Ai

Ai
--

## Backstory

Born into the AO-Nara family Ai was the son of two shopkeepers on the outskirts of the village who specialized in selling ninja tools. From a young age he learned about the tools and their purposes to help customers find which one would suit their needs. In his free time as a kid he would often play with kunai and various other tools he snuck from the shop. His parents eventually got suspicious after looking over the inventory for a the past few months and realized the discrepancies. They then decided to tail Ai, who was 6 at the time, and see if he had anything to do with it. They kept their distance and watched him train for a bit before finally revealing themselves. To Ai's surprise they weren't angry but rather impressed and from that point on encouraged him in his training and pushed him to become a ninja. After training for years and  talking to his older cousin Nakigitsune, who Ai always looked up to, he decided to join the academy at age 16.

## Personality

Ai keeps calm and collected in most situations. During his time in the academy he hated being the center of attention and preferred to go unnoticed in groups. However is starting to become more social. He often acts very light hearted and cracks jokes when in the company of friends (or when a situation gets too awkward).

Ai has a deep loyalty to the village and can sometimes be merciless when the mission requires it. He also holds very strong love and loyalty to is his family, those in the Ao-Nara clan, though which he cares for more is unknown. Either way he will put himself in harms way without hesitation to protect those close to him.

## The Loss of A Mentor

After his older cousin and mentor Nakigitsune was killed during a spar Ai was filled with grief and various other conflicting emotions. He relived the pain every time he had to break the news to another person. He barely slept and when he did it was mainly him passing out in the training grounds from exhaustion. He was pushing himself to get stronger yet still wasn't sure of the reason why. With the help of Hyugo and Linlin, Shoyo, Tenjirou, Shuichi, and some others Ai was able to finally cope with the loss and he came out with a stronger determination to protect those close to him. His bonds strengthened as he started to view his close friends as family and after his pact with Shoyo he started to view him as an older. Along the line he also met Naifumi which will later become one of his close friends and Waharauku which Ai later decides to become a student under.

## The Return From Forest Country

After an extended stay at Forest country to deal with the turmoil that arose in the Ao-Nara clan, Ai returned to the village in order to prepare for the upcoming war. He returned to a new Hokage and many new faces. After a long conversation with Ai, Waharauku decided to take Ai as a student in squad 2. This lead to him meeting Takiyon, and later Remiiko, as well as some others which Ai views as friends. In the hopes of being able to protect his friends and village in the upcoming war Ai trains and goes on as many missions as he can so he can improve and get stronger.

## Forging A New Path

Committed to getting stronger and improving so he can protect the village and those he cares about, Ai could regularly be seen in the training grounds our out in the field. Still in inner turmoil about who he is and who he should be, he tries to take on any mission he can no matter how dangerous, searching for something, clarity maybe. A mission he had with Vida did help him realize somewhat of who he was, though he is not so sure he likes it. Being tasked with taking out bandits so Vida could rescue a hostage, Ai was ruthless on the battle field, he showed no mercy, even executed a wounded woman because she was one of the people in charge of the bandits. Though quite the opposite happened in a later mission with Waharauku when he caught an enemy genjutsu user in his shadow possession and moved him away from his squad mate Remiiko who was attempting a lethal blow. The man lost his arm but they were able to get him to the hospital alive. Ai spent some time contemplating why he saved the man before realizing, that the only reason he did it was because the man was valuable to the village for the intel he holds. After more contemplation his actions trouble him even more, it varies so much from how he acts around the village and to his friends. He was even more surprised when he found out his chakra nature was lightning but the lightning ended up being black when he tried training with it. After a conversation with Hyugo about it he was even more unsettled. Maybe Hyugo was on to something when he said the color of the chakra nature may reflect the person wielding it.

## With Failure Brings Strength

   After hearing about a group that kidnapped and forced chakra users to fight to death, Ai knew he had to try and do something about it. Unfortunately the village didn't think the same. Ai with the information he gained from a close friend and a letter from his sensei left for Earth country. He took off his headband and attempted to blend in as an ordinary traveler. After his conversation with a nomad ended up not fruitful he followed the river until he came across a couple children. He tailed them until a group of shady looking men appeared and decided to tail them instead after the children snuck away unseen by the men. They led Ai to camp in which, after some scouting, Ai approached pretending to be the lost child of a family of traders attempting to make their way to the Land of Fire. They welcomed him and let him stay in the camp and during the first night he saw a child with wind nature get taken away after revealing his ability on accident. After some conversations with some of the guards he found out a man from the smuggling ring was going to come and pick the child up. Ai convinced them to let him stay there until the man arrived and so he spent a couple more nights at the camp. The time came when the man was supposed to arrive and he met him at the entrance with the rest of the villages warriors. After a bit of conversing Ai revealed himself as a chakra user and fought with the men. The trafficker and some men began to flee and Ai began his pursuit as a sandstorm whipped up. He managed to disable some of the traffickers' men but had to halt his pursuit due to kaguya hunters riding lions that decided to jump him. Ai had a fight with the kaguya disabling one of their lion but got a kaguya bone thrusted into his shoulder. He ended up catching the kaguya in shadow possession and held a kunai to the mans neck. Unfortunately the second one decided to interfere using the lion to bite down on the arm Ai was holding the kunia with. This lead to Ai loosing possession and getting his face beat against the ground repeatedly. He thought he was dead but some shinobi patrolling the river found him unconscious and took him to the Konoha hospital.

   When he awoke he had a talk with Naifumi and found out about the fight with the biju and the loss of V, Katsuo, and Airi. Conflicted internally, feeling the desire to wallow in his failure and the deaths of his fellow shinobi he decided to instead solidify his desire to get stronger and protect those around him. Given the situation he has realized his need to put his emotions aside and remain strong for those around him. As he can no longer sulk and lament his past screwups and what is out of his control, but instead improve and get stronger so he can focus on not making the same mistakes in the future.

## Promotion

Shortly after the attack by the 3-tails Ai was summoned to the Hokage's office as well as Yakusho and was told by Lady Heiri that they have been promoted to Chunin. They were the first of many promotions as him and his colleagues spent some time to get adjusted to their new roles. Ai still not fully believing he deserves it strives to fulfill his role and make his Sensei Waharauku Proud. Through these struggles Ai often sought after Hyugo and Heiri's advice and after spending more and more time with them he started to view them as family. Hyugo ended up proposing the idea of a drinking ritual to signify their bond as family which Ai agreed to. From that time on Ai spends a lot of time with the two and would often end up passed out at random places in their house.

## Gone in A Flash

With his Promotion came a lot of pressure. Not only to preform but to set an example. This would often conflict with the 16 y/o's childish side that sometimes just wanted to have some fun and enjoy life though often times he found himself in situations where he didn't have time to think of such endeavors. During this time his sensei got arrested which lead to him loosing control of his Biju for a bit and running. Ai made a plan to go after him, his only mistake was warning the girl he had feelings for that he was going off. This lead her to warn Hyugo who put together a team to bring Ai back. They were successful in bringing him back but that did not stop his determination to see his sensei he just left that night disguised. After a few covert meetings he is told by Waharauku to seek out Ganshou and meet at the border of Rain. Ai ends up going on the trip with Ganshou and they accompany Waharauku back to the village. When Ai was in the village he would often spend time with Osiris who he ended up getting in a relationship with shortly after Hyugo brought him back to the village. He spent a lot of time nurturing her back up to health often cooking and prepping meals in order for her body to rebuild so she could train again. They would often take small trips out of the village and one night they went through forest where Ai picked up a bo-staff he had commissioned. The staff on one end had stars engraved on it in reference to the night they passed out on a roof staring at the stars. On the other end there was an engraving of a mountain where Ai spent time with her while she was coming down from he withdraws from alcohol. Osiris ended up becoming part of Team 13 around the same time Ai and Meyumi, the two present members of squad 2 were told to collaborate with. Having never been in a relationship it was very new to Ai. He often found himself pushed out of his comfort zone and influenced to loosen up a bit. Ai began to feel he had found his place amongst the group and found himself in a state of happiness and contentment though it was short lived. A few months later, he was told by Osiris that while she cared for him in a way, she didn't have feelings for him romantically and that the reason she was actually with him was because she felt she owed him her life. After some back and forth Ai, hurt at having been lied too and lead on for so long, told her that her debt no longer exists and that she was free from her burden. With that he left to stay at Heiri's not wanting to be in his own home. When he came back he found a scroll containing everything he had given her on the table. Having not spoke a word to her since he often finds himself contemplating what he did wrong as he tries to cope with what he views as having been lied to and used by someone he truly cared about. After long contemplations of who he is and his friendships, and after talking to Heiri and Hyugo, Ai realizes that even though he might want to, he can't change his sweet and caring nature and that from better or worse he should try to keep on doing his best to help those he can and be there for those he cares about even though half of him just wants to get away. Although, he has built up walls internally and is very hesitant to trust and let people get close to him emotionally. Whether these walls end up getting stronger or get knocked down is unknown, as Ai tries to come to terms with what happened.