Manjushage

Hanabi Hotaru is Special Jōnin kunoichi from Iwagakure. She specializes in Explosion Release ninjutsu, developing her own form of it in which she shoots out exploding fireworks at her enemies. She primarily relies on her fireworks for medium to long range combat, however, at close range, she does possess some taijutsu ability, which she integrates into her Explosion Release. She's a mid-long range fighter that only engages in close quarters combat if she needs to.

Background
Hanabi Hotaru was born into a small, but strong, shinobi clan from Iwagakure. Her clan was well-known for their ability to consistently produce capable users of the Explosion Release Kekkei Genkai, and thus were often employed into the village's famed Explosion Corps. Though not all clansmen would inherit this ability, most did and were counted amongst the most talented shinobi in all of Iwagakure.

When Hanabi was little, she adored watching the fireworks from the festivals and celebrations held within her village. She loved all the beautiful, bright, colors they produced, and the various patterns the explosions came in. They lit up the night sky like little stars and brought happiness to the village that she loved. Her admiration and attachment for these fireworks would later become the inspiration of her Explosion Release techniques.

During her time at the ninja academy, Hanabi was quite the average student: average grades, average skills, average smarts. She did well enough in all of these aspects, but never stood out in any area in particular. It wasn't until near the end of her time as an academy student, that she manifested the ability to control her Explosion Release Kekkei Genkai. After such manifestations occurred, her potential began to skyrocket, as it felt like she had truly found her calling.

Upon gaining control over the Explosion Release, Hanabi began experimenting with it, trying to integrate it into a style where her jutsu would resemble that of fireworks. By the time she graduated, Hanabi had developed the Explosion Release: Firecracker Shuriken technique. She was subsequently promoted to the rank of Genin and assigned a three-man squad with a Jōnin instructor.

Personality
Hanabi is a kind and friendly woman who is often quite bubbly and talkative, never shying away from conversation or a fun time. She can be a bit of an airhead and fails to pick up on social inclinations or the deeper meaning of things. She takes things literally and at face value.

During missions, Hanabi can be quite short-sighted and narrow-minded, operating in a very straightforward manner. Like most Explosion Release users, she's confident in her abilities, but perhaps relies on them too much to the point of predictability and self-limitation. That being said, her skill and proficiency with the Explosion Release makes up for her flaws. The versatility and deadliness of her techniques allow her to adapt to different situations at different ranges, however, she prefers mid to long range engagements.

Hanabi enjoys going to festivals and other fun, social events; she likes to help entertain the crowd by shooting her fireworks into the sky, exploring new patterns and styles and mixing all the beautiful colors together. If she isn't out having fun, or hanging with friends, Hanabi likes to spend her time training or going on missions were she can exercise her explosive talents. She also likes to go to the bathhouse or hot springs to take a soak after a long day of training or after a complete mission.

Personally, Hanabi believes that art is an explosion!

Intimately, Hanabi is a lesbian and therefore would like a female partner or spouse. Though she has had monogamous relationships in the past, she much prefers polyamorous ones; the intensity and energy of a poly relationship is just so much more fun and engaging. She alternates between submissive and dominant roles, effectively classifying her as a switch, though she does prefer to be submissive. Hanabi has been known to use her visual appeal on missions to gain information or infiltrate an organization. She has no qualms with sleeping with other women, but will settle for men if her mission demands it.

Appearance
Hanabi is a 5'1" tall girl who weighs around 95 pounds. She has blondish-orange hair and orange eyes. She usually wears her hair down loose or in a bun; when worn loose it reaches down to the bottom of her behind. Hanabi has healthy, fair skin, and sharp features. Her breasts are slightly larger than average, She has slim legs, a small waist, and hips proportionate to her body size.

With regards to her apparel, Hanabi's combat gear is actually quite fancy. She wears a white yukata dress with a simple pattern of white stars within pink circles and the occasional yellow flower. This yukata is a symbol for her love of fireworks as it's the traditional type of dress worn when attending festivals where fireworks are often displayed. Her yukata has a light blue obi wrapped around her waist to keep the dress on securely. The dress itself is made of light-weight and breezy material to ensure that she doesn't get hot in warmer weather. On her feet, she usually wears a pair of wooden zori sandals. Her hair is done up in a bob to prevent it from getting tangled and is kept in place with a pink pin. She carries a small pouch with her full of basic essentials like food and water, but otherwise doesn't bring any ninja tools as she prefers to rely on her ninjutsu.

When walking around casually, while she often still wears her Yukata, Hanabi sometimes opts for something a little more casual. A simple loose-fitting shirt or a jacket suits her well, or if she is feeling a bit semi-informal, she can wear more uniform-like clothes. That being said, she usually just wears her yukata as she finds it looks better and is more comfortable.

Abilities
Mai specializes in using the Fire Release: Fox-tail Ribbon Whip technique and its accompanying Ninja Art: Fox-tail Ribbon Dance technique; her proficiencies in Fire ninjutsu and acrobatic dance/taijutsu are her strongest skills.

Strategical Preference: Mai typically likes to keep her distance from her opponents, maintaining a medium distance most of the time. She uses her Fire Whip as her primary weapon of choice and prefers to lash, strike, and ensnare her foes with it before burning them to a crisp. In closer engagements, Mai also has a very acrobatic form of taijutsu that relies heavily on kicking techniques.

Earth & Lightning Release Ninjutsu
Because Explosion Release is a combination of earth and lightning chakra, Hanabi technically has potential aptitude in Earth Release and Lightning Release. However, learning such would spread her skills too thin; it's much better for her to focus on her Explosion Release.

Still, Hanabi does actually use both Earth and Lightning Release. Using Lightning Release, Hanabi accelerates the speed of her Explosion Release ninjutsu. This means her explosive shuriken, senbon, fireworks, and other ninjutsu all move faster than they ordinarily would. Additionally, she also uses the Earth Release: Mud Clone Technique which can put itself back together if it takes damage or ensnare an opponent. Hanabi likes to place Explosive Tags inside the mud clone so if it catches her opponent, the clone will self-destruct and kill it's victim.

Taijutsu
Hanabi is an oddity when it comes to her taijutsu. She only has basic martial arts skills, but she can create explosions from her physical attacks, making even the gentlest of touches a devastating explosion. This turns what would usually be a sub-standard level of taijutsu into a dangerous one.

Fortunately for her opponents, Hanabi doesn't like to engage in close combat and prefers longer ranges. She really only uses taijutsu for self-defense.

Genin
Mai Asami graduated from the ninja academy and was promoted to the rank of Genin a year ahead of Mirai Sarutobi. She was glad to achieve this new rank and eagerly looked forward to her time as a Genin kunoichi. When asked by her sensei who she wanted to be like in the future, she replied that she greatly admired the beauty and power of the "White Cloud," a fiery kunoichi named Saki Shiroshinku.

At first, Mai didn't get along with her teammates all too well; she liked to take the spotlight and charge in by herself. She also made fun of her fellow Genin and often pointed out their flaws, much to their distaste. Her sensei would try to reel her in, but Mai never stayed quiet for long. She never admitted, nor recognized her personal faults, and she was quick to judge her companions; even her sensei.

During missions, Mai acted selfishly; she would refuse to help with basic chores and only cared for her own well being. If she needed help in a bad situation, she would frantically plead for aid, but if a teammate was in dire need, she avoided endangering herself.

One day during training, Mai was talking down to her Genin squad-mate, pointing out how she always winced when she was being attacked: The kunoichi had had enough. Mai's teammate lashed out at Mai, pointing out all of her flaws, her pride, her arrogance, her lack of humility and respect for other people. Mai was taken aback, and honestly scared, but her teammate persisted. She ranted on and on about everything Mai had ever said and done, or failed to do, all the while venting her frustration in increasingly powerful taijutsu strikes. Their training had practically become a brawl. It wasn't until their sensei intervened that the aggression subsided.

Already, Mai had begun to feel incredibly guilty, shameful even. She bowed her head in remorse and her face flushed bright pink with embarrassment; her two squad-mates and her sensei were all staring at her with frowns and furrowed eyebrows. As she was lectured by all three of them, Mai tried to formulate words, but nothing could move the lump in her throat.

She wanted to cry.

Mai didn't know what to do. She wanted to run, but she knew she had to endure the humiliation. She felt she deserved ever ounce of her team's discontent. Suddenly, her body moved and before she knew it, Mai was on all fours with her forehead to the grass and her hands in a forwards bow. She interrupted her squad, apologizing and begging with tears for their forgiveness, admitting to everything she regretted and knew she'd done wrong. Those few seconds felt like an eternity to Mai, but it was the least she could do to make amends.

Suddenly, Mai heard her sensei's voice from behind her. Started, Mai got up off the ground and turned to view her companions grinning at her. Her sensei revealed that she had been placed under a Genjutsu during training in order to draw out her humility; such was, in-fact, part of Mai's training. Her teammates forgave her as she sunk to her knees and wept, issuing various apologies for her ill behavior. Her sensei smiled, as she was glad that Mai had finally gained some sense of humility.

Though the conflict was over, The "training" wasn't quite finished for Mai. As further punishment for her actions, Mai's sensei sentenced Mai to 3 hours of sitting in seiza position in the center of the leaf marketplace. Mai was to sit, bare-knees, in seiza position, on a hard, textured, wooden platform. Her legs were bound with twine looped through holes in the wood platform, and her arms were bound to the post behind her to prevent her from moving. Two, fifty-pound stone slabs were placed on her legs, increasing the pain, pressure, and discomfort in her knees and shins. If either slab ever fell off her thighs, then for every occurrence, an extra hour would be added to the punishment, the slabs would be placed back on top again, and another 25 pound stone slab would be added to the punishment; Mai let them fall once, and immediately regretted it. This was an infamous (historical) form of corporeal punishment know as ishidaki, which was used to punish female prisoners in China and Japan. Additionally, a large sign was nailed to the post over her head, outlining (in her own writing) everything she did to deserve such punishment and promises of what she would not do anymore.

During the 4 most busy hours of the day did Mai sit in seiza position, completely humiliated as she had to endure the pain in her legs and knees whilst being judged and laughed at by the villagers. Never in her life had she felt such shame; she prayed that no one she knew would see her: Mai's classmates stopped by for a visit.

After such a humiliating day, Mai feared her sensei and her ill-treatment towards her peers stopped. Of course, she did tease still, and often spoke out of turn, but she no longer harassed her peers as she did before. From that moment on, Mai learned the importance of humility and often took self-discipinary actions such as seiza sitting whenever she made an error.

Chūnin Exams
Mai and her squad took the Chūnin exams a total of two times. The first time they took it, Mai failed in the preliminaries of the combat exam. While her dance skills and movement abilities were on point, her taijutsu and Fire Release ninjutsu still needed refining. One of her teammates made it to the quarter-finals, but was defeated. None of them were promoted to Chūnin.

The second time around, Mai was ready for the exams. Over the course of the year, she'd been mastering new jutsu such as her Fox-tail Ribbon Whip to accompany her Fox Fire and Phoenix Flare techniques. These new techniques carried her through the exams and she did very well considering her last performance.

Mai was effectively able to prove her leadership and combat skills and advanced to the semi-finals where she faced off against Mirai Sarutobi, who was now her junior and a talented Genin. Despite being a year older and Mirai's senior kunoichi, Mai ultimately lost the match when she was overwhelmed by Mirai's proficiency with her Chakra Blades and was caught in her Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death.

Though she lost to Mirai, Mai held no grudge and was promoted to the rank of Chūnin along with the rest of her team.

Chūnin
After being promoted to the rank of chūnin, Mai began to take on harder missions. These missions brought on a whole sleuth of new challenges and difficulties and as a result, Mai began to progress faster as a kunoichi.

Thus, Mai was able to advance and refine her skills to even greater heights. Not long after becoming a Chūnin, Mai developed her signature technique, the Ninja Art: Fox-tail Ribbon Dance. Additionally, Mai also picked up Taekwondo to add to her reservoir of taijutsu aerial kicks. Consequently, she poured more time into honing her taijutsu skills, particular the fancy and flashy, aerial kicks that synergized well with her dance movements and gymnastics. This helped to make her dance movements more effective as both an offensive and defensive technique, as well as round out her abilities a bit more.

Mai regularly goes on missions by herself now, but she still performs many missions with her squad-mates and sensei.

Current Whereabouts
Currently, Mai is a chūnin residing in Konohagakure. She chooses to live by herself now, away from her parents for privacy reasons, and to better organize herself. Simply leaving ninja gear and equipment around her family's complex wouldn't bode well for a mother who dances regularly. She visits them regularly and loves to talk to her mother.

Mai often goes on missions that reflect her skills and talents, and loves to bath in cool rivers and streams that she finds on her travels; a nice way of relaxing from the long roads of the Land of Fire. She travels light, not bringing much equipment, and prefers to camp in clean areas. Whilst on her travels, she softly sings tunes and melodies that she likes; birds often mimic her songs.

When Mai is at home or in the Leaf Village, she likes to spend her days training, socializing with friends, and wadding her feet in the cool, clear streams of the village. She's very good friends with her role model: Saki Shiroshinku and often hangs out with her and her girlfriends, Shichi Shizuken and Shibara.

Mai hasn't found anyone to date yet, and is actively looking for potential women to form a romantic relationship with. In the past, she showed mild interest in Mirai Sarutobi, but she knew those feelings would never be reciprocated. Currently, she's searching for someone to crush on.

Trivia

 * Mai Asami is roughly translated to "Dance Morning-Beauty" with Mai meaning "Dance" and Asami meaning "Morning, Beauty".
 * Mai's favorite things to do are: Bathing in cool and refreshing water, flirting (with other girls), and ribbon dancing. She also likes to sing and show off her talents and wardrobe.
 * Mai has always been physically attracted to girls, and prefers a monogamous relationship.
 * Mai is very feminine, however, she is considered dominant with regards to intimacy.
 * Mai currently does not have a girlfriend.
 * Mai wishes to find a girlfriend.
 * Unless her high-heels or heeled sandals make sufficient noise, Mai naturally makes almost no sound when she walks; her training as a dancer has enabled her to be quite nimble and light-footed.
 * Mai has proven herself be very arrogant and prideful, finding sadistic pleasure in degrading others and boosting herself up. She sees herself at the top of the social hierarchy and considers herself to be the ultimate woman. She can't admit to being wrong or being outdone.
 * Mai has been known to punish herself when she has made an error that she cannot avoid addressing. She often choses to sit on hard surfaces in seiza position for extended periods of time, even in public view, enduring extreme humiliation in the hopes of erasing her wrongdoings.
 * Mai's favorite foods are udon and curry. Her least favorite food is raw fish.

Reference

 * Template:LeafNin Infobox
 * Changquan
 * Taekwondo
 * Capoeira
 * The main character used to portray Mai is Phyrra Nikos from the animated series: RWBY