InsaneJournal

Biography

Character Name: Tousaki Ryouma

Age: 22

Birthday: April 7

Rank outside ANBU: Jounin

Affiliated with which ANBU branch: Hunters

Ninja ID: 010950


Physical Appearance

Height: 190 cm / 6’3”

Weight: 81.6 kg / 180 lbs

Blood Type: B+

Hair: spiky and black. He wears it little longer than normal, partly because it annoys the brass and partly because it fits very well with the bad-boy image he cultivates. Also, getting a hair-cut is a pain. (Yeah, it's a mullet. But it's AWESOME.) [Recently cropped short by nurses at the hospital, but growing out again.]

Eyes: black, deep-set and expressive. He has absurdly long eyelashes for a man.

Skin: a little darker than most Konoha natives; he’s got a year-round tan.

Facial Features: blessed with rugged good looks and a cocky grin, he’s got high cheekbones, a narrow chin, and a straight nose with a very slight dip where it was broken and reset. He goes clean-shaven. His fighting grin is feral and frightening.

Other Physical Traits: tall and rangy, Ryouma’s got the build of a taijutsu user and the fast, long-fingered hands of a ninjutsu expert who spends half his life doing seal-work. He’s also got the energy level of a hyperactive five-year-old. If he’s not fidgeting, he’s probably asleep. His left knee still aches on rainy mornings, and his hands hurt after using the Naizou Tokasu even twice.

Handedness: right-handed.

Voice: baritone verging into bass. Gravels out into a low rumble when he gets intense. His diction improves when he's teasing or sweet-talking.

Identifying Marks: aside from the newly inked ANBU tattoo on his left biceps, Ryouma’s got an intricately detailed dragon tattooed in red and blue and green over his heart, a swirling black abstract design up his left forearm (the old sign of the Canal Street Gang), and a bloody dagger over his right hip-bone. He also has the usual multitude of scars, the most noticeable of which angles in a ridged line from the bottom of the ribcage on his left side almost to the dagger tattoo on his right hip. (The tattoo, in fact, commemorates surviving that wound). [During his recent torture, the dragon tattoo was half obliterated when long strips of skin were flayed off Ryouma's chest. He also lost his left nipple and suffered a long acid-burn down his left arm, through his ANBU tattoo.]

Usual Clothing: When he’s not in ANBU uniform or jounin uniform (always modified by the addition of fingerless gloves), Ryouma tends to rely on band tee-shirts, ripped jeans, combat pants, and hoodies--often also branded with the logos of his favorite band. He dresses more for comfort than for style, but always ends up on the edge of style anyway. He often wears shorts in cold weather, just to be contrary. At any given time, he's more than likely to be, uh, less than fully clothed.

ANBU Mask: A ram, with stylized swirling horns in red.

Living Situation: Upon joining ANBU, Ryouma moved out of his tiny apartment on the edge of the slums and into apartment 316. His place is minimally furnished, with second-hand odds and ends, and usually untidy. He's extremely proud of his stereo and has several band posters plastered on the wall. It's very much the apartment of a young man who has no visitors and spends most of his time somewhere else.


Ninja Skills

Fighting Style: Ninjutsu and taijutsu user. He relies on taijutsu (in a bastardized version of the Jyuuken he watched his genin sensei use) to get him close to his opponent, and then delivers the killing blow with a palm-strike loaded with ninjutsu. In a pinch, he resorts to the no-holds-barred brawling techniques he learned on the streets. He's a very dirty fighter. Chakra natures: Fire, Water

Preferred Weapons: katana, kunai, shuriken, and hands.

Special Jutsu: Ryouma’s unique jutsu build upon his competing chakra natures of fire and water to viciously and messily destroy the human body. During the war, he was known by reputation and rumor as the kid who melted people's faces.

Nikutai Tokasu no Jutsu (Human Flesh Melt) - B-rank ninjutsu, uses seals Monkey, Hare, Dragon, Ox, Bird, Boar, Horse, Dragon, Monkey, Dog. Lights the hands with a sickly black-green chakra, and melts whatever flesh it touches and whatever lies beneath. Attacks instantly, but spreads slowly. Requires physical contact. Terminates with the Ram seal and an abrupt severing of the chakra flow.

Nikutai Hakai no Jutsu (Human Body Destruction) - B-rank ninjutsu, finishes with Bird seal. No visible chakra, but violently decomposes any organic material in a matter of minutes. A human body takes less than 5 minutes to be rendered into nasty oozy compost.

Naizou Tokasu no Jutsu (Internal Organs Melt) - A-rank ninjutsu, Ryouma's only original jutsu which can be utilized at any distance (up to 3 meters). Fires a jolt of chakra which, upon a direct hit, liquefies his victim's soft organs. Can be dodged, but is absolutely fatal if it connects. Seal sequence: Ox, Hare, Bird, Boar, Hare, Monkey, Dog, Ram, Horse, Monkey, Dragon, Ox, Snake. Ryouma can use it twice a day if he's lucky.


Service Record: Graduated at 14, after 3 years in the Academy. Promoted to chuunin at 15 and sent to the front lines of the war. At 17, three days after the Kyuubi attack, he was promoted to special jounin and sent on a long-term assignment to the north-west border of Fire Country. During the two years he spent there guarding the border against attacks from Cloud shinobi, he mastered his second chakra nature and perfected the Naizou Tokasu no Jutsu. He was promoted to jounin at the age of 19 and also recieved command of the Dainichi Nyorai Temple Outpost, hidden in the mountains of southern Lightning Country, where he and his team monitored the Kumogakure military installation Camp Chiwabe and performed missions on the border and within Lightning Country.


Personality

General Personality Traits: Ryouma doesn’t know how to spell the word angst, and he’s never needed to. In his world, survival means fighting past and moving on. Avoidance may not be the most healthy behavior, but it works fine for him. He’s cheerful, obnoxious, brash, and unpolished. Whether it’s a mission or a new sushi bar, he tends to be adventurous, reckless, and emotionally open; he’s a little hot-tempered, and not at all reserved. His rough background has led him to consider most others sheltered, and he alternately teases and looks out for those less street-wise than he. He’s absolutely irreverent towards authority and often pushes just to get a reaction. However, he has a deep sense of responsibility and obligation, and he will do anything to repay a debt.

Ryouma is also insatiably curious and quite intelligent. His memory is excellent, although he tends to only remember things he considers interesting or important. He’s mouthy, witty, and entirely capable of fast-talking himself into (and occasionally out of) deep trouble, but when necessary he can also demonstrate a surprising amount of tact, and even a deep-buried gentleness. He has few inhibitions, and no dignity.

Quirks: Functionally illiterate; he knows a handful of the kanji that show up most frequently on mission briefs, and that's about it. Flirts shamelessly with either gender in order to get what he wants. Sleeps in the buff. Very seldom invites anyone into his apartment. Hates alcohol and prefers caffeine. Learning to juggle in his spare time—he’s currently working on smoke bombs and trying to upgrade to kunai. Might possibly be addicted to soldier pills; certainly addicted to coffee.

Sexual Orientation: mostly straight, with an interesting sense of humor. He's confident enough in himself not to care what other people think. Or, occasionally, what he makes them think. He loves sex, loves pleasing his partners and finding pleasure in return, and takes three-month missions at the first mention of commitment.

Gifts/Talents: Curiosity and inventiveness have combined to give him a talent for creating new (usually uniquely horrible) ninjutsu. He’s almost equally good at impromptu and impassioned speeches. He can do amazing shadow-pictures with his hands, pick pockets, sail, tickle trout, and whistle very loudly without using his fingers. He's also a champion player of Five-Finger Fillet. Partially due to his illiteracy, his aural recall is near-perfect; he can remember a conversation or a movie word-for-word months after hearing it.

Flaws: Reckless and far too stubborn; he can be unsteady in tight spots and needs someone stable to rely on and to pull him back from the brink. He’s utterly incapable of not poking something with a stick to see what will happen next. Loses consistently at cards and spends his money (usually on girls, cards, and his kids) even quicker than he makes it.

Religion and Philosophy: He’s sometimes wished there was a reason bad things happened to good people—or at least someone he could beat up about it—but on the other hand, he’s often one of those bad things. So he tries not to think about it. The closest he’s ever gotten to religious education is memorizing the Shinobi Code.

Likes and Loves: Girls. Coffee. Food (anything with sugar is automatically a favorite, especially pie, chocolate, ice cream, and energy bars). Bugging his comrades or, failing that, anyone in range. Loud, fast music, especially alternative rock bands like Shuriken Force and Atomic Sunrise. Spending a lazy afternoon with the street-kids and watching them stuff themselves into a stupor at a cheap restaurant. Action movies, especially those with zombies, pirates, and lots of explosions. Soldier pills. Citrus-scented soap. Maps. Gossip. Sleep.

Dislikes and Hates: Alcohol. Invasion of his personal space—which can range from someone entering his apartment unasked, to someone touching his pack on a mission. Undeserved arrogance. Authority. Stupid rules. Reading.

Fears: Drunk men. Failing to protect someone in his charge; going blind; accidentally melting a friend; being utterly defenseless and powerless; being left behind, or leaving someone else. [Since his recent torture, he also has a darkness phobia.]

Dreams and Ambitions: Ryouma’s spent his life focusing much more on surviving each day than on planning for the future. If pressed, he’d probably kick back and spin a long yarn about his plans to retire and become a pirate, but he wouldn’t mean it. He’d like to see the street kids grow up and make something of their lives, but he’s realistic about those chances. He'd really like to get his bio in the Bingo Book, and he actually has a shot at that.


Relationships

Family: For Ryouma, family is something that happens to other people. If his chuunin mother ever knew his father’s name—which he doubts—she died before she could tell her son. His alcoholic grandfather died of liver-failure five years later, leaving Ryouma stranded in south-eastern Fire Country with only a few fading bruises and his mother’s dogtags to remind him of his family name.

The street gang he joined at age nine wasn’t much of a family, either, but kids looked after each other as best they could. A few of the little ones, the ones who’d called him aniki, entered the Academy after him. They didn’t last long. Shinji, the last of them, died in the mud on the Stone Country border when he was fourteen and Ryouma was sixteen. Ryouma melted the face off the guy who killed him and spent the next hour throwing up.

The child gangs are mostly off the streets now, but Ryouma still stops by the old haunts every once in a while to offer a ragged collection of runaways food, impromptu training sessions, and the sight of an adult who's not out to get them. In the past three years, two of “his” kids have entered the Academy. Ryouma pays their entrance fees and doesn’t mention it to a soul.

Friends: Despite his history, Ryouma is quick to adjust to new circumstances and make new acquaintances. He doesn’t often use the word friend, since even to him it seems to imply something more than drinking buddies or mission partners. When he does use it, it means that he’s finally recognized someone with whom he can fight back to back—not someone to protect nor be protected by—in combat and in everything else. He's probably closest to his teammates from his time on the border outpost, but none of them are currently in Konoha.

He's got a healthy respect (and, okay, the remnant of a crush) for his old jounin sensei, Hyuuga Hitomi, a tough and gorgeous Branch woman who brooked no nonsense, forced her students to run until they threw up, and trained them as best she could for the war that took all of them--and only gave back two--anyway. His surviving teammate made it to chuunin, got pregnant, and retired to raise her baby. Ryouma hasn't spoken to her for years, but he still keeps an eye on her occasionally, just to make sure she's doing okay.

Lovers: Ryouma will hit on just about anyone, but he dates tough girls with gorgeous curves and shinobi dogtags. He hates breaking girls' hearts and knows it'll happen someday anyway, so it's easier if they don't have much of a heart to break. He’s gone through a long string of girlfriends, and none of them have ever lasted longer than a few months. Oddly enough, even though most of the breakups ended with his vase of apology-flowers getting thrown at his head, almost all of his ex-girlfriends still have fond memories of him. And of the sex. Oh, man, do they remember the sex.

Recently Ryouma has found himself in something of a...bizarrity with Hatake Kakashi. He's got no idea what's going on, but the emotional connection is one of the most important in his life. The sex isn't bad, either.

Hero: Namikaze Minato, who was not only the best shinobi Konoha ever produced, but also the first person ever to express interest in Ryouma's jutsu. Sharingan no Kakashi, based entirely on his reputation and not at all not much on his personality.

Enemies: He doesn’t really do enemies. If he has reason to kill someone, that person is dead. Preferably in a very messy fashion.


Personal History:
When Ryouma was three years old, his mother’s dogtags came back alone from a mission to Stone Country. Her drifter father took Ryouma in, but there was a reason for the Dishonorable Discharge on his shinobi papers, and his drinking killed him before Ryouma was eight. Abandoned in a gambling city in south-eastern Fire Country, Ryouma survived for six months in an orphanage before he made his way back to Konoha and spent two years living on the streets.

Fire Country was at war, and it had neither the time nor the resources to look after its forgotten children. Street gangs—made up of Academy drop-outs, refugees, orphans, and nobodies like Ryouma—flourished. The Canal Street gang was the first place Ryouma ever found a home and a purpose. He learned to fight, to steal, and to look after the little kids who had no one else to protect them. He was eleven years old, and the top fighter of his gang, when a bored shinobi broke up a street fight, broke Ryouma’s arm, and told him to register at the Academy when it healed.

He didn’t have the entrance fee, but he had his mother’s dogtags, and his war-orphan status guaranteed him admittance. Five years older than most of the other first-years, Ryouma found himself behind on almost everything, from the basics of chakra use to the concept of writing his name. What he could do—and what he did extraordinarily well—was fight. And for the next three years, fighting meant becoming the best.

He graduated at fourteen, a year ahead of the students who’d entered with him. He could barely write his name, and he still hasn’t read a newspaper, but he could beat most first-year chuunin in a fight. He was assigned to a genin team under the stern command of Hyuuga Hitomi, along with two ten-year-old teammates: Takamura Kenichi and Yuzuki Shouri. By that time he was already working on the first of his viciously destructive ninjutsu. At fifteen he’d mastered it, and he received a field promotion to chuunin after he melted an enemy’s arm off. Three weeks later, he was fighting on the front lines of the Third Ninja War.

He was sixteen when the war ended, and it took him another year and a half to work up to another promotion. By then the village was smoldering in the wake of the Kyuubi’s attack, and Konoha needed all the shinobi it could get. Three days after the Sandaime Hokage took up his fallen successor’s mantle again, Ryouma had his special jounin vest and a new assignment. He spent the next two years fighting Lightning Country forays in the north, defending the Fire Country’s borders against any attempt to capitalize on Konoha’s weakness. By the time the peace treaty was signed—and the Hyuuga Affair happened—Ryouma had finally mastered his second chakra nature, created his Naizou Tokasu no Jutsu, and received a promotion to full jounin. He was also promoted to commander of the Dainichi Nyorai Temple Post, the hidden Konoha outpost where he'd been stationed for most of the past two years. For the next three years, Ryouma alternated between border duty and jounin missions, with only brief stints in Konoha itself (mostly in the hospital). When a massively messed-up mission destroyed his post, sent his team on the run, and nearly led to open war between Konoha and Kumo, though, Ryouma figured his time on the border was done.

As far as he knows, there’s only one place to go after you hit jounin (well, two, but he’s not quite cocky enough to set his sights on the Hokage’s hat.) After months of toying with the idea, he signed up for ANBU. He’s got no plans for the future, but he hasn’t exactly got anywhere else to go.