Birth of a Phoenix
Chi was born to a fierce family who prided themselves in their strength, skill, and health. It was a Shinobi family, and almost everyone in the family was or has been a Shinobi at some point in their life. The family was also devoid of any special bloodline heritage, or special core abilities that some families seem to pass on. They thought they were pure and untainted, like their ancient ancestor who possessed golden chakra. He was treated special because of his chakra, and other abilities specific to him, by a group of people known as the Golden Order of Chakra. Whether there was really something special about him is up to speculation, as their knowledge of him is merely legends passed down through the family. Nevertheless, they use his legends to fuel their family’s inner fire.
When she was born, no one would have thought she’d grow up to have any kind of mental issues because of the family’s history of “purity” as they called it. It wasn’t apparent at first as she would just talk about certain colors as if they had certain personalities. Feeling that this was just a passing phase, like having an imaginary friend or picking their nose, they thought nothing of it. As she got older her descriptions of the colors got more involved, and they realized something was wrong with her. Instead of seeking help to find an answer to what was happening, they decided to keep it a secret and enroll her in the academy early (as the family normally waits until the child is 13 to enroll them) hoping that it would drive this “illness” away. Unfortunately for them, it wasn’t about to work. They didn’t know the truth about her sickness or what it would become as she trained and progressed.
The Academy
A short time into her days at the academy Chi found herself in the middle of a festival held by Stone. This was the first year Chi was allowed to go, years before she was told by her parents that she was too young to attend the Fire and Ice festival. Her attendance in the academy was enough of a reason to convince her parents that she was old enough, but it wasn't long into the festival that she became lost. It was on this day that she first experienced her love for fire, watching the play take place in front of her. She saw the beauty of fire, the warmth. It made a connection for her to the color red and her love was born.
Around the same time she met a group of people for the first time. Kyo and Oyochi, the first two people that Chi met in the academy. Oyochi was cold-blooded, but Chi had fun with him putting a genjutsu on her. All the colors made her excited, and she quickly became friends with them, at least she thought of them as her friends. Their second meeting proved to tear at that thought, on that day they were on a mission together to, for lack of better words, evict an elderly lady from her home so a new medical facility could be built. They entered the older woman's house and began speaking to her. Kyo said something the woman didn't like and she began bashing him with her purse. Oyochi's first thought was to electrocute the woman. Chi saw it happening but was too slow to stop him or to get the woman out of the way.
In the end Oyochi was put under the care of a guardian to watch him and Chi had a new resolve to protect the village in any way she could. She had a new push to become the Tsuchikage, not only to prove to her family that she was strong but to protect the whole of the village. It made it hard for her when she met the boy named Sabaku, who seemed to have feelings for her. She could not reciprocate those feelings at the time because she had more issues, more pressing matters such as becoming the best.
The Phoenix Rises [Pyromaniac request]
Families are supposed to be supportive. They nurture their children, make them feel better when they're down, and are there for each other. The Kogane clan is all this and more, but they are also a prideful clan. Along their line is a story told of a man with golden chakra, a powerful man who was said to be one of many reincarnations of another man with golden chakra who roamed the lands destroying evil wherever he may find it. Like him their ancestor was said to have similar abilities with his chakra. They use this legend to full their inner fire, and their egos. They kept their family pure of bloodlines or specialties known as "core abilities" because they felt their ancestor gave them the strength they needed…
"Chi!" Chi's brother was just as proud as any other member of the Kogane family, and he despised Chi because he felt she was too weak.
"You need to stop pulling the plants out of their pots and burring them in the yard!" Chi's synesthesia is what made him, and the rest of the family, feel she was weak. Certain colors provoked different personalities, green being the more disliked of them all. She would quite frequently pull them out the plants and bury them to get rid of the color.
"I keep telling you, green is an awful color!" She tried to defend herself but she was still obviously frightened. She had never had her brother raise his voice at her.
"Kosui, stop harassing your sister." Their mother attempted to step in but Kosui was fed up with Chi's antics. It was because of stuff like that which made her parents want to get her out of the house all the time. It was the whole reason they signed her up for the academy earlier than they usually did with their children.
"She's not my sister. She's weak, she's too weak to be a member of the Kogane family!" Kosui was one of the few taijutsu users in the Kogane family, he pulled out a sword and pointed it at Chi's face. The young girl of only 10 began to cry in the corner.
"Kosui!" Their mother yelled, attempting to get between them. Of course, Kosui wasn't going to kill the girl. He was just trying to scare her straight, make her understand what was going on.
"Your sickness will keep you from being able to live up to the Kogane name!
"I'm not sick…" Chi mumbled under her crying.
"Your sickness has plagued this home since you were old enough to talk. Always going on about this color and that, red is amazing but green is awful!"
"I'm not sick!" Chi would yell, not opening her eyes to look at her brother. She was too confused to know what to do. This was the first confrontation she had ever had with a family member, or with anyone in general.
"How could you ever call yourself a shinobi when all you do is cower in the corner?" He yelled, grabbing the hilt with both hands and getting into a fighting stance.
"We shouldn't let you stay here, we should kick you and your sickness out!"
"I said I'm not sick!" the girl jumped up as Kosui leaped in with a false attack, moving around their mother. His aim was to stop right in front of her in an attempt to scare the little girl. His plan back fired. By this time the whole family had gathered to see what was going on. Most felt the same as he, so they did nothing to stop it. As he got closer he could see the color in her eyes, the red flames that covered them blew back behind her head.
"I will be the strongest, one day you'll see!"
The tears that came from her eyes burned in the flames, turning them into steam immediately from the immense heat. Then her whole body burst into flames, at least that's what it looked like, but this was a glimpse into her future. It was a mantle of fire, you could say, that activated and covered her in red flames. Though as she leaped forward toward her brother the flames burned brighter and turned a fine gold color. She got closer and Kosui moved his blade just in time so as to not actually hurt the young girl. This gave her the opportunity to perform the handseals for thermal maw, blasting it straight into his face.
"One day you'll see, I'll be the leader of this whole village! The strongest in all the lands, the Tsuchikage!"
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Chi passed out just after she blasted Kosui in the face. All the power was too much for her, it was power she shouldn't have been able to access yet. The awakening of this inner power seemed to give her the burst she needed to be able to take care of her brother who she saw as a threat. What happened after would affect her later down her line. The whole family saw her inner power awaken, and it was troublesome for all. They knew something was up, no one had an inner power awaken in centuries, but the golden fire made them think maybe she was another reincarnation of their ancestor in the legends. Her parents knew otherwise.
"We have to tell her, she has a right to know…." Her mother said, sitting with Chi's father.
"No, not yet. She's not old enough to know the truth, and I'm too ashamed to come clean just yet. It isn't the right time…"
Student Tournament
Possibly the most influential moment in her time at the academy was the tournament that was held only for the students. Future warriors of Iwa were pitted against each other for the sake of determining their potential. Chi got through the preliminaries easily, and in the tournament finals there were 9. Kyo and Sabaku were among the nine, as well as two girls Chi had met at two different occasions: Shujinko and Harumi. Shujinko was a friend of Kyo's, and Harumi was the first person that Chi ever spared against. There were three who she had never met, two of which she would never forget: Masaki, Kei, and Kimi. The last person besides Chi in the finals was none other than Oyochi, who upon seeing Chi made a dark gesture towards her. Ever since the mission with the elderly woman he had developed some sort of ridiculous hatred towards her and Kyo.
The tournament went forward as such: KyoxShujinko, ShujinkoxOyochi, HarumixChi, KimixSabaku, and last KeixMasaki. Nothing of interest happening through much of the first round of battles, Shujinko beat Kyo and moved on to fight Oyochi. Her victory over Oyochi was surprising to Chi, but it let her see he wasn't as powerful as she previously believed. That wasn't the case, the victory was very close. The proctor, who would become an important person in Chi's life, had to make the careful decision to decide Shujinko was the winner. Especially since Oyochi happened to be his brother, which was announced earlier when the contestants in the finals were announced.
The next battle was Harumi versus Chi, which Chi was excited about. She liked having the chance to have a rematch with Harumi, especially since their spar got interrupted and didn't end up getting finished. In the end Chi was able to win, not without taking some heavy damage. The battle between Kimi and Sabaku showed their true strength. Chi felt bad for Sabaku who could barely get any kind of a hit in, it seemed to Chi that Kimi was using some method of Genjutsu to make herself invisible to Sabaku. She won without much effort, or taking much damage at all. The battle of Kei versus Masaki was a knock out, Kei was the only one to deliver a knock out before the final buzzer. He performed a move that left a giant crater around Masaki, and had all the finalist worried. That's why during the final battle, a four way between Kimi, Shujinko, Kei, and Chi, Kei seemed to be the primary target. Behind him, it seemed to be Chi herself.
Kei was taken out with Shujinko almost at the same time, and it was Kimi against Chi. The battle for first place was intense and came down to timing, if Chi had been able to get her final move in she could have taken Kimi down and gotten first place. However, Kimi got the better of her. Chi was encased in fire which turned to gold, showing everyone at the tournament her golden chakra. She wasn't quick enough and Kimi managed to get in a finishing blow. After that the awards were given out, Kimi, Chi, and Shujinko were first through third place respectively. Each of them received a contract from the village, Chi receiving the Fox contract.
Order of the Golden Chakra
Around the time of the tournament the Order came into the village and set up shop, their nomadic tribe taking refuge in the outer-village area until their mission could be completed. They were there to seek out the one they refer to as the Ogonshoku, Ogon for short. The Ogon is a shinobi with golden chakra, very powerful and uncontrollable if preparations aren't taken before it's too late. They had heard rumors of one shinobi with golden chakra within Stone's walls, so they took to the village to find this mysterious shinobi. Within the walls, after some time, they came upon a young student. This student was none other than Kei himself, who heard they were looking for someone with golden chakra and remembered Chi from the tournament….
[[Event still going on as of this update]]
Kyoi Investigation
Chi decided to take to the diamond complex one day, having lived in Maruishi all her life but never entering this large building. Inside a tea shop she was approached by a man who seemed to recognize her, telling her that her father and mother used to come into the tea shop a lot before she was born. His description of her was very off, sounding more like the woman she knew as Kyoi. Apparently she was his mother, according to the tea shop guy. However, he said after Chi was born he started coming in with another woman who he described as the person she knew as her mother.
This information bothered her, and she went on a mission to find out more about this strange woman known as Kyoi. She found out a lot about her, and her engagement with her father. She lived in Arcadia, which should have been obvious by her strange appearance. Villagers seemed to recognize her, and some said she didn't age the whole time they had known her. She took to the hot springs, where Chi was told that Kyoi liked to hang out, and there she learned that she was indeed pregnant about the same amount of time ago as Chi's age after heading to Maruishi a lot to see some man…
Guardian Exam
[[Event Just started at the time of this update]]
