Hello, and welcome to Naruto: Black Sun, a new Naruto roleplay hosted by yours truly, Odin. After countless RP's in the Naruto roleplaying community on Roleplayerguild, it is time for yet another installment of the Naruto universe in roleplay format that sticks to the roots of the Naruto universe.
The aim is to recreate Naruto's appealing mood. The life of a shinobi isn't about roses, and it certainly isn't about all things good in life. Instead, it is about sacrifice. Because at it's core, that is what being a shinobi means - sacrifice. Sacrificing your 'normal' life to become a warrior and fight in the name of the village, to protect it's interest and keep the village safe.
And, if you just so happen to enjoy being a weapon, a tool, a cog in the machine of warfare... then all the better, because it means you can enjoy your own sacrifice.
This is reflected in the premise of the roleplay - it follows canon events entirely and then skips ahead several years - one hundred and fifty years to be precise - which gives us a convenient method of getting rid of otherwise problematic canon elements. Naruto and Sasuke existed, but obviously are no longer around. Neither are their offspring. Anything after that? Well, it's vanished into obscurity. As they say, the rest is history, and in this roleplay, we can take that very literally. But Odin, you say, how does that even represent the mood of Naruto?
Simply put, the world hasn't continued as Naruto and Sasuke no doubt intended. Yes, the curse of hatred is gone, and that is very nice, but hatred itself still exists. The Five Great Shinobi Villages didn't exactly keep getting along. By pretending everyone gets along, the problems only worsen, and there is a moment where all those pent up frustrations.. get released. They pop. And that explosion will be bigger than any previous war.
Interested in seeing how your destiny can be smithed within the confines of this new age? Continue reading.
The aim is to recreate Naruto's appealing mood. The life of a shinobi isn't about roses, and it certainly isn't about all things good in life. Instead, it is about sacrifice. Because at it's core, that is what being a shinobi means - sacrifice. Sacrificing your 'normal' life to become a warrior and fight in the name of the village, to protect it's interest and keep the village safe.
And, if you just so happen to enjoy being a weapon, a tool, a cog in the machine of warfare... then all the better, because it means you can enjoy your own sacrifice.
This is reflected in the premise of the roleplay - it follows canon events entirely and then skips ahead several years - one hundred and fifty years to be precise - which gives us a convenient method of getting rid of otherwise problematic canon elements. Naruto and Sasuke existed, but obviously are no longer around. Neither are their offspring. Anything after that? Well, it's vanished into obscurity. As they say, the rest is history, and in this roleplay, we can take that very literally. But Odin, you say, how does that even represent the mood of Naruto?
Simply put, the world hasn't continued as Naruto and Sasuke no doubt intended. Yes, the curse of hatred is gone, and that is very nice, but hatred itself still exists. The Five Great Shinobi Villages didn't exactly keep getting along. By pretending everyone gets along, the problems only worsen, and there is a moment where all those pent up frustrations.. get released. They pop. And that explosion will be bigger than any previous war.
Interested in seeing how your destiny can be smithed within the confines of this new age? Continue reading.
Keywords: dark, grim, warfare, Naruto: part 1.
Nations are like a match. They are lit, burn in a great intense flame, and continue burning, until the fuel is exhausted and they slowly, very slowly, fade away and ultimately extinguish. The only proof of their existence then, the ruins of their people if you will, is the smoke. But even the smoke slowly fades away. And then, nothing remains.
After Naruto and Sasuke unified the Shinobi nations and the great war was won, there was a brief sliver of hope. Hope that the countries would remain unified and at peace. But as time went on, the smaller shinobi nations went unrewarded for their sacrifices during this war - and their contributions to the war effort. If anything, it seemed that the great shinobi nations thought that these smaller villages should consider themselves lucky to have been able to contribute, should consider themselves lucky for continuing to exist.
There was no attention paid to their suffering, and Amegakure was hit perhaps the worst of all. With Nagato dead, Pain left without a host, and Konan sacrificing herself in an attempt to rip the head off the snake that was the Akatsuki, the village was left without leadership. A power vacuum had formed and with the looming threat of war with other-worldy forces, this put Amegakure in a position that they could not recover from. It was, perhaps, only slightly ironic that the village that had been formed specifically because of their lack of power to fight back against the great shinobi nations would now suffer once again because none of the Kage's paid any attention to their struggles once again.
The next one hundred and fifty years would be spent filling the vacuum, with warlords, mercenaries and demagogues taking up the mantle of being the leader of Amegakure. Internal struggle would dictate the political sphere in Amegakure for the next hundred years as the world changed around them.
Amegakure lost it's edge, it's industrial capabilities beginning to stagnate under the mounting pressure of the growing strife within the nations, with the nations surrounding them catching up. It took a hundred years for a leader to arrive who could take charge, and enforce a more rigid political system of elections for leadership positions within Amegakure rather than cutthroat politics.
Fifty years later, Amegakure is a shell of it's former self, but still stands strong, alone, in a world that is no longer the peaceful cooperative environment Naruto and Sasuke had intended, but rather, had returned to it's roots.
One hundred fifty years after the Fourth Great Shinobi War ended, a new generation of genin has graduated. Are they ready to take destiny into their hands? Can they do what it takes to become a shinobi of remarkable talent? One hundred fifty yers after the Fourth Great Shinobi War ended, a new threat looms on the horizon. A threat that goes unnoticed by the great shinobi nations, a threat that requires the full attention of the village.
After Naruto and Sasuke unified the Shinobi nations and the great war was won, there was a brief sliver of hope. Hope that the countries would remain unified and at peace. But as time went on, the smaller shinobi nations went unrewarded for their sacrifices during this war - and their contributions to the war effort. If anything, it seemed that the great shinobi nations thought that these smaller villages should consider themselves lucky to have been able to contribute, should consider themselves lucky for continuing to exist.
There was no attention paid to their suffering, and Amegakure was hit perhaps the worst of all. With Nagato dead, Pain left without a host, and Konan sacrificing herself in an attempt to rip the head off the snake that was the Akatsuki, the village was left without leadership. A power vacuum had formed and with the looming threat of war with other-worldy forces, this put Amegakure in a position that they could not recover from. It was, perhaps, only slightly ironic that the village that had been formed specifically because of their lack of power to fight back against the great shinobi nations would now suffer once again because none of the Kage's paid any attention to their struggles once again.
The next one hundred and fifty years would be spent filling the vacuum, with warlords, mercenaries and demagogues taking up the mantle of being the leader of Amegakure. Internal struggle would dictate the political sphere in Amegakure for the next hundred years as the world changed around them.
Amegakure lost it's edge, it's industrial capabilities beginning to stagnate under the mounting pressure of the growing strife within the nations, with the nations surrounding them catching up. It took a hundred years for a leader to arrive who could take charge, and enforce a more rigid political system of elections for leadership positions within Amegakure rather than cutthroat politics.
Fifty years later, Amegakure is a shell of it's former self, but still stands strong, alone, in a world that is no longer the peaceful cooperative environment Naruto and Sasuke had intended, but rather, had returned to it's roots.
One hundred fifty years after the Fourth Great Shinobi War ended, a new generation of genin has graduated. Are they ready to take destiny into their hands? Can they do what it takes to become a shinobi of remarkable talent? One hundred fifty yers after the Fourth Great Shinobi War ended, a new threat looms on the horizon. A threat that goes unnoticed by the great shinobi nations, a threat that requires the full attention of the village.
The timeline begins where Naruto and Sasuke together managed to defeat the Otsutsuki threat, defeating Kaguya and effectively ending the war. Tsunade resigns as Hokage, Kakashi takes up the mantle and continues to foster the networks that Naruto had built. Once Naruto becomes Hokage, the Shinobi world experiences their 'golden age' or 'dark age' depending on who you ask. The times were peaceful, there was no major incidents and even small scale skirmishes and conflicts were quickly and easily resolved. Gradually all Great Shinobi Nations increased their dedication and commitment to the union of shinobi nations, though all of them remained sceptical.
Following Naruto's passing, and the disappearance of Sasuke, a new hokage was elected. A man of the Shimura clan, namely Genji Shimura, and thus relative of the late Danzou Shimura, creator of the ROOT foundation, took over this mantle under the promise of 'righting the wrongs of previous generations,' something commonly understood to mean the wrongs of his ancestor, Danzou Shimura.
Opposite to that, Genji Shimura slowly dialed back the commitments to the union of villages, causing the union to become more unstable. As the union had decreased competition between the various shinobi nations, there was a severe lack in issues that needed shinobi to be resolved, and thus a lack of clientele and jobs for the villages. Genji had hoped that through slowly pulling back from the union he could diminish these effects and gain back some work opportunities.
It was not, however, Genji Shimura that broke the pact. Following the death of Naruto, Raikage A from Kumogakure saw the direction Konohagakure was going in, and saw the storm hanging overhead. With no sociable and likeable characters like Naruto in leadership positions, A withdrew from the union entirely, claiming that Kumogakure was the strongest of all villages and had a right to self determination.
This caused the other villages to also withdraw, and signalled the end of the union of villages and was a prelude to the war that would come. Although it A never lived long enough to see the dawn of war, he lived long enough to see the chaos he'd sown, perhaps intentionally, and when he passed, his last words imparted on Killer Bee the wisdom to leave Kumogakure - words that Killer Bee did not heed.
The new Raikage was a shinobi by the name of Hamda, soon renamed to A. His first act as the new Raikage was the assassination of Killer Bee and the order to capture the Eight Tails and transplant it into his own body. With Killer Bee dead, the Eight Tails went on a rampage and destroyed the shinobi that were meant to capture him, before escaping into the ocean. It was said that the shockwaves of his plunge into the water could be felt in the Kirigakure harbour.
Following the disastrous attempt of capturing the Eight Tails, Hamda blamed Kirigakure for the failure and accused them of sending ANBU to steal the Eight Tails. Whether it was true or not, war was declared and within two days of the declaration of war, Kirigakure and Kumogakure forces clashed on the border.
Citing the former union of shinobi villages, Kirigakure called on Konohagakure, Sunagakure and Iwagakure for aid in the war. Sunagakure declined the call to arms on the basis that they could not fund a war at that very moment but promised the delivery of a shipment of weapons. Iwagakure did not wish to anger their militarily superior neighbors and declined the call to arms, proclaiming that the union of shinobi nations was no more and that they thus had no obligation to help. Konohagakure accepted the call to arms, however, but it was quickly proven that this was merely a symbolic show of support to the nation of Kirigakure as no Konohagakure forces fought Kumogakure forces during this war.
The war never reached a conclusion, and the battles reached a stalemate. A white peace was signed though the rivalry continued to exist. The following ten years were marked by a period of increasing restlessness, growing disparity and tension between the nations, and a flashpoint event that ignited the Fifth Great Shinobi War.
The Fifth Great Shinobi War was characterized by a lack of awareness as to what sparked this sudden onslaught of world-wide combat and death. The previous years of peace, however short, had left many shinobi dissatisfied with this new status quo and, in desperate attempts to bring back the old political situation, they took to rebellious acts of defiance against their kage in an effort to spark war. Although initially unsuccesful when the union of shinobi still existed, these efforts proved to be more succesful with the advent of Kumogakures leaving the union, and other villages following suit.
Because of these dissident shinobi sparking war, it is unsure what the real cause for war was. For Kumogakure, they cited the retrieval of the eight-tails, which belonged to them according to a self-imagined law. For Iwagakure, they cited the retaking of land from Sunagakure, lands that were theirs according to arbitrary records that had been conjured up by them. Sunagakure cited self-defense, but later adjusted their war goals to include the seizure of power from Iwagakure and Kumogakure to prevent future aggressive behaviour. Konohagakure believed that they could play the role of world-police, like they had in the past, but were quickly shunned by other nations for their capitalization on the situation, and their neutral forces were treated with aggression, ensuring that Konohagakure would fight back against the aggressors. Kirigakure started their war to retrieve one of the Seven Swords of the Mist, one of which had fallen into the hands of a missing nin that had escaped from Kirigakure, and had taken refuge in Konohagakure, taking the sword with him.
The most important factor in this was that there were no alliances - everyone fought everyone. Most of the battles took place in border regions, with Konohagakure enduring a six-month siege of their village at one point before breaking free from the siege after a prolonged battle between the Raikage and Hokage, one which neither side won or lost.
Although the war was a terrible affair for all parties involved, as none of them gained anything from the war, it was a godsend for smaller villages like Takigakure, Yoshigakure, and Amegakure. The fact that all the five great nations were involved in war meant that clients were less likely to visit them -- as they were preoccupied -- and instead go to one of these small villages, who profited off of this war.
The war concluded with the Battle of Naruto Bridge where the five kages and their personal bodyguards met and fought a battle that would last over 8 hours. This battle resulted in the death of the Hokage, Kazekage, and Raikage, and after new kage's had been elected for all the countries who lost theirs, a peace treaty was drawn up which stipulated only small concessions, with most countries retaining their original borders. The Kirigakure missing nin was handed over to Kirigakure, though the sword was kept. All other involved parties received next to nothing.
The Skirmish Era was the period after the Fifth Great Shinobi War until the current day, during which most major wars that include three or more great shinobi nations have ended. Although wars still ocasionally occur, they typically are between 2 parties only. Other forms of combat between villages are limited to skirmishes and conflicting mission interests, such as one side playing bodyguard to an assassination target that is to be assassinated by another village.
Although relatively devoid of large-scale dramatic events, the Skirmish Era has been the era in which Amegakure retained it's power rather than lose it, like other smaller villages that seem to have vanished.
Fifty years before the current timeline, Amegakure stabilized, which was a major event as the otherwise chaotic nation squashed between other greater nations finally stood a chance at preventing them from preying on Amegakure's clientele, and the industry of Amegakure began picking up and churning out wares for exports again. The first leader of Amegakure was a man previously unknown, who had no great powers but was remarkably charismatic, able to prevent others from taking power away from him by reforming the political system to be more like that of Konohagakure and other nations, favoring elections over power struggles and factions.
Following the period of his leadership he ultimately resigned and lived out the rest of his life as a retired shinobi. The elections held after his resignation gave the leadership to a man, Hoshiyo, who stayed the course and continued improving Amegakure. Under his leadership the Shinobi Academy was greatly improved from a pure-combat crash course to a course that also favored strategic, tactical and academic purposes.
Under Hoshiyo the Arashi no Shugo-sha (嵐の守護者), the Stormguardians, were created, most often shortened instead to the Arekuruu (荒れ狂う) as a result of their tendency to be brutally effective at their job. The Arekuruu were modeled after the Konohagakure no Sato's Root (Ne) organization but lacked their 'Danzo' who assumed ultimate control, and instead were an ultra-secret organization that was covered in more shrouds and lies than even the ANBU.
During Hoshiyo's reign, it became more and more evident that smaller villages were being wiped off the map, with communications between these villages sometimes suddenly vanishing. Upon investigation of these incidents it became clear that there was more going on, as there were frequently marks of battle on the former locations of these villages, leaving behind only ruins and smoldering buildings. Despite the investigation of the Arekuruu into the incidents, no clues were found as to who committed these acts of violence, leaving any assumptions up in the air as to who was causing these massacres.
Until his death, only Hoshiyo knew of the Arashi no Shugo-sha, and after his death he entrusted their care to the next leader of Amegakure. A new leader for Amegakure was elected only five months ago, with Hoshiyo having ruled for 24 years before he died of a tumour.
Following Naruto's passing, and the disappearance of Sasuke, a new hokage was elected. A man of the Shimura clan, namely Genji Shimura, and thus relative of the late Danzou Shimura, creator of the ROOT foundation, took over this mantle under the promise of 'righting the wrongs of previous generations,' something commonly understood to mean the wrongs of his ancestor, Danzou Shimura.
Opposite to that, Genji Shimura slowly dialed back the commitments to the union of villages, causing the union to become more unstable. As the union had decreased competition between the various shinobi nations, there was a severe lack in issues that needed shinobi to be resolved, and thus a lack of clientele and jobs for the villages. Genji had hoped that through slowly pulling back from the union he could diminish these effects and gain back some work opportunities.
It was not, however, Genji Shimura that broke the pact. Following the death of Naruto, Raikage A from Kumogakure saw the direction Konohagakure was going in, and saw the storm hanging overhead. With no sociable and likeable characters like Naruto in leadership positions, A withdrew from the union entirely, claiming that Kumogakure was the strongest of all villages and had a right to self determination.
This caused the other villages to also withdraw, and signalled the end of the union of villages and was a prelude to the war that would come. Although it A never lived long enough to see the dawn of war, he lived long enough to see the chaos he'd sown, perhaps intentionally, and when he passed, his last words imparted on Killer Bee the wisdom to leave Kumogakure - words that Killer Bee did not heed.
The new Raikage was a shinobi by the name of Hamda, soon renamed to A. His first act as the new Raikage was the assassination of Killer Bee and the order to capture the Eight Tails and transplant it into his own body. With Killer Bee dead, the Eight Tails went on a rampage and destroyed the shinobi that were meant to capture him, before escaping into the ocean. It was said that the shockwaves of his plunge into the water could be felt in the Kirigakure harbour.
Following the disastrous attempt of capturing the Eight Tails, Hamda blamed Kirigakure for the failure and accused them of sending ANBU to steal the Eight Tails. Whether it was true or not, war was declared and within two days of the declaration of war, Kirigakure and Kumogakure forces clashed on the border.
Citing the former union of shinobi villages, Kirigakure called on Konohagakure, Sunagakure and Iwagakure for aid in the war. Sunagakure declined the call to arms on the basis that they could not fund a war at that very moment but promised the delivery of a shipment of weapons. Iwagakure did not wish to anger their militarily superior neighbors and declined the call to arms, proclaiming that the union of shinobi nations was no more and that they thus had no obligation to help. Konohagakure accepted the call to arms, however, but it was quickly proven that this was merely a symbolic show of support to the nation of Kirigakure as no Konohagakure forces fought Kumogakure forces during this war.
The war never reached a conclusion, and the battles reached a stalemate. A white peace was signed though the rivalry continued to exist. The following ten years were marked by a period of increasing restlessness, growing disparity and tension between the nations, and a flashpoint event that ignited the Fifth Great Shinobi War.
The Fifth Great Shinobi War was characterized by a lack of awareness as to what sparked this sudden onslaught of world-wide combat and death. The previous years of peace, however short, had left many shinobi dissatisfied with this new status quo and, in desperate attempts to bring back the old political situation, they took to rebellious acts of defiance against their kage in an effort to spark war. Although initially unsuccesful when the union of shinobi still existed, these efforts proved to be more succesful with the advent of Kumogakures leaving the union, and other villages following suit.
Because of these dissident shinobi sparking war, it is unsure what the real cause for war was. For Kumogakure, they cited the retrieval of the eight-tails, which belonged to them according to a self-imagined law. For Iwagakure, they cited the retaking of land from Sunagakure, lands that were theirs according to arbitrary records that had been conjured up by them. Sunagakure cited self-defense, but later adjusted their war goals to include the seizure of power from Iwagakure and Kumogakure to prevent future aggressive behaviour. Konohagakure believed that they could play the role of world-police, like they had in the past, but were quickly shunned by other nations for their capitalization on the situation, and their neutral forces were treated with aggression, ensuring that Konohagakure would fight back against the aggressors. Kirigakure started their war to retrieve one of the Seven Swords of the Mist, one of which had fallen into the hands of a missing nin that had escaped from Kirigakure, and had taken refuge in Konohagakure, taking the sword with him.
The most important factor in this was that there were no alliances - everyone fought everyone. Most of the battles took place in border regions, with Konohagakure enduring a six-month siege of their village at one point before breaking free from the siege after a prolonged battle between the Raikage and Hokage, one which neither side won or lost.
Although the war was a terrible affair for all parties involved, as none of them gained anything from the war, it was a godsend for smaller villages like Takigakure, Yoshigakure, and Amegakure. The fact that all the five great nations were involved in war meant that clients were less likely to visit them -- as they were preoccupied -- and instead go to one of these small villages, who profited off of this war.
The war concluded with the Battle of Naruto Bridge where the five kages and their personal bodyguards met and fought a battle that would last over 8 hours. This battle resulted in the death of the Hokage, Kazekage, and Raikage, and after new kage's had been elected for all the countries who lost theirs, a peace treaty was drawn up which stipulated only small concessions, with most countries retaining their original borders. The Kirigakure missing nin was handed over to Kirigakure, though the sword was kept. All other involved parties received next to nothing.
The Skirmish Era was the period after the Fifth Great Shinobi War until the current day, during which most major wars that include three or more great shinobi nations have ended. Although wars still ocasionally occur, they typically are between 2 parties only. Other forms of combat between villages are limited to skirmishes and conflicting mission interests, such as one side playing bodyguard to an assassination target that is to be assassinated by another village.
Although relatively devoid of large-scale dramatic events, the Skirmish Era has been the era in which Amegakure retained it's power rather than lose it, like other smaller villages that seem to have vanished.
Fifty years before the current timeline, Amegakure stabilized, which was a major event as the otherwise chaotic nation squashed between other greater nations finally stood a chance at preventing them from preying on Amegakure's clientele, and the industry of Amegakure began picking up and churning out wares for exports again. The first leader of Amegakure was a man previously unknown, who had no great powers but was remarkably charismatic, able to prevent others from taking power away from him by reforming the political system to be more like that of Konohagakure and other nations, favoring elections over power struggles and factions.
Following the period of his leadership he ultimately resigned and lived out the rest of his life as a retired shinobi. The elections held after his resignation gave the leadership to a man, Hoshiyo, who stayed the course and continued improving Amegakure. Under his leadership the Shinobi Academy was greatly improved from a pure-combat crash course to a course that also favored strategic, tactical and academic purposes.
Under Hoshiyo the Arashi no Shugo-sha (嵐の守護者), the Stormguardians, were created, most often shortened instead to the Arekuruu (荒れ狂う) as a result of their tendency to be brutally effective at their job. The Arekuruu were modeled after the Konohagakure no Sato's Root (Ne) organization but lacked their 'Danzo' who assumed ultimate control, and instead were an ultra-secret organization that was covered in more shrouds and lies than even the ANBU.
During Hoshiyo's reign, it became more and more evident that smaller villages were being wiped off the map, with communications between these villages sometimes suddenly vanishing. Upon investigation of these incidents it became clear that there was more going on, as there were frequently marks of battle on the former locations of these villages, leaving behind only ruins and smoldering buildings. Despite the investigation of the Arekuruu into the incidents, no clues were found as to who committed these acts of violence, leaving any assumptions up in the air as to who was causing these massacres.
Until his death, only Hoshiyo knew of the Arashi no Shugo-sha, and after his death he entrusted their care to the next leader of Amegakure. A new leader for Amegakure was elected only five months ago, with Hoshiyo having ruled for 24 years before he died of a tumour.
The Arashi no Shugo-sha (嵐の守護者), the Stormguardians, were created by Hoshiyo. THeir existence is something of an urban legend and only the leader of Amegakure knows of their existence. They are modeled after ROOT -- in fact, the Amegakure orphanage is a known source of recruits for the Arashi no-Shugo. The Arashi no Shugo-sha is known for kidnapping promising orphans in foreign lands as well, and allegations have been made towards Amegakure no Sato that they are abducting children who, whether they are orphans or not, are not property of Amegakure. Of course, no admission of this can be given out by Amegakure no Sato, because the existence of the Arashi no Shugo-sha is a concept that even the citizens of Amegakure themselves are not sure about.
To get things straight -- the Arashi no Shugo-sha, or Arekuruu, do certainly exist. But not many people know of them and, beyond some alleged sightings of Arekuruu agents within the borders of Amegakure, nothing can be proven. Thus the urban legend was formed.
With a country that is as isolated as Amegakure, it is not strange that they take extreme measures to defend their borders. Due to the nature of Amegakure's position in the middle of three larger villages, they are forced to vehemently protect their borders at all costs. These units will go out and confront trespassers, ordering them to turn back and take the long way around Amegakure, and if they fail to do so, will engage and theoretically destroy the opponent. The border guards are typically lead by a borderguard-specific jonin, and then three regular shinobi, but can also consist of four borderguard shinobi.
Perhaps the most infamous of the Amegakure institutions, the orphanage employment service or otherwise known simply as 'the orphanage' is a service that deals with children abandoned by their parents or who lost their parents due to war. They come from all over - but mostly from Amegakure. This is due to the frequent usage of Amegakure lands to do battle in by other countries which causes displaced children to end up either in Amegakure or wandering into Amegakure - though, at times, the orphanage has been known to employ the Arekuruu to exfiltrate orphans from other areas outside of its' borders.
The orphanage spends most of it's time raising the children to become shinobi -- offering them a chance at a life where they can earn a living wage rather than having to beg on the streets if they're not adopted (which rarely happens in Amegakure -- there are enough mouths to feed as is). Those who are said to have special talents are siphoned off into the Arekuruu training trajects, where they are effectively brainwashed -- though Amegakure prefers to say they are 'made loyal.' Much has been learned from ROOT in that regard, and though they do not practice the brutal experience of having to kill a brother or sister, there are certainly ethical questions that can be asked here -- it is only a good thing that nobody knows about this, and that means nobody can ask these questions.
To get things straight -- the Arashi no Shugo-sha, or Arekuruu, do certainly exist. But not many people know of them and, beyond some alleged sightings of Arekuruu agents within the borders of Amegakure, nothing can be proven. Thus the urban legend was formed.
With a country that is as isolated as Amegakure, it is not strange that they take extreme measures to defend their borders. Due to the nature of Amegakure's position in the middle of three larger villages, they are forced to vehemently protect their borders at all costs. These units will go out and confront trespassers, ordering them to turn back and take the long way around Amegakure, and if they fail to do so, will engage and theoretically destroy the opponent. The border guards are typically lead by a borderguard-specific jonin, and then three regular shinobi, but can also consist of four borderguard shinobi.
Perhaps the most infamous of the Amegakure institutions, the orphanage employment service or otherwise known simply as 'the orphanage' is a service that deals with children abandoned by their parents or who lost their parents due to war. They come from all over - but mostly from Amegakure. This is due to the frequent usage of Amegakure lands to do battle in by other countries which causes displaced children to end up either in Amegakure or wandering into Amegakure - though, at times, the orphanage has been known to employ the Arekuruu to exfiltrate orphans from other areas outside of its' borders.
The orphanage spends most of it's time raising the children to become shinobi -- offering them a chance at a life where they can earn a living wage rather than having to beg on the streets if they're not adopted (which rarely happens in Amegakure -- there are enough mouths to feed as is). Those who are said to have special talents are siphoned off into the Arekuruu training trajects, where they are effectively brainwashed -- though Amegakure prefers to say they are 'made loyal.' Much has been learned from ROOT in that regard, and though they do not practice the brutal experience of having to kill a brother or sister, there are certainly ethical questions that can be asked here -- it is only a good thing that nobody knows about this, and that means nobody can ask these questions.
Empty as of yet.
Katon.
Suiton.
Doton.
Fūton.
Raiton.
Amegakure no Sato
