Life isn’t always like the stories proclaim it to be. Life is a harsh, cruel reality from which there is no escape. There are no better times. There is no hoping, or wishing, or wanting. It is simply a task set out for you. Survive one day, begin the next. Don’t think about the future. In a shinobi’s life, there isn’t such a thing. Tomorrow is a vague possibility – if you’re lucky, it might just come.

The days of the shinobi nations have come down to conflict, constant bloodshed and war. Our leader is power hungry; driven by an insatiable hunger for dominance. I’ve lost, completely, the reasoning behind why we follow him; why we continue to die at his will. His will which has infested into a twisted, sick plot threaded together by insanity. Maybe it’s because this is the only life we know; fighting, killing, dying. Follow your Kage’s orders. That’s the shinobi code. Everything else doesn’t matter.

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Leaf’s reputation has been driven into the dirt; left to rot in a pit of misery, despair and the now faded memories of the past.

It’s ironic, I suppose; that the once greatest shinobi Nation should fall so easily. All it took was one death, the precise movement of a Knight, and then the Queen was all it took. Take the Queen, get the King. Get the King, win the game. Win the game, you’ve got the village.

Konohagakure was always full of arrogant, self righteous, all powerful people. Dictating leaders. Pitiful forces. Pathetic shinobi.

In this world, there wasn’t any room for weakness.

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“Miko-chan, sweetie, I need you to stay here for a little, okay?” Mama always had a happy smile. But her eyes always said otherwise. “Can you be a big girl? You’ve got to be strong and protect Usagi.” He was scared; I could tell. Usagi was never happy when Mama had to leave us all alone in the dark. ‘Don’t say a word, Miko-chan,’ she tells me. I always stay quiet. I’m a good girl. “Can you do that for me, Miko-chan?” Why did Mama always look so sad?

“Hai.” Tiny whisper; can’t make a sound. It’s a game. Mama leaves, Miko-chan and Usagi hide, Mama comes back. “That’s my brave girl,” she kisses my forehead, and then she’s gone. Run, run, run. ‘Go hide, Miko-chan, under the bed, tonight – get your blankie, Mama might be a while.’ Under Mama’s bed, everything’s dark. “Mama has to go and help the village,” I tell Usagi, “she has to fight off all the naughty peoples.” Mama always had to protect the village. Just like Papa used to. But Papa hasn’t come home yet.

“One, two, three busy bumble bee.”

Sing a song; but keep very quiet. Don’t move, or the naughty people will find you. But the naughty people never find me; I’m a good girl. I’m very, very quiet.

“Four, five, six beetles on a stick.”

I can count all the way up to ten. When Mama goes away, she tells me that she loves me ten times and more. She makes me dango. And we look at photo albums. She tells me Papa would have been so proud of me. And she reads me a bed time story. My favorite one. She’s like the Princess in the story; she’s pretty, and she’s strong, and she’s very nice. And she always protects her home. Just like Mikomi-dono did. She protected her Kingdom, like Mama protects our village.

“Seven, eight, nine berries on a vine.”

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Power; power drains the soul of the being whom hold it, and blinds them to their own end. It roars through the blood in their veins, and leaves a ringing in their ears. Power overrules all sense of correct thought. It deters the being from what is right, and what is wrong; it overtakes, shredding their mind until there’s nothing left of the being’s own self.

As the fifth shinobi war begins, power is a life source to all of the villages that are still left standing. In the world that it has molded, power is both a shinobi’s worst enemy and most relied upon attribute. It’s either going to save them, or destroy them.

With the Wind Country destroyed, what’s left of Kumogakure in lockdown, Kirigakure in a civil war, and Konohagakure disbanded; the only great village left standing strong is Iwagakure. Drawn into the war by the fight for dominance, Iwa battles against the smaller shinobi villages; and even though the village’s strength is plenty, they still haven’t completely recovered from the fourth shinobi war.

Although the war was ignited by every villages will to survive, and the stronger ones want of power, their main threat is from the source of Konohagakure’s destruction; the ninth Hokage. After he destroyed the village, and burnt the forests surrounding it for miles to nothing more than pathetic ashes, insanity has plagued his mind. Controlled by his want for more power, his armies still follow to his every command; although, every now and then, one might rebel.

Within a turmoil of death and destruction, the flame for hope can never be rekindled. Can it be light anew? Is it a lost cause, to try and hope for the balance to be restored? Or is it just a little too late for that? Find your place amongst what’s left of the world, and fight for survival.