Saber (Fate/Crossover - Ryu Hayabusa)

**Saber** (セイバー, *Seibā*) is the servant of ??? in the ??? Holy Grail War.

*"Darkness is destined to lift in the end. I still have much left to do."* - Ryu Hayabusa

## Profile

### Identity

Saber's true identity is **Ryu Hayabusa**, a ninja from the Hayabusa clan and a descendant of the Dragon Lineage, as such his fate is tied to his duty of defending the human race from supernatural forces should they threaten mankind.

The son of Jô Hayabusa, Ryu was born into the Dragon Lineage legacy; as required, he would be trained from childhood to walk the path of a ninja, a way of life plagued with danger, pain and sorrow.

As a child Ryu learned many crucial survival skills under the guidance and watchful eye of Omitsu, the caretaker of the Hayabusa clan's children. Under Omitsu's care Ryu quickly befriended Kureha and the two became inseparable. Training intensified as he grew older, adapting to these difficulties, Ryu quickly excelled among his peers, becoming one of the clan's top students. His skill would earn him the right to bear the name Hayabusa as his own, mastering many ninja skills, to the delight of his father.

As Ryu grew into a strong young ninja, his best friend Kureha became a Shrine Maiden. Growing up, he befriended many other members of his clan, including the veteran who fought beside his father Genjiro, Kureha's younger sister Momiji (who later becomes Ryu's apprentice), and his uncle from his mother's side Murai, who left the clan under unknown circumstances to establish his own rogue ninja clan.

Ryu also finds himself in good terms with the Mugen Tenshin Ninja Clan, especially with the young Ayane, Kasumi (who later becomes a runaway ninja) and their current leader, Hayate, who he considers a close friend. This also expands the Hayabusa clan own relations, meaning they can count on the Mugen Tenshin members for help and vice versa.

### Appearance

Ryu is the epitome of a present day ninja. his Legendary Black Falcon outfit's sleek design is similar to that of the modern special ops agent, while the tabi boots, ninja head piece, mask, scarf and shin/forearm guards are reminiscent of the ancient ninja warrior.

Physically, Ryu Hayabusa is a young man in his early 20s, standing at 5'10" and weighing in at 172 lbs. He is in peak physical condition with a muscular build. As a ninja, most of his costumes and attire conceal his face, revealing only his eyes, one of his most distinctive features. Ryu's eyes feature vibrant green coloration with a slight golden hue. This golden hue feature is more prominent accompanied with his wardrobe composed of mostly dark colors, something that points out even more of his peculiar eyes and gives him an intimidating appearance.

Underneath the ninja mask and hood reveals a youthful and handsome face, and brown hair almost always held in a ponytail, a completely opposite appearance to what many would expect, given his deadly skills and calculative, savage brutality in battle.

### Personality

As a ninja, Ryu ruthlessly kills his enemies without mercy, executing them in a very cold, technical and calculative fashion. His rigorous upbringing in tandem with the many hardships and tragedies he has suffered, has forced Ryu to harden his emotions and disciplined his skills to perfection. He is undaunted by the lives he must take in order to protect the balance within the world, knowing that the balance of the world is more important.

Ryu knows life following the ninja path can be both cruel and short, especially for one of the Dragon Lineage. He has already felt first hand the brutality of this life; watching Kureha, his best friend murdered right in front of his own eyes, his clan massacred and he himself killed as he tries to save his village. Ryu endures these hardships with his unstoppable will, an indomitable spirit shown in his exploits as he overcomes every challenge and obstacle, surviving even the trauma of death to return and exact his vengeance.

Though Ryu cares little for his enemies' well being, he still respects them on a warrior basis, even having mutual respect with some adversaries such as Genshin. Outside of battle, Ryu is modest and refined, he is popular among the local residents in his village. Not only as a strong role model for ninja in training, but he is heralded for being kind and gentle, as he cares for the safety of every resident in his home. This is due to the fact that each Hayabusa clansman from Jonin to cadet is cherished as family.

Ryu has the demeanor and wisdom of a man far older than himself, an understanding of the world around him and the balance of power within it. He ignores the pursuit of power to the dismay of his uncle Murai, showing no signs of curiosity for the dark powers that dwelled within the Dark Dragon Blade. When given a choice, he chooses to destroy it rather than consume its immense dark powers. Ryu also refused to keep its divine counterpart the True Dragon Sword, knowing this weapon's existence upsets the delicate balance of the peaceful world.

Overall, Ryu's exploits have given him an attitude far removed from most others as he understands things in more abstract and philosophical terms. He adopts a tranquil nature, free flowing most of the time, but unforgiving and crushing when roused. Ryu is also very stoic, he is usually seen not speaking very often. He usually speaks in profound bursts of wisdom, even sometimes looking down on his enemies.

### Relationships

#### **Rachel**

Hayabusa and Rachel's relationship was initially complicated due to Rachel's coldness towards Hayabusa, while Hayabusa didn't like Rachel when she was testing him during the Dark Dragon Blade Incident in Ninja Gaiden. Despite their differences and ideals, the two have come to mutual terms, forming a working relationship as well as a close friendship, and slay the evil Fiends together whenever they meet, with Rachel slowly beginning to trust Hayabusa over time because of him rescuing her from enemy capture multiple times while she was on a crusade to slay her own twin sister, who had become evil due to the fiend blood in her veins. Her respect and admiration for Hayabusa can be seen in Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate when she says he's like having the strength of a hundred others.

#### **Momiji**

Momiji is the last of the Hayabusa clan's shrine maidens and Hayabusa's apprentice. After the death of her sister and the massacre of the Hayabusa village during the Dark Dragon Blade incident, she trained under the protege of Ryu Hayabusa. A prodigy in the ninja arts, Momiji has grown to be an exceptional kunoichi in her own right. Enamored with his convictions, Momiji shares Hayabusa's perceptions of virtue and justice, only resorting to deadly violence against her clan's enemies. She looks up to her master with pride as both a mentor and an undying ally, and Hayabusa is equally proud of his disciple and sister-in-arms, having her accompany him on missions.

## Abilities

Ryu Hayabusa is stated as being the most powerful ninja in the world, hence his nickname "the Singular Super Ninja". This is further exemplified by his exploits where he defeated his toughest foes and beings of omnipotent nature.

Ryu's ongoing rigorous training from childhood have shaped him into a powerhouse warrior. Physically conditioned Ryu's speed and acrobatic skills are beyond exceptional, and while his strength may not be as immense as those of fiendish bloodlines, it is strong enough to wield hefty weapons and still maintain his agility. His senses are extremely high beyond the potential of a normal human being and predict an approaching attack. Cognitively he is a tactical fighter and highly calculative in battle. His skills in hand to hand combat and weaponry are at the master level, particularly his swordsmanship skill. Due to his level of mastery, Ryu is often seen using his weapons at their peak physical limit, often requiring the services of a legendary blacksmith to upgrade his weapons past these limitations. He also shows multiple chi and elemental abilities like conjuring a giant flaming dragon and using different types of elements with his attacks.

Ryu specializes in a martial art known as Hayabusa style Ninjutsu and his main weapon is the Dragon Sword, a powerful relic passed down from generation to generation, this is his signature weapon. It is also mentioned that he studied other martial arts. Although the Dragon Sword was not originally his, Ryu, who was tasked with safeguarding it during the Dark Dragon Blade Incident, proved his worthiness by demonstrating his proficiency and valor with the sword, allowing his father to proudly part with it and continue the tradition of passing it down his lineage.

### Skills

#### Personal Skills

* Battle Continuation (A+ Rank): The capacity to fight at full strength until the very last bit of vitality is struck from him, and even then to revive up to three times with full health and fighting ability afterwards.

* Bravery (A Rank): One who has faced gods, devils and everything in between without hesitation.

* Essence (A Rank): Those struck down by Ryu release their life force in three forms – Yellow Essence can be converted into currency, more rare Blue can restore vitality and the rarest Red fuels his Ninpo (see below). All can also be used to fuel Ultimate Techniques (see below).

* Eye of the Mind (False) (A Rank): Ryu’s ability to “feel” the battle is strong enough that he can keep track of and defend against multiple opponents even when he does not have line of sight to them.

* Hayabusa style Ninjutsu (A- Rank): The martial art of his people, Ryu is proficient in many melee weapons, acrobatics and unarmed combat, especially throws. Rank down due to limited use of modern firearms, although not if modern technology is altered for use with a pre-modern weapon eg. APFSDS cores as arrows.

* Ninpo (A Rank): Although Ryu is not a magus per se, he can shape his ki for a small variety of combat spells: fire manifested as wheels/phoenixes orbiting him defensively or an aura that he gathers into a fireball, mobile or close-range and icy hurricanes, omnidirectional lightning storm centred on him, slashing blades of wind, linearly-moving mini black holes or even healing himself. Effective against even the strongest gods and devils, to say nothing of anything between, they can be dodged but never negated or resisted. During the casting time Ryu is invincible to attack.

* Protection from Arrows (B- Rank): Ryu can block even machine guns going full auto from multiple directions, but sufficiently powerful attacks can break through the defence.

* Ultimate Technique (A Rank): The capacity to gather ambient energies into Ryu’s body and weapon, temporarily increasing his performance and enabling special attacks not normally available. Distinct from Prana Burst in that it does not use the prana of Ryu or the Master. Agility in particular is raised that with light weapons it is possible to repeatedly short-range teleport while active. Ryu is invincible while using an Ultimate Technique. Essence can be used to fuel it in lieu of or as a supplement to manual charging; two Yellow or one Blue or Red will give the optimal result, while one Yellow gives a diminished effect, although invincibility is still present.

### Noble Phantasm

#### **True Dragon Sword**

Ryu’s heirloom Dragon Sword paired with his clan’s Dragon’s Eye gem. This blade, carved from the fang of an ancient Dragon, one of several that created his world, and imbued with incredible power, has slain gods and devils, including one of the same Dragons that turned on its brothers. Possesses the ability to force a concept of death such that, if his power and skill hold, even the mighty TYPEs can be killed with it. Strangely enough, for all its metaphysical weight, it has a weakness to mundane technology, such that a sufficiently strong mundane defence can dull its cutting edge.

#### **Arsenal**

Although none of Ryu's other weapons offer the same extreme metaphysical weight as the True Dragon Sword, this collection of swords, flails, shuriken and other motley items have various advantages of their own. For example, the cursed katana Kitetsu, won from the Greater Fiend Doku, can take the vitality of others to be given to Ryu, while "heavy weapons" go through mundane defences that the True Dragon Sword might falter against.

## References

https://ninjagaiden.fandom.com/wiki/Ryu\_Hayabusa

https://deadoralive.fandom.com/wiki/Ryu\_Hayabusa

https://hero.fandom.com/wiki/Ryu\_Hayabusa

https://vsbattles.fandom.com/wiki/Ryu\_Hayabusa

https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/summon-a-servant-mk4-fate-stay-night-crossovers.208968/page-18#post-7895483