Yoko Kusunoki

Yoko Kusunoki (楠洋子 , Kusunoki Yoko) is a Tokubetsu Jounin-level shinobi from Konohagakure and an active member of the Konoha Barrier Team as a sensor and responder in the Interception Division.

Background
Yoko was born as the eldest child of Takeo and Kameyo Kusunoki, three years before her younger brother Yuu. Even in her youth, she expressed great enthusiasm in becoming a ninja and often play-fought other children in wrestling and stick-fights, while her gentle-natured brother supported her from the sidelines and cheered her on. For the first few years of her life, Yoko was a very aggressive child and was mindless when it came to her roughness, but her attitude towards fighting changed dramatically when she and Yuu were playing in the forest, where Yuu suffered from a fall down an incline and badly broke his leg, rendering him handicapped for life. From thereafter, Yoko became extremely protective and regularly expressed that she would only fight for her pacifist brother’s behalf, making the two inseparable since childhood.

When Yoko enrolled into the academy at the age of 6, her grandfather immediately immersed himself in her training and tutored her in her studies until she was promoted to Chuunin rank. Both Yoko and her grandfather appeared to be very close, as they would spend any time Yoko wasn’t at school on the training grounds to practice and refine her skills, and her grandfather became a huge influence on her. Under his training, Yoko’s speed and weaponry skills increased exponentially, as he also pushed her to become much more self-sufficient and independent as she continued to grow. This was the only period of time where Yoko and Yuu seemed to grow distant, but Yoko would often sneak out of her home with Yuu to show him how much she improved, hiding out underneath the trees to stargaze or to talk with him.

After she graduated from the academy at age 12, Yoko was placed on a 3-man squad with her classmates Misao Kahaya and Sugita Otake, with Keiki Miyazaki as their Jounin instructor. Under Keiki’s guidance, Yoko’s Kenjutsu abilities greatly improved as she began working with her specialty weapons, her Twin Chakrams, while her grandfather continued to tutor her in her sensory abilities and nature transformation. As Team Keiki, Yoko and her teammates trained and performed low ranking missions as Genin for three years until they were promoted to Chuunin level at 15. Because of her grandfather’s efforts and guidance, Yoko excelled in Kenjutsu and was promoted to Special Jounin rank at 17 years, joining the Interception Division at that time as well, and stayed at that rank until her retirement.

Personality
Outwardly, Yoko appears to be passive and restrained due to her self-repressive trait, as well as overbearing and nosy. She often doesn't heed other people's warnings too seriously and inserts herself in other people's affairs, often letting curiosity get the better of her, which usually leads her into complicated or even dangerous situations. However, Yoko is very protective and overly empathetic, hiding her sentimental nature and her quick emotional attachment to others as she greatly desires to protect those around her, even if she doesn't express so outwardly. Naturally she is inclined to be a protector and helpful, but her self-centered attitude tends to make her feel as though she is giving more than she is getting back, stuck with no one to rely on, and can make her feel emotionally distant from others. She is quick to take offense, but is reasonably patient but firm when she feels the need to stand up against someone. When angered, she speaks very venomously and crudely, often saying things that she doesn't necessarily mean.

Despite this, Yoko finds herself to be zealous and ambitious, able to see the beauty in everything. She sees herself as someone who is still naive in many things, and believes that life has more to offer her than what she has experienced thus far, and she doesn't want to miss any opportunity that may present itself. Because of this, Yoko's strongest trait is her unyielding attitude towards any obsticale, always standing firm with her goal and ideas, often coming across as extremely stubborn. She's a clever girl whose jokes show intelligence, being the type of person who can find subtle humour in a situation and tease it to the surface without it coming off as distasteful, and is very supportive and maternal to those younger than her. She is often seen to be the "older sister" type and enjoys taking time to treat others to meals or treats while they confide to her.

Ever since she was young, Yoko always wanted to be gentle and kind in nature, very pure-hearted like her mother and brother. While she is instinctively protective, her self-repressive views on herself keep her from truly obtaining these traits, keeping her self-image to be nothing short of heartless and withdrawn, similar to her father and grandfather. However, Yoko uses this desire as a motivator to become a shield-like tool of a ninja, protecting innocents and fighting for the greater good rather than to be cold, calculcating, and ruthless. While she keeps a positive image of being a ninja to protect others, Yoko often remarks that, "Even though my hands are clean, they feel bloody." While this could be seen as admirable, it emotionally strains Yoko as she brings much more pressure, burden, and regret onto herself than necessary, and often this self-loathing is the reason why she cannot continue forward with her goals. When Yoko takes one step forward, this quality forces her back three steps.

Appearance
Yoko has extremely thick, dark green hair that freely falls to her waist, with center parted bangs that matches the length of her hair. When on missions, Yoko ties her hair into a braid and drapes it over her shoulder, tying it with a long red band. Her jaw is round with a blunted chin, her eyes large and softly curved, the irises a deep amethyst hue with large, centered black pupils. Above her eyes are thin, flat eyebrows that increase the vastness to her already large forehead. The rest of her features are a long, deeply curved nose centered between her high cheekbones, her thin lips painted with a subtle rosy hue. Underneath her right eye is a small black beauty mark.

As a genin, Yoko wore a traditional tan wrap-shirt with loose, elbow-length sleeves and a red yukata-styled dress underneath. Her tan overshirt was tucked under the waist-high black skirt and fell to mid-thigh, just short enough to reveal the fringe of the red yukata underneath, with grey stockings and black traditional shinobi sandals. (Information on her Chuunin and freetime looks will come later!)

When she becomes a member of the Interception Division, Yoko wears the standard Konoha flak jacket over a long-sleeved, high-collared shirt with a light purple trim as her uniform, as well as with navy capris pants that are bandaged to her calfs, ending just before her black boots. When on duty or on missions, she ties her forehead protector over her forehead and wears a matching belt for additional pouches or scrolls.

Abilities
Yoko is a Wind-chakra type kunoichi who is especially adept at chakra transformation and Kenjutsu, mainly with her specialty Twin Chakrams. However, because training underneath her grandfather and sensei were centered around those two skills, her Ninjutsu and Genjutsu skills have suffered. Because of this, Yoko has very limited jutsu abilities, giving her little flexibility in battle. She can also only use one chakra nature, Wind, which disables her from giving her already limited Ninjutsu any variety. She tends to stick with what she knows, so after her promotion to Tokubetsu Jounin rank, her skills have hardly improved.

Yoko's biggest weakness in her fighting is that she's a one-trick pony, as she heavily relies on her Taijutsu, chakra nature, and weaponry skills only. She is best at infiltration missions and quick kills, not full-fledged battles, leaving her to be very predictable and easy to analyze as she tends to repeat techniques.

Chakrams
Yoko's prodominantly fights with her chakrams, using her chakra transformation and Taijutsu skills in order to support these Kenjutsu skills. Her chakrams can be used in both short-ranged and long-ranged battles if she throws the blades. When facing many enemies, Yoko attaches retractable ninja wires to her chakrams so that she can pull them back into her hands after she throws them. In Part II, Yoko enhances these chakrams by reforming them to be made of a specialty metal that reacts to the ninja's chakra nature, which she uses to heighten the blades' cutting power.

Sensory Abilities
Yoko possesses the normal traits for a sensor ninja (ie; detecting their targets from a great distance, differentiating others by their chakra signatures, and knowing when other sensors are using their abilities), making her a good asset on teams. However, in addition to the norm skill set for sensor types, Yoko's fluency in her Wind nature chakra can also allow her to rely on her sense of air current and pressure as an alternative, as she is able to distinguish targets and objects that wouldn't normally be detected.

Part I
Coming soon :)

Part II
Coming soon :)

Trivia

 * Yoko's name means "ocean child".
 * Yoko trusts and depends on her younger brother, Yuu, more than anyone else.
 * Yoko's favourite pastimes are travelling (especially when visiting yatai) and playing the sanshin.
 * Yoko's habby is collecting various charms.
 * Her favourite foods are soba, youshoku, and any other food found at a stand.
 * Yoko is afraid of being forgotten or failing, while her physical fears are of needles.
 * Yoko has a very bad sense of direction, often getting lost despite having a compass and map in her pouch at all times.
 * Yoko's favourite philosophy is "Sonae areba urei nashi"'. If you are prepared, there won't be any sorrow.

Reference
All images are original drawings from my deviantART

All information and articles for anything pertaining to the Naruto series was found on Narutopedia