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The Muto family has a long and prestigious history in Tsuchi no kuni. Originating in a village whose name has long been forgotten. The family was forced from their homes during a war or a squabble, the history is not to accurate. The traveled for many weeks eventually coming upon Iwagakure shinobi escorting some important person at that time. Being master smiths of weapons and craftsman, the Muto family offered their services for protection. The escorts brought the family to Iwagakure where they made their desperate plea for safety and security and in return they would work to make the finest weapons Iwagakure would ever see.

The Tsuchikage moved by their story, agreed to their arrangement with one additional caveat. They would agree to enroll their children in the Academy for training in Ninja arts. The Tsuchikage believed that they would be a great asset, but at that time, shinobi were needed more than weapons. The Muto family agreed that they would send their first born daughters and sons to become shinobi and Kunoichi. With their promise of protection, the family thrived in the city becoming well respected for their wares and armaments.

For generations each first born son and/or daughter would attend the academy and the Youngsters would work the forges and shops. Soon the Muto family became renowned for making fine jewelry as well as masterly crafted weapons. However most of the shinobi sired by the Muto family were less than exquisite. Leading average lives where others attained greatness. Because of their average performance as shinobi many questions whether it was right to ask the Muto Family to continue with their decades old obligation.

A new accord was struck, stating that the Muto family would continue to supply Iwagakure with weapons and accessories and any future children would not be obligated to attend the Academy unless they or their parents wished it. Several decades later the Muto family, now well established and famous in Iwa, had no heirs in the Academy and sired no Shinobi for nearly a century. It was common for sons and daughters who held the Muto name to become smiths, shopkeepers, or traders. They were content with their role in the village.

That was until Kousuke was born. From a young age, before enrolling in the Academy he was enthralled with his protectors. He admired the Shinobi and the Tsuchikage for aspiring to greatness no matter what their childhood held. Often he would skip lessons from his father and uncle at the forge to watch the students at Iwagakures academy. He imagined himself not as a respected blacksmith or shop keeper, but attaining a rank so high that he would be remembered forever.

When he was of age, he pleaded with his parents to enroll him within the academy and they agreed to his demands. Kou was the first Muto to attend Iwagakure academy in generations.

Unfortunately for Kou, life was not as he had planned. The academy was rigorous and the training incredibly demanding. He spent nights, weeks and months training himself and conditioning his body, much to the dismay of his family who saw him as an outcast. He shrugged off his duties at the forge to study basic techniques and strategy. He spent hours training in the fields, doing laps, sit ups, and push ups to train his body and chakra.

 Despite his effort, he continued to fail at Ninjutsu and Genjutsu techniques. Even beginner ones. One particular area he excelled was Taijutsu, but he felt that hand to hand combat left him open to more injuries and in particular wasn’t fond of the style.

As his training continued, he realized that his class mates were surpassing him and before long he became down trodden. His sensei recommended a series of books to him that involved Kenjutsu. An unconventional Taijutsu style involving swords. A proper Kenjutsu Shinobi had not resided in Iwagakure for nearly three decades, but the books and scrolls still contained vital information in the instruction of how to use a sword properly. Feeling underwhelmed at the fact that the books were nearly three decades old, Kou decided to investigate the principles of sword techniques.

He read through the books with amazing speed and veracity, devouring the pages before him. The idea enthralled him, but the principles were incomplete or to advanced for him to completely use at his level of skill or his physique. However, he found the motivation in those pages to move towards his goal of becoming a Legend.

That same day when he arrived at home, he had his father begin helping him craft sets of Boken for him to practice with. Along with the traditional wooden swords he had his father fill some with metal ball bearings to weigh them down, or fit heavy metal rings in order to strengthen his arms. Finding his inspiration he continued his studies, never truly excelling in Genjutsu or Ninjutsu but passing nevertheless. He was known for his dedication and devotion to a cause even at this early age. After graduation Kou was placed in a 3 man cell with a Jonin instructor. Upon graduation his father had made him his first Muto brand Katana that he could carry into dangerous situations.

Most of the Muto family disregarded Kou as an idealist, with delusions of Grandeur. However, with the support of his father and mother, Kou was determined to succeed no matter the cost. The following week he was introduced to his teammates, Eiji and Noriko. Eiji was a genjutsu specialist and Noriko was a Ninjutsu specialist. Saburo Ueno was the Jōnin
instructor for cell 9, an accomplished and well respected Jonin.

Being a Genin was a struggle for Kou at first. He had to adapt to learning teamwork and coordination, where he had mostly relied on himself up until this Point. Saburo taught the three young genin how to adapt to situations, basics of survival and tracking down various targets. He further trained them in their various studies as long as he was able to help. Eiji and Noriko seemed to learn more from Saburo than Kou did.

Kou spent extra time learning team formations, strategy, and practicing his Kenjutsu skills with his Boken when he was able. For his first year as  a Genin, the cell hardly left the village, mainly performing simple tasks and was even assigned to track down a missing tool from his fathers shop. Kou grew restless and tired of mind numbing tasks and believed himself to be far more skilled than they were letting on, so he pleaded with his sensei to let them take on more difficult missions.

Saburo pleased with their continuing progress and decided to agree. The following year the began taking on more difficult tasks, though no actual combat was involved with most of the missions. Saburo saw the deep potential and desire of his young students to gain more experience and the sheer determination of Kou to master Kenjutsu.

 Feeling bad as he was not a proper instructor for Kou, and believed that training from books and by himself would only cause Kou to plateau early and cause him a great deal of despair. Saburo searched for an appropriate teacher for Kou while the continued to complete missions, and almost had given up hope when had heard about a Kenjutsu master living in the mountains outside of Iwagakure.

Upon finding the master, Saburo convinved him of the hidden potential of Kou and the sheer determination and asked him to take Kou as an apprentice. The old man agreed to meet with Kou and would judge his worth depending on what he saw in the boy. Saburo brought Kou to the old hermit who measured Kou and agreed to taking him as an understudy.

 Kou would remain with the old man and would be picked up by Saburo when required for missions, however he would live outside in the mountains where the old man could train him. Kou agreed and said his goodbyes to his parents and told them he would visit when he could and went to the mountains to train with the old hermit.

He would seldom come to the village and only when he needed to run errands or he was required for missions. Saburo believed the training would make him stronger, however did not consider the impact it would have on his cooperation.

Kou spent three years with the old hermit,  Kenzou Watanabe. He trained every day, and it was grueling. He spent mornings learning sword philosophy, and techniques in the evening. When he was requested for a mission, Saburo would sent a message a few days ahead of time and Kou would meet up with his team at a point. Kenzou wished to be left in peace for the most part, and did not want every other slacker with a sword showing up at his cave wanting to learn the sword.

As it turns out Kenzou Watanabe was the last great Kenjutsu Master in Iwagakure, and his services had been in high demand for the Daimyo as a body guard up until his family was slaughtered by bandits. Kou felt sympathetic towards Kenzou, as the old man had spent his life serving others and lost everything important to him. Around this time Kou vowed to not let his comrades come to harm no matter the cost to himself.

The three years seemed to pass by quickly, and before long Kou's team had been elected to take part in the Chunin exams. Kenzou had seeen Kou become an able bodied young apprentice and gave him his personal blessing, and even his personal katana to compete with. Under the condition that he must win and become a Chunin, otherwise he wouldn't have a place to return to. Kenzou was like that, he wanted Kou to become well known and do well on his own merits, and seemed to be a hard ass, but cared for Kou like his own son.

The day of the exams began like any other and team 9 passed the first few phases until it came time for personal combat. Eiji and Noriko had both passed their matches onto the finals and were one step away from graduating to Chunin, however Kou faced a difficult opponent. His opponent was an impressive Ninjutsu user and the battle seemed to go back and forth for a while.

Towards the end of the match Kou made a decisive maneuver and won.  Team 9 graduated onto Chunin and Kou was rewarded for all of his hardwork for the past three years. Noriko decided to join Iwagakure's ANBU and Eiji decided he would work as a local police officer. Team 9 had come all this way, and each of the members were left with a distinct choice. Saburo suggested that Kou continue his training with Kenzou, but in order to do that he would have to get special permission.

Three months after becoming a Chunin Kou, Saburo and Kenzou appeared before the Tsuchikage and pleaded their case. It was irregular for a Chunin to be gone for such lengths, and it was almost unheard of for him to be trained by someone who had been living as a hermit for the past two decades. However, after deliberation the Tsuchikage agreed, so long as Saburo was allowed to remain at the mountain to oversee and report back on progress. The location of Kenzou would remain a secret save for those four individuals, and Kou would receive proper training.

Kenzou took Saburo and Kou deep into the mountain paths that he called home. He explained that all of the training up until now had been tantomount to Childs play and that Kou had proven himself worthy of learning true Kenjutsu from him. Every day was a fight for survival with Kenzou. He created traps, lured Kou into dangerous path ways, and caused him to become trapped beneath hundreds of pounds of rock with only a set amount of feet and time to escape. Kenzou told Kou that he would either inherit his skill or he would die here on the mountains of Tsuchi no Kuni, an unknown and unrecognized failure.  This drove Kou to beyond his breaking points several times, and often he would have to spend several days recovering from various injuries incurred while learning to survive.

Saburo who had watched Kou since he graduated the Academy became protective of him, however recognized the merits of Kenzou's dangerous and brutal training methods. Kou spent three years away from Iwagakure in the Mountains, training to achieve a level of perfection that he had set for himself. One day Saburo had been called away to assist Noriko and her ANBU unit on a mission, and that was the last Kou ever saw of his old Sensei. The Unit was ambushed by a large group of Nukenin and both Noriko and Saburo were killed in the battle.

This information was delivered to Kenzou, but he failed to tell Kou about the tragedy and the requirements to the village. Instead he only encouraged Kou in his training and felt that revealing the fate of his friends would cause untold personal misery and might destroy any confidence that Kou had in his abilities.

Several months Later, Kenzou had become very ill. He instructed Kou in his final lessons and expressed his gratitude and said Kou had been like his son. He hoped that Kou would achieve his goals and told him to live life to the fullest, and love everyone he could. His last lesson for Kou was compassion. Kou waited for Kenzou to finally pass on and laid him to rest in his caverns with both the sword Kenzou and Kou's father had given him. A sign of respect and love for the old hermit, who would lie here in an unknown tomb.

Kou traveled with his belongings to Iwagakure where he was immediately detained. Most of the village had believed that Kenzou and Kou had perished and since no message was ever returned, and so he was accused of being an impostor. Kou had been held for three weeks before his parents were allowed to confirm it was him and other procedures had been met, to make sure no genjutsu or ninjutsu were being used to make him appear like he did.

Shortly after his release he was brought before the council and the Tsuchikage by his old friend Eiji who had risen to the rank of Jōnin in the past year. Kou explained he knew nothing of his mentors passing or the attack on the ANBU patrol and the Council and Tsuchikage who were apprehensive at the time of the meeting were convinced. Kou felt a deep regret at not being able to be there for his friends in their last moments, but understood why Kenzou withheld the information from him. Kenzou had passed on all he knew to Kou and did not wish Kou to rush off to an early death. He wished for Kou to strive to be better everyday and knew his time was short.

Kou was reinstated as a Chunin and his first mission would be to track down the group of Nukenin who killed his friend and mentor. With Eiji and two dozen other Shinobi of Chunin or greater rank, the group would find the location of these criminals and bring them in dead or alive. Due to his training Kou realized that he was a master of Kenjutsu, and soon the village would recognize him for it.

Before the mission, a test was designed to address the strength of Kou who had been gone for so long. In this test he would face mental and physical trials and at the end he would spar with Several Jōnin who would gauge his strength. The trials were comparatively easy when he had experience with Kenzou as a determining factor. The Tsuchikage and attending higher ups recognized his skill with a sword and Kou earned the title of Kenjutsu Shukun. One that had not been bestowed upon a Iwagakure shinobi in several decades. After his trials Kou left with the group of shinobi to apprehend or kill the criminals ravaging the countryside of Tsuchi no Kuni. They spent weeks tracking the mob through mountain passes and villages. They had even skirmished against small groups of stragglers or those who had fallen behind.

After nearly two months of searching and tracking the group, they arrived at a heavily fortified and guarded mountainside base. It seemed to be the central location for this group which consisted not only of a band of murderous Nukenin, but mercenaries and bandits as well. The 30 or so Shinobi faced an overwhelming enemy force of around 300. Eiji who had been left in command decided to not wait for more reinforcements, despite the urging of Kou to wait. The group they faced outnumbered them, and were well fortified, where as Iwa's shinobi  force was tired, lacking supplies and several faced dehydration.

Still, Eiji was fueled by revenge and anger and decided along with the other commanders (most of whom were attached to Saburo and Noriko) to attack when nightfall came. Kou still disagreed and secretly had sent out a message to Iwagakure with their location and the plan to attack at night. He knew that reinforcements were following a half day south of them scouting behind them to make sure, but it still might not be enough.

When the sun had fully set and the torches came on inside of the fortress, Eiji gave the order to attack. Kou did as asked and flanked to the west with a group of about 7 to infiltrate and execute to avoid alerting more guards. The plan was to find the leaders of this group and take them in or out, to avoid mass casualties. One thing they did not count on was that the enemy was prepared. Kou entered the fortress to a horrific sight of three of his comrades dead and a wave of enemies pouring towards them. 

Kou used his skills to the best that he could to save as many as he could, but in the following hour only 4 others of Iwagakures shinobi remained and escape was not an option. Eiji had been mortally wounded and needed medical treatment and the other three were Chunin. Kou realized their chances were abysmal and that reinforcements would not arrive for several hours still, so he decided to gamble his life to save the others.

He challenged the leader of this group to single combat, he would offer his life and in exchange they let his comrades go free. The leader agreed, but stated that they would only be allowed to leave if Kou lost the match. If the leader were to fall, then the group of shinobi would be detained and executed. Kou had no choice but to agree to the terms, hoping to buy time.

The two men met in battle and accounts of it are still hazy, and some parts are exaggerated. However what is true is that Kou held out against the man for several hours, he suffered several wounds and as the battle drew to a close the Masked Leader had used a familiar feint and thrust a Kunai into Kou's chest near his heart. The leader of the bandits revealed himself to be Saburo, their old sensei. He explained that he saw a truth in the brutality of Kenzou's training and that only the strong and truly determined would survive in this world. He regretted having to kill so many of his country men and hoped that Noriko's and Eiji's sacrifice would be remembered when he took his growing force and conquered Iwagakure to sit as the new Tsuchikage.

Kou struggled with this revelation, and realized that Kenzou had not said anything because he suspected that Saburo was intercepting their messages since his alleged "Death". He used his remaining strength to fight on, fueled not by anger, but by determination to kill his former sensei for the atrocities he had committed under a false honor.

Kou made one last attack and fatally wounded Saburo by impaling him through the heart. Saburo regretted Kou's decision to not die quietly and mocked him, saying he would watch his friends die before the rest of group executed Kou. Kou fell to the ground unable to move any longer, and the blood loss from his chest wound and other wounds becoming to much to bear. He watched as the bandits and Nukenin prepared to kill his friends, Eiji who was still hanging on watching in regret as Kou slowly bled out.

Kou Lost consciousness and blacked out before he saw his untimely end.

However all was not lost, the reinforcements arrived before the despicable group was able to carry out its order and either captured or killed the remaining combatants in the outpost. Both Eiji and Kou were given immediate medical attention and once stable were moved to Iwagakure for further treatment.

Kou spent several months in the Hospital recovering from his wounds, and was honored with the rank of Jōnin. During his time in the hospital he also earned his nicknames which traveled from Iwa throughout the rest of the villages, as the man who stood against an army and refused to fall.

Eiji lost the use of his right arm in that final battle and retired to a school room teacher, feeling it was his fault that his men were slaughtered and in order to atone, he would spend the rest of his days training the next generation. When Kou was finally released from the Hospital, he realized how widely known he had become. Saburo's involvment in the battle was kept as a secret, and Kou was given several commendations and praise from the villagers for his hard work and achievements. He also realized that in a time of peace, there was little to do for fun, so began his career as a prankster and became fond of Sake. He also developed his personal sense of honor, and his personality even more in the following years, often visiting the old fortress to pay his respects to Saburo even though they shared different ideals, Kou still remembered him fondly.

He also made annual trips to the older cavern to have several drinks of Sake with Kenzou and to place fresh flowers.

It has been several years since that battle, but Kou believes his legend is just starting....