Kashinaga Hizaki

[Hizaki]

NAME Kashinaga Hizaki
AGE Thirty-two
GENDER Male
VILLAGE Sunagakure
RANK Tokujō

[N/A]

RELATIONS
[41] Kashinaga Kagato - Father
[50] Kashinaga Rieko - Mother
[24] Kashinaga Miira - Wife
[08] Kashinaga Chiaki - Daughter

NATURE MANIPULATION

[Fūton]
[Katon]
[N/A]

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Hizaki is slightly taller than the average man, standing at a decent six feet, three inches. Most often seen in finely tailored black combat robes and a blank white mask, there are standard tools located throughout. However, the robes are more of an on the job attire, opting on more casual clothes once they come off.

Although not the biggest fan of taijutsu, Hizaki's days spent fine-tuning his puppetry have been supplemented by decent training, ensuring he was not completely helpless should his toys get broken. Outside of his robes, his outfits generally consist of a lightly worn kimono or a simple pair of pants and geta. His eyes are a sharp, almost animalistic shade of yellow.

MENTALITY
The years and experiences, putting a bit of pressure on him, Hizaki adapted, adopting a work personality to take over whenever he put himself in the mindset. A true professional, on the job, Hizaki minds his words, his emotions, and keeps everything in check. A talent in strategy and the workings of moving his units, he had slowly gained a pair of titles among his peers, notably the Manipulative Schemer and the Machinist.

Once the robes come off, however, Hizaki becomes a tad more vobal, quick to release his emotions, particularly frustration, and far more social. Beneath his rough exterior, he's a mild performer, opting to make extra cash putting on little marionette puppet shows and even ventriloquism acts. Even since the wife of his passing, he shows no interest in the opposite sex, claiming he'll get to it when he gets to it. When drunk, Hizaki's expressed a habit of bitching and complaining, most often about missions, classified or otherwise, and thus avoids the creature.

BIOGRAPHY
Born a mere two years before the First Shinobi War, harsh times already upon them, it was already decided for Hizaki that he would be entered into the Academy to follow in his father's footsteps. Likewise, he would become a practitioner of Kugutsu. His father Kagato never rising above the rank of Chūnin and injured early on in his career, his income suffered as the missions he could complete remained under a certain degree of difficulty. This in mind, the day Hizaki came of age, whether he wanted to or not, his name was registered into the class.

The confusing classes growing less and less complex over time, everything began to make sense. Hizaki was not a particularly impressive student, however, taking his sweet time figuring out the mechanics of genjutsu and basic principal involving "aiming" and "thinking" before he acted. Unfortunately, once he did, it introduced an even more dangerous threat, that of overthinking. An imagination as vivid as his lead to taking more time deciding which steps to take, which moves to implement, and ultimately brought about his own downfall on more than one occasion.

Hizaki's graduation coincided with the conclusion of the First War, his gift being the return of his father. Crippled as he may have been, Kagato was one of the few resources that the village had. Kagato retired from active duty, choosing to remain in the village before he became a burden and instruct the next generation. His instruction included his son, providing him with the material that would assist in his Kugutsu training. Hizaki took to it like a fish to water or a bear to honey or an asian to a hot dog eating trophy.

Hizaki's best friend, Aruri Shio, although not a shinobi himself was vital to his training. Rather than focus on the puppets as most puppeteers do, he chose to become a master of the technique itself, particularly the chakra threads. Shio's job, as Hizaki would pay him, was to create puppets for his exclusive use only. In time, Shio would make a name for himself. And as was intended, Hizaki quickly grew adept at the use of the threads.

Unable to perform the Chūnin exam for some time, due to various members of his team, including himself once opting out, it took some time before Hizaki was able to participate in such events. Once he did, however, he astonished the crowd. Or rather, to be more accurate, his puppet did, stealing the show and, as Hizaki tells it, ultimately caused him to fail. Other than boosting Shio's reputation, Hizaki considered it an utter failure, and would not go on to advancing to Chūnin for another year.

Over the next however many years, several things changed for Kashinaga. Adopting his signature outfit and mask, Hizaki developed his professional on the job personality to accompany it. Several years after advancing to Chūnin, his father Kagato passed in an unfortunate accident on the stairs, not even living to see his boy marry medic named Miira, who would then give him a daughter. Too bad Hizaki wanted a son, for he feared he would spoil his daughter terribly, a fear that was indeed realized.

Unfortunately, whatever peace and happiness anyone in Suna found would be over shortly. The difficulty in finding work and preparations that Konohagakure began making for war were proof of this. It was not long from then that war began, with the village itself swiftly being pulled into the fray to fight for their land and their work. Hizaki and Miira not exempt, they were split, leaving their child with their parents and heading off to the various fronts.

It was during these four years that Hizaki made a name for himself amongst his peers as the Manipulative Schemer, Kitotsuru. Kitotsuru was not a mere puppeteer. He was a strategist, one that would use every element available to bring Suna to victory- especially the environment. His impressive skills with the chakra thread proved key in this as the entire environment of every battlefield he stepped in became his territory, a gigantic trap. As he and his fellow puppeteers used their strings to control in real time, no ally was in danger.

That is not to say that Hizaki remained out of the battles- oh no. Between his manipulations, Kitotsuru adeptfully piloted his own soldiers. Unfortunately, it was not always a turning point. Certain environment lacked useful elements, some lacked time, some were too cluttered. The war was tiring and soldiers fatiguing. The victories were less decisive than the loses. It was only a matter of time. Fortunately, the war began to settle down. Tempers began to cool and the interests of the countries, of the villages began to become more clear.

In the end, Sunagakure came out of the war with at least a portion of what they had hoped. Kitotsuru returned to the village, at this point a Tokubetsu Jōnin, however he had lost something even more important- his wife. In one of the closing skirmishes, one that went very, very wrong, many had been put on the verge. Miina, being who she was, had carelessly overtaxed herself and fell asleep, never to wake up.

Grieving in private and attempting to continue on for his daughter's sake, Hizaki continued on, accepting missions here and there for the pay and leaving her with her grandparents during, but never neglecting to spend much time with her. However one thing was for sure- no way in HELL was he going to let Chiaki become a shinobi.