Hayate Gekkō

Hayate had short brown hair and dark eyes shadowed by heavy lines and markings, giving him a worn look despite his youth, and he was seldom without the chronic cough that dogged him. He wore Konoha's standard uniform with the flak jacket and tied his forehead protector on like a bandanna, a katana with a rectangular guard fixed across his back. As a genin he had dressed more simply in a long red haori and cropped trousers with bangles at his wrists and ankles. When Kabuto later reincarnated him, only the cracked skin and greyed sclera marked the change.

Composed and gentle, Hayate came across as something of a loner, an individualist content in his own company. His sense of duty to Konoha ran strong enough that he would gamble his life spying on the village's enemies. He was widely liked and respected, and news of his death struck a chord with many comrades, Kakashi among them. With Yūgao, the girlfriend he had first met as her kenjutsu instructor, he showed a softer, teasing warmth and a quiet worry for her safety as she climbed into the Anbu.

Hayate began as a genin teamed with Ibiki Morino and Tokara, once facing Team Orochimaru during their own Chūnin Exams. By adulthood he ranked as an elite tokubetsu jōnin, prized above all for his swordsmanship. His signature Dance of the Crescent Moon sent him and two shadow clones slashing at a foe in unison, so fast that afterimages blurred the assault. He also excelled at stealth and tracking, wielding the Transparent Escape Technique well enough that the Third Hokage judged him the only fit choice to shadow Orochimaru's spy.

Assigned to trail Kabuto Yakushi, he overheard Baki and Kabuto discussing the plan by Suna and Oto to invade Konoha. Caught before he could report, he battled Baki and unleashed the Dance of the Crescent Moon, but his blade lodged too shallowly in the enemy's flak jacket, and Baki's Blade of Wind cut him down. His body was found the next day by an Anbu squad that included Yūgao, and Genma Shiranui took his place as proctor for the exam finals.

In the anime he was later dragged back through the Impure World Reincarnation to fight for Kabuto, forced against his own comrades and even against Yūgao, whom he begged to stop him. His unusually strong will let him resist the technique's commands more than once before the reincarnation was finally undone and his soul returned to the afterlife.