Nokizaru Group

The Nokizaru Group is a for-hire outfit of shinobi whose trade is hunting and eliminating other ninja. They pledge allegiance to no country and no village, working purely as paid assassins. The group is skilled with the Exploding Insect technique and excels at staying unseen, hiding within shadows, water, fire, and camouflage, and even linking their senses to bugs for spying. Members can be recognised by the sashes trailing like monkey tails, their painted faces, and outfits striped on one side while solid in colour on the other. Their name derives from a historical Nokizaru ninja clan that once served the warlord Uesugi Kenshin.

As a mercenary band, the Nokizaru take contracts to pursue and slay targets rather than serving any political cause. Their arsenal of concealment methods, spanning the ability to blend into surroundings, lurk in shadow, submerge in water, and vanish into flame, makes them dangerous trackers and ambushers, and their insect-linking spy craft lets them gather intelligence at a distance. One of their operations involves stealing a scroll out of Kumogakure.

Five members of the group are known. Himushi serves as its leader. One member relies on a shadow-hiding technique, marked by shoulder-length black hair, dark eyes, and yellow clothing. Another, who uses a fire-hiding technique and carried out the Kumogakure scroll theft, has short blond hair and wears green.