Shichiyou

Bloodline Name:
Shichiyoudou

Bloodline Ability:
This unique bloodline is the ability to create ice on the whim and to travel through it. They can perform jutsu only using one hand.

Location:
Hyougagakure

Clan History:

Generations before the rise of Hyougakure, the Shichiyou was ruled by a man, Shichiyou Tenzou with an aptitude amount of knowledge of how water worked. He developed various skills and techniques that involved ice and all aspects of it. He was famous in his power and capabilities for the area was covered by a frozen tundra. He started to built a shinobi village in the Blizzard Country to create place that provided security against enemies. It was going to be a long long road. Unfortunately, he passed away before he could finish his life's goal.

Luckily, he had a son that continued his legacy. There isn't much information about this. Just that he signed a pact with a demon to gain more power, to increase the speed of his work. There was a certain price though. The demon's power shall run forever through the main family's first son of each generation, giving them red eyes. And the demon would be able to use their body's sometimes causing them to have a split personality disorder. The main family would be able to access the Demon Gateways and use one handed handseals, though only the first born son would be able to summon the demon.

This man gave birth to three children. Three boys. And indeed the first son had red eyes while the other two had regular blue eyes. These three men eventually finished their grandfather's work. They founded Hyougakure together. All the residents of the local villages moved to Hyougakure. It was a beautiful and amazing place, just like a fairy tale. An enormous village that provided security to everyone. The three created Shichiyou's Monarch which is Hyougakure's outer wall, the city's thickest layer of protection. The wall was huge. Easily a hundred meters tall and perhaps fifteen meters thick. The wall encircled all of Hyougagakure. It is considered indestructible and is commonly drawn on maps as a terrain feature. It has never been breached. The council mandated that soldiers and sentries would be placed on the wall at all times, with many of them even living in built-in homes inside the wall.

A couple of years later one of the branch family leaders died during the war with Kazangakure. He was leading the a small shinobi squad, nothing more. Kazangakure wasn't a match since they couldn't handle the cold. Heavy winter blizzards constantly pelt the tundra, and unstable ice sheets often gave way under the slightest pressure. The man died with a smile on his face as he crushed several platoons at once saying "You never managed to enter our village." The two remaining brothers were saddened by this tragedy. Shichiyou was left with a main family and a branch family.

Decades later the Shichiyou clan was increased in numbers. The amount of the main family could be counted on one hand. The amount of the branch family was a bit bigger. Currently, Tenzou Shichiyou is the leader of the main family. And indeed he has red eyes. He takes his job quite seriously, which would be required of him since he is the Fubikikage.

The main family lives in a palace and are referred to as the royal family of Hyouga.

It was bitterly cold when Reiko was born to his two un-wanting parents. Despite it being the middle of summer, the icy winds and blizzards had always proved to be dominant in Fubuki no Kuni. The harsh wintry weather that accompanied Reiko’s birth would be all that he would ever know of for the next decade of his life. As Reiko was born in the royal branch of the Shichiyou clan, his childhood life was always supplemented with extravagancy; whether it was the private ninja tutelage he had bestowed upon him, or the grandiose castle in which he lived, Reiko’s life was always garnished by opulence. While some within the clan relished the experience of noble blood pumping through their veins, Reiko renounced it, almost repulsed at what he was receiving when others within the village went jobless, hungry, and left out for the bitter frost to claim them. At the shy age of six, Reiko respectfully requested that all the perquisites given to a noble be removed from him with the sole exception of a monthly stipend, and the clan elders apprehensively indulged the boy. The only requirement was that Reiko had to grow as a ninja ever-loyal to the village of Hyouga, and willing to take any mission that the Fubukikage gave him. Accepting the proposed circumstances, Reiko left the extravagancy of noble life behind, adopting a rather modest apartment as his lodgings for the remainder of his life.

As a child living on his own, Reiko realized he did not have the essential skills and knowledge required to endure in Hyouga, the most important of which being the familiarity and comfort of cooking food and working with spices. After requesting to watch several chefs at local restaurants, along with purchasing several cook-books and supplies, Reiko began to hone his aptitude as a cook. The numerous months that followed were accompanied by a stupendous growth of Reiko’s culinary talent, to the point where he was able to land several jobs within the various restaurants of Hyouga. Noticing that Reiko was able to survive on his own on the rather unforgiving streets of Hyouga, the clan elders discontinued Reiko’s stipend as well as enrolled him in the ninja academy. The first few months of lectures and instruction were standard, and plagued with the ability to induce boredom in Reiko. Much of his class time was either spent sleeping or fabricating new possible recipes within the corridors of his mind. As a result of his misbehavior, Reiko’s grades within the class declined to dangerously low levels, narrowly managing to pass the first section of the course.

His flippancy in the academy took a massive overhaul when the course material began to venture into more practical uses of ninja techniques rather than just history and theory. The three main subjects Reiko excelled in in the course were taijutsu, ninjutsu, and kenjutsu, respectively. His adeptness with ninjutsu declined, however, as the subject of ijutsu, medical ninjutsu, was introduced to his class. Reiko was immediately fixated with the possibilities of such power. Ijutsu techniques could either heal the severest injury, or cause fatal damage to the human body. Reiko’s thirst for knowledge couldn’t be quenched through the half-assed lectures at the academy, and as a result, the now-seven year old began to purchase anatomy and medicine books, studying them until he literally passed out. It was during this time that Reiko suffered a spider bite which became infected, requiring hospitalization for three weeks to fully recover. Although somewhat traumatic for Reiko, he viewed it as a blessing in disguise, as he was able to further understand and note how certain types of medical equipment worked, and what kind of jutsu the medic-nin performed.

As great as the the various years Reiko spent in the academy seemed, they were not completely free of interpersonal skirmishes. A trio of genin-hopefuls known as the “Sanbaka,” as Reiko liked to call them, would not leave Reiko in peace because of one miniscule detail regarding Reiko’s personal appearance: his eye pigmentation. As Reiko had the very unusual eye color of purple, he was essentially the scapegoat for any insult the Sanbaka spat from their mouths. One fateful day, the mere name-calling a jibes escalated to physical confrontation when Reiko finally voiced his opinion about the trio, making very… curious statements regarding any relations that may or may not have taken place between Reiko and their mothers. The Sanbaka attacked, and Reiko was able to hold off all three without so much as moving from where he stood, striking at the weak points of the boys’ bodies: the solar plexus, the windpipe, various pressure points, and of course, the groin. The confrontation with the Sanbaka sparked an ambition that Reiko still pursues as of the present: the create a taijutsu style that utilizes knowledge of anatomy in order to cripple opponents.

As the years passed and Reiko grew both physically and mentally, his abilities, particularly those involving ijutsu and taijutsu, evolved at near geometric rates, his skills becoming on par with the numerous Chuunin-ranked ninja inhabiting Hyouga. Needless to say, he graduated from the academy with flying colors, and later was placed within a three-man genin squad, in which he was made co-captain under his assigned jounin leader, Fujikawa Kisuke.

Kisuke was, to say the least, a very intriguing individual. Reiko’s squad-mates did not believe he was their jounin sensei due to appearances. To speak frankly, the man looked like a wimp; scarcely any muscle, with long black hair and glasses obscuring cerulean eyes, and not daunting in appearance whatsoever - a mere 5’5’’ in height and no more than 140 pounds. A sickly cough and pale complexion rounded off the guise of the man, surely making anyone who laid eyes upon him believe he was much less than a jounin, of all things. But what was particularly odd about Kisuke was what lied underneath his ashy frame - far more valuable and advantageous than brute strength or an intimidating visage: loyalty. Kisuke had the drive to protect his village, the need to safeguard Hyouga resolutely driven into the depths of his skull. Furthermore, the man had the intent of teaching Reiko’s squad the same objective, and not through the most orthodox of methods. The first meeting between the sensei and genin resulted in a full-fledged fight in which Kisuke had beaten his students until they were in critical condition, explaining later that those who would choose to laze and relax instead of diligently train both the body and mind would die on the battlefield within a heartbeat.

The recovery period following the intense thrashing was saturated with many sessions in which Kisuke taught his students how to clear their minds and delve deeper into their own consciousness, scraping the surface concepts of medititation. After the students had a mediocre perception of introspection, he inquired what they specialized in, something no jounin had done in Hyouga in a decade, at the least. The two other genins of the squad answered haphazardly, saying that they specialized in the basics: ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu -- much to Kisuke’s disappointment. Reiko requested additional time to reflect upon such a huge self-choice, and it was granted to him by the jounin. After three days and nights of rigorous concentration and much cogitation, it became clear to Reiko that he wished to specialize in taijutsu, ijutsu, and weaponry. Kisuke was relieved, as at least one of his genin students truly understood what it meant to realize one’s own thoughts, emotions, and motives. The following weeks were strewn with preparation for the upcoming Chuunin exams, including multiple C-rank missions and the genin squad becoming aware of their elemental affinities. The Chuunin exams were, for Kisuke’s squad, a failure, as Reiko’s teammates retired from ninja-life after nearly being killed by a squad from an unheard of village. However, faced with the universal principle of fight or flight, Reiko fought, beating his opponents using his unique taijutsu-ijutsu style and becoming a Chuunin of Hyouga.

With the other two teammates of Team Kisuke virtually out of the picture, a majority of the time Reiko and his sensei spent together was pure, one-on-one tutelage. The massive increase in training, with time spent approximately doubling each day, Reiko’s skill with taijutsu, ijutsu, and weaponry intensified by a vast quantity. The now-Chuunin’s familiarity with the human body was peerless in Hyouga, and he qualified to become both Chief of Medicine and Surgery at the young age of sixteen. In addition, Reiko’s ability to delve within his own conscious became unparalleled among the other Chuunins, nearly rivaling Kisuke’s. The time not spent training or sleeping was nearly always because of a mission, whether it was at home in Hyouga or abroad in various countries. Of course, the missions were now more rigorous and demanding than the past missions had been, demanding bloodshed in the most dire of scenarios. Reiko’s first kill was simple – a slit throat of a bandit threatening to kill a small child. Reiko thought nothing of it, as many would have. Rather, he viewed the bandit as a mere enemy of Hyouga who had to be removed, and it was so.

After getting to know his student more thoroughly over the months following the Chuunin exam, Kisuke decided to reveal his previous occupation to Reiko: an assassin who had claimed over 500 lives for Hyouga. Astonished by this revelation, Reiko desperately inquired how he had accumulated the skill and intellect required to rack up such an immense body count. Upon being told that possessing the correct weapon was the most imperative among the tools needed, Kisuke revealed his trump card: a hidden blade attached to the forearm, masked by a genjutsu Reiko had never noticed until it was dispelled. Marveled by how long he had been blind to his sensei’s weapon, Reiko then wondered how he could obtain such a unique looking tool. Kisuke warned Reiko that he must never lust over a weapon due to mere appearances, but rather how they function in lieu of an unarmed fighting style, as well as how well they work in conjunction with the pre-existing forms and katas. Since Kisuke was an assassin, he needed a light weapon capable of dealing lethal blows without being detected easily. Reiko meditated on the subject of weaponry for some time before he realized that a prime weapon for him to obtain would be a hidden blade, much like Kisuke’s. The Chuunin’s thorough knowledge of anatomy, in addition to the lethality of the blade, would prove to be a difficult force to deal with.

As the years passed, Reiko and Kisuke were sent on countless missions together, until on one fateful day, they were given an S-rank mission: assassinate two targets from the Heat Country – this would be the mission that would dictate whether or not Reiko would obtain the rank of jounin. After trekking the many miles to the destination, the Hyouga duo hit a snag: a team of Kazan-nin armed to the teeth, at least an entire battalion tasked with guarding the Hyouga-nins’ marks, something unforeseen and unlisted within the mission parameters. The fierce battle that took place afterwards proved physically taxing on both Kisuke and Reiko, so much so that Reiko nearly got hit by a katana lunge from a flanking enemy – that is, if Kisuke hadn’t had intercepted the attack with his own body. The sword lodged deep into his stomach, both Kisuke and his pupil knew that the wound was fatal. As Kisuke slowly bled out, he explained to Reiko that the once-genin had been a like a son to him, and couldn’t have been prouder of him. With his dying breath, Kisuke bequeathed unto Reiko his hidden blade. Reiko would hide the body with a genjutsu and continue to kill all Kazan-nin in the area, as well as the targets before returning to Hyouga with the body of his teacher - his father. The mission deemed a success despite the colossal loss of one of the finest Hyouga-nin, Reiko was bittersweetly promoted to jounin.

The following months after Kisuke's death marked intense rivalries and conflict between Shippuugakure and other nations - with the major casualty of war being the destruction of Kazangakure. The tensions were at a climax during the recent Chuunin exams, hosted in Hyouga, as word quickly spread that two Kages had planned to fight to the death. The news did not affect Reiko in any way, for as long as the quarrel did not directly affect Hyouga - the man was fine with it. After the Chuunin Exams were over and the foreigners left, Reiko was happy to continue ninja life, completing missions for his beloved village daily.

Armed with Kisuke's hidden blade and his arsenal of techniques, he is one of the many silhouettes standing between foreign threats and Hyouga, ready to defend her as Kisuke would have.

The morning sun cast a brilliant hue across the azure sky, a canvas with but a few blank streaks across its delicate surface. The emerald trees swished in the thin flowing breeze, spreading a green glare across the ever changing scenery. A morning like this was one that deserved to be committed to memory, if an artist wasn't already inspired by it. Among those who would be inspired by the scene would no doubt be the shinobi inhabiting the land - it was not often that a person dedicating their life to learn the art of killing could enjoy such a day. The glistening grass creased under the foot of one of these ninja, his wild black hair reflecting the sun almost as well as the Boufuu hitai-ate that was found tied on his forehead.

Boufuugakure - The Village Hidden in the Storm, it was home for many; The vibrant bustle of the markets and the constant pitter-patter of rain supposedly calmed the inhabitants of the village, lulling them into a sense of security. The poor bastards, if only they knew what was being done in order to secure their liberty - the liberty to bitch and moan about the most mundane, idiotic, meaningless topics. If only they knew that for each great roar of thunder that rocked the heavens above Boufuu, two Boufuu ninja died. If only they knew that each drop of rain falling upon the village could never amount to the amount of blood spilled in order to ensure the villages "well-being." If only they knew how petty the existence of Hidden Villages were.

The once-beautiful landscape changed into that of a nightmare's domain. The lush foliage of the trees crinkled up and died instantaneously as a gargantuan bolt of lightning struck the trees, splintering the once-lively oaks into nothing more than flying shrapnel and as charred stump. The sun was soon obscured by thick, heavy, gray clouds, the pure tranquility being replaced by the dangerous cackle of thunder and the drumming of rain upon the now muddy ground. Another flash of lightning left Akatsuka Kenshi blinded, albeit momentarily. When he was finally able to shake the white from his vision, a lone hooded woman stood before him, the upper half of her face covered by shadow. A perfect smile peered out between pink lips as she turned to Kenshi, throwing her hood back and revealing who she really was.

Kenshi's eyes widened upon looking at his sister. "What's the matter, little brother?" she spoke in the same sing-song voice, "Aren't you happy to see me?" Another flash of lightning caused Kenshi to flinch and shield his eyes. It took longer for him to recover from the bright assault than last time. Kenshi peeked from behind the crook of his elbow, jumping back at the new sight that greeted him. Just like the beautiful scenery around him, Kenshi's sister had decayed into nothing more than flaking skin draped tightly over weak bone, large red splotches around her neck - surely the result of her neck being slit. "How does it feel?" she spoke, her sing song voice becoming raspy and cold. "How does it feel knowing you did this to me?" The last bit of speech was accompanied by a screech resembling that of a banshee... or was it just lightning?

Kenshi shot up from his bed, sheets and body drenched in sweat, no doubt from the nightmare he had been stuck in. The thoughts still lingered in his mind - the absurdity of Hidden Villages, the destruction of the land due to combat and war, Hitomi's dead figure. Kenshi rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands, but no matter how much he did, he couldn't erase the vision of his dead sister from his eye. If there was one thing that was made clear from the nightmare, it was that he couldn't stay in Boufuu any longer.

Kenshi stood up and paced to his window, gazing out of the paned glass and upon the great wall that encompassed the village.

It had to be done.