Letter to Home

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Dear Brother Duan,

I write to you as I have carelessly realized in the past few days or weeks, it truly is hard to keep track of time, I have not contacted you in any way. However, I am both pleased and troubled to report my excursion is fruitful. In many ways I could not have imagined.

The region we call home has reorganized greatly since our stasis. While it appears the number of nations has fluctuated and ultimately stabilized, a new force has changed their composition as of late. The arrival of the shinobi has seemed to change how nations operate drastically from our day.

While we have known warriors that might resemble the modern-day shinobi, they couldn't be more different. Despite being trained extensively in stealth, these shinobi act mostly in the open as a sort of standing military. Though I hesitate to entirely call them that. From what I could get out of my new allies, I'd be more inclined to call them mercenaries. Indeed, while they protect the nations they inhabit, to gain a significant form of their funds they take missions from seemingly anyone. It begs to me the question truly where their loyalties lie. Is it country, village, money, or something else?

I further have questions in relation to their command structure. Though I heard mention of a council that helps administer the village, and the nations have an overall leader in the form of a daimyo, the shinobi seem to follow the orders of their Kage. To the best I can understand, a kind of warrior king chosen from the greatest warrior of their ranks. It reminds me of the Kamishini's selection process, which indicates their main focus in affairs. I recommend we have our forces on high alert for the time being till we can better gauge their leaders' intentions.

Even the capabilities of these shinobi are both of fascination and concern for me. They are highly mobile, agile, and skilled fighters, able to stand their ground against foes with supernatural level capabilities. This is accomplished through extensive physical conditioning, mental discipline, and the use of chakra. Chakra appears to be some strange form of non-mystic life energy produced by modern humans and can be manipulated in a myriad of ways. I have seen everything from producing temporary clones of one's self to great snake-like dragons made of water. All of this being accomplished at times in the blink of an eye with a series of hand symbols. Time will tell how it compares to our mystic arts.

This isn't to say they are infallible, for father always taught us nothing is perfect. For one, this world has seemingly lost knowledge of the mystic arts. That might sound ridiculous, but it is the truth. When I asked my allies about the subject, they seemed confused, or dismissed me as if I was crazy and speaking of fairy tales. They even consider basic monsters such as ghouls as monsters of fiction. This lack of knowledge and understanding is troubling to me if they are supposed to be the main line of defense for their nations. On top of this, they have a troubling lack of skills outside of combat.

While the duty of any soldier is to protect their nation from threats to pigeon hold oneself into only one thing limits your ability to assist your nation and people. They have little to no understanding in economics, diplomacy, and even social skills are a bit lacking. This last one I partially surmise as a large chunk of my allies are teenagers. The mere suggestion of attempting negotiation with one of our enemies to turn them our side was viewed as preposterous and suicidal. Even the idea of telling the truth is viewed as something of utmost abhorrence. To say what is plainly the truth is somehow weakness. It leaves me to wonder how potentially a culture holds itself aloft based on lies and distortions. For if the truth is so powerful as to be hidden, would it not be better to wield the truth as the avenging sword?

Diverting ourselves from the topic of this new world, as it is among the most confusing topics I have been looking into as of late. The part that I most need to inform you of is my new allies, for I believe they provide the best insight we have into this new world, and what kind of people it can produce. Believe me when I say they are quite the colorful cast of allies if I ever was to get. Famous last words.

The most normal of these are locals of the Land of Waves. This consists of two rivals that through negotiations Gato and Tazuna. The two seem to have developed a history based on mutual animosity over economic affairs. Gato being a less than ethical shipping tycoon turned local tyrant, and Tazuna a slightly eccentric but highly skilled, self-proclaimed "super" bridge builder. Yes, dear brother, this is the most normal of my allies. While it wasn't the easiest to get these two stubborn whipper snappers into an alliance, one cannot underestimate the allure of enriching oneself or people.

The rest of my allies, aside from Tazuna's family, are shinobi of wildly different personalities. To say they clash with each other is technically correct. In the same way saying throwing a potted plant into a forge is getting rid of it. Let's start with the easiest to describe to you, the brains of the young shinobi Sakura Haruno. A highly intelligent and pleasant girl, she is certainly eager to please anyone she deems as a superior. While she is also highly obedient to orders, rarely talks back, and is good at enforcing discipline, I can't say she's without faults. It stems from her affections for one of the members of her team, of whom we will get to, that greatly clouds her judgment.

Shifting gears from Sakura comes a more unusual, though still pleasant figure in the form of Haku. Born in the Land of Water, another major shinobi nation opposite most of the figures here, he was born with odd abilities. These abilities, allowing him to manipulate ice with shocking potency, caused him to be persecuted in his own country to the point of fleeing. It's clearly traumatized the lad, but he does a decent attempt at not letting it show. Highly skilled healer and fighter, he goes about his day with an odd positivity for a man living as a fugitive. My theory is it's the only way he can keep himself sane in the conditions he finds himself in. If that is the case, then I certainly can't blame him. Like Sakura, I find him pleasant, easy to work with, and among the least eccentric of the group I find myself with.

Leading the young shinobi, known as Team 7, is Kakashi Hatake. A man shrouded in deep layers of tragedy; he is a hard one to parse out. Outwardly he portrays himself with a devil may care attitude and acts as if he's so cool he can get away with murder. The man literally reads well written if horribly crude porn in public for the god's sake. Well, that's when he isn't giving the silent treatment and attempting to keep information away from me. Dare I say the man might be a wee bit paranoid.

Yet despite all of that, I can plainly see he is a good man at heart. After a long, bitter, and eventually fruitful conversation, he is a man plagued with great burdens and guilt. I don't want to pry, for now is not the time. He is a man who is lost, trying to seemingly find some form of purpose now in his life. Not entirely sure why he chose to teach children to do so, but I haven't exactly been the best at making life choices myself. Somehow it does appear to be helping him slowly, so who am I to judge?

This brings me to the topic of another I am not entirely sure about, Sasuke Uchiha. Like Kakashi, he is a boy marked by tragedy. From what I can gather, he was born to a powerful clan with a unique ability that helped found their village. Over time however that clan fell out of favor, and one night four years ago, they were nearly wiped out. Sasuke being among the few that survived. Just looking at the boy, I can tell he is consumed by vengeance. Mercifully this is softened when around his team, if barely. While I certainly can understand why, vengeance in my experience never has given anyone any solace. If that were the case, our people would have found it long ago.

As negative I can say Sasuke can be, Zabuza Momochi makes him look like an angel. Where do I even begin with him? So, from what I can gather, he was a trusted friend and confidant of the Land of Water's Kage, before apparently that nation's leader went mad with power. Zabuza attempted to rebel, failed, and fled. Eventually he found Haku and saved him, indicating he has a heart type emotion in there somewhere. Since then, he has roamed as what is known as a missing-nin, a sort of AWOL shinobi that is viewed as among the worst kind of criminal.

As much as I wish I could stop my description of him, I feel even that doesn't adequately describe him. How does one describe Zabuza? Imagine a warrior that got hit in the head five too many times with a boulder, given a giant cleaver knife as allegedly a legendary sword, and views being called a demon as a compliment of the highest order. The only reason the man acts as a mercenary is to sate a form of battle lust even the Kamishini would describe as disturbing. I'm not entirely sure he even takes the money; he just views it as a form of challenge and entertainment. Despite all of that, I'm glad he's on my side. He wields that cleaver as deftly as a berserk oni on the hunt for sake.

Last, and certainly shortest, we come to Naruto Uzumaki, known to his team as The Show-Off, Number One Unpredictable, Noisy Ninja of their village. The first shinobi I've had the honor of serving side by side with, and certainly lives up to his moniker. I'm of two minds on the boy, really. Yes he is loud, obnoxious, stubborn as an ox, and his fashion sense, if impeccable, certainly is not exactly stealthy. From what I heard, he twice failed the graduation exam to even become a proper shinobi, only to receive it after stealing an important relic of the village and used it to defeat a rogue ninja. Recommendation: Lock down the vaults with extra security. The last thing I want him getting a hold of is something like a dragon horn or spell scrolls.

Yet despite all of that, I have to say his good points outweigh his negatives by a fairly wide margin. For one, he's about the only positive influence around here to counterbalance a sea of sad sacks and maniacs. He is rarely down or even kept down for long. While he isn't the best at his skills as a shinobi, he is a quick learner from what I hear, and able to think on the fly in a way few others can. However, for my money, he's certainly the bravest of people I have ever met. Someone able to take a full blast from a Terrorgheist and barely be affected by it is someone worthy of my greatest respect.

There is one further topic related to Naruto that I need to discuss, one I find deeply disturbing and most troubling. The founding Kage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, or Konoha, engaged in an act of the utmost hubris and frankly insanity. I will concede he was left with no choice, but it doesn't excuse the risks he's opened the world up to. Indeed, only the actions of another more ludicrously insane person make it so I can forgive his course of actions. Since our time, a set of nine great beasts made of living chakra has arisen, each taking the form of exceptional beasts. The first Kage of Konoha began the practice of sealing them inside human hosts and gave them to each of the villages as an attempt to prevent war. That part has since been disproven as far as I can tell from having ever worked.

These beasts are no mere spirits or monsters. The greatest of their number is known as the Kyūbi, a great orange creature that takes the form of a nine tailed Kitsune. The man somehow sealed away a minor deity and thought he could keep it contained in mere mortal hosts. When I brought this up to Kakashi, he seemed puzzled at the idea of this creature's divinity. Regardless of its composition, it is clearly a kitsune, and any with nine tails are as you know minor deities in their own right. Unfortunately, the current host to this likely very displeased and wrathful god is Naruto. It certainly explains the poor boy's misfortunes in life.

Returning to the previous point of another that made a worse decision with these beasts. Apparently a man by the name of Madara Uchiha had at one point controlled and warped the mind of the Nine Tails into doing his bidding for a short time. How the power to control gods, a power even the Kamishini haven't been able to accomplish after thousands of years, came into this man's possession is beyond me. Beyond that, it appears such a man is somehow alive at around a hundred years old, despite being of a more normal human stock. All of this came after prying information out of Kakashi and working together to make educated guesses. I don't know much more about this man, but judging by Kakashi's horrified reaction to this possibility, it indicates to me he is not someone we wish to have around.

All of this information has come to answer some questions I have; however, it opens up a frightening number of new questions to answer. The world has utterly transformed from the time we were forced into stasis. It all leaves me with one set of questions that, no matter what, I just can't seem to answer. What is our place in this new world? Is there even one? And what do we do in that case? The Kamishini were blessed with the ability to adapt with the times by living through them, but we have no such luxury. Like our forebears who fled their homelands before, we have to start anew and try to adapt.

I will try to keep you posted further little brother, but I fear that might not be possible. The clouds of a greater confrontation loom, and I must be ready. Keep everyone safe in my stead for me.

Sincerely,

Oda Shang The Second, King of Seaheart, Master of Ceremonies, and Pillar of Heaven's Might.

Well its been forever, but we are back baby. It's a bit of a odd format for a chapter I know, but I wanted to experiment a little bit to give you all a insight into a important new character. I'm not going to be making a regular habit of this kind of format for a chapter, only when I think its necessary. Unless people really don't like it then I'll shelve future plans for it. Time to turn you over to my co-host for a sec.

Uzumaki Ricky- Well, this one was a long time coming and a wild ride! Sorry it took us so long. Life kept getting in the way, so we couldn't work on this one. The good news is that now we're back and we're ready to start pumping out chapters again. Hope you all enjoyed this one! Aloha and good night!

Couldn't have said it better myself. We should be able to be back on track. Don't worry, no fights or anything in the group. Just life being life. Anyways, next time, our heroes plug along to take the fight to the undead hordes, through hell or high water. Next time in chapter 12 "Down the Warrens."