Niko Kurosawa

## Appearance

Niko wears loose fitting robes to cover his irezumi. He also carries his conjured tanto Kasha with him at all times to hide the fact that he’s a conjuror. He doesn’t put much time or care into personal hygiene, so his hair and beard are poorly kept.

## Personality

Niko is cold and calculating, always on guard and skeptical about other people’s motives. Given his past, he trusts nobody and largely sticks to himself, only going so far as to use other people to help him with his goal of taking down the Yakuza. He is easily bored by, and completely uninterested in anything that doesn’t directly help him kill Yakuza members.

## Backstory

Hailing from Jappon, Niko grew up in a poor family. Or rather, a family that once held great riches. Unfortunately, his father got mysteriously sick when Niko was only 5 years old, rendering him completely unable to talk or move, and his mother struggled to keep their family afloat. So when Niko was a teenager, he didn’t have much of an option but to turn to a life of crime, and quickly joined the ranks of the Yakuza. It was there where he learned to fight with a katana and tanto, and ultimately, to use the basics of nen.

While with the Yakuza, Niko’s sole purpose was to support his family, including his father who continued to live, albeit without any ability to survive on his own. Niko hated his work with a passion. The killing, the bribery, the torture, the violence. None of it appealed to him. In fact, it appalled him. Niko was completely disgusted by his own actions, oftentimes thinking about killing himself out of pure self hatred. But he would always remember his poor old parent who needed his support, so he would continue on.

Niko had been away from his family for years when he finally got the chance to return home for a bit. He had earned the trust of his bosses, despite the fact that he hated their guts, and they let him take a quick break. This was when his life’s course took a major turn. Upon returning home, Niko noticed something… off about his father for the first time, an immense amount of aura was leaking off his body at a rapid pace from his back. Niko quickly flipped his father and noticed a large irezumi tattoo covering his father’s back. He knew in an instant that it was a curse from the Yakuza member Yusumi Aoi.

There was no doubt about it, this irezumi tattoo was the source of his father’s illness. Niko had to do something… but what? This image was tattooed on his body, it wasn’t simply removable, even more so because it was a nen ability. He had to… to… In that moment, a tanto manifested itself in Niko’s hand. He immediately knew what he had to do, gently slicing the blade into his father’s back and slicing around the outline of the tattoo. His father squirmed and yelled in pain, and his mother desperately tried to stop him, but he pressed on, despite knowing how much damage he was doing.

It didn’t take long, and soon enough, the entire area of skin that had been covered in the tattoo was removed from his father’s body. Except when that happened, the tattoo creature crawled up Niko’s tanto, onto his hand and up his arm, making its new home over Niko’s heart. His soul immediately felt weaker, but not nearly to the extent his father’s had, and the tattoo was significantly smaller on Niko’s chest.

His father’s soul was quickly rejuvenated, but his body was still weak, even more so after having his back skinned. He smiled and thanked Niko, did all the things a father would do in his final moments, but he quickly faded away and died.

From that moment on, Niko vowed to take down the Yakuza at all cost. He already hated them from his time doing their dirty work, but now a whole new factor had been brought to life. They were the source of all of Niko’s and his family’s suffering. They were directly responsible for all of it, not to mention everything they had done to other people around the world. But now it was time for payback.

## Abilities

### Physical Stats

 Strength
 Speed
 Dexterity
 Aura
 Control
 Total

### Fighting style

Niko primarily utilized his Irezumi nen beasts in battle, but is also proficient with a katana and tanto.