A (Fourth Raikage)

**A** (*Ay* in the English Dub) is the **Fourth Raikage** (Literally meaning: *Fourth Lightning Shadow*) of Kumogakure and the supreme-commander of the Allied Shinobi Forces. He is also the partner and the older adoptive brother of the Eight-Tails' Jinchūriki, Killer B.

## Physical Appearance

A is a tall dark-skinned man with a large muscular build, with his blond hair combed back, a small moustache and beard. His face is very distinguished with pronounced cheekbones and tear troughs under his eyes and a prominent crease across his forehead. He has pointed canine teeth and his top lip also has a darker hue than the bottom one; traits he inherited from his father.

Unlike other Kage, A seems to wear his white Kage haori and hat on a regular basis without a shirt underneath, further displaying his hulking physique. He has black Demon Wind Shuriken tattoos on both shoulders. He also wears a gold belt around his waist with a boar's face engraved in the center and a dark green cloth that goes up to his knees held by the belt, along with the standard Kumo sandals and shin guards for footwear. All of these aspects combined give him the appearance of a professional wrestler and boxer.

## Personality

A is very caring and protective towards his adopted younger brother, despite Killer B's status as a jinchūriki. Despite his tough exterior, he is as vulnerable on the inside as anyone, shown when he wept at the news of his younger brother's capture by Akatsuki. However, when Killer B's ploy to use the affair to have a vacation was discovered, A was comically furious (but not surprised), and swore to punish his little brother for it. He claims, that as the Raikage, he has made peace with the idea of having to kill his brother if the situation ever called for it. He also cared deeply for, and respected his father as seen when he was brought to tears at his father's funeral and, upon assuming the mantle of Raikage, swore to protect the village as he did.

He is very headstrong, extremely stubborn and somewhat easily aggravated, smashing a desk apart when news of his brother being captured arrived. He also seemingly has very little patience as seen when he burst through the window of his office to attend the Kage Summit, smashed the table at the Summit when the conversation was deviating and smashing through a wall to go after Sasuke. His assistant implied that he is prone to such actions whenever he was in that mental state. A also has a method of punishing his little brother with what he calls his "Iron Claw".

A also has a very stern, dead-serious and decisive demeanor, as seen when he was seemingly unaffected by Naruto's pleas for Sasuke's life. In his eyes, respect and strength mean everything in the ninja world, and the weak should and will be crushed. This correlates with his philosophy that a ninja should never compromise or bow down in front of another ninja. A has also been shown to be very suspicious of the other ninja villages, accusing all of them of working with Akatsuki and questioning their loyalties. In battle, A is shown to be physically brutal, as he uses extreme physical force to devastate his opponents, and is willing to sacrifice a limb, rather than lose a chance to defeat his opponent. In spite of all this, A seems to be capable of acknowledging and respecting the skills of other shinobi and is not above accepting defeat should they best him in any way, as seen when he finally allowed B and Naruto to enter the battlefield after they surpassed him, in strength and speed, respectively. And before this, A even once thought that there was no one who could surpass the Fourth Hokage. A is also shown to genuinely care about the well-being of his comrades, including those of foreign villages, as he reprimanded Tsunade for fighting so recklessly and left himself vulnerable to express care for her when she began coughing up blood.

When he learned his brother was alive, his attitude had mostly calmed down since his first appearance. He spoke with civility with the other members of the Alliance, and kept his cool during Tsunade's outburst. However, after learning that Akatsuki reincarnated his father, A became enraged again. Like his brother, the Raikage is a compassionate person as well, as he reassured Darui about his left arm that he lost and told him not to blame himself.

A also holds strongly to the belief that the jinchūriki is not an individual, but instead is a tool of the village they live in and its Kage and as such, have no right to make decisions for themselves, an attitude that put him in direct conflict with Tsunade.

## Abilities

**Nintaijutsu Master**: A is a master of **nintaijutsu**, a technique where it requires the use of both ninjutsu and taijutsu. His signature technique is releasing a continuous surge of electricity from his body to form the Lightning Release Armor, augmenting his already formidable natural physical strength, resilience and speed. Because of this, he is considered a master of nintaijutsu. His speed reaches a point where A claims not even the Sharingan should be able to keep up with his movements. This is due to electricity stimulating his nervous system and speeding up his neural synapses, amplifying his reflexes and reaction time, reaching comparable levels to Minato Namikaze, as noted by C. While using this ability in combination with the Body Flicker Technique, he is able to dodge Jūgo's multiple chakra blasts and Amaterasu at point-blank range. The electric armor can also work as a powerful defense, receive only a minor wound on his chest from a direct Chidori strike. By momentarily increasing the electrical surge, A was able to deflect a strike from Sasuke's Sword of Kusanagi: Chidori Katana from behind.

**Immense Speed and Reflexes**: Despite his large physique, the Raikage is noted for being incredibly fast, grabbing Zetsu by the throat before he had a chance to react and evading a point-blank Amaterasu flame. A has claimed that since the Fourth Hokage passed away, there is no shinobi that is faster than him in the world, until Naruto Uzumaki surpassed him in speed with his Kurama Chakra Mode and became the second person to ever dodge his top-speed attack.

**Immense Strength**: A possesses a massive amount of physical strength, just below that of Tsunade's according to Madara Uchiha. When introduced, he was shown lifting a barbell which is usually used with two hands, with a single hand and in a casual manner. He was also able to crush a cliff with a single punch. Later, he was also able to snap the Kubikiribōchō in two (although it had been previously damaged) and snap a couple of the ribs of Sasuke Uchiha's Susanoo, once with a backhanded chop and once with a power-bomb respectively. In his youth, A was even able to cut through one of the four horns of Eight-Tails and knock it to the ground by the sheer strength of his blow. While blocking his punch in his Kurama Chakra Mode, Naruto Uzumaki noted that the Raikage's attacks were extremely heavy and if he were ever to take a direct hit from him, the confrontation would be all over. A was also able to inflict substantial damage to Madara's left arm when the latter blocked his punch. Befitting his appearance the Raikage seems to prefer taijutsu combat, forgoing any hand seals-based ninjutsu. He has shown tremendous prowess in this field: when Naruto and Killer B tried escaping him, A stalled Naruto and B for a considerable amount of time, even turning B's use of the Eight-Tails' tentacles against him.

**Immense Endurance**: A also has an immense tolerance for pain, as he was able to withstand having his arm set on fire by Amaterasu and was even able to cut it off himself, all without flinching.

**Immense Durability**: A has shown to have inherited his father's immense durability, able to take three Lightning Release: Lariats to the chest from Bee without getting damaged. He also survived being transported by Mabui's Heavenly Transfer Technique unharmed.

**Master Hand-to-Hand Combatant**: While possessing powerful and extremely fast punches, A prefers to use wrestling-style moves, than those of standard taijutsu, such as throws, take-downs, leg drops, high-flying strikes, and even dropkicks.

**Nature Transformation**:

**Immense Chakra Power**: A has been noted for an extremely high amount of stamina and strong chakra compared to other shinobi, with Karin noting that his chakra level is comparable to that of a tailed beast. By unleashing a full burst, he can repel everything around him and demolish the ground under him. His chakra is light-blue in color.