Shū (lord)

Wide eyes of a soft violet sit beneath long, light-brown hair that he ties back into a ponytail, leaving two front strands loose to frame his face and capped with small white bands. Out in public he adds a slim headband of pale purple cord that meets on his brow at an ornament shaped like a golden pearl, along with a necklace strung with one red pearl and two smaller blue ones. In more relaxed company he lets his hair fall to the waist and dresses down in a sleeveless light-blue kimono over a green undershirt, a purple belt, green trousers, and straw sandals.

On the surface Shū comes across as cheerful, happily taking in an eating contest, yet the mask slips the moment Tatewaki calls him to his swordsmanship lessons. He plainly resents his life as a hostage and questions why he must drill in the blade when obedience is all that is asked of him; told that fate cannot be predicted, he counters that his own is already fixed. A streak of curiosity runs deep in him, and having never seen the town beyond the castle walls, he begs Shikamaru for the chance to wander it before departing. His attachment to Chiyo is barely concealed, as he doubles back into danger to ensure she is safe and reddens whenever she is mentioned. He also has a fondness for ramen.

Shū attends an eating contest with Chiyo and her father, the daimyō of the Land of This. Midway through, Tatewaki pulls him away for kendō practice, and the seasoned samurai easily outmatches him until Chiyo steps in to end the lesson, scolding Tatewaki for his harshness. Ino later seizes control of Shū with her Mind Body Switch Technique to feign a bathroom trip, while Naruto uses the Transformation Technique to pose as him and Shikamaru delivers a warning letter from his father. When Akatsuki invades the Land of This and kills its daimyō, Naruto and Tatewaki get Shū and Chiyo out alive, and the two flee to the Land of That, where his family takes Chiyo in. The pair now travel together, and he counts Tatewaki among the teachers who trained him in the sword.