What: Another SI Fic. A story that tries to capture the feeling of the opening words of the Epic...
Sha Nagba Imuru [Omniverse SI; Currently in Naruto]
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Endfall
A zero on the singularity.
- Location
- Somewhere else.
- Pronouns
- She/They
What: Another SI Fic. A story that tries to capture the feeling of the opening words of the Epic of Gilgamesh. I
Less(more?) precisely, the FFNET summary I wrote,
presentiment
Meta Arc 0 - Samsara Breaker
Arc 0 - ?????????? - Opus 17: The God in the Machine
Arc 1 - ????????? ??????????
Arc 2 - ????
Meta Arc 2 - Void Architect
Meta Arc 3 - Eternity Recorder
Final - ? - Opus Null: ?
eschaton - Lea
Terminus - choice
Less(more?) precisely, the FFNET summary I wrote,
The one who saw everything. Who experienced all joys, and all sorrows. Who drank fully of the cup of life! But once, before standing at the end and looking back with the ultimate wisdom, there was a beginning. A start. A path. A journey. A wandering legend that, known by no one, spoken by no one, contains the truth of triumph and tragedy, of perfection, and despair.
Thanks are owed, and given, to the fanfiction.net author Enbi, who is beta reading this. Any errors that remain are mine.
Go to endfall.net/privkey.d, import that into a program like gpg, and decrypt this post for the summary. If you get a 404, try again in one month, then a year. If the key is not posted there by then, something went wrong, and it's not likely to ever be fixed.
Please note: that URL will not go live until after I am confirmed to be dead. If you can't access it and I'm alive, nothing is wrong; that's as it should be.
Please note: that URL will not go live until after I am confirmed to be dead. If you can't access it and I'm alive, nothing is wrong; that's as it should be.
Index
presentiment
Meta Arc 0 - Samsara Breaker
prologue
Arc 0 - Naruto
Arc 2 - ???? ?????? ?????? - Opus 02: The Road to Ultima Grey
interregnum - totality
Meta Arc 1 - Form EaterArc 0 - Naruto
Sub Arc 0 - Who Saw the World go Mad
Sub Arc 1 - Who Saw She was Not Untouched
Sub Arc 2 - Who Saw the Truth Unbound
Final
Arc 1 - ??? ?????interlude - a key, a scroll, a cipher
Sub Arc 1 - Who Saw She was Not Untouched
Sub Arc 2 - Who Saw the Truth Unbound
Final
Arc 2 - ???? ?????? ?????? - Opus 02: The Road to Ultima Grey
interregnum - totality
Arc 0 - ?????????? - Opus 17: The God in the Machine
Arc 1 - ????????? ??????????
Arc 2 - ????
Meta Arc 2 - Void Architect
Meta Arc 3 - Eternity Recorder
Final - ? - Opus Null: ?
eschaton - Lea
Terminus - choice
end - fall
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presentiment
Endfall
A zero on the singularity.
- Location
- Somewhere else.
- Pronouns
- She/They
And at Inifinity's End, Change spoke.
These were its words.
"Weep not for heroes. Curse them."
from thus
These were its words.
"Weep not for heroes. Curse them."
from thus
- story, start -
And I opened my eyes and beheld the blood on my hands. Around me, around me, they all fought, and what they fought was a war. Screams of anger, and of pain echoed across the battlefield as the stars danced madly in the heavens above and the Elder Gods fell towards the dead earth. The ground was parched, and cracked, and burnt, the remnants of life long since withered and turned brown, and at this moment there was no hope left.
No. Hope was long and far away. We had lost. And we had lost everything. Stumbling to my feet, I looked around the chaos of the battlefield, until my eyes locked on those of one man. His eyes calm, clinical, disinterested, his countenance calm. Here was someone who didn't fear for his life.
My own expression was half-crazed, but I felt the same. We were of a kind, and that changed everything. Reaching into the back of my mind, I connected with the Principle of Ontology, fell into an echo of the Wúxiào Wǔshù, and gestured.
Come. Let us end this.
He nodded, and fell into no stance. Instead, around him, everything simply unraveled, as the seams of existence were unmade. I narrowed my eyes, then charged.
There was no interval between the beginning and the end. In one moment, I had crossed two miles and opened up with my first blow, a shattering resonance that would break the reality of his soul. He stepped out of the moment that defined his death and flowed around the worldlines defining my victory, falling back into the world where he survived. I pursued, but he was ready, had prepared a trap, a hidden fist glowing with the fury of a green sun. Accepting the blow as it was offered, I stepped through it and let it echo through nothing and out of my back. As the coruscating fury of a titan's rage decimated the armies surrounding us, I dodged his second conventionally, lunged forward through the lacuna of his pace, and had my mind fall into a certain pattern as my hand made contact with his body, and my spirit brushed against his souls.
Void Architecture. World Eater.
The un-not surrounding the man crumpled, and shattered into pieces, and his eyes widened as he understood what I had done, confidence replaced with horror. The effect spread, and he turned to flee. In the next moment, he no longer was. Even if he had used a truer method of escape, it wouldn't have been enough.
Nothing would have.
This multiverse was doomed.
As what I had done extended, and continued, ramifying as it grew outwards, the local physics failed, its axioms disrupted and coming undone. I watched from the inside, as men, women, and children fell apart. I watched as the old gods fell. I watched as the event horizon of reality extended throughout everything, and the bubble of math that defined this plurality fell, and descended into One.
And then it was over.
Another Samsara Breaker had died.
And I, once again, and as always, was alone.
Beneath me, separated by what was only a conceptual distance, something like a star flickered. A singularity. The terminus of the axiomatic branch that had formed the world I had destroyed.
I stepped down, to it, and let my mind fall into a pattern more.
Antithesis: World Eater.
It was the negative image of the first, arranged so all the prismatic concepts that coloured the reality of the death of a multiverse cancelled each other out, to a certain and uniform grey.
And the singularity exploded, unravelling out into a glorious and complete system of the world.
I stared at it from the outside, and almost took a step towards it before I stopped myself, and slowly turned away.
My arrival and everything that I had done had been unwritten. So had the actions - and final life - of the other Breaker.
It was over.
This was no longer my home.
"Goodbye," I whispered, hugging myself as I walked away. "Goodbye."
I don't remember how long it took.
But eventually, after I had walked too far, my body and soul ceased to be valid propositions, and everything collapsed as I died, and once again fell into a new world.
it would never end
It would never, ever, end.
Why could that thought still make me smile?
Sha Nagba Imuru
Lexicon
Wúxiào Wǔshù
A Supernatural Martial Art originating from The Fourteen. Founded on the Principle of Ontology. Katas enable users to manipulate gaps. Four styles, each with an increasing degree of enlightenment as to the nature of the Principle of Ontology. Grandmasters are capable of creating absences that compete with plenums for the definition of "reality". This technique is, strictly speaking, a method of induction for the Supernal Art relating to Ontology. That it is functional in and of itself is a testament to the skill of it's maker: Leng.
Void Architecture
The method of creating fundamental patterns that are axiomatically correct over all facets of the Omniverse; the power of absolute truth. World Eater is a construct that inserts contradictory terms into the Axiom set instantiating a given Multiverse, causing an irrevocable, cascading destruction of that Multiverse. Antithesis: World Eater creates conceptual negative space around the initial construct. Both are generic: rather that World Earter being an Axiom that killed that specific Multiverse, World Eater is a construct that produces such an Axiom for the Multiverse that is is instantiated within.
Universe
A piece of a multiverse, a complete world. Usually finite in size.
Multiverse
A set of all possible universes. The multiverse contains a universe for every possible outcome encoded in its Laws. These Laws define the operation of physics. Usually finite in size, but incomprehensibly vast by human standards. Some Multiverses contain smaller multiverses, some contain infinitely deep hierarchies of them. Each multiverse forms a node on the Axiomatic Tree of the Tenth of The Fourteen.
Omniverse
A set of all possible Multiverses. "A" because the structure (if any) linking those multiverse could, in theory, vary. In the context of this story, each Multiverse is a different set of Laws. This is not in terms of physical constants. A Multiverse containing a world where the Big Bang happened differently such that Hydrogen is the only possible atom (all others being radioactive) would still be our home Multiverse. Each Multiverse has fundamentally different Laws, and it is not uncommon for one set of Laws to be incompatible with the other. The nature of these Laws are set by their Axioms, and so, just like a Multiverse contains all possible outcomes allowed by Laws, the Omniverse contains all possible (that is, non contradictory) Axiomatic Configurations. The Omniverse of our tale catalogs infinity by beginning with the simplest Axiom. From it, it branches out, the omniverse branches out along all possible Axiomatic Paths, each node between Axioms containing a Multiverse which contains a universe in turn.
To try to illustrate the level of abstraction Axioms operate at, it is perfectly valid for a multiverse to exist where numbers like pi and e have other values, or simply do not exist.
The size of the Omniverse is not finite. The lower bound is ℵ1 multiverses. There is no upper bound.
Axiom
A "recieved truth". In the maths, you can ask if 2+2 = 4, and either you or a mathematician can sit down and tell you that it does, and explain why. But all explanations have to stop somewhere. The stopping point is an Axiom (or a set of them), and what the mathematician proves to you is that if the Axiom/Axioms is/are true, then 2 + 2 = 4. It's important to note that axioms are statements that are true, not true statements. For example, is we say that an axiom of algebra is that "a + b = b + a", we can also say that an axiom of algebra is that it is false that a + b = b + a, or in pure symbols, a + b ≠ b + a. There are also certain forms of logic that admit of more or less than the two truth values (true ad false) of everyday logic. For example, the Omniverse of the story begins with unary logic, which only permits truth. Eventually, it creates axioms that allow types of logic with more than one kind of truth, and then multiverses are permitted to branch in ways that are not permitted based on just the presence or absence of axioms, but also the truth values of the statements. (Although the term "truth value" implies a degree of comprehension that isn't present in the system.)
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will408914
(slouching towards bethlehem)
- Location
- California
I would like to note that you are disparaging your own writing unnecessarily; I read the FF version and thought that it was great. Nevertheless! Seek perfection!
- Location
- Home
It is always refreshing to come across something new. Even though I have read a number of SIs,I have not seen a single self insert like yours. I will be following this. Kudos
.
.
Endfall
A zero on the singularity.
- Location
- Somewhere else.
- Pronouns
- She/They
@will408914
Thanks for the vote of confidence. I'm glad you enjoyed the earlier versions, and I'm not trying to criticize anyone who did. I always rate what I wrote on a relative scale. The question I ask is, "If I wrote this now, how would that version stack up against the real one?"
Sometimes, as with presentiment, it's pretty favourable. Sometimes, as with theprologue (Edit: More like as in Updating Beliefs.), it needs a near total rewrite to bring it to average standards. On the whole, the early parts of SNI are far to the rewrite side of things for several reasons. The way the story was being told didn't fit with the immediacy required. It killed a lot of tension. I missed an opportunity to subtly foreshadow a major twist, and got enough feedback to know I thoroughly botched explaining the extent of the consequences of a certain set of actions...
A lot of this traces back to primarily writing fanfiction. You get used to readers knowing characters intimately, and canon deeply. You explain little, but little explanation is necessary. Another problem was that I was writing this story just like those last two sentences. The "you" thing. That maybe works in a forum post, but in a story, it either sounds like you're lecturing the reader, or like there's a recipient to the narration... which
but even then, it still reads like I'm lecturing the reader. I'm not. I'm trying to convey the SI's thoughts, not impose them.
I had hoped I had crossed the seen-this threshold, thanks for giving me confidence that I actually did. As for the second part, well,
Thanks for the vote of confidence. I'm glad you enjoyed the earlier versions, and I'm not trying to criticize anyone who did. I always rate what I wrote on a relative scale. The question I ask is, "If I wrote this now, how would that version stack up against the real one?"
Sometimes, as with presentiment, it's pretty favourable. Sometimes, as with the
A lot of this traces back to primarily writing fanfiction. You get used to readers knowing characters intimately, and canon deeply. You explain little, but little explanation is necessary. Another problem was that I was writing this story just like those last two sentences. The "you" thing. That maybe works in a forum post, but in a story, it either sounds like you're lecturing the reader, or like there's a recipient to the narration... which
there is, of course
I had hoped I had crossed the seen-this threshold, thanks for giving me confidence that I actually did. As for the second part, well,
my SIs works weren't going totally unnoticed now, either. I'm not competing with Creative Narrow Intelligences. It remains to be seen if I'll never compete with them, although that goes for all of us, I suppose.
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prologue
Endfall
A zero on the singularity.
- Location
- Somewhere else.
- Pronouns
- She/They
If science has taught one overriding truth to humanity before all else, it was this: That we are not special. That, as a species, humanity is enormously insignificant. That we are a people of specks, made of specks, living upon slightly larger specks that, in finality, look like - and are - cosmic dust.
Humanity is flotsam. Humanity is seafoam. Humanity is brief, fragile, and altogether too intricate to truly embrace in the faint window that we have on existence.
The human kind had rejected that notion. I had rejoiced in it.
Looking back, here, at Ultima Mobile, I believe that that may have been the start of it all - the window that had lead to this world, this moment, this decision. But, perhaps that's just wishful thinking at its finest, and at its worst.
Sometimes there are no explanations.
And sometimes?
Sometimes, the only explanation necessary is the who that informs the identity of the one asking the question.
I've found that those times are the worst.
Why did things break?
"Because it was you."
I lived to be older than anyone born just a decade before me could have dreamed to die.
Death had been murdered in the turning of the world. Unbound from it, I watched as humanity increased in knowledge, and I watched as they built a wholly artificial utopia to escape from the other side of that phrase. I watched as they uploaded themselves to machines, digitised the information of the universe, and I watched as they took grasp of the guttering light of knowledge, and there, on a planet that they had never actually left, ascended.
I watched as they threw all their works away, and left everything behind without even understanding what they had lost in the process.
The Fermi Paradox had found its answer: Any species that failed to destroy itself transcended the fabric of space and time to chase answers to the kinds of questions that Yog-Sothoth would have been fascinated by, dragging the disinterested majority in a wake of increasingly purposeless utopia. It was as fitting as it was bitter, to know that all who could see the wonder of our world would judge it, and ultimately find it wanting.
The transcension, as it was called, was utterly anticlimactic for those not directly involved. This is what happened: One day, every computer in the world went idle, every AI vanished, and every medium of storage was erased, save for a three kilobyte program that unfolded into the thirty-seven exabyte lotus of pure information, this containing:
Item One: Recipes for mind uploading hardware; technological paradigms scalable to any level of advancement.
Item Two: A method of adjusting the curvature of spacetime through phenomena arising from electric circuits that none of those left behind - baseline or otherwise - could possibly understand.
Item Three: A manifesto detailing the reasons why transcension had been necessary. Apparently, humanity had moved to a universe without entropy.
The few who remained stared into this font of information, and felt in it the subtle judgement of those who had left us behind.
It went unsaid that this wisdom was not for our hands.
So, from the graveyard CERN had become, we dispersed, and dropped out of contact with each other, the last left on the planet becoming minorities of one as we all walked without the others' informational even horizons.
Some of us went to destroy the archives. Some of us went to try to remake the human kind. Some of us went to wander.
But I think all of us, in our own ways, knew that, in the end?
We were going to die.
For the next several decades I haunted the world, ruling as one of the hundreds of lords of the dust that remained, over a realm of ashes and a kingdom of no one. While some of my peers set to restore the species, and may have succeeded, I strayed across the world and slowly slipped back into the familiar madness that came with being alone.
In the nineteenth century, a man named Alexander was stranded on a deserted island.
Not by a shipwreck.
By his own will.
He dreamed that he would attain passage from some other ship, crossing over the horizon. It was not to be: on that island, he lived for four years, utterly alone, and the world ravaged him for it. When, at last, a ship appeared on the horizon, what met the sailors as they came ashore was something that was barely human. Ragged, tanned by the sun, clothed in skins; in just four years of isolation, Alexander had all but lost the ability of language. In one of the great ironies of history, the ship was the same as had left him, the captain the same as had stranded him.
Isolation is not good for a human.
But I was never very good at being human to begin with.
Humans cooperate and organise. Humans cover for their weaknesses, and create a gestalt of their strengths. Humans have true power only collectively, and that is a world in which I cannot believe, because I can never bring myself to embrace the paradox, that we tell tales of singular people, and not even once does such truly arise in life.
Twenty four hundred years past, another Alexander rose to greatness on the backs of his nations. Of the man who had risen thus, all said, "Alexander was one of the great men of history. Nobody can do what he has done." Both explanations are true. Both are false. And everything I tell you is a lie.
One of those sentences is a lie.
Was I out of joint, or was it the world?
Either way, the answer didn't matter, because, half mad, as I thought obsessively over a question that in all probability had no true answer, the universe died.
Silently, I went with it.
By the way, that's a lie.
And then... ha.
My only wish was granted.
The Singularity
A theory of the future popular among certain groups. It holds that we are approaching a critical point, after which the world will become something we cannot even imagine. A purported scientific theory of the end of history that claims that the world will transcend humanity's ability to predict or understand it to even the most minimal extent imaginable, and that, in permanent fashion.
Something similar to it occured in this world. On this Terra. The difference was that, eventually? It ended.
And then no one inherited the Earth.
Ultima Mobile
The Last Cause. A metaphysical location defined as The End. From certain frames of reference, it is also defined as The Beginning.
Humanity is flotsam. Humanity is seafoam. Humanity is brief, fragile, and altogether too intricate to truly embrace in the faint window that we have on existence.
The human kind had rejected that notion. I had rejoiced in it.
Looking back, here, at Ultima Mobile, I believe that that may have been the start of it all - the window that had lead to this world, this moment, this decision. But, perhaps that's just wishful thinking at its finest, and at its worst.
Sometimes there are no explanations.
And sometimes?
Sometimes, the only explanation necessary is the who that informs the identity of the one asking the question.
I've found that those times are the worst.
Why did things break?
"Because it was you."
Prologue
I lived to be older than anyone born just a decade before me could have dreamed to die.
Death had been murdered in the turning of the world. Unbound from it, I watched as humanity increased in knowledge, and I watched as they built a wholly artificial utopia to escape from the other side of that phrase. I watched as they uploaded themselves to machines, digitised the information of the universe, and I watched as they took grasp of the guttering light of knowledge, and there, on a planet that they had never actually left, ascended.
I watched as they threw all their works away, and left everything behind without even understanding what they had lost in the process.
The Fermi Paradox had found its answer: Any species that failed to destroy itself transcended the fabric of space and time to chase answers to the kinds of questions that Yog-Sothoth would have been fascinated by, dragging the disinterested majority in a wake of increasingly purposeless utopia. It was as fitting as it was bitter, to know that all who could see the wonder of our world would judge it, and ultimately find it wanting.
The transcension, as it was called, was utterly anticlimactic for those not directly involved. This is what happened: One day, every computer in the world went idle, every AI vanished, and every medium of storage was erased, save for a three kilobyte program that unfolded into the thirty-seven exabyte lotus of pure information, this containing:
Item One: Recipes for mind uploading hardware; technological paradigms scalable to any level of advancement.
Item Two: A method of adjusting the curvature of spacetime through phenomena arising from electric circuits that none of those left behind - baseline or otherwise - could possibly understand.
Item Three: A manifesto detailing the reasons why transcension had been necessary. Apparently, humanity had moved to a universe without entropy.
The few who remained stared into this font of information, and felt in it the subtle judgement of those who had left us behind.
It went unsaid that this wisdom was not for our hands.
So, from the graveyard CERN had become, we dispersed, and dropped out of contact with each other, the last left on the planet becoming minorities of one as we all walked without the others' informational even horizons.
Some of us went to destroy the archives. Some of us went to try to remake the human kind. Some of us went to wander.
But I think all of us, in our own ways, knew that, in the end?
We were going to die.
For the next several decades I haunted the world, ruling as one of the hundreds of lords of the dust that remained, over a realm of ashes and a kingdom of no one. While some of my peers set to restore the species, and may have succeeded, I strayed across the world and slowly slipped back into the familiar madness that came with being alone.
In the nineteenth century, a man named Alexander was stranded on a deserted island.
Not by a shipwreck.
By his own will.
He dreamed that he would attain passage from some other ship, crossing over the horizon. It was not to be: on that island, he lived for four years, utterly alone, and the world ravaged him for it. When, at last, a ship appeared on the horizon, what met the sailors as they came ashore was something that was barely human. Ragged, tanned by the sun, clothed in skins; in just four years of isolation, Alexander had all but lost the ability of language. In one of the great ironies of history, the ship was the same as had left him, the captain the same as had stranded him.
Isolation is not good for a human.
But I was never very good at being human to begin with.
Humans cooperate and organise. Humans cover for their weaknesses, and create a gestalt of their strengths. Humans have true power only collectively, and that is a world in which I cannot believe, because I can never bring myself to embrace the paradox, that we tell tales of singular people, and not even once does such truly arise in life.
Twenty four hundred years past, another Alexander rose to greatness on the backs of his nations. Of the man who had risen thus, all said, "Alexander was one of the great men of history. Nobody can do what he has done." Both explanations are true. Both are false. And everything I tell you is a lie.
One of those sentences is a lie.
Was I out of joint, or was it the world?
Either way, the answer didn't matter, because, half mad, as I thought obsessively over a question that in all probability had no true answer, the universe died.
Silently, I went with it.
By the way, that's a lie.
And then... ha.
My only wish was granted.
SNI
Lexicon
The Singularity
A theory of the future popular among certain groups. It holds that we are approaching a critical point, after which the world will become something we cannot even imagine. A purported scientific theory of the end of history that claims that the world will transcend humanity's ability to predict or understand it to even the most minimal extent imaginable, and that, in permanent fashion.
Something similar to it occured in this world. On this Terra. The difference was that, eventually? It ended.
And then no one inherited the Earth.
Ultima Mobile
The Last Cause. A metaphysical location defined as The End. From certain frames of reference, it is also defined as The Beginning.
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Arrival: Naruto
Endfall
A zero on the singularity.
- Location
- Somewhere else.
- Pronouns
- She/They
In Takamagahara, the high plain of heaven, a lonely god stood above a representation of the world's waters. Clear, transperfect, and an unearthly blue, though the frame of the being's body moved, its feet created not a single ripple, and the air circulating through its lungs did not trace against the surface. This was the perfected world, and in this place, the water would only act as the god willed it, and even then, only to the patterns of its will.
This, perhaps, had bearing on why the god was so lonely; for in this perfect vacuum of a world, what bore meaning that wasn't held to do so? What had beauty, that wasn't by design? Takamagahara was a world constructed, and in that was its downfall. For what worth did a constructed world have, when none saw it but the makers?
All of this is presumption, however. I do not claim to understand that god. I only offer an explanation. The truth might be something stranger still.
As the god stood, frozen upon the surface of the water, two things occurred. First, a whisper, from his sister god, who organised the flow of the world as he administrated its structure. This whisper held two words, and these were: "Samsara Breaker."
The second was that a comet bloomed into existence, and began to descend from the sky. For the moment, it was not headed for the errant god, but Takamagahara was sculpted by the hands of divinity, and so, with a thought, the lonely god gave the subtle geometries of this place leave to bend only toward him.
Then, he waited.
The comet turned through the sky, following an eldritch path as the direction of its descent was constrained, and as it slowly grew larger the god's hand rose in eerie synchronicity, as if it and the comet were two pieces of a single thing, inextricably linked. But it was not so. All that there was was inhuman, perfect skill, in finding the right moment, and drawing towards it.
And then there was no time at all.
The comet screamed towards the lonely god, who held his hand before it, and there, in the final extremity, its progress was forced to a halt, for
with a single act of will,
not assumed, but commanded,
the fury of its approach was denied.
And then, all that was left was a sphere, which appeared as if it were made of white marble and darkness. This, the lonely god held.
Here, I met the one called Shinigami.
The world inverted.
The lonely god stood on the material plane, and I found myself corporeal, for the mean.
This is how everything began.
"So," the god spoke first, "You have broken your soul."
"That I even have a soul shows how broken things are, I suppose," I said.
The god's eyes narrowed. "Explain."
"My world had no souls. Have I gone insane?"
"That question has no answer. If I say yes, I may be lying, if I say no, I may be a delusion attempting to perpetuate its existence. Do you agree?"
"Yes." There was no other answer.
"Then let us move on. Why have you come to this seed[world]?"
I perked up.
"That[It] is[was] an[not] interesting[by] trick[design]."
"I will ask you to refrain from unnecessary multiplexing," the god said.
"Why[Efficient.]?"
"Because there are finer things than efficiency. Or do you hail from a machine seed[world] where such an idea is heresy?"
"I hail from a quantum world," I said.
"Then why are you here?"
"Presumably," I said, "Because quantum immortality is true, but the universe couldn't reconcile my continued existence with vacuum collapse."
"A coherent narrative," the god allowed, "But why, in the first place, did such a thing occur?"
"A good question. I have no idea."
The god stared at me for a moment, then slowly nodded. "Very well. Your soul shows no dishonesty. I am satisfied that you will not murder the world."
What.
"I will explain to you the nature of the ground," the god continued, as if it hadn't said something ridiculous. "In the system of reality that you currently partake, there is a cycle of death and rebirth for all souls. I administrate death. My sister, rebirth. The system in totality is called samsara."
"We actually had that word in my world," I volunteered.
"Did you now? Unsurprising," The administrator of death said, and continued, "It is rare, but occasionally, there are souls that escape the system. In approaching the world, I believe that you - your wave-function - accreted a soul, and that the incompatibility caused your... Unconventional arrival."
"Given that I know absolutely nothing of metaphysics[and its strange to be using that term seriously] I accept your hypothesis."
"Very well," said the administrator of death, "but you must also know what typically becomes of souls that cannot be accepted by the samsara."
The question was its own answer. "Let me guess - nothing good?"
"Insanity is by far the most common outcome," The god said, "And what makes that a problem is that a Samsara Breaker only accumulates experience. There is no cleansing. No reset."
"No murder," I said.
"What?" The god.
"No murder. They remain who they were. The slate is never wiped clean. They are, who they are, who they are."
"Just so," said the god, "But why murder?"
"Quantum universe. Where I come from, the memories are the person."
"Ah. This seed[world] operates otherwise."
"Thank goodness," I said. It wasn't feigned. "So, I'm atypical?"
"Yes, and that is the crux of the issue."
"Define."
"At the moment, you are not the only one active on this seed[world]. There is another."
"One of the madmen?"
"Yes."
"You cannot destroy it?"
"I cannot find it." That admission was why I assigned them a lowercase g.
"But..."
"I believe that you may be able to. Like attracts like, in this case."
"Incentive?"
"My seal."
"Benefits?"
"It will mark you sane, if your soul cannot be contained by our cycle."
Ah. Useful.
"I accept."
"Then be born."
And so I was.
LexiconThe Quantum Worlds
An intermediate level of hierarchy in the Omniverse that exists after the level of complexity necessary to for multiverses to contain intelligent life, but before the level allowing acausality metrics to exist. A unique subset: for most Multiverses in the Quantum Worlds, no distinction between a Universe and Multiverse can be drawn.
Takamagahara
Translates as the High Plain of Heaven. A constructed world where the beings that administrate the natural world live.
Vacuum Collapse
Imagine the universe is a soap bubble. Pop the bubble. Do not imagine anything remains, afterwards. This is not an existential apocalypse. This is an ontological one.
Notes.
Early because almost nothing bore changing. The writing here is really spare, but I'm not yet skilled enough to see how to improve it without breaking certain things.
This, perhaps, had bearing on why the god was so lonely; for in this perfect vacuum of a world, what bore meaning that wasn't held to do so? What had beauty, that wasn't by design? Takamagahara was a world constructed, and in that was its downfall. For what worth did a constructed world have, when none saw it but the makers?
All of this is presumption, however. I do not claim to understand that god. I only offer an explanation. The truth might be something stranger still.
As the god stood, frozen upon the surface of the water, two things occurred. First, a whisper, from his sister god, who organised the flow of the world as he administrated its structure. This whisper held two words, and these were: "Samsara Breaker."
The second was that a comet bloomed into existence, and began to descend from the sky. For the moment, it was not headed for the errant god, but Takamagahara was sculpted by the hands of divinity, and so, with a thought, the lonely god gave the subtle geometries of this place leave to bend only toward him.
Then, he waited.
The comet turned through the sky, following an eldritch path as the direction of its descent was constrained, and as it slowly grew larger the god's hand rose in eerie synchronicity, as if it and the comet were two pieces of a single thing, inextricably linked. But it was not so. All that there was was inhuman, perfect skill, in finding the right moment, and drawing towards it.
And then there was no time at all.
The comet screamed towards the lonely god, who held his hand before it, and there, in the final extremity, its progress was forced to a halt, for
with a single act of will,
not assumed, but commanded,
the fury of its approach was denied.
And then, all that was left was a sphere, which appeared as if it were made of white marble and darkness. This, the lonely god held.
Here, I met the one called Shinigami.
The world inverted.
The lonely god stood on the material plane, and I found myself corporeal, for the mean.
This is how everything began.
"So," the god spoke first, "You have broken your soul."
"That I even have a soul shows how broken things are, I suppose," I said.
The god's eyes narrowed. "Explain."
"My world had no souls. Have I gone insane?"
"That question has no answer. If I say yes, I may be lying, if I say no, I may be a delusion attempting to perpetuate its existence. Do you agree?"
"Yes." There was no other answer.
"Then let us move on. Why have you come to this seed[world]?"
I perked up.
"That[It] is[was] an[not] interesting[by] trick[design]."
"I will ask you to refrain from unnecessary multiplexing," the god said.
"Why[Efficient.]?"
"Because there are finer things than efficiency. Or do you hail from a machine seed[world] where such an idea is heresy?"
"I hail from a quantum world," I said.
"Then why are you here?"
"Presumably," I said, "Because quantum immortality is true, but the universe couldn't reconcile my continued existence with vacuum collapse."
"A coherent narrative," the god allowed, "But why, in the first place, did such a thing occur?"
"A good question. I have no idea."
The god stared at me for a moment, then slowly nodded. "Very well. Your soul shows no dishonesty. I am satisfied that you will not murder the world."
What.
"I will explain to you the nature of the ground," the god continued, as if it hadn't said something ridiculous. "In the system of reality that you currently partake, there is a cycle of death and rebirth for all souls. I administrate death. My sister, rebirth. The system in totality is called samsara."
"We actually had that word in my world," I volunteered.
"Did you now? Unsurprising," The administrator of death said, and continued, "It is rare, but occasionally, there are souls that escape the system. In approaching the world, I believe that you - your wave-function - accreted a soul, and that the incompatibility caused your... Unconventional arrival."
"Given that I know absolutely nothing of metaphysics[and its strange to be using that term seriously] I accept your hypothesis."
"Very well," said the administrator of death, "but you must also know what typically becomes of souls that cannot be accepted by the samsara."
The question was its own answer. "Let me guess - nothing good?"
"Insanity is by far the most common outcome," The god said, "And what makes that a problem is that a Samsara Breaker only accumulates experience. There is no cleansing. No reset."
"No murder," I said.
"What?" The god.
"No murder. They remain who they were. The slate is never wiped clean. They are, who they are, who they are."
"Just so," said the god, "But why murder?"
"Quantum universe. Where I come from, the memories are the person."
"Ah. This seed[world] operates otherwise."
"Thank goodness," I said. It wasn't feigned. "So, I'm atypical?"
"Yes, and that is the crux of the issue."
"Define."
"At the moment, you are not the only one active on this seed[world]. There is another."
"One of the madmen?"
"Yes."
"You cannot destroy it?"
"I cannot find it." That admission was why I assigned them a lowercase g.
"But..."
"I believe that you may be able to. Like attracts like, in this case."
"Incentive?"
"My seal."
"Benefits?"
"It will mark you sane, if your soul cannot be contained by our cycle."
Ah. Useful.
"I accept."
"Then be born."
And so I was.
SNI
Lexicon
An intermediate level of hierarchy in the Omniverse that exists after the level of complexity necessary to for multiverses to contain intelligent life, but before the level allowing acausality metrics to exist. A unique subset: for most Multiverses in the Quantum Worlds, no distinction between a Universe and Multiverse can be drawn.
Takamagahara
Translates as the High Plain of Heaven. A constructed world where the beings that administrate the natural world live.
Vacuum Collapse
Imagine the universe is a soap bubble. Pop the bubble. Do not imagine anything remains, afterwards. This is not an existential apocalypse. This is an ontological one.
Notes.
Early because almost nothing bore changing. The writing here is really spare, but I'm not yet skilled enough to see how to improve it without breaking certain things.
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Can you explain this in more/better detail?
Endfall
A zero on the singularity.
- Location
- Somewhere else.
- Pronouns
- She/They
@meloa789
Thanks; I can't wait either. Escalating this is going to be fun.
Sure. More or less, empty space is not empty. The quantum fields permeate it, and by that property, facilitate physics as we know them. There's an idea floating around physics that these quantum fields might not be at their lowest possible energy state, but at a so-called metastable state. This is a bit like when you put a bottle of water in a freezer overnight, and it's still liquid in the morning even though the water is way below zero degrees. (Youtube video of that.) Just like how you can hit one of those bottles, and inject enough energy into the system to cause runaway crystalisation, if we live in a metastable vacuum, an event with a high enough level of energy could cause something analogous to the quantum fields.
That's a Vacuum Metastability Event. It's an existential apocalypse, because once the quantum fields undergo such an event, whatever comes afterwards is unlikely to bare any resemblance to the universe as we know it. The energy levels of the quantum fields specify how they function; change the levels, and you effectively change physics.
Vacuum Collapse is something slightly different. Instead of the field's energy levels being in a metastable state, the fields themselves are a metastable state. In this scenario, if a metastability event occurs, reality fails in a way so complete that it's invalid to even say, "there was another universe here, once", because to say that, and for it to mean something, there would have to be some trace of the causality that lead to there not being anything. And there is no such trace: once everything, everywhere, has become nothing, by definition, there is no trace that there ever was anything to begin with.
@flashburn
Hahahaha, just wait.
Thanks; I can't wait either. Escalating this is going to be fun.
Sure. More or less, empty space is not empty. The quantum fields permeate it, and by that property, facilitate physics as we know them. There's an idea floating around physics that these quantum fields might not be at their lowest possible energy state, but at a so-called metastable state. This is a bit like when you put a bottle of water in a freezer overnight, and it's still liquid in the morning even though the water is way below zero degrees. (Youtube video of that.) Just like how you can hit one of those bottles, and inject enough energy into the system to cause runaway crystalisation, if we live in a metastable vacuum, an event with a high enough level of energy could cause something analogous to the quantum fields.
That's a Vacuum Metastability Event. It's an existential apocalypse, because once the quantum fields undergo such an event, whatever comes afterwards is unlikely to bare any resemblance to the universe as we know it. The energy levels of the quantum fields specify how they function; change the levels, and you effectively change physics.
Vacuum Collapse is something slightly different. Instead of the field's energy levels being in a metastable state, the fields themselves are a metastable state. In this scenario, if a metastability event occurs, reality fails in a way so complete that it's invalid to even say, "there was another universe here, once", because to say that, and for it to mean something, there would have to be some trace of the causality that lead to there not being anything. And there is no such trace: once everything, everywhere, has become nothing, by definition, there is no trace that there ever was anything to begin with.
@flashburn
Hahahaha, just wait.
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will408914
(slouching towards bethlehem)
- Location
- California
This is why I love your writing: these head-twisting concepts are so... so... head-twisting.
I can't think of a better descriptor than that. It gives a completely different feel to your work than the feel of anything else I've ever read.
Well. This is the first time I've seen a SI's rebirth prepared and described so consistently and carefully. Consider my mind blown.
Endfall
A zero on the singularity.
- Location
- Somewhere else.
- Pronouns
- She/They
I... huh. I just like writing about extreme cases. Like, you have a system of rules, yeah? So given those rules, what are the most insane inferences that you can draw, and how can you use them in a story? It's tremendous fun, if very difficult to take out of fanfiction, because then the problem becomes not finding the implications, but designing the rules such that, inevitably, such implications arise without being fundamentally obvious.
I'm glad you're enjoying it.
For more such works, If you haven't read them, I'd reccomend the works of Neal Stephenson and Stephen Baxter. More the latter. I only started/burned through Stephenson's works last year, but I consider Baxter to have had a wholly disproportionate influence on the type of things I write. You might enjoy them.
Well. This is the first time I've seen a SI's rebirth prepared and described so consistently and carefully. Consider my mind blown.
Glad you liked it. There are a whole slew of reasons for why it turned out that way, but the most direct one is that this marks the start of this long journey, and should be one of the most important sections of the narrative. On the meta-level, there are great benefits to be realised in making your SI not unique in their ability to reincarnate into fictional worlds.
Maple of the Fall
Endfall
A zero on the singularity.
- Location
- Somewhere else.
- Pronouns
- She/They
Being reborn was neither pleasant or unpleasant, because for me, it never happened. In this world, the goddess - Rinnegami - said that there were those meant to live, and those whose purpose in life was to die. I was assigned to one of the latter, and her (my) position made inverse. Two hours after she had died, a child named Uzumaki Touren returned to life. I returned with her - as her.
By literal divine providence, a shinobi pulled me from the wreckage of a hospital in the shattered remnant of Uzushiogakure, and took me to another place, named Konohagakure no Sato, the village hidden in leaves. There, under the shadow of something that vaguely resembled a partially complete echo of Mount Rushmore, I spent my first years. Not in the care of a loving family; but in an orphanage, and glad for it. The caretaker was an interesting man. One night I found him writing ciphertext, and that was when we came to know each other.
"Mn," I said, "Hey Kazu-san," as I walked past to get a glass of water. Kazu twitched.
"Kaede-chan?" He said my Konoha-given name with an undercurrent of tension colouring his voice. I climbed up onto the counter top and got a glass down. "What are you doing up?"
If what he was writing had been a legitimate report, then there should have been no particular worry. Hello, I thought.
"Evidently?" I said, scooting over to the tap, "Frightening you. Kiri or Iwa?" I asked, echoing the names of Konoha's prime enemies, without really caring how he answered.
"Excuse me?" Ah, there was the danger. The threat. The malice. The I-am-a-blade-to-your-throatness that marked killers apart.
"'m not with Konoha," I said as I poured myself a glass, and began drinking, holding it with both hands to counteract the weakness of my childish frame. "If I was, I wouldn't be so sloppy. Really, I'm just looking for one thing."
"And what's that?" Some of the danger had drained out of Kazu's voice.
"A peer. Someone to talk to. Humans are social creatures, but the other children are closer to animals than they are to you or me. Exposing the fact that I've deconstructed that you were a spy seemed like an optimal method." After all, he couldn't afford to report me to the authorities, and he wouldn't want to anyway - why strengthen your enemy?
Kazu scoffed. "Yeah, if getting killed was your goal!" Shaking his head in something that I guessed was bewilderment, he said, "Fine. I'll accept you're not a Konoha plant, because this scenario makes even less sense if you aren't a random genius. I'm Fujioka Kazu, of Kiri, and now, I'm going to put a seal on you."
"You are going to try," I said, but walked over agreeably.
About thirty minutes later, and after a refreshing conversation about the current geopolitical situation that was by far more informative than what I had been able to attain in my first three years of experience, Kazu had finished his seal, and held his hand in a sign, mumbling fuin. There was a brief sensation of heat and constraint, and then a sound like shattering glass. As Kazu gaped, I spoke calmly.
"I am currently under contract with a god," I said, "I was to die in Uzushio, but agreed to destroy a certain demon in return for my life. The agreement involved a seal on my soul. Needless to say, mortal sealcraft construed as mental interference will not be tolerated." Thank you, Shinigami, I thought. I hadn't been given much to work with, but without this one thing, anything could've just happened to me.
As this passed through my mind, Kazu just stared at me, his face locked in a moment of sheer incredulity that he would probably consider a disgrace. Then, without warning, he slumped. "Bloody fuck," he muttered, "Of course it would be a god, of course you're a genius, and of course you're from Uzushio. I bet your real surname is Uzumaki."
And just like that, something actually interesting appeared. Even after three years, I hadn't been able to learn much about the shape of the world. The people on the streets were as ignorant as peasants, and save for the moment I discovered him, Kazu had payed his role well. "Uzumaki?" I asked.
Kazu made a vague gesture. "Sealing clan. Ran Uzushio. Made a contract with Shinigami."
"Ah," I said, "I might be that. Not certain."
"It's likely," Kazu said, "You came out of Uzushiogakure." He sighed. "Worst thing about this situation is that I can't even extract you to Kiri. Fuckin' treehuggers watch the orphanages real close."
"Would Kiri help me achieve my mission better?" I asked. Of course, the answer was probably -
"Not really. But someone like you? A natural genius of your calibre? If you're not a leading general in Konoha's army in ten years... and I can't even kill you without pissing off a god. Wonderful. I need a drink. Do you want a drink?"
Given that the wavefunctions comprising my existence had nearly nothing to do with my brain anymore?
"Sure, why not?" I ignored his casual admission of thinking about killing me.
"Right," Kazu said, getting out of the chair and walking over to the kitchen. With an easy kind of grace that I had never seen in the man before, he got some sake out of the pantry, heated it, and served it. Without waiting for a toast, he knocked the first saucer of his drink back, and when he refilled, I raised my own saucer and said, "To... eternity."
Kazu glanced at me one eyebrow raised, and I flushed, embarrassed for no reason. I knocked back my own saucer, and relished the subtle burn of it as it trickled down my throat. As I placed my saucer back on the table, Kazu made to refill it but I waved him off. "Still a kid. That's probably more than enough to do me." Kazu shrugged, and partook of his third saucer much more slowly.
"So," he said as he finished, "A mission from a god, huh?"
I nodded, and lied. "Commissioned by Shinigami, enacted by Rinnegami. A certain shinobi invented an immortality technique that allows him to remember his past lives. This has had the effect of driving him utterly insane, and every time he reincarnates, there's a chance that the insanity propagates to uninvolved people. By not living one life, but all of them, he became a karmic demon, which they called a Samsara Breaker. If I kill him, instead of going through the normal process of rebirth, he will go directly to Shinigami, who will eat him, and my, but my inhibitions are lowered." I blinked, feigning surprise.. "I didn't expect it to hit me that quickly."
Kazu shrugged, indifferent to the entire bit about alcohol, then leant forward. "I'm going to give you some advice, Kaede."
"Shoot."
Kazu blinked.
"Shu... tou?" Had I said that in english? I had said that in english.
My inhibitions actually were lowered. Huh.
"I mean, go ahead."
Kazu frowned, but said, "The way you were talking made it pretty clear that you either don't know who your target is, or that that target could have already changed if he died and was reborn. That about right?"
I nodded.
"Okay," Kazu said, standing up, and beginning to pace, "You have a few options. First, this target was a shinobi in one of his lives: he's not going to be destroyed by civilian means. You need to become a ninja. But what type of ninja? Kiri is out, and you won't be allowed to leave the village until you're fourteen - too old to become an enemy shinobi - so you're going to have to become a Konoha-nin. At least nominally. Then, there are two branches: Standard and Elite. Standard is probably your best bet - there are lots of high-independence positions in the standard forces, but elites are the ones who get access to Konoha's actual jutsu, and not the stuff that anyone knows. In return, it's harder, more lethal. Loss of Elite Genin had been Konoha's biggest problem for decades."
"You know quite a bit," I said, the observation casual. The look I got in return contained a not insignificant amount of derision.
"I'm a spy, Kaede-chan. Knowing is what I do."
I nodded, acknowledging the point. "Then, why are you helping me?"
Kazu huffed out an amused breath. "Well, at least you're as suspicious as you should be. I'm helping you because it helps a god. I don't buy into all that crap about 'sacred duties' or whatever, but I figure it can't hurt me to do my part. And anyway, it sounds like this, what did you call it? Karmic demon?"
I nodded, and Kazu continued, "It definitely sounds like a threat to Kiri, too. Unless I get orders otherwise, why wouldn't I help?"
That was... perfectly rational. I examined it again, looking for a trap, but found none. It made sense, and slowly, I nodded. "All right. I think I believe you. So. Shinobi. Gotta say, I was already considering it. Supernal abilities are one hell of a force multiplier. But I'm curious as to one thing, Kazu-san."
"Shuto." I did not facepalm.
"You've told me why you're helping me. But... What's your endgame?"
Kazu blinked. Then, he burst out laughing.
"Gods and silence, you really are a kid. You know that that question just invites a lie, right?" I shrugged.
"Sure, but if I were someone acting in opposition to this village, I would aim to develop a good working relationship with an unexpected asset. Who knows? One day she might find Konoha not to her liking - and then what might happen?"
Instantly, Kazu's expression grew serious. "Are you offering to defect?"
I made a cutting gesture with my hand. "It's not defection if I was never loyal." I rose. "Well, think about it, anyway. My purpose in life was made clear to me from the beginning. I could use you, and depending on the future, I'm sure Kiri could use me. All I ask is a bit of support if the time comes."
After that, the conversation came to a close. Rather awkwardly, if I had to admit, but then, I had mostly forgotten what it meant to be human. This type of tit-for-tat was well within my abilities, but warmth and naturalness were things that I was going to have to work for.
Fortunately, I hadn't forgotten how to play things close to the chest.
I needed Kazu far more than he would never need me - and far more than even I realised, because there was one last part to my encounter with the administrators of the world that wasn't included in the last piece of my narrative.
"So tell me," I said, as we walked towards the ruins of a hospital, "In this instance of the world, did the wisteria lotus bloom?"
And I knew I had made a mistake. I knew, because the strange emotional silence that had been throughout the entirety of my conversation with the Shinigami came to an abrupt halt, and I had the sudden and absolute knowledge that the entirety of the world had turned its attention towards my death.
"Care to repeat that?" It was phrased as a question, but delivered as a command.
If I wanted to live there was only one option.
"Did -" I managed to force out, as the world clamped its grip around my throat like a vice, "- they find Tenma Chakra?"
And the pressure was gone.
"No," Shinigami said, "They did not. Samsara Breaker, I must apologise, but I have to alter the terms of our deal. With that, you have shown you know too much - far too much. I regret this, but if you want to live, I will have to seal your memories of this world." The god paused for a moment, then added, "All of them."
Unacceptable. "You might as well murder me and be done with it," I said, preparing for the same.
"...I might, would that your death laid on my paradigms. But this is not a quantum world, and I do not have the means. This is what I offer: Life without any memory of this world, and my seal on the completion of your task; Neither life nor death, but continuance in our world of Takamagahara, where your knowledge can do no harm. It would be comfortable. You would want for nothing - the world would respond to your every whim."
And that wasn't really a choice at all. Under my philosophy, Heaven and Hell were indistinguishable.
"If I leave the world," I proposed, "I will regain my memories."
The god stared at me for a long, long time, considering. At last -
"Acceptable. It will be so."
I took a deep breath.
"Then," I said, holding out my hand, "You have yourself a deal."
The god reached out, and clasped it.
"So be it."
At the time, I had no recollection of the agreement - those memories too, had been taken from me. All I knew, in the beginning, was that I knew nothing. And my hunger for knowing could have consumed worlds.
LexiconTenma Chakra - The Wisteria Lotus
A noncanon chakra type that, in another time, in another place, was used as the cornerstone of the civilisation that came before the advent of of the Sage and the Jyuubi. It violates the second law of thermodynamics. The civilisation that used it made a habit of casually rearranging the continents of Earth to suit the needs of the day. They had the technical capacity (though not the interest) to do the same to Laniakea.
My SI was using it as a spotcheck to see if s/he fell into Canon Naruto, or one of his/her AUs. The answer was a bit unexpected - Canon events, apparently, but some AU laws of metaphysics.
Of course, Kaede can't remember this because, ah, oops?
Note to self: DO NOT ASK GODS ABOUT HYPERWEAPONS.
Kaede's Immunity to Seals
I don't intend to write a power trip, so don't imagine that this is solely an advantage.
By literal divine providence, a shinobi pulled me from the wreckage of a hospital in the shattered remnant of Uzushiogakure, and took me to another place, named Konohagakure no Sato, the village hidden in leaves. There, under the shadow of something that vaguely resembled a partially complete echo of Mount Rushmore, I spent my first years. Not in the care of a loving family; but in an orphanage, and glad for it. The caretaker was an interesting man. One night I found him writing ciphertext, and that was when we came to know each other.
"Mn," I said, "Hey Kazu-san," as I walked past to get a glass of water. Kazu twitched.
"Kaede-chan?" He said my Konoha-given name with an undercurrent of tension colouring his voice. I climbed up onto the counter top and got a glass down. "What are you doing up?"
If what he was writing had been a legitimate report, then there should have been no particular worry. Hello, I thought.
"Evidently?" I said, scooting over to the tap, "Frightening you. Kiri or Iwa?" I asked, echoing the names of Konoha's prime enemies, without really caring how he answered.
"Excuse me?" Ah, there was the danger. The threat. The malice. The I-am-a-blade-to-your-throatness that marked killers apart.
"'m not with Konoha," I said as I poured myself a glass, and began drinking, holding it with both hands to counteract the weakness of my childish frame. "If I was, I wouldn't be so sloppy. Really, I'm just looking for one thing."
"And what's that?" Some of the danger had drained out of Kazu's voice.
"A peer. Someone to talk to. Humans are social creatures, but the other children are closer to animals than they are to you or me. Exposing the fact that I've deconstructed that you were a spy seemed like an optimal method." After all, he couldn't afford to report me to the authorities, and he wouldn't want to anyway - why strengthen your enemy?
Kazu scoffed. "Yeah, if getting killed was your goal!" Shaking his head in something that I guessed was bewilderment, he said, "Fine. I'll accept you're not a Konoha plant, because this scenario makes even less sense if you aren't a random genius. I'm Fujioka Kazu, of Kiri, and now, I'm going to put a seal on you."
"You are going to try," I said, but walked over agreeably.
About thirty minutes later, and after a refreshing conversation about the current geopolitical situation that was by far more informative than what I had been able to attain in my first three years of experience, Kazu had finished his seal, and held his hand in a sign, mumbling fuin. There was a brief sensation of heat and constraint, and then a sound like shattering glass. As Kazu gaped, I spoke calmly.
"I am currently under contract with a god," I said, "I was to die in Uzushio, but agreed to destroy a certain demon in return for my life. The agreement involved a seal on my soul. Needless to say, mortal sealcraft construed as mental interference will not be tolerated." Thank you, Shinigami, I thought. I hadn't been given much to work with, but without this one thing, anything could've just happened to me.
As this passed through my mind, Kazu just stared at me, his face locked in a moment of sheer incredulity that he would probably consider a disgrace. Then, without warning, he slumped. "Bloody fuck," he muttered, "Of course it would be a god, of course you're a genius, and of course you're from Uzushio. I bet your real surname is Uzumaki."
And just like that, something actually interesting appeared. Even after three years, I hadn't been able to learn much about the shape of the world. The people on the streets were as ignorant as peasants, and save for the moment I discovered him, Kazu had payed his role well. "Uzumaki?" I asked.
Kazu made a vague gesture. "Sealing clan. Ran Uzushio. Made a contract with Shinigami."
"Ah," I said, "I might be that. Not certain."
"It's likely," Kazu said, "You came out of Uzushiogakure." He sighed. "Worst thing about this situation is that I can't even extract you to Kiri. Fuckin' treehuggers watch the orphanages real close."
"Would Kiri help me achieve my mission better?" I asked. Of course, the answer was probably -
"Not really. But someone like you? A natural genius of your calibre? If you're not a leading general in Konoha's army in ten years... and I can't even kill you without pissing off a god. Wonderful. I need a drink. Do you want a drink?"
Given that the wavefunctions comprising my existence had nearly nothing to do with my brain anymore?
"Sure, why not?" I ignored his casual admission of thinking about killing me.
"Right," Kazu said, getting out of the chair and walking over to the kitchen. With an easy kind of grace that I had never seen in the man before, he got some sake out of the pantry, heated it, and served it. Without waiting for a toast, he knocked the first saucer of his drink back, and when he refilled, I raised my own saucer and said, "To... eternity."
Kazu glanced at me one eyebrow raised, and I flushed, embarrassed for no reason. I knocked back my own saucer, and relished the subtle burn of it as it trickled down my throat. As I placed my saucer back on the table, Kazu made to refill it but I waved him off. "Still a kid. That's probably more than enough to do me." Kazu shrugged, and partook of his third saucer much more slowly.
"So," he said as he finished, "A mission from a god, huh?"
I nodded, and lied. "Commissioned by Shinigami, enacted by Rinnegami. A certain shinobi invented an immortality technique that allows him to remember his past lives. This has had the effect of driving him utterly insane, and every time he reincarnates, there's a chance that the insanity propagates to uninvolved people. By not living one life, but all of them, he became a karmic demon, which they called a Samsara Breaker. If I kill him, instead of going through the normal process of rebirth, he will go directly to Shinigami, who will eat him, and my, but my inhibitions are lowered." I blinked, feigning surprise.. "I didn't expect it to hit me that quickly."
Kazu shrugged, indifferent to the entire bit about alcohol, then leant forward. "I'm going to give you some advice, Kaede."
"Shoot."
Kazu blinked.
"Shu... tou?" Had I said that in english? I had said that in english.
My inhibitions actually were lowered. Huh.
"I mean, go ahead."
Kazu frowned, but said, "The way you were talking made it pretty clear that you either don't know who your target is, or that that target could have already changed if he died and was reborn. That about right?"
I nodded.
"Okay," Kazu said, standing up, and beginning to pace, "You have a few options. First, this target was a shinobi in one of his lives: he's not going to be destroyed by civilian means. You need to become a ninja. But what type of ninja? Kiri is out, and you won't be allowed to leave the village until you're fourteen - too old to become an enemy shinobi - so you're going to have to become a Konoha-nin. At least nominally. Then, there are two branches: Standard and Elite. Standard is probably your best bet - there are lots of high-independence positions in the standard forces, but elites are the ones who get access to Konoha's actual jutsu, and not the stuff that anyone knows. In return, it's harder, more lethal. Loss of Elite Genin had been Konoha's biggest problem for decades."
"You know quite a bit," I said, the observation casual. The look I got in return contained a not insignificant amount of derision.
"I'm a spy, Kaede-chan. Knowing is what I do."
I nodded, acknowledging the point. "Then, why are you helping me?"
Kazu huffed out an amused breath. "Well, at least you're as suspicious as you should be. I'm helping you because it helps a god. I don't buy into all that crap about 'sacred duties' or whatever, but I figure it can't hurt me to do my part. And anyway, it sounds like this, what did you call it? Karmic demon?"
I nodded, and Kazu continued, "It definitely sounds like a threat to Kiri, too. Unless I get orders otherwise, why wouldn't I help?"
That was... perfectly rational. I examined it again, looking for a trap, but found none. It made sense, and slowly, I nodded. "All right. I think I believe you. So. Shinobi. Gotta say, I was already considering it. Supernal abilities are one hell of a force multiplier. But I'm curious as to one thing, Kazu-san."
"Shuto." I did not facepalm.
"You've told me why you're helping me. But... What's your endgame?"
Kazu blinked. Then, he burst out laughing.
"Gods and silence, you really are a kid. You know that that question just invites a lie, right?" I shrugged.
"Sure, but if I were someone acting in opposition to this village, I would aim to develop a good working relationship with an unexpected asset. Who knows? One day she might find Konoha not to her liking - and then what might happen?"
Instantly, Kazu's expression grew serious. "Are you offering to defect?"
I made a cutting gesture with my hand. "It's not defection if I was never loyal." I rose. "Well, think about it, anyway. My purpose in life was made clear to me from the beginning. I could use you, and depending on the future, I'm sure Kiri could use me. All I ask is a bit of support if the time comes."
After that, the conversation came to a close. Rather awkwardly, if I had to admit, but then, I had mostly forgotten what it meant to be human. This type of tit-for-tat was well within my abilities, but warmth and naturalness were things that I was going to have to work for.
Fortunately, I hadn't forgotten how to play things close to the chest.
I needed Kazu far more than he would never need me - and far more than even I realised, because there was one last part to my encounter with the administrators of the world that wasn't included in the last piece of my narrative.
Uzushio Burning - Three Years Prior
"So tell me," I said, as we walked towards the ruins of a hospital, "In this instance of the world, did the wisteria lotus bloom?"
And I knew I had made a mistake. I knew, because the strange emotional silence that had been throughout the entirety of my conversation with the Shinigami came to an abrupt halt, and I had the sudden and absolute knowledge that the entirety of the world had turned its attention towards my death.
"Care to repeat that?" It was phrased as a question, but delivered as a command.
If I wanted to live there was only one option.
"Did -" I managed to force out, as the world clamped its grip around my throat like a vice, "- they find Tenma Chakra?"
And the pressure was gone.
"No," Shinigami said, "They did not. Samsara Breaker, I must apologise, but I have to alter the terms of our deal. With that, you have shown you know too much - far too much. I regret this, but if you want to live, I will have to seal your memories of this world." The god paused for a moment, then added, "All of them."
Unacceptable. "You might as well murder me and be done with it," I said, preparing for the same.
"...I might, would that your death laid on my paradigms. But this is not a quantum world, and I do not have the means. This is what I offer: Life without any memory of this world, and my seal on the completion of your task; Neither life nor death, but continuance in our world of Takamagahara, where your knowledge can do no harm. It would be comfortable. You would want for nothing - the world would respond to your every whim."
And that wasn't really a choice at all. Under my philosophy, Heaven and Hell were indistinguishable.
"If I leave the world," I proposed, "I will regain my memories."
The god stared at me for a long, long time, considering. At last -
"Acceptable. It will be so."
I took a deep breath.
"Then," I said, holding out my hand, "You have yourself a deal."
The god reached out, and clasped it.
"So be it."
At the time, I had no recollection of the agreement - those memories too, had been taken from me. All I knew, in the beginning, was that I knew nothing. And my hunger for knowing could have consumed worlds.
SNI
Lexicon
A noncanon chakra type that, in another time, in another place, was used as the cornerstone of the civilisation that came before the advent of of the Sage and the Jyuubi. It violates the second law of thermodynamics. The civilisation that used it made a habit of casually rearranging the continents of Earth to suit the needs of the day. They had the technical capacity (though not the interest) to do the same to Laniakea.
My SI was using it as a spotcheck to see if s/he fell into Canon Naruto, or one of his/her AUs. The answer was a bit unexpected - Canon events, apparently, but some AU laws of metaphysics.
Of course, Kaede can't remember this because, ah, oops?
Note to self: DO NOT ASK GODS ABOUT HYPERWEAPONS.
Kaede's Immunity to Seals
I don't intend to write a power trip, so don't imagine that this is solely an advantage.
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What AUs are you talking about with this Tenma chakra stuff?
Endfall
A zero on the singularity.
- Location
- Somewhere else.
- Pronouns
- She/They
An unpublished one called Shinobi. It was supposed to be a series of nine stories, some book length, some not, dealing with a world that came before the era of Shinobi that I called, simply, the Prior, and how it affected the world. A peggy sue, more or less. I'm probably not going to be writing it after all, so I can publish some worldbuilding materials if you're interested.
...as Shinigami said, Tenma Chakra was never found in this world, so that material isn't valid. Had I chosen to let Kaede enter the world with knowledge of TC, Shinigami would have answered a slightly different question from her in the affirmative, misleading her without any active malice on his part to believe that she was living inside of that AU, leading to a bunch of mistakes branching from faulty assumptions that don't hold in a world with canon's history.
I figured it would be simpler to work with the Canonical event-structure, since it would let me focus more tightly on the story, and I wouldn't have to walk anyone through the changes resulting from two hundred years of human insanity fueled by unfettered public access to truly unlimited energy.
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Thank you for the answer. I would be very interested in the world building material!
Endfall
A zero on the singularity.
- Location
- Somewhere else.
- Pronouns
- She/They
@LordCassius
Okay, this is most of what I have, copied verbatim from my worldbuilding site. I've kept some things out, mostly stuff that was too incomplete to be of any conceivable interest to anyone but me. That said: While the Naruto Subarc of SNI does not use the chronology of Shinobi, it does use (some of) the metaphysics, and I did include that material, because without the metaphysics, the chronology is meaningless. Reading this may make future chapters of the Naruto Subarc less interesting, since Kaede will have to discover a lot of the information contained inside of this on her own, and I plan to write this story as if no one has read this infodump.
Consequently, I will simply ignore complaints from anyone who has read this, if those complaints are about re-exposition of things covered within the Spoiler Tag. Okay? All right. Here you go, then:
Okay, this is most of what I have, copied verbatim from my worldbuilding site. I've kept some things out, mostly stuff that was too incomplete to be of any conceivable interest to anyone but me. That said: While the Naruto Subarc of SNI does not use the chronology of Shinobi, it does use (some of) the metaphysics, and I did include that material, because without the metaphysics, the chronology is meaningless. Reading this may make future chapters of the Naruto Subarc less interesting, since Kaede will have to discover a lot of the information contained inside of this on her own, and I plan to write this story as if no one has read this infodump.
Consequently, I will simply ignore complaints from anyone who has read this, if those complaints are about re-exposition of things covered within the Spoiler Tag. Okay? All right. Here you go, then:
Bonus Material - The 死之火 Universe
First, deprecate all canon from the Fourth Shinobi War onwards. I started developing this shortly after the Five Kage conference went to hell, so I'm not using anything from after that point in time unless I liked it. It has absolutely nothing to do with my distaste for the ending arcs! Nothing at all!
The most important things that weren't known at that point were:
- The origin of the Bijuu (beyond the Ten Tails, which had no origin).
- The Identity of the Sage.
- The Identity of Tobi.
Types of Chakra
陰チャクラ - In Chakra
One of the two forms naturally produced by the human body, In Chakra is generated by neuronal activity in animals, and has been confirmed present in the leaves of plants. After science has not been able to determine where it is generated in fungi, only that it is present. It's Color is Black.
陽チャクラ - Yō Chakra
The second of the two forms of Chakra naturally present in the human body. In animals, Yō Chakra is generated by the circulatory system, though After science has been unable to determine the precise nature of the mechanism of such generation. In plants, the form of Chakra is present in the stems and roots of the plants. Fungi do not generate this type of Chakra. It's Color is White.
陰陽チャクラ - Onmyō Chakra
The third form of Chakra, it is only found in sapient animals, such as Humans and emissaries of the Summon Clans. However, it is not present unless the being in question has received the proper training to make use of their Chakra. Prior to this point, their In and Yō Chakra remain separated at all times. After this training, Onmyō Chakra will be present in the body whenever Chakra is being used, along with a small quantity while at rest. It's Color is Grey.
仙チャクラ - Sen Chakra
This form of Chakra is produced in minute quantities by all life, but the only group that extensively makes use of it and thus the ones responsible for over 90% of the amount floating in the atmosphere are bacteria. With proper training, it is possible to absorb it and hook into Saikin Seishin/ The Sea of Minds, the collective consciousness of all the bacteria on Terra. This hookup can grant a number of abilities based on what treaty specific species have with Saikin Seishin in addition to more general benefits provided to all users. Humans, unfortunately, violated the terms of their treaty when the Prior Fell, and so, unless they are granted citizenship within a summoning clan, may only receive a basic level of benefits. Though commonly represented as green, in reality it has no Color.
天魔チャクラ - Tenma Chakra
Initially discovered in Zipangu, a pre-Prior nation homologous to Japan, Tenma Chakra was the basis of the Prior Civilization. It possesses several unique properties, the most important of which is that it specifically violates the Second Law of Thermodynamics. When initially created, Tenma Chakra will, without proper containment, exponentially double in amount for somewhere around one hundred and thirty generations, each generation lasting a Planck Interval. In the final generation, the Tenma Chakra reverts to regular Chakra. However, when inside an animal body, there is no final generation, though, there is a limit to how much power any one body can hold. It's Color is Wisteria.
邪チャクラ - Ja Chakra
Literally, "Evil Chakra". It composes the Bijuu, and is almost exactly like Tenma Chakra. However, it lacks the Breeder Property. This type of Chakra is unnatural, and only exists due to use of Izanagi by SIX. It's Color depends on the Beast.
General Terms
Kekkei Genkai - 血継限界
A common misconception. While they do pass down in bloodlines, there is no true genetic basis for them other than a marker sequence on the 18th chromosome. There are 4.2 thousand million possible combinations that this marker gene can assume. Certain combinations result in "Kekkei Genkai", but the fact of the matter is simply that this gene is one of several that act as commands that are registered and executed by the Terra System. See Seimonshoku Kyokamen.
Prior Systems
A Prior System is a collective of machine consciousnesses designed to legislate the minor aspects of a specific part of the Prior's domain (physical, spiritual, informational, otherwise). There are fourteen of these systems: Soru, Suisei, Kinsei, Terra, Serene, Kasei, Shōwaku Seitai, Mokusei, Dosei, Titan, Tenōsei, Kaiōsei, Meiōsei, and Shinuchu. Soru has dominance over all of the other systems. Terra has dominance over Serene and Dosei has dominance over Titan. The three Imperial Systems can overrule the Soru System if they all agree on any given matter, and Shinuchu can override all other systems in matters of defense unless a 75% majority the others agree it is compromised.
Hoshiki Nenjuko - 方式念誦呼 - System Invocation Call
Often abbreviated as SIC on this site, System Invocation Calls are actions performed by various devices and things that Invoke some function provided by a Prior System. Many electronic devices contain circuit patterns that are specified as SIC's which allow them to calculate certain types of data fast than their processors should otherwise allow. Various Seals are not actually capable of providing their intended effect, but rather are SIC's to a Prior System. Storage Seals as known to the Shinobi are perhaps the most common example.
Seimonshoku Kyokamen - 専門職許可面 - Professional Permission Mask
What "Kekkei Genkai" usually are. Innate/inherent system invocation calls registered to a given individual, they signify to Terra that that person should be accorded a specific set of abilities that usually have something to do with one of the professions of the Prior age.
瞳術 Dōjutsu
Seimonshoku Kyokamen that grant abilities to the Eyes. All "Kekkei Genkai" that cause the Eyes to change permanently or upon activation are classed as Doujutsu until a user dies with it active and an autopsy is performed. If it is not a true Doujutsu, then the Eyes will fade to normal human standard over a period of time. If it is a Doujutsu the eyes will rot in their activated state, or, if preserved, remain in the activated state indefinitely.
力術 Rījutsu
Seimonshoku Kyokamen that grant abilities to mainly the Chakra System. The majority of Release Class "Kekkei Genkai" are this type.
骵術 Teijutsu
Seimonshoku Kyokamen that grant abilities mainly to the body, rather then to the Eyes or Chakra System.
Seimonshoku Kyokamen that grant abilities to the Eyes. All "Kekkei Genkai" that cause the Eyes to change permanently or upon activation are classed as Doujutsu until a user dies with it active and an autopsy is performed. If it is not a true Doujutsu, then the Eyes will fade to normal human standard over a period of time. If it is a Doujutsu the eyes will rot in their activated state, or, if preserved, remain in the activated state indefinitely.
力術 Rījutsu
Seimonshoku Kyokamen that grant abilities to mainly the Chakra System. The majority of Release Class "Kekkei Genkai" are this type.
骵術 Teijutsu
Seimonshoku Kyokamen that grant abilities mainly to the body, rather then to the Eyes or Chakra System.
Ayamari - 謬 - Glitches
Some techniques and "Kekkei Genkai" fall under this category. Shikotsumyaku, for one. [Note: I never developed a clear distinction between Ayamari KGs and Prof. Perm. Mask KGs, so this entry is "complete" as it stands.]
Timeline
0 PE - Tenma Detonation Destroys a 13-mile deep area of Zipangu.130 PE - The first Tenma Reactor is completed
133-157 PE - The other Tenma Reactors of Terra are completed
200 PE - The Terra System is completed
210 PE - Colonization of Sol System commences
230 PE - Large Scale Terraforming commences, of both Earth and all other planets
233 PE - All planetary systems come online. Deep space, asteroid belt, Meiousei, and Serene conceived of.
235 PE - All systems online, except for Serene (The Moon is still under construction).
237 PE - The Administrator GEVENE begins building a series of giant chains contstructed of unnatural black chakra between all the Sytems. Purpose unknown to all but him.
238 PE - Construction of Soru Sphere Begins
239 PE - Prior Civilization catches a glimpse of an elder god. The Executive System is quickly instated, Executive Swords forged.
240 PE - Soru Sphere is completed, used as a backup power source should access to the Tenma Reactors ever be lost.
241 PE - Construction of the Moon is complete. Serene System comes online.
243 PE - The first Elder God to come into contact with the Soru System arrives. It is allowed to proceed to Terra, whence the Executives slay it and begin studying it's body. Hotecha Kanoki technology thus derived.
244 PE - The Execuitives build an artificial Elder God and name it Itsugami.
245 PE - An unknown thing happens, and eliminates the vast majority of Priors. The only remaining populations are on Terra and Mars, however the Mars population is not large enough, and eventually falls to inbreeding problems. [Note: Itsugami did it, but the Priors are to blame. Mars died because all Meikakugan-users there died, and nobody else had a Professional Permission Mask allowing them to hotfix genomes. Typical Prior arrogance.]250 PE/0 HPE - Those remaining on Earth decide to destroy all knowledge of the Prior. Otogana created for the purpose of destroying litertacy in the old systems.
57 HPE - Minor damage to a Tenma Reactor that occured in 247 PE and left unrepaired causes a large surge of Tenma Chakra to enter a single Hotecha Kanoki, granting the device enough mobility to rip itself out of the reactor. The Hotecha Kanoki comes to be named after the number of connectors attached to it's back. Zyuubi. Soru mistakes it for a human due to bad telemetry, and makes it the Executive of Terra.
300 HPE - The gene sequence of a newborn throws a glitch and gives him Administrative Eyes.
321 HPE - The aforementioned Glitch Admin "invents" a swathe of Priortech (Hand Seals, Seals, Chakra, Elemental and Shape Manipulation, etc).
322 HPE - Glitch Admin seals Zyuubi within himself, becoming a real Admin in the process. He is assigned the Admin Code of SIX by the Soru System.
324 HPE - SIX sires fraternal twins. Following standard Dichotomy rules, one possesses the Managerial Eyes, the other, the potential to directly acquire the Administative Eyes. Neither do, however.
340 HPE - SIX, on his deathbed, tests his sons to see who is worthy to inherit the Zyuubi. Both fail. Using Izanagi, SIX splits the creature into nine parts. Using the same technique again, he spreads the malice to the weakest parts and the higher traits to the strongest. Finally, he unsealed the physical body, and creates for the Earth a second moon (a homologue of Cruithne 3753), at the center of which the body is interred. Thus, having used all of his energy, SIX dies.
345-389 HPE - The sons of SIX go on to leave four families as their inheritors. The Bearer of the Eyes left the Uchiha and Hyuuga. The Bearer of Potential left the Senju and Uzumaki.
407 HPE - Dawn of the Shinobi Age.
503 HPE - Founding of Konohagakure no Sato
517-525 HPE - Founding of most other hidden villages
523 HPE - Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara battle and form the Valley of the End. Kyuubi sealed into Uzumaki Mito. However, she was too old to become a Jinchuuriki. Instead, the Kyuubi was sealed, completely, cut off from all sensory stimulation. No mind is meant for such conditions.
525 HPE - Senju Hashirama dies in battle, and the First Great Shinobi War breaks out.
526 HPE - The war ends abruptly -- COME BACK WITH A REASON WHY. [NOTE: NEVER DID. SHOUTING IS FUN.]
532 HPE - The Second Great Shinobi War starts when Takigakure launches an unprovoked attack against Uzushiogakure, all but obliterating it. (This is not the attack that brought the village to utter ruin.)
537 HPE - Senju Tobirama follows in his brother's footsteps. His sacrifice is widely regarded to have ended the war.
545 HPE - Kyuubi finally begins to go insane. To prevent this, it uses 3/4ths of it's total power to create an artificial world, and retreats into it. This world remained sealed in Mito, even when the Kyuubi's body and chakra were transfered to Uzumaki Kushina.The body grows a new mind.
[Note: Timeline not written any further.]
Notes on Shape Manipulation
The Schools of Manipulation
English: Form, Compression, Viscosity, Flow, Motion, State, Dominion.
Kanji w/ readings: 形(かたさ), 密度(みつど), 粘性(ねんせい), 流れ(ながれ), 運動(うんどう), 状態(じょうたい), 主権(しゅけん).
The Katasa School
Perhaps the most literal school of shape manipulation, Katasa focuses on manipulating the physical form of Chakra. From cutting blades, to shadow clones, to the thin layer needed to defy gravity, all of these are techniques of the Katasa school, and even the flimsiest Genin has attained an basic command of this school's techniques by the time they graduate.
The Mitsudo School
Taking inspiration from the utterly devastating abilities of the bijuu, the Mitsudo school teaches the fine and dangerous art of manipulating the density of Chakra. This school requires it's students to have substantial chakra control, because without it, it is utterly impossible to maintain dispersed Chakra that is ubiquitous to it's expansion based techniques. It is of course, suicide to attempt the high density techniques without even higher control. The most easily recognizable Jutsu of the Mitsudo school is the infamous Kirigakure no Jutsu, the central technique of Hidden Mist's Sillent Killing Arts.
The Nensei School
Focusing one one of the most overlooked properties of Chakra, the Nensei school teaches the manipulation of viscosity. This school has few adherents because most ninja do not see any use of knowing how to manipulate such a thing. Of course, this leaves them clueless when encountering Jutsu derived from this school, such as the Sticky Capture Field.
The Nagare School
The Nagare school of shape manipulation focuses on the internal motion of Chakra, manipulating the currents of the force. While there are few Ninjutsu that utilize this school, it is singlehandedly responsible for Genjutsu.
The Undō School
The single most important school of manipulation for Ninjutsu, the Undō school teaches how to impart motive force to Chakra. Without this school there would be no Ninjutsu, because without this school it would be impossible to make Chakra beyond the body. All Ninja are informal disciples of this school.
The Jōtai School
The most difficult, diverse school. This school focuses on changing the very nature of Chakra, allowing it's disciples to scatter their Chakra to the winds and perceive the world for miles around them. To reinforce their bodies, making mere bone as strong as steel, if not stronger. A skilled disciple of the Jōtai school can make a hair's breadth layer of Chakra stronger than the hardest metal.
The Shuken School
This is the ultimate school of Shape Manipulation. It exists more in theory than in practice, but it combines all the principles of the previous schools into a single unified form. There are three known users of this school: Namikaze Minato, Jiraiya of the Sannin, and Hatake Kakashi. There is only one jutsu known to belong to this school. Rasengan.
English: Form, Compression, Viscosity, Flow, Motion, State, Dominion.
Kanji w/ readings: 形(かたさ), 密度(みつど), 粘性(ねんせい), 流れ(ながれ), 運動(うんどう), 状態(じょうたい), 主権(しゅけん).
The Katasa School
Perhaps the most literal school of shape manipulation, Katasa focuses on manipulating the physical form of Chakra. From cutting blades, to shadow clones, to the thin layer needed to defy gravity, all of these are techniques of the Katasa school, and even the flimsiest Genin has attained an basic command of this school's techniques by the time they graduate.
The Mitsudo School
Taking inspiration from the utterly devastating abilities of the bijuu, the Mitsudo school teaches the fine and dangerous art of manipulating the density of Chakra. This school requires it's students to have substantial chakra control, because without it, it is utterly impossible to maintain dispersed Chakra that is ubiquitous to it's expansion based techniques. It is of course, suicide to attempt the high density techniques without even higher control. The most easily recognizable Jutsu of the Mitsudo school is the infamous Kirigakure no Jutsu, the central technique of Hidden Mist's Sillent Killing Arts.
The Nensei School
Focusing one one of the most overlooked properties of Chakra, the Nensei school teaches the manipulation of viscosity. This school has few adherents because most ninja do not see any use of knowing how to manipulate such a thing. Of course, this leaves them clueless when encountering Jutsu derived from this school, such as the Sticky Capture Field.
The Nagare School
The Nagare school of shape manipulation focuses on the internal motion of Chakra, manipulating the currents of the force. While there are few Ninjutsu that utilize this school, it is singlehandedly responsible for Genjutsu.
The Undō School
The single most important school of manipulation for Ninjutsu, the Undō school teaches how to impart motive force to Chakra. Without this school there would be no Ninjutsu, because without this school it would be impossible to make Chakra beyond the body. All Ninja are informal disciples of this school.
The Jōtai School
The most difficult, diverse school. This school focuses on changing the very nature of Chakra, allowing it's disciples to scatter their Chakra to the winds and perceive the world for miles around them. To reinforce their bodies, making mere bone as strong as steel, if not stronger. A skilled disciple of the Jōtai school can make a hair's breadth layer of Chakra stronger than the hardest metal.
The Shuken School
This is the ultimate school of Shape Manipulation. It exists more in theory than in practice, but it combines all the principles of the previous schools into a single unified form. There are three known users of this school: Namikaze Minato, Jiraiya of the Sannin, and Hatake Kakashi. There is only one jutsu known to belong to this school. Rasengan.
Notes on Elemental Manipulation
Elemental Manipulation is an art and a science. The former in that absolute, perfect mastery of an element can only be attained through a lifetime of hard work, and even then, there is variance between masters. A science in that such variance is solely an artefact of the imperfection of humanity, and that carefully scribed seals can create utterly perfect elemental chakra.
Broadly, there are three schools of elemental release. The Normative school focuses on the elements as they are: Wind, Water, Fire, Lightning, Soil and Vacuum. This school is theoretically accessible to any being with a working chakra network, and of all the schools, offers the most potential for mastery. All humans have at least one natural affinity, The Dualist school focuses on strange, stable islands that stand as intermediaries between normal releases. The Technic School is the least practiced, and perhaps strangest of all-- Most Dualist releases require a bloodline to use, a pedigree that has had the knowledge of such things burned into it's very genes. Not so for Technic Elemental Releases.
Sarutobi Hiruzen trained differently. He sought understanding of the intellect rather than the body. To learn not how to do, but why. [Note: I'm just about certain this sentence is a note that I left for myself, but include it for completion.]
Basic
English: Wind, Water, Fire, Lightning, Soil, Vacuum.
Romaji: Fū, Sui, Ka, Rai, Do, Shinkū
Kanji with readings: 風(ふう), 水(すい), 火(か), 雷(らい), 土(ど), 真空(しん・くう).
Basic elemental releases are formed by purifying that element from normal Chakra. This can either be accomplished by removing all unwanted elements, or by strengthening the desired element until the contamination of the others is meaningless. The exception to this rule is the Shinkū release, which is formed by removing all elements from the Chakra. Basic releases are considered a Chunin skill, but it is easily possible for a dedicated Genin to attain a basic command of their affinity.
Advanced
English: Vortex, Sea, Inferno, Electric, Bedrock, Space.
Romaji: Uzu, Umi, Hono'o, Denki, Ganban, Uchū.
Kanji with readings: 渦(うず), 海(うみ), 焔(ほのお), 電気(でん・き), 岩盤(がん・ばん), 宇宙(う・ちゅう).
Advanced natures are the result of intense training in a single nature to the exclusion of your others. If a ninja learns them, it becomes much harder for them to master their innate second nature, though still possible. Advanced natures, while still weakened by a counter of the Basic nature their basic counterpart is weak to, cannot be completely defeated by any single Basic Nature Jutsu. For example, using an Inferno-Nature Jutsu against a Water-Nature Jutsu will weaken the Inferno-Nature Jutsu, but it will not stop it. Inferno vs. Sea will result in a win for Sea, of course.
Kage
English: Sky, Abyss, Sun, Electron, Earth, Void.
Romaji: Sora, Shinkai, Taiyō, Denshi, Chikyū, Mu.
Kanji with readings: 空(そら), 深海(しん・かい), 太陽(たい・よう), 電子(でん・し), 地球(ち・きゅう), 無(む).
The Kage natures are the result of sacrificing the ability to use any other nature for the sole use of one. They completely defeat any basic nature. The mark of a Kage Nature-user is the color of their Jutsu. Black. Always Black.
Beyond Kage
While it is known that there is at least one level beyond Kage, this level is known, without a doubt, to transcend human limits. While it is possible to force oneself to reach this level, either through singleminded dedication to training in elemental manipulation to the exclusion of all else or kinjutsu, the result is always certain and always the same. Death.
This level is called by those who know of it by the name of Kami. At this level the distinction between elements vanishes, leaving only the world. The mark of a Shinobi no Kami is simple to detect, and terrifying to behold: Their techniques leave no Chakra signature.
They are beyond chakra. They are above it. They have transcended it.
There are only two men in the history of the world to attain this state and survive returning to humanity. The first is the Rikudo Sennin, he who created ninjutsu.
The second: Sarutobi Hiruzen.
[Note: Nothing was ever written on Dualistic Releases]
Technic releases directly translate Chakra into some natural phenomena, instead of creating chakra with properties that generate that phenomena. The difference inherent in this approach is that, wheras Suiton condenses water out of the air, a Technic Release that was analagous to Water Release would actually create water where there was none, and this, by spawning H2O intact from the chakra itself.
Even obtaining an affinity for these releases is as difficult as reaching the Advanced class of any normal release. To fully master one is unheard of - though Senjuu Tsunade might be close.
These releases stem from Basic-Level normal releases, and are closely related to them. They take up as much capacity as an advanced-class affinity while only allowing a basic-class level of effectiveness. The Advanced level of a Technic release retires as much investment a a Kage Normative. Usually not learnt by ninja for this reason.
Light comes from Lightning (Photons, electrons, electromagnetism). Sound comes from Wind.
Basic
English: Light, Sound, Chemical Bond (*)
Romaji: Hikari, Ne
Kanji with readings: 光(ひかり), 音(ね)
Advanced
English: Photon, Din, Medical, Dust (**,***)
Romaji: Koushi, Kensou
Kanji with readings: 光子(こうし), 諠譟(けんそう)
Radiance, Force, Life [Note: Names for Kage-orthologues.]
*Not formally recognized. As it is toxic to flesh, and Medical Nin are not taught their art based on elemental theory.
**Chem. Bond Release branches.
***The After does not posess the necessary science of Chromodynamics to create the Kage-orthologue of Dust Release.
[Note: The Technic section was never properly developed, hence the weak concepts.]
Hand Seals
A skill essential to all the ninja arts, Hand Seals allow Ninja to utilize techniques that they otherwise would not have the requisite control to use. Considered the most essential branch of the Fuuinjutsu arts, Hand Seals are thought to be sequences used to focus one's internal chakra in preparation for a Jutsu.
This is, of course, a misconception. Unfortunately, the Doujutsu Clans have been happy to perpetuate it.
Hand Seals work by channelling Chakra into the hands, and expelling that Chakra from all Tenketsu evenly at the completion of each individual Seal. This Chakra floats in the air for the duration of the sequence, and each individual hand Seal injects a specific pattern of Chakra into the air, in addition to altering the chakra already present, creating a complex 3D pattern On the final Hand Seal in the sequence, the Chakra pattern will become a working Seal which will either perform a technique, or execute a SIC against the Terra System which will create the technique invoked.
Hand Seals, in effect, simply create a Seal which takes a specified amount of Chakra from the user and causes a specific effect, which is why anyone can use any technique of any element as long as they have the proper sequence. Without the full sequence, an Elemental Affinity is required to complete the technique (See, for example, Chidori. It is in actuality a 15 Seal Jutsu, however, Kakashi and Sasuke can use it after performing only the first fifth of those because the rest of the Seals are simply an ECM.)
This is not to say that Hand Seals are "false" or "inferior" to true mastery of the Elements and Shape Manipulation. Quite the opposite in fact. Hand Seals allow the creation of highly complex techniques such as the Suiryūdan. Indeed, if not for hand seals, even Kage-level Ninja would have trouble performing it. Even Senju Tobirama needed to use a Hand Seal to perform this technique, specifically the Water Seal from the You Series.
This is, of course, a misconception. Unfortunately, the Doujutsu Clans have been happy to perpetuate it.
Hand Seals work by channelling Chakra into the hands, and expelling that Chakra from all Tenketsu evenly at the completion of each individual Seal. This Chakra floats in the air for the duration of the sequence, and each individual hand Seal injects a specific pattern of Chakra into the air, in addition to altering the chakra already present, creating a complex 3D pattern On the final Hand Seal in the sequence, the Chakra pattern will become a working Seal which will either perform a technique, or execute a SIC against the Terra System which will create the technique invoked.
Hand Seals, in effect, simply create a Seal which takes a specified amount of Chakra from the user and causes a specific effect, which is why anyone can use any technique of any element as long as they have the proper sequence. Without the full sequence, an Elemental Affinity is required to complete the technique (See, for example, Chidori. It is in actuality a 15 Seal Jutsu, however, Kakashi and Sasuke can use it after performing only the first fifth of those because the rest of the Seals are simply an ECM.)
This is not to say that Hand Seals are "false" or "inferior" to true mastery of the Elements and Shape Manipulation. Quite the opposite in fact. Hand Seals allow the creation of highly complex techniques such as the Suiryūdan. Indeed, if not for hand seals, even Kage-level Ninja would have trouble performing it. Even Senju Tobirama needed to use a Hand Seal to perform this technique, specifically the Water Seal from the You Series.
Of course, Hand Seals are also the sine qua non of the Sharingan's most useful ability. It doesn't copy Jutsu, but rather movements. If all Jutsu were seal-less, the Sharingan would be good for copying Taijutsu, piercing Genjutsu... and not much else. elucidation.
The Gate of Death
Is not actually a gate, as such. It is simply the sum total of all the life energy a person has access to. This amount can and does increase and decrease based on body condition and other variables, however, even a civilian has enough energy to kill a Kage after they open this "gate". While tapping this gate invariably results in death, the cause is actually not what might be expected. While the damage caused by this gate is immense, if it were damage alone that was the concern, it would be possible for someone who opened this gate to eventually make nearly a full recovery even without any Medical Jutsu.
The actual problem is that after this gate is opened, the pool of energy that the body uses to maintain itself simply no longer exists, having become fully a part of the user's body and Chakra system. The only way to circumvent this is with a true ressurection technique.
Admins, being hooked into the Terra System, can open their Death Gate and survive (as their existence no longer depends on their body, but the Tenma Chakra they receive from the System). Nagato (AC: PAIN) actually developed a taijutsu style that requires all eight gates to be open for effective use, before he decided to base his strategy on the Telepresence functions of the Rinnegan.
The actual problem is that after this gate is opened, the pool of energy that the body uses to maintain itself simply no longer exists, having become fully a part of the user's body and Chakra system. The only way to circumvent this is with a true ressurection technique.
Admins, being hooked into the Terra System, can open their Death Gate and survive (as their existence no longer depends on their body, but the Tenma Chakra they receive from the System). Nagato (AC: PAIN) actually developed a taijutsu style that requires all eight gates to be open for effective use, before he decided to base his strategy on the Telepresence functions of the Rinnegan.
On Doujutsu
Shintōgan - 神道
The Eyes of Divinity
These are the eyes possessed only by Kami and the World Executives. They are obtained by transcending one's own humanity. This usually means attempting to kill a Kami... And succeeding. [Note: Please imagine trying to kill the concept of gravity in our own universe to get a mental grasp of the scale of that accomplishment.]
Total Predictivity. Total Awareness. Total Control. The ability to read written seals as plain as text. This is the ultimate eye, the one from which all others can be derived, and of which all others are but pale shadows. These Eyes automatically update themselves with all the capabilities of other Eyes, and usually take on a form reminiscent of their last update.
Rinnegan - 輪廻眼
Administrative Eyes
In the Prior, these eyes were possessed by all leaders of important projects. They can be granted by the holder of still higher eyes, or can be forcibly attained by achieving Kami-level in all nine releases per the terms of the High-Potential Recognition System. The abilities of these eyes include the ability to decompose all Jutsu, to read Hand Seals as easily as any language, and many of the abilities present in the various blue-collar eyes not including the Sharingan due to the Fall occurring before it left Beta.
The Rinnegan is unable to use the Byakugan's 360 degrees of simultaneous perception, dues to the design being incompatible. It can perceive Tenketsu.
Shigan - 師眼
Managerial Eyes
In the Prior, these eyes were possessed by all people subordinate to the Administrator of their project, but still not part of the blue-collar workforce. They can be granted by any two Admins, are automatically granted to some of the children of any Admin, with the others granted the potential to achieve it. Additionally, it can be obtained by successfully passing the borderline that separates Kage and Kami from each other, and successfully returning to humanity (probabalistically, a 3% chance each time; this is a glitch). They grant the ability to see all Chakra passively, and when activated, weaker versions of most of the abilities granted by the Rinnegan. When not activated, the Shigan assumes a normal appearance.
Byakugan - 白眼
Architect's Eyes
As the name suggests, these eyes were possessed by all architects in the Prior. As with all blue-collar eyes, there are manifold ways to obtain these eyes, but without access to a Prior Terminal, they can be obtained in three ways: Firstly, they can be granted by any Admin. Secondly, by any two Managers. Thirdly, by birth from any line where at least one parent has these eyes or the Shigan.
Sharingan - 写輪眼
Courier's Eyes
This Eye was being developed for Couriers of Class-3 or higher. Due to the slight potential for abuse inherent in these eyes, they were supposed to only be granted by Admins. However, the Sharingan Program was still in heavy beta when the Prior fell. As a result, it is recessively inheritable, and can be present in the children of a Shigan-holder. However, the real problem with the Eyes is that some of their abilities had not yet been given proper access masks before The Fall, resulting in many abilities far superseding the level of power intended.
Kuregan - 紅眼
Warden's Eyes
These eyes were given to prison guards to assist in their duties of controlling inmates, especially Glitchcrafters. They grant the user the ability to predict the future based on models of the most likely action for any risk factor to take, the ability to craft illusions in immaculate detail, and finally the ability to view objects at a distance. The third ability functions as normal vision would, rather than 360-degrees of sight, the user can detach their viewpoint from their eyes and "fly" it to any point within their range. The "flying" is not necessary if the user is well versed with the location of the point they want to observe in relation to where they actually are.
Kyōringan - 鏡輪眼
Peacekeeper's Eyes
The Eyes that almost 3/4ths of the Code for the Sharingan is based off of.
Meikakugan - 明確眼
Programmer's Eyes
The Meikakugan is a seimonshoku kyokamen that was designed specifically for technique creators and designers. As such it is by far the most intricate, delicate Eye, and it requires the most skill to use. It is preserved in modern times by the Aijsuji Clan, however they can only manage a Class One activation of the eyes.
The Meikakugan has four classes of activation. Ordered by potency, they are: Class Two, Class One, Class Zero, and Class Overlimit. As the numbering suggests, the first three classes are sequential improvements on each other. The final class is an emergent phenomenon that despite the best efforts of the team assigned to the development of the Meikakugan, is simply impossible to eliminate.
In Class Two, the Meikakugan user simply floods their eyes with Chakra. This is usually enough to activate any other Dōjutsu, and it does activate the Meikakugan. To an extent. It makes the general form of the Meiakugan apparent. No benefits are granted.
In Class One, the Meikakugan user opens up various Tenketsu unique to the Meikugan in a specific order. This grants the most basic abilities of the Meikakugan, which are the decomposition of physical phenomenon into their essential constituents, which can be essentially understood as having a perfect understanding of the physical world. To look is to know everything about what is seen. It should be noted, however, that a Class One activation can not perceive Chakra, and this lack makes it all but useless against Chakra weapons. This is the level that the Aisuji Clan rates at.
In Class Zero, the Meikakugan user activates a set of Tenketsu in the folded space located at the exact center of the eye. The result is the full activation of all of the intended abilities of the Meikakugan. Everything in class one, but with the additional ability to see Chakra and thus alter analysis accordingly. Additionally, it gives the Hand Seal analysis abilities of the Shigan.
In Class Overlimit, the Meikakugan user's brain immediately liquefies. Testing of Meikakugan connected to a computer resulted in several thousand trillion petabytes of information being dumped into the system every second. This data was analysed and found to be flawless planck-scale perception. This activation is not an intended function.
During the Prior, activation data for Class Overlimit was widely publicized as part of a safety campaign, but the information has been lost. Generally, the Aisuji
lose about one person every two years due to Class Overlimit.
The Eyes of Divinity
These are the eyes possessed only by Kami and the World Executives. They are obtained by transcending one's own humanity. This usually means attempting to kill a Kami... And succeeding. [Note: Please imagine trying to kill the concept of gravity in our own universe to get a mental grasp of the scale of that accomplishment.]
Total Predictivity. Total Awareness. Total Control. The ability to read written seals as plain as text. This is the ultimate eye, the one from which all others can be derived, and of which all others are but pale shadows. These Eyes automatically update themselves with all the capabilities of other Eyes, and usually take on a form reminiscent of their last update.
Rinnegan - 輪廻眼
Administrative Eyes
In the Prior, these eyes were possessed by all leaders of important projects. They can be granted by the holder of still higher eyes, or can be forcibly attained by achieving Kami-level in all nine releases per the terms of the High-Potential Recognition System. The abilities of these eyes include the ability to decompose all Jutsu, to read Hand Seals as easily as any language, and many of the abilities present in the various blue-collar eyes not including the Sharingan due to the Fall occurring before it left Beta.
The Rinnegan is unable to use the Byakugan's 360 degrees of simultaneous perception, dues to the design being incompatible. It can perceive Tenketsu.
Shigan - 師眼
Managerial Eyes
In the Prior, these eyes were possessed by all people subordinate to the Administrator of their project, but still not part of the blue-collar workforce. They can be granted by any two Admins, are automatically granted to some of the children of any Admin, with the others granted the potential to achieve it. Additionally, it can be obtained by successfully passing the borderline that separates Kage and Kami from each other, and successfully returning to humanity (probabalistically, a 3% chance each time; this is a glitch). They grant the ability to see all Chakra passively, and when activated, weaker versions of most of the abilities granted by the Rinnegan. When not activated, the Shigan assumes a normal appearance.
Byakugan - 白眼
Architect's Eyes
As the name suggests, these eyes were possessed by all architects in the Prior. As with all blue-collar eyes, there are manifold ways to obtain these eyes, but without access to a Prior Terminal, they can be obtained in three ways: Firstly, they can be granted by any Admin. Secondly, by any two Managers. Thirdly, by birth from any line where at least one parent has these eyes or the Shigan.
Sharingan - 写輪眼
Courier's Eyes
This Eye was being developed for Couriers of Class-3 or higher. Due to the slight potential for abuse inherent in these eyes, they were supposed to only be granted by Admins. However, the Sharingan Program was still in heavy beta when the Prior fell. As a result, it is recessively inheritable, and can be present in the children of a Shigan-holder. However, the real problem with the Eyes is that some of their abilities had not yet been given proper access masks before The Fall, resulting in many abilities far superseding the level of power intended.
Kuregan - 紅眼
Warden's Eyes
These eyes were given to prison guards to assist in their duties of controlling inmates, especially Glitchcrafters. They grant the user the ability to predict the future based on models of the most likely action for any risk factor to take, the ability to craft illusions in immaculate detail, and finally the ability to view objects at a distance. The third ability functions as normal vision would, rather than 360-degrees of sight, the user can detach their viewpoint from their eyes and "fly" it to any point within their range. The "flying" is not necessary if the user is well versed with the location of the point they want to observe in relation to where they actually are.
Kyōringan - 鏡輪眼
Peacekeeper's Eyes
The Eyes that almost 3/4ths of the Code for the Sharingan is based off of.
Meikakugan - 明確眼
Programmer's Eyes
The Meikakugan is a seimonshoku kyokamen that was designed specifically for technique creators and designers. As such it is by far the most intricate, delicate Eye, and it requires the most skill to use. It is preserved in modern times by the Aijsuji Clan, however they can only manage a Class One activation of the eyes.
The Meikakugan has four classes of activation. Ordered by potency, they are: Class Two, Class One, Class Zero, and Class Overlimit. As the numbering suggests, the first three classes are sequential improvements on each other. The final class is an emergent phenomenon that despite the best efforts of the team assigned to the development of the Meikakugan, is simply impossible to eliminate.
In Class Two, the Meikakugan user simply floods their eyes with Chakra. This is usually enough to activate any other Dōjutsu, and it does activate the Meikakugan. To an extent. It makes the general form of the Meiakugan apparent. No benefits are granted.
In Class One, the Meikakugan user opens up various Tenketsu unique to the Meikugan in a specific order. This grants the most basic abilities of the Meikakugan, which are the decomposition of physical phenomenon into their essential constituents, which can be essentially understood as having a perfect understanding of the physical world. To look is to know everything about what is seen. It should be noted, however, that a Class One activation can not perceive Chakra, and this lack makes it all but useless against Chakra weapons. This is the level that the Aisuji Clan rates at.
In Class Zero, the Meikakugan user activates a set of Tenketsu in the folded space located at the exact center of the eye. The result is the full activation of all of the intended abilities of the Meikakugan. Everything in class one, but with the additional ability to see Chakra and thus alter analysis accordingly. Additionally, it gives the Hand Seal analysis abilities of the Shigan.
In Class Overlimit, the Meikakugan user's brain immediately liquefies. Testing of Meikakugan connected to a computer resulted in several thousand trillion petabytes of information being dumped into the system every second. This data was analysed and found to be flawless planck-scale perception. This activation is not an intended function.
During the Prior, activation data for Class Overlimit was widely publicized as part of a safety campaign, but the information has been lost. Generally, the Aisuji
lose about one person every two years due to Class Overlimit.
The Prior
"Now, the thing you've got to understand about The Priors is, they never did anything small. Cities were built in a day and destroyed in a month, continents raised from the oceans in a matter of weeks and made the barren rock fertile in half of that. They never did anything small. One Tenma Reactor could eradicate the entire planet, and they made twenty seven. The Bijuu are tiny fragments of a fragment that came undone from the last. They built the moon, Naruto. Can you imagine the arrogance it would take to conceive of the idea, let alone the sheer ability required to pull it off?"
- Jiraiya of the Sannin
The Priors were the culture that existed until about two hundred years before the present day in Naruto. They vanished in an orgy of fire and death that defies comparison, but their legacy continues to define the world to this very day.
- Jiraiya of the Sannin
The Priors were the culture that existed until about two hundred years before the present day in Naruto. They vanished in an orgy of fire and death that defies comparison, but their legacy continues to define the world to this very day.
Tenma Reactors
Power Output:
Number of Installations (Soru System Total) - 46,529
Number of Installations (Terra) - 27
Number of Installations (Taitan) - 15,000
Number of Installations (Meiousei) - 500
Tenma Chakra Reactors were the system upon which the Priors rose to their highest glory. They are also incredibly dangerous devices, though immaculately safe by design. A total catastrophic failure of just one would mean the total destruction of the Soru System.
And so, the Priors, as they were wont to do, built over forty six thousand of them. Because The Priors never did anything small, or sane.
Tenma Chakra has the property of exponential multiplication in violation of the second law of thermodynamics. Outside a living body, it will do this for about 130 generations. Inside a living body, the loop feeds on itself, and it will last as long as the body does. It can be drawn on infinitely, and at an infinite rate, but the amount of Tenma Chakra within the body will always remain at a constant level. Based on this, Tenma Chakra Reactors were created.
Tenma Chakra Reactors are genetically modified beings based on a human, trapped in complete immobility. These are called Tenma Genshiro, and are universally mindless. The brain is almost nonexistent, only enough to keep the body from spontaneously shutting down.
Every Tenma Genshiro is connected by Chakra Superconducting Metamaterial to 17,000 other genetically modified beings, again based on humans. These 17,000 are known as Hotecha Kanoki. They are the safety measures. And they can think, though all they are permitted think about is controlling the Tenma Chakra. That's how their brains are designed.
After The Fall, damage to one of the reactors caused Tenma Genshiro #19 - Hotecha Kanoki #13229 to break off of the reactor. Automated safety protocols were followed, and the reactor shut itself down, however, the containment vessel had already escaped.
This is where it's program went horribly awry. It was stuck with an amount of Tenma Chakra that could not be dissipated by normal means, and was no longer able to vent that to another Hotecha Kanoki. The only way to dissipate it was by forcefully discharging it.
It took the form of the Zyuubi. As Terra lacked a World Executive at the time, the Soru System gave the Shintougan to the beast, judging from limited data that it was beyond humanity (it was), that it was intelligent (again, it was), and [Note: Page ends here. Gah.]
Number of Installations (Soru System Total) - 46,529
Number of Installations (Terra) - 27
Number of Installations (Taitan) - 15,000
Number of Installations (Meiousei) - 500
Tenma Chakra Reactors were the system upon which the Priors rose to their highest glory. They are also incredibly dangerous devices, though immaculately safe by design. A total catastrophic failure of just one would mean the total destruction of the Soru System.
And so, the Priors, as they were wont to do, built over forty six thousand of them. Because The Priors never did anything small, or sane.
Tenma Chakra has the property of exponential multiplication in violation of the second law of thermodynamics. Outside a living body, it will do this for about 130 generations. Inside a living body, the loop feeds on itself, and it will last as long as the body does. It can be drawn on infinitely, and at an infinite rate, but the amount of Tenma Chakra within the body will always remain at a constant level. Based on this, Tenma Chakra Reactors were created.
Tenma Chakra Reactors are genetically modified beings based on a human, trapped in complete immobility. These are called Tenma Genshiro, and are universally mindless. The brain is almost nonexistent, only enough to keep the body from spontaneously shutting down.
Every Tenma Genshiro is connected by Chakra Superconducting Metamaterial to 17,000 other genetically modified beings, again based on humans. These 17,000 are known as Hotecha Kanoki. They are the safety measures. And they can think, though all they are permitted think about is controlling the Tenma Chakra. That's how their brains are designed.
After The Fall, damage to one of the reactors caused Tenma Genshiro #19 - Hotecha Kanoki #13229 to break off of the reactor. Automated safety protocols were followed, and the reactor shut itself down, however, the containment vessel had already escaped.
This is where it's program went horribly awry. It was stuck with an amount of Tenma Chakra that could not be dissipated by normal means, and was no longer able to vent that to another Hotecha Kanoki. The only way to dissipate it was by forcefully discharging it.
It took the form of the Zyuubi. As Terra lacked a World Executive at the time, the Soru System gave the Shintougan to the beast, judging from limited data that it was beyond humanity (it was), that it was intelligent (again, it was), and [Note: Page ends here. Gah.]
Castes
The society of the Prior could best be described as a heriditary caste-based meritocracy. The requirements for advancement were exponential in all casses. Anyone with determination and a definite goal sould advance from Blue to White, but the jump from White to Pure could only be made by those who were naturally gifted, adaptable and extremely determined. The gaps between Pure and Admin, and Admin and Executive (this last being a lifetime appointment) were even greater, with the final caste only ever containing the eleven most peerless individuals in existence in an age where humanity numbered in the trillions.
Caste Blue
Upon reaching adulthood, all children of Whites and Blues were placed into this caste. Members of this caste were granted all the typical benefits of Prior life: adequate living space, food, and a Chakra line that would've made any Kage look like a mere child. What they did not possess were Eyes, and bereft of them, they were simply the anonymous, those who worked at the lowest level in all cases. From the inception of The Prior, this caste, once the most populous, slowly began to die out-- there simply wasn't room for Blues in the future that the Higher ones were planning, and eventually, to be acknowledges as someone whose life was "worth something", one needed to be in the next level up-- White.
[Note: The other castes never had anything written on them.]
Miscellany
This section collects a few random notes that I found elsewhere on my worldbuilding site.
Taijutsu Styles
重力の人形流 - Juuryoku no Ningyou-Ryu - Gravity's Puppet Style
This Taijutsu style originating from sunagakure relies on the usage of chakra strings. The style starts with innitial "true" movement before control of the body is split between true movement and chakra strings. Practicioners of this style look like they are being pulled around the battlefield, a form of movement that is almost impossible to read and hence predict.
重力の虹流 - Juuryoku no Niji-Ryu - Gravity's Rainbow Style
Developed in Amegakure by Pain and Konan this style is an evolution of Gravity's Puppet Style. It can only be used when seven of the eight chakra gates are open, and can only be used to it's full potential when ALL of the gates are open. In other words, a Suicide Style.
Languages of IntentThis Taijutsu style originating from sunagakure relies on the usage of chakra strings. The style starts with innitial "true" movement before control of the body is split between true movement and chakra strings. Practicioners of this style look like they are being pulled around the battlefield, a form of movement that is almost impossible to read and hence predict.
重力の虹流 - Juuryoku no Niji-Ryu - Gravity's Rainbow Style
Developed in Amegakure by Pain and Konan this style is an evolution of Gravity's Puppet Style. It can only be used when seven of the eight chakra gates are open, and can only be used to it's full potential when ALL of the gates are open. In other words, a Suicide Style.
Like the stages of a swordsman, there are Three Languages of Intent.
The First Language is spoken through the hands. Rat - Boar - Dragon - Ox, and the world produces fire above your palm.
When one learns to Speak the Second Language, their written word become solemn law, warping, shaping, breaking, remaking.
And then there is the Third Language. Spoken by none. Known by a few. Acknowledged by more than zero, less than one. Intent encodes reality. Symbols dissapear. Nature reigns under a watchful eye, molded and shaped to purpose. In the end, not a sign is shown, nor word spoken, nor seal written. It is for this reason that the Third Language is considered ultimate, and peerless. To know it is to be above God. [Note: This had...something to do with the Shintougan. I think.]
Fuinjutsu, is perhaps, the most difficult of the Chakra Arts to learn. It is also the most useful.
It is composed of two parts: The seals themselves, and the Bukkain no Jutsu, the Seal-Becoming Technique.
Seals are predicated upon the concept of understanding. It is for this reason that they cannot be copied by someone who knows nothing of them. When a Sealcrafter completes a Seal Component Passage and transforms it into a Seal Component Piece, they will have have understood the deepest meaning of the passage. they can use the Piece in the future whenever they want to without recreating the Passage. Of course, Passages are not set in stone, and there are, of course, more efficient versions of various Passages in existence. These more efficient versions are often close to what the Priors themselves used.
Bukkain no Jutsu is a 272 Hand Seal technique, and is actually a SIC against the Terra System for a much, much more complex technique which would be composed of nearly ten thousand Hand Seals if executed by a human. The last fourteen seals are the actual SIC, while the previous seals are a very simple summoning array that calls upon a thin stream of final-generation Tenma Chakra from one of the Tenma Genshiro. The Tenma Chakra is used to engrave the Seal Component Piece upon the user's Death Gate.
It is not enough to simply copy a Seal Component Passage. Doing so is utterly insufficient for the purposes of sealing.
It is for this reason the all Seal Masters are aware of the Prior-- Seals that interact with the Prior Systems use components that extensively reference this fact.
Normal Fuinjutsu Workflow
1. Seal Component Passage -> Bukkain no Jutsu -> Seal Component Piece
2. Repeat 1 as necessary
3. Multiple Seal Component Pieces -> Completed Seal Template
4. Fuin no Jutsu -> Working Seal
Step one can be completed if the Sealer already has all the necessary Seal Component pieces.
Alternative Fuinjutsu Workflow
1. Seal Totality Passage -> Bukkain no Jutsu -> Completed Seal Template
2. Fuin no Jutsu -> Working Seal
The principle benefit of this workflow are that as long as the Seal Totality Passage isn't leaked, the seal is completely irreproducible. Also, seals produced with this method are remarkably stable and strong. The downside, of course, is the complexity of writing a Seal Totality Passage.
It is composed of two parts: The seals themselves, and the Bukkain no Jutsu, the Seal-Becoming Technique.
Seals are predicated upon the concept of understanding. It is for this reason that they cannot be copied by someone who knows nothing of them. When a Sealcrafter completes a Seal Component Passage and transforms it into a Seal Component Piece, they will have have understood the deepest meaning of the passage. they can use the Piece in the future whenever they want to without recreating the Passage. Of course, Passages are not set in stone, and there are, of course, more efficient versions of various Passages in existence. These more efficient versions are often close to what the Priors themselves used.
Bukkain no Jutsu is a 272 Hand Seal technique, and is actually a SIC against the Terra System for a much, much more complex technique which would be composed of nearly ten thousand Hand Seals if executed by a human. The last fourteen seals are the actual SIC, while the previous seals are a very simple summoning array that calls upon a thin stream of final-generation Tenma Chakra from one of the Tenma Genshiro. The Tenma Chakra is used to engrave the Seal Component Piece upon the user's Death Gate.
It is not enough to simply copy a Seal Component Passage. Doing so is utterly insufficient for the purposes of sealing.
It is for this reason the all Seal Masters are aware of the Prior-- Seals that interact with the Prior Systems use components that extensively reference this fact.
Normal Fuinjutsu Workflow
1. Seal Component Passage -> Bukkain no Jutsu -> Seal Component Piece
2. Repeat 1 as necessary
3. Multiple Seal Component Pieces -> Completed Seal Template
4. Fuin no Jutsu -> Working Seal
Step one can be completed if the Sealer already has all the necessary Seal Component pieces.
Alternative Fuinjutsu Workflow
1. Seal Totality Passage -> Bukkain no Jutsu -> Completed Seal Template
2. Fuin no Jutsu -> Working Seal
The principle benefit of this workflow are that as long as the Seal Totality Passage isn't leaked, the seal is completely irreproducible. Also, seals produced with this method are remarkably stable and strong. The downside, of course, is the complexity of writing a Seal Totality Passage.
Also, please keep any discussion of this material in spoiler tags.
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Unlocking
Endfall
A zero on the singularity.
- Location
- Somewhere else.
- Pronouns
- She/They
Later that night, I sat awake on the bunk that had been assigned to me, and for the first time in the four years I had been here, found the energy to actually consider my situation.
It was... odd, really. I felt like this all should have met something to me. That I should have found my entire situation surprising, or absurd. I had died, and now, here I was, alive, and in another universe.
It should have awed me.
It should have shaken my worldview.
But I felt nothing. Looking back on my original world - Terra Res, I though, giving it a name - I had died without a reason to live, when everything came to an end. All that had remained in me was a reason not to die, and that, by itself, was not enough to make me care about my own continued existence. Not emotionally, at least.
Hence, the insane recklessness of introducing myself to Kazu.
"Jeeze," I muttered, curling up into myself, "What was I thinking?"
The question was rhetorical, but I knew the answer: I hadn't been.
Getting into the Academy didn't take long. While my age might've raised a few eyebrows in a culture world with a child soldier taboo, Konoha had nothing of the sort. If you had a working body, they would happily turn you into a weapon as long as you were able to speak with a certain minimum of coherence. I did, and so within a day, I was in. Unfortunately, the Elite string wasn't even an option for me - that class was composed entirely of clan heads, according to the admissions officer. If it was a lie, I couldn't tell.
The day after I matriculated, I walked into a classroom, and was made to give a brief introduction.
"Akino Kaede," I said, and that was all. I didn't plan on getting to know anyone, here. There was no point. Most of them would be dead in a few years, given the war, and I had my own problems to deal with.
I spent the rest of the day listening to a basic lecture on the properties of chakra, which were fairly simple inasmuch as the lecture was designed for children who were two years older than my biological age. In this world, the human body generated mental and physical energy - named in and yō. In civilians, these were separate things. The first step to becoming a shinobi was finding them, and mixing them together irrevocably. Doing this, the undifferentiated energy that resulted would become chakra.
Surprisingly, the basic exercise that did this was mind-numbingly simple - a bit of goal oriented zen meditation. While I had never made a discipline of meditating, it still wasn't even something recognizable as a challenge - for someone with an adult mind, anyway. As the rest of the class squirmed, and figeted, I sat still, and let all things pass. After about an hour, I reached the boundary of meditative ego death and slammed into a wall.
Normally, when all thoughts completed themselves, my awareness would begin to flicker. Timeless gaps of being without the concept of "I" would appear until, in one of the gaps where I had the flickering of a selfconcept, I would decide to end the meditation, and usually feel somewhat refreshed if not particularly enlightened. Not so, here. While I might've lost my concept of self, the intrusion of two distinct things that had nothing to do with the external world stopped me. I was used to my heartbeat, the feeling of potential in my muscles, the rhythm of breathing.
These two sensations were completely new, and did not belong.
One felt like burning darkness. The other, concealing light. Obvious sensory metaphors for Yin and Yang.
All that was left was to muddle the Taiji.
With an instinct that I had never had in my first life, and which was, therefore, something that belonged entirely to the part of me that was Akino Kaede, I threw the two sensations through each other. From my heart, a slow, aching burn propagated throughout my body. I opened my eyes, wincing slightly at the pain, and met the instructor's - Ueda Rokurou's - eyes. A frown marred his face, as he stood up, made the universal gesture of follow me, and walked out the classroom's door. Quitley, so as not to disturb the children, I got up, and followed.
In the hallway, Rokurou asked a simple question: "How do you feel, Kaede-chan?"
"Hurts," I said, with the masterful syntax of a typical child. After considering for an instant, I added, "Did I do something wrong, sensei?"
"That's unlikely," Rokurou replied. "Where did the pain start?"
I tapped my sternum, and Rokurou's eyebrows rose fractionally before he killed the expression.
"You've unlocked your chakra," he said, then murmured something I didn't quite catch. After a moment, he continued, "Well, you've graduated from this class, Kaede-chan. Go to room 203 tommorrow, instead. You can go home."
Without so much as a goodbye, Rokurou turned, and walked back into the classroom, sliding the door shut behind him. I walked out.
"You what!?" Kazu's reaction was far less restrained.
"Unlocked my chakra," I said. "I take it that an hour isn't particularly normal."
"Two months is normal, Uzumaki," Kazu had taken to calling me by the name of the clan he thought I was a member of. After reading a book he had checked our from the civilian library, I didn't exactly blame him. My hair wasn't precisely crimson, but it was a good deal more red than I had seen on anyone else, and I had been paying attention. For the first years of my life, people-watching had been my only source of entertainment.
It didn't bother me. Names are just labels. Convenient, but not particularly necessary.
"Still," Kazu began, and I abandoned my line of thought to focus on him, "I can't exactly say I'm surprised. Your clan always was famous for their vitality. Sage's blood, though, you aren't planning on being low-key, are you?"
"Low key?" I cocked my head. "Why would I care about that? I couldn't get in to the Elite class, so if I can do things faster than a normal child, maybe they'll realise that I'm wasted as a piece of the meat grinder at their frontiers."
"I suppose..." Kazu said, voice trailing off uncertainly. "Listen. Being a genius? That's good. Konoha loves their geniuses. But... They also don't really trust them, after Madara."
"Who is...?"
"Was." Kazu corrected. "Madara Uchiha was probably one of the single strongest Shinobi in Konoha's history. Flames that could burn stone for seven days and seven nights. Crushing space. Controlling Bijuu. A monster in the shape of a man. He was also the greatest traitor in the history of the village. And... the geniuses of Konoha disproportionately are. Probably because they could see the will of fire as the shoddy piece of indoctrination that it really is."
"Ah," I said. Not that Kazu was a reliable source vis-a-vis anything Konoha, but... "Will of fire?"
"You'll probably begin hearing about it sometime this week," said Kazu. "Basically, Senju Hashirama decided to build a superpower by subjugating clans under the ideal of strength through unity."
"Which was bad because..."
"Because it didn't work. Hundreds of years of enmity, and he expected it to go away because of some pretty words? Feh. No, the system that the Shodaime built was a ploy for something else: establishing the supremacy of the Senju clan in Hinokuni."
I nodded, as if simply accepting his words as an obvious truth.
"Well, whatever," Kazu said with not inconsiderable derision. "It succeeded, so I guess I can't condemn the man's brilliance. The problem was what it forced the other countries to do. Tell me, what does it feel like when you walk to their Shinobi Academy?"
I blinked, then thought about it. After a moment, I answered, "It feels like I'm just going for a walk, usually."
Kazu nodded, as if he expected the answer. "Exactly. Konoha was planned from the beginning. in the other villages, even Kiri, you can feel the tensions. Even Konoha still has a hell of a lot of problems - just last year, some Inuzuka went on a murder spree in the Aburame compound due to a generational grudge. She made some romantic overtures, got inside, and... well, you get the idea. Before, it wouldn't have worked. No trust. But the villages made that possible.
"That's Konoha. The real problem is that all the other major powers were forced to inaugurate their own hidden villages, and it was a knee-jerk reaction. Tens of thousands died. Dozens of clans were lost in every country, except for Hinokuni. The Hokage was a genius."
It wasn't a compliment.
The conversation degenerated after that point, with rhetoric and invective being the ordes of the day. Something about the entire situation was personal to Kazu. Maybe he had been - was - a member of one of the decimated clans? I didn't know. I didn't ask. Instead, I simply listened, nodding and making appropriate sounds as I consumed his perspective. After about an hour, his anger petered out, and I excused myself.
Tomorrow would be an interesting day.
Resian
Adjective. Def. Of or pertaining to the world which contains the Earth of Kaede's origin.
I could go on using "the quantum worlds", "the world of my birth" and other overwrought terms, but I hope we can agree that Resian forms a nice alternative that keeps things moving, and which doesn't assign undue importance to every single reference to the original world.
Taiji
A concept commonly represented by the Yin-Yang. No, not the thing in my avatar. That's representative of something else entirely.
Notes.
When Kaede is doing well, 90% of it can be attributed to her being a questionably sane adult. Any child capable of meditating porperly would have found unlocking their chakra similarly easy; children that are, on average, eight suck at meditating. From thus.
It was... odd, really. I felt like this all should have met something to me. That I should have found my entire situation surprising, or absurd. I had died, and now, here I was, alive, and in another universe.
It should have awed me.
It should have shaken my worldview.
But I felt nothing. Looking back on my original world - Terra Res, I though, giving it a name - I had died without a reason to live, when everything came to an end. All that had remained in me was a reason not to die, and that, by itself, was not enough to make me care about my own continued existence. Not emotionally, at least.
Hence, the insane recklessness of introducing myself to Kazu.
"Jeeze," I muttered, curling up into myself, "What was I thinking?"
The question was rhetorical, but I knew the answer: I hadn't been.
SNI
Getting into the Academy didn't take long. While my age might've raised a few eyebrows in a culture world with a child soldier taboo, Konoha had nothing of the sort. If you had a working body, they would happily turn you into a weapon as long as you were able to speak with a certain minimum of coherence. I did, and so within a day, I was in. Unfortunately, the Elite string wasn't even an option for me - that class was composed entirely of clan heads, according to the admissions officer. If it was a lie, I couldn't tell.
The day after I matriculated, I walked into a classroom, and was made to give a brief introduction.
"Akino Kaede," I said, and that was all. I didn't plan on getting to know anyone, here. There was no point. Most of them would be dead in a few years, given the war, and I had my own problems to deal with.
I spent the rest of the day listening to a basic lecture on the properties of chakra, which were fairly simple inasmuch as the lecture was designed for children who were two years older than my biological age. In this world, the human body generated mental and physical energy - named in and yō. In civilians, these were separate things. The first step to becoming a shinobi was finding them, and mixing them together irrevocably. Doing this, the undifferentiated energy that resulted would become chakra.
Surprisingly, the basic exercise that did this was mind-numbingly simple - a bit of goal oriented zen meditation. While I had never made a discipline of meditating, it still wasn't even something recognizable as a challenge - for someone with an adult mind, anyway. As the rest of the class squirmed, and figeted, I sat still, and let all things pass. After about an hour, I reached the boundary of meditative ego death and slammed into a wall.
Normally, when all thoughts completed themselves, my awareness would begin to flicker. Timeless gaps of being without the concept of "I" would appear until, in one of the gaps where I had the flickering of a selfconcept, I would decide to end the meditation, and usually feel somewhat refreshed if not particularly enlightened. Not so, here. While I might've lost my concept of self, the intrusion of two distinct things that had nothing to do with the external world stopped me. I was used to my heartbeat, the feeling of potential in my muscles, the rhythm of breathing.
These two sensations were completely new, and did not belong.
One felt like burning darkness. The other, concealing light. Obvious sensory metaphors for Yin and Yang.
All that was left was to muddle the Taiji.
With an instinct that I had never had in my first life, and which was, therefore, something that belonged entirely to the part of me that was Akino Kaede, I threw the two sensations through each other. From my heart, a slow, aching burn propagated throughout my body. I opened my eyes, wincing slightly at the pain, and met the instructor's - Ueda Rokurou's - eyes. A frown marred his face, as he stood up, made the universal gesture of follow me, and walked out the classroom's door. Quitley, so as not to disturb the children, I got up, and followed.
In the hallway, Rokurou asked a simple question: "How do you feel, Kaede-chan?"
"Hurts," I said, with the masterful syntax of a typical child. After considering for an instant, I added, "Did I do something wrong, sensei?"
"That's unlikely," Rokurou replied. "Where did the pain start?"
I tapped my sternum, and Rokurou's eyebrows rose fractionally before he killed the expression.
"You've unlocked your chakra," he said, then murmured something I didn't quite catch. After a moment, he continued, "Well, you've graduated from this class, Kaede-chan. Go to room 203 tommorrow, instead. You can go home."
Without so much as a goodbye, Rokurou turned, and walked back into the classroom, sliding the door shut behind him. I walked out.
"You what!?" Kazu's reaction was far less restrained.
"Unlocked my chakra," I said. "I take it that an hour isn't particularly normal."
"Two months is normal, Uzumaki," Kazu had taken to calling me by the name of the clan he thought I was a member of. After reading a book he had checked our from the civilian library, I didn't exactly blame him. My hair wasn't precisely crimson, but it was a good deal more red than I had seen on anyone else, and I had been paying attention. For the first years of my life, people-watching had been my only source of entertainment.
It didn't bother me. Names are just labels. Convenient, but not particularly necessary.
"Still," Kazu began, and I abandoned my line of thought to focus on him, "I can't exactly say I'm surprised. Your clan always was famous for their vitality. Sage's blood, though, you aren't planning on being low-key, are you?"
"Low key?" I cocked my head. "Why would I care about that? I couldn't get in to the Elite class, so if I can do things faster than a normal child, maybe they'll realise that I'm wasted as a piece of the meat grinder at their frontiers."
"I suppose..." Kazu said, voice trailing off uncertainly. "Listen. Being a genius? That's good. Konoha loves their geniuses. But... They also don't really trust them, after Madara."
"Who is...?"
"Was." Kazu corrected. "Madara Uchiha was probably one of the single strongest Shinobi in Konoha's history. Flames that could burn stone for seven days and seven nights. Crushing space. Controlling Bijuu. A monster in the shape of a man. He was also the greatest traitor in the history of the village. And... the geniuses of Konoha disproportionately are. Probably because they could see the will of fire as the shoddy piece of indoctrination that it really is."
"Ah," I said. Not that Kazu was a reliable source vis-a-vis anything Konoha, but... "Will of fire?"
"You'll probably begin hearing about it sometime this week," said Kazu. "Basically, Senju Hashirama decided to build a superpower by subjugating clans under the ideal of strength through unity."
"Which was bad because..."
"Because it didn't work. Hundreds of years of enmity, and he expected it to go away because of some pretty words? Feh. No, the system that the Shodaime built was a ploy for something else: establishing the supremacy of the Senju clan in Hinokuni."
I nodded, as if simply accepting his words as an obvious truth.
"Well, whatever," Kazu said with not inconsiderable derision. "It succeeded, so I guess I can't condemn the man's brilliance. The problem was what it forced the other countries to do. Tell me, what does it feel like when you walk to their Shinobi Academy?"
I blinked, then thought about it. After a moment, I answered, "It feels like I'm just going for a walk, usually."
Kazu nodded, as if he expected the answer. "Exactly. Konoha was planned from the beginning. in the other villages, even Kiri, you can feel the tensions. Even Konoha still has a hell of a lot of problems - just last year, some Inuzuka went on a murder spree in the Aburame compound due to a generational grudge. She made some romantic overtures, got inside, and... well, you get the idea. Before, it wouldn't have worked. No trust. But the villages made that possible.
"That's Konoha. The real problem is that all the other major powers were forced to inaugurate their own hidden villages, and it was a knee-jerk reaction. Tens of thousands died. Dozens of clans were lost in every country, except for Hinokuni. The Hokage was a genius."
It wasn't a compliment.
The conversation degenerated after that point, with rhetoric and invective being the ordes of the day. Something about the entire situation was personal to Kazu. Maybe he had been - was - a member of one of the decimated clans? I didn't know. I didn't ask. Instead, I simply listened, nodding and making appropriate sounds as I consumed his perspective. After about an hour, his anger petered out, and I excused myself.
Tomorrow would be an interesting day.
SNI
Lexicon
Resian
Adjective. Def. Of or pertaining to the world which contains the Earth of Kaede's origin.
I could go on using "the quantum worlds", "the world of my birth" and other overwrought terms, but I hope we can agree that Resian forms a nice alternative that keeps things moving, and which doesn't assign undue importance to every single reference to the original world.
Taiji
A concept commonly represented by the Yin-Yang. No, not the thing in my avatar. That's representative of something else entirely.
Notes.
When Kaede is doing well, 90% of it can be attributed to her being a questionably sane adult. Any child capable of meditating porperly would have found unlocking their chakra similarly easy; children that are, on average, eight suck at meditating. From thus.
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will408914
(slouching towards bethlehem)
- Location
- California
So why is it that you probably won't be writing Shinobi? It looks like you have some really interesting, extensive world building there.
Endfall
A zero on the singularity.
- Location
- Somewhere else.
- Pronouns
- She/They
@will408914
Mainly, because I want to write original things, and every moment I spend writing fanfiction is a moment that I'm not developing original material. If I abandoned my projects, that wouldn't be a problem, but I decided that I would never abandon anything. Only finish it. So this is the problem: Right now, I project that I have about 1.9 million words to write before I even finish what I've already punlished. I'm okay with that. I chose that outcome. But I don't want to increase the magnitude of the task further, because I do not have the ability to write both quickly and at my highest quality - I'll be working on this stuff for years, as it is
If Shinobi was a small project like that Mushishi oneshot in the list of projects at the end of the chapter, I'd probably do it if only so the stuff I developed didn't go unused. The Naruto Arc of SNI and my other Naruto story are both set in the Shinobi interpretation so I can use some of the concepts. Shinobi itself though, would be about 700k words minimum if I did justice to the idea as it is in my head. That translates to several years of effort, and in the end, while I like the world I built, the story that takes place in it... is somewhat empty. When I write, build the story around a question; for example, "What would it take to change human nature?" or, "How do you kill an idea?"* or, "What happens when a concept goes insane?".
Shinobi has no such question. It's too straightforward, even with the time loops in the plot structure. So, ultimately, it imposes too much work for too little gain.
*Note: Not as in how do you make nobody believe in an idea. As in, how do you actually kill an abstract concept? It makes sense in the setting its attached to.
Mainly, because I want to write original things, and every moment I spend writing fanfiction is a moment that I'm not developing original material. If I abandoned my projects, that wouldn't be a problem, but I decided that I would never abandon anything. Only finish it. So this is the problem: Right now, I project that I have about 1.9 million words to write before I even finish what I've already punlished. I'm okay with that. I chose that outcome. But I don't want to increase the magnitude of the task further, because I do not have the ability to write both quickly and at my highest quality - I'll be working on this stuff for years, as it is
If Shinobi was a small project like that Mushishi oneshot in the list of projects at the end of the chapter, I'd probably do it if only so the stuff I developed didn't go unused. The Naruto Arc of SNI and my other Naruto story are both set in the Shinobi interpretation so I can use some of the concepts. Shinobi itself though, would be about 700k words minimum if I did justice to the idea as it is in my head. That translates to several years of effort, and in the end, while I like the world I built, the story that takes place in it... is somewhat empty. When I write, build the story around a question; for example, "What would it take to change human nature?" or, "How do you kill an idea?"* or, "What happens when a concept goes insane?".
Shinobi has no such question. It's too straightforward, even with the time loops in the plot structure. So, ultimately, it imposes too much work for too little gain.
*Note: Not as in how do you make nobody believe in an idea. As in, how do you actually kill an abstract concept? It makes sense in the setting its attached to.
Amazing world building! This story seems like its going to be making my favourite.