Naruto Shinobi Card - Saemi Karai [Full Bio]

Saemi Karai (からい・さえみ, Karai Saemi) is a Jōnin-level kunochi from Sunagakure and is the leader of Team 3 a.k.a Team Saemi. She is the daughter of the late Aoto and Romi Karai and is also known in the village as, “Sunagakure's Scarlet Tempest” (砂隠れの里の緋色暴風雨, Sunagakure no Hiiro Bōfūu)



☆PERSONAL☆

Name: Saemi Karai (からい・さえみ)
Nickname: Sunagakure's Scarlet Tempest (砂隠れの里の緋色暴風雨, Sunagakure no Hiiro Bōfūu)
Birthday: August 30th (Virgo)
Age: 25-26 [Original Series] | 28-29 [Shippūden Series]
Gender: Female
Height: 174.61 cm (5 ft. 8 in.)
Weight: 61.69 kg (136 lbs)
Blood Type: B
Classification: Ninjutsu / Mid to Long Range Type
Affiliation: Sunagakure (Village Hidden In The Sand)
Team: Team Saemi (Hokori Shōji, Sentō Kaisa, and Joren Sayama)


☆RANK☆

Ninja Rank: Jōnin
Ninja Registration: 96-182
Academy Grad. Age: 14
Chūnin Prom. Age: 18
Tokubetsu Jōnin Prom. Age: 20
Jōnin Prom. Age: 24


☆LOYALTY☆

Family or Clan: The Karai Family



☆FAMILY☆

Aoto Karai [Father - Deceased]
Romi Karai [Mother - Active Jōnin]



☆Nature Type:☆

Wind Release (風遁, Fūton)
Lightning Release (雷遁, Raiton)
Water Release (水遁, Suiton)
Vortex Release (渦動遁, Kadōton)


☆TOOLS☆

Kunai
Shuriken
Aoto's Chigiriki [Her Father's Keepsake]



☆BACKGROUND STORY☆

Saemi was born to her parents, Aoto and Romi Karai on the morning of August 30th at the Suna Hospital. Aoto and Romi were both Jōnin-level shinobi that was well known in Suna back in their younger days. Saemi was considered to be a kunoichi who had prowess in long range attacks and ninjutsu. Even with her potential, Saemi had problems with her Academy lessons on account of she never took it seriously and she was retained for a year. After becoming a genin, Saemi was put on a team with Eichi Nadare, Kenage Kōzui, and her sensei, Jimichi Kogarashi.


Third Great Shinobi World War

As new genin, Saemi was thrust into war with her team-mates. War was something that Saemi wasn't familiar with and she had came close deadly encounters with shinobi from other nations. Suna didn't play a large role in the war but all the promoted genin, chūnin, and jōnin's assignment was to fend off enemy ninja attacks from Kusa. When the war was over, Saemi was happy that she managed to survive through it, but she was soon chastised by her parents for her lack of awareness and not being able to do much in battle. Saemi defended herself by saying that she did a lot just by surviving and Aoto couldn't help but smile at her statement. Her parents then trained her in an attempt to mold her into a fierce kunoichi.


Post War – Karai Family Times

It had been 5 years since the war had ended and things were slowly getting back to normal among other things. Saemi had not only blossomed into a beautiful young girl, but a powerful fighter as well. It was around that time that Aoto and Romi had decided to have a wedding and renew their vows to celebrate being together for so many years. Of course, this had Saemi very happy and she was so excited about the idea of being apart of such an occasion again. Unfortunately for Suna, the village's time of peace wouldn't last for long.


Sandstorm Raid – Birth Of The Scarlet Tempest

Two years later, there had been reports and rumors stating that Sunagakure would possibly be attacked by missing-nin from Takigakure. However, the true reason of why the Akatsuki would want to attack Sunagakure was because the one leading the assault was after Aoto Karai. Around that time, Aoto had became famous across the Five Shinobi Nations and he had landed a spot in the bingo book. After learning this information, the Fourth Kazekage had acted accordingly and made preparations to be able to counterattack the Akatsuki Raid. Somewhere else, Aoto and Romi had talked about how his life was in danger and that he could possibly die by the Akatsuki. Romi was determined to do everything that she could in order to protect her husband and Saemi, who had overheard the conservation would try her very best to protect him.

During the week, Saemi and her team-mates had trained themselves tirelessly in order get stronger and Jimichi was more than willing to do anything to help out the daughter of his best friend. With information being gather by tracker ninjas in Suna, they come to find out that the an Akatsuki member was leading the raid and that he was after Aoto. When Aoto found out that it was Kakuzu who was coming after him, he became immensely irritated about and he even went under more training to better himself as a shinobi. All safety precautions were made and the village was put on high alert.

A few hours before the raid, Aoto and Romi had talked and he mentioned to her about having to fight in another battle after such a long time. Romi had asked Aoto was he afraid of fighting Kakuzu since his Father's was also killed by Kakuzu in the past. Aoto stated that he was not afraid and he would fight in order to protect himself and the village. After they had talked a little while longer, Aoto had made love to Romi and the two of them had rested up for the night battle ahead. Later that night, the violent sandstorm had ripped through the plains in the Land Of Wind and all the shinobi who had volunteered to counterattack the Akatsuki Raid were all ready.

At exactly midnight, Kakuzu and his men had attacked and a immense war zone had broke out between the defected Taki shinobi and Suna. The clash had lasted for hours, but Aoto bravely went after Kakuzu on his own and fought him valiantly. However, it was proven that Kakuzu was indeed stronger that Aoto and he had fell victim to the combine attack of Kakuzu's Fire, Wind, Lightning Hearts. After the gang had caught with them, Saemi had saw that her Father's body was in tatters and he was barely conscious. Everyone tried to attack Kakuzu all at once, but he easily overwhelmed them and the fact they were exhausted from fighting earlier had contribute to it. Aoto had told his wife that he would always be with her even in the afterlife and Saemi tried to stop Kakuzu. Before Saemi could reach him, Kakuzu had ended Aoto's life by snapping his neck. Romi had fell apart and cried from her husband being killed and everyone looked on remorsefully and angry from the turn of events.

After witnessing her Father's lifeless body being carried away by Kakuzu, Saemi tried to go after him but she was immediately stopped by the Taki nins. Everything that happened was making her reach a breaking point and her mentality was crumbling. When the Taki nins began their attack, Saemi had swiftly grabbed a hold of the blood-stained Chigiriki and started attacking them mercilessly. She was blinded by rage and didn't care about anything except trying to get through in order to reach Kakuzu. When Saemi's teammates has arrived, they had saw Saemi ripping through the shinobi like nothing. The more she had fought, the more her feral and killer side had emerged in the midst of battle. Crimson liquid stained her body and her hair flowed freely in the cold wind under the moonlight as she continued her assault.

When the battle was over, Saemi was completely worn out from fighting all the Taki nins and she didn't have the strength to go after Kakuzu. They had won the battle, but they still lost Aoto Karai in the process and the mission to protect him was deemed a failure. The fight was indeed recorded and all the heroic deeds of the shinobi who fought that night were recorded in the Suna Battle History books. Since Saemi showed her fighting skills at her maximum during that raid, many shinobi now knew her as “The Scarlet Tempest” for her brilliant flail weapon skills , the speed of her executed attacks, and her blood-lust and brutality in battle...


Post Sandstorm Raid – Saemi's Resolve

A week after the Sandstorm Raid was over, Romi had fell into a depression over the lost of her husband and Saemi just locked herself away in her room. Saemi couldn't believe that her Father wasn't around anymore and it was slowing breaking her. She knew that she wouldn't be able Aoto alive again and there was something that she wanted to do in order to bring some kind of peace to her and Romi. Saemi decided that she wanted to at least retrieve her Father's corpse from where Kakuzu had taken him and give him a proper burial. Knowing full well that going on a mission like that alone could be dangerous, Saemi asked her team if they could accompany her. The team had agreed to it since Aoto was a wonderful person to them when they were younger. After getting the approval from the Kazekage, Saemi and her team had head out for the Bounty Station was located in the Land of Fire.

It had taken at least four days for them to arrive there on foot, but had managed to get there by nightfall. Saemi's team had decided that they would go to the Bounty Station in the morning before returning back to Suna. After they had set up camp for the night, Saemi had wanted to talk with Eichi alone while Jimichi and Kenage was making dinner for the team. In a secluded part of the forest, Saemi and Eichi had talked for a while, but after touching a sensitive subject, Saemi had broke down in tears. Eichi had comfort her by hugging her and telling her that everything was gonna be all right. He had understood the pain the Saemi was feeling and he promised that he would protect her heart for the time being.

That following morning, the team had headed to the Bounty Office and demanded that Zangei, the bounty officer who operated the place to give them back Aoto's body. Zangei had refused at first, until Saemi had threaten to take off his head with a whip of her Father's Chigiriki. Being crude was not gonna make the situation any better, but Zangei wanted to play dirty and had a bunch of renegade ninja on stand-by just in case if his life was threaten in any way. Angered by the turn of events, Saemi and her team had fought off the ninja, but she was in the mood to see some crimson liquid being spilled from a certain person's body. Jimichi was the one to stop her for trying to callously kill Zangei with the Chigiriki. After a while, Zangei had finally cooperated and gave them Aoto's corpse. When they were returning home from Suna, they were worried that Kakuzu might come after them because of the bounty, but Jimichi assured them that they didn't have nothing to worry about since he already collected it.

After coming back from their mission, they had taken the body to the hospital morgue and reported the mission to the Fourth Kazekage. Later that day, Saemi had went home and told her mother about how the mission went. Romi didn't doubt her daughter, but she was indeed surprised that her daughter was able to bring back her husband's body and not get seriously hurt. Soon after, Saemi and Romi had started making funeral arrangements for Aoto and sent a messenger bird to relate the news to the Kazekage. Another week had passed and Aoto's funeral was taken place outside the village walls at the Suna Cemetery. For those who knew Aoto, everyone paid their respects to him and the rest of the family. After the funeral was over, Saemi had stayed behind to give her final thoughts to her Father and she promised herself that she would bring justice to her family and kill Kakuzu of the Akatsuki...



☆PERSONALITY☆

When she was a young genin, Saemi was a kunoichi who had guts and showed a very playful side. In a sense, she loved doing everything and anything for her family and those that she considered her friends. With mirth and determination, Saemi has the will to do anything that she set her mind to and she has a charisma that most kunoichi would love to have. Most of the time, Saemi would keep to herself and don't talk much because she is more a listener than a talker. If Saemi gets to know a person, then that person would be very lucky to have her as a friend, because she is a very strong and stern person. Also, Saemi is a very dependable and sincere person if you ever needed someone for help. She will never turn down a person's dire need for help. Behind her tough and fun exterior was also a person who was overburdened with worry and concern about herself. Saemi would even strain herself beyond her limits which would also to lead to her having frayed nerves, but she tries her best to not let anything deter from her goals.

After the death of her Father during the sandstorm raid in Suna, Saemi's personality had changed drastically and she became cold and harder on herself than anyone can ever imagine. This in turned caused her to become a realist in a sense and take everything seriously. Her personality had changed from laid back to someone who is a more analytical and rational thinker. As a person, Saemi is very critical around people and she cannot tolerate lazy behavior and procrastination, especially with shinobi who have the pontential to become great fighters for the village. However, Saemi has kept her composure, patience, caring attitude, and strong endurance that still defines her true personality that she had as a young kunoichi and she also has a sense of humor that is borderline sadistic and crude.

As a Jōnin sensei, Saemi is quite hard on her students with her training. She makes sure that her students get the proper training and she's more than willing to even give individual training if they need it. Saemi may seem harsh, but she's only concerned about the well-being of her students. The main reason behind her tough demand of her students is because she doesn't want to see anyone she holds dear to her killed right before her eyes and Saemi also wants them to be prepared for anything that could happen in a battle. In a sense, she's not completely heartless towards her subordinates.



☆APPEARANCE☆

Saemi Karai has diluted red hair, light blue eyes, and a tanned skin complexion that she received from training and living a life under the hot sun in Suna. As a Jōnin, Saemi's hair is styled into a bun with loose side fringes and front bangs. Her attire consists of a tan long sleeve shirt with a high collar and it stops above her chest with a zipper and arrow-cut hemline. Underneath it, she wears a full body mesh suit with a sleeveless black cloth covering her chest, a qipao-styled skirt with wide-open slits on both sides, black fingerless gloves and tan shinobi sandals. To complete her outfit, her black forehead protector is worn across her forehead in the traditional manner, a brick red kunai holster is bandaged around her right thigh, and strapped around waist is a beige belt with a small silver buckle and a weapon case that carries her Father's Chigiriki inside it.



☆ABILITIES☆

Unlike most shinobi, Saemi had to work very hard to get to her level of ability and achievement that she currently holds as a Jōnin. During her Academy days, she was just an above average kunoichi with latent skills in long distance combat and ninjutsu. With the drive of wanting to become one the best in her village, Saemi was determined to get there with perseverance and training. In the past 12 years, Saemi had made a name for herself in her village and has become one of the most diligent kunoichi to ever hail from Sunagakure. Even the Fifth Kazekage, Gaara has high regards and praise for her.


Expert Flailmanship and Long Distance Prowess

As a child growing up, Saemi admired her Father's skills and how well he used his weapon, the Chigiriki. At the early age of 13, she underwent training in order to master the use of flail weaponry on the battlefield. By the age of 20, she had completely mastered the fighting style of Chigiriki and she kept her Father's weapon as a keepsake after his early demise. Saemi has also learned how to use genjutsu in order to lengthen the appearance of the chain weapon and she can surge her chakra through it, making her attacks even stronger. Saemi uses her Chigiriki as a first line of offense and defense when fighting against her opponents.

Short distance has always been a problem for her, because she likes to be able to analyze and be able to come up with a practical counterattack. So Saemi decided to focus all her fighting style to work within medium and long distances. As of now, this has been working out pretty well for her. The only time that she'll in fight within a short distance is when she uses her taijutsu and genjutsu, which is very rare.


Nature Transformation and Vortex Release

When Saemi became a genin, she had a natural affinity for Wind Release just like all the shinobi in Sunagakure. Wind Nature supposedly came naturally for most ninja, but not for her. Saemi had struggled long and hard in order to get the nature completely down and she learned it the hard way: by learning out of books and scrolls. By age 16, she was able to use Wind Release to its highest capacity and used it in tandem with shuriken and kunai. With kunai, she would make powerful wind slices and with shuriken, she attacked by throwing them like boomerangs and saucers.

At age of 18, Saemi had discovered that she was able to manipulate a second element through training with her sensei, Jimichi Kogarashi and that was Lightning Release. Saemi didn't think it was possible to manipulate 2 different elements at once, but he had reassured her because he told her that he can manipulate 3 three elements. As she began to train herself with Lightning Release, Saemi had a lot of close encounters with death. Even so, that didn't deter her from trying to learn such a powerful element and she mastered it by the age of 22.

When Saemi became a special jōnin at the age of 23, she started to begin her training in one more element. She wanted to learn Fire Release, but her proficiency and skills while learning that element were downright terrible. And Earth Release was way out of her league because her chakra skills could not handle the strain that it put on her body. So in the end, she decided to learn Water Release. To much of her surprise, Water Release came easier to her than the other elements did and she was grateful for that. Even at her current age, Saemi is still continuing to train and hone her skills in water ninjutsu. So far, she could possibly be on par with a high-ranking Hidden Mist Jōnin who is proficient with Water Release.

After taking a year off from training, Saemi decided she wanted to come up with her own ninjutsu release, but she knew that trying to come up with one unique release would be fairly difficult to do. Then Saemi thought about doing the impossible by combining all three of her natures that she learned in order to create heavy hurricanes and violent windstorms with rain and lightning embedded in it. In order to get a firm understanding of what release she wanted to create, she started to do a little research. During her research, Saemi came across an article that talked about vortexes and since vortexes carried fluid motion (water), gases (wind), and plasma (lightning) properties, she thought it would be the perfect release for her to create and master.

Afterwards, she called this particular release, “Vortex Release” (Kadōton,渦動遁), which combines the elements of Wind, Lightning, and Water to create turbulent and violent wind storms. Right now, she only has one jutsu that she created from this release and plans to make more of them to complete her arsenal. Saemi also created this release as her ultimate strategy in killing Kakuzu.


Last Resort: Feral Bloodlust

Saemi also has an ability that only a few people have seen and it only happens when she get brutally hurt in a fight or a piece of her sanity slips away. Feral Bloodlust is an supplement ability that grants Saemi the ability to become a feral killer and thirst for bloodshed increases. Her wavy hair flows freely from its binds and her eyes become golden yellow in color, giving Saemi a sadistic and feral look in appearance. In this state, the only thing that will matter to her is the death of the enemy and her power is driven with the desire to kill no matter how her physical state is. Most of the time, Saemi can revert back to her old self on her own. If she's too far gone, the only way to forcibly snap her out of this state is if she's struck with a hard blow to the head.

The first time she tapped into this ability was during the sandstorm raid against the Takigakure missing nin and she had no control of it during that time.


Other Skills

Saemi is also quite adept in basic taijutsu, but she rarely uses this method of fighting. The only way she use taijutsu is when she's low on chakra or when she's fighting against a weak opponent. So far, genjutsu is Saemi's weakest skill, but she's not completely foreign to how it works. Saemi can indeed dispell and create genjutsu illusions, but only to a certain degree. Currently, she is trying to become at least competent in that skill.



☆NINJA STATS☆

Ninjutsu: 5
Taijutsu: 3
Genjutsu: 2.5
Intelligence: 4.5
Strength: 4.5
Speed: 4.5
Stamina: 4
Hand Seals: 3.5


☆TOTAL☆
31.5 [Jōnin Stats]



☆TRIVIA☆


☆Saemi (早笑) means “Morning Smile” and Karai (渦雷) means “Lightning Vortex”.

☆Saemi's hobbies are writing short stories.

☆Saemi wishes to fight Temari and her rival, Hosaki Shikuma.

☆Saemi's favorite foods are Rei-Shabu and Hiyashi Chuka while her least favorite food is Daikon Ankake.

☆She has completed 538 missions in total: 150 D-Rank, 234 C-Rank, 96 B-Rank, 48 A-Rank, and 10 S-Rank.

☆Her favorite phrase is “Storm through the battle like a raging wind” and her favorite word is “Change.”



Naruto Shinobi Card Concept ©
Sunagakure Background Shot On Card © T.V Tokyo
'Saemi Karai' Drawing © =Naru-chan-ne
'Saemi Karai' Original Character Design © *BayneezOne
'Saemi Karai' Character Story Creation © *dreamchaser21
Naruto/Naruto Shippūden Franchise © Masashi Kishimoto