Sawaii Hitomi

Sawaii Hitomi (ひとみサワイイ, Hitomi Sawaii) is chūnin-level kunoichi from Konohagakure, a medical-nin, and a member of Team Yoruha. She possesses the unique Crystal Style kekkei genkai.

Background
Sawaii was only two months old on the day the Kyuubi attacked Konoha, and she lost both of her parents during the assault. Because of this she was taken in by the Third Hokage and was raised along with Konohamaru. Hiruzen would rarely let Sawaii outside, confining her indoors for safety reasons.

Despite her relations to the Sarutobi, Sawaii chose to keep her surname "Hitomi" (ひとみ, Hitomi) in remembrance of her late mother, Sayu Hitomi.

When Sawaii was around 6 years old, she met Hibiki Ren, who later becomes her team mate.

Sawaii soon entered the Academy and was placed in the same class as the soon-to-be Rookie 9. She befriends Sakura and Ino, along with others.

Sawaii explained to her friends that she preferred being called by her own name instead of "Honorable Granddaughter" (お孫娘様 Omago musume-sama) like the others, since she wanted to be treated like everyone else instead of the Third Hokage's granddaughter.

Her small height and figure also made her the target of bullies, and was called "chibi" or other names. Sawaii paid no mind to them and would merely return their insults with smiles. The bullying helped her grow more confidence and strength in herself despite her small body.

Sawaii was not a bright student, as she was very weak academically and was not interested in studying. Her grandfather however insisted on her becoming a full-fledged ninja and later on, after learning how her parents had died, she became determined to become a strong kunoichi.

She was proficient in using kunai and shuriken, but did not have a strong stamina and had poor chakra control. She was also limited in her taijutsu abilities. When Sawaii graduated, she was placed in a genin cell with Hibiki Ren and Izanami Seimei, and their sensei was Shin Yoruha. Their team was known as Team Yoruha.

Personality
An average kunoichi that likes to make funny jokes and getting into trouble with her comrades, she is short tempered, but has a strong will and she never gives up so easily. She's very emotional when it comes to bullying and stands up for people in similar situations. She is usually never serious.

Appearance
Sawaii is fair-skinned, with blue eyes. Her signature trait is her long orange hair, usually tied in a ponytail and with bangs similar to Sakura's and Tsunade's. Sawaii was often bullied due to her small height and body.

In Part I, her long orange hair was tied into a high ponytail with a small ribbon, both ends each having had a small purple bell attached. She wore a sleeveless purple dress with gold designs, purple arm warmers and standard blue shinobi sandals. She wore her forehead protector around her waist, similar to Ino Yamanaka.

In Part II, she wears a purple jacket and a black, short-sleeved blouse underneath, a dark purple skirt with a slit in the middle, black boots with heels, and long black gloves that reach up to her elbows. She ties her hair into a low ponytail using her forehead protector.

She later appears wearing a new outfit due her last one being destroyed during an incident between she and Ren Hibiki. Her new outfit consists of a shorter purple jacket and she wears black, short-sleeved dress with a different design.

During the Fourth Shinobi World War, she dons the standard uniform of the Alliance and a Konohagakure flak jacket.

Taijutsu
Sawaii rarely uses taijutsu, but is capable of fighting opponents with it, even those stronger than her, but it is mostly just used for defensive purposes. To become a chūnin, she was told she needed to improve her taijutsu skills in order to be able to better fight her opponents, and she trained a lot for this. Her taijutsu skills developed under Sasuke's teachings, and later on she under the guidance of Tsunade and Sakura.

Kekkei Genkai
Sawaii inherited from her mother the Crystal Release (晶遁, Shoton; English TV "Crystal Style"), which enables users from the Hitomi clan to produce purple crystal that can be utilized for attack, defense and other purposes. It can be countered by fire, lightning and wind elements, or good chakra control. In her mother's clan, Sawaii is the third known user of the element and became the only user in Konoha after the death of her mother.

Earlier in the series, she was unable to produce enough chakra to use the crystal element. Despite having it, she never trained using the Crystal Release as she had no teacher. Her potential with Crystal Release was unleashed during the time she spent with Orochimaru, where she became able to produce a great amount of chakra to create huge crystal shields. She was also able to produce crystal needles to attack the enemy. Sawaii mostly uses her Crystal Release during battles with stronger enemies or whenever it is necessary.

Medical Ninjutsu
In the beginning of the series, Sawaii was not skilled in chakra control. But throughout Part I, and, by Part II, she worked hard to become better, and improved to the point that she could gather a great amount of chakra for medical use. Her medical ninjutsu developed under the teachings of Kabuto.

Along with medical ninjutsu, Kabuto taught Sawaii about poisons as well. She skilled in identifying, making and countering poison by making antidotes. She also learned how to identify herbal medicines. Her medical ability was useful in helping Kabuto and Orochimaru with their experiments, along with helping Sasuke with his injuries.

When she returned to Konoha, she begged Tsunade for her guidance in order to develop her medical ability further. Thus, Tsunade takes Sawaii as one of her apprentices and she begins to works alongside Sakura at Konoha's hospital, making Sakura her "Senpai" (Literally meaning ""Senior colleague"".)

Under proper training from Tsunade and Shizune, Sawaii learned how to use poison with weapons such as kunai, shuriken and poisonous crystal needles. She also learned how to make strong soldier pills for her team. Although she was still below Sakura's level of medical ability, she was acknowledged as one of the best medical ninja at Konoha.

As a result, Sawaii was made poisons and focused on excelling in the medical arts, along with healing patients and working as a surgeon with Sakura, Ino and Shizune, since she wished to be as good as Sakura.

Summoning Technique
Sawaii can summon the penguins.

Introduction Arc
Sawaii wasn’t a very bright student in the beginning and was among the worst students, like Naruto Uzumaki. However, getting to know him, she started to learn more and vowed to never give up. She befriended Naruto and others, including the number one rookie, Uchiha Sasuke. She was never the type to be very strong or powerful,  but she was useful in some situations.

Chūnin Exam Arc
Sawaii and her team also took the Chūnin Exams together with the other rookies. Before the Chūnin Exams, her teammate, Hibiki Ren, suddenly left the village without notice. She wasn’t able to stop him as he left with his father. During the Chūnin Exam, she was selected alone as one of the candidates who later on got help from Team 7.

Invasion of Konoha Arc
During the war which ended her grandfather’s life forever, Sawaii was in despair of losing her teammate and her closest family member; her beloved grandfather. The loss of both of her precious people broke her to pieces. She, sunken by despair, shockingly found out about the news of Uchiha Sasuke’s leaving. Wanting revenge for Orochimaru taking away her beloved grandfather, she decided to join him in leaving Konoha. That night, without knowing that she had made the biggest mistake of her life, she left Konoha.

During the Timeskip
Living with Orochimaru, she learned ninjutsu from Kabuto and also developed her own jutsu, the Crystal Release. She became a medical ninja under the guidance of Kabuto. She learned to heal and to make poison. Sawaii also learned a little taijutsu and ninjutsu. She is not a fighter and only went on missions to act as Sasuke’s company and develop her medical skills. Orochimaru wasn’t interested in Sawaii and he decided to dispose of her, but was always prevented from doing so by Sasuke. Sasuke made a deal with Orochimaru; to allow Sawaii to be one of their comrades in exchange of his body. Orochimaru accepted the offer.

Sai and Sasuke Arc
Naruto’s incident of breaking into Orochimaru’s lair and trying to bring back Sasuke and Sawaii made her realize her reasons to live. She knew that all of her mistakes wouldn’t be forgiven, but she insisted on making an escape back to Konoha. She escaped from Orochimaru’s lair to Konoha and her success of entering Konoha was later questioned by Tsunade. The news about the return of the Late Third Hokage's granddaughter spread. She was kept as prisoner for a small amount of time to be investigated until she was found clean. Sawaii made a pledge that she would never commit such a crime again. After she was released, she worked in the Hospital and under Tsunade's guidance as one of the medical staff. She was also reunited with Seimei and, eventually, Ren. They formed a new team with their teacher Yoruha and went on multiple missions. They worked well with other teams and helped them to protect Konoha. Sawaii also retook the Chūnin Exams upon her arrival back in the village and was made into a chūnin.

Three-Tails Arc
       Main article: Three-Tails Arc

Invasion of Pain Arc
When Pain destroyed the village, Sawaii and Sakura are saved by Katsuyu. When she sees the village in ruins she look Sakura cries out for Naruto to return to save everyone. After Naruto's return Sawaii could only watch as Naruto tried to defeat the six Pains. She and Sakura became worried when Naruto entered his six-tailed form, and are amazed to find out that Hinata risked her life to try and save Naruto because she loves him. Sawaii help Sakura at heals Hinata afterwards and watches as Pain, defeated and converted by Naruto, revives all those who had died during his attack. When Naruto came back to the village after talking to Nagato, Sawaii was next seen along with all his friends, thanking and celebrating Naruto's victory.

Konoha History Arc
       Main article: Konoha History Arc

In the anime, Sawaii, Naruto, Sakura and Ino are sent in Jofuku Forest to deliver a message to Furofuki. On the way there, they were petrified because an old lady from the village's inn said that the place was haunted. Naruto managed to take a sample of Jofuku flower for Lee's recovery. They also fought a deity representing Gaara, but Naruto managed to defeat him. They arrived at Furofuki's house and completed their mission.

Chikara Arc
       Main article: Chikara Arc

Adventures at Sea Arc
Main article: Adventures at Sea Arc

Ten-Tails Revival Arc
She stood with the remaining members of the Shinobi Forces Allied Shinobi Forces as they prepared to face their opposition.

Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow
Sawaii joined the Team 7 on a mission to protect the actress Yukie Fujikaze, as she and the production group she worked for travelled to the Land of Snow. Throughout the movie, Sawaii encountered the Yukigakure-ninja Mizore Fuyukuma with Sakura, and eventually distracted with Shoton: Bakudan and the Sakura Blizzard Technique used by Sakura. She was later seen looking out at the newly created Spring country.

Naruto the Movie 3: Guardians of the Crescent Moon Kingdom
Sawaii and Ren are assigned along with Naruto, Sakura and Rock Lee to protect the Land of the Moon's prince during his world trip.

Naruto: Shippūden the Movie
Sawaii was assigned to protect and escort Shion, the head priestess of the Land of Demons, to the tomb of the ancient demon Mōryō. To aid her in this mission, she was joined by Naruto, Sakura, Lee, and Neji (who was assigned as team captain). Upon their arrival at the temple, Sawaii and her team were forced to face off against a group of ninja, with unusually powerful mastery of elemental ninjutsu.

Naruto Shippūden 2: Bonds
Sawaii was assigned with Sakura, Naruto and Hinata to escort a boy (who was really a girl) named Amaru, and Shinnō, her sensei, back to their village. During their journey, Sawaii and Hinata were separated from Sakura and Naruto. Sawaii was last seen lecturing Naruto at the end, most likely for being so reckless. Hinata was talking to her afterwards, probably telling her about Sasuke.

Naruto Shippūden 3: Inheritors of the Will of Fire
Sawaii was first seen at Naruto and Sai's recovery party and when they were slapped by Sakura in the the hospital.

Naruto 5: Blood Prison
During Naruto's time in Hōzukijō, he reflects on his bonds with his friends and comrades in Konoha, where a flashback of Sawaii makes jokes with Naruto. When Mui dies and the Fire Release: Heavenly Prison is released, Sawaii and the rest of the Konoha 11 stop the prisoners from escaping. She tries to heal a dying and impaled Naruto with Sakura after his battle but cannot. Ryūzetsu arrives and is able to save Naruto with her Dragon Life Reincarnation. They later all prepare to go home.

Naruto 6: Road to Ninja
Sawaii appeared with her team in Road to Ninja. She became more introverted and incredibly sensitive. She would cry easily over something so bad or even so good. Unlike the Sawaii that Naruto and Sakura knew, she was more careful than playful and daring. Her clothes were made of a black sweater with a purple tank top, black shorts and a purple skirt. It also has black gloves. Her hair was cut shorter, with uneven bangs over the tops of her eyes, exposing less of her forehead.

Trivia

 * Sawaii's surname, "Hitomi", if written in different kanji, can mean "pupil [of an eye]".
 * Many people thought that her name was a mixture of either "Sakura" or "Sasuke" and the word "kawaii" (可愛い, Literally meaning ""Cute""), but that assumption is incorrect. Sawaii's name is derived from Miyuu Sawai, a Japanese actress.
 * According to the databook(s):
 * Sawaii's hobbies include eating, teasing and training.
 * Sawaii's favorite foods are ramen, Onigiri, and takoyaki. Her least favorites are vegetables.
 * Sawaii has completed 50 official missions in total: 15 D-rank, 12 C-rank, 10 B-rank, 9 A-rank and 4 S-rank.

Quotes

 * (To herself) "Do not lose! I want to be strong!"
 * (To herself after the Third Hokage's death) "Why did everyone I love leave me?"
 * (To herself) "Naruto! I will be strong. I won't let you fight alone anymore. Wait for me."