Greetings before we begin, I'd like to just start by saying why I'm doing this. I realize Katanagatari was an incredibly deep story, so deep in fact by the ends I was somewhat confused. But one thing that was clear to me by the end was how throw away the maniwa ninja corps heads were. I mean Hou Hou literally killed one of them just to maintain some sort of peace treaty, which I feel was fairly pointless. So of course after I saw each one die (often brutal deaths) I decided to see if anyone came up with a happier story. There was one one-shot. That wasn't enough for me so I'm taking a crack at it. That is also why I am also writing a Jinx x Shaco fanfic and a Medea x Souichirou fanfic. Putting in my little take on what I feel to be largely ignored couples. Now I don't intend to even come close to the complexity of Katanagatari but I do hope you'll enjoy it anyways.

Houou awoke in complete darkness, given how gritty the terrain felt it was safe to say he was in a cavern of sorts. The darkness didn't phase him much, he was a ninja after all (darkness was sort of their thing). What did phase him was the fact he was sure he had died. He had lost control of his mind and body then gotten himself killed by that maple boy. Yet he heard his heart beating within his body. That was when he noticed the sound of other hearts beating in unison with his own. There were other people here with him, based on the sound of their breathing he supposed they were asleep. He figured it was time they woke up. "Who's there!?" he shouted. Instantly the surrounding people began to stir and for a moment it was chaos. There were voices everywhere echoing from the cave. "Who's there!?" Houou shouted once more. This time there was a collective response of "Houou-Sama?" Wait, Houou recognized these voices. "Umigame is that you? Is that Kawauso with you? he called out. He heard Umigame's voice answer "Yes Houou-sama we are here." Then there was a sound of a female crying "Chouchou! Chouchou are you here!?" A man's voice could be heard now. "Oshidori! Where are you?!"

Houou was taken aback for a moment, they were all here, even though he was certain none of them had survived the hunt for the deviant blades, they were all alive and together in this cave. Recovering from his initial surprise the noise was becoming unbearable. "Silence!" he shouted and the entire cavern went quiet. "Honestly for ninja to be so noisy is unacceptable. Does anyone have a lighter?" Chouchou's voice called out. "I do!" Oshidori let out an indignant gasp "I thought we agreed you were quitting tobacco!" One could feel the fear in Chouchou's voice as he said "I swear honey I just kept the lighter, I haven't smoked in months!" "AHEM!" Houou interrupted the noise once again, he was quickly running out of patience from his groups disorder. "Now's not the time for such petty disputes, Chouchou light it already." "Right away!" suddenly there was a small flicker as the tiny flame lit the room. It was as he had expected, they were in a vast cavity surrounded by stalagmites and stalactites. Scattered around this cavern he could make out the other maniwa heads. Chouchou could feel the glare coming from Oshidori and shuddered. "U-um I-I found some twigs we could use to light a fire." Pengin stuttered nervously as he waddled into the center. "Heh that's lucky." Koumori said as he jumped behind Pengin, scaring the little ninja. "But of course luck was always your thing wasn't it Pengin?" The man dressed as a bat said and rubbed the little guys head. He then turned around to Chouchou and called "Well? What are you waiting for? Hurry up and make a fire already!"

With the fire now lit the maniwa heads gathered around it. Houou took the lead "Well then, since it has been such awhile since we've seen each other alive let alone together we should do a proper role call." He then straightened his posture and announced authoritatively "Maniwa head Houou, leader of the Maniwa clan and it's bird squad." He then turned to Oshidori who was sitting next to Chouchou, she had apparently forgiven him. She nodded and continued "Maniwa head Oshidori, member of the bird squad." Then came the next one. "Squad bird the of member, Shirasagi head Maniwa." The group nodded, they always enjoyed Shirasagi's backward talk. "Maniwa head Kamakiri, leader of the insect squad." he said as he held his trademark mantis hat. "Maniwa head Chouchou, member of the insect squad." he said with a wink at Oshidori, she smiled at him. "Well, Maniwa head Mitsubachi, member of insect squad." he said scratching his head uneasily. "Still a greenhorn." Chouchou sighed. They moved on. "Maniwa head Umigame, leader of the fish squad." he said with bravado. "M-maniwa head Pengin, member of the f-fish squad." "Maniwa head Kuizame, member of the fish squad." he said with a smirk. "Maniwa head Kawauso, leader of the beast squad." he said with his usual smile. "Maniwa head Kyouken, member of the beast squad." she said proudly. The final one stretched and yawned before finishing. "Maniwa head Koumori, member of the beast squad."

"Now with that out of the way, does anyone have any idea how we came to be here?" Houou questioned the group. There was silence. "I take it this also means that none of you know how we are all alive either?" "Wait, what?" Mitsubachi wondered in shock. "The entire Maniwa corps were wiped out?" he said in disbelief. Houou frowned and began the explanation of what he knew, the others filling in what he missed with what they knew. "Given how we are the only ones here, I believe it is safe to say we are the only ones left of the Maniwa. " Houou surmised. Houou got on his knees and bowed before the other heads. They were shocked "Houou-Sama why are you kneeling?" Houou's voice shook as he spoke these words wrattled with guilt "I have failed the Maniwa clan and it's people." The group was solemn for a moment. Then Kawauso broke the silence "It isn't your fault sir, we all know there were quite alot of politics behind it. None of us holds this against you. Given another scenario we would still give our lives for you. Besides none of that explains why we are here, or why you have your own arm again Houou-Sama." he pointed at their leaders arm. Indeed it was no longer the amputated arm of the beast squad leader but his own flesh and blood. " Houou composed himself again but was becoming exasperated with all the unanswered questions. "Very well, we have shared all the knowledge we have with each other, it's time we collected some more information. But first we need to get out of here, if we're all breathing and there's still a fire there must be air coming from somewhere." He turned to the women dressed as a wolf. "Do you think you could find it for us Kyouken?" The women jumped up and puffed out her chest. "Leave it to me!" She stuck her nose up and began sniffing, she then ran deeper into the cavern, the others following her. Eventually she stopped and looked above her. The others followed her gaze to the slight crack in the ceiling. Suddenly Kyouken jumped up and struck it with a fist. It did not budge and she landed on her feet, shaking her hand. Houou stepped forward "Allow me." he said before launching himself upwards and slicing the ceiling with his arms. "Come on out!" he called down to them. They jumped up after him and emerged on a mountain face. From it they could see the vast land before them. They even recognized the location of where their village should be. Houou looked at the landscape then at the clan heads. "It looks like we have quite a journey ahead of us."

End Prologue

Hope you enjoyed the introductory story, if you have any interest in it please let me know, or if you think there's something I could do better. Alco feel free to check my other works if you want.