Haruna

Haruna Kazue (晴成 かずえ, Kazue Haruna) was a young woman who came from the Village Hidden in the Oasis (沃地, Yokuchigakure no sato) where the culture is based on pacifistic, "Buddhist" influenced traditions. Karuna was classified as support class special jonin during the war who mained the communication division between her village and Suna beforehand, as well as other villages. She ended her own life through sacrifice to save her division.

She first appeared in the "Rescue the Kazekage" Arc of the shippuden series and appeared multiple times throughout the rest of Naruto Shippuden before finally appearing with Gaara's division before her and Ame sacrificed themselves to save them.

Background
Haruna grew up very sheltered with her little pup, Ame. She was cared for by her father on the council till she was old enough to become a ninja at the age of 12. As a result of being so sheltered, she was timid during her early years as well as the chakra within her feeling unusual as she got used to the adaptation of the nature chakra in her. When she first became a ninja. Her emotional state was weak and she was too merciful when it came to serious situations and refused to kill any enemy shinobi yet she often studied and pushed herself to accomplish her goals. She continued to be frightened and insecure of herself especially when she turned 15; she was placed into the political endeavors of her village, yet was denied any say in her own village's affairs. As she grew prior to age 15, she grew remarkably and became more confident and reliable on her own abilities and assured of her opinions after finding an unlikely friendship with Gaara who encouraged her by giving her a choice to remain, or not remain her council's puppet. After making progress in this field, she was allowed to speak freely within the council meetings and started up her own division within the village which branched out into several subdivisions to sustain knowledge of other village, the plants, and the political standpoints of others and her own villagers. She had earned the respect she'd worked so hard for in the end.

Personality
As a child she was very sheltered. Due to this, she grew up timid before flourishing as an adult with some help. By shippuden she was a calm and happy young kunoichi who was very compassionate about her village to the point she would raise her voice to be heard if needed. She also cared deeply for her neighboring allies as well as having strong family values in mind when she daydreamed about herself and Gaara. Yet, even though she had grown so much, Haruna was often a bit too emotional if a situation became intensely dangerous and would become so excited in meetings, she would speak out of turn only to apologize after until she trained herself to have more patients and write down any ideas she had during the other council members opinions. She tended to spread herself too thin when it came to helping others with everyday tasks and would never get into a fight she and Ame couldn't handle alone. Due to Haruna's compassion for others, she tended to be overly hesitant when it came to trying to end a person's life in combat and could not cope with traumatic instances as bluntly as most adults. She never had many trust issues and loved Ame to death and often relied on her own gut and Ame's instincts, keeping their bond in high regards when making life decisions or when others' lives were on the line and was more than willing to help whomever she could to the best of her ability. This devotion is what led to her sacrifice on the battlefield to protect her allies from a huge attack from Madara. There was no animal she loved more than Ame, and was happy that Gaara would've accepted the dog into his house when he discussed what would happen if they got married.

Her hobbies included singing, sketchwork, training with Ame, and training with Gaara as well, and cooking. She loved people very much and enjoyed being around many individuals, disliking to be alone or in pitch black darkness. She was very trusting and would mostly give others the benefit of the doubt but outspoken enough to scold those who did wrong to others. She was more than ready to sacrifice herself if she had to and wanted no one to regret not being able to save her if she ended up doing so. She wanted others to be happy, cared for, and grew excited around her friends and became rather outspoken in front of Gaara and his siblings. Some of her flaws included her nervousness around suspicious individuals, being too compassionate during meetings and interrupting others when she thought it was urgent enough or when she got carried away. She disliked herself at times and still did up to her death, but wore a smile on her face to make it through tough times. When she became really stressed, crying was one of the hardest things not to do and she often would shut down during traumatic experiences which mainly consisted of her not being able to save her father against the previous Kazekage when Gaara fought them only to grin from ear to ear to make it through till her death in which she died with no regrets. Other forms of her emotions tended to be expressed through fits of anger and ranting in which Gaara had to hold her to him tightly till she stopped struggling and exhausted herself completely. She often daydreamed when she was younger.

Appearance
In Gaara's flashback of meeting Haruna, she had butt length brown hair, fair skin, and blue eyes. She's often seen wearing her hair down or loosely tied with a blue band, and short sleeve mesh top. The rest of her attire consists of a brown desert scarf and skirt which starts from just beneath her breasts to her mid outer thigh with a slit done the mid left. She wears a brown strap which carries the pouch she put her petals and flowers into as well as white long white shorts, nude tinted mesh to her toes, and simplified, black kunoichi heels. Lastly she wears a pair of black gloves similar to Sakura's.

When she first appeared in Shippuden, she wore her hair down longer, had it parted by pigtails in the front that rested along her breasts with a bangs covering one eye and two to the left side, hair tied near the bottom. She wore a long red dress that was short on the right side, slitted, and drooped down as long as an average dress on the left side; slanting back up in the back as it was connected as a single piece. Her dress had a stitch pattern from her right breast down to the beginning of the slit, while having a black strap around her stomach which carried her red pouch on her back under her hair. She wore her headband on her forehead - mostly covered by her bangs - while she wore average black, shin high boots, black shorts, a shuriken holster full of petals, wrappings above her left boot, a heart-shaped locket, and fishnet from her knuckles to her neck in a v-neck shape.

Abilities
Chakra and Physical Prowess Haruna was often very doubtful of her own abilities, and had gone through a lot of pressure from her father to be the perfect kunoichi as she was the only one at the time; years ahead of the others in ability though she didn't believe it. On top of this, she didn't inherit her father's large chakra reserves. Due to this stress, she based her fighting style around support rather than trying to excel in physical aspects which disappointed her father, but he decided she needed to find her own path. Upon Ame's training, he was the brawns, she was the brains and had very limited taijutsu capabilities other than her speed and often became uncomfortable in various situations of serious combat when nothing was planned. Through her doubtfulness and Ame's support, she fought her own emotions and state of mind to force herself to push through her fear and rely on Ame instincts - and especially her own - rather than her intelligence 100% of the time. If Haruna and Ame were in a tight situation, Ame helped her to pursue her target till backup arrived or the target became physically exhausted/injured to the point of immobility. These exercises and experiences of tracking and hunting brought her to have abnormally high stamina. Even with Haruna's average chakra reserves, due to her adaptation to Nature Chakra, she could not utilize the five element based chakra natures and on top of that, could not walk on top of water either. With this downside she trained herself to swim. She succeeded and swam a lot faster, more efficiently, and more skillfully than many because of this and practiced often due to her love of water. She did have an exception to these faults, however, and could actually walk on top of the water of the village's oasis due to the constant flow of nature chakra within the water to which she could attune her own chakra to. Another side effect to hr type of chakra was that she couldn't use normal medical ninjutsu and relied on the Oasis to heal others. She could use life release and the rarer fragrant release to expel a fragrant mist from Yoku's flowers or other flowers that would either harm or cure a target due to what flower she used. With her life release she had the ability to manipulate the life energy within the petals and flowers of many types of flora, to move them and relied on yang release and yin release to strengthen her abilities and jutsu which gave new form. She also used smaller version of senbon, silver bells, and even flower petals as her choice of weaponry if she wanted to harm someone and keep them from moving. She often hid senbon within flower blossoms or dispersed the petals from flowers to send sharpened petals at enemies. The bells were often used for distraction tactics such as shinobi who relied heavily on sound would hear the bells which had a unique sound that often hurt their ears enough to immobilize them temporarily. She would even utilize some animal behavior in her techniques. You hear how animals tend to lick their wounds to clean them, right? So, she uses her life chakra mixed with saliva to heal open wounds and cuts. She cannot heal anyone by using mystical palm however since it's unavailable to her.

Overall, Haruna wielded an average level of skill and made out to be a very devoted partner to Gaara throughout the war and anyone else she supported. She even did well with just herself and Ame alone.

Kekkei Genkai
???

Status
== Filler Episode

Part II
Kazekage Retrieval Arc Haruna had stationed herself at the sand village of her own accord out of concern for the kazekage's well being. After hearing he'd been kidnapped, she made an effort to arrive quickly and ended up there a day and a half before Team 7 even arrived. Throughout the time, she felt useless due to being unable to provide much service out on the field because she had to keep communications open between her village and Suna of the mission's status. Upon receiving a very strong gut feeling that the Kazekage had died, she hid herself away in his office, crying at his desk and holding herself. Haruna was already prepared to set up a funeral if needed before the villagers insisted she follow them to see the Kazekage. Upon seeing him alive and well, she shed tears for him before falling to her knees. Gaara went to her side and knelt with her, stating that everyone should pray for Lady Chiyo after helping Karuna to her feet and wrapping an arm around her. Later on after team Kakashi and Gai had left, she took him by surprise by suddenly hugging him out of excitement and tears of joy in the privacy of his office which embarrassed him, but made him happy to be able to see her again. It suddenly occurred to him how worried she must've been and looked her in the eyes. He insisted that he was sincerely sorry that he couldn't protect her from the pain she had to go through and insisted she try to understand that things like this would happen and she'd have to cope with it sooner or later. The two argued as she had become upset with the way he worded his response before he held her tightly in his arms. She grew frustrated and struggled, crying and telling him how careless he was before he noticed she stopped moving; asleep in his arms with a peaceful expression upon her face.

Fillers & Offscreen When next she visited Suna, Haruna was sent for a day and a half to discuss the state of the villages as they did monthly and talk about what changes needed to be made after the incident a couple months before. The two had an in depth conversation before bringing their ideals to a conclusion. Haruna insisted she stick around for a bit longer and the two began to reminisce about how they first met. She felt inclined to repay him for encouraging her to better her life, yet didn't know how at the time. Once business was finished, she stated that she would be staying at a small inn till the the next day's noon until Temari boldly insisted that she bunk with her at the siblings' house. Temari stated that she wanted a chance to hang out with a girl for once and offered her whatever she wanted. The boys didn't exactly know how to act about their sister's bold outburst of kindness, but Gaara smiled and agreed it would be a splendid idea.

Haruna often returned each month to further discuss matters, and the two often went back to her village after business was finished to have alone time on top of the roof of Yoku's council hall. This began the start of their relationship as they both nervously stood together once the other started to realize the feeling they were both experiencing over the past day and a half. Gaara grew a bit quiet, while she tended to stutter slightly as they spoke with each other with small talk. To Ame's surprise they still hadn't done anything and he whimpered before nudging her toward Gaara. He caught Haruna in his arms, the two locked eyes with a blush on their faces before she held him tight and kissed him. The two were shocked as it parted, both unsure of what just happened before she began to laugh at how they seemed to silly. She couldn't help but laugh, it was too funny as she realized how easy it was to suddenly take that leap of faith and yet they still were so innocent about it. She spoke with him about when she first started to realize her love her him which was when she stayed in Temari's room. Gaara often checked up on her more than necessary and seemed rather unsure of what to do about her at this time. His stomach had butterflies fluttering around, he stated, the very first time he saw her smile at him and had thanked him for all he'd done to help her. They knew they could run to each other no matter what if things were tough..

4th War Arc Haruna traveled with Gaara to the Five Kage Summit to represent her village incase anything caused any trouble and to help escort Gaara by Kankuro's request. She was very cautious and Ame always kept an ear out for danger as did she. When Gaara spoke with Naruto, she had been concerned for both him and Gaara as well, giving Naruto a hug before being brushed off. The moment Zetsu had emerged from the center of the summit meeting, she had to hold Ame back while she readied herself to let go and attack. following Gaara to the summit afterwards. While Gaara fought Sasuke, he insisted she stay back and protected her when Sasuke tried to aim an attack at her since he knew she was obviously important to him.

Haruna Gaara shared their final endearing moment together before they set his plans into motion; everything became deadly serious and she wasn't used to that. Before they left, he looked her deeply in the eyes with concern of his own. She was crying before he held her close and consoled her. The fear in her eyes made him begin to worry and then remembering what she told him, "Smile through the hard times and a blessing will reward your faith. Grin from ear to ear because it's the only life we have, why not be happy through it?". Ame was nuzzling her palm as he insisted she not show him her tears and show him her beautiful smile in its place. She started petting Ame as he whimpered for her emotional well being as Gaara reassured her that everything would be alright, that they'd get married before she knew it. It was only 4 years after all; in response she showed him that smile of hers and they put his plans in motion. When the fighting started, she was often his support for a majority of the fighting.

Haruna's Sacrifice Arc & Birth of the Ten-Tailed Jinchuuriki Arc When the war was coming to it's conclusion, Madara had been revived once again and attacked a second time. During Gai's confrontation with him, an attack strayed towards Gaara's division. Haruna silently started to shed tears and while they streamed down her face, she showed a serious expression before telling Ame it was time to go. Ame knew what she wanted to do and followed. The two rushed in the way while the attack was building up dust on the battlefield. They stood directly in front of it before she attuned all of the chakra in her body and stood with her pup, petting his head and keeping her palm on him which allowed them to both merged their chakra - she took him with her because if she left him by himself otherwise he'd mourn himself to death and allowed the life release within them both to take over their entire bodies. Through this jutsu a massive tree quickly took root and used a barrier that shielded them and the others from the attack. Gaara was blinded by dust filling the air from the strength of the collision, his eyes widened to see only what she and Ame had become. He looked up from the bottom, along the thick brown tree trunk and up, seeing the beautiful glowing chakra lilies before noticing a concentration of crystallized chakra amongst the flowers, housing Haruna and Ame together at its core. Gaara rushed to the tree, staring up at the crystal which harbored her sleeping body and Ame's. Tears ran down his face as he cried silently for her. So many things they'd planned to do together, so many promises broken and yet he was proud. He began remembering her telling him if anything happened to her, to smile and be happy that she could serve her people and protect those she loved. He grinned almost from ear to ear and later on when Gaara visited and had coped with her decision, he'd known she died without regrets and placed a picture of her, a food offering and some incents in front the tree. He whispered "thank you" as he prayed and whenever he wanted to cry, he just remembered her smile and was determined to face the future for her.

Conclusion Arc A few months later he was with Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi, his brother and his sister discussing matters on what to do now that the war was finished. Naruto was worried for him as were they all before he asked how Gaara was doing. Gaara simply stated, "They look as if they're just asleep.. don't they?" and insisted he would be alright. He had to live for Haruna. He also reminded Naruto of his promise to never wallow in his own sorrow ever again.

Gaara Hiden Upon the council's decision that Gaara was to be wed in an arranged marriage, he was hesitant and didn't know what to do. His worrying clouded his judgement as he traveled to the tree and spoke to Karuna asking what he should do. The next night she graced his dreams with an answer. He would go through with it in her honor and accept what he had to, to share her memory with his children later to come and share his experience with Karuna to his new wife in hopes she'd grow to appreciate what Haruna and Ame had done for him and their villages as a young woman and her loyal dog. After he showed Shikadai his beloved's resting place, he stated, "She looked as if she's asleep in that tree, and yet I still hope that maybe she'll wake up one day... and come back to find me.."

Trivia

 * Haruna likes purring at the red foxes and sables in the village and making little squeaks to try and communicate with them. smiling, singing, sketching landscapes, arranging flowers.
 * Haruna dislikes Sleeping when shes nervous or excited, snakes, mice, crows, being in a room all by herself especially if its dark.
 * Haruna continues sentences with "so" and starts refutations with "well".
 * Haruna has habits such as; making little whimpering sounds in her sleep, smiling, tapping her fingernails against a flat surface when angsty or agitated.
 * Haruna's most favorite foods and drinks are; lobster tail, ramen, mitarashi dango with sweet lemonberry sauce, sweet tea; and least favorite foods and drinks are; natto, raw fish, fish roe, and sour drinks.
 * Haruna wishes to fight no one, her favorite word is compassion, and her love interest is Gaara.
 * Haruna's name is written like this "晴成" in kanji. Her mother wanted her to be successful and bright so she was named with this kanji for such wishes; "晴, Haru" for "Bright" and "成, na" for successful. "Kazue" or "一枝" is her clan's last name meaning "一, Kazu" for "one" and "枝, e" for "branch" which states they are but one branch of the entirety of the village or the first branch started among the village clans.

Reference
KarunaKitten @ Deviant Art. Art by Karunakitten(me) as well!