Kusanagi

is a highly skilled Kenjutsu expert, and the of the fabled and legendary Yakedo Itonami. This kenjutsu master comes from humble beginnings, and through his years of dedication, the man became a swordsman that many began to compare to Yakedo Itonami. This comparison of course was regarded as a simple compliment until Kusanagi had discovered that he, in fact, was the reborn form of the swordsman. After discovering this, Yakedo was able to tutor Kusanagi into becoming an even greater swordsman than the man already was. After Ikigakure had been corrupted from within due to the Third Ikikage, Kusanagi defected from the village, deciding on his own accord to become a missing-nin. This defection caused Yakedo's chakra which laid within Kusanagi to resonate and 'unlock'. The chakra of Yakedo was soon corrupted by Kusanagi's own hatred for the village, and the sudden burst of uncontrolled power took a toll of Kusanagi's mind, and gave him access to the Arm of Edotensei, and it was due to this that Kusanagi earned the epithet,.

Background
Before Kusanagi, one must understand the tale of Yakedo Itonami. Yakedo had been one of the original citizens of Amegakure, over eight hundred years before the birth of Kusanagi. The young child had found his life to be one of many, and found his mere existence futile. However, the child discovered the Samurai Creed, and soon decided to follow in their footsteps. From there, Yakedo was trained for over twenty-years in the art of Kenjutsu, where the boy was regarded to have mastered it. From there, Yakedo become the leader of the village and even went as far as dying for it. Yakedo's death was short-lived, as the man sprung back to life, and was now the slave of the Shinigami, and gained access to its unique chakra. Yakedo lived for many years, and has seen the entirety of the Shinobi timeline. Soon, the man formed Ikigakure, and married to a woman of beauty, before eventually killing himself, tired of his existence. However, unknowing to the world and Yakedo himself, his chakra had merged with that of the Shinigami's, and the chakra formed into a new lifeform, a lifeform now known as Kusanagi.

Kusanagi's parents were what the world would regard as 'average joe's', simple Shinobi with a rather stable income. To them, the birth of Kusanagi was a blessing, and the couple regarded the raising of Kusanagi as a 'challenge' of sorts. Kusanagi's father was a shinobi who was proficient in the art of Kenjutsu, as was any aspiring Shinobi of Ikigakure. His father had successfully accomplished hundreds of missions, and it was due to this that Kusanagi's father would be an 'object of interest' amongst the Kunoichi of Ikigakure. Kusanagi's father could quite literally have almost any woman he could want, however, the one who had his heart had no interest in him. This woman was none other than Kusanagi's mother. Kusanagi's mother was quite the formidable Kunoichi, who had decided to follow in the footsteps of the Second Ikikage, Bakuro Iyō. The kunoichi was highly proficient in the art of Taijutsu, and had no interest in men. However, after an undocumented incident, the two shinobi had fallen in love, and were soon married. Merely two years after their union did Kusanagi enter this world.

Growing up, Kusanagi was a difficult child. Ever since the child had the ability to walk, he would be found playing with bladed weapons, much to his parents dismay. Every time they saw their child near a bladed weapon, the parents would rush over to seperate Kusanagi from the blade. However, unbeknownst to the parents, Kusanagi had simply been interested in the blade, most likely due to his past lives experience with the blade. The parents thought that it was merely some strange obsession, and would often lock Kusanagi in his room. Kusanagi's parents were usually away, Kusanagi would stay at home with his nanny, a female known as Junsei. Junsei was more so a mother to Kusanagi then his actual mother, and Kusanagi truly loved her, and Jusei truly loved Kusanagi. In fact, Junsei was the one who took Kusanagi to his enrolment into the Shinobi Academy.

In the shinobi academy, Kusanagi decided to follow in the path of the First Ikikage, and Kusanagi decided to learn in the art of Kenjutsu. Kusanagi showed an immense prodigious amount of skill in the art, and was known to be able to easily use advanced Kenjutsu techniques at a young age. It was from this moment Kusanagi was believed to be prodigy of the highets degree, as he was able to perform these difficult techniques with relative ease. Kusanagi's prospering fame within the academy began to bring his parents' fame, which only caused for Kusanagi's parents to spend more of their resources on giving Kusanagi a higher education.

Kusanagi's 'higher education' came in the form of a Kenjutsu Academy. This academy had the best Kenjutsu Instructors in all of Ikigakure, and focused solely on Kenjutsu training. However, even in such a competitive academy, Kusanagi easily rose to the top of the first-year crop in the academy. The students of the academy had a secret 'fight club' of the sorts, where students would place bets on matches between students. Kusanagi was forcefully enrolled into combat, where he was forced to fight a fifth-year student. Despite the older student having more experience, Kusanagi easily had more skill and defeated him. Kusanagi was forced to fight more and more students, where he continously kept rising victorious, eventually earning the moniker of.

Soon, Kusanagi had become an official fifth-year student at the age of twelve, where he was regarded as one of the best swordsmen Ikigakure had ever seen, earning him some comparisons to the First Ikikage. Of course, it was also around this time when Kusanagi began to be plagued with nightmares, which would chill him to the bones. Unknowingly to Kusanagi, these nightmares were simply memories of his past life, which would flash through his mind as he attempted to sleep. After graduating from the Kenjutsu Academy, he was immediately recruited into the Ikigakure ANBU, where he was made the commander of a squad of ANBU members. Kusanagi's name soon became well-known amongst the residents of the Hidden Village. Kusanagi's time as an ANBU was strained, as it was, unfortunately, the highest position he could receive at the time, however, Kusanagi had gone through many, many adventures as one.

The was a battle which took place during Kusanagi's reign as an ANBU squad commander. Kusanagi and his squad were assigned to remain at another Hidden Village, and to await a certain deal which would take place. The squad was to execute the those affiliated with the deal. This task proved to be easier said than done when the task was to take place. All members of the unit were assigned strategic locations as they observed the deal which had been taking place. Unfortunately, one of Kusanagi's subordinates had poor skill in stealth and was soon discovered. Instantly, one of the men pulled out a device, which was being used as a communicative device. Immediately after, hundreds of men appeared from a nearby warehouse. In response, the team which Kusanagi led was forced to initiate in combat. As soon as combat began, the opponents realized that Kusanagi would be a problem, as the child seemingly slayed a majority of the men. Of course, more and more men came, which dragged the battle to last seventy-two hours. After this time-span, no more men came, and thus, the Three-Day Battle had ended.

The was a revolutionary incident which occurred during Kusanagi's reign as an ANBU commander, and helped to reduce some of the rising corruption which laid deep within the Hidden Spirit Village. Kusanagi had been assigned to investigate the reasoning behind the rising Counterfeit payment methods, and to find out who was doing so. After of month of investigation, the case itself was dismissed. However, Kusanagi continued to investigate, until he had finally come across a valuable lead, which strangely correlated with the then Minister of Finance in Ikigakure. Kusanagi decided to investigate into the personal affairs of the finance minister, a task which proved to be a difficult task. Despite this, Kusanagi continued to search into the affairs until he found something rather suspicious. He had discovered a communcation thread between the minister and many well-known criminals. Due to this, Kusanagi decided to shadow the minister one night, and eventually caught the man red-handed creating counterfeit notes. Kusanagi proceeded to arrest the minister and to bring him in for justice.

Appearance
Kusanagi's standard outfit consists of a white with a blue swirl pattern on the bottom and ends of the outfits sleeves, worn so that Kusanagi's arm only goes through the left sleeve, and the right half drops down over his. Over this, he wears a black belt buckled so that there is some leftover dangling from the buckle, from which his hangs. Underneath this outfit, Kusanagi adorns a black, red-lined shirt with a popped collar and black pants. Kusanagi also dons knee-high black boots, buckled at the top and above his foot, which appears to add about half an inch to his height. All in all, Kusanagi's outfit suggests an air of laziness and may be a reflection of his own personal sense of style. TBE

Kenjutsu
Kusanagi, being the reincarnation of the legendary and deific Yakedo Itonami, he is also an individual who is regarded as the embodiment of Kenjutsu. All though Kusanagi has not had as long as his previous incarnation to train in the art, Kusanagi is regarded to have met and even surpassed the natural skill of Yakedo’s Kenjutsu. Kusanagi follows a multitude of forms when it comes to Kenjutsu, and like his first incarnation, uses a variety of combination styles, as well as his own style of Kenjutsu. The style of which Kusanagi has made his own is called, a name which Kusanagi has recognized as his own. Kusanagi has been able to learn these multiple form through the training given to him by his previous incarnation, and utilizes the combinations for certain events.

As the name of Kusanagi’s swordplay implies, the slashes usually spawned by Kusanagi’s blades are performed in a ‘reversed’ fashion, and Kusanagi follows a certain ideology when it comes to his Kenjutsu. Kusanagi states he follows the ‘Flowing Belief’, an ancient ideology of the bladed art, similar to his previous incarnation. The belief dictates that the blade is an extension of one’s self, and evolves over time, and should not be restricted to any given rhythm. This ideology is one not often followed by others, as Kusanagi and a few others are the only practitioners of this belief. The belief also states that a user should flow chakra into the blade, to produce a ‘reversed’ aura, and allows for smoother and hastier attacks. This unique and powerful belief often draws inspiration from utilizing the opponents Kenjutsu as well, and Kusanagi is able to perfectly execute this due to his eidetic memory.

Many styles of swordplay follow a sort of rhythm, and unlike others, Kusanagi’s Flowing Belief does not believe in being restricted to one form of Kenjutsu alone, and should instead utilize a variety of Kenjutsu as one continues to mature in the art of Kenjutsu. Now, as any true follower of Kenjutsu knows that many forms of Kenjutsu should follow a rhythm, which the form of combat follows depending on the speed, strength, timing, and type of Kenjutsu utilized. Due to Kusanagi’s lack of a rhythm, almost all that have fought him have found trouble in finding a weak point in Kusanagi’s defense, as his varying usage of Kenjutsu is almost impossible to pinpoint, and very few weaknesses have been found. It is due to the fact that Kusanagi does not follow a certain form of Kenjutsu, which allows him to fight against masters and be regarded as one. Practically every practitioner of Kenjutsu follows a certain form of Kenjutsu, and it is due to this lack of a certain form which has allowed Kusanagi to defeat all of his challengers, as it has been proven next-to-impossible for one to adapt to Kusanagi’s ever-changing flow.

Kusanagi has also adopted another belief, the belief known as the ‘Rigid Belief’. The rigid belief states that any Kenjutsu practitioner should solely follow a single form of Kenjutsu, and must master such to be regarded as a master of the blade. Kusanagi has taken upon certain aspects of the belief, and he himself has mastered his own unique form of Kenjutsu, the Gyakufunsha Kata. By mastering this Kenjutsu art, Kusanagi is able to decrypt the major strength of an opponent, and is able to his Kenjutsu mastery to break down the opponent. Due to Kusanagi believing in two different beliefs, two beliefs which contrast at the level of the Yin and Yang, he had been regarded as an open-minded man, as he is shown to believe in a multitude of beliefs.

Kusanagi’s swordsmanship relies heavily on three aspects; speed, strength, and accuracy. Kusanagi’s speed in Kenjutsu relies heavily on his Swift Release bloodline, which allows for him to move at speeds close to that of sound. When used in collaboration with the art of Iaidō, Kusanagi has been noted to be able to decapitate an attacker before they can blink. Since the average individual blinks in within 300-400 milliseconds, Kusanagi is known to be able to attack in less than one-third of a second; a feat many envy. This speed is also revered more so in Kusanagi’s combat when one considers he evasion speed. Kusanagi is able to move brief milliseconds before an opponent’s blade strikes, Kusanagi moving only by the bare minimum distance required. With this ideology, Kusanagi often saves himself minor amounts of stamina, which are known to prove to be highly useful in the final stretch of combat. When it comes to strength, Kusanagi is no pushover. Kusanagi often says that speed is much stronger with the aspect of strength, and Kusanagi’s application of such proves his statement true. His strength is comparable to that of ’s own strength when having opened two of the eight gates. The sheer amount of force Kusanagi is able to apply is enough to shatter through blades made of weak quality, an occurrence which occurs more often than one would think. Kusanagi’s strength comes with a price, which is the amount of stress it puts on Kusanagi. Using all of his strength right off of the bat would drain him quickly, and thus Kusanagi only uses his full strength when absolutely needed, and has only used his full capabilities in a death match with an old comrade. Practically every swordsman requires the skill to have close to perfect abilities in accuracy, as if one is not accurate, there would have been no point in the training. Kusanagi’s accuracy is close to perfect, largely due to the fact that Kusanagi’s intelligence allows him to constantly be ten steps ahead of his opponent, and is often able to force an opponent to perform certain moves, based on what Kusanagi believes would put him at an advantage. Kusanagi is rarely known to miss an opponent and has only done so against users of Space-Time Ninjutsu, specifically against users of the Flying Thunder God Technique. Despite Kusanagi’s ever-changing style of swordplay, most of Kusanagi’s attacks and defenses are usually an amalgamation of two or more styles, and eventually each aspect of Kusanagi’s Wave Motion Slashes’ roots can be traced down into many forms of Kenjutsu. These forms all have their weaknesses, but due to Kusanagi’s usage of them by combining two or more forms of Kenjutsu, Kusanagi more or less covers any weaknesses that could potentially lead to his own downfall. Two of the most commonly seen of Kusanagi’s combinations is a combination of the and the, two forms of Kenjutsu. The Niten Ichi-ryū is also known as the Niten Ichi (二天一, "Two heavens as one"). As the name implies, this form of Kenjutsu requires the usage of two blades, one and one. The blades are used in a ‘cover-up’ fashion, in the sense that in the rare occasion that one does falter, the other blade can be used as a sidearm to continue. The blades are used in rapid succession, in order to heavily damage the opponent. There are three main branches within the Niten Ichi-ryū; Taichi Seiho, Kodachi Seiho, and Nito Seiho. Master of these three branches is a preliminary requirement if one wishes to master this art. The second art utilized in this combination is the Musō Jikiden Eishin-ryū, also simply referred to as “Eishin-ryū”, is a branch of Kenjutsu techniques focusing on the unsheathing of a blade at high speeds, and utilizes bladeplay at a relatively low positioning. By unsheathing one’s blade at a relatively high speed allows for the upper advantage in combat, as by unsheathing the blade at this quickened rate allows for Kusanagi to quickly decapitate one before the battle has begun. The second factor of this Kenjutsu format is the usage of a low blade position. By keeping the blade at a low position, it makes it harder for the opponent to determine where the blade shall move next, allowing for surprise attacks at unprecedented angles. This form of Kenjutsu has five different sub-branches; Seiza no Bu, Tatehiza no Bu, Okuiai Iwaza no Bu, Okuiai Tachiwaza no Bu, and Bangai no Bu. Mastery of these are a prerequisite to master this form of Kenjutsu.

The next unique combination within Kusanagi’s arsenal is a combination of the and the  forms of Kenjutsu. Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryū, also referred to as “Ienao Kata”, is a form of Kenjutsu focusing on over-hand slashes and retaining a lowered positioning of the blade. The usage of over-hand slashes allows for Kusanagi to have more power in his downward slashes, a factor which he relies on within his overall Kenjutsu prowess. The usage of keeping the blade at a lowered position makes it many times harder for the opponent to determine where the blade shall move next, allowing for surprise attacks at unprecedented angles. This form of Kenjutsu has three different sub-branches; Kashima Kata, Ryū Kata, and Munen Kata. Mastery of these three sub-branches is a prerequisite for mastery of this form of Kenjutsu. The second form of Kenjutsu used in this combination is the Kenjutsu form of Shindō Munen-ryū. Shindō Munen-ryū, also known as “Shintō Munen-ryū”, is a form of Kenjutsu which focuses on ‘continuation’. One practically never stops movement when using this form of Kenjutsu. This allows for Kusanagi to collect more speed, and eventually outlast the opponent when it comes to the stamina portion of this Kenjutsu. This form of Kenjutsu has twelve main curricular points; Iwanami, Ukifune Gaeshi, Noarashi Gaeshi, Utsusemi, Matsukaze, Zangetsu Hidari, Zangetsu Migi, Doto Gaeshi, Raito Gaeshi, Yoto, Into, and Inazuma Gaeshi. Mastery of these twelve curricular aspects is the only way to truly master this format of Kenjutsu.

Quotes

 * (Talking to himself) "Time. Time is akin to madness. Madness develops over time. Madness is akin to time. They are both infinite."
 * (Talking to himself) "Madness...why do I bathe in it?"
 * (Talking to himself) "Step one. Breathe in, breathe out."

Trivia

 * Kusanagi's names translates to Soothing Grass Blades.
 * According to the databook(s):
 * Kusanagi's hobbies consist of consistent training and travelling.
 * Kusanagi wishes to fight Ken Matsumune, Densetsu, Yasaki Hatake, and Kagiri.
 * Kusanagi's favourite food is Fried Rice from the Land of ?????. His least favourite food is any form of meat.
 * Kusanagi has completed 400 official missions in total: 28 D-rank, 43 C-rank, 93 B-rank, 187 A-rank, 49 S-rank.
 * Kusanagi's favourite phrase is.