Benten Uzumaki

**Benten Uzumaki** (うずまきべんてん, *Uzumaki Benten*) is a kunoichi haling from Uzushiogakure in the Land of Whirlpools. She serves as the current head of the Uzumaki Clan and village leader of Uzushiogakure, having taking over its leadership at the age of eighteen; her age at the time of appointment makes her the youngest person in the history of the village to hold both titles.

## Background

Benten is the daughter of Shōyō Uzumaki, and inherited his doubled position as Head of the Uzumaki Clan and leader of Uzushiogakure shortly after her eighteenth birthday; it was around this time that her father immigrated to Konohagakure, where he would become Hokage.

## Appearance

Benten's appearance could be compared to that of a regal princess of extravagant attire. With a yellow frilled collar framed by a rosy predominant layer of silk that ends with a green bordering a pitch red skirt from side to front, her sleeves are a large and encompassing pair from cream to golden frills. Benten also possesses a ribbon of lime colored fabric that draped around weightlessly behind her head and back from the front of her person. Her deep red hair is fastened into a knot with a single golden pin holding it in place leaving the rest of her hair to drape down near the bottom of her skirt in twin-tails.

Worn under her regal attire is Benten's combat uniform, custom-made shinobi attire. Benten's fighting uniform is simple yet elegant. A frilled short-sleeved top with a ruffled collar that leads down to a pair of baggy pants that are ruffled at the shins to ankles. Fastened around Benten's waist is a floral shaped rose colored protector of silk fabric with a deep red ribbon wrapped around its center. She wields a sword of bronze colored rounded guard and a double-edged typical of Goujian make. Her hair is still fastened in its knot-tie at the top of her head, with trails of her twin-tails easily reaching her ankles in length.

## Abilities

As the head of the Uzumaki Clan and leader of Uzushiogakure as a whole, Benten is a kunoichi possessed of immense skill. Raised on a shinobi's education from a young age, the young woman developed a repertoire of skills at  her father's knee; as the village leader, she is considered to be a combatant of Kage-level, matching other young geniuses of history such as the Fourth Kazekage, Gaara or the Fourth Mizugake, Yagura Karatachi. While not particularly of a strategic mind, Benten is capable of the forethought and insight needed to conduct herself in battle, even if she isn't always capable of longterm stratagems; often, she finds herself resorting to spur of the moment decisions, rather than anything laid out or planned in advance, something she has been repeatedly scolded for. Regardless, her skills were nevertheless approved by the previous head of the Uzumaki Clan and leader of Uzushiogakure, Shōyō, who personally appointed his daughter to be his successor.

### Ninjutsu

#### Nature Transformation

Benten is proficient in the nature transformations of Fire, Water, and Lighting Release, of which Fire is her primary affinity. While admittedly not as skilled as her father within the art of Fire Release, Benten displays skill in utilising it, having studied under both of her parents to hone this skill. With Fire Release, Benten is capable of producing vast swathes as well as controlled streams of flame reaching super-high temperatures. Water Release was what she studied under her mother's guidance, and can use Water Release without requiring an external large water source, using her chakra to amplify existing water in the atmosphere, or even produce it through chakra alone. Benten can control the intensity and the volume of the liquid she generates as easily as her flames, from thin, slicing streams to far greater volumes of water meant to overwhelm an opponent.

Lightning Release is Benten's third, and most unused, chakra nature. Regardless, she is proficient enough in its use to make it a viable weapon, enhancing her own Water Release's potency with it, as well as channeling it into her jian to produce powerful, numbing slashes with her sword as well as enhancing its cutting power.

By combining Fire and Water Release, the Kekkei Genkai Benten inherited from her late mother, Boil Release, manifests. Through Boil Release, Benten is capable of generating a powerful vapour of varying levels of acidity; this gives it powerful corrosive properties which Benten is capable of controlling. Boil Release's biggest flaw is that it does not discriminate against ally or foe; any person within the gaseous vapour Benten creates can suffer from its ill effects, and it is capable of filling the confines of a room with ease. Benten herself, however, is largely immune to the effects of her own vapour — due to it being created from her own chakra — and is more than capable of fighting a room of enemy shinobi while immersed in her own acidic mist.

#### Shape Manipulation

Through skilled application of shape manipulation, Benten can create slender fire senbon through her Fire Release, as well as control the Fire Release chakra let loose from her tenketsu, and mould it into a sphere that surrounds her body; similar in principle to the Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven. Pushing this a step further, Benten can create a blooming field of flowers composed entirely of flames, which, when they bloom, expand and explode, essentially acting as a field of explosives.

#### Kenjutsu

Tutored by the Eighth Hokage himself, Benten studied kenjutsu under his father in her younger years, becoming a capable swordswoman. Benten's tutelage under her father was unorthodox, as, prior to teaching her kenjutsu at all, he prioritised such things as teaching her painting, calligraphy, and the cultivation of rock gardens before the girl was allowed to so much as pick up a blade. These seemingly innocuous exercises were for the sake of instilling in Benten skills and traits necessary for the way of the sword; calligraphy, which requires intelligence as well as a steady hand, painting from memory, which requires one to have a good image of what their eyes perceive, and the rock garden, combining both meditation as well as composure. These traits within one individual make for a prime swordsman.

## Trivia

* Benten's name stems from an alternate name of Benzaiten, one of the **Seven Gods of Fortune** (七福神, *shichifukujin*) in Japanese mythology.
* Benten's faceclaim is the character Ren Kōgyoku from the series *Magi*.
* Even within her combat uniform, Benten does not seem to wear an Uzushiogakure forehead protector; it can be assumed she owns one, and merely opts not to wear it.