小林 かずお [Kobayashi Kazuo, Age 15]
Physical Description:
Kazuo is a slightly tall, slightly wide, young man with brown hair and eyes. He doesn't take care of his appearance much, having a shaggy neck-length haircut along with a bit of a baby face. He's not out of shape certainly, but could be much more fit considering he's a ninja since he's 65kg and has arms and legs that are a bit thick. He almost always wears a black coat with silk crimson lining over a short sleeve chain mesh shirt. Kazuo accessorizes with a crimson waistcloth that reaches his knees covered in Sunagakure symbols. Generally he wears his Sunagakure forehead protector at his neck, but when things get particularly heated he'll move it to its proper position to ensure no hair or sweat gets in his eyes. His bottom half is covered with a pair of simple black shorts and a pair of steel-bottomed dark wood geta.
Mental Description:
Kazuo is a bright young man, though often he doesn't show it. He's both quick to fly off the handle, and quick to pick out flaws in those he dislikes. Though he's very sympathetic, empathy is a major issue for him: he has a hard time understanding others and is quite judgemental. He is particularly fond of Sunagakure, romanticizing it as his 'true motherland' and thinking of himself as a descendant of the First Men (though there is 0 evidence of this and he certainly is no True Hybrid.) Telling that to his face, or insulting him in any way, will ensure you never see him again at best. He does not tolerate people being rude to anyone he thinks of as even an acquaintance, and jokes at his expense often don't go over well either. Overall he's not very self-reflective, but has a sharp eye and a quick wit, making him a pretty decent ninja. He could use some teamwork pointers though.
History:
Kazuo's history does not begin with him, but his grandparents. who were born and raised in Sunagakure. They even had their only child there, the industrious Ichirou Kobayashi. The family were simple, though fully licensed and well-off, hunters. That is, until the Diamond Storm. Their livelyhood and home being destroyed before their eyes, the Kobayashi's decided to seek asylum away from Wind Country, and found themselves in Konohagakure. Though Ichirou was only 12 by the time the family had arrived, he was instrumental in getting the family back onto its feet by convincing his parents to become merchants. It was rocky at first, many nights the family had to split their food thinly, but the business did get off the ground and was very successful. At the age of 19, the affluent and intelligent Ichirou caught the eyes of a Konoha ninja named Kasumi. After a few years the two tied the knot and had a baby boy called Kazuo. Sadly, only a year and a half after reemerging as a ninja, Kasumi was killed by a mysterious ambush, along with another of her team members. The only man to survive was Minami Takashi, and his leg was so poorly broken he would never gain full use of it again. As such, Kazuo never knew his mother. Combined with his father mostly focusing on business, his family was simply his grandparents. They told him great stories of their home; the Sunagakure, a rigged land where the First Men had begun, full of exotic delicious wildlife and with amazing people. These stories did occupy a good chunk of Kazuo's mind, but many of the other boys in the villages had mothers at home, and Kazuo wanted to know where his was. He did pry that information from his father eventually, but also learned that his mother may not have been a good person, potentially having set up the ambush herself. Kazuo refused to believe this, know he could never be the son of an evil person. This information kept stewing in the young boy's mind, popping up everytime someone seemed to slight him in any way. He had had enough, he decided, he'd clear his family name by becoming a great ninja of his own!
He couldn't join the ninja academy though, he refused too. Kazuo's heart was not with Konoha, it was with Sunagakure. The fantastic stories of his homeland had drawn him in, he did not have many friends in the village, and blamed them for his mother's death. Seeking another option, Kazuo went to Minami. Though the man was apprehensive of teaching Kazuo the ways of shinobi independent of the academy, and unsure if he truly could, Ultimately he deigned. It was Kasumi's dying wish that her boy died doing what he loved like she had. Minami trained Kazuo for three years, until the deaths of both grandparents broke both the hearts of Ichirou and his son. For a solid month Kazuo had stopped his training, a rarity considering he did so every day, and Ichirou actually spent a good amount of time with his son for once. Grandma and Grandpa Kobayashi had always wanted to return home one last time before their deaths but their bodies had been much too frail to make the journey by the time the Diamond Storm had subsided. In honor of them, Ichirou and Kazuo agreed to move back into Sunagakure and spread the two's ashes among the sands that they had made their home upon.
Once things had settled down in Kazuo's life, he again began to pursue his dream of becoming a ninja. Now that he was in Sunagakure, he actually applied to the Shinobi Academy, and because of his age and previous intense training, he was able to make it to the rank of Genin in just a year and a half. Now, he's out to make Kobayashi a name that he can be proud of again.
