Shinobi: Dawn of the Samurai

Doctrine
五大国
Godaikoku no Dai Chikyō; The Great Nations Grand Isthmus
XXXX C.E.
Shinken Period

“You all gather ‘round me like the cattle you are… Hundreds of years of war and billions upon billions of our mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters dead… and for what?! We’ve simply killed one master in favor of another!! ‘Great Nations’ my ass I say!” The old man paused to spit on the ground at the guards’ feet, fixing them all with a scathing glower before continuing. “We keep choking down the lies they force down our throats – lettin’ them scare us into docility, and before long, the Great Nations will be nothin’ but their newest puppets… their newest… machigai. If we can’t chart a course back into the light, then we’ll all be under their thumbs!”

The old man smiled a nasty sneer and his odd tako eyes went ice cold. The guards didn’t seem to notice the old man’s demeanor change… or didn’t care, and in an instant, the aura in the square had changed. The air became still; the throng of townsfolk that had gathered around the rambling oldster before the guards appeared, and the guards and the old man himself, froze, becoming like the strings of bows, drawn taught with arrows nocked and ready to fly. In that instant, it became a terrifying truth; a rebellion was coming, and with it, a war.
-Excerpt from the opening pages of Ichi Yìduān
by Ākibisuto, Omoide



As Mittsu Yìduān reads,
117 years have passed since the discovery of the Pillars of Eienwei, and the ancient Uzumaki himself, whose quest for world peace became twisted and perverted throughout the long years since the days when he’d created the pillars, into something more akin to world subjugation. Even with all their combined strength and might, the villages of the Leaf, Mist, and Sand struggled fruitlessly against the god-like figure that threatened the agency and futures of ALL villages and nations, small and large, all across the world.

Many great shinobi and kunoichi gave their lives defending their nations against Eienwei and the forces he controlled, and soon, it became evident that a victor would emerge from the conflict, and it would not be the Great Nations. Then suddenly, when it seemed the last flickers of hope had been snuffed, by some miraculous turn, the Mizukage, along with the help of a mysterious stranger clad in emerald priests robes, managed to single-handedly destroy two of the pillars that had been located near the Village Hidden in the Mist, and a truly massive blow had been dealt to Eienwei and his forces.

While the Nations took the much needed moment of respite to celebrate the Mist Kage’s victories after years of constant defeat on all fronts, something sinister was going on behind the scenes. More and more figures clad in striking green priestly garb began appearing. First in the villages, they presented themselves as gypsy travelers, healers, and teachers. Then, before long, they were finding their way into military leaders' and strategists’ circles, and eventually, into the courts of the Kages. Wherever they showed up, however, the villages, troops, and leaders they were spending their time with all grew in power and strength, and it wasn’t long before news of similar victories began popping up all over the war front, and all across the Great Nations.

In the space of a year and four months after the first two pillars had been destroyed, the Great Nations had managed to destroy all but a single one. By this time, Eienwei, while still enormously powerful, had still lost a very significant portion of his former strength and glory. With the destruction of each tower, a wound had been dealt to his body and chakra network that he could not recover from. The final confrontation saw Eienwei cornered by the Kage and their new, mysteriously-garbed companions, while the villages’ forces focused all of their attacks on the pillar and its protectors. The resulting battle was the bloodiest in all of human history.

Eienwei had been slain, finally, but not before managing to kill the Mizukage, the Kazekage, and the priestly figures that traveled with them. Only a severely injured Hokage – Aburame, Ikina – had survived, along with the person that had accompanied him, who in an infamous display for fierce loyalty, refused to let anyone – even the Hokage’s own ANBU near him.

[It is worth noting that, sometime shortly after that battle, Lord Ikina of the Leaf, and the mysterious robed figure, a beautiful woman named Fuhai, married. They had no biological children, though Ikina is rumored to have had a foster son, whom he continued to love and care for after his marriage.]

The confederated forces of the Leaf, Mist, and Sand, however, saw massive casualties at the battle of the Last Pillar. Well over half of the men and women had perished facing what would later come to be known as ‘Kagami no Taigun’ or, the Horde of Mirrors. The Pillar had created physical projections of Eienwei, which perfectly mirrored him and his strength at the time of the Pillar’s creation; there was one for every Great Nation Shinobi that was present on the battlefield. It was only when the surviving squad leaders rallied together and launched a last-ditch, all-or-nothing attack directly on the pillar, destroying it, was the Kagami no Taigun stopped; dispelled when the pillar fell.

What followed was a period of shock and disbelief that lasted for nearly five years. The world seemed to stand still, and it almost felt like time itself was afraid to press on. Never before had the Great Nations, combined or individually, seen so much death and bloodshed in a single day. Nearly half of the world’s population as they knew it had been wiped out in mere hours. Entire clans and families, gone; villages and towns razed like never before. Not even the turmoil of the Warring States Era had wreaked this much havoc and bloodshed. But then, just like that, we were snapped out of our stupor.

The green robed men and women had once more reappeared in public. Again, they brought with them the things the Great Nations needed most at the time. Influence, money, and stability. Suddenly, a great economical boom had begun, and the nations began rebuilding en masse; new villages sprang up from the rubble of old ones. Nation lines were redrawn. Some vanished entirely. Years and years after the Battle of the Last Pillar, when stability had become the norm again, and whispers of conflict in the west had sprung up. Things were finally beginning to feel like they had before the time of Eienwei.

And then, out of nowhere, the Great Nations of Fire and Water announced that they were officially joining together. They became ‘The Country of Heaven’. Another, shorter time of shock and disbelief followed, but it was quickly replaced by widespread anger and dissent. Nationalists from both former nations rose up, at first divided by their beliefs of superiority. After a while, they formed an awkward but passionate alliance that protested and made shows of opposition. Even those who wanted to keep the peace couldn’t quite wrap their heads around the move; as united as the Great Nations had grown in the past, it had been for a cause. Now, when both nations were experiencing booms and prosperity, it hadn’t made the slightest bit of sense.

Shortly after, something odd started happening. Protesters, dissenters, even people who so much as questioned the move began to disappear. Some were arrested in broad daylight. Some left their jobs or postings one evening only to be gone the next morning. And then the rumors started…




“Th…e a..ge of ‘S…aG…es’ is nOt dead –

The ‘Titan’ poI…nts t…o the lan…d bles…sed b…y thE NorTheRn Sta…R’s liG…Ht...”