Utakata Awadachi

Utakata Awadachi (Bubbles on the Surface of a Liquid, 族泡立ち泡沫, Awadachi Utakata) was a Missing-nin from Kirigakure and the Awadachi Clan, drifting to find answers in the Land of Water. Also the jinchūriki of Saiken the Six-Tailed Slug, he specialized in bubble techniques and Saiken's special Tailed Beast Skills, earning him the monikers of Bubble Bringer and the Supreme of Slime for his prowess. After taking on a student, Hotaru, he finally found what he'd had been searching for, restoring his good memory of his own master, Harusame.

Personality
Utakata is described as a charming individual. In the manga, Akatsuki member Deidara indicated that Utakata was possibly one of the jinchūriki that loathed humanity, due to being neglected and hated by his village, none of whom came to rescue him when he had been captured.

In the anime, where Utakata's character is given a bit more depth, he is usually depicted with a stoic, calm and carefree personality, preferring solitude and is not particularly talkative. Although, if the sensitive subject of student-master relationships is brought up, it typically manages to rouse his annoyance and anger. Hotaru is often on the receiving end of Utakata's ire on this matter as she constantly nags him to become her.

As a result of his complicated relationship with his late master, he utterly despises the word, having remarked that he isn't foolish enough to ever take on the title. In one instance, he said, "I told you not to call me master", to Hotaru as he floated away in a bubble. Hotaru's unyielding attachment and reverence to Utakata flusters him. Despite Utakata's genuine protective feelings for Hotaru, they are hard for him to acknowledge and express due to his nomadic nature and scarring past, though he acts on them if ever Hotaru is in danger. When Hotaru showed Utakata the kinjutsu that had been sealed into her, he visibly displayed anger and outrage that someone would do something like that. He also has a strong sense of honour, often determined to repay his debts to others (like his assuming a guardian role to Hotaru since she and saved him). Like Naruto, he has resolved not to rely on his tailed beast for power, aware of the destruction it may cause, an indicator of his maturity. Tonbee also commented that Utakata lacked greed.

Interestingly, Utakata seemed to have a better relationship with his tailed beast than most, as he could ask it to fully release its power without it forcefully overtaking Utakata's consciousness. Saiken accomplished only the task wished by Utakata and receded into him without any resistance.

Appearance
Utakata is a tall, thin young man with pale golden eyes and brown hair that reaches to his shoulders. In the manga, his eyes are very narrow, whereas in the anime his eyes are more of a typical size. His side parting lets a large portion of his bangs cover the left side of his face. He wears a long, light blue kimono adorned with a small emblem of three bubbles on the back, and a pair of grey pants underneath, with an orange sash. The kimono hangs loose, exposing his chest. In it, he carries a bamboo jug filled with a soap solution, and a pipe.

In the anime, during his time in Kirigakure he wore a full body grey suit along with a variant of the village's flak jacket which had very low shoulder guards as well as a zipper and a pouch on the upper right chest. He also wore the village's forehead protector, fingerless gloves, as well as bandages on his forearms.

Abilities
In the anime, he was shown to be agile and nimble in battle, effortlessly dodging and out-manoeuvring all of Naruto's attacks and the assaults from, , , and. He showed signs of being a sensor-type, or at least was very observant, as he noticed that Akaboshi and his group had a change in their chakra flow. He is also knowledgeable in tracking and herbal remedies. He also was able to track the Natural Energy that was gathering from Shiranami's technique with his Soap Bubble Ninjutsu.

After his reincarnation and serving as one of Tobi's Six Paths of Pain, Utakata is seen with both the Sharingan and Rinnegan. Combining the perceptual and predictive abilities of the former with the shared field of vision ability of the latter, allowed Utakata to use his attacks in a more precise and coordinated fashion as well as react to enemy attacks more efficiently, both individually and in conjunction and with the other jinchūriki.

Shinobi World War Arc
In preparation for the Fourth Shinobi World War, Utakata was reincarnated by to fight against the Allied Shinobi Forces, before being mobilised alongside the other deceased Jinchūriki.

As dawn broke on the second day, it was revealed that Tobi had turned the reincarnated jinchūriki into his own customised Six Paths of Pain, with each having a Rinnegan and Sharingan in place of their left and right eyes respectively. The jinchūriki also had their respective tailed beasts resealed into them, and each had a Chakra Receiver implanted in their bodies.

Utakata later traveled together with Tobi, in pursuit of Naruto Uzumaki and Killer B. Encountering their targets, the reincarnated jinchūriki were sent into battle. After the enemy had been repelled by Yagura, Utakata surrounds them with his Water Release: Bubbles Technique.

In the anime, while still conscious of his actions, Utakata mentally communicated with Naruto, explaining to his former ally what happened to him since their last meeting. As Utakata expresses his true feelings regarding Hotaru to Naruto, regretting how things turned out, he thanked Naruto for listening to his true feelings, as his remaining consciousness faded away. With a snap of his fingers, Utakata engulfing the area in a series of explosions from his bubbles. When his initial assault failed, he, like the others, unleashed the power of their respective tailed beast by materialising the first of its tails.

However, before the technique's completion, he managed to escape by adopting his Version 2 form, only to be caught by the Eight-Tails when he charged at the beast. Utakata then proceeded to free himself from the crushing grasp using his Leech Gap technique, burning the Eight-Tails' hand in the process.

Regrouping with the other reincarnated jinchūriki, after Kakashi Hatake and Might Guy's intervention, Utakata charged towards the pair. Avoiding Kakashi's strike and then repelling both with his tails, Utakata is forcefully transformed into his full Six-Tails form by Tobi. He then proceeds to expel a large amount of corrosive gas from the beast's mouth, forcing the opposition to momentarily retreat, until Guy dissipates the gas. After Son Gokū is resealed into the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, Tobi, intent on going all-out from this point onwards, forces the remaining jinchūriki to transform into their respective tailed beasts.

Unleashing a Tailed Beast Ball along with the others, the jinchūriki instead resorted to a direct assault when these attacks are deflected by Naruto, only to then be repelled as the latter adopts his Tailed Beast Mode. In the resulting chaos, Utakata manages to immobilise the Nine-Tails' right arm by swallowing it whole, but is ultimately wrenched free after being swung into the Two-Tails. With this, the rival beasts regroup and prepare a collaborative Tailed Beast Ball, launching it towards their opponents only to have it diverted by an opposing one.

Attempting to remove the opposition's chakra receivers in the ensuing blast, Naruto enters the joint consciousness of the tailed beasts, where he meets Utakata along with the other jinchūriki and their respective beasts. During this encounter, he speaks of how they promised Son to remain here in order to tell Naruto something, just before introducing himself (who states Naruto already knows who he is in the anime) alongside his beast, Saiken.

After Saiken was resealed into the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, Utakata and the other jinchūriki's corpses were collected by Killer B and held in Gyūki's tentacles. With the release of the Impure World Reincarnation, Utakata and the others were enveloped in a light of sorts before their bodies started to deconstruct and his soul returned to the afterlife.

Quotes

 * (To Hotaru) "I am not foolish enough to be someone's master."
 * (To Hotaru) "If people have too much power, it will only lead to great sadness."
 * (To Naruto) "They think of us… as mere tools. Tools… who don't speak."
 * "My hatred had shut my ears off… But I did hear…"
 * (Last words) "Hota…ru… you… must live…"

Trivia

 * refers to bubbles on the surface of a liquid. Idiomatically, it also means "transient", "ephemeral".
 * In the manga, Utakata was possibly one of the jinchūriki that were captured before Gaara.
 * He has two musical themes that are remixes of Guren's theme. One is the end part of the theme called The Rain Stops, and the other is called Reflection.
 * In the anime, it was shown that Kirigakure's bingo book states that Utakata is worth a bounty of 5,000,000 ryō.
 * In order to prevent the jinchūriki from becoming a traitor to his or her village, it is tradition for the host to be selected from the family of the village's own Kage. Due to this fact, Utakata is be connected with the Third Mizukage, though regardless of the connections, in the anime it ultimately did not prevent Utakata from defecting.
 * In the anime, Naruto and Utakata had met during the events of the . In the manga, however, the two did not meet until the.
 * In , their previous encounter in the anime is taken into account, as when introducing himself, Utakata asks if Naruto remembers him. This only happens in the English version, however, as the Japanese audio makes no mention of a prior meeting.