Ninja Gaiden: Echoes of Nothing

Echoes of Nothing is a community event that can involve every fanon canon and every character. It is a metaplot involving the concepts of diverging timelines, alternate dimensions, and metaphysical concepts such as the soul.

Simple put, a dimensions-spanning village by the name of Tokigakure is recruiting ninja to assist it in combating the destructive influence of UNITY. UNITY is an organization that was founded to bring about the merging of all branching timelines- of all realities. Tokigakure, the last ninja village, sends agents into errant timelines to fix the distortions or damages that UNITY has caused, or to combat UNITY members directly.

The specifics of the history and nature of the ninja multiverse will be described more fully below.

EON: Origins
Kaguya's race was nearing its end. Their world was literally falling apart, decaying into lifelessness. Beings that had existed outside of the wheel of creation since before memory, these Yokai had long before invented an alternative form of rebirth.

One by one, these Yokai perished, and the essence of their spirit, their nature, was placed within a vessel. A small seed was formed from their latent memories and desires. Within it was locked the potential of their race; supernatural power and knowledge beyond the ken of man. This seed was given to the last survivor of their race... one whose importance and responsibility exceeded that of all others.

Kaguya was selected for this all-important task. Although the seed itself was small, a mere inch across, the weight of her responsibility was all too real. She steeled her resolve for the impossible task before her; to travel from dimension to dimension to find a world capable of sustaining the life of this tiny seed.

Alone, she ventured forth into the great unknown. She traveled from world to world. Most places she visited contained no life; they were barren expanses or inhospitable extremes. Of the few that did contain life, it was meager; tiny pools of bacterial ooze. The tree that would be born of the seed required vast resources to fully develop; this primordial soup was entirely insufficient for its needs.

Finally, she discovered a world that might- just might- be capable of supporting the god-tree. It was filled with an ignorant and war-like race. Although the dominant species of its world, it did nothing more than battle with itself for generations. The world was soaked in the blood of its inhabitants... and as short-lived as the humans are, she expected that they would inevitably end themselves with the weapons of mass destruction they seemed so fond of.

She planted the seed, and it grew explosively. For a thousand years it feasted upon the blood-enriched soils, until it covered the earth. Eventually the humans combined their forces to fight the encroaching threat of the god-tree. Their mightiest warrior was a man known only to history as "the woodcutter". The woodcutter cut the tree down every day, but it would regrow every succeeding morning. The futility of his struggle was unequal to the strength of his resolve. His vision for a unified human world, a world of peace and harmony, guided him.

Kaguya watched in fascination as he repeatedly tried and failed to defeat the god-tree. The millenia of solitude had taken its toll on her; unwillingly, feelings of affection and respect began to grow for the mortal man. In time, she even came to love him. Unaware of her relationship to humanity's impending destruction, he too began to nurture feelings of trust and love in the alien being.

Birth of the Ninja World
Eventually the two ill-fated lovers consummated their feelings... on the final day of the ascendance of the god-tree. As the last of humanity succumbed to the endless dream, Kaguya made a choice that violated every law of her people. She chose to betray them in order to see the woodcutter's dream fulfilled; a peaceful world. She consumed the fruit of the tree, and rather than giving birth to her own kind, the seed within her womb quickened, and Hagoromo and Hamura were conceived.

Kaguya used the power of the fruit- the power of creation- and reforged the world. She buried the war machines and advanced cities of humanity beneath the earth. The record and history of humanity from before the emergence of the god tree was forgotten, and Kaguya was upheld as a savior of humanity; the goddess of the moon, whom had saved humanity from the god-tree.

The ninja world itself existed in defiance of both the laws of Kaguya's race and in defiance of humanity's destiny. Needless to say, this unfortunate world was itself doomed from the outset of its beginnings. Before long, Hagoromo's followers began resurrecting the old ways of humanity; war flared up anew, more terrible and destructive than ever before thanks to the existence of chakra. Humanity began to fear and hate Kaguya's interference as she sought to forcefully maintain the peace of her lover's dream... but she too began to question her salvation of humanity. Its vulgarity, its conceitedness, its ignorance and hatred. When a member of the human race killed her lover, the woodcutter, whatever reservations or illusions she had about them were lost. She came to see the futility of her late-lover's toils for what they were; a false dream.

Resolving to correct her mistake, Kaguya could see no other solution but to bring about the rebirth of the God-tree. Kaguya coveted the power of her two sons and the chakra of the world. Unfortunately for her, her hybrid offspring were able to defeat her and bind up her own power, along with that of the god-tree. In spite of her desire for atonement, she was betrayed and sealed away. Her tragic end was not the end of humanity's struggles, however. With the power of chakra spread among the human race, each new ninja became able to shape the reality of the world, its destiny. An era of endless battles waged for countless generations after.