Tatewaki

editTatewaki
タテワキ Tatewaki
Debut
Anime	Naruto Shippūden Episode #309
Appears in	Anime
Voice Actors
Japanese	Takashi Irie
English	Travis Willingham
Personal
Sex	Male
Status	Deceased
Classification	Samurai
Occupation	Bodyguard
Affiliation	Land of Iron Land of This
Jutsu Chakra Shockwave Slash Iaidō Rupture Samurai Sabre Technique
Tools Sword

Tatewaki (タテワキ) was a former samurai from the Land of Iron.

Background

Tatewaki left his homeland at some point, akin to a rōnin, and became a hired mercenary. He later went to work for a small nation known as the Land of This as a bodyguard to its daimyō and his daughter Chiyo. During the nations annual food-eating contest, he was assigned to guard the kidnapped son of another daimyō named Shū. He would regularly train Shū in swordsmanship. The following day while beginning another session, he noticed "Shū's" performance was much greater than normal, realising that he was an imposter, revealed to Naruto Uzumaki. While Naruto was able to deceive the other guards in his escape, Tatewaki saw through his deception and found him. When he asked what happened to Shū, Naruto informed him that he and his ninja team were assigned to return Shū to his country. This relieved Tatewaki, truly wanted Shū to be safe and happy in his homeland. The moment was quickly ended by the sudden attack of the Akatsuki on the nation.

Tatewaki begged Naruto to protect Chiyo while he fulfilled his duties to the This Daimyō. Upon returning to the castle, he meet Akatsuki member Sasori, who announced that he just killed the daimyō. Despite this, Tatewaki felt compelled to make Sasori pay. Despite a strong assault, he was ultimately poisoned by Sasori. Knowing his demise was near, he made one final assault on Sasori.

Tatewaki died later, presumably from the poison. Some time afterwards, Kabuto Yakushi acquired a DNA sample of the late samurai for future use.

Personality

Tatewaki was solitary man who only spoke when necessary. While no longer considering himself a samurai, he was very committed to his duties, willing to give his life to so. He also appeared to not like resorting to violence if possible. Trained as a samurai, he valued peace of all else. Tatewaki was also very sharp, able to see through deceptions.

Appearance

Tatewaki was a tall and middle-aged man of lean-built and fair-skin. He had long wavy black hair that he kept in ponytail with some loose strands hanging over his forehead and bushy sideburns. He had a long face with pronounced cheekbones and tear-troughs under his eyes, plus stubble on his chin and upper-lip. He had grey eyes with a long scar running down over his left one.

Normally, he was dressed in a simple samurai consisting of a dull green robe and beige pants. In battle, he donned traditional samurai armour with two large slash marks forming a cross on his chest-plate.

Abilities

As a former samurai, Tatewaki was a highly skilled fighter. His skills were great enough to defeat several of Sasori's puppet, earning praise from him. He showed great speed and agility, able to quickly react to Sasori's various hidden weapons and block the majority of them. Years later, Kabuto Yakushi chose to reincarnate him for the Fourth Shinobi World War to make use of his skill. When battling several high-ranking ninja of the Allied Shinobi Forces, he easily overwhelmed them, even kenjutsu experts. His swordsmanship strikes are very powerful, able to focus them to produce powerful wind blades and shockwaves to slash and blow back respectively his opponents from a distance. His chakra control was apparently high, as Karui considered his skills similar to a ninja, able to use his chakra to enhance his strikes.

Part II

Shinobi World War Arc

During the second day of the war, Tatewaki was forced to attack and strike down several ninja. During the battle, he was approached by Naruto Uzumaki, who he had not seen in three years. After recognising him, Tatewaki asked Naruto what became of the child he was guarding. Naruto told him that Shū and Chiyo were safely brought to Shū's land, where his father welcomed Chiyo, and have since been safely travelling together. Relieved to hear that, Tatewaki's regrets from live vanished, breaking his contract with the summoning, allowing him to return to the afterlife.