Pariah Stark
The Sad Reality
Name: Shiori Nadeshiko
Nicknames: The Red Demon, The Third Coming of the Demon
Gender: Female
Age: 28
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 112lb
Hair Color: Red
Eye Color: Green
Like the Fifth Mizukage, Shiori is noted as one of the most beautiful Kunoichi alive. Her bright green eyes and vibrant red hair paired with her fair skin make her a brightly-colored and glowing individual. Despite her absolute lack of morals and cold nature, she outwardly appears warm, confident and trustworthy. She sports a gentle smile and a type of regal. Often wearing just white and green robes or her Mizukage outfit, Shiori doesn't appear to be a shinobi whatsoever. Aside from a small pouch and a single scroll containing Kiba, even in combat situations, she has very little on-hand equipment. In a split second, however, she can make her regal composure into a pure condescending stature and her bright green eyes can cut into an individual. She is also notably short, which can add to her soft appearance. She is rarely seen as intimidating and in fact is known for openly flirting during the yearly Kage Summit where they discuss current issues, often abusing her appearance much to the chagrin (or delight) of others.
Rank:
Eighth Mizukage
Affiliation:
Land of Water
Kirigakure
Nadeshiko Village
Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist
Crimson Tides
Clan:
H?zuki Clan
Personality
Shiori is cold, cruel and calculating. She has few inhibitions due to her inherent lack of morals, near inability to develop real relationships and her value on power alone. Shiori will take whatever she wants with a calm smile; she will do whatever she pleases, and do it gracefully. Despite those notions, however, Shiori is strictly a virgin with no romantic interests or indulgences. Most of the few rules she abides by are the traditions of the Nadeshiko Village, her original home and matriarchal root. Shiori refuses to marry or even consider a man that cannot defeat her in combat, and no one has ever successfully defeated her. She also has a myriad of other rules she does abide by, such as not interfering with a fight between two swordsman (especially if one of them is trying to claim the blade of another). She is a firm believer in the "Way of the Waves" - a turn of phrase that developed during the Purge that refers to the lawless lack of mercy and honor within the Land of Water. The only thing she has ever failed to achieve is the use of Earth Release, like her father; it bothers her significantly that she has surprised her parents in Water Lightning Release, but still cannot match her father in simple Earth Release techniques.
Motivation
Shiori is motivated primarily by instinct. She seeks out and seizes power because she wants it. When she watched her brother die in such a gruesome death at the same time she made her first kill in true combat, something clicked inside her that unlocked this insatiable lust for power. She has been nicknamed the Red Demon and the Third Coming of the Demon because of her lack of morals in her pursuit for anything she wants.
History
Shiori is the prodigy and progeny of the H?zuki Clan, but her entire uprising and existence is owed to the Nadeshiko Village. Just after the Fifth Great Shinobi War, the Nadeshiko Village took up their tradition of kunoichi again. They had been allowed to preserve their culture through another means; having their women, now desired due to their impressive intellect and immense beauty, marrying the rich traders and artisans of the time, then bringing them to the village. In turn, the Nadeshiko Village became a very wealthy Village during the Era of the Daimy?. With the shinobi way returning to the world, the Nadeshiko Village was capable of creating its powerful kunoichi once again.
Shiori's mother, Ameshuri, was one of the first generation of kunoichi produced by the Nadeshiko Village. She was a Seal Hunter during the Purge, utilizing powerful Lightning and Water jutsu to eliminate her targets from a range. Additionally, she was highly-capable with jutsu, using her lighting-based Chakra Flow to cut through nearly anything, including the appendages and constructs of Seal Users. It was just two years into the Purge that Ameshuri met Shiori's father, Zantetsu H?zuki, the wielder of the Hiramekarai and a member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. Ameshuri was becoming known as the 'Lightning Blade of the Mist' and Zentetsu took this as a very serious transgression against the swordsman as he felt only the wielder of Kiba should be known as such a name. The two dueled, primarily with their kenjutsu, and Zantetsu ultimately won. As a member of the H?zuki Clan, Zantetsu was highly aware of his weakness to electricity and Lightning-based ninjutsu. He used his Earth Release alongside an Unsealing Jutsu to summon and manipulate Lightning Rods to redirect Ameshuri's jutsu, and without it, he simply proved to be the better swordsman.
Before Zantetsu would kill Ameshuri, she explained to him the traditions of the Nadeshiko and told him that if he let her live, she would be his to marry. Now, Zantetsu was a powerful shinobi and fantastic swordsman, but it was no secret that the Nadeshiko kunoichi were beautiful and Zantetsu might have had a thing for red-heads. Half of their fight, also, might have involved Zantetsu taunting Ameshuri flirtatiously. The world will never know. Needless to say, Zantetsu spared Ameshuri and retreated back to the Nadeshiko village where they would produce three children: Zangetsu H?zuki, Shiori Nadeshiko and Zanza Nadeshiko. While all three siblings went on to become shinobi, Shiori proved to be nothing short of a prodigy and excelled past her brother and sister as well as her father before she turned twenty.
Shiori was trained alongside her siblings by her parents. Zantetsu rarely visited the Nadeshiko Village, but when he did, he generally was a doting father more than a shinobi assassin. The fact was that at the time, the Purge was slowly coming to an end and the reality of the Land of Water was sinking in; the entire region was succumbing to crime. Theft, local gangs were beginning to spring up, drug trade and even in Eastern parts of the Land, human trafficking. The Water Daimy? had even been corrupt by the riches pooring in, resulting in the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist becoming a rogue gang that slowly dissolved. The Nadeshiko Village had enough money and powerful shinobi to avoid this fate, so when Zantetsu returned home, he did so with loving arms. He may have been a killer to the rest of the world, but inside the village, he loved his wife and daughters, and tried to teach his son his ways without them being too harsh.
This came crashing down around the time Shiori turned eight. Just a year earlier, she graduated the kunoichi academy of the Nadeshiko Village and when her mother began teaching her about elemental releases, she had already began using water to create Water Clones. Not only that, Shiori was also capable of dueling her brother in kenjutsu whom was a year and a half her senior. When her father returned, she didn't want him to just be her father anymore; she wanted him to be her mentor. He was, of course, the stronger shinobi. In fact, her mother hadn't been a true kunoichi in a decade. Her father rejected this notion at first, but when Shiori came at him with her sword and he dodged with the Hydrification Technique, she immediately used the same technique by visual analysis alone. With that alone as proof of her potential, Zantetsu reluctantly agreed to train her - but not just then. Zantetsu returned to his remaining brothers of the Swordsman and gave them his sword to pass down, claiming it was time for him to train his generation and that he would re-earn it when he returned.
This ushered in a whole new era for Shiori. Her father returned to teach her the intricacies of the Hydrification Technique and even more techniques he picked up in his travels. By age ten, she became a Chuunin in the same exams as her brother. Zantetsu trained both of them, claiming Zanza was still too young. When both of them had learned the Hydrification Technique as well as were capable with ninjutsu and their bladework, Zantetsu said he would teach them the only thing more important than techniques: the Way of the Waves. The phrase had come to refer to the dangerous lifestyle of the Land of Water. He taught them to show no mercy, he continuously showed them all of the underhanded tactics and techniques he had seen and even used. He taught them a thousand ways to die, a thousand ways to survive and a million ways to kill. Zangetsu fell far behind his sister in this time. While he still only had one element and was a significantly lesser swordsman, she had already picked up Wind and Lightning and become a Jounin-level ninja. While her brother was still practicing basics and even training Zanza, Shiori was dueling her father for training and developing various new techniques.
After five years inside the Nadeshiko Village, Zantetsu decided his children were ready to enter the Land of Water. It took him little time to find the remaining swordsman, still the same four that remained five years ago, although this time, there was a fifth wielding the Hiramekarai. Zantetsu challenged him for the sword, they fought, and Zantetsu won it over, then killed the former holder. This was the first time Shiori or Zangetsu had ever seen anyone be killed. Both were excited; both felt their shinobi instincts kick in. Immediately, Shiori proclaimed she wanted a challenge. Before her father could even attempt to decline her, Kojir?, the wielder of the Kiba, took her up on her declaration. This point, there was very little that could be done; once a swordsman challenged one of the Seven for a blade, none of the others were supposed to interfere. Zantetsu, now a member again, was bound to follow this.
To his surprise, however, his daughter was even more powerful in real combat than she was in training. The sights. The smells. The feeling. The blood from the former holder of the Hiramekarai, the mist stained with the stench of the spilled blood, the wind that blew through the trees to make an eerie howl and her life on the line. This is what Shiori wanted; this is the life she was destined to live. The wielder of Kiba was arrogant, believing that Shiori would use her Hydrification Technique like her father and that the Kiba would take advantage of it. What he didn't expect was her to meet him blow-for-blow with her swords being imbued with Lightning Chakra, like her mother's former techniques, and even to follow up with powerful Water Release jutsu as projectiles. Even when he gained the advantage with his own jutsu or surprise attacks, she blocked them with walls of solid Earth - utilizing her three elemental releases in combat effectively at just sixteen. Her chakra control, reserves and capability all proved too much for the swordsman and he fell to her. Her first kill made her member of the Seven Ninja Swordsman of the Mist, and debuted her as a notable shinobi.
Her brother, inspired by both his father and sister, believed he could do the same. He made the same proclamation, but instead of anyone taking up the offer, his brother and sister both tried to dissuade him. He argued with them; in part, he was jealous of his younger sister and in part, he wanted to make his father proud. Before he could rescind his proclamation, Jinimaru, the wielder of the Nuibari, said he would duel him. While Zangetsu prepared for his duel, his father had already known that he would lose his son here, and he asked Jinimaru for mercy - one Swordsman to another. Jinimaru replied simply, "there is no mercy in the waves." Her brother stood absolutely no chance. Jinimaru created a dense Mist, blinding him, then used Body Flickers - even on a Jounin-level - to stitch Zangetsu into the air. When he released the mist, Zangetsu was strung up in the air by wire with Jinimaru upsidedown with a kunai to his throat. Zangetsu sobbed, desiring to go back to his village; Zantetsu let a single tear roll down his cheek, knowing Jinimaru wouldn't allow it; and, Shiori learned an important lesson. As the blood of her brother ran down his neck, she learned there was no mercy in the waves.
From that point on, Shiori continued to master her style. She spent the next few years learning from the other Swordsman, and ultimately manifested her own Kekkei Genkai: Storm Release. She perfected the Hydrification Technique in ways her father couldn't, and by the time she was twenty, she had dueled each of the other Swordsman and won. After that, she went on to reassemble the entire Seven Ninja Swordsman of the Mist by reclaiming the Samehada and Kubikirib?ch? which had both been lost. Progressive as ever, she even had a plan after that: assassinate the Water Daimy? and replace him with her own candidate. Region by region of the Land of Water, Shiori and the Swordsman began to clear out and consolidate the crime, then bind them all together was one organization called the Crimson Tides - a name she chose in reference to her brother. When she spoke before any new gang or lord within the Land of Water, she gave them the same speech with the same reference to the blood that ran down her brother's neck and into his chest. The Crimson Tide flows.
With her manipulation and influence, assassinating the Mizukage was relatively simple. With the Water Daimy? acting as her puppet, her placement as Mizukage was assured. While the Land of Water was significantly safer, less chaotic and now under the authority of a single person, it is still riddled with crime, murder and corruption. Brothels, drugs, weapons and all variations of other services can be found in the Land of Water, making it rich and luxurious while also an underbelly. The entire country has a portion of it dedicated to those who visit with natural scenes and beauteous sites such as lakes and waterfalls in resorts while the rest of the country is a shinobi-regulated crime syndicate. While Shiori doesn't have a direct hand in many of the most heinous activities within the Land, she knows about them and they were effectively made a possibility by her consolidating the authority and crime in the Land of Water.
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