Kazuo Chinokawaki is a Mizukage of Land of Water. He believes his greatest asset is knowledge that may very well transcend monetary value. But above all, he values knowledge, versitility and swift action. He studied Shinobi crafts under Sumato Tsuchigumo and Isamu Chinoike and is slated to be some of the most unique Mizukage's due to his proficiency and varied, sweeping use of Mind Release
Background[]
The birth of Kazuo to his mother and father, identities of both lost to time, was in destitute circumstances: At the time of his birth, they were migrating to Kirigakure. Since there was no free vacancy in any place of rest, or hospital nearby, Kazuo was delivered on open field, with his father acting as a nurse. Kazuo had only so few opportunities at learning as a young child, but what he was given, he gobbled up fast. Because they remained poor, Kazuo showed aptitude at street wisdom as well. He lost his parents at the age of 7, during an incident with details lost to all. All we know is from the responding party's report: Kazuo's parents were gone, and their assiliants were pulverized by what appeared to be Kazuo controlling chakra by either instinct or what little knowledge he could obtain on his own. Either way, Kazuo lost his parents, and avenged them in violence. Ever since, violence was all that kept him going or standing.
As he trained to become among the best, he took the most dangerous missions they'd let him, returning with total disregard for collateral damage. He believed at the time that only wholesale slaughter of any wrongdoer can lay the trauma of loss of parents to rest. He grows in in wisdom, strength and knowledge, but his hot temper still is an obstacle for his prudence. A lowly teenager on the roll to prove himself, he combines talent and smarts with unrepentant agression in a fight. Later he grew to rely much more on his illusory jutsu and Mind Release, which only heightened the terror he was capable of dishing out.
Personality[]
Kazuo's upbringing, environment, and events in life has taught him many things, but one most of all; Direct action is the way to go more often than not. Before his parent loss, he saw it everyday on the street: And when he did lost them and at the age of 12 begun properly training as Shniobi, he was given ample opportunity to apply those lessons, both in fights, training and life. Unsurprisingly, he's turning out haughty, impatient and impulsive. Surprisingly, that's ofttimes tempered (and conflicted) with his capacity for planning, calculation and focus under fire. As a result, he thinks fast and acts faster, usually in this exact order. He boasts tremendous loyalty to his mentors and superiors, is dependable towards his peers, and for subjects... it's complicated.
Kazuo's destitute upbringing taught him nothing in terms of competetivness and everything in terms of survival: Kazuo's loss of parents have rendered him, alas, dependent on attention his parents would usually grant him. Becoming noticed and acknowledged was always his main goal in life, incentive to train above and beyond, as he correlated achievements in jutsu with whether one is worthy of attention. Ability to retain polite speech at almost all times and his survival instincts are the only things holding those issues back.
His mind is a busy thing indeed, as if multiple characters conversed over it, struggling for control. Far from true mental illness, it is most likely a thought process quirk: One where thoughts manifest, clothed in personalities.
By the time of his Mizukage tenure, it became impossible to separate his personality from his Mind Release power. Interfacing with minds of others and the world around him (especially with his water eel) have made a huge impact on his mindset, by now otherworldly. Through his time with his eel, and the bonds with it through blood contract, he (at first unwittingly) communed with it through Mind Release. As it was during the time both their minds were developing, these communions resulted in an exceedingly tight bond between the two, and an impact upon Kazuo's mind. He finds it unsettingly easy to think like an eel.
Mind Release has also brought him perspective. Looking at the world through thoughts of others and the energies of chakra itself meant he viewed the world on the scope of communities, environments, never individuals. He found it unsettingly easy to think in the most long-term way possible. The individual and the here and now is little more than a passing dream to him now, a perspective brought by his ability to tamper with the former.
And yet, the only powers he really is in awe of, are that of his teachers, and his deepest desire is to seek their approval: So entrenched is that desire that it survives where so many other parts of Kazuo's malleable personality were changed.
Appearance[]
Gooseberry eyes and sometimes lilac cheeks (or was it the other way around?) from his training work, mark Kazuo's tall and mature-looking face, complete with short (for a Shinobi) raven hair. It was said in certain shades, even his lips were lilac. Kazuo's expression was usually serious and somber. Few ever seen him smile, and those who did, allege it to be more scary than cheerful. The eyes were both purple, a very rare mutation among everyone. Indeed, the eyes struggled their damnest to appear unique: One is brighter purple, other is darker blue. This makes for an unmistakable gaze.
Tools[]
Kazuo has love for his throwing daggers, and explosive tags. He also sometimes uses his poison mist. His main tool is a custom-crafted, more or less unique sword that at first glance would appear to be a potent artifact. Truth is, it's just a blade with runes engraved on them in an exotic language for Land of Water. Again, most would think it's a powerful incantation: In truth, it just says "Death to to whoresons"
He also boasts two whips, enchanted to carry a load of Lightning release, making for brutal arc weapons.
Chakra and Attributes[]
Chakra[]
Kazuo's knowledge of chakra and the resulting ability to apply and learn it is excellent. He specializes in Lightning release, and became able in Yin, Water and Yang releases.
He uses that knowledge to maintain tactical edge, and control in the fight, as well as deal lightning-fast chakra attacks.
Chakra Reserves and Chakra Control[]
Kazuo's full chakra potencial is getting close; Kazuo's ability to harness it is marked by focused and wrathful emotional state. Same for chakra control: Which is penalized should a single techique draw out for too long. But that matters little when Kazuo's training allows him to finish timely: Courtesy of rigorous studies and tactical mind in battle. New techniques and chakra molding comes naturally to Kazuo.
Kazuo's focus is at its best when he switches the techniques a lot, floating like a butterfly and stinging like a wasp swarm. Kazuo's control is still fickle, as he learns to hold out focus for longer and longer. For now, the shorter his jutsu focus takes, the faster he's able to switch.
Life Force[]
Though technically average, Kazuo's life force benefits greatly from his willful demanor and life of strife. There was little relaxing in his life, whether on the streets or in Shinobi training, giving the body fuel to support the mind fully. Early on, courtesy of how his parents lived, the boy faced good deal of disease. Instead of weakening long-term due to them enduring through them gave him an entrenched immune system and lifeforce alike. Now his life force is subject to maintaining tremendous biological expenditure, courtesy of extensive use of Mind Release. For most people, the brain's energy bill is 1/5th of overall body: For Kazuo, it's about a half, complicating the life force situation: He has to eat a lot to maintain it, and even then the digestive system is strained.
Willpower, Intent[]
Kazuo's willpower is fuelled by wroth, desire for acknowledgement and fears. It is some of his better assets: Allowing to push beyond the limits of inexperience and life force. He had no choice but to be tough in his early days: And slowly but surely, he embraces that situation.
Abilities[]
Sensory[]
Kazuo's hearing would be average... if he hadn't gone to a library for a bit of light reading. Having combed through a book almost as wide as his shoulder width, he walked away accidentally awakening his Mind Release, a Kekkei Tōta. Clueless on how did he inherited it, he still is able to harness it to detect threats: People are revealed to him, as are the hostile intent. When he gains in experience, he will learn other abilities that Mind Release infers. Now there's no limits to Kazuo's sensory power, at his own peril. He can sense electrochemistry of others as if he was looking at it on a map, pry in their thoughts, listen to any echoes their chakra and minds make. To evade his gaze, one must be hidden behind the greatest of obfuscating magics there are, given his mind release mastery.
Intelligence[]
Kazuo boast excellent book learning capacity and acumen for both jutsu and natural sciences... for one so young. For example, he manages to leverage magnetic properties of his lightning release to impact jutsu of others. He's still fifteen though, and there's plenty that can go wrong with his thought process. The sheer knowledge obtaining developed faster than knowledge recall, for example. Once his brain completes its development though, it will be a fearsome thing indeed.
Kazuo's smarts feed on copious book learning, but never forget the street threat assessment. He knows the opposition more often than not, so that he knows how to stop threats and when it's useless to resist. Yet his mind's greatest asset is not so much his intelligence, as its celerity. Whereas most geniuses are greatly capable of setting up elaborate plans or pushing a field of science further, Kazuo excels in adapting to the situation on the fly, under fire. It is in combat situations where his ability to innovate truly manifests, and if it's true that plans do not survive first contact with the enemy, his combat intelligence will shine even brighter than book learning.
The journeys and assents of Kazuo has turned his mind into a frightening nexus of chakra-led power, leaving profound effect on Kazuo, his power and everyone around him. Charged by his mastery of Mind Release, this asset does not tire, fall prey to emotions, or impulses, neutering Kazuo's personality and emotion. To love and be loved, all has been repurposed to handle the huge amounts of information Kazuo processes daily. Daily and continuing processes of Mind Release ensure such emotional stability, that personal change have become an impossibility. Trapped by his own power and success, Kazuo's humanity withered, in favor of matchless logic, psychic reach and efficiency. The being that was once a frightened boy, is now capable of optimal analysis of situation given, instant communication with its subordinates, strong plan for any situation and, empowering his servants through Mind Release communion, and realize a perfect execution, whatever the situation may be.
Hand Signs[]
Kazuo knows hand signs by heart, but used to struggle with muscle memory of correct casting. In early years, he'd throw great deal of time in training it with little progress. Turns out, his curve of learning was thoroughly bent, such that by the age of fourteen, he exceeded all expectations in handling sings.
Speed[]
Kazuo builds up his speed ever onward, as it is a prequisite to his agressive, fast-paced fighting style. He trained to fight fast and faster, but due to his sheer focus on ninjutsu's, he has a way to go when it comes to speed. It's merely his chakra that's lightning-fast.
Strength[]
Kazuo's strength is fair enough, with harsh upbringing and rigorous training to back it up. That being said, Kazuo's main focus is on knowledge and jutsu; Strength is expected to enable effectivness of the katana, the kunai, the stamina. Kazuo prefers to stay out of fisticuffs, depriving him of impulse to enhance it.
Kazuo's body seemed to weaken as he evolved into his kind of beacon of psychic power. Its purpose is to empower the mind to cope with its powers, and rely on chakra fully for feats of strength. It is a gaunt, thin thing, as the energy demands of Kazuo's mind left little room for body fat. But his muscles and sinews alike are hard as stone, and when his chakra and them strike together with focus, they shatter their target.
Durability[]
Kazuo leverages his releases for defense, relying on them much more than mere brawn. Thus, durability is an usual improvement point for him.
But as he grew, his body became hard as a bone, though not nearly as resilient as the most physical shinobi of Kazuo's current level. Compressed and strengthened, his sinews can deflect blows like bones,
Stamina[]
Kazuo has always been endurant, and able to quietly replenish his energy when emotions are properly aligned. But at the end, he's supposed to use chakra for defense, not physical prowess.
Underestimating Kazuo's body is a bad idea: It can handle great deal of exertion, and if empowered through water release, it can exert for a long time. These days it's a writhing bundle of sinews and muscles, hiding surprising stamina, but still simply not a focus of the Shinobi.
Recovery[]
Jutsu[]
Bojutsu and Kenjutsu[]
Kazuo is a sword specialist and loves to use Chakra Flow to augment his swords, usually coating them with lightning release for the cool factor and stun capacity. His sword is as much a chakra release agent as anything else, as he likes to implement it in controlling lightning-base whips. Water release, when cooled down to ice, can make for a great sharpener or extension as well.
Taijutsu[]
Taijutsu of Kazuo is focused on speed and dazing of the opposition, preparing it for finishing move usually done by Ninjitsu. Kazuo is ever improving in his capacity to lower the share taken by his physique in his Taijutsu, in favor of burdening his chakra further.
Ninjutsu[]
Kazuo took Body Flicker Technique to a whole new level of ease of use, to the point he's sometimes unaware of using it, and more than capable of using it at the same time with other techniques. Kazuo's staple move is combining Body Flicker with his Taijutsu, to improve its velocity. Sometimes he even further combines it with on-impact Lightning release, for extra shockwave streak that knocks out unprepared targets within moments.
Overall, Kazuo's learning and strength of mind allows him to have versatile and relatively advanced Ninjutsu, meant to interchange quickly and make the most use of the strengths and vulnerabilities of nature transformation techniques.
He now combines mastery of Water Release, with Lightning Release, which brings his Lightning power to the next level. This has always intrigued him: Water conducts electricity, sure, but in big enough quantities it dillutes it. Why would its power be enhanced by it? Enter Chinokawaki Effect: A phenomenon that explains how conductivity of Water Release, more specifically its chakra, galvanizes the Lightning Release chakra. Kazuo researched it to an extent that he can also directly fuse Water Release chakra with Lightning Release chakra, allowing to take Lightning power to the next level.
Genjutsu[]
The importance of Genjutsu for Kazuo is in disorienting the opposition. Like him, his illusions are fast. Were they static, the subterfuge would not last, but at a glance they'd be effective: And glance is all Kazuo needs. Replicating himself and leaving the opponent guessing where to attack, as well as obscuring his own self are the main techniques Kazuo learned. Integrated with Mind Release, he takes his already strong Yin and Yang releases, into an illusionism at a whole new level, crafting visions maddening and often calling, flaying the mind as he moves in to finish off the body. Deeply touched by Isamu's own genjutsu cast upon him, he stops at little to create dizzying techniques that leave no chance for the target to even think straight. Indeed such is his passion for powerful Genjutsu, that his concentration gets too focused sometimes.
Fūinjutsu[]
Kazuo's electrochemistry, and lightning release, make for potent supplementary tools for unsealing. It is not particularly unlike him to seek out to decipher the seals through probing the chakra's traces and memories as one would probe a mind. Stil, that's what Lightning Release can help with; with it, he often resorts to brute-forcing the seal. His seals, however, are sealed with an element of his Mind Release, requiring significant knowledge of his mind, or Mind Release of one's own, to get around.
Kekkei Tota[]
Mind Release is a Kekkei Tota comprised of Lightning and Yin-Yang Release. This rare ability has not seen to be manifested in numerous shinobi or particularly a clan. This advance branch of jutsu was awakened by Kazuo when expressing an overwhelming sense of mental stress. Each nature of the combined nature is essential as it utilizes lightning release to enhance one’s cognitive function as the electrical impulse are manipulated in the central nervous system. With the implementation of Yin-Yang release, Kazuos able cast hallucinations and bring them into life, far exceeding what most perceive genjutsu to be. This advance form genjutsu has the ability to create temporary yet re-emerging mental disorders that affects a person's ability to think, feel, and behave clearly. Opponents will suffer from delusions, hallucinations, disorganized or incoherent speaking, disorganized or unusual movements and negative symptoms. Due to its potency this could have long lasting mental effects on a target, even rationally thinking that committing suicide is much better than living.
The dominant Kekkei Tōta also gives the user telepathic and psychokinesis powers. Enabling Kazuo to communicate with allies and opponents from an undefined distances, either relaying important information at network speed or mentally harass opponents distracting them from completing even the simplest of task. Long-term communication is possible, even going as far as compelling action (though this only works on those willing). Side effects may include the personalities of both sides in this exchange, slightly changing to be more alike. In addition, Kazuo can levitate items at will and release mental blast that cannot be perceived by naked auditory and visual means. His sensory abilities are also enhanced, helping him sense multiple techniques by the electrical impulses in their brain when closing his eyes and remaining completely still. Lastly, the most common ability seen in Kazuos ability to peer into someone’s mind despite the mental barriers set in place to restrict someone from obtaining information. This also allows Kazuo to erase and add fabricated experiences to opponents memory bank. Upon further mastery, the memory bank fudging can be used to imprint skills and alleviate mental disorders. Shinobi who poses a strong will will are particularly as they could unrelease monstrous strength to protect their enemies or nations they once categorized as enemies.
Other[]
Since age of 16, he found himself confident enough in Mind Release to open up his own kind of mental hospital. One where he could do anything psychiatrists dreamt of doing with people's minds. Bottle ego, excise trauma, imprint memories, even imprint muscle memories, calm mental illnesses of any sort, rouse imaginations to back-to-back creativity (side effects may include a veritible trove of mental illness), as he succeeded in using Mind Release to mold willing brains like clay. Such was that power that he had to seal it between a huge regulatory framework, to prevent misunderstandings. Kazuo's power was available at affordable rates for the residents of Land of Water, but every procedure had to be extensively vetted given the nature of the treatment and diagnosis. Even so, there are controversies.
Even more infamous are his initiatives to find and train Shinobi with Mind Release. While it'd make sense for him to make the most of talent for such a rare Release, the extent to which his own mind reaches, high on its powers, is unsettling to many. Telepathy committed by high-end Shinobi is one thing: Levels of coordination levied by Mind Release, however, are poorly understood sans Kazuo's daring mind.
Stories[]
Trivia[]
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