The plan had been going so *well*.
What plan? Never mind. You don't want to know the details, and anyway, no one can *really* remember any of the details any more. It had been going well, though - the dragon-blooded were enlisted to the cause, the Exaltations of the fallen Solars were being collected and controlled... and then the Unconquered Sun decided that he was no longer pleased to turn His Face from His Chosen, and everything went straight to Malpheas. Nothing could contain him. Nothing could control him. He tore through our defenders like we weren't even there, and innocent gods and godlings were butchered in huge numbers. Finally, in a last-ditch attepth to save what was left of Yu-Shan, our leader, Chejop Kejak, used a greater prayer-scroll charm, invoked the Maiden of Endings, and gave up his life to bind the raging deity into his Story, into the inheritor of his exaltation, briefly seized by arcane markings on the belly of the child. As his last act, he told those followers that were near to remember him as a hero, andse that he had a chance to learn and grow as he ought.
...but then, there was the Breaking of the Mask. Little things often get forgotten in the maelstrom, when portions of the Principle of Secrets are shattered. So many questions get asked, where that is the only remaining answer - how was it that the Unconquered Sun was bound? How could that be? Breaking of the Mask. No one knows.
So the child grew up. He was despised on the one side by those who saw him as the inheritor of a man who had shattered the world, brought about the slaughter of the Solars, and nearly destroyed Yu-Shan. He was despised on the other by those who saw in him nothing but the raging Sun, surely bound for but a short while. Those pushed into being his teachers did so only under protest, and taught him poorly. He knows little of true martial arts, less of fate-work, and nothing at all of navigating the bureaucracy. Still, there is always too much to do, and we never have enough epic kung-fu ninja wizards to do it all. We need everyone we can get - even the dead last. Even Uzumaki Naruto.
...and don't get me started on that Rock Lee kid. Teaching Celestial Martial Arts to the Dragon-blooded? What's Gai trying to prove?
***********
hmmm... didn't turn out quite as mind-breaky as I envisioned it. Ah, well. I still like the idea of a version of Naruto that would describe Kage Bunshin as "Having a Bunch of Friends Method".
What plan? Never mind. You don't want to know the details, and anyway, no one can *really* remember any of the details any more. It had been going well, though - the dragon-blooded were enlisted to the cause, the Exaltations of the fallen Solars were being collected and controlled... and then the Unconquered Sun decided that he was no longer pleased to turn His Face from His Chosen, and everything went straight to Malpheas. Nothing could contain him. Nothing could control him. He tore through our defenders like we weren't even there, and innocent gods and godlings were butchered in huge numbers. Finally, in a last-ditch attepth to save what was left of Yu-Shan, our leader, Chejop Kejak, used a greater prayer-scroll charm, invoked the Maiden of Endings, and gave up his life to bind the raging deity into his Story, into the inheritor of his exaltation, briefly seized by arcane markings on the belly of the child. As his last act, he told those followers that were near to remember him as a hero, andse that he had a chance to learn and grow as he ought.
...but then, there was the Breaking of the Mask. Little things often get forgotten in the maelstrom, when portions of the Principle of Secrets are shattered. So many questions get asked, where that is the only remaining answer - how was it that the Unconquered Sun was bound? How could that be? Breaking of the Mask. No one knows.
So the child grew up. He was despised on the one side by those who saw him as the inheritor of a man who had shattered the world, brought about the slaughter of the Solars, and nearly destroyed Yu-Shan. He was despised on the other by those who saw in him nothing but the raging Sun, surely bound for but a short while. Those pushed into being his teachers did so only under protest, and taught him poorly. He knows little of true martial arts, less of fate-work, and nothing at all of navigating the bureaucracy. Still, there is always too much to do, and we never have enough epic kung-fu ninja wizards to do it all. We need everyone we can get - even the dead last. Even Uzumaki Naruto.
...and don't get me started on that Rock Lee kid. Teaching Celestial Martial Arts to the Dragon-blooded? What's Gai trying to prove?
***********
hmmm... didn't turn out quite as mind-breaky as I envisioned it. Ah, well. I still like the idea of a version of Naruto that would describe Kage Bunshin as "Having a Bunch of Friends Method".