Uesugi Kenshin

Rider

[Pride of the Untouchable:Innate:A],

[Maiden of the Battlefield:Innate:A]

Lancer's True Name is **Nagao Kagetora**, better known as **Uesugi Kenshin**. Praised as a peerless warrior in Japan when it comes to battles, the Sengoku Daimyo of Echigo later known as the God of War, Nagao Kagetora. A self-proclaimed avatar of Bishamonten who fought all their lives with righteousness, in the turmoil of the Warring States.

*“One does not bear arms for personal gain. When you are in the right, all shall aid in your cause!”*

## Appearance

At a glance, it seemed like the underside of her hair was almost pitch black while the outside was solid white, lacking any hue. The only thing that broke up this white were three strands of black, creating three diamond shapes, one located in the center of her bangs while the other two were part of the long fringe bangs framing her face. Since her hair was rather long, extending nearly to her feet, it was easily her most noticeable treat, even drawing attention away from her rather mature and well-developed body.

She was surprisingly tall at 170cm, well over the average height of most Japanese women, and had fair skin to go with her peculiar white and black hair. As for her three sizes, she had moderately developed breasts that were around 88cm while her waist and hips were 56 and 84cm respectively.

## Personality

There were exceptions but, unless she was on the battlefield, Kenshin never really understood why humans, even those as powerful and Nobunaga and Vahn, acted the way they did. Unlike other people, she rarely felt any significant emotions and, other than a few regrets, things like hatred, anger, sadness, and even love had always escaped her. Though there sometimes be soft stirrings in her heart, the only time she had wept was over the death of Shingen while the one time she felt like a 'woman' was laying in the bed of Nobunaga. It was for reasons like this that Kenshin didn't really mind if Vahn used her as he pleased as, seeing the changes in Nobunaga, she was curious if he would be able to awaken her slumbering emotions as well.

## History

The first thing Vahn saw when viewing Kenshin's memories was a young girl, around six or seven years old, standing in front of a mirror. She had clear black eyes and short black hair that was neatly tied into a bun held together by two small golden ornaments. This wouldn't have been all that strange a sight but, as the girl was standing with her kimono open as she inspected her own body, Vahn felt more than a little awkward since he couldn't turn away. Just as he was thinking about why this was an important memory for Kenshin, the latter muttered, "From now on, I am no longer a woman..." Following this, she used a ceremonial blade to completely shave off her own hair, cutting her scalp a few times due to her inexperience. After this, Kenshin tightly bound her chest and h.i.p.s before wearing a men's fundoshi with a front-facing cloth.

As he watched her memories continue to play out, it became clear that Vahn was witnessing a time before Kenshin had assumed her identity as many referred to her as Nagao Kagetora. She had come to stay at the Rinsen-ji Temple after her father died in battle and her older brother, Nagao Harukage, seized power. The resultant struggle had resulted in the death of another one of her brothers, Nagao Kageyasu, while Kenshin had only escaped due to her father's vassals sneaking her away. This lead to Kenshin developing a sense of powerlessness as a woman, leading to the scene of her taking on the identity of a man to study Zen and Martial Arts within the temple.

Unlike the undefeatable warrior she would become later in life, Kenshin started off much weaker than the other disciples due to her relatively privileged upbringing as the only daughter of Nagao Tamekage, a reputable warrior serving under the Yamanouchi branch of the Uesugi Clan. As a result, she was often beaten up by the other disciples during spars and was criticized by the other children for her small frame and delicate features. This, however, changed very quickly as Kenshin worked several times harder than normal to overcome her former weakness, aspiring to be an even greater warrior than her father had been. By the time she was nine years old, she was already an 'official' disciple of the temple, setting a precedent that her peers were unable to match as even much older disciples were unable to defeat her.

With a few more years of training, bringing her to fourteen years of age, Kenshin had become a Junior Master at the temple without equal. The only thing that prevented from rising higher was the fact that, regardless of if she identified as a man, the Elders of the temple were very aware that she was a woman. Though she kept her b.r.e.a.s.ts and body wrapped, it was clear for all to see that Kenshin was a female, especially after she hit puberty. Many of the male disciples were a little 'too interested' in her, detracting from their focus and complicating the affairs of the temple as Kenshin's beauty only developed further. Thus, in an effort to be rid of her, the Elders contacted the vassals of the Nagao family to convince them to take Kenshin back now that she had reached marriageable age.

Since Echigo, the province managed by her older brother, had been in dire straits due to his poor health and various policy failures, it wasn't long before Kenshin was contacted by Usami Sadamitsu and several other acquaintances of her father. She was eventually convinced to confront her brother so that her father's legacy wasn't dragged through the mud as their people continued to suffer. Thus, by the age of fifteen, Kenshin had been placed in joint-command of an army and given the task of defending Tochio Castle from rebels. She was able to successfully drive back the rebels and, by the time she was nineteen, Kenshin had taken control of the Nagao clan from her brother Harukage.

This seemed to be a turning point in Kenshin's legend as, though she lacked the formal education required to be a proper administrator, Kenshin was able to understand the character of other people and intuit whether or not their intentions were pure. By placing several capable vassals in charge of managing the province, all while leading her own forces around to enforce order, made Kenshin into a regional hero due to her tireless efforts to bring prosperity to her people. Though she faced a few issues as a result of her gender, this never stopped Kenshin from doing her best, even as she was pressured by the Elders of the Nagao Clan to marry herself into another family to secure an alliance.

Ignoring the 'advice' of others, as she had become a warrior who refused to simply marry herself off to become nothing more than a housewife raising another man's children, Kenshin continued to lead her people until eventually exiling the Elders for their incessant demands. Around this time, when Kenshin had just turned twenty-two, she was asked to provide refuge to her nominal lord, Uesugi Norimasa after he was forced to flee after a failed campaign. Since this would put her entire province in danger, Kenshin only agreed to shelter Norimasa if he would agree to several of her terms. As she was tired of being treated as a woman without say or status, Kenshin had Norimasa adopt her as his son and heir, as his own child had died in battle. She also managed to secure the official title of Lord of Echigo and the post of Kantō Kanrei, making her an official deputy to the Shōgun.

With official status, Kenshin's rise could no longer be halted as she continued to build her prestige upon the battlefield while entrusting the affairs of Echigo to her vassals. Her name had been changed to Uesugi Kagetora and, for a time, the biggest trouble she faced was whether or not the sword or the spear was the superior weapon to take into battle. She had an uncommon proficiency with all weapons but, of the myriad tools of war, Kenshin had a fondness for the two weapons consider the 'kings' in their respective uses. Even though guns were becoming more common on the battlefield, she had no interest in such things as they were awkward and clunky. They were also nearly impossible to aim, to the point that Kenshin would walk through battlefields with no fear of even being grazed by her enemy's rounds. This fearlessness made her seem like a goddess to her vassals as, according to some of the rumors going around at the time, bullets would literally curve away from her as she sipped wine from atop her horse.

Around the time when she was beginning to wage war against the Hōjō Clan, her adoptive father's enemies, Kenshin was praying in the mountains near her estate when she happened across an unexpected sight. There was a white tiger than was more than ten meters in length battling against the inhuman figure of a woman with eight arms, each wielding a different weapon. Without leaving any gaps in her assault, she was pressuring the much larger tiger until it was eventually forced to flee for fear of losing its life. To her surprise, the woman turned to look at her with a face not all that dissimilar to her own, smiling as she introduced herself as the Goddess Bishamonten. Kenshin spent the afternoon conversing with the lively goddess, asking for her opinion on the issue that she had been struggling with for years. In response to her inquiry, Bishamonten simply laughed before answering, "Why not use both?"

From that point onward, though she had awoken atop the mountain as if waking from a fever dream, Kenshin had become a devout believer of Bishamonten. As if a reward for her devotion, Kenshin noticed her hair had gained an otherworldly appearance while her previously black eyes had become gold. This caused her already fervent vassals to begin worshipping her as the Avatar of Bishamonten while also assigning her the moniker of 'God of War'. Though her enemies tried to use this as a means of insulting her as a fanatic, it became very apparent on the various battlefields that Kenshin frequented that it wasn't far from the truth. She had already been peerless in battle before but, after adopting a style that used both the sword and the spear, the only fate that awaited most of her opponents was a swift end.

In this manner, Kenshin waged several successful campaigns, winning glory on several fronts while her only real rivals were Takeda Shingen and Oda Nobunaga. She engaged the two in several large-scale battles, winning each engagement but ultimately failing to stop their expanse and conquest. Her focus had always been on protecting her people and ensuring they could prosper, even if she herself was a warrior by nature. It was frustrating but Kenshin could only do her best fighting on several fronts, racing from battlefield to battlefield to prevent the lines from collapsing. Then, much like her elder brother and even her father, Kenshin began to be plagued by health issues during the Spring and Summer seasons. This never stopped her from appearing on the battlefield, however, clashing against Takeda Shingen in several climactic battles over a twenty-one year period.

At this point in her memories, Kenshin's life became somewhat of a blur as most of her waking moments were spent training fervently, racing between battlefields, or recovering in her bed. Some still pressured her to leave behind an heir but, refusing to abandon the battlefield just to waste what remained of her vitality trying to bear a child was not the end Kenshin desired. Though it was a bit selfish of her as a Daimyo, she was first and foremost a warrior before she was a leader or a woman. The only incidents that affected her during these years were the death of Takeda Shingen, something that had caused her to fall into depression for several months, and the secret meeting she had with Oda Nobunaga in the pursuit of peace.

Though Vahn had assumed 'something' had happened between the two, he could only watch on in silence as Nobunaga played with Kenshin's body after the two got drunk together. It seemed to be a pretty meaningful memory for Kenshin as, unlike the 'blur' of other memories, he got to watch the several hour-long session between the two women in crystal clear quality. This ultimately failed to establish peaceful relations between the two but it did lead to a small ceasefire of sorts as Nobunaga avoided antagonizing Kenshin for a few hours. It wasn't until Kenshin herself routed some of the 'Demon King's' forces that the entered into open conflict once again, something that persisted until Kenshin's ultimate end.

At the age of forty-nine, wracked with pain that made even small movements difficult for her, Kenshin died within her bed before a gathering of more than five-thousand weeping followers, smiling tiredly as she stated, "Even a life-long prosperity is but one cup of sake; A life of forty-nine years is passed in a dream; I know not what life is, nor death. Year in year out-all but a dream. Both Heaven and Hell are left behind; I stand in the moonlit dawn, Free from clouds of attachment..." With these parting words, Kenshin closed her eyes to the world but, just as darkness began to claim her thoughts, a series of memories not her own began to play within her mind...