Haruna

Fleeing her homeland after a coup, Haruna travels in disguise as Shun, a sickly young man presented as the cousin of her bodyguards. She alters her whole look for the part, a cover meant to keep anyone from recognising the deposed daimyo among the caravan.

Years held hostage taught Haruna to trust no one, and she comes to see people as tools to be spent for her country's revival, willing to throw children and the elderly into the path of the Janin pursuing her. She can be icy and callous, valuing her own survival above all, as when she strikes Hinata down to slip away alone. Beneath that hard shell, though, lies a girl who is frightened, wounded and lost, and she is sharp enough to scheme, casting the travelling peddlers as decoys to cover her flight.

Through much of her childhood Haruna is held in isolation and closely watched, a sacrifice her father makes to safeguard the Land of Vegetables and later bitterly regrets. When three ninja seize the country in a coup, she flees, hoping to win outside sympathy and reclaim her throne, travelling with Kikunojo and Yurinojo under the cover of a merchant caravan. Naruto Uzumaki, Hinata Hyuga and Choji Akimichi are hired for what they believe is a simple D-rank job hauling wares, only to learn the mission's true stakes after Kikunojo falls to Ruiga.

Furious at the deception yet unwilling to abandon her, the group sends the peddlers to safety and cuts down the first of the attackers. Haruna, refusing their help, knocks Hinata out to escape alone and tumbles down a hillside. Naruto finds her and tells her Hinata lies gravely hurt from her fight with Jiga. When Renga captures her remaining guards and attacks, Haruna finally hears that her father regretted using her and pleads with the conspirators to treat her people kindly.

Her outlook turns, and she throws herself in front of Naruto to shield him from Renga's assault. Afterward she grieves at Kikunojo's grave and, having grown fond of Naruto, asks him to stay and help rebuild her nation, though he gently refuses, bound by his vow to bring back Sasuke Uchiha.