Kensei Muguruma

**Kensei Muguruma**is the captain of the Ninth Squad in the Thirteen Court Guard Squads. His lieutenants are Shuhei Hisagi and Mashiro Kuna. He is also a Visored.

## Physical Appearance

Kensei is a tall, muscular man with sharp features, mussed up light-grey/silver hair and brown eyes. He has a tattoo of the number "69" on his chest; the "6" represents his last name, "Muguruma", which uses the kanji for "6" in it, while the "9" represents the Ninth Squad, which he currently leads.

As a captain of the Gotei 13, he wears a sleeveless, less-open shihakusho that exposses his chest and tattoo, and tied it with a metallic belt. He also wore a sleeveless white *haori*, with a tenne coloration on the coat's underside and the Ninth Squad's rhombus number on the coat's back, and a pair of fingerless black gloves that covered most of his forearms.

## Personality

Kensei is portrayed as a much more mature, serious, and decisive individual, though he is easily annoyed and rather temperamental, often to a fault. His personality is a strong contrast to that of his former lieutenant, the ever bubbly Mashiro Kuna. He is also greatly annoyed by the very concept of immaturity, evident when Orihime infiltrates the Visored's hideout, asking where the bathroom is and subsequently saying "just kidding", resulting in Lisa Yadomaru and Love Aikawa calming him down. A skilled and respected battlefield commander, he has a rather brutal fighting style, and quite often blasts his opponents apart.

He is most frequently irritated by Mashiro, due to her childish manner, and once noted that she had the uncanny ability to aggravate him even when asleep. Despite this, and though he says otherwise, Kensei does care for Mashiro to some degree, as shown when he blocked Wonderweiss' attacks for her. Kensei is also quite analytical when watching a fight, noticing just how scared Ichigo was to call out his Hollow Mask.

## Powers and Abilities

### Hakuda Prowess

* Hakuda Master - Despite the skill and power he has in his Zanpakuto, Kensei takes more pride in his hand-to-hand combat prowess, which can be seen in his physique. During Ichigo's transformation into a hollow, Kensei is able to knock him away at a good distance with just an elbow strike. He then dodges all of Hollow Ichigo's attacks, despite the latter's use of **Tensa Zangetsu**, and manages to kick him. The only times he uses Tachikaze in this fight are when he cuts Ichigo once and twice more to fire his spiritual energy. He uses hand-to-hand combat to take a bunch of Gillian-class Menos Grande.
	+ Sandbag Beat - Kensei delivers multiple fist strikes in extremely rapid succession, causing aggravated damage to a target.

### Zanjutsu Prowess

* Master Swordsman Specialist - The fact that Kensei can still fight effectively with his blade at close-range when it's sealed and its Shikai form is smaller than most Zanpakuto, as evidenced by his battle against Hollow Ichigo (who was using his Bankai) during the Visored's training, is a testament to his skill. He is known to constantly use his Shikai in combat.

### Shunpo Prowess

* Shunpo Expert - As a Shinigami captain, Kensei is proficient in Shunpo. During the battle in Fake Karakura Town, Kensei reached Mashiro in time to save her from Wonderweiss Margela.

### Other Skills

* Highly Perceptive Combatant - Despite his short-tempered nature, Kensei is a very perceptive fighter. He is knowledgeable of the abilities that Hollows possess, and knows how to counter them to gain the upper hand.
* Enhanced Strength
* Enhanced Durability - Kensei possesses considerable durability, getting up mostly unharmed after being thrown into a building.

### Spiritual Power

* Immense Spiritual Power - As a captain, he posesses an immense amount of spiritual energy. As a Visored, he possesses a dual-type reiryoku, half-Soul Reaper and half-Hollow. His Reiatsu is light-green.

### Zanpakuto

**Tachikaze** (*Earth-Severing Wind*) - When sealed, it is shown as a wakizashi with a rectangular guard in an 'H' shape and a silver hilt with white hilt weaving. His Zanapkuto is a Wind-Type.

* **Shikai** - Kensei's Shikai is triggered by the release command "**Blast Away**"  in which air currents swirl around Kensei in a circle up to his Tachikaze. It then transforms into a survival/combat knife with a bronze guard, a light-purple hilt-wrapping in the center of the hilt, a gray leather grip, and a small ring on the guard's blunt side.

Shikai Special Ability - In this form, Kensei has demonstrated the ability to manipulate wind energy while mixing it with his spiritual energy for devastating effects.

* Air Blades - By slashing at the air, Kensei can release multiple blades of wind which cut enemies from a distance before exploding and causing devastating damage. They are extremely powerful, easily killing a giant Hollow by cutting it into pieces.
* Bakudantsuki (*Bomb Thrust*)
* **Bankai**: **Tekken Tachikaze** (*Iron Fist Severing Wind*) - Upon activation, an explosion of wind erupts Kensei, and when it disperses, Tachikaze transforms from a combat knife into two large knuckle blades which Kensei holds in each hand. Both blades have a curved silver edge, which tapers off to an outward point on each side. Segmented purple bands wrap around the entirety of his arms, much like armor, with a thicker purple band arches behind him, over his head, with its end protruding from under his shoulders.

Bankai Special Ability - Tekken Tachikaze focuses all of its Shikai's destructive power into its knuckle blades. As a result, Kensei's punches release an immense amount of explosive force upon impact. This explosive power continues to assault his opponent endlessly as long as his fist remains in contact with his opponent. When using the ability, Kensei can also change the knuckle blades of his Bankai into brass knuckles, as well as spiked gauntlets.

### Hollowfication

Hollow Mask - His Hollow mask resembles a flat hockey face guard, with six slitted eye holes arranged in two columns. It has three extensions on either side which cover the sides and back of his head.

* Power Augmentation - While wearing the mask, Kensei's Hollow powers supplement his Soul Reaper powers, giving him a vast increase in strength, durability and speed.
	+ Enhanced Strength
	+ Enhanced Speed
	+ Enhanced Durability

## Relationships

### Friends/Allies

* The Visored
	+ Mashiro Kuna (Co-lieutenant)
* Shuhei Hisagi (Co-lieutenant)
* Sajin Komamura (Close friend)
* Ichigo Kurosaki
* Karin Kurosaki

### Enemies

* Owari Otsutsuki
* The Kihei
* The Red Lotus (Xin Bau's Group)
* Sosuke Aizen
* Kaname Tosen (Former Seated Officer)
* Hollows
* The Arrancars
* Kageroza Inaba
* The Reigai