Onoki

**Ōnoki** (オオノキ, *Viz:* Ohnoki), renowned as **"Ōnoki of Both Scales"** (両天秤のオオノキ, *Ryōtenbin no Ōnoki*, *English TV:* Ohnoki the Fence-Sitter), is the **Third Tsuchikage** (三代目土影, *Sandaime Tsuchikage*, *literally meaning:* Third Earth Shadow) of Iwagakure. After his death, he was resurrected.

## Background

When he was an adolescent, Ōnoki was tasked with cleaning his village's Stone Monument. As he did so, his grandfather, the First Tsuchikage, came and spoke with him. Ōnoki, who believed that the First was just a cheap old man to have such a simple thing as the symbol of the village, was then told that the stone represented the unmovable will of the shinobi of the village. The First then told Ōnoki that he too possessed that strong will, but would lose it if he didn't face adversities with determination.

As a young man, Ōnoki was a student to the Second Tsuchikage, Mū who passed down to him the secrets of Dust Release techniques. At some point, Ōnoki fought with Madara Uchiha, and was the only living Kage to do so before Madara's death. On one occasion, Madara approached them and declared that despite the alliance between their villages Konoha was to remain the dominant one and anything that Konohagakure requested, Iwagakure was to obey. His knowledge of Madara's power made him wary of him, and was thus surprised that the masked man could really be him. He had also encountered the Second Mizukage, his mentor's rival, and was constantly picked on by the latter.

Eventually, Ōnoki succeeded Mū for the title of Tsuchikage. During his reign, in the anime, he endured the hardships of the Third Shinobi World War, watching many of his people die in battle. Eventually, Konohagakure offered a peace treaty from the Third Hokage himself. While the Iwa council was against the treaty, Ōnoki strongly considered accepting it to stop the bloodshed. At some point, he became acquainted with Deidara, becoming familiar with his ideologies and fighting style. As Tsuchikage, he hired Akatsuki many times for their services in the past, which he rationalised by his concern over Kumogakure's unwavering militarisation. He has also apparently known and dealt with the Fourth Raikage since he was young. Later in the anime, Ōnoki received an invitation from Konohagakure and Sunagakure to join an impromptu Chūnin Exams they would be hosting together. Arrogantly thinking this was an attempt by the two villages to better gauge Iwagakure's strength for an upcoming fight, Ōnoki quickly turned down the offer, merely replying to the hosts that his village was too busy.

## Personality

Ōnoki was a very proud, headstrong, and boastful individual. He refused to retire and choose a successor as Tsuchikage despite being up in age, insisting that he was still strong enough to continue to rule the village. At the same time, he was slightly hypocritical as he encouraged Tsunade to step down as Hokage after awakening from her coma noting that she may be too old. His pride has caused him to have very little respect for those younger than him, as he verbally attacked Gaara (the current Kazekage who is many years his junior) on numerous occasions, dismissing his presumed naivety on dealing with politics. Ōnoki attributed his behaviour as a result of his encounter(s) with Madara in his youth, stating that he had lost sight of who he was because of him. Despite this, he remained an open-minded individual and even regained a sense of himself after seeing Gaara's attitude, gaining great respect for Gaara's skill and power as a Kage, as well as his wisdom even in spite of his young age. He had also come to view Naruto in a similar light. In the end, he credited the friendship between the two men for making him see the errors of his ways. This was also seen during the time he told Akatsuchi that he remembered what he really used to be before he became a stubborn old man, likely meaning he had a kinder and friendlier heart in his youth. Ōnoki also held his master in high regard, addressing him with the "-sama" suffix even after becoming Tsuchikage like his predecessor.

Deidara also noted that Ōnoki hated art, possibly because he ridiculed his Explosive Clay artwork. During the chaos Sasuke Uchiha had started at the summit, Ōnoki didn't seem to be alarmed once the battle in the Summit Room began. He appeared to be calm enough to let the Mizukage Mei Terumī deal with the current situation. Upon observing the fight between the two, he seemed quite entertained, which led him to join the fight.

Ōnoki seemed to be quite ruthless, taking down a heavily-injured Sasuke who had just been saved yet again after facing the wrath of three other Kage before him, on the claim that the ninja world wanted Sasuke dead, even though Ōnoki himself had no grudge against Sasuke personally. He then immediately turned his attention to a devastated Karin, claiming that she was next to die with his Dust Release technique. He did however, seem to be considerate enough to let Tobi speak for his actions, reasoning with the Raikage to listen to his reasons before making their own.

Ōnoki originally hated all the other shinobi villages, and in the past may have resorted to underhanded tactics, taught by his predecessor, after a shinobi alliance had ended. One example was his betrayal of Kirigakure at the Tragedy of Yosuga Pass in the anime. He was even willing to associate with underworld criminals by frequently employing Akatsuki's mercenary services, both for their below competitive prices and rationalising Kumogakure's unwavering militarisation. Later Ōnoki had come to accept the other villages and was capable of great teamwork with the shinobi he once called his enemies. An example of his change in personality was when he sent his bodyguards to the Land of Water in order to apologise for the Tragedy of Yosuka Pass. This is a trait that he attributed to his long life.

During the Fourth Shinobi World War, Ōnoki revealed himself as a very determined, charismatic and inspirational leader, as he was the one who pushed the Fourth Division and later the other Kage to face Madara without fear, despite his displays of overwhelming power and incited his comrades to doing the same. He even went as far as to attempt to stop Madara from chasing after Naruto and Kurama despite being nearly out of chakra.

In his current days, Ōnoki showed a very laidback attitude, wanting to enjoy the world around him whenever possible. At the same time, this hid a more sinister side to him; after losing many young citizens of his village, including his grandson, he grew disillusioned of the world, he had begun taking unethical methods to preserve peace, even willing to abduct his family to ensure his continued experiments. At the same time, adapting a lesser-of-two-evils mentality, he truly believed in his actions, seeing they were for a greater good, all coming from treasuring the lives of the young and worried that such peaceful times have dulled their growth. He wished to avoid as much bloodshed of innocent as possible and truly regretted the losses that came from his indirect actions.

Ultimately however, watching as his efforts only brought about corruption and a shameless path towards order made Ōnoki fully regret his actions, accepting that he overreached and made a mistake. From this and watched power of the human will in action made him return to his previous views, determined to make amends for his lapse of judgement.