Grimoire is an alternate universe version of Naruto and Naruto Shippuden for the sake of telling my fan character's, Akene Chigiri, story.
Akene grows up during the same timeline as Naruto and company. She graduates from the academy the same year as the rookie nine.
Chigiri Clan and the Grimoire
THE CHIGIRI CLAN - A very detailed History
Kaguya had many things among her power. Such a powerful and knowledgeable being did keep a record of her existence, and where she kept that information was inside a Grimoire. A grimoire is traditionally a book of magic spells and invocations. Kaguya used her grimoire to record everything she knew and learned about. It included anything from jutsu to personal feelings. It was more of a glorified diary, but one that contained contents that humans should have never laid their eyes on. As a precaution, the moon princess a cursed seal on the book, so if any being other than herself decided to lay their eyes on the pages, they would pay the consequences.
A young servant girl, Rei, that was caring for Kaguya’s infant sons happened to come across the book one day. When the book was opened, the seal was activated and Rei’s soul was supposed to be sucked into the pages but that’s not what happened. Rei was comforting a fussy Hamura when the book was opened. Due to Hamura possessing his mother’s Chakra and being in direct contact with the one who activated the seal, it didn’t exactly work as designed.
Kaguya later found the girl unconscious on the ground with a crying Hamura. The pages of her Grimoire were blank and Rei no longer existed, any personality she once had was gone; she was a shell of who she used to be. The curse seal transferred onto the girl’s body, her mind containing all the information that was held in the pages of the cook. Rei was now a living breathing Grimoire, the very first of many to come. Due to her son’s unintentional interference, Kaguya was unable release the seal on her and was stuck with a human Grimoire. She worked just the same as her book, but was almost even more useful. She didn’t have to just be told things to record the information, she observed and absorbed the information she saw around her.
There was one flaw. Rei was pregnant when all of this happened. Of course, someone who did not have a conscious mind could not raise a child. The only thing Rei could do once she gave birth to a son, was speak out a name; Ishi. The boy was sent off to be raised by Rei’s relatives.
Still angry at Kaguya for taking away their dear sweet Rei, the relatives raised the boy to hate and despise the Ootsutsuki. Ishi decided early on he wanted to take revenge on that witch for what she had done to his mother. This was not an easy task and even before he could come up with a plan, the moon princess was sealed away by her own flesh and blood. While Ishi was happy with the fact that monster no longer terrorized the world, he did not trust the Ootsutsuki. He searched, and never found any sign of his mother. He had a plan now. If the Ootsutsuki would take away his family, he would do the same. He wanted revenge, and most importantly; he wanted power. Ishi had one child, a daughter he named Eikene. She was the key, the roots, to his plan. There were a few things that were off-putting about Eikene. She knew things that she probably should not have. It turns out Eikene inherited something from her grandmother; being the vessel for the Grimoire. Thanks to a weakened version of the seal being passed down, the knowledge was locked away and Eikene was never awakened as the Grimoire. Her father never learns her true identity. Immediately after her birth, Ishi set out for an arranged marriage between Eikene and one of Hamura’s grandchildren. He was successful.
Eikene was controlled by her father her entire life. The man had become obsessed with his far-off dream. He wanted to make a clan of his own, one just for hunting down and killing every last Ootsutsuki. Perhaps he had lost his mind down the line, not realizing his own future grandchildren and beyond would be a decedent of the clan he despised so much. Hate and revenge can ruin a person. Still, his daughter was sweet and kind despite her father’s hatred. She loved her father, and obeyed him.
Eikene married a man name Higure Ootsutsuki. He was the grandson of Hamura Ootsutsuki, and great grandson of Kaguya Ootsutsuki. They were married young and soon after the wedding Ishi stole them away to another land. Ishi planned to use these two to start his own clan, he was unable to brainwash his daughter and son in law, but he had hopes for his grandchildren. Ishi was prepared to do what he had to in order to establish this clan. Eikene had four children, none of them possessed the Byakugan. However, two of the children were born with mutated and defective form of the Byakugan; their eyes were pink in color.
Ishi was more successful brainwashing his grandchildren. Never letting them know that their true goal was to kill their own family. He chose spouses for each of his grandchildren and instructed them to have at least one male child and one female child. He wanted to keep genes strong and forced inbreeding onto his family for the sake of having a strong clan, and in hopes of one day reproducing the Byakugan. Cousins marrying cousins and so on. Instead of letting his grandchildren inherit the last name of Ootsutsuki, he let them inherit his mother’s last name. Chigiri. Ishi died before he could see his dream into reality. Unfortunately, his dream to reproduce the Byakugan was all for nothing. Never once did anyone in the Chigiri line develop a working Byakugan, but their eyes did see other things,
Ishi’s grandchildren planned on continuing his dream of establishing a clan, as that’s what they thought was their Grandfather’s true goal. Higure and Eikene’s children didn’t just inherit things from their grandfather, they inherited Eikene’s thirst for knowledge and Higure’s affinity for divination. The family continued to live where Ishi had raised them, and the clan began to blossom.
After Eikene’s death one of her great-grandchildren was born with strange markings. It turns out this child was the third Grimoire born into the family, Miki, and those markings was the visible remnants of the original seal used on Rei. The current head of the Chigiri became wise about the Grimoire and its abilities. The Chigiri could easily unlock that seal due to having Ootsutsuki heritage, and Miki became the first awakened Grimoire since Rei. The head of the Chigiri was adamant on keeping the Grimoire in their family, as it was a powerful weapon, and confined their clan to their village and continued to have the bloodline strengthened. Luckily for Miki, she was able to ‘turn off’ Grimoire mode, or have others do it for her. She later developed the clan’s Kekkei Genkai; Divine Release. It was something she called Tengenjutsu. This was a result of Higure’s influence.
Divine Release is a combination of Yin nature and Fire Nature. It wasn’t something that could be used in battle, instead it was used to read the fortune, and fates, of others. This is how the Chigiri started to obsess over following the path that was set out for them, no questions asked. Over time the existence of the Grimoire was even hidden from normal members of the clan, the only ones who would know are the current head and the council.
Any clan member born with pink eyes was born with a incomplete version of the Byakugan. Fondly nicknamed Tengengan, it just meant anyone with pink eyes had a more advanced affinity got Tengenjutsu and Divine Release.
Some years later, the Chigiri clan was very established and very much outgrowing their small village. The council decided it was time for the clan to spread their wings and populate other villages. The Chigiri did learn of their original goal over time from a Grimoire, to defeat the Ootsutsuki, but they knew this was an impossible task. Their new goal, as guided by a Grimoire born as the head of the clan, was to gather information and continue until the world was no more. They spread out and would aid their new home villages, they established libraries and largely became a working force for the villages the populated versus becoming soldiers.
The Chigiri were ruthless early on, likely due to Ishi’s harsh views being passed down to the first members. The clan bred for certain things. They bred for appearance. This was especially the case for females so they could use them for marriage and political gain. While they did eventually introduce others from outside of the family into the genepool, they were aware of the problems with inbreeding. If Chigiri was born with any signs of issues they were not allowed to marry and have children, often they were killed. The clan also branched based on rank and lineage early on. Certain branches were bred for certain things, anywhere from Ninjutsu to Kenjutsu and beyond.
Certain traits were a result of the inbreeding over the years. Signature looks for the Chigiri include white, gray, and silver hair colors; pink, gold, and ice blue eyes; and a medium skin tone.
Long hair was tradition in the clan. It was a symbol of obedience and loyalty to the clan. Cutting your hair is the equivalent to cutting off ties and betraying the family, making you an enemy and risk.
The Chigiri are bone workers, a tradition that was passed down since the beginning of the clan. They use bones for their divinations and for weapons as early on they did not have access to metals. For divination, the clan prefers to use the bones and rabbits and hares. They have short life spans and breed rapidly (The Chigiri are similar rabbits in that sense ;)). And due to their affiliation with the moon. They have farms where the rabbits are fed Chakra infused food pellets. When the rabbits die, their bones are collected and then used for divination. For weaponry, they use a similar method to the rabbits, but with larger animals, to make chakra bone weapons. Since they don’t use larger animals as often as rabbits, their weapons can be quite pricey; Chakra infused or not.
In modern times, the Chigiri populate every village. And each village has a small council that reports to the main counsel, and the head of the clan. The head of the clan, and the main family reside in The Land of Iron. The main branch is neutral and does not affiliate with any village or land. Modern Chigiri are considered bookkeepers and an intel based clan. Even so their clan is still physically strong. They have been bred for such things overtime after all.
THE CHIGIRI CLAN – The Family
The Chigiri are split into 5 branch families and 1 main family. Each branch family excels in certain areas of jutsu. The branch families have codenames, usually named after the land they reside in. The Chigiri reside in nearly every land. Only a handful of Chigiri reside in lesser known lands, usually they are apart of a branch family near the country or village they are assigned to.
Onto of excelling in certain areas of Ninjutsu, each branch family has been bred to have a natural affinity for certain nature types, specifically the corresponding nature type of the village they reside in.
Branch of Fire – Land of Fire
Fire Release
Excels in Kekkai Ninjutsu, Iryo Ninjutsu, Nintaijutsu, Shurikenjutsu, Kawarimi no Jutsu, and Tonjutsu
80% can use Divine Release
Branch of Earth – Land of Earth
Earth Release
Excels in Kuchiyose no Jutsu, Bojutsu, Bunshinjutsu, Fuinjutsu, Genjutsu, and Renkeijutsu
60% can use Divine Release
Branch of Wind – Land of Wind
Wind Release
Excels in Tessenjutsu, Jujutsu, Chakra Nagashi, Genjutsu, Kayakujutsu, Hengenojutsu
50% can use Divine Release
Branch of Lightning – Land of Lightning
Lightning Release
Excels in Kenjutsu, Jikukan Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, Kekkai Ninjutsu, and Juinjutsu
40% can use Divine Release
Branch of Water – Land of Water
Water Release
Excels in Fuinjutsu, Iryo Ninjutsu, Chakra Kyuin Jutsu, Kinjutsu and Tonjutsu
30% can use Divine Release
Main Branch – Land of Iron
Fire and Yin Release
Excels in Tengenjutsu, Fuinjutsu, Hiden Jutsu, Kekkai Ninjutsu, Kusarigamajutsu, and Nintaijutsu
95% can use Divine Release
THE CHIGIRI CLAN – Trivia
Male Chigiri are required to marry inside of the clan in order to keep the genes strong and the name in the family. Women are usually used as political gain and married off to a wealthy and noble clan.
The Chigiri all have photogenic memory
GRIMOIRE
There have been countless Grimoire Vessel’s in present time. It stays in the family, only being passed down to those with strong genes. Who will be the next Grimoire is not something that can be predicted, since the family is so large it could appear anywhere. A new Vessel is only born after the old one dies. Anyone who becomes pregnant after the previous vessel dies are watched by the Chigiri counsel for nine months until they give birth. The Grimoire is the result a Juinjutsu called Soul Binding Talisman. It was a soul binding Jutsu created to seal the soul of whoever looked at the contents of Kaguya’s grimoire. Due to Hamura’s unintentional interference the curse seal backfired, transferring and sealing the information into Rei. This forever linked Rei, and her decedents, to the Ootsutsuki. Overtime the Chigiri renamed the seal to the Magatama Talisman Seal after the insignia the clan adopted. The Seal took the form of a Magatama on the forehead of the current Grimoire Vessel. The Grimoire has a low level of conscious functioning, remnants of Rei’s soul. The vessel of the Grimoire will enter something called Grimoire Mode, giving up their freewill in order for the Grimoire Mode to be able to function and information to be accessed.
Due to the nature of what the Grimoire is, the last couple vessels have been sealed with a Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal type jutsu to prevent the Grimoire from speaking any information they obtain. Another seal is placed on the Magatama Talisman, Forced Seal, in order to prevent the vessel from going into Grimoire mode. This began as a new tradition before Second Shinobi War due to the alarming rate of Grimoire being discovered and/or killed. All that information is dangerous. Trivia:
The Grimoire automatically learns any information that decedents of the Ootsutsuki (the Senju, Uzumaki, Uchiha, Hyūga, and Kaguya clans) and the Chigiri due to the sealing jutsu tying Rei to Kaguya’s Chakra, which was passed down to all of these clans.
The Grimoire Vessel’s fate cannot be read. This and the seal on their forehead are the two tells of a new Vessel. Because their fate cannot be read they are given a fake fate to follow by the head of the clan.
The existence of the Grimoire was always kept a secret to those outside of the clan, even inside of the clan it became a taboo topic. Now in modern times the only ones who know the truth are the elders of the Chigiri and a select few that are the head of the great ninja villages. Rumor of the existence of the Grimoire has been floating around for ages, but most assume it’s a scroll or book, not person.
In current times if a vessel learns of their fate as Grimoire they are killed off if deemed too much of a liability. This has happened a total of 3 times.
Grimoire Mode fully unlocks the potential of its vessel, allowing them to use their full ability.