Oda Inagara

Oda Inagara (いながら オダ, Inagara Oda) is a jōnin of Kusagakure’s Inagara clan. He is a member of Team Yon-Tao with Kazō Yakusho and Kasumi Mitou. He and Kazō are also former members of Team Takato with Avaki. After the time skip, he became the leader of Team Oda, made up of Rika, Takeru, and Bō. He has taught himself nintaijutsu to allow himself fight.

Background
Oda was born to Odaiba and Fuuko Inagara. Just after his birth, Oda’s father had a falling out with the rest of their clan for becoming a ninja. The clan disowned him, causing him to take Fuuko with him to live on their own on other side of the village. Soon after, Odaiba left the village all together becoming a rogue ninja. Fuuko was left alone to raise Oda by herself.

As Oda grew, he started showing signs of juvenile idiopathic arthritis. He had trouble moving around much due to the pain in his joints. Daily tasks proved challenging, even to the point of him becoming immobile whenever it rained.

Even with the difficulty, Oda was able to have a relatively comfortable life. He had no knowledge of his clan or memories of his father, and his mother didn’t talk about him much. It wasn’t until he was a bit older that he began to ask about his father. Reluctantly, Fuuko told him about the shinobi. She still left out the clan, as well as the reasons his father left the village. What she did tell him piqued his interest in ninjas. However, when he tried to learn more, she scolded him. Since he couldn’t be very active, she didn’t want him trying to become a ninja and hurting himself. What she hid from him was that she feared he would get into trouble for being a rouge ninja’s son.

Eventually Oda found ways to learn about ninjas, the majority of them being through books and scrolls. When he learned about chakra, he naturally tried to tap into his own reserves. Over time he was able to accomplish this, though he couldn’t utilize it in any way without getting hurt. It was then that he had an idea. If his chakra was just energy, then maybe he could use it to heal his arthritis. Through much effort, he finally learned to channel his chakra to his joints. His chakra actually eased the pain in his joints, allowing him freer movement. The arthritis wasn’t healed, but he did have relief from the majority of problems it caused. Excited at his new chance of becoming a ninja, he even tried practicing some fighting movements. This proved to be too much for him to handle though, and he just wound up hurting himself. Naturally he got scolded when his mother found out what he’d been up to.

By the time he was twelve, Oda had gotten better at using his chakra. He could now live as easily as if he didn’t even have arthritis. Although his mother still disapproved of what he was learning, she was happy he could finally live a more normal life. She still refused to allow him to do any form of training, so he occasionally snuck out to train in private. It was still a challenge to exert himself, but he was confident that he could make it work. It was around this time that he met Takato Kishimi. Takato first saw him walking home, reading a book. He was so focused on the book that he failed to realize some other children in his path. Right before he ran into them, he effortlessly swerved around them and jumped up onto a ledge. Takato was impressed that a villager could react so quickly. It wasn’t until a few days later that he realized the boy was Odaiba Inagara’s son. He later chose Oda to become a member of Team Takato. When his mother found out, she was less than excited for him. She was worried people might give him a hard time since he was beginning to follow the same path as his father. However, when he became good friends with his new teammates, Kazō and Avaki, she began to see how happy this path made him and began to support him.

When his teammates learned of his difficulty fighting, they were reluctant to use too much force on him. Takato did not share this view. After finding out the three of them were goofing off when he wasn’t around, he actually struck Oda instead of just striking Kazō and Avaki. He would not go easy on the boy, since the enemy would not go easy on him. When their training was fully underway, Oda found himself with more taijutsu ability than the disabled Kazō. This made Kazō a perfect sparring partner for Oda, who still needed to work on building his stamina and pain tolerance. Avaki helped Oda train his agility, a trait he soon excelled in due to his chakra flowing to his joints. Soon Takato began sparring with him. This was the most challenging task Oda had ever had to deal with, as the jōnin held little back. By the time they were ready for the Chūnin Exams, Oda had become the best physical fighter on the team.

Personality
Oda has a very serious demeanor making him come off as a bit cold to those who meet him for the first time. This is partially from the trouble his arthritis causes him and partly from the trouble his father’s defection brought about for him. Even with Takato giving him the opportunity to be a ninja, he realizes he may not be trusted enough to get very far. His seriousness carries over into a bit of arrogance. He is quite proud of the fact that he taught himself to be a ninja, and believes he has a considerable amount of skill to show for it.

This trait continues, and is even more apparent, after the time skip. He has acquired a lofty goal of making it into the higher positions of authority in the village. He believes he can do as good a job, if not better than those already in power. This goal is a risky one, as some may see it as treasonous. Inari is one of those who don’t trust Oda. Even when the rest of her team befriends him, she doesn’t accept him, refusing to even call him by his first name. Oda understands he will have opposition. He is still determined to reach his goal, even proving he won’t follow his father’s path in the process. His determination is not overlooked by the village. After the time skip he is allowed to lead a genin team to show his skill, even though he’s still young.

Oda is quite calm in battle, even when he’s angry. He refrains from outbursts and though he may gain an annoyed tone or raise his voice, he rarely yells at others. This collected attitude makes him a formidable fighter. However, in the rare case he does snap, he can be a bit scary. Once was when his genin subordinates almost ruined an investigation in Konohagakure, and another when Kazō accepted candidacy for a high ranking position that Oda saw as a step toward his goal. His response was to act upon a deal they had made as genin. The deal called for them to fight each other without holding back. This came about after Kazō held back during their Chūnin Exam fight. Oda was prepared to prove he was stronger, and thus a better candidate for the position. Kazō however, refused to fight, saying he gave up on the deal years ago. This only angered Oda more until Kazō was able to reason with him.

Although Oda is generally serious, he actually has a playful side. This is mostly shown when he hangs around Kazō and Avaki. He and Kazō share a similar sense of humor that allowed the two to become friends quickly. Like Kazō, Oda has impressive acting capabilities. However, unlike Kazō, it seems he can only effectively use them while they perform various skits. These skits are usually just ways to horse around when not training. However they’ve occasionally used them on missions, as seen when they distract a caravan while Avaki escaped with a girl the caravan had taken hostage.

To go along with this side of him, Oda seems to like creeping people out with his jutsu. A side effect to gaining painless movement is a constant cracking of his joints when he moves around excessively. Over time, cracking his joints became a habit, even when he’s just sitting or standing. This tends to freak some people out, as the cracking is very noticeable and may sound like he’s hurting himself.

Oda’s fighting and general movement is affected by his arthritis. Because of this, he hates the cold. When the temperature drops, his joints become stiff and he has trouble moving well, even with his chakra. If he ever has to travel to cold places like the land of snow, he becomes practically useless. Naturally, some of his favorite spots are bathhouses, as the hot water loosens his joints up without the need for chakra. He tends to have trouble with staying in the water too long.

Appearance
Oda is pale and thin, almost to the point of looking unhealthy. He is the lightest member of team Takato and also weighs less than Kasumi, a fact that seems to annoy her quite a bit. Oda shares his mother’s narrow face and his father’s hair and eyes. His hair is white and he has beady white eyes with black patches surrounding them. These two characteristics are common to all Inagara clan members. His thin build and Inagara features give Oda a skeletal appearance that some may find strange.

Before the time skip, Oda wore loose fitting, long sleeved clothes due to his arthritis. Both his shirt and pants were a dark navy color, and he had a matching hat his mother made him wear to hide some of his Inagara features. When Takato gave him a ninja headband, he had the metal plate sewn into his hat. During Part II, Oda wears a simple long sleeved grey shirt and black pants. He no longer wears his hat, as he refuses to hide his identity as Odaiba’s son. He now wears a black headband in its place.

Nintaijutsu
In order to fight, Oda learned how to concentrate his chakra around his joints. In learning this, he also gained the ability to completely loosen his joints with the chakra. This allows him to twist his joints past their normal extension and thus makes him able to bend in ways normal people cannot. He calls this jutsu his chakra skeleton, and it is a combination of ninjutsu and taijutsu. When using this ability, Oda tends to fight recklessly. This sets him up for potentially hurting himself afterwards.

Being able to gather chakra like this serves as a sort of protection for his body. Not only is he able to withstand high amounts of torque on his body, but the chakra even dampens some of the force his body sustains when struck. The full extent of this ability is shown during his preliminary match of the Chūnin Exams. His opponent was a strong taijutsu user who, partway through their fight, broke Oda’s neck. Before the match could be called, Kazō yelled at Oda for messing around too much. Oda proceeded to stand up and snap his neck back in place, much to the shock of the observers. At this point, he nimbly eluded his opponent’s strikes by contorting his body. This angered the foe substantially, and he was able to grab Oda by the head and slam his skull into the ground, cracking the floor in the process. Even his teammates thought he wasn’t getting up after that move; however, he eventually recovered, albeit with much pain. Viewing Oda through his Byakugan, Neji Hyūga realized Oda had surged chakra to his neck and skull at the last second, cushioning the impact. Oda was able to defeat his opponent, but he did suffer from a mild concussion afterwards.

Nature Transformation
Just before the time skip, Takato decide to test Oda for a chakra nature. The testing revealed an affinity for fire release. It wasn’t long before Oda could use techniques like the Great Fireball Technique. After the time skip he has gained a number of new techniques. His Blazing Land Technique uses a stream of flames he breathes out to set fire to the surrounding land.

His fire nature can also be used with his Chakra Skeleton. By molding fire-natured chakra inside his body and sending it to his joints instead of expelling it, Oda has created a new nintaijutsu ability. It’s called Fire Release Internal Flame, and it turns his body into a weapon without him even having to fight. With flames inside of him, his body heats up around the joints. When touched, his body will actually burn the enemy. Of course he can also strike the foe to burn them. This jutsu is one of his most versatile, but it is also his most dangerous. Since the fire can burn his opponents, it will naturally burn himself in the process. The first time he attempted this move, he suffered minor burns over most of his body. He has been told to limit the use of this jutsu as much as possible for his safety.

Inagara Clan Chakra Tools
Over the time skip, Oda acquired some of his father’s ninja tools. The tools are creations of the Inagara clan and they utilize and augment the wielder’s chakra nature. There are different tools for each nature. Oda’s father was given his own while he was still a member of the clan. After he left the village, some of his ninja equipment was left behind. Oda broke into his father’s room and found some lead spheres. Though intended for earth nature chakra, Oda channels his fire nature to make his own fighting style. The spheres can be thrown at an opponent to sear the target or they can be slammed into the ground to cause a burst of fire to erupt out. He can also have them lying around to ignite when the enemy gets close to them. When Oda finally meets with the Inagara clan, they are quite angered that he has their tools. He refuses to give them up, even going as far as to ask them to train him so he can get better at using them.

After Oda’s father became a ninja, he used the technology of the Inagara clan’s chakra tools to create his own weapon. The material twists around the forearms like gauntlets, allowing the user to channel elemental chakra around their fists. After his father’s death, Oda took the gauntlets for himself. He can use them to create fiery punches that power up his taijutsu.

Agility and Strength
Oda is shown to have a fair amount of strength. Most people are surprised to learn this because of his scrawny build. Since he has little in terms of defined muscle, it is unknown where he gets such strength. Nonetheless, he is able to catch a power packed punch with one hand and lift opponents who weigh much more than he does. He is also able to open the first of the eight gates. After coming across what he believed to be Kazō’s decapitated body, Oda faced off with the ninja responsible. In his anger, Oda unconsciously tapped into this power to increase his strength and break through the ninja’s armor with just his kicks.

Oda is also very agile. Thanks to his Chakra Skeleton, he can contort his body in ways normal people can’t. This allows him to effortlessly evade most attacks and even gives him openings that most taijutsu users wouldn’t be able to access without the unnatural fighting style.

Chūnin Exam Arc
For the first exam, Oda was the first of his team to start gathering information from others. He didn’t know the purpose of the test was to cheat, however. When he had trouble answering the questions, he just assumed it was because he never gone to the Academy. Using his Chakra Skeleton technique, he was able to copy another genin’s posture to acquire the answers. The cracking of his joints alerted Kazō and Avaki to his actions, causing Kazō to begin cheating too.

During the second exam, the plan was to reach the tower first and find the scroll after. Two genin prevented this from happening. Orochimaru’s companions, disguised as Grass shinobi, had found them first. Since Oda knew little of the ninja in his village, he relied on Kazō to handle the situation. To his shock, the two genin didn’t seem to care that they were fellow Grass ninja. Oda could do little against the power of the two supposed genin. Surprisingly, Oda and his team were spared and even kept their earth scroll. They then continued to the tower and found the other scroll.

For his preliminary match, Oda faced a genin from the Waterfall Village. The genin was a strong taijutsu user and Oda started off with a seemingly feeble attempt to combat the shinobi. In the midst of a volley of strikes, the opponent broke Oda’s neck. As everyone watched in shock, Kazō, who had been taking a rest after his match, finally noticed what happened. Before the match could be called, Kazō berated Oda for wasting time. Oda proceeded to get up and snap his neck back into place. Now fighting seriously, Oda easily evaded any other attacks by contorting his body. His opponent finally got a hold of him, and in frustration, slammed his head into the ground. Recovering from the blow, Oda staggered to his feet. Using his chakra, he had cushioned the impact. Oda finally overcame his opponent and was declared the winner. Refusing to miss the other matches, he joined his team on the second floor. Before he could follow the winners after the preliminaries were over, he collapsed due to a mild concussion and was taken to the infirmary.

The third test had Oda face off against Kazō. At first the fight seemed one sided with Oda effortlessly evading Kazō’s taijutsu and landing blow after blow. In an attempt to block one of the strikes, Kazō’s left arm was broken, revealing the shattered prosthetic under the wrappings. Somewhat embarrassed at the reveal of the disability, Kazō grew the arm back and began launching blasts of wooden shrapnel at Oda, finishing with a root erupting from the ground and slamming Oda in the face. With Oda laid out flat, Kazō fell back and hid among the trees to set a trap. As the proctor came over to check on him, he struggled to his feet. His hat had been knocked off, revealing more of his Inagara features. With both of their unique traits made public, they began to take the battle more seriously. Oda avoided most of Kazō’s wooden onslaught and forced him out in the open. The arena was now uneven with roots as Kazō triggered the trap he had set. Hundreds of blunted wooden projectiles pelted Oda from all sides. Realizing Kazō had held back, he angrily made his way over the terrain to his teammate. Another step and the wood beneath Oda gave way for Kazō’s last trap, causing him to fall into the tangle of roots below his feet. With the pummeling from Kazō’s first trap and his chakra depleted from dodging the roots, Oda had lost the match.

Invasion of Konoha Arc
As the destruction of the Leaf Village began, Kazō and Oda were led out of the infirmary by Yon-Tao, a Kusa jōnin who had come to see the finals. They left the Leaf Village in silence due to a falling-out after their match. Oda had been humiliated by losing to Kazō’s joke of a fighting style. They made a pact to count the match as a draw. In exchange, Oda would challenge Kazō again; this time without either of them holding back.

Master's Training Arc
Oda returned to his home after the month long Chūnin Exams. His mother, though worried about him, was happy to hear of his adventure. A few days later, Takato took the three genin to a location on the outskirts of the village. There they would receive more training from another teacher. Takato had some higher ranked missions to take care of, so he could not continue their training himself. Since the team was an unofficial one, Takato wasn’t treated as a regular sensei and trained the three on his own time when able. Now that they participated in the Chūnin Exams, they would need further training that he couldn’t give them on his own.

Junko Yokuchi would be their acting sensei for their new training assignment. She had been a top shinobi in her youth and was now an old woman who mostly kept to herself. She agreed to train them however, having apparently trained a younger Takato and two others for a while during his genin years.

The major part of the training was chakra control. Since both Kazō and Oda had lower reserves, they would need to learn to use less chakra when executing techniques. One of the challenges took place at a nearby lake. Junko threw three rings onto the water’s surface and told the boys to retrieve them. Kazō and Avaki were ready to begin, but Oda was not. He couldn’t swim. Before the others could jump in, Junko added another obstacle. Using the summoning technique, she brought a pack of sharks to the lake. Avaki wasn’t too shaken and jumped in. Kazō eventually followed after working up the nerve. Oda could only watch as his two teammates fended off their threat and completed the challenge.

When completed, they returned to Junko’s house for dinner. Oda was not allowed to join them. He still had to complete the challenge in order to eat. For the rest of the evening, he remained by the water’s edge, thinking of a way to get the final ring. As night fell, he decided to try using his chakra. If he could use it to climb a tree, then he should be able to stay on the surface of the water. Hearing the noise, the others arrived to find him partway out in the lake, fending off sharks as they jumped up to bite him. Once he grabbed the ring, his teammates joined in to hold the sharks back. Later, they found out the goal of the exercise was to learn to walk on water. By doing this, keeping away from the sharks would be easier. Oda was the first of team Takato to reach the true goal.

Their training continued and Oda progressed further. His arrogance began to surface more as his skills increased. Because of this, he started speaking out against some of the training Junko presented them with. To keep him in line, she asserted her authority by cracking him over the head with her cane. Where Kazō was disciplined through fear, Oda was disciplined through pain. Like Kazō, he soon became quite obedient to Junko’s orders, snapping to attention when she gave them. The three genin worked harder at their training and became stronger.

Trivia

 * Oda’s hobby is lockpicking.
 * Oda wants a rematch with Kazō and wishes to fight Konoha's Rock Lee.
 * Oda’s favorite food is Mushrooms, while his least favorite is curry.
 * Oda’s favorite phrase is __
 * Oda has completed __ official missions in total: _D-rank, _C-rank, 7 B-rank, 6 A-rank, 1 S-rank.
 * Oda cannot swim. He was the first of Team Takato to learn to walk on water as compensation.

Reference
Oda Inagara is an OC created by KusaNin.