Name: Funai Ikko
Age: 8
Gender: Male
Sex: Male
Rank: Academy Student
Physical Description: Ikko is an interesting looking kid. He has a bright disposition with a perpetually cheerful looking face that is topped off with silvery blonde hair. The boy reaches roughly three feet, seven inches and typically wears clothing that is more than a little big for him that belies his lithe frame and light body, reaching maybe seventy pounds at most. He is typically found wearing a loose fitting black yukata that seems a size or two too large for him bound by a red sash across his midriff.
Personality: Given the conditions Ikko grew up in, it is honestly rather remarkable that he turned out as “normal” as he is. However he is still a far cry from anything that could be considered normal. Ikko is an energetic and happy child but seemingly not an especially proud one. He seems to handle slights and insults with the practiced indifference of someone three times his age and despite his eccentricities tends to come off as considerably more mature. With that, while it definitely doesn’t carry over into his studies or his general attention span, Ikko has a rather tactical mind and as long as the altercations or activities don’t last so long as for him to lose attention, he is actually quite a brilliant youth. However, he does have his quirks that make him seem unusual and downright odd. The first is a somewhat ridiculous devotion to Raiden, The God of Storms. It was the first cause, the first belief outside of the need to survive to see tomorrow that little Ikko had ever been taught and as a result his loyalty both to the religion and to the Soaring Thunder Monastery is something of an absolute. Unfortunately, because of both his limited attention span and the general lack of faith the monks had in him, he knows next to nothing about the religion. Consequently whenever pressed about information about it, Ikko will typically shout platitudes that tend not to actually answer the questions presented. Overall however, the most distinct quality about Ikko is his sense of loyalty. Not having anything resembling a family or friends as he grew up, despite his joyful disposition, Ikko tends to really cling to and value those who take interest in and value him.
History: For as long as Ikko can remember, he was an orphan. It wasn’t especially dramatic. He does not have any long standing grudges held against a star crossed murderer or the long lost heir of a noble family or anything else that would especially interesting or noteworthy. He was a child who did not remember his parents, it had been speculated they had died in one of the numerous Shinobi altercations that simply loved to leave bodies in their wake, and he spent most of his time living on the streets of Port Cirrus. Ikko had nothing in this world, he did not have a name for the longest time. Eventually, he chose one for himself. One of the boys he saw walk past him once, smiling with his hand in his mother’s, he heard called was called Ikko. He understood the concept of a name, but typically when people communicated with him, if he wasn’t outright ignored, was with grunts or hand gestures. He had never been asked for a name before, but he understood what they meant. People with names had families, so if he wanted a family, he would need to have a name. So he took the boy’s, he named himself Ikko. He knew people had last names too, their family names. That was one he did not know how to give himself, he didn’t know any family names. So he used a torn snack wrapper he found on the ground and fashioned his surname as “Funai.” It was a hard life, but not an impossible one. He was able to steal to eat and found other wayward souls like him to organize further food acquisitions. It wasn’t to last though. Ikko had managed to get by stealing food for the better part of three years with an uncanny amount of luck and an equally uncanny ability to get out of tight spots. He was however still a dumb kid and eventually he got caught. Orphans caught stealing typically don’t last long but Ikko’s luck seemed to hold up. The boy was noticed by a Monk from the Soaring Thunder Monastery and, as it was explained to him, his uncanny athleticism and luck only seemed that way due to his capacity to manipulate chakra and the reserves therein that he possessed. This was basically a foreign language to him, but the part he did understand was that he had been released into the Monk’s custody, he was going to the Soaring Thunder Monastery with the man.
This was an entirely new experience to Ikko, both because it was the first time someone genuinely took an interest in him and because someone had FINALLY asked him to provide the name he had fashioned for himself. Life at the Monastery was entirely different than life on the streets. He did not have to steal to eat, he really didn’t have to do anything to eat. He simply paid attention as best as he could when they spoke to him about the God he now served and he did whatever chores they asked him to. It was amazing! As life continued though, he started to get the feeling he was being sort of a let down and a new emotion, guilt, started to take root. He was told he needed to do a better job with his chakra in order to create electricity, Raiton they called it. He had been trying and did what they asked him to, he focused his energy, did the right hand signs and imagined the electricity flowing from him, but had had no success. He had plenty of success up until that part though when it came to molding and building up chakra, that internal energy, but he could never make that final hurdle. Unfortunately, he ran out of chances. The betrayal the Monastery suffered rocked Ikko to the core and he was among those spirited away from the Monastery and sold into bondage. As he was being transported though, it seemed like Ikko’s luck had not quite run out yet. The caravan shipping the group of slaves that Ikko was now part of was tracked down and stopped by a group of Ninja from Kumogakure. Rescued, the group of slaves were brought back to Kumogakure to recover and it was on that trip back that Ikko’s aptitude with chakra was discovered. Given the dearth of children with the capability to become Shinobi, they convinced young Ikko, both through persuasion and because he did not really have a choice, they set Ikko up with lodging and enrolled him in the Shinobi Academy. Somewhat dismayed that fate had torn him away from the only family he had really known, he clung to the promise that he would be able to find a new sort of family here in Kumogakure.
