Oct 26, 2021 7:46:56 GMT
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[attr="class","APP2"]
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Izumi was born to a family of samurais, her father being one of the most talented and skilled warriors of the land. Her mother was a medic, her soft-hearted personality provided the best balance to the rather boastful nature her father exhibited. She was the only child, and at the time of her birth, the elders of the family were very displeased that they had birthed a girl. It was only natural that a samurai family of such high prestige and reputation would want to have a son to take on the family crest and name, and woman samurai were almost unheard of. But both her parents doted on the girl, for her father had secretly wanted to have a girl rather than a boy, the idea of having someone take on the looks and characteristics of his wife more important than having a heir to the family. Although unconventional. he understood that being a samurai had its own dangers, and he didn't want to put another woman in the same position he had put his wife in for the five years they had been married had they had a son. So Izumi was loved and cherished, much to the displeasure of the elders.
Her mother though had different opinions of having given birth to a daughter. It was true that she loved Izumi, giving her everything that she had, but the woman was guilty that she had failed as a wife, having not been able to provide the Niijima family with a son. And because they had had Izumi had an older age than most couples, the possibility of her birthing another child was almost impossible. So, her mother had hoped that her daughter would be able to be a samurai like her father, and possibly become the first female samurai. Such a desire was not easy to meet, her mother holding the highest expectations since she was a young girl. Izumi learned swordsmanship, stealth and agility techniques, while practicing medicine at the same time. Though harsh, she would grow to be the embodiment of both of her parents, taking on the fierceness of a warrior while keeping the gentleness of a healer.
Until she was thirteen, the girl would train with the rest of the family and her father's followers, learning all the techniques and trades of a samurai. She became an excellent fighter, with a sharp instinct with weapons. She had learned about being a shinobi from her father, who had also been a shinobi in the village. It was also during this age that her father had lost his life while on a mission, and to honor his wish of serving and protecting the village, she decided to enroll in the academy at an older age than the rest of the students in her village. As a result, she only recently graduated from the academy, at the mature age of 18, becoming a Genin officially.
Izumi has somewhat of a bipolar personality. Although not to be mistaken with bipolar disorder, she has two different trait sets that she identifies with depending on the situation presented. Around most people, her primary (or surface personality) is the one that most of her subordinates, comrades and enemies would see. This primary set is easier defined when she is her true self, Izumi Niijima. On very rare occasions does her secondary personality show through, usually under very specific situations, when she allows herself to adopt the traits of Sakurako. It is important to note that she no longer recognizes that when she is exemplifying her secondary personality, she is dabbling into her experiences as Sakurako. She only knows she is capable of such traits that are very different from who she is as Izumi.
The Niijima family code (which also is the bushido code, or the way of the samurai) embodies five main characteristics: honesty, courage, humble/sincerity, respectful and loyalty. To this day, Izumi still has all of these characteristics, as well as other traits such as integrity and an intense amount of self-control. It is easy to say that she is very careful about how she presents herself, how the world sees her, and cares a lot about her image. It’s not uncommon that she would try to influence people to adopt the same code, especially her students. She is very strict and demanding, expecting excellence.
She is an extremely polite person, humble and modest. Sometimes this can be seen as being her negative trait as well, as she never boasts or speaks of her accomplishments. This is something that she learned from her mother, and had chosen to follow, despite the boastfulness of her father. She respected the elders in her family, respected the codes and regulations, and never dropped things like honorifics. Izumi is especially careful about how she speaks to her superiors, and takes exceptional care to not berate those below her. When she speaks to people, she will address them in the politest of ways, and even though she is blunt, her word choices depict her upbringing. She understands that speaking is an art, and will often go out of her way to make even an insult sound nice. Sometimes her modesty or humble nature is taken as her trying to fish for compliments, and through the years, she has learned not to voice anything that could make people think that way of her. If someone compliments her on her achievements, for instance, she would neither deny nor acknowledge, giving a faint smile in hopes to end the conversation. It is also because of this that she doesn’t know how to receive compliments from people and thus can’t give them out either.
She doesn’t have many friends, as her idea of friendship is a lot more serious than most. The idea of a friend is one who can be loyal, transparent, honest, compassionate, empathetic, genuine and kind. In her eyes, she finds it very difficult to find anyone who fits all of these traits. Even though she is honest to those around her, she finds it hard to trust people, and will not trust anyone lightly. Perhaps this is a defensive mechanism she has developed over the years of interacting with people, she feels that two people must be able to stand the testament of time to be called true friends. Izumi classifies most of the people she knows as acquaintances and those she does call her friends are few and far between. To her friends, she is loyal and would risk her life for them in a heartbeat. She is not afraid to put herself in relatively trying or life-threatening situations for the sake of protecting her friends, and this loyalty knows no boundaries. The way of the bushido prohibits her from walking away from those she has sworn to protect and it doesn’t matter how far she must go when it comes to her friends. There is also an unwritten rule between her and her friends that while she is willing to go to extremes, she expects the same from them, the idea of give and take very transparent within the friendships.
Taijutsu [Rookie]
As a shinobi, Izumi had learned to use Taijutsu in the academy, a form of fighting style that she was not accustomed to. However, through her training as a samurai at a young age, she had picked up close combat and the use of her body as a weapon during regular practice spars with her father and the rest of her clan members. Although not as skilled as her proficiency with swords, she has definitely trained her body physically, developing toned muscles and quick reflexes to help her in her use of Taijutsu.
Kenjutsu [Apprentice]
The samurai’s skill is projected using their blade, and so it is not a surprise that Izumi’s most proficient discipline is kenjutsu. She had learned from her clan elders and her father at a young age, learning how to wield a sword even before she learned how to speak properly. Through rigorous training, she can not only slash and pierce using both hands, but she has learned to wield a sword with either one of her hands, giving her the ability to hold two swords if necessary. Her most prized possession is a katana her father had made for her, which she named Ansatsu no Shuunen [An Assassin’s Obsession]
Stealth [Rookie]
Both shinobi and samurai need stealth, especially when on missions. Her lack of mission experience has made her unable to advance past the basics of stealth movement, and she has not had much practice in combat either to supplement this proficiency. Because she knows that both require stealth, she hopes that she will be able to learn to move silently and fluidly through doing missions for the village.
Lightning Release [Raiton] [Rookie]
Izumi had been able to awaken her birth chakra nature, raiton, since graduating from the academy. Having spent most of her time perfecting her skill in kenjutsu has resulted in her slacking off in ninjutsu practice. As a result, she only can shock people slightly if she really concentrated. Unlike Taijutsu and kenjutsu, she feels that she is far from understanding how to use her chakra nature to her advantage, only knowing that almost all shinobi start out with an element and that hers happens to be lightning.
Ranton [Storm Release] [Dormant]
About Izumi
Izumi was born to a family of samurais, her father being one of the most talented and skilled warriors of the land. Her mother was a medic, her soft-hearted personality provided the best balance to the rather boastful nature her father exhibited. She was the only child, and at the time of her birth, the elders of the family were very displeased that they had birthed a girl. It was only natural that a samurai family of such high prestige and reputation would want to have a son to take on the family crest and name, and woman samurai were almost unheard of. But both her parents doted on the girl, for her father had secretly wanted to have a girl rather than a boy, the idea of having someone take on the looks and characteristics of his wife more important than having a heir to the family. Although unconventional. he understood that being a samurai had its own dangers, and he didn't want to put another woman in the same position he had put his wife in for the five years they had been married had they had a son. So Izumi was loved and cherished, much to the displeasure of the elders.
Her mother though had different opinions of having given birth to a daughter. It was true that she loved Izumi, giving her everything that she had, but the woman was guilty that she had failed as a wife, having not been able to provide the Niijima family with a son. And because they had had Izumi had an older age than most couples, the possibility of her birthing another child was almost impossible. So, her mother had hoped that her daughter would be able to be a samurai like her father, and possibly become the first female samurai. Such a desire was not easy to meet, her mother holding the highest expectations since she was a young girl. Izumi learned swordsmanship, stealth and agility techniques, while practicing medicine at the same time. Though harsh, she would grow to be the embodiment of both of her parents, taking on the fierceness of a warrior while keeping the gentleness of a healer.
Until she was thirteen, the girl would train with the rest of the family and her father's followers, learning all the techniques and trades of a samurai. She became an excellent fighter, with a sharp instinct with weapons. She had learned about being a shinobi from her father, who had also been a shinobi in the village. It was also during this age that her father had lost his life while on a mission, and to honor his wish of serving and protecting the village, she decided to enroll in the academy at an older age than the rest of the students in her village. As a result, she only recently graduated from the academy, at the mature age of 18, becoming a Genin officially.
Izumi has somewhat of a bipolar personality. Although not to be mistaken with bipolar disorder, she has two different trait sets that she identifies with depending on the situation presented. Around most people, her primary (or surface personality) is the one that most of her subordinates, comrades and enemies would see. This primary set is easier defined when she is her true self, Izumi Niijima. On very rare occasions does her secondary personality show through, usually under very specific situations, when she allows herself to adopt the traits of Sakurako. It is important to note that she no longer recognizes that when she is exemplifying her secondary personality, she is dabbling into her experiences as Sakurako. She only knows she is capable of such traits that are very different from who she is as Izumi.
The Niijima family code (which also is the bushido code, or the way of the samurai) embodies five main characteristics: honesty, courage, humble/sincerity, respectful and loyalty. To this day, Izumi still has all of these characteristics, as well as other traits such as integrity and an intense amount of self-control. It is easy to say that she is very careful about how she presents herself, how the world sees her, and cares a lot about her image. It’s not uncommon that she would try to influence people to adopt the same code, especially her students. She is very strict and demanding, expecting excellence.
She is an extremely polite person, humble and modest. Sometimes this can be seen as being her negative trait as well, as she never boasts or speaks of her accomplishments. This is something that she learned from her mother, and had chosen to follow, despite the boastfulness of her father. She respected the elders in her family, respected the codes and regulations, and never dropped things like honorifics. Izumi is especially careful about how she speaks to her superiors, and takes exceptional care to not berate those below her. When she speaks to people, she will address them in the politest of ways, and even though she is blunt, her word choices depict her upbringing. She understands that speaking is an art, and will often go out of her way to make even an insult sound nice. Sometimes her modesty or humble nature is taken as her trying to fish for compliments, and through the years, she has learned not to voice anything that could make people think that way of her. If someone compliments her on her achievements, for instance, she would neither deny nor acknowledge, giving a faint smile in hopes to end the conversation. It is also because of this that she doesn’t know how to receive compliments from people and thus can’t give them out either.
She doesn’t have many friends, as her idea of friendship is a lot more serious than most. The idea of a friend is one who can be loyal, transparent, honest, compassionate, empathetic, genuine and kind. In her eyes, she finds it very difficult to find anyone who fits all of these traits. Even though she is honest to those around her, she finds it hard to trust people, and will not trust anyone lightly. Perhaps this is a defensive mechanism she has developed over the years of interacting with people, she feels that two people must be able to stand the testament of time to be called true friends. Izumi classifies most of the people she knows as acquaintances and those she does call her friends are few and far between. To her friends, she is loyal and would risk her life for them in a heartbeat. She is not afraid to put herself in relatively trying or life-threatening situations for the sake of protecting her friends, and this loyalty knows no boundaries. The way of the bushido prohibits her from walking away from those she has sworn to protect and it doesn’t matter how far she must go when it comes to her friends. There is also an unwritten rule between her and her friends that while she is willing to go to extremes, she expects the same from them, the idea of give and take very transparent within the friendships.
Proficiencies
Taijutsu [Rookie]
As a shinobi, Izumi had learned to use Taijutsu in the academy, a form of fighting style that she was not accustomed to. However, through her training as a samurai at a young age, she had picked up close combat and the use of her body as a weapon during regular practice spars with her father and the rest of her clan members. Although not as skilled as her proficiency with swords, she has definitely trained her body physically, developing toned muscles and quick reflexes to help her in her use of Taijutsu.
Kenjutsu [Apprentice]
The samurai’s skill is projected using their blade, and so it is not a surprise that Izumi’s most proficient discipline is kenjutsu. She had learned from her clan elders and her father at a young age, learning how to wield a sword even before she learned how to speak properly. Through rigorous training, she can not only slash and pierce using both hands, but she has learned to wield a sword with either one of her hands, giving her the ability to hold two swords if necessary. Her most prized possession is a katana her father had made for her, which she named Ansatsu no Shuunen [An Assassin’s Obsession]
- Ansatsu no Shuunen
A katana with a single-edged blade and a square guard made of metal, the entire sword is white in color, signifying purity. Unlike regular samurai swords, her weapon has a relatively shorter handle, allowing her to wield it with one hand instead of with two, which gives her more flexibility in momentum and usage when in combat. The handle is wrapped with a string of white silk and the sheathe is made of the best dark wood, a gold butterfly and her family name etched on it.
Stealth [Rookie]
Both shinobi and samurai need stealth, especially when on missions. Her lack of mission experience has made her unable to advance past the basics of stealth movement, and she has not had much practice in combat either to supplement this proficiency. Because she knows that both require stealth, she hopes that she will be able to learn to move silently and fluidly through doing missions for the village.
Lightning Release [Raiton] [Rookie]
Izumi had been able to awaken her birth chakra nature, raiton, since graduating from the academy. Having spent most of her time perfecting her skill in kenjutsu has resulted in her slacking off in ninjutsu practice. As a result, she only can shock people slightly if she really concentrated. Unlike Taijutsu and kenjutsu, she feels that she is far from understanding how to use her chakra nature to her advantage, only knowing that almost all shinobi start out with an element and that hers happens to be lightning.
Ranton [Storm Release] [Dormant]
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Guweiz [Artist] looks like Izumi Niijima.
Samurai Girl [Original Character]
Guweiz [Artist] looks like Izumi Niijima.
