I'm Just a Kid [Shio's Lonely Thread]

[Ace Trainer]

The compound Shio was raised in was far from lavish. The Kawazaiwa family was hardly a rich one with few exceptions, and Shio's family was not one of those exceptions. They were, however, 'beneficiaries of fate' as they liked to put it. Their land was considered holy land. This particular area of the island was brought from the sea (like much of the island), and has strange geological features that produced a constant light breeze. As the breeze moved across the rock, it made a distinct sound that was said to be the whispers of the world. To some extent, Shio recognized this was all storytelling and mythology produced by his people, but at the same time, this was the backing of their religious doctrine. The first of their followers came to Kiri strictly because of the stories of the whispering earth, and joined the Kawazaiwa contingent on gaining this land to build their compounds on.

It was truly an architectural feat, in all honesty. The entire compound was built in a way to ensure the air could continue to move through it and the specific areas that were notably more 'whispery' would be undisturbed. There were lots of archways and rounded corners that encouraged air flow. It was a beautiful compound if anything.

But today, Shio did not get to admire architecture, or wander on his own. Instead, he sat in his underground bunker, where so many times he was the center of various events.

Being 'chosen' was interesting. Shio was given status and made wildly important due to who he was, but his age was not ignored. Now 10, now a chuunin, Shio's voice was heard with a little more clarity now, but despite practically worshipping him many of the adults still felt they should talk over him, or talk for him. It was frustrating, especially for a head-strong boy like Shio who was becoming increasingly more opinionated by the day. But even more so, it seemed he was constantly in conflict with his people. Shio was allegedly the voice of the universe, or so they had decided. So he often felt that his views were definitive, it made no sense that these people religiously followed what his previous incarnations instructed, but didn't follow his. They each had their own interpretations of texts and beliefs and argued endlessly over what they meant....often directly in front of Shio.

Today was no different. Sitting in the bunker surrounded by old men who called themselves scholars. His doting parents sat behind him, quietly meditating to themselves. They hadn't always done this, Shio remembered when he first joined the academy they were much more engaged, often flustered by all the chatter. But as he got older, they seemed to find serenity and peace in simply ignoring it. They had done their duty in bringing him in the world, the rest...well was up to the universe.

His peoples faith was predicated off of silence. The power of the voice was one of combat, after all. But there were rules, and one of them was on religious grounds, speech was permitted for words of devotion. In Shio's opinion, this meant that prayer, meditation, and guidance permitted speech. In the eyes of the elders, this included religious debate. He'd be lying if he didn't find these events somewhat intriguing, if they weren't so frustrating. But men who practiced speech and debate, and tapped into powers tied to their voice arguing was always...exciting.

The room rumbled, breaking Shio out of his internal thoughts. The eldest man in the room was speaking. His voice produced no words, yet was understood, much like Shio's pen.

"He is a leader. He was gifted to us to guide."

The stones of the room shook as his deep boom reverberated through them.

"He is a boy.", another snapped back. His voice lofty like wind, it carried to everyones ears with ease. "He knows nothing of these texts."

"It was your job, to teach him of them, was it not?"

"Which is how I know how ill prepared his if for leadership thus far. He is a child. 9 years of age."

"10.", a woman corrected. Her voice a practical lullaby.

"9. 10. A child is a child. He needs more time."

"His village prepares to send him to war and you think he's not old enough to guide his people."

"War and leadership are hardly mutually inclusive.", she sang again.

"He doesn't know enough of our scripture to make decisions for us as a whole."

Shio's eyes thinned. He didn't like this conversation.

'What is it that we are so divided on?

The eyes all turned to him. Perhaps they had forgot he was in the room. His speaking was unexpected. Shio was not one to talk often. His voice was prepubescent, yet resounded with power that came from his gifts.

They looked amongst each other deciding who would be the one to explain to him. Finally, the eldest man spoke,

You are fated for many things, my son. One of those is leading the world and guiding it with your voice. You are expected to conquer mountains, calm storms, and bring peace to all of us in times most violent. And the scripture delineates many ways in which this will happen, but always speaks of specific events that must take place."

The man with the wispy voice shot a glance at the eldest. He seemed concerned too much would be said. Shio pushed himself to his feet, standing with his arms crossed.

"There is one step in particular that you should not be taking yet. So it seems nonsensical to give the information to you."

He is the voi-

He is a boy.

Shio's nostril's flared

"I AM THE VOICE."

The entire building shook. His voice rocked through the room like a monsoon. The voice of a God indeed the full strength of Shio's voice had hardly been used outside of training purposes. Even Shio looked slightly taken aback by the power his voice displayed. Deep, mighty, nothing like the speaking voice he had just used, but just as easily displaying the power contained within the small child. They all immediately dropped to their knees, his parents broke from their meditations to inspect the room, silent as always.

The eldest man, with his forehead still on the ground, spoke, the ground rumbling. The power it previously had seemed so minuscule compared to the display Shio had just put on.

Everything starts with the establishment of a village."

Shio blinked. His voice soft this time when it spoke, back to his normal voice, no longer needing to display his authority.

"We have Kirigakure."

"A new village." he was corrected. A new village? "This is why I disagree with telling you. Our people have known for generations that a time would come when we'd need to abandon Kirigakure. You will leave everything you know, and establish a safe haven for people and establish the ground for your eventually leading into the new future."

Shio frowned.

"We live on Holy Ground."

"Your birth gives rise to new holy ground. There is a land to the south west. You are said to bring peace to warring minds. It will be your act that separates you from children and men, and raises you into the framework of history. Bringing peace to this land is the first step in the long story you will eventually narrate."

He frowned, walking over to the desk of manuscripts and texts, shifting through them until he found a map.

"And where is it."

The woman walked behind him, placing a hand on his shoulder. The two men standing on each end of the desk.

"There are two. The land you will conquer. and the mountain that you will make bow."

She reached down, pointing to a pair of islands.

Shio looked closely, mouthing the words before saying them out loud.

Daoshé and Dàshanzhou


The man with the wispy voice repeated them,

"The Isle of Serpants, and the Isle of the Great Mountain.

[Ace Trainer]

Shio didn't like training. He knew it was necessary, as a shinobi, as a person, and as someone important. But training, especially things he didn't enjoy. Was not only exhausting, but depressing. It was frustrating for someone who had a natural intuition towards most things to have to do things like train, and struggle, to get better at what he didn't have an intuition towards. Unfortunately, one of those things was ninjutsu. Sitting at the desk in front of him, one of his many teachers stood to his left, shifting through a variety of books and scrolls, looking for something in particular. Finally, he came upon it with a brief, haaa under his breath. Shio had found that not all his teachers were devout followers. Many were tutors employed by his people, who came onto their grounds purely for Shio's benefit. They all seemed somewhat aware of his people's faith, however, and while unnecessary, they often muted themselves, or at least quieted their voice out of supposed respect.

Whispering, the teacher spoke, 'You're training ninjutsu today, as I've been told. We're going to start by going over the basics. Shio frowned. This tutor was actually one of his favorite because they had a talent for interpreting Shio's facial expressions, saving Shio the effort of writing.

Perhaps one of Shio's greatest flaws was that, because of who...what, he was, he didn't actually have to understand a lot of what he did. He was just....able to do it. Shio's ability to do Fables and create Characters was simply a natural product of his voice, not a skill he trained. This was why ninjutsu was never his best skill, he struggled to actually gain skills and master them, something ninjutsu required.

I want you to memorize the make up of chakra for starters., he instructed.

Shio looked at the book. The pages provided to him didn't seem to say anything outright about chakras make-up at first glance. He turned his had confusingly at his teacher, who simply smiled and tapped the book, "read"

Returning to the book, Shio slowly read through the pages. Chakra was an energy. He knew that. Tied to everything living, infecting all things in our lives, he knew that. What was he supposed to be learning? What it was made up of? Seemed dumb. There was talk of energy of the world, nature energy, sounded interesting, and how we created our own energy, chakra. Yes. Made sense.What did that tell him though? Didn't seem like much. He let out a frustrated sigh. He continued to read, slowly flipping through the pages. We forced our spirit into chakra, making it very much a part of us and who we were at an essence. we trained our bodies for chakra. Strengthening it, making the pools of chakra deeper and more powerful. He knew that. This wasn't telling him anything new.

He finished the chapter, flipping the book shut. And the instructor shook his head, flipping it back to the beginning, Again.

And so Shio read again, slowly shifting through each sentence, his finger guiding his eyes, feeling like he'd overlooked some detail that his instructor wanted him to catch. The reading felt excessive. If there was some lesson here why wouldn't the teacher just tell him? Seemed unnecessarily difficult. He continued though, his internal monologue droning on, despite only Shio being aware of it.

Finally the lesson that he seemed to be think