Hoshigaki Kisame

[sunshinehistory]

Country/Village: Water, Kirigakure
Rank: Mizukage, Leader of the Seven Shinobi Swordsman, Cypher Division, former ANBU (hunter), The Mizukage's Blade
Age at Game Start: 31
Birthday: March 18th

Appearance

195 cm (Close enough to 6'4'' to nevermind), 83.1 kg. Kisame his huge and built, very obviously a physical fighter. His skin is a pale grayish-blue, and his eyes generally appear to only have a small (cloudy up close) pupil, though one might catch a glimmer or three of gold. For more details on the eyes, see Sunshine abilities. He has two sets of gills. One is always visible, on his cheeks, and the other, larger set is on his shoulders. In open air they remain tightly closed, and bulge and pulse whenever he's under water.

Clothing-wise, Kisame is usually dressed as one of the Seven Swordsmen. He wears a sleeveless, tight black top, with a high neckline, black pants with pouches and a waist-guard attached, and pinstriped arm and leg guards. In keeping with Seven tradition, he often wears wrappings around the neck, but not always. When he's working as a Hunter, he most of the time dresses virtually the same, but with the addition of a Kiri flak-jacket, and mask. His Hitai-ate is always the same, and covers his ears.

If he's undercover as a run-of-the-mill shinobi (civilian is a little difficult in most cases), he'll dress in the standard Kiri jounin uniform.

Kisame doesn't really do casual off-mission clothing, and is never, ever without a visible sword of some kind, even if he doesn't always carry Samehada around when, say, getting groceries.

Under closer inspection (medical diagnostic jutsu or, say, Byakugan) his circulatory system is not exactly normal, because bloodflow does divert to the gills and then back to other important organs. It's not the most efficient, but it's there. His chakra system is also especially well-developed, even for a ninja.

Abilities/Powers

Taijutsu		Ninjutsu		Genjutsu		Fuinjutsu		Weapons		Fitness		Speed		Stamina		Intelligence		Hand Seals		TOTAL
8.5		9.0		3.5		7.5		9.0		8.5		7.0		10.0		8.0		9.0		80.0
Offensive	4.5	Chakra Control	4.0	Detection	2.0	Creation	4.5	Range	4.0	Dexterity	3.5	Body Speed	7.0	Physical	5.0	Tactical Ability	4.0	Hand speed	4.5
Defensive	4.0	Jutsu Strength	5.0	Usage	1.5	Removal	3.5	Melee	5.0	Strength	5.0			Chakra	5.0	Emotional Control	4.0	Seal Recognition	4.5

Ninjutsu
Earth Jutsu
He has an Earth Release repertoire, though less expansive than water, and it primarily leans towards more basic techniques.

Notably: Earth Release: Underground Submarine Voyage

Wind Jutsu
He has learned some Wind Release, and is slightly more likely to actually use them, but doesn't know a lot at this point.

Water Jutsu
He has a huge Water Release repertoire. If it's used by a Kiri-nin and is not related to a bloodline limit or a secret family technique, almost guaranteed Kisame knows it. He's less likely to know Water Release developed in other countries though. He'll prefer to use his Shark-shaped ones, because he wants to remembered, but there are missions where revealing himself isn't a good idea, so!

Kisame is able to make use of water around him, but even in a dry environment he can use jutsu to create his own lake--a technique very rarely seen used by others because of the amount of chakra it requires. He often shapes his water jutsu into sharks, and is capable of summoning actual sharks too.

Notably: Water Clone, Water Prison, Water Prison Shark Dance (while fused with Samehada), Water Release: A Thousand Feeding Sharks, Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave, Water Release: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave, Water Release: Five Feeding Sharks, Water Release: Thousand Feeding Sharks, Water Release: Water Shark Missile, and Water Release: Great Shark Missile (absorbs the chakra of the opponent’s attack)

General Jutsu
Kisame is able to absorb chakra directly from others, though in canon this is only seen by taking it from Samehada and with him to be in a water source and also in contact with the victim’s chakra. Here, he's better at doing chakra drain on his own (because he can't always rely on Samehada), and can drain from physical contact, contact with chakra auras, or jutsu (but unlike Samehada, isn't nearly as sturdy standing up to jutsu, so it would more likely be things like the canon Stone Needles, than say, a Fire Release. But Water Release are completely fair game). He can't drain enough to stop most elemental release, but he can gain chakra from it. However, it does require great concentration, so he's only like to do it if he gets a chance to stay still while doing it.

Genjutsu
His weakness. He's decent at identifying and defending against him, but his knowledge of them is small.

Weapons
Kisame is a fully trained ninja and has all the basic ninja skills at his command. He is either directly shown or can be assumed to be proficient with a number of weapons, including swords of all types, shuriken, kunai and an unrevealed weapon with chains in one instance. He always keeps on hand for use smaller weapons like kunai, explosive tags, and wire, as well as normal swords which he keeps in a summoning scroll just in case.

Kenjutsu
In canon, so many years were spent with just Samehada that he got a little dependant, and in Sunshine, he's had plenty of missions where he had to go without so he's kept up and improved on his skills with all kinds of swords. He prefers a greatsword or oodachi,

Samehada - Sword
Samehada is a semi-sentient greatsword, over six feet in length and very heavy. The blade itself is not an actual blade but is composed of smaller scales that resemble shark-skin or teeth. Therefore it does not cut but instead shaves off portions of the victim. Samehada is capable of moving on its own, and scuttles around on spikes. It has a gaping mouth and if someone who it does not like touches it, it can shoot out spikes from any part in order to injure that person. It has two appearances, one in which the mouth is hidden and it remains stiff like a more-normal blade and a second in which the scales are splayed out, the mouth is apparent, and it moves fluidly, almost snake-like. The more chakra Samehada eats, the bigger it grows.

Samehada chooses its wielder and feeds off their chakra, as well as the chakra of the wielder's opponents. It is capable of sensing chakra and returning some of the chakra it has absorbed to wielders. Its ability to absorb chakra allows it to stop jutsu, by absorbing the chakra in the attack, and also to keep victims unconscious by reducing their chakra levels to an extremely low state. Samehada is more energetic when full of chakra and it is capable of becoming attached to chakra it has fed off of.

Physical Skills
Taijutsu
He also is a very skilled martial artist and excels in both armed and unarmed combat--but he is clearly the most skilled with a sword. Like most ninja, he is capable of using his chakra for skills such as standing/walking on water and gripping vertical and even inverted surfaces among other similar skills. He is very fast for a person his size and also intelligent and perceptive. All of this makes him a very deadly opponent in a fight. He's very versatile in his taijutsu: he's had time to practice and focus on honing his skills against a wide variety of strong opponents, rather than killing all comers as quickly as possible. Because of this he is better at fighting in concert with others, and more skilled with tactics and strategy, because he's had to be the leader of missions often.

Added to this he is fast with hand seals, from having a lot of chance to practice at his leisure.

Samehada - Abilities
He is able to fuse partially or completely with it. Partial fusions allow him to quickly heal even otherwise definitely fatal wounds and replenish chakra by absorbing the chakra that Samehada has absorbed from enemies. A fusion isn’t necessarily required to absorb chakra through Samehada, as he can do it just from being in contact with the sword. With his own immense strength and chakra and his ability to replenish himself with the chakra of his enemies, Kisame is able to outlast most enemies and says that the stronger his opponent, the stronger he becomes and that he does not tire.

A full fusion transforms him into a shark-like monster capable of staying under water indefinitely and also of sensing chakra. While in the fully fused form he can again absorb chakra with just a touch, though much more and much more quickly, and his already excellent swimming skills increase by leaps and bounds.

He can also go inside Samehada safely in order to hide from enemies. His chakra and Samehada’s are identical, so this technique is nearly impossible to detect. He uses this as a spying technique but it isn’t without drawbacks. After being inside Samehada for a time, he will emerge looking emaciated and weakened.

Body
He is an excellent swimmer, shown to move very swiftly and effortlessly through water. He has two sets of gills, one on his cheeks and another on his shoulders and there is no reason to assume they aren’t functional--though without fusing with Samehada they are insufficient to let him stay under indefinitely.

Where Kisame truly excels is in physical strength, amount of chakra, and stamina. He is able to wield a greatsword one handed without any visible effort and overpower other strong ninja easily. He’s also strong enough to break chakra reinforced restraints that are designed to put the prisoner in a position with little leverage after being nearly killed, and with his chakra being actively suppressed. In addition he has great stamina and chakra reserves to rival even the ninja with the most chakra. He is even called a “bijuu without a tail”.

Family
Insanely huge chakra reserves, strength, and stamina is specifically a Hoshigaki clan ability. All of them have similarly powerful chakra, and indeed often suffer while young (to the point of their chakra systems literally burning out and killing or crippling them if control isn't mastered well enough, early enough) because of having so much chakra in bodies not yet able to handle it. Hoshigaki often have a comparatively slow start due to the resultant control problems, but once they grow enough, and master control, get extremely powerful very fast. However, there are the oddities that have to do with the physical appearances of those who inherited the bloodline strongly.

The eyes: He has nictitating membranes that he usually keeps over his eyes out of water. They keep the eye itself moist, protect from damage and particles and being translucent, keep out extra light. It tends to make his eyes appear like there's only a (cloudy, up close) pupil and no iris. Underneath, his visible eye is almost entirely iris and pupil. The iris (a golden color) doesn't close as far as a human's, and can open up far enough that almost the entire eye is pupil. Kisame therefore has great underwater and night vision, but is terribly light sensitive. In Water Country and Kiri itself, with all the mist, it's not noticeable, but he'll get headaches on long missions to sunnier countries, and jutsu with bright light (Fire and Lightning, mostly) have the potential of hurting his eyes badly. He'd benefit from a hat or mask but refuses to reveal that weakness to others and suffers on in silence

The skin: it's an odd texture, compared to normal humans, and a combination of special cells and skin oils make him water-resistant. Ie, he doesn't prune when in water for long periods.

The teeth: they're very sharp and serrated and natural. Sadly, he doesn't have multiple, constantly growing rows like an actual shark. He can use them as an effective weapon.

The gills: both sets are functional, but proportionally too small, and his blood supply not quite rerouted enough, to make him survive completely submerged indefinitely. But they do supplement his lungs, and depending on the amount of activity, he can stay under water from about 45 minutes to nearly an hour and a half.

Personality

The first thing most people notice about Kisame is that he’s really violent. Kisame loves the thrill of battle and is always up for any kind of fight, be it a fight to the death or a simple spar. He wants to fight anyone and everyone, just for the fun of it, but he is capable of curbing his violent impulses as situations or missions demand. He just rarely thinks he needs to outside mission specs or unless a partner or superior is bringing it up. He doesn’t feel any remorse for killing or maiming but he does have great respect for strong opponents. He also isn’t arrogant about his own skills. He readily acknowledges that some are stronger than him but that doesn’t mean he won’t fight them.

The second surface quality he shows frequently to others is the fact that his speech is actually quite polite. Even when he talks about killing someone in a fight, he’s pretty polite in the way he says it. Of course, the less he likes someone, the less polite he’ll be, but even then, few get past the stage of insulting nicknames. Kisame addresses people he respects and/or doesn’t dislike fairly formally and younger people usually with -kun, ‘kid’ or ‘brat’ (in order of how much he likes/dislikes them). People he dislikes or doesn't respect for some reason get insulting nicknames. Throughout all of his speech, even with the people he quite respects and likes, he always remains just a little distant. He’s never truly friendly and casual with anyone at all.

The third surface quality, is that he is usually smiling. Kisame presents a facade of a good natured and easily amused but really violent person. How much is a facade only he actually knows, but his smiles far outnumber his serious or angry/annoyed moments as an adult. However, Kisame was far more serious and subdued when he was younger so it definitely is partly a facade.

In addition to this, Kisame likes to be remembered and acknowledged. He almost always introduces himself, even to opponents he’s intending to kill, and the one person who consistently fails to remember who he is or that they’ve fought before really, really bothers him. He actually spends a whole fight trying to get the man to remember and getting progressively more annoyed when he doesn’t.

That’s what most people will see and get to know about Kisame. The super violent, usually polite and almost always grinning ninja. But that’s not all there is to Kisame. The rest of him is hidden below the surface, and he doesn’t trust anyone enough to reveal it.

Most of the hidden qualities revolve around the fact that Kisame, until the moment of his death, really did believe himself to be nothing more than a monster. He’s not a stupid man, and realizes that killing your own comrades, even for a mission, even with specific orders to, really isn’t right. But he’s done this repeatedly since the tender age of ten and he doesn’t really feel much remorse over it. There is a small amount there, but it’s buried very deep and only even began to emerge at one point right after he killed his own master. Most of the time it’s buried well enough that Kisame himself can’t recognize it as remorse. It’s a point of inner conflict to him that he’s never entirely gotten over.

Kisame survived in the climate of Mist by pushing people away. Never once does he show friendliness or care in his younger days, and he rebuffed any friendly advances made towards him. Not making any friends allowed Kisame to be able to see his comrades as things rather than people, which made killing them much easier. Unfortunately for Kisame, it also meant he was alone and isolated. Because of this, Kisame never really gained the ability to empathize or sympathize with others, and always remains at a distance. He can crack a joke at a comrade’s death rather than mourn because he’s always seen things like comrades and allies in solely intellectual terms. He’s never had a true deep emotional connection to anyone that canon shows, and probably wouldn’t know what to do about it if he ever started forming a connection.

Additionally, Kisame doesn’t trust, well, much of anything. Discovering slowly that everything he thought was true or trusted in was nothing but lies broke his trust in himself and in anything else. This doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to trust, just that in most cases he doesn’t, even close allies.

There are some minor exceptions in canon. So he can develop trust, when the other person proven themselves and over long periods of time, and he even can approach something like friendship with those people he trusts.

Another thing that Kisame keeps hidden is that he actually doesn’t really like lies at all. He’s capable of dealing with them very well, and not trusting most people allows him not to be hurt by them under usual circumstances, but he doesn’t enjoy them. Part of his secret, deepest desire is for a world where lies aren’t necessary but he’s well aware that in the current world he has to continue to use and expect them. This is the part of himself that he likes the least and dislikes the most consciously. He would abandon all those lies in a minute if he thought he could. This is something that creates bitterness and self-loathing in him, along with his actions that he believes made him a monster.

The bigger part of his secret desire, though, is actually for a place he really, truly belongs. In his biggest moment of crisis, he asks himself “Where do I go? Where can I go?” and he’s aware that he hasn’t fit in in Mist. Part and parcel with belonging is the idea of no lies or half-truths being necessary and also that trust and real camaraderie will be present. In other words, those things he is most lacking in (trust, friendship, and freedom from lies) are the very things he most desires, in some cases so deeply buried that he probably isn’t consciously aware of them.

In many ways, Kisame has been fairly self-centered his entire life. He pushed people away in Mist so he wouldn’t be hurt by broken friendships, and even his usual violent behavior is solely to satiate his impulses. He is, in part, aware of this, but he is capable of behaving selflessly when moved to do it.

History

Kisame was born right at the tail end of a civil war, and his clan, the Hoshigakis had suffered losses. However, without a strong and open persecution of bloodlines, they weren't nearly as bad off as they could have been and were still able to maintain a presence on the Kirigakure shinobi forces. Because of this, Kisame and the other youngsters of the clan were cherished. They were the hope for the future, and a promise of strength and growth to come. So Kisame had the blade of high expectations hanging over his head from birth, but his clan never let him think anything but that he was precious and loved.

It was just a very, very tough love, as the Hoshigakis had a sink or swim approach to life, and expected the best of the best from all of their members. So Kisame had shuriken and kunai for toys and (un)summoned sharks for pets, and practically every day was training, but he had a happy first few years, a least inside the clan compound.

Outside of it, however, there was great tension between bloodline and not, and people with different views that eventually burst into civil war again. Kisame got introduced to the idea of backstabbing, and comrade fighting comrade, and the idea that people could be afraid and dislike others just because of a name from this. But for a time it remained distant, and there was only training at the hands of a small, but intact clan, who knew his potential abilities, and the drawbacks of them inside and out.

The result, was while not necessary faster advancement, but better advancement, and by the time Kisame was deemed safe enough for the teachers and other students (chakra control accidents with Hoshigakis do not end well for anyone) to be entered into Academy he already had the required skills to graduate. He was mostly kept to learn "official" Water Country history and other things the clan hadn't focused on teaching him. His stay in Academy was thus very short.

However, around this time, though the clan was officially on the side of the Mizukage in the current civil war, the members of his clan most outspoken for change of the current Kirigakure policies, started getting… killed. The main method was a "promotion" that was very obviously a setup to get them bloodily killed, and while not all died, the fact that it was a punishment courtesy of the Mizukage himself was crystal clear. The clan argued (which means physically fought) it out among themselves and came to the decision that it was better to hide any dissent from those who had more power and wouldn't listen anyway and to be politically quiet until one of them was strong enough to challenge the Mizukage and win. On one hand, it made sense, because continuing to fight, especially with the tense atmosphere and the power the Mizukage wielded, would just reduce their power and numbers slowly until it would be possible to just wipe them all out. On the other, it was not an honest approach, and many didn't appreciate the charade.

Little Kisame's concerns were more directly related to Academy. Once he'd shown his strength, outright bullying ceased, but the students either avoided him, or tried to butter him up for protection. Still, Kisame was better at social interaction than his virtually clan-less canon self, and not yet distrustful enough of the world, so he made some "friends."

Then, on graduation he was assigned to fight and kill the student he was closest to and most friendly with. This went against what his life had been so far with a family that while violent, obviously cared for each other, and Kisame hesitated slightly on the order. It was wrong, and he knew it, to kill a comrade, especially when the comrade had no chance against him. On the other hand, the recent punishments to his clan for going against Kiri policies were fresh on his mind. He might have even eventually stood up and said 'this is wrong' but the other student took advantage of his hesitation and drew first blood.

Enraged at this 'betrayal' Kisame used his Water Release to flood the arena the students were battling it out in. Several classmates, including his opponent, and an instructor were badly hurt or outright drowned. Kisame felt more guilty and heartsick than his canon self ever did, but also justified in the act. This caught the attention of Suikazan Fuguki, and Kisame was instantly made Fuguki's apprentice.

Shaken by these events and with trust in people broken, Kisame resolved to be obedient and loyal to the village above all else and not to make any friendly relationships with anyone, which caused tension with and distance from his clan. He was promoted to Chuunin as quickly as possible after graduation, and Jounin not long after that. The missions he was assigned skyrocketed in difficulty and his praise and admiration for being such a good and powerful shinobi was only matched by fear and dislike of his "cold fish" and distant persona.

Inwardly he was lonely and desired companionship, but was too wary and distrustful to seek it. Even so, eventually he came to trust Fuguki, and Fuguki had his loyalty and obedience fully.

Because Fuguki was the head of the Cypher Division, Kisame was eventually inducted into the division and then tasked with a great deal of very secretive and dangerous missions. Kisame was loyal to a fault, and when given the "dirty work" of killing his comrades to protect secrets, fulfilled it. However, as a difference from canon, and because of the memory of those others he'd needlessly killed, he made sure that he only killed when capture of the comrade was inevitable, and thus didn't always come home with full squads dead. Additionally instead of retreating when pushed into these situations, Kisame would choose to fight his way out, and killed great swaths of Kiri's enemies in the process. One such swath of destruction was against a Konoha squad led by Morino Ibiki, with essentially only Kisame and Ibiki walking away from it alive. This earned him a great deal of fame and fear from both in the village and without, and Kisame became known as "The Monster of Hidden Mist" and in areas with direct interaction with unsealed Bijuu, the "Tailed Beast without a Tail."

But there was a pattern to these missions, and Kisame became suspicious and started looking into things on his own, without Fuguki's guidance.

This led him to some unpleasant discoveries by the time he turned nineteen. He discovered that Fuguki had been selling the Cypher Division's secrets, and the locations of their intelligence gathering squads to various enemies, including Konoha, for several years. It appeared to Kisame that Fuguki had been using him both as a scapegoat, and as a way to clean up the evidence of the crimes. Extremely betrayed and angry beyond belief with it, he confronted his teacher, surprised him, and in a short but bloody battle, killed him to inherit Samehada.

He was at his lowest point, and full of self-loathing and confusion. What was he? Friend? Foe? Something else? It was wrong to kill companions but he still did. Where did he belong? What was real? If Kirigakure wasn't the place for him, where should he go? Where could he go? Everything was a lie.

While pondering those thoughts and more, Kisame was approached by Yagura while the blood was still warm and dripping from his hands. He broke down and verbally admitted his disgust with himself, wondering about his place, his purpose, and bitterly speaking about discovering that everything he'd known or thought he'd known was a lie. Yagura was not shaken. Instead, Kisame was praised for his dedication and loyalty, and Yagura spoke at length about the necessities of lies and deception to keep the balance of power between families and clans, to keep those shinobi loyal to Kiri and only Kiri, and to keep more wars from breaking out. Yagura promised to put Kisame at the center of the lies, so that Kisame could at least see the truth, and also have a hand, dirty work as it was, in keeping the stability of Kiri. The proposed way to do this was to make Kisame the head of the Cypher Division, and also to become what Yagura called "The Mizukage's Blade."

Kisame point blank refused and walked out without any more than that.

Lost, confused, and very disquieted by everything, with faith shaken in the most fundamental of ways, and bitter and angry at the entire world of lies, Kisame then went home.

Only to discover that he was being " tested for promotion" to ANBU, effective immediately. Kisame was viciously attacked, and accused of treason in the killing of Fuguki, as well as being blamed for the information leaks, and all of this on direct decree of the Mizukage himself. It was not difficult for Kisame to figure out that it was another punishment and a warning in the form of promotion, but he refused to kill the ANBU squad that attacked him, and left them chakra drained in the streets. He was attacked again within hours, and publicly proclaimed a traitor. With nothing else to do, and even regular shinobi attacking him, Kisame left. He was chased across all of Water Country for over a month and then out of it for part of the next, with the Mizukage's proclamation of nowhere being safe for a Kiri Missing-nin being repeated at every turn. Perhaps because of a new and ruthless campaign against all defectors of Kiri, Kisame received no help, or welcome, anywhere during the chase. Where could he go, indeed? But eventually it was announced by the ANBU hunting him that the test was over, and that Kisame had passed, by not actively betraying Kiri, even while being hunted as a traitor.

So, Kisame made it through the promotion alive, and without actually killing any of Kiri's ANBU squad, though he wanted to. After the test was declared complete, Kisame went directly to the Mizukage and swore over his loyalty and nothing else. He accepted his "promotions," while the Mizukage declared that loyalty was all that was needed from a Kiri ninja, and made a point of again throwing Kisame's own words about his lack of a place to go and his status as a killer of comrades back into his face one more time.

Still, his name was publicly cleared, and he was proclaimed something of a hero for the sacrifice he had made to keep Kiri "safe" from betrayal, so at least his relationship with the rest of Kiri returned to something like before.

Even more lost and feeling hopeless and trapped, Kisame threw himself into his new positions. What else could he do? He had no other choice. But Kisame was very angry, and very, very bitter.

It turned out being the Mizukage's Blade meant personal assassin, at least half the time, and whatever else the Mizukage required to keep Kiri more-or-less civil war free. And as an ANBU on the Hunter squad, Kisame spent much of the next years hunting down and killing Kiri defectors and missing-nin in other countries. As head of the Cypher Division, some of his new duties left him tasked with discovering and taking down internal threats that had been proven to be spreading dissention and encouraging revolution. All of these were constant reminders of the fate that awaited his disloyalty.

On top of that he was under constant, and not very subtle, surveillance himself. Perhaps the only place he could escape it, and even not always then, was in the Hoshigaki compound, and now able to fully commensurate with the clan's very unstable footing in Kiri, Kisame reformed at least a cordial relationship with his clan. He did, however, pointedly refuse any position of any kind of leadership within the clan.

While in his positions, Kisame did, what was from his point of view, some good. He instituted a policy in the Cypher Division that made sure every member knew the information they dealt in was more important than their lives, and that demanded suicide if there was medium-to-high risk of capture. He also insisted on personally determining the fight-readiness of members, and would not allow them to leave the village if they didn't meet his standards.

He was also during this period made the official leader of the Seven Swordsmen, and then lost it just as quickly while dealing the the Water Country nobility. Angry at the deceptions and politicking, Kisame publicly threatened to tear out their tongues and feed all their lies back to them. He was forced to step down as leader of the Seven as punishment, but still retains a de-facto leadership.

This is is status at present in Sunshine, as there are no other particularly notable events in this history. It should be known that he's still under surveillance, and effort is made to keep him away from those who might encourage him to break his loyalty (unless he's killing them). He's regarded as a Monster by the public, and a potential threat by the Mizukage and others, but generally also considered 'well-leashed.'