Ryusuke Sanada

"I live on for those that died at my side. I continue on so that one day I may face them without a single regret. I don't bare hatred to their killers, instead, I carry hope - for the future. A future where hatred no longer exists."

- Ryusuke Sanada.

is a Jōnin of Konohagakure. He was a member of Team Kodokuna and fought in the Third Shinobi World War alongside Ushinawa Shimasu, and, Shinzō Nokaji. He became a Jōnin at the age of nineteen and was already known as, and,. A highly skilled shinobi in his own right, he was initially assigned as the teacher of the newest generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, however the death of two members during an attack on Konoha changed this. While no longer the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, Ryusuke leads a full squad of his own.

Ryusuke Sanada: Leaf Shinobi
Ryusuke Sanada was born into the Sanada clan of the Land of Iron some time after the Second Shinobi World War had occured. He was the son of the famed, Ōritsuhi Tsubaki, and, the , Nobukata Sanada. Raised in the village of Ishimura in the South of the Land of Iron, Ryusuke was taught the basics of the Sanada Forward-Style by his father and grandfather, and had begun taking lessons in archery under his mother.

At the age of eight Ryusuke was a witness to the end of the Samurai Schism led by Denzan Kyumori when his faction was branded as radicals and destroyed by the Land of Iron's military. The remaining members of Denzan's group, including the man himself, abandoned the Land of Iron. Nobukata went with them in an attempt to convince Denzan and his forces to surrender before they were destroyed by another force, Ryusuke, followed his father on this journey essentially making him a member of the schism.

Prior to a planned raid on the Land of Fire, Nobukata attempted to stop the schism, and was slain by Denzan for his trouble. Ryusuke was privy to all of this and in his grief attempted to kill Denzan in the midst of a Konoha attack. Clashing with Denzan's bodyguard, Ryusuke was quickly overpowered by the stronger and more experienced Samurai and was on the verge of meeting a similar death as his father only to be rescued by the Konoha Chūnin Tenga Hyasumi. The very same man would later adopt Ryusuke as his legal guardian after the Samurai forces were destroyed.

Living in the same household as Tenga, Ryusuke was trained to become a Ninja in the Konoha Ninja Academy. While in the academy Ryusuke made quick friends with Mei Houwang Sarutobi and Rio Jisei. He proved to be gifted in the Ninja arts where he quickly grasped his teachings, passing the academy in his first year. He was assigned to Team Thirteen under Kodokuna Hogosōchi where he met Shinzō Nokaji and Ushinawa Shimasu his fellow Genin on the squad. Life in Konoha seemed great up until the age of twelve, when Team Thirteen, among others, were swept up into the Third Shinobi World War.

While originally assigned to the Northern Front of the war with Iwagakure which had proven to be very light in conflict, Team Thirteen were reassigned to the Southern Front which had suffered a recent blow to troop numbers. The moment they arrived, they were placed into the assignment to push back the Iwa advance team. Alongside several other teams, they were successful. Kodokuna left his Genin behind in an attempt to keep them out of harms way while he joined the pursuit of fleeing Iwa Ninja. This turned out to be a mistake as two Iwa Ninja attacked the trio. Ushinawa, and, Shinzō were murdered while Ryusuke tried in vain to save them. He succeeding in killing the two Ninja that claimed the lives of his friends however and in his anger blamed Kodokuna upon his return.

The duo did not return to the Konoha encampment, instead they pressed forward, leading a suicidal attack on the Iwagakure base. Kodokuna held off the Iwa commander while Ryusuke ignited the base in flames. And although victorious in killing the Iwa commander and destroying their base, Kodokuna was mortally wounded and passed away before the night was over. Ryusuke carried his teacher's body back to Konoha without resting, avoiding Iwa patrols in the Land of Grass all the while. He was awarded the sobriquet for his efforts.

At the end of the war, Ryusuke was placed into Team Sōdai, under the Jōnin Sōdai Jokyoku. He was trained alongside Kasai Uchiha and Isan Aburame which quickly became a formidable team based around Isan's bugs, Kasai's Sharingan, and, Ryusuke's skills as an all-rounded ninja. Around the same time Ryusuke developed the Striker Tempest to replace the Chidori which Chibi Suzururu had taught him, he also passed the Chidori onto then academy student Kiyoshi Kuniye. At age fifteen, Ryusuke, Kasai, and, Isan participated in the Chūnin Exams. All three of them succeeded in becoming Chūnin by the end of the exams and while eligible to lead their own teams separately, the three Chūnin stuck together eventually becoming Jōnin. They were hit hard when Sōdai fell under an illness and passed away, their problems continued when Kasai lost her leg in a joint mission with Kumogakure.

As of the current day Ryusuke was chosen to lead the next Ino-Shika-Cho Trio, however two of the team's members were killed in an attack led by the Reinikuitchi. When Ryusuke finally met his squad he trained them to the best of his abilities in preparation for the Chūnin Exams.

Personality
Ryusuke was desensitized to violence and death at a young age, having been a member of Denzan Kyumori's Samurai Schism. When his father was murdered by Denzan for attempting to return the schism to the Land of Iron, Ryusuke was made a child soldier, where he witnessed the death of samurai and ninja. This would resolve to shape Ryusuke's future when he became a ninja for Konohagakure.

Originally an excitable and emotionally sound child, his father's death and later the death of his entire squad in the Third Shinobi World War caused Ryusuke to form a new personality. On the battlefield he show no flicker of positive emotion, he becomes dead set on completing a mission, all else is a waste of his time. He shows contempt for those that can harm the successful completion of a mission and is quick to mention that the mission comes first. His life and those of comrades are forfeit in the face of their assigned goal. Despite this, Ryusuke is incapable of leaving his allies behind or allowing them to be killed. In effect prioritizing them over the mission that he claims to value so highly. This is a contradiction in his personality, created as a result of the deaths of those close to him.

Ryusuke has lost almost everyone who was close to him, very few of which still live, causing some reluctance in allowing others to get close to him. Of the people who are still alive, Ryusuke is on the best terms with Hana Bohi who he entered a relationship with and is now expecting a child, and Mei Houwang Sarutobi, the Fifth Hokage, who Ryusuke has been friends with since before the Third Shinobi World War. Following those two the closest people would be the members of Team 2, taking a special interest in ensuring that they are in the best of environments; he attempts to provide them with with training that will keep them alive in the future. He was shown to refuse missions if he believed that the danger to his squad was too far beyond their capabilities to handle. This did not mean he coddled them however, as he viewed their training as a mission his personality in those cases was just as harsh as when on a full mission. He was likely to give them bone breaking training sessions and tests that demanded more than simply providing teamwork.

Ryusuke is rather straightforward and matter-of-fact while on the field. Keeping a calm and detached demeanour, he is quick to appear indifferent to those around him. Once labelled as "cool and mysterious" by Sōdai Jokyoku, he gained a reputation as a ninja with unstoppable determination at a young age. He was popular in his youth and his constantly growing prowess as a ninja left him with no short amount of rivals and friends, Ryusuke has shown no signs of arrogance in the midst of this, personally equating himself as below average, and pointing other ninja that he believes to be far more deserving of praise placed on him. He praises others often for jumps in their abilities and has stated on more than one occasion that he believes his students to be on a higher level than himself. When originally offered a role as a teacher for the soon-to-be graduating academy students, Ryusuke admitted that such a position was unfit for someone like himself and that he would be a terrible teacher. However he vowed to do his best after the Hokage coaxed him into accepting. His naturally calm appearance is used as a key element in battle, as his composure is relatively easily maintained and his focus remains at its pique on the situations at hand, allowing him to ultimately notice every detail around him. As a result, he can quickly analyze and adjust to any situation that he is presented making keen and planned decisions, keeping him one step ahead of his opponents.

Outside of the battlefield, Ryusuke appears to be an extremely different person. He becomes relaxed to the point of laziness and appears unmotivated by anything around him. He is unphased by insults and is generally very friendly despite his high lack of motivation. He avoids confrontation wherever possible, viewing it as pointless unless the confrontation has an important result. He appears to have no aspirations or real goals content to simply live day-to-day. He is a fan of the author Matoi Kiruyiku, owning all of the novels that he has published, Ryusuke can usually be seen reading these novels leading those who know of the content to believe he is somewhat perverted. He has no problems reading out the passages of these stories to others, seeming personally indifferent towards the content which often has the effect of worrying those around him slightly. Ryusuke also carries a minor smoking habit though he has not become addicted and only smokes on rare occasions he deems appropriate.

Beneath these two personas Ryusuke is actually a very broken man. His tired look has to do with the fact that man gets very little sleep if at all, often times spending the night thinking about those he believes he has failed to protect. Food and drink have little to no taste to him however he is quick to praise how masterful it has been prepared and how good he believes it tastes. His mental state is full of contradictions as mentioned above, one of the more key points being that he believes his life has already ended. While he realizes he is still alive, he has no qualms with passing away at any moment. Putting his life on the line for someone else becomes extremely easy for him as he feels no worries about his own fate. Only those of others. At the same time he believes in carrying the burden of those that passed on before him. Stating that he lives on for them even if it seems meaningless.

Appearance
Ryusuku would consider himself average among others. Which suits him just fine. He stands at six foot and five inches with a lightly-muscular body, built for quick, precise strikes instead of long-drawn out battles. He appears to be quite lithe, further cementing his nature as a swift knife amongst the abundance of broadswords. His skin is lightly tanned denoting a lot of time spent under the searing gaze of the Sun. A darkened tattoo of fire rests on his left upper-arm, reaching his shoulders and elbow. His face is rather plain with a few exceptions, while his nose and lips are considered within the social-norm, his eyes are not. Darkened circles permanently rest around them, the signs of a tired man. His eyes are also a shady-green. His eyebrows thin and clean they are a stark contrast from his hair, coloured brown, which is messy and unkempt. Drooping down in a colourful array of spikes, Ryusuke's hair reaches neck-level. Ryusuke's right arm has been covered by an array of seals, embedded straight into his flesh. Their origin belongs with Uzushiogakure who were known for their mastery of sealing techniques.

As far as clothing goes, Ryusuke is defined by practicality. His standard attire is black for blending into shadows. At the same time his clothing is made to be easy to move around in to grant him the most amount of flexibility as the intricacies of combat require. A form-fitting sleeveless vest with a single zipper down the center and a raised collar. Elbow-guards cover the appropriate areas while frictionless fingerless gloves cover his hands. A simple pair of trousers protect his modesty and a pair of boots cover his feet. He does not wear the Konoha flak jacket or even carry his forehead protector as they are signifying traits of his rank and nation, something he finds to be remarkably idiotic to carry in his profession. His right elbow guard is also replaced with a detached sleeve which reaches from his wrist all the way to his upper arm.

Abilities
Ryusuke is a naturally gifted ninja, which is evidenced by his participation in the Third Shinobi World War in which he was the only person on his squad to survive the conflict. He also rose through the ranks quite quickly; graduating from the Academy at age nine while having only been in the Land of Fire, and, Konohagakure for a year. He was graduated to chūnin on his first attempt and made it all the way to the final exam without problems. He was a jōnin by age nineteen delayed only by personal problems instead of a laps in his abilities. During his career he has amassed a massive arsenal of Kenjutsu techniques which stem from through out his background. His accomplishments have earned him much praise by his fellow Konoha ninja, though his hyper-relaxed demeanour leaves the opposite impression on the citizenry of Konoha. Other Ninja villages are very aware of Ryusuke's skill and, upon meeting him in open conflict, either try to eliminate him as quickly as possible so that he may not interfere with the opposing sides plans, or they attack him with excitement over the challenge he could pose for any enemy.

Ryusuke has shown to be a very adaptive combatant, able to switch up tactics and plans as a battle develops around him on a moments notice. He was said to be a match for any of his fellow ninja in Konoha, something Ryusuke himself denied personally. He has been proven time and time again to be a highly intelligent ninja with expert-level instincts and battle prowess. His skills, as with any proper warrior, constantly improve. When he first learned the Chidori he was capable of using it twice a day at most, as of the current day he has been shown to be able to use it a total of nine times in one day. Allowing him to use his Striker Tempest three times in one day as a result. He has been shown to adapt to those who use Kekkei Genkai as he becomes used to the challenges they present, his first battle against Kasai Uchiha ended quickly while their second was on much more even terms, the same could be said in his fights with Isan Aburame but those were not nearly as one sided.

Kenjutsu
Ryusuke is a first-class swordsman, having first started his training as a samurai, Ryusuke was able to learn the basics of the Sanada Forward-Style before his father was killed. The training proved to have been ingrained in Ryusuke and even after learning the Leaf-Style of Kenjutsu, the Sanada Forward-Style would show itself in his fighting techniques. Ryusuke's signature weapon was the Hakirite, a katana made with reinforced metals, that he had crafted with his own hands. While carrying no actual unique abilities it was covered by a special coating that caused the blade to glow a bright blue when in contact with chakra, such as through Chakra Flow. Ryusuke was a master of using the blade often finishing off his intended targets with the first strike alone.

While the Hakirite did not weigh much in comparison to larger swords, Ryusuke was fully capable of wielding the Hakirite alongside much larger weapons that weighed almost four times as the katana. He had shown enough physical strength to wield the Kokudogatana single handed and was skilled enough to wield it together with the Hakirite in dual-sword combat. Apart from handling swords with great skill, Ryusuke was shown to use the Hakirite as a projectile if it was tactically sound, at one point using it as a makeshift javelin filled with lightning chakra to impale an opponent. In addition, Ryusuke fought with a combination of the Sanada Forward-Style, Konoha Leaf-Style, and, Kumo Cloud-Style essentially creating a unique form of Kenjutsu through the combining of all three.

In the absence of a second sword, Ryusuke is capable of using kunai with just as much skill, using Chakra Flow to make up for the lack in length kunai possess. He can use kunai without the use of any sword and has been seen to fight prolonged battles with the aid of kunai alone.

Taijutsu
Ryusuke's skill in Taijutsu is at a high level despite no specializing in it, his prowess was demonstrated when he easily dispatched the Missing-nin brothers Kaken and Suiken who were supposed masters of Taijutsu. While fighting with Isan Aburame he was able to break through his wall of Tetsuchū with Taijutsu alone and coulc match Kasai Uchiha blow for blow despite her extensive training in taijutsu and her ability to use the Sharingan. He was fast enough to catch the Kokudogatana with his bare hands despite being in point blank range, he also had enough strength to block the same sword with his forearms alone not even flinching when the large blade sawed into his arm.

Ryusuke Sanada was also noted to be immesnely fast, particularly with his arms and legs. While he was not especially fast in the weaving of hand seals, he was extremely lethal when it came to utilizing throwing weapons as he proved himself capable enough to reveal a set of shuriken and throw them within the same second. In terms of mobility, Ryusuke is able to close considerable distances fast enough to appear like teleporation, going far enough to be able to match someone who had unlocked the Gate of Life. His speed was such that it was difficult for Kasai, who was very fast in her own right and highly skilled in using the Sharingan, to follow his movements.

Nature Transformation
Ryusuke has a natural affinity for Lightning Release, as commonly uses it in combination with his katana, kunai, and, taijutsu. This both increased his power while utilizing Kenjutsu and allowed him to access Nintaijutsu. While not a master of the specific fighting style he was very skilled in the few techniques that he did use with it such as the 10-Hit Combo and Zeus techniques. As he explained to the younger Kuniye Kiyoshi, techniques enhanced by someone with an affinity for Lightning Release were much more powerful than those without the affinity. Ryusuke was very versatile in his usage of lightning techniques for both melee and ranged attacks such as the Chidori, and, Lightning Destruction techniques. He was capable of subduing opponents with the Lightning Release: Thunder Binding technique as well.

In addition to lightning release, Ryusuke was able to makes use of wind release techniques, as demonstrated with his use of the Flying Swallow technique to enhance the slashing-length of his weapons. He had almost as much proficiency with wind release as he did lightning release, capable of controlling the Striker Tempest which combined both lightning and wind natured chakra to produce a powerful ranged variant of the Chidori. He could make use of other techniques through wind release such as the Vacuum Sword, Wind Release: Divine Wind, and, Wind Release: Godly Wind From the Mountain which he used to change the tides of battles in his favour or to create favourable conditions for allies capable of using fire release.

Trivia

 * Ryusuke's name can be translated as "Dragon Market Braid", oddly enough.
 * Ryusuke's personal traits are:
 * His favourite food is Makizushi dipped in Soy sauce, his least favourite is fried pork.
 * His favourite and least favourite drinks are Ginjou Sake and Green tea respectively.
 * His's hobby is reading cheesy romance novels, though he does enjoy reading fantasy and adventure novels.
 * His's favourite word is "Relax".
 * The colour associated with Ryusuke is Gray.
 * He has no long term goals, having commited himself to protecting those around him instead.
 * His deepest fear is losing those close to him; Namely Mei Houwang Sarutobi, Kasai Uchiha, Isan Aburame, Hana Bohi, and, his unborn child.
 * Ryusuke has completed a total of 1,313 Missions, though the amount of each rank remains unclear.
 * Ryusuke owns the full range of novels published by Matoi Kiruyiku.
 * Ryusuke is a cat lover, though he doesn't adopt any pets, believing he will be a terrible caretaker.
 * A running gag occured in Naruto: A Land Divided, that whenever someone new to the story appeared, Ryusuke would somehow know them. Quickly becoming the man with connections across the Ninja world.
 * In Naruto: A Land Divided, Ryusuke was jokingly referred to as a cross between Kakashi Hatake and Asuma Sarutobi as they share similar habits.
 * Ryusuke's musical themes are:
 * Battle Theme: Hyakurai.
 * Uproar Theme: Senshi.
 * Standard Theme: Seizuban.
 * Light Theme: Usukurenai.
 * Hope Theme: Kikou.

Quotes

 * (To Narume) "You'd be surprised how much luck comes into play that you don't realize. Many people who survived the last Great War did so on luck alone."


 * (To an enemy) "I really don't like doing this, but if you insist, I'll end this quickly."


 * (To Yuki) "Yuki, this is Hana Bohi, the beautiful little lady that keeps me up at night."


 * (To the Nara clan) "I will lay down my life for this task."


 * (To Narume) "Well if you don't like it, why not change it?"


 * (To Yuki) "Hehe, Clearly I fell from the sky."