Karukaya Kaname

Name: Karukaya Kaname
Age: 26
Birthdate: 8/18
Gender: Male
Sexuality: Bisexual Married
Rank: Jounin (S) || Anbu (Captain) || Sannin

Village: Hinowakagure no Sato
Element(s): Katon (SS) || Katon (SS) || Raiton (S) || Nova (S)
Specialties: Taijutsu (SS) || Ninjutsu (SS) || Medical Ninjutsu (S)
Special Characteristics: /



Height: 5'11
Weight: 160lbs
Hair Color: Red
Eye Color: Gray
General Description: Karukaya is a fairly average male; he doesn't really stick out of the crowd very much. Slightly on the tall side, he's been called handsome by his peers, although he's not the type to really care about his appearance beyond making sure he bathes fairly regularly and that there's not a layer of mud caking his body for longer than necessary. Red hair is uncommon, but not rare, in his village; and his is on the more subdued side; closer to a bright auburn or red-chocolate than the flaming red some have. Gray eyes seem to clash in a way with his brighter hair, the only physical trait he inherited from his father; beyond his eyes he could be almost a clone of his mother and her family. On an average day, he's either wearing whatever his on-duty uniform of choice is; namely the common cargo shorts, dark tee, and ninja vest of appropriate color and cut for his rank and village; or whatever his off-duty set up for the day (depending on what training or socializing he plans on) is, usually loose fitting shorts and a cotton tee, some sort of monk-ish pants with no shirt, or a tunic and long pants if he's feeling formal.




Personality: Walk softly, carry a big stick. This is NOT Karukaya's philosophy. Not only does he not walk softly, he wouldn't be caught dead carrying a stick, big or otherwise. No, his passion is boxing, in all it's forms. Put him in the ring with a good set of gloves and properly wrapped feet, and he's in paradise. Boxing, kickboxing, even a little bit of capoeira and muay thai for the giggles; he loved it and he loved perfecting the arts. While not the loudest person around, once you get Karu talking, it's hard to make him stop until he's run out of things to say. Usually rather friendly, he's the type you end up wanting to go have a drink with; double so because he's the type that will sit there and buy round after round with no care or worry about what it costs. He's not rich by any means, but he'd rather spend it enjoying himself than horde a bunch of useless paper. He's lucky enough to have his little apartment to store his gear and grab some sleep or keep a little bit of long haul foods (ramen, crackers, peanut butter, things like that) for when he splurged a little too hard on his friends, or complete strangers he met in whatever bars or pubs he frequented that month.

History:

Born in late summer, Karukaya has always been a bit on the large side; he was a heavy baby, and by the time he'd worked off his baby chub, he was growing like a weed. Eldest of four siblings, with two brothers and a sister all several years younger than him, he spent much of his childhood roaming the streets of the village with the other kids his age from school or that lived nearby to his family. A rambunctious boy, he was still mostly well behaved, although he got in his fair share of fights. The vast majority where the kind that you got into to show off who was stronger or better at something, that little boy thinking that the strongest or best fighter was the default best at everything.

School was nothing special; he excelled at gym, lunch, and recess; less so at actual academics. It wasn't that he wasn't smart, he just had too much energy to sit and behave the way the teachers wanted. It didn't take long for his parents to realize that he wasn't going to do well in 'normal' schooling, so they enrolled him in the local ninja prep school for a semester, to see how he did there. Needless to say, he fit in pretty well. He gravitated toward the physical skill sets, the trainers and teachers seeing potential for a physical fighter in him. Acing the prep program, his parents sent him off to the local ninja academy, where he did the usual courses and training. The increased physical demands helped to drain his hyper-active energy, allowing him to focus on his academic classes finally, allowing him to show a bit of a talent for chakra skills and brainpower, on top of his physical prowess.




When he graduated, he was at the top of his class physically, and above average in most other subjects; leaving him in the top end overall. His first genin team was a pretty standard set up; his taijutsu power complemented by a ninjutsu user and a kid that, while good with genjutsu and able to round the team, had dreams of being a medic ninja eventually. They where lucky enough to get a sensei that was a solid jack of trades kind of ninja; with plenty of experience in almost every aspect and specialty of ninja life. In between running the usual errand and fetch mission in town, or the harder, but more rewarding escorts and such between villages, he spent his time in the training fields and gyms of the village, making his punches harder and his kicks more devastating.

Missions where boring, and fairly easy; for the most part everyone pulled their weight and did what needed to be done; but it was soon apparent that there was something off about the team. While they got along well enough, their sensei eventually started having to cancel trainings and missions, and the various members just started to drift apart. They were never the best of friends, but always friendly enough; but the lack of synergy really began to wear on them after only a few months. Eventually, their sensei revealed that he was being reassigned; to what he never knew until many years later when he got the security clearance to check out Jounin files; and Karukaya took this time to make himself a bit of a solo career. Oh, he was willing and happy to work as a filler on small teams and mission assignments; but it wasn't until the Rakuenkage herself summoned him that he really thought about becoming part of a dedicated squad again.

She was aiming to set up a team of her own, a squad of genin to train personally and mold to be the best of the best; but things didn't work out exactly as she planned. No; the squad of three ended up being a singular student in the end; neither of the others she'd summoned met her exacting standards; hell, Karukaya barely did; so in the end they where dismissed and he was taken in.

It would also be good to mention the other major change in his life that happened right about this time. Always an animal lover, Karukaya had taken on a second job at a local wildlife center; it was a complete accident, but his lack of a genin squad at the time meant that he had enough room in his schedule to split between them. He loved his knew job, and took to training as a field scout with aplomb. This wasn't the important part however, not really; no, it was the meeting between him and his kangaroo best friend and soon to be 'son' Coen that would change his life. From the moment he met the joey; his mother was too injured to take care of him, and he was just old enough to be hand raised safely; Karu's life changed completely. They bonded instantly, and Karu, through intense work and pure luck, was able to qualify as a surrogate, allowing him to take the joey with him when he left the center for the day and raise him himself. It was during one of these day trips that the truth of Coen's parentage was discovered; Coen's mother had been brought in from the far plains and there was no information on either of them beyond what they'd gathered in the weeks since; so after Coen watched a particularly intense training session of Karu's and freaked out; screaming 'No Daddy no!' over his apparently self-inflicted burning and such; it was discovered that Coen was part ninja kangaroo; and because of this, Karukaya was able to out in paperwork to adopt him as a ninja pet; which he promptly did. Coen came home with Karukaya, and from that day forward Karu treated him like a son and partner; training him in the ninja arts and teaching him everything he needed to know to be a good person; to the point that Coen's enhanced intellect and skills grew to rival that of a human child within only a few weeks.

His training and time spent as Temaki's student meant that his training and overall power exploded quickly, and after a rather... interesting event in which he risked life and limb to set Temaki up to stop a monster from destroying the village, he was promoted to Chunnin.




He spent only a few weeks as a Chunnin, really; he pushed himself hard and fast at both his ninja duties and at the wildlife center. He was constantly working double shifts there in between running dozens of missions a week and raising Coen as essentially a single parent. The pure dedication of his work ethic, combined with several rather... interesting instances of pure bravery, insanity, and hidden potential shining through; he was able to raise to Special Jounin in less than six weeks.

It was really a rather fun time, his promotion. He'd been summoned to Temaki's office to be a good student/ninja of the village; meeting with a visiting diplomat from the neighboring country of Hanagakure no Sato; the Commander General's Daughter and ranking Jounin herself, Jayr. After the pleasantries and business was taken care of, the invitation for drinks was given; and Karukaya wasn't one to turn down free drinks.

They retired to a pub near the Admin Complex, and after the surprise of his promotion, the second surprise of being handed a custom-made kangaroo and flame themed ANBU mask, which came with the obvious offer to join the local ANBU, he had his new rank, and a third job. Many rounds of drinks were had; and by the end of the night the three had retired to Temaki's apartment to get... better acquainted.

A week later, they reappeared; an understanding a new relationship formed between the three; the start of a new family and strengthening of the ties between the villages that would lead to years of prosperity and fun shamelessly flaunted to the world.



Jounin years lasted long and brought many changes to his world. He and Coen made for a nearly invincible team, and with the expansion of his skills to include ranged ninjutsu and medical ninjutsu; combined with the addition of a second 'son' in his little dragon-spirit-child Roku; it was readily apparent that they would need more than just a couple of apartments between them. Karukaya was lucky enough to be able to buy out the land surrounding his little apartment; it was a freestanding building in the middle of a complex after all; and he used the newly acquired land to build a rather large compound for his family to enjoy; all nine of them. Early in his Jounin years he took on a student of his own; without ever retiring as Temaki's; a young girl by the name of Artemis that was really barely any younger than him, but was a wonderful person with a lot of hidden talents and that he came to love like a sister after a very short amount of time. Due to a rather... unfavorable homelife; he gave her the option to move into his home; giving her a safe place to life and raise her own little pet-child Fa Mulan; a young albino monkey that they had rescued not long after he took her on as a student.

The years were easy and happy; with lots of time spent working and even more with family and friends. The village was prosperous under Temaki, and the alliance with Hanagakure meant that both villages where exploding in power and wealth. Borders became little more than suggestions during this time; to the point that the two countries even seriously talk about combining into one larger entity at times; which for all the headaches of paperwork, Karukaya was entirely happy with. His little family would be happy with anything that happened; and with two more children, human this time, adopted by he and Temaki and Jayr, there was nothing that would stop them from living a good life. Karukaya was the highest ranking member of the village, directly under Temaki; with Jayr holding the same position within Hanagakure's military, and a special position of equal power within Hinowagakure's administration. Karu had risen to be a senior veterinary surgeon within the exotic wildlife centers of the village, and was senior staff among the Hinowa Medic Corps as well. Coen, after so many years of training and growth, had proven to be as intelligent and strong as Karukaya himself, and a special bit of legislation passed by Temaki gave him status equal to every other human ninja in the land; adding a fifth Jounin to the ranks of their family. Times are good, and everyone is happy; which is all Karukaya could ever ask for.


RP Sample:"Karu, you busy?"

He'd missed the knock on the door jam, his door was never closed (unless he had Jayr or Temaki 'visiting', at which point it was locked, barred, and the room sound-proofed), but he'd been focused heavily on the paperwork on his desk. It was requisition forms, this time of year the Jounin sensei where all begging for fresh gears and training materials, and he always ended up taking the task of dealing with it instead of Temaki; he came from a family of merchants and was better with money, so he was able to do the magic needed to make sure that budgets where never broken, yet everyone still got what they wanted. Plus, him doing this meant that he was able to move money around to where it was needed; there was a reason that the tourist industry had exploded in recent years. Between all the new parklands, wildlife preserves, and all of that, there was a massive influx of people in the ecotourism industry, and the slow, but needed, modernization of the village thanks to the open trade with Hana was helping significantly as well. They were quickly evening out the differences between the villages, while still maintaining what made them special and different, so that the upcoming merger of the countries would be smooth as possible. As far as the leadership was concerned, the countries where one giant family, and so far the civilians and nobility of both villages where on board with the plans. Everyone was benefiting, and the economies of both villages where booming. Good times. The red-head glanced up after a long pause, noticing his 'secretary', she was assigned to work with him yes, but he didn't like the concept of secretary, especially as she was a ranking Chunnin, and he felt it to be distasteful to reduce her to such. "Oh, Naname. What's up?" He reached up and ran his hand through his brilliant hair; he'd gotten some decent sun recently, and his hair was bleaching to an extremely bright hue that almost violated nature; the stronger his inner fires had become, the brighter his hair got; it was a weird effect, but he'd never bothered.

"There's a message from the front desk. There's a ninja from Amagakure here that wishes to see you. He asked for you by name, so I'm assuming it wasn't just a request to speak to a ranking commander."

"Delightful. Don't get too many Amagakure ninja without some kind of fanfare or announcement. Oh well. I'll be down in a few minutes, I'm nearly done here."

"I'll let them know." She waved versus bowing; he was very much a 'I don't give a fuck about protocol unless I have to, so relax' type of person, and he had a rather friendly relationship with his attendant; so they'd established a comfortable rapport. It worked, and they both liked it. The message was passed along, and maybe ten minutes later, he was done and moving down the stairs toward the ground floor. Appearing at the desk, he glanced around pretty instantly noticed the Amagakure ninja; he was too pale to be native of Hinowa or Hana, and definitely not from the deserts of Yokuchi, and his features where wrong for a man from the high tundra. He took a moment to tug his flak jacket down so that it was settled properly, bushed some dust from his long pants. His pouches and bags were hanging from his belt as usual; although only his medic kits and flame gloves where actually in them. Otherwise, they where empty enough; he wasn't planning on going anywhere today, so he was minimally equipped, but that was fine. He was a walking one many army, really; so he didn't need to worry about having a massive amount of gear. So long as he had his gloves, he was good; his arm was a weapon of mass destruction, and he walked around with it uncovered; or rather, it was uncovered to the sealing bandages that kept the power of the Nova chakra contained. He didn't wear long sleeves often, and everyone was used to the strangeness of his right arm by now. It had been nearly 5 years since he'd lost his 'real' arm and the Nova arm replaced it, after all.

"I'm going to guess you are the one that wishes to speak with me?" He was speaking to the seated male, finishing his question before shifting to stretch his arms high over his head with a solid crack and pop of shoulder joints. He'd need to stretch soon, he's spend many, many hours hunched over his desk, so standing felt great, but he was a bit stiff, and he didn't like to feel stiff. "How can I help you, sir?" He was high ranking, powerful, but still spoke like a kid in customer service sometimes; he would have been a merchant in another life, and it showed sometimes; he spoke like someone that spent a lot of time working with a lot of people, and that was very true; as well as someone that had a genuine knack for working with strangers. He was constantly working with dozens of people, ninja and otherwise; he needed to be able to handle working with people of all ranks, position, ethnicity, etc; and he was good at it.

Faceclaim: Kagami Taiga - Kuroko no Basuke