Baki

Baki cuts a notably tall figure. Two vivid red streaks run down the right flank of his face, which is about all of his head that stays visible, since a turban-like wrap conceals the rest and a cloth drapes over his left cheek. Otherwise he sports the usual Suna-nin gear, right down to the flak jacket and forehead protector.

Though known as loyal, kindly, and well-regarded, Baki, like so many Sand ninja, hardens into something ruthless and cold once the fighting starts, since their training drills them to value a completed mission over any tie to a comrade. Long experience has left him assured of his own power, and he keeps his priorities straight, choosing to approach Chiyo and Ebizō about Sasori rather than call yet another council meeting. He trusted every one of his students at the Chūnin Exams, though he faulted Kankurō for not treating the fights with enough weight, and he often fretted over Gaara's fragile mind and hold on Shukaku. Once Gaara steadied himself and rose to Kazekage, Baki offered his former pupil complete deference, bowing to him and addressing him with an honorific.

Ranking among Suna's most powerful jōnin and its top councillors, Baki frequently takes the lead on military matters, as when Deidara raided the village early in Part II. He commands Wind Release with real skill, summoning an intangible Blade of Wind by waving his hand to slice through enemies, a strike he brands unblockable, and he proves strong and resilient in close combat, shrugging off a sword driven into his shoulder. His knowledge extends to rival villages' methods, letting him recognise and counter one of Konoha's high-level techniques on sight.

During the Chūnin Exams themselves, Baki plotted the joint Suna and Oto strike on Konoha with the disguised Kabuto Yakushi, then ran down and killed the eavesdropping Leaf ninja Hayate Gekkō using his wind blade. He delivered the invasion scroll to the Fourth Kazekage, but the assault fell apart when Gaara lost control, and Baki soon uncovered the rotted corpses of the real Kazekage, realising Orochimaru had fooled them. In Part II he serves on the advisory council, orders the village evacuated during Deidara's raid, and pushes Chiyo and Ebizō, the village's retired elders, to join the rescue by revealing Sasori's kinship with them. Later, in the Blank Period, he guards Gaara's arranged meeting with his bride-to-be Hakuto and unravels the councillor Tōjūrō's plot, hunting down the assassin hired to kill Gaara, while Kankurō takes Tōjūrō into custody. Once his teacher, Baki now answers to Gaara as Kazekage.