Tomoko Sarutobi
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Personalia
Information collected by the census office of Konohagakure“Sometimes you just have to play with the hand you're dealt.”| Ｂｉｒｔｈｎａｍｅ: |
Tomoko Sarutobi
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Tomo ; Aunt Tomo
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Steam Machine, as her original alias and callsign since she was a genin. The Red Death, as a title given to her by enemies during the War.
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Female
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41
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Konohagakure
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Sarutobi
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Jonin
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Psychology & History
From detailed inspection and investigation by ANBU and medical personnel“There isn't always a new beginning after the end.”| Ｐｅｒｓｏｎａｌ ｂｉｏｇｒａｐｈｙ: |
Many folks around Konohagakure have come to know Aunt Tomo as a benevolent sort of mother figure, despite having no blood relation with her. But long before her kindness and warmth was famous she was actually known more for her combat prowess. In her youth she was trained with the expectation of being a top-tier shinobi that could take full advantage of the Kekkei Genkai she was fortunate enough to be born with. After graduating from the Ninja Academy among the top of her class she was actually assigned to a squad with Kishimoto Eiichiro, who was the adopted son of the Hokage and would eventually go on to become the Second Hokage later in life.
Much like the heat of her ninjutsu, Tomoko had a warm personality and was quick to be friendly with others (which perhaps is very unlike her ninjutsu). She and her squad rose through the ranks quickly enough, with Kishimoto becoming the ANBU Captain and Tomoko herself becoming a jonin at the age of 17. Around this time she began getting close with a member of the Hyuuga clan's side branch, Satoshi. Over the next few years the two formed a relationship and they married when Tomoko was 22. This was unprecedented in Konoha's history, a marriage between the two major clans. Many thought it would be interesting to see what the future would hold for the two but as the years went on it became increasingly clear that something was wrong. Tomoko couldn't bear a child.
This disappointed many people who felt that the marriage would be more symbolic if they had children to truly mix the clan bloodlines. It upset Tomoko the most though, as she particularly desired to have children of her own. But try as they may their efforts bore no fruit. She eventually began to consider adopting children so she could have an actual family of her own but she began considering a little too late. When she was 28 her husband was killed in action, dying to Kirigakure shinobi according to the reports. In her grief she gave up on the idea of having a family, also finding solace in her old friend Kishimoto's job offer. As the First passed and Kishimoto became the Second Hokage, he offered her the role of ANBU Captain that he formerly held.
She accepted without a second thought. It was a different experience from being a regular jonin, but Tomoko used the violent missions as an outlet for her emotions during the early months after she lost her husband. She eventually made it through the stages of grief and decided to take a less active role in the ANBU missions, instead serving a more supervisory role than Kishimoto had and only participating in the most dangerous and important missions. With the Winter that had arrived it allowed her more time to use her power in a benevolent and constructive way for the people of Konohagakure. She would spend her free time visiting different parts of the bunkers and Konoha to use her Kekkei Genkai and body heat to keep people warm. It was around this time that many of the children began referring to her as Aunt Tomo, as she made a deliberate effort to be as friendly and close with the children as possible. It was the best substitute for having children of her own, in her eyes. Keeping Konoha safe when she was on the clock and keeping its people warm and happy on her free time was how Aunt Tomo spent her days.
Until wartime. Her role as ANBU Captain saw that she was heavily involved in the War. While she was known as a kind and loving figure in her home, the rest of the world came to see Tomoko Sarutobi very differently. Her effective and powerful Boil Release made her a nightmare to behold. She was unaffected by the cold environments and was able to operate at full capacity while most enemies could not in the weather conditions of the Winter. She did not appreciate the horrors of war but justified her own actions by telling herself it was all for the safety and security of Konoha. Towards the end of the war, however, she reached her breaking point. When her ANBU operatives accidentally gave false information on enemy positions in the north part of the country by Kumo, Tomoko committed one of the most infamous atrocities of the entire War.
A village near the border had been taken over as an outpost and supposedly the civilians living there had been slaughtered. With this in mind Tomoko ambushed the village in the middle of the night with the intention of razing it to the ground with all the Kumo shinobi inside. Once all was said and done she discovered, to her horror, that the reports were wrong. The Kumo shinobi did not slaughter the civilians, they merely just imprisoned them. Tomoko had not only murdered dozens of enemies but also hundreds of civilians. Men, women, children. Innocent people she didn't expect to be there. And thus she broke.
She immediately resigned from her post, returning to the rank of jonin. Kishimoto allowed her to sit out what would be the last few months of the war. She did not completely resign, as Kishimoto convinced her not to, but it was a long time before she went on any missions of any kind. She spent time with Kishimoto while he was recovering from his own injuries but her presence was not as comforting or warming as it once was. The confidential information of that massacre, referred to as the Chomei Massacre based on the village it occurred in, kept the general public from knowing that their beloved Aunt Tomo was the monster who committed such an evil and heartless attack. Only those with access to the classified information would know who the perpetrator was, but Tomoko herself made sure to keep the details in the reports as discreet as possible as well as making the reports hard to find. She wanted to keep her shame and guilt as hidden as she could, but despite her efforts there are still others in other Hidden Villages that theorize she is the one who committed the Chomei Massacre.
Despite the heavy weight on her shoulders she did her best to keep a smile on her face and a friendly demeanor for the rest of Konoha's villagers. The affection she received was perhaps the only thing motivating her to not entirely give up her life as a shinobi. Instead she re-evaluated her worldview. She became more pacifist in nature, restricting herself from using her deadly ninjutsu to avoid accidentally killing anyone. Even her enemies were spared after she turned over a new leaf, preferring to capture her enemies alive rather than kill them. She still continued to spend her free time with the youth of the village all the way until the Winter finally ended.
While many were rightfully joyous to see the end of the dreaded Long Winter, Tomoko actually came to miss it. She no longer was able to use her power to provide warmth for the village. She began to feel like she was useless and would be forgotten by those whom she had helped over the years. Instead she found herself constantly being greeted by the kids and teenagers that she had previously spent many hours with over the years. She was still revered as Konoha's Aunt Tomo. Even the parents of many of these kids would also refer to her as such. While this made Tomoko feel loved and needed she has come to find that there was still a hole in her heart. She still had no family of her own and she was still being eaten by the guilt and stress of her past. She couldn't find it in her heart to even court any suitors, remaining a widow with no intention of changing that. Though Aunt Tomo is still beloved by her people she has slowly been falling into a depression. Kept well hidden under her kind and warm personality, it has been growing worse over time. Her smile hides her sadness and pain but she worries what will happen if she can no longer smile. If she can no longer handle her emotions. She knows very well what she is capable of and would hate herself if something ever happened again. She worries that one day another accident will occur and her village will come to hate her. With Mawari as the new Hokage she wasn't owed any favors from the administration. Any mistakes she would make on a mission would be difficult to cover up. For this reason she has been accepting even less missions than before, claiming that her reasoning is that she is considering retiring. Though that isn't necessarily a lie it is good enough to keep most from pressing further for the whole truth. But Tomoko worries that should she actually retire that having nothing to do may be even worse for her mental health. Thus she has remained on the fence on what to do with her life.
| Ｆａｍｉｌｙ ｂｉｏｇｒａｐｈｙ: |
The Sarutobi Clan
Which were one of the founding clans of the Hidden Leaf, they grew into a powerful clan by adopting other, smaller clans under their banner, making the clan a haven for a lot of people from all over the Land Of Fire, all whom share the same ideology – the belief in the Will Of Fire.. | Ｆａｍｉｌｙ ｔｉｅｓ: |
Sarutobi Kaoru | Father | 68 (deceased), former Konoha jonin and friend of the First Hokage
Sarutobi Chihori | Mother | 72, retired Konoha jonin
Hyuuga Satoshi | Husband | 34 (deceased), former Konoha jonin and side branch member of the Hyuuga clan
| Ｄｒｅａｍｓ ａｎｄ ｆｅａｒｓ: |
Tomoko cares greatly about the welfare of Konohagakure. The well-being and safety of its inhabitants is a top priority and as such she fears another war taking the village's peace of mind. She also fears that she may be considered evil or a monster, which leads to her lax pacifism. Her dreams are more sparse than her fears, as her dream of having a family has already been dashed. Perhaps her one hope left would be keeping the peace, but if anyone were to ask Tomoko what she wants she wouldn't have an answer.
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Combat Reports
From detailed reports from previous missions and academy sparring matches“Do you really want to go down this path?”| Ｆｉｇｈｔｉｎｇ ｓｔｙｌｅ: |
Tomoko relies very heavily on her Kekkei Genkai in combat, utilizing her Boil Release in versatile and lethal ways. From long range to close combat she excels in keeping pressure on her opponents through aggressive action. Her defenses rely largely on avoiding attacks through speed and discouraging tactical movements through area denial, forcing opponents to take her from range where she can reliably dodge most attacks. Enemies can only fight her close-quarters when she allows them but even then she ensures she has an environmental advantage on top of her own enhanced capabilities. She essentially enforces a "killzone" to operate from safely, as she is immune to her own steam's effects and can abuse that. Tomoko is a brutal and punishing warrior when she chooses to be but is forced to play a secondary role when in the presence of allies, due to the non-discriminatory nature of her most effective techniques. But when the situations arise she will butcher entire hordes of enemies with a hint of sadness in her expression.
| Ｋｅｋｋｅｉ ｇｅｎｋａｉ － ｂｌｏｏｄｌｉｎｅ ｌｉｍｉｔ: |
Ｋｅｋｋｅｉ ｇｅｎｋａｉ ｎａｍｅＤｅｓｃｒｉｐｔｉｏｎThe user can create incredibly hot and corrosive steam by mixing Fire and Water chakra. This steam can take different properties and vary in temperature, but is difficult to control the dimensions of the steam once it begins to spread. Likewise it can harm allies just as easily as enemies so it is not suited to team play, though Tomoko has the sense to be more tame in her techniques as the situation requires. A passive effect of this Kekkei Genkai is that Tomoko has an unusually high core body temperature though she suffers no ill effects from this change in her physiology.
ＳｔｒｅｎｇｔｈｓThe wide area coverage capabilities and sheer power make it very easy to bypass or destroy the defenses of her enemies. Even steel is melted with ease when in contact with the steam. The physical boosts that Tomoko can give herself also make her a powerhouse with controlled bursts, making her even more dangerous in close quarters than at range. All the while her body itself can burn hot enough to injure anyone who actually touches her, though not as badly as the steam surrounding her would burn them just for getting close. The slightest contact with Tomoko's steam is enough to hospitalize a victim, being fully engulfed by it is immediately fatal. Tomoko herself is immune to these deadly effects and can use that to her advantage, often creating a "killzone" and operating from within that during combat for her own safety.
ＷｅａｋｎｅｓｓｅｓThe biggest weakness of Boil Release would be Wind techniques, as they can hinder the steam and create openings in Tomoko's wide area coverage. As well the steam itself isn't exactly slow to spread but any shinobi worth their salt can outrun the steam before it reaches them, which would be infinitely wiser than attempting to defend from it and far easier to actually accomplish.
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Ａ ｒａｎｋ ｔｅｃｈｎｉｑｕｅｓ Ｂ ｒａｎｋ ｔｅｃｈｎｉｑｕｅｓＣ ｒａｎｋ ｔｅｃｈｎｉｑｕｅｓＤ ｒａｎｋ ｔｅｃｈｎｉｑｕｅｓＥ ｒａｎｋ ｔｅｃｈｎｉｑｕｅｓAll Academy Techniques
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Ｊｕｔｓｕ ｎａｍｅ Boil Release: Clouded Bubble Technique
ＲａｎｋA
ＲａｎｇｅLong
ＤｅｓｃｒｉｐｔｉｏｎUnder most circumstances the steam of Boil Release techniques can't spread very quickly or ultimately reach long distances. Tomoko has instead opted to create a technique to improve the range and utility of her Kekkei Genkai. The Clouded Bubble Technique creates large bubbles from Tomoko's mouth that are filled with the corrosive steam. As it is contained within the bubble it does not spread until the bubble is popped, in which case the steam explodes outwards very quickly before slowing down to its usual speed. The initial explosion radius of each bubble is approximately five meters before the steam slows down, but being within the initial five meters is guaranteed death. But while the bubble is intact it can move very quickly. Tomoko can launch these at enemies, allowing her to attack enemies at long range. She can even control the bubbles mid-flight to home in on certain targets. The bubbles themselves are actually relatively strong, requiring puncturing attacks to be popped by anyone other than Tomoko. This also means that those (with balls of steel) can touch the bubbles themselves or with weak attacks and avoid rupturing them. Non-piercing Wind techniques can affect the flight path of these bubbles but as Tomoko still has control over them it doesn't affect them enough to entirely prevent a bubble from reaching proximity to its target. Worth noting is that this technique is chakra efficient, meaning she can use it repeatedly at surprisingly little cost. Spamming this technique would obviously begin to add up but with a bit of self control she can get a lot of mileage out of these in a fight.
Ｊｕｔｓｕ ｎａｍｅ Boil Release: Purging Heaven
ＲａｎｋS
ＲａｎｇｅLong
ＤｅｓｃｒｉｐｔｉｏｎEssentially the use of many Boil Release: Clouded Bubble Techniques. Tomoko spews many bubbles filled with her corrosive steam straight into the air, where they disperse out above the target area. Once in position they will then descend back to earth, where they will all pop at the same time once they are a few meters from touching the ground. This is used to cover a large area in a very short amount of time, allowing Tomoko to melt an entire area along with everyone and everything inside it. It is most effectively used under low visibility conditions for a surprise attack, as it is noiseless and the bubbles will be difficult to see. Though realistically the stealth isn't needed as most shinobi have no means to guard from this nor have the capability to escape its range in time. This technique is akin to a weapon of mass destruction and its use weighs heavily on Tomoko's conscience. She can just threaten the use of this attack as an ultimatum to coerce her enemies into surrendering to avoid annihilation. The chakra cost for this technique isn't even particularly cumbersome, though it is taxing enough to where Tomoko wouldn't want to use it after spamming ninjutsu. The only thing keeping her from using this technique to deal with any enemy is her own sense of morality.
Ｊｕｔｓｕ ｎａｍｅ Boil Release: Burning Passion
ＲａｎｋC
ＲａｎｇｅClose
ＤｅｓｃｒｉｐｔｉｏｎBy heating the chakra in her body to an extreme degree, Tomoko can superheat the air around her. This is objectively less effective and powerful than her Boil Release: Skilled Mist Technique, as the heat will severely hinder nearby enemies but will not damage them unless they have prolonged exposure, but serves alternate purposes outside of combat. She can tone down the heat and basically serve as a radiator, providing heat to nearby allies and keeping them warm, or she can dial it up and use extreme heat to melt snow and evaporate water nearby without setting anything on fire or damaging anything else in the environment too much. This technique has seen less usage after the Long Winter had ended but her benevolent usage of it helped earn her fame as Aunt Tomo.
Ｊｕｔｓｕ ｎａｍｅ Boil Release: Boiling Technique
ＲａｎｋC
ＲａｎｇｅMedium
ＤｅｓｃｒｉｐｔｉｏｎSimple in design, effective in use. Tomoko can heat existing sources of water in her area, making them reach their boiling point within seconds. This is often used in conjunction with water techniques to increase the damage potential by making the water scald her enemies on contact. While theoretically Tomoko can heat the water even further she would see no benefit in doing so as that would just evaporate the water very quickly and be very useless. Boiling is more than hot enough to hospitalize her enemies with relative ease.
Ｊｕｔｓｕ ｎａｍｅ Boil Release: Sprung Trap
ＲａｎｋB
ＲａｎｇｅShort
ＤｅｓｃｒｉｐｔｉｏｎTomoko's counter to Wind users. She imbues her corrosive steam into seals on the ground or other objects with either her hands or her feet, setting traps that will later eject that steam when activated. The jet of steam is brief, as it will quickly destroy the surface it was sealed on and thus destroy the seal, but the seals are small and hard to see if one isn't looking for them. When faced with a proficient Wind user Tomoko will place many of these around the battlefield during the fight and activate them once she lures the enemy within range of one of them. This is less effective against non-Wind users than simply using her wider ranged techniques and is arguably less cost effective as she has to also use chakra to make the seals themselves, thus why it is generally used as a means of defending herself from her only natural counter. Once the Wind users have been eliminated by surprise attacks then she is usually free to melt the entire battlefield as she pleases.
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Ｗｅａｐｏｎ ｎａｍｅ Dual Ninjatos
Ｗｅａｐｏｎ， ｔｏｏｌ， ｏｒ ｏｂｊｅｃｔ ｔｙｐｅSwords
ＤｅｓｃｒｉｐｔｉｏｎTwo straight-edge shortswords that are small enough to be wielded with one hand or with two for extra power. Though they are of fine quality they do not see much use from Tomoko as she is liable to accidentally melt them, which wouldn't be the first time she has disarmed herself. They do see use when she isn't heavily using her Boil Release, such as training or low-effort combat scenarios.
