NIN lore

[jarshr]

So my friend and I have been having a chat about the origin of the NIN powers and we are not sure where exactly the ten "heaven" power comes from?

Can anyone help us out here, is the ten "magic" actually from heaven, and in this game what is heaven? Is it the realm of the gods? My mate reckons it's drawn from the lifestream which would be cool.

Or is it more like a trancendence thing? Channeling inner power to reach a state of focus akin to inner peace and all that?

Or is it simply the sky? And heaven is literally just up/ the air?

Any answers would be greatly appreciated.

[Mholito]

Considering it is an important element in Katon (fire) and Huton (wind), it would make sense for it to be air.

[YianKutku]

I'm only guessing based on the names, since as far as I can tell the skill icons are too heavily stylized.

"Ten" for "heaven" probably means 天, which is used in the sense of "the heavens", meaning the sky. "Air" would probably be 空, "ku" (or "kuu", depending on romanization).

If you're wondering, "Chi" is 地, meaning "earth" or "ground". (Anime fans might recognize it and Ten from 天地無用, "Tenchi Muyo".) "Jin" is 人, meaning "person" or "human".

Anyway, back to "Ten": I say it's used as "the heavens" because it's also used to signify where the various gods dwell if you're speaking in that context, referring to the portion of the Shinto gods who are amatsu, or the Taoist Celestial Bureaucracy, or some such. However, it can also commonly be used to just mean "sky", ie what you indicate when you go outside and point upwards.

[Zohar_Lahar]

Didn't Gekkai have access to a 4th "lost" mudra?

[KageTokage]

Didn't Gekkai have access to a 4th "lost" mudra?

He did, and it comes up again later.

As of the 60-70 ninja quests, it turns out it's the norm for Hingan ninja to know about it. Doman ninja lack common knowledge of it due to them being wrongly viewed as outcasts/traitors by the former, which led to them severing ties.

I imagine it'll eventually be the next step in our progression, as they more thoroughly demonstrate the things it's capable of aside from the shadow clones Gekkai utilized.