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"These are the times that try men's souls."
This was a famous quote by our Village's Founder, Haduma. He claimed to have read it in a book in his home country, who's name is now lost to us.

Such a description is perfect for the Great Purge, a war that ravaged the Ninja World for the last two years.

The Official Origins of the war can be traced to our own Village Hidden in the Moon, but the circumstances that allowed such a conflict to occur can be viewed all around the Ninja World.

Konohagakure, perhaps the most formidable Village in all of the shinobi realm, was wrapped up. Completely. The Village had exhausted all of its resources on a two-fold hunt for the terrorist groups Akatsuki and Otogakure.

With Konoha virtually out of the picture, a vast conspiracy was able to form under the nose of the Tsukikage, and it all began with Project Untouchables.

Project Untouchables should have revolutionized the Ninja World and made history, but in all likelihood, it will be little more than a footnote in the events leading up to the Great Purge. It was a successful attempt by the current Tsukikage, then LUNA Commander, Ikazuchi Hachi, to extract kekkei genkai and make them available for use by virtually anyone. As absurd as it sounds, the science was very effective, I assure you, and the injections worked, after a "trial and error" period.

It is important to note here that the injections were developed by a man named Alan Coldworth, who shows up in numerous other village histories over the last century, as I noted in my previous essay TITLE OMITTED.

Suffice to say, Untouchables alone brought great outrage to the other Hidden Villages, and led to an underlyingly acidic relationship with Getsugakure. Ironically, on the surface, this caused Getsugakure's diplomatic relations to boom, and they were permitted to host the IntraVillage Chuunin Exams for the first time. During these Exams, another one of Hachi's past failures was exhibited, in the form of a man known as David Spragut.

Spragut's history is exemplified in another essay of mine (see TITLE OMITTED), suffice to say his history is intertwined not only with Hachi's, but with that of the enigmatic Coldworth and our own village founder, Haduma.

All that is important here is that Spragut was once Hachi's prisoner, and he escaped midway through the "Maze of Madness" portion of the Chuunin Exams.

Spragut proceeded to kidnap several Genin, Chuunin, and prisoners from Getsugakure, as well as enlist other infamous Rogue-nin, and formed the terrorist organization known as Hakumei. Hakumei planned to eliminate the Hidden Village Political System, beginning with Getsugakure.

Where did the other villages fit in? After all, it wasn't a war, not yet.

But unbeknownst to Hachi, the infamous Lawyer Nin, Bob Lawblaw (I am in the midst of compiling my research on him. Expect another essay within the month.) had been plotting against Hachi since his predecessor's death, blaming the Third for murdering the Second, even though there was never more than weak circumstantial evidence. (See Official LUNA File # 236)

Lawblaw had been corresponding with Spragut since the man's initial escape, and once the conflict with Hakumei began to escalate, the lawyer upped the ante.

Meeting in secret with the leaders of both Sunagakure and Iwagakure, Lawblaw formed a vast and somewhat unnecessary conspiracy against Ikazuchi Hachi. Seeds of mistrust grew, and it wasn't more than six months after the first Hakumei attack that a single village conflict had turned into an outright war.

There is little need to describe Suna's and Iwa's invasion of Getsugakure (more than enough anecdotal evidence has been compiled), but it is interesting to note that Ikazuchi Hachi was never removed from power. The Village Hidden in the Moon was technically an Iwagakure territory for an entire year, but Hachi retained his position as Tsukikage, simply by complying with Iwa and assisting in the defeat of Hakumei.

Perhaps it was pity? After all, only Getsugakure suffered civilian and economic casualties in the Great Purge, and a vast number of cultural and militaristic resources were destroyed.

Even now, a year after the war, our Village is little more than a husk. Our thriving Bazaar is a Black Market. LUNA is a sham. Gangs run the streets.

And our beloved Leader? Ikazuchi Hachi was by no means a good man. He was Machiavellian, conniving, and selfish. But history shows that he did indeed love this village. He was always driven by some desire to improve it, to never surrender.

Until now. Now he is broken.

David Spragut, leader of the infamous group Hakumei, spent months after his apparent defeat during the Chuunin Exam, gathering forces from across the ninja world. Among those forces was Tamahome Blandal, a terrorist residing in the mountain region near Getsugakure. The Hakumei group preformed many villainous acts across the villages, most of which Blandal was forbidden from participating in by none other than David Spragut himself, much to the pyromaniac's chagrin. It cames with no surprise that when David ordered Blandal to 'burn Getsugakure to the ground' that he eagerly accepted his charge. What surprised Blandal was that his first target, as directed by David, was a small facility on the outskirts of the village.

Not wanting to displease his master, Blandal laid waste to the facility, which had already been partially destroyed in what appeared to be an explosion. His next target was the residential district, which Blandal set ablaze with due haste before moving on to the market area. Hoping to literally ignite the entire village Blandal was surprised when ninja from Amegakure arrive on scene and began to undo the damage that he had done. Fleeing to David's side, he found that the remaining members of Hakumei were fighting a war on two fronts, one lead by the mysterious Hachi of Getsugakure and another by the leaders of the other villages. But what was truly strange about the conflict was that the armies that were doing battle with Hakumei seemed to at the same time be at war with one another. Dead bodies, both bearing the Hakumei mark and without were littered at the feet of his comrades, but it wasn't until members of his own Tamahome clan were brought before the group that Blandal saw the error of his ways.

In a desperate plea to stave off Hachi and the Getsugakure forces, in order to focus Hakumei's defense on a single front, David Spragut brutally executed the members of what had up until that point been the most powerful clan within the village. After he watched the man he had called a leader murder his family, Blandal launched an assault against David that sent those who still marched under the Hakumei banner fleeing into the woods. Blandal was quickly set upon by Getsugakure forces and taken into prison, sentenced to public execution as punishment for his many crimes against the village and his involvement with Hakumei.

The most famous footage of the "Lamentations" speech comes from an Iwagakure foot soldiers A/V camera, as his unit was preparing to launch a final assault of mortars and smoke grenades on the clock tower, where Sendai had been holed up, firing raijutsu down at the invading troops.

The footage was eventually leaked to the public, and became one of the most infamous memories of the Great Purge.


"People of Getsugakure! Of Iwagakure! Of Sunagakure! Of Hakumei!

Listen!

I bring you Lamentations! Lamentations!

Lamentations for the world what once was, but now has been forgotten! Once you were men, and I remember: I was a man then, as well. I have seen the politicians and the rhetors of ages past seize this world with fists of iron and ink! They have stolen your farms and houses, your temples and your gods, your minds and your hearts, your souls and your spirits. But-

Lamentations!

Lamentions for who you once were! For once you were men, but now you are not! They did not take the world from you by force but by your own hands! You ripped out your hearts and handed them to the governments on platters made of your own flesh and blood! You surrendered all that was good and sacred in exchange for contracts and bureaucrats! So-

Lamentations!

Lamentations for who you are! You are sad gray skeletons, shades and wraiths - your potential numbed by your pills and police forces! You cannot fight back! You cannot cry out! You will never have what you lost because you have lost the lust for freedom that made you men.

Lamentations!
Your world must burn."

At this point, Sendai stops speaking, and the soldier holding the camera begins to rise, and other troops can be seen rushing past. The soldier pauses briefly in the frontal assault to adjust the camera and refocus on the clock tower. This simple action saves his life, as at that moment an enormous bolt of golden lightning crashes down upon the tower, destroying it, and the majority of the Iwagakure ground forces in the area. The camera, of course, shuts off just as it catches a glimpse of the gilded explosion, before fading to black.

The soldier was never identified.