Kawaki

**Kawaki** (カワキ) is a genin who was raised by Kara to be the future vessel for Isshiki Ōtsutsuki and the key to the fulfilment of their greatest wish. After being brought to Konohagakure by Team 7, he is taken in by Naruto Uzumaki who adopted him as his own. He ultimately develops a bond with his new family, especially Boruto, while working with them to solve the mystery of the Kāma.

## Background

As a child, he lived alone with his drunken, abusive father, Kokatsu. In the anime, he was forced to chop wood for a living in order to buy alcohol for Kokatsu. One day, a goldfish merchant invited him to a goldfish show that he was holding the next day after Kawaki had shown interest in the goldfish. Later, his father noticed the invitation in his pocket and punished Kawaki for interacting with strangers by forbidding him dinner. The next day, Kawaki was beaten by two boys until the goldfish merchant saved him and offered him a job by helping him sell goldfish in other villages. Kawaki hurried home after noticing the crack in the glass of his father's alcohol. Giving nothing but broken glass, Kawaki was locked in a room by Kokatsu.

Shortly after, Jigen arrived to propose buying him with a large sum of money. Not wanting to leave his home, Kawaki promised his father that he could do more work to earn money but was knocked unconscious when Kokatsu smashed an empty bottle on his head. Upon taking custody of the boy, Jigen told Kawaki that the suffering he endured was over and there was nothing to fear, as he was his new father. As Kawaki and Jigen took the only tunnel out of the village, the seemingly friendly merchant from before revealed himself as a child trafficker, hoping to take Kawaki for himself. After Kawaki had waited outside the tunnel for the two to settle who would take the boy, Jigen came out, claiming the man had "gladly withdrawn".

When he was first brought to Kara, Jigen took Kawaki to Amado's laboratory, telling him that he would give Kawaki a gift when they truly become parent and child. As part of a ritual, Kawaki was one of fifteen Ōtsutsuki vessel candidates that were placed in artificial wombs connected by tubes to jars of fluid, through which Jigen attempted to transfer his Kāma to them. The first thirteen children all died, however, Jigen succeeded with Kawaki, one of his last attempts. Kawaki later awoke with a Kāma branded on his left hand. Despite Jigen's promise of safety, Kawaki would later describe his life from then on to be a living hell.

Sometime after the Ōtsutsuki ritual, Kawaki was attacked by Code, who was so jealous that he alone proved viable as Isshiki's vessel that he came to openly hate Kawaki, making it clear that if he wasn't a vessel, he'd kill Kawaki with his own hands. In the anime, a terrified Kawaki tried to escape the Kara hideout but ran into Garō, another survivor from Jigen's vessel experiments. Garō marvelled at the fact that unlike him, Kawaki didn't seem to suffer any major injuries. Garō tried to get him to come with him stating he could teach him along of things, however Kawaki wanted to leave and asked where the exit was. Enraged, Garō started strangling the boy, who in self-defence activated his Kāma, and blasted Garō in the face, severely burning his head and destroying his chin, for which he claims to have apologised.

He would constantly be put through gruelling training, all so he'd master the Kāma and become a perfect vessel for Isshiki Ōtsutsuki, as Jigen wanted. During it, he would constantly berate Kawaki as only having value as a vessel for the Kāma and would strike the boy whenever he questioned him. Kawaki eventually also underwent extensive body modification.

## Personality

Stemming from his harsh childhood, Kawaki is shown to be aggressive and vulgar to people he dislikes or opposes. At the same time, despite his efforts to distance himself from others, he was not completely heartless. He showed sympathy for weak and injured animals, and refused to let innocent children get hurt. Also, he can remain calm and collected when questioning strangers, such as when Kawaki listened to Konohamaru Sarutobi's explanation about himself and his team. When not letting his temper get the best of him, Kawaki is shown to be very observant and pragmatic, easily reading the flow of battle before him and how best to react. Likewise, he is capable of seeing through deceptions and quickly formulating a cunning thought-out plan. Mitsuki considers him reliably effective in conveying his feelings, even if done in an aggressive manner.

Due to the massive suffering he has endured while forced to be a vessel of the Kara, which he described as being a living hell, he would gladly die than be stuck in said hell for the rest of his life. He has even shown signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, as simply seeing dripping roots of plants serves as a reminder of his struggles and has left him panting in horror. He appears to loathe himself for what he has become over the years he spent with Kara, stating that he would learn the Shadow Clone Technique just so he could beat himself up to vent out.

Kawaki is known to hold grudges, especially towards Kara, becoming highly alert and aggressive when facing off against members of the group. He particularly resents Jigen for what he deemed as a violation of his promises of safety, as shown by how he quickly erupted into a rage while unconscious upon being reminded of Jigen's adoption of him and later on when he showed clear resentment while describing Jigen's experiment. However, while appearing to be confident in his ability to defeat the Outers, he knows better than to believe than he could possibly come out on top against any of the Inners, knowing of their completely monstrous might, and has shown fear of them, sweating in the presence of Delta and expressing brief but great shock that Naruto could be more powerful than even Jigen, who he knew full well was the strongest member of Kara. Even though he deeply loathed Jigen and believed that with Naruto protecting him he was safe, Kawaki remained terrified of him as Jigen's arrival through the Kāma he forced on Kawaki caused him genuine horror and fear not just for himself but for Naruto and after seeing Naruto struggling against the far weaker Delta and then being overtaken with ease by his adopted father, when Jigen attacked Konoha to retrieve him and was about to engage Naruto, Kawaki instantly surrendered, believing a fight between the two of them could end in Naruto's defeat and death.

This fear, however, at least after his change due to his time in Konoha, is not at the level where he would just allow himself to be defeated without putting up a fight, as he attempted to attack Jigen even though he knew how futile it would be for him to fight his adopted father, who he had always lost to in their spars, and despite being effortlessly restrained, he still did not bother to defend Naruto and insult Jigen, and later on despite describing Boro as being even worse in some ways than Jigen, he challenged him to save Naruto along with the rest of Team 7. His hatred for Jigen (and later Isshiki) was so powerful that he openly relished in seeing Isshiki's impending death, even stepping on his crumbling remains while insulting him. Being used by Isshiki made him detest the rest of the Ōtsutsuki clan as well, as he expressed his hatred for Momoshiki's similar mindset. Kawaki's hatred for Kara also led him to be unsympathetic for his fellow Vessel experiment, Code, as he suggested for Boruto to turn Code into his vessel to prevent Momoshiki from destroying his individuality.

Due to his harsh childhood, he is a stranger to simple joys like pastries, as he is openly amazed at their flavour and it seem that he consider anything that eats is delicious as he ended up eating a Taiyaki with Wasabi planted by Shikadai. Likewise, he enjoys sightseeing, amazed by seeing the ocean for the first time. He is also constantly on guard, instinctively attacking a child for bumping into him without hesitation, although he claims he was only interested in scaring the child to show him the harshness of life. In the anime, he dislikes travelling by boat as he suffers from seasickness. Despite his gruff exterior, small children tend to like him.

Kawaki also seems to possess a dry sense of humour, as shown when Kawaki mocked Garō for his part in disfiguring his jaw in the past. He is also shown to be quite ruthless, fully capable of killing anyone who either opposes or angers him. In addition, Kawaki is also antisocial, showing little to no respect for others and being openly blunt and rude in his decision and opinion, although he does have some manners, as he is shown to be not above apologising when he does something wrong even if he initially believed it to be unnecessary, as shown by how he apologised, even if half-heartedly, on how he broke the flower vase Himawari gifted to Hinata after seeing how much it hurt her. In addition, he is not above fixing his mistakes if necessary, as although begrudgingly, Kawaki was willing to buy another vase to make Boruto agree to work with him, nor has his heart completely been closed off, according to Kurama, as Naruto's advice against self-hatred did, even if bitterly, change his decision to learn how to use Shadow Clones to beat himself up and even cause him to try to fix the broken vase and he even came to appreciate his relationship with Naruto and his family, risking his life to save Himawari, although he insisted that it was for self-preservation on needing to keep the Hokage alive.

Over time with his new life in Konohagakure, Kawaki began opening up to others, apparently enjoying the game Extreme: Shinobi Picture Scrolls and showing an interest in learning ninjutsu. In the anime, his neglectful upbringing caused common foods to be fascinating novelties to him. Likewise, so eager to be accepted, he gets nervous in being part of social events and will take advice from others quite literally. He became noticeably more responsible in tasks placed on him and relatively more calm and respectful. This change in nature largely came from Naruto, who would continuously show such patience and compassion to the boy. Also stemming from this, Kawaki came to respect the Seventh Hokage, apparently even seeing him as a father-figure, as he offered to trade an extremely rare Fourth Hokage card for a Seventh Hokage card, hoping to learn more about Naruto. Later, in learning about how he shared kinship with Naruto, both having such trouble childhoods yet Naruto was able to raise beyond it to find joy, Kawaki came to deeply admire Naruto and driven to learn from his example. He also became noticeably more reasonable, lashing out less, even while under house arrest. Even more, he becomes infuriated with Jigen after the latter insulted Naruto, ordering him to never speak ill of Naruto. He also later came to respect Boruto, happy when Boruto openly considered him a brother. In the anime, he also showed to enjoy the company of others, admitting to their strengths.

His newfound loyalty towards his surrogate family was even willing to sacrifice his freedom to ensure their survival. Even more, he without hesitation left to Jigen's alternate dimension to help Naruto. When facing Isshiki, Kawaki openly voiced he'd rather be dead than live in a world without Naruto, viewing himself proudly as his student. In the anime, he even desires to become a shinobi to further emulate Naruto. Despite his newfound loyalty to Naruto, he remained distant and uncertain of what path to take, refusing to let people get close. Following a test to become a genin, Kawaki came to understand the responsibilities that come with being a shinobi, determined to better himself.

However, at the same time, Kawaki retained a problematic nature, feeling that once things reach a certain point, while not liking to do so, he must handle things void of emotional attachment. Due to his upbringing, Kawaki has shown a remarkable lack of empathy for others. Though he is deeply devoted towards protecting Naruto, he does not extend that empathy towards others, even other members of Konoha. He was openly unconcerned about saving Shikamaru's life when he was being held hostage by Code and unconcerned about Amado's fate believing he will be killed by Code when Code kidnapped him. Kawaki showed no remorse when trying to kill Boruto when he was possessed by Momoshiki despite Naruto's pleas, and did not hesitate when he nearly killed Boruto, something which disturbed Shikamaru. He would even go so far as to admit that he felt disappointed when he'd failed to kill Boruto, causing Hinata to slap him in disgust.

Having reoriented his entire world view around Naruto, he decided to, for the sake of protecting the Hokage, he would use his Ōtsutsuki powers to wipe all Ōtsutsuki out, including Boruto. However, he acknowledges that his actions are morally wrong and dislikes the idea of betraying those he considers family. Owning up to his moral dilemma, he made the point of informing Naruto of a new goal and sent him away with a rift to stop him from interfering with killing Boruto. Even more, Kawaki was fully aware and prepared for Naruto to hate him and even promised to allow himself to be killed by him after finishing Boruto to ensure that the Ōtsutsuki threat would be dealt with once and for all.