Iwabee Yuino

**Iwabee Yuino** (結乃イワベエ, *Yuino Iwabee*) is a Konohagakure genin. While a standout during his entire time enrolled in the Academy, his poor academic test grades lead him to be held back repeatedly. He is a member of Team 5 along with Metal Lee, Jet Lee, and Denki Kaminarimon.

## Background

Iwabee had a grandfather who was killed by Yagura Karatachi. On the day of the Seventh Hokage's inauguration, Iwabee watched the event beside other villagers. Dreaming of becoming a mighty and famous ninja, Iwabee soon enrolled in the Academy. While consistently scoring top marks in all his various ninja classes, his aversion/dislike of book studies not related to ninjutsu, but still required curriculum lead him to get equally consistent poor written grades. This made him fail the graduation exams twice and ultimately forgotten by his former friends who went on to become full-fledged ninja. Blaming the new shinobi era's pursuit of both studies and physical skills for him being held back, Iwabee became rebellious. He would regularly skip classes completely and become harsh if not confrontational with the younger students.

## Personality

Apparently stemming from his setbacks and misfortune in being held back in the Academy, Iwabee became very distant and blunt. While hardworking, his single-minded nature on becoming a ninja lead him to slack off on his other required studies, which ultimately became the key reason he failed the graduation exams twice. Unable to improve this area of training and unable to accept it, he took his anger out on others. Valuing strength above all else, Iwabee developed a very domineering attitude, openly proclaiming that strong people can do as they please. While raised in an era of peace, he admires the warring era, believing its constant struggles were the key to forging mighty ninja. He also views the Academy students as weak and lazy, taking advantage of the peaceful times and only becoming ninja by name alone. Desiring recognition, Iwabee despises being looked-down upon. He also has a very high opinion of himself, viewing other students as beneath him is very bossy towards them, demanding to give him privacy. He is also shown to be fairly short-tempered, as upon his views being challenged, he can get very aggressive if not violent.

This attitude changed after meeting Boruto Uzumaki. While having an especial disdain for him, seeing him as an overly-privileged son of the Seventh Hokage who took advantage of his lineage for special treatment, he was amazed to see how strong-willed Boruto was in his refusal to give up. Ironically, Boruto helped Iwabee see that he was being a hypocrite at trying to avoid his problems. Afterwards, Iwabee became much more civil to Boruto and his other classmates; even his teacher, Shino Aburame, noted a considerably more positive attitude since. His loyalty to his new friends has since become apparent, even going out of his way to help them succeed. Even more, he is shown making a serious effort to learn his academics during his free time, albeit he still struggles and requires help from his friends.

His newfound appreciation for others also was shown from his proficiency in Cooperation Ninjutsu, able to properly synchronise his techniques with others. He remains very open about his beliefs, including that no one can determine a person's potential but themselves, and that one must dream big and always push for it. Despite his improved attitude in his studies and with his fellow villagers, Iwabee is shown to be a somewhat overly-cautious individual. Having a personal bad history with Kirigakure, he showed a noticeable dislike of the "Bloody Mist Village", viewing their modern changes as irrelevant as their history as the "Bloody Mist Village" wasn't too long ago. Later, after performing a mission alongside Kiri-nin, Iwabee began to accept the change was really happening for the better in the village.

His passion as a shinobi has led him to amass a large, encyclopedic knowledge of the various famous shinobi in history. He particularly admires Naruto, openly viewing him as the greatest shinobi of all and even treasuring getting an extremely rare trading card of him. Much of his admiration of the Seven Hokage comes from recognising Naruto reaching his legendary fame despite his harsh start. He also appears to have a crush on Kurotsuchi. Being older than his classmates and more focused on actual combat, Iwabee is more conditioned for the practice, able to make quick and decisive decisions in battle. He also has shown a very tactical nature, able to use various basic techniques to outwit his foes. Given his desire to be strong, he appears to greatly prefer strong taijutsu tactics in combat, admiring those who have such skill. Despite his low overall written test scores, he is knowledgeable in the usage of techniques, such as the exchange of one's chakra to perform them.