Minato Kuramoto

"I never had any talents... I only made it as far as I did because of the hellish training under Master Seireitou! It was because he had a caring heart for his student, even when nobody else did! When everybody else saw a failure! It was because of Seireitou-shishō... and because of Saori-dono, and because of Hinata-chan... that I don't hate the fact that I'm a Jinki Fragment! Having this sort of power, and using it only to hurt others with a closed heart... It's just senseless violence! There's nothing valuble about that at all! The power to protect the ones I care about... That is my power as a Jinki Fragment!"

- Minato speaking to Ryō Sagara, during their fight.

Minato Kuramoto (港倉本, Kuramoto Minato) is a student at Karakura High School, and also works as an assistant instructor at the Kawahiru Dojang. He is one of the nine Jinki Fragments, and is one of the center protagonists of Part V. Minato's mentor is Seireitou Kawahiru, and the former is often seen with his master throughout the series. However, with the coming threats of both Akujin and Mūkade, Seireitou felt it wise to place Minato under the care of the Seijin Order as the former took his leave.

Two years following his training under the Seijin, Minato sets out for the vast plains of the Reikai in search of his master, as well as to finally settle the score with his childhood rival, Ryō Sagara. Currently, he is accompanied by Rūka Ishida. Minato is the current Spirit Detective, in service to the Soul Society.

Appearance
Unlike many of those in Karakura High School, Minato wears rather loose-fitting clothing. He is accustomed to wearing blue V-collar T-shirts with blue pants, having a body mesh under the T-shirt, and a white sash around his waist on the outside of the shirt much like a tunic. Despite being seen as "harmless", the intensity of his eyes can sometimes be interpreted as intimidating, to the point where no student at the high school seems to ever mess with him. Though his personality tends to contrast this severely. Minato's black hair hangs near his cheeks to frame his face, keeping it in a long ponytail.

Following the nineteen-month timeskip, Minato wears a new martial arts uniform that is given to him as a gift by Seireitou and Saori, the latter of whom designed it. It is mismatched, as it includes a sleeveless variation of the Taekwondo dobak, the pants worn in Chinese kenpō, and the arm and leg bandages worn in Muay Thai.

After two years, Minato takes to wearing an opened white jacket reminiscent to the uniform worn by chinese martial artists, called a qípáo, with slightly loose yet form-fitting sleeves. He took to also wearing pants worn by Taekwondoka, along with a long black belt that hung from his left hip side, presumably a genpuku gift after his mentor's departure, signifying his skill level in Taekwondo. His hair has also lengthened slightly, reaching his shoulders and the style of his bangs seems to resemble that of Seireitou's.

Personality
Minato is shown to be a young man with a quiet way about him, usually not the one who'll speak up first in front of others. However, he seems have his thoughts always active, about anything and everything around him, but usually keeps to himself. In the beginning of the Jinki Fragments arc, he would be depicted as a normal teenager, sans the rebellious personality. This could possibly stem from his father's death when he was only three, and also that his mother would rarely take a role in his life, besides in regards to his studies. In addition, being ignored and disregarded by those in his childhood, and even into his teenage years, Minato developed a craving for acknowledgement. Minato stated that his Taekwondo training made him gain more confidence, implying that he was an even more meek individual prior to this. Despite his mother's lack of support, Minato would find solace in his martial arts master, the latter supporting Minato's goals to become a great Taekwondo master one day. However, once Minato's training as a Jinki Fragment began, Seireitou would not praise Minato as he once did, being rather brutal and cruel. Besides Saori, and at times, Raian, Minato's teachers follow this same approach when it comes to Minato's training. As a result from this, Minato is frequently shown to be very susceptible to negative comments abouts his strength, easily falling into a comical depression.

Despite having a strong level of skill in the martial arts, Minato still doubted himself, feeling that he could not last on his own in a real fight. However, as his training under Seireitou, Raian, and Saori progressed, these feelings of doubt would soon pass away. It was not only this, but Minato himself would have changed. This would also be influenced by his growing friendship with Hinata Kūsūhana. Perhaps an equally notable trait is that Minato can be shown to be quite serious, but also presents himself with a somewhat "comic and naive" persona, leading opponents to gravely underestimate his abilities. Though, this doesn't seem to be on purpose, since it is a key aspect of his personality.

Minato has shown himself to be a very kind, selfless, and helpful young man and always puts others before himself. Even when it comes to his enemies, he shows them respect and never speaks ill of them, even caring for their well-being. Several people are moved by his kindness and selfless nature, to the point they even change sides and befriend him. Both Seireitou and Raian have referred to Minato's amazing charisma as a "unique power" that allows him to change the worldly views of others. Minato's unstoppable determination and drive strongly impacts the lives around him, even his enemies had been affected by his empathy.

It has been stated by Minato to his teachers that he seeks "enough power to protect those that he loves". However, Raian would tell Minato that saying that is the same as "I want the power to kill those who are my enemies", causing Minato to retort that he only wishes to fight until his opponents are unable to harm his loved ones. Seireitou also states that Minato possesses infinite potential inside him and that his foundation is solid enough that he could become "the highest building ever." On occasions, he allows his aggression to take center-stage whenever someone insults his teachers or harms Hinata.

Part V

 * Jinki Fragments Chapter, Restart!
 * Quickening of a New Power! Put to the Test!

Current Powers & Abilities
Vast Spiritual Power: Minato's spiritual power is originally strong enough to put up resistance against Seireitou Kawahiru's spiritual pressure, albeit it was purposely weakened. Even in the presence off the Hōgyoku-enhanced Sao Jiang, he was able to "maintain his existence" (albeit he was still brought to his knees and paralyzed in fear). The color of his spiritual energy is normally a midnight blue, and takes the form of a massive bird when being unleashed; the bird being a symbol of free, that which he represents as a Jinki Fragment. Possessing lineage of Shinigami, and being one of the nine Jinki Fragments, Minato holds within him a deep and vast supply of spiritual energy. Due to this and that he has far more spiritual energy than his body can consciously contain, it leaks out constantly, preventing him from hiding it and effectively making stealth impossible when dealing with other spiritually-aware beings. He has recently learned how to harden his spiritual energy and enhance the strength of his attacks or act as a barrier to reduce the impact of attacks on him, if not negating them completely. However, despite this, it seems that his body retains an immense amount of spiritual energy within, that is only released in times of incredible rage and anger.

Master Hand-to-Hand Specialist: Based on his position as an assitant instructor at the Kawahiru Dojang, Minato has incredible skill in Taekwondo. He carries the rank of 3rd-degree Black belt, and is capable of amazing feats of physical activity. Because of his flexibility, Minato's attacks will often follow up with a high-section kick, and he preforms full-splits toward the ground when ducking. It was after Minato realized his power as a Jinki Fragment that Seireitou began to teach Minato principles from other martial arts, essentially turning him from a Sotosentō-type Hakuda user to a Nakanisentō-type, despite Minato's tendency to resort to the former type of hand-to-hand during moments of anger and rage. Utilizing kicks and punches, as well as locks and sweeps, Minato had trained himself during the two year timeskip to become a lethal weapon in battle. Even in battle against Hollows, these skills proved to assist greatly.


 * Koruishō (殺し消灭, "Elimination of the Blindspot"): A powerful vertical kick aimed at the target's defense, despite whether they are attacking or defending. It involves locating the blind spot of an opponent's defense, in which requires immense training. Once the practitioner can see the blindspot, he focuses all of his power while maintaining his center of balance and delivers a kick at the opponent's weak spot. Minato Kuramoto went through this blindspot training with Seireitou Kawahiru, and used the technique to defeat Yoshitsune. The only major weakness of this technique is that the user has to focus all their power into their legs, forcing them to lower their arms and enter a guardless stance. An enemy could easily land a devastating attack towards their upper body, such as when Ryō Sagara broke one of Minato's arms. This is, however, useful since they can lure their opponent closer and use the attack at point-blank range.

Expert Swordsmanship Specialist: In terms of fighting style while using his Jinki Fragment powers, Minato relies mainly on swordplay, and thus would be considered a swordsmanship specialist. Aside from his initial training with Seireitou, he is basically on a "learn as you go" training regimen. Subsequently, his skill has developed by fighting rather than formal instruction, becoming even more capable with every fight. His overall skill has been shown capable of competing on equal grounds against the sword masters of Raian Getsueikirite (albeit Raian was holding back) and Kintarō Hijikata's caliber.

Great Agility: Minato is capable of grand acts of speed, although he often downplays his abilities in order to gain an advantage. He can effortlessly dodge a barrage of punches from someone near his black belt level, and counterattack before the latter can even react. During his training sessions with Saori, Minato's leg strength and dexterity was increased immensely, granting him a much higher level of agility and balance. His newfound agility has been commented by Seireitou, to the point of forcing him to put a bit more effort in their sparring sessions. Minato has also developed acrobatic abilities almost at Hinata's level, able to easily scale and glide down a skyscraper with complete control and no wasted movement.

High Speed: While unknown if Minato is using some form of Hohō technique, his speed is high enough to disappear without a trace, like that of Flash Step practitioners, and was even able to sneak up behind Satoshi Konishi during their fight, a respective master of Shunpō in his own right.

Enhanced Strength: Initially, Minato was seemingly scrawny, and subsequently, his strength was below-average. However, after the "hellish training", as quoted by Minato, was placed on him by Seireitou, his overall abilities greatly increased. Having undergone the unique physical conditioning regimen of Seireitou's, Minato's musculature has been rebuilt, now possessing a lean but well-defined physique. His leg strength has grown great enough to withstand tremendous amount of impact, even allowing him to kick at near full speed underwater.

Jinki Fragment
Minato's Jinki Fragment power is named Freedom (自由, Jiyū). It represents the human desire to be free, of all burdens and all things that plagues their lives. Most of all, it represents a person's desire to become their own person, free from the standards and expectations placed on them by others. Seireitou Kawahiru noted the similarities to the principle that Minato's powers represent, and the teachings of the former's teacher, Shōyō Shakyamuni. To that end, Seireitou has stated that Minato's Jinki Fragment represents a soul that is free of inhibitions and doubts, and subsequently said that Minato could very well possess one of the strongest Jinki abilities.

Standard Abilities
Breaking Free (無料破壊, Muryōhakai): A rather simple use of his powers, Minato is capable of breaking through any sort of imprisionment that is made up of reishi. It seems that he incapable of breaking out of another Fragment's trap, possibly implying that Fragment powers don't affect other Fragments, or his own powers aren't tapped into enough. He isn't fully aware of this power yet, the term for it being coined by Seireitou. It was the first display of his Fragment power, albeit it was preformed without Minato's knowledge.

Zukōseki (玻璃図, "Crystal Soul") is the blade that is, in Raian Getsueikirite's words, the pure manifestation of Minato's power as a Jinki Fragment. It is forged solely of his "soul's essence", emitting small strands of spiritual energy constantly, which become thicker the more spiritual power is enfused into the blade's strength by Minato. The blade itself can endure even the strongest of attacks, despite being composed of essentially reiryoku, making it quite effective in blocking and deflecting incoming attacks. It can even withstand getting crushed by force. Its cutting power depends solely on Minato's will to fight, and to win, being rather dull when he is doubtful of his abilities, whereas it becomes strong enough to cut right through steel when Minato's doubts vanish.


 * Getsuga Tenshō (月牙天衝, Moon Fang Heaven-Piercer): Zukōseki can absorb Minato's spiritual energy and subsequently releases highly condensed light-purple spiritual energy at the tip of the blade, magnifying the slash attack and then flies forward. This slash takes the form of a crescent moon or in the shape of a wave. This is a powerful technique with great force, capable of causing large-scale damage and destruction, despite Minato not knowing the actual name of the attack. Similar to the force of Zukōseki's cutting power, the strength of this attack relies solely on Minato's will to win. Ideally, his Getsuga Tenshō at full power is initially as powerful as Raian Getsueikirite's own blast in Shikai.


 * Wanashō (罠健祥, "Energy Trapper"): A technique created by Minato during his initial Jinki Fragments training under Seireitou and later perfected during his two year training with the Seijin. Using Zukōseki, Minato can block and absorb the energy of an opponent's attack, infusing it into the blade. Doing so causes the blade's color to reflect the color of the attack it absorbed. After this, Minato can release the attack sealed within Zukōseki, by stating the name of the attack he absorbed. Doing so actually strengthens the attack he absorbed by a factor of three, due to mixing his own spirit energy with the absorbed energy. However, the original downside to the attack is that he may only absorb a single attack per time, but later trains himself to be capable of absorbing two different attacks before having to release the energy in order to use the Wanashō technique again.

Restraint Breaker (拘束ブレーカ, Rēsturenttō Burēka): Minato's Jinki Fragment power allows him to unleash the hidden abilities of an object, named "Restraint Breaker", as coined by Seireitou. It is likened to that of a Fullbring's abilities, but for this to occur, the object being influenced by his powers must have some sort of hidden power, such as a former Fullbring focus or a Zanpakutō. After the destruction of Cross of Scaffold, Minato has not been seen using this ability.

Tassei Release
Tassei: Mūki no Seirei (無気の気, essentially "the soul free of the soul"): During his two years of training under the Seijin Order which, in addition to bone-shattering physical training, involved intensive spiritual insight and mental awareness into himself and his environment which caused Minato to awaken the true nature of his Jinki powers. In this state, Minato's spiritual energy envelops him in a dense white cloak of his own reiryoku, appearing to "circle" around his limbs and upper body. Raian Getsueikirite coined it as the "true Jinki Fragment mode", comparing it to the incomplete transformation he obtained prior to regaining his Shinigami powers. While at first, Minato had no control over this form, entering it only when he was pushed to his mental and physical limits, but now appears to have gained some degree of control over it. However, Hisōka Kūrūme stated that Minato still has a long way to go in mastering his "true power".


 * Power Augmentation: One of the key advantages of this state is that Minato's overall physical capabilities skyrocket, easily tripling his standard prowess, possibly futher. He is capable of forcing an even greater amount of power to be accessed, shown by the more violent nature of his spiritual energy cloak when he does so.
 * Overwhelming Spiritual Power: In this state, the level of Minato's spiritual energy becomes great enough to contend with a Captain of the Gotei 13 or a General of the Xìngfúshī Jiǔ. It becomes great enough to cushion the blow from a full-powered Getsuga Tenshō, albeit he was rendered slight bruises. Although it was only a brief instance, the activation of this form caused Ryō Sagara to quickly back away from instinctive fear of the form's power. It has also become noticeably thicker, being able to suffocate regular humans that are within his general vicinity.
 * Enhanced Strength: Minato's spiritual energy "circling" his body causes his muscles and skin to become hardened to the point where they can actually block and hold onto metal blades so long as Minato remains focused. However, despite this, Minato is still vulnerable to bladed attacks if his opponent has a higher reiatsu than Minato's own. Naoya Hōsōkaya commented that Minato, despite being a human, is "fighting on a Shinigami's level" in this form.
 * Immense Speed: Whilst in this form, Minato's speed is shown to easily surpass that of Ryō's own power in his respective Jinki Fragment mode. The speed exhibited in this state after Minato successfully learned to master it increased greatly, to the point where he can cover long distances in a mere fraction of a second. The motions he does when he moves is compared to that of Shinigami Hohō. Raian, initially believing Minato to be using some sort of Fullbring power, commented that he "wasn't using Bringer Light, but Shunpō."


 * Heightened Senses: The most noticeable aspect of this form is Minato's eyes, making him appear as though he is unconscious. However, this is untrue. In fact, his body develops immense sensitivity to hearing, feeling, seeing, and sensing, allowing Minato to effortlessly dodge attacks that would normally be impossible for him to even register, let alone evade. His martial arts also increase drastically due to this, allowing him to preform master-class techniques that would normally be considered either impossible or too difficult to use in succession. Ideally, it allows for Minato to dodge attacks at the last possible moment, by the smallest possible margin.

Use of Seijō Reiryoku
Through training with the Seijin, Minato eventually learned to harness Seijō Reiryoku, refering to spiritual energy that is drawn in by a Seijin's environment and then molded into the their existing source of reiryoku, creating a far cleaner, much "brighter-feeling" energy, which is the primary source of a Seijin's power. Minato's long-standing Shinigami heritage, by way of his mother and father, allowed him to gain this ability through training.

The standard applied use of seijō reiryoku is called Byakunagare (白流れ, White Current). In normal circumstances, when a Seijin can access this power, they can shape it into various techniques that extend their Shinigami powers to the maximum, essentially creating a "Perfect Shinigamification" onto themselves. When using seijō reiryoku in such a way, the energy used by the practitioner also encapsulates the user as an aura of spirit energy. This aura can act as an extension of their body and cannot be seen by anyone other than those who have trained in seijō reiryoku. By utilising the aura, the user can extend the range and force of their physical attacks. Strikes that seemingly or would normally miss will actually make contact with the target. One punch has been shown to have enough force to cripple and completely finish off an opponent. In addition, this aura allows a Seijin to do incredible feats which include leaping great distances, shattering normally "unbreakable" materials with their hands effortlessly, as well as lifting objects several times their size.
 * Specialized Techniques: Utilizing seijō reiryoku allowed Minato to develop his own special techniques, many of which seem to resemble that of Kidō spells. This is due to Satoshi Konishi offering his knowledge of Shinigami spells in the process of Minato's training of seijō reiryoku.

Reitaīdō (気身道, "Way of the Spirit Body"; literally "Spirit Body Way"): Upon learning to utilize seijō reiryoku in battle, Minato created his own unique Byakunagare technique. As the name implies, Minato utilizes the energy as a means of limbs, essentially extending his own reach. The most common applied use of this technique by Minato is to create "spirit arms" connected to his physical arms, as a means of reaching targets far outside his reach. These energy arms hands are clawed while the rest of the arm seems to lack any kind of joint, thus allowing them to have flexible movements that will generally be impossible for normal arms. Minato can create any number of arms that he desires and these arms can also serve other purposes such as grappling hooks, to either grab onto objects or enemies from great distances, to offensive means such as forming large fists to deal physical damage from a distance. After some practice, he mastered the chakra arms, able to manipulate various stones without crushing them. In addition to this, Minato is also able to produce other spiritual limbs, such as forming energy legs for similar purposes.

At first, the arms would extend in regards to a particular amount of time. However, after two years, he is capable of launching "energy fists" at an opponent almost instantaneously. When Yoshitsune was able to effortlessly dodge Minato's attacks prior to the two year timeskip, afterwards he was able to beat the former down to the ground before Yoshitsune could even react. He has also shown to have been able to punch down a Gillian-class Menos before the latter could finish forming a Cero, subsequently defeating the Hollow and causing it to fade away. The strength of the hands themselves at the ends of the energy arms are strong enough to block metal blades, such as Zanpakutō.


 * Multiple Limbs: After training for two years, Minato is capable of forming several "spirit arms" from anywhere on his body, each possessing the same force as a single energy arm, as well as retaining the instantaneous speed that Minato trained to obtain.

Quotes

 * (To Raian Getsueikirite) "I'm not really going towards a particular goal... It's just that I've decided to face whatever comes at me, until I gain the power to protect the people that are important to me."
 * (Quoting Seireitou) "Sheer ignorance. All warriors know that to study the art of battle, one must first master the art of mimicry."
 * "If the master's duty is to shoulder the student's burdens, along with their pain... then what's the student's duty? To grow strong enough to shoulder the master's very pain."
 * "Wrong! The martial arts are not for those who seal away their own hearts. I... I've fought with a lot of people who only knew how to kill, while closing away their hearts... All of them had eyes full of sadness, as if they hated their own abilities. You can never truly master something if you hate it!"
 * (Remembering Seireitou's teachings) "Like the rocks within the rapids. Has the rock ever feared? Has the rock ever considered avoiding? The only thing the rock does... is let the water flow around it."
 * (To Ryō Sagara) "I admit that I can fight even without consciousness... thanks to my master's day-and-night training. But this is totally different than your kind, who are willing to sacrifice one's own disciple in order to gain power! This power of mine... is the love from a master to their student. The fist of a strong heart!"
 * (Remembering Seireitou's teachings) "When you are truly burning with anger, calm your heart. When there is an opponent you must defeat, hide your emotions deep within yourself. Know the depths of your heart. If you fall into them, you could lose your life. In the continously unbroken stream of attacks and defenses, there are parts in one's defense that are not being consciously controlled. Those are the isolated strongholds known as the Korui. The blindspot."