Post by Toshiko Homura on Oct 28, 2017 22:15:22 GMT
HOMURA TOSHIKO
QUOTE/LYRIC HERE
38 | FEMALE |
JONIN | IWAGAKURE |
APPEARANCE
Standing in at a fairly average five foot seven, Homura's appearance is typically not what many might imagine something to call attention to in a crowd. While somewhat heavy for her height at 162 pounds, much of that comes simply from muscle mass and whatever unnatural trait it is that allowed her body to be built as tough as it is. Bordering the line between slim and muscular, Homura's frame still manages to be relatively thin in spite of the fair degree of muscle she's managed to pack on over the years. With pale skin and jet black hair typically worn in small, tight braids to keep it under control, it's more the Jonin's onyx colored eyes and the weight they carry that call attention to her presence.
As far as clothing goes, Homura tends to keep things simple, opting for ease of movement over anything else. Having effectively ditched the typical flak jacket and defensive shinobi attire of Iwagakure in favor of her own ninjutsu's ability to reliably protect her, the Jonin's attire typically consists of black, loose legged pants and a white, sleeveless shirt/coat hybrid for ease of movement, although the sandals worn tend to vary between her own personal footwear and the Iwagakure standard issue depending on the day.
PERSONALITY
As one of the relative few to not only survive the Shodaime Tsuchikage's ambitions involving her clan but live through it from start to finish, much of Homura's personality has been shaped by the atrocities and loss that it had given birth to. That is not, however, to say that it broke her, but rather reaffirmed her personal beliefs and only strengthened them in turn.
Where many tend to expect either shell shocked veterans or the emotionally distant to have thrived off of the chaos, Homura could not have broken the mold any more than she did. All but completely normal on the surface, the woman is typically very friendly towards most people, rarely ever foregoing personal greetings or overlooking those in need of a hand or personal counsel. The Jonin is very, very well aware of how lucky she has been to escape the conflicts that defined most of her childhood with only a few relative emotional scars, and certainly no more than anyone else involved - and as a result, whenever possible the woman has made it a point to give back to those around her, with much of her philosophy being that by setting even a single example, hopefully others will follow it, and then more in turn will eventually follow that.
Even in spite of that, however, the woman is not without her flaws - despite her reputation, Homura is only human. Much of the temper that she had exhibited during her youth can be brought back to the surface with enough prodding, and while she tends to try and make a habit of avoiding it, grievous offenses to her person and friends will ensure that a grudge will be held, and few can hold onto memories as long as Homura can. In addition, the Jonin does have one relative weakness, but woe to any who try to exploit it.
As both a war orphan herself and the mother of three, children and civilians are both a major source of contention with Homura - the one rule that she will not break, under any circumstance, is bringing harm to them or civilians. Those caught doing so through negligence or outright malice are among the few people that the Jonin has zero tolerance for, and by extension tend to be all but smote on the spot or, if circumstances prevent that, result in an utter refusal to work with them, orders or not. Consequently, however, this has also resulted in an incredible dedication to her job of both protecting and educating those she has been charged with - the woman will be damned if any genin or Academy students are ever harmed under her watch.
SHINOBI INFORMATION
Position: Academy Teacher
Chakra Natures: Katon, Doton, Youton
Specialties:
Massive Chakra Reserves: Arguably the most well known of Homura's traits and the easiest to understand. While the Jonin had always been well known for her above average chakra reserves even as an Academy student, it had simply been that up until midway through her genin years - and much as the body and mind matures with age and experience, so too did that trait. Born at the height of the Shodaime Tsuchikage's power and essentially sent straight to the front lines at the earliest possible convenience to bolster numbers, Homura's experiences there and her near constant use of ninjutsu, in addition to honing her body and mind, likewise allowed her chakra network and the monstrous reserves it bolstered to grow to their fullest potential, rivaling even that of many more powerful Uzumaki. While lacking in terms of the fabled clan's ability to rapidly recover from heavy use it still can take Homura the better part of a day's worth of heavy fighting and prolonged, continuous use of powerful ninjutsu to completely drain herself in combat.
Elementalist: Much as Homura's past experiences had honed her body's ability to generate and maintain chakra, so too had it allowed her to reach what many might arguably consider the pinnacle of conventional ninjutsu arts. While her natural Katon, Doton and Yoton releases benefit the most from it the Jonin's elemental affinities are noticeably much, much stronger than her techniques formed from chakra that hasn't been subject to alternative nature transformation. This has allowed Homura to milk her affinities for all their worth, generating incredibly powerful flames, punishing blasts and creating extremely powerful defenses with her techniques, allowing the woman to simply overpower most of her opponents with brute force alone. In the case of opponents attempting to match techniques against Homura's own, they typically only slow down or weaken them as opposed to stopping the Jonin's jutsu in regards to the usual elemental rock/paper/scissors. Or, more terrifyingly, they are absorbed into the Jonin's own techniques outright even if they techniques are of equivalent rank, only further fueling and strengthening them due to the counterbalance mechanic of elemental ninjutsu.
Hand Seal Mastery: While unable to use certain, more unconventional techniques, the woman's mastery of her jutsu allows Homura to simply use most of her elemental techniques without hand seals at all through sheer willpower and experience - the higher ranked ones, however, are where the woman's genius and experience truly show through. While most shinobi simply endeavor to make their hand seals as fast as possible, Homura has taken it a step further and cut them out of the equation entirely, relying on sheer willpower, "muscle" memory and familiarity with the techniques being used to simply pull jutsu out on a whim. While originally a technique made to counter the possibility of the Sharingan and other individuals capable of copying or stealing ninjutsu a lucky side effect is that this has made Homura a particularly lethal and fast combatant. Newer techniques, however, still require hand seals until Homura can acclimate herself to their use. In addition, however, the Jonin has also mastered the art of sneaking "dummy" seals indistinguishable from required ones into her techniques without impacting the performance of the jutsu as an additional safeguard, allowing the woman to throw more observant opponents off by surprising them with different combinations of hand seals with each time a jutsu is used. In spite of this skill, however, more powerful B, A and S ranked techniques will generally still require a small handful of seals to use.
Clan: Inoue Clan
Bloodline: Youton (Lava Release)
Jutsu: This is where you list all of your character's jutsu. Be sure to link any of your custom jutsu here. Canon jutsu, you can link from Naruto Wiki. You're free to add jutsu after you've gotten approved, if you'd like.
HISTORY
Homura's life, at risk of making an incredible understatement, was not an easy one starting out.
Most of Homura's misfortune, frankly, was just a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time - had she grown up anywhere else or towards the end of the Shodaime Tsuchikage's reign it'd be highly likely she would be living life as a civilian. Whatever the case, Homura's life more or less began with a kick to the balls when the woman had the misfortune to be born at the height of the man's power.
Much of Homura's childhood, while stressful, was still relatively happy during the first few years. Despite not being among the village's noble clans the Inoue were still held in high regard by the Kage for their sheer combat prowess, and that led to certain amenities and other considerations made in their favor. While her older brother began to show a fair bit of ambition quite early in life and began aiming for the position of clan leader as early as his Academy days, the only goal in Homura's life was to survive. As she was among the clan's first generation to be born within Iwagakure's walls the girl ended up inheriting a fair degree of distrust from her parents, and took very little that the village's Kage said without a large grain of salt. She wasn't blind to what was happening to the Academy graduates and how few of them lasted after graduation, and Homura was determined not to become just another statistic.
Even with that motivation, however, it still took Homura nearly two years to graduate from the Academy at the age of eight, although still far ahead of the Academy standard of ten to twelve years of age. And, despite having accomplished something that was already an impressive feat even by the standards of those born into the noble shinobi families, the girl was not content with where she had ended up. Even in spite of the Kage's ambitions most of the beginning genin teams were still held close to home to avoid them becoming targets and to nurture the next generation following the wake of the last conflict, and as a result of it impatience was an ever present and ruling force in Homura's life. Menial tasks, however seemingly important or unimportant they may have appeared, were not what she had intended to be doing with her life. While well aware that she was only a genin, the girl had at least hoped to somehow begin climbing the ranks early through merit, and as a result of this her determination to learn, to improve herself as a kunoichi did not fade with her graduation from the Academy - if anything, it only grew more fervent.
While not happy with the arrangement, Homura was still very much well aware that it was a military that she had joined, and acting out would not get her what she wanted. She understood that many of the shinobi within the village were promoted and assigned based on merit as much as nepotism, and that the only way to get the assignments she wanted would be to earn them, to prove that she was beyond what the genin fresh out of the Academy were doing. It was with that mindset that Homura would go to seek out older shinobi that had managed to survive the previous era, and directly ask for him to train her apart from her team's official sensei on her own time.
While hesitant to agree as it was a highly unconventional request, strength was everything in Iwa and that matching philosophy had been much of the reason behind the Inoue clan's conscription - a philosophy that Homura had grown up with and built her life around. As there was nothing to be really gained by refusing Homura's request, the genin would begin to divide her time between the two shinobi instructing her - the sensei assigned to her by the village, a man who was still focused on team building exercises, and the grizzled veteran, the man who would begin to instruct Homura in the techniques that had allowed him to survive the Warring States era. Another eight months later, after having both learned a second release in addition to her natural Katon and the ability to perform Doton: Domu along with several weaker techniques, Homura would officially put in for a request to transfer to a team on the forward lines, backed by a recommendation from the veteran who had taught her. While it made a lasting, negative impression on a few, most notably her first team, the request would be granted on a demonstration of her abilities, with Homura transferred to a scouting unit before her ninth birthday.
Ironically, the conflicts within the southern regions of Tsuchi no Kuni and Tori no Kuni - her ancestral homeland, claimed by brigand and outlaws following her clan's desertion of it - would prove to act as a crucible of sorts for Homura, similar to what the Chunin Exams signify for many others. A challenge to grow and adapt, thrive or die. Homura would chose the former, with the technique taught to her by her mentor saving her life and preventing crippling injury more times than she could even count. In spite of not even yet being a Chunin, the near constant usage of the technique and her ability to reliably survive fights - if admittedly more often as stalemates or loses by mission standards - against far more experienced and arguably superior shinobi virtually unscathed began to quickly garner the genin a reputation among Iwa's other genin and chunin.
A double edged sword, however, as that while she would begin to prove a major annoyance to the enemy forces, Homura's ability to survive what she did wasn't something that extended to her team mates, and on more than one occasion the genin would be the only one to return uninjured besides their sensei, if at all. It would also be during this time of development that the genin would begin to take on a markedly pronounced dislike of killing when it was avoidable - while she wouldn't shy away from it, that first act of killing put a remarkably bad taste in her mouth and the fighting did not bring Homura the satisfaction she'd thought to obtain from retaking her home fields back from the bandits and mercenaries that had moved in since. As that realization began to sink in Homura's goals would begin to shift to preventing any more loss among her comrades and taking back her ancestral home.
Homura's fighting style would likely change to mirror it. Correspondingly, larger numbers of missions she was assigned to would begin to result in fewer and fewer casualties. Having altered her fighting style to focus on defense over offense, the reputation that Homura had made for herself in the first year of fighting would begin to be replaced by another one as her concerted efforts to ensure that her team mates returned alive began to make an impact. As the pockets of resistance continued to perservere conflict would drag on and attrition began to take its toll the genin would finally be promoted to a Chunin as casualty rates for missions she was involved in regularly came in at zero. It would be during this time that Homura would begin working on techniques aimed at countering the few threats she could not protect her team mates from, as well as countering the few direct threats to her Doton: Domu technique and acquiring a summoning contract in the years spent in Tori no Kuni.
Eventually recalled to assist in training the next class of the Academy on turning fifteen, Homura was honestly just grateful that her role in the conflicts had come to an end in such an abrupt manner, albeit only to return to yet another battlefield. While much of the thirst she'd had for fighting before had disappeared completely with her experiences on the battlefield, Homura's return to Iwagakure would be to find the Inoue clan as a whole in a state of disorder. While she herself had never particularly cared for the title of clan head the same could not be said of her older brother, Kin, a shinobi ten years her senior and someone who had fought in the small war leading to the Inoue clan's conscription at the hands of Iwa. While things had been tense following his arranged marriage and just before Homura's deployment, however, it had at least been civil and produced powerful potential heirs to the clan name.
That couldn't further from the truth by the time Homura returned, however, with verbal fights and abuse having long since transcended into the physical in her absence. Normally it was something that wouldn't have been her concern as she had never been close with her brother outside of childhood sparring sessions, but long term implications and years spent towards growth and maturity had changed that. Clan head or not, the Inoue clan was in a unique position in Iwa, and only enjoyed it because of their strength. At any time that position could be taken from them by the Tsuchikage, and aside from simply becoming an embarrassment the clan had been left just as disordered and disorganized as their leader's household. Before her departure Homura wouldn't have dreamed herself capable of defeating Kin in a duel, but the time spent in Tori no Kuni had shaped her just as it had shaped him in his childhood. Despite being fifteen years her elder Homura's skills had been kept more than sharp by conflict while Kin's had dulled thanks largely to a complacent attitude. The clan's rules were simple in that regard - obey the power and obey strength, and Kin would lose the title of clan head in a brutal match to a girl over a decade younger than himself. Put in a position of power and able to dictate terms, the kunoichi would begin doing what she could to clean house and restore both political favor and order to the clan, a process that would take years with the damage done. By the time all of that had been finished and done Homura was simply hoping for a period of quiet freedom from fighting.
Hoping and believing, though, were two very different things. While the effects of the Shodaime Tsuchikage's ambitions were easy enough to see within Iwa itself it hardly compared to what was left behind outside the village walls. Many of the pillaged fields in the south still had yet to recover or their farmers to return to them despite being formally "reclaimed" years earlier, and on top of the trade embargoes unofficially enforced by most of the other nations desperation would slowly begin to creep into the life in general. Tsuchi no Kuni was never known to be a particularly bountiful land, and while food shortages weren't necessarily a rarity it wasn't to say that they didn't hit hard when they happened. Given the harsh conditions it would be little surprise that the remaining veterans would begun to be sent out alone or on far riskier missions than their ranks dictated to try and maintain Iwa's influence towards its borders. As a result, however, many of those who had managed to make it that far would also begin to die, either forced up against overwhelming odds or targeted by past enemies while alone and separated from Iwa's remaining might.
For Homura, seventeen at the time, those deaths would not go unnoticed with many of them having been team mates that she had served beside during the earlier years of the conflict. With a number of close calls herself from opponents aiming specifically to counter her signature Domu technique on previous missions - the downside of a well known reputation - the idea of mortality would begin to finally gain some sense of presence in the Chunin's mind. It had always been a possibility, but not one that had truly registered for Homura after having outlived so many and facing opponents typically very ill equipped to deal with her techniques. With the recent developments during the years immediately following the end of her field assignments, however, the idea that she eventually wouldn't be there anymore, along with the question of what she would eventually leave behind when she did go, began to make a lasting impact in both her psyche and her actions.
Promoted to Jonin at the age of eighteen with the completion of a "perfected", superior version of Doton: Domu and in recognition of her skill and accomplishments, much of Homura's spare time would begin to be divided between finally building a personal life outside of her career. It would be during this time that the woman would finally begin dating, a prospect that she simply had not had the luxury to consider before that point in her life, and within the next handful of years finally marry a spouse at the age of twenty and have their first child at the age of twenty one. A fair bit earlier than most and only the first of three, but Homura was done fighting. At least for a time - the woman would continue to keep her techniques sharp as there was truthfully little to stop the Tsuchikage from forcibly pressing her into service should it be needed. Until then, most of her attention would be focused on her family life, settling into a semi-retired state teaching at the Academy rather than continuously put her life on the line alongside that of her husband and risk what had happened to her own parents during her earlier teen years.
For the most part, the six years following Homura's opted "retirement" would be fairly quiet ones, with the work in the Jonin's life being that of teach at the Academy - a way to contribute to the village without going back on the decision she and her husband had made. It wouldn't be until an incident involving an old friend and a mission gone sour that Homura would finally be pulled from retirement as feared, and it would be during that conflict that the woman would finally put to use many of the techniques and skills she had developed during her quiet years. With a home to return to and a reason to do so the Jonin would hold nothing back, electing to not even give her opponents a chance to turn things into a fight if Homura was able to avoid it. While the woman had only been regarded as something of an annoyance during her deployment in Tori no Kuni it would be the Jonin's preference for shock and awe aimed at intimidating her opponents with raw power that would skyrocket her reputation to new heights during the recovery operation, her scorched earth tactics ensuring that while other villages might not have known Homura by name they would recognize her calling card.
As before, Homura would yet again retreat into a state of semi-retirement, once again putting her family before the village - with no major conflicts to speak of nor any in sight, however, the Jonin felt that there was frankly little need for people like herself. While she would yet again resume her role as a teacher at the Academy, much of that was out of personal enjoyment and gratification - having only her own Academy days to compare to, the woman was more than happy to spend her time in an environment that finally felt more like a class room rather than a boot camp meant to churn out weapons rather than members of a culture and society.
The ongoing decisions of the Tsuchikage, however, would be met with mixed feelings. Having been able to serve alongside most of the older shinobi in the village at one point or another, Homura was at least somewhat familiar with the man. Flawed as he was the man thought he was in the right- that he did what needed to be done, and it was nearly entirely with advancing Iwagakure's interests in mind. That, at least, could never be denied. Homura was still very much aware of her place in the pecking order, and knew what happened to those who spoke out against him. That, however, was the core of it. With a family of her own there wasn't a fiber in her body able to personally condone with what the Shodaime had done over the years. It wasn't until the man began to put more focus on trying to repair the damage he'd done to his own village over the years that things began to change on that front.
With that particular development, Homura's view of the Kage had changed a good deal, and while she largely supported most of his actions a general sense of caution would always mark their interactions and her view of many of the man's decisions moving forward. At best the Jonin would be wary of the man, at worst, distrustful of his motivations and his view of the people around him - and, in an effort to further distance herself and, by extension, her family from the village leadership, Homura would eventually quit her role of instructor at the Academy. That didn't stop her, however, from discreetly keeping tabs on all of her students that managed to graduate. Ironically, it would be the Jonin's past reputation and ability to results would draw the Kage's attention to her after having withdrawn back into retirement, with a request coming out of what seemed like left field to return to active service again. And while worded and presented as a request - something that only her strength and position as the Inoue clan's leader had likely earned - Homura knew better than to view it as such. What concerned her more was the knowledge that the man had long coveted Kusagakure's domain, and the fact that he was going so far as to call the likes of her to active service likely meant only one thing.
Not that it mattered, however, as while Homura had asked for time to consider the proposal she was spared of having to make the decision when the Shodaime was assassinated the following week. With the man's daughter taking on his mantle and the village heavily divided between various factions calling for war or peace, Homura was left in limbo. Not quite retired but not yet returned to duty, left with only her own personal feelings regarding the entire situation and little direction to go with them.
RP SAMPLE
As the seconds slowly continued to tick by into minutes and the end of the first hour started to approach Izumi did little to change the current dynamic of the room. All things considered, quiet was generally preferable to most alternatives and she was quite comfortable sitting on the tatami mat. It wasn't often that she was able to simply relax and let her mind wander, and despite the earlier irritation with the overall circumstances surrounding the "why" of their visit it wasn't turning out to be all that unpleasant of an experience. As far as Izumi herself was concerned, anyways.
While she wasn't able to really get much of a read on Kaede - particularly with her eyes closed - there was a general air of impatience in the room, but then again that might not have been the other woman at all. While he tended to remain silent for the vast majority of the time Izumi had always been aware of Saiken to some extent since their first conversation during her genin years. His mood, his attitude, opinions on current conversations, his emotions to some extent just as much as Izumi suspected he was of her's. From what little she knew of him patience wasn't one of his strong points, although she could hardly blame the Biju in that regard if all he knew of the outside world was what she herself did. Point being, though, that it wasn't always easy to discern where certain things came from. It was much as someone could sense outright anger from another without speaking to them, and at times difficult to tell if it was from Saiken she felt such things or another person in the room.
Not that it really mattered, especially after the door to their room slid aside to reveal one of the Lord's retainers.
"We apologize for the wait, the Lord is able to see you now."
Shifting her neck a bit with a quiet pop as joints made stiff from the better part of an hour spent resting against a wall slid back into the proper place, Izumi stood as readily as one might've expected from a person who'd been wide awake. Arms still stuffed into their opposite sleeves and folded in front of her, however, the kunoichi would pause by the door, wordlessly waiting for the other woman in the room to stand up and take the lead. Speaking wasn't really necessary - the expression on Izumi's face, while, neutral and not disrespectful, made her feelings fairly obvious. Kaede was the one in charge and the one who'd made the call to take this detour, she'd be the one at the lead and doing the talking. Izumi was perfectly content to remain in the background and the less attention drawn to her, the better. At least for now. If Kaede wanted something done that required a heavier hand or just straight up violence then that'd be a different story entirely, and likely a request that Izumi would be more than happy to see to.
