| Hariyama Nano |
|
|
| Personal |
| Birthplace |
Unknown |
| Birthdate |
1/1/17 B.F. (Believed) |
| Gender |
Unknown |
| Age |
33 (Believed) |
| Height |
Variable |
| Weight |
Variable |
| Blood Type |
Variable |
| Kekkei Genkai |
True Henge |
| Classification |
None |
| Areas of Expertise |
Assassination, Medical Ninjutsu |
| Clan |
Gansaku |
| Affiliation |
None |
| Team |
N/A |
| Rank |
| Ninja Rank |
Wanderer |
| Genin-Equivalent Age |
Unknown |
| Chuunin-Equivalent Age |
Unknown |
| Jounin-Equivalent Age |
Unknown |
| Nature Type |
| Element (Affinity) |
Unknown |
| Element (Secondary) |
Unknown |
| Family |
| None Known |
N/A |
Hariyama Nano is a poetic murderer for hire, who moonlights as a freelance Medic-Nin.
Background
Hariyama Nano is the latest alias for a Gansaku assassin whose usage of their Kekkei Genkai, combined with the erasure of self over and over in order to fit into a given "role" has become so extensive that Nano no longer knows who or what it was originally. Its very mental picture of itself is unclear, and its "base" form is now mostly a gray-fleshed, scarred and stitched monster of gangly, nearly inhuman body structure. Part of this is likely due to the body modifications accomplished through Medic-Nin capabilities, but even so, there have simply been too many missions, too many faces, too many forms.
While ninja are still hired for many types of missions, and some Villages may be more willing to engage in assassination and espionage than others, for extremely difficult missions that one would rather remain anonymous for, especially if they would go against the will of a Village or nation, such as a political assassination, a free agent like Nano might be preferable. Even if more expensive.
While Nano feels it is probably about 30 years old, it can't be certain. It might be older or younger. And with all its experiences, it may come across as older than it really is as well. But of course, knowing how much is an act is hard to discern for others as well…
Personality
As Nano has lost touch with its original self, it has developed a persistent psyche that may or may not be connected to its "true" identity. This psyche, in order to retain sanity, treats the world as a number of stories, all intertwining. Each person has their own story, with others being cameos in them.
Nano observes them, inserts itself into their life somehow, and then at the right moment, draws the tale to a close. A poetic way of saying it kills them. While living out another's life is certainly thrilling in its own way, Nano is content to merely play pretend at identities without killing, unless paid to do otherwise. Many "agents" and "front men" and "contacts" who "pass along jobs" to Nano are in fact Nano itself in many different guises, making the assassin even more mysterious to those in the underworld who employ such services.
Living out various lives, even if it loses itself in the process, is the insanity that keeps Nano sane between missions. By discharging all of its mental instability into obsessively pursuing a given life and identity, it can focus whole-heartedly on its "real" existence when on the job. This paradoxical relationship between a normal life being insane and the brutal world of infiltration and murder being where sanity lies says much about Nano's psychological stability.
Though WHAT it says exactly is a bit harder to analyze.
Appearance
Nano Desc
Nano is a mysterious entity of unclear age, sex, ethnicity, or any other feature. Wardrobe is often body-concealing, and this being seems to change height, build, and other dimensions frequently, such that connecting any two instances is very difficult, if not impossible. Draping clothing, bandage wraps, and other accoutrements conceal all the details, leaving the true nature of "Nano" an unknown.
Anju Desc
Anju appears to be a woman in her late-20s or early-30s, with shoulder-length blue hair. She wears sunglasses, a white long coat with a high collar that conceals the lower half of her face, black slacks, and a pair of boots. Her build is hard to discern due to her coat, and she seems to have a lot of equipment she pulls out of that same garment at times, mostly of a medicinal nature.
Shinrin Desc
Shinrin is a bald man seemingly in his mid-30s, with a scar reaching from his forehead down over his face and vanishing into the wrap he wears over the lower-half of his face. His right eye is a milky white, and his left is a dull lifeless brown hue that barely reflects the light. Shinrin stands about 6 feet tall, with a strong, but not muscle-bound build. He is clearly physically powerful, but his strength is compact, and distributed across his body, indicating someone who endures thorough, intensive, work-outs and a very active life style, rather than simply trying to build muscle.
Shinrin's attire, in addition to his ubiquitous face wrap, includes black body armor on his torso, arm guards, a dull-gray cloth wrap about his waist, hanging down on his left side, a sword sheathe through said wrap, and a pair of somewhat baggy black pants. The pants have more of that black body armor strapped on over them, as well as reinforced tabi on his feet.
Kuchibiru Desc
Kuchibiru is a woman with a skin tone indicating she's a desert native. She is tanned, with green hair down to her lower back, and purple eyes. Her left eye is covered with the bandages that partially wrap around her head, and the rest of her body bears similar wrappings, though they seem to have conspicuous gaps between them in various strategic locations, keeping her barely decent. It appears some kind of tattoo or seal work is scrawled up her right side, from her right thigh up under the bandages wrapped around her chest.
Relationships
| Name |
Relationship |
Notes |
| Nagamura Shuuren |
Employer |
Employment was forced upon him in his time of need, by Sagawa Anju. But it served multiple purposes, including simply ensuring his story continues. Nano does not personally enjoy interfering with people in the same line of work, but a job is a job. And in this case, the job was to save a life instead of taking one. |
| Name |
Info |
Info |
| Name |
Relationship |
Notes |
| Reikoku |
Ally |
An ally of the moment. One of the few who knows who Nano really is, or even that Nano exists. Interesting enough to work with for now. There are many opportunities to tell stories as her ally. And many chances to end those stories. |
| Hakumei |
Co-Worker |
Little in the way of relationship exists between them. Reikoku seems to see potential as a ninja within her, but the potential Nano sees is in the story Hakumei tells. What her life will be like, and how it will end. That is far more interesting than her abilities. |
| Uchuu Mana and Uchuu Kana |
Co-Workers |
Little interaction thus far. Part of the same organization but Nano does not know if it would call them "allies". "Co-worker" suffices. |
| Name |
Relationship |
Notes |
| Name |
Info |
Info |
| Name |
Info |
Info |
Ninja Journal
The mysterious assassin has been contracted. A mousey-little woman, timid in demeanor, wants her husband, a noble lord in the Land of Black Pines, to be eliminated. I just fulfilled a contract there recently. I don't necessarily want the details of the whys of the job, but she provides them. Seems to think that's expected. The me she speaks to is a sympathetic older woman who nods as Missus Noble Lord laments her husbands adulterous ways, how he can continue to get away with it because of his position, how he neglects their own children and is sure to have illegitimate offspring somewhere. As she gets on in years, and the women who keep finding their way to Mister Noble Lord's bedside grow younger and younger. The latest was younger than her oldest son.
Missus Noble Lord wants something done about this. The something that involves someone not living anymore. She means her husband, but I'm not sure that will fix her problems. I'll have to do more investigating. The me that listens to her story assures everything will handled discretely and secretly. That the usual terms of half payment up front and the rest on completion will be waived for one like her.
The reason is different than she probably imagines. My price isn't cheap. If her husband is already cutting his own children out of his fortune, then chances are high that a sudden expenditure from her allowance may make people take notice. And that might lead to suspicion or problems. There can't be a paper trail. I'll arrange things my own way.
She's told that once she's the new Noble Lord, I trust her to provide payment to the contractor who facilitated her elevation in rank.
She seems too stunned, too taken aback, by the idea that she could actually BE the new Noble Lord, not just inherit from him, to think too much more about it. She accepts my words of comfort, my assurances, and leaves. I make sure she's followed by the right people until she's back to safety. It doesn't appear that she was followed here, but if she had been, I'd have already known that most likely. And then she'd never have found me.
Time to gather some information.
I make my way to Mister Noble Lord's home. A sprawling mansion estate, in the middle of the forested Land of Black Pines. Mister Noble Lord is more than the spoiled adulterer his wife painted him as. He's that too, but he's also a soldier, an artist, a connosieur… He collects statues of elephants, and has personal instructors who train him in ninja arts. Or what he's told is ninja arts. I don't doubt he's learning martial arts, but the charlatans he's hired probably couldn't teach ninjutsu even if they wanted to. They're still skilled, but they practice in dojos and on stages, and spend the rest of their time drinking in back rooms and smoking pipes with the scent of burnt cinnamon.
Not a ninja among them, it seems. Or they're good at hiding it. The latter's a possibility, but not a likely one. I'll accomodate for surprise regardless.
Mister Noble Lord's body guards are a separate matter. I'll need to examine them more closely. But there's other research to be done as well. Mister Noble Lord has his patterns, his preferences, his routines. He isn't a man who lives with the fear of being eliminated. He entrusts his safety to his guards. But he has fought in the past. Before he had his position, he knew war. Or a version of it.
He seems like the type to have commanded troops, rather than to have fought alongside them. But you never know. This is technically a political assassination, so I want more information than what I'd need for some thug off the street. I'm not leaving things up to chance.
That said, I've had thirty-seven chances to kill him since I got here. There will be more. He likes to take walks at night, through his garden, before he settles down for bed. Sometimes his "walks" are excuses to meet with a woman other than his wife, and the bed he settles down in is separate from the one he shares with Missus Noble Lord. Other times he just wanders about, sits and looks at the stars, or drinks a peculiar brand of plum wine while writing poetry by moonlight.
The Noble Lord doesn't want to be watched on his trysts, so sometimes his guards are informed to stay away from the garden. Out of eye sight and out of earshot. Their job then is to keep anyone from getting close enough to the garden that they'd be needed. It's foolish, but even a man like Mister Noble Lord isn't entirely stupid. Even when he is having his extra-marital midnight escapades, he entrusts at least one of his guards with the duty of watching over him. This one is different from the others.
I need to know more about him.
The leader of Mister Noble Lord's body guards is "Garyuu Shingo". A man whose surname means "Great Man" and given name means "My Humility". A contradiction that intrigues, at least from my perspective as a writer. On the one hand, his family is one of greatness, but on the other, he is his own humility? Is there actually a contrast, or is it just a name?
Either way, I've checked up on him. Former samurai from the Land of Iron. Got run out of the country for learning Ninjutsu. Skilled with a sword, and I think he might have some form of Sensor-Nin capabilities as well. Troublesome, to say the least. He sleeps in a small room off of the main thoroughfares, not because he must, but because he chooses to. Perhaps he feels a small room is easier to keep secure than a large one. But he's also close enough to Mister Noble Lord's quarters that he can respond quickly.
Not quickly enough. Missus Noble Lord caught one of Mister Noble Lord's mistresses pick-pocketting trinkets from his bedroom. To say a hell of a fight resulted would be to put it mildly, but the moment she screamed, Garyuu-san sprang forth from where he was guarding Mister Noble Lord down the hall during a business meeting. I counted the number of steps he took. It was impressively low for a samurai, but still too many. Six steps to cover 10 meters.
I assume he was moving at or close to his top speed, but he may have hesitated to react for a fraction of a second at the start. It didn't seem like he started out to investigate immediately. If he hesitated, its because his job is to guard Mister Noble Lord, not his wife, and had to be ordered to move.
If that's the case, then he's quite the professional, to not just abandon his employer for every strange sound. I could almost feel his attention sweeping the area. His awareness penetrating his surroundings as he sought more information even before he was told to go.
But the fact he was willing to leave his lord's side provides an opportunity. He apprehended the sneak thief of course. Some poor woman who probably spent everything she had to pretty herself up enough to catch Mister Noble Lord's attention, and now has to make it back through stealing. How sad.
It's put Mister Noble Lord in quite the awkward position, and as tensions mount, it seems like Missus Noble Lord might be about to truly confront him. Garyuu had the thief escorted out of the manor while the two fought. One of the younger, more naive body guards, spared some sympathy for the pretty young woman and gave her some coins. I think it was partially due to how she was crying, and partially because of her appearance. The young lad… I've seen him trying to hang around Garyuu before. Something of a hero complex.
The fact Garyuu didn't have the thief killed probably helps. He realized at once the young lady was no threat. And now this boy wishes to follow Garyuu's example. But it's a flaw that Garyuu has shown. He has a soft spot. If he was truly a professional, he would have carried out his duty to make sure the thief was properly punished. Jailed at the least, if not executed. She stole from a noble lord. That is no minor matter. Infact, Mister Noble Lord probably would have preferred her dead so that he could claim to not have knowledge of his latest lover. With her still alive, she's a witness to his misdeeds. That's directly detrimental to Mister Noble Lord's best interests, and Garyuu isn't foolish enough to not realize that.
Garyuu Shingo interests me. More so than the Mister Noble Lord. I can't allow my attention to become too focused upon them though. Garyuu might notice eyes on him if I'm not subtle enough. Also, before I go forward, I should learn more about the other players in the palace, and about Missus Noble Lord. I see a three-step plan to get to and eliminate Mister Noble Lord laid out before me.
I try to make a habit of knowing about those who hire me. It's not that I want to know their life's story, but I want to know their life's story. My own life is on the line when I take these jobs. No cover story, no deception is enough. The mousey woman who hired me is clearly not the real Missus Noble Lord. She has fire and vitriol to her, especially with the house staff. And ESPECIALLY especially with the maids. The prettiest ones get the worst of it.
I wouldn't say her behavior when she came to see me was an act, but she was more scared for her safety than a person who is timid and scared the rest of the time. I could learn more about her through various simple methods. But I'm a story teller. And despite my instincts as an assassin telling me to get the job done soon, I want to know what it is I'm getting myself into. The various stories I'm becoming part of. The personal melodramas, the histories… Because once they're dead, all of that information will be lost. Anything they knew and others didn't, their personal perspective, their feelings…
I plan to keep all that forever. So I learn more about her. Her personality, her preferences, her patterns. I learn of her loneliness and her sense of betrayal. How she left her home to be with this one who now leaves her alone in a cold bed for the company of younger women. The reason she is so awful to those below her is not because she lacks empathy for their station, or thinks herself better, but because she sees herself in them. And the fact that where she was resistant to the Noble Lord's advances at first and eventually wound up marrying him, and these others subserviently fawn over him, makes the dwindling fire inside of her spark in outrage.
I can see it all in her words, her body language, the way she curls up at night, the times she spends alone in darkened rooms, staring at candles. It's when she's away from others, away from targets to lash out at, that a different side of her emerges. The side that regrets leaving everything behind for this man.
Someone else might have had sympathy for the wife initially, at her claims of adultery, which then shifted to the husband upon learning how badly Missus Noble Lord treated her servants. To say, "Well, I can see why he prefers the company of different loves than her!" But that saying that 'every story has two sides' doesn't begin to cover the complexities of real human stories.
And I can see how husband and wife have been estranged by each other. How something as simple as Mister Noble Lord noticing a younger, prettier woman as the mother of his children continued to age and to grow less of the spitfire he had known in his youth… And how the resentment of finding herself lounging about at court as a live-in mistress when the first 18 years of her life were spent working in the fields, earning her continued existence through hard work and a hard will… Could eventually turn into this.
Neither was wholly right, nor wholly wrong.
Mister Noble Lord should not have betrayed the trust of his wife. He should not have allowed petty lusts to interfere with his commitment, his promise, with the mother of his children. That was not just a responsibility he shirked, it was a bond of love that he allowed to atrophy for the sake of sating his base desires.
Missus Noble Lord should have accepted the choice she made to be here originally, and not sought after possibilities that no longer existed. She had children to care for, even if two were half-grown and another already moved out. That was a responsibility all its own. Her husband's philandering was a crime worth noting, and she should have confronted him about it instead of letting it continue. But though she resented being here, she also had grown accustomed to a life of luxury. She feared that talking to her husband honestly, telling him she could not accept his actions, would result in her being outcast.
After all, she was unable to talk to him about her true feelings about spending her life unable to contribute except by making babies, due to the same fear. She was not a woman born to live without effort. She finds meaning in working with her hands, in building things. And now she feels lost. It adds to her frustration, despair, and isolation.
I take back what I said earlier.
She is a person who is always afraid. But not for her life. Just for the loss of what she values more than her own heart's desire.
But there is another opportunity here. The plan is coming together as more pieces are added. One of the forms of me that has been observing and learning has taken the form of an aging, hunched-over personal physician, whom I replaced two weeks ago. I will need at least four more identities to make this story reach its proper conclusion. Three are right here. Another will need to be brought in from elsewhere.
Skills And Abilities
As a member of the Gansaku Clan, Nano wields the Taijutsu skills of Doppleganger Taijutsu. It can reproduce the Taijutsu of others through observation, and even learn their techniques, without actually being trained in that style. This requires study however. It can not simply copy things like with the Sharingan. Its Taijutsu skills are not insignificant, presently, but most of its focus has been put into concealment, and striking as lethally as possible by surprise, rather than trying to get into direct conflicts.
Combat Rank: B
Support Rank: B
Potential Rank: B
Effective Rank: B
Level: Jounin
Nano has considerable skill with Ninjutsu, though again focused primarily on assassination, meaning concealment and lethal strikes. It is also a high-level Medic-Nin, however, capable of altering the bodies of others or even itself, through Ninjutsu surgical methods. As well, as a member of the Gansaku Clan, Nano possesses the Kekkei Genkai of True Henge, which allows for the shifting from one form to another on an indefinite basis. Its heavy surgical modifications, however, have really done a number on its Chakra Network. Dicing up its own body over and over, reworking how its Chakra flows to match various people, and so on, has negatively impacted its Chakra flow. Molding Chakra is harder. It will have to take steps to fix this. Probably though more surgery.
Combat Rank: B
Support Rank: A
Potential Rank: B
Effective Rank: B
Level: Jounin
Nano was skilled with Genjutsu once, it thinks. But its mind has become so tattered that it can't be sure if that's real or if it was part of an identity it picked up once. That same tattered psyche also renders it vulnerable to Genjutsu in turn. It's not wholly susceptible, but it has a harder time defending against it. This is a known weakness, and Nano aims to correct it.
Combat Rank: E
Support Rank: E
Potential Rank: B
Effective Rank: D
Level: Genin
Nano is skilled with the use of poisons, and with stealth. It possesses sensor-nin capabilities, and a modified body structure that allows it to do things a normal human body simply can't. Combined with its shapeshifting via True Henge, which has been pushed to its limits by dangerous self-modifying Ninjutsu, this creature can barely be considered human. Acting and disguise are areas it is experienced with, along with psychology and observation. It can usually unravel the mysteries of any target's mind with sufficient opportunity.
Combat Rank: B
Support Rank: B
Potential Rank: B
Effective Rank: B
Level: Jounin
| Age |
Nin |
Tai |
Gen |
Int |
Pow |
Sta |
Seal |
Spd |
Total |
| 33 |
3.5 |
4.0 |
3.5 |
4.0 |
3.0 |
3.0 |
3.0 |
4.0 |
28 |
| Style Name |
Description |
| Doppleganger Taijutsu |
A Taijutsu, Weapon Taijutsu, and Chakra Taijutsu style of the Gansaku Clan. It uses their Kekkei Genkai to mimic the movements of others and learn various Taijutsu skills, adapting their bodies to match. |
| Herbalism and Poisons |
A Taijutsu and Ninjutsu style for the handling of poisons and cures, as well as poisoned weapons. |
| Medic Nin |
A hybrid style for the usage of medicine and medical ninjutsu in Taijutsu, Weapon Taijutsu, Chakra Taijutsu, and General Ninjutsu. Grants heals and cures. |
| Predator's Eye Genjutsu |
A General Genjutsu style that uses primal, ferocious illusions and impressions of predatory intent, focused through the lens of the eyes. |
| Scroll Mastery |
A General Ninjutsu style for storing and summoning items in and from scrolls. |
| Sensor Style |
A Ninjutsu style for sensing, analyzing, and concealing or altering Chakra. |
| Skill Name |
Rank |
Description |
Category |
Style |
| Chakra Network Surgery |
A |
A Medical Ninjutsu for repairing or altering Chakra pathways in one's own body or another's. |
Ninjutsu |
Medic Nin |
| Ninjutsu Surgery |
B |
A surgical jutsu for altering the body or perfoming high-level medical procedures aided by Ninjutsu. |
Ninjutsu |
Medic Nin |
| Soft Physique Modification |
B |
A surgical modification to increase flexibility of the limbs, joints, and general body, by softening and stretching the ninja's flesh. |
Taijutsu |
Medic Nin |
| Medical Bio-Recording |
C |
A Ninjutsu for transcribing a mental record of a patient's vitals and other information. |
Ninjutsu |
Medic Nin |
| True Henge |
C |
The Kekkei Genkai of the Gansaku. Allows for shapeshifting. |
Taijutsu |
Doppleganger Taijutsu |
| Basic Medical Scroll |
D |
Scroll storage of basic medical supplies. |
Ninjutsu |
Scroll Mastery + Medic Nin |
| Diagnostic Jutsu |
D |
One of the most basic and important Medical Ninjutsu, Diagnostic Jutsu allows for analysis of a patient by touch. |
Ninjutsu |
Medic Nin |
| Tree Walking |
D |
This chakra control skill allows a ninja to walk on sheer surfaces, like trees, walls, mountainsides, and even upside down. |
Ninjutsu |
General |
| Wardrobe Summon |
D |
A storage scroll technique for keeping additional outfits and equipment on-hand in a compact space. |
Ninjutsu |
Scroll Mastery |
| Water Walking |
D |
This chakra control skill allows a ninja to walk on water and similar liquids. |
Ninjutsu |
General |
| Transform Name |
Rank |
Description |
Style |
| None yet |
None yet |
None yet |
None yet |
RP Logs
Specific RP Logs
| Log |
Date |
Notes |
| None yet |
N/A |
N/A |
| None yet |
N/A |
N/A |
| None yet |
N/A |
N/A |
| None yet |
N/A |
N/A |
| None yet |
N/A |
N/A |
| None yet |
N/A |
N/A |
| Log |
Date |
Notes |
| None yet |
N/A |
N/A |
| None yet |
N/A |
N/A |
| None yet |
N/A |
N/A |
| None yet |
N/A |
N/A |
| None yet |
N/A |
N/A |
| None yet |
N/A |
N/A |
Themes
| Title |
Artist |
Meaning |
Link |
| "Make Me Real" |
She |
Who are you when you don't know your own past? When your own mind betrays you? If your identity is always that of another, and you only find solace in the absence of self, who are you? And does that identity die when you remember who you used to be? |
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMS8ycqV9FQ |
| "The End" |
Garden |
Who began this journey isn't who is here now. The limitations of that self are gone. Everything lies ahead. A universe of infinite possibility. Nano could become anything, anyone, or abandon identity entirely and achieve a form of existence beyond human comprehension. To be "self" without identity. But instead, it clings to the transient lives and stories that it assumes, only returning to the self without identity when it must. Why? Why keep holding on to the flaws of personality? What does it really want to be? |
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzxDQIT6Mxg |
| "Schism" |
Tool |
My mind is a jigsaw I'm still putting together. I know how the pieces fit. Because I broke them in the first place. |
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yNAABKD4IA |
| Title |
Artist |
Meaning |
Link |
| "True Lab Theme" |
Undertale OST |
Sagawa Anju, the underground medical professional. Specializes in body modifications. An identity created from the bits and pieces of other stories. Her lab is a place of experiments and horror, but also healing and enlightenment. Her lab is also the whole world. |
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k27xaUaid1U |
| "Theme Song" |
The Last Samurai OST |
Shinrin, the ronin. Wandering, lost, finding purpose only in battle. Times of peace are times of despair. A swordsman must fight, or else he is just another man. |
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvIUyWt7KEk |
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