Byakuya Uchiha

Byakuya Uchiha (団扇剣心, Uchiha Byakuya) is one Seven Swordsmen of the Mist and the older brother of Kenshin Uchiha. Like with his brother very few people know that he is a member of the Uchiha clan and so one of the last surviving members of the clan as well as one of the few not affiliated with Konoha. Due to his great speed and use of various lightning based techniques he is known as the Lightning of the Hidden Mist (霧隠れの稲妻, Kirigakure no Inazuma). He is the most feared of the seven swordsmen and has the most graceful and fast technique among them all.

Appearance
Byakuya bears a striking resemblance to his younger brother Kenshin. He is a fairly tall, lean-built person with peach skin and onyx eyes like Kenshin. He is slightly shorter than his brother but a little more muscular. He always has a very stoic expression on his face.

Personality
Byakuya’s personality is in contrast with that of his brother Kenshin. He appears as a calm, serious, aloof, and detached man. He is a very serious person and very little seems to surprise him, and he rarely smile. Though he is missing-nin he is a very honourable man. He refuses to give up when he believes something is wrong and will break a rule to do what is right. But the most striking aspect of his personality is his unwavering love for his younger brother Kenshin. Though they were separated a few days after Kenshin’s birth, Byakuya loves him with all his heart as Kenshin is the only family he has left. He even left Konoha and went into hiding so that the ANBU would not connect Kenshin with him.

Survival
Byakuya’s grandfather Shido was born on the day of the Uchiha Massacre. At the time preceding the Uchiha Massacre, Shido's mother was pregnant with him. At the time of the massacre she was not due for a few more months. When Itachi attacked, she saw her husband getting killed and this emotional shock caused her to go into premature labour. She managed to hide and gave birth to Shido. He came into the world just when almost all of his clan mates were leaving it. His mother realised that Itachi planned to kill everyone and came up with a plan to save her children. She escaped with with Shido through a secret way through their house. She then set her house on fire so as to hide any evidence of their survival. She then travelled away from the village and ultimately ended up in Kirigakure.

She opened a small shop there and started a new life. Shido grew up as a Kirigakure ninja and kept his Uchiha roots hidden. He ultimately married and had a daughter Kagome, Byakuya and Kenshin’s mother. She was very restless and irritated by the fact that she had to keep her sharingan hidden from everyone. On hearing about her ancestry and how Sasuke fought against Konoha after Itachi’s death made her think that Konoha was to blame for her having to stay hidden as her father had told her nothing about the massacre. So after her training was finished she left Kirigakure and went to Konoha with the intention of trying to destroy the village and release all of her pent up anger against the village and its people. She settled in the village as a grocer and lived in as one for a few years. Finally when she had everyone convinced that she was a simple grocer she started to secretly kill off ANBU members and various important members of the village.

Birth and Early Years
But at this time something happened that she had not expected. She fell in love with a man who used to work at her shop, Ryuichi Tatsu. She soon stopped with her vendetta against the village and married Ryuichi. After a few years she became pregnant with their first child and gave birth to Byakuya. Byakuya was loved by both his parents and grew up in a very happy and safe environment.

Byakuya was a very prodigiously talented boy. But when he was 5 years of age an incident occurred that awakened his sharingan. One day when he was playing he was attacked by some elder kids. The bullies started to hit him and his friends. He begged them to stop but they turned a deaf ear to his pleas. Finally something inside Byakuya broke and he awakened his sharingan. Without knowing what he was doing he killed one of the bullies.

This incident set off the ANBU. On talking to the other children they realised that Byakuya had the sharingan. Though Kagome had modified their memories via gengutsu, the ANBU manged to extract the truth after some time. At this time she was pregnant with Kenshin.

Breaking Bonds
Just a few months before Kenshin was born the ANBU had confirmed that Byakuya had the sharingan. As the village elders did not want a sharingan user loose they ordered the murder of the entire family. When the ANBU assassins attacked, Kagome saw her husband getting killed and this emotional shock caused her to go into premature labour. She managed to hide along with the then 6 year old son Byakuya and gave birth to Kenshin. His mother realised that the ANBU planned to kill everyone and came up with a plan to save her children. She gave Kenshin to Byakuya and told him to escape through a secret way through their house. She then used a replacement technique to fake Byakuya's death and made it appear that she was still pregnant. This way when the ANBU found her he thought that both her children were accounted for and killed her. By sacrificing her life she managed to protect her sons.

Byakuya ran out of the village and after a few hours reached a house where a single ninja called Yusuke lived. Byakuya had often visited Yusuke with Seisuke and knew him well. Yusuke took the frightened child in and gave him shelter and protection. In his shocked and frightened state Byakuya told Yusuke everything. After a few days Byakuya decided that he should leave as people in the village knew him and he no longer trusted them. Realising that Yusuke was a kind man who could be trusted, he asked Yusuke to take care of his brother and to keep the fact that he was an Uchiha hidden. He also asked him to never reveal anything he had told him and to keep Kenshin in the dark. Yusuke, saddened to see how the young Byakuya had been forced to grow mature so soon agreed to every request.

Byakuya knew that his past would someday come back to haunt him and thus did not want Kenshin to be caught up with him. So he broke all ties with his brother and left for Kirigakure.