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Yakushiji Tenzen
Name: Yakushiji Tenzen (last name, first name)
Series: Basilisk / Basilisk: Kouga Ninpou Chou. Anime!verse.
"Real" Name: Hayami Sho
Age: 214 years old, but looks no older than 30.
Main language: Japanese
Second Language(s): N/A
Timeline: Anime-verse, half-way episode 17. After getting killed by Hyoma, and left somewhere in the field by Saemon after impersonating him, but before he revives and heads for the inn where the remaining Iga are staying.
Roomnumber: M98
Roommate: Alfred Pennyworth
Tenzen’s well-built and in shape, considering he’s a ninja. He’s tall and muscled. His hair is black and reaches somewhere on his back, though two strands on each side stand out a little more than the rest. His eyebrows stand out, considering they grow a little upwards at the middle of his face. Finally, he has a growth on each ear. That’s basically his parasitic symbiote when it isn’t active. They are actually two eyes, but they are closed, which makes them appear as growths.
During the late 1500s the two rivalling ninja clans - Tsubagakure of Iga and Manjadani of Kouga - are engaged in a blood feud that spans 400 years. The fighting finally ends when the 1st Hattori Hanzo enforced a peace treaty. Regardless, both clans remained hostile to one another.
Fast forward to 1614; the start of Basilisk. High Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu has retired from power and in order to determine which of his grandsons will be the next Shogun, 10 elite ninja of each clan must fight to the death. Each clan will represent one of the two factions representing Ieyasu’s grandsons. The clan that slays the ten of the other clan will be given favour for thousand years while the grandson they represent will be the heir. Ten ninja’s from each clan are chosen to fight one another. Their names are listed upon two identical scrolls, and their names should be marked out in blood.
Tenzen is one of the ten representing the Iga. He was born about 200 years before the start of the story. His mother was an Iga woman while his father was of the Kouga. However, his father had turned on and murdered his pregnant mother and carved the baby – Tenzen – from her womb. Tenzen was to be raised as a Kouga ninja, but later switched to the Iga in order to take revenge for his mother’s murder. He is born with a parasite living in his body, which is in fact the ghost of his mother and is responsible for his regenerative power. In any case, for the sake of revenge he has played and manipulated both clans against one another in order to get his revenge. Before the start of the story, at the end of the Tensho era, the Iga had been attacked by the Kouga working together with another party called Oda. If this hadn’t happened, Ogen and Danjou’s love would have been accepted. By doing this, the hatred between both clans remained, which was exactly Tenzen’s goal. He was responsible for this to happen.
At some point later on ninja Chikuma Koshirou was made his apprentice. Also, chief of the Iga – Ogen – had considered to engage her granddaughter Oboro to Tenzen, but in the end decided against it because Tenzen had grown so arrogant thanks to his ability. Ogen even went as far to warn Oboro for Tenzen.
When Tenzen is made aware of the peace treaty being finally broken and Ogen of Iga already dead, he leaps at the chance of eliminating the Kouga. Even without the consent of Oboro, their new chief. He even decides not to inform her of the situation right away, simply because Oboro’s pacifism and the fact she’s betrothed to Gennosuke; a Kouga ninja and grandson of Danjou, thus making him the new heir of Kouga after his death.
Basically, Oboro and Gennosuke are completely unaware what has occurred. The Iga make use of this and invite Gennosuke over at the Iga village to stay. Two ninja stay with their ‘hostages’ and Oboro, while the others head off to kill some Kouga.
They start with Kazamachi Shougen, considering he should have the identical scroll given to the Kouga thanks to being present at the demonstration in Sunpu. Along the way the group runs into Jimushi Jubei. Tenzen underestimates this particular ninja simply because he has no limbs, and tells the others to find Shougen, claiming that he himself alone would be enough to kill Jubei. However, as the others have left Jubei stabs Tenzen with a dagger hidden in his throat, claiming that if enemies knew this move he would be a dead man. Tenzen seems clearly dead and certainly wouldn’t be able to tell anyone about it.
However, it’d be pretty anti-climax if it was left at this. Thanks to his ability Tenzen revives and he kills Jubei, saying the same trick won’t work on him twice. With both him and Shougen disposed of, the Iga acquire the identical scroll which Tenzen decides to burn. After all; what’s the use of two identical scrolls? This also grants them a tactical advantage, simply because the Kouga are not yet aware of the peace treaty being broken.
Tenzen decides to use this advantage to attack the Kouga village and kill the remaining ones on the scroll (sans the ones staying at the Iga village, of course). They fully intend a surprise attack, but thanks to Kouga ninja Kyouma’s good hearing they are noticed before even arriving. After realizing the surprise attack fails, Tenzen attempts to claim they are messengers of Gennosuke and that their slaughtering of a couple of random Kouga ninja’s was mere self defence. The Kouga don’t fall for it, so they return home. But not before running into Kouga ninja Okoi (younger sister of ninja Kisaragi Saemon) and taking her hostage.
After all that they finally decide it might be a good idea to tell Oboro. As a second-in-command, Tenzen ends up the one telling her. Of course, Oboro doesn’t really agree and as soon as she hears that a Kouga woman (Okoi) has been taken hostage, she storms off to the shack in which the other ninja is kept. However, in the shack it hasn’t exactly been peaceful either; Kisaragi Saemon – impersonating the Iga ninja Yashamaru – has just found his younger sister dead, but had managed to acquire the scroll. However, as soon as Oboro enters the shack his cover is blown, simply because Oboro’s only ability is ‘Mystic Eyes’ which neutralizes any ninja technique. The whole situation escalates, which eventually results in Gennosuke getting the scroll and thus he is finally aware of the peace treaty being broken. He decides to head back to the Kouga village. Both Oboro and Tenzen attempt to stop him (both for different reasons), which results in the Iga ninja Koushiro getting blinded and the Kouga getting away.
Tenzen wasn’t amused and scolds Oboro for her almost traitorous behaviour. She’s obviously hesitant to fight the Kouga and her lover, so Tenzen tries to force her to make a choice. Instead, she seals her Mystic Eyes with a potion called the Seven Days of Darkness. If that wasn’t enough, Gennosuke also sends them their scroll back, explaining that he’ll visit Sunpu with the remaining ones listed upon to scroll. He wishes to ask why they are supposed to kill one another. Note that all this murdering had been done without anyone knowing why. Anyway, Gennosuke invites the Iga to follow him, though Tenzen takes this as an insult. Of course, ‘following’ is exactly what they end up doing.
On the way, Tenzen sends Hotarubi and Nenki to spy on the Kouga. However, instead of lying low like they were ordered they attack the rivalling ninja, and the both of them end up death. Their death wasn’t a lost cause though; they have managed to use the same potion on Gennosuke as Oboro had used to seal her eyes with, resulting in Gennosuke unable to use his ability; by some sort of hypnosis they end up killing themselves instead of their enemy. This ability required his eyes.
In order to catch up with the Kouga, Tenzen decides to travel by boat as opposed to the Kouga travelling by land. While they are on water, Tenzen decides to confront Oboro about her feelings for Gennosuke. He wants her to not only place her feelings aside, but also to kill Gennosuke. Tenzen even attempts to rape her, though he wasn’t able to get very far thanks to Gyobu’s interference. For the record; Gyobu is a Kouga ninja that can melt with any surface, which easily allowed him to sneak on board. The Kouga ninja strangles Tenzen to death, but before Gyobu can even get to Oboro a fight insues with the remaining Iga ninja. After a small while Tenzen is simply back to his feat, and with Akeginu’s help, eventually kills the Kouga ninja while being stuck in a wall. Not without dragging a few innocent bystanders in and trying to make Gyobu feel guilty about it. After they reach land, he puts his corpse – or rather, the wall he was stuck in, which just shows a bloody shape of a human - out on display. This display manages to lure the Kouga out, which makes it easy for the Iga to follow them.
At this point, only four ninja remain on each side; Oboro, Tenzen, Akeginu and Koshirou of the Iga and Gennosuke, Kagerou, Saemon and Hyoma of the Kouga. Tenzen plots to kill Hyoma during the night, simply because Hyoma’s blind even though he doesn’t know of the man’s skills, while not informing Oboro of his plans. Akeginu is to stay behind while the still-blind Koshirou is to come along for the ride. Due to Akeginu’s reaction, he easily notices her love for Koshirou and promises a wedding ceremony. He’s certainly not referring to just them, however. Tenzen is confident Oboro will be his sooner or later.
East of Chriyuu, near Komaba on a very grassy looking area, Tenzen decides to strike. He uses Ogen’s bird (controlled by Koshirou) to lure Kagerou and “Gennosuke” (which is really Saemon impersonating Gennosuke in order to hide his blindness) away, leaving just two ninja’s. Tenzen first thinks these two are Hyoma and Seamon, but the latter is of course Gennosuke. Blinded, as Tenzen soon discovers. Faced with two blind men, he once again underestimates his enemies and wishes to kill them both. He says he had wanted to save Gennosuke for last, just so he could see the Kouga fall and Tenzen getting married to Oboro. But now that there’s an opportunity to kill him, he decides to do so.
Little did Tenzen know that Hyoma has the exact same ability as Gennosuke does, so Tenzen ends up killing himself instead. Saemon decides to use his ability to impersonate Tenzen to infiltrate the Iga. Meanwhile, Koshirou and Hyoma had been killed and the remaining two Iga had formed a temporary alliance with a noble woman named Ofuku – Grandson Takechiyo’s nursing mother (read: a very biased person). They allowed them to stay at an inn along the way, which Saemon approaches and lures Akeginu in a trap involving Kagerou. Eventually, Akeginu dies. Saemon and Kagerou plot to deceive Ofuku’s men by saying “Tenzen” had taken Kagerou captive and by having sex with her, has switched sides. This would, in theory, allow Kagerou entrance to the inn. Killing Oboro would be an easy task from there. ¬
Of course, Saemon had been unaware of Tenzen’s ability. Not long after Saemon has approached the inn and lured Akeginu in a trap, the real Tenzen also shows up at the inn. Of course, this doesn’t escape the notice of Ofuku’s men. Tenzen disguises himself as one of them and arrives just in time to see Akeginu die. Approaching Saemon, he begins a conversation. During this conversation, the disguised Tenzen manages to make Saemon tell his lie. After this, Tenzen begins to talk of his very own ability, allowing Saemon to realize that the real Tenzen isn’t dead. Along with that, the disguised Tenzen claims he wishes to see that ability. Ofuku’s men proceed to injure Saemon. Unfortunately, Saemon can only impersonate one’s appearances and not one’s techniques, which results in the ninja’s death. But not before Tenzen reveals himself to be perfectly alive and well.
Fully aware now of Kagerou’s lie, being the pervert that he is he decides to make this lie a reality. Ironically enough, he impersonates Saemon impersonating him and tries to have some fun with Kagerou. Unfortunately, whenever Kagerou’s sexually aroused her breath becomes poison. Most Kouga should know this, which makes Kagerou realize this isn’t Saemon. Instead of struggling, she decides to play along which results in Tenzen getting poisoned by her breath. He dies. Again.
But not for long. He interrupts Kagerou’s attempt to kill Oboro. Considering it had already been decided that Kagerou would be used to bait Gennosuke, he does just that. But he takes it a little further; he tortures her by shooting poisoned needles in her abdomen in the shape of the kanji of Iga. Her screams were meant to lure Gennosuke out, though I’d be lying if I’d say Tenzen didn’t have any fun with it. He even tells her he’d rape her if it weren’t for Oboro, and he admits he doesn’t share her ideas. At some point Oboro can’t really stand Kagerou’s screaming anymore and pleas for him to have mercy and to stop. Tenzen answers that words such as ‘mercy’ aren’t words he knows the meaning of, and compliments her for using Kagerou as bait. He gets a twisted idea; he wants to use Oboro’s eyes to stop Kagerou’s poison breath so that he can have her. When Oboro refuses, he ends up trying to rape her again. But this time, Gennosuke is the one who interrupts them.
The two fight one another, and Gennosuke manages to fight him fairly well even though he’s still blind. In the end, after Tenzen has revealed he had manipulated both clans into hating one another, Gennosuke manages to cut off Tenzen’s head, which results in the Iga ninja dying yet again (not without managing to catch his own head. (Minor detail.) Oboro and Gennosuke are to fight one another, but neither of them can kill each other. Kagerou – pissed – tries to take Gennosuke down with her, but thanks to Oboro’s eyes going back open just that moment, fails and dies from her early poisoning.
Ofuku’s men arrive soon after and attempt to place Tenzen’s head back. But while he heals, he has eye contact with none other than Oboro. Her mystic eyes don’t just cause the healing to fail, they also end up mutilating him and killing the creature within. Tenzen dies yet again, but this time permanently.
At first glance, Tenzen seems a pragmatic warrior who’s concerned with the honor and future of his clan. Unlike the hesitant Oboro, he is the one leading the attacks directed to the Kouga Clan and thus leading the Iga to victory. He seems to have the authority that Oboro is obviously lacking. Except things are rarely as they seem, and Tenzen is unfortunately no exception.
He’s quite arrogant and conceited. I suppose this partly comes with his ability to regenerate. He went ahead and considered himself the future lord of the Iga clan, for example. He tends to underestimate his enemies as well. I suppose this is only natural given his ability.
He’ll do anything necessary to accomplish his goals. Ambition and determination isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but in Tenzen’s case…this along with his other personality traits make for a rather dangerous combination. For the people around him, including enemies, innocent bystanders and even allies. Mercy isn’t a word appearing in his vocabulary. Neither is compassion. Or honor. He’s egoistical and hardly takes anyone else’s feelings in consideration. He’s also manipulative and opportunistic. He had no qualms about fighting Gennosuke when the Kouga ninja had been blinded. Tenzen will gladly take advantage of any the situation, or even shift it in his favour when needed. He considers the fellow Iga as his chess pieces.
He lusts after power. During Ogen’s reign, it’s implied Tenzen had attempted to usurp her authority even though he’s already second in-command. He wasn’t even half as successful as he later was with Oboro. Using her hesitance to fight, he completely takes the leadership of the Iga clan and attacks the Kouga without her consent. He also desires to take Oboro as his wife in order to become the true lord of Tsubakagure, obviously lusting after her, and even going as far as attempting to rape her. Twice. Though he wouldn’t mind acting on his lust when it comes to other women, either.
Obviously, Gennosuke is an obstacle in more sense than just being a very strong opponent. He and Oboro are lovers, and that love pisses Tenzen off because it prevents the Iga and Kouga of properly hating one another. And it also prevents Oboro from becoming his wife. He doesn’t seem able to make up his mind whether to make Oboro kill Gennosuke or do the job himself, since in the anime he mentions both. In the end, he decides to do it himself. However, he’s not the one to slaughter Gennosuke without thinking; even he hesitated to face Gennosuke directly. Even despite his ability, Tenzen isn’t reckless.
Tenzen’s quite sadistic, and I have several scenes to proof it. The prime example is near the end of the series; where the Kouga ninja Kagerou is held as an hostage; he tied her up and shot poisoned needles in her abdomen in such a shape that her blood read ‘Iga’. He figured her screams would lure his prey - Gennosuke Kouga – to the right location soon enough, though I’d be lying if I’d say he didn’t enjoy torturing his enemy. Speaking of Kagerou; he didn’t quite pass up the opportunity to have some fun with Kagerou either. This and the two rape attempts make him a horny bastard, not really caring for the wishes of the female he’s taking advantage of.
In short, he revels in conflict and chaos and certainly doesn’t mind using it to further his own goals. He leaped at the chance of fighting the Kouga without Oboro’s consent, even though he knew this issue might come back to haunt him. Ogen even states that Tenzen can’t control himself, and someone else can’t really do it either. But, Ogen hadn’t allowed him to completely usurp her authority. Other than that; because of the peace treaty Tenzen hadn’t been able to do much either, even though he had probably wanted it.
All this was in the name of getting revenge. His hatred for the Kouga runs deep, it became an obsession. But he had waited for so long to get what he wanted, endlessly experiencing the cycle of death and rebirth which as he says caused him to suffer. At some point he “stopped feeling pain” and had began to lose himself. As I’ve said, it greatly contributed to who he is now.
The chaos he revels in also runs through his way of battle. He fights brutally and ruthlessly, not caring what he has to do in order to guarantee his own victory. He shows no mercy and no compassion, as he claims he doesn’t know the meaning of those words.
Tenzen is a ninja, and, to put it lightly, he knows quite well how to handle a sword. I think it’s safe to assume he knows how to throw kunai, being stealthy and all that stuff that comes with being a ninja even if we canonly don’t really see him doing too much of that (aside from throwing a single kunai). Considering he’s alive for such a long time, he has martial and tactical abilities that surpass any of his fellow clansmen. Simply because he has more experience. And he can shoot needles by putting them between his lips and ‘spitting’ them out. Kagerou’s screams confirm that it’s a painful experience.
Most ninja have an ability or technique (usually) unique to them, and Tenzen is no exception (even if it doesn’t technically fall under a ninjutsu technique as Ogen says, despite the fact that Oboro had managed to neutralize it). His power is that or regeneration and immortality. This is all because he was born sharing his body with a demonic/parasitic symbiote that usually conceals itself as two growths/warts on each of Tenzen’s ears. The creature reveals itself when Tenzen gets wounded or killed and moves through his body to regenerate him by ‘eating’ the inflicted wounds and then reactivates his heart. But for Tenzen, reviving from death is an even more painful experience than dying itself.
Because of the symbiote, Tenzen can recover from almost every injury. Neither will he age. However, this does not render him completely invincible; he can be killed in a select few ways. One is cutting off his head and making sure it won’t be placed back (if it is placed back, he’ll heal anyway), the other is getting his body burned. The third way is - how Ogen has so nicely put it; “in order to kill Tenzen, you must also kill the creature within him”. Ironically, Oboro’s eyes can prevent Tenzen from healing and even destroy the symbiote. The canon never included any information on other ways to kill it, aside from the aforementioned ‘burning Tenzen’s body’.
Along with that he has quite the experience in both ninja skills as in the tactical sense thanks to being so old.
@ Landels:
First of all, I’ll have his ninja strength and agility toned down a bit; he’ll be only a little stronger/faster/whatever than an average human. As for the regenerative abilities, I still wish to have some of it in tact.
I’m thinking to still make him able to come back from the dead, but there will be a catch. After receiving some sort of lethal blow, he’ll only be able to heal just enough for him to move around. This will still leave him injured. For example, he breaks his rib and the rib stabs through his heart which would result in death. The pierced heart will heal and he’ll come back to life, but the rib will simply remain broken and possible blood loss would only be replenished to the minimum need (which means he’ll be dizzy/weak for a while). The experience will also be much more painful for him than it already was, and the regenerating will take much longer. In canon he’s able to do so fairly quickly, but in Landels it will take him a massive chunk of the night for him to start regenerating. The regenerating itself would take much longer than what he’s used to. Non-lethal wounds (cuts, gashes…) would not heal any faster than any normal person. Basically, the symbiote would only be active whenever he dies.
I don’t plan to make him die every night, but there could be future situation where he’ll, say, have breakfast with the one who killed him the other night. Of course, I won’t have him die for the kicks and giggles. Only when it’s appropriate or has a purpose or whatever.
Series: Basilisk / Basilisk: Kouga Ninpou Chou. Anime!verse.
"Real" Name: Hayami Sho
Age: 214 years old, but looks no older than 30.
Main language: Japanese
Second Language(s): N/A
Timeline: Anime-verse, half-way episode 17. After getting killed by Hyoma, and left somewhere in the field by Saemon after impersonating him, but before he revives and heads for the inn where the remaining Iga are staying.
Roomnumber: M98
Roommate: Alfred Pennyworth
Physical description
Tenzen’s well-built and in shape, considering he’s a ninja. He’s tall and muscled. His hair is black and reaches somewhere on his back, though two strands on each side stand out a little more than the rest. His eyebrows stand out, considering they grow a little upwards at the middle of his face. Finally, he has a growth on each ear. That’s basically his parasitic symbiote when it isn’t active. They are actually two eyes, but they are closed, which makes them appear as growths.
History
During the late 1500s the two rivalling ninja clans - Tsubagakure of Iga and Manjadani of Kouga - are engaged in a blood feud that spans 400 years. The fighting finally ends when the 1st Hattori Hanzo enforced a peace treaty. Regardless, both clans remained hostile to one another.
Fast forward to 1614; the start of Basilisk. High Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu has retired from power and in order to determine which of his grandsons will be the next Shogun, 10 elite ninja of each clan must fight to the death. Each clan will represent one of the two factions representing Ieyasu’s grandsons. The clan that slays the ten of the other clan will be given favour for thousand years while the grandson they represent will be the heir. Ten ninja’s from each clan are chosen to fight one another. Their names are listed upon two identical scrolls, and their names should be marked out in blood.
Tenzen is one of the ten representing the Iga. He was born about 200 years before the start of the story. His mother was an Iga woman while his father was of the Kouga. However, his father had turned on and murdered his pregnant mother and carved the baby – Tenzen – from her womb. Tenzen was to be raised as a Kouga ninja, but later switched to the Iga in order to take revenge for his mother’s murder. He is born with a parasite living in his body, which is in fact the ghost of his mother and is responsible for his regenerative power. In any case, for the sake of revenge he has played and manipulated both clans against one another in order to get his revenge. Before the start of the story, at the end of the Tensho era, the Iga had been attacked by the Kouga working together with another party called Oda. If this hadn’t happened, Ogen and Danjou’s love would have been accepted. By doing this, the hatred between both clans remained, which was exactly Tenzen’s goal. He was responsible for this to happen.
At some point later on ninja Chikuma Koshirou was made his apprentice. Also, chief of the Iga – Ogen – had considered to engage her granddaughter Oboro to Tenzen, but in the end decided against it because Tenzen had grown so arrogant thanks to his ability. Ogen even went as far to warn Oboro for Tenzen.
When Tenzen is made aware of the peace treaty being finally broken and Ogen of Iga already dead, he leaps at the chance of eliminating the Kouga. Even without the consent of Oboro, their new chief. He even decides not to inform her of the situation right away, simply because Oboro’s pacifism and the fact she’s betrothed to Gennosuke; a Kouga ninja and grandson of Danjou, thus making him the new heir of Kouga after his death.
Basically, Oboro and Gennosuke are completely unaware what has occurred. The Iga make use of this and invite Gennosuke over at the Iga village to stay. Two ninja stay with their ‘hostages’ and Oboro, while the others head off to kill some Kouga.
They start with Kazamachi Shougen, considering he should have the identical scroll given to the Kouga thanks to being present at the demonstration in Sunpu. Along the way the group runs into Jimushi Jubei. Tenzen underestimates this particular ninja simply because he has no limbs, and tells the others to find Shougen, claiming that he himself alone would be enough to kill Jubei. However, as the others have left Jubei stabs Tenzen with a dagger hidden in his throat, claiming that if enemies knew this move he would be a dead man. Tenzen seems clearly dead and certainly wouldn’t be able to tell anyone about it.
However, it’d be pretty anti-climax if it was left at this. Thanks to his ability Tenzen revives and he kills Jubei, saying the same trick won’t work on him twice. With both him and Shougen disposed of, the Iga acquire the identical scroll which Tenzen decides to burn. After all; what’s the use of two identical scrolls? This also grants them a tactical advantage, simply because the Kouga are not yet aware of the peace treaty being broken.
Tenzen decides to use this advantage to attack the Kouga village and kill the remaining ones on the scroll (sans the ones staying at the Iga village, of course). They fully intend a surprise attack, but thanks to Kouga ninja Kyouma’s good hearing they are noticed before even arriving. After realizing the surprise attack fails, Tenzen attempts to claim they are messengers of Gennosuke and that their slaughtering of a couple of random Kouga ninja’s was mere self defence. The Kouga don’t fall for it, so they return home. But not before running into Kouga ninja Okoi (younger sister of ninja Kisaragi Saemon) and taking her hostage.
After all that they finally decide it might be a good idea to tell Oboro. As a second-in-command, Tenzen ends up the one telling her. Of course, Oboro doesn’t really agree and as soon as she hears that a Kouga woman (Okoi) has been taken hostage, she storms off to the shack in which the other ninja is kept. However, in the shack it hasn’t exactly been peaceful either; Kisaragi Saemon – impersonating the Iga ninja Yashamaru – has just found his younger sister dead, but had managed to acquire the scroll. However, as soon as Oboro enters the shack his cover is blown, simply because Oboro’s only ability is ‘Mystic Eyes’ which neutralizes any ninja technique. The whole situation escalates, which eventually results in Gennosuke getting the scroll and thus he is finally aware of the peace treaty being broken. He decides to head back to the Kouga village. Both Oboro and Tenzen attempt to stop him (both for different reasons), which results in the Iga ninja Koushiro getting blinded and the Kouga getting away.
Tenzen wasn’t amused and scolds Oboro for her almost traitorous behaviour. She’s obviously hesitant to fight the Kouga and her lover, so Tenzen tries to force her to make a choice. Instead, she seals her Mystic Eyes with a potion called the Seven Days of Darkness. If that wasn’t enough, Gennosuke also sends them their scroll back, explaining that he’ll visit Sunpu with the remaining ones listed upon to scroll. He wishes to ask why they are supposed to kill one another. Note that all this murdering had been done without anyone knowing why. Anyway, Gennosuke invites the Iga to follow him, though Tenzen takes this as an insult. Of course, ‘following’ is exactly what they end up doing.
On the way, Tenzen sends Hotarubi and Nenki to spy on the Kouga. However, instead of lying low like they were ordered they attack the rivalling ninja, and the both of them end up death. Their death wasn’t a lost cause though; they have managed to use the same potion on Gennosuke as Oboro had used to seal her eyes with, resulting in Gennosuke unable to use his ability; by some sort of hypnosis they end up killing themselves instead of their enemy. This ability required his eyes.
In order to catch up with the Kouga, Tenzen decides to travel by boat as opposed to the Kouga travelling by land. While they are on water, Tenzen decides to confront Oboro about her feelings for Gennosuke. He wants her to not only place her feelings aside, but also to kill Gennosuke. Tenzen even attempts to rape her, though he wasn’t able to get very far thanks to Gyobu’s interference. For the record; Gyobu is a Kouga ninja that can melt with any surface, which easily allowed him to sneak on board. The Kouga ninja strangles Tenzen to death, but before Gyobu can even get to Oboro a fight insues with the remaining Iga ninja. After a small while Tenzen is simply back to his feat, and with Akeginu’s help, eventually kills the Kouga ninja while being stuck in a wall. Not without dragging a few innocent bystanders in and trying to make Gyobu feel guilty about it. After they reach land, he puts his corpse – or rather, the wall he was stuck in, which just shows a bloody shape of a human - out on display. This display manages to lure the Kouga out, which makes it easy for the Iga to follow them.
At this point, only four ninja remain on each side; Oboro, Tenzen, Akeginu and Koshirou of the Iga and Gennosuke, Kagerou, Saemon and Hyoma of the Kouga. Tenzen plots to kill Hyoma during the night, simply because Hyoma’s blind even though he doesn’t know of the man’s skills, while not informing Oboro of his plans. Akeginu is to stay behind while the still-blind Koshirou is to come along for the ride. Due to Akeginu’s reaction, he easily notices her love for Koshirou and promises a wedding ceremony. He’s certainly not referring to just them, however. Tenzen is confident Oboro will be his sooner or later.
East of Chriyuu, near Komaba on a very grassy looking area, Tenzen decides to strike. He uses Ogen’s bird (controlled by Koshirou) to lure Kagerou and “Gennosuke” (which is really Saemon impersonating Gennosuke in order to hide his blindness) away, leaving just two ninja’s. Tenzen first thinks these two are Hyoma and Seamon, but the latter is of course Gennosuke. Blinded, as Tenzen soon discovers. Faced with two blind men, he once again underestimates his enemies and wishes to kill them both. He says he had wanted to save Gennosuke for last, just so he could see the Kouga fall and Tenzen getting married to Oboro. But now that there’s an opportunity to kill him, he decides to do so.
Little did Tenzen know that Hyoma has the exact same ability as Gennosuke does, so Tenzen ends up killing himself instead. Saemon decides to use his ability to impersonate Tenzen to infiltrate the Iga. Meanwhile, Koshirou and Hyoma had been killed and the remaining two Iga had formed a temporary alliance with a noble woman named Ofuku – Grandson Takechiyo’s nursing mother (read: a very biased person). They allowed them to stay at an inn along the way, which Saemon approaches and lures Akeginu in a trap involving Kagerou. Eventually, Akeginu dies. Saemon and Kagerou plot to deceive Ofuku’s men by saying “Tenzen” had taken Kagerou captive and by having sex with her, has switched sides. This would, in theory, allow Kagerou entrance to the inn. Killing Oboro would be an easy task from there. ¬
Of course, Saemon had been unaware of Tenzen’s ability. Not long after Saemon has approached the inn and lured Akeginu in a trap, the real Tenzen also shows up at the inn. Of course, this doesn’t escape the notice of Ofuku’s men. Tenzen disguises himself as one of them and arrives just in time to see Akeginu die. Approaching Saemon, he begins a conversation. During this conversation, the disguised Tenzen manages to make Saemon tell his lie. After this, Tenzen begins to talk of his very own ability, allowing Saemon to realize that the real Tenzen isn’t dead. Along with that, the disguised Tenzen claims he wishes to see that ability. Ofuku’s men proceed to injure Saemon. Unfortunately, Saemon can only impersonate one’s appearances and not one’s techniques, which results in the ninja’s death. But not before Tenzen reveals himself to be perfectly alive and well.
Fully aware now of Kagerou’s lie, being the pervert that he is he decides to make this lie a reality. Ironically enough, he impersonates Saemon impersonating him and tries to have some fun with Kagerou. Unfortunately, whenever Kagerou’s sexually aroused her breath becomes poison. Most Kouga should know this, which makes Kagerou realize this isn’t Saemon. Instead of struggling, she decides to play along which results in Tenzen getting poisoned by her breath. He dies. Again.
But not for long. He interrupts Kagerou’s attempt to kill Oboro. Considering it had already been decided that Kagerou would be used to bait Gennosuke, he does just that. But he takes it a little further; he tortures her by shooting poisoned needles in her abdomen in the shape of the kanji of Iga. Her screams were meant to lure Gennosuke out, though I’d be lying if I’d say Tenzen didn’t have any fun with it. He even tells her he’d rape her if it weren’t for Oboro, and he admits he doesn’t share her ideas. At some point Oboro can’t really stand Kagerou’s screaming anymore and pleas for him to have mercy and to stop. Tenzen answers that words such as ‘mercy’ aren’t words he knows the meaning of, and compliments her for using Kagerou as bait. He gets a twisted idea; he wants to use Oboro’s eyes to stop Kagerou’s poison breath so that he can have her. When Oboro refuses, he ends up trying to rape her again. But this time, Gennosuke is the one who interrupts them.
The two fight one another, and Gennosuke manages to fight him fairly well even though he’s still blind. In the end, after Tenzen has revealed he had manipulated both clans into hating one another, Gennosuke manages to cut off Tenzen’s head, which results in the Iga ninja dying yet again (not without managing to catch his own head. (Minor detail.) Oboro and Gennosuke are to fight one another, but neither of them can kill each other. Kagerou – pissed – tries to take Gennosuke down with her, but thanks to Oboro’s eyes going back open just that moment, fails and dies from her early poisoning.
Ofuku’s men arrive soon after and attempt to place Tenzen’s head back. But while he heals, he has eye contact with none other than Oboro. Her mystic eyes don’t just cause the healing to fail, they also end up mutilating him and killing the creature within. Tenzen dies yet again, but this time permanently.
Personality
At first glance, Tenzen seems a pragmatic warrior who’s concerned with the honor and future of his clan. Unlike the hesitant Oboro, he is the one leading the attacks directed to the Kouga Clan and thus leading the Iga to victory. He seems to have the authority that Oboro is obviously lacking. Except things are rarely as they seem, and Tenzen is unfortunately no exception.
He’s quite arrogant and conceited. I suppose this partly comes with his ability to regenerate. He went ahead and considered himself the future lord of the Iga clan, for example. He tends to underestimate his enemies as well. I suppose this is only natural given his ability.
He’ll do anything necessary to accomplish his goals. Ambition and determination isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but in Tenzen’s case…this along with his other personality traits make for a rather dangerous combination. For the people around him, including enemies, innocent bystanders and even allies. Mercy isn’t a word appearing in his vocabulary. Neither is compassion. Or honor. He’s egoistical and hardly takes anyone else’s feelings in consideration. He’s also manipulative and opportunistic. He had no qualms about fighting Gennosuke when the Kouga ninja had been blinded. Tenzen will gladly take advantage of any the situation, or even shift it in his favour when needed. He considers the fellow Iga as his chess pieces.
He lusts after power. During Ogen’s reign, it’s implied Tenzen had attempted to usurp her authority even though he’s already second in-command. He wasn’t even half as successful as he later was with Oboro. Using her hesitance to fight, he completely takes the leadership of the Iga clan and attacks the Kouga without her consent. He also desires to take Oboro as his wife in order to become the true lord of Tsubakagure, obviously lusting after her, and even going as far as attempting to rape her. Twice. Though he wouldn’t mind acting on his lust when it comes to other women, either.
Obviously, Gennosuke is an obstacle in more sense than just being a very strong opponent. He and Oboro are lovers, and that love pisses Tenzen off because it prevents the Iga and Kouga of properly hating one another. And it also prevents Oboro from becoming his wife. He doesn’t seem able to make up his mind whether to make Oboro kill Gennosuke or do the job himself, since in the anime he mentions both. In the end, he decides to do it himself. However, he’s not the one to slaughter Gennosuke without thinking; even he hesitated to face Gennosuke directly. Even despite his ability, Tenzen isn’t reckless.
Tenzen’s quite sadistic, and I have several scenes to proof it. The prime example is near the end of the series; where the Kouga ninja Kagerou is held as an hostage; he tied her up and shot poisoned needles in her abdomen in such a shape that her blood read ‘Iga’. He figured her screams would lure his prey - Gennosuke Kouga – to the right location soon enough, though I’d be lying if I’d say he didn’t enjoy torturing his enemy. Speaking of Kagerou; he didn’t quite pass up the opportunity to have some fun with Kagerou either. This and the two rape attempts make him a horny bastard, not really caring for the wishes of the female he’s taking advantage of.
In short, he revels in conflict and chaos and certainly doesn’t mind using it to further his own goals. He leaped at the chance of fighting the Kouga without Oboro’s consent, even though he knew this issue might come back to haunt him. Ogen even states that Tenzen can’t control himself, and someone else can’t really do it either. But, Ogen hadn’t allowed him to completely usurp her authority. Other than that; because of the peace treaty Tenzen hadn’t been able to do much either, even though he had probably wanted it.
All this was in the name of getting revenge. His hatred for the Kouga runs deep, it became an obsession. But he had waited for so long to get what he wanted, endlessly experiencing the cycle of death and rebirth which as he says caused him to suffer. At some point he “stopped feeling pain” and had began to lose himself. As I’ve said, it greatly contributed to who he is now.
The chaos he revels in also runs through his way of battle. He fights brutally and ruthlessly, not caring what he has to do in order to guarantee his own victory. He shows no mercy and no compassion, as he claims he doesn’t know the meaning of those words.
Powers and abilities
Tenzen is a ninja, and, to put it lightly, he knows quite well how to handle a sword. I think it’s safe to assume he knows how to throw kunai, being stealthy and all that stuff that comes with being a ninja even if we canonly don’t really see him doing too much of that (aside from throwing a single kunai). Considering he’s alive for such a long time, he has martial and tactical abilities that surpass any of his fellow clansmen. Simply because he has more experience. And he can shoot needles by putting them between his lips and ‘spitting’ them out. Kagerou’s screams confirm that it’s a painful experience.
Most ninja have an ability or technique (usually) unique to them, and Tenzen is no exception (even if it doesn’t technically fall under a ninjutsu technique as Ogen says, despite the fact that Oboro had managed to neutralize it). His power is that or regeneration and immortality. This is all because he was born sharing his body with a demonic/parasitic symbiote that usually conceals itself as two growths/warts on each of Tenzen’s ears. The creature reveals itself when Tenzen gets wounded or killed and moves through his body to regenerate him by ‘eating’ the inflicted wounds and then reactivates his heart. But for Tenzen, reviving from death is an even more painful experience than dying itself.
Because of the symbiote, Tenzen can recover from almost every injury. Neither will he age. However, this does not render him completely invincible; he can be killed in a select few ways. One is cutting off his head and making sure it won’t be placed back (if it is placed back, he’ll heal anyway), the other is getting his body burned. The third way is - how Ogen has so nicely put it; “in order to kill Tenzen, you must also kill the creature within him”. Ironically, Oboro’s eyes can prevent Tenzen from healing and even destroy the symbiote. The canon never included any information on other ways to kill it, aside from the aforementioned ‘burning Tenzen’s body’.
Along with that he has quite the experience in both ninja skills as in the tactical sense thanks to being so old.
@ Landels:
First of all, I’ll have his ninja strength and agility toned down a bit; he’ll be only a little stronger/faster/whatever than an average human. As for the regenerative abilities, I still wish to have some of it in tact.
I’m thinking to still make him able to come back from the dead, but there will be a catch. After receiving some sort of lethal blow, he’ll only be able to heal just enough for him to move around. This will still leave him injured. For example, he breaks his rib and the rib stabs through his heart which would result in death. The pierced heart will heal and he’ll come back to life, but the rib will simply remain broken and possible blood loss would only be replenished to the minimum need (which means he’ll be dizzy/weak for a while). The experience will also be much more painful for him than it already was, and the regenerating will take much longer. In canon he’s able to do so fairly quickly, but in Landels it will take him a massive chunk of the night for him to start regenerating. The regenerating itself would take much longer than what he’s used to. Non-lethal wounds (cuts, gashes…) would not heal any faster than any normal person. Basically, the symbiote would only be active whenever he dies.
I don’t plan to make him die every night, but there could be future situation where he’ll, say, have breakfast with the one who killed him the other night. Of course, I won’t have him die for the kicks and giggles. Only when it’s appropriate or has a purpose or whatever.
@ Landels:
TBA
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