| abstract
| - Ryū hails from the Yajirushi Clan, the nomadic mirrors of the Natoro Clan of Kemonogakure. It is said that whilst the Natoro rule Kemonogakure, the Yajirushi hold the open expanse of the Land of Beasts in their grasp. Considered to be both a failure and a living legend at different points of his youth Ryū’s upbringing constantly kept him estranged in one form or another, enduring both the withering looks of disappointment from his own family and later the gazes of awe paired with treatment akin to that of a king one could never be close to. As such Ryū was always the outcast, whether it be for his early “failings” or his later blooming into a legend that had not been seen for 22 generations, a period spanning over 500 years. During his youngest years Ryū was treated as an utter failure, his keen intellect and talent for quickly picking up whatever he was being taught was largely overshadowed by the unfortunate event that he was the first in 80 years to not awaken either of the clan’s Dojutsu. The result was an immediate ostracizing from all forms of training or communication, the young male at the age of 6 was dubbed “The Eyeless One” and relegated to the far backs of the clan’s minds as though he simply never existed. To some this treatment would be a boon; to be treated as though he were entirely invisible meant not having to abide by the rules or customs of the clan as a whole, though to a young boy it was torturous to go from being loved as family should be to being dead in the eyes of the entire clan. Yet it was in this less than nurturing environment that he prospered, being spurned as an outcast served to spur him forward driving him to yearn and work for the love and acceptance he’d once had. It was with this drive that Ryū took to training on his own, oft watching the instruction of others from afar with a keen eye and even sharper memory only to mimic them later for hours on end. In this manner he progressed in skill at a slow but steady pace, while he was behind the others of equal age in terms of the volume of knowledge they possessed (due to his own knowledge only growing when he could manage to spy on their training without being detected) he was by far their superior in terms of fundamentals and mechanics as his days were oft filled with naught but repetition of technique and form to the extent that it became ingrained in his body itself. For this reason at the age of 9 he was able to outperform many of his supposed ‘peers’, all of which had awoken one of the clan’s Dojutsu years prior, in a direct comparison; their basic grasp of a wider expanse of techniques paled next to his extensive knowledge of a solid core of fundamentals and his mastery of the mechanics involved. Despite this achievement he was still viewed as an undesirable, bearing his moniker of “The Eyeless One” as a badge of shame among a clan filled with those possessing formidable Dojutsu. Ryū’s life continued in this fashion for two more years, with him stealing whatever knowledge he could whether it be from spying on the training of others or covertly listening to the exchanges from teacher to pupil and applying this knowledge to his training every day without fail. It was not until his Eleventh Year that one of the clan’s Dojutsu finally awakened, the Eye of Artemis taking root. Yet even still, with his Dojutsu awakened Ryū did not receive the treatment that he had anticipated, that he had yearned for. While they no longer treated him as an outcast, he instead became a tool to the clan. He did not receive the love he once had as a child, instead being used as a weapon due to his newfound visual prowess and receiving only the affection akin to that given to a particularly useful tool. Nevertheless they began training him in earnest, like a meticulous nin honing and shining their favorite kunai. As his skill grew so did his distaste for the village, a hatred slowly beginning to fester deep within him as he began to realize that his treatment had only grown worse than it was before; he had worked for 5 years only to go from something to be ignored to something meant only to be used. Despite this he remained intensely loyal to his village and just as dedicated in his training, a naïve part of him holding firmly to the hope that if he proved himself to hold true skill and constantly bettered himself that he could gain the acceptance of those around him… A hope that was sadly fated to never be realized. The clan elders note of his work ethic, his desire to gain their affections, and immediately began taking advantage of it. They sent him on increasingly dangerous missions, tasks that they could levy onto no other without risking failure and loss of life but he was one they were willing to risk as they played up to his hope for comradery among his peers, for he was simply a particularly shiny kunai… And kunai may always be replaced. It was in this manner that he was constantly used for the “betterment” of the clan, sent to foreign lands as he was contracted out to the highest bidders among which were the likes of Konoha and Sunagakure who used him to further their own purposes or put down particularly mouthy missing-nin before they could band together a formidable group. Things continued this way for years, Ryū serving as nothing more than a tool to be loaned out from village to village by his clan while they constantly honed and shined him to make him even more appealing to the next “noble” village who didn’t wish to get their hands dirty. In this environment the young Ryū stewed, his anger and hatred festering as he naively clung to the hope of acceptance “just after this next mission” as though he were chasing the sun over a hill he could never truly climb. With each mission a new chip in their tool was acquired, a new dent that they were ever so content to polish over as they again sharpened its edges. Being used as such beat at him with each mission, constantly wearing him down over a period of 3 years until he finally relinquished his hold on his hopes of sharing any brand of comradery amongst his clan and accepted that he was naught but a tool to them. In the wake of this revelation and the shedding of his childish hopes the second Dojutsu of the clan awoke within him, it was then that he emerged as a legend amongst men. Ryū’s status was altered dramatically overnight, swinging him from naught but a tool to something to be revered by those around him. For he was the first in nearly 600 years to bear both of the clan’s Dojutsu and with that the attitude of those around him changed immediately, the elders no longer viewed him as a tool to be loaned out to whomever may ask for it but instead as a weapon to be hoarded and developed in secret. His official status changed yet again, for now he was viewed as a king among mere commoners whereas before he had been seen as the lowliest of lepers and yet, to Ryū, the treatment seemed all too familiar… He’d gone back to being an untouchable, simply one of a different nature. He was suddenly ‘above’ everyone and everything within the village, a mixture of fear and awe registering in the gazes of those around him whenever he would stroll by. He endured this treatment for no longer than a month before the hatred that had been brewing within him exploded in not a bloody confrontation but instead a covert dissection of the elders themselves before his departure. He robbed them not of their lives but instead of their power and position, stripping them of the scrolls and remnants of old before vanishing into the wilds of the Land in the dead of the night. Ryū searched for and found himself in solitude, piecing himself together after years of trying to mold his self into a being that would be granted the acceptance of those around him and receiving naught but use as a tool for his efforts. No matter where had been sent he was used and discarded just as easily, whether it be by Konoha, Iwagakure, Kirigakure, or those who shared his own blood within his Clan. Now branded as a missing-nin by the Five Greats, all of whom realized the level of danger he presented from their own use of the man, he found solace in being alone with naught but the land around him. In the wilderness his skills reached further heights, whether it be his accuracy with his bow or his physical prowess for if even a single factor were to falter in the slightest he would find himself dying either at the hands of an unforgiving land among beasts or his own clan as they sought to hunt him down. And so he roamed, letting the land and seasons dictate where he would next go for a period of 2 years as he followed the seasons whilst attentively studying the knowledge the elders had guarded as though it were theirs alone. Following the conclusion of his self-imposed exile Ryū emerged a new man, armed with knowledge thought long lost by the common members of his Clan as he wandered to the mainland. He easily found employ as a mercenary with the same villages who placed a bounty upon his head being more than willing to turn a blind eye to his presence should he serve their interests for a period. It was in this manner that he roamed, taking residence among the Hidden Villages for extensive periods of time as they employed him before simply taking his leave and tossing his lot with the next village to pay him enough. Due to this his knowledge constantly grew, his repertoire of techniques steadily rising as he observed the training sessions of various nin in secret. Ryū used the villages just as they used him, as a tool to further his own personal goals as he found that hidden villages were veritable playgrounds for one with enough talent to go undetected. He gathered everything and anything from techniques to weapons to secrets that would turn the world itself against a village should its seedy underbelly be exposed. With this his stock constantly rose, his skill growing as his pool of knowledge expanded from the same villages who fancied themselves to be using him. This continued for 3 years before he was recruited by The Forsaken, his bounty immediately skyrocketing as he seemingly disappeared from the ninja world as a whole with naught but rumors of supposed sightings before emerging with clear ties to the organization. Ryū finally found the acceptance he had longed for during his youth, a home and comrades to call his own… And he will push for their ideals with everything he has, even if they have to bring the world itself to its knees.
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