Shinda Kurou's Application

Kurou is 182 cm (or 6 feet) tall with blue-green eyes, that gives of the slight feel of a tightly chained beast, and a dark brown mop of hair on top of his head in a messy hairstyle of medium length (around 6cm long). If the sun fall just right it is possible to see that Kurou, instead of being just a brunette, is a really darkly tinted red head. His eyebrows are of the exact same color as his hair and neither narrow, thick, long, short, nor bushy. Having trained martial arts and fought on the streets for the majority of his life, Kurou has a "martial artist" type body, not too muscled, not too skinny. In short; a lean, mean killing machine. Kurou's face is where his mixed parentage is most evident, a cross between the asian and northern caucasian facial structures with cheek bones that are a bit higher than normal, a chin that is broader than usual for asians but smaller than usual for caucasians, and a nose that is, once again, a mix between the two facial types. Somehow this mix of facial features works out into a pleasant but slightly feral harmony. The slightly jagged scar that goes from the middle of Kurou's cheek, over the jaw bone, and disappears somewhere in his hair only adds to the feral feel you get from his face and eyes.

Kurou was born on the 14th of January in 2390 in Stockholm-Uppsala Dome City, Sweden. His birth was a slightly premature one, and although he did not suffer any lasting damage or defects, he was a physically weak child. Kurou was bullied in school from when he was 7 years old until he turned 10 because of his apparently frail physique and Asian features. This stopped when Kurou one day just snapped, and beat two of his bullies so badly that they landed in the hospital. The school he had gone to had for a long time turned a blind eye to the bullying that was committed within its boundaries, but it reacted harshly to Kurou’s actions. Kurou was expelled and the bullies received no punitive actions. Feeling that they could no longer stay in Uppsala, Adam took the offer from the company he was employed at and started working in their office in Karakura Town.

The event when he sent the bullies to the hospital changed Kurou. He had developed an attitude based on not taking things lying down and he had tasted the sweet, sweet ambrosia of adrenalin, something he deeply wished to taste again. As the family had moved to Karakura Town, Kurou had started in one of the many middle schools that were there. On these schools he was constantly getting into fights, but this behavior ended when his father, Adam, introduced him to the world of Martial Arts. The 11 year old Kurou took to it as a fish to water, almost as if by instinct, and by training diligently he eventually gained control over his battle-lust. He eventually graduated from middle school and joined Karakura High School. It was not long before his attitude of not tolerating disrespect got him into trouble, fighting the various gang members in the town. When he one day had to defend himself within the school grounds, the school did not think that they could turn a blind eye to his violent ways any longer. Kurou was then, at the age of 17, once again expelled from a school. He started working as an express-messenger, using the hard work to further develop his physique. At the age of 18, Kurou discovered the world of cage-fighting, and that he was surprisingly good at it. He quickly became quite well known for his fluctuating policy when it came to excessive violence, sometimes just incapacitating an opponent, other times beating them to near-death and trying to go beyond. Kurou has been able to see spirits for as long as he can remember, something that might be related to his premature birth, but he tries to ignore those he can so that they will not bother him.

Kurou eventually came in contact with the world of Shinigami and Hollow in a way that was different from the day-to-day one. The event was forever imprinted in his mind as that was the first time he had seen the source of those horrible screams he had heard since they, he and his family, had moved to Karakura. He was 17 years old and heading home from his first job-interview when he saw a person garbed in a black Kimono fly across the road and crash into the wall, quickly followed by some large monster with a bone-colored mask on it's face. As he saw the giant, ape-like beast start to pummel the place where the person had landed, Kurou and Shinda briefly synched in shock, causing Kurou/Shinda to run in a straight charge, channeling the power he had learned to mold, vault over a limb meant to knock him away and use the resulting spin to land a devastating Doumowari against the hilt of the sword that was stuck in the mask of the giant thing. The result was spectacular to say the least, the sword was sent rocketing through the mask and body of the monster, hitting the ground and sticking there. After seeing the monster disintegrate before his eyes, Kurou looked around, trying to find the black garbed person. It turned out that the hollow had been a powerful one, at least moderately, and with a group of similar beings had managed to get through the Karakura Shield but becoming severely wounded in doing so. The hollow Kurou had faced apparently possessed some sort of extreme regeneration, being at almost full power again when the dispatched Shinigami had found it. Kurou found the, later to be revealed, Shinigami standing by the sword and ripping it from the asphalt. A brief conversation followed and Kurou learned much more of the Gotei 13 and the current state of the worlds. He never learned of the mans name, nor his position. A few weeks after the incident, Kurou noticed that when he focused the power, reiryoku the shinigami had said it was called, past a certain point, he was overcome by a strange feeling and then suddenly wearing gauntlets and boots with shin guards, all made of some kind of silver-gray metal and etched with what looked like the runes used by the Norse/Vikings of old. Like any other part of his life, Kurou went through intensive training with these new abilities, hoping to be able to use this new ability to defend himself in this increasingly hostile world.

The cage-matches that Kurou tends to frequent as a participant have been temporarily put on the ice due to inquires made by the police and Kurou has thus dusted of an old plan of his, the plan to make "The Blackest Star", a small time agency dealing with problems of the spiritual kind.

Kurou is a man that has been hooked on the pleasure of sex and adrenalin. He lives for pleasure and partakes in it in every moment. He would most likely do drugs if he did not know that the effects would lead to a faster decay than his body normally goes through, which will prevent him from experiencing pleasure. He finds a lot of pleasure in the adrenaline rush of the fight which has led him to see the pleasure in cage-fighting. The term "pleasure is the highest good" is something that Kurou agrees with quite a lot but not completely. Being so interested in pleasure, Kurou has never been one to shy away from the opportunity to share such moments with the female part of humanity, provided the female is attractive enough.

Kurou suffers from a second personality, Shinda. Kurou and Shinda are aware of each other and frequently butt heads over who should be controlling the body they share. Kurou has a distinct advantage in that he is the dominant and original personality and he has erected several "mental barriers", meaning Shinda has to gather "mental energy" to pass by/break these barriers and usurp control from Kurou. Shinda is like a more primal version of Kurou, with better senses, more instinctual actions, way less inhibited, and much more sadistic. As Kurou's "mental barriers" are weaker during times of intense lust and anger, Shinda tries to influence Kurou into emotional states were those feelings are present in large quantities. Shinda is the reason why Kurou, who generally despises excessive violence and tries to solve conflicts without violence if it is possible, can sometimes snap and beat opponents half to death. That earned him a reputation amongst the cage-fighters as someone to be vary of when you face him in a fight.

Kurou is, despite his apparent lack in education, quite the smart individual. Years of dealing with Shinda has made him capable of detecting most lies by the inconsistencies they contain as well as the "feel" they give of. But that is only in non-combat situations. When in combat, Kurou's intelligence melds together with the feral quality shared by him and Shinda, making him a fearsome opponent who seemingly goes all by instinct but actually has a plan in mind.

As Kurou has grown up in a violent environment (partly due to his own attitude) he has developed a "Whatever it takes" mentality, that being the only way to deal with the gangs that he frequently ended up in fights with. If Kurou sometimes does something he strongly dislikes, then this might be the reason; he deemed the action necessary.

- - When Kurou activates his ability, gauntlets and boots instantly forms around his hands/forearms and feet/shins as a trio of runes appear as tattoos on his face. The runes are the following; Ansuz - on the middle of his forehead, Othalan - on his left cheek, and Mannaz - on his right cheek. The gauntlets, who cover everything up to just past the elbows, and boots, who cover everything up to just past the knees, are seemingly made of a silver-grey metal and they are covered in small runes. These runes glow with the bone-white color of Kurou's reiatsu when enough reiryoku is channeled into the armor. The aromor itself has the peculiar ability that it amplifies the strength of the wearer when reiryoku is channeled into it, at base level allowing triple the strength of what it's wearer ordinarily had.

- - Atmospheric Control.

• By manipulating the reishi in the atmosphere, Kurou can use this ability to manipulate the atmospheric pressure and through that speed up his movements by subconsciously creating lower atmospheric pressure between his attacking limb and it's target and similarly creating higher atmospheric pressure behind the attacking limb. This allows him to speed up his movements so much that he can move at speeds of about 1/3 of that of a shunshin/sonido/hirenkyako.
  • This can be used to recover missed physical attack, such as a missed roundhouse kick being transitioned to a one-two punch. The attack that follows the recovery can only be performed 75% of maximum power or less.
• Kurou can also use it to consciously create solid platforms/walls/objects of air by using the reishi and condensing it with the air as long as those platforms/walls/barriers are within 20 meters of Kurou's location. These platforms/walls/objects look like stationary heat-ripples (like the air above an open fire outside) and they are thick enough to land/run/walk/push off from. They can deflect bala of they are angled so that the bala does not hit from straight ahead.
• This ability also establishes a connection with the atmosphere, allowing Kurou to sense hollows/shinigami/etc as long as the being in question is in a place where there is air.
• The final part is that Kurou can create strong winds of up to about 50 knots, from any point within 20 meters of him. The strength of this wind halves with every 20 meters it moves outside this area, meaning full power up to 20 meters away from Kurou, half power at 40 meters from Kurou, a quarter of the power when 60 meters from Kurou, etc.
  • Can only summon winds into two directions at once, forward and to the left, forward and backward, up and to the right, etc.

"So he can summon, huh? Useful information." Reaching into one of the many pockets in his vest, Minoru took out a gray metallic rock with his left hand and a very thick piece of cloth in the other. He put the rock on the cloth in his right hand and spoke. "You might want to keep from breathing for a few moments." Waiting for about five seconds so that they would have sufficient warning electricity started to dance all around him. Suddenly the electricity was directed to his left hand. He held his breath as he put the, now crackling, left hand just above the rock and CRACK. The stone fell to pieces and a small piece of metal was seen lying amidst the pieces of rock.

Grabbing the metal with the cloth, he shook his right hand over his left so that all the other pieces of stone fell into it. He crouched down, carefully holding out the metal piece to the summoned tiger. "Here," Minoru said, "is this enough for you to get a trail?"

---

"Well then. By your leave, Raikage-sama." Exiting the tent together with Todd the tiger summon, Minoru prepared himself for a long ground-bound trip.

"Are you sure that you have the trail, the smell of iron?" he asked the tiger.

"Are you doubting my abilities, human?" the tiger growled back.

"No, not at all," Minoru responded. "I'm just checking that you didn't get the smell of ozone instead."


- - Exit ------> Hill above abandoned iron mine. - -

---

As he slowly walked up the hill, Minoru could not help but consider the options he had. "Either I will bring the remaining loyal Konoha-nin back here, or I'll just leave, on the pretense of trying to find more of my compatriots. But the Raikage seems almost harmless. He's almost too nice but he's shoving any of the facial twitches that usually signify deceit... I'll trust him for now." After finally reaching the top of the hill, Minoru sat down on one of the rocks that were visible through the grass.

"And what are you going to do now, ningen?" the summoned tiger asked.

"I am going to try and locate the bio-electric signatures of those who have lived and grown up in Konoha," Minoru responded. He changed his sitting position to a "And since that task will require my out most concentration, I will depend on you to guard me while I am meditating." Closing his eyes and concentrating on his own heartbeat, Minoru slowly started to filter out the sounds of his surroundings. The first sound to go was the slow breathing of the tiger next to him, then the sound of the wind rustling the grass, the sound of his own breathing, it was gone as well. All he could hear was the slow da-dunk, da-dunk, da-dunk of his own heart. Focusing all his attention on his 'sixth' sense, he expanded his searching area, looking for that telltale part of the bio-electric signature that would reveal the owner as someone that have lived in Konohagakure. The problem was of course that he could get the signature of a nuke-nin from Konoha, but he would just have to try and bail if that would be the case.

Scanning the world in an circular pattern radiating outwards, Minoru's amplified senses covered more and more ground. Eventually, more like after several hours, he smirked and opened his eyes. "Heh, found them."

"Are you sure, ningen?" the summoned tiger asked doubtfully. "You do not require more time? I can spend the next several days out here, it is not like I have anything better to do." The sarcasm was practically dripping from the tiger's words.

"Oh, I am quite sure," Minoru responded. "Now let's get our asses back to the Kumo-camp." And with that he got up from the stone and with the tiger following him he started the journey back to Atarashii Kumogakure.

---

Walking into Atarashii Kumogakure, Minoru was glad now that he knew where the rest of his kin were. OK, kin might be a strong word, but comrade would not really fit either. Pondering the question of what he should call his fellow comrades, Minoru approached and entered the Raikage's tent, holding the flap up so that the summoned tiger could enter as well. Looking up he saw that the Raikage was talking to someone already. "How did I not notice this person? Must be that weirdness that always comes over me when I try to find people in that way," he thought, referring to what he had done on the hill over the old iron mine.

"Ah, I see that you are busy Raikage-sama," Minoru said, "shall I come back later?"

---

As Minoru walked over to the Raikage's desk, he watched the young man walk past him, burning his appearance into memory. Sitting down at one of the chair's opposite to the Raikage, Minoru kept a close watch on the young man with his '6th' sense, only to relax slightly as the guy left with a burst of chakra, most likely through shunshin.

"It went well, Raikage-sama," Minoru responded. "I now know the locations of all the nin who either lived or grew up in Konoha. The biggest problem that stands in the way of uniting all of the former Konoha-nin is that some of them might be missing nin prior to Konoha's destruction, therefore not too happy about the idea of rebuilding and may attack me because of that. But as I said, I know where all of them are. It will just be a matter of meeting them. And do you have any missions that you want me to take care of in the meantime? I have been finding myself short on money these days."

---

Performing a quick bow towards the tall Raikage, Minoru responded to the man's question. "Thank you for the gift, Raikage-sama, but I am afraid you will have to deal with Enishi for a while longer. I must also respectfully decline accompaniment by your summons. I travel much faster alone, and as fast as your tigers may be, I do believe that I am faster still." He pushed the chair he sat in back and stood up. "I believe that it is time for me to go, and since you seem to have Daimyo-sama's approval to take up residence here I believe that you will receive your weekly funds from him soon. Have a good day." Finishing the conversation Minoru walked to the tent entrance but moved aside as he saw someone move the tent flap. Watching the samurai walk past him, Minoru could not help but wonder who he was. The young man was interesting, that much was clear, so Minoru took the time to burn his bio-electric signature and appearance into memory prior to opening the flap and walking outside of the tent.