Naruto's fatal frame IV:

I don't know everyone's past. I don't know what occurred in the past and why are they withholding it from me. My past is the most heart wrenching, since it has my mother's jealous siblings(and an in-law), a family feud, my mother's first(and only) pregnancy, and my birth despite the bloody ordeal(that was a way to describe it, since it was a terrible family dispute that could've ended in bloodshed). My parents were withholding the unpleasant story but Tokui told me how it went. She seems to know everything that occurred back then and what will be in the future. The story goes like this:

"When your mother became pregnant with her first children, she was in deep joy that she was going to be a mother. While she was in her joy, someone wasn't in much of a mood to be joyful. Her sister in-law, to whom your mother was entrusted to when she was 12 and her at least 18 or 19. The reason she was upset was that she had found out she was barren and had not any children for she couldn't and your mother could and was pregnant, while she was not but she devised a scheme where she was going to use your mother as a surrogate but your mother refused, easily knowing her brother's and her sister in-law's scheme to make her suffer like they'd done before and wasn't going to let them have her unborn babies when they were born and forced them to leave her alone and don't return to her home to ask again. Your aunts who are twins wanted to have children as well but one is assumed to'ved had a child but then lost it (or anything else that may've happened to her child but the fate of her child is deemed uncertain). They knew she said 'no' to their sister in-law. They decided to make her give up her unborn babies to them. Your mother wasn't fooled and the ordeal became a family war. They made threats against her. They resisted arrest and assaulted the police. Their mother was no exception, she had come home bruised, battered, and limping from an unrequited battle with her oldest daughters for she had not fought back. Your mother devotedly nursed her back health, while tending to your grandmother's injuries. Your mother knew it will pass. Despite the nasty ordeal, your mother successfully had her babies but now they wanted to eliminate her offspring in revenge. You are the sole survivor of her twins and they wanted eliminate you now but you are safe in the embraces of the rest the of the Hidden leaf village."

I'm not certain of how my parents' past have went but my father lost both of his sisters to a spiral fear and obsession. My mother's past had a sibling rivalry that's been lasting since the day she was born to the day she gave birth. The village's past stems far back to the time of forbidden rituals. This was outlawed in when hidden villages became hidden villages. Miyu told me of one of them, where one sibling kills the other. Twins or anyone of a sibling rivalry usually performed these dark rituals. One sibling kills the other, usually by strangulation but other methods can be used. Once they are dead, their body is carried to the Hellish abyss and is throw in and their spirit arise as a crimson butterfly. Another, was to tattoo someone, usually a shrine worker, where the tattoos were anesthetics. Once tattoos cover every inch (almost) of the person's body, they are ready to be sacrificed. The person is to lay down on a sacrificial alter. Tattooed wooden spikes are put into the person for an eternal dreamlike state from whence no one comes out of, unless the spikes are removed. There are gazillions more so I only named two of them for right now and I'll name a 3rd. The rituals were never spoke of. These rituals were so barbaric and so frightening that the first Hokage banned them and punishment was extreme for those who performed them. The rituals were of an unknown origin. No one knows who started these rituals and why they began. The lost parts of the village is where my sister died and it is a forbidden place. The moment she set foot there, she knew her life would end in suicide. Her spirit still rests in our hearts. There's one ritual that's the worst of them all. In this ritual, you kill everyone that's been caring for you and with you since infancy and childhood. This ritual was the darkest because you kill your parents, grandparents, siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, and best friends out of a drunken rage. This has scared people of the village for centuries. After slaying everyone you loved and cared for, you are bound in chains where you stand in the center of the room you slayed everyone there, still in a drunken rage, from whence you never come out of and you'll eventually die in that state. The bodies of your helpless victims are thrown into the Hellish abyss to arise butterflies. I started to play the game of fate when we wandered in the wrong place. We wandered into the forest the no return. I've been here after the written test of the Chunin exams to partake into the survival and retrieve test but this time it was different, I accidentally wandered in somehow and Tokui soon followed. I ended up following a trail of bleached, broken, and cracked bones to some sort of lair. I heard growling sort of moan coming from the lair. It stopped short of low growl. I found a bloodstained shoe. It was a flip-flop, about a 10-year-old's size and that ain't all, I found a bloody piece of T-shirt. The surrounding area was stained with decomposed blood and claw-marks are found dug deeply into the ground. Bloody fingerprints are found on the edge of the rock. Tokui wasn't afraid but I showed signs of fear. I was frozen with fear. "We have to get out of here while we still can or else fate won't be so kind." whispered Tokuijin.

"To who?"

"To you and/or me but mostly you. I can't easily be harmed by something that can harm you as easily like had with its last victim and we'll be next if we don't escape while we still can."

I had to suck it up and escape but I had no clue how we were going to escape and nor could I decide our escape route. Tokui had no choice but to decide for us and we went back the way the same we came in. "Why do you even deal the hand of fate? You know you shouldn't but you do it anyway."

"I know not of what you mean."

"You always play the game of fate without care and only to be near Death's door but never on it."

"How?"

"You fell from a tree, 3 branches high, once. You could've died but instead, you were crippled. You gotten sick with Typhus but never died, though you could've. You looked into the Hellish abyss but you didn't go blind, you cursed yourself even more. You peered into the mirror of misfortune and was knocked into unconsciousness. You limped into the street and caused a wreck and you weren't injured but shaken, despite the ordeal. Is there anymore I should know about?"

"No, there is no more, Tokui-san."

"That's for sure, Uzumaki–kun."

No more than 20 minutes later, I wandered into another wrong place and Tokui followed once more. I wandered into the same place Miyu had, the lost parts of the village. "Oh dear, your wanderings could get someone killed." said Tokui.

"I hadn't been here before but it is as Miyu described it."

"I've been here many times but I've been here alone."

"Miyu died here."

"She sacrificed herself so she wouldn't live out the guilt of committing the murder of her only sibling and ever performing the ritual that would've involved your death."

"At least, she didn't suffer."

"We have get out before sundown or else we'll meet the same fate. Sundown is the bewitching hour for this place and that's how she met her untimely end."

"Then what time is it?"

"About 12:03 pm."

Despite my limp, we got out the way we came and went back home the way we came. My mother was waiting for us and she asked where we were. That didn't matter but she was glad I was home. "I accidentally wandered into the forest of no return and saw some things. I'll cut to the chase, has there been a struggle between a beast and a 10-year old?" I asked her.

"I don't know what you mean by a 'struggle' but there has been an animal attack but the victim lost blood and got their wounds infected and stayed in the hospital and that is all I can say, it's quite unclear whether or not they lived through the month."

"Do you know about the ritual of siblicide?"

"I have no clue of what you're talking about but I know what 'siblicide' is."

"Okay then, what is it?"

"Where you kill your sibling, usually to maintain a ranking amongst siblings or out of jealously."

She knew what certain things were. Who was that 10-year old that got attacked by a strange beast? In the forbidden ritual, do you have a choice whether or not you have or want to kill your sibling even if they're your only sibling? Do you have to kill your friends and even your dearest mother and father? Do you have a say in yourself being tattooed and sacrificed? The helpless victims of these tragic rituals didn't. The helpless victim of an animal attack had but no choice to flee dead or alive. There mysteries That I must solve or be killed trying.

To be continued…