Kodaka

Because the bees he commands nest across his skin rather than inside it, Kodaka keeps himself draped in a large coat that hides them from view. That covering, worn to contain his swarm, is the defining feature of how he presents himself.

Kodaka's gift is a symbiotic bond with bees, comparable to that of the Aburame, though where their insects dwell within the body his live on its surface. As the firstborn he alone was schooled in controlling them. The family had long kept gentle honeybees, but for mercenary work Kodaka swapped them for a venomous breed whose sting kills a target after only two doses. Paired with his brother, he proved highly effective, and in his final moments he was even able to hand full command of the swarm over to Kiiro.

The bees were originally raised for honey, sold as food and medicine to keep the family afloat. When their parents died, that income no longer covered Kodaka, Kiiro, and their far younger brothers Omitsu and Komitsu, so Kiiro talked Kodaka into hiring the pair out to the hidden villages. They found particular success in Kirigakure's employ, yet Kodaka never took to the killing the way his brother did, and he ached at being kept from Omitsu and Komitsu. Kiiro, for his part, resented Kodaka both for holding the family's secrets and because a secondborn was expected to lay down his life protecting the eldest.

Assigned to a squad of Kiri hunter-nin tasked with capturing Kisame Hoshigaki, the brothers watched their companions cut down within moments. Kodaka landed a single sting on Kisame but could not manage a second before Itachi Uchiha drove them off. He wanted to go home with the money already earned; Kiiro, chasing the glory of slaying Kisame, would not hear of it. Fearful of what lay ahead, Kodaka penned a letter of love to his youngest brothers and sent it by bee, unaware that the insect handed their enemies a trail straight to the family.

When Itachi loosed a Great Fireball at the weakened Kiiro, Kodaka threw himself into its path; his bees blunted part of the blast, but the flames left him gravely burned. Certain neither of them could flee, he had his swarm sting Kiiro into helpless numbness, then unloaded a lifetime of grievances, his brother's jealousy and cruelty, the way he had dragged him into a shinobi's life when beekeeping had been something safe they could share. He drove a kunai through the swarm into Kiiro's chest and turned the same blade on his own heart, confessing with his final breath that he loved Kiiro all the same. The agitated bees drove Itachi and Kisame from the scene.

Kisame took it for an ordinary quarrel between brothers, but Itachi suspected the murder-suicide had been staged to save Kiiro, and said nothing to confirm it. He was right. Kiiro lived, having heard every word, and once the numbness faded he found that Kodaka had passed him command of the bees. Blaming himself for his brother's death, he went back to Omitsu and Komitsu and turned once more to selling honey, providing for the family exactly as Kodaka had always wished.