Taruho

Taruho ( 足穂 ) was Shion 's assistant and bodyguard.

## Personality [ ]

Taruho was very loyal to Shion, being willing to die for her and waiting on her hand and foot, while taking her constant complaints and apparent ungratefulness obediently and without resentment, such as apologising when she threw away good food that she demanded in the first place for the most trivial matters. Taruho's loyalty was based on Shion's best interest at heart, and would not such he would blindly follow orders completely, as when she attempted to abandon her soldiers, he insisted in following her, and calmly refused to attend to her orders to return. With Shion's powers being accurate, Taruho had great faith in them and understood the reasons for her selfish and spoiled attitude, hence his understanding and acceptance of it all.

## Appearance [ ]

Taruho had short shoulder-length brown hair and pupilless navy blue eyes. He wore red rectangular glasses and a Japanese attire that consisted of a green vest with grey armour over a white and light purple collared kimono jacket, purple hakama, sandals and a black eboshi. Along with his outfit was a quiver strapped to his back.

## Abilities [ ]

As with all of Shion's guards, Taruho wielded a jian and a bow with a quiver of arrows. He managed to hold off Gitai for a few seconds with a sword and also managed to fire a warning shot with his bow at Naruto to get him and his team-mates to halt their movement. However, Taruho lacked the speed and stamina of a shinobi , as shown with him being unable to keep pace with the shinobi and requiring rest after running, which the latter go on for days without.

### Ninjutsu [ ]

Despite not being trained as a shinobi, Taruho possessed the Shadow Mirror Body Changing Method , a variant of the Transformation Technique which is permanent, allowing him to serve as an effective replacement and decoy.

## Plot Overview [ ]

In the Land of Demons , Taruho was one of the guards of Shion's residence when they were attacked Yomi 's four subordinates, the Gang of Four . Taruho attempted to flee with Shion to safety while they were distracted by the arrival of Naruto Uzumaki, but the two were intercepted and nearly slain if not for the timely appearance of Neji Hyūga .

After introducing Naruto, Neji, Rock Lee , and Sakura Haruno to Shion, Shion revealed the predictive vision she had, that Naruto would die while fighting the demon Mōryō . Taruho apologised to Naruto and the others and explained about Shion's ability such as foretelling a person's death. While Naruto was initially dismissive of her claim, Taruho revealed that, of the 100 such predictions of death that Shion made, all 100 of them had come true.

When Shion chose to depart early with Naruto's team, without taking any of her guards with her, Taruho apparently realised this, and was able to follow the team. That night, while Shion acted coldly towards the Konoha ninja, Taruho later explained this to Naruto as that Shion, because of her deadly visions, had been shunned and avoided as a young girl, causing her to grow up alone. He also mentioned that Shion's mother had cared for his clan, and that he would willingly give his life for Shion. Later, Shion told him to return back, stating he'd done enough looking after her. However, he refused her orders and stated that he couldn't leave her side, only Shion stated that he'll get in their way. Taruho began to realise that Shion had another vision and implied if it's true. Despite Shion's refusal, she told Taruho her vision about his future she had last night. She claimed if Taruho stayed with them, he would die. Before they prepared to depart, Taruho told Naruto and the others that he'd take a different route to the Sealed Shrine.

Later, Taruho used the Shadow Mirror Body Changing Method technique to permanently change his appearance into that of Shion, taking her place as a decoy while the real Shion is taken to safety. Unfortunately for this, Sakura (who is carrying Taruho, as Shion, on her back) was subdued by Kusuna 's Secret Anaesthesia , leaving Taruho unprotected where he was killed by Kusuna via the Dark Medicine . Taruho was subsequently given a proper burial.