Taiken

The Taiken were a group of four legendary shinobi, known for their feats during the Second Shinobi World War. Highly regarded as some of the greatest shinobi of their generation. While the team eventually went their separate ways, they still retained their title as the Taiken.

History
The Taiken was composed of four shinobi from opposing sides of the Second Shinobi World War. Kaasage and Kenshi Tachinai of Sunagakure, Kitsuen Sogeki of Kusagakure, and, Hitofude of Takigakure. The group first joined together when, during a three-way battle between them, they temporarily allied with each other in order to break through a force from Iwagakure that had found and tried to eliminate them. They officially banded together after a few more encounters, with Takigakure having no official role in the war, and Kitsuen acting as a paid mercenary, they decided to ally with Sunagakure and quickly became a famous force for Sunagakure's interests during the war. They did not gain their name however, until the high priestess of the Land of Demons requested aid against a demon that was terrorizing the land. The group volunteered and set off for the Land of Demons immediately.

The four fought a massive battle against the demon's Ghost Army and a clan of shinobi that were trying to raise the demon. Successfully defeating the army, destroying the clan, and sealing the demon with the high priestess' assistance, the group was heralded as the for their efforts. With the skill of the group unquestioned and their ability to work together in fine shape, the group were called upon again when the Land of the Sky entered the Second Shinobi World War. Alongside a united front made by the warring nations, the Taiken went to battle against the Land of the Sky where they destroyed the nation's fleet of air ships and put an end to a creature calling itself the Zero-Tails.

Together with Sunagakure and Konohagakure the Taiken later halted an invasion led by an army of knights from an unknown continent to the South.

Missions

 * Seal Mōryō
 * Rank: S-Rank
 * Status: Success

The first official mission of the Taiken was to assist the high priestess of the Land of Demons to seal Mōryō which a clan within the Land of Demons was attempting to revive in order to create a. Fighting through both the clan and the demon's personal army, the group succeeded in sealing away the demon with the aid of the high priestess. They later oversaw the construction of a temple which held the remnants of the demon's army and dealt with the negotiations in order to have the demon's body buried in the Land of Swamps, two countries away from where the demon's soul was sealed.


 * Defeat the Land of the Sky
 * Rank: S-Rank
 * Status: Success

When the Land of the Sky, with its superior technology and complete aerial advantage, entered the Second Shinobi World War the Taiken were requested to head up the front of the new alliance formed by the war's participants. With an army at their back the Taiken succeeded in destroying the aerial fleet of the Land of the Sky and prevented the Sky shinobi from raising the by defeating the.


 * Repel the Foreign Invasion
 * Rank: S-Rank
 * Status: Success

When the shinobi countries were invaded by an unknown military force hailing from a continent in the South, the Taiken were asked to assist the amassed Konoha-Suna forces in order to push back the enemy forces. They succeeded in doing so by pushing through captured territory, forcing the foreign invaders to pull back to their beach head where-in the Taiken and coalition forces swarmed the foreign army forcing it to retreat into the sea.

Renown

 * Kitsuen Sogeki, a shinobi from Kusagakure who was completely incapable of using Ninjutsu or Genjutsu, she gained fame as a shinobi that could defeat masters of ninjutsu with traps and tools alone. She wielded, a matchlock rifle constructed by her father who was one of the few gunsmiths capable of crafting rifles for Hōzukijō. Known as , after the Taiken disbanded, Kistuen opened a Dojo in Kusagakure where she would teach others marksmanship.


 * Kenshi Tachinai, a shinobi from Sunagakure and Kaasage's older sister, she was one of two people born with the Dark Release Kekkei Genkai in the Tachinai Clan. Kenshi was highly gifted in the use of her Kekkei Genkai and the abilities that it brough to her, using the Dark Release almost exclusively despite its ability to absorb and repurpose all of the basic elemental natures. Like most of the Tachinai clan, Kenshi had formed a contract with the Komodo Dragon's that were associated with them. The dragon itself became highly associated with depictions of Kenshi in later years. She passed away when she allowed her heart to be transplanted into her younger brother in order to save him from a disease that was quickly killing him.


 * Kaasage Tachinai, a shinobi from Sunagakure and Kenshi's younger brother, he was the second person to be born with the Dark Release Kekkei Genkai of the Tachinai Clan. While skilled in using the Dark Release, Kaasage was nonetheless weaker than his sister but utilized a much larger variety of skills and techniques in order to make up for this. By the time of the Second Shinobi World War, he was officially Sunagakure's foremost expert on Fūinjutsu and was known as . Kaasage remains the only member of the Taiken to stay within the public eye, after his sister gave up her heart in order to save him, Kaasage became quite reclusive in Sunagakure. He was later discovered as having been conducting experiments on civilians in order to develop a technique that could circumvent death. By the time he was discovered, his technique was already partially complete and he had been able to escape with the aid of Kowareta Mori and Seishoku Tetsu.


 * Hitofude, a shinobi from Taikgakure, he was known for only ever learning one technique out of the millions of possible techniques in the shinobi world. He became famous as thanks to his unparalleled mastery of his single technique. He assisted Amegakure during the Second World War while Takigakure stayed out of the war, during which he held off an Iwagakure military force single handed during a tactical retreat by Amegakure. After the Taiken fell apart, Hitofude returned to Takigakure where he has remained for several years eventually becoming the village leader. It was once said that "While Konoha is led by the God of Shinobi, Taki is protected by the One Technique".

Trivia

 * The Taiken was created for the Naruto: A Land Divided alternate universe to explain why several movie elements do not come to threaten the world during the course of the story, as most of the movie elements exist within the AU instead of being dismissed.
 * The Taiken was modeled to appear similar to the Sannin while remaining distinct, the most obvious trait being that the Taiken had four members instead of three.