Araya

In his younger days Araya keeps his brown hair in a spiked ponytail and hides his face behind a Hannya-style mask of white and purple, its forehead bearing the Suna emblem and purple lines drawn around the eyes, nose, and mouth. He dresses in a beige jacket with brown trousers and black shin-high sandals, and a latch at his right shoulder holds a sword ready to be drawn in an instant. Three years on he trades the mask for a black visor stamped with the Suna crest, leaving his lower face and a new goatee on show. His later outfit is a hooded orange-brown jacket with ribbed cuffs, black pants, and a blue belt clasped by a Suna-shaped buckle, the jacket and sandals lined in blue and his black gloves still in place.

Araya keeps a sharp, level head no matter the situation. The anime, however, gives him a bout of stage fright, an aversion to large crowds watching him that recalls Metal Lee, and he gets around it by sending a puppet copy of himself into view in his place. He and Yodo cooperate well as teammates even as the two bicker constantly, missions included.

Araya is a capable swordsman who favors a long blade above any other approach and once carves apart Tenten's puppets with it; training beside Shinki also lets him lace his strikes with Iron Sand, and he turns his sword's long sheath into a makeshift staff. In the anime he is a gifted puppeteer as well, guiding a self-portrait puppet skilled enough to press Sarada even after her Sharingan awakens, spinning chakra threads from far off, and adapting to borrowed puppets such as Kankuro's Sanshouo. He rounds out his skills with Wind Release, calling up strong gusts to blow foes back.

He first travels to Konoha with Shinki and Yodo for the Chunin Exams, clearing the opening rounds thanks to Shinki's Iron Sand, winning a capture-the-flag match, and crushing Inojin in single combat. In the anime semifinal he hides behind his puppet double against Sarada, only for her Sharingan to catch the ruse and her Lightning Ball to expose him, and the rattled boy loses. He later helps escort a wounded Gaara back to Suna after the clash with Urashiki, joins a mission with Team 10 that ends with Deepa flattening the group and destroying the autonomous puppet they came for, and, now a chunin, visits Konoha's exams while quietly gathering information on Kawaki.

When the God Tree Matsuri overruns Suna, Araya and his team are beaten back, and he can only hold Yodo away as Shinki seals the injured Kazekage and is swallowed by a Claw Grime and turned into a tree. Working later with Team 7, he plays along with a scheme to befriend two Human God Trees and find Boruto. Paired with Ryu, the group is caught when Yodo grabs a decoy Thornsoul Bulb, and Ryu uses hidden iron sand to turn their bodies against one another, until Araya breaks the hold with his Magnetic Iron Sand Sealing Blade. The fight sours as Ryu melts into iron sand and unleashes Claw Grimes, one of which steals Araya's sword, and the God Tree captures them all. Sarada's newly awakened Mangekyo Sharingan draws the sand away and destroys Ryu, yielding his Thornsoul Bulb. With Jura fleeing toward Konohamaru, Araya carries Yodo and the bulb home to Suna, where it finally frees Shinki from his tree and, in turn, releases the Kazekage from Shinki's seal.