Kure Clan



The Kure Clan (, Kure-ichizoku) are a powerful league of assassins that are notorious throughout the criminal underworld where they are widely known as The Taboo Descendants (の, Kinki no Matsuei). Around a particular city, 500 kilometres away from Tokyo, they are the most influential clan within that city's region, with the vast majority of the Kure living in Kure Village, a provincial city in that region.

About
Ever since the Asuka period, the Kure Clan has undergone a 1300 year process of selective breeding, adoption of special techniques and outside combat arts; as a result, with each generation, the Kure have become a race specialized for battle. Through this selective breeding process the Kure have also attained peak physical performance, including strength, speed and durability. As such, the Kure have an extremely high pain and damage tolerance; in their blood, they possess over 20 kinds of endorphins and, combined with their abnormal physical resilience, it enables them to easily endure heavy damage and deep wounds, whether it be from slashing attacks or being smashed to the ground.

Kure Clan Style (, Kure Ichizoku-den)
While the specific techniques that the Kure have access to are largely unknown, the clan's techniques are designed to give life and take life away. According to the clan's current patriarch, there is no move the Kure cannot combat or destroy.

Lion Bite (, Shishigami)
This particular technique involves brutally twisting and dislocating the necks of the user's target(s), causing instant fatalities.

Secret Technique: Removal (し, Higi: Hazushi)
The most notable result of their selective breeding process is their ability to consciously remove their brain's limits on their muscular strength output, as well as the physical constitution needed to handle unrestrained exertion of the muscle's strength. As such, while regular humans are naturally unable to access more than 30% of their body's muscular strength (except in times of extreme duress), the Kure are able to freely access and utilise their latent muscular strength with no repercussions; the only drawback to using the Removal is that it requires a good amount of stamina to perform and maintain. The release rate of one's latent muscular strength depends on the individual's talents. The technique makes the user's skin turn red (or a dark shade of red-violet in the anime adaptation) with their blood vessels bulging on the surface. The Kure are also to use the Removal in localized areas of their body.