Shinobu Family/Past



The Past of the Shinobu Family is long, and detailed. It is told from the point of view of the one it has most to do with.

Childhood, as told by Sivart
Childhood was... interesting, to say the least. We often moved, not being safe at any one spot for very long. We lived in all sorts of places, caves, forests, even inside a glacier once. My favorite spot had been a small valley, with a stream flowing though the center. We built a small house on the edge of the stream, and even farmed for a little there. That valley is where Akemi and Yuuta were born, and were I learned jutsu. Father was a nice person, and so was mother, but they both wanted revenge for what their parents had lost, for what they had lost. Father was a hard task manager, he always had me busy training, how to hunt, how to kill, how to fight. All this would become necessary, in the future, but at the time I though it was a big waste of my valuable, 3 to 7 year old time as a kid. Father and Mother were just as strict with Akemi and Yuuta, but they put most of their hopes in me. Unfortunately for them, I didn't really want to destroy all opponents I came across, I was always to nice to do that.

We stayed in that little valley for 4 years time, but then we had to move out because a hunting group entered the valley and saw us. Mother and Father were forced to kill the entire party so that they wouldn't kill us, the kids. But now we had to flee again. I was now years old, with Akemi being 3 and Yuuta being 1. We fled to a large city, where we could just blend into the background of other homeless people. It was there that Iyyena was to be born, and there that Mother and Father were killed.

In that city we did well. I learned to steal and beg for food and money, while my parents used the jutsu to do the same. We lived in a small hut- more of a shanty. It was 2 roomed, but only because a sheet divided it as such. Yuuta, Akemi and I slept together in one room, Mother and Father in the other. It was in that little shanty that Shizuka was conceived, and eventually born. We stayed there until we were found out, about the same time that Shizuka was being born. She was born the day before Mother and Father died, and I was forced to take my siblings and flee. At the time I was 9 years old, we had been in the city for 2 years.

When the strange ninja attacked my family, they targeted my parents. That was what allowed me to escape with Akemi, Yuuta, and Shizuka. We fled into the city, and then out into the winter wilderness. I can only assume the ninja of that city thought we had died there, or that they themselves died trying to follow us.

Caring for Kids, as told by Sivart
Now that I was both the oldest living member of my family, and the only one who knew anything about fleeing an unknown enemy, I was left in the position of caring for my younger siblings. I wanted to give them a childhood that was fun, not sad. I failed in that task, but not as badly as I had feared. They had to learn how to survive, how to hunt and use their special talents to the best they could, and they did. They also learned to kill, far to soon for my liking, but my opinions don't matter to others.

Because of the winter temperatures, we had to find some form of shelter very quickly. I took them with me and as we fled I remembered that little valley, and knew that the hut would still be there. So thats where we headed, just until I could get a better plan. We arrived there to find the hut already occupied, by some nice old couple who wanted to live alone for the rest of their lives. I asked them for help, and they gave it. Those two were such nice people, but I cannot remember their names anymore... We stayed with them for 3 months, until winter ended, then we left, thanking them for their help, and moved on to the next place, a different city. I was now 10 years old, and when we arrived at the city I went looking for a job, right after finding a hiding place for my siblings. I found a job, but not what I had expected. I became a thief, using my ears to my advantage in that I could run full speed in the dark when others couldn't.

As a thief, I spent much of my time stealing food and supplies, but I was never caught. I found my siblings a nice little home in between two large, semi-colapsed houses, in a small crack. It wasn't pleasant at first, but I stole blankets and other things to make it better for Akemi and Yuuta and Shizuka. It was there that I raised them, teaching them how to steal and hide and beg and do all the things orphans without a real home have to do to survive. We found Iro and Yon there, and they stuck with us because we could give them shelter from rain and cold, and we kept them because they offered friendship and a free-mouse/rat removal service. They still do, come to think of it. It was in the city that I perfected my hunting skills, because I had to hunt the cleverest and hardest animals in all the world to hunt: Humans.

It's not what you think. We didn't eat them, but it is easier to steal from an individual then a store or house or shop. So thats what I did, I would sneak up behind them and knock them out and steal everything of value, and even their cloths sometimes. It was not honorable, but honor is for those who can afford it, and I couldn't. -sigh- We lived in that city for another year or so. I was 11 years old when we left that place, and I had the intent to find my own peaceful little valley far away from others, where I could raise my siblings in peace.

When we left, Iro and Yon followed us, which surprised me. They are so loyal to us, I almost think they have the spirits of my Mother and Father in them, or maybe of our Grandparents. But thats just me. We left the city in the dead of night, midsummer, after the thaw. It was about 45 degrees outside, which was warm for the Highlands, so we didn't need to wear all our winter gear. We did bring it along with us though, so that we would have it when we left. Iyyena had only recently learned to walk, so I often carried her when she got tired. She was frighteningly easy to carry, a sign of how bad things were back then. I remember one time, we were walking down to road, and then Akemi just passed out from exhaustion right in front of me. Suffice to say, we didn't go anywhere for a couple of days after that.

So, after Akemi recovered, we traveled a little farther and came across a small, steep sided valley, hidden away from the world by a thick forest that no one bothered to enter. Some even said it was haunted by those who had tried to get though it, but I didn't beleive them. Ha, little did I know it was true, there was a person living in there that created all sorts of genjutsu and ninjutsu to keep people out. He called himself "Oron" and was a skilled blacksmith. It was from him that Jonathan learned his smithy skills. Mind you, at this time I was 13 years old, and we had been traveling for 2 years.

Smithy Skills, as told by Yuuta Palmer
So, Siv led us into this dark forest with big, creepy trees and tons of scary looking shadows and whatnot. I was only 6 years old when we entered the forest, and I wasn't a cripple yet, I walked there. So, we walked into this creepy forest, and I see that Siv looks as though he's finally found a safe place, though at the time I couldn't understand how he could think that of such a scary location. He told Akemi to watch me and Shizuka, while he himself looked for places to walk that were safest. We continued like that for... oh, I don't know, maybe a few hours or so. It was about sunset when Siv said it was time to stop. He picked out a nice looking tree, with a decent number of flatter branches for us to sleep on, and we went up there and set up our little tent.

It was later that night that the ghosts started to come out. We were in our little tent, and then out of no where a mysterious figure showed up. This figure was a warrior, but he was missing an arm and half his head. Now, as you can guess, that scared the crap out of us, but it didn't faze Siv. He just looked at it, and said "Now, what have we done to harm you? I am merely seeking shelter for my siblings." and then, to my utter surprise, the figure nodded and disappeared! But that was just the first of many, each night a new one would show up, as we moved farther and farther in toward the center of the forest. And each time Siv would give his reason and the ghosts would disappear, just like the first one.

We finally reached the center, and found nothing of interest there, and continued. Later that day, we saw smoke in the distance, rising above the forest canopy. We headed toward it, and then we met Oron. He turned out to be a pleasant guy, but the first impression wasn't so nice. "Who the hell are you?" were the first words outta his mouth after he saw us coming in through the small clearing that he lived in. "We are just some travelers, in search of a safe place to live for a while." Siv responded. That perplexed the man, he had seemed to think we would be asking for something from him. "What are your names, then?" He asked, probably stalling for time. "Mine's Sivart, this is Akemi, Yuuta, and Shizuka. We are from the Palmer family." "Palmers eh? Well, I have no quarrel with your family, its never done me any harm." Oron took us into his large house, which was made of solid granite that he had 'Drawn' from the mountain. Once inside, he asked us a little about ourselves, and Siv told him a little about us. He then told us his story.

Oron's story was a sad one. He had been in the wars, and had found his power in earthstyle and firestyle to be very useful against enemies, but had turned from that path in order to follow the one he loved. He never did tell us her name, but he most certainty loved her. He would have followed her off a cliff if he had to. Anyway, after leaving his army to follow his love, Oron became a blacksmith, learning from a great master, Perio, who used his chakra to make his weapons stronger. Oron became a blacksmith so he could make an offer to his love's father that wouldn't look like a joke. Unfortunately, by the time he made the offer, his love had already married. He was now a master smith, and then went back to his army to see if he couldn't get a job there as a weapons maker. He got the job, and made many powerful weapons, becoming renowned throughout the Highlands for his skill at metallurgy and forgery. After the war ended, so did the army's need of him, and he went back to his home, only to find that his love had died in one of the many battles, killed by a weapon of his own making. He was distraught, and vowed to never again forge another weapon for use in battle. When war broke out again, he fled to his current location, and had been hiding there ever since, forging many things for fun, and so he wouldn't lose his skills, but never using the weapons. He set up the genjutsu ghosts around his home to scare people away, and it had worked until we showed up.

After telling his story, Oron noted that I seemed to have great might in my arms, and asked if I wanted to become a smith like himself. He claimed he was lonely after being there for so many years (between 10 and 15) and that he wanted to be sure that his knowledge wouldn't die with him. I accepted, and Siv told him that he had to take all of us if he wanted one of us. He agreed, and we moved in. Oron made an addition to his already large house, a set of 4 bedrooms for us, as well as another forge for me to use without risk to his main one. It looked like we would fit right in!

The next day, Oron decided to test me and see what my chakra type was. He used this "paper test" with well, a piece of paper. He told me to send my chakra into the paper, then showed me how to actually do that, as I had never used my chakra before. Oron showed me how to use my chakra, and, after a few weeks learning basic use, I took the test. Turned out my chakra was Firenature, which Oron said was awesome, because I could create fires far hotter then anything he could produce with his earthstyle. It was then he really started to focus on me, pouring everything he knew into me. He once said to me "I'm forging you. First I must melt you, then I must shape you, then I must cool you off and polish you." By that he meant that first he had to teach me power and fluidity, then he had to teach me control and restraint, and finally, he had to teach me subtleties like how to weave my chakra into a weapon to give it great power or durability. It took us 1 year just to get past the first part, the part about power and fluidity. 1 year to learn how to create the hottest fires, as well as how to strengthen my own chakra so that I could properly use it to shape the fire around the metal.

That took me 1 years time, and I remember it well. Like the day that he first showed me how to create a fire and feed it using only my chakra. Ha, I nearly killed both of us. I had no idea what I was doing, I set off quite the explosion, managed to burn off both my eyebrows AND Oron's eyebrows... ah, those are some good memories. We had plenty of fun, and no one was left completely out. Siv taught Shizuka and Akema how to use various weapons, mainly kunai, as well as how to use some basic jutsu, like clones and paper bombs. Meanwhile, I spent the next 2 years mastering the actual shaping and forging and smithing of weapons. I learned to make the fire dance to my will, to feed it my chakra so that it could grow to higher temps then anything that Oron had ever produced on his own. Finally, I had to learn how to imbue my chakra into a weapon, to give it firestyle powers that would not fade with time. To give it an edge that does not grow brittle or cold, to give it durability beyond what normal weaponry could do. That took another year or so of constant training.

After the 4 years it took to learn all this, Siv was again getting twitchy about staying in the same place. Turns out, his instincts were right, as usual. 5 days after we celebrated Iyyena's 11th birthday our little house with Oron was attacked by a large group of shinobi, who wanted Oron to work for them and create more weapons. When they saw us, they knew us as the last of the Palmers, and attacked with a fury. To everyone's surprise, Oron leaped in the way, deflected the attack, and said "If you lay one finger on these children, I will personally rip you apart." Well, the enemy shinobi didn't really like that, and they outnumbered us 12 to 5. They attacked, thinking that we would be easy prey. They would have been right, only Siv had a weapon with him, the rest of us were weaponless. But then, to everyone's surprise again, Oron went though with his promise. He literally ripped the head ninja apart when he tried to attack me. It was horrifying. "Flee! Run! Get the hell outta here! Move, I will hold them off!" Oron yelled, before turning back and facing the enemy shinobi. Siv gathered up Akemi and Iyyena, and then Akemi pulled me up onto her shoulder, not letting me go. Siv had been prepared, because he was just that paranoid, and all we had to do was run in the house and grab a large number of bags that Siv had lined up on the wall. We could hear the sounds of battle outside, then Oron's memorable victory screech "HEAAAAAAAAAAAA!" as he caved someone's chest in. By this point Siv had us running out the door again, pulling me along because I didn't want to leave Oron, ever. "Good, now go!" Oron yelled at us as we fled. He followed after us, having killed all but one of the enemy shinobi. That one had escaped into the forest, and would come to haunt us later. Oron came with us as we fled, saying "I've come to like you guys, I'm sticking with you. Besides, I haven't shown Yuuta my secret jutsu yet."

We were crossing a large pass on a b-line for a territory outside the Everwinter Highlands when that one escaped shinobi came back, but this time with far more shinobi then before. This time, he had brought a small army, 36 shinobi came at us from behind. They must have really wanted Oron dead or alive, to send that many. They attacked us right as we were nearing the top of the pass. Oron again told us to run, saying "This is my chance to redeem myself before I die. This way, I will be able to rest knowing I did some good in the world before the end came." Siv respected his final wish, but I thought at the time it was selfish. Now though, I think it was the only choice he could have ever made. He stayed behind there, and battled 36 shinobi on his own. I do not know the results of this battle, but I do know that no one ever followed us, so either he killed them all, then died, or he died and they decided we weren't worth it. Either way, Oron gave his life to save us, and I will never forget that. Never. We continued away from the pass, and were almost 300 miles away before Siv let us rest. It was then I remembered that he had never told me his secret jutsu. I broke down into tears, feeling as though all the grief of what had happened was just now hitting me. Akemi asked me what was wrong, and I told them. To my surprise, Siv grinned broadly.

"Oron knew they would be following us, as did I. So he gave me a scroll with his secret jutsu on it, to give to you when we next got a chance." "He what?! You mean he didn't just leave me? He left me his jutsu!?" "Yep." "W-wow." Even in the end he was looking out for me. Siv gave me the scroll, and then after I had finished reading it, he had us up and move again, to another place, many miles away from the Everwinter Highlands, a place called the Land of Forests, as he said it was named. He told us we had a great distance to go, thousands of miles at the least. It was time to move, again, after having been in one place for 4 years.

Journey to the Land of Forests
With Oron dead and our home destroyed, we had to flee again. We were already 300 miles outside of the Everwinter Highlands, but I didn't want to stay there. I decided to head to a place I had seen on a map once, called "The Land of Forests". It was time to travel once more, and I was once again in charge. But this time, I was not the only one who could help us survive. Akemi had proven to be a strong hunter, and Yuuta had proven to be an excellent smith. This time, we would not need to steal in order to survive. With both myself and Akemi hunting, and Yuuta bringing in some money with his smithy skills, we would be able to buy a wagon, and 2 horses as well. We were even able to buy a decent amount of supplies. This journey would still be hard, mostly because of the sheer distance we had to cover.

We had been traveling for several days when we encountered another traveler, a tall and ominous figure wearing a black cloak with red clouds on it. This figure didn't talk to us, we didn't talk to it, but man oh man, it gave me the creeps. It turned off the road after traveling alongside of for another few hours. I didn't breath easy for days after that, but the figure never returned. We continued traveling, and didn't meet anyone for several days after that figure.

After about a week of traveling alone, except for the strange figure in the weird outfit, we came across a cross-roads, where 3 larger roads met up. At this cross roads was a small village, called Kyou. This little village seemed to have no real law in it, at least, none we could see. We weren't attacked, but I could see people sizing us up, so I made a show of our skills, or more specifically, of my skills. I allowed a thief to try and steal something, and then I used a Clone jutsu to surround him, and then had him give back the stuff he stole, and left him with a warning. He thought I was a "shinobi", and I didn't correct him. After that, no one else made an attempt to harm us, and we were able to leave that town behind without incident.

After that, I made sure to teach my siblings how to use basic ninjutsu, knowing that they would need to defend themselves from anyone who may think that we were easy pickings. As I taught them, I noticed they were each better at certain jutsu, so I taught them more along those lines. I also taught them how to cook and patch up cloths. As we traveled, the weather got warmer, and we eventually didn't even need our winter cloaks anymore. We left them on the wagon from then on. We also managed to pick up another cat, and our two normal ravens, Faile and Parth. How we managed to do that, I will never know, but the Ravens just seemed to like us, and followed us around until they finally made a nest up in the corner of our wagon. Almost like they had been raised by humans, or we protective spirits trying to help us out. The third cat, Skip, was older then the other two, and preferred to sleep and rest on anothers lap instead of chasing mice. Our family was at its current size, as we already had the two horses pulling our wagon.

In any case, we were still traveling when we encountered Akemi's future teacher in the arts of the blade, but thats a story for her to tell, as she was the one who would come to know Shun best.

The Blademaster
So, our first meeting with Shun the blademaster was of him leaping 3 meters into the air, doing 4 backflips, and then promptly landing on his head. He was very... twitchy, to say the least. Shun was insane, but brilliantly so. Because of his insanity, he could think up things that no sane person would ever even dream about! He was a true genius, and taught me everything I know. He was also a joker, I remember once he had me learning patience by making me literally watch paint dry and try to come up with new attacks based on how it dried. After three days of that, I finally lost my patience and confronted him, only to find that the whole thing had been a joke of his, to see how long I would spend doing nothing. He got a real kick outta that, until I gave him a whack to the head his grandkids will remember. Anyway, he was the master, I was the student. I like to think I'm at least a little bit of his level of skill and strength, but I doubt I'll ever reach that point.

His first lesson was this: Always be ready. No one is a better friend then yourself. He taught me this by attacking me every time I let my guard down, and of course with his "Tripping Exercise", which may have been a joke on me. He would take me out for a long walk each morning, and if I let my guard down for even a heartbeat he would trip me and just keep on walking. I remember he once offered to help me up, and then when I accepted he literally threw me into a tree. He was definitely insane, but still, he would never actually put my life in danger, though how he knew my limits I will never know. Anyway, he taught me the value of paying attention to the world around me, of never letting my guard down. It took him years to do this, but we multi tasked, he taught me mastery over the blade as well.

I remember the first time I ever tried to preform one of his attacks. I was over-confidant and foolish, and I paid for it. First, he showed me a really simple move, and had me mimic it. When I got impatient, he showed me a much more complex move, and when I tried to imitate it I failed with flying colors. I can still feel the sore spots from how I pulled muscles trying mimic his move. Never again did I try to rush him, and that was his intent. He always said "Once burned, always wise", by which he meant, Once someone or something has screwed up and paid for it they will never make that mistake again. I think that truer words have never been spoken, and probably never will.

Shun was a great teacher. He showed every step, and then left me to master them on my own, which he said would make the skills mine, and not his. He said that each person's technique was their own, and that they should create it as they learn, not just take their teacher's technique. And again, he was right, his technique would never have worked for me, as we found out at the end of our training.

Every month he would have us spar with the "intent to kill". If he won, it showed I was not yet ready to go on as a Blademaster, and I never beat him, not until the last battle, naturally. In that last battle, we raged again in combat, joined by blades for mere moments, then divided again by momentum. This time though, it was obviously a match between equals, neither I nor Shun could get the upper hand. In the end, it came down to endurance alone, nothing else. I outlasted him, because I was younger, and he lost. The final moments of battle, he stumbles ever so slightly, and then pow, with a hiss of steel on steel my sword spins around his and twists in out of his grasp. My sword comes down to rest at his chest. "I win."

He looked up at me, in surprise, then a broad grin spreads over his face, and I help him up off the ground. We look at each other, knowing that I am a true Blademaster now. He goes into his house and collects something, a large sword. "this belonged to an old friend of mine. Use it well, to defend your friends. It's called "Blood Mist Blade" (血の霧の刃). It has had a complicated past, but I hope you can bring it to new glory, make its name be remembered as a good weapon, not an object of evil. Use it well, in the struggles to come." Shun passed me the blade, and then said "Now, since you are a true master, and carry a true master's sword, I am no longer needed here. I must continue my journey. May we meet again, in this life of the next. May you blade never dull, Akemi Blademaster." "And may yours always meet it's mark, Shun Blademaster."

Shun left, continuing on his journey, and we continued on ours. I truly do hope to meet him again someday, though I doubt that will ever happen. In that 3 year period I had gone from a child to a blademaster, and Shun had helped me get there. I will live up to his standards, and hope that someday we can again meet and compare our skills in a battle of blades.

Journey to the Land of Forests, continued by Sivart
Akemi and Shun had battled it out, and Akemi had been victorious. 3 years have passed since we last traveled. This time, though, it was not a sad travel, mostly because Akemi kept showing off her new skills. We would travel another year or so, before we met with Shizuka's teacher. There isn't much to say about this travel, except that we met and tamed Hunt there. He is now the equal to any ninja hound we have ever met, and considerably bigger, considering he is a full-blooded wolf. Besides that, all we really did was travel. A few minor incidents with rouge ninja and bandits, but besides those... actually, it was pretty boring.