Aburatōrō (油灯籠, Oil Lantern) Clan is made up of several families who claim to hail from the Gold District yet know nothing of its history or leadership. Still, they handle the distribution of discreet or almost illegal goods throughout the district but rarely produce any traditional shinobi given their focus on the distribution, protection, and the overall secrecy of packages that are vital for their businesses.
While they remain an underestimated threat their ability to transform their bodies into sheets of paper at a moment's notice gave them a reputation as shinobi suitable for infiltration or decoys. It isn't known for certain but there are rumors that their archives were burned down in the previous generation leaving very few if any with knowledge of the more advanced techniques the clan possessed in their heyday.
Overview[]
General Appearances[]
It isn't difficult to spot a member of the Aburatōrō in public. They tend to have a darker almond colored skin and hair of various shades of purple. While their eyes tend to border on gray or silver in tint. However, their most defining trait is the 4 dots under one of their eyes. When it comes to clothing most wear light weight clothing suitable for running in or cloaks that generally keep their bodies hidden from view. Identical Twins tend to wear distinctly different outfits when they go out, yet Fraternal Twins do the exact opposite and instead wear the same outfit when they are away from the clan.
Leadership[]
On the surface a Clan Head handles the day-to-day affairs of the families but doesn't hold much power when it doesn't come to tradition, festivals, or ritual outings. While the Council Of Twins which is made up of the eldest twins from every family makes decisions bordering on military operations, and business dealings without ever showing their faces. There are a total of 6 members who rotate the position of advisor to the head in an effort to steer them down a decent direction. In times of trouble they take charge as a whole and have the ability to remove the Clan Head if they are presumed unfit for that position. However, their existence as an entity has always been obscured, and they never reveal themselves to family members who aren't passed a certain age. Leaving many of the youngsters in the dark about the dire deeds, and strife they caused in the past.
Culture & Traditions[]
Twins are viewed as two halves of the same whole. One is not themselves without the other. This line of thought was largely promoted by the fact that an absurd number of identical twins were born during the founding years of the clan. It didn't help that the pioneers of the clan had been twins themselves as well. Most folklore about the founding twins makes them appear near mythical in the eyes of their descendants and so twins, identical ones in particular were spoiled and celebrated by the entire clan even after they went generations without even a single set being born until the current one.
Fraternal Twins are viewed as a bad Omen within the clan and end up being treated very poorly by those outside of their own family. This distaste for them stems from the fact that the founders were said to have been struck down by a pair of Fraternal Twins at the height of their power. This has gone largely unconfirmed by the clan scholars but is still viewed as an absolute truth all the same. They are still allowed to work within the clan but not in the public eye. They are solely relegated to doing shady businesses on behalf on a clan that despises them.
Rituals[]
Any set of identical Twins born within the clan are marked with the Revolving Gate Seal under their right eye for the eldest and left eye for the youngest. It not only marks their entrance into the clan but also forces their bodies to passively feed off one another resulting in them sharing a chakra pool so to speak. It is reserved for Identical Twins by the order of the former clan heads, yet other members of the clan receive similar seals under their eyes that are shared between siblings or spouses after marriage with an identical if not slightly underperforming effect. The seal itself is meant to represent the bond and power a pair can have if they stick together through everything the world throws at them.
Typically, only one of a pair of twins becomes a shinobi who handles the dirty work of the clan businesses such as infiltrations. package delivery, and escort missions. While the other acts as a front face who handles the contracts, and negotiations on their behalf. Normally decided by a set of tests with the first being a written test, and the second being a combat test against an elder pair of the clan. Whoever scores highest in combat becomes the shinobi while the highest score on the written test becomes the face of things.
The practice the clan bases their name on is one that sees them releasing paper lanterns stuffed full with paper dolls smothered in oil into the air and setting them on fire using fireworks. This is done once a year to celebrate both the new lives that were welcomed into the clan as well as the old lives that were lost in some way. It is usually followed by a small festival of sorts that sees younger members of the clan trying to beat their elders in a number of different games.
Abilities[]
While they've managed to remain out of the public eye for a majority of the time members of the Aburatōrō Clan haven't gone completely unnoticed. Possessing the ability to transform their bodies into sheets of paper at will through the Paper Doll Technique. Seamlessly flowing between this paper state whilst riding the wind in order to take advantage of the innate sharpness of paper through their Origami Style Techniques. Still, it is paper at the end of the day and when exposed to the natural elements it can crumble, burn, or be soaked all the same. Furthermore they have a difficult time transforming metal into paper without expending large amounts of chakra. Leaving most of them to abandon the idea of blades for a different bag of tricks.
Yet they'll be near weightless while in their paper doll state making continuous travel swift but ultimately taxing on their already low chakra reserves. To make up for this genuine weakness of theirs they start practicing the art of chakra control from an early age. But that could only take them so far as shinobi. Discovering this truth early clan heads from generations prior turned to Juinjutsu as well as Fūinjutsu in an attempt to make up for what they lacked. This culminated into their unique curse seals that were designed to boast synergetic effects when shared between siblings or other members of the clan. These were largely left in an incomplete state at the moment and thus have many flaws just waiting to be discovered.