Fuma Kotaro

## Image Gallery

**Fuma Kotaro** (風 (ふう) 魔 (ま)  小太 (こた) 郎 (ろう) , *Fūma Kotarō*), also known as "**The Fuma Empress**" (風 (ふう) 魔 (ま) の女 (じょ) 帝 (てい) , *Fūma no Jotei*), is one of the fighters participating in the Tenkaichi tournament, representing Hojo Ujimasa. She is the 6th Generation leader of the Fuma clan, having surpassed the previous leader.

## Appearance

The 6th Generation leader is a domineering woman with a very well-defined musculature, a svelte visage, long voluminous flame-coloured hair, ruby-coloured eyes and red tattoo-like markings underneath both eyes, round the tops of her ample bosom and lining each bicep. She has a distinct and very revealing attire, featuring a white haori over a form-fitting black crop top that exposes her underboob and toned physique, tied by a red-and-white rope belt and form-fitting black leg garments with stylised wedges; Kotaro is often seen smoking from her kiseru.

When she was still a Fuma clan hannin, Kotaro had yet to receive her facial markings and her hair was cut short in a Pixie cut-esque style. She was still relatively tall and defined however.

## Personality

When speaking, Kotaro is an illeist and appears to commonly pepper her speech with food and eating-related double entendres (especially in regards to fighting-related things). She has a very apparent satisfaction when it comes to dominating and overwhelming her opponents.

Kotaro has a deceptively twisted relationship with her closest "friends". The 5th Generation leader once misunderstood her relationship with former Fuma hannin Ao. While the details of the relationship are unknown, Kotaro seemingly showed great affection and care for Ao, but ultimately referred to her as her "dog"; the former Fuma clan leader even admitted that as a result of killing Kotaro's old "dog", he ended up replacing Ao as her current dog (although the nature of the relationship is implied to be different). To this end, Kotaro refers to ⁵ᵗʰFuma as "Doggy" (ポチ, *Pochi*).[NOTE]Pochi is a generic dog name in Japan

## History

A few years ago, whilst still a Kazegumi hannin in the Fuma clan, during the latter stages of a selection test, Kurenai[NOTE]The 6th Generation Fuma Kotaro was carrying Ao, despite the latter kunoichi saying to go on without her. Kurenai said she would never leave Ao behind as they could still pass the test. However, ⁵ᵗʰFuma Kotaro appeared, informing them the test was over: Kurenai would rise to Tsukigumi while Ao would be demoted to Tsuchigumi. Kurenai retorted in disbelief saying the test wasn't over yet but a dismissive ⁵ᵗʰFuma responded that while Kurenai had great potential her sympathy towards Ao was a fatal flaw. Kurenai then shouted that if Ao was put in the Tsuchigumi, she would go to and would crawl her way to the top. Disappointed, ⁵ᵗʰKotaro agreed to let her join too, but added that there was no such thing as "crawling up" from the Tsuchigumi.
Brought to a dungeon, the two kunoichi saw the horrible condition of Tsuchigumi hannin. Ao tried to protest Kurenai's position in Tsuchigumi, but the Fuma scientist derisively berated her, saying that those in Tsuchigumi were subhuman and their only use was as the Fuma medical jutsu's lab rats. From then on, Kurenai and Ao were used in experiments for various drugs and poisons.

With Kurenai tied up alongside a worn down Ao, ⁵ᵗʰFuma appeared and unsentimentally noted their survival and their usefulness as lab rats. ⁵ᵗʰFuma then said he wanted to try one more drug on them: Miyabi Orochi #5. Musing that none who had taken the drug had survived and adding that he only had one shot left, ⁵ᵗʰFuma then pondered aloud that since he only had one left whom to inject it into. Kurenai shouted out for it to be her as Ao could take no more, causing ⁵ᵗʰFuma to note Kurenai had still not thrown away her sympathy. With Ao asking for Kurenai to be spared instead and Kurenai seemingly emotional at Ao's condition, ⁵ᵗʰFuma admitted he only wanted to mock their relationship before revealing that he had lied about there only being one shot left. ⁵ᵗʰFuma derided her and Kurenai screamed out as the two kunoichi were injected with the drug. With Kurenai looking on helplessly, Ao ended up dying violently. Hysterical at the scene, Kurenai cried out before tearing free of her bindings; shrieking at ⁵ᵗʰFuma not to break people's stuff[NOTE]In the Japanese, she says "Kurenai's dog"; she was referring to Ao as her pet dog. without their permission, Kurenai charged and punched him in the face so hard his left eye flew out before proceeding to massacre everyone else present. In denial, a crying Kurenai told the dead Ao to wake up as she would treat her more affectionately from now on. Accepting Ao was dead, a silent Kurenai stared at the down ⁵ᵗʰFuma Kotaro...

## Plot

Fuma Kotaro was seen gathered in Osaka castle, along with the other warriors competing in the Tenkaichi tournament.

The hidden sword of the Hojo clan, the 5th Generation Fuma Kotaro, is introduced to the audience however, it was quickly clarified that the one who would *actually* represent Hojo Ujimasa in the Tenkaichi was none other than the 6th Generation Fuma Kotaro! She jumped down from a nearby roof, straight on to ⁵ᵗʰKotaro's back, using him as a seat! Getting up and surveying her opponent, Fuma noted Toda Seigen's smaller stature, calling him a dried monkey, but added she didn't mind eating strange food. Fuma called out to ⁵Kotaro, who proceeded to throw her their clan's legendary shuriken. Toda then asked if the large size of her shuriken interfered with her work as a shinobi, but Fuma replied that it would be boring to tell before the fight and he would have to wait to have a taste. She then lightly goaded Toda, who responded in kind. With Oda Nobunaga bored of the current location, the fight was moved to the "Forest of Bloody Battle", a nearby forested island.

Fuma derisively commented that Toda was unlucky to have to fight in a forest as a blind man, but he brushed off the comments and got into stance. The fight finally got underway, with Kotaro immediately launching her shuriken at Toda, but he somehow sidestepped the attack, sending the shuriken gouging through a nearby tree. Getting behind him, Kotaro acknowledged that Toda was more than he seemed before throwing a punch at his head. However, Seigen pre-emptively slashed before Fuma could land the hit, leaving a small cut on her waist and slicing her rope belt. Kotaro mentioned her satisfaction at their exchange with Toda asking what kind of physique she had to pull off her movements; Kotaro instead asked how he could react to her attacks, but Toda said if he revealed the secret now, it'd be boring. Fuma questioned what the blind Seigen was thinking and the amount of effort required to get to his level, adding that it was her favourite type; she then stated that she'd show him the great difference between them whilst she twisted her body into a tight coil. Launching her shuriken at Toda with a ridiculous amount of force, it smashed into a tree nearby him, snapping it and sending debris flying everywhere. With the destruction serving only as a distraction, Fuma quickly closed in on Seigen and then clapped her hands together with extreme force, letting off a localised shockwave that ruptured Seigen's eardrums. Musing that his ears replaced his eyes, Kotaro mockingly noted that he couldn't hear her anymore. With Toda's superhuman sense of hearing nullified, Kotaro capitalised on his induced lack of perception and landed a heavy kick to his torso, sending the blind swordsman hurtling into a tree. Estimating how many ribs were broken, Fuma acknowledged Seigen's strength but mused she could no longer enjoy the fight like this. Flicking out a concealed shuriken, she threw it at his head but was left in disbelief when a seemingly revived Toda deflected it with his sword. Her interest in the fight returning, Kotaro flicked out three more concealed shuriken and threw them at Seigen who deflected them all. She then questioned what kind of trick he was using to deflect her shuriken despite being unable to see or hear. Coming to the conclusion that all her other options exhausted, Fuma decided she had no choice but to use a forbidden power here. Pulling out a small object, Fuma told Toda that her trump card is what made her the strongest "Fuma Kotaro" of all time. Revealing it to be a syringe, Kotaro injected herself with it, causing her to momentarily seize up before collapsing to the ground for a few moments. Slowly getting back to her feet, Kotaro hurtled towards Toda, performing an acrobatic set of movements and almost catching him with a powerful somersaulting kick. Not letting up, she followed up her kick with a strong arm attack, sending Toda flying backwards. Laughing hysterically, Kotaro asked Seigen how he wanted to die with a sadistically ecstatic expression on her face before telling him that the battle was over and it was now time to "play".

Invigorated by effects of the drug, Kotaro hungrily darted at Toda with her superhuman movements and punched off his left ear then followed with a vicious kick which he narrowly avoided; she continued to violently overwhelm Toda, viciously buffeting him away. Praising him for lasting so long, Fuma recalled his burst eardrums before musing that victory would be hers, eliciting Seigen to make a confident retort about his own chances. Kotaro then launched into a frontal charge, but was caught by surprise when he entangled her right arm with the chains from the Fuma Shuriken she had thrown earlier, resulting in the two being connected by the length of chain. Seigen goaded that a beast should be chained up, but Fuma laughed in response saying it was *he* who was chained with her. Fuma then powerfully flung Toda in the direction of a tree but he managed to land feet first on it. She then closed in again to crush him with her fist, but Toda narrowly avoided her punch and countered with a deep slash to her side. Seigen then exclaimed that he could now perceive the future with a battle-lusted Fuma wondering aloud if he was bluffing before saying that she would just have to be faster than the future. With Toda goadingly questioning whether Kotaro could even kill him, she exclaimed that she would before the two furiously exchanged a multitude of strikes at near imperceptible speeds. However, Kotaro took the upper hand, landing a crushing punch to Toda's left shoulder, cracking it, before yanking the chain to exacerbate the damage. Closing in again, Seigen somehow maneuvered his broken body from his disadvantageous position and pulled off an unexpected cross-counter with his kodachi impaling Fuma's defending left arm whilst she punched him in the face with her chained arm. Noting her blow was too shallow, Kotaro incredulously wondered what the hell Toda was to still be fighting. As the two clashed again, Kotaro suddenly faltered but the two both launched their final strikes at each other... however, Kotaro's strike landed first, impaling her hand through Toda's chest with the swordsman's heart gripped in her hand. As she crushed his heart in her hand, Toda made one final unexpected attack, cutting into Fuma's shoulder! Though, Kotaro was able to move away his blade-wielding hand from her shoulder as Seigen finally died. A tired but victorious Fuma Kotaro admitted that Toda Seigen was the first person to ever make her fear death and commended him as the best man! At that, Mori Ranmaru announced her as the winner of the second match.
With Hojo Ujimasa loudly celebrating their victory, Fuma assured him that she will win the Tenkaichi, adding that it's fun to plunder something big.

In the evening, Fuma was seen ravenously devouring meat while using ⁵ᵗʰFuma as her seat at the banquet held for them all.

On the second day of the Tenkaichi, Fuma was in the audience for the fight between Kamiizumi Ise-no-Kami and Hino Choko, using ⁵ᵗʰFuma Kotaro as a seat. With Miyamoto Musashi walking past with his father, Kotaro commented about him coming to watch with his "daddy" to which Musashi replied that she had no right to talk. Musing that she didn't hate his cockiness, she told him to keep in mind that her seat was her *pet* and not her daddy, before saying that she was going to get a taste of the one they called the Sword Saint. When Kamiizumi was introduced, Fuma noted how crude he appeared to be acting.
After the two fighters stood across from each other, Fuma remarked that Kamiizumi looked even feebler than Toda Seigen did. After the fight began, Kotaro further commented her opinions and awe on the match, adding that Kamiizumi reminded her of Toda.

## Powers & Abilities

As the current head of the Fuma clan, Fuma Kotaro is a very powerful and dangerous individual in battle. In particular, she possesses colossal levels of physical strength and speed, as well as remarkable body control; Toda Seigen was left wondering what level of physique Fuma possessed to be able to rapidly pull her fist back, after being halfway through a punching action, to avoid getting slashed by him. In addition to being able to wield the large and heavy Fuma Shuriken with ease, Fuma has showcased her great physical strength on multiple occasions. With a mighty clap of her hands, she was able to produce a localised shockwave of such magnitude it ruptured her opponent's eardrums (breaking her own fingernails in the process) and could be heard painfully clear by the surrounding audience. Not long after, she was able break Toda Seigen's ribs with a single kick to the torso.
Despite being a largely ranged fighter, Kotaro has shown the ability to cover distances, close in on and even get behind her opponents frighteningly quickly. Fuma also has a high degree of endurance and pain tolerance; she barely flinched after being impaled through her forearm and into her shoulder and kept fighting with the same intensity afterwards after pulling it out.

It is shown that Fuma Kotaro has always been outstandingly talented, even before she became a fully-fledged Fuma shinobi, with her prowess being noted on a few occasions by the former leader. She also showed a very high resistance to poisons, being able to survive the harsh drug testing done on Tsuchigumi hannin as well as survive and even thrive on the effects of the Miyabi Orochi drug.

### Martial Arts

**Fuma Clan Ninjutsu** (風 (ふう) 魔 (ま) 党忍術, *Fūma-tō Ninjutsu*?Literal translation: *Wind Demon Clan's Ninjutsu*): Fuma Kotaro utilises the ninjutsu she inherited from her shinobi clan, which focuses mainly on ranged attacks using projectile weaponry mixed with close-range unarmed combat. She primarily wields her clan's legendary heirloom, the "**Fuma Shuriken**" (風魔手裏剣, *Fūma Shuriken*), a noticeably large uniquely-shaped shuriken which is attached to a long kusari-fundo; she also is also quite proficient in the usage of normal-sized bo-shuriken.

**Fuma Shinobi Army Tradition, Fuma Shuriken** (風魔忍軍伝来 風魔手裏剣, *Fūma Shinobi Gen-denrai Fūma Shuriken*?Literal translation: *Wind Demon Shinobi Army's Tradition, Wind Demon Shuriken*): Consists of the Fuma clan's inherited techniques that incorporate the Fuma Shuriken.

* **Hawk Bullet** (鷹ノ弾, *Taka no Tama*?Literal translation: *Eagle's Bullet*): Starting with a very exaggerated stance pitching, Kotaro then throws the Fuma Shuriken at her target; the entire set of motions for the technique are extremely similar to a modern baseballer's pitch. When she used it against Toda Seigen, she ended up gouging out the side of a tree with the chained shuriken.
* **Tiger Bullet** (虎ノ弾, *Tora no Tama*?Literal translation: *Tiger's Bullet*): Coiling and twisting her body tightly whilst spinning the Fuma Shuriken (in order to accumulate and maximise her potential energy), Kotaro then hurls the Fuma Shuriken at her target with tremendous amounts of force behind it. With a resulting force much greater than Hawk Bullet, Kotaro's use of the technique carries enough force to snap trees.

**Fuma Medical Jutsu: Miyabi Orochi #6** (風魔薬術 雅 (みやび) 大蛇 (おろち) ノ六番, *Fūma Kusuri-jutsu: Miyabi Orochi no Roku-ban*?Literal translation: *Wind Demon Medical Art: Miyabi Orochi Number 6*): The "forbidden power" that supposedly makes her the strongest "Fuma Kotaro" in history; Kotaro uses the sixth iteration of the drug. After injecting herself with the toxic drug, Fuma's eyes darken and bleed a little (from increased blood flow) and she gains a notably explosive increase in her already immense physical abilities as well as virtually limitless stamina. Under the augmentation it provides, Kotaro was able to power through Toda Seigen's incredible perceptive abilities and reflexes that had previously been able to repel her, effortlessly fling him around while connected to him by a length of chain and impale him through the chest (tearing out his heart in the process) with her bare hand. The first time she took Miyabi Orochi (in its fifth iteration), she was able to forcefully break free from multiple rope bindings, punch the 5th Generation Fuma Kotaro's eye out before he could react and then massacre everyone else in the room (despite months of drugs and poisons having been tested on her).

## Notes & Trivia

* Fūma Kotarō was the name adopted by the leader of the ninja Fuma clan during the Sengoku era of feudal Japan.
	+ The name is actually a title, bestowed on the leader of the clan. After being chosen, they would give up their old name and take upon themselves the title of Fuma Kotaro. The 6th Generation Fuma Kotaro's real name is **Kurenai** (紅, *Kurenai*).
	+ The 5th generation is the most famous among all the Fuma clan leaders. Thus, most fictional portrayals of Fuma Kotaro are based on him. Having their equivalent in the form of the 5th generation makes this female interpretation an entirely new character instead of a gender-bent version of the famous one.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 7 (page 39).
2. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 10 (page 38).
3. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 10 (page 41).
4. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 7 (page 44).
5. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 10 (pages 19-24).
6. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 10 (pages 25-28).
7. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 10 (pages 29-41).
8. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 8 (page 21).
9. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 9 (page 2).
10. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 8 (pages 38-40).
11. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 9 (pages 4-5).
12. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 8 (pages 15 & 17), gets behind Toda Seigen momentarily after using Hawk Bullet.
13. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 8 (pages 31 & 35), is in striking distance of Toda Seigen momentarily after using Tiger Bullet.
14. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 12 (pages 20, 24-25).
15. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 10 (pages 22 & 31).
16. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 10 (page 29).
17. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 7 (page 47).
18. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 9 (pages 5, 7 & 12).
19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 8 (page 15).
20. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 8 (page 16).
21. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 8 (page 30).
22. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 8 (pages 29-30).
23. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 8 (pages 33-34).
24. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 9 (page 44), Miyabi
25. ↑ Miyabi
26. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 10 (pages 8-13).
27. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 11 (page 11).
28. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 10 (page 14).
29. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 11 (pages 23-24).
30. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 12 (pages 36-37).
31. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 10 (pages 37-39).
32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 History Behind Japan's Legendary Ninja-Pirate Fuma Kotaro: Demon of the Wind and Master of the Flame!
33. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 10 (page 19).