Chapter 1
Tonight, blood spills on the streets and walls of steel.
Tomorrow, dawn on a village maimed and bleeding.
I sit here as Captain of the village's Anbu black ops, listening to the Head Council as they debate over the riots in the street. I keep silent of the danger that encroaches upon them. As if I need to speak of it. They know what is coming, despite their ignorance to the obvious.
"They're breaking in!"
They won't die. I made sure of that. I planned this coup de'tat meticulously, down to the very last detail. By my order, the Heads are not to be killed. I have no need of them dead. They will be integral parts to the future of the Hidden Rain.
Still, panic courses through them as my ninja race through the halls below us. I can only feel pity for them: the Heads, the ninja of the Hidden Rain, whatever side they happen to be on.
All our efforts, not unlike those we made three years ago, had ended up coming to bloodshed.
The nails sink into their coffin, the hammer beating on the heads, reminding them all with each strike, each fallen ninja, each second the screams echoed through the tower.
"Secure the stairwells! Drop the elevators!"
They failed.
I am Chuusei Takeshi. I am a servant of the Hidden Rain. I do what I must.
With me in the chamber are the Five Head Ninja of the Hidden Rain. Heads of Infrastructure, Economy, Security, Administration, Intelligence. Elected three years ago by the people in the aftermath of the Fourth Ninja War, replacing a demolished leadership, put in charge of a bankrupt country with a hamstrung military and war exhausted people.
"We're losing."
Obvious deduction, one they already knew. Three years have passed since the end of the War. Our infrastructure is failing, the economy on the verge of collapsing entirely. Security? Intelligence? We barely have the manpower to sustain either. Administration? An utter failure.
"Recall all ninja: we must free this tower!"
At least they tried.
Despite the flood of dead, all the devastation wrought by the Edo Tensei and the Zetsu Army on our country, the starving, the homeless, the ill...
They were still trying, despite it all.
"Our main communications have been cut." In their last moments, everyone realizes the folly.
"Summon up everyone you can! Use the emergency broadcast!" Like those who suffer in grief, some deny it.
Too little, too late.
They tried everything they were willing to try. Not enough. Not nearly enough.
"All levels of force must be authorized! If we don't then this coup-"
In the advanced stages of disease, there are two outcomes. You amputate the necrotic limb. You cut out the cancer, you burn out the poison. You pray it isn't too late.
"You'll damn all of us!"
Or you succumb.
"If this coup succeeds, what difference does it make?!"
Beside me, my mentor and the Head of Intelligence, Sanzashi, maintains his calm exterior. He senses, as I do, the numbers of my ninja, my force quickly approaching the chamber. We feel the rush of their energy, their fury, their hope.
But he contributes nothing to the debate. He declines to warn the others. He knows they are doomed.
"The difference is ethics!"
"Screw ethics, the entire village will burn whatever we do!"
They were doomed, and yet they still tried.
The ninja have reached our floor. They are seconds from our chamber. Sanzashi turns his head and smiles at me in pity… and acceptance.
"Good luck," he says.
With those two words, I now know he knew from the start.
"I'm sorry," I whisper. For everything that happened, that would happen here from here on out.
"As am I."
The chamber doors burst in, and within seconds the Council was completely surrounded. I joined with them, the ninja who swore their loyalty to me, whose weapons were drawn and readied. I could feel the white-hot daggers of the Council's gaze on my back as I joined my cohorts, my allegiance now revealed.
I turn to them, my Anbu mask hiding my churned expression. "Call off your forces," I order. "Or condemn more of our village's ninja to their deaths."
Twenty one years through life and already I'm tired of it. Tired of being a ninja. Tired of living when it meant killing. Tired of lying to preserve a damned existence.
That's all a ninja is: a pathological liar and professional killer, one part of an infinite cycle of condemnation and death.
"You're a traitor, Captain." the Head of Security says. Words harsh and biting, defeated but not impotent. I let them land uncontested.
The Councilors eye me, as if waiting for an execution order to leave my lips. I am glad to disappoint them further.
"Call off your forces. Announce your surrender. Spare the lives of our countrymen."
"Then you'll kill us?"
"No." I informed them. "You are still valuable. I will lead the Hidden Rain but I still have need of your expertise."
"And why is that?"
"You are of no use to the Rain dead."
Sanzashi looks at the other four. His eyes are sunken, like one defeated, exhausted, ready to depart the world into the next.
"I could kill him easily." His voice is solemn, sad, expressing defeat as much as his eyes do. "I could kill everyone in this room easily. But we've lost. There is no victory you can achieve here. Let's end the bloodshed."
In the end, they conceded.
There was no chance of victory in this fight for them—nor for myself. I had spilled the blood of my countrymen so that the survivors could have a future. Whatever my intentions, whatever my actions from now on, I am damned for this. As I should be.
The die has been cast.
Later, alone, I wait as the broadcasters are adjusted, watching my village from the window of Lord Pain's old tower. I wonder how he felt, viewing his charges from this height, with Lady Angel at his side.
You wanted peace, Lord Pain, Lady Angel. I hope I can succeed where you could not. Guide me there. Guide your people. Give us strength.
"Lord Chuusei?" I turn, facing the technician. "We're all set up. Everyone with a radio in the country should hear your broadcast, whatever frequency they're on."
"Thank you."
It should reach all. I know it does. The country is restless in the wake of the coup. Most are awake. But will they listen?
"People of the Village Hidden in the Rain. This is your new Leader, Chuusei Takeshi. I am sorry for what has gone on in ourvillage tonight. Let it be known that I ordered these actions, and I take full responsibility for the loss of every loved one that fell. That will fall. We have seen enough bloodshed throughout our history and I am the last who would see our blood be shed by our own kin. By our friends. By people we speak to every day. I am the first to condemn this betrayal—and I surrender my life to you in payment of this debt.
"The Council has agreed to allow me to lead you from now on. From this day forward, I am your servant. I am your protector. I am your sword and armor, your cloak and your dagger. I pledge to you, starting tonight, that all tears will be wiped away."