Ikiteiru Kage

Ikiteiru Kage is another subordinate of Kuromura Kotaro. He is seen with Uzumaki Kaede and Mushishokan Gatsuki. Created by RurikoTsukuyomi of fanfiction.net.

Background
Ikiteiru Kage is not a human, so he has no parents. Ikiteiru was created by Orochimaru, however, from jutsu and mainly shadows. Kage remained with Orochimaru for only a short period of time before escaping, blending in with the shadows of the hideout and the world around him. He managed to make his way toward Kirigakure, stopping by Konohagakure, before moving on toward more shady places. He killed almost anyone he came in contact with on his journey for he still didn't quite understand humans. Through his method he was listed as an S-ranked criminal, but he was still very mysterious because his whereabouts were unknown. He eventually found himself watching powerful criminals take down their enemies with much interest. He became extremely interested after watching Kotaro take over two villages in the Land of Rivers. He had followed the international criminal until he was discovered, much to his surprise. At this point, Kage joined his army as a loyal subordinate.

During the Shippuden, Kage is seen mostly tracking and watching other shinobi. The biggest mission he had possessed at one point was to kidnap Roku, who was traveling with Tsukuyomi Ruriko and Uchiha Sasuke, so he could draw in the group for Kotaro. Otherwise, Kage is not seen in battle very often at all.

Personality
Kage is a quiet and obedient subordinate. He'll easily do anything for Kotaro. Kage really doesn't have a wide variety of emotions since he's actually a living shadow, but even so, he will became extremely angry when someone questions his loyalty to Kotaro. This can be viewed as a good thing and a bad thing. Good because he seems defensive over his position, bad because some people kind if suspiciously too defensive. Kage is mature and serious most of the time, setting his anger aside.

Being artifically made, Kage knows he's not really supposed to exist, but even so, he comes up with the excuse that he exists only to serve Kotaro. The only way to really kill Kage is to put him in direct sunlight, where he'll easily vanish, slowly disappearing bit by bit. Or at least, that's what's assumed. So far, no one's done this. Kage, otherwise, cannot die from old age or illness. Even some jutsu have difficulty injuring him when he's solid. Kage has respect from Gatsuki as well as Kaede, however, Kaede seems to like Kage a little too much.

As for relationships, Kage doesn't understand them at all. He only knows loyalty as a subordinate to Kotaro. Sometimes this is mocked by Kaede when Kage ignores her flirting.

Appearance
Kage has dull, grayish black hair that's cut just under his ears and actually not really styled in general. It just sticks up in a few places, in other places it'll hangs loosely. Some of it hangs toward the center of his face, though. His eyes are a smokey gray and half-lidded as if he's always tired or bored. Kage wears a black cloak with a hood that touches the ground. The hood is fringed with gray fluff. It’s shut with a buckle in front. He wears a jumpsuit underneath similar to those that the Konoha Jounin wear. He also wears normal black ninja shoes and black gloves that only cover his two middle fingers. For some reason, his two index nails are the longest nails he has and they are painted black.

Abilities
Kage, being a living shadow, can melt into the shadows unnoticed as well as became part of someone else's shadow, following them easily. Since he doesn't quite have chakra, he can't be sensed by people like Karin, or Roku. In fact, Kage has only ever been sensed by one person and that was Kotaro. Kage uses his own style of jutsu, the element of shadows. He can bend them to his will and use them in attacks as well as defense. However, despite his power use of shadow ninjutsu, Kage isn't one for fighting. He's mostly used for tracking or small time missions, like kidnapping Roku during the Shippuden.

Kage also goes on a few scounting missions, checking the path up ahead to be sure there are no obstacles. If one is encountered, Kage will destroy them without hesitation. He doesn't like Kotaro's plans being delayed and he doesn't like to displease him. Like Kaede and Gatsuki, Kage refers to Kotaro as '-sama' sometimes also calling him 'master'.

Kage can use his shadows for Genjutsu as well as ninjutsu, but Kage prefers not to use it. Kage isn't one for taijutsu either since he can easily unsolid-ify himself to melt around the blows, becoming something somewhat like smoke. The weakness to him becoming solid to a mere shadow is that he an only do it 10 times a day. If he goes over the limit, he will remain a shadow for the rest of the day to recover. When weakened in battle, Kage will become a shadow again and trail along. He can still communicate, but he doesn't take interest in making conversation.

Trivia

 * Kage's name means shadow.
 * Even though he's not human, he can eat food. However, he won't eat meat. In fact, he can't digest it. His favorite food is agedashi.
 * Kage's hobbies are sleeping and staring at stars, other times watching shinobi battle.
 * Kage's favorite word is "command".