A (First Raikage)

Deep brown skin and a tangle of unruly black hair mark this Cloud founder, whose fringe tumbles far enough to hide part of the metal plate across his brow. Lined hollows sit beneath both eyes. He fastens a dark, high-necked kimono top over trousers cinched with a sash, drapes a pale scarf at the throat, and fixes tiny studs in his ears. The animated version swaps all of this for a cream, tall-collared coat, a white headband plate, open sandals, and a scarf tinted purple.

Only fragments of his temperament survive, yet a few habits stand out. He punctuated his speech with the particle "yo" and tended to keep his arms folded. Pride defined him, and he held firmly that a warrior should not lower his head to anyone without cause. Above all he carried a fierce devotion to guarding the Cloud, a resolve he instilled in the guard who inherited his seat.

In the young Hidden Cloud that rose once the Warring States era closed, he is thought to have dispatched the Gold and Silver Brothers after the Nine-Tails, though the pair came back empty-handed. He also handed the Yotsuki Clan territory within the Valley of Clouds and Lightning in exchange for their loyalty.

When the five village leaders gathered for the very first summit, his devoted bodyguard, later the Second Raikage, stood at his side. Seated among his peers, he warned Hashirama Senju that a chief who bows to his rivals will never endure. He then invited the First Kazekage to voice a counter-proposal, reasoning that the Sand already possessed a beast of its own, only to erupt in anger when the Kazekage demanded a thirty percent cut of any tailed-beast payment from the Leaf. As tempers frayed and Hashirama begged the leaders to set their quarrels aside for the sake of their children, he watched in silence.

He fell in battle before the era's wars had ended, but the example he set ran deep in his loyal protector, whose long service earned him the nomination as heir. Much later, after Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha had sealed Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki called him and the other departed Kage back from the Pure Land. Together with the Hokage they pulled Madara Uchiha, the tailed beasts, and Team 7 back out of Kaguya's realm, after which his spirit returned once more to rest.