Rin Nii'gata

Rin Niggata (凛新潟, Nii'gata Rin) is a Jōnin-level member of the Nii'gata clan and a resident of Hikagakure. He has adopted the rank of Jōnin despite having minimal formal shinobi training. Very little is publicly known about his abilities other than that he utilizes his Katon affinity and a unique form of advanced Shape Manipulation in his jutsu. Rin currently leads Squad 2, which consists of Masakaki Nii'gata, Yaku Saru, and Saiya Nii'gata who has replaced Yusuke Nakai following his promotion.

Background
Rin was born as the son of Hui and Shinta Nii'gata. Despite being born on the summer solstice, Rin earned his name due to the abnormally cold temperature of that night. Both of his parents were carries of the Nii'gata bloodline, ensuring that Rin would also become a carrier. Under the tutelage of his parents, Rin was educated on the customs of his unique kind.

Rin later became the student of Kado Nii'gata who was often tasked with instructing the young purebloods and followers. When learning how to fight hand to hand, Kado had paired Rin up with another pureblooded Nii'gata, Kozue. Kozue was an older student of Kado and had a few years of practice on Rin. Rin was consistently beaten in their spars and grew to resent the boy that only seemed to be interested in helping him improve. Through this umbrage, Rin grew very quickly with his hand to hand abilities and began to dominate Kozue in their spars. Neither of the two boys agreed to consider themselves rivals, and Rin had even begun to call the elder boy his "personal punching sack".

A few years after he had learned under Kado's instruction, Rin and the group of Nii'gata that were deemed worthy moved on to learn under Tanjiro, who was regarded as the clan's spirtual leader. Rin was thoroughly educated on the customs of his clan and began to learn more about the meaning behind the ritualistic traditions that his clan practiced. Kozue showed great promise to be the pureblood that was sent to Mount Iki to learn under the clan's leader, Taiyu. This infuriated Rin to the point that he was motivated to surpass his then rival. Similar to how his rage had helped him to surpass Kozue in their physical bouts, Rin slowly moved ahead of Kozue in promise. He demonstrated great potential and surpassed the various tests and trials that were administered.

Rin took the Nii'gata's Trial of Rites a few years after becoming Tanjiro's student at the age of nine. A ring of fire was constructed around him as he meditated, and the fuel for the flames was dusted in ceremonial bone dust that intensified the light of the flames. Rin didn't move as the fire climbed onto him and began to burn away at his skin, and as the dust was burnt away and the fire died down, Rin was marked with the scars of a pureblooded Nii'gata. Being the first of his peers to bear the marks of the Nii'gata, Rin was sent to Mount Iki. Kozue was visibly furious that he was trumped by Rin again and a grudge formed between the two.

Rin was brought to Mount Iki by Tanjiro and scaled the mountain by himself. Upon reaching the peak, he was introduced to Taiyu. She brought him into a cave with a massive interior and instructed him to mark the wall with his blood, as his predecessors had done before him. After months of intensive training and instruction from Taiyu, Rin traveled back down the mountain. He was greeted with a festival to honour his successful return to the clan, as well as his rapid progression. Kozue did not participate in the festivities due to the resentment he felt toward Rin.

A very long time had passed after Rin returned from Mount Iki when he was confronted by Kozue. He revealed himself as a follower of Coaxoch and attacked Rin, confident that his new skills would be enough to best his rival. Kozue was easily beaten again by Rin who killed him following the defeat. On that same night, Rin became consumed by the idea that he could have easily defeated somebody who had been ahead of him for most of his life. He went on to murder seven followers by beating them to death. The next day, Rin was banished and exiled from the Nii'gata clan grounds and forced to leave.

Approximately one month after Rin was exiled and left the Nii'gata, he met Izu Oinuma in a mining town on the outskirts of Iwagakure. Izu found Rin's strange behavior entertaining and laughed at him, much to Rin's annoyance. Rin attacked him and was easily beaten, but upon revealing his bloodline ability, Izu brought Rin with him to the band of mercenaries known as the Blood Carnival that he led. Together with Izu and the mercenary company, Rin traveled around the world.

Two years after joining up with Izu and the Blood Carnival mercenary group, the eight individuals that made up the company, excluding Rin and Izu, were all killed in the battle at Chi's Pass against the larger mercenary horde. Rin and Izu fought until they were the last men standing amongst a hundred bodies. After the hours of fighting had ended, Rin and Izu decided to split the remaining earnings of the company and go their separate ways.

Rin wandered around the world after the company was dissolved. He visited Konohagakure but left shortly after arriving. Sometime in the following years, Rin made his way to Kirigakure.

Personality
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Appearance
Rin has a very modest appearance that doesn't particularly stand out in a crowd. He possesses a young looking appearance that suits his age rather well. He doesn't show clear signs of age save for very faded bags under his eyes from an apparent lack of sleep. His hair is short and brown, normally unkempt or ruffled wildly due to lack of interest in maintaining a particular style. He has hazel eyes that are predominantly green and brown, and his skin is faintly tanned due to extensive time in the outdoors. Of his most notable traits is the unnatural burn marks that scar his right arm and a large portion of his torso. Though normally covered, these marks are clear indications of his heritage as a Nii'gata.

Rin does not wear any village uniform and is actually rather careful to wearing clothing and colors that do not affiliate him with villages or organizations. His clothing is normally very simple and underwhelming. If he wears any kind of torso clothing at all, it will normally be hooded shirts or other simple black garments. Otherwise, Rin will only wear bandage wrappings over his lower torso and both forearms. He will occasionally wear torn up and baggy brown trousers with two leather accents that rest on either hip and fold over each other. Soft beige-colored fluff is also stitched into the brim of the accents for aesthetics.

Rin is also seen wearing a number of different outfits on various occasions, such as a flat black tank top and dusty brown trousers that are tucked into protective knee-high stockings. Regular dusty brown shoes that match his trousers are wrapped underneath the stockings, and work similar to normal toeless shinobi sandals in terms of flexibility and grip. He also wears a green colored tunic with a lighter yellow-green interior and yellow trim, often tied around his waist. A darker green sash is also tied around his waist, and holds a section of the tunic in place when worn normally. The tunic's sleeves are rolled up to his elbows and held in place by a button on the outer side.

When utilizing the Nii'gata Scale jutsu, influenced sections of his body develop the telltale jet black scales that Nii'gata identify each other by. Though slight mutations in the color of the scales are not an especially rare anomaly amongst pure blooded members of the clan, Rin's scales retain a simple flat black color.



Abilities
Rin's shinobi skills can be considered to be moderate to high for his ranking as a Jōnin. He possesses above-average Taijutsu skills, as well as average Jōnin-level Ninjutsu. Rin's natural skills gained through his upbringing are also above average for Jōnin. On top of his Taijutsu skills, Rin possesses impressive raw strength and stamina. The extent of his jutsu arsenal is unknown, though because of his clan, it could be speculated that it is populated primarily by Scale or Fire-related techniques. He also has knowledge on Fuuinjutsu and Nintaijutsu, which is his primary form of offense and defense due to the nature of his abilities.

Taijutsu
Rin holds noteworthy skill in taijutsu and the field remains as one of his strongest. During his time in the Nii'gata clan grounds, Rin was a fierce competitor in spars. Under the various mentor figures he had in his childhood, he developed a variation of a fighting style that strongly resembles Krav Maga, though his variation is much more aggressive and brutal. Rin has grown to be quite knowledgeable on many martial arts, and has incorporated multiple styles into his own, such as Judo. On top of Rin's learned skills in Taijutsu, he also has a natural ability to divide his mind between multiple tasks, which allows him to keep up with multiple enemies at the same time and is very helpful for staying aware in group combat.

Shape Manipulation
Rin has extensive experience with manipulating the shape of his chakra due to the advanced shape manipulation techniques that he learned as a child. From a very young age, Rin was taught to manipulate his chakra in a very specific and precise way in order to create the Nii'gata's scale techniques.

Intelligence
Rin learns through experiencing(kinesthetic learning) a lesson in practice and doing things himself rather than through lectures. Rin is also very talented in seeing underneath the underneath, which his natural skills in observation can be credited with. These traits are demonstration best when learned about moulding chakra and consumption simply through usage. Since the Nii'gata have been shut off from all communication with the world outside of their community that is hidden behind the farthest mountains of the continent, Rin had never learned the basic concepts of chakra. He determined that his physical energy and spiritual energies were mixed and released whenever he used the techniques that he learned as a Nii'gata, and that a very specific ratio of physical and spiritual energy is needed to prevent losing energy.

Accolades

 * Winner(read: only survivor) of the 67th Nii'Gata Self-Immolation Festival.
 * Part of Hikagakure's Founding party.

Trivia

 * Rin (リン) can have various meanings, such as "dignified", "severe", or "cold". His last name, "Nii'gata" (竜親族) has no literal meaning, but clansmen refer to themselves as "Of the Dragon's Kin" or just simply "Dragon's Kin".
 * According to the imaginary databook(s):
 * Rin wishes to fight Taiyu Nii'gata and Yaso Pon'Biki
 * Rin's favourite food is anything spicy or meat, while his least favourite is vegetables or anything sweet.
 * Rin has completed 13 official missions in total: 5 D-rank, 4 C-rank, 3 B-rank, 2 A-rank, 0 S-rank.
 * Rin's hobby is traveling and sightseeing.
 * Rin was the first Nii'gata to have ever left the clan grounds since arriving there hundreds of years ago. Similarly, he is the only Nii'gata to have ever been banished and exiled.
 * Rin has the ability to manipulate the colour of the flames of his jutsu at will, changing them from natural red and orange colours to shades of blue and purple.

Quotes

 * (To Yaso after being stabbed with a cactus) "AUHGH!"
 * "Following another person's way is easy. Walk your own path and make yourself what you need to be, not what another wishes to make you."