1. 血の月の儀式
Dwelling hidden, in the northern uncharted outskirts of Iwaga, The Village Hidden In The Rocks, is the Amatsu Tribe, a small clan that has remain in complete isolation from society. They are led by holy monks who have kept their Kekkei Genkai in balance and protected from the outside world. Living in remoteness, the Amatsu Tribe do not follow the latest societal norms, culture and infrastructure of the other villages.
The women and men are merely equal. Not one woman is allowed to join the tribe's own shinobi armed force. And not one man is allowed to be unemployed. Every man should participate and work and every woman should keep out of the armed force. If one dares himself or herself to cross these laws, it's up to the monks to decide their fate, whether it be exile or execution, depending on the case.
The populace is very low despite the high rate of people deciding to banish themselves from the village. Most of them fled to the nearest, The Village Hidden In The Rocks, and had easily adapted to the modern lifestyle of the settlement, while a few had returned traumatized and penniless. Most of the banished were families and young adults, newly wed couples wanting to have their family elsewhere and teenagers seeking for a new life.
One of those teenagers could've been Mimori, if only she had the same wants. All Mimori really wants is a peaceful life. Perhaps settle down with a happy family once she turns eighteen and marry one of the few lucky men in the tribe. But if course, it's not for her to decide. She must have a husband of great significance to her and for their future children who will someday inherit her power.
How it warms her heart to think of herself as a parent. She wants to achieve a very important role her biological mother had never had. She was delivered out of the womb of the sacrifice and made with the chakra harvested from the moon and sun during a blood moon. In an instant, her biological mother died right after she was brought into this world. Mimori's biological father is unknown and so she has been in her own ever since, having only the monks to keep her alive and well-fed.
Mimori lives with the monks in the sacred ancient temple located at the cliff overlooking the whole tribe. Most of the time, she spends her daytime hours in the praying room where she prays and worship with her favorite monk to their Gods and attending the high school that has been recently established to keep the literacy rate high. Meanwhile, in her night time hours, she gazes at the sky and would talk for hours to the moon, in which she was told, since at a young age, it is her real mother while the sun, her real father.
It was unbelievable, even for Mimori herself. But it came from the monks, and so it must be true. Mimori had always acknowledged this, including the sole purpose of her existence.
Hence, this is how Mimori was made to save a dying clan.
• • •
A spine-chilling lightning strikes a nearby tree, making the pregnant woman scream louder than before. She is going into labor, her uterus painfully contracting. She lies in the middle of the clearing surrounded by dozen torches. Four masked people stood in each base of the square-shaped symbol drawn on the ground, two of them encircling the symbol counterclockwise, each waving around burning sage. One of them stands still and tall beside the laid woman, chanting up an ancient language very proudly. His left hand carries with him a sacred book containing the tactics of forbidden jutsu while his left hand performs complicated hand signs. It was no mistake he was a high grade shinobi.
"I summon thee, Sol and Luna! The God of Day and The Goddess of The Night!" Chanted the man repeatedly as thunder roared. "Hear me and bestow us your power!"
The blood moon emerges from the glooming clouds, its horrifying appearance making the woman wrestle with the ropes restrained around her to get free. But her effort is useless as the ropes were not made of hemp but chakra, the most difficult material to break.
To the woman, it's as though the blood moon is lowering, nearing towards the ground to take her. Her bloodshot eyes widen in horror when one of the masked men slashes her palms with a knife, squeezing it after to let the blood flow in a goblet. The woman screamed again, her voice had become raspy from too much screaming.
Once a generous amount of her blood is stored in the goblet, all of the masked men huddle around her, her eyes no longer gleaming the blood moon's light as their shadows have devoured her completely.
"Kiite!" All of them shouted in chorus.
The woman helplessly grips into nothing as she finally delivers her baby into the world. But there was a problem. As soon as the baby was out, the woman was gone.
"Another life made and another life gone." Quoted the one of the men in an emotionless tone.
The baby cries in his arms as he raises it to the heavens, showing the heavenly bodies their successful product.
"Arigatōgozaimashita! Arigatōgozaimashita!" Cheered the masked people.
This was it. Their clan was going to be saved after all. The head monk was right!
But suddenly, the light of every torch in the clearing disappeared in one blip, causing them to feel frightened.
The unconscious woman drops her limp hand, her eyes closing to her fulfill her demise.
"Let us return to the temple. Now!" Ordered their leader.
The four masked men ran straight out of the woods, having only the blood moon to shine their way and leaving the dead woman behind.
Once inside the grand temple, they locked every door and window they see as they head for the underground shelter.
"Aaaaaaah!" One of them screamed and it was the one closing the last window. The other one was about to rescue him when their leader prohibited him.
"Stop! There's no use!" He said, pulling him with inside the shelter before closing the trap door behind him. A gruesome howl is muttered right after he closed the door, making the leader sigh in relief as he knew they were safe, for now.
The newborn remains to cry, but it's no longer as loud as before. They placed it on a concrete table carved with strange symbols signifying altogether the Chi No Tsuki No Yogen or Blood Moon Prophecy.
"What's next, headmaster?" Asked the youngest monk in the room. He took his mask off, and so did the others.
"We continue the ritual-" the headmaster is immediately cut off by the only woman in the group.
"But Kaito is still out there!" She exclaimed in grave anger. "We have to save him!"
"No, Tsukino, we mustn't or we will die with him! The sacrifices he made will be useless if we don't finish this ritual." Replied the headmaster who was a middle-aged man bearing a long white beard. "Kobu, give me the goblet, the moonstone and the amber granules."
"Here you go, headmaster."
"Tsukino, guard the door and prepare yourself. I promise this ritual will be over sooner than you think."
The woman sends an unsure look to her headmaster before turning her back against him. "I hope you're right about this, Papa."