Fū Yamanaka

Fū first appears cloaked and masked in the standard white of a Konoha Anbu. Beneath it he is a young man with auburn hair and amber eyes. Like his fellow Root operatives he wears a short black jacket with red shoulder straps that mark his allegiance, layered over a red kimono cinched by a black sash, with dark trousers, gloves, and sandals. Studio Pierrot's design sheets place him at 152 centimetres when he was first paired with Torune. As a boy in Root he wore a light brown kimono with a black sash, grey trousers, and dark wristbands.

Root's merciless training hollowed Fū of personality, leaving him to function as an instrument of Danzō's will. His single unmistakable trait is total devotion to his master, a loyalty so complete that he would face Tobi without flinching and even gouge out an eye, dismissing it as a trivial cost, to see an order through. The anime reveals a warmer origin: as a child he was cocky and cheerful, and despite Root's teachings he came to regard Torune as a true friend, a bond that outlasted their indoctrination.

In the anime, Danzō Shimura handpicks Fū as a boy from Konoha's clans for Root and trains him personally over Inoichi Yamanaka's objections. Once seasoned, he mentors the newer recruit Torune, and the two become lasting friends. Danzō counts the pair among Root's two finest operatives. Fū is a skilled sensor and a swordsman who delivers swift killing strokes with a tantō, but his signature weapons are his clan's mind techniques. Beyond the standard Mind Body Switch, he commands a cursed variant that projects his consciousness into a scarecrow-like puppet fitted with farming blades; when the puppet trades damage with a target, the curse triggers and swaps his mind into the enemy while theirs is trapped in the immobile doll.

During the Five Kage Summit, Fū and Torune guard Danzō on the journey to the Land of Iron and defend him when tensions erupt at the meeting. Fleeing Sasuke Uchiha's arrival, they are tailed by the Kirigakure sensor Ao. Fū lays his cursed puppet as a snare, seizes control of Ao's body, and tries to destroy the Byakugan he carries, only for a protective seal to shield the eye. When the Fifth Mizukage arrives, Fū poses as Ao and asks to be untied, but she sees through the ruse, noting that the real Ao would never have apologised so meekly, and he abandons the body in frustration.

The mission fails, and on the way back the group is ambushed at the Samurai Bridge by Tobi. Told to buy Danzō time, Fū and Torune try to pin the intruder, but Tobi's ability to phase through attacks turns their teamwork against them; Torune accidentally infects Fū with his venomous insects and has to cure him before Tobi banishes both to another dimension. Held captive, they are later produced by Tobi to prove Kabuto Yakushi's reincarnation technique. Tobi kills Torune and orders Fū sacrificed to restore him, and as the ritual takes hold, Fū's body and soul are overwritten by those of his friend.