You’re lost. You wandered into this forest over a day ago, and even when attempting to re-trace your steps you still can’t find your way out. This forest is old, and it’s unlike anything you’ve ever seen. The forest is old, the trees are immense and the limbs alone are as thick as a human. The trees gnarl and intertwine with each other as if they were one large entity making passage through the forest incredibly difficult. All the sudden a large breeze passes by you…you feel a cold chill travel down your spine and the trees begin to moan all around you as if they were trying to warn you of something. Suddenly out of the corner of your eye you see a figure pass by the trees then disappear. You start to run, unsure of what is behind, but unwilling to turn around and find out. THWAK! A kunai appears directly in front of you, nicking your cheek…blood begins to trickle down and then fear takes over. You run as fast as you can for what seems like an eternity and you stumble across a large clearing. It’s a large grove; the sun shines down through the canopy illuminating the entire area in an almost celestial manner. You enter the grove and you feel the sun shine down upon you and you feel at peace for the first time in days. The tranquility of the grove makes you forget everything before the time that you entered it…but you soon remember how and why you got here. Shaking off the serenity you feel you begin to run again, but as you approach the opposite tree line you freeze.
You want to move, but when you go to move your legs they simply don’t move. You try to turn around, but nothing works, you can barely even breathe and even that seems controlled. Slowly your body moves, not of your own accord, and then you see them. Three men, dressed in black, all brandishing katana on their backs…the one in the middle has his hand in front of his face, his index and middle fingers extended upward and the rest of his hand clenched staring at you intently. “You never should have run into this grove you know…the trees in the way were the only thing keeping me from catching you in my technique earlier. But no matter, I wish I could say that you’ve learned your lesson, but that would require you to be alive after this event.” You plead with the man, scared and confused you don’t know what he wants and you beg him to allow you to live, but he’ll have no part in it. He simply returns your cries for mercy with a perverse smile as you lifts his free hand… ”You’ve trespassed into our forest…this is the penalty”. The other two men draw their swords and charge at you from across the grove. Frantically you try to release yourself from the man’s grip but it’s no use, and as the men come within a few meters you simply close you’re eyes and wait for the end.
“DOTON!”… The sound reverberates around you and fills the entire grove, but you can’t place where it came from. As you open your eyes, the ground beneath you begins to rumble and cracks open as a large wall of earth and rocks shoots out of the between you and the charging men. The wall is immense, standing about 20 ft high and extending more then 20 feet to the left and right of you, completely blocking your vision of your attackers and anything on the other side of the grove. You begin to wonder what that voice was and how this wall got here, but you quickly realize that you can move again. Not taking time to think about your fortune you begin a sprint for the tree line again, but a figure appears in front of you. He seemed to appear out of no-where, his image simply shifting out of the air and then focusing itself before you in the flash of an eye. The man stands before you, an imposing figure, yet only about 5’ 11” tall, but you feel an emanation of power from him…an aura you’ve never felt before. He is dressed strange for this region, wearing a straw hat that covers his head, only allowing a peek at his red eyes and a small amount of his silvery-white hair, which flows behind him. He’s wearing a large blue robe with green trim flows down to his waist and then tapers down the front and back, leaving slits on the sides. He held his arms in front of him tucked into each sleeve, which extended beyond his hands. His pants were made of the same material and extend down tucked neatly into his boots. A large red scarf covers his mouth and wraps around his neck flowing behind him. Also on his back was a very ancient katana and as you glance at it you have the strange feeling that it is watching you as well…peering inside of you, but you break away from this uncomfortable feeling quickly. Oddly enough there is also a black cat on top of his straw hat…simply sleeping there. “Don’t worry my friend, you’re safe now”… you recognize the voice as the one you heard before the wall emerged, ”Stay back…” Although you’ve never seen him before, you trust his words and do as he says as he approaches the wall that separates you from your attackers.
The stranger touches the wall for a second and then waves his hand across it; the wall collapses before him leaving a screen of dust where it once was. The opposing ninja jumped back several feet and stared at the rogue ninja in fear. As the dust settled he stepped forward and a breeze swept through the grove making his scarf whip around in the wind… “Who are you to lay claim to this forest, it’s a part of nature and you have no more claim to it then me or anyone else”. Ignoring his words the two men charged at him, swords drawn aiming to kill the stranger, “Hmmph, weak fools”. He quickly extended two large steel claws out of his sleeves. The two men sliced at him, but as their blades were about to strike, his image shifted and was gone only to reappear behind them. “Come now…is this really all you have?”. Infuriated, the two men slice at him again in unison, but the man simply caught their blades in his claws and an aura of force emanated from him driving the two back several meters from his position. As they were still flying back in the air he shifted to their position, grabbed one throwing him into the other and then kicked them both to the ground. He landed on top of them and stabbed his claws into one of each of their shoulders, pinning them to the ground. He detached the claws and stood up performing several hand seals and he slammed his hands to the ground… “Tsuta Shibari!”. The ground around them gave off a light and the claws began to sprout vines that dug into the ground creating a small rumbling beneath them. Vines then shot out of the ground and wrapped around the two ninjas pinning them to the ground on all sides. The stranger then stared at them intently and his arms began to glow a bluish color which passed into the ground and flowed into the vines… ” Shinra no Seppun”. As he said the words the men squirmed to break lose, but they were held fast as thorns sprouted from the vines on all sides impaling the two assailants, leaving them motionless in pools of their own blood.
Just as the stranger looked up from his technique, he saw their master running at him in a fit of rage launching a flurry of attacks at him. The stranger blocked all the moves with his right arm and countered with a single kick to the man’s chest sending him crashing to the ground several meters away. “So you’re their leader huh? Hmmph…no wonder they were so weak”. Furious at the rogue ninja’s comment the man jumped to his feet, performed a few hand signals and extended his hand forward. It began to glow a fierce red color and an enormous ball of flame shot forward engulfing the stranger and scorching the ground all around him. After holding the flame for about 10 seconds he released the jutsu and could see nothing but burnt earth and columns of rising smoke where the stranger once stood… ”Ha! Call me weak will you?” exclaimed the fire wielder. He then turned his attention to the man at the edge of the tree line, “heh…you and I have unfinished business—“; just as he was about to finish his statement a sound reverberated through the grove in a loud yet muffled voice…
” Tsuchi no Kekkai!”. The ground beneath the man began to rumble and earth below him erupted spewing dirt and rocks all around him. The fragments of rock and earth then began to collect around him and join together forming a large sphere that completely encompassed the man in a tomb of rock and earth. The stranger then appeared out of the ground emerging from it slowly as if he were part of the earth. He lifted his hand in the air and suspended it for a few seconds while debris and rock fell off of the prison. He took his free hand and placed it in front of his face and made a few one handed signals. ” Iwa Kudaki”… the sphere abruptly collapsed in on the man with a resounding crash that echoed throughout the grove, it then crumbled to the ground in a pile of rock and dirt leaving the man on top badly battered and bleeding all over. The man struggled to his feet and somehow managed to stand and face the stranger… ”Who are you…?” , he said as he struggled to breathe after the crushing blow. “You try to claim ownership of this forest and kill anyone who enters it, and yet you scorch the ground of this sacred grove in your pursuit? You have no respect for this forest or for this grove and as such…I have no respect for you.”. Just as he had finished his speech the stranger shifted his image disappearing in a flash and reappearing below the battered man kicking upward with an immense force sending the man over 20 feet in the air. He performed a few hand signals and then struck the ground… ” Zanzou no Jutsu”, images of the stranger started to pour out of the man form his left and right until they completed a full circle around the enemy in the air. The ring of images then began to run in circle at extreme speeds creating a small whirlwind, which caught the ninja as he fell down from the air, suspending him in between all of them. The man’s body was shifted upright and the circle of images began to close in on him slowly and seemed to run straight into the man. In a splash of blood and an explosion of wind that passed through the grove, the images were gone and the stranger could be seen standing over the body of his enemy, which was riddled with kunai in every major artery and organ in the body and lying in large pool of blood. The stranger then walked into the center of the grove and focused his energy for a few seconds until he started to grow a faint blue color. He performed a few hand signals and then struck the ground creating a large sigil in the middle of the grove… ” Tsuchi e no Kikan”. A wave of energy passed throughout the grove and the ground below the enemies began to glow as their bodies were dragged down into the soil and brought back to nature. Even the grass and earth that was scorched was healed and began to re-grow returning the grove to it’s previous state, undisturbed and silent, showing no signs of the battle which had transpired.
The ninja approaches you after looking around the grove for a few moments and you meet him halfway and bow…”Thank you so much, I owe you my life”. “You owe me nothing good sir, just be careful passing through this area…as you have found out it can be quite dangerous. This forest is very old and it can play tricks on travelers, but if you follow that path over there you’ll be out of the forest in a few minutes. When you exit the forest you will see a large meadow ending in a rolling hill. Climb to the top of the hill and you will see my village…you are welcome anytime.” The man’s image shifted in an instant and was gone as suddenly as he had first arrived leaving you alone in the grove again. You then hear feint voice on the wind… ”Just ask for Cobra”. You look around, and try to collect yourself all the time thinking about everything that had just happened. You begin to follow the path that Cobra had showed you and you began to think to yourself…”Well, I’m new to this area, and I could use a little help getting on my feet and meeting new people…maybe this village will be a good place to start”. As you exit the forest you see the field and as you walk towards the village you feel that something good is about to happen and you continue onward with a bounce in your stride.
…As you exit the forest, and get to the top of the hill you see a medium-sized surrounded by an enormous wooden wall rising 50 ft in the air, made up large tree-trunk sized pillars fastened together, with the only entrance in or out of the Village being a large set of double doors at the front. As you approach the village closer you can see that each corner of the wall surrounding the village has an immense pillar shooting out of the ground made of polished stone. Each pillar is adorned with one of the five major elements; Fire on the northeast pillar, Metal on the northwest pillar, Water on the southeast pillar, and Wind on the southwest pillar. In the middle of the two doors is a very large and ornate symbol that reads as, “Do”…which is the symbol for Earth. You approach the doors and two guards stop you, and ask your business in the village. “I was in the forest being chased and a man saved me…he said to come here and say that I should ask to see Cobra” . “Ah yes…” said one of the guards, “He told us to be expecting you some time ago, come on in”.
The massive doors then opened into the village and you see a medium sized village with houses and stores in the background and on the sides, with open areas for training in weapons, fighting, and in the other arts of music and calligraphy. In the front of the village, just about 50 ft. from the gates is a large covered area which houses a common area below it…a place to sit and escape from the sun and mingle. In the middle of the covered area is a polished stone path leading forward to a slightly raised area with a wall behind it. To the left and right of the middle pathway were rows of tatimi mats, blanketing the ground beneath the covering, where members of the village were sitting, chatting, and resting. In the middle of the raised area, to your surprise, you see the man who had saved you in the forest…quietly meditating on a large pillow. You walk up the stone path and prepare to greet the man once again…
(this is an example storyline, just to set the mood and the surroundings…feel free to come up with your own story)
--Hikuri Village (the map)--
Ninja Headband : Completed!
Chyaku Norisu Scarf : Completed!
Kitsune Mask : 
