Kazuto Ryūken

Kazuto Ryūken (竜健 和人, Ryūken Kazuto) is a shinobi of Konohagakure. He is a descendant of the Senju Clan through his father and a direct descendant of the Uchiha Clan through his mother. He is also the only survivor of the Ryūken Academy Tragedy. After the tragedy, Kazuto swore to become the greatest shinobi in the world in honor of his deceased friends. He works on missions with Konoha 11.

Background
Kazuto is the son of Asuna Uchiha and Daisuke Ryūken. His mother passed away in childbirth, which left Daisuke to raise their son on his own. Kazuto was raised by his father for seven years outside of Konohagakure until Kazuto one day found his father dead under mysterious circumstances.

Kazuto was then left in the care of his father's orphanage/ninja school Ryūken Academy, where he befriended many of the children who all shared a dream of becoming great ninjas. Unfortunately, tragedy struck once again in Kazuto's life when, unbeknownst to Kazuto, Orochimaru ordered both Kabuto and Sasuke Uchiha to conduct an experiment on the academy which resulted in the children transforming into mindless monsters. Due to Kazuto's unique charkra, he was unaffected by the experiment but was forced to watch in horror as all of his beloved friends transformed into monsters and was ultimately forced to kill them all himself.

Right after the tragedy, Kazuto was found by Team 7's Kakashi Hatake and Sakura Haruno from Konoha who were following leads to the whereabouts of Sasuke. Since the trail had gone cold, Kakashi and Sakura decided to take the traumatized Kazuto back to the village, but not before giving his deceased friends proper burials.

After arriving at the village, Kazuto had remained in a state of silence and wouldn't speak to anyone for weeks. Finally, in honor of his deceased friends, Kazuto vowed to become the greatest ninja in the world, better than the Kages. Kazuto then enrolled Konoha's Ninja Academy, where he excelled and eventually graduated in just one year, he then passed the Chūnin Exams the year after. Kazuto has since continued to hone his skills and joined the teams of Konoha 11 on their missions.

Personality
Kazuto has an extremely compassionate and supportive personality. He can be very violent and get into fights, but really has a kind heart. He supports his friends and tries to encourage and help them. However, others often find Kazuto annoying due to his frequent impulsiveness and his care-free attitude. Despite this, Kazuto is a fiercely loyal friend as he takes any insult or threat against them very seriously and got really angry when Sasuke attempted to kill Sakura. He also doesn't like people insulting Naruto or calling him a demon, whom he considers to be his best friend. Besides this, however, Kazuto is surprisingly even-tempered and laid-back, and rarely gets angry without a good reason.

Kazuto is often shown to be able to relate to people easily and connect their feelings to his own, such as Naruto's ambition of becoming Hokage and Sakura's desire to become stronger. While he can relate to Sasuke's pain as he also lost loved ones in his life, Kazuto criticizes the Uchiha's decision to remain alone and suffering rather than cherish the people who still love him. In general, he is often the first one to try and make people feel better if they're down through jokes or wise-cracks. He is headstrong and is often very open with his friends.

Appearance
Kazuto is a lean, muscular, young man of slightly above average height with a fair skin tone, black eyes, and ruggedly spiky black hair. His main attire consists of his black forehead protector, a black hoodie with grey innards, navy blue pants, and black boots.

He wears the standard Konoha infantry flak jacket and assorted clothing during the Fourth Shinobi World War. By adulthood he wears a black sweatshirt with red stripes, navy blue pants, black sandals, dark grey fingerless gloves, and has stopped wearing a forehead protector.

Abilities
During his time in Konoha's Ninja Academy, Kazuto exceeded exponentially and was able to graduate in just one year, earning acknowledgement from the Sannin for his potential. Even after graduation and being promoted to Chūnin, Kazuto spent much of his free time in intense training, honing his skills and abilities to the point where he can fight and defeat members of Akatsuki. Under the Wild Cats' tutelage and training, Kazuto became strong enough to fight many powerful shinobi during the Fourth Shinobi World War, which ultimately earned him the praise of Konohagakure as a hero of Hokage-material. Eventually, he is regarded as a legendary shinobi himself and one of the most powerful alive.

Chakra and Physical Prowess
Kazuto's chakra is quite strong. His unique black chakra is far more potent and destructive than regular chakra, rivaling that of the Nine-Tails's. Whenever Kazuto's anger deepens, his black chakra intensifies, growing darker and more powerful. However, this only tends to happen whenever Kazuto faces a foe he intends to kill after they harm one of his friends, such as when Sasuke attempted to kill Sakura. His reserves are also quite large, being able to use techniques like the Rasengan and others multiple times in one day, as well as summon large creatures like Wild Cats. His chakra control is also very high, though not as refined as Sakura Haruno's.

Kazuto is very capable in taijutsu, enough to hold his own in hand-to-hand combat against multiple opponents at once. His most consistent physical display is his speed, and by extension his reaction time. After awakening his Sharingan, Kazuto concentrates on honing his speed and reflexes so that he can react to the Sharingan's heightened visual information. His high degree of speed is rivaled only by his physical strength, which has allowed him to perform numerous physical feats. Between his increased speed and taijutsu prowess, it becomes very difficult for his opponents to find enough time to perform even a single hand seal.

Ninjutsu
Kazuto learned to summon wild cats even before he entered Konoha's Ninja Academy. He usually summons the larger wild cats for combat against large enemies and uses the smaller ones to track targets, rapid transportation, and even deliver messages. By adulthood, Kazuto is able to use the Shadow Clone Technique, able to easily produce eight clones at once.

Bukijutsu
Kazuto is trained with a variety of different ninja tools. His area of expertise is in shurikenjutsu, allowing him to throw shuriken and kunai with precision; for complicated or moving targets, Kazuto can guide shuriken to their mark using either Wind Release or deflecting them off each other. Kazuto begins using the Sword of Kurayami after inheriting it from his father, wielding it just as skillfully in either hand. He often uses it to cut down multiple opponents in a short period of time. He uses it defensively as well, blocking incoming attacks or holding off skilled swordsmen. By adulthood, Kazuto becomes skilled enough to instantly switch between wielding his sword backhanded and normally even during a clash.

Nature Transformation
Kazuto can use all five basic nature transformations, as well as Yin Release, Yang Release, and Yin-Yang Release; two of which he could utilize at the age of 13. As an Uchiha, he has a natural affinity for Fire Release, mastering the clan's Great Fireball Technique in a matter of days as well as create a succession of dragon-shaped fireballs. His Fire Release-prowess is shown strong enough to easily disperse most Water Release techniques. After watching Naruto Uzumaki complete his Wind Release: Rasenshuriken, Kazuto learned to add his fire element to the Rasengan to create the Fire Release: Rasenkaen.

Kazuto's other natural affinity is Wind Release. He can exhale powerful vacuum-based attacks that can either slash like blades or pierce like bullets. If needed, he can use enhanced variations, some of which are strong enough to damage a humanoid Susanoo's defenses. After watching Asuma Sarutobi, Kazuto learned to combine his wind chakra with his sword to increase its cutting capability to the point where it could slice an entire stone bridge in half with a single stroke. He even infuses his shuriken with wind in order to control them in the air.

Sharingan
Kazuto awakens his Sharingan on the day his father died. Kazuto's Sharingan is especially potent, as it was even stronger and greater in clarity than normal Sharingan users. With the Sharingan, Kazuto can see the flow of chakra, accurately reproduce any movement he sees (his own physical skill permitting), track fast-moving objects, and predict opponents' movement to a degree. He can also use Genjutsu: Sharingan for broad purposes such as distraction, interrogation, or knocking targets out.

Mangekyō Sharingan
Kazuto first awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan after the tragedy at his orphanage, though he his unable to do so again for a few years until Part II. Its design is that of a shuriken. When his eyesight began to deteriorate from overuse during the Fourth Shinobi War, his reanimated mother, Asuna Uchiha, offered her own eyes to transplant into her son's before she finally departed to the afterlife. The transplanted eyes resemble a cross between Kazuto's and Asuna's Mangekyō. His Eternal Mangekyō is a "straight tomoe" (直巴, Choku Tomoe) type, granting him fluidity in his movements when fighting. Kazuto's acquisition of the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan seemed to have enhanced his mastery of its techniques. Before, he was quick to exhaust himself both physically and chakra wise when he would overuse his power. After acquiring it, he was able to repeatedly use its powers with no signs of exhaustion. With his right Mangekyō, Kazuto can use Amaterasu, igniting whatever he looks at with black flames that can burn anything. He had the ability to extinguish Amaterasu, but never displayed the sort of shape transformation that Sasuke used until he awakened his Eternal Mangekyō. With his left Mangekyō, he can use Mahakara, the ability to manipulate the flow of time. Having awakened the Mangekyō in both his eyes, Kazuto can use Susanoo, a spectral warrior that protects him and acts on his behalf. It takes repeated uses before he's able to fully form Susanoo. Initially, Kazuto can only create Susanoo's skeletal features, such as ribs for defense or arms to interact with his surroundings. He is steadily able to layer musculature and skin over the bones, and later armor to increase its defenses. Upon gaining the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, he is able to create the significantly larger Complete Body — Susanoo, comparable in power to Tailed Beast Mode. Like all Susanoo, Kazuto's has Yasaka Magatama and several swords at its disposal that it can use against larger targets or to easily destroy nearby structures. Though most of these swords are made of the same chakra as Susanoo itself, Kazuto can also ignite the swords with Amaterasu's flames. Kazuto's Susanoo is also equipped with a chain blade like the tool he often uses. The Susanoo's chain blade extends by a considerable length and is capable of entangling equally large enemies. While in Six Paths Sage Mode, Kazuto can incorporate Truth-Seeking Balls for his Susanoo to use as weapons for large-scale destruction or protection. Susanoo can also be formed around the Wild Cats in order to give them armor of their own, and serve as a medium for his various techniques like Rasengan.

Rinnegan
Having an Uchiha mother and paternal ancestry to the Senju Clan resulted in Kazuto's chakra being a mix of Indra's and Asura's chakra. However, since his blood ties to the Senju had wavered throughout the generations, Kazuto's Rinnegan had remained dormant and wasn't unlocked until sometime after obtaining the both the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan and Sage Mode. He's able to switch between both dōjutsu.

With the Rinnegan, Kazuto can use all of the abilities of the Six Paths Technique, such as the Preta Path to absorb chakra and the Deva Path to perform Chibaku Tensei. He can also use the Outer Path to create chakra chains that could restrain tailed beasts. He can also use it to see invisible targets and repel the effects of the Infinite Tsukuyomi. Through the usage of his Rinnegan with that of his Sharingan, Kazuto can summon meteorites to cause widespread destruction.

Senjutsu
In preparation for the Fourth Shinobi World War, Kazuto trained in senjutsu with the Wild Cats, which was only possibly due to his high chakra reserves. He was able to perfectly balance natural energy with his chakra, and enter a complete Sage Mode, symbolized by the tiger-like stripes that appear on his face. Using Sage Mode made Kazuto's techniques stronger, enhanced his physical parameters, and allowed him to utilize the Neko Kata taijutsu style.

Six Paths Sage Mode
With his Six Paths chakra finally awakened, Kazuto gained access to the Six Paths Sage Mode (六道仙人モード, Rikudō Sennin Mōdo). In this mode, his Rinnegan is active and he also don a chakra cloak, similar in design to Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki's kimono but with inverse colors, which he could access instantly and maintain much longer than his standard Sage Mode. Kazuto's physical attributes and techniques are further augmented, to the point where he could dodge attacks at the speed of light. The mode granted him flight and Truth-Seeking Balls that floated behind him in a circular formation, which were comprised of the five basic nature transformations and Yin–Yang Release.

Their chakra is highly malleable and versatile, such that he could use them as high speed projectiles, protective barriers, and various weapons, such as a shakujō, which he could also incorporate into his Susanoo. With Yin–Yang Release, the balls could nullify all ninjutsu they came into contact with. He could also harness natural energy to enhance his various techniques. This mode earned Kazuto the nickname The Reincarnated Sage of Six Paths.

Intelligence
Kazuto is very intelligent, having earned top grades in his Academy class. In combat, he usually remains on the offensive, rarely pausing in his attacks or falling back to regroup. Rather, Kazuto observes as he goes, being mindful to all factors on the battlefield and analyzing his opponents' techniques to understand their mechanics and purposes. He is accordingly accustomed to coming up with tactics on the fly, choosing whatever approach, no matter how elaborate, will be most successful at the exact moment. His strategies could be considered irresponsible or risky, as he has on more than one occasion placed himself in harm's way. Despite this, his actions have the tendency to pay off.

However, despite his cleverness during combat, his anger and impulsiveness causes him to often rush into a fight without any specific battle plan. This has often put him in life-threatening situations against superior foes. Fortunately, Kazuto's quick thinking enables him to make last minute escapes or strategies to win the fight.