Nero

Nero is a Sunagakure Jounin, teammate to Tsukuyomi Ruriko and also created by RurikoTsukuyomi of fanfiction.net.



Background
Nero's father, Chikao, is a Genjutsu specialist known very well in Getsugakure. Chikao was also a holder of a Biju, although, it is not known which one he possessed. He was arranged to marry a kunoichi named Mizu, a princess from the Land of Lightening. After marrying, they had their first and only child, Nero. As a child, Nero was rather smart and enjoyed collecting books and comics, even though his parents were constantly fighting. At one point, Mizu had become enraged by Chikao's power hungry ways that she decided to ruin Chikao's legacy by completely wiping Nero's memory while he was in his room, looking at a mirror, oddly enough. As the process was very painful, Nero was left with the mind of a newborn much to Chikao's horror. Mizu then fled the home they had in Getsugakure and was never heard from again. Chikao tried very hard now, determined to have his son carry on his power, to teach Nero everything all over again. Unfortunately, Nero never recovered the ability to read much to everyone's frustration. Chikao spent a little while abusing Nero and backing him into corners, causing Nero to fear him, but at the same time, desperate to please his father. Fed up and angered, Chikao sought out Mizu's sister and brother-in-law, Karen and Mokusei, in Sungakure. He left Nero there and disappeared, never to be heard from again.

After that, Nero was confused and hurt by the loss of his parents, but tried to be content with his new life. Unfortunately, Karen was hysterical that Chikao would even think to drop a child on her doorstep since she is Mizu's younger sister and she had just gotten married to Mokusei. Karen became bitter and cruel, taking every chance to abuse Nero and blaming him for the way her life was collapsing. After Nero was left there, Karen was losing her strong status amongst her peers in Sunagakure. She became known as a 'demon' and usually snuck around with other men. However, Mokusei showed that he didn't care and focused most of his attention on trying to help Nero remember some his training as well as some reading. The reading, of course, failed. As the years went on, Nero was admitted into the academy where he met his future teammates, Tsukuyomi Ruriko and Tsukuyomi Akira. Nero was known for being picked on by the other students for not being able to read nor socialize very well.

After hearing of the slaughter of the Tsukuyomi parents, Nero grew sad for his friends and tried to assist them by telling his uncle. Mokusei was comforting Nero when Karen walked in, enraged and demanding that Mokusei should only hold attention for her. She then gouged out Mokusei's eyes, leaving him blind. She keeps his eyes in a jar at her bedside, which she does not share with Mokusei. This action caused Nero to hate Karen with a passion and he even tried killing her once after he had become a Genin, but he was thoroughly beaten and locked in his room for a whole week with hardly a meal. Mokusei, still recovering, tried the best he could to relieve the tension in the family, but his pacifistic ways were ignored by both parties, leaving him helpless.

Part I
Nero became a Genin with his childhood friends, Ruriko and Akira, their oldest brother, Kazuya, as their sensei. Nero had picked up some bad habits during his time as a Genin. He'd become more distant from society and closed off some of his previous cheerfulness. He had begun to smoke and drink, but never quite got drunk. He's known for holding his alcohol rather well, in fact. Even so, these habits aggravate his sensei and Ruriko beyond belief, resulting in physical punishments to which Nero accepts gracefully. However, throughout the Chuunin Exams, his teammates seem to realize that he doesn't really like the abuse and they begin to slow down their reactions to think. Just before the exams, Nero and his team encounter Ruriko's uncle, Tsukuyomi Daiki. Nero immediately dislikes him as well as Daiki's teammates, Miyuki and Botan. The latter of the two shows great interest in Nero, calling him his 'pet' and singing about how he wants to keep Nero as his cat, ironically enough. Nero has a nightmare that night of being attacked in the forest and insists that he will not take the exams, but is forced to by Ruriko anyway. Nero, although he seems to have a crush on Ruriko, has eyes for many other characters, female or male, but rarely the latter.

During the first part of the exams, Nero is forced to take a written exam. Instead of answering the questions, he merely copies the questions over again and doesn't answer the last one, resulting in passing the exam anyway, allowing him to move on with his teammates to the second part, where the trouble really begins. They are confronted by a Konohagakure team and must face off. Nero is ordered to take off with the scroll, hurrying off and only to be caught in a Genjutsu after a well-known Awegakure shinobi opens the scroll in front of him. This causes Nero to hear Botan's maniacally laughter, making him go into a hysteria until Ruriko and Akira recover him. It's shown at this point that Ruriko has a habit of grabbing onto Nero when frightened, much to Nero's pleasure.

However, by this time, they are attacked by Daiki and his team, revealing themselves as the legendary Gin'iro Ni Kagayaku Tsuki (The Silver Moon). Daiki orders Botan to take Nero away, seperating him from his teammates. Botan that hides away, holding Nero and going on about how much he loved him. Nero begins to feel pity for Botan after hearing that Botan is abused by his teammates and was kidnapped by Orochimaru when he was younger to be experimented on, explaining his split personality. This reveals that Botan has cat ears, much to Nero's surprise. After being rescued and Botan fleeing, only to have not fought, Nero expresses concern for Ruriko's odd attitude after her battle with Daiki. He tells Akira that they have to mature if they were going to pass. During the first part the exams, Nero makes a friend with a calm, somewhat cheerful girl, whom he then fights in the preliminary rounds of the exams. He is victorious, but he honorably carries his opponent to the hospital on burnt feet. During the preliminaries, however, another boy is revealed to have an abusive past, which is brought about by the Kekkei Genkai of another kunoichi. Nero shows fear of her and is ironically then placed to battle her in the final rounds.

He fights her for a long time and much of his worst horrors are revealed as well as a 'hellish scream'. Nero wins by the end, by simply being the last one standing. He then collapses from fatigue.

After the exams and returning back home, Nero's home life is shown a new. Mokusei is proud to hear of Nero's achievements and states that Nero is the pride of their family. Swelling with joy at this, Nero seems happy for a while until Karen returns home from having a drink with another man. She tells Nero that he is a failure and a coward, in turn making him go to his room. Needless to say, Nero is still content and smokes and drinks in celebration for the rest of the night.

Part II
In part II, Nero is revealed to be in training to become a sensei so he can have his own team of Genin. However, after Ruriko is given an A-ranked mission, Nero becomes angry and yells at the Kazekage before storming out and arguing with Ruriko. After she is kidnapped, Nero becomes depressed and sulks until Akira kicks him back into shape, telling him that they have to go find her. Nero quickly agrees and they set out. However, upon finding her, Ruriko refuses to return, leaving a child she had been traveling with, with them. Nero is more disappointed than depressed by this point.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Part III
(Yet to be written)

War, Cry, Hell
This part of the series is a side story of Nero's life as a Jounin sensei for three Genin, Nakamara Nobuo, Tsuchitaki Hidoi, and Inoue Hisako. At the beginning of the series, Nero is not at all amused by the idea that he has to teach a rather young group of Genin. He expresses interest in Hisako due to her bright cheery disposition, although, his annoyance focuses on Hidoi, the cruel and obnoxious Genin. Nero is positive in Nobuo, even if Nobuo lacks the sense of sight. Nero then begins to train his Genin for the Chuunin Exams, being held in Getsugakure that year. Nero takes notice that Hidoi is rebellious and shows signs of even becoming a possible criminal. Disturbed by this, Nero begins to try and show Hidoi the better things in life, taking him out on random walks. Hidoi is annoyed with this, but cannot refuse by the guidance of his summoning/guardian spirit, Oni, and mischeivous Tanuki. However, at one point, Hidoi is supposed to have gone home, but sneaks after Nero to spy on him.

This is when Hidoi begins to respect Nero after he witnesses Nero's home life, seeing as Nero still lives with his aunt and uncle. Nero is surprised by Hidoi's respect towards him, but doesn't argue and takes the team on a B-ranked mission. The mission is to protect a priestess heading to a small, religious village called Ketsuekigakure. During the mission, Nobuo and Hidoi's hatred for one another is revealed strongly as they attack each other when the priestess becomes kidnapped. Nero grows angry and literally throws the two apart, ordering them not to fight it out. Hisako, meanwhile, becomes slightly frightened by Hidoi's bloodthirst, but still claims she's in love with him. As the mission progresses, Nero's impatience grows with his Genin team. At one point, Hidoi is put in a life or death situation, only to be rescued by Nobuo and Hisako after Nero is trapped.

After the mission, the tension between Hidoi and Nobuo grows, putting stress on Hisako and Nero. As the exams arrive, Nero is more alert now and must keep Hidoi and Nobuo apart, quite literally.

(The rest is yet to be written)

Personality
Nero is pretty laid back. He's pretty disobedient and very suspicious of everyone, hardly trusting anyone. He's shy, but it's mistaken as being stuck up by some people. He tends to be a little rude, but has no intent to hurt anyone at all. He's a good listener and observer. He's rather friendly with people he trusts. Some people dislike him because he has bad habits, such as smoking and drinking. Nero believes that when someone gets drunk, it's because they have no sense of humor, stating that he thinks he has a sense of humor.

Nero isn't so much of a flirt, but likes to look from afar. He has made some comments on males, which suggests that he is openminded. Even so, Nero states that he is in love with Ruriko and refuses to give up on her, even after she marries in Part III. He has only dated two times. The first girlfriend ended up being comparable to his aunt and the second was killed on a mission, so Nero gave up and stuck to his studies. Nero matures a little, but also expresses that he can't stand cocky brats, one of which being his Genin team member Tsuchitaki Hidoi. Even so, Nero cares for his Genin team with all his heart as well as his old teammates, Ruriko and Akira. He also highly respects other sensei, even though he has some negative thoughts toward them. Unfortunately, Nero dislikes the Kazekage very much, commonly calling him a brat behind his back when he's not flicking cigarette ash at the building.

Nero is not a morning person, at all. He would prefer to sleep in rather than wake up early, but he will if there's a good enough reason, like training.

Appearance
Nero has cool gray hair with a very faint, light blue tint to it. It's short, just under his ears and is windswept, some hanging in his face. His eyes are a shocking aqua green. As a child, he wore simple clothing that was usually torn from whip lashes or nails. In part one, he wears a black cloak with a maroon fringe, the sleeves torn at the bicep and gray pants with dark purple flames climbing the legs. He has bandages wrapped around his right arm to his elbow, a black band around his left elbow that’s chained to black cuff around his wrist. Maroon ninja shoes top off his outfit.

In part II, Nero dresses in a black cloak with purple dots on the fringe, dark purple flames on shredded sleeves cut at the biceps and deep black pants with bandages wrapped around the knees as well as the bandages on his right hand and the chain decoration on his left arm. He also carries a large black maul strapped to his back. The back of his cloak reads: GOT BEER in Japanese. Nero doesn't wear a shirt at all. It's not really known why. Whether he's trying to make a statement or because he's simply too lazy in the morning, it's hard to tell.

Abilities
Nero is a fan of Taijutsu and rather good at it. He uses a large maul that he straps to his back when not in battle, showing that he has immense strength, which he puts to use in every battle. His ninjutsu is average as he uses Fire and Lightening elements, although, his preference lies with Taijutsu. Nero's Genjutsu skills are a fail. He can't counter it nor use it, so he has never bothered with it at all, completely skipping it and focusing on his taijutsu. Kazuya explains later that Nero's lack of Genjutsu skill is a result of being emotionally unstable, however, Nero disagrees and simply says he has no time to practice lying to people.



Nero eventually develops his own Body Flicker Technique, in which he uses the smoke from his cigarettes to whip around him, causing him to vanish.

Trivia

 * Nero's favorite foods are mainly pastries, but most of all Oshiruko. His least favorite is Ikura.
 * Nero's hobbies include watching other shinobi and attempting to read, although, it's usually a failure, revealing his temper as he chucks the book/scroll.
 * Nero doesn't really want to fight anyone, other than an opponent from the Chuunin Exams and Kazuya.
 * Nero fears his father.
 * Nero has completed 194 missions in total: 2 A-rank, 23 B-rank, 58 C-rank, and 111 D-rank.
 * Nero is the only one on his team who enjoys D-rank missions.
 * Nero's favorite word is "obedience".