Template:General-Use Clan InfoboxThe Kirigakure Branch of the Yuki clan. They split from the Yuki in Yuki no Kuni and the two branches are not on good terms. Both possess the Hyoton, or Ice Release, which has made them both admired and feared.
Ideology
On the surface, the Yuki Clan would seem one that only concerns itself as a whole for beauty, as ephemeral and fragile as it might result. This results as a clever front, as while the Yuki do indeed appreciate beauty in all its forms, they are by no means the weaklings that some would take them to be and underestimating them is a grave, and possibly last, mistake the only fools would make.
All Yuki clan members are raised to be loyal to the clan, and during the early years the children that are shown to hold a level of talent are trained in the basics of what the life of a shinobi is, including the early teaching of Ninjutsu and clan techniques to those that show the gift of using the clan's priced ability. while those that do not show potential of the Elders are basically washed out and live their lives as scribes under the auspices of the Elders of the clan or serving the clan through one of the business or establishments the clan owns, essentially as second class within the clan, this classification does not carries to a child born out of a washout, that shows promise and ability. Traitors of the clan are dealt with extreme prejudice, in most cases being executed for the their transgressions, such as fleeing the village or murdering a fellow clan member, as they carry the genes and secrets of the clan within them.
The Yuki are known to be ruthless and calculating, both in battle and in politics, a trait that befits their usually cold natures with enemies and acquaintances. They are also known to take advantage of their generally striking looks, in the case of women, and their charms in the case of the men, only to further their own goals. Households are generally left to their own decisions, however they eventually bring their loyalty and respects to the principal family and to the clan leader as well.
Clan History
The history of the Yuki is one that is long and mired in myths that are difficult to separate from the truth. The earliest ancestors of the Yuki could be traced back to their ancestral homeland of Yuki no Kuni, ages before the establishment of the hidden villages of today, there among the harsh lands of eternal winter, a tribe of hunters and warriors would emerge, that unlike their main competitors would not feel fear to fight during the most brutal of storms, but in fact they would embrace it and cherish it.
It was no surprise that the tribe would eventually consolidate, and would begin to expand it's influence, taking control of the resources and making every other group bend their knees before their might. Might exemplified by the fortress-compound that they forced their conquered enemies to built in their image and magnificence.
However the legend of their power would not be built in stones nor mortar. For an eventuality would occur during the infancy of the clan. A child would be born out of one of the lowest families that conformed the clan, families that were expected to turn their children to die for the sake of the upper echelons. For while this girl was feeble like the rest of them, within her grasp, she held the seemingly god-like power to manipulate ice into any shape and form. The name of the girl would me Tsuki.
The girl would rise through the ranks. Using her abilities to become the clan leader. Yet her reign was short lived, for those of the upper echelons of the clan didn't wish her to be the leader, either out of jealousy or fear of her abilities. Yet instead of killing the girl, they would imprison her, hoping to crush the spirits of her allies by using her trapped visage. There trapped in the cells she would be fed scraps and mocked constantly.
Many of her associates would kill themselves in order to keep what was left of their dignity and honor intact. Yet she would wait and bide her time, until one day she managed to escape, being thin enough to squeeze through the bars of her cells, scaling down the cliffs below and swimming down the frigid river away from the clan compound, bowing her revenge.
For days she walked through the frozen wasteland, her body ignoring the effects of cold and frostbite, feeding from vermin, yet building her strength and refining her abilities through the years. She would find outlaws and bandits, those who had worse status than them, but were willing to fight and die for her cause, even when the odds were stacked against them.
Tsuki eventually returned, and with her return, she and her allies attacked the keep, scaling the walls and killing the usurpers who feared her might, throwing their bodies to the rivers, which legend had it ran crimson for weeks. To those that laid their arms she forgave, integrating them again to the clan but those who were her allies from her first uprising and remained alive, she condemned and executed for their cowardice to commit suicide and from there she rebuilt the clan. It was from her bloodline that the mythic and priced ability would begin to flourish and expand through the clan members, or so tells the legend.
Generations after, the Yuki clan would continue to rule unopposed. The tales of the warriors and assassins that were birth and bred within the clan expanded through the many lands, and the fear of the abilities they wielded made their services sought by many during and thus they made the war of others, another source of profit for their treasury. And so they would remain for the years to come, yet dissent would find its way to the clan once more.
For when the elderly clan leader, Yosuke, passed away and his son took his place, many would not see with keen eyes this. For they considered the young man week and unprepared, which would lead their clan to the very ruin. During the months that followed the clan would remain stable on the outside. Yet in the inside an insurrection brew, one that would explode and shake the clan to it's very foundation. It was only a matter of who would make the first move.
The son of Yosuke, Fuyuki would be the one to move first, ordering the hunters of the clan that were loyal to him seize the conspirators and have them executed. The infighting would continue as the supporters of the dissidents would still continue to rebel. Leaving the clan drained with the infighting, hoping to end the issue, Fuyuki would release the prisoners and to make amends he would marry one of the daughters of the leaders that opposed him.
In that dinner which would solidify the union of the clan, he was betrayed by those he had welcomed to the peace of the clan. Being stabbed multiple times and beheaded, his corpse paraded through the keep and the surrounding lands, his followers followed suit, being purged systematically, yet some managed to escape both the parties that would hunt them down and the doom that would tear up what remained of the clan. As while the Yuki that remained had numerous members with the fabled ability of the clan, the infighting only intensified as claimants of the throne would continue, leaving the clan weakened. So when their hold on their area weakened and they ones they oppressed rebelled, the keep and the can that had remained in Yuki no Kuni were wiped out from existence from the land of their birth
For the rest it would be a perilous journey, as the survivors of the clan would travel through the raging sea to a new land they could call home. Formed mostly by elderly, women and young children, the surviving Yuki settled on one the many islands that were part of Mizu no Kuni and slowly rebuilt, slowly made their numbers grow back and would begin to re-surge from their perceived decadence, reforming in many key aspects, yet retaining their harsh and cold nature.
It was generations later, than something would change the clan forever. As while the clan had regained much of it's old strength and reputation. However the era in which states warred, using the clans as mercenaries would come to an end. And with that an offer to form part of Mizu no Kuni own village, Kirigakure no Sato.
While many of the elders would feel that they shouldn't bow to anyone, the clan leader of the time had enough foresight to see that with the protection of other clans, they would flourish, grow and gain more power than before, leaving their past as something truly small and insignificant in comparison. With that the clan incorporated into the nascent village, along with other prominent clans as were the Sourei and the Waruichi. Along with the powerful abilities and shinobi, the clan would also create the Hunter-Nin Corps, an evolution of their own Hunter unit that had dedicated itself to hunt dissidents, traitors and cowards of the clan, which still operates to this very day under the village authority and has trong ties with the clan.
Yuki clan members would fight through the Shinobi Wars, excelling in the battlefield with their Kekkei Genkai and their prowess. During the Daimyo Civil War that plagued the country, the Yuki would remain loyal to the village and the Mizukage, supporting the leader which was one of them and helping the Mizukage to consolidate the power of the village and country during these turbulent times. Years later when disaster had struck, along with the Jinchuuki, who had released its beast, died, the Yuki would still remain strong, their word and influence still strong throughout the village.
Yet after the death of the Mizukage and the heir, the clan was left leaderless and without any apparent heir to take the reigns of the clan. As clan customs followed, the elders would convene, With several prominent members placing their names in order to be selected.
One however made the elders raise and elbow, as Fuyumi, considered to be the lowliest of all clan members presented her candidacy. While at first mocked, using her political information and manipulation she twisted the vote of the elders, making the majority vote for her as the sole leader of the clan. Those that didn't accepted her attempted to rebel, and she had her purged quickly and quietly, to cement her power over the clan.
Clan Hierarchy
At the top of the Clan, there is always the clan leader. Usually the most powerful and cunning member of the clan born out of one of the most prominent families within the Yuki, such position is hereditary, with the eldest child of the leader or a prominent apprentice, that was named as heir in the lack of a child, as the next clan leader should the current leader die or retire from active duty. In case of the latter, the leader would become an Elder.
However should the clan leader die childless and without no apparent heir appointed, the Elders will decided the next clan leader by vote, which usually entails political manipulation from the prospective clan members in order to consolidate allegiances to finally be invested as clan leader by the elders when the vote is cast.
Under the Clan Leader, there are the Elders, who advice the clan leader in the inter-village and between clans politics that they should take and also running the day to day affairs that do little to concern the clan leader. Some Elders also hold responsibilities as looking over the clan archives and the supervision of the training of prospects for the clan future, as well as managing the income and treasury of the clan.
Beneath the Elders lay the regular clan members, either the ones that are active shinobi, who undertake missions for the village, and then those who are civilians, either children that are beginning to take the first steps into the life of the shinobi or those that did not show potential to become one and instead work as a scribe under the elders or in one of the businesses or establishments that the clan operates within and out of the confines of the clan compound.
Kekkei Genkai
Hyoton
The Yuki Clan is known and feared throughout the world for the possession of Hyōton. This element created by the combination of Fūton and Suiton to create and manipulate ice into various shapes and weapons, making the element highly versatile in battle, in both offense and defense as it has being shown to be highly resistant to fire-based techniques. It is due this that the clan shows a proclivity to manifest either Fūton or Suiton at a young age.
Those with the power of Hyōton are rare, with only a handful of shinobi being born in each generation with the ability to use the element. Despite this, all carry the latent gene that leads to the ability to manifest Hyōton. meaning that even a parent that has not the ability to use the element has the possibility to sire or give birth to a child that could use it. These individuals will be able to master Fūton and Suiton accordingly.
Due their genetic adaptation, the Yuki Clan members are highly resistant to even the most extreme low temperatures and are immune to their own techniques. Additionally it has being noted that their chakra, once released causes the temperature in the vicinity to fall, to the point that it causes snow to fall in the in the vicinity. Aside of this, the user can use nearby bodies of water as an advantage for their techniques
Physically, the Yuki Clan produces members that are lithe and fast, with excellent reflexes and reactions which they take advantage in battle, often been taken as candidates for the Hunter-Nin division of the village. Yuki are good infiltrators, either using stealth or their generally using their generally good looks and charms to their advantage.