[attr="class","wonderBody"] It was once more the dark of night in Kaminari no Kuni. It was dark and desolate, sending chills down Akari's spine as she shivered. The fog was becoming more and more dense and the young girl was beginning couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable. She was waiting by the waters, not far from where the sailor had dropped her off when she first arrived in the country. There was something about this place that was unsettling, something which made her not want to linger longer than was absolutely necessary. It was almost time and her eyes were already searching the waters ahead of her, trying to find where any resemblance of a boat could be. Just as she was beginning to worry that the sailor may have forgotten, she saw a speck under the moonlight. From where she was standing, the girl could not pinpoint exactly if that person was the sailor who had taken her here. [break][break]
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As the speck sailed closer and closer towards her, she could make out the faint outlines of the ship. In a moment, she came face to face with the boat as it was guided gracefully over the dark waters. Once the moonlight was able to cast a glint of light upon the occupant on the boat. It was indeed the sailor! She smiled at him gratefully, a small smile and bowed towards him. “Miss, yeh look awfully tired! Wanna make the trip tomorrow?” Akari shook her head violently and shivered. She had wanted to come to search for answers about her heritage but to no avail. The Uchiha climbed onto the plank and sat once more on the boat. It was going to be a long ride, she supposed but it was worthwhile. [break][break]
“Where are we going now?” [break][break]
“I thought about makin’ a detour but looking at yeh right now, I might just take yeh to Hi no Kuni directly.” [break][break]
That sounded like a very good idea! She nodded her head and thanked the sailor. In a second, the two of them took off, heading past Shimogakure and through to the Land of Fire. She had been there once before. In fact, the last time she had come, she had been attacked and almost killed. Perhaps that was the life of a neukenin. How she wished she could go back to a place she could call home. And yet ironically...had she not committed a heinous crime such as murder, Hi no Kuni would have been her home. [break][break]
“Miss, yeh should sleep for awhile. It’s going to be a long ride so I suggest yeh take a lil’ nap. I’ll wake yeh when we get close.” [break][break]
She again thanked the sailor for his services. Akari felt quite guilty that she was asking so much from someone that did not know her and thus did not owe her any such actions. With the slow rocking motion of the boat, being guided naturally by the currents, she was able to fall into deep sleep. It was a much needed sleep indeed for she had been deprived of sleep for three consecutive days. She was glad to be able to close her eyes and enter momentarily darkness. Every muscle in her body weakened as she closed her eyes. She did not know how long she would sleep, glad that she could just do that in and of itself. [break][break]
[attr="class","wonderFoot"]i can't say what i might believe but if god made you he's in love with me
Perhaps it had been a good thing to have been paranoid and nervous, her eyes darting left and right while she walked. But she had not anticipated the attack from above, which from where she was standing, would have required at least a few seconds for her to react. She had heard something, that was for sure, although she wasn't sure what it was. The girl stopped dead in her tracks, her dark brown hues scanned the trees, before she finally tilted her head upward, just in time to catch a glisten in the sunlight. Something metal...Akari's hand flew to her wakizashi, unsheathing her blade in one swift motion. She had instinctively took a couple of steps back, perhaps trying to steady her footing. An ambush? [break][break]
The Uchiha could hear the snapping of tree branches from above her, which indicated to her that there was definitely someone that was possibly plunging downward for a surprise attack. Even though she had pulled out her sword just to be careful, she had not expected it to be an actual onward ambush. The daggers didn't connect with her though, as a kunai was thrown as a detour. Another person was there in the forest. A party, I see...the woman mused as she jumped out of the way of the daggers. Akari whipped her head around in the direction of where the kunai had originated from, even though she was still weary of the stranger from up top. "I didn't think I'd warrant having so many people want my head..." she whispered. [break][break]
In a louder voice, the woman would call to both her assailant and the person who she guessed was trying to help her. "Although I am a fan of ambushes, I'd like to see who I'm dealing with..." Her voice was cold as she gripped her wakizashi tighter in her hand. Never did she think she would have to worry about sudden attacks like this, but then she remembered that every neukenin was technically subject to being eliminated no matter where they were. Tch...in one swift motion, the young woman would take two shuriken from her weapon pouch, aiming one at the assailant from above and one in the direction of the person who had thrown in the kunai. Of course, she could not see either person, but she had a general idea of where they would or could be. "If you want to play, let's play fair..."[break][break]
This was going to be an interesting day... [break][break]
[attr="class","wonderFoot"]i can't say what i might believe but if god made you he's in love with me
Akari hadn’t been back in a while. It seemed like ages since she had fled Otogakure, taking off the headband that she had held to such high regard. All because of that man…the girl clenched her fist as she stopped, the wind gently washing through her hair. The Uchiha had tried to forget, tried to live life as though that part of her past was gone. But no, that would never be the case. She had paid the price for her deeds by leaving her village, her clan and becoming an outcast. And that was perhaps a good thing, She had never been truly that loyal to the Otokage anyway. [break][break]
No…that was never going to happen. [break][break]
So, it had been a good thing, to leave. Her fist unclenched as she calmed down. Even though she remembered very little about that night, what she could remember were not pretty. Akari had killed, and from what she had heard down the grapevine, killed those closest to her. At first, she couldn’t believe it, trying to justify to herself why she would possibly lay hands on her father and half-brother. But later, she found that it no longer mattered. Finding out why she did it would never undo what she did, and would never give her the excuse to return to Konoha. [break][break]
She was on her own now. [break][break]
The girl walked into the forest, north of the country. Before being taken over, she always loved sleeping on the tree branches here. It was a perfect little spot to be hidden and away from people. It had been her sanctuary, where she came whenever she was sad or angry. It was rather ironic that even as a neukenin, her feet would naturally take her back here. Her dark brown eyes scanned the peaceful forest, the only sound came from the gentle breeze, rustling the leaves. She closed her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath. Nostalgia overtook her for a moment, as she became lost in thought, reminiscing the past. Flashbacks of her genin days overflowed her mind, images of her teammates and her teachers played before her eyes. She would have continued to stand there in her own little world had she not heard a sound. Her eyes opened quickly, narrowing as her hand flew to the handle of her sword. [break][break]
Was it paranoia? [break][break]
Ever since she became a neukenin, the girl would think that everyone was out to get her, even the slightest of sounds made her heart skip a beat. Akari walked cautiously, making her way deeper into the forest. Her head turned left and right, her guard heightened by what she thought had been sounds of human activity. It made her especially on edge as this was Hi no Kuni after all. Had she been anywhere else, in any other country, perhaps she would have been slightly more relaxed. The girl quietly walked, her footsteps slow and quiet, trying her best not to bring attention upon herself. If it was an ambush, she would be ready. And if not, she was still prepared for anything or anyone who came her way. [break][break]
[attr="class","wonderFoot"]i can't say what i might believe but if god made you he's in love with me
History: Akari had been blessed or cursed, depending on the person, to be born to the Uchiha Clan. It was a blessing to be part of one of the founding and most reputable clans of Konohagakure, and even more so because the Hokage had been an Uchiha too. But what came with prestige also was a double-edged sword, as she knew from a very young age that she would have a high chance of inheriting the Sharingan. She had heard from her father, who was a direct descendent of the Uchiha clan and was one of the ‘lucky’ clan members to possess and activate the Sharingan, of this phenomenon, one of which she neither cared about nor put too much thought into.
And for all the right reasons.
Ever since Konoha's downfall some 70 years before, the descendants of her clan had kept a low profile, the remainder of her people either conforming to the new leadership of the Empire or went missing or died. The once prestigious Uchiha clan was now history, and she was lucky to be brought into this world, her grandparents being one of the very few who survived and lived in refuge, fleeing and pledging allegiance to Otogakure, which had taken control of a part of Hi no Kuni and taken in Konoha refugees.
She had always been looked down upon, for simply being a girl. Her mother was a shinobi too, although not skilled in any one thing. Akari knew that her parents had wanted to have a son, her father specifically wanted the Uchiha bloodline to be passed on past that of his generation. When her mother died, Akari had only been ten years old, and it horrified her that her father would marry again in merely one year of her mother’s passing. Such was ‘true love’, she guessed. And so, from a young age, Akari was exposed to betrayal and grief, two emotions that would later trigger her emotional imbalance.
Her father married a rather beautiful young woman, who was at least ten years his junior. It was frowned upon even within her clan when the marriage was proposed, the elders of the village couldn’t fathom how the man could have fallen in love to the extent of marrying the woman only a year after his previous wife died. And to be fair, her father didn’t really love the woman, merely using her as a means of bearing children. You see, his obsession of wanting a son was so great that he cared not who the bearer of said son was.
So, she was not surprised when her half-brother was born some one year and three months later.
It didn’t make her feel any type of way, as she had always been deprived of love from her parents. She continued to go about her own thing, enrolling in the shinobi academy as that was what was expected of every Uchiha member, whether they liked it or not. She would graduate from the academy with some of the highest grades of her year, a feat she was also quite indifferent about. It wasn’t until the Chuunin exams did things start to pick up momentum, at least in her life, and for the worst. When she was fifteen, she had taken the exam, having joined a team of three as a Genin with a Jounin instructor, and had failed, only because she had been pitted against a Genin who was skilled in proficiencies she lacked in.
She was a competitive girl, even though she didn't really show it upfront. Akari had secret ambitions to be the best of the best. It wasn't about making the Uchiha clan elders or even her father proud, but it was her thirst for power and strength. She began to train rigorously, especially since she had failed the Chuunin exam. She held it against herself for being a let-down as an Uchiha, as most of the others in her clan were able to pass the exams the first time through. She became more obsessed in training and taking on missions. Success came from sweat and blood, that was what her parents had taught her. Because she had shown great improvement, she was finally recognized as a Chuunin at the age of eighteen, successfully passing the second time. But by now she wanted much more. She wanted fame, recognition and power, and she was willing to sacrifice anything and everything to obtain that.
How she became a nukenin had spawned first from a gruesome crime. What remained in her memory were fragments of what had happened. One thing she knew for certain, and it was that she had killed her half-brother and father, although the reasons unknown to this day. Because of such a heinous crime, the girl had no choice but to flee the village, leaving behind her teammates forever. Since becoming a nukenin, Akari struggled to find a place in the world, wandering the countries and trying to escape those who were sent out for her head.
Proficiencies
Taijutsu [Apprentice] Rigorous training from early on gave Akari the muscle and strength she needed to be somewhat proficient in Taijutsu. She was quick, her reflexes often guiding her in hand-to-hand combat. She can block and dodge quite effectively, although her overall skill is not anything special.
Kenjutsu [Apprentice] Contrary to what most of the other members of the Uchiha clan seem to excel in, Akari has found her true calling in Kenjutsu, or sword art. She is capable of wielding things like katana to wakizashi, preferring to use weapons that kept her opponents close. She carries a wakizashi, a sword with a longer and narrower blade than most, which compliments her height and arm length.
Stealth [Apprentice] As a nukenin, being stealthy is a very important skill. Perhaps it came from constantly running away from potential hunter-nins coupled with her overall paranoid personality that she became somewhat good at things like hiding her footsteps or weaving in and out of large crowds of people.
Uchiha Heritage She possesses the true blessings of an Uchiha, Akari has the innate ability to unlock the Sharingan.
Katon [Apprentice] Learning that her innate chakra nature is Katon has gotten her through some tough situations, from being able to build campfires in the middle of nowhere since she became a neukenin, to scorching people by touch during a spar. She has yet to learn any fancy jutsus past the basic things, but her use of the element for survival has made her interested to learn more.