Botan Igarashi

Botan Zenitani (銭谷ボタン, Zenitani Botan, née Igarashi (五十嵐, Igarashi)) is a kunoichi of Konohagakure's Igarashi clan. Upon being placed on Team Kanon, Botan quickly found herself struggling to gain the trust of her teammates and be recognized by them. However, through sheer determination and hard work, she was eventually given the title Botan of the Swift Release (迅遁のボタン, Jinton no Botan, English TV: Swift Style Botan) due to her use of the Swift Release kekkei genkai during Pain's Assault and the Fourth Shinobi World War.

Background
Botan was born prematurely to Isamu Igarashi and Seika Kusaka around thirteen months after the Nine-Tails attacked Konoha. She was a small infant, and this is thought to have affected her later on in life in terms of height, giving her the nickname Shorty (ちびちゃん, Chibi-chan). Seika died very shortly after Botan's birth, due to blood loss, and only had time to briefly hold and name her, telling Botan that she loved her and that she would see her again someday.

Understandably, her father, Isamu, was deeply affected by his wife's death. However, he had to put aside his grief and take care of Botan by himself, forcing him to grow up (he and Seika were barely twenty when Botan was born). He retired from active duty while she was an infant in order to take care of her. Throughout the years, he proved himself to be a capable father who loved his daughter more than anything, often playing games with her.

Botan eventually entered the Academy and, due to limited space, was put in a class where she was a year younger than everyone else. This combined with her small size caused her to occasionally get picked on by her classmates.

When she graduated, she was placed on Team Kanon along with Shōta Zenitani and Asa Takanashi under the command of Kanon Matsui.

Personality
Botan is a generally cheerful, energetic girl who is talkative and sociable. However, she does originally lack confidence in her abilities as a ninja and, when she was younger, had a difficult time forming close bonds with others. Botan is a bit of a tomboy and is shown to enjoy being physically active, describing herself as a "mover, not a thinker." She tends to end her sentences with "Za ne!" (ぞね; English TV: "Yeah!") when excited, worried, or frustrated. Along with many other things, she inherited this verbal tic from her mother.

She likes to playfully tease others, and likes to meet new people. Not one to be scared easily, Botan is shown to be a brave person who is quite the daredevil, especially as a child.

Botan is very naïve and often can't tell if someone is joking or lying to her. As she grows up, this trait fades away (especially now that she has children). While she may appear to be a bit of an airhead because of this, Botan is in actuality quite smart, especially if she applies herself to something.

She is not usually very serious, unless the matter concerns the safety of her friends, family, or village. She is friendly to almost everyone that she meets and is a fairly patient person, although she can get annoyed when people tell her how short she is. Like her father, Botan definitely knows how to hold a grudge, and while she will truly forgive them for their actions, she will almost never forget what they did. Deep down, Botan is deeply compassionate, determined, and brave, willing to sacrifice her life for those that she loves. While Botan inherently dislikes fighting, she will fight with everything that she has to protect her loved ones and her village.

When her father died on a mission during the timeskip, Botan's personality drastically changed, though she tried to conceal this from others. She became withdrawn and quiet, and often cried when alone. However, Botan felt extremely guilty for feeling the way that she did as other people had lost their loved ones and had not seemed to experience the same grief that she was, cuasing her to be angry at herself. Eventually, when she read a letter that her father had given her before he left to fight, Botan was able to move on from her grief and was able to mostly return to her normal personality.

Botan is not naturally inclined towards romance, and it takes her a long time to truly trust others. In Part II, she became shy around her teammate Shōta Zenitani, as it became evident that he was starting to have a crush on her. After he gave her a peony, Botan's namesake, she saw this as a very kind thing to do and began to reciprocate his feelings.

Botan's personality changed for a bit during the Fourth Shinobi World War when she met her mother, causing her to abandon her usual playful personality and focus on the war. In contrast to her normal demeanor, Botan was extremely scared, though she did her best to hide it. When she arrives with the rest of the Allied Shinobi Forces to assist Naruto, Kakashi, and Guy, it is obvious that she is terrified, yet resolved to protect her friends.

Appearance
Botan is a bit smaller than most females her age, possibly due to her being born prematurely. She has skin that is a light tan with a beauty mark under her right eye, bright blue eyes, and very pale pink hair - highly resembling her mother - that she keeps around upper-back length, with three large bangs in the front. She also has a rather flat chest and a boyish figure, even as an adult, which she is a little insecure about.

In Part I, Botan wears a cream-coloured, collared jacket with a blue zipper over a brown t-shirt. Along with this, she wears a slitted pink skirt tied at the side with a ribbon, brown cropped leggings, and pink shinobi sandals. On the back of her jacket, she wears the Igarashi clan symbol, and she also wears her forehead protector on standard blue cloth around her right arm.

In Part II, Botan wears a light pink t-shirt with her clan symbol on the back over a loose, long-sleeved white shirt with the sleeves rolled up. She also wears a short, light blue skirt with black shorts underneath. Along with this, she wears pink shinobi sandals and wears her forehead protector on black cloth. While not on duty, Botan wears a light blue dress with yellow pockets and elbow-length sleeves, black legging-like pants, and standard shinobi sandals. She later wears the uniform of the Allied Shinobi Forces inclusive of a Konohagakure flak jacket, black pants, black long-sleeved shirt and black shinobi sandals. She now wears her forehead protector on her forehead on a black cloth.

In The Last: Naruto the Movie, Botan's hair has grown longer, down to just above her elbows, and she grew taller, though she still had a boyish figure. Her face has matured and become narrower. She wears a light blue zip-up jacket over an oversized white shirt, brown cropped pants with light pink cuffs, and black shinobi sandals. While off-duty, she wears a sleeveless light purple dress with yellow pockets over a simple black shirt, pink shinobi sandals, and a green wristband on her left wrist. She continues to wear a pink, flower-shaped hair clip. During Naruto and Hinata's wedding, she wore a sleeveless, light blue dress with small earrings, ballet flats, and had her hair pulled back in a braid. In her own wedding with Shōta, she wore a traditional white kimono with her hair up, and was seen wearing light pink lipstick.

Abilities
Botan was not originally seen as a strong kunoichi, and especially struggled with taijutsu due to her small size. However, before the Chūnin Exam Finals, Isamu taught her how to better utilize Swift Release and this helped her greatly. After her father's death, Botan used training as a way of coping, which caused her abilities to increase by quite a lot. Botan displays a high level of speed, agility, and evasive skills, most likely due to her kekkei genkai.

As a member of the Kusaka clan, Botan inherited higher-than-average chakra control and sensory perception.

Sensory Perception
Botan can discern whether a specific individual is among a crowd through their chakra. She can also determine whether or not someone is using a clone technique and determine how large their chakra reserves are. As a downside, she cannot use the Chakra Suppression Technique.

Kekkei Genkai
Botan inherited the Swift Release from her father, Isamu. The Swift Release (迅遁, Jinton; Viz "Quick Style") is an advanced nature kekkei genkai that can be utilized to move with near instantaneous speed, giving the user an advantage over opponents who rely more on strength than speed. Therefore, Botan is invulnerable to most taijutsu. While she has the ability to, she very rarely takes others with her when this ability is activated as the change from being immobile to moving extremely quickly can severely injure the person that she is connected to. As a result, Botan will only transport someone with her while this ability is activated if it is a life-or-death situation, and has been shown to do this only a few times throughout the series. Being able to do so at all is considered a huge achievement that only a few members of the Igarashi clan have been able to achieve.

Nature Transformation
Botan has displayed competent use of nature transformation, being able to use Wind Release techniques such as Wind Release: Air Current Wild Dance. She has also demonstrated the ability to use other techniques such as the Hiding with Camouflage Technique and the Body Flicker Technique. With the Swift Release, she can move at extreme speeds, rendering most taijutsu attacks useless against her. Botan can also use Water Release techniques, and has especially shown skill with Water Style: Ripping Torrent and the Water Clone Jutsu.

Fūinjutsu
Botan has considerable skill in sealing techniques, being able to seal supplies for the Chūnin Exams during the timeskip in a small bracelet. She also acted as backup during the Four-Corner Sealing Barrier in case someone was unable to continue, showing that she has enough skill in both fūinjutsu and chakra control to be able to perform it.

Bukijutsu
Botan often combines weapons with Swift Release, allowing her to attack extremely quickly. However, she did not start to use it until Part II, as her aim was not good enough to allow the weapons to be safely used at such high speeds.

Shurikenjutsu
Botan is well-versed in the use of both shuriken and kunai, a skill that she inherited from her mother. She tends to use kunai more, as she considers them both easier and safer (as far as her comrades are concerned) when using Swift Release because kunai are more likely to hit her target and not her teammates.

Taijutsu
She does not have much skill in taijutsu, at least in the traditional way. Botan prefers to attack with speed and agility over stereotypical taijutsu (kicks and punches). However, she has extremely good reflexes, as seen when she tackled Shōta, who was bigger than her, out of the way of an attack by a reincarnated shinobi during the Fourth Shinobi World War.

Intelligence
From a young age, Botan was shown to be able to analyze her opponent's next movements quite well. However, she was not a good student in the Academy, at least in an academic sense, due to her short attention span and dislike of studying. When she applies herself to something, though, she is shown to have fairly good memorization skills.

Chakra Control
As Botan was born into the Kusaka clan through her mother Seika, she inherited higher-than-average chakra control. This proved useful while she was training to become a medical ninja.

Teamwork
At first, Botan was wary of her teammates and did not trust them, though this changed during the Bell Test when she realized that in order to get a bell, she had to trust Shōta and Asa. The team would later grow to have inseparable bonds between its members, and Botan now works well with most people.

Part I
See also: Plot of Naruto

IN PROGRESS!

Naruto 6: Road to Ninja
In the alternate world, Botan is extremely hotheaded and wears provocative clothing. She is shown dragging Shōta around, as his alternate self is very lazy.

Video Games
Botan Igarashi is a playable character in the following video games:

Trivia

 * Igarashi means "fifty storms": "五十" are the characters for ”fifty," and "嵐" is the character for "storm." This is most likely a reference to the clan's possession of the Swift Release, which allows them to move with extreme speed.
 * Botan literally means "peony" (牡丹, Botan).
 * Botan is the first person to be born into the Igarashi clan in Konohagakure.
 * Botan was named after a peony, as it was her mother's favorite flower. In hanakotoba, the Japanese form of the language of flowers, the peony symbolizes bravery: a trait that Seika wanted her to have. 
 * Botan has been shown to be a poor cook (a trait she inherited from her mother), though she really does try.
 * Botan scored 12 points on the Mary Sue Test, so she is a Non-Sue (Your character is a well-developed, balanced person, and is almost certainly not a Mary Sue).
 * Both her son and daughter inherited her verbal tic.
 * According to the databook(s):
 * Botan's hobbies are origami and rock climbing.
 * Botan wishes to fight nobody, as she does not like needless fighting.
 * Botan's favorite foods are cheese and taiyaki, while her least favorite is anything fermented (especially nattō).
 * Botan has completed 48 official missions in total: 22 D-rank, 14 C-rank, 10 B-rank, 2 A-rank, 0 S-rank.
 * Botan's favourite phrase is "Fall down seven times, stand up eight" (七転び八起き, Nanakorobi yaoki).

Quotes

 * (To her teammates) "My dream is to become a great kunoichi and bring honor to my parents!"
 * (To Naruto) "I believe that those who have passed on will always be with us."
 * (To herself at Isamu's funeral) "Have I...have I done something wrong? I have no one left...no! I still have my friends, and I'm not going to give up, Dad! I can't!"
 * (To Naruto when she first saw him after he returned) "Is that really you, Naruto? You're so tall!"
 * (To Kanon) "Even when I was in the Academy, I knew. Everyone did. We all knew that when we became shinobi, we would, without a doubt, end up killing someone at some point. They teach you how to do it and how to dispose of the body, but they don't teach you what it feels like to actually...kill somebody. I can't stop thinking about it. I have nightmares about it. What...what if he had a wife and-and children? What if I just did to his child the same thing that my father's killer did to me? What have I done?!"
 * (To Isamu when he was reincarnated) "Dad...I have so many things I want to tell you! I just wish...that we weren't meeting again like this..."
 * (To Seika when she met her again in her mind) "Mom...I've always wanted to meet you...I'm scared, Mom. So many people are dead..."
 * (To herself) "No matter what happens, I will never give up! A flame has been lit inside of me by my parents, and I won't let it burn out!"
 * (To Tsunade) "Please, teach me at least the basics of medical ninjutsu! I don't know if I want to become a medical ninja necessarily, but if I can prevent what happened to my mother from happening to anyone else, I will do anything! Please...please take me on as your student! I won't disappoint you!"
 * (To Tsunade about the Fourth Shinobi World War) "Please let me fight! I can't just stay here and watch while my friends, the only people I have left, are killed! I can help! Please! If I stay here...it'll destroy me!"
 * (To Shōta) "I...I've feel something around you that I've never felt before with anyone else...I've never been in love before, but I...I think I am. What I'm trying to say, Shōta, is that I love you! I love you!" 

Reference
Botan Igarashi is an OC/RPC created for the Narutoverse by AngryPigeon. Naruto and Naruto: Shippūden rightfully belong to Masashi Kishimoto. Many images are edited screenshots and belong to ''TV Tokyo. ''

Swift Release: Shuriken Barrage and Swift Release: Shuriken Firework belong to KusaNin.