YARA
屋良
屋良
[History]
- The Yara began as one of the first major clans in the Land of Earth’s many small villages, leading a small village of hunter-gatherers in the northwestern region of the country. As one of the many clans who accepted the services of the shinobi who ventured into the country during its long period of conflict, it has maintained a vast territory in the area for decades, remaining there even after the establishment of Iwagakure.
It is during this period that the Yara clan is introduced to the Ninshuu, having built a close bond with these mercenaries-for-hire; one of the earliest heads and the first matriarch of the clan, Suzume, married the then-leader of the Ninshuu practitioner’s clan, Soetsu. Soon after, under circumstances that are still debated to this day, Suzume passed soon after, leaving Soetsu as the clan’s new leader.
Though it was assumed the younger sister of Suzume would then marry the new patriarch, Soetsu instead chose to interlope with his former lover. In honor of the family, however, he would retain the name of the Yara clan in light of the heir Suzume bore before death: Yara Koetsu.
Because of this, the clan has since been split into two unofficial factions: those in the lineage of Soetsu, and those of the renown Lady Suzume.
In time, Koetsu would take the seat of leadership within the Yara clan, though there was debate as to the legitimacy of his heritage; as time ebbed away at the clan’s verifiable history, it is uncertain as to whether or not Koetsu was indeed the child of Suzume and Soetsu or simply that of his other lover.
The authoritarian ruler that he is, Yara Yuuji has seen to unifying the clan with methods much the same as those his father, Yara Yosuke, used to bring 'peace' to Iwagakure: by banishing the caustic members of either side of the family.
What exists now, however, is but an illusion of the peace he aimed to create.