Aoba Yamashiro

Red-framed sunglasses that hide his eyes are Aoba's constant fixture, worn even indoors. His hair is dark and spiky, and he wears the standard Konoha uniform with a flak jacket and a forehead protector angled slightly to the left. Even as a boy he sported the same shades, paired then with a black shirt ringed by an orange, gear-shaped collar.

Easygoing and quick with a joke, Aoba keeps a genial air most of the time, and he credits his ever-present shades with helping him hold that composure. He can be flustered when caught off guard, yet turns calm and decisive the moment a crisis demands it. Described as a top student with an inner streak of private bluster masked by public reserve, he does not hesitate to put himself in harm's way for his fellow shinobi.

Aoba first appears at a council the Third Hokage convenes over Hayate Gekko's death and Orochimaru's suspected hand in it. When the Konoha Crush erupts, he is among those who break the sleep-inducing genjutsu blanketing the arena, fingering the disguised Kabuto Yakushi as its caster before joining the defence, and in the anime he scorches attackers with a Fire Release dragon blast. After Tsunade takes office, he and Genma announce her inauguration to the village.

Assigned to the Niju Shotai platoon hunting Akatsuki, he screens Hidan and Kakuzu's sight with his prized Scattering Thousand Crows Technique so Raido can strike. Later he guards Naruto on the moving Island Turtle, where his attempt to pin Kisame Hoshigaki with Secret Technique Stone Needles only lets the swordsman drain his chakra; once Kisame is captured, Aoba delves into his mind for intelligence on Akatsuki, though the prisoner bites his tongue and summons sharks to end himself. His talents span mind-reading, crow summoning, and stone-needle paralysis, along with enough taijutsu to trade blows with Kakuzu, and he closes the war mourning at Konoha's mass funeral.