Pariah Stark
The Sad Reality
The Sage of Six Paths
The legends passed down by shinobi are an amalgamation of broken truths and campfire fables. Of the many legends is an enigmatic figure known as the Sage of Six Paths. While few are left that know what happened in the final battle of the Fourth Great Shinobi War, rumors of this once-legendary figure have become common knowledge to all shinobi from Genin to Kage. Unfortunately, both ranks just as much about him. The original legend states that mankind lived without chakra and ninjutsu for thousands of years. The world broke into a savage war, but without great powers like that of shinobi, wars were long, drawn-out, lasting hundreds of years each, and involved terrible atrocities beyond what current shinobi consider.
In legend, the Sage of Six Paths did not begin as a Sage. The story goes that he and his brother were fallen nobility from a war-torn kingdom. They did not seek vengeance, for they knew the atrocities of their ancestors. They did not seek the power to reclaim their kingdom, for they did not wish to rule. The two sought out peace, and this led them across the world. They learned from many different peoples, became parts of many cultures and ultimately gained followers. What they found is that no land had peace; peace itself was a fleeting ideal of all man, at best. As the two ventured from country to country, always visiting in peace, they became very spiritually aware and understood the similarities in beliefs among all people. The legend says that the Sage first became a Sage by learning the ways of people from all walks of life, not through chakra or ninjutsu.
Decades later, the man was recognized as a wise and elderly Sage that led his nomadic people in peaceful journeys across the world. His people had become renown as healers and medicine men as well as spiritual advocates. Generals would come to these men to confess their sins, soldiers dared not harm them for they had saved many lives after the confrontations of war. These were the first steps of the Sage, but he went further. The Sage believed that he could end all war and unite people through the spirituality he had developed. Legends in all walks of life spoke of great, divine beasts that had holy powers. Powers beyond those of mere men. Different villages had stories and traditions about men and women who made the journey to these beasts and prayed to them. Some for life, some for youth, some for wealth, some for power. In some stories, quests were given before a beast would answer a prayer. In some, man had proved his worth in arduous trials. In some, man had failed and returned home empty-handed.
The most detailed and unique of these stories were of the Black Turtle of the North. It was said by many people in the frozen North that the Black Turtle was a great beast whose shell was a great glacier. The Beast held the glacier in place, keeping it from destroying the lands to its South. Before he grew too old to make the journey, the Sage traveled to the far North, beyond the charted ravines and tundra. There, in the freezing cold, he met the Black Turtle; a giant reptile pressed into a solid wall of ice. The Sage prayed there for the power to bring peace without war. To make all the people of the world understand each other. The Black Turtle told the Sage that while he and the other divine beasts had watched him and respected him, he would not alone give him the power to bring peace. Instead, the Black Turtle granted the Sage and his brother his blessing. The Blessing of the Black Turtle granted the Sage an incredibly strong body and will. He regained his youth, found new strength and found the freezing cold no longer bit his skin as it had before. The Black Turtle said to seek another beast, the White Tiger of the West. The Sage was told to give the White Tiger the same prayer, and show the White Tiger that he had the blessing of the turtle.
The Sage showed his gratitude to the Black Turtle before he returned South. However, he did not walk blindly. While he was told to journey West, he made sure to visit many people to learn any legends or myths of a white tiger. He trusted in his fellow man, and helped them as he traveled. In this time, some of his people grew weary. He gained followers, but many also questioned him. He did all he could for his people, but some lost their faith regardless. The Sage did not let this slow him, however. He learned that the White Tiger resided in the lush mountains beyond the deserts of the West. He, his brother and his people journeyed through the desert. He made a path that took him through villages he had met before. Villages that showed his people hospitality. In turn, many of his people left him on this journey through the desert. With memories of the long journey in the cold, some could not bare the same thought of the heat. Unlike the others, these people did not lose their faith in the Sage; they left him with well-wishes and hopeful for his return. Still, the Sage went on. He went into the mountains with far fewer of his people, and it took years to traverse them until they found the White Tiger.
The home of the White Tiger was a beautiful valley hidden within the mountains, yet not touching the sea. The valley was full of life. Fields of flowering plants gave bounds of color to the green sheet of grass that fed the elk, seeds for the birds and in the center was a pool of crystal water so clear that one could see the fish in its rocky bottom. The White Tiger snarled at the Sage and his men they first intruded on this land, but the Sage held his place. The White Tiger was the king of beasts and respected bravery, but would punish those too bold. The Sage told the White Tiger that he came in peace and for peace. The Tiger, true to the words of the Turtle, recognized the Sage and accepted him into the valley. The Tiger could feel the Blessing the Black Turtle gave him and he heard the prayer of the Sage, but again, the Tiger told the Sage that even he and the Black Turtle could not give the Sage the power to bring peace. Instead, the Tiger gave him his blessing. The Blessing of the White Tiger made the Sage stronger and faster. His eyesight improved tenfold, his hearing that of a bat, and even learned to commune with animals. The Tiger also gave the Sage another gift. He allowed the followers of the Sage to stay in his valley as long as they upheld an oath never to take the life of another, be him man or beast. The followers agreed, turning their nomadic lifestyle into one of farming inside the lush valley, and the Sage was sent on his way.
What comes after the White Tiger is for another time...
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Minato Sarutobi, the Daimy?
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Minato Sarutobi, more commonly referred to as the Daimy?, was once the ruler of the Shinobi World and was responsible for the near-extinction of Shinobi in general. Before he was the Daimy?, before he was ruler of the world, before he even had a name, this individual had a destiny. While the paperwork has been lost in time and the proof of it has been thoroughly destroyed, Minato Sarutobi once was merely labeled Subject C13. He was the 211th subject of Orochimaru and Kabuto in their attempts to create the perfect host body for Orochimaru and the blueprint for Kabuto when he became a genetic chimera. C13 was the greatest success and failure Orochimaru ever created. As a subject, he was a success in every way; every genetic alteration was perfect, he could manifest every ability from branch of his long-running genetic history. Unfortunately, his DNA was so warped from regular homo sapien that Orochimaru could not use the body as a host with his Living Corpse Reincarnation. The fate of C13 was permanent hibernation until Orochimaru saw a need for him.
The process for creating C13 started out gradually. As aforementioned, it took two hundred and eleven attempts before he was considered a success. The process was far from merely crossing genetic material and selective breeding; it involved DNA augmentation and the activation of dormant genes after the using the genes of shinobi without Kekkei Genkai as a catalyst. The process began with the DNA of four unique individuals: Kushina Uzumaki, Kisame Hoshigaki, Kimimaro and J?go. The base DNA for C13 was created by Kushina and Kisame, and for a very specific purpose. Kisame had an immense durability and chakra levels, so much that he was considered the Monster of the Hidden Mist and the 0-Tailed Beast. Kushina possessed the strong life force of the Uzumaki, and could even withstand the tailed-beast extraction. Their DNA created the perfect base for an individual that would go through the experiments ahead. In addition to that, the Kushina portion of his DNA was given the dormant genes of J?go while Kisame was given the dormant genes of Kimimaro. Each experiment not only had to successfully come together as a viable offspring of the two, but they had to withstand their dormant genes being activated. This process took eighty-three subjects before it succeeded with any failed experiments being terminated.
The real challenge came after came after the activation of Kimimaro's and J?go's genes. Because Kimimaro had a unique body structure and J?go's Clan Kekkei Genkai altered body structures, it took several attempts to perfect the subject body. Kimimaro had the greatest genetic potential of any from the Kaguya Clan; not only that, the clan itself had been wiped out. His terminal illness repeatedly surfaced in the subjects and because it was impossible to research the body structure of the subjects before activating the dormant genes, there was limited time to understand how the illness spread. Ultimately, the solution was found in J?go's Clan. Orochimaru created a seal specifically designed to prevent the oncoming of the illness when it was awakened to its second form. Thus, all a subject had to so was have the seal applied, be given a Mind Awakening Pill and survive an altered version of the Four Black Fogs Formation technique. This particular process involved a lot of fine tuning as well as having a subject strong enough to withstand the Cursed Seal while their dormant genes were being awakened. The ultimate creation was not far off from what Kabuto made himself into: a chimera of Shinobi genes. This subject could use the Sage Transformation of J?go's Clan, the Shikotsumyaku of the Kaguya Clan, had the life force of the Uzumaki Clan and the immense chakra of Kisami Hoshigaki.
This was still not the end for C13. While the subjects before him did in fact reach this point, many of them rejected the alterations coming to their body. These new alterations involved Hiden and Kinjutsu to allow C13 to possess even more traits. The first that was woven into the subjects was the most integral: Earth Grudge Fear. While the technique was required to be taught to the subjects, a complex series of body stimulation and genjutsu did such without ever awaking the subjects. This process took several attempts as often the mind and body were not in sync or a body would reject using techniques its mind was not consciously using. After several attempts and more fine-tuning of the process, Earth Grudge Fear allowed the subject to absorb four hearts and use the DNA of those hearts to use four more Kekkei Genkai. The most obvious candidates were the Uchiha and Senju, but there were two more candidates used to bring the body to what was considered theoretical perfect: Suigetsu H?zuki and M?. Ultimately, C13 was awoken capable of using Wood Release, Dust Release, the Hydrification Technique, Sage Transformation, Shikotsumyaku, the entirety of M?'s techniques, possessed the life force of the Uzumaki, the capabilities of the Senju, the combat prowess of the Uchiha and the chakra reserves of Kisame Hoshigaki. There was no doubt he was the most powerful being alive, but with so many changes to human DNA, he literally was so far from human that his body was not compatible with other humans and he was sterile. Kabuto considered this the next step in shinobi evolution. Orochimaru realized just how much of a failure he was.
Near the end of the Fourth Great Shinobi War, when Naruto, Sasuke and the resurrected Kage proved no match for the newly-empowered Madara Uchiha, Orochimaru gambled on his Subject C13. He wasn't sure if it could defeat Madara. He hoped, if anything, it would buy them time. He awoke C13 with a genjutsu, giving it instructions to kill Madara Uchiha as its prime directive. C13 approached the battlefield with Naruto and Sasuke on the ropes. It assessed the situation, then used the Fission technique to create a clone of itself to fight Madara. Even at fifty-percent of his strength and completely untrained, C13 was capable of dueling Madara head-on. While he was far from winning, he deduced a plan. Using a combination of Earth Grudge Fear and Cellular Renegeration Absorbtion, C13 absorbed the bodies and minds of Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha. He gained the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan and became the new Jinchuuriki for Kurama all in a single feat. He jumped into the battle once more and fused with his other half. This was the final confrontation. The perfect being versus the strongest shinobi.
In the end, Madara proved no match. While C13 was outpowered at first, all it took was a firm understanding of his abilities to best Madara. C13 did not necessarily kill Madara, however. Instead, C13 absorbed Madara the same way he did Naruto and Sasuke. C13 was undeniably the strongest individual alive, but he now had to battle with Naruto, Sasuke and Madara in his mind. The outcome was uncertain, but C13 ultimately became a ruthless dictator that believed a world without shinobi was the way for peace. C13 eliminated all those around him and even took the the Eight-Tails from Killer B. Very few on the battlefield that day survived, with those that did being noted as those that were close to Naruto, such as Shikamaru Nara and Hinata Hy?ga.
C13 was not a complete tyrant. He held council with those that were council to the former Kage. He learned about the world around him. He took the name Minato Sarutobi after some of the most respected Shinobi alive. In less than ten years, C13 took over the world and became a new person: Minato Sarutobi, the Daimy?. A man created without a purpose. A being created for power and power alone whose prime directive was to kill a man he ultimately absorbed into himself. The last bastion was the Bloody Wall of Sunagakure, but it ultimately fell with a Bijuu Blast from the Ten-Tails. After that, the world was essentially his. Those that resisted were often simply eradicated. What was left in the world were those that bowed down to the Daimy?. Or, so it was thought.
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The Fourth & Fifth Great Shinobi Wars
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The Fourth Great Shinobi War was fought between the Allied Shinobi Forces and the Akatsuki. This war played out essentially exactly as it did in Shipp?den up until the end of the fight. As Kaguya ?tsutsuki is a fundamentally different character in Seiry?den, she never took over Madara Uchiha once he became the Jinchuuriki of the Ten-Tails. Instead, Orochimaru awakened his most powerful experiment, dubbed C13, into the world in hopes of slowing down and stopping Madara. C13 absorbed Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha and even Madara Uchiha in this conflict, resulting in the end of the war. As of the end of the Fourth Great Shinobi War, C13 became Minato Sarutobi and created a council of former advisers to the Kage to help him guide the world as he took control over it. This period of time became known as the Era of The Daimy?, and lasted a little over a century.
The Fifth Great Shinobi War was fought between the Allied Shinobi Rebellion and Daimy? Empire. After over a century under the reign of the Daimy?, his forces had finally grown weak enough to overthrow. The advisers of the Daimy? and subsequent leaders left in Lands across the Shinobi world worked together for decades to hide a resistance against the Daimy? Empire. Most of the network in the Allied Shinobi Rebellion were remnants and descendants of the Allied Shinobi Forces that only grew in numbers and power since the Fourth Great Shinobi War. The result of this conflict was the victory of the Allied Shinobi Rebellion and the death of Minato Sarutobi.
Over the century, Minato Sarutobi had insisted that shinobi were the cause of war. Despite the advise of his council, he began to dilute cultures across the world that were centered around shinobi. While some entire clans refused this, and were subsequently wiped out, others, like the Hy?ga Clan, came to a compromise with the Daimy? in regards to their clan practices. Regardless, the 'Shinobi Way' was slowly being wiped out of existence. Few exceptions existed, but there were some completely left untouched by Minato. For example, the Samurai in the Land of Iron were left to practice their ways. The Samurai had refused to involve themselves in any of the first three Great Shinobi Wars, and that practice of self-control earned them respect. In return, the Land of Iron was essentially left alone. On the other hand, the entire Land of Sound and Amegakure was wiped off the face of the map. While Minato never found Orochimaru or confronted him, he intended on destroying everything even remotely connected to him. He killed his subordinates, including J?go, Karin and Suigetsu, and destroyed every hidden laboratory he could find. In addition to that, he felt the same disdain for the Akatsuki, and destroyed all of Amegakure where they hailed from.
This, however, presented a problem. Minato realized that he could not govern a land without enforcers, and by eliminating all shinobi, he eliminated the best enforcers he could, especially considering some shinobi still existed. This resulted in Minato creating legions of individuals with Cursed Seals created specifically by him that were equally as powerful as those on the Sound Four and allowed far greater control over anyone given them. These Cursed Seals were known as the Seal of the Daimy?, and those that held a disdain for them often called them the Dogs of the Daimy?. Regardless, the power they bestowed could make an untrained martial artist into a Jounin overnight, and Minato managed to streamline the system created by Orochimaru to increase the chances from one-in-ten to four-of-five. He even allowed those that joined the police force he created the option of having a Cursed Seal or not, so never did he force these seals onto others.
While Minato was trying to rid the world of Shinobi and creating the Seal of the Daimy?, an entire underground rebellion was being created. It was with the double-agents inside of the council the Daimy? had and the leaders of lands that even through the generations never forgave Minato for usurping their positions that created the opportunity for the alliance to even happen. Founded from Shinobi from all walks of live, the rebellion can be traced back as far as the first few years Minato ruled over most of the lands, before even the fall of Sunagakure. The long-running rebellion often quelled other rebels and resistancies, given Minato the illusion that the world had fell into his control.
One-hundred years later and it was believed that all but a few shinobi were gone and the entire shinobi way had been eradicated. Minato had used the Fission technique to more effectively rule the five greatest Lands of the world and used his police force bearing Cursed Seals to enforce his will. He had even dissolved the Ten-Tails back into its former portions to control it easier and to split them among the Lands. However, splitting his power and weakening his forces was ultimately his downfall. On October 8th, the date of the Fourth Great Shinobi War, the Allied Shinobi Alliance sprung from the shadows after a century of hiding. They overthrew the police force, killing hundreds of Jounin-level individuals with Cursed Seals and eventually targeting the Fission clones of Minato in each major village. While only one Land successfully killed a Fission Clone of Minato, the purpose of their trap succeeded. Four of the Five Minato Fissions raced towards each other, towards a safety created for just this contingency.
On October 10th, when the Minato Fissions grouped together in Amegakure and reformed, the final trap was placed. Using Time-Space Jutsu to summon pillars that suppressed natural chakra, the legendary Bringer-of-Darkness Technique of the Second Hokage, Adamantine Sealing Chains of the Uzumaki, Wood Release Techniques to imprison the tailed beasts and several other techniques all for the sole purpose of suppressing Minato for a single instant, pinning down the beasts, preventing him from using his Sage Transformation, preventing him from escaping with any technique ranging from Hydrification to Bone Manipulation and keeping him in a single spot for the duration of a single jutsu. This trap was designed to the specifications set forth by the most trusted confidants of the Daimy? and had a contingency for every single ability he possessed; the techniques involved in the trap alone required thirty-two people to perform.
Lastly, Hosuka Uzumaki, a master of fuinjutsu, performed another technique from legend. The only one believed to be capable of killing Minato. At the cost of his life, Hosuka, the de facto leader of the Allied Shinobi Rebellion, used the Dead Demon Consuming Seal to completely seal the soul of Minato. All that was left was a husk of a body, but even that was utterly destroyed using Dust Release. All that remained of Minato were those that used the Cursed Seal, and immediately after Minato was killed, the Allied Shinobi Rebellion agreed to take part in the Purge, which was a systematic slaughter of all those that used the Cursed Seal. The Purge lasted nearly a decade, and during that time, each land resumed having its own Daimy? and the Hidden Villages were restored. New Kages were elected. New councils were formed. With the Purge was mostly complete, it marked the true end of the Fifth Great Shinobi War.
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The Purge & Cursed Children
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The immediate death of Minato Sarutobi was not necessarily his end. His Cursed Seals were a derivative of Orochimaru's Juinjutsu and it was believed possible to resurrect him through any recipient of the Cursed Seal of the Daimy?. The same was done for Orochimaru a century before and even if The Daimy? would be resurrected without his awesome body, his return was to be avoided at all costs. It appeared that the Dead Demon Consuming Seal failed to completely wipe away its target from the Earth just as it did in every other use of it. While Minato Sarutobi was dead, thousands of fragments of his soul remained.
The Purge, aslo known as The Great Purge, was considered the 'second half' of the Fifth Great Shinobi War. The Allied Shinobi Rebellion quickly created a treatise that acted as an impromptu peace declaration while the users of the Cursed Seal were still alive. This event existed out of both necessity and for political persuasion, as the peace during this time helped each village and Land re-establish itself in the aftermath of the usurpation of the Daimy?. The Purge brought together more shinobi than the actual rebellion. During the rebellion, only a handful of shinobi from each Land got together for conventions and planning and each village was overthrown generally by the local shinobi that banded together and lived in the shadows. But, during the Purge, shinobi from all villages and cultures were grouped in temporary squads to hunt down Cursed Seal holders under the provisions of the peacetime treatise.
The same treatise that granted peace to the Lands also came with some conventions. All information found during restoration missions was to be shared openly, even if a Land and its shinobi were not involved. All technology, advancements, so on and so forth were intended to be shared. This ultimately led to a headcount on how many Cursed Seal users there were, and the realization that killing so many without a solid count on them became a problem. Originally, there were only thirty-five thousand Cursed Seal users across the world, roughly six thousand in each land and smaller groups of them sent to each smaller land to keep peace. During the uprising, anywhere between fifteen and twenty-five thousand of them were killed, leading the search for the remaining ones. While the original Cursed Seal users were all on file and documented, which ones were left alive and how many were even killed was an unknown number.
Because the Cursed Seal users were often outstanding members of their communities as police officers, the treatise also called for the execution of all those with a Cursed Seal using extreme prejudice. Shinobi were meant to be soldiers, lending no sympathy, gratitude or mercy to those with the Cursed Seal regardless of whom they were. To show any favor to a Cursed Seal user whom might have even been part of your own clan over a shinobi from a different village entirely was considered an absolute taboo, and thus ultimately led to propaganda and slander against the Cursed Seal users. It became common knowledge that they were prone to fits of destructive rage and their mental heath slowly deteriorated even though none of it was true. The reality was, it helped the world cope with the fact it was systematically slaughtering thousands of people because they took a seal designed to give power to those that wished to help the people solely because it had the potential to bring back the one man that united the world under him and of course against him.
Approximately seventeen thousand Cursed Seal users were hunted down and killed during the Purge. Some escaped, but were later tracked down within individual villages using groups such as the ANBU. Many powerful and ruthless shinobi became known as Seal Hunters, legendary veterans of the Fifth Great Shinobi War. Of the veterans, the only ones that were more revered were the thirty-two that individually hunted down and killed Minato Sarutobi, and of those thirty-two, only thirty-one walked away alive. The Purge was considered over despite the impromptu shinobi alliance knowing a handful of Cursed Seal users still existed and were to be hunted down. More than a handful, really, but the political pressure that once helped forge the treatise between Lands dissolved and the lands, now stable, sought to be independent of the strings that attached them. The Purge was over and the Fifth Great Shinobi War was as well.
Cursed Children are an entirely different topic, although they do still face prejudice. Cursed Children are the direct descendants of those that held the Cursed Seal of the Daimy?. Their existence has been noted since the later years of the Era of the Daimy? through records created by Minato Sarutobi himself. While not dubbed Cursed Children then, they were still considered an anomoly. Minato examined them thoroughly as they exhibited signs similar to the users of Curse Seal. His conclusions were generally the same as advanced medical-nin and fuinjutsu practitioners of the current-day, leading the information he left documented to be considered true. Cursed Children were simply the offspring of officers in the Era of the Daimy?, but the disdain of them now can be compared to that of a Jinch?riki in prior to the Fourth Great Shinobi War.
The documents left behind by Minato Sarutobi claim that children of those that bore his Cursed Seal could potentially have genetic alterations due to it. A varying percent of their bodily cells would be empowered by dormant changes in their DNA surfacing, causing their natural capabilities to be augmented in a similar fashion as a Curse Seal. These alterations, however, were inconsistent. He found that shinobi from Clans often had alterations that were affected by unique traits of the Clan, their Kekkei Genkai or even Hiden. Shinobi without clans, even, often showed traits of their parents that were greatly enhanced, and generally done so using the same traits given by a Curse Seal. This includes enhanced physical features, although no true Sage Transformation, and chakra that was generated from within the empowered cells of the user, making it their own yet different from their regular chakra. Some manifestations of Cursed Children were passive while others affected the chakra network. It was theorized that specific jutsu or branches of jutsu or even elemental releases could be altered, but Minato had discontinued the education of shinobi, thus this was never tested.
What was tested, however, were the precise limits of the Cursed Children. The first batch of Cursed Children from the Era of the Daimy? were trained in chakra control and martial arts that assisted with chakra flow. These children eventually grew up to 'master' their genetic alterations and active their augmented cells, forcing them to work at their maximum. The form created by this activation was very similar to the Stage One of Orochimaru's Juinjutsu; it even left black marks in various patterns across the users skin that generally correlated with the empowered cells that were woven into their body. In this form, their alterations were pushed to their maximum and their bodies took a significant toll due to it. Documentation states two subjects died die to prolonged activation of the form, resulting in their body refusing to return to normal and ultimately fatal chakra exhaustion. While this form multiplies the overall chakra of the user, it also actively consumes chakra, making the potential burst from this technique a double-edged sword.
Notably, no Cursed Child outside of documentation has shown the ability to use this form. However, Cursed Children now seem to show alterations that are highly dependent on their emotional upbringing. This trend seems to correlate with the relative trauma of being a Cursed Child in the current era. Cursed Children are looked down on and often considered vermin, most especially by shinobi. While they are not slaughtered as they have no potential to revive the Daimy?, they face daily adversity and the fates of the most unfortunate are abysmal as they often have dormant abilities inside of them that are sensitive to their emotional status. Some go on to become shinobi, which is allowed, while some grow up and hope to find a remote village to forget their past. Cursed Children are an unconsidered remnant of the Era of the Daimy? that are neither welcome or rejected from the new world, and have extreme difficulty finding their place in it.
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