The memories of my old readings coming forth, I almost drew a family tree, before recalling that Itachi could not recognize the alphabet I was using.
"Now Uranus, the chaste light of heaven, the essence of all that is bright and pleasing, held in abhorrence his crude, rough, and turbulent offspring, the Giants, and feared that their great power might eventually prove hurtful to himself.
He, therefore, hurled them into Tartarus, that portion of the lower world which served as the subterranean dungeon of the gods. To avenge the oppression of her children, the Giants, Gaia instigated a conspiracy on the part of the Titans against Uranus, which was carried to a successful issue by her son Cronus.
He wounded his father, and from the blood of the wound which fell upon the earth sprang a race of monsters, the second generation of Giants were then free to roam the earth. Assisted by his brother Titans, Cronus succeeded in dethroning his father, who, enraged at his defeat, cursed his rebellious son, and foretold to him a similar fate.
Cronus, who wished to be the last to ever rule, became invested with supreme power and assigned to his brothers offices of distinction, subordinate only to himself.
Subsequently, however, when, secure of his position, he no longer needed their assistance, he basely repaid their former services with treachery, made war upon his brothers and faithful allies, and, assisted by the Giants, completely defeated them, sending the ones that resisted his all-conquering arm down into the lowest depths of Tartarus."
Itachi, for a rarefied spare second, acted like his age became befitting his age and eagerly asked:
"What happened then?"
I smiled with glee, happy to have brought a spark of wonder in a kid with such sorrow ahead of him.
"Cronus was the god of eternity, of time. He married Rhea, daughter of Uranus and Gaia, the older sister of Cronus. They had three sons: Aïdes, also known as Hades or Pluto, Poseidon also known as Neptune. And their youngest: Zeus, also known as Jupiter.
While their three daughters were Hestia, Demeter, and Hera. Cronus, the heart heavy with the future foretold by his father, feared that his children might one day rise against his authority.
Therefore, to render the prophecy impossible of fulfillment, Cronus swallowed each child as soon as it was born, to the sorrow and indignation of his wife Rhea.
When it came to Zeus, the sixth and last, Rhea resolved to try and save this one child at least, to love and cherish, and appealed to her parents, Uranus and Gaia, for counsel and assistance.
By their advice she wrapped a stone in baby clothes, and Cronus, caution forgotten in its fear, swallowed it without noticing the deception.
The child thus saved, Rhea asked Gaia for a safe place, and with Pontus Pontus' help, the infant Zeus was brought to a secret island, where he was nourished, loved, protected, and educated.
A sacred goat, called Amalthea, supplied him in the place of his mother, by providing him with milk; nymphs, called Melissae, fed him with honey, and eagles and doves brought him nectar and ambrosia.
He was kept concealed in a cave in the heart of Mount Ida, and the priests of Rhea, by beating their weapons together, kept up a constant noise at the entrance, which drowned the cries of the child and frightened away all intruders.
Under the watchful care of the Nymphs the infant Zeus grew rapidly, developing quickly the gifts of his heritage, and was blessed by extraordinary wisdom and intelligence. Once grown to manhood, Zeus met Metis, which was Wisdom, and married her.
On her advice, he masked himself as a servant and tricked his father into drinking poisoned wine. The wine made Cronus vomit so much that he ultimately disgorged Zeus' siblings, intact and ready for revenge. His siblings had no problem acknowledging his authority.
The rival forces ranged themselves on two separate high mountains; Zeus, with his brothers and sisters, took his stand on Mount Olympus, where he was joined by Oceanus, and others of the Titans, who had forsaken Cronus on account of his oppression.
Cronus and his brother Titans took possession of Mount Othrys and prepared for battle. The struggle was long and fierce, and after ten years Zeus, finding that he was no nearer victory than before, remembered of the existence of the imprisoned Giants, and knowing that they would be able to render him most powerful assistance, he hastened to liberate them.
He also called to his aid the Cyclops, which were the sons of Poseidon and his wife, who had only one eye each in the middle of their foreheads, and were called Brontes, which means Thunder, Steropes, which means Lightning, and Pyracmon, which means Anvil of Fire.
They promptly responded to his summons for help, and brought with them tremendous thunderbolts which the Hecatoncheires, with their hundred hands, hurled down upon the enemy, at the same time raising mighty earthquakes, which swallowed up and destroyed all who opposed them."
I noticed the spark of interest in Itachi's eyes dimming a bit, he hated talking of war.
"Aided by these new and powerful allies, Zeus made a furious onslaught on his enemies, and so tremendous was the encounter that all the world is said to have throbbed in accord with the mighty effort of the celestial deities.
The sea rose mountains high, and its angry billows hissed and foamed; the earth shook to its foundations, the heavens sent forth rolling thunder, and flash after flash of death-bringing lightning, whilst a blinding mist enveloped Cronus and his allies. Only then the Fortunes of war began to turn, and victory smiled on Zeus.
Cronus and his army were completely overthrown, his brothers despatched to the gloomy depths of the lower world, and Cronus himself was banished from his kingdom and deprived forever of the supreme power, which became vested in his son Zeus, who still sits among the clouds, ruling over the sky."
I concluded my story and walked to a drinking fountain. All that talk had made me thirsty. I went back to my seat to find an Itachi that had lost his usual blank expression to wear a more thoughtful one.
"Since you gifted me with what I can tell is to be an old story, I'll do the same. This one has been said to me by the elders of my clan, so do not share it." Itachi warned me.
At my assent, he took a deep breath. "From the mists of time emerged two deities, Izanagi-no-Mikoto and Izanami-no-Mikoto, the divine male and female gods of creation. Seeking to fill the misty void, they devised the marriage ritual and engaged in sex, but had to repeat the ritual due to a mistake on Izanami's part.
This second, successful attempt yielded a multitude of kami, spiritual beings which were the natural world. The last of these beings was Fire, who killed Izanami." Itachi paused, looking at me to see if I was still listening.
I was hanging from his lips. The Shintoist mythology was something I was no expert of, but neither I was unfamiliar with it. It was, from what I could tell, the same as one of my first life.
"Wrought with grief, Izanagi journeyed to Yomi, the shadowy land of the dead. Searching far and wide, he eventually found his wife and was shocked to find her rotting flesh full of oni and other demons.
Seeing his rejection of her, Izanami flew into a rage and attempted to chase him past the gates of death; however, he managed to block the gates with a boulder. Izanami swore that if he left her there, she would kill one thousand people every day. He replied that each day, he would create five hundred more lives than she could destroy, thereby ensuring the survival of the earth's population.
Disgusted by the taint of death that lay upon him, Izanagi found a pool of pure water nearby and bathed himself in it. As he washed his left eye, Amaterasu emerged, fully-grown and glowing with the light of the sun. He washed his right eye next, and from it emerged the shining Tsukuyomi, the moon who reflected his sister's light.
As he cleaned his nose, a storm emerged and took the shape of Susanoo, the storm god, and ruler of the seas. These three Izanagi tasked with ruling the heavens, with Amaterasu as their leader. As was the natural order of things, Amaterasu married her brother Tsukuyomi and together they ruled the day and night.
The marriage produced children, but Tsukuyomi lacked Amaterasu's naturally glowing disposition. Whatever goodness he had was merely a reflection of her light. Ultimately, Tsukuyomi revealed his true colors at a banquet when the goddess Uke Mochi created a bounty from which food could be grown.
After she spat fish into the sea and game into the forests, she proceeded to pull crops from her rectum. Disgusted by her actions, Tsukuyomi killed her on the spot. Amaterasu rejected her husband's disgust and banished him for his evil actions. Thus, day and night became separated for all eternity.
Though Izanagi tasked all three of his children with ruling the heavens, Amaterasu's claim was strongest, as Izanagi's firstborn, she held the divine right to rule. The youngest of the three, Susanoo, resented his elder sister's right to rule and questioned it openly.
Eventually, Susanoo's arrogance led his father Izanagi to banish him. But before his departure, Susanoo went to bid his sister goodbye. When his actions were met with suspicion by Amaterasu, Susanoo issued a challenge to prove his sincerity.
As the challenge began, Susanoo took Amaterasu's Yasakani-no-Magatama, the Grand Jewel, as she took his sword. Using these vessels, they each birthed goddesses: Amaterasu produced three goddesses from the Heavenly Blade while Susanoo produced five gods from the Grand Jewel.
Since she owned the Grand Jewel and more gods were birthed from it, Amaterasu claimed she had won the challenge. Outraged by her claim, Susanoo went into a rampage, destroying much of Heaven and earth. He annihilated Amaterasu's rice fields and threw animal carcasses around.
One of Amaterasu's attendants died during the rampage, causing an already angry Amaterasu to mourn as well. Ashamed that her actions had led to such chaos, she fled to the Ama-no-Iwato, the Heavenly Rock Cave.
With Amaterasu in hiding, the world plunged into darkness and chaos. Thus began the first winter, a hard time for a world used to bask in the sun."
I was staring at him with wide eyes. I was unsure if the knowledge of japan myths had bled into the Narutoverse through the hands and mind of its creator, or if, and that thought was far more worrying, these stories were the same as the ones of my first life because we were simply in the far future, perhaps after a nuclear disaster and a new dark age, from which emerged the sacred three, and from there the origins of the Narutoverse.
The six-year-old took out a blank scroll from his bag, and a simple brush with an inkpot, writing down the names of the gods he had named.
I envied the elegance of his movements, but it wasn't something I could be bothered to learn. At the orphanage, they didn't have the resources to teach calligraphy. Once again, Itachi kept talking, satisfied by having my undivided attention.
"The kami looked down upon the world and, seeing the chaos left in Amaterasu's absence, decided they must bring her back. Though they asked her to return and described the chaos caused by her absence, Amaterasu refused to listen and blocked the cave entrance with a rock.
After almost a year, wise Omoikane determined that if she would not come out of her own volition, they would have to lure her out with curiosity. To this end, a grand party was thrown. The plan worked, like the music, dancing, and joyous cries of the gods did indeed peak Amaterasu's attention.
The noise intensified when the dawn goddess Ame-no-Uzume performed a particularly revealing dance. Curious, Amaterasu drew closer to the cave entrance, and there discovered theYata-no-Kagami, ( the Eight-Fold Mirror.) Fascinated by the light of her reflection, Amaterasu, at last, came to the mouth of the cave. It was at that moment Omoikane drew back the stone that blocked the entrance.
As he did so, Amaterasu's light reentered the world, illuminating the chaos that had been left in her wake. Winter ended at last, and spring and summer brought life back to the land. Ashamed, she begged forgiveness for her actions.
It was given freely, for Susanoo's behavior had been nothing less than abhorrent. His banishment was henceforth carried out, and Amaterasu returned to heaven.
She later reconciled with her brother, who gave her the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, ( the Grass-Cutting Sword ), that is also known as the Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi, ( the Heavenly Sword of Gathering Clouds), as a gift."
Almost distractedly, he had traced the kanji of the divine objects he had spoken of. Impeccable strokes of his brush against my distracted scribbling with a pencil.
We shared a smile, and I could feel the beginning of a routine made of shared stories and appreciative silences. It wasn't bad, and I had never managed to relax so much before.
Ultimately, it doesn't matter if I am in the future or a manga. I thought. Staying alive still takes precedence.
Maybe I could find a way to travel through words, but that was a blurry and far away objective. Every consideration lost importance when I felt it.
Dread.
Pain.
End.
Bloodlust.
Like a battering wave, a tsunami, the feel of death washed over us, and we both turned as one toward the point of origin.
In a quickly dispersing cloud of smoke, stood the giant nine-tailed fox
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