Taira Minamoto

Taira Minamoto (みなもとたいら, Minamoto Taira) was a renown samurai from the Land of Iron, hailing from the noble Minamoto clan. He served as a member of the Fifth Division of the Allied Shinobi Forces during the last war were he fought together with the shinobi.

He similarily fought during the period of civil conflicts in his home country, and eventually took a young girl named Yozoraōka and her parents in, protecting them from those extremists of the anti-shinobi factions who wouldn't hesitate to kill even former shinobi. After her parents died, Taira adopted Yozoraōka and made her his apprentice, eventually giving her a heirloom on his deathbed when he died of old age and illness.

Early life and War
Born into the noble Minamoto clan of the Land of Iron, Taira grew up in a family with a long standing history of strong and widely-known samurai. As such, he was trained from a young age to become a samurai, the heir and only child of his parents. Unlike the normal samurai, he was not trained at a school but learned from his own father from the beginning. A harsh and strict teacher, Taira's father tired his son out on nearly every occasion, although this bore fruit when Taira won tournaments held to measure the skill of the next generation of the country's warriors.

Over the next decades, Taira had a relatively very peaceful life; he won and lost in further tournaments, became a full-fledged samurai and protected his home from the occasional criminal, be they rogue shinobi or samurai or of other kind. Aside from that, there wasn't much to do in the neutral and stabil Land of Iron. He would, however, fall in love with a wandering kunoichi, who claimed to have left her village, but had in truth been send as a spy for a mission which might take years.

Indeed, they became a couple and stayed together for several years until the kunoichi's mission came to an end. While she tried to flee from the country, Taira followed her and she admitted to having used him, much to his disbelieve. Both heartbroken and angered, Taira killed her when she tried to dispose of him after he had heard too much. Unable to cover the deed up completely, it became a scandal in the Land of Iron as one ninja village had spat upon the neutrality of the samurai; for some, this was also seen as a disgrace for the Minamoto clan.

Both of Taira's parents had died by the time of the fourth war fought between the shnobi, and he showed himself suprised when Mifune declared that the samurai would ally with them for the first time. Despite already having retired from active duty, he would join his comrades after a talk with Mifune, and survive the long conflict. In fact, Taira mainly rose to prominence during this war, becoming known around the shinobi nations for his prowess. Seeing all the destruction caused by the shinobi's warring and his own memories lead Taira to develop a certain dislike towards them, though he knew that he should not blame them for it.

Beyond the War
Although the big war was over, the many losses among the samurai resulted in outrage on the side of many inhabitants from the Land of Iron. This eventually lead to conflicts just short of a civil war in which Taira fought with the supporters of Mifune for better and more open connections to the great nations. Wounded from battle, he one day met a family of former shinobi with their daugther. After the girl's mother had healed his injuries and knowing about the animosity some samurai held for ninja, Taira invited the family to live with him so that his own name and the status of his clan would protect them; they accepted this with hesistancy, but lost these doubts over the next few weeks.

When Yozoraōka was taught how to use chakra and defend herself, it was Taira who calmed her fears of becoming just like those she had to defend herself against; aside from figthing further, he would actually come to enjoy living with his guests, something he hadn't really imagined due to his dislike for shinobi. Although he did much to put an end to the conflicts, Taira himself says that people like the man who would succeed Mifune as the Land of Iron's General, Isao Moto, and even the former's granddaugther, Hangaku, had achieved more than him.

Following the end of the fighting and the eventual murder of Yozoraōka's parents at the hands of shinobi, Taira adopted her and took her as his apprentice, teaching her the sword style used by the Minamoto. Over the course of her training, Taira had one main concern: Yozoraōka had come to hate shinobi, much like he himself had come to dislike them. While he tried to lessen this hate, he was not successful, often remarking that she was lacking compassion for all and was not above the hate as a proper samurai should be in his eyes.

Taira would become ill in his later life, and succumb to this illness because of his advanced age. On his deathbed, he would pass on the Getsushō, a heirloom he himself had not used since he had been blinded, and gave it to Yozoraōka, one last time telling her to stop her hatred before it was too late and she became like those shinobi-hating samurai as she had once feared.

Appearance
Taira was a blind man with only the whites of his eyes showing, though he was usually seen with both eyes closed. An X-shaped scar stretching over both of his eyes was centered on the left side of his forehead. He had short dark hair despite his age, a mustache, a beard and was very tall.

He wore a light-purple yukata held up with a dark purple belt underneath a purple cloak. Taira wielded a shikomizue that doubled as a cane for his blindness, and also wore geta sandals. He had white bandages wrapped around both of his forearms, with handguards on both hands. Occasionaly, he could be seen with a long white overcoat draped over his shoulders, which had golden buttons, epaulettes, and purple sleeve ends.

Legacy
Taira's death was a cause of grieve for the entire Land of Iron, which had lost one of its most famous samurai; he was, and still his, regarded to be one of the strongest warriors in his home's history and considerd to be a role model for his commitment to the ideal of harmony (和, wa), much like his friend, Mifune. The end of his life also marked the end of the Minamoto clan, as Taira never had children and his apprentice was just adopted.

Yozoraōka, meanwhile, would go on to become as renown samurai herself, easily surpassing Taira and earning her title of Yozoraōka of the Cauterizing Blade (焼灼剣のよぞらおうか, Shōshakuken no Yozoraōka) due to the Getsushō he had passed on to her. Much like Taira had feared, however, she would join Kenizuru, an powerful and influential anti-shinobi group unter the leadership of Kyokki Senbonzakura.

Trivia

 * This character's design is based on Isshō from One Piece, who was in turn based upon Zatoichi
 * His name comes from the Taira clan and the Minamoto clan, famous rivaling samurai families in early Japan.