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Ｔｈｅ Ｗｏｒｌｄ
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————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— Ｓｅｎｇｏｋｕ Ｊｉｄａｉ
Ｗａｒｒｉｎｇ Ｓｔａｔｅｓ ＰｅｒｉｏｄDuring Sengoku Jidai, as the name states, the nations of the world were in constant conflict with each other, and as a result hired Shinobi clans to fight their wars for them. At the center of these conflicts were often the Senju clan, who were famed for their skill in all ninja arts, and the Uchiha, who possessed a refined kekkei genkai that allowed them an advantage in combat that was feared throughout the world.
But it was not the Senju or the Uchiha that caused the Sengoku Jidai to end. It were the diplomatic Hyuga and the Sarutobi, both clans that were renowned for their prowess as well. The traditionalist Hyuga clan and the more progressive Sarutobi clan shared their seats of power with relative ease, finding that friendship between the clans bloomed quickly.
It was Eiji Hyuga that took the first position of Hokage, though it was well known that his companion, Oto Sarutobi was in part also hokage through his close relationship with Eiji. The two ruled Konohagakure, and other villages soon formed as they found that Konohagakure was growing too strong for them to stand against alone. Not that Konohagakure was going out and attacking people - quite the contrary. Any clan that could provide a benefit to Konohagakure was allowed entry, such as the Akimichi, the Yamanaka, and the Nara. Most clans found their way to a village eventually, and there was little reason to remain alone, wandering, after that.
The Uchiha and Senju both joined the Konohagakure village, but their numbers had dwindled due to their excessive fighting, and they would never quite recover to the level of the Hyuga and Sarutobi, instead taking their place as a regular clan, if not somewhat more prestigious due to their past prowess in battle.
Ｓｈｉｎｏｂｉ Ｇｏｄａｉｋｏｋｕ
Ｆｉｖｅ Ｇｒｅａｔ Ｓｈｉｎｏｂｉ Ｃｏｕｎｔｒｉｅｓ The period that followed the Sengoku Jidai was the period of the Shinobi Godaikoku, the Five Great Shinobi Countries. Following the large success of the shinobi villages, more started to appear in smaller locations, like the land of rain and the land of grass. However, as history had shown before, it was only the largest countries that could field the largest shinobi armies. So, it was Konohagakure, Iwagakure, Kirigakure, Kumogakure and Sunagakure that would lead this era.
Despite the existence of larger villages of shinobi, it should not be presumed that the countries were always at peace. There had been Great Shinobi Wars before and, as some say, they will continue to exist forever. As is the case here.
When Konohagakure was started, it was not too long after that Kumogakure was founded too. Kumogakure almost immediately went to war with Konohagakure to claim valuable land, causing the Daimyo in the land of fire some alarm. Never the less, he would soon be relieved to see that Konohagakure was fighting back.
Ｓａｉｓｈｏ ｎｏ ｓｈｉｎｏｂｉ－ｓｅｎ
Ｆｉｒｓｔ Ｓｈｉｎｏｂｉ Ｗａｒ For some time there was a stalemate, with the front never changing position, only sliding back and forth a few meters every now and then. The bodies were piling up on both sides, and old practices were hard to get rid of - children barely aged 12 were sent into battle against foes that were far superior in age and experience. Rarely, if ever, did these children survive the battles, and if they did they were surely deeply scarred.
This period was also the period in which Amegakure was founded. It was this war that prove to be the first exercise of Amegakure proficiency and they did not disappoint. As more villages were springing up and throwing themselves into the war as allies or independent actors, Amegakure was at the midst of it, providing a battlegrounds of sorts.
The villagers that lived here were forced out of their homes and saw brutalities committed against them, which caused one righteous shinobi to step up and place his clan down in the village, securing himself a position of the Kage of Amegakure - although the village was little more than a house with shinobi in it at that time. But slowly their forces grew as they protected the village.
This does not mean, however, that Amegakure is to be seen as some sort of heroic village protecting the innocent. In retaliation for the attacks on Amegakure shinobi and villagers, there were retribution based attacks in which other villagers lost their lives also. The first kage was a brute of sorts with a noble heart but a twisted way of obtaining the goal of safety. It was no surprise that he died as he lived - on the battlefield.
When the war had ended, Amegakure was a husk of itself, and it would never quite recover from these losses. The next Kage made up for that fact by increasing the training regiment. This turned ineffective almost immediately as it was proven that most Amegakure shinobi could not keep up such a regiment after having seen the horrors of war first hand. Many mentally-unstable shinobi were produced in these times following the war.
Ｈｅｉｗａ
ＰｅａｃｅThe period following the war was similar for many of the shinobi nations - take as many missions as you can, consolidate power and compete with the other villages. Small skirmishes still occurred when mission objectives conflicted between nations, but overall things were more quiet. This was, in part, because more official and stagnant borders were drawn up between the five great shinobi villages, the discussions for which left out smaller nations such as Amegakure.
While the other nations hunted for great tailed beasts, Amegakure was left in the mud, clinging on to life coup after coup. During the peacetime they were faced with a lot of civil wars, of new kage's attempting to take over. It was a result of the loose creation they had faced: after all, they were never seen as an 'official' shinobi village, merely a band of shinobi that lived in the village and protected it.
This was ended when a man by the name of Iie Hizen took over in a bloody coup, killing all those who opposed him. A quarter of the village died, but after that, there were no more coup's, and Amegakure began settling in as a real village, taking missions from that moment on. Under Iie's leadership several institutions were formed in Amegakure:
- Regyurā, regulars
The run of the mill shinobi that performed everyday shinobi tasks. Genin, chunin and most (special-)jonin make up the regulars, under the command of the jonin commander. They operate under the Amegakure Shinobi code, and adhere to the Amegakure ninja way. Ultimately they are the same as most other shinobi forces. As for their uniform, the Amegakure regulars are allowed some leniency in their uniform. Cloaks, however, are advised due to the weather conditions in Amegakure. - Burakkuopusu, black ops
The ANBU of Amegakure, black ops specialize in espionage and assassination. Contrary to other villages, the black ops are sometimes sent out on missions for monetary gain as the low number of shinobi in the village don't allow for any shinobi to be underutilized. As such, the black ops are part of the assassination squads that undertake missions as well. Their uniforms are a bit more strict and are recognizable mostly through their black clothing and an additional metal forehead protector that says 'Black Ops' on it, usually worn on a belt loop alongside the regular Amegakure forehead protector. - Bōdāgādo, border guards unit
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. - Fukisokuna, irregulars
These shinobi are anything that doesn't fall in any of the other categories. They are perhaps closely related to the Sannin rank - not really part of the armed forces, but at the same time definitely tied to Amegakure. There is no given title that the fukisokuna use, and most of them are titular, nicknames and such. Currently there are no fukisokuna, but perhaps in the future. - Minashigo-in koyō sābisu, Orphanage employment service
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 Black Ops to exfiltrate orphans from other areas outside of its' borders. This has earned them a bit of a black mark because they are effectively taking orphans, which isn't so bad. But the process after it is somewhat of a grey area, because the children are then raised as shinobi and made to fight in the Amegakure forces. This has earned critique from other villages, but Amegakure has been quick to retort that they are merely taking care of the children that their wars have orphaned.
Many of these institutions go under different name in the day-to-day lives of the shinobi, as nobody would refer to a shinobi as a regular, or as an ANBU specialist as a black-ops. They are merely there in the upper echelons of the armed forces, used by commanders and kage alike.
The Heiwa period is where we currently are, but the period is soon to come to an end with the arrival of Shinobi who are unrivaled in terms of power.
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Ｈｉｓｔｏｒｙ ｏｆ Ａｍｅｇａｋｕｒｅ
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————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— As mentioned before, Amegakure was started as the result of a shinobi settling down with his clans in a local village that was under constant attack by the shinobi of the opposing countries that used this village as their battlefield. Whenever there was not a battle raging, forcing people into their homes, there would be scavengers taking supplies from the villagers. This ceased when the shinobi settled down, under the leadership of one Hikako. Though he settled there with his 'clan' they were not related through blood, more so than choice. Not only that, but it was apparent rather quickly that their track record wasn't spotless either. This was used by the other villages to denote the birthplace of Amegakure as a 'bandit infested village,' though for a set of bandits these shinobi were far too skilled.
This meant that, at first, they were not a prime target and were merely an obstacle in obtaining resources. But after the first fights between the clan of rag-tag shinobi and the armed forces it became evident that these were a little more than just bandits. Especially the leader, Hikako, was extremely proficient, having mastered the art of senbon and ninjutsu to the level of an expert.
Hikako maintained leadership until the weeks before the war ended, dying on the battlefield defending his squad against an oncoming attack of mixed Sunagakure and Konohagakure troops, which had enclosed them from two sides. Perhaps it would be heroic to say he saved their lives, but this was not the case. They all perished in the attack and the chain of command dictated that his younger brother took the position as kage.
But things went slightly different. The moment the message came in that Hikako was dead, a civil war broke out in the village, with a rather bloody coup taking place. Hikako's younger brother was seen as a somewhat inferior and weak leader and his combat skills were sub par to most other shinobi in the village. He was killed alongside some small number of loyalists, and a new kage was placed on top of the hierarchy. After that followed a bloody sequence of coups, with each kage spending a variety of time on that position before inevitably dying off. More on that will follow in a list of all the kages that Amegakure knew.
During this time, there was still a lot of war, which was ironic given that this time was commonly referred to as Heiwa - peace. Perhaps it is strange to say so, but any war that didn't involve all the great villages were simply were simply put not important enough to be considered a great war. And rightly so - there was nothing great about these war.
Amegakure was at the center of these wars quite frequently, having to defend their territory against encroaching forces that were attempting to annex the village. The last war was over twenty years ago, however, so it is unlikely that any of the current regular shinobi forces bar the jonin experienced these wars. Perhaps luckily so - war leaves its' scars on anyone, no matter how strong you are.
There were many kages in Amegakure during these times, many of whom were merely average. Some that stood out were the following;
Ｉｋｋｉ The shinobi that settled down in Amegakure with his band of shinobi, this man is some sort of legend among Amegakure shinobi, whether you like him or not. He was a man with a noble heart, but not quite the hero other villages put forth as their 'legendary shinobi.' Ikki was the living embodiment of 'the goals hallow the means' and as such he was at the head of many cruelties against the other shinobi villages. Perhaps this was wrong - but it's what gave them the edge a small village needed to survive.
He died defending his squad in a joint ambush by Sunagakure and Konohagakure. Perhaps it would be heroic to say that due to his efforts his squad made it out alive - but this would be a lie. Nobody returned from that ambush and, while Ikki's defense cost the Konoha- and Sunagakure hitsquad quite a few members, inevitably when Ikki fell the rest was doomed to death as well. Word of his death reached Amegakure a few days later, resulting in the first coup of Amegakure history. Two weeks later the first great shinobi war ended.
Ikki left behind a younger brother, who was swiftly killed in the coup. No other known relatives survived, as far as Amegakure intelligence services know.
Ｋｏｊｉ Ｍｏｔｓｕｂａ Koji Motsuba was the person that took over after Ikki. Following Ikki's death, and the arrival of that news, Koji figured it was time to get rid of the weaker younger brother of Ikki and take over for himself, to ensure that Amegakure would not fall under the weak leadership of this brother.
Luckily for Koji, he had a lot of support compared to the brother, resulting in merely a few deaths. But his reign would not stop there. He initiated a brutal training regime to prepare the rest of Amegakure for the second great shinobi war that he was
sure would arrive one day. He wasn't wrong - he just miscalculated the period of time in which it would happen.
Perhaps his greatest miscalculation was using the war-torn children of the war, deeply scarred both physically and mentally by the pains they suffered during this war. During Koji's reign Amegakure underwent a surge in mental problems that only diminished once this extreme training regiment was replaced with a lesser regiment.
Koji was the leading figure in 90% of the total defensive wars that Amegakure faced, all of which took place during his twenty years as kage. A coup ultimately cost him his life, and his successor replaced the training regime. Things returned to normal.
Ｍａｏ Ｓｕｓｕｂｅ Mao Susube was a female assassination expert. It should come as no surprise, then, that she was at the head of the largest and most complex coup in Amegakure history - no small feat to accomplish. Her status as assassination also put her in relative comfort when it came to defense against other coups - she knew what to expect.
Her reign as kage was relatively normal, and it was under her time period that Amegakure opened it's borders slightly more and began accepting trade and commerce between the other villages and Amegakure. Controls were tightened in the shape of bureaucracy but ultimately, she provided a good boost to economics for Amegakure. Their industrial exports could now also be exported to other countries, after all.
This ended when an infiltrator used a trading wagon to bring in heaps of explosives and blew up a large section of the Amegakure industrial district. Following this attack, which was not claimed by anyone, she reverted her previous actions and closed the country again, not allowing anyone from the outside access without explicit approval from the kage herself. To this day it is unsure who committed the crime, but it is said that the upper echelons of the Amegakure shinobi forces know
exactly who was behind it.
She died not long after that of health problems.
Ｉｉｅ Ｈｉｚｅｎ Iie Hizen was the leader that took over after a series of coups, putting an end to them with an iron fist and the help of the Black Ops squadrons. Using black ops, anyone with thoughts about revolutions were put to an end, with either re-conversion to the Amegakure ninja way, or forcible departure from this world. He ruled the longest of any kage in Amegakure, being the twelfth kage, and held office for over 30 years.
He was a hard shinobi, hardened by the many defensive wars he fought, and during his later period of rulership this became evident as he came down harder and harder on suspected revolutionary elements in Amegakure. Despite being at the head of many progressive things in Amegakure, he was also the cause of a lot of cruelty. This was never hidden either - he accepted this, and he embraced it, proclaiming that a hard rule was necessary for the people of Amegakure, who would otherwise devolve into more and more coups and bloodshed. Over time this became the accepted ideal. Rule hard, or perish.
He died two years ago, with the new kage taking his place soon after.
Ｉｉｅ Ｈｉｚｅｎ 
Ｓｈｉｉ Ｍａｔｓｕｍｅ， ｃｕｒｒｅｎｔ Ａｍｅｋａｇｅ
Shi Matsume is the current Amekage, who took over after Iie. During her 2 year seat on the position of kage, she has not accomplished that much yet. However, her mainstay focus has been on the protection of Amegakure borders, what with the war starting within her reign. She is known as a rather fierce shinobi, definitely a match for any other kage out there at the moment. More over, her personality matches Amegakure almost indefinitely, and she has allowed Amegakure to consume her - to essentially become a living breathing portrayal of Amegakure.
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