Kageyama Clan

The Kageyama clan has hundred of years of history, starting around the first years of Shinobis, to the present day. For centuries, they had stayed secluded, away from glances of fellow Shinobis and/or normal citizens. They are Shinobis known for their power over Shadows and Darkness.

During the time Kaguya was hiding from the Land of That and Land of Ancestors, Aino, her servant, tried protecting Kaguya, which resulted in her death. Kaguya, devastated by the events, managed to heal her, after consuming the fruit of the God Tree, by transferring some of her chakra into Aino's body.

Aino's body, not used to chakra, let alone such a massive amount, tried fighting against it. With the chakra trying to heal Aino's wounds, and her body trying to get used to such a new system, her body was engulfed in darkness, making Kaguya believe she failed to heal her. With Aino's body completely disappearing from her sight, Kaguya fled.

Hours, days, or maybe years later, Aino wakes up surrounded by a forest, and hearing waves from behind her. With an imaginable thirst, she makes her way towards the water, and before she gets to drink, she freezes as she sees her own reflection. Only her black eyes remain just like in her memories. Her hair turned as white as the snow, her face pale and gaunt. Exhaustion hits her hard, her hands shaking as she soaks her hands in the water, bringing them to her mouth to drink.

She sleeps for days, maybe even weeks, when she is found by a family of four, two kids and two adults. They bring her to their house, feed her, bathe her, and care for her. They ask her for her name, to which she is unable to answer. They named her Ayaki.

Years later, Ayaki and their son, Kagekuni, develop a romantic interest for each other, and they get married. They only realise the powers their new family members have the moment their first son, Chikaya, awakens his powers when he is nine years old. Ayaki remembers the day she almost died, how she was engulfed by darkness, and how she managed to wake up just fine.

She managed to calm down Kagekuni, and guide Chikaya back to them. In order to learn more about the new powers she and her son have, she meditates every second of the way, and trains until she puts two and two together, in order to teach her son. They weren't aware of the things going on in the outside worlds once they started meditating, managing to avoid being trapped in the Infinite Tsukuyomi — Ayaki casted a Darkness barrier around their residence to protect her husband and in-laws as she trained with her son.

The family stayed quiet and away from civilizations for decades. Ayaki had two more children, a little girl named Ayaka and a little boy named Ayano. She survived for long enough to witness the death of her husband and in-laws while she stayed young along with her children. With the new era of the Shinobis coming through, Ayaki helped and cared for civilians caught in the crossfire between newly formed clans. She gifted them her own chakra as a way to help them protect themselves, taught them how to control and fight, then left them to decide what future they desired.

Having a taste of peace, they stayed with Ayaki and her children. Ayaki allowed them to use the Kageyama name as their own, and so the clan was created. Over the next few decades, Ayaki saw her own family grow bigger and bigger, from 10s to 100s of people.

They remained neutral during the Warring States Period, refusing to engage in nonsensical battles for territory — a simple fact that terrorized the Land of Fire Damiyo. For decades, various clans had tried to take over the Kageyama's territory, however no clan had ever come close to do so. They remained strong and victorious for generations to come.

When the Land of Fire was frozen in time by the wars between the Uchiha clan and the Senju clan, the Kageyama clan finally regained its' peace, though not for long. Multiple calls for back-up or support arrived from both clans, requesting medical assistance or battle specialists. The Kageyama's ignored those requests, and hoped for a day where wars would be only known through stories or legends.

Although they didn't joined the foundation of Konohagakure, or later the Hidden Village itself, the clan was more than happy that peace finally came to the Land of Fire, and wished that it would stay the same for millennia to come.

During the first two Shinobi Wars, the Kageyama's only way of staying protected was sending people to help. While they tried staying neutral, and only sending Medical-Nins, their small village was attacked numerous times, and many lives were lost. With the help of the Elders, and some defense specialists within the clan, they were able to create a barrier of shadows that was strong to protect themselves from the attacks. The barrier was only maintained during war times, as it required too much work-force to hold it together.

By the time of the Third Shinobi War, the Kageyama's had enough ways to stop attacks on their small village, so they refused to provide any sort of back-up. They were witnesses of the Land of Lire's slow destruction, however they didn't care to help. They had, multiple times, showed that they would not participate in pointless wars, and so they kept that mindset throughout their entire bloodline.

The day of the Kageyama massacre was the day of a traditional festival celebrating the 'Darkest Moon of the Year'. They were gathered around a sculpture of the first clan leader, Ayaki, singing & dancing. Kids were running around freely, adults were drinking. Nobody expected it to the the last day of the Kageyama clan. The only two missing were the daughters of the clan head, Hayanori, who were late to the festivities.

Screams and cries were the first signs of disturbance, before Ayane could finally smell the smoke in the air. Her father's words 'If something ever happens to me, take all the scrolls and run' came to her mind as she watched the village get covered in flames and as the black and thick smoke rose to the sky. She acted fast, running around the house gathering everything she could in one of her storage scrolls, then went back to Aya. The young child was confused, yet not quite crying yet. She looked at Ayane with big eyes, extending her arms to her older sister to hold her. Ayane didn't hesitate as she took Aya in her arms once more, then ran through the back door of their house.

One moment of curiosity, trying to make sense of the nonsense happening, was enough to make her regret looking back for the rest of her life. Her Shadow Teleport being interrupted by a weapon being thrown Aya's away, dodging it to the best of her abilities. Ayane regained her balance, and finally managed to activate her Kekkei Genkai and disappear in the shadows.

Around two weeks after the massacre, Ayane went back to the small village on her first mission as an ANBU. She did her best to investigate all that she could, while also recovering hidden scrolls in caves deep inside mountains. During the investigation, she came to the realization that the people behind the massacre were the Kurotsume clan. She was able to tell because of the chakra lingering in the shadows. Ayane reported back the amount of people from Kurotsume that were present during that day, the death list of her clanmates, and some scrolls she thought she could show to the Hokage.

And that was the last time the name Kageyama was heard of until the Fourth Shinobi War.