Name: Ezo Honshu
Alias: Ezo the Wolf, Hell’s Army
Age: 41
Gender: Male
Rank: Tsuchikage
Appearance:
Personality: Ezo is gruff and distant, taking in everything and giving up very little in return. He doesn’t like having to do things, and he can usually be seen lazing around Iwagakure to avoid having to do work. He’s mildly alcoholic, and he says that he doesn’t like how he acts when he’s sober. By that, he means he doesn’t like it when he shows his emotions openly. Yup, when he’s sober he’s a lot more open with his feelings and emotions. Extreme amounts of alcohol can have the same effect though, with the added benefit that he won’t remember the consequences of telling the world that he’s a big softy, so… yeah, he sees no reason to ever be sober. The one exception to that is when he’s going to battle. For war, a clear mind is a must. Ezo on the battlefield is a cruel force of nature, raising an army in an instant. One second he’s one man with an anachronistic hat, the next he’s brought forth an army of walking dead, stone giants, and ungodly beasts. He has no emotion at all when he’s warring. He isn’t allowed to feel for his enemy, for the Tsuchikage must only think of his own people’s well being. Any who would bring harm to the people of the Land of Earth forfeit their right to live.
Village: Iwagakure
History/Background: Ezo was born a farmer, his parents farmers on what was the border of the Land of Earth and the Land of Stone. His family owned a large amount of land and always grew surplus crops, but despite this they grew up in poverty. They had enough to survive, nothing more or less. His parents gave up all of the excess harvest to the starving families from the Land of Wind. Once a month, Ezo’s father travelled all the way to the ravaged Sunagakure and gave away all of that month’s harvest. He never looked happy to be doing it, he never looked happy about very much, and Ezo wondered why he did it then. When he asked, his father just said it was something he had to do. He didn’t see it as a good deed or a charity, merely as something he had no choice in. People were starving. He had food. It was his responsibility to feed them. Ezo didn’t understand what that meant at the time.
Other farms surrounding Ezo’s family’s fell victim to raids and attacks by starving nomads, but never theirs. Ezo thought it was because the people saw what his father did for them, but that was just a child’s idealized perception. In reality what kept their farm safe was the wolf god that protected their land. Fenrir, king of the wolves. Many tried to attack their farm. Ezo never realized that because Fenrir destroyed them before they ever came close. Ezo’s father had contracted Fenrir, but he couldn’t control the wolf king. The most he had been able to reign in Fenrir was convincing the wolf not to go fight when the bijuu were rampaging.
Ezo was always laid-back, even growing up. He frequently disappeared from home, sometimes for weeks at a time. He’d always reappear though, sometimes with a story about following a river or an animal and getting lost, sometimes with a tale of abduction by roaming bandits, sometimes just saying he’d been “out.” Occasionally Ezo would follow Fenrir around, much to the wolf’s displeasement. It took years, but eventually the displeasure melted into quiet toleration. He’d never say it, but Fenrir deeply cares for the boy. Now forty-one, Ezo is still a boy to Fenrir.
Ezo left home when he was twenty and traveled to Iwagakure to become a ninja. He was shocked to learn that most children began learning to become a ninja at a young age. Ezo was the oldest in all of his classes. That didn’t last long though. Somehow he already knew and used everything about chakra control without realizing it. He had been doing it all his life without knowing it. The instructors ended up having to train him differently from the other rookies. Ezo never went through many of the steps a normal genin would have. Because of his age and skill level, he was practically pushed into becoming a chunin. Imagine his surprise when he learned that people tried year after year to become what he had achieved without even trying.
Ezo went back home for a while once he thought he’d learned enough about being a ninja for one trip. Before he got there, the young man found his path blocked by a wall of fur and teeth. Fenrir, come to see if the boy had become stronger. Ezo refused to fight the wolf, and was thrown about like a stick in a hurricane. He still walked through the front door of his home at the end of the night though. Fenrir hadn’t been serious in his strikes.
The young man’s shining moment came when he was on the road walking back to Iwagakure. Smoke. Turning back to the southeast, Ezo saw that the land on the border of the Land of Earth and what had been Kusagakure was burning. He ran to help, but the fire and smoke was too much. Fenrir watched from atop a nearby mountain as the young man tried in vain to save everyone. The wolf could see that the boy would not be able to save more than a handful of lives. Of course, the wolf would never have stepped in to put out the fire. It just wasn’t something he did. Fenrir was turning to leave when he saw Ezo do something incredible. He created a thunderstorm out of the cloud of smoke. The massive storm put out the flames, and it continued to rain for days before breaking apart. Fenrir caught the falling Ezo, unconscious from whatever technique he had used to change the sky to rain, and carried him all the way to Iwagakure.
It goes without saying that a gigantic wolf kicks the hell out of a pumpkin carriage as far as entrances go. Everyone in Iwagakure eventually heard about the dead man carried into the village by the gigantic beast. Stories of Ezo’s death were greatly exaggerated. He didn’t die. In fact, he woke up before the sun had fully risen on the next day. He was badly burned from the lightning inside the storm he had created though. The Tsuchikage himself was there to greet Ezo when he woke. The kage had a whole monologue prepared to interrogate the boy on his actions. Many of those he had helped had been citizens of Kyokujitsu no Tochi, which put the kage in a strange position.
Whatever he had been about to say was blown off. Ezo rushed right out the door despite his injuries, found Fenrir outside the village borders, and rushed back to the scene of the fire. The only person there was an older woman, standing among the burned remains of buildings as the rain continued to fall. The woman was friendly, thanking Ezo for his actions. Later on he would learn he had been talking to Satomi Ryukoku, the wife of the man he had blown off to rush back to the fire. As they spoke, Fenrir heard a sound. It was annoying. It was a child.
Ezo took the child to the temporary shelter where all the survivors of the wildfire were gathered, but no one claimed the child. The Tsuchikage’s wife was curious to see what the man would do, and she was not disappointed. He took the child in as his own. That told her everything she needed to know about who Ezo was. She didn’t forget about the strange man with the giant wolf, even as years passed. She watched the man’s actions always.
So when Takai Ryukoku, the Tsuchikage of the Sky, died of illness, and his final will read aloud before all who attended the event, Ezo Honshu was named his successor. Satomi played more than a small part in that appointment.
Combat Style: Overwhelm the opponent with numbers. He is primarily a long-range fighter, but he’s just as dangerous up close. He is ruthless when it comes to those attacking his people. He basically lets his summon do what it wants on the battlefield; unless there are people he doesn’t want dead in the area.
Tools: The basics (kunai, shuriken, and all that other junk), a large metal crossbow across his back (it reloads automatically), and a single large metal arrow.
Chakra Nature: Earth, in addition to being adept in Lightning, but he knows how to use all of the natures.
Kekkei Genkai: None
Special Traits:
An immense chakra reserve
High kenjutsu skill, even though he doesn’t carry a sword around
Incredible spatial awareness
Reads the flow of a battle with ease
Can shoot the wings off of a fly from a quarter mile (His record is five miles, but it wasn’t moving and he was using chakra threads to track its location, so he doesn’t count that one.)