-_-_-_-_-ア The Forgotten Land
___[ Titanic Aftermath: ]
It has now been exactly one year since the winter that claimed the relic collector, Titan's head. His body, which was discovered still standing, retrieved and buried in what is known as a Black Grave; a secret tomb whose location is confidential to all but the most prominent of the National Council.
Titan, who so suddenly shook the world, and ever more enigmatically went silent, was a grim reminder to every nation that tremendous, malicious powers still roam the planet in all forms. And that if the ninja of the world could no longer evolve, then one day such malice would seep and encroach until it claimed everything, its shade too thick for anyone to lift.
Although a somewhat morbid thought, it is one that the feudal lords of each nation have been tasked with keeping in mind. Adaption and improvement; not with prerogative of being known as the strongest in the world, but for the sake of ensuring that the world itself is not brought under the heels of something malevolent.
Quietly nodding to this ideal, the feudal lords made note of the past success of the Global Chunin Examinations. Although minimal and rather contained, it was an excellent and controlled method of testing shinobi from all over the world. If such tests were to be widened, yet still contained amongst them, they could surely prove to help its participants develop ability and character.
___[ Celebration, Examination, Evaluation: ]
Unfortunately knowing that they themselves could not fully understand the thought process of the vast ninja populace, the feudal lords of each nation were forced to muddle amongst themselves and their respective regions, attempting to collaborate on some effective idea that would draw out ninja from every pocket of the world. In their search for a worthwhile plan, a humble man from a land almost forgotten, who seemed to possess no prior experience in the world of diplomacy or politics, proposed an idea that both startled and intrigued the feudal lords.
In his proposition, he told the feudal lords that in the near future he would come into ownership of an insurmountable amount of property; a vast and beautiful land that expands from the outer rings of Snow Country, collecting its numerous acres of frozen countryside, and meshing them with the pines and Hemlocks of a nearby and ever stretching forest. Bowing his head, he told the feudal lords to take this land, to use it, but that its first usage must be that of his own design. The lands reaching from the Ikebana Gates, located at the center of the Snow Country, to the front of his forest must be used to host an entirely public festival in one year celebration of the fall of the villain Titan, while the forest and its patches of off-season overgrowth would be used to host two additional, yet simultaneous events; the second Global Chunin Examinations, and the first Global Jounin Evaluations. If such conditions could be met, and all three events proved to be even slightly productive in any one ninja's career, he would gladly bestow every inch of his property to the reign of the feudal lord of Snow, or whatever division the National Council would see fit.
Grossly tempted by such an otherworldly arrangement, the feudal lords of the National Council could do little more than nod their heads and await a trip to the lands the man spoke of.
___[ Aki no Kuni • Autumn Country: ]
The region bordering Snow Country, Aki no Kuni, or the Land of Autumn; its evergreen trees and almost mystical scenery is where the majority of the Chunin Examinations and Jounin Evaluations will take place. Although most of the world experiences four differing seasons, the Land of Autumn seems to be caught in eternal, get this, autumn. Because of this climate, there are many odd terrain crafts and foliage patterns that occur and survive only here.
During their visit to the Land of Autumn, many of the feudal lords' vassals noted that the landscape itself seemed to be morphed, abnormally well constructed, as if more than nature had shaped it. Nodding, the man who had made the proposal smirked and responded, telling them that the particular region that would host the exams and evaluations was "hand crafted by the country's most powerful doton ninja in order to test the limits of those that would partake." Confusedly looking amongst one another, the vassals could not fully grasp what they had just heard, but regardless took it to heart, and reported to their lords.
___[ The Frozen Festival: ]
Taking place in the village built around Snow Country's Ikebana Gates, the Frozen Festival is a glorified commemoration of the fall of Titan, or rather, a celebration of the unknown assassin who took his life. Because neither the face nor allegiance of the new hero is known, the wares and revel of the festival will be sported in anonymous fashion. Muddied cloak and porcelain mask of some feline type were all that was clear, and is what will be mimicked by the comperes.
As planned, this celebration is to be used more as a lure by the National Council to draw hermit shinobi into the light, rather than an actual immortalization of the unknown hero. Those indulging in the festival will have opportune, during the later examinations and evaluations, to treat themselves to open area bouts between the participants. It is believed that the pressure generated by the eyes of one's peers can often be heavier than any physical weight, and it is this pressure that the coordinators wish to succumb the contestants to. And, with any luck, one of the gazes cast will be of a powerful, goodhearted, and willing warrior.
____ア S u m m a r y:
• A humble man's proposition has tempted the National Council, and called for three events in promise for his mass of land.
• The Frozen Festival will take place in Ikebana Village, the Snow Country village built around Ikebana Gates, where Titan met his end.
• The Chunin Exams and Jounin Evaluations will take place in a forgotten country; Aki no Kuni, also known as the Land of Autumn.
• The Frozen Festival is in memory of Titan's fall and the masked hero who took his head.
• The festival is also a technical ploy by the National Council to lure shut-in ninja of exceptional skill.
• The exams and evaluations are a means for the National Council to help strengthen the future generations of ninja for disasters similar to the villain Titan.
____ア E f f e c t s:
• A preview of the Frozen Festival will be open to exam and eval. participants on Sunday, January 1st.
• The Frozen Festival will be open to the public two days later, Tuesday, January 3rd.
• Anyone and everyone is free to attend the Frozen Festival, once it is publicly open.
• The Chunin Exams and Jounin Evaluations will start on Friday, January 6th.
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