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[the_ninja]

OOC Information

Player Name: Rachel
Player Age: 21
Player Contact: crescendoll | gingitsune
Player/Character HMD: Here
Other characters in game: N/A

IC Information

Character Name: The Ninja
Character Canon: Kinnikuman (manga OU)
Character Age/Gender: 26 | Male
Canon Point: Post-Survival Match for the Throne Arc
Character Canon History: Wiki link here! It's a little brief but I can try and expand on the details a little more if you need me to.

Character Personality:
First impressions of a man so bold as to codename himself "The" Ninja might leave you with the idea that he’s a touch on the arrogant side but you would only be half right. The Ninja is, outwardly at least, more of a balancing act of his identities as both a ninja and a Devil choujin- with sometimes contradictory results. When he’s at his very worst (and arguably most like a Devil choujin), The Ninja is often utterly infuriating, from his overconfidence to his contrary nature. Whilst he might not be as hostile as some, he has a tendency to play devil's advocate and simply be difficult for the sake of it. On top of this, his dry sense of humour makes it difficult to tell when he’s being playful and when he’s being condescending and spiteful.

On the other hand, he's also quite a reserved man in a lot of ways. He's cool, collected and mostly unflappable, temper generally only surfacing in unexpected or extreme circumstances. He rarely acts rashly or without reason and his pride never gets in the way of his ability to follow orders, making him a loyal and competent subordinate if he considers you his master. In spite of living in a world with aliens and space travel, he's not a particularly "modern" man either. At times, it feels like he's stepped straight out of a historical drama with his old fashioned speech patterns and hierarchical understanding of the world.

The fact remains that The Ninja is still something of a wildcard; just because he’s not literally working for the devil anymore doesn’t mean that he has to play by all of his new allies’ rules. He has no qualms about overturning even his closest friends’ carefully laid plans and trying to extract an apology from him for doing so is near impossible. However, this is only partly out of wilfulness. In reality, The Ninja cannot quite shake some of his old habits; the ends justify the means and the success of a mission is the only thing that matters in the end, and so on. But perhaps more importantly, above any other arbitrary rules or regulations, he holds himself to his own personal code, one that is also intertwined with that of a ninja. He is intensely proud of his heritage and sticks rigidly to its customs. One of the most intriguing consequences of this, however, is his lax attitude to death. Considering that he has died twice in canon, The Ninja's indifference to dying maybe doesn't seem entirely surprising but it comes from a very different place to experience. From his perspective, all living things must eventually die and that includes him- if it happens in the course of completing his mission, so be it. It is his obligation to fall in the line of duty if he must. This can be seen to explain how little his previous losses have shaken him- that and, as an old ally of his, Sunshine, once stated, "Devils have to have short memories". It's more practical to move on from his defeats than fixate on them.

On top of this, he's not above tactics that Justice choujin would balk at. For example, he uses smoke bombs in his matches and often fights to kill. Furthermore, once he considers himself to have accepted a "mission", he shuts out everyone and everything else completely, even if it means turning his back on people he cares about. The Ninja flits between "masters", most notably Akuma Shogun and then Kinnikuman Soldier, and doesn't consider himself to have any single allegiance- not out of any identity crisis but a flexible sense of duty. For many, this aggressively mercenary attitude can prove a difficult to stomach and potentially alienating, making him difficult to get through to and connect with on a personal level. Intimacies of any level become a challenge when you're constantly on a "job" and being "professional". It's arguably only after the end of the series, that he settles down fully.

However, there is a very specific reason why Soldier picked him for his team, the Choujin Ketsumei: his sheer tenacity. Even in the most desperate of situations, The Ninja would never surrender; his pride as a ninja would never allow him to give in to anything, no matter how far the fall or excruciating the pain. Similarly, he’s also an incredibly intelligent, patient man, able to exercise restraint where others might leap headfirst into danger or lose their heads. Even when he’s backed into a corner, The Ninja always seems to have something left up his sleeve and his adaptability and resourcefulness are often what keeps him on his feet long after he should have fallen. In this respect, he is entirely the traditional image of a ninja: unyielding, proud and cunning, lightning fast in both reflexes and mind. More than that, he wants to present himself as the codifier for a shinobi.

But contrary to what this front might lead you to believe, there’s a real paternal streak hidden amongst all of that conceit and cold efficiency. Growing up in an unforgiving world designed purely to turn him into a silent killer meant that his connection to his own family was severed at a very young age. As a result, The Ninja has a soft spot for children and can be quite protective of them. In later years, he immediately takes a shine to one of his students, Kokumo, and treats him as he might his own son and is disgusted by the thought of a young teenager fighting a killer. This also becomes a source of unexpected emotional conflict for him; as someone who was raised to be indifferent to suffering and is so philosophical about his own death, losing the people he cares about affects him incredibly profoundly. Kokumo’s murder prompts him into questioning his position in the Choujin Special Police and becoming a bounty hunter, isolating himself for ten years.

Meeting Soldier was one of the most significant experiences of his life. Not only did joining the Choujin Ketsumei help him to reconnect with his emotions but it also to transition from a Devil choujin into a Justice choujin. Through realising the sheer strength of the bonds you can form with other people, he has also come to recognise his new desire to defend. He cares deeply for his friends and would do anything for them, a feeling that, after years of distancing himself from emotions and connections, he is really only just starting to fully understand. This comes to a head when he is forced to rejoin Akuma Shogun as a Devil choujin and tries to push one of his old comrades, Brocken, away to avoid him getting mixed up in everything. He is willing to not only cut ties but kill to avoid Brocken and his other Justice choujin allies having to compromise their own morals. Unsurprisingly, Soldier is his closest friend and he is, in all likelihood, one of the few people that The Ninja genuinely respects and trusts. He appreciates his quiet nature and the unspoken, mutual faith in each other that they share, and many will probably note that his more frustrating characteristics are more muted when they’re together. With his quiet intensity and intelligence, Soldier is both a positive influence on him and the perfect counterbalance to his bravado.

The Ninja, for all his faults, is a natural guardian and it therefore only makes sense that he has found a new lease of life as a member of the Choujin Special Police. His arrogance can be off-putting, his pride difficult to break through and his devil may care attitude inspires exasperation in some but it’s also difficult to deny that he’s a valuable comrade should he deem you worthy of the honour.

 

AU Information: N/A
Character Abilities: Like the history section, most of them are here but it’s not particularly comprehensive or detailed. The Ninja is a choujin, meaning that he is significantly stronger than the average human and possesses greater stamina too and his choujin power level is given at 3.6 million, making him one of the mid-high grade characters. On top of this, he’s a ninja and so fast even for a choujin and said to know one thousand jutsu, although he only uses a handful within the series. Bombast aside, I’ll be limiting his techniques to these ones, plus those he uses in the sequel series, Nisei. I’d also like to add to/correct the wiki’s description of several of his powers: first of all, he's mildly telekinetic (he can move things with his mind although this is the extent of his psychic ability) and secondly, in regards to his Area Transfer Jutsu, he can use any piece of his clothing to change one surface to another. Which leads me to…
Character Inventory: … the bizarre fact that a choujin’s costume is often seen as a part of their body and thus has special properties. In The Ninja’s case, his clothes were passed down through generations of ninja and thus are protected by their spirits, which allows him to take more of a beating than he otherwise might. In addition to this, he is shown to be able to break his gear down to spider web-like threads, which he can then use like trip wires. He’s also been known to haunt his scarf and communicate through it after being killed. Go figure.

Samples:
Interaction sample and third person sample:

"They're making a move, Soldier."

The Ninja hisses the words, his breath barely even ruffling his scarf there's so little of it, and doesn't stop to wait for an answer before advancing. He's only wearing the damn headset under sufferance and, as much as he would deny it if anyone asked him, he's not quite used to having a voice in his ear, telling him where to go and how to proceed, even if it does belong to Soldier.

Up ahead, the two men he's following stop to exchange a few hushed words and he melts into the darkness of the roof as if submerging himself in water. His shadow, barely darker than the flesh and blood figure that it’s attached to, seems more an extension of his body than anything; it might as well be for all the trouble it could get him in should he let it stray. Not that he would, he’s a veritable artist of stealth and tailing a couple of petty criminals isn’t a particularly taxing task- it’s no wonder that he’s feeling confident.

Of course, he’s never had the safety net of a small army waiting on a single word to back him up should something go awry- even if the very idea of that happening is laughable. Regardless, it’s enough of a reminder that it slows his movements again, eases some of the urgency in his steps. Whilst he can’t say that he’s ever had much of an inclination towards military procedure, these men were all hand-picked and trained by both himself and Soldier- in a lot of ways, they’re a reflection of the two of them; to dismiss their abilities would be to dismiss his own.

And as for Soldier… well, undoubtedly he’s with the men at this very moment. The Ninja slips from one piece of cover to the next, body almost in autopilot as his mind is taken up with considering his partner.

That’s another thing he’s never really had before.

This time, simple vanity isn't enough of a justification of the innate trust he has in him and, a few years ago, that alone might have unsettled him. After all, who has he ever trusted before? Even at the pinnacle of his feverish loyalty to Shogun, in the very midst of his semi-worship of him, he can't say that he really trusted him. It wasn't his place to ask for that; he was disposable, a shinobi working under a lord as a matter of duty rather than mutual faith. But now...

His headset buzzes. Somehow, it doesn't startle him like he expected it to. Maybe he's getting used to that too.