Name – Takeo Watanabe
Title – Konoha’s Red Crosswind
Age – 58
Gender – Male
Appearance – Standing six feet tall with a toned build and healthy pale skin, Takeo Watanabe walks proudly in spite of the many mistakes he has made in his life. His hair is of a medium length, dark and drawn back into a ponytail raised from the middle. Due to his age it has begun to dull and turn lighter, but thankfully for him there are no signs that he’ll be passing from the world a balding old man. Lined around his face is a nicely trimmed beard and mustache, managed considerably better than his rugged hair and helps to maintain his appearance given who he represents and what he actually does. With a pair of striking dark eyes to go along with all of this, Takeo is still maintaining his handsome features even when his physical prime is behind him. Ladies, please, there’s still enough to go around.
His outfit consists of a black long-sleeved undershirt and a steel gray flak jacket, as opposed to the typical green, befitting his personal style and a small tribute to his service in Konoha’s ANBU for a small period in history. Matching that with dark trousers coupled with, interestingly enough, Sunagakure’s standard of sandals, black as his undershirt. The most noticeable thing about him is that equipped to his right shoulder is a leather samurai shoulderguard of the same tint as his flak jacket. Etched into the very top of this shoulderguard is the symbol of Konoha, infused from his old headband that he long since discarded. With this shoulderguard is a forearm guard of similar color with a silver plated top for weapon deflection, but a leather body.
An old habit, Takeo carries at his right hip a small gourd often filled to the brim with a potent amount of sake, tied to a white leather belt around his waist with a small maroon cord. Behind him around his waist is a typical pouch common among various ninja, storing ninja tools and supplies found most helpful in completing missions. Finally, on the left side of his hip is a pure black sheath of durable craft, with a white hilt visible.
Personality – Takeo is, above all else, a man you can speak to about anything and everything. The subject of someone’s well-being is often of the greatest interest for him, provided that these people are without significant sin. Often content with things, a relaxed smile or a focused plain look will be on his face depending on the situation he’s in and the state of his world. Choosing to surround himself in good company, it is not like Takeo to be increasingly frustrated due to training over the course of his life unless something exceedingly important to him is becoming questioned. Outside of a situation that’s about to grow violent, Takeo is often found laughing or spending time with his family and friends, reminiscing about times far away from the one he’s already in. Devoted to the village he was born in, as well as the family he has been fortunate enough to witness prosper, there is likely no other man living who is as loyal to both of these things as him.
Due to an incident that built within him a frightening amount of hatred and pain, Takeo will at least 95% of the time opt not to spare someone who had turned their back on their village. Without cause for abandoning their homes, he views them as scum, and he believes it better to have died knowing what you are rather than live your whole life trying to escape it. His disgust towards traitors aside, Takeo is otherwise generally a merciful man with plenty of kindness in his heart for those less fortunate. In true battle he is as fierce as he is loyal, often asking the opponent to put on a show so he can fight until he is content, and retreating only when a priority is higher than the current opponent, or he acknowledges that victory cannot be achieved and there is no purpose in continuing the battle. Despite understanding how the ninja world tends to work, he often expresses disappointment if a battle becomes uneven in numbers, unless of course the fate of something much bigger than himself is at stake. Instigation into battles that will not determine anything meaningful often have him become disinterested.
With a firm belief in earning respect, he often withholds judgment of others (minus traitors) until he hears them speak and determines what kind of person they are from that. Knowing the importance of people you can count on, Takeo is the first to make mention that that list can become empty very quickly if you aren’t mindful of who you run with.
Father. Grandfather. Teacher. Swordsman. Shinobi. Friend.
Recent History - Having become an accomplished shinobi and swordsman and recognized highly in the Land of Iron and the Land of Fire both, Takeo Watanabe has been a symbol of leadership and true strength for the ninja world since the Empire's occupation. Since Konoha's defeat, due partly to the capture of his granddaughter Natsumi Uchiha, he had silenced himself from his open protest of the Empire, not out of fear, but out of knowing that opportunities would present themselves in due time. Among the leaders of Konoha's most prestigious clans such as the Uchiha, Hyuga, and much more, Takeo is not only the commander of forces in Konoha but also a rebel in the world's fight against the Empire. He has served as a great ambassador between each village decimated by the Empress, and has made frequent trips across the country to contact other rebels. The man has just recently returned to Konoha from Kirigakure in secret.
As of now his blade has been sheathed, soon to be drawn once more to free the world, and to return it to a happier time for his granddaughter and all who share her strength and kindness.
Rank – Jounin Commander
Chakra Nature – Wind, Fire, Lightning.
Tools –
Nao’s Retribution (Nao no Hofuku) – A weapon named after Takeo’s deceased wife, this blade was forged by her before her untimely death. A slightly curved weapon with a sharp edge and a dark steel color along with a white handle with three red studs on both sides of it, it carries the generic shape of most standard blades carried by the most modest of swordsman. The studs, six in total, are considered small ports in which to force his chakra through, using the tiniest of passages within the finely crafted blade to make it much more resilient in combat as long as his flow is maintained. Nao’s Retribution is as sharp as any basic sword and has managed to see Takeo through many tough battles over the years. The sheath is obsidian in color and, much like Takeo, has been hardened due to continuous activity over the years with evidence of many battles across it.
Despite how dependable it is, Takeo has not allowed the blade to make his name, but for his name to make the blade. Swordsman such as the infamous Seven from the Hidden Mist all wield incredible blades, but Takeo’s performance and incredible mission success rate have made him more of the subject of interest than his precious sword. Any wielder of Nao’s Retribution other than Takeo will not find absolute power in wielding it, because in regular hands this blade is almost like any other in unknown hands. Despite how ordinary it is, with Takeo’s hands it may as well be a work of art crafted by the legendary Sage of Six Paths himself. With a good mix of speed and reflex as well as consistent care to maintaining this precious weapon, Takeo has wielded it to destroy Konoha’s enemies, as well as those who would see the ninja world plummet into darkness.
The way he treats the weapon, he almost believes he could hear his wife in and out of battle. The bond between weapon and wielder could never get any closer than this.
Basic Ninja Tools - Among a regular amount of kunai and shuriken as well as his sword and gourd of wine, Takeo stocks himself with two dozen soldier pills for long, rigorous missions. Neatly stocked within are several explosive tags to go with it, as well as three smoke bombs.
Techniques -
Canon
Wind Release: Vacuum Blade – The user exhales wind-infused chakra onto a weapon in order to increase its sharpness, range and lethality. For example, the user can infuse a kunai to resemble a makeshift scimitar or infuse shuriken to increase their range and cutting power.
Wind Release Stream – By blowing air from their mouth, the user is able to change direction while in mid-air at high speeds. It can also be used to attack an opponent. The technique is also capable of blowing up dust clouds in order to conceal location and movements.
Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere – The user takes a deep breath and then exhales several small blasts of wind chakra in such a manner that they are dispersed over an expansive range, enough to make it difficult to avoid them entirely without taking any damage. Due to the properties of this technique, the expelled blasts are capable of piercing into and potentially through an opponent’s flesh when they collide with it.
Fire Release: Ash Pile Burning – The user spews a stream of chakra infused gun-powder from their mouth, which surrounds the region. As the gunpowder is composed entirely of ash, it stays in the air around the victim like a cloud, which can be used like a smokescreen. After surrounding the enemy with the ash, the user can ignite it with a flint placed on their teeth beforehand to create a spark, resulting in a violent explosion, burning the enemy. However, this technique requires keen senses to read the air currents, the insight to read the movements of the enemy, the tactical experience to not also enfold ones allies in the flames, and careful attention for the timing of the ignition. Takeo is capable of starting the explosion with the sound of his blade returning to its sheath.
Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique – A technique where chakra kneaded inside the body is converted into fire and expelled from the mouth either as a massive orb of roaring flame or as a continuous flamethrower. The scope of the attack is altered by controlling the volume of chakra that is mustered. The released flames will engulf their target, and leave a crater on the ground’s surface.
Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique – The user compresses a large amount of chakra built up inside their body and changes it into a dragon head-shaped fireball. The user then skillfully manipulates that great fire, and attacks their opponent. Even outside of the attack range, its power and reliability are stressed. The flames have a high temperature, as they can create an upward movement of air currents which in turn can give rise to thunder clouds. A master of this technique can fire off several flames in succession and anyone caught in the technique could potentially be reduced to ashes.
Killing Intent - Killing Intent is simply the user exuding pure killing intention, and having it affect their opponent, themselves, and others around them, up to the point of paralyzing them with fear. When the Killing Intent is particularly strong, it can even give the victim visions of their own gruesome death. This can cause killing intent to be confused with a genjutsu, despite it not being a technique at all.
Eight Gates – The Eight Gates are eight specific tenketsu on a person’s Chakra Pathway System. They limit the overall flow of chakra within a person’s body. The basis for the idea of the chakra gates comes from the body’s limits on the functions within it. This makes the body much weaker, but it keeps the body from expiring too soon. By undergoing intense training, one can learn how to open these gates allowing the user to surpass their own physical limits at the cost of extreme damage to their own body. Takeo is personally capable of reaching the 4th gate, the Gate of Pain, but has only ever been witnessed reaching up to the 2nd gate, the Gate of Healing. Presumably if he ever had a reason to go higher in a fight, the only one to witness it had perished.
Iaido – The term Iaido refers to a specific style of kenjutsu that is concerned with the smooth, controlled movements of drawing the sword from its scabbard, striking or cutting an opponent, removing blade from the blade, and then replacing the sword in the scabbard. The linear motion and force applied to draw the sword from the scabbard results in slashes that are faster and stronger than ones executed with the sword already drawn. The speed at which these techniques can be executed – the initial strike in particular – is such, that when performed by a skilled user, it can prevent enemy shinobi from forming hand seals, by exploiting the small opening that these movements create. This makes them highly effective against most shinobi.
Custom
Wind Release: Burning Aggravation – A technique created by Takeo Watanabe, forming an appropriate hand seal causes the user to exhale a harsh wind from their mouths. Combined with small amounts of fire chakra within, the blunt force of the jutsu isn’t the issue, instead entering the field in which it was used is. The area becomes coated in a near-transparent coat of smoke that acts as an irritant for the eyes, causing temporary blindness and difficulty to breath once caught. This technique does not affect the user, but demands that extra care be taken if comrades are nearby.
Fire Release: Inebriated Napalm – A technique created by Takeo Watanabe, typically ingesting a fair amount of alcohol prior allows the user to exhale a gel-like substance that, when coming in contact with the skin, brings a scalding hot burning sensation that causes third-degree burns. Removal of the gel by normal means will be sure to take an uncomfortable amount of flesh with it. Due to how this technique is more of a spitting move rather than a flamethrower, the technique will often only be used in very close range so that it guarantees the chakra won’t be wasted. The form itself appears similarly to a glowing hot Lava Style technique, but is much less fatal upon touch than Lava Release itself in large amounts.
Core Flow – Taking on aspects of the Samurai Sabre Technique when he spent over a decade in the Land of Iron and the Flying Swallow Technique from a few comrades in Konoha, Takeo had formed a new method of utilizing chakra flow all on his own. Pouring into a blade his concentrated chakra to the point its visible, unlike the counterpart techniques he took from Takeo is capable of concentrating the flow from the entire blade to a single precise point in order to increase slicing potential to an absolute maximum. Moving his entire flow to the tip will dangerously increase the puncture potential, while focusing it down to the thinnest part of his blade to raise its sharpness further than the other techniques is equally possible.
Releasing projectile chakra blades is possible, but depending on the amount of flow given will disperse anywhere from a single second to several seconds after release. Wind-natured chakra makes the sharpness even more incredible, threatening to tear through almost any committed defense if nothing is done. If the concentration of the chakra is strong enough, his blade may even slice whole ninjutsu in half and cause the rest of it to disperse entirely. Because of this technique’s coupling of his chakra, which can turn red during an intense battle, and his notable skills with Wind Release ninjutsu, the title of ‘Konoha’s Red Crosswind’ was created due to this technique.
Core Flow: Brace – A child-technique of the Core Flow, Takeo can gather the chakra that would normally be entirely within his blade and equally force it to gather in his forearms and legs, helping him brace for powerful attacks by enemies that can physically overpower him. The chakra within his legs and arms double the strength of his acrobatics in combat, helping him reach greater heights or flip farther to gain some distance from a foe.
Core Flow: Repulse – A child-technique of Core Flow, Takeo uses this technique to disperse ranged attacks such as a wave of senbon or an airborn ninjutsu. By drawing his blade at the precise moment when the technique is at its closest, he suddenly sheaths it again and causes a pulse of chakra to emit itself from his body, causing items such as kunai and shuriken to halt immediately, and greater techniques like fireball jutsu to disperse entirely, nullified. This technique demands the user to recognize how close the technique is from himself and release chakra at the precise moment to be effective. Too soon and he risks being wounded, too late and he is punished for his mistake. Takeo only tends to use this technique to encourage enemies to engage him in close-combat, or to intimidate weaker foes. Greater techniques that are B and A rank consume an equal amount of chakra they expelled to nullify entirely, while S-rank techniques are rare to be stopped, and often Takeo does not take the risk when he has alternative methods to stop these techniques. In conjunction with Core Flow: Brace, Takeo may activate repulse through a parry, often to great surprise to an enemy. In that single instant of a presumed opening, Takeo can end a fight with one blow. Combining this technique with wind chakra also allows sharp blades of wind to surround him and, if the flow is held, allows it to surround him for several seconds.
It may be used while mobile, but at great personal risk when against jutsu he doesn’t recognize. Techniques that activate when within a certain proximity risk Takeo coming under great harm.
Core Flow: Lightning Rod – As the name suggests, Takeo’s Core Flow within a blade can draw lightning style ninjutsu towards himself and can be temporarily maintained in the weapon. However, because lightning ninjutsu is not his official specialty, and because the jutsu is not under his control, it causes the blade to vibrate violently the longer he intends to hold that energy within, causing his handling of it to worsen over time. Because this is a particularly large weakness for him, he often releases the lightning stored within several seconds unless he feels he can make use of it to end a battle decisively. Releasing the lightning ninjutsu can often be done in a wide art towards the opponent, or in a narrow blast. Techniques above B-rank pose greater risk of Takeo losing control, and as such he will often release them immediately if he ever attempts to draw them towards himself. He can only store one techniques energy at a time.
This technique will only work if the lightning ninjutsu is cast within 90 degrees of the user’s direction. This technique cannot work effectively if he is behind an opponent, meaning he’ll make his presence known afterwards if this had been successful.
Eight Gate Flow: Renounced Life – Takeo’s strongest and final technique, only used when he is prepared to die in a battle and only when he’s prepared to put his life on the line for something of the utmost importance. Every ounce of chakra generated comes form into his sword, overcharging it with cutting power and durability that will not allow its destruction. As this red chakra burns forth and increases the pressure around him, Takeo begins to let go of his fear of failure, his attachments to the physical world, and focuses only on his goal: to see something dead. Once he has resigned himself to an impending death, his skill with using the Eight Gates technique allows him to go to the strongest level he has managed at the point in time. With a reckless charge that tears up the ground he runs along, Takeo becomes an instrument of absolute destruction for thirty seconds. Within these thirty seconds, Takeo ignores pain and any and almost any technique launched towards him is sliced apart with ease minus some of the more impossible to track moves. The sword in use is unable to be touched, as it threatens to burn and slice whatever comes in contact, the pressure radiating from it alone bringing a cruel amount of pain from those much too close to it.
With this, he could even overpower and slice through a Tailed Beast Ball with moderate effort. All previous Core Flow techniques are overcharged, limits to them broken. Whether or not Takeo had accomplished what he set out to do, once his body hits its limit the chakra he brought forth vanishes entirely, and his body at last succumbs to the injuries sustained both prior, during, and after the effects of the Gates had worn off. This technique, under ordinary circumstances, would kill Takeo before he even collapsed on the ground. Without a medical specialist on standby, Takeo’s life is at an end once this technique is over.
Skills -
Hand-Eye Coordination/Reflexes: Takeo’s skill with his eyes and body working in unison is almost peerless. The precision of his moves and his ability to keep track of them cannot go unnoticed. Takeo’s reaction time is considerable. He is capable of reacting to a pin drop in an instant, and reaching for his sword and drawing it upon a signal is laughably easy for him. Between both his hand-eye coordination and reflexes, speed is almost nothing to him.
Dulled Senses: Whether it was his casual enjoyment of fine drinks or his hardened mind over the years, Takeo is found highly resistant to genjutsu playing on his emotions. Sights normally found horrific are often just stared at with a dull glance, meaning genjutsu users may have a hard time using mental attacks on him. Techniques by sound, smell, and touch still have an equal chance of working.
Scene Breakdown: Arriving to sites of struggle, Takeo finds he almost has a detective’s intuition, and can break down the scene as though it happened before his eyes. This has limited usage, but if a scene is fled in a hurry, he has a chance of figuring out what had occurred prior.
Swordsmanship: Takeo had spent twelve years in the Land of Iron learning under Samurai, helping him hone his techniques and control the rage within. His dedication had earned him praise amongst the peers that taught him what it meant to be a swordsman, and as such Takeo is a highly accomplished warrior with a sword. He is experienced fighting multiple opponents with multiple weapons, and losing grip of his weapon is nearly impossible in the heat of battle.
Perception: Through experience and decades of battle, Takeo has found he is quite capable of feeling the environment around himself for things that feel 'odd' and 'hostile', despite killing intent or chakra suppression in effect. This allows him to pick up on individuals hiding nearby him, whether it be hearing the small vibrations of a body that doesn't want to be found or an enemy that doesn't want to be seen until it is too late for him. His senses are highly tuned to the area surrounding him, and his hearing is no joke either.
Hand-to-Hand: Not just feared with a blade, Takeo is accomplished in Hand-to-Hand combat and can hold his own for extended periods of time. Combining punches and kicks, he can play a mean game of keepaway with all but the very best at taijutsu.
Athleticism: Takeo is physically active and strong for his age, giving him an above average amount of strength and endurance which is obviously necessary for utilizing the Eight Gates technique. While his speed is pretty good, he prefers to not count on speed to win his battles, but technique.
Hand Seal Speed: Takeo’s combination of ninjutsu and swordsmanship has encouraged him to perfect Hand Seal speed, considered one of the fastest across the world with his skills to the point a Sharingan would have difficulty catching him if the user was not prepared for it. This makes him a highly dangerous opponent in any range.
Chakra Control: Takeo’s Chakra Control is impeccable, obviously due to his training with chakra flow for his sword capabilities. He has a great understanding of power within it, and as such uses his chakra as sparingly as possible to ensure maximum efficiency.
