Nagao Hideki

Nagao Hideki

Nagao Hideki (秀樹長尾, Hideki Nagao) is a Jonin of the Leaf Village, and head of the village's Hideki Clan.

Background

Early Life

Nagao was born in The Village Hidden in the Leaves during the 9th Hokage's term as a member of the Sasayaki Clan. His childhood mainly revolved around playing Shogi with his fellow clansmen and hide and seek with his friends Kimi, Miki and Oku at the Leaf Village playground. Despite his poor grades and being considered lazy by his teachers at the Academy, he managed to pass the Genin exam and was handed his graduation papers by head instructor Yori at the age of twelve. 

Having graduated from the Academy, Nagao was assigned several D rank missions which ranged anywhere from helping fellow villagers find their missing pets to picking up trash from the streets of Konoha. During these years he used to tend to the memorial grounds of his clan as he developed great respect for those fallen in the ninja wars.

As time passed, he gradually moved to C and B rank missions during which he helped the Leaf Medical Corps develop various medicines for fellow Leaf shinobi and worked as a spy gathering intelligence on the movements of Sand and Mist village forces. He also developed an interest in the history and inner workings of the shinobi world, so he started to document his findings during missions in various journals, which later became the foundation of the Hideki Clan's Archive.

Due to the stress which came with covert missions, Nagao developed the habit of smoking as a way to calm his nerves and soon became known as a ninja who has a cigarette hanging out of his mouth at any given time of the day.

Land of Toads

During his years of adolescence he embarked on a journey to the Land of Toads as a representative of the Leaf village to aid the Great Toad Sage in resolving an argument between his rebellious son Kiritomo and the villagers of the Land.

In order to defeat Kiritomo, Nagao had to get into the good graces of the villagers first and as he resolved arguments between Satomo and Yoshitomo, ran errands for Hoshitomo and defeated natural enemies of the toads on the behest of Momotomo, he developed a special bond with a toad by the name of Gamakero who was tasked with guiding him around the Land of Toads by Toad Sage Hitsutomo. As they grew closer, Gamakero offered Nagao a summoning contract and decided to sign it in order to become his personal summon.

Before he would face the Great Toad Sage's rebel son, Nagao was trained in the art of Frog Kata at the Toad Dojo by Taitomo, who later taught him Senjutsu as well. Having completed his training, he took on Kiritomo in the well of Toad Village and emerged victorious. After the fight he was summoned before the Great Toad Sage again who, as a sign of respect, granted him the title: "Hero of the Toads" and allowed Gamakero to accompany him to the Leaf Village. 

Chunin Exams

In the early days of the 10th Hokage’s term Nagao decided to take his first chunin exam, during which his team made it into the Forest of Death stage, but got eliminated due to him making the wrong call as team leader. The events of the chunin exam and the fact that his carelessness endangered the lives of his fellow teammates made Nagao swear to never make a wrong call again.

The Foundation

As he entered adulthood, Nagao founded the Hideki Clan as a branch family of the Sasayaki Clan, to which he recruited a younger generation of Sasayaki and took in two orphans who resettled to Konoha from Sunagakure.

Having returned from a mission in the Village Hidden in the Mist, Nagao had been approached by a masked individual, a shinobi who offered him a position in Zaidan, an organization known to some only as 'the Foundation'.

During his time in Zaidan he realized the importance of team-work and became protective of his comrades, especially after a mission where his team had been tasked with defeating the Kuraken, a giant squid which has been wreaking havoc upon the sailors of the Land of Water. It took several hours to defeat the beast and Nagao and his teammates - having to channel chakra in their feet as they were fighting on the ocean - grew tired as the fight progressed. After the last tentacle had been slain, Nagao collapsed into the ocean but was saved by his teammates who dressed him up as a civillian and left him in the care of the sailor who transports people from the Land of Water to the Land of Fire to recuperate, while they returned to the Leaf to report. As the ship anchored in Asoki Port Nagao thanked the sailor for his kindness and made his way home to the Leaf disguised as a civilian.    

The incident made Nagao realize that it would take hard work and a rigorous training schedule for him to keep up with his teammates in the organization, so he approached the leader of Zaidan for further training, which resulted in him becoming more proficient in the use of Fire ninjutsu. It was also during his years at the Foundation that he learned to control his secondary chakra nature next to fire - earth.

Academy Assistant (Senior Genin)

During his time-off, Nagao liked to spend time at the Academy where he frequently looked after Academy students by giving them tips on how to successfully pass their Genin exam. This has caught the eye of the Leaf Academy's head instructor, who offered him a position as an assistant, which he gladly accepted and began to teach classes on Geography and History.

During one of his classes Nagao happened to refer to himself as a Senior Genin since he still held the rank of Genin by the time others of his former class made Chunin or Jonin. The nickname soon spread among the villagers and even made it to other ninja villages earning Nagao the moniker "Senior Genin of the Leaf" all across the ninja world. He originally despised the nickname, but as time progressed he slowly began to embrace it, eventually wearing the title with pride rather than shame. 

12 Guardian Ninja

Having learned from his mistakes as a leader in the past, Nagao kept training with his fellow villagers while working as an Assistant Instructor at the Konoha Academy and going on a few last covert missions with The Foundation, which was disbanded not long after. 

He was eventually approached by an envoy of the Land of Fire's Daimyo and joined the 12 Guardian Ninja with a handful of his fellow villagers for a few years before returning to Konoha to take up active military duty as an officer of the Leaf's Military Police Force. He has kept the cloth, with the kanji "Hi" for "Fire" he wore during his time as a Guardian, as a memento but does not like to wear it in public.

Leaf Military Police Force

During the terms of the 11th and 12th Hokage, Nagao was serving as an active member of the LMPF, rising through the ranks of Captain and Colonel, eventually reaching the rank of Co-Chief under Chief Hari Nogin. Having served in the LMPF for a few years, Nagao decided to retire from the Police Force and settled into a small home in Konoha's Housing Disctrict with the Hideki Clan.  

Promotion to Chunin

Nagao's team (Team 7), consisting of Kiroku Hinode and Daftzy, entered the Chunin Exams once again during the 13th Hokage's term, where they have successfully completed the theoretical part and found themselves in the Forest of Death once again. This time however things would be different as with the aid of another team they would successfully acquire an Earth Scroll to their Heaven Scroll.

On their way to the tower in the middle of the forest Team 7 have encountered members of the Akatsuki who have infiltrated the Chunin Exams to look for the two Jinchuriki who resided in the Hidden Leaf. The team took the high ground and leaped over the Akatsuki, making their way to the tower, thus completing the mission, as Leaf Jonin and the Hokage pressed the Akatsuki into retreat. Having earned their right to compete in the finals, Nagao's team watched other teams fight for a chance to make it into the Tournament from the railings of the Arena where the Preliminaries were held. 

During the finals his team went up against much stronger opponents and Nagao got caught in a genjutsu by the time the fight started. He eventually released the genjutsu and resumed the fight but it was too late, as his teammates have already made their last stand against the rival team, which had them cornered. Nagao did the most sensible thing in order to protect his comrades and surrendered to the opposing team to prevent any further injuries. Although defeated, Team 7 were proud to have made it this far in the Exam and congratulated the winning team before they went to see the Medical Nin to get patched up. Team 7 would watch the rest of the Exam from the stands of the Arena. 

A few weeks later Nagao received a message from the 13th Hokage, who has summoned him and a few others who attended the Chunin Exams to his office. On that day he was promoted to Chunin alongside 4 other Leaf Ninja due to him choosing defeat rather than risking the lives of his fellow shinobi during the finals. Nagao finally felt like he had finally redeemed his old self who let down his comrades in the Forest of Death so long ago and was eager to start his new job at the Academy as a full-fledged Instructor.

Promotion to Jonin

During the 14th Hokage's term Nagao has been assigned a team of his own consisting of 3 Genin ranked ninja. Team Nagao has been on several D and C-rank missions before being deemed fit to take the Chunin exams, during which Nagao proctored the theoretical part. The team successfully made it past the Forest of Death stage but were eliminated during the Preliminaries.

Despite not having made it into the finals, one member of the team has been promoted to the rank of Chunin, while Nagao has been granted the rank of Jonin for his work at the Leaf Village Academy and successfully leading a team of Genin into the Chunin Exams. Not long after his promotion to Jonin he has also been assigned the position of "Head Instructor of the Leaf Academy".

Land of Iron

One chain of missions which Nagao will rarely talk about are those that took place in the Land of Iron.
What seemed to be a highly dangerous but short mission in the village beneath the Iron Tower has turned into a months long series of tasks which took a toll on Nagao's health as the barren land covered with snow ran red with blood and fights were almost constant.

Having helped the villagers obtain supplies such as fur and food to make it through the long winter, he alone embarked beneath the Iron Tower to face the forces of the tyrannical General Nobu and Admiral Mitsuhide, who took control of the fortress and surrounding lands. He massacred hundreds of samurai to obtain iron pieces, which the villagers used to make weapons out of to aid their rebellion, and he might have succumbed to darkness were it not for Master Zen and his teachings.

Nagao learned that despite all the mindless killing of obedient samurai who would never change allegiance, there has been some good he has done during his time in the Land of Iron, such as saving Grandpa Iroh from imprisonment and cerain death by the blade and reuniting Hideyoshi, one of the elders of the village, with his grandson Saburo who served at the armory of the Samurai. During his time at the Rebel Encampment Nagao took up witing Zen poetry in the form of Haiku as a way of therapy and coping.

Having shed so much blood on his own, he was ready to face General Nobu and Admiral Mitsuhide by himself. Just as he was about to enter the Iron Tower he was stopped by familiar voices of the next generation of shinobi who grew up under his tutelage and who have been sent to reinforce him in his mission. They entered the tower together and having fought their way through waves and waves of samurai, they finally made it to the chambers of General Nobu and Admiral Mitsuhide.

The fighting echoed throughout the now empty tower and before the final blow was struck the Admiral proclaimed his invincibility but was quickly taken aback by the arrival of the villagers he had abused for so long. As the villagers closed in on Mitsuhide, striking one after another, Nagao flickered behind the Admiral and struck him down, ending the tyrannical reign of the Samurai over the Land of Iron.

Having returned to the Rebel Encampment, Chief Uzan expressed eternal gratitude towards Nagao as he bestowed upon him the title of "Rebel" and gifted him a traditional Land of Iron Robe, a warm winter coat to keep him safe on the journey home. Nagao journeyed for many months and reached the Leaf Village in spring just as the cherry trees began to blossom, which for him at least, symbolized a new chapter in his life.

Leaf Village Council  

After the events in the Land of Iron, Nagao decided to take some time off in order to reflect on his life as a shinobi and write poetry. He took time to reorganize the Hideki Archives, wrote volumes of Haiku which he never published, and started writing his autobiography with the intent for it to get added to the Archives when his life comes to an end. 

During his time alone, he realized that he was well past his prime, and although still a capable fighter and a Jonin level threat, it was time to retire from the battlefield and let the new generation of shinobi take over and prove their worth in combat. During election year in the Leaf Village, Nagao decided to run for the postition of Council Member in order to help advise the future Hokage and help run the village, which has seen better days.

He got elected alongside his former student Daftzy and a Jonin called Argalo and the trio quickly got to work discussing who to elect as the new Hokage. After the election of the 15th Hokage, Nagao and the rest of the government held the inaguration ceremony at the Leaf Village's Chunin Exams Arena and as they took their seats at the Council table, they all knew that a new era has dawned upon the Leaf.

Retirement

Having served his term as a Leaf Village Council, Nagao decided that it was time to settle down and let a new generation of Shinobi take over. As of now he is a retired Jonin of the village who spends most of his days catching up on all the things he never had the chance to do during his time of active service.  

Personality

Although he tries to do as little work as possible and is therefore considered lazy and unattentive by some, Nagao often goes to great lenghts when it comes to things he is personally invested in. Even though he often describes himself as "the number one coward" he is a highly optimistic shinobi with a strong resolve who always tries to maintain great determination and understanding even during the most depressing and dangerous situations.

During his time off, he likes to watch the village from the Temple, play shogi with his fellow clansmen and relax at the Leaf Village Hotsprings, which is one of the many ways he lets off steam built up during missions, apart from tending to the trees in the Sasayaki Clan Forest or having a few drinks with his comrades in the village inn.

Although having matured throughout the years, Nagao still tends to cling to his lazy origins and though he can't spend his entire day being idle, he at least tries to avoid any long-term goals and tries not to find too much pleasure in the duties assigned to him.

Appearance

Nagao's most noticable feature is a permanent scar on his right eye, a result of an accident dating back to his Academy days, where a fellow student's shuriken slipped mid-throw and got lodged into Nagao's right eye just as he removed his own projectiles from the training log. The fact that he survived the accident was considered a miracle even by the doctors and nurses of the Leaf Medical Corps, who patched him up and kept him under intensive care for a month. It was during this time, that he understood the importance of medical staff and found great respect for the people that saved his life. 

Like many of his fellow clansmen he wears his dark brown hair tied up into a spiky ponytail and is usually dressed in Jonin attire: A Leaf flak jacket over a black turtle neck shirt with black baggy pants and black shoes. He is more often than not seen smoking on a cigarette and wearing a light-brown waist utility pouch. At home he usually wears a netted shirt and black baggy pants.

Ninjutsu

Nagao's nature transformations include Fire and Earth Release, which allows him to switch between agressive and defensive fighting styles during battle. He is also proficient in utilizing the Cloak of Invisibility Technique and the Summoning Jutsu.

Ninja Info Card