Yang Ping-An

Name: Yang Ping-An (楊平安)

Nickname: Ping

Meaning: Peace

Age: 13-14 (Part I) / 17-18 (Part II)

Sex: Female

Height: 5’3 (Part 1) / 5’5 (Part II)

Chakra Nature: None – she was born with unusual, “corrupted” chakra that is both limiting and advantageous, but she will never be able to learn nature transformation

Rank: Genin and then Chunin (Part I) / Chunin (Part II)

Team: Saruwatari Hayate, Choi Eun-Ah and Kahn Temujin; “The Shinobi Outsiders”

Alliance: "Center Country", Hasugakure, Konohagakure, and Allied Shinobi Forces

Personality: Upon initial encounter, Ping-An has a tendency of coming off cold or rude. She doesn’t speak unless she finds it necessary, and her humor consists primarily of sarcasm. In fact, she expresses affection for others by playful teasing. She is surprisingly extroverted: she greatly enjoys the company of others and is easily intrigued by new people. She is also very loyal and supportive of her friends, although her support may come in the form of blunt and sometimes hurtful advice. Ping is rather logical, usually very calm, and expresses minimal. Of all the emotions, she expresses annoyance and anger the most clearly. Ping has a deep love for fighting—but it is not a delight in conflict so much as a belief that fighting can be an artful sport. Thus, she is eager to challenge others and she trains often. Additionally, Ping is ambitious and competitive.

Hasugakure: Ping-An’s parents immigrated to this village before her birth. Hasugakure means Village Hidden in the Lotus, and it was a small village that existed briefly in the Land of Water. Hasugakure was founded by Kisetsu Hana, a kunoichi from Kirigiakure—or Village Hidden in the Mist—who had grown exhausted with the endless violence of missions and even the endless violence within her village. Since childhood, Hana had always dreamed of a shinobi world that cared more for peace than for vengeful or oppressive power. Though ridiculed, she miraculously gained a supportive following as she reached adulthood, and this small group of dissatisfied shinobi decided to found a new village upon these hopeful visions. They decided to begin their process of advocating for a better world by cultivating shinobi with tender hearts: shinobi who would treat peace as their primary goal, cherish lives, and treat their techniques like art forms. As a significant first step, Hana picked a sizeable portion of land and—with the help of others—nurtured a garden of lotuses that spanned several fields. Thus, the village was named Hasugakure and Hana was appointed Kabenkage.

Much to everyone’s surprise, Hasugakure managed to grow. It was a village that accepted many foreigners, ragtag bands, weaklings, and even strong shinobi with big dreams. Also much to everyone’s surprise, many Hasugakure shinobi became powerful in their own right. Although it was unfortunate that the village suffered frequent raids from surrounding rogues and shinobis, it consequently helped contribute to the strength of their fighters. It wasn’t long until the little flowery village had blossomed into a force to be reckoned with.

Sadly, this beautiful dream did not last forever. Well into Hana’s late years, Hasugakure was attacked. The perpetuator and reason has not been concretely identified, but it is speculated that it was either Otogakure—Village Hidden in the Sound—or Kirigakure. It is said that Orochimaru had wreaked havoc in order to obtain extraordinary shinobi of the village. It is also said that Hana had enemies in Kirigakure who had been plotting destroy the village for years. And finally, other rumors believe that Hasugakure brought embarrassment and shame to the Land of Water and that Kirigakure forces were hired to take it down. It was most likely an attack that was brought about by many alliances, and it may have been all of those reasons combined.

Regardless, Hasugakure crumbled in flames. Many died, but some managed to escape to other villages. Kisetsu Hana disappeared—but her body was never found. It is rumored and highly likely that she has become a rogue ninja who wanders the countries.

History: As clearly indicated by her foreign name, Ping-An is not Japanese. Her parents immigrated to the shinobi countries before she was born. They are from a nation not too well known, but in direct translation it is called "Center Country". Hasugakure immediately accepted these outsiders since it was village devoted to peace. Ping-An is named after the ideals of the village that her parents soon adopted.

Though she has never been to her parents’ homeland—since it is very far and thus difficult to return—she protects and takes deep pride in the culture of her heritage. She has also very basic knowledge of the language of her parents, and can manage simple conversational dialogue.

Two primary themes would come to define Ping’s life: her foreignness and her health. As the child of an immigrant, she was subject to bullying and alienation—even though she did make friends and play often, the discrimination was constant. Eventually, she would turn her differences into reasons for working hard, and she began shinobi training at an early age.

As soon as she began her training, she fell sick. For years she was perpetually sick, and it was soon discovered that this was related to the nature of her chakra. For some reason, Ping was born with unnatural chakra that was soon deemed “corrupted chakra” because of its strange behavior and black color. This corrupted chakra flowed oddly, which stressed her body and caused physical sickness; and sometimes, it would unexpectedly lash out and burn others. This was not altogether unexpected, because unusual chakra occasionally occurred in her family history. For example, her parents were strictly sword fighters because their chakra did not cooperate well. Still, Ping’s condition deeply distressed her parents—it seemed her chakra was especially dangerous.

They begged the Kabenkage for help. Hana managed to find a Hasu-nin skilled in fuinjutsu who was able to design a seal: it prevented Ping’s chakra from exploding and pushed the chakra to flow correctly. Her chakra still continued to behave oddly, but it no longer endangered the child. The Hasu-nin quickly became friends with Ping’s parents. The Hasu-nin’s daughter, Eun-Ah, spent childhood with Ping and they would later become teammates and best friends.

Ping-An’s chakra still occasionally caused weakness and sickness, but she was a determined girl. Training intensively and learning voraciously, she desired to become stronger and stronger to beat health conditions and to surpass expectations; Ping despised being underestimated. Her hard work paid off and she eventually learned how to use the unusual chakra advantageously. Ping-An learned sword art from her parents, and her katana eventually turned into a tool that helped her channel her chakra better.

Ping-An became a Genin at the standard age and grew close to her teammates: Choi Eun-Ah and Kahn Temujin. Since they all happened to be children of foreign parents, they were jokingly deemed “The Shinobi Outsiders” team. However, since the three of them bore this name with pride, it became a regular nickname. They were led by Saruwatari Hayate.

The Outsiders were considered troublemakers, partly as unconscious discrimination against their foreignness and partly because they were truly difficult. All three experienced alienation and bullying as children, which pushed them to become rough. Also, Ping and Temujin’s competitive personalities often resulted in arguments or physical fights with other students. Consequently, Hayate frequently found himself in situations where he needed to intervene. Though not much older, he became a father figure to them. Beyond concerning himself with their fighting prowess, he tried to care for their hearts.  The Outsiders grew so close that they became like family; as such, they were able to push each other in their respective abilities until they became well-respected fighters. This is another reason that Ping loves battle—it was one of the primary ways she proved her worth.

The Chunin Exams in Konoha proved to be more difficult for them than they would have liked, but they managed to pass. During this time they encountered a few teams. By happenstance, Temujin and Sasuke accidentally bumped into each other on their way to the Forest of Death; some rough words were exchanged, but nothing came of it. The Outsiders randomly encountered Team Gai before the exams and then briefly trained with them. This initiated the very beginnings of friendship and marked Neji upon Ping’s memory. He defeated her during a friendly spar, and she would later admit to harboring a small crush on him at the time.

Years later, when they were sixteen, Hasu was set on fire. Team Outsiders battled with unidentified shinobi and almost burned with their village, but Hayate jumped in to fend them off. Though the three of them tried to stay with their sensei, Hayate yelled at them to run. Obediently, they managed to escape and flee to Konoha, but they would regret that moment for years to come. Once in Konoha, they spent months mourning the loss of their home, their family, their sensei, and their friends.

They vowed never to forget their home, so the three of them tattooed Hasu’s symbol on their arms. Eventually, they emerged from their mourning, befriended the Konoha teams, and built new lives. The Outsiders naturally gravitated towards Team Gai and became close to them. Ping also developed strong feelings for Neji. Thus, the strangers from Hasu began their involvement with Konoha.

Weapons: A katana and her chakra

Techniques: On a basic level, Ping-An uses her katana and chakra for hand-to-hand combat. She simultaneously manages her difficult chakra flow and strengthens her katana by connecting the two for combat—she lights her blade ablaze with corrupted chakra. One of the unusual characteristics of her chakra is that it burns like fire, and she utilizes this to her advantage.

Kuro Bunshin no Jutsu (Black Clone Jutsu)
As the name states: they are clones created from Ping’s unusual chakra.

Kage Gufuu no Jutsu (Shadow Typhoon Jutsu)
Ping manipulates her chakra to act like wind, and spins a storm around her opponents; this causes burns and gashes.

Kage Dageki (Shadow Damage/Strike)
She lights her feet, fists, and sword ablaze with chakra and then fights; this causes burns along with other typical hand-to-hand combat damages.

Hasu Hanabi no Jutsu (Lotus Fireworks Jutsu)
Ping shoots out blasts of corrupted chakra; upon touching an opponent, it explodes in flower-like formations.