Everything began to change shortly after Sanado turned eight. It was only a week after his own birthday where he woke up in a sweat in the middle of the night having just had the worst nightmare he had ever experienced. One that seemed so real, so vivid, that to this day he's still able to recall most details about the nightmare as if it actually happened. A dream he's sure to never forget, but has held back telling anyone about it. Why would he tell anyone…it was only a dream after all, right? Though the part that really bothers Sanado is having no memory of the week that led up to him going to bed.
Before that event, Sanado lived a very normal life where he was raised by both his parents that some how not only managed to survive the war, but fight in it for the Land of Lightning. Their accomplishments during the wars as well as their remarkable abilities landed them both spots as Jounin in the forming of Kumogakure. Once settled down, his mother took some time off to raise their son until he was about five years old. After which she left him in the care of Itawaki, one of the local Tokubetsu's that was willingly paid for thanks to the village elders. The couple were both confused as to the gesture, with the only reason given at the time was so that the village could have another, talented Jounin 'on duty' and that raising a future shinobi was the least they could do.
Most of time spent with Itawaki was used for the absolute complete basics of becoming and being a shinobi, nothing more. This included things such as reading tactics, mission logs and the rules of a Kumogakure Shinobi, as well as learning the tools that are often used, such as; kunai, senbon, steel wire, bandages and holsters. Being so young, Itawake did not want Sanado actually using most of the tools in practice and instead simply had the young boy get a feel for them, their practical applications, how to properly fill holsters and the likes. If Sanado did well on his lessons, he was allowed to go out and play with the rest of the kids in the village with Itawake keeping a close eye on things of course.
As Sanado grew older, he felt the things he was allowed to do with others while his parents were away began to lessen, while the time learning about being a shinobi only increased. It felt at most times that he was being groomed for something and Itawaki wanted to make sure he was on the right path for it in the future. To make sure of this, Sanado was now actually allowed to use the shinobi tools, either out in the backyard or in a reserved training area. Testing his reflexes against dummy traps that if he wasn't able to notice and avoid or simply defuse, exploded in a mess of feathers or glitter he'd have to clean up at the end. Other sessions would be used for testing his aim with kunai or senbon against stationary and moving targets. It wasn't something he was getting any better at with each passing day, but Iwataki kept him to it, never letting up until the daylight burned away. Each night Sanado felt as if this was all to push his stamina, see how much he could take one day and push him further the next day. It was definitely working.
When Sanado's eighth birthday was a little less then a month away, Itawaki disappeared. No longer did he come by while his parents were away to see the young child to his lessons. When questioning his parents as to Itawaki's whereabouts, they weren't sure either. The village elders didn't give any reasonable response to Itawaki's disappearance, but replaced him with another, much larger individual named Donyui. Sanado thought it very strange at first, but quickly forgot about it as the lessons stopped and he was allowed to play with the other kids in the village as much as he liked. This made making friends and having others to invite to his birthday party that much easier.
Then when the fateful day finally arrived, the day he turned eight, Sanado was surrounded by several of the neighborhood children, their parents, his parents and even Donyui was there. Though the latter simply hung back, watching the celebration. Besides that, everyone else invited was enjoying themselves. Playing games, laughing, giving gifts and eating cake. The event went on for a few hours before the gathering started to thin out until the only ones left were the birthday boy, his parents and strangely still, Donyui. Sanado's parents had something to tell the boy, but waited until later that night to tell him that they were both suddenly given mission details that would lead them away from the village for a little over a week. They were going to be leaving that night and would leave Sanado in the hands of Donyui.
