As vain as he is rude, Hayato Satoru is a genin who believes he has a special destiny. Questions of fate aside, he has proven to be a competent genjutsuist and a valuable contributor to Sunakagure- when he isn't alienating others, that is. A large portion of his day is spent arguing with his very intelligent ninken, the falcon Baizo.
"Inside your womb is a boy who will grow into a man of two visions, whose enemies will die of thirst twice over in two deserts." So spoke a Hayato soothsayer just before the birth of Satoru, much to the delight of his parents, who took it as a sign that their fifth child had a great destiny.
Satoru was born into the large and powerful Hayato brood that controlled five oases, the Green Spiral brood. Like most Hayato children, he was exposed to battle and conflict at a young age, but otherwise had a happy early childhood. He was energetic and intelligent from the time he could speak,and was reminded constantly by his parents of his special destiny. When it came time to choose a hatchling, he was delighted to find one of the falcons was a mutant: instead of two normal black eyes, it had one black and one white eye. Convinced this falcon mirrored his own two vision destiny, he named his falcon Baizo, meaning "double". The other children in the brood did not find Baizo nearly as magnificent as Satoru did, and he was soon teased mercilessly for his ugly hatchling. Eventually, he begged his parents to let him go to Sunagakure to escape the bullying of his brood. They eventually agreed, and Satoru joined the academy of the Village Hidden in the Sand.
All was still not well, however. Satoru proved quite poor at basic ninjutsu in spite of his apparent intelligence. Although he learned written material and focused chakra quite readily, he was unable to reliably perform basic jutsu such as the clone technique. In anger, he lashed back out, and began to bully other children at the academy.
When he first learned of genjutsu, an art known little to his brood,he hoped it would be his salvation from his difficulties with the physical manifestations of ninjutsu. He turned out to have a natural aptitude for genjutsu and quickly mastered the basic fade technique, which proved to be a great help in his increasingly frequent school fights. Baizo, once mocked by Satoru’s broodmates, turned out to be the perfect companion, intelligent even by the standards of a Hayato falcon and able to use his insight to assist in manipulating the minds of others.
Convinced that his prophesied second vision referred to genjutsu, Satoru began to focus nearly exclusively on genjutsu techniques, attempting to learn illusions that replicated his experience with the desert. However, this study was long and difficult for a student of his years, and in the meantime he had academy techniques he still was not mastering. Eventually, he failed the academy and was forced to repeat. His second time through he started by immediately picking on the smaller, younger children. He gathered a small gang around him, and might have become the terror of the academy that year if not for the interference of one Miira Natsu. Like Satoru, Natsu was older than most of the academy children and had already learned useful fighting skills. That first encounter her taijutsu skills proved too much for Satoru. To add insult to injury, Satoru did not at first realize he was fighting a girl and was humiliated to learn he had lost thoroughly to one.
Satoru and Natsu would continue to get in scuffles throughout their time in the academy. The rivalry would prove to be a powerful motivator for him, and would lead to him mastering the ability to create illusory flashes of light, disorienting like the desert sun. This technique leveled the playing field in the fights between Natsu and Satoru, but Satoru longed to more thoroughly best his foe and continued to study more powerful genjutsu techniques. In the meantime, he finally learned the basic techniques that would allow him to graduate, and though his instructors had serious concerns about his discipline problems, they agreed the best thing was to get him out of the academy.
Graduating from the academy has dulled neither Satoru’s mean streak nor his obsession with his own destiny. He continues his quest to uncover more desert genjutsu, and has recently developed a technique whereby he can inflict upon his opponent the powerful sensation of sucumbing to desert heat, a technique he fantasizes about using upon his archrival, Miira Natsu.
Personality
Hayato Satoru is usually proud, often surly, frequently rude, and occasionally cowardly. Though he would never admit it, he is also frequently lonely. His falcon Baizo is kinder but often more cautious. The two bicker often, but they are extremely loyal to one another and, especially in battle, aware of how each other thinks and acts. Satoru is also insatiably curious and will attempt to observe dangerous situations, even if he tries to avoid getting caught up in them.
Appearance
This young teen stands about 5'3" and has a stout, muscular build. He is dressed in an abundance of loose, flowing off-white cloth darkened by sand and dust, covering almost every inch of his skin. The long sleeves of his garments even cover his hands except when he raises his arms, and his feet can almost never never be seen, though when they are spotted, a pair of simple sandals peeks out. On each shoulder hangs an object: a faded leather pouch on his left, a clay jug on his right.
He wears a white, wide-brimmed hat that casts shadows over his whole face. Still, beneath the hat his features can be seen. He has an angular, bird-like face, painted in two places: a green spiral on his left cheek and three thin red horizontal lines under his right eye. His eyes and frazzled, unkempt hair are both dark.
The boy's left shoulder looks slightly wider than his right, as if padded underneath, and on this shoulder the falcon Baizo usually sits. Baizo is mostly unremarkable for a falcon, about a foot and half tall when sitting upright, with black head and back and white chest and legs. However, his eyes are arresting. One eye is black, the normal color for a falcon, while the other is pure white.
Suterusu has served as an unlikely mentor for Satoru. While originally Satoru only feared the dark figure, he has increasingly come to respect his advice.
Although Satoru has only interacted with the council member a few times, he has quickly come to crave his hard to earn praise.
Name
Relationship
Notes
Miira Natsu
Academy Rival
Natsu and Satoru have been rivals from their academy days, when Satoru tended to pick on smaller children and Natsu rushed to defend them. Any meeting between the two is still acerbic.
Ninja Journal
Satoru's journal is a small leather bound book which he keeps stowed away in his room. Below are some of the most interesting entries in the book.
Being in the hospital is boring, but I did it to myself. Masueda Joukei and I had a duel. It was supposed to be a spar, but a duel is exactly what it was. It was long and it was violent. Sensei told us that we were required to face off, and that the loser would be hung upside down by wire. His way of motivating us, I guess. The thing was, we were both so focused on not losing that we both ended up in the hospital. Joukei is doing better than I am, but man does he feel guilty. I guess it might be funny how bad he feels about it if it wasn’t so annoying. We both were idiots, but you won’t catch me moaning about how I feel bad about hurting him. We both could’ve tapped out at any time.
In fact, that turned out to be exactly what Sensei expected us to do: take the hanging upside over ending up halfway to dead. I told him that I regretted continuing the fight as long as I did, and I sort of expected him to be mad, but just the opposite, he said that was exactly the right lesson. I guess what I learned most of all is you can’t let fear keep you from prioritizing. I’m not looking forward to the day Sensei finally strings me up, but I’m not going to push myself to edge again, not with an opponent I can only hope to barely beat.
Speaking of which, that match shouldn’t have been close like that. I should have just beaten him. Next time I get into a match with Joukei, it’s going to be one he’ll lose. And if, for some reason, I can’t win a fight, I’m just not going to get into it. I know what I’m capable of, and if it comes down it, I’ll just wait until I’m stronger than all my opponents.
Chitose is probably the bravest and happiest person I've ever met. She's also a total cheater, but she's really smart about it. We were on a mission together, a stupid D rank mission to pick up some trash, and Sensei told us that the one to pick up the least amount of trash would get hung upside down by wires (I've noticed he uses that threat a lot). And what does she do? She steals bags from Sensei to help her own count. I was so busy trying to scramble to pick up candy wrappers I didn't even notice at the time, but she told me later.
And then, later, we were practicing in the training yard, and she sort of pretends that she's done, and when I look away, bam, she hits me with a wicked uppercut. Even Kuroki-sama was impressed. And then, he tells us to continue and she runs off to do her delivery instead. Just like that, blows off the request of a council member.
I think maybe she likes me okay, too? I hope she does, anyway. But it's hard to tell with her. She's always got the same smile on no matter what happens. So maybe she doesn't really like me and is being polite. I don't really know how to find out. I can hardly ask her, after all. That would be absurd.
