A Shadow Hidden Somewhere in the Light
(Chakra Shadows Rewrite)
Chapter 1: Beginnings and Ends
Shadows have always represented darkness. They symbolize evil and hatred. "The darkness inside of you," people might say, referring to your 'negative side.' I've ... never believed that. I've always welcomed the shadows and the darkness that came with it. To explain, I suppose I should start where IT all started. On October 10th many years ago...
"WAAAAAAAHHHHHHH"
A shrill sound echoed around the empty home. The sound was garbled, but it was clearly a wail, a cry for help. It was followed by sniffles and more wailing. A baby, only 18 days old. 18 days, and yet, it was now utterly alone. The baby's parents had left not an hour earlier, into the night, leaving behind their helpless child.
The night was a cold and piercing one, yet the silence one may expect was nowhere to be found. Instead, it was replaced with screams of those dying and those that they left behind, silent tears of mothers as their children were massacred, and that night, amoung the cries and screams, one sound could be heard above the rest: the sound of roaring.
A beast of such magnitude, that had never been seen, roared loudly, blowing away a few trees in it's vicinity. It's tails, numbering nine in total, waved around wildly, destroying even more trees. The beast was overlooking a large village surrounded by a tall, sturdy gate. The gate, of course, was nothing for such a beast and it quickly fell to the beast's mighty roar, crushing many people under the gate.
The people inside the gate were all frightened beyond measure, naturally. Most had trained all of their lives to become elite warriors, what this village called shinobi, or ninjas. Some were younger, less experienced shinobi called genin. These few, some of them children, were assigned to escort civilians and children to a safe place, deep inside a carved mountain. The other ninja, ranking from chunin, experienced but weaker ninja, to jounin, strong and experienced warriors, and even to anbu, the elite assassins and fighters of the village, were out fighting off the beast, hoping to stop it's relentless rampage. Amoung these shinobi were two, a chunin and jounin, the parents of the 18 day old baby that they left alone.
The baby was jostled hastily. A child had picked up the baby, running towards a mountain with faces carved in it. The child was a genin, only identifiable by the shiny headband on it's forehead. The baby had stopped crying when it was moved, looking around with observation a baby shouldn't have. The baby obviously knew nothing of what was happening and only knew that mama and papa had left him. The baby, however, could also feel something. The "something' was strange, tickling, almost soft, yet amoungst the 'something', was something else, like the 'something' but sharper. The baby did not like the 'something else', but enjoyed the 'something' swirling in the air around it. The 'something else' felt evil and malicious like a swirling red hurricane, as opposed to the soft blue breeze that was the 'something'.
The 'something', unknown to the baby, was called chakra, the energy that powered this world. It was in everything that lived and even most things that didn't. Chakra was the literal life blood of the world, for without it, nothing could live. The 'something else' was also chakra, but it was quite different. See, chakra is unique to every being that contains it. Not one person's chakra is the same. And this red, swirling mass of chakra was no different, for it belonged to the beast towering over the village.
The beast continued rampaging and roaring, decimating sections of the village. The beast had almost infinite stamina and could go on for hours, roaring and stomping swishing it's tails. However, before long, a giant toad, as big as the beast, appeared, a small human figure riding on top of it.
The human was none other than Minato Namikaze, yondaime hokage, or fourth leader of the village. Minato stood steadily on the toad despite the movement and could be seen literally cradling a bundle in his arms, his only son. Minato's son had strange ink written on him and when Minato pushed chakra into the ink, time seemed to freeze.
Invisible to all others, a ghostly, ominous figure appeared from the ink. It's face was pale and sunken and it had bony fingers. The figure was wearing a seemingly weightless black cloak and a terrifying grin. This figure was the Shinigami, god of death. The Shinigami had come for the soul of Minato in exchange for ridding the village of the beast by means of sealing the beast inside Minato's son. And so he it did, and Minato left this world for a very long time, saving the village and all of it's inhabitants.
Soon after, everything in the village stopped. There was no need to fight, for the beast was gone, and all other activities had ceased when the attack began. Suddenly, as if shaken from a daze, sounds of celebration could be heard throughout the village, yet it felt sad. People were celebrating the defeat of the beast, but also mourning their loved ones and their yondaime. Families returned to their homes and reunited, but unfortunately many did not have the chance and their loved ones were lost forever.
The baby, who had been crying inside the mountain all this time, had been lucky and both of it's parents returned, disheveled and shaken but alive.
[A.N.: It's been a while since I've read these stories, and I've had a ball. Feel free to hate or w/e, as I literally cannot read these without cringing. I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, however, so, if you really like the premise of a story here, you can use the idea, continue the story, or even ask for a continuation/rewrite. I will be glad to oblige, and then subsequently link the new story. Anyways, thanks for putting up with/reading my prepubescent ramblings masquerading as stories.]