Asuma Sarutobi

Background

A grandson of Sasuke Sarutobi, Asuma fights with trench knives that he infuses with his wind-nature chakra to lengthen and sharpen the blades. As a young man he quarrelled with his father and left Konohagakure for a time in protest, winning fame as one of the Land of Fire's Twelve Guardian Shinobi. He eventually came home, resolved by his experiences abroad to protect the village's next generation, but he never fully reconciled with Hiruzen before his father's death.

He is almost always seen with a cigarette, dropping the habit only when something troubles him, as when his father died. Of his students he is closest to Shikamaru Nara, with whom he often plays go or shogi, and he is frequently seen with his childhood friend Kurenai Yuhi, denying any relationship until it emerges that she is carrying his child.

Asuma is killed by Hidan of the Akatsuki, and Shikamaru takes up his mentor's ideals, using his knuckles to defeat Hidan. In the Fourth Great Ninja War Kabuto brings Asuma back with the Reanimation Jutsu; his own students defeat him and he is sealed until his soul can return to the afterlife. Jūrōta Kosugi voices him in Japanese and Doug Erholtz in English.