Karashi

Meek by nature, Karashi masks it with bravado and is quick to lay his own decisions at other people's feet. Cowardice governs him, though the occasional spark of selflessness breaks through. He dreads his mother yet does whatever she tells him, behaving much like a clingy child who leans on others and spooks at the slightest thing, fleeing from any battle.

Karashi's childhood was shadowed by bullying until Rock Lee entered his life and became his image of strength. Seeing how relentlessly Lee drilled to hone his shinobi craft, he came away convinced that power outweighs all else and threw in with Raiga Kurosuki's clan. A year afterward their paths met once more as Team Guy, Lee among them, arrived to bring down the Kurosuki family; with his allies flattened, Karashi pleaded for his life and swore to abandon them. The oath meant nothing, and he soon had a hand in a plot against Lee and his companions, which turned the villagers on him. Lee bore it all with patience and kept extending him chances, even swapping punishment for endless labour, yet Karashi stayed a selfish coward, later steering the Konoha ninja toward Raiga with the lie that Tenten had tumbled off a cliff.

For all his timidity, Karashi has a genuine gift in the kitchen. Working from scent alone, he fixes the flaws in his mother's recipe and helps finish the authentic Curry of Life, sparing Naruto and his companions. From then on he takes to teaching Ranmaru how to prepare the dish, all while remaining a pupil under Sanshō himself.