Description

At a glance:
Name: Shimohira Kakuzo (nicknamed “Shimo”)
Age: 17
Year: Third
Height: 6’1”
Weight: 155 lbs
Eye colour: Dark grey
Skin colour: Pale grey
Hair Colour: Charcoal black

In detail:
Pale and fair, Shimo’s skin tone greatly contrasts the shadows that he clings to. Some of his old friends used to call him “yuki,” the Japanese word for “snow.” Shimo’s dark grey eyes are always probing his surroundings with mild curiosity and he often makes eye contact with complete strangers, which they may find unnerving.

Other than his skin tone, Shimo has an innate ability to blend in with the crowd. His charcoal-black hair gently caresses the nape of his neck, as is the style these days, and dresses casually when not in his school uniform. If somebody were to see Shimo at night on one of his excursions, they would see a figured donned in traditional Ninja attire – a midnight-black garb reinforced at the arms, legs, chest, and neck with studded leather. But few are privileged to witness a Ninja of Shimo’s caliber in his natural environment – a land curtained by the veil of darkness. Shimo is slim, yet entirely composed of muscles that are well balanced, still allowing him great agility and mobility.

Personality

At a glance:
Likes: Silence, chakra meditation, shadows, the cool caress of the night, and his routine.
Dislikes: Obnoxious people, vulgarity, and disrespectfulness towards teachers.
Sociability: Very quiet, and mostly keeps to himself except when pursuing scholarly activities. Will aid those who seem worthy or who bug him enough.
Goals and Ambitions: Generally, to learn about everything Karma school has to offer. However, his priority is to learn the martial styles and weaponry of warriors from other cultures.

In detail:
Shimo is a quiet third year that mostly keeps to himself. Despite being silent, he appears to be extremely interested in his surroundings, drinking scenery in with his eyes, and he sometimes wears a casual smirk as if the nuances of everyday life amuse him.

Coming from an isolated culture of Ninjas deep in the mountains of Northern Japan, Shimo does not understand and frequently misinterprets the social customs of his fellow classmates. He may catch them off-guard with a random question about their actions or appearance and, as a result, many find Shimo a strange character. Some avoid Shimo like the plague, since it seems to them that he’s always watching them, whereas others are intrigued by his curiosity and pursue friendship. However, Shimo isn’t very good at talking to people and may mystify them with his philosophical whims.

Shimo sticks to a strict routine. He wakes up three hours early before class every day to jog, practice his acrobatics, and play around with his weapons. Then he meditates for an hour, eats a nutritious breakfast, and sets off to classes… ALWAYS ON TIME. Showering is not a priority and is usually done about once a week, sometimes to the complaint of his peers. On the weekends, Shimo sleeps, meditates, trains, and does schoolwork during the day and then adventures at night. He never really needs a purpose to creep off into the dark, because he enjoys the cool air, the darkness, the silence, and the freedom of solitude.

Shimo dislikes loud, rude, and obnoxious people. They repulse him, and seem to contradict the disciplined lifestyle that he is accustomed to at home. Why can’t others control their emotions? Why are they allowed to speak in rude ways to their sensei (teachers)? Questions like these plague his everyday thought. Although Shimo used to only accept opponents that were respectful and fought with honour, he quickly learned that refusing to do battle is shameful in the school’s culture.

Equipment

WEAPONS:

At a glance:
Melee: Bo staff, daggers, kamas
Ranged: Ninja stars, bow and arrow, blow gun
Martial/Hand-To-Hand: Kung-Fu, Chi Gong, Tai Chi

In detail:
Having originally trained as a samurai, Shimo learned at a young age how to wield the bo staff. Furthermore, he is well-versed in the ways of Kung-Fu, Chi Gong, and Tai Chi; all of which he synthesizes into a unique, defensive form of martial combat.

A ninja is never alone: he/she has many deadly weaponry that can be employed in a variety of different situations. Daily and rigorous training while living with the ninja clan has prepared him to use more sinister weapons, including the kamas, daggers, ninja star, and blow gun. Even more deadly is his knowledge of how to create and kill with poisons, often lacing his ranged weapons with such substances designed to either slow, paralyze, or kill his victims.

FIGHTING STYLE:

At a glance:
Dangerous skills: Versatile with many weapons and uses a mixture of stealth and poison to catch his enemies off-guard and cripple them.
Weaknesses: Overly-reliant on weapons; can easily get overwhelmed in hand-to-hand combat before he is able to build up enough chi to deliver punishing blows.

In detail:
With training in a variety of different weapons, Shimo is versatile in combat. When possible, Shimo prefers to stealthy assassinate his enemies with ranged weaponry laced with one of his poisons.

When faced with close combat, Shimo favours his daggers, which he wields gracefully, but he’ll also get “close and personal” with his bo staff, often attempting to knock his foe unconscious.

Although Shimo much prefers to use his weapons, he has had years of training in Kung-Fu, Chi Gong, and Tai Chi. Because the latter two practices are designed to focus the user’s energy, or ‘chi,’ his hand-to-hand style is largely defensive, preferring evasive manoeuvres and blocks over aggressive frontal assaults. However, once Shimo has gathered his energy, he is capable of delivering explosive blows that can easily shatter bones.

History

At a glance:
Birth place: Remote village in Northern Japan

Parents: Father was one of the few remaining samurai lords before he was assassinated. Never knew his mother.

Life: -Spent six years living with his father in a nonchalant village beside a lake where he became well-versed in the honourable code of a samurai warrior, and learned how to wield a bo staff, a popular training weapon for young samurai.
-Whisked away in the night-time by a band of ninjas searching for young recruits to join their clan.
-Settled into his new life in the ninja clan, and learned the ways of an assassin.
-Sent to Karma school in order to gather the knowledge, weaponry, and powers of other warriors from different cultures to bring back to the tribe in their fight against the government.

School: -Has lived his first two years in the school drinking in all the knowledge put before him.
-Engaged in fights whenever challenged, but was never interested in becoming the “King.”
-Participated in missions whenever possible, so long as they didn’t interfere with his studies.

In detail:

(coming soon)