Kurenai Shijima

Full name: Kurenai Shijima
Age: 24
Race: Human
Birthplace: Yamagakure
Status: Active
Faction: Power Wielder Hero, Tier 3 (10,000 ~ 100,000)
IRL Years of Existence: 2 years, 8 months (Approved on Jan 27, 2004)

Appearance

Until recently, Kurenai constantly wore a specially treated mask, one that would not shift or move to reveal the underlying shape of his face. This was primarily done to hide a hideous deformity of his lower face, sustained during one of his first missions as a shinobi of Yamagakure. This was healed only recently, as most of Kurenai's body was covered in burns sustained in a fight with Johan Fahst during the 2006 Tenkaichi Budoukai.

Powers

Kurenai possesses the same finely honed skills that one would expect of a typical ninja. He also commands a mysterious force called 'chakra' in his home village. It is very similar to ki power, save that it cannot be sensed until it manifests in some external form. It can produce a wide range of varied effects, and is easily bent to elemental manifestations.

Biography

Kurenai was born to a fallen family, a clan that once knew great power and commanded fear and respect throughout the village. Seventy years before Kurenai's birth, one of his relatives went mad and summoned a powerful demon in the middle of the village. Unable to control the creature, the demon slew its summoner and proceeded to lay waste to the village. It took the combined might of the entire standing ninja "army" to subdue the creature and send it back to its home plane. In the aftermath of the incident, the villagers, championed by the Kai clan, called for the summary execution of all Shijima to prevent another such incident of demon-summoning from ever threatening the village again. Under overwhelming public pressure, the Jounin Assembly and Council of Shadows were forced to comply with the village's demands. All but the youngest clan members were gathered and executed, and the sole survivor, an infant named Takeda, had his hereditary powers sealed away by the Void Kage's powerful jutsu skills.

Kurenai's youth was fraught with prejudice and discrimination. He was ostracized by his peers for his lineage, and barred entrance to the ninja academy for several years. He was ten years old when the Void Kage, one of the five ninja that govern Yamagakure, finally relented and approved his application.

Even though he had achieved one goal, he still faced many obstacles. Kurenai was held to far higher standards than his classmates, and his instructors frequently demanded nothing less than absolute perfection to pass. Needless to say, Kurenai's progression through the academy's years was slow and arduous. He eventually graduated, and were he any normal child, he would have been hailed as one of the finest progeny ever to enroll in the academy.

As a further insult, he was placed with two graduates each three years his junior: Reada Kai and Masa Oshin, and both had graduated at the tops of their respective classes. On their first mission, Kurenai suffered severe acid burns to his lower face, throat and collarbone. Although he survived without serious damage to his windpipe or vital organs, help was not fast enough to prevent tremendous scarring. He was given a special mask to conceal his disfigurement.

Two years later, the village's Chuunin Exam was held. Over much protest, Kurenai was permitted to take the exam. He passed, even considering the higher standards he was held to, and took his place among the journeymen shinobi of the village.

Shortly after the exam's graduation ceremony, Reada Kai underwent a family ritual to have his hereditary Byakugan improved. The ritual succeeded to a far greater degree than was thought possible, and the sudden surges of power and insight into Reada's mind fractured his sanity and demolished his sense of logic. He slew a number of his kin, and fled the village in the confusion.

Kurenai requested that he be the one to track and retrieve Reada. His request was granted, and though it took just over two years, Kurenai finally cornered his former friend. Utilizing a skill he had been gifted with by the Void Kage, Kurenai attempted to seal out the Byakugan from Reada's mind. But the hereditary power had entrenched itself too deeply, and the act of Sealing caused extensive brain damage, resulting in Reada's painful death.

That his attempt to save his friend only ended up killing him, Kurenai slumped into a depression. Over the course of the hunt for Reada, Masa had been growing more and more distant, especially since Reada had killed Masa's only sister. It was only a matter of time, and prolonged inexplicable absence before Masa was declared a deserter as well, and Kurenai was ordered to go after him. Although he appeared to accept the task on the surface, Kurenai had no intent to complete this assignment. He gathered his things and left the village as if to get on with his task. The Void Kage, however, saw Kurenai's real motives, and sent the young chuunin's former sensei, a one-eyed man named Ichime, to subdue him.

During the battle that ensued, Kurenai unleashed his family's ancestral power, having developed a means to temporarily dissolve the seal placed on his grandfather's bloodline. Kurenai summoned his clan's first matriarch, a female fire-devil with whom he shared a name, and bonded with her both physically and spiritually. Under the influence of this infernal power, Kurenai trashed Ichime to within an inch of his life. Only his supreme willpower kept him from taking his former teacher's life. Kurenai expelled the devil from himself and fled the village, never to return.

After his flight from Yamgakure Kurenai sought out Johan Fahst, whom he had observed during the 2005 Tenkaichi Budoukai. He believed that the conjuror, with his extensive knowledge of demons and their myriad natures, could help him learn more of his ancestors' power. For a time he boarded with Fahst, utilizing the conjuror's summoning facilities to exercise and strengthen his own demon-summoning skills. The arrangement lasted until the conclusion of the 2006 Budoukai, whereupon Kurenai left Fahst's manor. He traveled to West City armed with a false identity and enrolled in James Kaider's Schule vom Gemut, where he currently resides.