Shikaniku Nara

""Idiots! The Nara Clan's abilities are more than a simple manipulation of shadows, controlling people and such. You just have to look deeper, or rather at me. Shadows are a yin-yang, just like other things but shadows are created from light and darkness. I won't explain which one is yin and which one is yang. But, we Nara learn to manipulate those two things together to manipulate their end result, the shadow. However, when have a Nara decided to manipulate both things separately. I'll tell you when! During my time in the Darkforce Realm, I learned that that world was created by the first Nara. The one who succeeded the Sage of Sixth Paths as the next big thing in the world. His clan was hunted down however and nearly wiped out. The Nara were that clan and we are back once more. To restore ourselves to our former glory. Now, who wants to die first again?"

- Yami speaking to bandits

, renowned as hailing from the prominent and noble Nara Clan of Konohagakure; a prodigy among shinobi. He is currently a Tokubetsu Jōnin, attributed to the fact that he only specializes and is prominent in his Clan's unique and Hiden techniques and is also the current leader of the Nara Clan; assuming this position twenty years after the Fourth Shinobi World War with his enhanced charisma, strength, intelligence and by promising to protect his fellow clansmen from the terror of the world caused by previous war beforehand, involving the.

Being the leader of the Nara Clan, Yami possesses a fierce loyalty to Konohagakure but his loyalty towards his clan is even greater and will do almost anything to protect his fellow clansmen. Because of this, he often believes that the Nara clan are indeed the strongest clan the world has ever seen, surpassing that of both the Senju Clan and Uchiha Clan and believes himself into being the strongest shinobi the world has ever seen, often comparing his powers to that of the Ten-tailed beast himself. To achieve his goals of putting the Nara on the top of the world, Yami will do anything and use any method; killing children, men and women, using his own shinobi abilities, political abilities or will even rely on backstabbing and betraying anyone.

Power wise, Yami is known clan-wide for his employment and complete mastery of his clan's techniques which revolve around the manipulation of shadows; renowned throughout his clan as an absolute prodigy of these techniques, with some believing that he was simply born with the ability to use his clan's techniques without proper training. Despite officially being a Tokubetsu Jōnin Jonin, his skills suggest that this is simply because he only uses his family hiden techniques though the fact is that he found no need to become a Jonin, using this lack of a rank as a strategy to sneakily gain more and more power without anyone taking him as an immediate threat, until it was obviously too late for them to do anything.

According to himself, every battle that he lost is completely intentional, which is actually believable considering his skills. As a result, many of his fellow clansmen consider him an absolute political mastermind and perhaps the best mind of their current time, being called the reincarnation of Tobirama Senju; a recognition which he dislikes to a large degree as he considers Tobirama simply a preview, sent by god, of himself. Typically recognized, Yami often associates with the most dangerous of groups, including the likes of the Akatsuki and even Seika no Heiwa; two organizations who are both dangerous but are equally dangerous to one another. In addition to this, he has noted that he have capture two entire villages that now serve under the Nara Clan and claims that he now possessed even more military power than two of the Five Great Nation themselves. As a result for his cooperation with these groups, some other nations consider Yami a criminal himself and thus he is often unauthorized to travel into their lands, making him an S-Rank criminal as well.

Early Childhood
Yami’s born was nothing special nor was it that important; born to two Chunin Shinobi of the Nara Clan who barely possessed any other skills other than their clan’s technique, which even with those their skills weren’t that great. Attributed to this, the infant was expected to become a prodigy or anything above a Jonin to be quite honest. This doubt generated by his fellow clan members eventually affected his parents’ decision in placing him into the newly formed under the command of, instead he made the organization to make use of one’s emotions during battle and to teaching them that true strength originate from the will to protect someone; which later caused Yami to dedicate himself to fighting to protect his fellow Nara Clan, completely ignorant of the thoughts that his fellow clansmen created about his being. Inevitably, Yami began training hard to master his abilities, practicing but most of all watching his parents and fellow clansmen use their hiden techniques.

Upon his fourth birthday, Yami’s family decided to take a trip to Sunagakure to visit his aunt and her children, as they moved there after the Fourth Shinobi World War with their father who originated from the Sand Village. During their journey however, a group of bandits ambushed the three member family and nearly killed both of Yami’s parents who were doing their best to protect their son, commanding the child to run. Upon seeing this sight, the child awakened his latent powers and turned the bandits’ shadows into tiny tentacles which penetrated the attackers and killed them. Do the wounds they gathered during their battle, Yami’s parents both passed out and awakened in a wooden cabin in a soft bed with Yami sleeping in a chair. He had made his parents more than proud, but at that moment where he killed the attackers they knew that he was special, that he was naturally gifted with their unique hiden techniques. With this realization, the parents took their child back to Konoha to continue his training with the root, informing Sai of what happened. Sai agreed to harness this power to the max, and personally took the boy to train him himself.

The training was extremely tough, challenging the four year old child on multiple cylinders though he slowly began to show improvement in controlling his unique abilities. His abilities stemmed further than manipulating his own preexisting shadows, Sai eventually realized, instead seeing that this child naturally possessed the ability to manipulate something much bigger than shadows; darkness. Determine to harness this power, Sai told Yami to pack up and that they were heading out in the morning. Approaching his home, Yami informed his parents of what Sai and they packed. The next day, the child and his teacher headed into a deep forest where sunlight rarely struck the ground. This would be Yami’s training field for the next six years. During this training, Yami and Sai created several techniques stemming from his powerful and unique employment of the Nara’s hiden techniques, and by the age of ten Yami surpassed all of his fellow clansmen in regards to their hiden techniques, to such an extent that they considered and hailed him as a prodigy, the best of his generation.

Exiting the forest, Yami soon discovered that a large majority of his classmates had been sent to fight in the Fifth Shinobi World War and that he would not be deployed to the front lines, being excused from battle because of his uniqueness and high worth that he held. Angered that he wouldn’t get to protect his friends, more specifically being his clansmen, Yami secretly set out to join the battlefield and to find his fellow companions. The child didn’t get far however; he being attacked by several enemy shinobi along the way and all of these shinobi being chunin level and above. They were kids though and it wasn’t “right” that they were fighting in this war, being killed in this war. Nevertheless, Yami knew that he had to find his friends and protect him and thus he did what he had to do. Using their own shadows, he created large tentacles which pierced all of them in their throats, killing them painlessly and quickly. He couldn’t bring himself to killing them in a horrible manner.

Despite winning, this little battle slowed Yami’s progress down considerably and he was soon found by several high ranking konoha officials who secured the boy and brought him back to Konoha, claiming that he was much too valuable and important to be used as a pawn for the world’s silly wars. This claim would eventually lead to Yami believing that he simply better than everyone else. However, while Yami was safe in Konoha his friends were all killed, every single one of them slaughtered in a horrible manner by several shinobi belonging to Iwagakure. As a result, he was left with very little friends, essentially none. This granted him the capability to focus on his skills alone and dedicate all of his attention to his abilities as well. This was later revealed to being a perfect plan executed by several members of Konoha’s council, against Sai’s wishes.

Rise to Fame
Three years had passed since the extermination of Yami’s friends and he had improved considerably. His skills regarding his own hiden techniques were incredible. To measure his abilities, Konoha elders matched him against twenty Jonin level shinobi and commanded that they be defeated without the use of anything other than his hiden techniques. Following their wishes, the thirteen year old child defeated all of the jonin with the use of a single technique in which he turned their own shadows into equivalent doppelgangers of themselves; all of which possessed every technique that the original possessed, but the difference was that these doppelgangers would be healed whenever they entered a place where light failed to reach, such as a shadow of a tree. Eventually, the Jonin were overmatched by their equivalent doppelgangers and Yami was considered the strongest Nara clan member of his time, perhaps in history.

Due to the comments and thoughts that he was injected with, Yami was absolutely arrogant and believed that he and his clan were the best in the entire world. He desired to rule them, to become their leader and to lead them to the top of the world, but even he realized that this would take two life-times but he only had one and there was no one else who could take his place; no they were all to take over the world, they needed his skills to succeed. Realizing this, Yami would continue perfecting his technique while also spending a bit of his time every day to perfect a technique which granted him the ability to stay youthful forever, so that he could lead his clan to success when the time inevitably revealed itself, but for now he would be patient and wait until it was his time.

A few days after his battle with the Jonin, Yami was commanded to go on a mission alone, which revolved being the bodyguard to the Daimyo of the land of fire. Without hesitation, the Nara child accepted the mission and left the village immediately. Now was the perfect time, the moment that he had been waiting for. Now was his time to make his mark on the world. Within a matter of hours, he reached the Daimyo’s meeting place where he met several other high ranking warriors from all over the Land of Fire, one person being the famous Sannoto Senju who occupied the area with his organization, Seika no Heiwa. Before he even had a chance to get accommodated into the area, a large group of bandits attacked. What a foolish mistake, as they attacked at the night. This was Yami’s time to shine. Using the darkness around him, Yami made short work of the bandits, without the assistance of anyone else who was protecting the Daimyo. Amazed at his abilities, the Daimyo requested that Yami be his personal escort to the area where he was supposed to meet his fellow allies to discuss the aftermath of the Fifth Shinobi World War and the status of the Land of Water. Accepting his offer, Yami accompanied the Daimyo alongside Sannoto Senju; once the pride of the leaf.

After gathering the remnants of his army, the Daimyo decided to move out and personally requested that Yami sit in his carriage alongside him. During this expedition, the carriage was once more attacked, but this time an entire nation of shinobi appeared before them, requesting that the Daimyo be handed over to them immediately. Obviously disagreeing to their request, the protectors of the Daimyo (including Yami) leaped into battle; the nara child leading the defense and successfully repelling his attackers. This battle eventually became known as the Battle of the Titans and Yami was noted as the commander of the winning army at the time. News of this quickly spread out across the shinobi world, and everyone knew that a thirteen year old child was responsible for the defeat of an entire nation of shinobi.

Returning to Konohagakure, Yami was renowned as an absolute hero; typically being referred to by his clansmen "A King Among Men". This fortified his arrogant nature quite the bit. A few hours after his return, Yami was called before the entire Konoha village to be honored, though things didn't go as he expected them to. Approaching him was the leader of the Nara Clan, who then revealed that this thirteen year old boy would become his apprentice leader of the Nara Clan today; Yami was simply speechless.

Leading the Nara
A mere year had passed since he was granted the honor of becoming a apprentice chief and leader of the Nara clan, though much changed in that time. Under his rule, the Nara clan became more treasured than what they already were; they became much more treasured than the or  clans, though they still seemed to be on par with the. This wasn't a problem though, as Yami knew that once he finished his extreme training to master his abilities that the Nara would become the most treasured clan in the world. What also changed with the state of the nara clan was his unique powers as well, they all developed extremely well and becoming much more powerful though they still weren't complete. He thought he had discovered a way to make himself immortal, though he was extremely wrong.

Waiting until it was noon, Yami went into the middle of a grassy plain on the outskirts of the leaf village, standing in a position where his shadow was fully projected. After doing so, he then activated his Shadow Gathering Technique, using it materialize his entire shadow until it resembled himself exactly. Finally, the latter physically pulled the shadow into himself, infusing it with his entire being. Not everything went as he expected. He didn't fuse with the shadow, as the latter simply rejected his body and seeped out of his mouth onto the ground beneath him. Following this, it opened up, creating a hole to the Darkforce Realm, where he was pulled into. Upon being pulled, he met several shadow-like beings who threatened to destroy him, until he revealed that he was a member of the Nara Clan; the shadows praising him afterwards, as the Nara Clan were responsible for their creation and the creation of this realm. According to these shadows, the Nara clan before the Era of the Warring States manipulated the earth and the shadows, which is why they were targeted and nearly wiped out. The Nara used to manipulate their shadows through a unique employment of their earth natured chakra. Listening to this story, Yami requested that these shadows train him how to utilize his powers to the fullest form to which they agreed. With that, the training began and Yami began learning how to employ his earth chakra/yin yang chakra.

Six more years had passed and Yami's training was complete; he was released from the darkforce realm with all of the experience and information that he needed to utilize his powers to their fullest extent. Upon returning to the real realm, Yami was greeted by his clansmen. A few cried and few rushed at him, believing him into being dead. With someone asking him where he was, Yami made up a fake story. Only one person failed to believe it, that person being the previous leader of the Nara Clan, though he approached Yami much later when the latter was alone in his backyard. Yami revealed the real story to the Nara leader. The leader was not pleased and threatened to reveal the entire story to everyone while also planning to kick Yami out of the Nara Clan, the clan that he loved so much! Without thinking, he killed the leader and devoured his body using his shadow to hide any trace of evidence. Then, using his charismatic attitude, he convinced everyone that the leader disappeared suddenly, allowing him to assume his position as the leader of the Nara. From that point on, Yami led the clan and continued consuming shadows, growing stronger by the day and improving his abilities tenfold.

Appearance
Raised to believe that he was better than everyone else, Yami's own appearance reflects this disposition. As a result, he is normally seen smirking complacently, in such a way that many can discern that he's arrogant, even random and complete strangers; thus, many refuse to associate with him for this very reason, with the exception of women who feel the need to have a dominating and confident man. One rare occasion, even when under an immediate threat, does his complacent smirk ever falter.

Despite his lack of taijutsu training, Yami was still a child of average size; being around 5”5 when he was thirteen and possessing extremely lean muscles which bulged out of his shirt, a trait many believed in being a natural indication that he was naturally skilled in taijutsu, which is an ironic assumption indeed. In addition to his size, Yami was often categorized as “cute” by many of the females of his age, often subjecting him as a target of envy and jealousy from various males. Coupled with his average size, Yami’s notable features made him a very attractive teenager; he possessed fair skin and bright, green eyes which shone like emeralds in the sun. His face was perfect, every feature being shaped in the correct manner and placed in the perfect place, as if his face was chiseled by the best artist. Even more impressive than his facial features was his shaggy, brown hair, a feature which everyone loved. His shaggy, brown hair was absolute astounding, evident by the fact that every strand were the same size and that they all flowed in the same direction. If one strand of hair was lying down, they all were laying down; it was so nice and extraordinary that Yami rarely had to do anything to keep it as it was.

Disregarding the praise he received about his appearance, Yami was still unsatisfied when being forced to wear the traditional Konoha shinobi outfit, considering the outfits as too plain, simply and ugly for his taste. As a result, Yami personally requested that his own outfit be designed. Because of this, his usual attire looked nothing like that of a shinobi outfit. During his childhood, Yami wore a black vest with white buttons over a white collared shirt with black buttons, to which he didn’t button the top portions of both pieces of cloth and then folded them backwards to resemble that of a V-Neck. Following this, he wore black pants which he tucked into large brown boots. Completing this outfit was a purple cloth which he tied around his waist, allowing it to hang downwards; which was followed a yellow belt which held his blade on his waist, along with black gloves as an additional accessory.

As he grew older and trained much for extensive periods of times, his appearance began to take a shift. His scrawny appearance turned into one that was muscular and as he grew older his face changed, developing more masculine features to accompany this masculine physique. Although this current appearance is much different from that of when he was younger Yami still is extremely pleased and proud of himself; thus, he is often referred to as the, though this may also be because he is indeed still a very handsome man. Perhaps the most noticeable trait/evidence of his complacency is the fact that he poses when attempting to impress someone, usually during his attempts to impress a lady; often showing off of his well defined muscular build, displaying his extreme masculinity regarding his appearance.

While as a child he was called cute, Yami is now referred to as handsome, if not outright stunning. This characterization is attributed to his features; who are so well defined that they seem as if they were created by God himself. Yami is a fairly tall male with fair skin. He has spiky, brown hair with two long pieces hanging from both sides of his face, resembling that of sideburns. He has blue eyes which resemble the same coloring as the ocean. His nose is perfectly shaped, pointed at the tip as if it's a sword. Yami interprets this shape as a symbol of his absolute power that he holds.

Never outgrowing this trait, Yami still has his own clothing tailored by the best tailor in the Land of Fire, because he absolutely loathes the Konoha uniform. However, Yami has adapted a more "responsible outfit" as opposed to wearing clothes for their style, despite the fact that they inhibited his movements; his clothes now allow him to move gracefully and access his techniques in a much smoother manner, due to their loose fit. Currently, Yami is normally seen in a purple, v-neck shirt which reveals his broad chest and the upper portion of his abdomen which are tucked into white, silky pants in which are then tucked into his blue boots which are used to protect his "precious" feet. Completing this unique outfit is a long, blue, short sleeved haori with the Nara clan symbol on the back and a white lining on the inside which reads "The Shinobi of the Shadows", along with black, fingerless gloves and a green bandanna. Contrary to what most believe, Yami assumed this appearance at the age of sixteen years old, which was over eight years ago, but his face hasn't changed or aged in the slightest, not even a single wrinkle has developed, which is because of his extensive treatment and care of his skin.

Personality
Essentially raised to believe that he was god, Yami is an extremely arrogant individual who possess little to no ability in congratulating or complimenting others on their skills because of his extreme case of complacency. His arrogance has affected how he battles, often underestimating opponents despite their reputation and how he presents himself, often requiring his outfits to be tailored by the best. Yami's arrogance is the most noticeable of his characteristics as a human being, but even more so is responsible for several other traits, which normally reveal this self-indulged pride that he holds for himself; a pride which has only increased as his powers grow stronger.

Stemming from his arrogant nature, Yami is a very flippant man who seemingly goes out of his own to anger or frustrate anyone else, casually mouthing off to even the strongest of foes, because he basically loves rubbing people the wrong way. While majority of the time this seems to just be a mean-move made by Yami, he has noted that he casually mouths off to his opponents to anger them and force them to make a mistake due to that anger, making it a strategic move as well which displays a bit of Yami's intelligence which is normally hidden behind his arrogant disposition. During his mission to guard the Daimyo as a child, Yami is never serious during that trip, though he states he could have been if he wanted to, and was never without a witty comment or comeback to his opponents.

Attributed to his pride-full attitude, Yami is also never seen fighting at his full potential, believing himself into being much stronger than his opponents, which occurs a large majority of the time. Yami is simply unflappable, never showing fear when things don't go his way, such as being ambushed by large groups of bandits and also Jonin-level shinobi. During his time in the Darkforce realm, his unflappable nature is actually what saved him, standing up the shadows who guarded the area. Even when battling for the lives of himself or others, Yami will still underestimate his opponent and hold back, simply to make the fight more interesting and longer; this trait revealing a bit of his child-like nature, as he was essentially without a transition stage between a child and a adult, thus he never ridden himself of these child-like habits such as joking around, playing tag and sleeping with his brown teddy bear, Brown-San.

In addition to these other traits stemming from his arrogant disposition, the nara is also a very proud and loyal person to himself, the nara clan, the noble clans of konoha, konohagakure and the land of fire, due to the fact that he believes they are the best in the entire shinobi world, being ranked in that specific order. Regarding himself, Yami would nearly do anything to preserve his goals and fulfill them in, even if it meant betraying or killing anyone; even little children, though this rarely occurs. Yami loves the Nara Clan more than anything else, excluding himself though his love for his clan may rival that for himself, if not slightly a bit lower.

As a result, Yami will do anything to help the Nara Clan reach the top of the food-chain as they are the sole reason he trained so hard a child. Even to those he doesn't know, Yami feels as if he has to protect every Nara, regardless of what they did or will do, even going as far as to threaten the Hokage after they tried to persecute a member of his clan. For the Nara Clan, Yami associates with criminal organizations, other lands and even other clans so that they can eventually reach the top of the world. Perhaps his most extreme testimony to his love for the Nara Clan is they mere fact that he purposely turned himself into a shadow so that he could ensure that they became the true rulers of the world. Following behind the Nara are the other noble clans of Konoha: Akimichi, Sarutobi, and Yamanaka. While they aren't as important to Yami as the nara are, he still believes that they are very important clans, attributed to the relationship that their clans share with one another. Yami commented that once the world was dominated, these nobles clans were serve as the nara's second in command, with their leaders becoming the leaders of certain portions of the world. According to himself, there is only one thing he wouldn't sacrifice for these clans, and that being the nara clan themselves.

Ambition
"World Domination? Well sorta. It's just simply that I want to be the best, at the top of the world and I want certain people to follow under me; the Nara Clan, the other noble clans of Konoha, then Konoha, and finally the land of fire itself. Eventually, this world will fall into darkness and I will rise and protect everyone everyone from themselves. Then i'll forcefully unite the world through political power and military power and then.....everyone will be the same village. No more fighting. However that peaceful part comes a bit later, after I rise to the top of the world. Little do these people know, that they're making my life so much easier right now."

Even as a child, Yami was told that he was the best and that he would be the greatest shinobi to ever live. This mentally affected him as a child, to an enormous degree. Yami truly has taken this statement to heart and has developed his entire goal around being the best. Inevitably, the truth of the matter is that Yami believes that because he is the best that he should have utter control over the entire shinobi world, as they need the best leader to control them and to truly rule them. So that they can escape the current dark age that the Fourth Shinobi World War has left them in, to preserve the world that is worthy enough of his presence. With this, Yami has a three step plan which he will use to achieve this goal. As of currently, he has achieved the first step.

The first step to his plan was to officially take over the Daimyo's position, which he has accomplished. This grants him access to one of the strongest villages in the entire shinobi world, Konohagakure, along with several other smaller villages that reside in the Land of Fire. With his military power and economic prowess, Yami began conquering other lands to gather more military, political and economic prowess. This essentially starts an arms race against other lands, as they now feel the need to further increase their military prowess and expand, even lands without the money to do so. When they try to do so, they'll ultimately go bankrupt.

The second step after he has bankrupted other lands, Yami will sit back and watch the country destroy itself out of lack of money, food, and supplies to take care of its civilians, without allowing anyone to enter his lands. This will leave their world in shambles, forcing people to fight and kill eachother. This gradually weakens the emotional status of their country and destroys any sense of nationalism held by the civilians. Following this, he will open up the gates to the Land of Fire and allow people to enter. This will increase his economic, military, and political power of the people. Using these resources he will capture the Tailed Beast with these people and use them to establish more power. The last and final step he has it to use the Tailed Beast and his resources to destroy anyone outside of his empire. This eliminates all opposition and truly allows him to rule uncontested. He will destroy the world itself and then use his powers and resources to build the world back up again, in his image. He will be the sole ruler, then the Nara Clan will be the government, then the noble clans of Konoha will be the leaders of certain sections of the world.

Abilities
As the actual ruler of the Land of Fire, Yami possesses an enormous amount of power which he can use to bend other nations to his will, all while hiding his actions under the disguise of the Daimyo himself. By using the Daimyo as a simple puppet for his plans, Yami can take multiple approaches to getting power. Using the Daimyo, he can use cruel decisions to gain power while using charisma and nice decisions to gain support when acting as himself. In addition to holding all of the resources that the Land of Fire possesses but as the leader of the Nara Clan, he is well respected by all of the villagers in Konohagakure and perhaps hold even more authority than the Hokage himself. Also, because he is categorized as a criminal, most criminals see him as an ally and present their undying loyalty to him, out of fear that he’ll use his power to end them. With these opportunities, he can gather the best of both worlds to add onto his prodigious military, economic and political power. Due to the respectable position that he currently holds as the leader of the Nara Clan, Yami is granted respect by several, if not all, of the villagers he encounters. Even those he doesn’t know, Yami is greeted with respect as if he is their superior. Several of the villagers raise their children to believe that he is their savior, that he is their leader, thus this generation and the generation beneath Yami loves and praises him, meaning his power will only continue to grow as the village grows older and the more people have children.

Like people of an earlier time, Yami and the Nara Clan are naturally close with the Sarutobi, Akimichi and Yamanaka clans. In fact, these clans basically praise the Nara as of now, making them seem as if they are their unofficial superior’s as opposed to their partners. Due to this, Yami has the other clan’s most upmost loyalty and have made them confess that they will do anything to preserve the bonds between the Nara and them. This, however, isn’t a move based on charisma but is one based solely based on their belief that when the Nara rise they will rise alongside them. This belief is not limited to these noble clans but is also within a multitude of criminal organization who seeks power. As a result, Yami possesses more power than documented and is the master of several clans and hundreds of criminals. In addition to the power he possesses within the Land of Fire, Yami has invaded other nations through the Daimyo and has conquered other clans on his own time. Several nations that he have conquered include the, and the. Being conquered, these following lands provide resources: economic and military. In addition to this, these lands are also used as hideouts for following criminal organizations when being targeted by other lands and are also a hideout for Yami himself, who usually hides here when being chased. Also, these lands are often used to send their shinobi to fight upon the Land of Fire’s command.

Ability-wise, Yami is noted into being an excellent combatant who is normally seen as a foe that you mustn't cross on the battlefield. Evident of his skills was present even as a child and he gained an enormous amount of respect when he personally defeated the bandits which attacked the Daimyo when he was younger. On many occasions, Yami is personally requested by many to do missions for them. However, he will normally never request money and will instead request that they pledge their undying loyalty to him. To those who disagree, their missions are denied and they are forced to hire someone else. The main issue with this, however, is the missions that Yami are assigned to are S-Rank and require a shinobi of his skill, thus when he does decline these missions the shinobi assigned to the mission fail and are normally killed. As a result, the employer is then forced to request Yami again and accept his terms. During this time however, Yami request both payment and loyalty, increasing his power economic and political wise.

Intelligence
Living up to the reputation of his clan, Yami possesses an intellect which is considered supernatural by those outside of the Nara Clan household. The reasoning for such is both natural and as a result of his training. Due to being in the root, Yami was taught how to fight alone. As a result, he was taught that because he would normally fight alone that he had to always be attentive, observant, and analytical. The mentality that because he was a solo fighter he had to see everything, analyze what he saw and respond in the quickest and most efficient manner possible. He has exercised this ability countless numbers of time, against Sai himself who is a very skilled shinobi, who requires strategies to defeat. Under certain suspicions, Sai supplied Yami with a book which had a page with nothing but complex definitions of words. He then commanded Yami to scan the page in twenty seconds. After doing so, he then forced the boy to read every single word on the page word from word to which he did, identifying Yami’s very own photographic memory.

Stemming from this memory, Yami can recall anything he has seen, heard, touched, smelled, or tasted in an instant. This allows him to recall every and any detail he has seen in a battle and adjust his fighting style or develop a strategy to deal with the situation. Next, due to his arrogant disposition he is usually unflappable, even when facing danger directly in the face. Because of this, he is normally calm and composed, granting him the ability to recall everything clearly and devise a strategy to handle the situation in nearly the same amount of time in which he can recall details. More impressive than this ability is how he manages to devise the best strategy to assist him in a situation and how quickly he can do so. He is capable of acting on a moment’s notice. He can out think his opponent by being several steps ahead of them and can act before they can even make their next move. In fact, it can be argued that he is several steps ahead of the entire shinobi world because of his strategy and extremely formulated plan to conquer the world, and how advanced they are.

Politically, Yami is an absolute mastermind who is capable of influencing the shinobi world by manipulating important people, events and through intrigue and precise backstabbing to betray those who are above him. This is actually how he rose to power, by killing the former leader of the Nara Clan and then using his charisma and status as an important shinobi to gather more support and then by using the Daimyo as a puppet, he has truly gathered more and more power and influence the shinobi world to the utmost. As the leader of the Nara Clan, Yami has mastered every aspect of the clan and has read the  thoroughly and over and over again despite his photographic memory. As a result, he has full understanding of the concepts inside of the medical book. He can recall any medical herb, medical procedures and the effect of those things on the spot and can complete the actual procedure and prepare any herb when given the proper tools, making him a well rounded and well versed doctor who relies on actual skill rather than ninjutsu to heal others. In addition to being capable of identifying the herb, procedure and their effects, he can also identify and analyze the problem of someone else upon a single person. Also, because he completes medical procedures on others, Yami has been inadvertently memorized the human anatomy, which he can use during battle to strike weak points in the body such as their vitals, organs or nerves, making him even more dangerous than he is without this knowledge.

Chakra Prowess
Originally, Yami’s primary weakness was his barely above average chakra reserves which would normally be enough for most shinobi, however Yami’s heavy dependence on his chakra, due to his rare usage of taijutsu or bukijutsu, thus he was easily exhausted whenever he fought for extended periods of time. To compensate for this weakness, Sai trained Yami to control his chakra in the best manner possible so that he would possess refined chakra control, granting him the ability to use his techniques with the minimum amounts of chakra needed to perform the feats he wished to perform. By the age of thirteen, Yami’s chakra control was so advanced that he could perform his clan’s techniques with one hand as opposed to two.

When first learning to control his chakra, Yami was tasked with normal exercises which are commonly used to help improve chakra control such as and the  to help him improve where and how much chakra to release and use. These exercises were basic, but extremely helpful in assisting the Nara’s own chakra manipulating abilities. However, these exercises when used in their basic training methods were not enough. Not if Yami was to be something great. Under his own personal motivation to be the best in the world, Yami soon discovered his own training method. Connecting his chakra to his hiden ability, Yami soon focused on using his unique earth-based chakra to control his own shadow and other shadows. When controlling his own shadow, Yami would typically focus on using the lowest amount of chakra possible to change the shape and size of his very own shadow. As one can tell, this helped him master the quantity portion of his chakra control. When attempting to control other shadows, Yami would attempt to shift the shape and size of those shadows without making actual contact with them. To perform this feat, he would release his chakra from the palm of his hands and extend his own chakra to the shadows. This exercises tested and helped him improve his chakra control significantly, to the point where he could complete the feats with very little ease and without exerting the tiniest of effort.

By the time he reached the age of thirteen, Yami could control multiple shadows at one time and shift their form into the most detailed of things, such as that of a mere fruit fly. Note that this was prior to his training in the Darkforce Realm, which is where his skills as a shinobi truly developed. During his time in this realm, Yami soon discovered that his own abilities were not limited to that of the shadows. Shadows are yin-yang based, thus they require both a yin and yang force to be created. Using the forces of Yin-Yang, he can control shadows. However, while in the Darkforce Realm, he learned that he can also use Yin-Yang forces separately to manipulate the Yin and Yang of shadows, both light and darkness. As a result, Yami learned to manipulate darkness using a yin force and light using a yang force to truly obtain, understand and promote the potency and scope of his clan's own hiden techniques.

Hiden Techniques
The concept of Yin-Yang is not that of opposing forces balancing and challenging each other out. However, this is completely the opposite of what the true nature of the Yin-Yang is that opposites bring rise to one another. Without yin, yang cannot exist and without yang, yin cannot exist. During his long, extended training in the Darkforce Realm, Yami himself has discovered that the human body is the Yang while the Shadow is the Yin of our existence, of our life. This means that a person and a shadow cannot exist without one another. If one dies, the other dies shortly after. The shadow requires the body/yang and the body relies on the shadow/yin to continue living, to continue its existence. The shadow and body are used to balance one another out, to maintain a constant state of equilibrium within their existence. Normally, the shadow and body are always mirroring one another in the same manner. When one moves to the right, the other moves to the right. Thus, each movement that one of these two makes the other follows. They are stuck in a constant state of imitation with one another.

The Nara Clan, through a unique employment of their Earth-nature transformation, can choose whether not to follow this simple rule. They can defy the laws of the universe itself. The earth element is generated as equal concentrations of yin and yang, though unlike other elements the earth element possesses three organs that can be used. The yin organs are the spleen and pancreas and the yang organ is stomach. By generating chakra through two of these organs, one yin and one yang, the Nara Clan are able to defy rules of the shadows. While most earth release users make use of their formidable earth natured techniques by channeling their energy through the pancreas and stomach, the Nara clan instead decides to channel their energy through their spleen and stomach to truly gain access and absolute control over one’s shadow. However, what many Nara fail to realize is that they can also make use of the normal employment of the earth nature transformation if not even more than most people. By instead generating chakra through the pancreas and the stomach with absolute precision that he uses for his hiden, Yami also gains access and absolute control over the earth he produces and the earth around his being. Thus, Yami's own hiden technique is simply an extension and derivative of his excellent affinity and prowess to the earth element.

Yami's proclamation of being the best earth release user in the world is strongly supported by his natural talents and employment of this earth chakra-nature. Using his earth chakra, Yami has achieved feats which many would think is impossible and because he has such mastery over his earth-natured energy, he can use it in the best manner to make his Nara Clan abilities even stronger, as the Nara Clan utilize their hiden through a unique employment of their earth element. His abilities with transforming his chakra and shaping his chakra to become the earth element is seen as a power sent from the heavens themselves.

Apart of his ninjutsu abilities fighting style, Yami has developed two abilities which he applies to utilize his shadow in the best manner possible and to truly benefit his being during a battle. The first is Shadow Manipulation, where he can manipulate his shadow and other shadows around him with his own chakra. Within this technique, Yami has developed two other principles in which he uses to truly manipulate these shadows in the best and most powerful manner yet: Shape and Animation. The second major technique is Shadow Absorption, where Yami essentially absorbs shadows to do two things. Either he can absorb the shadows into his being and convert them into chakra, granting him enhanced abilities for a limited period of time, or he can absorb these shadows and implant them into puppets/deceased people to create a zombie army of shadow puppets. With these two techniques, Yami is truly a master of the shadows and is possibly the greatest Nara to ever roam the earth.

According to various people, Yami is truly the master of the Shadows and has achieved such mastery over them that many fear his power. Solely relying on his family’s hiden abilities, Yami can achieve mastery in a multitude of shinobi arts including two of the main three, Ninjutsu and Genjutsu along with several other sub categories such as Fuinjutsu and Puppet Ninjutsu. As a result, Yami has no trained himself in other forms of fighting styles, not even the most basic of ninjutsu skills, as he instead tends to rely on his family’s hiden to truly do anything and everything within his comprehension and realm of power. This make him an exceptionally resourceful shinobi.

Using his abilities, Yami normally takes control of the shadows in an immediate area to fight his opponents, and typically utilizes the shadows to their fullest extent to attack his opponent with little effort and little mobility on his part. In fact, Yami will normally never move in battle and will instead battle his opponent from a stationary position while watching them from all sides. To do so, he simply channels his unique, earth-based chakra into the earth beneath him. Depending on the amount of chakra generated in the earth, the bigger or smaller the area will be. Nevertheless, once the energy is forced into the earth it then travels through the earth in the form of a wave, infusing every shadow with equal amounts of Yami’s chakra. Once injected with his chakra, these shadows simply become his to control, his to shape and manipulate in any manner that he wishes through his very own refined chakra control.

Attributed to such chakra control and the sheer amount of time that he has personally invested into this skill, Yami can complete feats which are normally seen as impossible and simply outstanding in scope, potency and power. He has noted to be capable of actually transforming these shadows into other states of matter. He can animate the shadows and break them into tiny insects or bats, convert the animated shadows into a sort of a three dimensional fog which clouds the battlefield and makes it nearly impossible to see. He can even convert the shadows into weaponry such as kunai, blades and arrows which he can launch across a battlefield, create hard constructs composed of these shadows. Essentially, Yami gains complete control over the battlefield and can shape it to his will. This battlefield is not easily controlled, as many Nara Clan members state that if they even possessed knowledge on how to do this they would still be incapable of doing so. Firstly, many do not possess the refined chakra control that Yami possesses himself. To control and infuse chakra into every little shadow in a specific area and then control them all requires extreme chakra control, which many do not possess themselves. While chakra control is a major factor, the principles and powers Yami have established for himself is the actual culprit in why many cannot master this technique. As of currently, Yami makes use of the ability of Shadow Manipulation to control these shadows, but within this ability are two principles known as animation and shape which are the fundamentals for using this unique aspect of the Nara’s hiden abilities.

Shadow Manipulation: This is a major ability utilized by the entire Nara Clan, but has furthered improved under Yami's own skills and is considered extraordinary when he applies it himself. Yami has improved this basic principle to such an extent that even Nara Clan members cease to recognize it themselves, despite it simply being an improvement of what most of them use. By many others who battle Yami without any knowledge of his heritage or abilities, they find themselves incapable of truly identifying the technique he is using and believe him to be using some sort of sorcery as opposed to the Nara Clan's hiden abilities, making him even harder to combat even more than what it is. This ability, just as the name suggest, blesses the wielder with the capability to manipulate shadows. Naturally, most only manipulate their own shadows. Yami, through extensive training however, learns how to utilize shadows in the immediate area around him along with his own to aid him in combat or everyday life. Beneath this major technique are two specific principles that he applies to further increase the potent and scope of this profound abilities, animation and shape.

Shadows naturally possess a certain shape which is determined by the shape of its source, such as a person, tree, rock and several other examples. On normal occasions, these shadows are incapable of changing shape unless their source changes shapes, which is normally impossible for others to do as well. Shadows and their sources are normally trapped in the same shape for all eternity, forever forced to mirror one another. However, Yami and the Nara Clan are an exception to this rule and their hiden ability allows them to change the shape of their shadow without changing the shape of themselves. Using their specialized earth-nature chakra, they can control their shadow. Yami, however, has taken this own principle a step further and instead uses this shadow to shape his shadow or the shadows in the immediate area into things that are convenient for him at the moment, whether it be during battle or simply everyday life. His mastery over this principle blesses him with feats that many simply dream of, going from creating sharp constructs composed of his shadow such as blades, knives, or even shaping animals made of shadows or creating an entire fog made of shadow to blanket an entire village in darkness. Another portion of this principle is size, as by shaping a shadow Yami can choose whether or not he wants to change the size of the respected construct. He can shape his own shadow to being eight feet tall if he wishes, or increase the size of the shadowy fog to cover more area of a respective village or he can decrease the size of a shadow construct to the mere size of a fruit fly.

Born and praised as a natural user of his hiden techniques, Yami is hailed as the most powerful nara clan member ever to roam the shinobi world. He has trained his entire life and dedicated all of his time solely on developing his superb prowess with his hiden techniques and mastering these techniques completely. His mastery of is hiden have opened unique and several windows of abilities outside of ninjutsu, making Yami an extremely resourceful man. In fact, Yami have used his hiden abilities to enable him mastery in puppet techniques and genjutsu. Because he has trained his entire life only on his hiden technique, Yami’s other shinobi skills are severely lacking and are beneath even the genin level. Nevertheless, he has developed his hiden technique in such a way that he counteracts these weakness and uses his shadow to use the most basic of techniques, one being the Shadow Clone Technique which name fits the his shadow-like abilities.

Shadow Clone Technique: Like the name of the technique suggest, Yami possesses the ability to create a shadow clone. Unlike the original technique that many people have used, Yami actually forms his clone out of his shadow by using the first technique of Shadow Manipulation to truly tap into the extensive powers of this technique. With his technique and the principles underneath of them, Yami can manipulate his shadow extensively. On most occasions, Yami only requires the utilization of one single principle from the Shadow Manipulation, that principle being the Animation principle. Because his shadow already reflects his image and is already much larger in size, Yami does not need to focus on the other two principles and simply has to animate his shadow. As one can suspect, these clones do not take the actual appearance of Yami and remain a black coloring, like an actual shadow. Thus, Yami rarely uses this shadow in place of himself. Instead, he uses the shadow to overwhelm his opponent, considering that the shadow is also given its own chakra and can do the same exact thing as Yami, though it is obviously inferior because it doesn’t have the chakra to continuously battle like Yami. These shadows however do possess unique traits. When they come in contact with one’s shadow, they can convert their shadow into chakra for them to use. In addition, the shadow can also use another’s shadow to regenerate a body part which is injured, such as taking another shadow’s arm to replace their missing arm or injured arm; essentially substituting an injured part of themselves for a healthy part of another’s shadow. Because Yami and the Shadow are connected by a thin line, Yami can actually see out of the shadow and possessed a shared field of vision with his doppelganger. In addition to that, the Shadow can relay messages and his thoughts back to Yami if they are connected, making the shadow an extremely good spy/infiltrator in Yami’s place if he has to be two places at once. When they fight together on a battlefield in the same place, the doppelganger and Yami are truly absolute beast and rarely have to communicate to be on the exact same page, allowing them to collaborate in the most efficient manner without revealing any part of their plan with the enemy.

Shadow Imitation Technique: Being the basic of the Nara's hiden ability, Yami has practiced this technique over and over again, learning to perfect it and utilize it in the best way possible. On basic levels, this technique grants one the capability to extend their shadow across a surface and merges it with another's shadow upon contact. With this, they are ultimately connected and the target is forced to imitate the user's movements. It's possible for one to split their shadow and take control of a multitude of people as well. In addition to this, one can also bind someone else to another's shadow and not their own, forcing them to imitate someone else's movements as opposed to their own. This is simply the basics of the Shadow technique, but Yami isn't satisfied with the basics. He requires absolute excellence to be pleased with himself and he rarely rest when he does so. Due to the sheer strength and practice of this technique, he possesses the ability to force his opponent to move around the battle field while assuming a still positioning, thus he doesn't actually have to move to force his victims to. This is achievable through his Shadow Manipulation technique/principle. Using the sub principle of his Shadow's technique, motion, Yami can control how his very own shadow moves in every possible aspect, even without animating it. Also, because of his extreme mastery of this technique and phenomenal chakra control, he can hold his opponents with this technique for a much more longer duration of time, without overexerting himself or tiring in the least.

Shadow Gathering Technique: Another underestimated ability of the Nara Clan, Yami's strenuous practice over his hiden abilities have allowed him to reach a mastery over this technique to the point where most shinobi fail to recognize the technique entirely. By employing his ability of Shadow Manipulation, and its sub-principles of Shape and Animation, Yami can truly achieve the best of this technique. Yami will typically utilize this technique in different manners, either using small tentacles or large tentacles. These different size tentacles serve different purposes. When shaping these tentacles to be tiny, he can use them to pierce an opponent as if they were blades. The second and most interesting ability he uses with this technique is when he uses the tentacles in a similar manner as Chakra Threads. With this, he will normally attach these tentacles onto several points of someone's body and inject them with his own chakra, giving him access to their body. After the necessary conditions are made, Yami proceeds in controlling their being against their will, effectively turning them into a living, human puppet. He has access to their body, including their skills, weapons and such. The next method in which he utilizes this technique is to create large tentacles. Due to the size of these however, Yami is limited to only a few. Nevertheless, quality triumphs over quality and these tentacles are of the utmost quality. Using this large tentacles, Yami can slam them onto the ground to split the earth in half, use these tentacles as a wall to shield him from danger or even crush his opponents by circling the tentacles around them and then squeezing their body.

Puppet Techniques
Shadow Absorption of the Puppet Technique: This is an extremely versatile techniques used by Yami and stems from his shadow manipulative abilities. Specifically, this technique is simply an extension of his second principle “Shadow Absorption”. Using this technique, Yami can create a puppet clone of someone who he has killed or someone that has fallen in battle. To do so, he applies the second principle of Shadow Absorption to forcefully extract the shadow of a newly deceased corpse through the use of the same Nara sealing Fuinjutsu which allows Yami to steal another’s shadow by generating his chakra into it and then animating it. Following this, he releases several shadow-like chains from his own shadow and pulls the shadow into his. These corpses must be fresh, as their shadows metaphorically die after a certain amount of time, meaning they would be absolutely useless to Yami at that point. Within the shadow, the captured shadow simply becomes a servant to Yami. The captured shadow is still endowned with the same mannerism and quirks that they possessed when they were alive. While of no own conscious thought or free will, they still are able to respond to questions, experiences, as their homeostatic abilities are seemingly intact. These captured shadows, however, are simply extensions of their (at one time) alive master, meaning that they also have access to their profound abilities, personalities, which they held at one period of time. Only under Yami’s orders, can they fully access these traits however. In addition to this, these shadows can only use the abilities and techniques that Yami knew about, meaning if they hid their strongest technique from him they would be without their own strongest technique. These captured shadows are simply reflections of their previous self and act as such. To activate these shadows and to manipulate them like the puppets they are, Yami first release them from his own shadow and then animates them. Depending on their own strength when they were alive, the different amounts of chakra they take from Yami. However, when they take this chakra, they do not require any more until they use up the amount that Yami has supplied them with. But even with this, he has set up an automatic transfer of his chakra to these shadows when they run out, thus he exerts no effort when supplying these puppets with chakra. The only downside to this is that these puppets’ techniques are only at half strength. As a result however, their attacks do not require the same amounts of chakra that they would at full strength. As of recently, Yami has captured three shadows which he uses as his puppets.


 * Also known as the Daimyo of the Land of Fire, is the first shadow-puppet that Yami has ever claimed. It was a dark and stormy night and Yami was assigned to personally protect the Daimyo in her elegant manor. Without a doubt, she trusted Yami to enormous extents, mainly because of the sheer loyalty he had displayed over the years. Little to her knowledge however, he had a plan which would put her out of power and him into power, all in a single technique. He had to wait for the right moment to do so, when everyone else had abandoned their post. He knew the perfect distraction.


 * Yami exited the manor and went out into the forest, where he climbed a tree and placed a lightning rod directly on the top. This was the perfect plan. Lightning struck the lightning rod which was jammed inside the wood of the plant, setting it ablaze. This fire quickly spread to the other trees as well. With this, many of the guards would be forced to deal with this, allowing Yami time to meet with the Daimyo alone. He quickly proceeded back to the manor and slipped in the back way. By this time, the fire had spread to a large portion of the forest and was headed for the manor itself. Responding to this, tons of guards poured from the manor, leaving only a few to guard the Daimyo. Known for his strength, Yami was assigned to the Daimyo's room to ensure that she stayed safe, which was the perfect chance for Yami to claim her.


 * Entering the room under his orders, Yami proceeded over to the lamp and light it, illuminating the room but waking the Daimyo. She stepped out of her bed and questioned why Yami had turned the light on, and even more so why he was in the room with her. Without giving her a response, he threw a kunai directly at her brain, killing her in the process. Following this, he used generated his chakra into her shadow (supplied by the lamp light) and animated it, which then allowed him to pull her shadow into his own. Directly afterwards, he released her shadow which then took the form of herself as if she had never died. He then proceeded in disposing the body by animating his own shadow and making the shadow devour it, erasing all trace of the real body's existence. This shadow-puppet had no free will, but was embedded with the same mannerism and quirks as if she were alive. She could respond to questions, events, everything. Though, she belonged to Yami now. The leader of the Land of Fire was Yami's puppet.


 * Unlike the other puppets that he possess in his own supply, Yami does not use this one to fight. Instead, this puppet was used by Yami to finally enact his first plan for world domination. The Daimyo was his key to controlling the Land of Fire and everything within the Land of Fire. This included Konoha. Ever clan, every villager now belonged to him and there was nothing anyone could do about it. The Daimyo was his key to political, military and economic power. With Hiragana as his puppet, Yami could begin the next step to his plan, to begin an arms race across the shinobi world. Using his puppet, Yami used the Land of Fire's armies to conquer smaller lands. These lands would serve as extensions to his greatness. With smaller lands and countries conquered the land of Fire, Yami increased the size of his army, the wealth that he had by using these lands to increase the sheer number of resources he had and by taking control of their leaders he controlled anyone underneath of them. With such power, Yami possesses the ability to bend smaller nations and to put them begging on their knees. Also unlike many of his other puppets, Hiragana is always active. While Hiragana was weak, thus she takes less chakra than the others, her constant state of activation requires that she has ten percent of Yami's chakra to continue function in the manner that she does, which is quite surprisingly a lot of chakra. As a result, Yami is truly only at 90% whenever he battles someone, but even still his power is simply overwhelming.


 * Army: Through the use of Hiragana, Yami has absolute control over the Land of Fire's army, including their guards, soldiers, special forces and shinobi, including the shinobi of Konoha. As a result, Yami's army is extremely large, consisting of 20,000 fighters. This is 1/4 of the solder's who battled during the previous war, which was composed of six major lands. In addition to the sheer size of the army, Yami's army is filled with a large amount of Kekkei Genkai users due to the mere fact that the Hokage opened up Konoha to Kekkei Genkai users being hunted down and exterminated. Thus, his own army isn't simply large but it dangerous with each and every member. While before the war, Konoha's army was rated three out of five, the powerful kekkei genkai users that have flushed the village the military rating has improved to a four out of five, improving the rating of the overall military prowess of the Land of Fire.


 * Economy: The Land of Fire is vast in resources and the nations that he have conquered through Hiragana also possess prodigious resources as well. In fact, Yami has specifically targeted and conquered those countries who export resources to other lands for monetary earnings and are the main source for certain products, that are essentially to other lands. For example, the are excellent sources for metals, which are used for weapons of some sort, making the Land of Iron there biggest buyer. As a result, he has limited control over the trade and economic system of the world and even more control over the status of the Land of Iron. Over the years, he has gradually increased taxes on the products that he is exporting and will continue doing so. Due to the gradual increase and the mere concern that they need these things to survive, Yami's plan still hasn't been discovered but he is slowly taking away money from these lands while he continues to gain. In a short matter of time, taxes will reach such a point where other lands will no longer have the economic status to continue building their armies and will soon become inferior to the Land's of Fire enormous army. Through the economic system of the world, Yami plans to become the one and only superpower of the world.