Chapter 1: The Big Soup
Seven years before Konoha:
A mile off the coast of the northernmost island in the Land of Water, a small wooden boat wades through a seemingly impenetrable mist. The unguided boat gently bobbed forward until it suddenly came to an abrupt stop. The mist is violently dispersed away from the boat revealing it to be held still by a pale skinned black-haired man wearing a pure white kimono standing on the water like solid ground. The man peered into the boat to find a young woman's shriveled dead carcass cradling a small bundle of blankets. The man sighed sadly and prepared to sink the boat, but he noticed weak puffs of visible breath being taken from the bundle. He hastily took the bundle from the dead woman's arms and carefully revealed the face of what was inside. The bundle contained a babe of tender age; shriveled, malnourished, and shaking from the cold. 'This one is a warrior indeed. To survive this long,' The man thought with a thin eyebrow raised. He looked to the corpse and spoke "While I could not save you from your tragic fate poor woman, rest assured that your babe will not suffer the same as you. I release your soul to your watery grave with this knowledge." There was a brief flash of steel and then the boat began to sink into the daunting shadows beneath the shallow sea surface. After saying a brief prayer, the man then turned around and dashed towards the shore with the bundle securely in tow.
3 hours later…
"WAHHHHH!"
The religious temple in the village of the Yuki clan was in turmoil over the ongoing wails of their newest charge. The freshly bathed and fed babe from the boat struggled in the arms of a priestess of the temple while screaming, red in the face. It had been this way ever since his savior had handed the baby off to the female caretakers. The caretakers have been slowly returning the now revealed boy's health to an acceptable level, but he has fought them every step of the way. The child wouldn't accept any food or care from any of the people around him no matter the method they tried eventually they had to force him to drink goat's milk. The boy's chestnut hazel eyes would lock with anyone coming within ten feet of it. The apprehension and fear from the child's gaze were impressive for one so young. Eventually the fed-up caretakers chose to sedate him and let him rest in a blanket filled basket. Outside of the room the child was sleeping inside, two men stood facing each other engaged in a conversation about the young infant. One of the men was wearing the ornate traditional robes of a Rabbit Goddess priest and the other was the man that rescued the child.
"What manner of demon spawn have you brought to my temple? Fuyuhiro," The priest said with a light chuckle. The savior now identified as Fuyuhiro gently bowed and replied,
"I found this unfortunate child floating in a boat towards the shore of our island with the corpse of his mother during my nightly rounds. I thought immediately to reward the child's survival by bringing him to your temple in hope that you would be able to care for the poor child." The priest lightly touched Fuyuhiro's bowed head and said
"You did well my child, we shall raise this child with the benevolence of the pure Rabbit Goddess, herself. Rest easy knowing she smiles down upon your kind soul." Fuyuhiro's eyes moistened at the high praise.
"Your words humble me, Grand Priest Shizuru!" he bowed deeply again before quickly retreating outside back to his post. Shizuru watched the young man depart from his temple then he turned around and walked into the caretaker's room. The priest looked into the basket and the infant slept in seeing facial features unlike any he had seen in the land of water, a broad nose, uncommonly large hands and feet along with a pair of full lips.
"Your origins are indeed shrouded in mystery, child," he said softly.
"The suspicious child found on the seashore, Shogo Isobe (Suspicious Seashore)." Shizuru lightly chuckled as he left the room.
4 years later…
Shogo POV
I love water and I think it likes me back too. It doesn't call me names like beast, savage, and impure. It hides me from the bullies that chase me sometimes. It feeds me with fish when I get hungry after I hunt with my trusty wooden spear, Pointy. I can play and swim in it for hours but never get bored! Just looking at it calms me down when I get angry or sad. I get angry and sad a lot ever since old man Shizuru died. He was the only one nice to me at the temple but everyone else is mean, so I am mean back. They get really surprised when I yell mean things back at them and then they leave me alone. The head priestess hates me and she doesn't let me play with the other kids or sleep near them. She says she doesn't want my impureness to rub off on the other kids. She wouldn't even let me wear a Kimono and sandals like everyone else, only some old shirts and small shorts but no shoes. I got fed up with my feet always getting messed up and I asked her for some sandals. She scoffed and said savages like me don't deserve shoes, so I stuck my middle finger up at her and called her a "scaly old bitch". That shut her up good, hahaha. The lashes I got after hurt a lot though. Those were some of the curse words I learned from some of the old fishermen that come through here. They let me hang out with them unlike these stuck up temple assholes. But I can't stay anymore, the high priestess has kicked me out from the temple and the village too. They said they would hurt me really badly if I came back and I believe them. I have nowhere else to go now. All I can do is sit on this shore the Grand Priest told me they found me at…. Wait! Didn't the Grand Priest say there was a big island south of this one with a ton of people on it!? Priest-ojii-san said that ninjas always ran back and forth from the islands in a couple of hours. I bet I could swim there and find a safe place to live away from these meanies. I could do whatever I wanted there! Maybe...maybe I could make some more friends. I gotta start swimming before the sun goes down, it could be hard to see where I'm going if it's super dark! Oop, sorry almost forgot you in the sand Pointy.
*SPL-SHHH! *
Brrrrrr- it's cold today.
1 hour later…
Gasp...Gasp. Okay swimming to this island is way harder than I thought. My arms and legs are starting to hurt soooo much. I've been using Pointy to help me float but I am getting really tired. I think this is the longest I have ever swum. I can still see Meanie island behind me but it's a lot smaller now.
30 minutes later...
Gasp…. Gasp. I can barely kick my legs anymore. My eyes don't wanna stay open for some reason. But thats okay I think the water is helping me, I can feel it slowly pulling me further and further. Maybe I can take a quick nap….
4 hours later…
"Hey kid! Wake the heck up!"
I felt a large hand push me lightly on my shoulder. I got really scared that I had been dreaming and never left that island. I opened my eyes and sat up then quickly looked around hoping I was wrong. What I saw confused me because it looked like I was on a boat but I had never seen one so big before. The big boat had all the things a regular boat had just gigantic in size. Also the boat was being guided by a huge purple flag.
"What are you doing in the middle of the sea, brat?!"
I quickly looked for the voice of this loudmouth guy and turned around to find myself face to torso with an old gray-haired fisherman. I looked up and saw his brown eyes trained on my face. "Who wants to know?!" I said loudly making sure to narrow my eyes at the question. One of the fisherman's gray eyebrows rose,
"Watch it kid. The name's Mizu. I'm a fisherman for the royal family. And I just saved your sorry behind from a watery grave. Besides! What is one of you mountain people doing in the heart of Water country anyhow?" he replied with an edge to his voice.
"Mountain People? What's that supposed to mean? There aren't any mountains on Kitajima!"
"Kitajima! You don't look like any Yuki I've ever seen or heard of, boy. Even so what are you doing out here?"
"I was swimming to an island called Nakajima. Can u tell me how close I am?"
Mizu seized up then his face got really serious,
"Kid, are you a special kind of stupid? Nakajima is two hours away from Kitajima by BOAT! It would have taken your tiny ass a couple of days to reach Nakajima. That's only if all the damn sharks didn't snap your dumbass up first! Your poor parents must be worried sick about you! I have half a mind to give you a good smack on their behalf!"
"I don't have any damn parents' jackass! If Nakajima's so goddamn far away how do the ninja run back and forth so quickly?! Senile old fart!"
"Brat, I am this close to strangling your scrawny neck and shutting that foul mouth of yours forever! The ninja can run on water and travel faster than most boats. Why does a baby like you even need to cross the ocean anyway? What could possibly compel you to come all the way out here yourself?"
My eyes watered a bit.
"The temple banished me OKAY! I need to get to that new island because I want to make a new home. Now leave me alone old man! I got some swimming to do!"
Having said my peace, I turned around, grabbed my spear from the ground and started to walk towards the right side of the boat. I got a couple of steps away before my arm was grabbed completely halting my movement, Mizu addressed me with a softer tone
"I can't let you kill yourself kid. You'll never make the journey without a boat let alone step onto the shore of Nakajima. Those ninjas will dice you up for trespassing in Shimizu clan territory."
He stopped talking for a little bit then he continued,
"Look I can't help you much kid cuz I got a family of my own to watch out for, but I can at least help you get on to the island safe."
This guy is so confusing. He was just being a meanie now he wants to help me. I lightly pulled my arm from his weak grasp then I turned back around, and I looked back up to Mizu.
"Listen I realize I came in a little hot earlier kid but seeing kids in danger riles me up. I'm sorry about yelling at you earlier."
Still not really trusting Mizu, I reluctantly accepted his apology,
"Don't worry about it old man."
"By the way kid, what's your name?"
My eyes narrowed on reflex,
"It's Shogo."
Mizu chuckled,
"That name describes you a bit too well child."
I shrugged.
Mizu nodded and motioned me to follow him,
"C'mon brat, I'll introduce you to the rest of my crew and feed you something."
With that Mizu started walking toward a two-story wooden cabin, I followed him slowly gripping my spear extra tight.
Inside the cabin, were two older men sitting around a round table. The men looked to be around the same age as Mizu in fact they looked kind of similar to me too. All three men had gray hair, leathery wrinkled skin, pointy facial features and thick gray facial hair. Mizu had a large mustache that covered his top lip and the other men had large beards that hid their chins. Mizu introduced me to the men then whispered something that I couldn't hear, and the men told me their names were Ryoshi and Suima. Apparently, they were both Mizu's brothers and they all run a small fishing company on Nanto island together. They were currently on an order for the Water Daimyo himself. Mizu tells me that they plan to smuggle me onto the island by hiding me under the deck of the boat with the fishes. Mizu explained that the ninja won't check down there. After we dock, they'll carry me in a sack into the city then leave me in one of the alleys when the coast is clear. Mizu strongly recommends that I stay on the outskirts of the village because the deeper in I go, the more trained shinobi will be after me. The outskirts however are filled with war refugees and petty criminals. He said all I had to do was keep my head down and live off the ocean. When I asked Mizu to explain living off the ocean, he told me that I had to fish and filter water. I told him I knew how to fish but not how to filter water. Mizu told me to follow him to the back of his boat so I did. When we got out there, it was kinda dark but Mizu showed me how to make my own saltwater filtration system and also how to make rainwater drinkable. He told me that drinking water straight from the sea could make me really sick. After Mizu was done teaching me stuff, we went back to the cabin and he gave me some fish soup with rice. His brothers were gone from the table now, they must have gone to sleep since it was nighttime already. I'm not gonna say the soup was delicious but I was soooo hungry that it didn't matter how it tasted. Mizu told me that they had a lot of it so I only stopped after the fourth bowl. I guess he saw that I finished eating because Mizu started to explain the inner workings of Nakajima to me.
"Alright kid, Nakajima is controlled entirely by the Shimizu clan. Other clans live on the island too, but they are just servants to the Shimizu. The Shimizu clan is easily the most influential and powerful clan in all of Water country. They have the most money and the most powerful ninja but most importantly they have the Seven Swords,"
Mizu drank wine from a cup in his hand and continued,
"For hundreds of years they were nothing but barbarians. They would rape and pillage coasts throughout the entirety of the Elemental Nations. No village was safe unless they were landlocked. It was because of them the islands of Water Country were in constant war until around 200 hundred years ago."
I got impatient,
"What happened two hundred years ago?"
"The Shimizu Seven Swords happened. While the Shimizu were savage, they were also really smart. Not only did they raid villages for money and goods, but also sword making techniques and special metals. They refined their best techniques with the additional stolen knowledge of other sword makers and made seven ultimate weapons. Each weapon was so monstrous that they could barely be called swords. It was with those weapons that they completely subdued Water country for themselves. Since then the Shimizu clan became fat aristocrats with an iron grip on the ship trade market of the Elemental Nations. The daimyo of Water country hails from the Shimizu clan and he resides in the heart of Nakajima along with his family. The big village we're dropping you off at stretches along the coast. Despite what I said about the Shimizu being aristocrats now, they still employ the strongest ninja in Water Country to protect them so make sure you keep your distance."
Mizu then stood from his chair and walked to the bottom of the staircase,
"Well Shogo, I'm gonna hit the hay. We will sail to Nakajima in the morning, we have to finish fishing before we can go back. See you in the morning."
With that Mizu ascended the stairs and I was on my own.
'I gotta get one of those swords.'