Chronicles of a long journey (Private)

Anaphiel woke up that morning thinking about something Telantes, his sister had asked of him; she said he should write down everything that happened to them from the time they left the Hidden Leaf Village until they eventually arrived at the Hidden Cloud Village, where they made a new life for themselves. Anaphiel wasn’t big on the idea, but if it made her happy, he would do it. He sat down at his desk, pulled out a book and a pen, then started writing.

Chronicle Entry #1:

It was suggested to me that I should start writing down my thoughts, opinions, and feelings on various subjects as a way to be able to reflect on words and actions after the fact. I am not normally one to document my life like that, but if Tel thinks I should then who am I to say no. Apparently she things that someone may want to read these in the future, as if her brother would end up being someone that people would want to read about. If anything, it would be useful for anyone wanting to learn about the Hidemori Clan, or at least what caused those of us living in Kumogakure now to have left Konohagakure in the first place.

It wasn’t a lot, but he would save the actual details for the next entry. This one would be more of a preface, than anything, to let any potential reader know what they were getting into. That was enough for today.

WC: 250

Before he could really get into writing the details down, it would make sense for Anaphiel to plan out what it was he was going to write down. He didn’t want to cover the entire history of his clan, as there was no reason for the general public to be privy to that information. The Hidemori did like their lives kept more private. In a sense, this would be their justification for what some would call “abandoning their adopted home.” While that wasn’t technically wrong, there were several points in that which didn’t really hold water anymore to those that left.

The best place to start would likely be the steady decline that had occurred to Konohagakure, starting from the invasion of Kirigakure a few years ago. That invasion led by the then-Mizukage Xyxer Gyojin had caused significant damage to the village, lives had been lost, and the once-proud village had been humbled into a vassal state. It was a time that Anaphiel remembered well, as it was during the fighting that his father had been killed, in addition to several of his friends and family. That event was the start of a fracturing in the clan, as some members started thinking that remaining in Konoha would no longer be in the clan’s best interests. Talk had to be kept to a minimum as the village was still occupied by Kiri’s shinobi, and they tolerated no dissention. All they could really do for the time being was pass the time.

WC: 250
TWC: 500

Anaphiel sat back and looked at the separate page that detailed the layout of the document. Looked good so far, and he hadn’t even touched on the actual journey yet. There was still several things that needed to be added to the plan and then fleshed out; The actual talks that the clan held about the village’s current situation and how it would affect them was the biggest part of that and would likely need to be broken down into several sections, as the clan’s hierarchy was somewhat convoluted. Anaphiel had no intention of providing too much detail in that regard, only what was needed in order to convey the details of their story.

The part that would be covered after the talks with the whole clan would be Anaphiel speaking with a small group of those that are close to him, which is where the decision to leave the village came from. There would be a couple parts to go through on that, as there were further conversations that were had, gathering supplies covertly for the trip, and actually leaving the village without causing a manhunt. That last section would most certainly need to be kept low on details to avoid causing collaborators undue hardships should the information fall into the wrong hands. After that, it was just detailing the trip across various countries until they arrived at Kumogakure. The final part of the chronicle would be how Anaphiel and their group managed to secure a new home there.

WC: 250
TWC: 750

The writing process would definitely be easier now that he had a plan to follow. When Tel had returned from her latest mission he showed her his writing plan to get her feedback. She was of course central to what happened as well, and could provide feedback and insights that he may not have thought to include or keep out. She read it over and made a couple of minor notes, nothing really ground-shattering, but some good points on a couple of the more sensitive topics prior to their departure from the village. She also made a couple recommendations related to the journey; points of interest that others may not be aware of, places to avoid for various reasons. Information he hadn’t considered adding because it didn’t feel relevant to the narrative that was being shared. Once again though, if Tel thought it should be there, who was he to tell her no.

Now that the initial plan was sorted out and written down, Anaphiel could get back to actually writing the contents of the chronicles. That would be something to start on tomorrow; He’d done enough work for now on it and it was time to work on something else. That something else would involve some private contemplation in his room, he had a vision of an expansive project in his mind, it was going to likely take the rest of the day to get all the details where he wanted them, and he didn’t want his effort wasted.

WC: 250
TWC: 1000

He wasn’t able to start right away when he got up the next day; Anaphiel had some errands to run, as well as collect a mission request which was to begin in a couple days. It was early afternoon by the time he got back to the home he shared with his sister. As much as he’d wanted to enjoy the day, he really needed to start working on the first actual entry for the chronicle he was writing. With a sigh, he went up to his room and got ready to write.

Chronicle Entry #2:

Konohagakure had been an ideal location to relocate to for the Hidemori clan for several reasons. Chief among them was that Konohagakure had a reputation for strength and honour, and assurances that the clan’s more reclusive behaviour would be respected by the village leaders. Another reason for their decision was that the village of Konohagakure was a large and prosperous village, and the clan’s leaders figured that the village hidden in the leaves would continue to grow and prosper. Naturally there were those outside of the village that were jealous of what Konohagakure had managed to do for themselves and wanted to take it all away from us. We all thought that the village was more than capable to deal with any potential threat that would come our way. For a time, they were correct, but all good things would eventually come to an end. And it would spell the beginning of the end.

WC: 250
TWC: 1250

Chronicle Entry #3:

There were reports of increased military activity coming out of the newest incarnation of Kirigakure, now located in Island Country after the current Mizukage, Xyxer Gyojin, relocated them from their original village which now lay in ruins. Konohagakure leadership didn’t seem to think that this would be a threat, which of course meant that we were not fully prepared to deal with the assault that took place. The Mizukage led an attack on the village. I wish I could say that we held out for a long time, but the fighting wasn’t that long. In fact, the Hokage, Risako Akara surrendered without a fight. A good number of the village did not agree with that course of action. The resulting conflicts though were short, bloody, and did not end well mainly for Kono’s defenders. The fighting killed quite a number of Konoha’s shinobi forces, including my father. To add insult to injury, the Mizukage had the village lineup and attack one of their own, killing them. Xyxer then took the majority of his forces, and some of Konoha’s shinobi and returned back to Kirigakure, leaving a small force as garrison and overseers. He already had the Hokage’s co-operation so he likely felt he didn’t need any serious security to keep the population in line. The Hokage’s surrender and the village’s occupation was the catalyst for what would begin a long series of events that would break my clan apart. I wish that things could have ended differently.

WC: 250
TWC: 1500

Chronicle Entry #4:

The short, bloody invasion left a good number of our most skilled sensory shinobi dead, as they were on the front lines, guarding our normal quadrant of the village. As we needed a smaller number to maintain the sensor net there, it meant that the village’s resources were being strained to the limit because more bodies were needed to shore up our quadrant. The Kiri garrison wouldn’t bother helping, they didn’t care about the village in the sense that the people were looked after. They saw us as the spoils of war and just wanted to make sure that they got their fill and no one else tried to take what was theirs. I wasn’t really paying too much attention to what was going on for the first week or so, I was too busy mourning the passing of my father.

There were a couple of incidents in the following weeks, Kiri soldiers that were getting a little too big for their britches, attacking Konoha villagers for no reason, other than to try and cow the population. One of them ended up dead with their throat cut. They never ended up finding out who did it, but our leadership knew, and there was a meeting over it. Telantes was impetuous and wasn’t thinking straight when she killed him. She’s lucky she didn’t get caught. My mother and I convinced the council not to punish her; we’d lost enough people as it is, we needed everyone to survive.

WC: 250
TWC: 1750

Chronicle Entry #5:

It would seem that Telantes’ act of defiance wasn’t just restricted to her. There were several other members of our clan that felt the same way, that action needed to be taken. It wasn’t just restricted to our clan either, as multiple groups across the village didn’t want to simply sit here and just let Kirigakure break us down. I never joined in on any of the active attempts to undermine the Kirigakure garrison, but I helped with information, supplies, and whatever I could to ensure success without actually being “seen”. My sister and I are close, and I didn’t want anything to happen to her if I could help it, but because of the work I had to do, I couldn’t risk being on the front lines of their rebellion.

Not that it really did any good; their efforts barely seemed to hinder the Kiri shinobi, and it wasn’t really making lives easier for the Konoha population. Eventually the efforts just died away, since there didn’t really seem to be any point to it all.

This was another straw on the clan’s back that would cause the rift to grow between the two sides of the fracturing clan: To stay and attempt to bring the village back to the days of glory, or to leave and look for new grass from which to graze. It was central to many of our discussions. As much as I hated to admit it, I was leaning towards the latter.

WC: 250
TWC: 2000

Anaphiel sat back in his chair after writing the first few entries in his chronicles. While he’d put quite a few pieces of information down, he’d only put a dent in what was going to be a long story. With a sigh, Anaphiel got up and stretched a bit. Looking over at the scroll, he let the ink dry before rolling it back up and heading downstairs to make himself some food.

Telantes wasn’t back yet from her mission; he wasn’t concerned though because it was common for her to be sent on missions outside of Lightning Country. That would mean she’s gone for days at a time. He enjoyed having the house to himself sometimes, but there were days that he missed her being around.

He ate his meal in silence, staring out the window in the kitchen. The view was beautiful as always, Kumogakure’s placement in Lightning Country gave them plenty of beautiful things to look at. Anaphiel decided that after he finished eating he would go for a walk. It would be nice to get out of the house and get a little exercise, stretch his legs. It would also let him think more on what he’d written so far and give him time to catalogue his thoughts for subsequent parts of the chronicle.

He’d keep the walk short; a solo trek around the village, watching people go about their business. It didn’t take him long to complete the circuit, and he went back inside to write.

WC: 250
TWC: 2250

Anaphiel didn’t go right back to work when he returned from his walk; he wasn’t in a huge rush to get back into it. The details of what transpired, while not recent, were still painful and thinking about them still brought on a bad taste in his mouth. He never wanted to abandon their friends and family, but they were left with no choice. Those that remained in the village just wouldn’t see reason, and if they had stayed in Konoha, they would have fallen even further behind. At least now they can try to build anew.

Anaphiel decided it some meditation would be in order, as it was a good method for him to collect his thoughts and organise them properly. Taking negative energy and dispersing it, or letting it fall away until he was at peace again. He’d started thinking of something else while he was out; he needed a way to properly channel his feelings on the subject. Something constructive that would help him come to terms with what happened. He’d read up on some techniques that allowed the user to create a pocked in space-time that one could manipulate how they saw fit. Perhaps he could do something similar. Create a world where he could create physical manifestations of his pain, sorrow, happiness, and whatever else he could think of. He opened his eyes and ran upstairs, grabbing a fresh scroll and something to write with. All his new realm needed was the perfect name; Rayoralia.

WC: 250
TWC: 2500