Dion

How Many People Can One of Your Characters Fight Off

And then I have total cripples, wimps and people who would sooner shake their heads than even raise a fist.

@ArenaSnow

Self inserts are generally a bad writing tool, you know that right?!?

hmm

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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.

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_{Keywords: dark, grim, warfare, Naruto: part 1.}

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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.

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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 Atarashi 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 Atarashi 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.

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Amegakure no Sato (雨隠れの里)

In recent years Amegakure has been characterized by a growing industrial capability and, following that, a more organized and rigorous military that is capable of filling mission slots with greater numbers, and following the re-work of Amegakure's shinobi academy system, with a much higher efficiency, thus increasing the number of missions Amegakure is capable of performing. Both of these factors have lead to a higher standard of living within Amegakure, primarily because the profession of being a shinobi has become more attractive since the industries present in Amegakure can function at the same, or higher level, without the same need for manpower they had twenty years ago.

Despite this they are still largely a impoverished and unstable country. Despite recent efforts, Amegakure suffers from approximately one hundred years of suffering due to the unstable political situation and a lack of care from the Five Great Shinobi Nations. Although they were no longer treated as a lapdog or a simple lap of territory, they are not supported in any way and, asides from an increase in sales of weaponry during the Fifth Great Shinobi War.

General problems in Amegakure are, thus, a result of a hundred years of chaos within the lands. Luckily for the leaders of Amegakure, citizens are happy with any positive change, and a drastic change is not directly required, allowing them to systematically repair the damage done to Amegakure's already fragile economy system.

Current problems are related mostly to the looming threat of foreign entities that potentially have targeted Amegakure, and despite Arekuruu attempts to stop these entities, they have so far proven to be unsuccesful.

Iwagakure no Sato (岩隠れの里)

A rolling stone never gathers moss, but for Iwa - they weren't exactly rolling through the times so well. Their population, and defense remained all unscathed in the years that passed - but their economy was fruitfully failing. Though, this was nothing exactly new for any of the residents there. It would be due to its illustrious past dating back over 150+ years ago - that nothing positive would be produced in the future among other villages. Once the warring period had ended, and peace was brought to the land, all seemed well for many years.But with the fall of the 4th Tsuchikage, and rise of the 5th - Iwa again become a target of disdain for most other nations. With the Union of the Nations ending thanks to the newest Hokage - Genji. Iwa began to work more on its defense. During this time as well, the 5th Tsuchikage would delve into the past and bring about a team of mercenaries that were all but forgotten in the peaceful period. These mercenaries carrying out missions to bring in resources and money to the village.

With this news spread - it lead for greater tensions between its surrounding nations. Kumo now proclaiming its strength, amongst the release of the 8 tails - would lead Iwa to send mercenaries and shinobi to Kumo in an attempt to seal the beast for themselves. But alas, this attempt wasn't successful - the 8 tails escaped the clutches of Kumo and Iwa. Due to Iwa's mercenaries being spotted in Kumo, they would essentially go AWOL and begin to attack Kumo shinobi without direct order from the 5th. Their attempt was futile, and they were quickly wiped out. This would lead for a meeting between the Kages of Kumo and Iwa - and a small peace treaty was made amongst the two. But now, tensions were higher than ever before between the villages and would remain that way for years to come. So, when Kiri asked for their aide in war against Kumo - Iwa declined rather quickly, as to not anger Kumo or receive a greater hit to their Village. So with that, Iwa sat back working on their defenses, yet again.

After this speck on the timeline - fast forward a few years. Iwa had grown more poverty stricken, and many families found themselves rationing out food as famine over took the Village of Stone. Mercenaries and Shinboi were still sent around the nations in any attempts to bring back money, and resources for the economy - but it seemed they almost couldn't keep with the growing demand. So with a new Kage in place, as the last became 'mysteriously ill' and passed, the 6th had a better outlook and view for the Village. But reversing the damages from the last Kage would be so much a struggle - that they would have to ask for a helping hand from other villages - namely not Kumo, or Suna. The villagers all but wanted to forget the past that the 5th had brought upon them, hoping the 6th would lead them in a more positive and filling future. Any newcomers to the village are welcomed, but it is more fear that drives this facade than actual kindness. As the villagers know their weakness, and hope to not displease any possible income of resources/money to the village.

Kirigakure no Sato (霧隠れの里)

Kirigakure of the Land of Water has come far from their Bloody Mist reputation. Kiri was one of the least effected villages after the fall of the Union, especially due to the strong reformations the village had went under following the Bloody Mist. Economically, Kirigakure is vastly wealthy with trade coming in and out of the village and Land of Water – though there is no good way to put the vast wealth to use since Kirigakure is sorely lacking in natural resources. Thusly, the hidden village focused on acquiring power after the fall of the Union.

The Fifth Mizukage, Terumī Mei, allegedly sent anbu to steal the eight tails from Kumogakure’s possession to undermine the power of the new Raikage. This led to a war between the two countries and the Fifth Mizukage asked for aid from the other major villages, hoping to use the last dredges of the Union to her advantage. Only Konohagakure answered the call to arms and were little help. There came a stalemate in the war after the death of the Fifth Mizukage from natural causes and the new Mizukage, Kazuhiru, rose to power. Under Kazuhiru, Kirigakure eventually reached slight peace, though there were rising tensions among the villages.

Kirigakure entered the Fifth Shinobi World War to retrieve the lost sword of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist, which had fallen into Konohagakure’s hands. Their entrance into the war was slightly helped by the fact that Kiri had problems with Kumo from the past war and Konoha for being little help in the war added with their pesky policing habits. At the conclusion of the war, Kirigakure was left in uproar from the peace treaty that led to Konoha keeping the missing sword. Since then, reclaiming the sword from Konoha has been a constant goal on Kiri’s agenda and many attempts have been made, though none have been successful.

Kazuhiru retired in the beginning of the Skirmish Era after successfully taking over islands belonging to Kumo. He was succeeded by his sororal nephew, Shima, whose main goals are to fully restore the Seven Swordsman of the Mist and to better Kiri’s national defenses. The main reasoning of increasing national defense is due to Kumo attempting to invade Kiri’s islands every few months. As well as retrieve the missing sword and fend off Kumo, the Seventh Mizukage has turned his attentions into rectifying the latest problem to crop up. The other villages have been restricting hunter-nin traffic through their respective territories, obstructing their duties, as the villages are paranoid that the hunter-nin could be spying. Unfortunately, this means a great deal of Kiri missing-nin are running about, unpoliced.

Konohagakure no Sato (木ノ葉隠れの里)

Konohagakure has managed to maintain the status quo, protecting their position as top dog of the shinobi nations. Their closest rival in terms of military is Kumogakure, who out-numbers them but generally produces shinobi of largely inferior quality. Economically, their closest rival is Kirigakure, though Konohagakure has much more room to expand and utilize their finances than Kirigakure, ultimately meaning Konohagakure has taken the lead in that area.

Despite a seemingly perfect and idyllic society, Konohagakure continuously struggles to produce enough shinobi to keep up with the demand, as their central position amidst the villages means that they receive missions from all over the world. This in turn means that they need a lot of shinobi -- shinobi they do not have. So, genin are now being sent off on missions that would typically be reserved for starter chunins, and while this can provide a serious boost to the experience of any young genin, the mission injury has been raised by a large 112% where as the mission death rate has been increased by 9% from past years, a significant development that might end up only hurting Konohagakure in the future.

Due to trade flowing almost naturally through the land of fire, a large amount of these missions are focused around escorting merchants and traders, and destroying bandit encampments, and as such, it is not hard to see why injury- and deathrates have gone up.

Furthermore, the nine tailed fox has returned to it's roots and has become arrogant again, especially now that a shinobi he considers weak has been chosen to keep him locked away. The bijuu so far has not threatened anyone, but if the threat is not contained and alleviated then it is possible that the bijuu might break free from it's container and once again destroy Konohagakure.

Kumogakure no Sato (雲隠れの里)

“Sometimes I wish I was a cloud... Just floating along, going wherever the breeze takes me.”

Kumogakure - The Village Hidden by Clouds, located in the Land of Lightning was a force to be reckon with in the future - rather thanks to the new Raikage, they believed they were. The population stayed stable for the past 150 years, no crazy baby booms or lack there of. Military seemed to have upgraded over the years, again - thanks to Raikage A. Enforcing stricter training policies, and upgrading the teachings of the Academy to produce finer soldiers. It would be their economy that would suffer in the past 150 years, with all extra money seeming to go to their defense, it was leaving little for the village itself to use. Not that their economy took a major hit, but things weren't as flourishing as years prior.

With the loss of the 8 Tails, and other Villages suspected of trying to capture the beast for themselves, Kumo has constantly placed itself in turmoil with other nations. Almost acting like a child and trying to point fingers at anyone but themselves for these small scale problems that appear between the nations. Kumo namely is recognized in a negative tone these days - as many Nations still see them as the ones who started the turmoil between all. This trickling down through the ranks, and causing their Shinobi and Villagers to treat anyone from Kumo with a cold shoulder.

It would be during A's reign as Raikage that Kumo would see itself change quiet rapidly to fit the agenda that he wanted. Which was an agenda that needed to be sorted, and filled as the continuous ridiculous arguments and bouts of war continued - being sparked on Kumo's end. There seemed to be a split amongst the village of how they felt towards the Raikage, most believing that he would send them forth to power, and rise above the other nations. Those who believed that Kumo should've never backed out of the Union - but these voices were low, and remained unheard.

After the passing of Raikage A during the Battle at Naruto Bridge, a new Raikage took order but didn't seem to deviate from the path of A. The newest Raikage being A's old right-hand man, so of course the ideals didn't stray very far from his. The newest Raikage's goal still to seize the 8 tails, and prove to the other Nations the strength that is the Kumo military, whilst playing nice. Of course this talk is only known about in the higher rankings. Villagers remain unaware that the Raikage and other officials are still on the offense of the new Peace Treaty. Of course, with this train of thought - it is still causing Kumo to retain their lackluster state of affairs, and not progress at all. They seem to be holding a very stagnant way of life these days.

Currently, Kumo has a very mediocre life style amongst its inhabitants. They are not in the richest state, but also are not lacking any immediate needs. Because of the past and current Raikage's recent decisions - they are not traveling and doing any trades with neighboring villages/countries. No new product is coming in, or leaving the village - most trades are done inside, behind its own walls. Because Kumo seems to now be a homebody village, the Villagers are becoming more crafty and learning new ways to grow the economy themselves. Though, it is at a very poor, slow rate - they do not view themselves as weak. Essentially almost taking the train of thought from Raikage A. Kumo is currently floating along amongst the Skirmish era, still picking small fights with other nations - they're just not ending in wars, or battles. More or less arguments between officials, and even villagers. Continuing the disdain from other villages towards Kumo.

Sunagakure no Sato (砂隠れの里)

Sunagakure is the hidden village located in the Land of Wind and one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages. It is in the midst of the desert which acts as a deterrent for any invasions and is one of the best protected hidden villages with large walls surrounding the village. Their strong security is not protecting much, though. Due to being in such harsh terrain, not many clients flock to Suna which has limited the amount of trade for the village and has left the economy worse for wear. Without the Shinobi union to help them with trade and equal share of clientele, an unstable economy and much poverty has crippled Suna over the years. For some time, Suna fell into the background as they tried to stabilize their failing economy. When Kirigakure asked them for their aid, Suna had to refuse the call to arms as they were unable to support a war. Though they could not join the fray, the Kazekage supplied metal and weapons to Kiri in hopes of fostering a relationship that could lead to trade.

Following the death of the Fifth Kazekage, Gaara, his son became the next Kazekage and came into power on the eve of the Fifth Shinobi World War. Suna’s economy had already started to show decline several years after the fall of the Union and the Sixth Kazekage hoped to remain neutral in the war. Unfortunately, the Kazekage was forced to act when Iwagakure began to encroach on Suna territory in an attempt to seize land. After Iwagakure’s show of power through pushing on their defenses, the Sixth Kazekage declared that Iwa and Kumo’s power was in need of limiting to prevent future occasions of aggression and avowed that to be Suna’s new goal. The Sixth Kazekage died at the Battle of Naruto Bridge.

Shinki, the Sixth Kazekage, had no children to take up the mantle of Kazekage after his death. This led to brief political turmoil between the families of Suna until a man named Yuuto rose to power after massacring the village elders. Under his rule, Yuuta put emphasis on developing new technology and bettering Suna’s shinobi forces, but his incompetency as a Kage and lack of leadership qualities only worsened Suna’s financial crisis. After his untimely death – which is generally accepted to be an assassination, though no one says such aloud – his daughter, Asuga, rose to become the first female Kazekage. Like her father, she wishes to better the economy and bring focus to technology, as well as increase trade within the Land of Wind.

In the current political climate, Suna is stable internally and most shinobi have shown loyalty to the Eighth Kazekage. The civilians are content enough with the present regime, despite there being unrest before the new Kazekage’s rise to power, which can be contributed to the Kazekage’s main political focus being on reforming the economy. Externally, Sunagakure is on shaky grounds with the other four powers. Suna blames the other four villages for stealing their clientele, especially the neighboring major hidden villages, Iwagakure and Konohagakure. The Kazekage is pushing for a sanction on Land of Wind citizens seeking the aid of foreign shinobi which Iwagakure has openly shown dissent for.

The people of Suna themselves have proven to be xenophobic and incredibly nationalistic. Since foreigners happen to be few and far between, the locals tend to mistrust them and be highly suspicious while prescribing to various stereotypes. Foreign shinobi get the brunt of Suna’s slightly unwelcoming behavior while foreign merchants are treated with the politer end of the spectrum.

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The Atarashi 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 Atarashi no-Shugo. The Atarashi 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 Atarashi no Shugo-sha is a concept that even the citizens of Amegakure themselves are not sure about.

To get things straight -- the Atarashi 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.

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Empty as of yet.

What Are You Listening To?

How Many People Can One of Your Characters Fight Off

Others would yawn and pluck off the infinite ranks of normal people while using the majority of their consciousness to do something else.

@ArenaSnow

-tier characters.

High Casual Rant

@ayzrules yes but only replied to the things that were said that weren't braindead

@Surtr Inc all things on RPG are

High Casual Rant

this discussion is now literally negative IQ

good job @deadbeatwalking

High Casual Rant

Without detailed standards in the OOC, you get a mixture of people who fall between those two spectrums and if the GM is the kind of person who takes anyone, you can have someone writing 4-5 beautiful paragraphs that account for all the other players to be replied with, "Mary walked over and said "OWO WHATS THIS""

@Dervish

free signature quote for anyone to use cc: Dervish

High Casual Rant

can't do shit except stop using these shitty sections

just do what 50% of all people already do: post all your shit in casual to get the most amount of people into the RP and then post at whatever level you want to

ez pz solution

The Political Thread

<Snipped quote by Brithwyr>

Alas. There's your problem. Due to crime rates etc people not want to invest, lower texes means services and schools degrade thus making it worse. And things carry on down and down.

As things spiral down its harder and harder to turn things around.

And when it's that low its vert expensive to reverse and that's money people do not want to spend.

@PrinceAlexus

ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

this only tells half the story. there's so many complex variables involved in any situation with neighborhoods that there are infinite ways to fix these problems (and all of them are valid ideas). poverty is just one variable, just like crime rates are a variable, quality of services is a variable and they are all interconnected.

throwing money at the problem is a solution that has been tried and tested (and is rigged to fail the moment it is considered). we don't need MORE money. or atleast, having MORE money won't fix the problem. just like having a 99% employment rate still doesn't mean jackshit for the neighborhood on it's own.

High Casual Rant

high cas is more elitist than advanced but that point aside we're kinda beating a dead horse here because nothing will ever happen if we don't have people in administration to make changes

and even then i have to ask if this is the most pressing issue we have. i'd rather have a fucking delete button at this point over a rework of the section system

EDIT: to use different words: whether the sections are gay or not is a non-issue because the forum continues to function whether we make the changes or not. i think deadbeat was asking for a more literary discussion of ideas and not suggesting a change hence why this is in roleplaying discussion and not suggestions and problems -> thread got derailed within a page and i have to say that that is remarkably accurate for literally any serious thread on rpg