Chapter 1: The Big Soup

A mile off the coast of the northernmost island in the Land of Water, a small wooden boat wades through a seemingly impenetrable mist towards the shore. The unguided boat gently bobs forward until it suddenly comes to an abrupt stop. A lone shinobi holds the boat to a stop with a single foot as he stands on the water as if it is solid ground. He peers into the boat to find a young woman's shriveled dead carcass cradling a small bundle of blankets. The man sighs sadly and prepares to sink the boat, but he noticed weak puffs of visible breath being taken from the bundle. He hastily took the bundle from the dead woman's arms and carefully unveils the face of the baby inside. The small child must be a newborn babe; shriveled, malnourished, and shaking from the cold.

.

'This one is a warrior indeed. To survive in this harsh cold for any length of time,'

The shinobi looks to the corpse,

"While I could not save you from your tragic fate, rest assured that your babe will live a bit longer. I release your soul to your watery grave with this knowledge."

There is a brief flash of steel and then the boat begins to sink into the daunting shadows beneath the shallow sea surface. After saying a brief prayer, the man then turns around and dashes towards the shore with the bundle securely in tow.

Three hours later…

"WAHHHHH!"

The religious temple in the village of the Yuki clan is in turmoil over the ongoing wails of their newest charge. The freshly bathed and fed babe from the boat struggles in the arms of a priestess of the temple while screaming till he had turned red in the face. It had been this way ever since his savior had handed the baby off to the caretakers. The caretakers have been slowly returning the now boy's health to an acceptable level, but he has fought them every step of the way. The child wouldn't accept any food or care from any of the people around him no matter the method they tried, they had to force him to drink goat's milk. The boy's chestnut hazel eyes lock with anyone coming within ten feet of him. The apprehension and fear from the child's gaze are impressive for one so young. Eventually the fed-up caretakers choose to sedate him and let him rest in a basket lined with a single blanket.

Outside of the sleeping boy's room, two men stand facing each other engaged in a conversation about the young infant. One of the men is wearing the ornate traditional robes of a Grand Priest of the Rabbit Goddess Temple and the other is the man that rescued the child from the boat.

"What manner of demon spawn have you brought to my temple? Fuyuhiro,"

The priest says with a light chuckle. The child's savior now identified as Fuyuhiro gently bows and replies,

"I found this unfortunate child floating in a boat towards the shore of our island with the corpse of his mother during my nightly rounds. I thought immediately to reward the child's survival by bringing him to your temple in hope that you would be able to care for the poor child like you do for the orphans of the village."

The priest then lightly touches Fuyuhiro's bowed head,

"You did well my child, we shall raise this child with the benevolence of the pure Rabbit Goddess, herself. Rest easy knowing she smiles down upon your kind soul."

Fuyuhiro's eyes moisten at the high praise.

"Your words humble me, Grand Priest Shizuru!"

He bows deeply before quickly retreating outside back to his post. Shizuru turns around and walks into the caretaker's room. The priest investigates the basket and observes the child's facial features only to discover they were unlike any he had seen in the Land of Water, a broad nose, uncommonly large hands and feet along with a pair of full lips.

"Your origins are indeed shrouded in mystery, child," he said softly.

"The suspicious child found on the seashore, Shogo Isobe (Suspicious Seashore)."

Shizuru lightly chuckles as he left the room.

Four years later…

It was an early late August morning and exactly four years after the baby boy was first brought into the Kitajima Moon Temple. The shores of Kitajima Island remain unchanged. The beaches are bleak and dreary, the white sand contrasting against the shadows. Sunlight barely gets through the ever-present mist as it coils high into the sky trapping everything within its pervasive grasp. The heavy mist can be felt on the skin of the island's inhabitants as a constant reminder of where they choose to continue living. The beaches are entirely vacant save one skinny dark-skinned boy sitting upright curled into a ball looking at the barely visible waves gently crash onto shore. The boy's face is barely visible through the large black mass of curls that sat a top his head. His shirt and shorts are ragged and discolored. The child wears a forlorn expression on his face.

Shogo POV

I love water and I think it likes me back too. It doesn't call me names like beast, savage, and impure. It hides me from the bullies that chase me sometimes. It feeds me with fish when I get hungry and I hunt with my mighty spear, Pointy. I can play and swim in it for hours but never get bored! Just looking at it calms me down when I get angry or sad.

'I miss Priest-oji…. Everything turned crappy when he died. They didn't even wait a day after he

died to replace him with that old crone!"

I feel the soft burn of tears start to form in my eyes. I hastily wipe them away before they fall though, it would be disastrous for my street cred if someone caught me crying on the beach!

Grand Priest Shizuru was the only one nice to me at the temple, but all the other temple caretakers were super mean. Priest-oji made sure all the kids were treated fairly when it came time for prayer time and our daily lessons. However, when Priest-oji wasn't around the caretakers sometimes wouldn't give me any food or water. It got so bad that I asked one of the fishermen by the docks to teach me how to catch my own fish. The caretakers also told the other kids that I was tainted and that was why my skin was so dark. The kids started to call me names and threw things at me, but they would not get in trouble even if an adult saw them. The children would get really surprised when I started to yell mean things back at them and then they started to avoid me all together.

Priest-oji would have my back so I would not get punished too much for my "bad mouth." But the head priestess has always hated me, and she never let me play with the other disciples or let me sleep in the same room as the other boys. She said she did not want my "impurities" to rub off on the other kids. She would not even let me wear a Kimono and sandals like everyone else even though its cold and it snows all the time. I was only given some old shirts and small shorts but no shoes. You could only bundle up so much with that stuff but after a while I got a bit used to the cold. Staying outside let me get out of the temple so I had to get used to it.

Yesterday I got fed up with my feet always getting messed up so I asked her for some sandals. The head priestess scoffed and said savages like me do not deserve shoes, so I stuck my middle finger up at her and called her a "scaly old bitch". That shut her up good, hahaha. The lashes I got after hurt a lot though. Those were some of the curse words I learned from some of the sailors that loiter around the docks. They let me hang around with them unlike those stuck-up temple assholes. But I can't stay at the temple anymore, the high priestess banished me, and the villagers don't want me around the village either. They said they would hurt me if they caught me anywhere around the village and I believe them. I have nowhere else to go now. All I can do is sit on the beach near where the Grand Priest told me they found me at when I was a baby ….

'Wait! Didn't the Grand Priest say there was a big island south of this one with a ton of people on it!? Priest-oji said that ninjas always ran back and forth from the islands in a couple of hours. I bet I could swim there and find a safe place to live away from these meanies. I bet could do whatever I wanted there! Maybe...maybe I could make some more friends.'

I gotta start swimming before the sun goes down, it's gonna be hard to see where I'm going if it's super dark! Oop, sorry almost forgot you in the sand Pointy.

*SPL-SHHH! *

Brrrrrr- it's cold today.

1 hour later…

Gasp...Gasp. Okay swimming to this island is way harder than I thought. My arms and legs are starting to hurt soooo much. I've been using Pointy to help me float but I am getting really tired. I think this is the longest I have ever swum. I can still see Meanie island behind me but it's a lot smaller now.

30 minutes later...

Gasp…. Gasp. I can barely kick my legs anymore. My eyes don't wanna stay open for some reason. But thats okay I think the water is helping me, I can feel it slowly pulling me further and further. Maybe I can take a quick nap….

4 hours later…

"Hey kid! Wake the heck up!"

I felt a large hand push me lightly on my shoulder. I got really scared that I had been dreaming and never left that island. I opened my eyes and sat up then quickly looked around hoping I was wrong. What I saw confused me because it looked like I was on a boat, but I had never seen one so big before. The big boat has all the things a regular boat would have its just gigantic in comparison. Also, the boat has a huge purple flag erected on its main deck atop a tall pole.

"What are you doing in the middle of the sea, brat?!"

I quickly look for the voice of this loudmouth guy and turn around to find myself face to torso with an old gray-haired fisherman. The fisherman has on a simple shirt and long shorts but strangely enough both were purple. I look up and see his brown eyes trained on my face. The old man's narrow triangle-like face is contorted in a way that wrinkles up his olive skin making his gray bushy eyebrows and mustache stand out even more against his tanned complexion.

"Who wants to know?!"

I say equally as loudly making sure to narrow my eyes. One of the fisherman's gray eyebrows rises,

"Watch it kid. The name's Mizu. I'm a fisherman for the royal family. And I just saved your sorry behind from a watery grave. Besides! What is one of you mountain people doing in the heart of Water country anyhow?"

He replies with an edge to his voice.

"Mountain People? What's that supposed to mean? There aren't any mountains on Kitajima!"

"Kitajima! You don't look like any Yuki, I've ever seen or heard of, boy. Even so what are you doing out here?"

"I was swimming to an island called Nakajima. Can u tell me how close I am?"

Mizu seizes up then his face gets really serious,

"Kid, are you a special kind of stupid? Nakajima is two hours away from Kitajima by BOAT! It would have taken your tiny ass a couple of days to reach Nakajima. That's only if the damn sharks didn't snap your dumbass up first! Your poor parents must be worried sick about you! I have half a mind to give you a good smack on their behalf!"

"I don't have any damn parents' jackass! If Nakajima's so goddamn far away how do the ninja run back and forth so quickly?! Senile old fart!"

"Brat, I am this close to strangling your scrawny neck and shutting that foul mouth of yours for good! The ninja can run on water and travel faster than most boats. Why does a baby like you even need to cross the ocean anyway? What could possibly compel you to come all the way out here yourself?"

My eyes water a bit.

"The Kitajima temple banished me from the island OKAY! I need to get to Nakajima Island because I want to make a new home. Now leave me alone old man! I got some swimming to do!"

Having said my peace, I turn around, grab my spear from the ground and start walking towards the right side of the boat. I get a couple of steps away from the edge before my arm is grabbed completely halting my movement. Mizu addresses me with a softer tone.

"I can't let you kill yourself kid. You'll never make the journey without a boat let alone step onto the shore of Nakajima. Those ninjas will dice you up for trespassing in Shimizu clan territory."

He stops talking for a little bit then he continues,

"Look I can't help you muck kid cuz I got a family of my own to watch out for, but I can at least help you get on to the island safe."

This guy is so confusing. He was just being a jerk now he wants to help me. I lightly pulled my arm from his weak grasp then I turn back around, and I look back up to Mizu.

"Listen I realize I came in a little hot earlier kid but seeing kids in danger riles me up. I'm sorry about yelling at you earlier."

Still not really trusting Mizu, I reluctantly accept his apology,

"Don't worry about it old man."

"By the way kid, what's your name?"

My eyes narrowed on reflex,

"It's Shogo."

Mizu chuckled,

"That name describes you a bit too well child."

I shrug.

Mizu nods and motions me to follow him,

"C'mon brat, I'll introduce you to the rest of my crew and feed you something. Maybe get you some dry clothes if we have em."

He points at my dripping tattered shirt and shorts. Then Mizu starts walking toward a two-story wooden cabin, I follow him slowly, gripping my spear extra tight.

Inside the cabin, are two older men sitting around a round table with two mugs between the two of them. The men look to be around the same age as Mizu in fact all three of them look damn near identical sans the facial hair. All three men have gray hair, leathery wrinkled skin, pointy facial features, and thick gray facial hair.

Mizu had the large mustache that covered his top lip and the other men had large beards that hid their chins. Mizu introduces me to the men then lightly whispers something to the them that I couldn't hear.

The old men then tell me their names are Ryoshi and Suima. Apparently, they are both Mizu's brothers and they all run a small fishing company on Nanto island together. Mizu tells me to sit down at the table while he looks for some clothes in the upstairs part of the cabin. I sit down in the third seat around the table and start speaking to the brothers,

"So, what are you old dudes doing out here? Couldn't you guys fish closer to land?"

Suima puts down his mug and answers my question,

"We came out here to fish for the coveted pink salmon! The most tasty and rare fish in all of Water Country! This here is our secret fishing spo- "

"Don't tell him about our spot, Suima! It's a family secret!"

Suima waves Ryoshi off,

"Oh, pipe down Ryoshi! I don't think this kid is some undercover spy trying to get our "trade secrets" or something. Besides I doubt Shogo here even knows exactly where he is much less be able to find the exact spot again! Anyway, kid we're fishing for gold basically, gahahaha!"

"GOLD!? There's no way a damn fish could be the same as gold!"

"It is when it's the daimyo's favorite fish!"

Suima cheerfully replies.

"D-A-I-M-Y-O? What the heck is that?"

I say scratching my head. I guess it was something I missed in one of the MANY lessons, I was kicked out of by the caretakers for fighting and yelling.

"All you need to know kid, is that the daimyo is the most important person in the Land of Water. STEER clear of him unless you want to get diced up into tiny pieces by his freakish personal guard."

Ryoshi gives me a grim look and even shook a little as he mentions the daimyo's bodyguard before taking a big swig of his drink.

Suima then told me, the brothers were currently completing an order for the Water Daimyo himself. The daimyo is having an extravagant party l and demanded that no less than eighty-five of the Pink Salmon be brought to his caterer by the end of the week. This would be an impossible order for any other company but not theirs because of their special spot. As Suima and I finish talking about how it was apparently possible to navigate a boat by using the stars outside of Water Country, Mizu comes down the stairs with clothes in his hand. He throws them to me and states I could change outside on the deck. I examine the clothes in front of me, they were a simple large shirt and shorts tinted with a familiar purple. Ryoshi must have saw some confusion in my eyes because he told me it was his son's old uniform. I shrug then walk outside and start changing. I couldn't help but notice that Mizu didn't want me going upstairs and I couldn't fault him. The brothers probably had a lot of valuable stuff up there that I definitely wouldn't mind getting my hands on. I have some morals though and I couldn't steal from people who want help me. I finished changing and threw my old clothes overboard. The shirt was a bit big and hung of my frame a bit and I had to double knot the shorts to make them stay around my waist. I walk back into the cabin and see that Mizu is now sitting at the table with a mug. He ushers me over to stand near the table as he explains the plan, he and his brothers came up with to get me into the village on Nakajima Island. Mizu tells me that they plan to smuggle me onto the island by hiding me under the deck of the boat with the fishes. Mizu explained that the ninja won't check down there. After we dock, they'll carry me in a carriage into the city then leave me in one of the alleys when the coast is clear. Mizu then strongly recommends that I stay on the outskirts of the village because the deeper into it I go, the more ninja I would likely run in too. The outskirts however are filled with war refugees and petty criminals. He said all I had to do was keep my head down and live off the ocean.

When I asked Mizu to explain living off the ocean, he told me that I had to fish and filter water. I told him I knew how to fish but not how to filter water. Mizu told me to follow him to the back of his boat so I did. When we got out there, it was kinda dark but Mizu showed me how to make my own saltwater filtration system and also how to make rainwater drinkable. He told me that drinking water straight from the sea could make me really sick. After Mizu was done teaching me stuff, we went back to the cabin and he gave me some fish soup with rice. His brothers were gone from the table now, they must have gone to sleep since it was nighttime already. I'm not gonna say the soup was delicious but I was soooo hungry that it didn't matter how it tasted. Mizu told me that they had a lot of it, so I only stopped after the fourth bowl. I guess he saw that I finished eating because Mizu started to explain the inner workings of Nakajima to me.

"Alright kid, Nakajima is controlled entirely by the Shimizu clan. Other clans live on the island too, but they are just servants to the Shimizu. The Shimizu clan is easily the most influential and powerful clan in all of Water country. They have the most money and gather the most powerful ninja but most importantly they have the Seven Swords,"

Mizu drinks from the mug in his hand and continued,

"For hundreds of years they were nothing but barbarians. They would rape and pillage coasts throughout the entirety of the Elemental Nations. No village was safe unless they were landlocked. It was because of them the islands of Water Country were in constant war until around 200 hundred years ago."

Mizu pauses to take another long swig from his mug.

I get impatient,

"What happened two hundred years ago?"

"The Shimizu Seven Swords happened. While the Shimizu were savage, they were also really smart. Not only did they raid villages for money and goods, but also sword making techniques and special metals. They refined their best techniques with the additional stolen knowledge of other sword makers and made seven ultimate weapons. Each weapon was so monstrous that they could barely be called swords. It was with those weapons that they completely subdued Water country for themselves. Since then, the Shimizu clan became fat aristocrats with an iron grip on the ship trade market of the Elemental Nations. The daimyo of Water country hails from the Shimizu clan and he resides in the heart of Nakajima along with his family. The big village we're dropping you off at stretches along the coast. Despite what I said about the Shimizu being aristocrats now, they still employ the strongest ninja in Water Country to protect them so make sure you keep your distance."

Mizu then standd from his chair and walks to the bottom of the staircase,

"Well Shogo, I'm gonna hit the hay. We will sail to Nakajima in the morning, but only if we meet our quota. See you in the morning. I suggest you sleep in the cabin; it gets really cold on the water at night."

With that Mizu ascends the stairs and I am on my own for the night.

'Note to self. STAY away from the crazy sword people.'