Prologue Part #2:

The Birth of the Yorizaru

It was raining.

Shrouded in the cover of night, the seven shinobi dashed back into the demon's lair, the Forest of Shadow, bearing the newborn child. Like phantoms they moved through the giant trees, leaping distances unheard of between mammoth branch to branch in their haste to finish their task. It did not take them long to return to Haraka's graveyard.

And there it waited, hunched over the piled bodies of their former students. Its satanic eyes burned into their flesh as it's blood-stained jaws widened into a wicked grin of gleaming teeth. Slowly it turned, addressing the shinobi with glee at more meat willing to come to it; it saved Haraka from hunting when the prey approached the hunter.

The shinobi lay the baby down after quickly sweeping the earth of bones and stood in a rigid circle around it. Their eyes closed, they started focusing their chakra as they joined hands.

Haraka began to move to then, slowly at first but gaining speed.

Gold, pure energy flowed from the shinobi's limbs into the others, illuminating the clearing twenty feet in every direction before being dulled by the constant downpour.

Haraka's feral eyes drew closer yet behind the curtain of rain; it was sprinting now.

The golden energy left the bodies of the seven as the chakra took form and hovered in a rotating ball of power directly over the baby. It bobbed up and down gently in the rain.

A shrill, indescribable sound pierced the night and rain, Haraka's cry. It was the sound of pain, of suffering; the sound you heard before death wrapped you in its cold embrace of nothingness. It rang through the forest as the monster's massive head and over-extended jaw came into view in the golden light, looming over the gathered ninja.

And just as the demon was about to fall upon the seven-

FLASH

The light could be seen from the Hidden Mist Village. It was as though a burning, white-hot star had been rapidly berthed in the forest and had been snuffed out in the same second. All movement stopped in the little village as everyone turned their gaze to the large forest in the distance. Some swear that they heard a baby crying out in the night.

INTERMISSION…..

Worn and beaten, the seven shinobi slowly walked back into town together, some using others as crutches. The baby boy remained silent in the crook of one of the seven's arms. The top of a sharp, black tattoo on the baby's stomach could be seen sticking out of the blanket is was wrapped in; the moonlight peaking through the clouds after the storm lit the landscape in a pale luminescent glow.

Townspeople, instead of celebrating, remained in their homes. The seven shinobi slunk through the grimy puddles of water in the streets; their ragged bodies drain of energy. They headed towards the center of town, where the Kage's dojo was. But they were saved the trip.

Muzen-Kage stood tall and proud in the center of the street, his flowing gray robes wavering in the trickle of breeze. The mist swirled around the gathered, but did not stop the shinobi from spotting the many eyes of the villagers. It appeared that everyone had come to see the victors return; everyone that Haraka had not killed. Small beady eyes stared from windows, rooftops, and bushes, observing silently.

After relating what they had done to the Kage, the seven stood warily on the deserted street. Much to their amazement, the Kage was furious. They had performed an act of heinous betrayal to the Hidden Mist Village by trapping the soul of the Haraka into the baby without his permission. On top of that, he continued, they had stolen an infant from the village. This act alone from the others was enough to sentence them to the gallows.

The seven stood awestruck at what the Kage had proposed; them considered heretics after saving the village? But Muzen-Kage continued to say that the only way they could bring honor back too their names after letting their squads die, would be to finish off Haraka for good.

"Kill the child!"

The shinobi were dumbfounded. Murder an innocent child? One of the seven spoke up, saying that it was not nessecary to kill the baby; over time is would die on its own once it was an old man. The baby's death was a gaurenteed as all of theirs were, death waited for no man. The child could live out its life peacefully and still kill Haraka without such violence and malice.

But the Kage was adamant. Haraka was a threat as long as the boy in their arms still drew breath. Lividly he told them to either kill the child or die with it. It was their choice, kill or be killed.

"Choose!"

The word rang out in the street and fell upon the villagers. Wordlessly and simultaneously the seven turned their backs to the old man and began walking away; out of their beloved home for the very last time. The child began to cry, its infant tears breaking the villagers. It was an unnerving sight, and few could bare to watch as the seven gallantly walked out of the misty village.

It was an old woman, bent with age that first joined them. Then a young boy with mousy hair emerged from the bushes to stroll alongside. Before long half of the remaining villagers had fallen in to accompany the seven. The large group walked with motivation; motivation against the Kage's evil tongue, against the village they had suffered to live in, and for the life of the child they were willing to give up everything for.

Muzen-Kage could be heard shouting from behind them for his ninjas to attack, that the death of the baby was imperative to the survival of the village. Not a single ninja listened or broke rank; their hearts were softened by the courage of the seven and their following, but not enough to leave their post.

They group continued out of the village, to the only place they could think of.

It was dawn by the time they reached Haraka's lair. Over its bones they built homes, from its blood-soaked soil they grew crops, and from its massive trees they built a their own village. From nothing grew the workings of civility, unity, and trust. Children were born and the old died in the shrouded village, as time began to remake and rework the fresh beginnings of a new life. The seven shinobi were all named Kages of the village; another meaningless code broken.

Together they would each rule the village they called Yorizaru, the Village Hidden in Shadow.

I really hope you guys like it.

Thanks for playing along, Rasha