First Name: Kuma
Last Name: Akahige
Alias: N/A

Gender: Male
Age: 18
Height: 6'5"
Weight: 275 lbs.
Birthday: October 1st
Sexuality: Straight
Relationships: Akahige Clan - Family

Affiliation: Hyougagakure no Sato
Rank: Chuunin
Element(s): Katon, Fuuton
Specialization(s): Primarily Taijutsu/Bukijutsu, Bloodline, Some Ninjutsu


Personality:
Kuma of the Akahige clan lives up to his birth name by channeling the mighty bear with his surly wit, steadfast and fierce loyalty, and terrifying fervor for battle.  He is a hearty youth who lives his life without fear or worry, no matter how desperate a situation can appear.  Kuma is always quick with a jolly and boisterous laugh, and is always up for a good joke or prank, frequently chasing the ladies of his village around with some creature of their general fearing , such as a rat or bug.  He is commonly found down at the local pub, drinking and singing jovially with his dearest friends and family till the wee hours of the morning.  Born a strong but poor lad, Kuma keeps the less fortunate at the foremost front of his mind.  That being said, he is often broke himself as he spends what little leftover ryo he has aside from his own expenses donating food and clothes to those that need them.  He can’t stand to see anyone left out in the cold and has been known to open his shop up to those who need a warm place to sleep for the night.

As golden as a man Kuma may seem, all men are flawed, and therefore have secrets that they hide to avoid the shame society can lump upon them.  Kuma has a bit of an anger problem, one that seems inherent in his clan, being such burly and rowdy warriors as they’ve been known to be.  Due to a rather traumatic part of his past, Kuma has undergone extensive lifestyle changes, trying anything from meditation to throwing himself deep into his smithing shop, but his family’s deep rooted anger and battle lust clings tightly to his heart, and certain subjects will make it rear its ugly head.  For example, Kuma does care deeply for those less fortunate, and that care can become excessive, especially if he seems someone being oppressed or bullied.  That care can easily turn into rage, the kind of which a mother bear would have when her cubs are threatened by the presence of a hunter.  Kuma will often get into bloody brawls down at the tavern, particularly when someone decides to throw insult to his family or friends.


Likes:
[*]Feasting
[*]Drinking
[*]Singing
[*]Fighting (Brawling)
[*]Hunting/Fishing
[*]Smithing
[*]Tending to the Weak, Sick, and Less Fortunate
[*]Travel
[*]Yule

Dislikes:  
[*]Eggplant
[*]Bullies
[*]Arrogance
[*]Tightwads
[*]Party Poopers
[*]Crying (Himself or others)
[*]Self-Pity and Accepted Weakness/Laziness
[*]Being Cooped Up or Bossed Around
[*]Hyouga's Royalty

Motivation:  
[*]Honor
[*]Lust for Glory in Battle
[*]Empathy for Those Less Fortunate Than He
[*]Pride
[*]Self-Perfection (Striving to Give It His All)
[*]Raising His Clan to a Proper Social Status in Hyouga
[*]Protecting the Weak

Fears:  
[*]Of Being Weak
[*]Of Failing to Protect Everyone
[*]Drowning
[*]Letting Down His Ancestors
[*]His Clan Never Being Recognized as Equals
[*]Getting Fat
[*]Dying Alone

Akahige Clan

Bloodline Name:
Kuroi Shinzou - Black Heart

Bloodline Ability:
The "Kuroi Shinzou" or Black Heart, is the name of the bloodline limit of the Akahige clan.  After the coming of age ritual, youths that have survived the trials of the cold wastes and have come back in good enough condition to still be called shinobi are branded with a significant tattoo upon their chest (left side, click the jutsu name for an example of the symbol).  The mark is proof that the shinobi is now a tested and seasoned member of the Akahige fighting force, and has proven proficient in the clan's bloodline limit, using it to survive the brutality of Blizzard country and it's indigenous wildlife.

The name "Black Heart" was coined only more recently upon the Akahige's migration to Hyougagakure, as it was formerly known as "Kinzoku Mage" which translates to simply "metal bending".  Kuroi Shinzou is considered specifically for categorization as a supplemental technique that supports the Akahige's main focus, which is their volatile and hardcore taijutsu.  That being said, it could also be considered a defensive and/or offensive art, mainly dependent upon what the user decides to "cast" the jutsu into.  This ability allows the user to mold and change the shape of any metal object into whatever they choose, provided their imagination and chakra allow the change.  The user's bloodline chakra is so closely attuned to the ions that bind metal molecules together, that by resonating at the right frequency of vibration, their chakra smoothly severs the ionic bonds and then the user can reconfigure the molecules to the shape and form they desire.  Usually the user casts the target metals into some sort of weapon or armor, again, to supplement their taijutsu.

One may ask, "how much metal are they really going to have out in the wild or on missions to use such jutsu?"  Upon their many travels, the Akahige have not only established themselves peerless craftsman, they have also earned a reputation for their remarkable ore hunting and mining skills.  Upon finding ore, they mine it, bundle it, seal it into a scroll and carry it back to a smelter, where they melt it down into ingots that they then reseal back into scrolls for later use.  This limits the weight they have to carry, and adds a level of privacy so the enemy doesn't know what they carry until they summon it on the battlefield.  Now, sometimes an Akahige can be caught with a limited amount of metal material or they end up using their stock in a really heated battle.  It's at that moment that the Akahige's bloodline reaches its true potential.

The experienced Akahige member, only as last resort, will first make the hand seal for the snake, and then cut their own palms open.  Focusing their chakra to its highest resonance, the user can actually produce their own metal by mixing their limit chakra and a little of their blood.  The appearance of the produced metal is that of what Mercury looks like when in a liquid phase of matter.  This metal is highly charged with chakra and can be imbued with the power of the other secondary elements that each Akahige has (the five basic elements), just like charging a simple shinobi weapon with wind chakra (for example).  However, as handy as this ability is, it's used only as a last resort for a very specific reason.  The name Black Heart derived from the awakening of this power, and it is born from the side effect the jutsu has on the body over a prolonged period of time.  Particles of the metal are left behind in the user's bloodstream and builds up over the frequency of times the jutsu is utilized.  This condition is the cause of the ability's name change, as it eventually turns the heart black, and the tattoo on the user's chest is laced with chakra that changes the coloration of the heart shape from red to black depending on the level of heavy metal poisoning the user has from this ability (an early warning method).  After a certain amount of the tattoo has changed, depending on the user, they are retired from shinobi work and forbidden by the clan elder of using this ability for the rest of their life.

Location:  
Hyougagakure no Sato

Clan History:  



History:  
Few animals inspire the hearts of men with both admiration and fear like that of the mighty bear of the frozen wastes of Blizzard Country.  Standing sometimes whole feet taller than the average man, the bear is an image of power, passion, survival, and courage, and strikes terror into the hearts of the unprepared.  Some men have come to command such emotion as the intimidating predator, and one such man is the towering warrior, Kuma of the Akahige clan.  Full mast, Kuma measures a staggering 6'7", and weighs in at nearly 350 lbs; a fair size among the other members of his family, but a monster when put beside the form of any regular person of his age.  Rippling muscles and chiseled features spanning his visage, he is a wonder for outsiders to behold, but like all bears from which his name was derived, Kuma was once a tiny cub, no bigger than a bag of hops.  For the man who would grow to be feared and loved by all who beheld him, this beast among men would nearly never see his first birthday.  His is a tale of survival against the elements and against a world that would like nothing better than to swallow him whole.  In the arctic pit he calls home, a little cub takes his first breath.

Born eighteen years prior, Kuma was delivered unto Taihou, a proud and burly father, and Hokkyokusei, a rare beauty of a mother.  Kuma was a frail infant, weighing much less than other children born of that year, prompting the clan elders to write him off from the start as a runt that would most likely not bear the harsh winter that howled around them.  His mother, having a certain intuition about her far beyond her years, was defiant of the council's advice, choosing to raise the boy without their blessing and not abandon him out in the wastes as was custom at the time with "runts".  Kuma, under such love and devotion, not to mention exemplary cooking skills, grew quickly, to the astonishment of those who had underestimated him, though he still had a frail, sickly nature about him, a curse as the other children's parents would whisper when his mother wasn't around.  It was from this constant passive-aggressive animosity that Kuma, though still just barely past a toddler, began to "wear a chip on his shoulder" picking fights with the children larger or older than he.  And as to be expected, he was handed his arse more times than he handed them theirs.  But there was one thing about these skirmishes that people began to take notice; his resolve to keep on fighting.  Each fight, Kuma would either be stopped by an older peer, usually his mother trying to look out for him, or be incapacitated by his opponent; there were never any draws.  Kuma would not stop till one of them were victorious, and eventually that spirit began to pay off.  Broken bones, bruises, and scars toughened the young cub's hide, helping him bulk up to match the other children, and soon helping him to cast aside his constant sickness he had been plagued with for so long.  Soon, Kuma was five and fighting toe to toe against his peers who had already gone to attend the shinobi academy in Hyougagakure.  By his sixth birthday, he would see himself a member of that same school and well on his way to joining the ranks of Hyouga's fighting elite.

Starting a year or so after many of his classmates, Kuma struggled to grasp some of the aspects of the ninja way that seemed almost natural to his friends, failing his ninjutsu and genjutsu tests several times before finally realizing the concept and incorporating them enough to pass.  Taijutsu, however, he took to like a fish to the ocean, soaking up every lesson like it was a gift from the gods.  He was always quicker to proficiency in every style that his teachers trained him in, and by age 8, Kuma was leading the class exercises daily, helping to teach the less adept while the sensei could focus on the class as a whole.  His father, a master of taijutsu and bukijutsu in his own right, swelled with pride and praised his son highly and often, giving Kuma increased confidence and conversely, an inflated ego.  Kuma began seeing himself as above his classmates, and it started affecting his training methods.  Instead of reassurance, he would meet struggling with criticism, and understanding was replaced by irritation in the face of his classmates' failure.  With each mastered technique, Kuma grew tougher on his lesser peers, or just ignored them entirely.  This would not last, however, and would come to change in a way that would irrevocably alter and ultimately shape the man Kuma would become.

The Akahige clan's greatest ritual is that of the coming-of-age survival exam, a task every child in the Akahige had to pass in order to be considered a valid member of the clan.  This exam has but two results; returning alive, or not.  It is because of this right of passage that the Akahige clan has retained its strongest genes, as those too weak would meet a frigid and lonely death and the fittest would make up the surviving future of the clan.  Due to the high mortality rate of this test, families within the clan have many children, with Kuma being the exception, having no siblings older or younger than him.  That being said, Hokkyokusei was very apprehensive of her only son taking part, but relented only because she knew of the ramifications and shame he would face should she forbid it.  Kuma's father Taihou was full of hubris, however, and being the clan's guide in this exercise, he personally chose his own son to help him lead the expedition out into the wastes, a decision that thrilled Kuma and didn't help his already burgeoning ego.  Setting off out into the blustering white abyss, the group wasn't 5 miles out from the village before things started to go South.  First were the wolves, which had been following group since just outside the Hyouga gates, picking off a few of the straggling children out of the forty that had signed up for the journey that fell behind.  Undeterred, Taihou and Kuma kept moving, refusing to stop for rest until they had reached their destination, nearly 10 miles into the sub-zero landscape.  It was there that their next trail awaited them, in the form of a violent blizzard.  The winds whipped at their skin, the snow blinding them, and in a moment of carelessness, Taihou's map slipped from his gloved hands and immediately disappeared into the jaws of the gale.  Taking shelter in a nearby cave, the group huddled together, waiting out the storm, Kuma staying with his classmates as his father scouted the area.  They waited for hours, but Kuma knew something was amiss when his father never returned to the cave even after the winds ceased and the snow dissipated.  Kuma had then to make a choice; either go out alone and search for his father, or stick with the group and continue to wait aimlessly and for an uncertain amount of time.  Kuma, with the hubris of his father instilled in himself, put one of the stronger classmates in charge, and bolted off into the dunes of snow.  It wasn't long before he saw evidence to his father's disappearance, as white powder gave way to red, trailing off towards the horizon.  Kuma's heart skipped a beat in the first twinge of fear he had felt in nearly a year and a half, and his feet propelled him forward like a man possessed, following the red as far as it went.  He could only pray he wasn't too late to find Taihou alive.

Though the storm was over, the cold still stabbed at the bare parts of his body, adding to the fear, frustration, and confusion he know felt, for the first time in forever making Kuma feel weakened and helpless as he trekked deeper into the snow banks.  Spotting a dot on the horizon, the path of blood leading right up to it, Kuma dashed as fast as his legs would allow to discover what he had hoped was just an animal carcass and not the man that helped create him.  Of course, his hopes were ultimately crushed when he saw Taihou's bloody and crumpled form heaped upon the blanket of red and white.  After further examining his lifeless corpse, and noting the huge slash marks upon his father's back, resembling much like a bear attack wound, Kuma allowed himself for the first time since he was a toddler to openly weep, throwing himself to the ground and punching the powder till his hands were red and numb.  His heart ached, his mind raced, and his eyes saw red as his fists trembled.  Picking himself up, he noticed a set of tracks, bear tracks that lumbered off into the distance to the North.  In a blind rage, Kuma kicked off a billowing cloud behind him as he blazed forth after the animal that had taken his father's life, all the while wondering how this burly, strong man who had hunted bears since his youth, could be taken down so easily.  He soon found his answer as he stopped, lowering his body close to one of the fresher tracks.  What he sniffed stunk not of bear paws, but of tanned leather treated with a distinct oil used in neighboring countries to coat their boots with when traveling in the deep snows to waterproof them.  It was then that Kuma realized that this was no random animal mauling, but an ambush by men, men who Kuma guessed were enemy shinobi who had been seen a week before scouting Hyougagakure but were run off by his fellow clansman.  His shock turned to horror as he suddenly grasped the depth of this attack, remembering the group he had so carelessly and quickly left in the cave to fend for themselves and racing off back towards whence he came.  But, yet again, he arrived just a hair too late.

As he sprinted across the land, seemingly floating above the snow, Kuma began to see red again under his feet, and then shinobi tools like kunai and shuriken, till he came upon the grizzly, freshly murdered heap of classmates, piled high with knives and other weapons sticking out of their young bodies.  It was all he could do to stay standing, shivering and trembling in the cold, his tears freezing as soon as they left his cheeks.  This had been a survival exercise, with a high chance that none of them would be left alive to return, but this, this was pure unadulterated carnage that no one foresaw.  Amid the swirling vortex of emotion, pain, and disbelief that plagued his heart, one thing persisted and lingered; he had failed them, he had left them and let them die.  Still trying to make sense of it all, detached himself long enough to make pyres for his fallen friends, lighting them ablaze with the fire jutsu his father had first taught him, and waiting till the last of them finished its solemn duty in the cave he had left them all in, now stained with the blood of their final struggle.  As he watched the last glowing embers die, nothing could stem the flow of his tears which burned hot upon his frost nipped face.

Finding no clues as to the would-be assailants' allegiance, be it a headband or distinctive clothing, Kuma stumbled out of the cave and into the open expanse of ice, mind shut down, eyes glazed over, aimlessly wandering.  Somewhere deep under the white noise that drowned out any valid thought in his brain, darkness seeped into his heart in the form of unfathomable grief, anger, hatred, confusion, desperation, and guilt.  Kuma took to his knees and pulled out his kunai knife, aimed for his gut and raised the blade high.  He was going to take his life, he had to atone for his sin, for abandoning them all, scared and helpless, at the mercy of those wicked shinobi.  His hands trembled high above his head, but something held them there in place, failing to bring down the fatal blow.  It wasn't fear, it wasn't self-preservation, rather, it was a deep, boiling rage, springing up from the depth of his being.  Looking out across the plains of cold glass, Kuma could just make out the image of five figures huddled around what appeared to be a burning campfire.  The only ones that would've been caught dead out in those conditions were his group, maybe some Hyouga nin, or the murderous band that had slaughtered his friends.  At this point, it didn't matter who it was, to Kuma that is, who was suddenly finding himself taking a backseat in his own mind as blood lust overtook him.  He saw red again, this time literally, his vision glazing over a deep crimson as he felt his muscles tense, primed to charge.  His pulse surged, his heart palpitated painfully in his chest, and then Kuma blacked out.

In the blackness, a barely conscious Kuma felt a great many things.  He felt the sting of steel on his skin, a hot liquid spray his face, the heat of a flame inches from his nose, and that sharp, shooting pain in his heart again.  He heard muffled shouts and screams, almost inaudible with words unrecognizable, cries of terror and fighting.  This would carry on for another ten minutes, which felt like hours in the dark of his subconscious, until he felt the cold thud of the ground connect with his body.  He lay there, motionless, his arms and legs limp and unresponsive.  Kuma would lay there another five minutes or so before he finally came to, and what he awoke to mortified him. It was like waking from a nightmare only to discover you haven't woken up at all, just transitioned from one horrible terror to the next. Blood stained the once virgin snow all around him, corpses laying in various heaps and positions. The scene looked very reminiscent of the wake of a large bear attack, claw mark like slashes riddling the bodies before him. Raising a hand to his face to wipe what felt like sweat from his brow, Kuma soon realized it was more blood, not his but rather just more of the same that blanketed the ground, and he was wearing a strange gauntlet with large claws protruding from the fist. He hadn't carried that with him on the excursion, he noted, nor had he ever laid eyes on such a weapon. The craftsmanship was peerless and the intricate designs were exquisite if not flowing with the lives of those it had most likely just ripped apart. Though he had cuts of his own, Kuma felt no pain from them, instead, one large throbbing from his chest, resonating inside his torso with each beating of his heart. Practically ripping off his vestments, Kuma sat stunned, gazing upon where his heart should be positioned, noting a dark discoloration in the shape of his clan's famous tattoo. Had he really awakened it?

After collecting himself and burning the bodies of the assassins he had freshly rent asunder, Kuma trekked slowly back to recover the bodies of his father and comrades, making pyres for them and setting them ablaze, taking only their shinobi tools and headbands back with him after all that remained were their ashes. The Akahige were aghast as he slumped to his knees in front of their gates, bloody, ragged, and weakened from his previous state and dragging everything along behind him. After several days of questioning, the clan determined that the trail had gone cold and they could not identify the mysterious monsters that slaughtered their children and allies, but Kuma held a secret, a piece of evidence that he withheld from his clan, a key to his revenge. The image of the snatched headband burned in his brain, the shape of a feather etched into the cold steel of malevolence. One had gotten away, he recalled, remembering a set of tracks fleeing the scene he had found himself in. His vengeance wouldn't be satiated, his thirst for justice not slaked, until the coward was brought down by the edge of his blade.

The days turned to months quickly it seemed as Kuma continued his search of his prey.

RP Sample:  
The glittering diamond powder crunched loudly under the pounding stomps of his bear-fur boots, buckling under the weight of his massive frame as he trudged on through the swirling storm.  He could just barely make out the tracks ahead of him, already getting covered up with additional precipitation.  "Hmmm, the bastard's got the lead out, that's for sure...  Whew, if I don't pick up the pace, I'll be like a drunk huntsman, lost the white stag in a blizzard," the lumbering giant of a young man chuckled as he sighed, lamenting the trade off for his impressive, hulking physique.  His strength overshadowed even that of the animal of his namesake, but he, like everyone of his clan, knew the trade off was diminished speed, and this was a race against the clock and the increasingly harsh gale he found himself in.  The wind whipped and howled, cutting the parts of his skin that were left bare, but it didn't phase him.  He was on the hunt, and his prey was still within his grasp; he wouldn't let him escape, not this time.

Kuma's fists clenched as well as his jaw when he thought of the carelessness he had shown to his captive, underestimating the man's powers of subterfuge and knack for not staying in a cell for very long.  He can bust a cell, but no one leaves a coffin..., the red-bearded youth growled under his breath, pulling his neck wrap up to cover his face from the needles of snow that pelted his skin.  The prey he know tracked was a man by the name of Hayabusa, a noted spy and thief of a neighboring village who would snatch scrolls and secrets from major shinobi villages and sell them to their enemies for steep profit.  Kuma had wrangled him in the past, and even made sure as to put him in the highest security cell his clan had available, to hold him for judgement, but the crafty blackguard goaded Kuma, and poached his ego.  Hayabusa had taunted that Kuma had only won their fight through relying on his clan's bloodline to save him, and had they fought "like men", Kuma would've been dead.  Kuma's pace quickened as his cheeks burned with both embarassment and anger as the memory lingered in his mind.  "Gonna catch that 'little bird' and when I do, I'm gonna show him how I earned my name..."




Source:

Face Claim:
Dorcas - Fire Emblem