Kagura Karatachi

A three-pointed mark runs beneath his left eye, and his messy grey hair drapes over the right half of his face while standing up over the left. Pink eyes and soft, boyish looks give him a strong likeness to his grandfather Yagura, enough that the visiting Leaf girls swoon at the sight of him. Of average build for a teenager, he dresses in a striped purple top under a high-collared green vest, black slacks and gloves, with his headband strapped in grey beneath his fringe. A wooden katana with a hollow square grip hangs at his side, hung with a keychain shaped like the movie star Kagemasa's visor. Once he takes charge of a Kiri prison, he trades that outfit for a crisp blue uniform with yellow shoulder straps, drops the headband, and finally carries a real steel blade.

What Kagura wants most is a Mist Village at peace, and he will put himself in danger to protect others without hesitation. Bullied and shunned in childhood for his bloodline, he turned to pranks to cope, then grew into a warm, open young man who greets outsiders as easily as neighbors, owns the rarest Kagemasa collectibles, and gamely tries pastimes like card games that his shinobi upbringing never left room for.

Beneath the cheer sits a knot of insecurity. He cannot believe he deserves Hiramekarei or the office of Mizukage, certain his kinship to Yagura taints him. A buried streak of bloodlust surfaces whenever a fight pushes him too far, sending him into a mindless frenzy, and the lives he took that way left him dreading the draw of any weapon, even a training sword. Boruto's friendship gradually restores his self-belief, though Shizuma later exploits his guilt to drag him into rebellion. Learning he was deceived, Kagura reclaims his worth, trains under Chojuro to conquer his fear of blades, and comes to argue that Kiri pours too much into its economy while neglecting the individuals who make up the village. He readily forgives wrongs that spring from misunderstanding.

As Yagura's grandson, Kagura was kept at arm's length and moved to a hamlet beyond Kiri, where he drilled his swordsmanship against a tree. He entered the Academy, but a trance during his first sparring session left several classmates dead, planting a lifelong terror of the sword and forcing him to accept his infamous lineage; the incident also drew Shizuma, who took to shadowing and protecting him. Years after the Fourth Shinobi World War he made Chunin, became Chojuro's aide, and was tapped to join the Seven Ninja Swordsmen and wield Hiramekarei, though he waved off the offer to one day lead as Mizukage.

When Shino's Leaf class visits Kiri, Kagura serves as their guide, bonds with Boruto over their shared famous ancestry, and helps rescue a kidnapped Denki. Shizuma then reappears, painting the Fifth and Sixth Mizukage as murderers and preying on Kagura's guilt until he reluctantly joins a coup on the condition that Boruto be spared. The plot unravels when Mitsuki exposes Shizuma's lies, and a horrified Kagura turns on him, splitting Hiramekarei with Boruto to defeat him. Afterward he trains under Chojuro to master his fear of blades and eventually becomes warden of a Kiri prison.

During the Funato clan's war, Kagura leads a squad of cursed-seal swordsmen, Buntan, Hebiichigo, and Kyoho, alongside Team 7 across a string of naval battles. Hunting the Funato commander Funamushi, he shields Boruto and helps bring the man down, but a final confrontation ends with Funamushi driving a blade through his chest. Kagura dies asking his comrades to protect his childhood village, and is buried beneath the tree he once trained under; his sacrifice moves Kirigakure to pardon the swordsmen he had fought to redeem.