Ancient History [Closed]

[Testament]

[12 Yrs. Ago]

Each finger folded slowly inward with determination and clarity of purpose. The fist formed by the vehement intention of the young boy solidified and drew back so as to lend power to the strike. Blood and hatred coursed through the child's veins and his heart sent both streaming into his outer extremities. His target lay before him, motionless yet imposing, but courage and insanity pushed him on toward the goal he desired more than all others. His father's blessing. The acceptance of his brothers. The love of his clan. A better sense of his own self-worth. It would all come, he was sure, if he could strike his fist cleaning through the stone statue that stood before him. His eyelids drifted shut as he inhaled deeply from the stale air surrounding him and as the oxygen filled his lungs it brought, . . . only doubt. His confusion and turmoil seemed to know no bounds and they beset his young mind like a tempest driven by hell's own zephyr.

"Satsui! You will focus or you will leave this dojo! Choose!"

The voice of his father, Tenchishinmei Kurobuchi, erupted in his ears and brought the boy out of his consternation. His eyes flitted open only to see four of his brothers all snickering quietly and mouthing jeers in his general direction. Their father raised his eyebrow in just such a way which communicated his wish for complete silence and stillness. Satsui's brothers immediately ceased their teasing and resumed their impersonation of the statue that had been placed before him. Satsui wished for nothing more than the opportunity to whip them all with fresh section of bamboo but, before his fantasy could properly materialize in his mind's eye, the overwhelming form of his father entered his peripheral vision and Satsui felt a familiar smack on the back of his head. At least he was getting to the point where he could follow his father's movements and thusly was not taken by complete surprise when the old man's hand found its way to his cranium.

"Satsui! What will it take for you to learn to focus during training? You, more than all your brothers before you, lack the discipline, diligence, and dedication necessary to attain even the simplest principles of our school!"

Satsui’s countenance fell at the words of his father yet his anger rose simultaneously as the harsh words spawned another round of muted buffoonery from his elder brothers. They were silence once again by a gesture from their progenitor in life and martial arts training and it was he who broke the silence once more.

“All of you boys, come sit at my feet and prepare yourselves to receive instruction. A lesson in history is needed for the youngest and I will not suffer any son of Kurobuchi to go ignorant.”

The older boys, knowing better than to groan, fell into place at their father’s feet leaving no room for Satsui to be seated among them. He knelt behind his brothers and waited patiently for his father to begin the dreaded history lesson of the Tenchishinmei clan. It was his belief that confronting his children with their auspicious legacy would inspire a greater level of performance from them, and it was for that reason that he would impart his lesson whenever he felt the boys were lacking in a specific area.

“Listen well boys and heed your father’s words. A shinobi must be strong in these days of hardship, nay, even in times of peace and prosperity for those breed war as easily as any ancient feud. Many have had their confidence shaken and have lost their way as warriors because of turmoil and strife engulfing the ninja world, but you boys are members of a gloried lineage that does not admit defeat or acknowledge weakness. We are born of the Tenchishinmei and ours is a history of power won and lives taken. The Tenchishinmei clan originated in the Unabara province of Kaminari no Kuni almost three hundred years before the advent of the Rikudô Sennin. In those days, more than any time since, men fought with savagery and cunning to possess the means of nourishing themselves, and their families, but they also fought for supremacy and the right to dominate the way of things. It was an era full of blood feuds, life or death battles, and treachery of every kind. Yet in the center of Unabara we, of the Tenchishinmei, established our sovereign rule upon the lifeless bodies of those foolish enough to stand against us. We were a tenacious bunch; a single warrior of ours was enough to strike fear into a dozen men. We could hunt anything, run for hours, fight for days on end, barely eating and rarely sleeping. Your ancestors were brutal and known throughout the land as the matchless practitioners of the bladed arts, yet they were known even more so for their ingenuity and economic ventures. They produced and sold anything that people needed, or wanted, and even fed desires that many despised all in order to build their base of power. Garments, jewelry, weapons, women, and herbs and powders that could build up or corrode the human body over time were all bought from us.”

Among his brothers, and even the youngest generation of the entire clan, Satsui was the only one who relished the retelling of the Tenchishinmei history. Often he would sneak away in the dead of night to read the chronicles and he never overlooked any opportunity to learn new information. These were the thoughts that pervaded his mind while he trained and fought and his lack of attention was all resulting from his own inability to focus on the humdrum task of faux combat.

“The Tenchishinmei kept their power and prestige at its peak for more than one hundred and fifty years without once having to come under the rule of another. But the world must always change and one day there came news of a cult from a foreign land that practiced some sort of inner magic. People who joined this growing band of lunatics were rumored to be able to walk atop the waves or breathe fire unabated. Of course there was nothing more foolish than these fanciful tales but still it stirred the people towards chaos and little by little, the Tenchishinmei lost their stranglehold on the people of Unabara. The process was slow yet, once begun, there was no going back to the way things had been. The economic stability was the first thing to go due to the amount of foreign trade that was continually undercutting the established values of certain commodities. Eventually, the Tenchishinmei had to choose which of their assets to guard and which had to be sacrificed in order to survive as they could no longer repel all those who came for a piece of their territory.

In these dark and uncertain times, a man from the lower families by the name of Matsudai rose up and subjugated the entire clan along with a band of warriors with whom he’d fought many battles. His message was simple and direct; the clan had grown too complacent and sedate and, instead of gaining true power, they had given themselves over to be merchants and whore-mongers. The heads of all the families that had once made up the ruling body were called together and made to endorse a decree. Every business other than weaponry and certain drugs was to be abolished with all haste and no one was to even do business with non clan members without Matsudai's express consent. All males born from that point onward were to learn four things: how to survive in the barren wastelands bordering the Unabara mountains, the study of military history and tactics, close quarters combat, and above all else the way of the sword. Every firstborn male was also given one task to carry out in order to become a man in the sight of his clan, kill his father. After the edict had been established and the clan was firmly under Matsudai's control the remaining leaders from the previous order were executed.”

Though he would never admit to it, this was always the part of the story when Satsui would get most excited. There was something he loved about the chaotic and savage nature of battle but the cold, calculating methods of the old leader, Matsudai, truly filled his blood with passion and longing. In order to attain that sort of power and lead that privileged life where one’s every whim was the difference between life and death there was nothing that Satsui was not prepared to do. As his father continued on, Satsui became lost in a dream world where he had cemented his place of rule and none could stand against him. He snapped out of his haze only moments before catching the suspicious gaze of his father and he cringed slightly at how close he had become to being beaten, again, for daydreaming during the lesson.

“As the decades wore on and Matsudai continued to expand on the martial prowess of our clan it became evident that the rumors from the distant lands were true. As more and more Tenchishinmei territory was lost and their influence denied they were forced to make a choice. They could stand their ground and attempt to wipe out the growing cult of inner power or they could bide their time and wait. Against their pride, the decision was made to abandon Unabara and make their home in a new country far from the influence of the cult's followers. Stories abounded of a land where one's skill with a sword was equated with one's standing and the Tenchishinmei soon found themselves in Tetsu no Kuni, becoming one with the samurai. Their fighting spirit made them renowned in all the land as some of the most lethal fighters to ever take up the sword. Though their numbers dwindled as warriors came from all over Tetsu no Kuni to engage them in combat those who survived were only the best of the elites. For the next fifty years there was no clan stronger than the Tenchishinmei and they lived out their existence in the blood soaked crags of the Three Wolves Mountains.

Then came the reign of the shinobi and, once again, the world began to change but this time such was expected. Matsudai knew what these people were capable of and he was determined not to allow the travesties of their past to become the stories of the future. Without warning, the territory controlled by the Tenchishinmei was mysteriously vacated and all trace of them seemed to vanish. A small segment of the clan returned here to Unabara which was incorporated into Kaminari no Kuni a short time later, and any who had been found in these ancestral lands disappeared forever. This included a good deal of civilians but also a small number of shinobi; the disappearances were not frequent enough to invite alarm because most were smart, or scared, enough not to enter the desolate lands. Most of the shinobi that went missing were nukenin anyway and not much attention was ever given to the situation. Eventually, a great earthquake of dubious origins swallowed up the territory we possessed in Tetsu no Kuni and the rumors of our long lost brethren were slowly forgotten. The main population of the clan was nestled so deep within Unabara that all mention of the Tenchishinmei practically faded from memory all together.”

To be continued . . . .