Prologue
The nations of the world were tense and anxious, as only leaders and bitter veterans could sense. The winds of war were blowing after two decades of cold peace, where bloodshed was kept within the shadows. In these dark and silent places operated a rare kind of human, Ninja. No not the ninja of the movies or of ancient Japanese lore. These ninjas were humans who could wield a force within themselves to run faster, jump higher, withstand blows that would pulverize stone and strength to snap metal. Bullets could not hit them, they could summon demons or hide objects on paper and so much more. But they were few and chose to maintain separation from the rest of the world to protect themselves from the governments. But mostly to withstand assaults from other ninjas. Their way of life, of living and functioning was marked in blood the moment their abilities showed themselves. Armies took advantage of the ninja's penchant for violence and hunger for power by making contractual arrangements that benefitted the nation's defense. Ninjas would work for the armies, going into missions impossible for the strongest among them and the nations would allow ninjas to have their own 'villages,' independent city states within the country. Fighting amongst the villages broke out almost immediately after these accords were accepted. To fight and to kill are fundamental to ninja. Any void of peace between countries was filled by violence between villages. For land, money, power, pride, revenge or psychopathy, the reasons given were many and everyone knew the lulls between the fighting were times to prepare for more. The human nations grew tired and afraid of the super humans in their land, some ninjas of godly power even took over their host nations. Fear often turned to hate and the people would make moves to get rid of the ninja threat.
Throughout it all, real actual demons appeared throughout the land around the same time the first ninja human was born, and killed indiscriminately. The most powerful of these beings were The Nine, forces of nature and the Earth themselves which would make the nuclear weapons of man tinder by comparison. The ninjas showed themselves to be necessary for human survival because only they could turn these demons away. The Nine made ninjas necessary for human survival. Eventually ninjas learned to temporarily capture them within their bodies, the captors becoming demi-gods in the process. Generation after generation these 'jinchuriki' played major roles in history, from the days of knives and swords to the present day of fighter planes and guns. Prophecies abounded about these individuals. Who was a ninja and why. Why there wasn't peace. Where the ninjas and demons came from and why. Legendary figures tried to settle these questions and stop the cycle violence. Or take over the world. Mystics have conjectured in their holy books and scrolls that ninjas were souls that were sent to protect humanity from the demon incursion, and the forces of nature themselves. But the powers afforded to these souls had a corrupting effect. Generation after generation, cycle after cycle, ninjas grew more powerful, more violent and oppressive. Prayers for ninja to banish the demons and rally everyone to a path of peace grew quiet, held only by the wayward monks in the mountains, alone in the deserts or interned in insane asylums.
What if they weren't wrong?