Name: けつるいつせ | Ketsurui, Tsuse
Age: 13
Physical Description:
Tsuse, at a glance, may be described as having a somewhat effeminate appearance to others. Although he does not exert himself to make this quality so, it can still be redeemed with a quick look over his form. He is taller than some his age, standing at 160.1 cm in height, and weighing in at 49.8 kg, giving his stature a characteristic slimness. Perhaps what catches the eye more than this is the fairness of his hair, as his mother possessed bright blonde tones, and his father possessed a genetic alteration which colored his hair a few shades brighter than blonde. The result was hair that appeared to be a nearly perfect shade of white, sometimes translucent when viewed through a ray of sunlight.
Tsuse's hair is unkempt and shoulder length, falling loosely around his face, but not framing it in the way that you might say young Hinata's hair frames her face. A redeeming quality of masculinity is the thinness of his keratin, so that it falls in such a way that it sometimes appears like stalactites hanging just around his forehead. They taper into a V-shape as they reach his upper torso, splitting gently at the ends so that his hair does not fall into a solid shape, but rather a rough outline comprised of many individual bundles. His hair is straight, although it does possess some stray strands, putting it in a state that retains but does not exhume a sense of ruggedness.
His cheekbones sit higher up, his eyes symmetrically parted, with gleaming emerald irises caressing each dark pupil. They give off an intertwined expression of both curiosity and boredom, hinting at one or another depending on the presence of Tsuse's thin smile. Most often his gaze foretells an upbringing of pensive thought and fine education, and for those with the capacity to see deeper, one in which a secret ambition was embedded inside his mind. Some boys are stereotyped as seeing off into the distance, seeing something greater that lies beyond them. That same cliche could be applied to the way Tsuse's face rests when he gazes away with no particular fixation.
Although Tsuse's outfits change often depending on the occasion, he is fond of white, blue, and slate tones, and often chooses clothing which fits him on the border between snug and loose, seeking comfort over efficacy in most situations. Seeing as he has yet to begin his journey as a genin, he currently does not own any proper shinobi-grade clothing, not even a headband representing Kumogakure's symbol of allegiance.
However, Tsuse does possess two personal belongings which can nearly always be found on his person, which firstly include a silver matte pocket-watch that's roughly 3" in diameter. On the back of the watch, engraved in the metal, is the Ketsurui family crest, which is suspiciously a minor variation of the Yamanaka family crest, bearing a complete inner circle rather than a half-circle. Rather than a traditional numbered clock, the time is denoted by black bars similar to hyphens, with an actual number given in each cardinal direction. The second personal possession is a small notebook, roughly 5" talll and 3.5" wide, which contains notes of interest regarding various things Tsuse has encountered or desired to remember. The notebook is bound in weighty black-dyed leather and possesses a small strap along the spine for holding up to two writing utensils, most often an ink pen and a sketching pencil.
Mental Description:
Perhaps Tsuse's most defining character in terms of his personality is the willpower he possesses. What he may lack in physical strength or speed, he makes up for in his desire to move forward, to progress, to ultimately realize himself. As a result of the strict upbringing under his grandfather and his great exposure to literature, Tsuse's strengths lie in reading, writing, a desire to be enigmatically charismatic, and the drive to explore taboo concepts. Where other boys may dream of women and instant gratification through possessions, Tsuse wishes to possess the knowledge which drives systems, concepts, and the world. He seeks that layer which guides the probability of existence; a private personal quest for even an infant's grasp of omniscience.
At his young age, he is still burdened deeply by his lack of experience. Although he may be able to articulate his thoughts well and perhaps even pose a Socratic challenge to any authority figure he encounters, Tsuse knows not all the struggles of a mortal life, much less a shinobi's life. Ask him to explain the nature of one's suffering and his concepts of such a thing will still be shallow. He knows of loss, but has not felt sorrow grip his heart until it bleeds. He knows of love, but has not let such a meager thing into his lonely soul. He knows of joy, but has not wept in jubilation. These are the keys to refining his potential, and to ultimately pave a path for his strong will to eventually move down.
Due to his upbringing, Tsuse is at best cautious and selective with whom he associates with and with whom he shows some aspects of himself. Where some may call him antisocial, he would refer to himself as being careful. He has had limited interactions with other children as a result of spending nearly all of his time with his grandfather and those who were closely associated with his grandfather, none of whom had children. Occasionally, on the farm in which Tsuse lived, he would encounter children from other families that would wander the acres in search of animals to chase or pets who had vacated the area in search of what only animals could perceive as important. Most of these encounters ended in that child leaving before any real friendship could develop, and more importantly, ended before Tsuse had any real idea of what it means to play in one's free time.
His grandfather raised him with the idea that time is very important, that time is a limited, non-renewable resource in which one must expend every ounce with the intention to do great things. With such an imperative rule, Tsuse quickly discarded the idea of having fun, instead learning that one can enjoy the things that are at first frustrating or boring. He learned that books contained bounties of information that he could not find in dirt or toys, that self-reflection through meditation was just as good as a radio talk show, and that developing one's own philosophy of life was just as captivating as swinging through the pages of a popular manga novel. The latter, of course, still managed to slip itself in every now and then, as even a manga is capable of teaching someone a few things about what it means to be alive. What his grandfather hoped to instill in Tsuse, and to some extent he successfully did so, was that a person is capable of achieving great things when they understand the limited nature of their self. He wanted to instill the idea that to be alive is to be senescent, that no matter the strength of your resolve, you will always be chased by your impermanence as an organic being.
In order to ensure this concept was properly shared, Tsuse's grandfather allowed Tsuse to experience his DMT trip upon his death. In this, Tsuse was given an experience that he would not otherwise have had access to. Although he did not truly die, he experienced with utmost realism the sensation of losing oneself to the tumultuous churning of the universe at large. He experienced the way one sees fractal imagery in nature, the way one's consciousness dissipates and yet somehow lingers. Like a dream which consumed and then spit him out, Tsuse died and was reborn as a young boy with a fresh perspective on life. He gained, and at the same time, lost a great deal of his patience with mundane things. It was here that his desire to accumulate more of himself had begun, and perhaps was the moment that his actual journey truly started.
When Tsuse was training with his grandfather, a small extension of his mandatory reading of hard literature and philosophic writings by some of the ninja world's greatest thinkers, he gained some steadiness in holding his ground against a greater foe. Tsuse's grandfather was too old to teach him all the ropes, and so he is only vaguely familiar with the energy of his own body, much less any advanced ninja techniques. But it was the resolve that his grandfather gave him that makes Tsuse more likely not to turn away when he has to face someone better than him. Less likely to flinch in the face of danger, but perhaps also in his inexperience, a foolhardiness characteristic only of a young boy with a powerful dream.
Outside of all this, Tsuse does still have plenty of qualities that make him just like any other child his age. He enjoys eating, and will take a moment to bask in the warm rays that occasionally grace Kumogakure's regions. He loves the rain, and takes time to observe animals such as birds and raccoons. He will run through a field, cherishing every step, feeling the blood rushing through his veins as though every drop were his very last. What lies in Tsuse is a deep appreciation for the value of his own life, and a naive outlook that he can accomplish many great things in a short period of time if he tries as hard as his mortal limits allow him to. He seeks, like other children, the beauty of tomorrow, and throws away yesterday without so much as a wince.
History:
Tsuse's lineage falls into some of the original families that were part of Kumogakure's founding mining boom town. Although the bloodline is very much diluted by years of change and the rapid development of Kumogakure's history, his parents ended up as propagators of the mining tradition for reasons he will likely never know. They were simple, fair-haired folk, and did their hard work as any other civilians would. Hardy and happy, and perhaps even a little naive. When Tsuse was born, perhaps three weeks into his life, he was abducted by his estranged grandfather, who had made it a point to not make any contact with the family for what they would say was an upwards of thirty years. It was an event they never expected, a devastating event for a young family. They were clueless as to who the abductor could have been, and so it was never discovered that Tsuse's grandfather was the culprit, nor did Tsuse ever learn that his parents were alive and well as he grew older.
As in most cases of general ignorance, this did not bother Tsuse, as his time was enveloped by the strict schedule that his grandfather had prepared for him. Tsuse's grandfather operated a small coffee farm in the outer village lowlands of Kumogakure's territory, a secluded area of several acres which he knew would not be investigated following the kidnapping. It was here that he not only worked to sell his valuable cash crop, but also to build an extensive personal library of books that he collected from Kumogakure's library and also those he had acquired over his lifetime. To take a small detour from Tsuse's personal life, it's important to consider who Tsuse's grandfather was in life. At the time of the kidnapping, he was sixty, but had spent all of his time up until that point gathering a vast repertoire of political, philosophical, and technological knowledge. In the case of the latter, it was more for making his own life easier operating off the shinobi grid. However, otherwise, Tsuse's grandfather was both an unaffiliated wanderer and a Socratic socialite throughout his life.
It was his philosophy of life to know each possible path, and to determine which was worth exploring. But in order to narrow one's choices, one must explore many things, sacrificing no opportunity to understand the importance that one thing may have for another compared to the value it offers to oneself. He fought, laughed, drank, read, spoke, and lectured his way to personal fulfillment. Then, he realized that he was running out of time. It was this realization that drove him to compress the values he learned in life into a regimen that would prepare his grandson for a long and lonely journey to heights that he could not dream of reaching in his advancing age. For Tsuse's grandfather, the key to immortality was preservation through succession. And so it was that he performed the vile act of abduction, with no particular spite for his own family, save for that he knew he could facilitate a greater dream for an unsuspecting youth.
This brings an end to the look at the life of Tsuse's grandfather, and resumes to the point when Tsuse was first capable of meaningful memory, still in his youngest days. From the very beginning, Tsuse was taught the rules of language, the various dialects of the region, and how to read and write in each one. He then learned the various aspects of conversation, and from here, how to pick apart ideas and formulate arguments. Tsuse's grandfather spent a great deal of time refining Tsuse's ability to speak and articulate before moving in to harder work, such as tilling the fields, doing chores, and learning to appreciate a hard day's work. He taught Tsuse to cook for himself, to identify plants in the countryside, to understand coffee and ways of roasting and processing beans, as well as some basics of economic functions and the way Kumogakure's markets work in conjunction with other nations.
In addition to this general knowledge, Tsuse was taught about meditation and self reflection, the ultimate means of honing in on one's thoughts and determining one's true desires and intentions among the noise of the world. It turned Tsuse, over time, into a very well-mannered child. Although his grandfather had prepared all of this, he did not allow Tsuse to do much exploring on his own, for fear that he would be picked up by recruiters and immediately taken in to be exploited by the village. Although he felt this would happen in the end, he desired for it to happen on his own terms, or more precisely, the day in which he would draw a final breath.
In recent time, or exactly a month ago, Tsuse's grandfather had reached the utmost of his physical time. He had planned for this even, and used the opportunity to teach Tsuse an important lesson about what it means to value the waking life. Throughout his life, Tsuse's grandfather kept a great secret, that he was truly a defective shinobi from a certain clan that lived within Kumogakure's borders and possessed great agricultural and mental knowledge. He did not reveal that clan's name to Tsuse nor the details of his exodus from the village in his youth, but he did take advantage of that clan's unique skill to share experiences with others. And so he sat down his grandson during his last moments, channeling his will so that as his body shut down, he could maintain a powerful mental link with Tsuse. As the chemical triggers in his brain began, and his neurons slowly ceased, Tsuse's grandfather spiraled into a trip induced by the body's natural reaction to death. Until he could no longer do so, he shared this experience with Tsuse, the powerful sensation of DMT rushing through the body and clouding the consciousness as it fades into the infinite. This experience left Tsuse speechless, but motivated, to continue on his own path as an independent individual. He understood that without his grandfather to take care of the residence he would have to leave it behind, and shortly after burying his grandfather, set off to the village to be picked up by guards.
As a natural citizen of Kumogakure, Tsuse was able to get accepted into the village, and was given a small pension and a room at the Academy's dormitory. He learned recently of his acceptance into a class, and spends his time now preparing to begin those classes.
Age: 13
Physical Description:
Tsuse, at a glance, may be described as having a somewhat effeminate appearance to others. Although he does not exert himself to make this quality so, it can still be redeemed with a quick look over his form. He is taller than some his age, standing at 160.1 cm in height, and weighing in at 49.8 kg, giving his stature a characteristic slimness. Perhaps what catches the eye more than this is the fairness of his hair, as his mother possessed bright blonde tones, and his father possessed a genetic alteration which colored his hair a few shades brighter than blonde. The result was hair that appeared to be a nearly perfect shade of white, sometimes translucent when viewed through a ray of sunlight.
Tsuse's hair is unkempt and shoulder length, falling loosely around his face, but not framing it in the way that you might say young Hinata's hair frames her face. A redeeming quality of masculinity is the thinness of his keratin, so that it falls in such a way that it sometimes appears like stalactites hanging just around his forehead. They taper into a V-shape as they reach his upper torso, splitting gently at the ends so that his hair does not fall into a solid shape, but rather a rough outline comprised of many individual bundles. His hair is straight, although it does possess some stray strands, putting it in a state that retains but does not exhume a sense of ruggedness.
His cheekbones sit higher up, his eyes symmetrically parted, with gleaming emerald irises caressing each dark pupil. They give off an intertwined expression of both curiosity and boredom, hinting at one or another depending on the presence of Tsuse's thin smile. Most often his gaze foretells an upbringing of pensive thought and fine education, and for those with the capacity to see deeper, one in which a secret ambition was embedded inside his mind. Some boys are stereotyped as seeing off into the distance, seeing something greater that lies beyond them. That same cliche could be applied to the way Tsuse's face rests when he gazes away with no particular fixation.
Although Tsuse's outfits change often depending on the occasion, he is fond of white, blue, and slate tones, and often chooses clothing which fits him on the border between snug and loose, seeking comfort over efficacy in most situations. Seeing as he has yet to begin his journey as a genin, he currently does not own any proper shinobi-grade clothing, not even a headband representing Kumogakure's symbol of allegiance.
However, Tsuse does possess two personal belongings which can nearly always be found on his person, which firstly include a silver matte pocket-watch that's roughly 3" in diameter. On the back of the watch, engraved in the metal, is the Ketsurui family crest, which is suspiciously a minor variation of the Yamanaka family crest, bearing a complete inner circle rather than a half-circle. Rather than a traditional numbered clock, the time is denoted by black bars similar to hyphens, with an actual number given in each cardinal direction. The second personal possession is a small notebook, roughly 5" talll and 3.5" wide, which contains notes of interest regarding various things Tsuse has encountered or desired to remember. The notebook is bound in weighty black-dyed leather and possesses a small strap along the spine for holding up to two writing utensils, most often an ink pen and a sketching pencil.
Mental Description:
Perhaps Tsuse's most defining character in terms of his personality is the willpower he possesses. What he may lack in physical strength or speed, he makes up for in his desire to move forward, to progress, to ultimately realize himself. As a result of the strict upbringing under his grandfather and his great exposure to literature, Tsuse's strengths lie in reading, writing, a desire to be enigmatically charismatic, and the drive to explore taboo concepts. Where other boys may dream of women and instant gratification through possessions, Tsuse wishes to possess the knowledge which drives systems, concepts, and the world. He seeks that layer which guides the probability of existence; a private personal quest for even an infant's grasp of omniscience.
At his young age, he is still burdened deeply by his lack of experience. Although he may be able to articulate his thoughts well and perhaps even pose a Socratic challenge to any authority figure he encounters, Tsuse knows not all the struggles of a mortal life, much less a shinobi's life. Ask him to explain the nature of one's suffering and his concepts of such a thing will still be shallow. He knows of loss, but has not felt sorrow grip his heart until it bleeds. He knows of love, but has not let such a meager thing into his lonely soul. He knows of joy, but has not wept in jubilation. These are the keys to refining his potential, and to ultimately pave a path for his strong will to eventually move down.
Due to his upbringing, Tsuse is at best cautious and selective with whom he associates with and with whom he shows some aspects of himself. Where some may call him antisocial, he would refer to himself as being careful. He has had limited interactions with other children as a result of spending nearly all of his time with his grandfather and those who were closely associated with his grandfather, none of whom had children. Occasionally, on the farm in which Tsuse lived, he would encounter children from other families that would wander the acres in search of animals to chase or pets who had vacated the area in search of what only animals could perceive as important. Most of these encounters ended in that child leaving before any real friendship could develop, and more importantly, ended before Tsuse had any real idea of what it means to play in one's free time.
His grandfather raised him with the idea that time is very important, that time is a limited, non-renewable resource in which one must expend every ounce with the intention to do great things. With such an imperative rule, Tsuse quickly discarded the idea of having fun, instead learning that one can enjoy the things that are at first frustrating or boring. He learned that books contained bounties of information that he could not find in dirt or toys, that self-reflection through meditation was just as good as a radio talk show, and that developing one's own philosophy of life was just as captivating as swinging through the pages of a popular manga novel. The latter, of course, still managed to slip itself in every now and then, as even a manga is capable of teaching someone a few things about what it means to be alive. What his grandfather hoped to instill in Tsuse, and to some extent he successfully did so, was that a person is capable of achieving great things when they understand the limited nature of their self. He wanted to instill the idea that to be alive is to be senescent, that no matter the strength of your resolve, you will always be chased by your impermanence as an organic being.
In order to ensure this concept was properly shared, Tsuse's grandfather allowed Tsuse to experience his DMT trip upon his death. In this, Tsuse was given an experience that he would not otherwise have had access to. Although he did not truly die, he experienced with utmost realism the sensation of losing oneself to the tumultuous churning of the universe at large. He experienced the way one sees fractal imagery in nature, the way one's consciousness dissipates and yet somehow lingers. Like a dream which consumed and then spit him out, Tsuse died and was reborn as a young boy with a fresh perspective on life. He gained, and at the same time, lost a great deal of his patience with mundane things. It was here that his desire to accumulate more of himself had begun, and perhaps was the moment that his actual journey truly started.
When Tsuse was training with his grandfather, a small extension of his mandatory reading of hard literature and philosophic writings by some of the ninja world's greatest thinkers, he gained some steadiness in holding his ground against a greater foe. Tsuse's grandfather was too old to teach him all the ropes, and so he is only vaguely familiar with the energy of his own body, much less any advanced ninja techniques. But it was the resolve that his grandfather gave him that makes Tsuse more likely not to turn away when he has to face someone better than him. Less likely to flinch in the face of danger, but perhaps also in his inexperience, a foolhardiness characteristic only of a young boy with a powerful dream.
Outside of all this, Tsuse does still have plenty of qualities that make him just like any other child his age. He enjoys eating, and will take a moment to bask in the warm rays that occasionally grace Kumogakure's regions. He loves the rain, and takes time to observe animals such as birds and raccoons. He will run through a field, cherishing every step, feeling the blood rushing through his veins as though every drop were his very last. What lies in Tsuse is a deep appreciation for the value of his own life, and a naive outlook that he can accomplish many great things in a short period of time if he tries as hard as his mortal limits allow him to. He seeks, like other children, the beauty of tomorrow, and throws away yesterday without so much as a wince.
History:
Tsuse's lineage falls into some of the original families that were part of Kumogakure's founding mining boom town. Although the bloodline is very much diluted by years of change and the rapid development of Kumogakure's history, his parents ended up as propagators of the mining tradition for reasons he will likely never know. They were simple, fair-haired folk, and did their hard work as any other civilians would. Hardy and happy, and perhaps even a little naive. When Tsuse was born, perhaps three weeks into his life, he was abducted by his estranged grandfather, who had made it a point to not make any contact with the family for what they would say was an upwards of thirty years. It was an event they never expected, a devastating event for a young family. They were clueless as to who the abductor could have been, and so it was never discovered that Tsuse's grandfather was the culprit, nor did Tsuse ever learn that his parents were alive and well as he grew older.
As in most cases of general ignorance, this did not bother Tsuse, as his time was enveloped by the strict schedule that his grandfather had prepared for him. Tsuse's grandfather operated a small coffee farm in the outer village lowlands of Kumogakure's territory, a secluded area of several acres which he knew would not be investigated following the kidnapping. It was here that he not only worked to sell his valuable cash crop, but also to build an extensive personal library of books that he collected from Kumogakure's library and also those he had acquired over his lifetime. To take a small detour from Tsuse's personal life, it's important to consider who Tsuse's grandfather was in life. At the time of the kidnapping, he was sixty, but had spent all of his time up until that point gathering a vast repertoire of political, philosophical, and technological knowledge. In the case of the latter, it was more for making his own life easier operating off the shinobi grid. However, otherwise, Tsuse's grandfather was both an unaffiliated wanderer and a Socratic socialite throughout his life.
It was his philosophy of life to know each possible path, and to determine which was worth exploring. But in order to narrow one's choices, one must explore many things, sacrificing no opportunity to understand the importance that one thing may have for another compared to the value it offers to oneself. He fought, laughed, drank, read, spoke, and lectured his way to personal fulfillment. Then, he realized that he was running out of time. It was this realization that drove him to compress the values he learned in life into a regimen that would prepare his grandson for a long and lonely journey to heights that he could not dream of reaching in his advancing age. For Tsuse's grandfather, the key to immortality was preservation through succession. And so it was that he performed the vile act of abduction, with no particular spite for his own family, save for that he knew he could facilitate a greater dream for an unsuspecting youth.
This brings an end to the look at the life of Tsuse's grandfather, and resumes to the point when Tsuse was first capable of meaningful memory, still in his youngest days. From the very beginning, Tsuse was taught the rules of language, the various dialects of the region, and how to read and write in each one. He then learned the various aspects of conversation, and from here, how to pick apart ideas and formulate arguments. Tsuse's grandfather spent a great deal of time refining Tsuse's ability to speak and articulate before moving in to harder work, such as tilling the fields, doing chores, and learning to appreciate a hard day's work. He taught Tsuse to cook for himself, to identify plants in the countryside, to understand coffee and ways of roasting and processing beans, as well as some basics of economic functions and the way Kumogakure's markets work in conjunction with other nations.
In addition to this general knowledge, Tsuse was taught about meditation and self reflection, the ultimate means of honing in on one's thoughts and determining one's true desires and intentions among the noise of the world. It turned Tsuse, over time, into a very well-mannered child. Although his grandfather had prepared all of this, he did not allow Tsuse to do much exploring on his own, for fear that he would be picked up by recruiters and immediately taken in to be exploited by the village. Although he felt this would happen in the end, he desired for it to happen on his own terms, or more precisely, the day in which he would draw a final breath.
In recent time, or exactly a month ago, Tsuse's grandfather had reached the utmost of his physical time. He had planned for this even, and used the opportunity to teach Tsuse an important lesson about what it means to value the waking life. Throughout his life, Tsuse's grandfather kept a great secret, that he was truly a defective shinobi from a certain clan that lived within Kumogakure's borders and possessed great agricultural and mental knowledge. He did not reveal that clan's name to Tsuse nor the details of his exodus from the village in his youth, but he did take advantage of that clan's unique skill to share experiences with others. And so he sat down his grandson during his last moments, channeling his will so that as his body shut down, he could maintain a powerful mental link with Tsuse. As the chemical triggers in his brain began, and his neurons slowly ceased, Tsuse's grandfather spiraled into a trip induced by the body's natural reaction to death. Until he could no longer do so, he shared this experience with Tsuse, the powerful sensation of DMT rushing through the body and clouding the consciousness as it fades into the infinite. This experience left Tsuse speechless, but motivated, to continue on his own path as an independent individual. He understood that without his grandfather to take care of the residence he would have to leave it behind, and shortly after burying his grandfather, set off to the village to be picked up by guards.
As a natural citizen of Kumogakure, Tsuse was able to get accepted into the village, and was given a small pension and a room at the Academy's dormitory. He learned recently of his acceptance into a class, and spends his time now preparing to begin those classes.
