Zankoku

Zankoku was a mercenary ninja that was formerly a shinobi of Konohagakure.

## Background

Zankoku and his partner Mujona used to be shinobi of Konohagakure. However, there were sent out on a mission where they had to sacrifice their teammate in order to succeed. This caused them to be shunned by their village and stripped of their power. Angered, him and his still living teammate left Konoha and became assassins-for-hire. At some point in time, they started looking for Karuto and Amai, believing that the village would give him his power and reputation back after he kidnapped them and offered them for ransom.

## Personality

Judging from his background, he seems to value success and overall benefit more than human life, as he was willing to sacrifice his teammate in a heartbeat. He is shown to never underestimate his opponents, even when he gets the upper hand. He also appears to like to explain his strategies and ideas, even to his opponents.

## Appearance

Zankoku is the shorter of the two, having short brown hair that resembles an overgrown buzz cut. He has black goggles, which are almost always seen on him, though whether he's wearing them or they're on his forehead varies from scene to scene. He wears a brown poncho on top of black pants, which is likely to allow him to camouflage with the ground while he uses earth style jutsu to surprise his victims.

## Abilities

Zankoku is skilled in Earth Style, being able to make walls and traps by using the mud in the ground, and even manipulate objects above the ground.

## New Generation

### Academy Entrance Arc

He is first seen approaching Karuto, Doku, and Amai in an abandoned railway station next to Mujona. He introduces himself, and explains that years ago, they were Konoha shinobi, and due to a mission where they had to sacrifice their teammate to succeed, they became shunned by their village. They then became assassins-for-hire, and believe that by kidnapping the Hokage’s grandchildren, they will get the money and notoriety to start up again. They then tell Doku she’s free to go, but she refuses to, and stays there to protect the two. Mujona draws his sword, and he and Doku start swordfighting. Meanwhile, Zankoku comes from behind and uses Earth Style: Tiger Cage to trap the two in a very small mud-brick cage. However, Amai moves out of the way, leaving Karuto trapped. Zankoku explains that very few jutsu can break the cage, save for water style and extremely powerful ones. Amai promises to rescue Karuto, and activates his sharingan. He then throws multiple shuriken at Zankoku, who uses Earth Style: Mud Wall to block it. Zankoku then climbs on top of the wall and holds up many paper bombs, telling Amai that it’s over. Zankoku uses Earth Style: Moving Explosives to surround Amai’s legs and Karuto’s cage. Amai then uses Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu on his legs, detonating them. Karuto warns him that it’ll kill both of them, but the explosions are seemingly harmless to him. The seemingly invincible Amai then runs up to Zankoku and slits his throat with a kunai, killing him. Karuto seems confused, and Amai explains that he used Gyaku Sakkaku, a genjutsu that instead of manipulating the surroundings, manipulates the user so that they can add, remove, or modify anything existing in the seemingly normal world. Due to Zankoku falling, the Earth Style cage opens up and releases Karuto, and the paper tags don’t activate. Mujona notices Zankoku’s dead body, and vows to get revenge.