Hoshigaki
Description:Members of the Hoshigaki Clan are perhaps most known for their shark-like appearance. The body, which is merged with a Shark's during a painful ritual, completely changes to accommodate the differences in the body. The first and most noticeable thing about the transition is the color of the skin. Members of the Hoshigaki Clan have skin that ranges from soft blue in color to a dark gray, dependent upon the type of shark that was used for the ritual transformation.
Beyond that, the body also changes to take on a slimmer shape. A large amount of skin and muscle tissue becomes replaced with cartilage, making them odd to the touch. That being said, a large amount of muscle tissue is added to the body from the shark, too. At the neck, two lines of gills can be seen at the front, giving them the ability to breath underwater. The Hoshigaki's body is usually more bulky than the average, but from the appearance of tough muscle.
Also very noticeable quite quickly is the increased rows of very sharp, fine teeth. The eyes are also a little more circular than the average person's, and they have a more defined nose. Beyond that, the clan has no true heirarchy or structure. They understand that it's a shark eat shark world, and there are few restrictions imposed upon the members of the clan by the other members of the clan, for the ritual itself comes with several restrictions that cannot be fought against.
There is a singular symbol of authority within the Hoshigaki Clan, and those would be the Shark Priests. The Shark Priests are a small sect that rules over the religious aspects of the Shark Human's lives, deciding the actions that are best for the clan. It is only these Shark Priests that have access to the knowledge of the ritual that grants the impressive Shark powers. Those not born of the Shark Clan must find these Shark Priests to have them give the Ritual.
History:The History of the Hoshigaki Clan is a strange one. About ten years after the First Shinobi War, there was a member of the Mist Village that sought the kinship of the ocean and the sea. This man was known as Hoshigaki Sakana. Sakana was a powerful Suiton user, and spent much time on a boat in the oceans. It was during this time that he discovered and befriended a shark named Mirana. Mirana, now, was a female shark, who was said to have magical powers of the ocean. This wasn't true, of course. Mirana was actually a shinobi who had gone missing from the Mist Village about fifteen years prior to the two individuals meeting and simply chose to remain in the transformed position of a shark.
However, her adaption into the shark life had completely and utterly changed her. Sakana, seeing Mirana as utterly beautiful even in the form of the shark, fell in love with her and decided, at that time, to enter into the world of the Missing Nin as well. Casting aside his allegiance to his village, he would spend his time with Mirana and the two would live together happily for a long while. As time passed, Sakana learned of several different ways that he could manipulate his body to take upon more of the appearance of the shark. He found himself unwilling to transform himself totally into the shark, but rather he sought to manipulate his body so that he could find both the best of both Human and Shark and combine them into a singular body.
Thus was born the true forms of the Hoshigaki Clan. As time passed, Sakana and Mirana had children, and all of them were gifted with the ritual of the Shark, the spiritual transformation that Sakana had discovered in order to become both man and shark. This legacy would continue for many years, up until the coming of the second shinobi war. The family, by this time, had grown strong, and had established their own village deep south in the Sea Country. They lived there unmolested, training and mastering the arts of Suiton beyond anyone in the world.
When the Second War began, many villages were seeking ways to increase their village's potential power without sacrificing anything. It was here that a group of Genin from the Waterfall Village, lead by a Jounin named Sakuro, who were on a mission to retrieve a weapon from the Sea Country, would encounter the shark clan and all would stand amazed at their strength and ability. It was here that the Shark Clan was reintroduced to the main continent, with several different sects of the Hoshigaki Clan moving to the aid of several different Suiton-using villages.
Impressed beyond measure by the shark clan's ferocious fighting styles and ninjutsu capability, the Hoshigaki were accepted into almost every major ninja village without a thought. It was here that the clans would begin the establishment of the Shark Priest sect, who would be located within the Water Country where their lives began. Since the clan was to be spread throughout the world, it only made sense that a small and singular area be devoted to the clan and to the clan alone.
It was decided that anyone born into the clan must obtain the ritual upon birth, the choices of the parents shaping the individual's future for the rest of their lives, blocking away a great amount of potential growth but giving them so much more in the process. Even the child's appearance would forever be altered by the decision of the parents. The Shark Priests would have power and authority over all the clans secrets, and it was the greatest of honors amongst the Hoshigaki Clan to be accepted into the Shark Priests sect.
Nowadays however, the Hoshigaki's have been excluded. During the visit of the Sage's the Hoshigaki's fought hard for the ninja world, and nearly all were exterminated. Those that remained were shortly wiped out in the following war, reducing a widespread clan to a small family left in Kirigakure. This family consists of Shirosame Hoshigaki, the great white as he's often called. Shiro is a half blood, his mother have not been a Hoshigaki. It was after his birth that most of the clan began to disappear. As such, Shirosame's father sought out one of the few remaining Hoshigaki women, who then gave birth to another boy, Torasame the tiger shark, two years later. This woman bore the Hoshigaki a final sibling, a girl named Togisame, the nurse shark.
Restrictions:- Those who are in this clan from birth must take the Same no Gishiki (Ritual of the Shark), Same no Seirei (Spirit of the Shark), and Same no Ryoku (Strength of the Shark).
- Those who are in the clan from birth must have at least two paragraphs in their history detailing their gaining of the ritual and the gaining of understanding from their abilities.
- If the user joins the clan later and obtains the ritual, then Same no Seirei (Spirit of the Shark) and Same no Ryoku (Strength of the Shark) must be trained in a manner of the user gaining understanding of the powers of the shark.
- In order to enter this clan, the user must have the Water Release (Suiton no Jutsu).
- Members of this clan are barred from the Fire Release (Katon no Jutsu), Lightning Release (Raiton no Jutsu). This is due to the fact that the clan revolves around the Water Release (Suiton no Jutsu), and these elements conflict with the Water Release’s (Suiton no Jutsu) chakra nature.
- Members of this clan are absolutely required to be either the Taijutsu/Ninjutsu Specialist Combo or a Taijutsu Master who can mold chakra. As a Taijutsu Master, a Grand Master slot must be spent to the Clan slot.
- The ritual of the shark may not be performed on anyone that possesses a Kekkai Genkai.
- Members of this clan are incapable of being Medics or puppeteers. This is for the same reason they cannot learn Genjutsu- they lack the chakra control for the techniques, instead focusing on pure chakra amounts.
Ritual of the SharkSame no Gishiki (Ritual of the Shark)
Rank: “C” Rank
Effects: Changes the user’s appearance to give them blue skin, gill-like appendages, and access to the ritual’s techniques.
Special: Preparing the Ritual- First, the user must obtain the body of a full-grown shark. The body must be fresh, not more than 3 days IC old. The type of the shark gained will determine the manner in which the user’s facial and bodily features will change. Then, the user must obtain 50 shark incisors, which cannot come from the shark to be used in the ritual. After that, the user must purchase a large bottle of ink from a shop. The user then pricks their finger and adds their blood to the ink. With that done, the user has completed all the preparations for the ritual and must then find a Same Saishi (Shark Priest) to perform the ritual.
Description: Once all the preparations for the ritual have been completed, the user will be asked to sit down by the Same Saishi. The man will then use the ink that has been prepared for him and draw a circle around the person that is ten meters in diameter. The kanji for the four seasons is written at the quarter marks for each circle, with summer at the top (behind the user), spring to the right, winter at the bottom (in front of the user), and autumn on the left. These directions are symbolic, as it represents a turning away from Fire (Summer) and embracing the Water (Winter). From there, the user’s shark is placed directly in front of where they sit, and the user will place the shark incisors in a circle around him. The user is then asked to meditate for one turn, getting lost into a trance. The Same Saishi then performs the handseals of “Rat, Rabbit, Dog, Monkey, Tiger, Snake, Dragon”. Upon the completion of the Dragon seal, the ink circle around the user will burst forth in radiant blue light, and the user will be thrown into an illusionary world.
In this world, they will enter an ocean battleground, where the opponent will be themselves. The difference will be that the person will be fighting themselves as they will become when the ritual is complete, thus they have the shark-like appearance. This self is capable of using any technique that the user has plus any technique from the Clan’s arsenal. After a long and meticulous battle the user will fall down, exhausted, and a merging of the two aspects will occur. While this is happening within the mind, outside the body of the person and the shark begin to glow a bright blue. When the merging is over, the user will awaken to find that they have gained the qualities of the shark, which has since disappeared. They have less teeth, but are larger and sharper, much more pointed. Their skin tone takes on a blueish tint, and their body expands to gain more muscle. FInally, there is a small seal on their left shoulder.
Drawback: Once the Ritual is gained, the user cannot use or learn techniques from the Fire Release (Katon no Jutsu), Lightning Release (Raiton no Jutsu) or the Wind Release (Fuuton no Jutsu)
Placement Requirements: Must have the Water Release (Suiton no Jutsu). Must complete all the required ritual steps. Must be a member of the Hoshigake Clan.
Cost: The cost of the ritual is free if the user gathers all the materials necessary for the ritual.
Ritual Jutsus- Same no Seirei (Spirit of the Shark)
Rank: “C” Rank
Skill: Passive
Effect: Dramatically increases the user’s chakra pool.
Special: A passive ability that is always active. Must have had the Same no Gishiki put upon the body.
Drawback: The user must start with this technique if taking the ritual upon birth. Chakra control remains unaffected.
Description: One of the two Same no Isei, or Powers of the Shark, the Same no Seirei (Spirit of the Shark) allows the user to obtain a dramatically larger chakra pool than they would normally have. The amount that the chakra pool increases is dependent upon the user’s specialties and their Difficulty Class.
Limit: Must have Same no Gishiki.
- Samehada (Shark Skin)
Rank: "C" Rank
Skill: Ninjutsu
Effect: Focuses chakra into the user's cartilage body, using it to dampen the impact of Taijutsu-based attacks.
Special: Ox, Tiger, Snake, Dragon
Drawback: Only lasts for five turns or five hits, whichever comes first. Only works against melee strikes.
Description: The user's body, which has been altered by the Same no Gishiki, has gained a thin layer of cartilage underneath the user's blueish skin. The user, then, will learn how to use that cartilage in combination with their chakra in order to lessen the impact of melee strikes against them. When the user performs their handseals, channeling chakra into the thin layer underneath the skin, the cartilage there begins to act like a sponge, ready to cushion damage. When the user is hit, the sponge-like manner of the cartilage absorbs a portion of the damage, reducing the damage done to the user significantly.
Limit: Must have Same no Gishiki.
- Suichuu Binkatsu (Underwater Alacrity)
Rank: "C" Rank
Skill: Passive
Effect: Allows the user to move underwater just as well as they would above it.
Special: Passive ability that is always active.
Drawback: N/A
Description: The Hoshigake Clan are very much used to fighting underwater; their whole fighting style is based upon flooding the field and then forcing the opponent to fight underwater, where the user will have the advantage. Because of their constant fighting underwater, they've learned how to move and manipulate their own bodies while submerged, making them terrifyingly difficult opponents to match when they're in their element. This ability, once learned, allows the user to fight with grace and ease underwater, to the very point that it seems like they were fighting naturally above it.
Limit: Must have Same no Gishiki.
- Kowai Shiryoku (Frightening Eyesight)
Rank: "C" Rank
Skill: Passive
Effect: Allows the user to have naturally enhanced eyesight in both the day and the night.
Special: Passive ability that is always active.
Drawback: As with all forms of enhanced senses, they are also more susceptible to their perspective weaknesses.
Description: Sharks have amazing eyesight. Since they often swim the depths of the ocean, where it is dark and what little light that comes through the water is distorted, their ability to perceive minor changes is particularly excellent. Members of the clan learn to mimic these enhanced perceptions, able to peer through the darkest of night as if it were noon and the ability to notice subtle changes like the fluttering of a specific leaf in the wind.
Limit: Must have Same no Gishiki.
- Akuarungu (Aqualung)
Rank: "C" Rank
Skill: Passive
Effect: Allows the user the capability of switching between the use of gills and lungs.
Special: Passive ability that may be used at will.
Drawback: If activated above ground, the user is capable of suffocating to death.
Description: Normally, the Hoshigake's body is set to breath through the lungs, which takes in oxygen from the air and then allows the user to exhale. However, the Hoshigake's body has a secondary set of breathing tools- gills. By activating this technique, the user becomes capable of switching the manner in which their brain commands the body, moving to use the gills instead of the lungs. In this manner, it is impossible for the Hoshigake to drown as they are now using gills to breath.
Limit: Must have Same no Gishiki.
- Chi Kaori (Blood Scent)
Rank: "C" Rank
Skill: Passive
Effect: Allows the user to use their sense of smell to hunt down opponents who have been injured.
Special: The target must be bleeding.
Drawback: Cannot tell differing scents apart.
Description: After injuring an opponent, the Hoshigake will generally try to force an underwater fight by flooding the field or trapping someone with some other water-based techniques. However, that is not necessary, it just makes the hunt easier. The user is then capable of using their sense of smell to track the scent of the blood of the opponent, making it much more difficult to hide from them.
Limit: Must have Same no Gishiki.
- Dendou-Sacchi (Electric Sense)
Rank: "A" Rank
Skill: Passive
Effect: Allows the user to sense micro-movements, including heart beats at certain ranges.
Special: ~
Drawback: The user becomes more susceptible to Raiton attacks.
Description: Many sharks have a biological trait known as the Ampullae of Lorenzini. These are actually glands which allow them to detect the electromagnetic fields generated by movements. These glands can detect voltages as low as one-billionth of a volt. As the Hoshigaki have garnished this ability, they too can sense movement around them. On land, this includes movement up to thirty meters away, and even heartbeats at ten meters. Due to the conductive nature of water, when the Hoshigaki is in water, their range is boosted to one hundred meters, and fifty meters for any heartbeat.
Limit: Must have Same no Gishiki. Must have used a shark that possesses the Ampullae of Lorenzini for the ritual.
Naitekisame (The Inner Shark)
Rank: "S"Rank
Skill: Supplementary
Effect: Transforms the Hoshigaki to an even more frightening form where they further resemble a shark. In this form the Hoshigaki has even further mastery over water.
Special: Handseals
Drawback: The Hoshigaki loses the ability to perform any techniques other then clan and Suiton-only techs. User often becomes frenzied.
Description: Forming twelve handseals, the Hoshigaki ends the string with the dragon. Using a large portion of chakra, even for a Hoshigaki, his Same no Gishiki seal will spread across his body completely, encasing him in bright blue chakra. While in the light, the Hoshigaki's bone structure begins to alter. After about five seconds, the chakra shatters away, the altered Hoshigaki standing proud. Their new form is often equipped with multiple dorsal as well as pectoral and pelvic fins depending on the shark that was used in the original Ritual of the Shark, as well as a tail and caudal fin. Their face too becomes elongated, extending their mouthline so they may use their teeth as a weapon. Their swimming speed drastically increases as does their affinity for Suiton and their respective clan techniques. All other techniques the Hoshigaki may have known will have been temporarily erased from their memories, the nature of the shark's true elements taking over. Finally, the Hoshigaki may return to his original form by using the same hand seal sequence.
Limit: Must have Same no Gishiki.
Other Clan techniquesMizu no Kami (Water God)
Rank: "B" Rank
Skill: Clan Mastery
Effect: Allows the user the ability to perform water based techniques as if their chakra cost was cut in half.
Special: Passive, must have been a Hoshigaki for ten years or more.
Drawback: Even though the chakra cost has been reduced the time spent performing the techniques remain the same. Defensive techniques that require the user to expend the same amount of chakra in order to block a technique are unaffected by this mastery.
Description: There are few clans out there that can rival the Hoshigake when it comes to their use of Water-based Ninjutsu. Because of their constant use, individuals of the clan have developed a keen sense of how much chakra is truly necessary to perform the technique and as such may perform water-based ninjutsu as if the chakra cost of the technique were actually cut in half. However, just because the user can perform the technique for less of a cost doesn't mean that it takes any less time to perform them.
Limit: Requires a total of ten years of being within the Hoshigaki clan.
Suiton: Suibun Shuuko no Jutsu (Water Release: Moisture Condensing Technique)
Rank: B
Skill: Ninjutsu, Supplementary
Effect: Allows the user to condense water within the atmosphere for use in Water-based techniques.
Special: The user adds "Tiger" to the end of every technique they wish to use this in association with.
Drawback: The water that is drawn from this attack comes from the atmosphere itself. Unlike Oxyhydro Conversion, which is the combining of molecules in order to create water, this attack pulls the actual moisture out of the air and condenses it. Because of that, the ability is less effective in dry areas, sometimes not allowing enough water to be drawn for higher-level techniques.
Description: A supplementary Ninjutsu ability that is combined with other Suiton (Water Release) abilities, the user will focus chakra into the atmosphere, pulling the moisture out of the air and condensing it into forming an attack. The user can only perform Suiton techniques this way up to a B rank level.. Since the technique is simply condensing the moisture in the atmosphere instead of creating the water, this technique is much more chakra efficient than Oxyhydro Conversion
Limit: Water Release, Must be a member of the Hoshigake Clan.
Tsuchi no Kuchiyose: Aquifer no Jutsu (Earth Summons: Aquifer Technique)
Rank: B
Skill: Ninjutsu, Supplementary
Effect: Calls up water from the ground to act as a water source for Suiton techniques.
Special: Boar, Rabbit, Horse, Dragon, Monkey, Snake, Rat, Ram. Ram can be held to cut the amount of time needed to call up the water in half.
Drawback: Less effective in dry areas, thus less water is capable of being pulled from the ground. Can have dangerous effects on the area's life, as you are drawing on their surplus water supply.
Description: Not an actual summoning technique, the name gains its inspiration for the way that the technique works. By channelling chakra into the ground, the user is capable of penetrating deeply into the earth and calling up water that is under the ground in tiny pockets called 'aquifers'. The technique draws up the water, taking from the surplus water of the area and bringing it above ground.
Limit: Water Release. Must be a member of the Hoshigake Clan.
Suiton: Satsugai Naiou no Jutsu (Water Release: Killing Depths Technique)
Rank: "A" Rank
Skill: Ninjutsu, Supplementary
Effect: Creates and fills a large crater of water where the user is currently standing.
Special: "Hand Seals", hold Ram seal.
Drawback: Takes two turns for the technique to work, during which the user must remain completely still. Use of this technique in dry areas can potentially cause long-term droughts.
Description: A powerful technique that can be used in combination to fuel the Hoshigake's love for battling underwater. The technique is actually a two-pronged technique, combining the use of both the Earth and Water releases. Performing the correct handseals, the user will hold the Ram handseal, channeling chakra throughout the ground around him. The ground will then quickly begin to do two things; one, the ground around the user in a diameter of thirty meters will begin to sink downwards a total of twenty meters; two, the ground at the edge of the thirty meter radius will begin to move upwards for ten meters. This takes one turn to complete, creating a crater that is thirty meters deep at the highest part and thirty meters across. Then, the user will fill the crater using the aquifers below the ground, drawing up the natural water from the surrounding area. The filling of the basin takes an additional turn. When the technique is complete, the user will have created a large lake in which they can fight their opponent.
Limit: Must know Tsuchi no Kuchiyose: Aquifer no Jutsu. Must have the Earth Release. Must be a member of the Hoshigake Clan.
