Naobito Zenin

* Anime
* Manga

**Naobito Zenin** (禪 (ぜん) 院 (いん) 直 (なお) 毘 (び) 人 (と) , *Zen'in Naobito*?) is a supporting character in the *Jujutsu Kaisen* series. He was a special grade 1 jujutsu sorcerer, the 26th head of the Zenin Clan, and the father of Naoya Zenin.

## Appearance

Naobito has mid-length, gray hair that is usually slicked back to reach just behind his neck. He has small black eyes with long eyebrows with thick edges. Naobito also sports a long, thin, English-style mustache that extends beyond both sides of his cheeks.

The 26th head of the Zenin Clan casually wore a brown yukata with a black sash around his own house. While out on missions, he wears a more layered Japanese-style uniform. This includes a light gray haori over a dark blue yukata with a black hakama, white tabi, and zori sandals.

During the Shibuya Incident, Naobito's arm was lost to Dagon's shikigami and his skin was severely burnt by Jogo's flames.

Naobito with his gourd.Naobito without his right arm.
## Personality

Naobito is a tempered and aloof individual to a degree where it conflicts with his image as a clan head. Some question his capabilities as the head mainly due to his consistent drinking. Like the majority of the Zenin members, Naobito was raised on sorcerer traditionalist values thus crafting his personality into that of an arrogant person who dismisses any whose abilities he deems as beneath his, this extends even to his own family ergo his nieces. Naobito naturally clashes with Maki, who opposes him despite having little cursed energy. He threatened to get at Maki through her sister and has used his influence to keep her from being promoted.

Additionally, in spite of Satoru Gojo's importance to the world, Naobito has proudly said he wouldn't mind seeing the fall of his clan. Throughout all the battles, he had an arrogant grin the entire mission while taunting his allies and enemies alike.

Naobito is known to be frequently drunk and will even openly ask for "booze". He's often seen with a gourd to drink from and Nanami went as far as to question whether he had been drinking on a mission based on Maki's comment. Regardless, Naobito didn't take part in the beginning stages of the Shibuya Incident, electing to take a nap rather than fighting transfigured humans with Maki.

The special grade 1 sorcerer appeared to only have an interest in stronger opponents like Dagon. There were several exchanges where Naobito engaged in playful banter with the cursed spirit despite being in the middle of a fight.

## Abilities and Powers

**Overall Skill Level**: As the head of the Zenin clan and a special grade 1 sorcerer up until his death, Naobito was a highly regarded fighter throughout the jujutsu world. His mastery of Projection Sorcery coupled with his martial skill and knack for strategic timing earned him recognition as the fastest jujutsu sorcerer outside of Satoru Gojo.

Naobito was shown to be capable of effortlessly overpowering Dagon, a special grade cursed spirit in close quarters combat throughout the beginning of their battle, despite Dagon possessing far more cursed energy and cursed techniques than himself. He was more than fast enough to save Maki from certain death when one of her attacks on Dagon failed while also outperforming Nanami, a fellow grade 1 sorcerer throughout the initial stages of their fight. Naobito showcases substantial battle intellect, reading Dagon's progression throughout the fight and using his own abilities to create openings for Maki and Nanami to the point that Dagon was unable to properly react. Preventing him from unleashing any of his techniques and prompting Dagon to openly recognize Naobito as his strongest adversary.

While not possessing a domain expansion of his own, Naobito is capable of countering domains via Falling Blossom Emotion. His skill with the technique is substantial enough to force a powerful curse like Dagon to focus up to seventy percent of his Death Swarm on him. Withstanding an endless stream of man-eating fish shikigami for over a minute and only losing a single arm.

Even while heavily injured Naobito still possesses enough speed and agility to outmaneuver his foes. Assisting Toji Zenin at the end of his struggle with Dagon  and even managing to dodge an attack from Jogo who was capable of setting both Nanami and Maki ablaze in an instant.

**Master Hand-to-Hand Combatant**: Naobito employs the speed granted by his innate technique in tandem with his martial arts ability with masterful skill. He engages adversaries in close quarters combat, crushing his opponents with a flurry of rapid-fire punches and devastating kicks among other immensely fast and powerful attacks.

Coupled with his speed, Naobito's power makes him a threat as well. Strikes with blinding speed come one after another in quick succession, effectively preventing his opponents from fighting back due to lacking the opportunity to counter attack. He has great strength that can generate enough force to injure special grade cursed spirits. A single punch forced Dagon to vomit numerous human skeletons. Even after Dagon evolved, Naobito was able to knock him around the room with successive powerful strikes.

**Great Tactical Intellect**: Naobito is very observant and takes mental notes of the progress of a situation. He stays one step ahead of his opponent by playing to his strengths and applying them appropriately during the fight. When Dagon evolved, Naobito instantly recognized that he was just a cursed womb before. After seeing Dagon's cursed techniques, Naobito instantly came up with a counter-strategy that overwhelmed Dagon with pure blinding speed in spite of the curse's superior jujutsu. Inside Dagon's domain, Naobito was able to resist the domain's automatic-hit within just a few moments of judgment. Despite being the only one to resist Dagon's shikigami, Naobito recognized that the situation still didn't favor him.

### Jujutsu

**Projection Sorcery** (投 (とう) 射 (しゃ) 呪 (じゅ) 法 (ほう) , *Tōsha Juhō*?): This technique allows the user to divide one second into twenty-four frames and trace a predetermined set of movements to execute in that second. It uses the user's field of view as the projection angle of view. While Projection Sorcery is active, anything touched by Naobito's palm must abide by the 24FPS as well or they will get frozen for one second inside an animation frame. Naobito uses this technique to appear to move faster than the eye can see in addition to freezing any adversaries that can't keep up with his speed.

## Battles & Events

**Shibuya Incident Arc**

* Jujutsu Sorcerers vs. Dagon

## Trivia

* Naobito's first name contains the kanji for "honesty, frankness" (直, *nao*?), "help, assist" (毘, *bi*?) and "person" (人, *to*?).
* Naobito's rankings in the Popularity Polls are as follows:
	+ Naobito ranked 75th in the first Popularity Poll with 12 votes.
	+ Naobito ranked 53rd in the second Popularity Poll with 24 votes.
	+ Naobito ranked 100th in the third Popularity Poll with 2 votes.
* According to Jujutsu Kaisen Official Fanbook:
	+ His hobby is watching anime.
	+ Favorite dish: Alcohol, specifically Japanese rice wine.
	+ Least Favorite dish: Pounded fishcake
	+ Cause of stress: Gojo Family.
	+ The reason he wasn't saving civilians during the Shibuya Incident is because he has no interest in ordinary people.
	+ He didn't get too involved in the Shibuya Incident because he doesn’t get along well with Gojo family.
	+ His character design is based on Salvador Dalí.
	+ Naobito is knowledgeable about how anime is made because of his hobby. Originally, his technique is derived from the video medium and cameras. The brush up from film to 24-frame anime happened during Naobito’s generation.
* Naobito is known to have multiple sons. Although it's been stated that Naoya is the most talented of them.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 *Jujutsu Kaisen* Official Fanbook: (p. 57).
*Jujutsu Kaisen* Manga: Chapter 107 (p. 11).
*Jujutsu Kaisen* Manga and Anime: Chapter 42 (p. 8-10) and Episode 17.
*Jujutsu Kaisen* Manga and Anime: Chapter 106 (p. 8) and Episode 38.
*Jujutsu Kaisen* Manga and Anime: Chapter 106 (p. 9) and Episode 38.
*Jujutsu Kaisen* Manga and Anime: Chapter 99 (p. 3) and Episode 36.
*Jujutsu Kaisen* Manga and Anime: Chapter 106 (p. 14-19) and Episode 38.
*Jujutsu Kaisen* Manga and Anime: Chapter 107 (p. 10-15) and Episode 38.
*Jujutsu Kaisen* Manga and Anime: Chapter 107 (p. 15-22) and Episode 38.
*Jujutsu Kaisen* Manga and Anime: Chapter 108 (p. 3-4) and Episode 38.
*Jujutsu Kaisen* Manga and Anime: Chapter 109 (p. 8-11) and Episode 38.
*Jujutsu Kaisen* Manga and Anime: Chapter 110 (p. 18) and Episode 39.
*Jujutsu Kaisen* Manga and Anime: Chapter 111 (p. 12-14) and Episode 39.
*Jujutsu Kaisen* Manga and Anime: Chapter 106 (p. 12-16) and Episode 38.
*Jujutsu Kaisen* Manga and Anime: Chapter 107 (p. 19-21) and Episode 38.
*Jujutsu Kaisen* Manga and Anime: Chapter 107 (p. 15-17) and Episode 38.
*Jujutsu Kaisen* Manga and Anime: Chapter 108 (p. 4-11) and Episode 38.
*Jujutsu Kaisen* Manga and Anime: Chapter 111 (p. 12-13) and Episode 38.
*Jujutsu Kaisen* Manga and Anime: Chapter 108 (p. 4) and Episode 38.