men. We trust you prove us that this was a wise decision."
Then, just as suddenly as they had appeared before the humans, holding salvation, they disappeared, leaving behind choice.
The man whose wife and unborn child had died, and who had attacked the ten-tailed beast in retaliation was the first to make his choice. To preserve the memory of those who had died, and honour the human race that had lived from before they had been the god's representative race, he stepped on the road of wind, where he would build a village in the oasis below the wind's orb.
Another man scoffed, believing the man that had gone towards the wind to be a coward. He walked towards the road of thunder, towards the mysterious metal lake and beautiful but dangerous lightning, claiming that it was there that those with strength of character and appreciation of danger would live to become powerful and wise.
Many people got confused and conflicted, the will of these two stubborn people both something to follow as well as fear. Few who agreed with them followed, the golden roads taking them towards that land of thunder in the east and wind in the west. However, a great many who felt nothing from braving the thunder or honoring the past by living in the bide of a desert. Then a pair of old people rose, and said that even though they had seen a great many things in their long life, they knew nothing of the colours beneath the earth's surface that were connected to the land of the Earth's orb, and that they wished for younger ones to join them, and help a pair of elderly such as themselves see these hidden beauties beyond the northernmost golden path.
The people to follow the elderly pair were mostly curious youngsters that held no fear for the high mountains, or the idea of woking their way upwards to build a life amongst them, not so much looking for a challenge as those who went to the land of Lightning, and not so much seeking to protect the past as those who left for the land of Wind.
The little girl who had been told that she would be the one to spread the word of the god's test, and would likely be the only one of these people who would return here didn't want to follow any of the three paths that many people were taking, making the group of humans thin out fast. Her brother had given his life to make the world inhabitable for humans again, and she didn't want to live in such dangerous places, especially if she had to survive for fifty years to receive the details on the Gods's test. However, though they seemed much safer and friendlier than the other places, the lands of Fire and Water had both been just as deserted and barren, and she didn't know whether either of them would be safe at all.
Then she remembered the large, pure white skull that had belonged to the first living creature of the world, and decided that if anything, that place had to be safer because if she were a dangerous animal, she would be intimidated by such a big skull too. She said as much, and many people immediately decided to join her, though for different reasons, mostly to be found in the fascination with the sea.
The last road was first walked by a woman, who had spoken that a land in which the power controlling the sun rested could not be all that awful. Soon others too, left, spreading out over those five paths until the place where the body of the ten-tailed beast had been separated from it's soul was empty, all humans having chosen where to live their lives.
It had not been a lie when the gods had said that they could no longer return inside the circle that was formed by the five orbs. A fine white mist formed a nearly invisible barrier that ran in an exact circle following the five orbs, but never touching them, as the orbs were placed in the middle of the villages, and the barrier had to halt abruptly to not cut through them, instead making a much smaller, circle-shaped indent at the village, going around it to reconnect with the main barrier, much like a small bite out of a cookie.
Soon, the people realized that the effect of the orbs inside the barrier was much weaker, and that the natural circumstances were tougher than outside, and they readily accepted not being able to go inside there as they focused on building their villages and finding ways to best survive.
Fifty years passed, in which the voices of the gods remained silent, until finally a golden path appeared to a woman who had once been the little girl whose brother had given his life to stop the ten-tailed beast. The village that protected the once nameless orb of water, now called the 'Voice of the Ocean' had been named Kirigakure, a name that had been passed to them by the Voice of the Ocean itself, and although it had not become very large over the years, it had become a home she loved.
However, the woman was not one the abandon her duties, and she had been prepared to have to travel to the other villages once she had obtained the message of the gods for a long time. She knew that it would most likely take the rest of her ending lifetime to round the entire barrier and contact all villages. She stepped on the golden path, which instantly took her back to the center of the circle, feeling sadness in her heart at the idea that she might not see her home again more than once.
The place where she arrived to however, looked nothing like the place she had left fifty years ago. There was a fog so thick that she could see no further than a few meters, and what she did see was a strange, stone structure, nine familiar jars and the vague forms of the gods.
One of the gods started speaking then, leaving her no room to try and make out anything else. " Human, your race has made a very satisfying start of their reign. We believe they are now ready to assume their duty of making sure the nine pieces of the demon's soul shall not escape. However, as we have told you off before, they will have to complete a test on a regular basis to prove that the human race is not becoming weaker, for we do not wish to risk them losing control of these spirits."
Another god waved his hand, and a map, seemingly made out of different colours of mist, formed in the air before her, showing her the circle with around it the five villages and a small part of the land beyond that. The village west of her own, which she remembered to be in the country of fire, had a large golden dot on it, which was connected to a line of the same colour that ran in a spiral-like figure, ending at the center of the map. She looked up at the gods for explanation. "This, human, is the course that the people wishing to take our test, the strongest of your race, will be walking to earn our approval"
The next hours she spent listening to the details of the test, writing them down in the script that the old human race had developed. Then she asked how she was supposed to bring the message to the other village, fearing the worst. However, the gods soothed her fear, telling her that her job was only to explain, not to travel, and that she would be brought to each village by a golden path like the one that brought her here. With her, she would take the jars, each of which would be protected in another city.
The actual story continues there, telling of how the pieces of the demon were devised amongst those jars, but that is of no consequence to the March of the Gods, which is the whole purpose of telling you all of this to begin with. Also, this is the diluted version, as since it's such an old tale, it had been rewritten countless times, made into several novels and so on.
The March of the Gods is the name of the test that the gods give humanity every ten years, a trek that starts at Konohagakure, the village 'hidden in the leaves', where the participants will receive some sort of key that lets them through the fog barrier. Then they have to follow the path set out by the gods and walk to Sunagakure, the village 'hidden in the sand', where they have to obtain another key by showing their old one to the Pure Sky, the sacred sand orb, after which they have to walk towards Iwagakure, the village 'hidden in the rocks', repeat the ritual and set out to Kumogakure, the village 'hidden in the clouds'. After gaining Kumogakure's Celestial Light's key, they have to walk to the last of the five villages, Kirigakure, the village 'hidden in the mist', where they have to gain the last key, or complete the key, or something along those lines, and walk onwards to a point somewhere halfway in between Kirigakure and Konohagakure where they would use this key to open a gate towards the inner circle of the Forbidden Lands inside the barrier. Supposedly, there is a pure white cloud barrier inside the Forbidden lands, separating it into an outer circle, 'the Forbidden lands' and an inner circle, 'The land of the Gods'.
In the center of the Land of the Gods, there is a nameless city. This is the end-point of the March of the Gods, and on the final day of the March, the day until which the contestants have to reach the city, the gods create five golden paths from each of the sacred villages (that have grown into cities by now, but are still referred to as villages) leading to the nameless city, where the people who didn't compete or who dropped out then may go to pray for good fortune. I may never have walked the March of the Gods, affectionately given the name 'the March of Death', but I can at least say that the legend is right about there being a stone structure there, and a fog so heavy you can hardly see where you're going.
The March of the Gods is held every ten years, and it's contestants must be between fifteen and thirty five to enter. The march begins on the first day of the 'ninth year', and ends on the first day of the tenth year. Basically, every time the year ends in '9, there are people walking the march. The next march is in the year 749, in three years. I'll only be eleven then, so I can't enter, but Konohamaru's friend is already a big boy, and He'll be sixteen then, and he said he's going to make it all the way to the nameless city.
So basically, the contestants of the March have one year, that is 365 days, to walk, run, climb, swim and otherwise travel to the nameless city, though they're not allowed to bring cars or skateboards or anything, so they'll mostly be walking. The march itself, although never really properly measured, is somewhere around 7349 kilometers. The average walking speed of a human is 4 km/h. If you divide 7349 km by 365, you find that walking the March means you have to walk a little over 20,1 kilometers a day, every day of the year. Which is five hours of walking every day.
Because of this, it isn't all that strange if no-one makes it to the nameless city one time. The last person who did make it was a guy named Minato Namikaze, which was thirty years ago. Twenty years before that, three people made it, who are now known as the 'sennin'. Tsunade, the only woman among them, is now Konoha's leader, the Hokage. Minato was Hokage too, but he died because of food poisoning thirteen years ago.
The point of the test is that, because nature is much more out of control in the Forbidden lands, human's strength, endurance, determination and so on is tested. It isn't necessary for someone to reach the nameless city, because someone finishing the complete March of the Gods is really hard, and the entire length is based on what the gods believed to be the absolute best of what humans could reach. Instead, at least one person has to go through the Gate of Determination or finish the half march, which ignores the Gate between Konoha and Kiri, and instead just ends in Konoha. The half march is 3624,9 km long, 3724,1 km shorter than the full one.
If no one manages to finish the half-march or make it through the gates two times, or if no-one enters the March at one time, the Gods will make the five sacred orbs break, and nature would break out in chaos strong enough to destroy everything, including the nine fragments of the ten-tailed beast. Because there would be no-one left in the world to worship them, they would disappear too, but they don't really seem to care. However, the last scenario is unlikely, since the average number of contestants starts at roughly 4000 people, most of them between 15 and 25. Usually, over 1000 drop out in the first month, another 1500 over the next two months, and another 1000 in the three next months. Around that time, the first people will have reached the gate. Of the 500 people left, only 50 to 100 enter through the gate into the Land of the Gods. Because the Gods don't allow contestants that have professionally trained for the purpose of walking the March to enter, because they want to test if humanity is strong enough, not if athletes are strong enough, by this time most of the contestants are walking on their last bit of energy, and of the 400 people who continue on for the half-march, usually only about 40 get to the finish. The average for the full march is 0,2 person a time, because there are usually gaps of five to nine marches between someone making it, and when someone does, they're usually in a small group.
Whenever someone does make it, they get to meet the gods personally, they get blessed by them, and the next ten years the gods give power to the orbs to make the elements work more into humanity's favor than usual.
The end.
-Very good when it comes to punctuation and grammar, Moegi, but it was supposed to be a report about legends and your interpretation of them, not the tradition that stems off of those legends. When I said that you were allowed to use excerpts from the legends, I didn't mean 'write the entire legend in your own words and then write a small explanation'.
Also, your way of writing is rather messy, as if you wrote some things just when they came to mind, instead of pre-making a setup and selecting the information you want to use the way I taught you. Especially towards the ending the writing got sloppier, the sentences more jumbled and you stopped writing out the numbers.
Inserting personal snippets is also fine, but keep in mind that if a stranger were reading this, they wouldn't know who Konohamaru is, much less his 'older friend'.
Overall rating: 6/10
AN: Writing like an 8 years old with a dictionary is harder than I thought it would be. I'm afraid it still came out a bit too mature. Sadly, I very much dislike it, but it had to be explained.
Anyways, this is just the prologue, as you probably guessed. It is meant to explain what the March of the Gods is, for which I needed a character that wouldn't be fifteen by the time the next March came around, preferably female. Because little boys, while not incapable of writing, usually have a handwriting that could be mistaken for failed communication by alien intelligent lifeforms.
The reason why I made this kind of prologue, is that this is the kind of thing that is considered common knowledge in the world this takes place in, so it influences a lot, but no-one actively talks about it, nor do they really think about it.
This entire thing is something I came up with early this morning, after reluctantly eating a piece of bread with strawberries which I had accidentally dropped my sugar-can on. The reason I'm publishing this at all, is because though I usually don't publish anything without having it completely finished, this is the kind of story I feel will become better with the input of other people. Not that I haven't just written 29 pages of notes about sorts of terrains and possible situations for later on yet, but still.
Also, my Mac's TextEdit has decided to be a pain in the ass, even autocorrecting after I turned that off, meaning I probably missed a lot of words that are supposed to be other words but were changed into something with reasonably alike (ha-ha… And then 'alike' got turned into 'silk', just as I'm typing this…) spelling. For example, I've had this thing turn 'soul' into 'should' several times now.
Mind, if anyone would like to beta this, I will not say no to help. Also, if anyone wishes to help me by being my discussion-partner about future plans and such, I would love them forever and try my hardest to be a little less snarky to them than I am to the rest of the world.
Next chapter: "Day 1, 7349 Kilometers! Enter Naruto Uzumaki!"