Amaya Mizuno

Amaya Mizuno (ミズノアマヤ, Mizuno Amaya) is the progagonist of the story "An Illegal Kunoichi." She is a genin from Konohagakure, former heiress to the Mizuno Clan, former member of Team 9, and the current jinchūriki of Yamiyoryu, the Ten-Tailed Dragon.

Background
Being the eldest daughter of the head of the Mizuno Clan, Amaya was taught the basic mannerisms of being a lady. Her days were often spent learning how to speak, eat properly, and how to keep her own appearance to a high standard as well as the condition of her future home and husband. These standards were upheld in the hopes that Amaya would manage to secure a suitable husband that would bring money into the clan. Oftentimes her aunt and teacher would suggested that Amaya should talk with Sasuke Uchiha due to his clan's standing in the village at the time.

Around the age of eight, Amaya fled the clan's compound along with her younger sister, Kaori Mizuno, due to the men of the clan constantly tormenting Kaori because the young girl had the Byakugan, to live with their aunt, Suzuki. While living with her aunt, Amaya became close to Suzuki's fiance, Haru Tansho. Haru initially introduced Amaya to the shinobi world, teaching her some basic skills as well as talking about the various missions he went on. Amaya often credits her status as a ninja to Haru, referring to him as family.

By the age of nine, Amaya was enrolled in the academy. Despite her late entrance, she quickly advanced through the primary classes of her education. The teachers then decided to asses her current skills in order to place her in an appropriate class for her level. After the evaluation, she was placed in Iruka's class, where her younger brother Toshi Mizuno was also placed upon his own initiation.

During her early years in Iruka's class, Amaya became friends with Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka, developing what they soon called the S.A.I. trio. However, little of the friendship the three girls shared is known. From what is presented it can be inferred that Ino was the confident one of their little group, often protection Sakura and Amaya from the other girls who wished to bully them. Additionally, it can be assumed that Amaya gained her current level of confidence because of observing Ino, wishing to be somewhat like her, since before their friendship Amaya was a rather timid girl but afterwards she gained an enormous level of confidence. However, after Sakura and Ino discovered that they both had a crush on Sasuke Uchiha, the two girls stopped speaking to one another. Leaving Amaya in very awkward situations between the two girls, she soon stopped speaking to them as well and began to berate them for being girly and caring more about boys than training.

Due to her personality shift to a more tomboyish nature, the other girls in her class started to avoid her, calling her several names for her changed appearance and attitude. Seeking for some new friends, Amaya began to try to play games of 'ninja' with the boys in her class. Unfortunately, the boys did not let her play with them since she was a girl.

Sometime during a class, Amaya was assigned to spar against Kiba Inuzuka. After losing the match, Amaya began to train harder and made Kiba her rival, often challenging him to a fight after classes or during recess. At some point during her challenges the two of them became close friends, often skipping class along with Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, and Naruto Uzumaki. These four boys became some of the closest friends that Amaya ever had. She secretly dubbed their motley group as "The Five Misfits" due to Iruka constantly keeping them after class.

Personality
As a child, Amaya was very timid and shy, tending to keep to herself whenever possible. Whenever someone berated her for doing something wrong, or in any other situation, she quickly apologized and said that she would try harder next time. Many of her actions were centered on making others proud and living up to the high expectations they had for her. Many described her as being a people-pleaser since she gave little thought to what she wanted in comparison to what everyone else wanted of her.

However, sometime after starting at the academy, Amaya underwent a dramatic personality change due to the influences of Ino as well as Naruto. She admired the confidence that both of her classmates had and desired the same thing for herself.

Currently, instead of being shy and girly, Amaya has become a very outspoken, tomboyish, and energetic girl. She will often argue with others if they do not see her point of view on a matter, sometimes to the point of yelling at them until they gave in. Oftentimes people compare her to her aunt, Anko Mitarashi, as well as Naruto Uzumaki due to her boastfulness.

Furthermore, while she often refrains from crying in front of others, Amaya can allow her emotions to dictate her actions. When presented with a situation, she is run solely on her feelings at that moment without completely thinking about her options. She is also shown to have a bloodthirsty nature, relishing in the thought of battle almost as much as Anko and Kiba. She enjoys a good fight with a strong opponent and can be seen grinning before the start of a battle. Oftentimes she will be the one to start several battles, even if it is not needed.

While not the most studious of her classmates, following her training with Michi Saito she demonstrates a knee sense of observation and an ability to make and execute plans quickly if needed. On the other hand, she also demonstrates an impulsive nature while in the heat of battle, able to adjust as a situation changes without considering her teammates' own actions.

By defending Naruto on a few occasions, she demonstrates a sense of needing to help others. When others berate Naruto she will often step in and threaten the attackers if they don't back off. Additionally, she also demonstrates this with her younger sister, showing somewhat of a motherly nature behind her sometimes rough appearance.

Appearance
Amaya has large teal eyes and straight black hair that often reaches just past her shoulder blades with bangs that covers her forehead with some strands framing her face. She has slightly tanned skin with long arms and legs.

As a young girl, she would often wear loose kimono's with a pair of sandals. Her hair would often be twisted into braids or a bun at the nape of her neck, effectively keeping her hair out of her face during her studies to become a proper lady worthy of becoming the Mizuno Clan's heiress as she grew older.

Once she entered the Academy, she initially retained many of her lady-like qualities from her heiress lessons but slightly changed her style of dress to better suit the training associated with becoming a ninja. She began to twist her longer hair into two high buns on either side of her head with pigtail-like strands escaping from the bottom to lightly graze her shoulder as her bangs were swept to either side of her forehead with a few longer strands delicately framing her face. Instead of her kimono's, she began to wear a sleeveless, high-collared, lilac top with lavender trim along with a pair of lavender pants. Around each wrist she wore a silver bangle. On her feet she wore a pair of white flip-flops but would often swap them out for shinobi sandals as her classes called for in order to more effectively take part in the activities.

After her personality change, Amaya's appearance changed along with it. She cut her hair so it now only fell just past her shoulders and secured them into low pigtails on either side of her head or a single ponytail at the nape of her neck. She also began to wear crew-neck tee-shirts in varying colors (though mostly blue, black, tan, and purple) over a long-sleeved mesh armor shirt. She also began to wear pants and shorts made of far more durable material in tan, dark blue, or black. On her feet she wore her shinobi sandals far more often, almost completely halting her usage of her flip-flops. Furthermore, she no longer wore any sort of jewelry or adornments like she did before.

Shortly before the beginning of the events of "An Illegal Kunoichi," Amaya once more changed her appearance to reflect her soon-changing status to a full-fledged shinobi. Her hair grew slightly longer, hitting just past her shoulder blades not gathered in any sort of style with her bangs simply covering her forehead. She began to wear a sleeveless, zip-up, purple top with a slightly raised collar over a crew-neck, short-sleeved black shirt and a short-sleeved mesh armor shirt. She also wore a pair of navy blue shorts that hit just above her knees with her shuriken holster secured on her right thigh over-top the shorts. On her feet, she wore blue shinobi sandals. After receiving her headband upon her graduation, she began to wear it over her forehead and her bangs.

After her encounter with Orochimaru in the Forest of Death, she has acquired the Cursed Seal of Heaven on her right shoulder. However, she has never been seen using it, similar to her aunt.

During the events of the Sasuke Retrieval Arc, Amaya now dons a sleeveless black shirt underneath a short-sleeved, purple, white fur-lined, hooded jacket, similar to the jacket Kiba Inuzuka wears. Additionally, she begins to wear black, finger-less gloves with unmarked metal plates on the back of her hands. On her feet, her blue shinobi sandals change to black in color. She begins to wear mesh armor on her legs. Furthermore, she still wears her forehead protector on her forehead and a mesh armor shirt underneath her shirt and jacket.

While under the influence of her tailed beast, Amaya's eyes will become a bright gold with slit-like pupils similar to those of the Inuzuka Clan. Her teeth also come to a point and her nails will become sharper. However, what else the demon can do to alter her appearance is currently unknown.

Abilities
Amaya's techniques are centered on close to mid-range combat. As a member of the Mizuno Clan, she often employs the use of water jutsu as well as the use of swords in battle. Additionally, she is able to harness wind chakra to a small degree, performing very basic skills. She is also noted to have above-average speed.

However, right now, her abilities are average but the future has yet to determine how her abilities will grow and change.

Despite recieving the Cursed Seal of Heaven from Orochimaru in the Forest of Death, she has never been seen using it, much like Anko.

Ninjutsu
As a student, Amaya showed skill with techniques such as the Transformation Jutsu, the Clone Jutsu, and the Paralysis Technique. However, as a child she had poor chakra control and would often use up too much energy on a small number of attacks. Though with her training in her clan's One With Water Technique as well as the Rasengan her chakra control has improved vastly.

Nature Transformations
As a member of the Mizuno Clan, Amaya is able to use several Water Release skills. Currently her skills do not extend past C-rank techniques though she is currently working upon improving her skills by incorporating B-rank techniques into her arsenal.

Furthermore, Amaya discovered that she has the ability to use some Wind Release techniques. Most of these skill center around her use of a sword that is able to amplify her wind chakra to create large gusts of wind. Additionally, she is able to use the Wind Release: Great Breakthrough. While using this technique, she is able to create a decent-sized gust of wind in order to set her opponents off-balance or disorient them.

Rasengan
Created by the Fourth Hokage and taught to her by Jiraiya, the Rasengan is the strongest skill in Amaya's arsenal. However, she is still in the process of mastering it in order to use the technique at its full power.

Unlike Naruto, Amaya is able to form the Rasengan by only using one hand.

Clone Techniques
With her ability to use water-based skills, Amaya has learned how to use the Water Clone Jutsu. She often uses them to assist her in combat situations by overwhelming her enemies with the increased numbers or distracting them while she attempted to sneak up behind them.

Sometime while training under Jiraiya to learn the Rasengan, Naruto taught her how to use the Shadow Clone Jutsu. Since learning that technique, Amaya has used shadow clones far more than her water clones, almost completely halting use of that skill all together. However, unlike Naruto, Amaya is only able to create twenty clones without reaching dangerously low chakra reserves. Due to this limitation, Amaya has learned to become resourceful in the usage of this technique. She has learned how to use the clones to gather information on enemies without having herself get too close to the enemy.

Kenjutsu
As a member of the Mizuno Clan, Amaya has some natural ability when it comes to wielding a sword. While her abilities are just slightly above average at the moment, it has been mentioned that she was working on perfecting an A-rank technique.

Most of her sword-fighting is centered around her use of a sword that is used to amplify her wind-chakra exponentially. This sword is able to be split in two and in addition to amplifying chakra it can be used in the same way as a normal sword. Additionally, she is able to use the Takigakure Style: Watercutting Sword and uses the technique in order to quickly create another sword in the event she loses her hold upon her other sword. She is also able to use the skill to create several different types of swords if needed to suit the situation.

Taijutsu
While able to easily utilize ninjutsu during battles, Amaya will often resort to using brute force during battles instead of having to decide which technique she should use during battle. She has been noted to be proficient in hand-to-hand combat and enjoys the simplicity of it in comparison to having to weave hand signs for jutsus.

Out of all the girls in her graduating class, Amaya was easily the strongest, strong enough to fight many of the males in her class with nothing more than brute force, though most often she would lose against the stronger males in her class. Additionally, she has been noted to be one of the faster shinobi from her class, rivaled only by Kiba.

Her taijutsu style can be described as being blunt and straight-forward, as she charges straight towards her opponent.

Jinchūriki Transformations
Due to the Hyoheki Seal, which is currently being used to hold the beast inside Amaya, blocking any of the creature's chakra from merging with her own, the abilities that the beast can grant her are largely unknown. However, during her brief skirmish with Kimimaro, the seal weakened and allowed some chakra from the beast to merge with Amaya's. The merging granted Amaya greater speed and strength. What may happen when the beast gains any sort of control is unknown.

Introduction Arc
Along with the rest of her classmates, Amaya participates in the Academy's graduation exam. She easily passes the test, creating four clones of herself. Afterwards, while outside with the other students that graduated, she notices Naruto sitting by himself with a glum look on his face. However, before she can make her way towards him, he vanished with Mizuki. That evening, she celebrates her graduation with Kiba Inuzuka, Tsume Inuzuka, her sister Kaori Mizuno, and her aunt Suzuki Mitarashi. During their celebration, both Tsume and Suzuki are called away to help retrieve a stolen scroll, leaving her and Kiba to do the dishes.

When everyone returned to the Academy to receive their team assignments, Amaya was among them. She was throughly disappointed that she wasn't placed on a team with either Kiba or Hinata and was instead placed on Team 9 with her younger brother Toshi Mizuno and Ringo Fujimaki with Matsu Tanaka and their jōnin sensei. After lunch, she left the Academy with her team and soon found out about the "real" graduation test. This test was designed to see if they could work together as a team. While Amaya initially did not want to work with her other teammates, she eventually decided to do it anyway. This allowed her and her teammates to all pass and officially become genin.

Chūnin Exam Arc
After completing a number of simple missions, Team 9 was entered into the Chūnin Exams. After receiving the form from her sensei, Amaya began to wander the village in search of a birthday gift for Kiba and Akamaru. While at a store, she notices a redhead who is obviously staring at her from across the street. Once her eyes lock with the stranger's, she suddenly froze and was unable to look away as strange feelings began to consume her. She is able to make herself vacate the area in order to stay away from the strange kid. Once she is certain that he isn't following her and manages to catch her breath, Amaya once again resumes her shopping.

Only a couple hours later, Amaya is wandering the village streets again and decides to stop at a nearby dango stand. Unfortunately, she encounters the redhead once more after noticing that he is across the street watching her once more. While trying to force herself to look away and prevent herself from letting the sudden urge to go to him from taking over, Naruto calls out to her. He quickly enters the dango stand and starts to talk with Amaya, who is still trying to keep calm. After the feeling suddenly begins to lessen she decides to tell Naruto about the strange redhead who has been freaking her out. He then only asks who she was talking about. Looking back where she knew he was standing before she only came upon empty space. She then begins to wonder who that kid was, while all the while hoping to not have a chance to find out.

Later that day, Amaya then returns home and informs her aunt, who is getting ready to depart for a mission, that she is going to be taking the chūnin exams. Once her aunt leaves, Amaya begins to think about her situation, in awe that she is about to partake in such an event.

Several days later, Amaya is at the registration area with her team, verbally complaining about how bored she is since nothing is happening. Soon Kiba walks towards her and the two ninja begin to talk with each other. Within minutes, the rookie twelve beings to gravitate towards one another and the former-classmates begin exchanging greetings as well as insults and boasting about how strong they've gotten.

Apparently overhearing them, Kabuto walks over and tells all of them to keep quite. He then gives the rookies information regarding the exam and shows them his ninja info cards. Sasuke then asks for individual information about Rock Lee and Gaara. Once Gaara's card is revealed, Amaya immediately recognizes him as the boy from a few days ago and she beings to worry about that feeling trying to overtake her again. When she notices that it hasn't, perhaps because she hasn't seen him yet, she redirects her attention towards the other genin and notices their worried expressions. Noticing that Naruto appears to be quite worried as well, Amaya also beings to worry if she will be able to handle the exams. She is pulled out of her thoughts by Naruto's outburst, which quickly takes the worry away and reaffirms herself in the idea that she will be able to handle anything the exams throw at her.

Moments later, three sound ninja attack Kabuto and while it appeared that one of their attacks did not connect, it was still able to break Kabuto's glasses and cause him to throw up seconds later. Before the situation can escalate any further, a large group of ninja appear at the front of the room, with one of them being Ibiki Morino, who will be their first protor.

Trivia

 * The name Amaya means night rain. This can be related with the tailed beast she carries since in legends Yamiyoryu would terrorize villages on the night of a new moon, spilling so much blood that it would appear that the red substance had rained down all night.
 * In the academy, Amaya's grades were extremely varied. She earned exceptional marks in ninjutsu and assertiveness, being beat out only by Sasuke and Ino. In taijutsu and class attitude she earned average marks. Her genjutsu and cooperation marks were extremely poor, much like Naruto.
 * Amaya's birthday, March 21st, is the same day that the founding of Konohagakure is celebrated. (At least in the fanfiction story she appears in.)
 * She has a habit of refering to close friends as brother or sister, seen when she calls Naruto Naruto Nii-chan (Brother Naruto).
 * According to the "databooks":
 * Amaya's hobbies are training and swimming.
 * She wishes to fight Washi Mizuno, Kiba Inuzuka, Naruto Uzumaki, and Rock Lee.
 * Her favorite foods are yakitori and green tea while she hates things that are very spicy.
 * Amaya has completed 17 missions in total: 16 D-rank, 0 C-rank, 0 B-rank, 1 A-rank, and 0 S-rank.
 * Her favorite phrase is "Never give up."