Kagero Uzui

## Notice-

Unfortunately, I do not have/cannot find an image suiting him, as a Sengoku Era Shadow Hashira is original to me.

## Personal Status

### Appearance

**Imagine for me if you will:** Kagero is a very tall man with a relatively thin and athletic build. He had lightly-tanned skin and short black hair. He has quite thin, maroon eyes that appear to slant inwards, each with one long eyelash flowing to the far side of his face.

Even as a demon slayer, Kagero still wore a standard Shinobi uniform: A black jacket, black trousers, and a black hooded cowl over his head. He also had light armor under his jacket and strapped gauntlets and greaves respectively to his forearms and lower legs with chains. His chained Kusarigama were on both sides of his hips, and he sported a white head-wrap that covers his hair, which is adorned with a large headband of pale gray that's decorated by six light pink gemstones, three large and arranged in a line, and three small and arranged in a triangle to the far left.

### Personality

Contrary to Tengen Uzui's flamboyant and eccentric behavior, Kagero was a very reserved individual. He only speaks when required and even then, in a laconic way. He did not say even a word more than needed as a means of preserving information and can go days without speaking even once, believing talking about anything else than the mission at hand is a waste of breath. His cowl made it almost impossible to see his face and emotions. All of this combined did give him a narcissistic look, soaking everything up and giving nothing in return. The majority of it was caused by his Shinobi origins. Deep inside, however, he was capable of having feelings of care and attachment.

### Background

Kagero did not remember much of his early childhood but did know that he was kidnapped before he could walk. His captors were killed by shinobis, and the young Kagero was taken back to their village, named, and adopted by them.

The shinobis who rescued him took him back to the Shinobi village, a remote but highly militarized commune where only shinobis and kunoichis lived. Few people knew of its existence, and its exact location was shrouded in mystery. All children born in this village were automatically roped into the life of a shinobi from birth. At the age of seven, regardless of gender, the children would begin their shinobi training, learning everything that an agent of the shadow should be capable of, like disguise, acrobatics, assassination, sabotage, etc. The training was rigorous and merciless, food was scarce, and rest even more so. Individuality was strictly forbidden and speaking about anything else than the mission was discouraged. Through annual selections, the weak were bolted out of the village, as only the strong are allowed to remain. At 18 years old, all surviving trainees would become shinobis and kunoichis. They would then do shinobi work for whoever was willing to hire them and continue to sustain the village with the payment they receive, making room for the next generation, who will one day do the same.

Kagero survived the training and became an extremely skilled shinobi. He had a 100% success rate and was a terror in the ninja world with the twin kusarigama chained to his forearms. However, this life never suited him, and he always sought a way to escape slaughter after slaughter, arson after sabotage, and the life of a cold-blooded killer-for-hire in general.

One day, a man by the name of Hideyoshi Ubayahiki (the Oyakata-sama) visited his village. Normally, the shinobis would have killed any intruders to keep their village a secret. But Hideyoshi told them that he came with good intentions. he has heard of the supernatural skills of shinobis and kunoichis, so he would like to hire a few of them to help him fight demons. The task was dangerous, but the reward was promising. Kagero and his generation of shinobis decided to take the job and signed a contract of one year.

Immediately, Kagero noticed the difference between this job and the other jobs he did: demons were malevolent creatures at heart, and killing them is certainly doing the world a favor. No longer did he have to think whether killing his targets was the right thing to do. Finally, he could indulge in killing his targets knowing that he was doing the right thing by ridding the world of this plague. His life started to gain color, as he was not limited by the shinobi code anymore: he could think freely, talk freely, and most importantly, act freely.

As his contract was coming to an end, Kagero and his band of shinobis embarked on their most dangerous mission yet. Kagero was accidentally separated from the group. When he did find his fellow shinobis, the demon had already ambushed and killed them all. Normally, Kagero would not have batted an eyelid if a fellow shinobi died. But his time in the corps taught him many things, one of which is to have emotions and feelings of attachment. Kagero did care for his fellow shinobis and enraged at their deaths, he unleashed a typhoon of slashes and strikes at the demon with his twin chained kusarigama. Only after cutting it up for several minutes in a blind rage, did he cut the demon's head off. He then buried his fellow shinobis with a heavy heart and departed to collect his payment.

One year after Kagero and his band of shinobis joined the Corps, only he came out alive. Hideyoshi Ubayashiki praised him for his service to the corps and delivered his payment to him as promised. Since his contract had come to an end, Hideyoshi decided to release him from servitude and allow him to get on with his life. Touched by Hideyoshi's willingness to keep his word, Kagero rejected his payment and decided to remain in the corps indefinitely.

In the days after that, Kagero became the go-to-agent of Hideyoshi. Whenever Hideyoshi needed some information or wanted to spy on demons for observation, Kagero would handle that. After years of doing dirty work while undercover for some rich lord, Hideyoshi got him right back where he started. Kagero would be present at the Demon Slayer HQ when Yoriichi arrived at the Demon Slayer Corps HQ to demonstrate his breathing techniques at the request of Hideyoshi Ubayashiki. Yoriichi then began teaching his breathing style to other demon slayers. Kagero was unable to master it, so Yoriichi taught him a modified style that focused on utilizing blinding speeds and immensely fast attacks to overwhelm the enemy in an instant, akin to lightning ripping through the sky. Kagero mixed this style with his original shinobi fighting style and created a new style that focused on holding his breath to become invisible and untouchable like a shadow. When lightning strikes, it creates a shadow. Thus, Shadow Breathing was born. As a reward for his contributions, he was appointed Hashira and became the first, last, and only Shadow Hashira.

### Trivia

* Kagero's surname contains the Man'yōgana for the kana for "U" (宇 *u*) with the On'yomi reading of the kanji for "marrow, pith" (髄 *zui*). His given name contains "shadow" (影 *kage*), and "wolf" (狼 *ro*).
* Kagero was the only Hashira of his generation to not unlock a demon slayer mark, due to his battles never lasting more than 30 seconds.
* Kagero was also the only survivor of his generation of Hashira after the other Hashira all died in battle.
* After the first generation of Hashira and the majority of the Corps were annihilated in one final battle, the second generation took over. Kagero and the second generation helped the remainder of the Demon Slayer Corps to relocate their HQ. He then retired and returned to his shinobi village with more money than he knew what to do with.
* Kagero started the Uzui clan, and it became one of the most prominent shinobi clans of the Sengoku Era until it met its decline in the Edo Era and its downfall after the Meiji Restoration. Tengen Uzui's father desperately tried to save the clan's former glory.
* Kagero's weapons were twin chained Kusarigama, razor-sharp sickles he chained to his forearms and swung like a wrecking ball.

### Kagero viewed the other Hashira as follows:

* *"Kind and beautiful."* - about the Flower Hashira.
* *"Young and forgetful."* - about the Mist Hashira.
* *"Awkward and shameful."* - about the Thunder Hashira.
* *"Calm and powerful."* - about the Stone Hashira.
* *"Quiet and sorrowful."* - about the Water Hashira.
* *"Bright and respectful."* - about the Flame Hashira.
* *"Sweet and delightful."* - about the Phoenix Hashira.
* *"Angry and vengeful." -* about the Wind Hashira.
* *"Stoic and careful."* - about Michikatsu Tsugikuni.
* *"Humble and thoughtful."* - about Yoriichi Tsugikuni.