Lightning Group

The Lightning Group gathered together disenfranchised shinobi, most of them carrying a kekkei genkai. Fushin founded the band alongside others who had once been enslaved by En Oyashiro, people mistreated for years despite having done nothing wrong, and their shared goal was to shield those living at the edges of society the way no one had ever shielded them.

Acting on that mission, the group preyed on killers, thieves, and other wrongdoers, stripped them of everything they had, and funnelled the plunder toward communities in need. Overlooked hamlets such as Bamboo Village, so often ignored by their own countries, ranked among the chief beneficiaries.

As word of their deeds spread through certain circles, fresh recruits joined and grateful welcomes followed. That reputation eventually reached Kirigakure, which hired them to confront officials skimming public funds. When the group cornered those officials, however, Kiri sided with the crooks, the whole assignment having been a pretext to justify the village's paid intervention. Most of the Lightning Group perished against the Kiri-nin, and the handful who survived sought refuge in the settlements they had aided, only to be turned away by people afraid of Kirigakure's retaliation.

With nowhere safe and Kiri still hunting them, the survivors scattered into hiding, all bitter at being attacked for trying to do good. Fushin, Amuda, and, in the anime, Chino set their sights on revenge against the hidden villages, whose sermons about peace clashed with their covert deeds. Karyu instead turned his anger on the settlements that had refused them shelter, and to pursue that grudge he formed the Dark Thunder Group.