Kazō Yakusho

Kazō Yakusho (やくしょ カゾウ, Yakusho Kazō) is a tokubetsu jōnin and trap expert of Kusagakure. He is a member of Team Yon-Tao with Oda Inagara and Kasumi Mitou. He and Oda are also former members of Team Takato with Avaki. Through years of training, he has acquired the ability to manipulate any preexisting wooden object, including his wooden prosthetic arm.

Background
Kazō began his Academy years as a fairly average student. His academic grades, however, were above average thanks to his father, Kōza. As a scientist, his father made sure Kazō didn’t fall behind in his studies. His knowledge in math and geometry even helped his shurikenjutsu by increasing his aiming skills. Hand seals were his only other redeeming skill, one that few in the class could beat. Outside of this, he was quite lax with his training. He would often spend his time in the back of the classroom with his best friend, Kentaro, making jokes about the teacher’s lectures. When not in class, Kazō would hang out with Kentaro and the twins, Ide and Buto. Soon Kasumi joined their group, albeit out of sheer boredom.

While Kazō was still in the Academy, he met Giriko. The man was introduced as a colleague of his father, and as the two men worked, Kazō would watch from the corner of their lab. The time was short lived, as Giriko was found to be a rogue scientist. A logbook was discovered, detailing failed experiments involving children from the different villages he had lived in. Kazō had unknowingly become the newest experiment. He had been injected with a parasite in the hopes that he would survive long enough for the parasite to fully evolve. Before the experiment got too far, his father found out and was able to stop it. However, Kazō lost his lower left arm to the parasite in the process.

After recovering, Kazō was fitted with a simple wooden prosthetic; a solid piece carved into the basic shape of an arm. His father thought it easier for him, only eight at the time, to adapt to life with one arm instead of suffering through the rehabilitation process a more complex prosthetic would give. However, this made Kazō’s ninja career collapse. Without his arm and still an Academy student, Kazō’s training came to a halt. In an effort to not fall behind, Kazō began experimenting with wire-shuriken manipulation. His already proficient skill with aiming allowed him to easily learn the ins and outs of this new skill, even with one arm.

However, the rest of his training still faltered. Without his arm, his coordination with taijutsu suffered. It wasn’t until an accident with Kasumi that he realized his prosthetic could be used as a shield during a fight. Gaining his confidence back, Kazō continued his training, becoming more skilled with wires and with using his disability to his advantage. His teachers tried to prevent this, asking him what he’d do if his prosthetic broke from taking damage like that. He knew they were right, but didn’t know what else to do.

During a lecture in class, Kazō learned about chakra flow and how it could be used with weapons. Using this concept, he began trying to make his chakra flow into his prosthetic. Three years later, by the time his graduation drew near, Kazō gained the ability to manipulate not only his wooden arm, but other wooden objects as well. Though he gained mobility again, he also acquired a loss. With the amount of chakra used up when manipulating his arm, Kazō’s reserves were drastically reduced. Even if he could function fully, he couldn’t last long in battle, making his chances of being a successful ninja fall once again.

When the genin were grouped, Kazō found himself under the command of Takato Kishimi. To his anger, the team was an unofficial one; created, he thought, just to give him the appearance of still being a ninja. His teammates, Oda Inagara and Avaki, were not fellow classmates of his. Instead, they were two normal villagers that Takato selected. Kazō refused to be saddled with false ninja out of pity. However, Takato revealed that he purposely created the false team to show those in charge that Kazō could still make it as a ninja. Not wanting them to end Kazō’s career, he said he would take full responsibility of the student, regardless of the outcome.

Kazō began training with Takato, as well as helping Oda and Avaki learn to tap into their chakra. During this time, Kazō never saw his other friends. He was too embarrassed of his false team and didn’t want the others to see him. Eventually Kazō got over this problem, though he still avoided his other friends. He began to enjoy being on his team and grew quite close to his new teammates. His skills with building traps increased to make up for the lack of solid chakra reserves. Team Takato began completing missions and were that much closer to being seen as an official team of the Hidden Grass Village.

Personality
Kazō has a fairly laid back attitude and tends to crack jokes whenever he sees an opening. What he sees as being witty, others tend to see as being a smartass. Nonetheless, his words have become an integral part of his fighting style. Known as Kusa’s Wooden Spider, his web of words is just as much of a trap as the physical ones he sets. His quick tongue can be quite useful outside of fighting as well. He can easily switch to a more diplomatic tone, becoming very polite and always speaking in such a way as to make it at least seem like he’s on the other person’s side. Avaki has even stated that Kazō could probably talk a hungry lion off of a carcass.

To match this trait, Kazō is a very good actor. He can easily fall into character, whether during a battle or just horsing around. He and Oda would often act out various hero/villain skits when not training. During missions, he may fall back on an act when fighting won’t work or if he’s bored enough. Once when building a trap, he made a giant spider out of wood. Wires served as its web and, when triggered, they caused the spider to move. Before having two enemy ninja be “swallowed” by the spider, Kazō actually hid inside of it so he could act like he got swallowed too. The spider used up a lot of chakra, but he was having too much fun to care.

Kazō can become easily annoyed, especially with Kasumi and her older sister, Seishi. In many cases, he can cover it up well. Even if it’s with a quip or smartass remark, his keeping face just shows more of his mastery over his words. However, if he can’t keep composed, he can come off as childish. One of the biggest challenges after losing his arm was not being written off as a ninja. Because of this, he hates being viewed as crippled, and will usually berate those who call him such. This happens when Seishi calls him a crippled smartass, emphasizing the smartass; to which he angrily responded that he wasn’t a cripple.

When the situation arises, Kazō shows a more serious side. While he usually tries to fight without using up all his chakra, he can unleash a substantial barrage with his wood manipulation. Having wooden canisters with extra chakra stored in them allows him the opportunity to fight without holding back. He is also not above using tricks in battle, many times using them for a chance to fall back and set a trap.

Appearance
Kazō is of average height, with short, spiky, brown hair and squinted eyes, all features he shares with his father. His most distinguishing feature is a wooden prosthetic replacing his left arm, below the elbow. It was originally a carved and sanded piece, but has since grown a layer of bark from Kazō’s chakra allowing it to grow. When viewing a cross-section of the arm, the number of rings will actually change to match his age, though he seems to find this embarrassing.

In Part I, Kazō’s outfit consisted of a brown, short-sleeved shirt with a high collar and black pants. His wooden arm was concealed by wrappings and he wore black gloves. Being a Kusagakure genin, his headband was dark green. Like most ninja, he wore a shuriken holster on his right leg and had a pouch on his back waist.

During Part II, Kazō wears a tan long-sleeved shirt with loose sleeves. His pants and headband are now dark brown, and he no longer wraps up his arm, though his sleeve now covers most of it. He also carries an extra pouch on his waist; one for his wooden arsenal and the other for his trap equipment. When aiding the Trap and Capture Squad, Kazō removes his shirt to reveal the beige flak jacket of Kusa’s ANBU, with a dark brown undershirt and ANBU tattoo on his left shoulder. He wears a boar shaped mask with orange rings around the eyes and an orange stripe down the center. He also has a sword to go with the attire, though he rarely carries it. His codename is Roto (ロト, Roto).

Wood Manipulation and Chakra Flow
Kazō’s main jutsu revolves around manipulation of his wooden prosthetic arm. In one year, he learned to channel his chakra into it as if it were a ninja tool. After about a year and a half of work he was able to use the chakra as a source of energy for the wood, allowing it to move and grow. Since it was his chakra, he could control the growth, gaining full manipulation of the arm. Six more months of practice allowed him to take the skill a step further and channel his chakra outside of his body to manipulate other wooden objects including trees. As a genin, Kazō kept a constant flow of chakra in his arm. He was afraid that if he lost his focus, he would have trouble moving it again. After the time skip, he has gotten better at doing things with one arm. He now tends to stop all flow of chakra to his arm when he’s not in battle. This has increased his reserves somewhat in the process.

Since the skill began as just chakra flow, manipulation of his arm doesn’t require hand seals. He has, however, made a sequence for manipulating other wooden objects and to manipulate his arm past its normal functions. He uses his arm for a multitude of techniques; the most common being wooden tendrils to entangle or strike an opponent. He also likes to shoot the tendrils into the ground and make a barrage of roots erupt.

At times Kazō may have a larger flow of chakra through his body, and by extension, his arm. This is usually in moments of anger or fear. Since he’s not in full control of his emotions in these cases, the wood will actually use this excess chakra to grow on its own. This often causes a splintering effect, with small spike-like bits of wood flaring out from the prosthetic. This may be his instincts unconsciously affecting the growth, almost like the defensive traits of some animals in the wild.

Just before becoming a genin, Kazō picked up carving, a hobby he has shown to be quite skilled at. With this skill, he has made a supply of wooden kunai knives and shuriken which he can manipulate in battle. One quirk he shows while carving is a complete absorption in the task. Until he’s finished, he tends to not notice anyone around him, usually to their annoyance.

Since even using his arm for daily tasks eats up chakra, Kazō began carrying around wooden canisters the size of a common scroll. These canisters are hollow and he can store chakra inside to use when he runs low. He also carries around much smaller versions in which he stores a larger quantity of chakra. The pressure built up from so much chakra in a small space makes these canisters unstable. If punctured or activated by Kazō, the chakra will burst out, causing the canister to explode in a spray of wooden shrapnel. He has the ability to control the direction and magnitude of the blast as the chakra flows into the shrapnel.

Trap Expert
Due to his low chakra reserves, Kazō began to make traps to stop opponents without wasting chakra. Before long, he became an expert trapper-nin. The majority of his traps start with his words. By controlling the communication between him and the opponent, Kazō can effectively talk the enemy into the physical trap. Depending on the situation, he can even set up a trap right in front of the enemy while distracting them with his words. When building a trap, Kazō works backwards. He begins where the enemy will end up after being caught. He then builds the trap back in such a way that the enemy’s actions at each point would be delegated by either the trap, or by Kazō’s words. Once started, the trap has a domino effect; each part leading into the other with little room for the opponent to get out of it. He seems to get a lot of enjoyment out of building traps, even showing child-like excitement before his more elaborate traps are sprung. One of the things he can’t stand is not being able to use a trap he’s set. If a battle ends without his trap being sprung, he may sulk about it until he can see it activate.

After the time skip, Kazō discovered a new way to build traps. This method allows Kazō to stay inside the trap radius. By remaining inside, Kazō can easily lure the foe inside the radius too. They rarely notice they’ve entered a trap zone because it’s built in such a way that only Kazō can spring it. When triggered, the trap will whirl around him, encompassing the opponent in a torrent of wires and kunai. The wires move quickly enough to slice into the opponent while also entangling them. Although it’s preferred that the enemy be standing in a specific spot within the radius for maximum damage, there is no escaping once inside. Kazō remains in the center of the trap where he won’t be caught up in it. He always has to be alert while in the trap, as the wires can whip around, mere inches from his body. Kazō calls it Antlion Web, because of its resemblance to the creature’s traps.

Intelligence and Quick Wit
Kazō has shown a fair amount of intelligence, both in and out of battle. Thanks to his father, he has a well rounded knowledge in mathematics and some sciences. This became useful when Kazō began making traps to use in battle. Besides academics, Kazō shows considerable skill in speaking. Though he usually uses it for wisecracks, his talent is on par with those in diplomatic professions. When arriving in Kyouyouami Forrest, his quick words made Kuenaigumo, one of the strongest of the spiders, allow him to sign a summoning contract with them.

In battle these skills are used, not to analyze or predict the opponent’s next moves, but to make their moves for them. At the beginning of every battle, he will start conversing with the opponent in order to sway their actions. As the opponents are never the same, the direction of the conversation can go anywhere. Kazō is able to find the best way of forcing the opponent’s moves, even acting like a weakling or a klutz if it need be. This can be seen during his preliminary match of the Chūnin Exams. After seeing how cocky his opponent was, he willingly let it be known that he was almost out of chakra. For the rest of the match, Kazō just ran around haphazardly, dodging the enemy’s shurikenjutsu. His only attack, which had failed from him acting tired and clumsy, became the trap. By continually criticizing his opponent’s skills while showing no skill himself, Kazō angered him enough to try close combat. When the opponent reached the target for the trap, Kazō told him to stop, saying he was done with the fight. Surprised at the audacity, since Kazō had only run around the whole time, the opponent actually stopped long enough for the trap to trigger.

Summoning Jutsu
After teaming up with the Trap and Capture Squad, Kazō was shown the summoning jutsu. Per his captain’s orders he performed the jutsu, purposely not being told a contract was needed first. This teleported him to the home of the animal he had a natural affinity for. There he signed a contract with the spiders of Kyouyouami Forest.

Depending on the amount of chakra used, spiders of varying strengths can be summoned. However, due to his low chakra, Kazō can only summon either small or weaker spiders. To summon more powerful spiders, Kazō must also use his chakra canisters. This is seen with Arakuregumo and Kuenaigumo, who require one and three canisters respectively. He doesn’t summon these two very often because of how dangerous they can be for him as well as his opponent. He will only summon Kuenaigumo if he is in need of an ally with her sheer size. Any other time, he will summon Arakuregumo instead, though this is still only if he’s out of chakra and cannot avoid direct combat. In a normal case he will usually summon the weaker, and less dangerous, Juhigumo or Amigumo. He will also summon Sensuigumo if he intends to be in the water.

Other Skills
Since Kazō had only one good arm for a large portion of his Academy days, he practiced very little ninjutsu. Given the ability to, he would probably have a fair amount of it in his arsenal, as his skill with seals before the loss was one of the best in his class. His taijutsu also suffered greatly without his arm. Not only was his coordination impaired, but his stamina was cut substantially. Through training with Oda and Avaki, his skills have improved in this field. Working with the Trap and Capture Squad, Kazō has picked up a few ANBU skills as well. At his request, he has been taught some rudimentary medical ninjutsu by his captain.

Other than basic ninjutsu skills, Kazō has created his own jutsu over the time skip. After realizing his arm will actually drip resin if the wood is left wounded, he learned to convert his chakra into resin that he can spit from his mouth. Being exposed to air will cause the resin to harden, thus making it a useful technique for capturing an opponent. He can also force the resin out of his arm to get the same effect, usually having wooden tendrils tunnel underground and making the resin seep up below the enemy. The resin is flammable, allowing Kazō to combine it with Oda’s fire style and accelerate the flames.

Kazō has also shown the use deceit on occasion. While on an S-ranked mission, Kazō introduced the use of blood pouches: membrane pouches created by his father that he filled with animal blood. He had gone to the village head in hopes of letting all Grass shinobi use them to trick enemies in battle. During the mission, Oda and Kasumi came across what they believed to be Kazō’s decapitated body, a trick meant for the enemy. Later, Kazō used the pouches again to fake Oda’s death; not telling either of them the plan, however, as Kasumi watched Kazō kill Oda. Kazō was able to complete the mission and went back to the village with a distraught Kasumi, where she learned about the pouches. While Kazō went to bring Oda back, the village head told Kasumi he would ban the blood pouches from use in the village due to the problems it would clearly cause among allies. Kazō still seems to keep some on hand, though he has yet to really use them again.

Chūnin Exam Arc
For the first test, Kazō was able to answer a few questions on his own thanks to his studies. Once he realized Oda had discovered the purpose of the exam, he began gathering information too. Using his Wood Manipulation, he was able to copy answers from his neighbor based on how they pressed into the paper and desk surface behind it. He was then able to pass the answers on to Avaki.

During the second exam, Kazō had planned on getting his team to the tower quickly by creating wooden platforms above the tree line, away from the obstacles below. However, they were soon stopped by two shinobi from the Grass Village. Kazō recognized them as teammates of Shiore, an older shinobi he had seen a few times around the village. Talking their way out proved futile, as the older genin attacked them relentlessly. The two, secretly Orochimaru’s followers in disguise, were clearly above genin level and they left Team Takato, battered and bruised, in the dirt. Luckily, the two neglected to take their earth scroll, apparently having other objectives to deal with. Kazō and his team continued to the tower with little more opposition and acquired a heaven scroll in the process.

For his preliminary match, Kazō went up against a genin from the Waterfall Village. After making it through the forest, Kazō had little chakra left and told his opponent as much. Before he could attack with some wooden shuriken, his opponent swiftly struck with shurikenjutsu of his own, causing Kazō to stagger off balance and his weapons to veer off course and imbed themselves into the ceiling. At this point Kazō began running around the arena, all the while dodging the opponent’s shuriken that could home in on his position. As the match progressed, Kazō was able to anger his opponent enough with criticism to try close combat. Before he could get very far, Kazō “accidentally” revealed a net trap he had set up while pretending to trip earlier on. Taking Kazō for a fool, the opponent stopped his advance and prepared for a new attack. Kazō then told him he was bored of the fight. This surprised him long enough for a large log to swing down and slam him into the wall. The two wooden shuriken from the start of the fight had been connected with a wire. One gripped the ceiling as the other grew into the log. Both were strategically placed as a part of Kazō’s trap, with his words and actions luring the opponent into position.

The third test pitted Kazō against Oda. 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 his teammate stunned, Kazō fell back and hid among the trees to set a trap. He soon continued his wooden barrage causing the whole arena to become uneven with roots and branches. Oda avoided most of the onslaught and forced Kazō out in the open. Now out of chakra, Kazō tripped a wire, causing hundreds of blunted wooden projectiles to assault his teammate. He had hoped it would be enough; however, Oda struggled to his feet. After throwing a shuriken almost all the way through Kazō’s prosthetic, he began making his way over the jagged terrain. Kazō, unable to do much more, began retreating from his advancing friend. 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 Oda too worn out to escape, Kazō was declared the winner. Both of them were taken to the infirmary afterwards.

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 jōnin from Kusa who had come to see the finals. They left the Leaf Village in silence due to a falling-out after their match. Oda felt Kazō had held back by using blunted projectiles and setting up the pitfall. 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. Kazō agreed, realizing he had humiliated Oda with his tactics.

Part II
Here you write about your character's plot during the Shippuden series. Delete the heading if your character appears only in the original Naruto series.

Trivia

 * Kazō’s hobbies are building traps and carving.
 * Kazō wants to fight opponents who test his trap-making skills.
 * Kazō’s favorite foods are anything crispy. His least favorite is anything sour.
 * Kazō’s favorite phrase is “The trap is set” (トラップが設定されます, torappu ga settei sare masu).
 * Kazō has completed 51 official missions in total: 10 D-rank, 16 C-rank, 9 B-rank, 15 A-rank, 1 S-rank.
 * Kazō suffers from selachophobia, a fear of sharks.
 * If Kazō tested his chakra nature, he would have an affinity to water.

Reference
Kazō Yakusho is an OC created by KusaNin.