Kazuki Nakagawa

Kazuki Nakagawa (中川 かずき) is a shinobi from Konohagakure.

## Background

### Early Life

When he was really young, Kazuki's parents died of an unknown cause, so he lived alone. In the Academy, he earned top grades and graduated at the age of 10. He was then put in a team along with Hana Kiyohara and Osashi Uchiha, with their teacher being Nagaharu Minamoto.

During the times all of them trained together, Kazuki would always demonstrate his potential and strenght. Seeing that, Hana always felt impressed by his skills, which aroused Osashi's jealousy, since he had a crush on Hana since they were very young and didn't thiknk the fact that "a stranger suddenly stole all of her attention" was acceptable. That caused them to argue often (with the discussion most of the times having been started by Osashi), though Kazuki never payed Osashi any attention.

At the age of 12, Kazuki and his team competed in the Chuunin Exams. The only one of them who really became a Chuunin was Kazuki.

### Third Shinobi World War

When the Third Shinobi World War started, Kazuki was 12 years old. His team was assigned to spy on some Iwagakure ninja and relate details to their superiors. As Nagaharu was needed on the battle camp, he left his students alone to complete the mission.

The three of them entered Kusagakure to find where the enemies were, but they were soon ambushed by them. All of the ninjas started fighting. In the end, the shinobi from Iwa took Hana as a hostage and Kazuki told Osashi they had to retreat, which he reluctantly obeyed.

Far away from where they had been attacked, Osashi proposed that they should go back and rescue Hana from the hands of the other ninjas, but Kazuki said it wasn't that simple and said that they should wait until they were fully healed, and then examine the oponent's tactics so they could relate them to more skilled ninjas from Konoha. Osashi showed his disapproval by telling Kazuki that saving Hana was a priority, to which the other boy responded saying they shouldn't deviate from their mission, since it was too dangerous. In an outburst of all the anger she had been harboring for two years, Osashi tried to punch Kazuki in the face, only to be stopped by him. Osashi saw Kazuki's expressionless face and that only made him angrier, so he tried to punch him with his other hand, being stopped again.

Kazuki held both Osashi's wrists with his hands as his teammate struggled to break free; he then decided to kick Kazuki, but the Nakagawa dodged and punched the Uchiha on the face, causing him to fall on the ground holding his bruised cheek. Kazuki irritably told him to get up and come, but Osashi refused to obey. He started crying and started yelling at Kazuki, accusing him of never caring about anyone but himself; he said that someone like Kazuki would never be able to understand or valorize the feelings of a girl like Hana, shocking him. Osashi got up and said it was also parly his own fault, and cursed himself for being so weak.

Still shocked, Kazuki took Osashi's arm and tried to patiently explain to him the risks of fighting so many powerful ninjas alone, but the Uchiha's reponse was to pull his arm away and insult him again, saying he didn't even want to look at his face or hear his voice, especially if he would just say stupid excuses. Kazuki asked him why he was saying all of that, and Osashi told him everything: about how he and Hana were close during their childhood, but since the three of them had been assigned to the same team, they had grown distant because Hana was in love with Kazuki. Osashi admitted he had always been jealous of Kazuki because he was better than him in everything, and seeing the girl she loved more than anything in the world getting ignored was driving him insane.

The sudden outburst of emotions made Osashi awaken his Sharingan, shocking both boys. Osashi then wiped his tears, smiled, and said that now he could recue Hana by himself and finally prove to her he was worthy too, and maybe she would give him a chance. Before he could leave, Kazuki grabbed his arm and said that he was going to help, because he really cared about them.

The two fought some ninjas in their way, and Osashi untied Hana from where she was being held at. Hana thanked and hugged them both, and despite that, Osashi could still sense that the way she treated them was different. But there, he realized that his love for Hana was so great that if she was happy with Kazuki, then he would be happy too. He also hoped that now that he had opened his new friend's eyes to her feelings, he would take an attitude. Before they could leave, however, another shinobi from Iwa appeared, and, concerned for Hana's safety, Osashi told her to run away. Kazuki said that they needed everyone they could to fight the man, and Hana would be essencial there since she had medical ninjutsu, but the girl followed Osashi's commands and ran away

Osashi then explained that Hana was the thing connecting both of them, so she couldn't die. Despite all their efforts to defeat the Iwa-nin, they were having a very hard time. Suddenly, Kazuki got hit by a very powerful punch that threw him in a wall; their enemy rushed towards him with a sword, ready to kill Kazuki, who closed his eyes and mentally apologized to everyone. He heard the sound of the blade cutting through flesh, but was surprised to note that he felt no pain whatsoever, and opened his eyes to see Osashi standing in front of him, with the sword pierced through his back. After having the sword taken out of him, Osashi fell to the floor, and Kazuki laid him against the wall. He defeated the ninja and then came to help Osashi, who started coughing blood.

Kazuki told him to hold on, that there was still a way to save him and he would bring him to Hana, since she could heal him; Osashi protested, saying he was already dead and it'd be too late for him to be saved. He made Kazuki promise he would always protect Hana no matter what, before saying his last words to Kazuki and dying.

After the incident, both Kazuki and Hana grew very distant, as he blamed her for Osashi's death, but vowed to protect her, only to honour Osashi's dying wish. In the following years, none of them talked to each other and they rarely even met outside of missions. Both Kazuki and Hana visited Osashi's grave often, but the boy always made sure to get in a day or time where the girl wasn't there. The only day the two of them would be together near the grave of their former comrade was in the day of Osashi's birthday, as Kazuki would spend most of the day there, mourning. In missions, he treated her coldly and profissionally.

### After the Third Shinobi World War

3 years later, when both Hana and Kazuki were 15, they were assigned to a mission to assassinate nukenin, in which Hana was taken hostage, and again, Kazuki was forced to retreat with minor injuries. The situation reminded him of what had happened years earlier, and he began having a panic attack, unsure of what to do. Remembering the promise he had made to Osashi, the Nakagawa built up courage to confront the nukenin.

Near the end of the fight, there was only one ninja remaining, and seeing that Kazuki would attack him, he used Hana as a shield, trying to protect himself; however, Kazuki wasn't able to stop himself in time and ended up impaling Hana's body, while also fatally injuring his oponent. He began apologizing deeply, but was unable to save her and she died in his arms.

Feeling as he was the one responsible for his friends' deaths, Kazuki began falling into a depression and convinced himself that he had murdered Osashi and Hana. However, Nagaharu was there and slowly helped him get better and stop blaming himself.

## Personality

As a child, he had a very calm and cool personality. Kazuki was one of the few who didn't need training, since he was naturally strong, and so, spent most of his time bored doing nothing. A few days after the two of them met, Hana introduced Kazuki to reading, and since that day, he spent his time reading new books. Kazuki was oblivious to his fellow teammate Osashi Uchiha's provocations, as he thought they were childish and too stupid for him to waste his time with. Kazuki, as described by Osashi, was also a bit of a selfish person, as well as arrogant, and oblivious to Hana's feelings. After Osashi opened his eyes, Kazuki realized the love he had for his team and offered himself to help Osashi save him as friends.

Kazuki was deeply affected by Osashi's death. In the start, he started blaming himself, for Osashi had been died due to an attack that was supposed to hit Kazuki, but then he started putting the blame entirely on Hana, since she could have saved Osashi's life had she not ran away. He started acting coldly and avoiding her, making sure that the only times the two met were during official missions and during Osashi's birthday, where they would go visit his grave.

Despite everything, it's shown he still had a bit of simpathy towards Hana, and his promise to Osashi wasn't the only reason he protected her. After Hana's death, Kazuki felt extremely guilty, but his teacher, Nagaharu, helped him get over it.

Kazuki still has a calm and cool personality, but he now always shows how much he cares about other people. He has a desire to protect Konoha and its inhabitants, and vowed he wouldn't let anyone else die because of him.