Masaharu Kishino

**Masaharu Kishino** (きしの 雅春, *Kishino Masaharu*) is a Shinobi of Konohagakure and heir to the future Kishino Household. He is known by his peers and those he's met around the village by the nickname **Masaki** (*マサキ*).

~Theme of Masaharu

## Nature

It is said that man takes many forms to survive in their daily lives to perform the deeds they do and to do them in a successful manner but that is only a mask of what is one's true nature, a persona to support one’s true nature of their soul, their inner self.

Masaharu is one known for appearing as unapproachable whether from the characters he supposedly associates himself with or the power rumors say he wields. The young man who was known to despise the chains of authority that always seemed to enthrall him still hasn’t moved from his roots, but rather has gained the wisdom to allow him to choose what battles he is willing to fight and those that he meets with the cold shoulder of neutrality. Masaharu never has and never will be perfect though the constant pushing from past and current influences always keep the idea in his mind. Masaharu holds no creed or honor, not even in the art of combat as he began to take on many personality traits of his Grandfather such as his silver tongue and deceptive inclinations. A very select few have earned the loyalty of the one whose clothes reflected that of a White Lotus and even fewer hold his love.

Though the young man’s wisdom has grown he can still be called brash, allowing his emotions to guide his actions when it comes to the few he may love which may lead him to harm himself or those he does love. His rebellious spirit extends to his treatment of shinobi of heightened ranks as he only holds “Respect” for his Lord and Kage, Uchiha Katsuo, who he will refer to and insist for him to be called "Katsuo-san" by those around him. The only other shinobi to have his full respect being Vida of the Seven Swords, one who is a good enough of a fighter and an even better leader when in the field to be deserving of her rank. Masaharu has grown from his seemingly lazy ways of lounging around the village as if he was some alley cat without a home, now spending his time on missions or training in the way of the sword.

Though the boy has grown in age, rank, and stature, he hasn’t left behind all of his childish traits in the past. The few times Masaharu finds himself at a point where he can take a break he can be seen playing an instrument or reading Manga that he might have found from the Library. His love of sweets seems to rival that of many students in the Academy with a personal favorite treat being Strawberry Parfaits.

### **-Killing Intent-**

When man first tastes blood they thirst for it again. The soldier craves war, the martial artist craves a new challenge and a killer craves more death. When an animal’s life is put into danger, its instincts tell it to either fight for its life or flee to grow stronger and battle another day.

Most prey is aware when a predator is preparing to strike and most Humans can tell that their life is in danger from a glare to a simple shift in the atmosphere of a room what many people feel is another's killing intent, purely from instinct or from experiencing it before. A trait that those that have killed have carried as their minds await the day that they must kill again.

Killing Intent is said to have many causes and side effects for entering such a state of mind, it is neither a transformation nor some power-up that strikes fear into someone’s enemy nor some force of pressure that can be used in a state of combat. Due to Masaharu’s life as a shinobi and the fact that killing is an inevitable part of such a profession as that, Masaharu has developed a secondary state of mind if one could call it that truly when many that were threatened with death enter a state fleeing or fighting, many choose the former option rather than the later for fear of losing their lives in their attempt to save it. For Masaharu, whether by stupidity or some other force, in the few moments he enters such a fight or flight state, he allows him to separate himself from what truly is happening in reality along as his morals and beliefs in a battle.

This sporadic sense of psychosis he seems to enter is what many would call his state of Killing Intent when his mind is in such a state his demeanor changes greatly, the smirk he may showcase in combat along with playful taunts and the occasional compliment of his opponent's skill is replaced with an eerie silence. He doesn’t speak nor fully thinks when his mind has dived into such a state, from this point forward there are two distinct paths his mental state will take.

## Lore - Kishno Family

The Ancestry of the Kishino family is long and outreaching, but primarily it is said that the first recorded member of a human that went by such a name was a man named Kishino-ishi Hatsu. Hatsu was a boy born with eyes that could be compared to the pattern of a lotus flower and a color that complimented them well.

He lived the majority of his life on a fishing boat with his family which seemed to be more so a larger group of people dedicated to protecting each other rather than relation purely off of blood alone. Hatsu was naive and innocent to the darkness of life and the world-changing things that were happening in the world, he had a quick wit and a trickster’s gaze, yet honest in intentions, being known as the lucky child that the family treasured. For years he worked endlessly as a fisherman until reaching the age of 20 where word had spread about a library not too far from their usual routes when fishing.

With the prospect of something more in life, Hatsu made the trek to Akimono, the city of knowledge. As he learned more of his culture as an Uzumaki and gained more knowledge, something awoke inside of the man, a constant thirst for understanding and learning that his people were said to be known for. As a result, he settled in Akimono and created his own family, still holding the values he held from his previous one, but also a new one.

Naming his descendants after him with the different surname from his own, keeping Kishino within the name, from that point forward it had been customary for the next Patriarch or Matriarch to change the family name to showcase the Family Creed, though it is a bit more of a legend as many of the family leaders either kept it the same or changed with no concern for the meaning. Many years had passed as the descendants of Hatsu grew in number with each generation, expanding their knowledge of the sea and more importantly Ninjutsu.

The family had always had an interesting relationship with those frequent the seas of Water Country, having traded and worked with the people there for what seemed to be generations now. Soma, the Patriarch of the family, with eyes similar to Hatsu’s, at the time, had adopted the viewpoints of many other Uzumaki in Whirlpool that had used what could be genuine allies against weaker nations for their own safety, brewing conflict where it once never had been.

The family had been split into two, via his sons, with one side supporting the deception for the sake of protecting knowledge and the other that wished to stay true to the allies they’d made over the years. It mounted in a fight between the two sons, with the loser and their followers, being exiled from the country. The son whose beliefs aligned with Soma won due to what some would say to be outside interference and others say pure skill, but as a result, Soma cursed his exiled son and his family to achieve the potential that they had as Uzumaki.

The will of hateful spirit would seem quite strong as all those born after the Exiled Son had no skill in the art of Fuinjutsu and couldn’t even summon the chains the clan was known for. It is said that those born from the Exiled Son began to change the family in many ways, looking for knowledge on Genjutsu and the Artistry that surrounded it. The family began to travel endlessly as Bōmei, or exiles having no true place to call home, and faded into the pages of history.

The family always had to grind and work for what they needed, no prodigy was ever to be birthed to the family not even in the art of fishing. For generations and generations, they tried their hardest to prove their worth. A young man was born near the beginning of the Villager Era, being exposed to a world of Nobility and Clans fighting to become something more.

A village, a haven almost. The boy, Somako envied it and worked hard to attain such a thing, even renaming the family to the Kimikishino Family to denote a more Noble-like demeanor from them. As time grew the size of the family dwindled as they mingled with other clans, much to the point that those who remained were his son and his son’s family.

## History - Masaharu

The Kimikishino Family, now known as Kishino by way of Haru Kishino and his wife Masami was blessed with an unforeseen joy as the orange and golden tinted Autumn leaves fell from the Fire Country trees. An heir to the family was born with a round face and peculiar eyes. The pattern around the pupils were like a lotus flower

having a hue that bordered on silver and pink to complement them well. Eyes that hadn’t been seen for many years. The boy was to be named Masaharu, first of his name. His eyes mocked his grandfather, one who was engrossed in the history of his ancestors, noticing the eyes of Hatsu, who was known as Sosen (Ancestor) in the family's history, a deep distaste or rather a hatred grew for the boy over time. As Haru became more occupied with work as a shinobi, Somako became the leader of the household for the time being and as such began to train Masaharu starting from age 5. Training with Somako was always brutal as Masaharu was subject to many different tasks that no child should be able to undertake. From enduring certain types of genjutsu to even being subjected to blades of wind. With his mother seemingly ineffective to out a real stop to it all. Ideas were drilled into Masaharu’s head, ones of achieving Nobility, and a skewed form of the Will of Fire. They defined Masaharu’s view of Shinobi, and he hated such things and what they represented. He latched onto stories and novels he could find and eventually Manga when allowed to read some. Ideas like finding hope in darker situations always seemed to stand out to him. At age 13 he began to study at the academy or rather forced to do so and he began to go by the name Masaki. He performed well, even enough to continue on in his career as a shinobi. He declined to do so both out of spite for Somako and believing the Academy structure was flawed in a way. He honed what skills he had and remained there. He usually is found skipping out on classes or sleeping on rooftops, but never actually training on his own.

## Physiognomy

In his 18 year journey in life Masaharu has had a few features that seem to never change from his fickle and fiery blonde curly hair that he has maintained quite well since the academy. While Masaharu isn't the tallest, he has grown quite a bit from his time in the academy and even his odd trials as a Genin. One could identify Masaharu by the odd coloring of his eyes, both a mix of silver and pink, only fluctuating at the whims of the young man's emotions.

In terms of looks, Masaharu hasn't changed too much, keeping the color white on him in some way, from the Crow -painted Haori that Yiani gave him to the White Coat he had made for himself after achieving the rank of Chuunin. Masaharu has found himself donning a bright white cloak over a black long sleeved combat tunic with odd inscriptions said to be used for sealing and unsealing items on the sleeves and across the shoulders.

* Masaharu in the Academy
* Masaharu when he first became a Genin
* Genin Masaharu after getting Yutagawa
* Masaharu after becoming a Chuunin
* Chuunin Masaharu
* Masaharu1.jpegMasaharu as of this season
* Masaharu without cloak w/ Kuroyuri Weapons
* MasaharuSword.jpegMasaharu’s Sword
* Black Lillies/Kuroyuri
1/9
As a Weapons Specialist, Masaharu might be described as a walking armory with the amount of weapons he has on him, from long range bows for Kyujutsu to armguards with an array of senbon and kunai sealed within to even a set of High Velocity Explosives that could be summoned from sealing tags on his belt, yet among those his primary weapon would remain a simple Katana constructed by Yuki Akiza as well as 3 black-bladed short swords that he refers to as **Black Lilies** or Kuroyuri.

## Trivia

* Masaharu's full name (Kishino Masaharu, きしの 雅暖) can be interpreted as "Knight's Warm Grace."
	+ Masaki Kado was originally going to be Masaki's name until his backstory was thought out.
* Masaharu enjoys the taste of Strawberry.
* Masaharu is said to act like a cat.
* Masaharu knows the Dialect used by the Samurai in Iron Country "Romanji"
* Masaharu smells like Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
* Masaharu is extremely lucky....or maybe more unlucky at times....
* Masaharu despises Wind Release

## Quotes

* (To Hyugo) *"Changing what you call yourself doesn't change what you are, that's almost as deluded as placing yourself under a Genjutsu. I rather not do the same."*
* (To Heiri and Katsuo) *"Yet...it feels like I can't do anything. If I bend then I break and if I stay firm I'll still be left broken and alone."*
* (To Katsuo) *"I wanted both, but I knew I could have so much more with one. Then again I think the coin knew that as well."*
* (To Hyugo) *"I want power, plain and simple. The power I strive for is to protect those I care about..like you, but I also want to fix this system. That way nobody like my grandfather will ever be fit to become a shinobi."*
* (To Hyugo) *"All I do is fight, and fight, and fight and fight, only to be left with nothing... Why is that?"*