Tasuna Ashihei

[0-3] Born on a dark and stormy night much like any other in Amegakure to the couple of Shoko (Mother) and Montaro (Father) Tasuna beneath the makeshift refuge of a compassionate newspaper salesman's cart and tattered awning. The pair of poor newlywed vagabonds challenged with raising a fresh soul with barely the ability to take care of their own. Around the age of three was his earliest memory, their home nothing more than an abandoned store room behind one of the many ubiquitous industrial towers of the village. His father Montaro sat against the wall writhing in pain as his blood drenched a foreign flack jacket as he clutched poorly made steels in either hand. He was no shinobi, but rather a thief by necessity. He could not afford to feed his family so he stole. He stole food, clothes, and the arms he did it with. Their predicament although unfortunate was not uncommon, there were many poor families who were  forced into his fathers same behavior. The common struggle meant competition, as what could be stolen was scarce and often resulted in deadly fights amongst poor men. But his father was a smart and strategic man of strong will, his family was kept warm and ate every night. On this particular night, what he remembered, what he saw, was that irrefutable greenish glow of chakra that poured from his mothers hands. Embraced over his fathers wounds with an overtone of what could be described as love, Ashihei saw his mother heal for the very first time. She unlike his father, was a shinobi in a past life.

[4-6] From that moment forward the wispy green glow frightened him. The nights when his father would return home wounded he would hide in anticipation of his mothers healing. Montaro and Shoko would try and console his peculiar fear, stressing that the glow was not malicious, but to no avail. He was young but he wasn’t naive for his age. Ashihei understood from the first moment his mother performed healing on his father what was truly taking place in his own way. What he was truly afraid of was how weak his father became each time after, coming home hurt more and more each night. It was as if he slowly became more reckless and less strategic knowing he could have any injury save for the most fatal healed without consequence, without expense. There were nights during these years that they didn’t eat. He watched as his mother steadily became depleted, exhausted from constantly healing his father with no way of fully replenishing her chakra. She would hardly sleep as she worried through the night and half the time would feed Ashihei most of her portions to keep him from crying over hunger. It was because of this Ashihei never let his mother heal him, always pulling away each time she tried.

[7-9] By the time he was seven his family’s situation became dire. His father had become unable to fight every night and his mother was too weak to scavenge in his stead. It was at this point in his life that he had to become a weapon. His father, on the nights he was unable to fight, taught Ashihei basic self defense and what little he knew about the actual weapon based and hand to hand arts. Though the majority of his time was spent with his mother as she taught him the principles of chakra, chakra control, and the ins and outs of the human body. By his eighth birthday both his mother and father were no longer self sufficient by a physical means, and it was he on the front lines of the Amegakure streets with nothing but the basic skill of his mothers Iryō Ninjutsu and his fathers dulled low quality steels. The only other resource at this time was his age. Being a mere child kept him from being targeted as the other poor adult men fought each for goods already stolen by one another. He kept his family alive another year by simply looting other competitors during battles and sneaking off with the innocence of his youth. It wasn’t until age nine that others on the street began to catch wind of his strategy.

On the night of a seemingly average battle between two poor head of households he went for a stash of stolen of goods. In it a rigging of exploding tags primed for proximity. He managed to be quick enough to escape the blast radius in time, but the explosions shockwave flung him clear across the street before slamming him vigorously into the side of an adjacent building wall. It was clear upon the moment of discovery that it was a set up, but it wasn’t until he regained consciousness  did he find himself surrounded by his accusers. What should have been the end of his life was voided by the last people he expected. His amber eyes took in the sight of his mother and father, weakened, but full of determination. He fell out of consciousness again thereafter. As he awoke he found the area strewn with bodies, among them his mother and father. Running over in tears he approached them with vibrant cries as they laid side by side in the rain within a shared pool of blood. His father had already passed, but it was his mother he locked eyes with. He knelt down frantically and begun his efforts to heal her wounds but he was stopped by the grip of her hand around his wrist. “Healing is a personal journey, and only for ones self.” Were her final words as she smiled before following after her husband.

[9-13] As fate would have it, the streets that day were not cleaned up by the assassins and criminals that frequently roamed Amegakure, but by a traveling division of the Otogakure medical ninja. He along with the rest of the non deceased of the battle were taken in and treated accordingly. Ashihei on the other hand refused to be examined and was shortly thereafter taken with them back to the Otogakure Medical Ward for monitoring. With his parents deceased and his condition unclear he gave no restraints in that respect as there was nothing left for him in Ame. During the weeks trip Ashihei had clandestinely healed his own wounds and ailments with his mothers last words in mind. He repeated them constantly as he conquered his fear of Iryō Ninjutsu, performing what she had taught him for the very first time. By the time he arrived at the medical ward he was healthy and deemed unnecessary for monitoring. He was released that same day, let go into the arms of Otogakure.

The nature of things much more lax in the new land of Oto than what he was used to back in Ame. There was a consistent shinobi force present and was without high poverty and crime. His old ways within this context would most certainly have him caught and jailed within the day. As a means to an end, his best choice was the academy. He was already essentially a ninja, already a weapon, he just needed some refining. From ages nine to twelve Ashihei attended the Otogakure Academy, learning the basic tools to the occupation of being a ninja. Joining the villages military in the process taking care of  his food and living expenses in exchange for his decision of service. In the Academy he would excel in lessons of chakra control and keep pace with the ninjutsu and genjutsu lessons taught. The hand to hand arts however, eluding his talent base from the start, but not so much as to deter his progress. By age 13 he has graduated from the academy and is acknowledged as a Genin of Otogakure with his past life behind him, but with its memories as a guiding force towards his resolve moving forward.