Shadow Play

by Eulabeia

The Empire is a large superpower to the north of the rest of the ninja world. From its origins as a small country on the brink of disappearing, it has now become an unstoppable force as it seeks its one and only goal: to unite the rest of the ninja world under its banner. The Empire will do whatever it sees necessary in order to make this goal a reality.

1. Prologue

Prologue

The Empire used to be known as the Land of Illusions. According to our textbooks and scrolls, we weren't a terribly large country, and we were sandwiched between the Land of Earth south of us and the great northern plateau that served as the home to warrior tribes. Due to attacks from these tribes and the Land of Earth bullying us out of our land, the Land of Illusions was not expected to last for very long. The people weren't skilled in the art of using ninjutsu, and what fertile land we had owned had been taken by our enemies. Really, what little money our country managed to make was through our master puppeteers, shadow puppetry, and even then that helped speed up our downfall as these puppeteers were hired by the nobility of other countries, leaving their dying country as a faded memory in the back of their minds.

In all reality, the Empire should have never come to be. The Land of Illusions should have been cut up between the warrior tribes and the Land of Earth, our name only to be known by those who happen to stumble across it in some dusty historical text. Our only saving grace was the appearance of a man whom would come to be known as the First Kage, Tokudaiji Atsunaga.

The First Kage was said to have been found passed out in front of the Empire's first capital, Sakkakugakure, or the Illusion Village. The villagers there, though they did not have enough necessities for themselves, took Atsunaga in, fed him, and nursed him back to health. Atsunaga, moved by the villagers' kindness, in return promised to save their fading country.

In less than a year, Atsunaga had taken back the Land of Illusions's land that had been taken from them, however he didn't stop there and continued to take more land. By the end of his reign as the leader of the Land of Illusions, he had more than quadrupled the amount of land that our country owned, had trained our people in ways or war, and had set up a system and guidelines that we would continue to follow even into the present day. We were now "the Empire".

The Kage was the supreme ruler of the Empire and only those descended from Tokudaiji Atsunaga himself could claim that title. His direct subordinates were the Generals. At first, there was only one General, but in the current day there are five: General of the Inner Empire, General of the Northern Empire, General of the Eastern Empire, General of the Southern Empire, and finally General of the Western Empire. By the time that I had earned the title of General, it was the Generals who truly ran the Empire.

I became First General and General of the Inner Empire at age thirteen, making me the second youngest person to become General and the only female to ever become General. To be honest, I had been bred into the position by the previous Kage and his First General. It was the old Kage's plan to have his heir and the next First General grow up together and form an unbreakable bond of trust between them in order to continue the Campaigns. One could say that he had succeeded, the boy that would become Kage and myself did form the bond of trust he wanted, but unfortunate for him his son, Tokudaiji Akihiko, was not suitable for his position.

The coronation ceremony and promotion ceremony for Akihiko and I were held a week after the old Kage's death, the suicide of the previous First General following his death in accordance to Custom. The ceremonies were led by the eldest General, Fourth General and General of the Southern Empire Askikaga Takeshi. He started off by pinning the golden five-star emblem to Akihiko's white uniform, the same his father used to wear. Then a red armband with four silver stars sewed onto it was wrapped around my left arm, proving me a General.

I saluted Askikaga then followed everyone else's lead as we bowed to the new Kage. Akihiko was smiling at me, proud of himself and of me. I gave him a smile back before turning to face those who had been lucky enough to witness the ceremonies. As the choir sang, it was obvious to all but the new Kage that no one was happy with this arrangement. Akihiko was only fifteen and I thirteen; we were too young, and on top of that I was a female and Akihiko had the reputation of being a short-tempered brat. Choosing us as the Empire's newest leaders was the first sign of the decline of the Great Empire to the North.