Ogo — Roleplayer Guild

Art by: ielleja | HONEYxPOISON

Name: Uesugi Kimiko

Nickname: Kimi | Mega-bitch | Princess [not in a flattering manner]
Heiress to the Uesugi Clan | Kimiko of the Phantom Blade

Age: 14 | 27

Gender: Female

Height: 181cm (5ft 11in) | 185cm (6ft 1in)

Nature: Wind | Wind, Fire

Personality: In her youth, Kimiko was very much a carefree girl. As both the third-born child and a daughter, very few responsibilities and expectations were placed upon her, leading the rather unmotivated girl to coast through her early life while putting in as little effort as possible. Having grown accustomed to being the center of attention and able to indulge her every whim, it’s fair to say that the girl became rather spoiled, selfish, and stubborn. When things didn’t go her way, she was prone to tantrums and fits of rage. 

Despite her terrible attitude however, the girl was gifted with rather impressive innate aptitude as a kunoichi. She would quickly pick up new concepts and techniques. Things just came to her easily. Unfortunately, this only continued to fuel her already poor motivation and undeserved confidence. She could get by simply by half-assing her assignments. If things worked out, then great. If not, well, it certainly couldn’t be her fault. Or at least that’s how she would justify her failings. Her selfish, aloof nature made for a nightmare teammate. She was certainly competent, but she thought little of her companions or opponents.

Kimiko thought so highly of her own abilities, that in her first attempt at the Chuunin Exams, she offered an opponent a wager: if she couldn’t finish him in three strikes, she would forfeit. He knocked her out cold. And despite that, the girl's confidence remained as high as ever.

Outside of her uh..."professional life", Kimiko was a rather outgoing person. She enjoyed being around other people. Or rather, she enjoyed other people being around her. She found it easy to speak to people. But Kimiko spoke very bluntly to others, and it wasn't due to any lack of social awareness. She knew that she could be cruel at times, but she simply chose to do it anyway. She valued honesty very highly, unwilling to lie to save face. If her words hurt others, at least it helped them acknowledge a truth they might not want to see. As such, she didn't amass a very large collection of friends. But the ones she did have knew her to be genuine and loyal. 

Later in life, after the untimely deaths of her two older brothers, Kimiko would mature quite a bit. With the weight of her clan squarely on her shoulders, the former slacker would go on to become a rather hard-worker, practicing her craft like a woman possessed. While her confidence and stubborn streak would never truly falter, she would no longer underestimate those around her. She couldn’t afford to. Every task, every opponent could be her last. There couldn’t be room for error. Even her temper would evolve - going from quick, loud outbursts to more of an intensely-focused long burn.

The bratty, self-absorbed girl from the past would become an intense, responsible young woman, very much an echo of her father.

Background: The Uesugi clan can trace its roots to the Land of Iron. Historically, the clan was little more than another minor samurai family with little notable achievements to boast about, and it likely would have remained as such if not for the actions of Uesugi Minoru. Minoru was the seventh son of the clan’s leader and, believing there to be little opportunity to earn honor by staying in his ancestral home, sat out to seek his glory elsewhere once he became of age. 

In his travels, Minoru came to trade blows with a number of shinobi from a number of lands. The young samurai grew increasingly enamored with the techniques used by these foreign warriors and, after some time, sought out teachers to learn their ways. It was his belief that one could not hope to overcome one’s foes without first understanding one’s foes. He would develop his own style, one that married elements of the two opposing ideologies.

Upon returning to his home after many years abroad, Minoru would find only ruins and destruction. While he was away, a rival clan had claimed the lands owned by the Uesugi clan as their own and, backed by a powerful warlord in the region, had taken them by force. A grieving Minoru, sole survivor of his father’s sons, would then gather the remnants of his clan and, seeing no viable future for his people in the Land of Iron, would once again leave for foreign lands.

The clan would settle in the Land of Fire, home to shinobi who saw it fit to teach Minoru the arts of ninjutsu. The exiled samurai would go on to refine his style, passing it on to his children, and their children after. The Uesugi clan’s rather unorthodox style would lead them to produce a number of exceptional bounty hunters specialized in combating shinobi. 

-

Many, many years later, Kimiko would be born to the Uesugi clan’s current head, an intense - yet quiet - giant of a man by the name of Uesugi Daiki. She would be his third child and first daughter. While not outright antagonistic towards her, Daiki would take little interest in his daughter’s life. Matters of the clan would take precedent, and what little time he could spare would be spent training his sons in the Uesugi style of swordplay.

Kimiko would be far from neglected, however. Both of her brothers - Uesugi Takehiko (the eldest) and Uesugi Masahiko (the middle child) - absolutely adored their sister and would dote on her every chance they could. Other family members, seeing the inconsistency in Daiki’s treatment of his children, would attempt to overcompensate for the young girl as well, which likely led to her inflated sense of self-worth and entitlement.

When it came time for Kimiko to begin to learn her clan’s techniques, Daiki delegated her training to her uncle, a decision which infuriated the young girl. An indignant Kimiko would then challenge her father out of sheer embarrassment. It went about as well as one might think a young child fighting a master swordsman would go. Deeply humiliated, the girl had little choice but to respect her father’s decision.

Behind their father’s back, Takehiko and Masahiko would give Kimiko additional lessons. And between those lessons and the training of her uncle - an accomplished swordsman by his own right - Kimiko was shaping up to be a rather formidable swordswoman. She very well had the potential to be an exceptional kunoichi, easily amongst the best of her peers. The issue was that Kimiko was acutely aware of that fact. That knowledge, paired with the lack of difficulty - at least in Kimiko’s eyes - in her missions gave the girl all the excuse she needed to stop trying. Why bother pushing herself if she was already destined to be great? Why waste the energy? 

Unfortunately, this sharp drop in motivation didn’t reflect in her performance. Her missions were still being completed, regardless if she took things easy or not. And that only served to fuel her ever-expanding ego. The girl hadn’t faced any real setbacks in her life.

That is, until her first attempt at the Chuunin exams.

During a segment of the exams to evaluate practical combat ability, Kimiko faced a foreign shinobi. The girl, having already deemed herself far and away his superior, not to mention a shoo-in for promotion to Chuunin, decided that she needed to make things a little more interesting. She announced to her opponent that should she fail to neutralize him in three strikes or less, then she would forfeit.

Ultimately, she would never have to make good on her word, as before Kimiko managed to even strike the young man a single time, he effortlessly overpowered her. She was out before she ever hit the ground.

Now, a thoroughly embarrassed Kimiko angrily awaits another shot at taking the exams, ready to finally claim the reward that was stolen from her and prove that her humiliating defeat was little more than a fluke.

-

Some time later, after finally becoming a Chuunin, Kimiko’s world would be violently shaken. Uesugi Masahiko would be slain on the trail of an incredibly violent rogue-ninja by the name of Ose Nobuyuki. Not long afterwards, in a desperate attempt to avenge his little brother, Uesugi Takehiko would foolishly abandon a mission and his team in order to hunt down the rogue shinobi alone. And he too would be cut down long before his time.

Given no alternatives, a grieving Uesugi Daiki would finally be forced to acknowledge his daughter. He personally took over from his younger brother and began to instill within the young woman the knowledge and training she would require to lead the clan in the future. In a cruel, twisted sort of way, Kimiko’s wish was granted. She finally got what she wanted. All it cost her was the lives of her brothers. It wasn’t worth it.

She resisted at first, grieving in her own way, but eventually the woman had little choice but to accept the weight of the responsibility that had finally been placed upon her. In her father, she found a teacher who was both ruthless and effective. He instilled a sense of discipline she had hereto lacked. And under his tutelage, she would finally begin to reach her true potential. 

She would learn everything he had to teach, all with the unspoken goal of hunting down Ose Nobuyuki and personally carving her brothers’ names into his corpse.

Fighting Style: Members of the Uesugi clan are strong practitioners of kenjutsu, with their style sharing a lot of similarities with that utilized by the samurai of the Land of Iron. Specifically the reliance on Iaidō as a basis on which the rest of the style is built upon. Quick, precise strikes ending with the blade being resheathed comprise the core of the Uesugi style. The aim is to quickly take advantage of the moment an enemy shinobi is performing their hand signs in order to either interrupt their technique, or incapacitate them completely, either by disabling their hands, arms, or outright killing them. By resheathing, the Uesugi shinobi is able to recreate the strength drawn by their explosive draw if necessary while also allowing them the opportunity to perform their own hand signs if the situation calls for ninjutsu or genjutsu to be utilized instead.

The Uesugi school of swordplay contains three major styles, with practitioners typically learning the basics for all three before specializing in one. These include:

The Way of Dawn - A style that weaves in the use of offensive-type ninjutsu alongside typical swordplay. Followers of this style typically utilize the Fire-style, capitalizing on the explosive nature of those jutsu in order to mask their own movements and better position for follow-up attacks. In addition, practitioners frequently use elemental Chakra Flow to enhance their weapons to make their strikes even more potent. Fire-style users in particular tend to light their blades on fire in an attempt to unnerve the opposition. Typically fighters within this style prefer to remain within point-blank to close-range. As such, it’s of the utmost importance that users possess high dexterity and speed in order to get their hand signs off while in such close proximity to their opponents. Their goal is to overwhelm opponents quickly and end the fight as soon as possible.

The Way of Dusk - A style that relies heavily upon genjutsu to create openings for the user to deliver fatal blows more effectively. Rather than rely upon rapid, flashy attacks such as those within the Way of Dawn, followers of this style prefer to take their time to set up the perfect strike. As such, the style tends to favor a more defensive stance, with practitioners constantly parrying or blocking until they can capitalize on a lapse in focus in their opponent. The defensive specialists prefer mid-to-long range, engaging their opponents in a battle of attrition. Patience and precision are the two key factors in this style, as opportunities to go on the offense may not present themselves often.

The Way of Twilight - If the other two styles include elements of ninjutsu and genjutsu respectively, then it would be fair to assume that this style would be the specialized in taijutsu, and while it is true that the style includes far more taijutsu elements than the others, it’s not exactly the focus. The Way of Twilight revolves around the utilization of a technique known as a “Chakra Echo.” In the moment before a follower of this style draws his blade, he gathers his chakra around his body and, as he goes to launch his attack, sheds and materializes it. This results in the formation of chakra in the form of stored energy that can be activated, or “released”, to effectively “echo” an attack, repeating it. Advanced users are even capable of priming their echoes to utilize other techniques; a common example of this would be the use of the standard samurai technique “Flash” being stored in a number of echoes before being fired simultaneously. Utilization of Chakra Echoes, however, costs the user quite a bit of chakra. The initial formation of the Echo demands a large amount of upfront chakra, as well as a constant strain on the user to keep it formed. Priming them with another technique requires the expenditure of an appropriate amount of chakra as well. Releasing the Echo, however, occurs anytime the user ends the supply of chakra, whether intentionally or not. Due to this intense strain on a user’s chakra, their normal swordplay is generally augmented with taijutsu. For a follower of the Way of Twilight to be successful, they will require either a large chakra capacity or incredible control over it. It would also serve them well to possess superb spacial awareness and high dexterity and agility.

While Kimiko has been trained in the basics of all three, her specialization lies with the Way of Twilight. While her chakra reserves are nothing too special, she’s demonstrated a high level of control over it, and her natural speed and agile movements complement the style nicely. 

As heir presumptive of the Uesugi clan, it became Kimiko’s duty to master all three styles of the family’s school. It was no small feat, but by her mid-twenties, Kimiko had earned the right to make such a claim. In combat, she’s capable of identifying the style most appropriate to her current situation and swapping to it on the fly, although it’s not unusual to see her dancing through the different styles with each individual strike.

Abilities:

In addition to her basic kenjutsu and taijutsu training as well as the common ninjutsu and genjutsu taught to all academy students, Kimiko has picked up a number of techniques both from her clan and her Jounin squad leader.

Chakra Flow - a type of technique utilized to extend the flow of one’s chakra. Typically, this can be applied to objects an individual comes in contact with. The most common use of this would likely be the flowing of chakra into a weapon, such as a sword or kunai. This can be done to enhance the natural properties of the weapon or - when one utilizes elemental chakra in this manner - to create new effects. The samurai of the Land of Iron use this technique extensively to enhance their kenjutsu, and the Uesugi clan are no different.

Way of Twilight: Chakra Echo - the core technique of the Way of Twilight. At its simplest form, a Chakra Echo is a manifestation of a user’s potential energy. By utilizing Chakra Flow, one can create a replication of their body and the energy stored in their muscles in the moment before an attack is made. Often, this takes the form of a semi-transparent “ghost” or afterimage of the user. The formation of an Echo requires a large upfront cost of chakra, and maintaining it consumes a steady amount from the user. When that supplemental chakra flow is interrupted, the potential energy is released in the form of the Echo carrying out the action that was stored then dissipating. Advanced users of this technique are capable of storing longer sequences of attacks or more complex techniques at a higher initial chakra cost. As a Genin, Kimiko’s chakra replenishment rate is capable of sustaining up to three Echoes simultaneously, although at that point she would begin burning through her reserves rather quickly.

Way of Twilight: Arcing Slash - this wide slash is meant to cover as much area in a single strike as possible. The area denial of this ability may not seem too impressive on its own, but when utilized by a number of Chakra Echoes surrounding an opponent, they serve to limit the target’s avenues of escape, opening them up for a more substantial targeted follow-up strike by the user.

Way of Twilight: Retreating Slash - Should the user require space between them and their opponent, a Way of Twilight swordsman will often perform an attack while moving away, regardless if the opponent were to be struck by it or not. The reasoning behind it is to use the resulting Echo to either dissuade an opponent from following or punish them if they choose to do so anyway.

Way of Twilight: Bladed Waltz - This advanced technique utilizes a series of quick slashes, with the user resheathing while repositioning around the target between each strike. Upon each drawing of the blade following the initial strike, the user releases the Chakra Echo they had just created in the previous attack. When performed correctly, this technique should result in a constant, uninterrupted flow of strikes against a target. The difficulty of this technique stems from the rapid creation of Chakra Echoes. The user must gather the required chakra and dispense it perfectly in only a moment before they must launch their next attack. Furthermore, the user needs to fully resheathe their sword in between each strike. Hesitating for even a moment on either the resheathing, the formation of the Chakra Echo, or even the repositioning in between strikes can leave the user open for a nasty counterattack. A perfect execution, however, gives the impression of a swordsman striking so quickly that an afterimage trails behind him.

Flash - A derivative of Chakra Flow, this common samurai technique involves the user projecting their own chakra in the form of an attack, such as a crescent blade of chakra following the swinging of a chakra-infused blade. More advanced users can project chakra blades with the elemental properties of their own chakra nature.

Way of Dawn: Vanishing Blade - A wind-elemental variant of Chakra Flow for use with a sword, utilized heavily by practitioners of the Uesugi School’s Way of Dawn. Kimiko envelops her sword’s blade in an aura of wind-elemental chakra. The rapid currents surrounding the blade refract the light around it, obscuring the visibility of the blade itself. When executed properly, this gives the appearance of the blade vanishing. Obviously, this makes it more difficult for an opponent to detect incoming strikes. In addition, the air currents around the blade can slice objects they come in contact with; however, this disrupts the mirage effect around the blade, rendering it increasingly visible until the obstruction is removed and the currents can pick up speed again.

Wind Release: Gale Palm - A wind-elemental technique that produces a gale of wind from the user’s palms. This can be used to propel the user in the direction opposite that which the wind is expelled, allowing the user to travel rapidly in a chosen direction, change directions if already traveling, or slow a fall. Alternatively, the user can use this technique offensively or defensively by clasp their palms together, creating a short range gale centered around the user with enough force to knock a person over.

Way of Dusk: Blinding Blade - A entry level genjutsu utilized by practitioners of the Way of Dusk, the common means of applying the genjutsu involve the user holding their sheathed sword out in front of them and, while maintaining eye contact with the opponent, unsheathing the sword rapidly. The genjutsu causes the victim to experience a blinding flash of light, seemingly reflected off of the blade. When the sensation fades, the victim’s eyesight returns, but to them it appears as if the user had vanished. In reality, the genjutsu has altered the victim’s perception, making it difficult for them to see the user, with the flash of light used to disguise the true purpose of the technique. While the victim may be unable to see the user, their other senses remain unaffected, with those with particularly keen senses of hearing or smell likely to still be able to perceive the user’s general position and detect any incoming attacks. A successful strike made by the user will, of course, break the genjutsu.
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