Shinshō Clan

The was one of the founding clans of Amegakure. They were well known since Warring States Period for their unparalleled craftsmanship. The clan reached its peak during First Shinobi World War as they became the major suppliers of weapons. Their success was short lived, however, as they met their demise at the hands of a legendary shinobi known as Hanzō, who was then a peace seeker shortly after the war ended. Those who survived split up and migrated to other countries.

History
The Shinshō clan are descendants of the younger son of Hamura Ōtsutsuki. While their sister clan, Hyūga inherited the “eyes”, the Shinshō inherited the “hands” from Hamura, granting them extraordinary sealing techniques and craftsmanship.

Shinshō clan were not born as warriors but they survived through the war-torn era by crafting and selling high end weapons to other clans and countries. While people were busy fighting for survival, land and power, Shinshō gained all the aforementioned from trading alone.

During the peak of the warring era, Shinshō created seven legendary blades which came to known as Seven Swordsmen’s Blades in the future with their Hiden and Kekkei Genkai. These legendary grades weapons were traded in black market for exorbitant price, high enough to turn Shinshō clan from a lowly clan into one of the strongest and richest clan overnight.

Shinshō eventually founded and settled in Amegakure, shortly after Konohagakure was founded. Due to the massive military power and fortune they possessed, they were pretty much the de facto ruler of Amegakure. Because of its strategic location, Amegakure was molded into a trading centre with Shinshō’s weapon trading as core business. Even before Shinobi War occurred, they enjoyed great success as it served as the neutral trading centre for three of the Five Great Shinobi Countries.

Much to the delight of Shinshō, a war between Five Great Countries broke out. Amegakure turned into a war zone for the exact same reason it became a trading heaven; its location. Amegakure was devastated by the war but Shinshō were indifferent about the havoc. They even celebrated secretly when their village became a war zone as it eased the delivery of weapons and multiplied their revenue.

However, not everything went exactly as planned. Countless Shinshō were slayed and had their properties destroyed during the intense war. To prevent any further damage that may arise from the war, they recruited a very young, strong and promising general named Hanzō to protect them. The plan worked flawlessly but unbeknownst to both parties, this decision marked the beginning of Shinshō’s downfall.

After the war ended, Hanzō came to discover Shinshō’s secret from one of the destroyed factory; raw material of legendary-like weapons were actually human lives. Hanzō, a pacifist back then, marched his forces to Shinshō’s Palace for justice. Their argument immediately turned into a war as Shinshō had no intention of letting Hanzō and his comrades live to tell the tale. Hanzō eventually emerged as the victor and annihilated Shinshō clan from Amegakure. Few who survived managed to flee to other countries by bribing.

Abilities
Shinshō possess great talents in fūinjutsu and craftsmanship. Few are born with Reikishirushi, a rare hereditary ability that allows them to extract and seal soul of living beings into non-living objects, creating sentient and living objects. They may retain their use of chakra, kekkei genkai and even abilities that they once had depends on the quantity of soul sealed and quality of the object and seal. With their superb craftsmanship, they rarely produce failed and defected products. Samehada is the prime example of a successful product of Reikishirushi. It is notable that the soul cannot be re-seal after being sealed by this ability. Attempting to extract the soul or undone the seal would send the soul immediately back to where it supposed to be, the Pure Land.

They also invented a Hiden technique based on their kekkei genkai which works similarly to Reikishirushi. It only does require the internal organs of a person in order to create an object that retains abilities, chakra and kekkei genkai it once possessed. However, the object is not sentient and retained powers are weaker because unlike Reikishirushi, it did not seal the soul. Sasori was the first non-Shinshō who used this secret technique. He learned it by performing reverse engineering on a defective product and eventually invented human puppets with the knowledge gained.