The Legendary Nine. A group that every demon and every bijuu aspires to be a part of. Sometimes I wonder why I’m not part of the Legendary Nine. But then I think about it and it becomes very obvious.
For starters, I’m not legendary.
I seriously doubt that anyone has heard of me outside my frozen northern territory. And anyone who has ever heard of me doesn’t even think I exist. I am a myth. To the people of the world, I am a subject of stories and visual arts; inkworks, paintings, playworks, interpretive dance, and B-rated films. The inkworks and paintings are great, the playworks and B-rated films are okay (with a few good bits here and there) but the interpretive dance is just insulting.
So, anyways, you can’t be legendary when you’re considered a myth.
And two, I do not follow the rules of the Dragon King.
You may recall the incident that occurred with some of the more prominent canine members of the Legendary Nine (link) Kyuubi is careful to make sure that all the other members of the Legendary Nine are weaker than him. He took extra precautions for when he must leave by endowing himself with his part of the Dragon King’s power so that it stays with him no matter where he goes. In this way, he will always be stronger than any other member of the Legendary Nine wherever he is. (exception being Shukaku, but this may be because they’ll be at a stand off, plus they’re the best of buddies as far as bijuu go)
Before the Dragon King incident, I was far more powerful than any other bijuu in the world, with the exception of the Dragon King. As long as I stay on my homeland, however, I am far mightier than any other Bijuu. And if Kyuubi comes along…..we will have inherited the same amount of power from the Dragon King, and I will beat him with my natural power.
But that means I can’t be part of the Legendary Nine.
I suppose there are advantages to not being a member of the Legendary Nine. When less people know about you/believe that you exist, the less likely they are to stick you in some human with the intentions of creating a super soldier. Now, I’m on my third jiinchuriki, I must say, they can be fun, and I’ll admit without a jiinchuriki all bijuu will eventually go through mental decay, but it would be nice if I was ASKED instead of being forced into it by some arcane ritual.
And it’s really not worth it, making a jiinchuriki. A human life is usually required for the sealing, and if the bijuu has more power than 8 tails (mind you, Shukaku and I got more than that on our homelands because of the whole dragon incident) then the mother has to friggin die or else the child will be a stillborn. After that, the jiinchuriki will have various mental, psychological or medical issues that, while making them superior beings, can drive them insane. Such conditions include lipodystrophy, extreme insomnia, ADD, ADHD, hyperthymestic syndrome, claustrophobia, Prader-Willi syndrome (I finally remember it!) and what not.
Of course, we bijuu can be very selective when it comes to these conditions. Take Prader-Willi syndrome. Eternal hunger aside, the symptoms are….well, they explain it better than I do (link). But as you can see, my jiinchuriki never displays those attributes, always displaying seemingly the reverse.
Additionally, bijuu can gain power from defeated enemies. I myself do so by literally consuming my fallen opponent. (another reason I’m not in the Legendary Nine: I F*CKING eat other bijuu) Shukaku and Kyuubi create clones with similar abilities to certain fallen opponents. Kaku does so by shapeshifting into his fallen enemy. Nekomata can summon the spirit of any creature she has killed to do her bidding. The other bijuu I am not so sure of, but I know that they have some way of increasing their power from fallen foes. All bijuu share this ability with their jiinchuriki.
And furthermore, there are only 2 or 3 ways to kill any given jiinchuriki, one of which is always combat related fatality, although some jiinchuriki are more impervious to certain injuries than others. (The other method(s) of death is/are unique to each jiinchuriki, and no bijuu will ever tell anyone except their jiinchuriki, and even then, only under necessary circumstances. The only thing I will say is that it would be obvious if you studied the bijuu, the jiinchuriki, it’s powers, and where it tends to dwell) A jiinchuriki will stop aging at 25 and will not die unless it is killed by either of these methods. Since it’s difficult to kill jiinchuriki in combat, and the second/third method is usually unknown, jiinchuriki tend to live long lives if they are not killed outside of combat.
What’s the point I’m trying to make? While all that makes jiinchuriki great warriors, they are terrible soldiers. At some point in its life, the jiinchuriki will tire of taking orders from someone else and become its own boss. This means either it will go rogue and strike out on its own, or it will assume position of top dog.
What was I talking about?
Oh, right, Legendary Nine.
Ahem
Mighty confusing this whole Legendary Nine thing. Hard to tell who's in and who's out. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go acquaint myself with that ox headed tentacle beast over there
Sometimes I wonder why I am the way I am.
I was born to a nomadic clan of samurai who made its living off hunting animals and destroying other clans.
Well, that explains my all bloodthirsty and destructive qualities.
My father (who was the clan leader) could’ve been better, but he could’ve been worse. He didn’t spend too much time with me growing up. Too busy killing things. He neglected my medical condition (which I shared with my brother). I’ll be damned if I can remember what it’s called, but all anyone else needs to know is that it makes me hungry ALL the time. Even when I’ve eaten so much food I’m incapacitated.
I wonder if this physical never ending hunger was somehow related to my never ending lust for power.
I spent a lot of time with my little brother Koga and none with other family members because they were all dead. Other children of the clan feared us. We were as thick as brothers could be, running through the woods, training, killing beasts twice our size with our bare hands, mock-dueling…good times.
That explains my deep loyalty to comrades.
But whenever father was around, he was always disciplining us. With a whip. Or worse, he’d put on his metal gloves and punch us in the face. Sure, it worked. But we hated him. Even as we entered our late teens, he continued the beatings. One day, I got sick of it, and cut his head off. That single action had made me clan leader.
I suppose that explains my innate hatred of authority, as well as my desire to be top dog.
With the clan under my control, I decided that we would stop taking orders from other clans. I was going to fight my way to the top. I was to be Shogun. In my conquest, I killed at least 7000 opponents.
There’s where I get my total disregard for human life.
Now, Shoguns were a lot smarter back then and a lot better at waging war than they are now. I was young and naïve, too confident for my own good. In retrospect, I should’ve waited a few more years, to train my troops, buy better armor and forge better swords. If I had done that, I would not have to rely on the other clans I was forced to make an alliance with. They sold me out. My clan was slaughtered. Every last one of them. I think it was when Koga died that I finally snapped.
I figure my hatred of traitors comes from that.
Well, I managed to kill everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) before the Shogun slipped before slipping through my fingers. I saw this as an opportunity to better arm myself before fighting him. I combined my sword with metal of 6 other swords of my clansmen, including Koga. When that was finished, I stuck this new sword in Koga’s body. I was told that if you left a freshly forged sword in someone’s corpse for a week, their soul would enter and remain in the blade. In that week, I managed to put my armor back together the best I could using whatever I salvaged off my dead clanmates. Then I pulled out the huge nodachi and hunted down the Shogun.
You’ve probably figured out by now that I’m a natural hunter.
Bastard Shogun. I decided to face him in fair combat, and what does he do to me? He blows smoke in my face from that wooden pipe of his and turned my face into the sun.
I hate smokers. And cheaters. And the sun. And anything that burns.
With that distraction alone, he was able to slit my belly open. And for years, there I lay on the ground, frozen solid by the winds around me.
I felt a strange darkness creep into my soul, making me stronger. One day, I broke free of my icy tomb. I broke down the gate, ripped the guards to shreds, cut down the Shogun and his family and then….then I assumed this bestial form.
I SHOULD be a member of the Legendary 9. But the centuries of isolation reduced me to ‘mythical’ status. Or maybe it’s better to be a myth. No. When you’re a legend, everyone knows you’re real.
That Kaku that took my place…..well, at first I though he was pathetic, but now I see his true strength, and I agree he deserves his title.
It’s funny. It was at least 500 years ago I heard someone singing an old song we used to sing going into battle, but it’s still stuck in my head:
We’ll kill them all tonight
Show them your all might
Oh what a sight
We’ll kill them all tonight
They’ll fear us all right
Oh what a sight
We’ll kill them all tonight
Forever you will fight
Oh what a sight
We’ll kill them all tonight
Show them your all might
Until the morning light
We’ll kill them all tonight
They’ll fear us all right
Until the morning light
We’ll kill them all tonight
Forever you will fight
Until the morning light
All demons, bijuu or not, start out as humans. These humans become powerful in their life time. But they do not become demons until they die….with an incredible amount of hate and sin in their souls, as well as a desire not to die.
To put these factors into perspective, let us start with ‘power in life’.
Humans that become demons are usually old kooks that have managed to hold onto most of the power they had in their prime. They have enough chakra to destroy landscapes, invoke natural disasters, etc. But doing so would almost kill them.
Humans that become bijuu, however, can perform the same feats without bringing themselves to death’s door. It’s not something they can do twice a day, but they’re at the limit of the human ability.
Next, hatred.
Hatred in demons is usually ‘I hate the world for not respecting me’. Bijuu hatred, however, is usually caused by a great injustice, or great trauma. Examples include:
Shukaku: Father was an abusive drunk, mother dead, himself a drunk, desired to control the sand and wind (which killed him), liked by no one, stc
Okami Shichibi: He was a samurai, the leader of his nomadic clan, in life; from the far northern lands. He was your typical brutal warlord, towering stature, bulging muscles, big teeth, not to mention loads of white hair. Another clan betrayed him, slaying his clan and cutting him down in his prime. (not to say he didn't manage to take a few with him)
Kyuubi: A playful prankster who irritated the city people, particularly the royal family, until one day one his pranks went too far. One day, he accidentally killed the first princess……the woman he loved more than anything. He was burned alive as a punishment.
Sin. It’s generally stronger in Bijuu than in demons, but it doesn’t have to be.
Shukaku: He did a fair amount of drinking, and snapped quite a few necks trying to become more powerful and respected, all with a side order of rape.
Okami: Killed at least 7000 people in his lifetime.
Kyuubi: Engaged in many sexual endeavors with the first princess using his shape shifting powers.
Desire to live: Demons are hanging on with the skin of their teeth, while Bijuu have a grip of iron, if you get what I mean.
Shukaku: Continued wanting to live, despite the pain of having his skin peeled off by the sandstorm.
Okami: Was stabbed and slashed repeatedly before being frozen,, not in a block of ice, but by the harsh wind. But still, he continued wanting to live.
Kyuubi: He lost the love of his life, and was burned in a cremator, but continued refusing to die.
Bijuu are very ironic creatures. However you kill a Bijuu in life determines the powers it has. Shukaku was killed by a sandstorm….and gained control over sand and wind. Okami was killed by swords and the freezing wind…..and gained control over the Northern wind, as well as the ‘cutting winds’. Kyuubi was burned alive in the royal cremator…and he gained control over fire and power in general.
What animal a Bijuu will be is determined by the personality of the person. Greed, honesty, deceit, ferocity, mindlessness, cunning, instinct….etc. As you can clearly see this is true:
Shukaku: angry, perverted drunkard=badass Tanuki
Okami: honorable but vicious samurai=white Wolf
Kyuubi: shapeshifting trickster= red Fox.
The next time you think of a Bijuu, think of who they were as humans, and what happened to get them to where they are now.
