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Nataku no Jinja ~ Nataku's Past

Nataku's Shadowy Figure

This is the description of Nataku's past. I actually just copied it from the character description Nataku page, so if you read that already, there's nothing new really.

When his Mom was pregnant with him, he was in her womb for 3 years and 6 months! Chinese usually count the time inside the mother as one year, so when they're born they're considered 1 year old. Since he was in there for over 3 years, he is technically 3 years old upon birth. (In the manga, he looked it too). After 3 years and six months had pass, Nat-chan's Mommy, Yinshi (Madame Yin in Feng Shen Yan I), was wondering when he was going to be born. One night, she dreamt that Taiitsu Shinjin came and put a yin-yang designed ball into her belly (original novel just says he threw something at it). This is probably why Nat-chan is considered a paopee ningen. He isn't exactly entirely human (kind of fused with that ball thing, I guess), and he does have a great deal of resistance to attacks as well as a helluva lot of HP and ATP (RPGers say WHOOHOO~!). Anyway, after that, she woke up and began going into labor. The manga follows the original novel here, and the anime is different (maybe cuz manga/novel version was kinda icky?).

In the manga and the novel, a fleshy ball thingy (the placenta?) came out of Nat-chan's Mommy. Nataku-kun's Daddy thought it was a monster (that part's in the novel; not fluent in Japanese), so he tried to cut the fleshy ball with a sword (that happened in both). With an opening now in the ball, Nataku, looking like a 3 year-old, climbed out, and, I guess you could say, he was officially born. (WITH his paopee too; he didn't have the Fuukarin in the original novel though cuz Taiitsu gave it to him later).

In the anime, his Mommy's tummy glowed and a transparent, yellow-ish bubble went through her tummy and floated above the bed until it finally gently laid him in his Mommy's lap. Big difference huh? Now the question is, would you rather see the fleshy ball or constantly see the shots of too much of baby Nataku being shown? *ahem*

Seven years later (four in the anime), Nataku had a big problem with a dragon king. In the manga and anime, he was "playing" in a river with his Mommy. In the original novel, he was bathing in it cuz it was hot and washing himself with his damask (Kontenryou; that red sheet thing he wears around his waist). Anyway, in the anime and manga his damask had a bad reaction to the water and killing all the fish, and in the novel, it caused a bunch of earthquakes that shook the dragon king's palace. Eventually though, in all cases, it led to the dragon king's third son coming up to get rid of the person causing all the trouble. Nataku killed the dragon prince to (in the manga and anime) save his mother. In the novel, he took its carcass so that he could make a dragon belt for his father out of the tendon (a violent yet sweet gesture).

After this (in the anime and manga), the dragon king came for him for revenge for killing his son. To save his family (what a sweet boy), he sacrificed himself and shot himself in the head with his own Kenkonken paopee (aww...). After his death, a little burial mound was built for him by Yinshi. His father (Li Sei), the mean jerk that he was, smashed his little grave. His father threw the ball thing he found in the shrine into the river and it floated along until Taiitsu Shinjin found it and put it in a lotus flower. He was reborn shortly afterwards. (This whole thing took 3 years).

In the original novel, the dragons went to go to complain to the Jade Emperor, and Nataku with his much more violent temper in the novel, did a lot of beating of dragons and such until all four of the dragon kings came to his house and threatened his family. To save his mother and father, he commited suicide with a sword in a rather VIOLENT manner. His spirit went to his master, Taiitsu Shinjin (Fairy Promordial in the novel), for help. Taiitsu told him to return his flesh and bones to his parents so that he would no longer have any ties to them (he wouldn't really be their son anymore), and then find a way to get a temple built for him. After three years of receiving offerings and incense, he would be reborn. Nataku appeared to his mother in dreams several times to ask her to build the temple for him, and when she did not comply for awhile, he finally yelled at her the final time (O.O How VERY different from the anime and manga!), and she had a servant build the temple against her husband's wishes. The temple served as a home for his spirit, and people came to worship him from near and far. He was a very good god to the people too. He answered all their prayers for 6 months. For 6 months of worship, he got back some form and his voice because they offered him incense and stuff. Three years of this would have made him reborn completely, but things didn't turn out that way. His father passed by his temple on the way home one day though, and told the people they were worshipping a false god. He then prompty had Nat-chan's temple burned to the ground. Obviously when Nataku found out, he was pretty pissed. He went to his master, and his master put lotus petals, lotus leaves, and maybe one or two other things I can't remember right now into three piles, and then threw his soul/spirit into the piles. From this, Nataku was reborn as a 15-foot tall man (although still very young in actual years, and still portrayed in most pictures as a 13 year-old).

After Nataku was reborn (in all versions), he was pretty mad at his father, so he went after him in an attempt to kill him. In the manga and anime, Taikoubou stops him, and Taiitsu takes him away for awhile (in an unsuccessful attempt to get him to control his temper?). He later rejoins Taikoubou in tankoubon volume 5.

In the novel, various immortals stop him several times and teach him a lesson so that eventually, he becomes a much more mild tempered youth. One of the immortals gives his father a golden pavilion tower paopee which he can use to burn Nataku if he ever tries to kill him. Nat-chan'll feel the pain, but he'd really be unscorched. With this pillar, the immortal succeeds in getting Nataku to accept Risei as his father and stop killing him. If Nataku was ever to try to kill his father again, his father was to use the pillar on him and Nat-chan would back off. He later joins Prime Minister Jiang Ziya (that's Taikoubou) on his adventure to found the next dynasty.

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