Ryu Hayabusa

**Ryu Hayabusa** is a young Dragon Ninja from the Hayabusa Ninja Clan and an extraordinary Master Ninja.

## Personality

A dark hero and a dedicated dragon ninja, Ryu can appear rather cold and savage when facing enemies, be it those who threaten him, the well-being of other innocent people, or those of his own clan. After Doku successfully killed him and murdered much of his brethern in his clan, he showed a vindictive side for his hunt for the greater fiend.

Behind his cold demeanor fitting for a ninja, Ryu possess a great level of compassion, being
ideal ninja role model to younger ninjas-in-training and his own apprentice and caring for them immensely. He harbors respect for those who vauntly follow their ninja way with dedicated similar to his own, finding respect in Genshin despite his affiliation and philosophy putting him at odds with one another and was disgusted by Elizébet's disrespect of him in death. Ryu also possess confidence in his abilities, having told Rachel his power comes from training and not cursed blood (although he unknown to his own connection to fiend blood at the time of claiming so).

## Powers & Abilities

* Fiend hybrid physiology
	+ Superhuman strength
	+ Superhuman speed
	+ Superhuman agility
	+ Superhuman senses
	+ Superhuman stamina
	+ Superhuman durability
* Hayabusa-styled Ninjutsu
	+ Martial arts
		- Swordplay
* Ninpo

### List of techniques

Physical
Ninpo techiques

## Behind the scenes

Ryu Hayabusa is the main protagonist of Tecmo's *Ninja Gaiden* series, being one of it's enduring characters.

### Characterization

Prior to Ninja Gaiden 3
Overall, *Ninja Gaiden 3* art director Kenichiro Nakajo believed that previous games characterized him as a "heartless killer" while Character lead artist Masashiro Nose also believed that the character was difficult to understand from the previous entries of the modern series.

Ninja Gaiden 3
During the development of *Ninja Gaiden 3*, Team NINJA began focusing much more on Ryu's characterization, with game director Fumihiko Yasuda claiming that this would be the first time in the (modern) series to see genuine compassion within the character from the story. Team Ninja head Yosuke Hayashi described the character's development in Ninja Gaiden 3; "The human side of Ryu Hayabusa comes through ... you see him suffering as a consequence of the murders he has committed and that is when [his] humanity comes through. I believe that, these days, people are looking for more realistic games and that’s not easy to do with Ninja Gaiden, which is heavily based in fantasy."

Fumihiko and other Team NINJA executives went on to describe Ryu Hayabusa as a man who bears the burden of his entire clan, divided on who to kill and who to protect. Classified as a "dark hero", he is the type of character who continues fighting even when going through his own suffering and distress.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 *Dead or Alive 6*
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 *Ninja Gaiden Sigma*
3. ↑ *Dead or Alive 5*
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 *Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2*
5. ↑ *Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2* scroll: *History of the Castle of the Dragon*
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 *Ninja Gaiden 3: Unmasked Art Book*
7. ↑ *Ninja Gaiden Sigma* instruction manual
8. ↑ *Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword*
9. ↑ *Ninja Gaiden 2 Sigma*
10. ↑ *Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2: The Vampire War*
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 *Ninja Gaiden 3* Developer Diary 2
12. ↑ [https://blog.playstation.com/archive/2011/08/19/rising-to-the-challenge-ninja-gaiden-3-interview/ Rise of the Challenge: Ninja Gaiden 3 Interview