Kentaro Shida

Kentaro Shida (しだ ケンタロ, Shida Kentaro) is a chūnin of Kusagakure and a member of Team Ginta with Kinsei Zou and Inari Gatama.

Background
Kentaro made it through his Academy days as a below average student. His skills with jutsus and shuriken techniques needed work, and his physical power was meager at best. His academic grades, however, were near the top of his class. This caused him a bit of problems with learning to be a ninja. He lacked the aggressiveness and physical prowess that a fighter needs to win. He was ok with his abilities, though. He didn’t care if he wasn’t a great ninja; just being able to better survive challenges was enough for him.

Kentaro spent much of his time following Kazō. Unlike some of the other students, Kazō never seemed to notice Kentaro’s lack of skill. Outside of the Academy, he would hang out with Kazō, as well as the twins Ide and Buto. When Kasumi joined their group, he was just as thrilled about her presence as Kazō was. To him, she seemed a bit dense at times, and having to explain things to her took the fun out of it.

When Kazō lost his arm, he returned to class and acted like nothing had changed. However, Kentaro noticed how much it bothered him. Though Kazō tried to hide it, he wasn’t the same as he used to be. This made Kentaro unsure of what to do, since Kazō had always been the one who could handle anything.

At this point, Kentaro realized he needed to change so he could deal with problems when others couldn’t. His first real attempt at this was when he and Kazō saw three genin bullying a younger boy. Kentaro couldn’t stand seeing this, and decided to step in. The boy got away while the genin started pushing Kentaro around. Kazō stepped in too, though he held back, realizing this was Kentaro’s battle. The jōnin in charge of the genin arrived soon after to stop the fight. Kentaro and Kazō were sent to one of their teachers for punishment as well. When the teacher learned of the cause of the fight, he let the two of them go, praising Kentaro for his courage.

To his disappointment, Kentaro was not placed on the same team as Kazō after graduating. He wasn’t even paired with one of the twins. Instead, he was with Kinsei and Inari. Both students had more aggressive personalities than he did, and neither of them seemed pleased to be on his team. Their sensei Ginta saw the poor teamwork the three seemed to have, so his first test was to fix this problem. The three were sent inside a mansion and told to make it back out. While inside; faceless ghosts called Noppera-bō chased them around. Kinsei naturally took the lead, and seemed able to handle the situation. Inari seemed a bit scared, but was still more prepared than Kentaro was. He was clearly the weak link.

Midway through the test, they learned that the Noppera-bō could become solid figures to yank objects into their ghost dimension. In Kinsei’s effort to fight one off, his sword was ripped from his hands and shattered when brought through dimensions. This scared Kentaro even more. He was just a genin; he didn’t want to die so soon. Even Inari had started hesitating more. Kentaro realized he couldn’t be like Kinsei and make the decisions. He didn’t know what choices to make. He just wanted to leave the mansion as soon as possible. Before they could reach the exit, a Noppera-bō appeared behind Inari and grabbed her by the hair. Both Kentaro and Kinsei knew what would happen to her. The ghost had appeared and attacked almost instantaneously, giving even Kinsei little time to think. Kentaro didn’t think at all, he just acted. Just as Inari’s hair was being yanked, he rushed over and sliced it off with a kunai. He then bolted to the exit while carrying Inari.

Once outside, medical ninja saw to Inari while Kentaro’s burst of bravery dissolved. Kinsei seemed angered by this change of face, but Kentaro said he had only stayed in control for Inari’s sake. Kinsei then acknowledged Kentaro’s ability to react in important moments like that, and said he was glad they were on the same team. Though it was revealed that they were never in any danger, as the mansion and ghosts were an illusion, the bond the three genin formed was real. With Kinsei’s respect and Inari’s gratitude, Kentaro was finally realizing what it meant to be a ninja.

Personality
Kentaro has a somewhat timid personality. He is very cautious about things, and this usually prevents him from being more aggressive or outgoing like his teammates. He is not one to pick a fight, nor does he care to fight when others provoke him. His teammates say he’s too nice and needs to toughen up more. He doesn’t mind this side of himself. He knows he’s not much of a leader, but having people who know how to follow is just as important. To him, if everyone tries to lead, they won’t get too far.

Outside of missions and fighting, Kentaro’s cautiousness isn’t as prominent. He is usually very curious, and will often make connections of the things he sees to learn more about them. Hanging around Kazō, Ide, and Buto has also given him a joking side. While on a mission, he convinced Inari she had some kind of evil spirit inside her and the only way to expel it was to stand in a lake for an hour. After she left, Kinsei noticed the book Kentaro was reading from was upside down, to which Kentaro feigned surprise.

In rare cases, Kentaro reveals a braver side. Unlike Kinsei who is good at making choices as a battle progresses, Kentaro has shown the ability to react instantaneously, without thought. He’s unsure of how he does it, though he describes the instances as having only one logical answer. There is no grey area in the choice; something he would usually have trouble with deciding. There are only two distinct outcomes. Since he knows which choice is right, there’s no need to think about it. When Inari was caught by a Noppera-bō, she would either die after it pulled her through dimensions, or live if he cut her free before that happened.

Appearance
Kentaro is of average height with short, dark teal hair and indigo eyes. He wears silver wire-rimmed glasses. As an Academy student he wore a dark yellow shirt and green shorts. During Part II, his attire consists of a green shirt and dark green pants. He continues to wear his original green headband he got as a genin.

Nature Transformation
Kentaro’s chakra nature is wind. With it, he can strengthen any bladed attacks he uses. His Gyro Shuriken makes use of this. Utilizing the wind, Kentaro can spin a shuriken in the palm of his hand. By tilting the air stream, the shuriken will topple over itself and spin vertically as well as horizontally. This gyroscopic movement allows the shuriken to cut into targets as a sphere instead of a disc, increasing its deadliness. Other attacks let him expel large volumes of wind from his mouth; either in short bursts like his Raging Bellows Technique or a continuous stream like his Wind Tunnel Technique.

Other Skills
Since Kentaro isn’t much of a fighter, he relies on his intelligence in battle. He is very observant and will use this to his advantage. If he finds a way to get around having to physically fight, he’ll act on it, even if it’s by using tricks. He likes using the terrain to his advantage and will usually change his tactics to match his surroundings. If he runs out of ideas, he will even retreat to either think of a new plan or to just change his location. Kentaro is also pretty quick at dodging attacks, though this is mostly due to his not wanting to get hurt. Though it can be viewed as cowardly, the fear heightens his reflexes enough to help him evade attacks.

Trivia

 * Kentaro’s hobby is mythology.
 * Kentaro wishes to fight Kinsei and wants a rematch with Kazō.
 * Kentaro has completed 63 official missions in total: 30 D-rank, 21 C-rank, 8 B-rank, 4 A-rank, 0 S-rank.
 * Kentaro has learned to play a few wind instruments in his spare time.

Reference
Kentaro Shida is an OC created by KusaNin.