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"Maybe in another world, another place I could afford to be someone chivalrous, with shining virtues. But it doesn't work here, in this rundown farce we call society. All this world can respect without mowing down is power; that's all we really need to worry about."
— Hotaru Miyagi, in his battle against Shin Hayata and what would be his final battle.
February 8
Male
Hotaru Miyagi (Miyagi Hotaru, 宮城ホタル) is one of the youngest members of The Brotherhood and a legendary puppeteer from Iwagakure. Internationally, he is recognised and feared as the notorious S-rank criminal Emperor of the Puppets (人形の皇帝, Ningyō no Kōtei). Miyagi defected from his village after an irreconcilable argument with his comrades over his increasingly renegade methods and his own ambitions to further his powers without having to answer anybody. Thus as a 19 year old, he left the village and was recruited by the Brotherhood, where his skills helped the organisation boost its combined power. Being an active part of the criminal group for the next six years, Hotaru grew very powerful, with puppetry skills matching and eventually surpassing the infamous Sasori of the Red Sands at the same time, despite being much younger than the Suna nin. Under the Brotherhood, Hotaru devoted his loyalty and efforts to aiding in the group's main objective, to restore an ancient deity like figure named Senso, to the world of the living—a reward for the finances and aid the Brotherhood provided onto him as he pursued his high tech puppetry. His extensive skill set which was incorporated in his one of a kind, wild puppetry granted the Brotherhood immense firepower and intimidation factor to match until they were taken out by a subgroup dispatched to eliminate them, by the Allied Shinobi Forces.
During this vicious encounter, a majority of the Brotherhood were eliminated in the Goliath battles which culminated in the newly revived Senso being defeated by the Allied Forces' special squad; and Hotaru was captured after losing a narrow battle with a member of that team and his own former ally. Hotaru remained jailed for the next nine years before being broken out by Masa Nakamura, who intended to reform the Brotherhood alongside Hotaru to build a vast underground syndicate bolstered by powerful shinobi while also intending to build a force powerful enough to plague the mutual enemy of both men. As the years passed this new faction of the Brotherhood grew strong and wealthy again under the leadership of both these villains, as they began terrorising the Great Nations again, this time from underground. Hotaru's strategic and tactical nous spearheaded the Brotherhood's fearsome antics as even the famed group that had stopped them the first time around now, we're not able to do so any longer.
As the Shinobi Nations struggled on against the criminals for the next ten years, the Brotherhood and Hotaru's fall began following the sudden and unexpected death of Masa Nakamura at the hands of two Konohagakure shinobi. This directly led to a massive information breach as the Brotherhood imploded upon itself, as Hotaru attempted to flee into hiding once more, or risk getting captured a second time. The Allied Nations sent Shin Hayata after him, a very highly rated Jōnin who was the pupil of one of Hotaru's greatest enemies, part of the team that had defeated the first Brotherhood. In this violent battle, Hotaru's own age and atrophied skill led to his defeat despite outclassing the younger man several times; as Hotaru damaged his spine, ending up paraplegic for the rest of his life—before being sent to the Blood Prison; while also being forced to accept his defeat indirectly from the same man who dealt it the first time around. His beloved puppets would be sealed into a heavily guarded vault on the very edge of the Land of Whirpools, far from his influence, and protected so that they would never be used to wreak havoc on the world again.
Background[]
Early Life[]
Hotaru Miyagi was the sixth son in a family of puppet makers in an the village of Iwagakure. While not renowned for their combat ability or any particular traits that enabled them to wear the crest of Iwagakure with pride; the small Miyagi Clan boasted incredible skill in the art of crafting furniture and puppets — their village business ensuring that the family ended up being fairly wealthy. Young Hotaru proved to be very adept at his family's craft at even a young age: building his first puppets at just the age of 3. The pride of both his grandfather and father, Hotaru's talents also did not go unnoticed by the village. His talents gained the attention of the former puppet technique wielder and Second Shinobi War veteran, Tenome Ueda, who saw the boy's potential to revive the now dead art of Puppet Techniques in Iwagakure.
While not particularly skilled himself, Ueda possessed a wealth of experience and knowledge that he passed on to the young Hotaru, acting as the child's master and guide. While the Miyagi clan wished for their son to inherit their businesses and work with them, they could not refuse Ueda's tutelage as it had been part of Iwagakure's strategy to develop talents in their ranks; an important mission seeing as the Shinobi World was gradually veering into the jaws of war. Through his master, Hotaru learned of the great puppets in the world, of the famed Sasori of Sunagakure and of the legendary Monzaemon Chikamatsu. Sharpening Hotaru's intellect and helping him develop combat oriented puppets, Ueda soon discovered that Hotaru possessed the Fire Release and Water Release, assets that indicated he would be very useful to Iwagakure as a soldier. Iwagakure took notice of these latent abilities, driving a wedge between Hotaru and his own family's intentions to moulding him into a powerful shinobi.
Due to the fawning over he received from both Ueda and Iwagakure's military big shots, Hotaru's own ego began to rise exponentially. He believed (justifiably) that his own power was too special to be wasted tending to his family's businesses, setting his sights on surpassing both Sasori of the Red Sands and Monzaemon Chikamatsu as a puppet master. As he enrolled into Iwagakure's Ninja Academy, Hotaru completed the construction of his first ever puppet Buruburu— a fully armed and battle ready combat puppet. The hardships of shinobi life seemed to be wasted on the well equipped and increasingly arrogant Hotaru Miyagi, who inherited a wealth of knowledge from Iwagakure's harsh imstructors; becoming exceptional at Bukijutsu and demonstrating good skill in Taijutsu. He was able to reconstruct, repair an modify puppets at an accelerated rate, inheriting his master's proclivity for restoration.
Hotaru was mounded into a rare breed of puppeteer, one in the vein of Monzaemon Chikamatsu. One who combined Taijutsu with Puppet Techniques, to create a new demon. He cleared the Academy, became a Genin and was promoted to Chūnin in the space of one year, as his puppetry was a rare skill for most others to prepare against, let alone contend with. By the time he was promoted to Chūnin, Hotaru had already created his first two master puppets: Buruburu and Akaname. When carrying out his duties as a Chūnin, Hotaru Miyagi was only 9 years old.
In other words, he was 9 years of age when he was thrust into the Third Shinobi War.
The first stages of the war saw Hotaru's deployment and involvement; the first Miyagi to represent Iwagakure as a full fledged shinobi alongside his master, Tenome Ueda. He proved that rank was a poor indicator of true ability, as his very first opponent was a Jōnin from Konohagakure. Hotaru's keen instincts and precise puppetry overwhelmed his unfortunate enemy rather quickly; decapitating the Jōnin in little over five minutes. His strength lay in his chilling determination to announce his arrival as the world's next great puppeteer. While his battalion eventually was outnumbered and their leader slain, Hotaru carried the burden of unfavourable odds by becoming his people's beacon. He tore through groups of shinobi singlehandedly, armed with a kunai in his mouth and his two deadly puppets swirling around him. Konoha had not been prepared for a puppeteer like this, who combined precise puppetry with brutally effective Taijutsu. The day ended with a very unlikely Iwagakure victory and a very unlikely hero.
He would earn the epithet of "Leech of the Strings" on that day, as Ueda proudly witnessed firsthand the monstrous genius he had helped create. The incessant praise drove Hotaru mad with arrogance, as he sought to further promote his might by slaughtering more enemies on the front lines in order to establish himself as a war hero. And that was exactly what he did. Hotaru helped foil two Konoha sieges on strategic Iwagakure outposts, tearing through his fellow Konoha Chūnin with malignant fury. His puppets possessed monstrous weapons that savagely mutilated his enemies and Hotaru never relented until he had killed every last enemy standing in front of him. This trend repeated itself many times even though Konoha gradually imposed their numerical advantage and their greater skill on Iwagakure. Now, Hotaru's role as a puppeteer was especially important; serving as a heroic rearguard to cover his allies' escape while mowing down as many enemies as he could. Much to his disdain, Hotaru's presence on the battlefield seemed to exert less throat burning influence as it had dozens of battles ago.
Hotaru's own might did not spare him from the true strength of the monsters that roamed the world. In his seventeenth engagement of the Third Shinobi War, the young child's brash notion of himself and aggressive fighting technique opened up a crucial gap in his defence. It was a forest, one where a puppeteer could be at an advantage, but Hotaru still faltered. A lone shinobi not much older than him, broke in between his puppets. A kunai was plunged into Hotaru's back, being pulled upwards towards his neck. As he collapsed onto the ground screaming and jerking violently, he saw another new character emerge from the dark forest. Blonde mane of hair and bizarrely shaped kunai. This character drove straight through the nearby Tenome Ueda, decapitating him in one swoop.
When Hotaru awakened, the Third Shinobi War had ended, he found himself on an infirmary bed. He was the lone survivor of his famed battalion and he had notched a personal tally of 59 kills. The Leech of the Strings was now lauded as a war hero, his scars on back of his neck tattooing Iwagakure's gratitude. As a mark of his gratitude, the Kage granted Hotaru the title of Jōnin, placing him under a division that would work closely with the ANBU Black Ops of Iwagakure. Though he had earned the pride of his family after his exploits, Hotaru finally felt grief. He had grown attached more to Ueda Tenome than his own parents — and the loss of the respected puppeteer left Hotaru at a loss. He set to work creating his next master puppet, one with exceptional offensive ability. One he named after his deceased master — Tenome. His dream to become a puppeteer without equal only burned brighter after news of Sasori of the Red Sand's exploits reached him. Exploits which beat his own remarkable tallies and battles. Hotaru vowed that he would surpass Sasori in ten years, no matter what he had to sacrifice.
Master of the Puppets[]
At the age of fifteen, Hotaru was deemed to finally be worthy to lead his own special squad in Iwagakure. While his power had never been in doubt, the powers in the village had deemed his temperament to finally be suited for greater responsibility. He was placed in charge of the new Puppet Brigade of Iwagakure, charged with performing the same role as Tenome Ueda had: the recruitment and training of future prodigies to serve as assets in battle. Hotaru was extremely selective of his students, beginning to believe that his own repertoire as a great puppeteer would be determined in a way by the apprentices he churned out. At this time, he also had been using his considerable resources to obtain the finest substances to improve on the durability of his puppets and their weapons.
Tenome, Buruburu and Akaname had become symbols of Hotaru's superior craft. They were stylish, space efficient in terms of weaponry and highly flexible; but he had already made several other modifications to his. Fifteen year old Hotaru was already more respected than most puppet crafters ever were at their peak, but his own expectations and ego drove him to desire more. As he churned out a fair share of talented apprentices while also crafting a name for himself as a monster shinobi in battle, Hotaru longed for the post of Jōnin Commander, as he viewed the current holder of the position to be a vastly inferior and incompetent individual. As numerous assassination attempts piled up and failed, Hotaru's lofty impression of himself grew. He slaughtered enemies of his leaders to help them consolidate their positions, all in order to enhance his own stock. But the inevitable feeling dawned upon him that he was surrounded by fools who had no ambition, as he felt like his goal of overtaking Sasori was undeniably childish and lacking true value.
Four more years passed. Hotaru had grown even stronger, already considered to be an elite above literally every Jōnin in his village. Some said the point where he could kill the Tsuchikage alone would soon be at hand. But when he wasn't punishing his body with gruelling strength regimes, Hotaru relied on his good looks to womanise and drink himself into a stupor. His filthy habits were regarded as unbecoming of a soldier by many of his superior officers, who felt like the Kage was favouring and tolerating his bad behaviour due to his undisputed power. It felt like a waste of all the glowering praise that had been heaped unto him ever since the Third War, to the eyes of many. Gradually the child hero had grown to become a rowdy teenager to most of the village, but his ambitions to grow stronger had only intensified as well. While his puppetry was at a level most would consider to be mastery, Hotaru was dismayed by the very human limitations to his techniques, seeking to engage in bodily modification to not only increase the number of puppets he could control, but tweak his reflexes to minimise the openings which his more skilful opponents could exploit.
Having no contacts or experience to pursue these kinds of research, Hotaru instead took to the research divisions of Iwagakure, attempting to obtain information and individuals who would help him achieve his ambitions. Blinded by his eagerness for more power, he proposed additional experimentation on their prisoners which led to him being promptly rejected by the division higher ups. Aware he had pushed his luck with his suggestion, Hotaru backed down and resumed his ordinary activities, killing enemies while training himself and others — seemingly for the sake of the village but really just to move up the ladder to achieve his ambitions. Unfortunately, the Elders of the village were well aware of Hotaru's crude behaviour and the latest suggestion of experimentation on prisoners was a cruel thought that even the Tsuchikage could no longer ignore. Unknown to them however, Hotaru had already started looking into Kinjutsu, particularly into the forbidden art of Human Puppetry, an art which utilised the power of corpses as they lived, leading to highly effective tools in combat.
Eventually, alcohol and superiority complex gelled to bring the worst out of Hotaru. In a drunken stupor he became embroiled in a spat with one of his fellow Jōnin,, who happened to be a close friend of the Jōnin Commander himself. The war of words culminated with Hotaru smashing a bottle of sake into the man's eyes, blinding him in one eye. His exploits led to him being brought before the Jōnin Commander the very next day, who managed to provoke Hotaru's anger at the threat of court martial. After a furious exchange of words Hotaru stormed off, daring the powers in place to attempt apprehending him. This display of very public arrogance turned his superiors completely against him, with prominent soldiers and elders demanding that the Tsuchikage throw him in a prison for his obvious contempt. Still, Onoki attempted to withhold a punishment on the Leech of the Strings, who still had his supporters.
In the meantime, Hotaru had already seen how vast sections of the populace of Iwagakure had started to regard him with distaste, and how so many of them had called for his head. His anger continued to grow as these calls grew louder, believing that his own brethren had forgotten of his deeds and had begun to dislike him because they could never match his power and skill. His family began to distance themselves from him, as his vulgar actions and lack of conjecture would inevitably jeopardise their business if they associated themselves with him. Ostracised and shunned, Hotaru felt Ueda's absence even more. Over the course of the year, sentiments intensified and his behaviour only worsened. Even worse, he began harbouring ambitions to steal the village's legendary Kinjutsu in an attempt to spit on his village while obtaining a source of destructive power as well. The straw that broke the camel's back came in the form of Hotaru's much disliked Jōnin Commander, who labelled his Tenome puppet as 'inferior to true ninjutsu'. Hotaru insulted his character and ability, calling him a weak man whose only claim to his post was through "exquisite ass licking". This was enough to goad the man, buoyed by the support of the Elders, to charge at the very willing Hotaru.
Hotaru easily proved the disparity between the two. In a match very much in the public eye, he reminded Iwagakure why he was a war hero and just how far he had come since then. He was now a monster inhibited by an ungrateful village. His puppets whizzed through the Commander's sluggish Earth Release, arsenal of weapons drawing the middle aged man where young Hotaru wanted him. With his chakra threads, Hotaru immobilised the man, slamming him to the ground. Approaching a pile of animal excrement, Hotaru pressed his foot generously into the stinking pile, shifting the same foot into the bound man's face.
The Jōnin Commander screamed in humiliation as Hotaru laughed loudly, stomping his foot as the man's face turned to a mixture of brown excrement and blood. Pulled away by fellow Jōnin, the two men were wrestled away for their public indecency and to prevent further escalation. Hotaru screamed profanities, cursing the village for their lack of appreciation for true heroes, while lauding wasted beings like the Jōnin Commander. He wrestled his way away past those restraining him, bounding towards his home, his foul air laid bare for all to behold.
Hotaru stands bloodied after knifing the final ANBU.
When other Jōnin arrived at his home to take him to the Tsuchikage in an hour, they discovered an empty, messy home. Hotaru had made up his mind to leave months prior and he had always just waited for the right chance. Finally moved to action by Hotaru Miyagi's last act of betrayal, the Tsuchikage dispatched an ANBU squadron to drag Hotaru back to Iwagakure and stand trial as a deserter. The squadron did catch up to him, as their elite tracking abilities and top notch skill allowed them that privilege.
However, special ops training and superior abilities alone still could not match the once in a generation might of Hotaru Miyagi, the Leech of the Strings, the one destined to be the Master of Puppets. They fought with passion and showcased their great might, but they could not match Hotaru's speed. Or his brutality. Or the strength of his creations. He was like a blacksmith who had crafted the ultimate weapon, but who was also the ultimate warrior it was designed for. Hotaru tore through flesh and bone, his poison shutting down body systems and his ingenuity outwitting the well practiced ANBU team routines and combination ninjutsu.
The extent of his mercy towards his former village was not killing anyone in its grounds. That mercy had exhausted itself when they decided to come after him. Hotaru now knew he was too great to be forced to be their dog, let alone play the role. The worthless and talented ninja of Iwagakure stood only as obstacles to his goals of achieving the pinnacles of power and reaching the heights of puppetry. He was cursed with ambition, but what he did not know at that time was that many had taken note of his vast abilities.
But some had taken more interest than others. Having known of the various criminal syndicates that plagued Iwagakure's borders, he intended to render his services to at least one, in order to gradually make his way towards powers that could help him achieve his dreams of experimentation.
Rising With the Brotherhood[]
Hotaru would spend at least the next month hunting down bounties for the sake of well paying clients, funds which he used to sustain his living and fatten his wallet. He proved to be a popular bounty hunter, whose abilities allowed him to make coin without much worry. It was in these weeks that Hotaru's entire life would change, as Katsuro Minoru entered the pub where he sought shelter one stormy night. Unbeknownst to Hotaru, Katsuro and his organisation the Brotherhood, had been observing the Puppet Master of Iwa for at least two years, eager to exploit his tempestuous nature and autocratic leanings for the betterment of the organisation.
Minoru was honest, offering Hotaru shelter and mighty allies; together with the funding and expertise to carry out his attempts at bodily modification that Iwagakure had denied. Tempted by this prospect, Hotaru's ears perked up at the mention of Minoru's goal: the revival of an ancient weapon to bring the Shinobi Nations to their knees and allow his organisation to create a world ruled by those worthy to lead it — the mightiest. To Hotaru, this had always seemed to be the undeniable choice: for the strongest beings to rule after annihilating their rivals, an arrangement which would quell dissent and prevent futile wars from being fought. As such, he agreed to join the Brotherhood as their enforcer; a loyal subordinate who would aid the organisation in its bid to control territories and criminals, most often by force.
In his first weeks in the Brotherhood, Hotaru learned firsthand the scales of their ambition and the enemies they had to content with. The Shinobi World was filled with terrorist organisations and groups who wished for the Five Nations System to be reduced to nothing, or with individuals who simply wished to stand at the level that the useless Daimyōs occupied. They were the rivals of the Brotherhood that Hotaru was tasked with handling. According to Minoru, the Brotherhood was extremely close to obtaining their weapon of mass destruction — but they had to eternally strengthen their control over parts of the criminal network. Hotaru eliminated the enemies of the organisation while serving as a bodyguard to Minoru. To Hotaru's surprise, Minoru proved to be an excellent and dangerous combatant, armed with the Yin Release and Yang Release, quite possibly the strongest Hotaru had fought alongside.
Hotaru together with (left to right) Pakura Arata, Setsuna Yuki, Eiji Arata and Fuji Koharu; forming a covert infiltration party.
Minoru's vast power and ambition slowly earned him Hotaru's true loyalties over the months. The criminals who fought the Brotherhood met their end at Hotaru's hands, while he steadily grew in rank among the powerful kingpins of the Brotherhood. The promise of bodily modification was one that was fulfilled as well, with Hotaru accepting to be the experimental lab rat of the genius medic-nin, Fuji Koharu; a now notorious missing-nin who was expelled from his village for conducting dark research. These experiments led to Hotaru's spinal cord being upgraded, possessing additional sockets for the insertion of appendages. Appendages which allowed artificial arms to be attached to Hotaru's body, birthing the infamous Avalokitesvara Technique that Hotaru became renowned for. In the ever continuing battle for resources which would be necessary for their endeavours, Hotaru's new weapons helped him cut down the numerous shinobi forces and underworld elements that seemed to eternally come for his new people. Fighting for the sake of the Brotherhood allowed Hotaru to defeat enemies of extraordinary caliber, further feeding his rapidly growing legend and allowing him to greatly polish his skills while revolutionising his inventions.
Hotaru eventually ascended from enforcer to the right hand man of Katsuro. Alongside Setsuna Yuki, Hotaru and Katsuro formed a triumvirate that schemed to keep their actions under the radar of the Great Shinobi Nations while getting a foothold over the trafficking business between the smaller nations further from the Great Nations. It was also during this time that Hotaru was personally approached by the envoy of the notorious drug kingpin Gangetsu Maeda, over a potential relationship between him and the Brotherhood. In exchange for funds and a share in the Land of Wind's opium trade, the Brotherhood were to undertake assignments to eliminate Maeda's business rivals — a trade Hotaru enthusiastically supported in front of Minoru and Yuki, despite the doubts and suspicions of both men. Eventually, Hotaru's influence won them the deal.
Over the next years, the Brotherhood had finally obtained enough resources and manpower to finally begin their ultimate mission: the excavation of their long promised super weapon. The tool to end all wars and establish their right to rule over the Shinobi World. It was finally now, after Hotaru had become a treasured member of the Brotherhood and now a veteran among its ranks, that Minoru revealed the nature of this weapon — a primordial colossus known as Sensō, with divine abilities to manipulate every element on Earth, sealed away during the age of heroes. The Brotherhood began the long process of excavation in Sensō's resting place, with Minoru granting Hotaru the honour of organising the workforce. However, their seemingly covert actions had actually been compromised a year earlier without their knowledge, leading to the Shinobi Forces putting together a team to stop them.
Hotaru seethed in anger when news reached the excavation site that a forward outpost containing some of the Brotherhood's elite combatants and high ranking members, had been single handedly demolished by three young opponents. Among the losses in this surprise attack were Eiji Arata and Yumiya, two magnificently skilled opponents and respected allies in Hotaru's eyes. This added a shallow sense of personal anger to Hotaru's mission, as he wished to avenge the deaths of his allies. Expecting an inevitable attack, Hotaru together with Pakura Arata—an expert wielder of Iron Sand and a woman he had saved from death in battle a few months prior, began to rally the forces, while Minoru and Yuki focused on obtaining Sensō, as they were tantalisingly close to his tomb. Three days later, the Brotherhood finally reached the depths of the earth to the seal; concurrent with a full scale attack from the trio who had ravaged the forward outposts.
In an attempt to buy Minoru some time, Hotaru charged to the front lines together with Arata and Yuki, rallying five squads of missing-nin in a head on charge against the incoming trio. Arata and Yuki recognised two of their adversaries to be Criminal X and the Grey Whirlwind, two notorious S-ranked missing-nin, while Hotaru recognised the other based on his blood stained monkey mask; the Human Torch, another notorious S-ranked vigilante that Gangetsu Maeda's envoy had warned them about. Hotaru managed to split the assailants with his puppetry, allowing Arata and Yuki to close in with their more lethal close range attacks; but their formations were shattered by Criminal X's raw power and shocking invulnerability, as he charged into the Brotherhood's squads as a shield for his allies. In minutes, Arata and Yuki were overwhelmed by Whirlwind and the Torch, while Hotaru was forced to watch X tear through his underlings.
In a desperate effort to stop the trio from breaking through their increasingly beleaguered lines, each combatant was lured away by a member of the Brotherhood, with Hotaru taking on the mighty Criminal X with the aid of his surviving squads. Summoning the Puppet Master's Shell, Hotaru lead the heavy fire on X while his underlings sought to exploit the distractions posed by their leader. X proved to be a terrifying opponent, summoning forth his Wood Release and quickly beginning to overpower the Puppet Master's Shell. As his loyal subordinates fell to X's brute strength and ninjutsu, Hotaru used their deaths to probe the invulnerable monster for weaknesses — finally successfully allowing the Puppet Master's Shell to be destroyed in order to pin X down with the sealing shell, Lion's Closing Roar. Before Hotaru could move his puppets in for full decimation, X proved that his strength was beyond mere chakra (which could be shut down by the technique), instead summoning superhuman strength to shatter the shell from the inside.
Never before faced with an enemy of such overwhelming power, Hotaru's own weakness flashed before his eyes, as he resorted to desperate measures to compensate for the failure of his tactics. As he unleashed powerful attacks from his master puppets, he could only watch in horror as X burst straight through them, utilising a whole slew of monstrous ninjutsu to reduce several of his puppets to rubble. Criminal X's vast area of effect abilities proved to be a glancing weakness in Hotaru's puppetry, as his puppets were unable to move effectively away from such damaging attacks. His efficiency reduced and chakra waning, Hotaru left too many openings, which X brutally exploited. Cutting straight through Hotaru's normally lethal chakra strings, the powerful missing-nin launched Hotaru into the air with a thunderous roundhouse kick to the chest. Hotaru was able only to summon Kappa around him, shielding his body with the Steel Release. X's Wood Release manifested around the armored Hotaru in midair, crushing him and smashing him to the ground.
While Kappa had protected him from the impact of the terrifying attack, it had been destroyed in the process and Hotaru was immobile, his limbs broken and his rib cage definitely fractured. As a giant slab of wood wrapped itself around him and rendered him incapable of any movement, Hotaru's mind went blank in shock, humiliated by an enemy which he never stood a chance against from the very start. The only other individual with so much power was Katsuro Minoru himself and even he surely, could not stand up to this vicious monster.
Hotaru is battered by X
.
As the sounds of battle faded, Hotaru was joined by the young Pakura Arata, bruised and bloodied but alive. Unable to fathom his defeat, Hotaru called out to her in desperation, demanding she break his bindings so he could rejoin the fight and tear X's limbs apart, but she refused. Arata revealed that she had decided to stop aiding the Brotherhood's 'mad' intentions, revealing that she had been throughly defeated by the Torch and that she had decided to follow her conscience and aid the trio in sabotaging Minoru's goals. As Hotaru's lips trembled in rage towards her betrayal, the revelation that she had aided the Grey Whirlwind in killing the mighty Setsuna Yuki drew an enraged scream from Hotaru's being, as he swore to kill Arata if she did not kill him on that very spot. She refused, honoring her debt and instead bringing her foot upon his face, sending him unconscious.
When Hotaru awoke, he was strapped in a jacket, rendering his chakra channels useless. His puppets were gone, his body stung with scars that had yet to heal. He was in a prison and he had been kept unconscious with drugs while they transported him. Hotaru realised he was in no ordinary facility, he was in the infamous Blood Prison. He learned of the Brotherhood's defeat, their colossal losses. Katsuro Minoru had been murdered by the monster he had successfully awoken, Sensō. But Sensō had been killed in the decisive battle against the S-rank trio, who were now hailed as heroes. There had been a short war just hours after Sensō's demise — the world had been plunged into a global genjutsu. The details drove Hotaru mad with anger, but he was trapped now. As much as he screamed and yelled, moaned and howled, cried and clawed at the walls until his nails gave way...he was defeated and alone, his ambition reduced to the dark walls of prison.
Hotaru would remain in that prison for nine years of his life. But just as all hope for his conquest of the shinobi world began to die away like the final embers of a fire, the wind breathed life into his wounded pride again. Another dangerous missing-nin from his past entered his existence, with a promise to continue where the Brotherhood had failed. To change the world.
Escaping the Blood Prison[]
Nine years after the Fourth Shinobi War's end and into his life sentence, Hotaru had lost most of his physical strength and his skill had greatly atrophied as well, the confines of the Blood Prison also robbed him of the ability to mould chakra. On a day seemingly as uneventful as all the others, one of the usual prison guards rasped his knuckles on the door, sliding a paper note through the gaps in his door. Picking up the letter in his roughened palms, Hotaru's eyes widened as the contents were simple.
Infirmary at midnight, when the time is right Will you change the world?
Hotaru dared not to dream — to be free of his shackles, to roam the world once more, that was a dream he could not comprehend. The possibilities were that the Brotherhood was not fully dead, that somehow their goal was still alive. This was all Hotaru could pray for. At a certain point past midnight, the seals around his room were deactivated; a sensation Hotaru only perceived as he felt the strength of his chakra flow through his body once more. A few chakra threads were all it took for Hotaru to unlock the triple layered locks behind his door, a clone he left on his bed, as he returned the locks to their prior state after slipping out. A temporary diversion tactic that was entirely dependent on his mysterious benefactor's preposition. But Hotaru had decided anyway; he would break out of the prison, or leave a trail of death was he died trying. While he corridors were lit, and the sounds of guards were close, the shadows provided a ninja of Hotaru's skill ample cover as he swept through to the infirmary.
Inside, stood his saviour — the prison guard, or so it seemed. Hotaru's eyes widened as the grinning man stepped forward, peeling his face off as the bloody substance landed on the floor with a squelchy thud. Hotaru recognised the other face behind it, as a white mane of unkempt, greasy hair was unfurled with the removal of a wig. Masa Nakamura, who had dealt with the Brotherhood as a liaison of Gangetsu Maeda, a notorious bounty hunter and missing-nin. While Hotaru made no attempt to hide his disappointment, the words Masa uttered next would reignite the burning ambition that had smouldered within Hotaru. He touched on the Brotherhood's failed attempts to bring the world back into order by subjugating it, elaborating that he had a plan to do the same. Hotaru began to listen to the plan of a fiend so many had labelled as insane; realising that the Brotherhood's plans had inspired a truly devious plan in this man's heart.
Masa Nakamura theorised that there existed several different realms of existence, sources of power similar to but different all the same, from chakra. He planned to use these powers to construct a mighty weapon that would bring the Great Shinobi Nations to their knees — while keeping their numbers small and actions covert to avoid attention. Actions which would be masked further by the growing movements in the world as they spoke. He needed Hotaru's power and assistance to make this endeavour possible, to restore the planet to its intended state and bring final balance to the eternal power struggle that had produced the useless Shinobi Union. Hotaru accepted this proposal, eager to exact vengeance for his fallen comrades and topple the Great Shinobi Nations, fulfilling the wishes of Katsuro Minoru while also realising his ideal to ensure the strongest and most capable would lead the world, not feeble Daimyō and their puppets, the Kage.
Nakamura unsheathed a sword and flung it at Hotaru, as the men prepared to carve their way out of the Blood Prison, who would definitely call the bluff at any moment. And call it they did, as a cry of shock pierced the construct as the duo stepped out of the infirmary. Sensor types mobilised, as immediately, the elite guards of the prison intercepted the fleeing S-ranks. Hotaru dashed at the two in front of him, his skill filling his body again as he danced around them, his sword carving through them like a butcher and fresh meat. Meanwhile, the commotion alerted the other prisoners, who eventually realised that the chakra nullification barriers in that specific block had been deactivated; inciting a massive riot.
As vicious battles broke out, Hotaru and Masa slaughtered their way to the exits, painting the corridors with blood and body parts as they showcased their terrifying prowess. No doubt for dramatic effect, Masa stopped in front of Hotaru, snapping his fingers. At once a coordinated and loud hiss filled the air, as the doors of every prison block swung open. The sounds of screams and elemental ninjutsu accompanied savage destruction, as Hotaru realised the insane demon probably had full control of the prison control room, explaining how he had coordinated this prison break without breaking a sweat. Masa and Hotaru butchered the remaining guards in the courtyard, flanked by the dangerous denizens of the Blood Prison who now relished their freedom. By the time reinforcements arrived, Masa and Hotaru were long gone and the Blood Prison burned; its new and improved countermeasures failed — many of its guards impaled on pikes of earth, a final mockery.
The World Puppeteer Ascends[]
Hotaru's first order of business after his prison break was to keep a low profile, evading the authorities while he hatched a scheme to redeem his puppets from a military vault. His new ally Masa Nakamura wished to locate a source of unlimited energy to fuel a device which would open a pathway between the dimensions. The "unlimited chaos" plan would rely on specific attacks to weaken the Great Nations and eventually shatter them. The years of preparation Nakamura had undertaken were put to good use, as Hotaru was tasked with locating the big names of the Black Clove — a group of smugglers that stole and bartered technology for profit. Forced to create makeshift puppets, Hotaru scoured the Land of Fire for weeks, hunting his targets down methodically.
Eventually infiltrating the Black Clove hideout, Hotaru viciously fought his way through numerous goons, reaching one of their main leaders and torturing him for information for power sources. The closest potential source of such unheard power supposedly lay in Ryūseigakure, a technological marvel which ran on what was rumoured to be unlimited power. Killing the Black Clove chief, Hotaru delivered the information to Nakamura, before rushing over to the Land of Earth in an attempt to rally his old allies from the Brotherhood. While he agreed with Masa's idea to keep their forces minimal for the sake of cover, Hotaru was eager to retake his place among the feared elements of the global underworld.
In the nine years of his incarceration, new criminals had risen to the apex that he had occupied in the days of the Brotherhood. Some of his former allies also chose to refuse his call for their aid, blinded to their debts of gratitude to him. His pride wounded and his blood boiling, Hotaru decided to make an example of those who had betrayed him, singlehandedly killing three of his former underlings in a display of his strength. This show of force worked in his favour, as several factions rallied under Hotaru's banner, returning to his side. Gradually, Hotaru amassed dozens of loyal combatants in an attempt to wrestle back control over his tobacco trade in the Land of Earth, waging several quick turf wars in the process—an endeavour he succeeded in accomplishing after two long years, with Nakamura's occasional assistance. After establishing a foothold in the Land of Earth, Nakamura attempted an infiltration of Ryūseigakure, going on the lead they had obtained years earlier against Black Clove.
Finally ready to retake his beloved puppets, Hotaru infiltrated the International Vault, expertly relying on Human Puppetry to manipulate a murdered guard's corpse while he was hidden in the facility's air vents; while his underlings staged a simultaneous attack on another potential source of high energy — an extraterrestrial remnant which fell from space during the Fourth Shinobi War. While this attempt ended in swift and brutal failure, it still provided Hotaru with sufficient time to reclaim his puppet collection, at the cost of his 8 subordinates' lives, who were outmatched by the superior skill of the facility's guards. Hotaru met with Nakamura, who also failed to obtain the artefact of Ryūseigakure: a fabled Chrono Key, one of several which powered the entire city. Nakamura was able to provide another lead for the duo to chase — a scientist whose work had been closely linked to Ryūsei, Motoyasu Mamoru—a borderline deranged scientists known for his dangerous experiments in probing alternate dimensions. Hotaru learned that at least one of his attempts had been successful, but led to massive loss of life. This daring double attack on Ryūseigakure and the International Vaults alerted the Great Shinobi Nations, who dispatched Densetsu Uchiha to Ryūseigakure and Pakura Arata to the Vaults in an attempt to hunt the perpetrators down.
As Arata and Uchiha began to close in on Hotaru and Nakamura, the duo again mounted a daring abduction, ambushing Mamoru as he returned from his laboratory in the Land of Stars. Holding him hostage, both men were able to learn more about the mysterious dimensions existing beyond their own, and how certain brings residing in those dimensions could be exploited in order to unleash detrimental effects on the planet. While Hotaru was very eager to minimise the damage in order to preserve enough of the planet, Nakamura was more bloodthirsty, advocating almost complete annihilation of the world. It was then that Hotaru realised just how unhinged Masa Nakamura was; when the man brought up the idea of unleashing several creatures from these realms onto the Great Villages. Hotaru realised that this plan would quite possibly eradicate the entire world if they failed to seal the rift in time, but Nakamura argued that the planet would have earned that damnation for being too "soft bellied". In an argument about the progression of this horrifying plan, Hotaru seemingly managed to talk Nakamura out of such a global, uncontrolled attack. Nakamura relented, chalking his ideas up to total domination over the enemy—decisive victory. Both men agreed to
Hotaru nevertheless took it upon himself to close the inter-dimensional portal at all costs, to prevent their planet from being annihilated by the numerous terrors that potentially roamed the other realms. Doggedly, the Brotherhood as survived by Hotaru and Nakamura attempted to find ways to learn more of the threats that roamed this dimension — eager to learn of their weaknesses to defeat them when the threat of the Shinobi Alliance was neutralised. Or at least, Hotaru attempted to. Their kidnapping of Mamoru alerted various intelligence agencies of their plans, or at least led to speculations being rife that they were meddling with Space-Time ninjutsu for nefarious purposes. As a result, the existence of the Brotherhood became known to the Shinobi Alliance, who began aggressively hunting down the splinter organisation again. Nakamura and Hotaru agreed to split up, bribing Mamoru with the promises of funding his malevolent research; with Hotaru guarding the man as he attempted to access any such dimension and Nakamura hunting down other famous men of science who could contribute to their goals.
Hotaru on the other hand had to deal with Pakura Arata, who hunted him down for a solid year. Diversifying his movements and working through middle men, he holed down in the Land of Earth, obtaining the materials and resources Mamoru needed for their weapon, while utilising the untraceable Black Market as a resource. Hotaru eventually received word that Masa Nakamura and Densetsu Uchiha had engaged in vicious combat several times in the Land of Wind and Land of Fire, alerting the master puppeteer that similarly one wrong move on his part would land him in Arata's jaws, whom he was both keen to avoid and eager to kill; due to her betrayal of the Brotherhood. In an attempt to throw off Arata who had the strength of Iwagakure cooperating with her, Hotaru launched a daring attempt on the life of the Land of Earth's Daimyō. The power of his puppetry and his elite guerrilla forces stormed the Daimyō's residences and in the ensuing bloodbath, Hotaru killed the relatively young Daimyō, burning his residences to the ground. This stunning coup however was interrupted by the arrival of Arata, who engaged the retreating Hotaru in fierce, frenzied combat.
Forced to repeatedly give ground in order to escape from her as well as leave before the incoming ANBU forces cornered him, Hotaru fought an inefficient battle, unable to engage her at full strength. Arata's Iron Sand proved to be maliciously troublesome, as she managed to destroy Buruburu in the battle while also blowing off Hotaru's right arm. Hotaru was able to escape however, blowing her back with an almost fatal explosive attack from one of his legendary puppets. Retreating to safety but suffering a mind numbing defeat, Hotaru was nevertheless successful in throwing the Shinobi World into chaos and forcing a temporary respite in Arata's efforts in hunting him down with Iwa. The Shinobi Alliance were forced to anticipate further attacks, on the off chance that the Brotherhood were accepting high bounties on top level targets. The assassination also forced the withdrawal of Densetsu Uchiha, forcing him away from Nakamura to defend the Daimyō of Fire. This political move galvanised the underworld in the Land of Earth, using the large vacuums in the power structure to install their own agents into the government — earning Hotaru many favours.
Hotaru now had access to a rapidly increasing number of cronies and allies, allowing him to reach further in the search for the equipment he needed to bring life to Mamoru's contraption. Nakamura rallied two more scientists to their cause, utilising both barbaric and persuasive means to enlist their aid and curiosity. The end of the year marked three years since Hotaru's prison escape and the first test drive of their dimension tearing contraption. While successful, the Brotherhood was faced with a horrifying adversary that crawled through the portal. A bipedal, misshapen behemoth that freely transformed its chakra into elemental attacks. Though their combined prowess killed the tough creature, Hotaru realised just how deadly Nakamura's plan actually was. But their cover had been compromised in the summoning attempt, as ANBU Special Forces immediately raided their hideout within minutes. Again, Hotaru retreated with the scientists to find a new hideout, while Nakamura held off the assailants with Hotaru's men. The Brotherhood had however succeeded in creating and testing their device, though more work was to be done, Hotaru realised they could set their plan in motion within two years, easily.
But fate had other plans, as Hotaru was awakened by the screams of one of his henchmen one morning. Mamoru and the other two scientists had been found dead, froth in their mouths. Poison, the weapon that had stolen their lives. In shock, Hotaru eventually grew livid that the rug had been pulled beneath him again; but Nakamura urged him to concentrate on gaining strength in the underworld — convincing him that the plan could still come to fruition, now that they saw how it worked. This, Hotaru could agree to. And again, Nakamura and Hotaru parted ways working for a goal.
But not a mutual goal, as Hotaru would learn in the future; a goal that Masa Nakamura had made him dance to. For the machinations and plans of Masa Nakamura were so cunning and well thought out that Hotaru never truly had any real say.
The Emperor's Last Great Fight[]
While the losses of the scientists dented their ambitions, Hotaru realised that despite their deaths, the organisation already had the knowledge and blueprints they needed to create their machine, access alternate dimensions and also have an idea how to control certain properties of the portal they were building. But what troubled Hotaru was the apparent convenience of this event, as the three scientists had died just as most of their work was finished. Naturally, his suspicions began to fall heavily on Masa Nakamura; the most intelligent member of the Brotherhood and the one with the least empathy. But while the possibilities all pointed to Masa planning to launch his initial plan, Hotaru could not move against him as his value to the Brotherhood and its plan were far too immense. Another problem their device faced was a lack of stability, which meant that both Nakamura and Hotaru needed to find a substance that would allow them to control the portal, or have it collapsing on them and dooming both their plans to failure.
As such both men continued as they had been, Nakamura creating diversions, false trails and havoc to split the attention of the Great Nations while Hotaru focused on consolidating his strangle hold on increasing portions of the Black Market and gang territories, building up the Brotherhood's intelligence gathering and total available manpower. While he searched for materials suitable to function as stabilisers for the device, Hotaru continued to be plagued by Pakura Arata's one woman hunt, as it seemed she realised how important it was to track him down rather than focus on the other unrest Nakamura was instigating. As Hotaru quelled resistance and exterminated his enemies, he realised that Arata was his greatest threat and that he would have to face her in a battle to the death eventually. Under Hotaru and Nakamura, the Neo-Brotherhood seemed to launch randomised attacks and high value targets and village assets, a seemingly randomised assault on the Shinobi Nations that seemed intent on ruining their foundations and stability. This back and forth battle helped disguise their more sinister plan, to completely run the Shinobi World to the ground. Another three violent years passed and Hotaru finally obtained the breakthrough he needed, discovering that a certain rare earth element could serve as a stabiliser to their machine. Eager to leave no loose ends, Hotaru tended to the extraction of this stabiliser himself.
Killing the merchants that shipped the precious stones for exotic jewellery, Hotaru made his way to Nakamura; who revealed that he had been building the interdimensional device himself, having studied the notes and habits of the scientists for years. Hotaru noted that he was still a long way from completing the device despite his progress, as completion would take at least two more years. He was shocked however that Nakamura had proven capable of such skilful work, but realised that Unlimited Chaos was still in Nakamura's mind. Hotaru decided that Nakamura would have to be eliminated when the device was ready, so that there would actually be a world left to rule over once the deed was performed. But both Nakamura and Hotaru realised each others' intentions; such was the price of brilliance. And Hotaru knew that he was inevitably dancing to Nakamura's rhythm, the Madman of the Clouds was as brilliant as he was deranged. But their activities had caught the attention of the relentless Pakura Arata, who managed to raid one of Hotaru's factories and actually obtain a reliable lead on the Neo Brotherhood's true activities.
Hotaru acted fast, spreading his considerable forces and stopping her from moving too far from the facility. He knew she could not be allowed the deliver that information to the Shinobi Alliance, or their whole plan would go up in smoke. As Pakura tore through Hotaru's men with her Iron Sand, Hotaru reached the battlefield, stopping the almost one sided slaughter and engaging his former ally in high stakes combat. Seething over her past betrayals and her incessant meddling, Hotaru channeled every ounce of his experience and skill from the days of his prime to combat her. In a monstrous fight, Arata refused to back down, her powerful Ninjutsu drawing out all of Hotaru's premier defensive tactics — but in a battle where she lacked the element of surprise and proper fore planning and even worse, where her stamina had been depleted by fighting his subordinates: Pakura Arata's ferocity and skill was no match for Hotaru Miyagi's power and puppetry. Pressing Arata back into the woods, Hotaru managed to draw her into a battle of attrition, where she lost far more chakra than he did when chaining her elemental attacks in unison with her Iron Sand. When her final attack wounded Hotaru; blowing away his lower left ribs, part of his stomach and spleen, but failing to kill him, Hotaru found the opening he needed to drive his poisoned dagger into her throat; emerging the victor.
As she writhed feebly on the ground, Hotaru yanked the paperwork she had stolen from her weapons pouch, glancing sadly at the once beautiful woman he had worked alongside almost twenty years earlier. But as her bloodied lips drew into a grin, Hotaru was thrown into shock, as the papers were completely blank. She had switched the papers with a dummy and as Hotaru snarled at her, pressing his boot to the knife in her throat, she croaked the words "Summoning Technique". As she died, Hotaru crumpled to his knees, hands squeezing his temples, realising that she had deliberately guided the battle into the forest and thrown powerful, large attacks at him. Somewhere in all those salvos, she had drawn him into her and summoned one of her notorious hawks to carry the information to safety. His men rushed in, pressing cloth to his terrible, gaping wounds, but Hotaru realised their cover was now blown. Just like it had been thirteen years ago. The S-rank trio would possibly come after them again, now that they knew what the Neo Brotherhood planned. But they would not know where the device was located.
While Hotaru healed in bed, the furious Nakamura berated him in an uncharacteristic loss of composure. Arata's death had turned her into martyr of sorts and her espionage led the Shinobi Alliance to realise that coupled with Mamoru's kidnapping years ago, the Neo Brotherhood were weaponising dimension related technology. The S-rank trio reunited to track down any leads, forcing Nakamura to work tirelessly to clean up their tracks and hide the device to the best of their ability. Particularly angered was Akuhei Iwao, who had apparently grown to love the girl. Hotaru decided he'd stand against them to the bitter end, tuning his puppets and readying his men for a pre-emptive strike. But the injuries Arata had dealt him coupled with a failing liver due to his drinking exploits left Hotaru weakened. Diagnosed with cirrhosis, Hotaru realised that at the age of 40, his health was failing and that he would have to move decisively if he were to achieve what he wanted.
Throughout the next battles he fought in the unstable underbelly of the Land of Earth, Hotaru's puppetry alone did not suffice every time in the eternal turf wars he had to fight. He began to lose more battles, as the might of the Emperor of Puppets began to fade. The Neo-Brotherhood also began to lose ground as a result, separated from the distant Nakamura's brutality and rapidly losing Hotaru's own might. Where the initial Brotherhood had possessed multiple S-rank Shinobi, it's newer reincarnation was devoid of the truly powerful criminals; who either were locked away due to the efficiency of the Shinobi Alliance's fighters, joined other organisations, or plied their trade as lone wolves. Nakamura's former ally Gangetsu Maeda also began to keep them at a distance, in circumstances that some of Hotaru's sources claimed was due to Nakamura's own whispering. And so for the next four years, Hotaru fought tirelessly as his body failed, trying to keep his organisation together while Nakamura finished the device. Momentary respite would arrive however, as a new organisation known as Zenith drew the attention of the Allied Nations, dividing their forces and allowing Nakamura and Hotaru to keep the S-rank trio in particular at a safe distance.
As his plans to revive the Brotherhood and seek retribution for his long fallen comrades began to crumble before him, Hotaru knew without a shadow of a doubt that Nakamura had played his own cards professionally—using the Brotherhood and Hotaru for his own goals; and only quick, decisive action would enable Hotaru to wrestle Nakamura's mad plan away from him. Now 44, Hotaru was in the worst shape of his life, his body bloated and unhealthy, his injuries piling up and effecting his mobility, his liver causing problems. He no longer had the fearsome stamina he once had, despite still being able to wield his puppets with ferocious might.
Hotaru put all his eggs into one final basket, as several key showdowns emerged on the horizon, ones which would decisively end his conquest.
A Final Respite[]
Ten years after breaking out of the Blood Prison, Hotaru was finally ready for the last push he would ever make at realising the Brotherhood's massive ambition of restructuring the failing world. In the final stages of their plan, Hotaru and Nakamura discovered that they had fallen victim to an infiltrator, whom they chased down and captured after an extended chase. They captured a shinobi from Konohagakure known as Udon, who had a reputation as being one of their skilled Jōnin. Realising that they were very possibly compromised, Nakamura moved swiftly to complete the device and fire it within the coming hours while Hotaru flooded Udon with painful serums to extract information from him. Hotaru discovered that Udon had been tasked with following Hotaru's trail, after Densetsu Uchiha had interpreted the final bits of Intel Pakura Arata had left behind. While the S-rank trio appeared to be engaged with the smaller elements of the Brotherhood and were kept at bay, they had actually sanctioned an infiltrator to locate the device, four years ago.
Worn out and his health failing, Hotaru pools all his remaining power to keep the Brotherhood's dreams alive.
When the facility alarms detected intruders to the east, Hotaru took a strike force to meet them in combat, attempting to hold them off while Nakamura finished the device up. However, Hotaru left Akaname at the laboratory entrance, recording Nakamura's every move in order to return the moment he attempted to boot the portal up. Hotaru planned to swiftly kill Nakamura shortly after he opened the portal, allowing Hotaru full dominion over the device. As Hotaru engaged the invaders, it became obvious that this attempt was a diversion, as a massive explosion from the laboratory caught Hotaru's attention. Rushing back in, he was able to save Masa Nakamura from a double pronged attack by Aika Akamine and Juro Uchiha. The battle intensified in the facility, with Hotaru and Masa getting the upper hand and forcing the small force of five back, together with other subordinates of the Brotherhood. In the chaos, Hotaru held off both Akamine and Uchiha while Nakamura rushed towards the device to force activate it. He was stopped by Udon, as the Konohagakure shinobi barged into him. Hotaru managed to send Akamine reeling into the computers with a thunderous kick to her temple, while breaking out of Juro Uchiha's Genjutsu at the last minute.
In a quick move, Nakamura disembowelled Udon with heartless ease, causing the Uchiha to go berserk — his Mangekyō Sharingan ability manifesting due to the trauma as he unleashed a powerful gravitational attack which shattered Hotaru's Chikamatsu Collection and sent rubble crushing down on him. Taken out of the fight but pinned, Hotaru watched as Nakamura burst forward at the Uchiha, blade angled to kill — but a second explosion of flame shattered the wall behind all three combatants, blowing Nakamura and Hotaru away with the concussive force of the blast. The flame dragon separated them from the Konoha forces, as it dissipated to reveal Densetsu Uchiha, Akuhei Iwao and Kaoru Shin'ya. Iwao's Wood Release cut off the path between Hotaru, Nakamura and the device, as they wrapped around it and squeezed the metal until it was crushed by the technique's overwhelming power. Hotaru knew it was over, blasting through one of the closest walls and making his escape; as in the corner of his eye he saw Nakamura go berserk, engaging Shin'ya in battle.
Hotaru Miyagi and Masa Nakamura would never see each other ever again. Both men never got to see their plan in action, though they had come tantalisingly close. Hotaru made his way to one of his hideouts in the Land of Earth, where only a few of his loyal men remained. Iwagakure forces had overrun his main quarters, killing or capturing most of his highest ranked subordinates. The Brotherhood was in shambles, but they still had hope. Nakamura could definitely craft another machine — but Hotaru doubted he would be given the leniency, resources, manpower or time to do so ever again. Months later, Hotaru's hunch was proven right as Masa Nakamura was killed attempting to murder Juro Uchiha. The infamous cat and mouse battle between Densetsu Uchiha and Masa Nakamura was over, he noted. With Nakamura's demise, the splinter groups of the Brotherhood fragmented into non existence, leaving Hotaru with fifteen men in his last stronghold. Having failed a second time and feeling his wounds after the laboratory battle, Hotaru decided to hold his ground and await the inevitable day when the Alliance sent a champion to flush him out.
The champion that would be Hotaru's final opponent turned out to be the Golem of the Hidden Leaf, Shin Hayata, a Jōnin known for his skill with medical ninjutsu and for being Densetsu Uchiha's apprentice decades earlier. Down to only a handful of puppets, Hotaru limped out of his residence, commanding his men not to fight the opposing force but to surrender or run. Hotaru demanded Hayata to stand against him in one final battle, to the death. Hayata attacked viciously, with power unexpected from a medical nin. His Earth Release prowess and pin point precise chakra control allowed him to be the perfect opponent to exploit Hotaru, quickly eliminating Hotaru's defensive puppets via his Earth Golems while assaulting him in person with quick blade work. Hotaru put up a good fight, landing two good slashes with his poisoned weapons — but Hayata was too quick with the antidotes in his pouch, revealing he knew more about poisons that Hotaru possibly could, also that he had analysed Hotaru's poisons when applying the antidotes to Juro and Aika. In a quick and merciless move, Hayata was able to guide Hotaru into a trap, smashing his Earth Golem into Hotaru's back — shattering the lower part of his spine.
Hotaru fell limp to the ground, unable to fight any longer. Outclassed and out of energy, he swore and cursed, but eventually did not attempt to resist arrest. Tried for his various crimes, Hotaru was sent to a prison far from the Great Shinobi Nations, kept in high security incarceration — he was kept on death row, awaiting his execution. Broken and defeated, Hotaru's shattered dreams were too great for his massive ego to take, as he seemingly just gave up on life, cooperating with his captors when they requested information. Having lost the will to live and rarely eating enough, Hotaru deteriorated during his time in the prison, as his liver continued to give him problems. After six years in prison aged 50, his death sentence was switched to life imprisonment due to the useful intelligence he had provided — but his liver finally gave in a few weeks after Hotaru's 56th birthday. After a long life littered with battle and painted by bloodshed, the Emperor of the Puppets and final survivor of the original Brotherhood gave in to death, life's only truth. Hotaru Miyagi passed away at dusk on one rainy day just like any other.
Personality[]
Having grown up as the centre of attention and having the abilities to justify the praise, Hotaru has grown arrogant and conceited. He does not respect his enemies unless they give him reason to and his approach to fights involves belittling and humiliating his opponents as far as possible. Hotaru places great faith in his considerable arsenal of techniques and weapons, refusing to acknowledge an opponent's own power until they truly bring the fight to him and force him to give ground. His "holier than thou" nature extends to his day to day interactions: Hotaru's head is eternally tilted upwards, refusing to meet the gaze of most in the eye. His self adoration is not limited to pontification of his abilities and knowledge—they extend to his looks as well. Hotaru genuinely believes himself to be the most beautiful being to exist, therefore utilising his attractive features to mercilessly toy with the hearts of women and men alike.
Despite his vain demeanour, Hotaru has worked hard to reach the level he finds himself at. He is a believer in punishing, hard work and effort and scorns at individuals who do not push themselves beyond all limits. To Hotaru, excellence isn't a birthright. It is the product of never ending labour. An opponent who cannot best him yet still makes every effort to try may indeed win a measure of respect in Hotaru's eye; as the spirit of human endeavour is one Hotaru secretly adores and admires. Even in his childhood, the master puppeteer was taught by his parents and teacher to never give less than 100% in any endeavour — leading in him breaking beyond all expectations from a very early age, from his first puppet creation at the age of 3 to his incredible exploits in the Third Shinobi War to his rapid ascent up the ranks of the exceptionally talented Brotherhood. After more than twenty years of hard, back breaking endeavour, Hotaru considered himself to be the greatest puppeteer known to man at the age of 23.
Despite showing infamously jaw dropping prowess in combat, Hotaru prefers to explore the art of puppetry more than he enjoys fighting. It would be a lie to state that he does not obtain enjoyment from a challenging battle, but his true calling as always been to make masterpieces in the field of puppetry. Hotaru idolised puppeteers like Sasori and Monzaemon Chikamatsu from the days of his early childhood, seeking to emulate and eventually surpass their achievements in puppetry. He expressed great love in tinkering with his puppets, obsessing over the materials that went into their construction, their artistic appeal and their functionality as works of art as well as weapons. His meticulous nature may have fuelled his obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), leading to bizarre rituals as he fiddles with his tools and puppets in certain 'patterns'. His passion in art has led to him being exceptionally well versed in all forms of art, not limited to puppet techniques.
A trait that his enemies and allies alike have associated with Hotaru Miyagi is sheer, uncompromising courage. Hotaru was an effective and determined rear guard as a child during the Third Shinobi War. The fear of death was something he could suppress very well during his quest for greatness, and several times he had taken on the fiercest of enemies without falling prey to their psychological advantage. His audacity held him in great stead when it came to questioning dubious orders, or challenging the ideas of powerful figures. Courage was what spurred his election to the upper ranks of the Brotherhood by Katsuro Minoru. Hotaru's value to strategic planning was immeasurable, as he could provide his honest, unfiltered opinions without quaking in terror to even the most merciless of his superiors.
Hotaru charges at members of a rival cartel.
Confidence goes hand in hand with courage, and Hotaru is filled to the brim with trust in himself. He had believed that he would be the greatest puppeteer to ever walk the world and according to many, he definitely is. Densetsu Uchiha claimed that no puppeteer alive had reached the overwhelming power and fearsome variety of techniques that Hotaru had. His cocky and outlandish nature also helped him in his more lustful ventures. Hotaru was most confident in his ability to toy itch people and use their bodies for his satisfaction. A foul man where the morals of relationships are concerned, Hotaru ate like a king, whored like a godless man and drank to his heart's content. His foul habits were what contributed to his downfall as Iwagakure's brightest puppeteer and ended up feeding multiple unhealthy habits in his later life — that left him with a damaged liver.
Hotaru's speech is riddled with obscene language and hate. He does not care enough to hold back in day to day communication and does not view age as a force for respect. He notoriously labelled the former Tsuchikage Onoki to be a "castrated, misshapen mutt" in a public meeting before defecting from his village. He was known to verbally abuse and taunt his opponents in combat, never sparing family members from his violent verbal tirades. Hotaru always conveyed his core beliefs: respect wasn't something given to anyone under the sun, it had to be earned. And he had to see it being earned to give it. It is said that the only two men who completely won Hotaru's respect were his first master Ueda Tenome and the leader of the Brotherhood, Katsuro Minoru. These individuals not only demonstrated their knowledge or power to Hotaru, but showed that they were leaders who were worth following—meaning Hotaru took an uncharacteristically polite tone in front of them, as a mark of appreciation. Hotaru however was quite attached to several other members of the Brotherhood as well, considering them to be his valued comrades. A notable example was in the second coming of the Brotherhood, where Masa Nakamura proved to be a worthy ally in his eyes.
Loyalty is a gift that Hotaru guards tightly. Throughout his life, he has been extremely wary of swearing his allegiance to unworthy individuals. Earning Hotaru's loyalty is a sign of a goal beyond all the trivial nonsense of the Shinobi World. When promised the funding and expertise to further his puppetry by Katsuro Minoru, the man won Hotaru's hand as an enforcer, but when Minoru elaborated the Brotherhood's plan to revolutionise the entire world by reviving Sensō, the promise of creating a better world ruled by its strongest inhabitants appealed to Hotaru's own beliefs—making him a staunch believer in the goals of the Brotherhood. His unwavering loyalty ironically blinded him to the fact that Katsuro wasn't being totally honest to most of the Brotherhood's members. The next man to win Hotaru's trust was Masa Nakamura, who convinced a severely injured and defeated Hotaru to fight alongside him and unleash chaos onto the world so that it would be born anew — a world of order out of disaster.
Hotaru's ambitions were driven by his unexplained hatred towards the common man. He genuinely disliked democracy, believing that too many unqualified individuals earned a right to vote — meaning that the votes of fools could doom countries to failure, should the fools be swayed by rhetoric. He held the belief that the world should be governed by the strongest, that those who were not strong were condemned to follow. His experiences in Iwagakure contributed greatly to this mindset: disliking his family who had no talent in ninjutsu, disliking his superiors who were clearly less able than he was. It was these hateful beliefs that also drove him to lust after power so voraciously, as he was dogged by the ever present fear that he would become just like the rabble he so rabidly despised, someday. Eventually after his second crushing defeat, his lifetime of hatred and anger got to him — Hotaru descended into a type of madness after being rendered paraplegic, unable to believe that he would never be able to wield his powers again and that he had become the very swine he so despised.
Appearance[]
While not rather attractive as a child and of a particularly scrawny constitution, Hotaru was one of those few who experienced the overpowering mercy of puberty. His gawky features settled into place, complementing his growth spurt. Hotaru's newfound image was that of an extremely handsome young man, a long and narrow nose with a sharp and thin chin. His jawline is chiselled and sharp, tracing a smooth line to his ears. His emerald eyes lie deep in sockets which are shielded by a strong albeit thin brow line; giving Hotaru a cruel and unfeeling look, not too different from what he truly feels.
In an initial boastful stunt, Hotaru decided to add a new piercing to his ear for every ten enemies he managed to kill. He lost count after the fifth ear stud. Like his father before him, Hotaru had bright blonde hair, which he grew out to the length of his neck; spouting what he not so humbly christened to be a lion's mane. A reminder of the Third Shinobi War is etched onto the back of his neck, harkening back to the day that he lost his first great mentor and friend — this ghastly scar is deep to the touch and serves as a reminder to Hotaru to strive to reach a level where no opponent would ever add such a mark to his body again. His brutal conditioning routines just prior to leaving his village left his once thin body very well muscled and sleek, a constitution few puppeteers could brag off. His spine had been heavily modified by the resident medical expert in the Brotherhood, spouting numerous tiny sockets that he could use to attach additional puppet arms — in a bid to control more puppets than humanly possible.
Tall and athletic, Hotaru was every bit as lavish as he was fit. He dressed in expensive robes when not in combat, with equally fancy embroidery woven into them. He wore comfortable silk clothing and pampered himself with jewellery (which he gifted to partners who made his nights best of all). In combat, Hotaru dressed in simple gear: a red singlet and combat longs with many different utility belts strapped to his torso and legs. Belts which contained numerous scrolls, each containing puppets and ninja tools. Tattoos on his forearms contained swords and perhaps the most crucial tools — poison antidotes. He was also fond of a red jacket and black undershirt which he would often don when on completely casual days. Hotaru also possesses a cutlass slung by his side whether in battle or not: assurance and proof of his wide ranging abilities in battle. Leather boots and gloving complement these attires.
However as age was kind to him in his early years, by the time he turned forty his legendary good looks had long since died. The years of alcohol and unhealthy habits left his face sunken, yet bloated at the same time. While still muscular, his body gained a larger and bulkier physique, making him look like a powerhouse instead of an agile athlete. His magnificent mane of blond hair quickly greyed after his tumultuous defeat, achieving a full grey load by the time he fought alongside Masa Nakamura in the second coming of the Brotherhood. A once clean shaven jawline was now obscured by a beard, while a silver moustache obstructed a pair of dried lips. His face was wrinkled and now sported small scars, as one defeat had led to others. His eyes had grown crueler and his smug expression was now changed — sporting a look of constant pain and irritation, as his alcohol damaged liver left him in a near constant state of agony. The painkillers he took also blanched his skin as an unforeseen side effect, leaving him pale and looking anaemic.
Abilities[]
As quite possibly the greatest puppeteer of his time, simply stating that Hotaru was an elite combatant would be doing him a disservice. Following the death of Sasori of the Red Sands, Hotaru's dominion over the realm of puppetry was hardly challenged - Sasori was, after all, the only puppeteer Hotaru believed to be superior to him. Even as a child of 9, Hotaru's very presence on the battlefield had been crucial to saving many of his comrades during the course of the Third Shinobi War; heroic acts that had given birth to his own legend. In a distinguished yet infamous career spanning four decades, the veteran combatant had fought in two Shinobi Wars, three civil wars, a full fledged rebellion, thousands of skirmishes and had single handedly recorded a kill count of at least 143 individuals. His victims included fellow S-rank criminals or enforcement teams and countless Jōnin — Hotaru had also been granted the notorious epithet of "ANBU Collector" in his early years in the Brotherhood, where he had functioned as the sole weapon and defence against the prying eyes of special ops forces on the Brotherhood. Sasori of the Red Sands was also known to have acknowledged Hotaru as an artist of great pedigree.
What set Hotaru's combat style aside from other puppeteers was his highly kinetic style of puppet manipulation: his incredible skill with Taijutsu and Bukijutsu allowed him to overwhelm his enemies while they were already preoccupied with his puppets. The ultimate proof how how frighteningly powerful Hotaru was could be seen in the techniques employed by his puppets: incorporating Space-Time Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, Barrier Ninjutsu, Kekkei Genkai and Fūinjutsu to handle different types of enemies. Hotaru has been praised by the notorious warlord Gangetsu Maeda as one of the most lethal individual assassins in the world even without his famous collection of puppets, indicating that he was a top tier killer without the aid of his greatest skillet. The S-rank mass murderer and ex Kumo ANBU vice commander Masa Nakamura also sincerely regarded Hotaru as one of the few individuals who could definitely kill him. Despite his many talents however, Hotaru was not without weakness.
According to Setsuna Yuki, his erratic and aggressive style of puppetry covered up a puppeteer's classic weaknesses, but it opened up several glaring ones that experienced enemies could exploit. Most notably, lone enemies with exceptional speed could make it past his puppets and easily overwhelm his guard if they were skilful enough — enemies of that caliber definitely did face Hotaru in his lifetime and make him pay. In later age, Hotaru would also lose his great speed and a degree of his dexterity—his cockiness preventing him from actually counterbalancing these weakness, which allowed Konoha's Shin Hayata to penetrate his defences and paralyse him permanently.
Puppet Techniques[]
Hailing from a village not known at all for puppetry, Hotaru owed his rich training to his family of craftsmen and the one surviving member of Iwagakure's disbanded Puppet Brigade — Ueda Tenome. Under specifically Tenome, Hotaru learned about the intricacies of crafting combat worthy puppets, the importance of choosing the right materials and the basics of actually combining craftsmanship with precise technique for maximum efficiency in battle. Hotaru was naturally adept at creative endeavours — creating his first puppet at the age of 3. He was ingenious when it came to building and modifying things, an ability which made him a natural when it came to crafting anything, specifically puppets.
Hotaru's great knowledge in minerals and substances allowed him to concoct alloys which greatly heightened the individual abilities of his puppets. He freely experimented with materials for specific weapons and armour, reinforced hinges and joints and thought up devious methods to set his puppets aside from many others before him. As such, Hotaru ended up becoming a master of space utilisation. His puppets could contain dozens to even hundreds of compartments at a time, holding everything from classic ninja tools such as shuriken, bolas, kunai and caltrops to highly sophisticated weapons such as explosive missiles and oil bombs. Every puppet Hotaru made had its own designated strengths, but they were expected to all be able to perform in any condition to a certain degree.
As he was an expert at breaking down, restoring, modifying and creating puppets, Hotaru could live up to his own expectations as a collector of puppets as well. He restored the Chikamatsu Collection of Ten Puppets after locating the site of Sasori of the Red Sand's last battle; while also salvaging the remnants of Sasori's puppets for future research. Hotaru's restoration of the Ten Puppets was fantastically faithful to the originals, but his analysis of them led to him developing his own legendary puppets — five mighty creations that allowed him to truly put his mark on the world of puppeteers. In fact, so great was his knowledge in puppetry that he could instantly locate the weak spots of others' puppets in combat — being a master artisan. It is for this reason that Hotaru Miyagi never saw defeat against any other puppeteer who had challenged him; meaning out of the hundred challengers he faced, not one prevailed.
Chakra Threads: Hotaru has extensively studied puppet masters from different countries and continents in an attempt to diversify his style and attack his enemies in ways they would not be able to expect. A particular method of combat that he took great interest in and mastered quickly was the art of using his puppet strings as weapons themselves. By utilising fire and channeling into his threads, Hotaru was able to grievously wound and incinerate his enemies, limiting their range of movement or distracting them just long enough to strike a fatal blow. The ranged nature of chakra strings also gave Hotaru a slew of tactical options: he often used his threads to latch on to his enemies weapons, drawing on these notoriously inconspicuous threads to alter the trajectory of his opponents' strikes to leave them vulnerable, or simply to defend himself. Much like manipulating puppets, Hotaru was also able to showcase his skill as a support to his allies, attaching chakra threads onto them on a moment's notice to save them from attacks they may not have seen coming. Indeed Hotaru's skill with his heads was so fearsome that he was feared by his enemies for sometimes ending fights without bringing out his puppets: killing some foes with nothing more than his chakra threads.
Classic Puppetry[]
The bread and butter of any self respecting ninja puppeteer emphasised precise control over puppets in order to provide a savage edge in combat — allowing ranged fighters to use these tools of death to fight in close proximity. Hotaru designed his puppet minions for the sole purpose of bringing as much pain and suffering onto his enemies as possible. He created grotesque creatures, unsightly puppets that were meant to intimidate and strike fear into enemy hearts. Hotaru's puppets had a distinct sanguine odour to them, evidence that they had slain many a shinobi in months and years passed. Possessing quite a number of his own puppets, Hotaru would usually save his best cards for the strongest opponents.
Most ninja he faced would only ever come up against Akaname, Buruburu and Tenome; three immaculately crafted but comparatively weak puppets compared to the powerhouses in his collection. The strength of this combination lies in the role each puppet plays against opponents, with Tenome playing the support role to Akaname and Buruburu's offensive might. In Tenome, Hotaru has experimented with Genjutsu extensively, utilising body parts stolen from other shinobi and his own creations to somewhat craft a pseudo human puppet. The Genjutsu while weak, have all been proven to be able to distract opponents long enough for them to be brought down by the hail of poisoned senbon from the other two puppets. Akaname's uses as a puppet to Hotaru also far exceeded its offensive missiles and projectiles, armed with recording devices which allow it to record details of enemy defences and attacks. Numerous times, this ability also allowed for Hotaru to analyse the enemies he failed to defeat: studying their abilities to find a way to work around them should they meet a second time.
Hotaru's three main puppets were also no pushovers in terms of defensive capability. Buruburu which was often considered to be his least armoured puppet, had been able to withstand one initial direct blow from Shin Hayata's notoriously powerful earth golem; although it was quickly destroyed upon the second hit. Akaname was also able to escape a battle against Iwagakure's Explosion Corps wit nothing more than its outer layer being melted off, despite taking three direct blows from the notoriously vicious group. The puppets were obviously impervious to small arms such as kunai, arrows and similar projectiles — while they were able to be penetrated if the aforementioned projectiles were infused with chakra, such as demonstrated by Masa Nakamura's Osoroshīken, which was imbued with Wind Release.
Five Master Puppets: Hotaru's most famous battles against his most powerful adversaries were often waged with his internationally feared 'master puppets', comprised of the Alpha, Nagare, Nakamoto, Satoshi and Omega puppets. In the puppet erring community their appearance has been known to signify Hotaru's magnum opus — the Ancient Puppet Dance. Their renown was so great that Konohagakure's ANBU Captain labelled them to be the Butcher's Blades, as these notorious puppets had been the last sight of many shinobi who had opposed Hotaru and his interests in battle. Unlike his first three puppets which do not boast immense defensive power, the Master Puppets are exceptionally resistant, representing the pinnacle of defensive sturdiness for a ninja tool. The main defensive utility of these puppets stem from the combination of the Shadow Realm Technique and the Shadow Realm Ejection Technique via the Alpha and Satoshi puppets, which rely on Space-Time ninjutsu to absorb and redirect attacks at opponents, a slight modification to the extremely basic Summoning Technique.
However these two abilities are only useful for frontal attacks, as the seals required for these techniques are located on the abdomens of the puppet. Blind spot attacks and large area of impact attacks such as the Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet have been known to be too wide to be absorbed — situations where the basic durability of the puppets really shine. Hotaru's efforts in mixing different metals and creating unique alloys has led to the five puppets being strong enough to withstand numerous famed techniques in battle. Alpha in particular had been struck twice at point blank range by the Rasengan before its armour finally caved in, while also being capable of tanking a direct hit from Lightning Impaler and withstanding the crushing power of Akuhei Iwao's Wood Release: Hotei Technique. Satoshi was also able to withstand the combined Fire Release of six shinobi at once, powering straight through the flames to strike the casters down. This almost supernatural resistance to certain ninjutsu can be explained by the use of the Silent Grave Robber Technique by one of the puppets, allowing a certain amount of chakra to siphoned out of the attack to Hotaru, removing the edge of some attacks to a degree.
Of course, when an attack is too large and concentrated with huge amounts of chakra, it is impossible to remove enough chakra to significantly dull the damage in any way, which makes Akaname's survival of the Hōtei Technique all the more incredible, given the technique's size and the caster's own potent and colossal chakra reserves. Brute force attacks are the speciality of these puppets — their layers are built to absorb and redistribute impact, allowing them to get in close proximity in hand to hand situations, absorbing a certain amount of damage to open up space for counter attacks by utilising a vast array of tools such as buzzsaws and automatic mechanisms to fire senbon. Satoshi's ability to fire thousands of explosive tags at one go is Hotaru's go to technique to crush a distracted enemy. The Nakamoto puppet also possesses the ability to manipulate sound, a technique popularised by Otogakure, sound waves which can easily disorient and physically harm human beings while the other puppets take advantage of the situation. This combination of different abilities, simple offensive power and defensive strength supplemented by chakra absorption techniques and superior aerodynamic design creates as terrifying obstacle for most enemies; be it groups of them or individuals.
Chikamatsu Collection of Ten: For hundreds of years, the legends of the Chikamatsu Collection had rang in he ears of every puppeteer. Monstrous puppets each commanding the strength of a thousand individually, who had been passed down from generations to puppeteers of extreme skill. Hotaru had dreamed all his life of owning the illustrious collection as he had extensively researched Monzaemon Chikamatsu's methods of puppetry. While it was common belief that the powerful collection was within the hands of Sunagakure, Hotaru learned of this fact for sure after the death of Sasori of the Red Sand as well as Chiyo, Master Puppeteer of Sunagakure. Salvaging every piece to the tiniest, Hotaru began to painstakingly recreate the Ten Puppets over the course of seven months.
Hotaru wields the Chikamatsu Collection
He succeeded. The puppets had been known to be extraordinarily difficult to control, but if mastered, one finger could control one puppet. Meaning a single human could control the might of ten thousand puppets, manifested as ten master puppets. Hotaru's own mastery over puppetry enabled him to do so with great success. In one year, Hotaru was as intimately aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the Chikamatsu Collection as his own creations. The arsenal of attacks contained within this collection became Hotaru's by extension, as he maliciously exploited the battering ram like power and frightening agility of these puppets against only the strongest foes. One of the most terrifying attacks that Hotaru mastered was the Three Jewels Suction Crushing technique. This vicious power allowed Hotaru to tank brute force attacks while incinerating opponents, or even clearing out entire groups of enemies with one feral move. Fūinjutsu was another ability contained within these puppets, evidenced when Hotaru defeated Midori of the Black Clove cartel with it, shutting down the Genjutsu expert's tenketsu before impaling him.
While the Chikamatsu Collection were army destroyers on their own, Hotaru had one twisted trick up his sleeve to turn them into the ultimate personal bodyguards: bodily modification, enabling him to use them alongside his other master puppets. The results were a terrible and monstrous combination of defence and unrelenting attack, unlike which any other puppeteer in the past had seen. With an additional set of hand-like appendages attached to his surgically modified spinal cord, Hotaru had turned the tables on conventional puppetry. Thus, half of the Chikamatsu Collection served to act as Hotaru's "Guardian Angels", orbiting around him as a defensive shield while his other puppets focuses on assaulting opponents. This combination proved to be a nightmare against most opponents and even past his prime in older age, Hotaru was able to rely on his mastery over the Chikamatsu Collection to kill 16 alliance shinobi before finally succumbing to two upper level shinobi in Juro Uchiha and Shin Hayata.
Human Puppetry[]
Human Puppetry was a notoriously difficult and dangerous field to dabble into, let alone master. Banned in Iwagakure due to its constant need to defile the dead, Hotaru's only means of accessing this art was through the tutelage of his then master, Ueda Tenome. Hotaru was first equipped with theoretical knowledge before being given practical instructions by killing animals and then turning them into puppets, while preserving their 'treasured' abilities. A frog would need its powerful legs and long tongue to be freely manipulated by its wielder, for example. These gruelling lessons gave Hotaru the expertise he needed to eventually start utilising actual human beings.
Upon his flight from Iwagakure as a criminal and traitor, Hotaru was given the chance to convert his first victim — wielding the Steel Release, into a puppet. Hotaru's success here led to the creation of Kappa, the ultimate shield and Hotaru's unfailing last resort; as this puppet allowed Hotaru to channel the defensive properties of the Steel Release to his discretion. This mobile, detachable armour proved to be a game changer where Hotaru's survivability was concerned, functioning superbly against the notoriously destructive Fire Release, Lightning Release and Wind Release techniques. Hotaru's usage of the Kappa Human Puppet was also as a wrecking ball of sorts, where he would flail the armoured steel puppet at enemies or constructs to wreak damage upon the target. Unfortunately, Kappa was destroyed by Akuhei Iwao during the fall of the Brotherhood and the replacement that Hotaru found many years later simply did not possess the same powerful Steel Release as the original Kappa.
Hotaru's expertise in human puppetry also allowed him to dabble further, experimenting on his own body with blueprints fine tuned from numerous bouts of tinkering with other bodies. The seeds of his skill with Human Puppetry grew into shoots which aided him in maximising and revamping his own combat potential. Perhaps most telling about his prodigious abilities in Human Puppetry was his capabilities in turning dead enemies into puppets, manipulating corpses so expertly that their allies would not realise they were dead. Hotaru's tactical approaches involved rigging these bodies with numerous explosives and weapons, eager to lure high value targets towards his undiscovered traps in order to eliminate them quickly. So great was his craftsmanship that the travelling puppeteers of Sunagakure claimed that the trained eye would only perceive Hotaru's Human Puppets to be puppets if he wished it to be so.
Aside from converting corpses to combat puppets and booby traps, Hotaru was skilled at actually puppeteering human beings directly. He could attach his chakra threads to his allies in order to manipulate them away from harm from their blindspots; and given enough time, he could even attach threads to his opponents to interfered with their movements and speed, traits which made him one of the greatest support combatants in the Shinobi World.
Taijutsu[]
In his prime, Hotaru was nothing short of brilliant when it came to raw Taijutsu. Noted to be the weakness of most puppeteers, this did not apply to Hotaru — who was very mobile as a puppeteer. He was quick and agile, often reducing the spaces between himself and opponents so take them out with either his chakra threads or martial combat. As both his hands would usually be occupied with threads for his combat puppets, Hotaru frequently resorted to using his legs to fight his opponents. He based his fighting style upon acrobatic stunts, utilising his sense of balance to perform somersaults, cartwheels, corkscrews and such to manoeuvre over and around his enemies. When in the air, Hotaru could also resort to a variety of kicking techniques, notably mastering spinning axe kicks, wheel kicks, hook kicks and side kicks. So great was his balance that he tended to only use one foot for balance, while the other was reserved for offence. While blistering in terms of execution and well suited for large groups of opponents, Hotaru was far more conservative against individual opponents. His considerable abilities allowed him to break out of the Blood Prison utilising Taijutsu to handle most of the guards that came his way, emphasising the point that he's a skilled Taijutsu exponent. He rarely combined puppetry and Taijutsu against lone opponents of established standing, preferring to either stick with just puppetry or Taijutsu alone. While not famed for his punching, Hotaru was a passable boxer, tending to use a double jab and cross combination very frequently, while he could also transition to a double jab hook with equal comfort. With age however, his agility was the first aspect of his Taijutsu to atrophy considerably — as a list of injuries prevented his agile fighting style to be utilised. As such in his more advanced years, Hotaru relied on nothing but his fists when rarely deciding to utilise Taijutsu.
Bukijutsu[]
Bukijutsu was once considered the bread and butter of the shinobi occupation: any self respecting Chūnin would have been expected to be proficient in the bare basics of weapon manipulation, Shurikenjutsu. The advent of the Fourth Shinobi War changed this expectation drastically; ninja all throughout the Great Nations began emphasising mighty ninjutsu while leaving the subtleties of weapon manipulation behind. Hotaru was born in the era where excellence in Bukijutsu was the prerequisite to success in the field.
His strengths in weapon manipulation far exceed that of a normal shinobi — to load puppets with a variety of murderous weapons, one first had to be intimately familiar with their constitution, strengths and weaknesses. Perfection would be attained only after a puppeteer could wield all the weapons in his arsenal without flaw, with precision, accuracy and malignant grace. Shuriken, kunai and senbon were a mainstay in Hotaru's projectile based combat. His shurikenjutsu had been trained and perfected to the point where hitting vital spots came like instinct to him, he did not need to think to cripple or kill. Hotaru was capable of hitting mobile targets from vast distances, or flinging several shuriken in rapid succession with uncompromising accuracy.
While uncommonly displayed, Hotaru was very adept at trick shots. He was able to manipulate his projectiles by hitting them against each other at varying angles to strike enemies who had taken cover behind obstacles. His gifts in shurikenjutsu were also evident in his manipulation of kunai, needless of mention. Granted, Hotaru is not as frightening an adversary when wielding his kunai like daggers — his best usage of this weapon can be seen when he couples kunai with his wire strings, to garrotte victims or to strike blind spots his shurikenjutsu otherwise cannot reach. His usage of wire strings can be described to be innate, as they imitate the usage of chakra threads in almost every way. In fact, Hotaru is known to layer his wire strings with chakra threads, for added shock factor when it comes to surprising his opponents and damaging eyes or throats.
For a limited time against one of the Hokage Guard Platoon, Hotaru displayed his abilities in Bōjutsu, wielding a staff with superb grace while he held off his opponent, who was armed with a sword. Hotaru's tactical nous also enables him to use the Explosive Tag, the Smoke Bomb and such via his puppets, or by himself. Many of Hotaru's weapons are coated by a neurotoxin, intent on shutting down bodily systems in minutes, without an antidote available. Other tools in Hotaru's arsenal include makibishi and senbon, with him even storing several individual senbon within the skin of his arms and mouth, for the sake of surprise attacks.
Bodily Modifications[]
Hotaru's spinal cord was among the first parts of his body that he modified, inserting special sockets on his vertebrae to enable the attachment of artificial puppet arms, which he often used to control more puppets. This was an idea he possessed in Iwagakure, but which was only made successful when he joined the Brotherhood and enlisted the aid of the renegade medical nun, Fuji Koharu. With these modifications, he was able to add four extra arms to his body, allowing him to use his Master Puppets, the Chikamatsu Collection and his other puppets in unison to overwhelm his enemies. These arms were also capable of functioning as weapons on their own, with each having the same durability as a normal human arm, but with a greater degree of movement. These artificial arms also came armed with buzzsaws and blades in their fingers, which were laced with paralysing chemical agents. Hotaru boosted the strength of these appendages by inserting several mechanisms which amplified the strength of his punches to cause more damage to opponents. These arms were usually summoned into existence by use of the Summoning Technique, becoming known as the Avalokitesvara Secret Technique. Hotaru's body has also been conditioned to be resistant to his own poisons and most other conventional poisons, enabling him to resist standard issue poison gas and smoke bombs without gagging. After losing his entire arm to Pakura Arata, Hotaru attached a custom made apparatus to replace it — with the same amplified strength but with the added benefit of being a flamethrower.
Stats[]
| Stage | Ninjutsu | Taijutsu | Genjutsu | Intelligence | Strength | Speed | Stamina | Hand seals | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part II | 4.5 | 4.5 | 3.5 | 4 | 4 | 4.5 | 5 | 3.5 | 33.5 |
Quotes[]
- "The ones talking up a big deal here are the ones who I'll kill first. The big words of lesser shinobi are but fuel to my invulnerability." -Hotaru to members of the Black Clove cartel.
- "I refuse to believe you're just some guy who went nuts after waking up on the wrong side one day. No, there's something you're chasing and I know that all too damn well - but if our interests align, we'll be saving this cursed world from itself. All we can do is give this broken and decrepit society the order it needs. Through unyielding force." -Hotaru to Masa Nakamura.
- "I realised that I too had become the filth I hated. In the face of overwhelming power I wasn't the mighty boulder...I was the fucking pebble." -Hotaru to Pakura Arata, after the Fall of the Brotherhood.
Behind the Scenes[]
Several times I, the author have wondered; if someone chooses to see the world differently and takes it upon themself to change it according to their own version of justice, can that person truly be considered to be inherently evil? That question is what got me back to Hotaru despite leaving him for years. It's only apt that a domineering personality such as his chooses puppetry as his craft: but judging from all he saw as a child in the Third Shinobi World War and his innate disdain for authority, I thought his interests and loftly expectations would turn him into a megalomaniac that sought to eliminate current problems with radical solutions.
Just like Kenta Kanata, Hotaru's is a story of consequence, albeit at a much condensed scale. This story is one not of a person trying to protect his world, but who believes he alone can guide it to order. Loyalties that he has forged are few, but in the long term have driven Hotaru's most infamous actions. I'd like people to see Hotaru as one of the 'bad' guys, that's obvious...but I think it's important for the villains to have a driving motive; more than just showing off how "bad" or "evil" they are by their actions. In that regard, it was rewarding coming back to him and finishing him up; since I feel I was able to follow his tale without ever having him compromise on the journey. In a sense Hotaru died as he lived, believing in his way despite every crushing defeat in the end.
Trivia[]
- His character is modelled after Hotsuma Renjou and Ken Kitano.
- Hotaru dislikes sushi, while his favourite food is kale.
- Hotaru's hobbies include creating puppets and practicing his carving.
- Hotaru is Solo's third character that is over 100,000 bytes in length.
- Hotaru was inducted into the Naruto Fanon Wiki Hall of Fame on the 17th of September, 2019.
