Hattori Hanzō

Hattori Hanzō (服部 半蔵, Hanzō Hattori in English), also known as Ankoku Kyō (暗黒卿, Dark Lord), is a rogue shinigami, wanted for crimes including the torture and murders of five previous captains of the Gotei 13. A former student of himself and one of the first graduates from the Shinō Academy, he was one of the earliest serving captains of the Gotei 13.

Over time he built up a reputation as a dangerous criminal and a cold-hearted killer, his name slowly spreading far and wide due to his notoriety. His battle prowess earned him the title of Kirā (キラー, Killer) while his reputation as one of the most sinister figures in Soul Society's history along with his ability to seemingly vanish into the shadows after committing each of his crimes have earned him the title of Shogun of the Dark (暗いの将軍, Kurai no Shōgun). He is currently considered to be one of the greatest threats to 's continued existence.

Personality
As a young captain, Hanzō was an extremely reckless, headstrong and somewhat brash person, rushing into things and even willing to go against orders if it meant he would get his way. But despite all this he was a kind and passionate person, who genuinely cared for others and was proud of being a shinigami, a role that according to him embodied the role of a protector. It was these positive traits of his that ultimately lead to Oboro, the heiress of one of the noble families, falling in love with him. But even in his affair with Oboro he showed his reckless nature and arrogance as he was warned by many that unless he dealt with the situation properly, Oboro's father could cause a great deal of pain and suffering to him. His confidence in his abilities and his opinion that any father would gladly marry his daughter to a man like him indirectly leading to his fall. Even when Oboro revealed to him that she was with child he did not worry much, using his power and influence to keep her pregnancy hidden, though he could not keep the fact hidden from everyone. When her father found out the truth a little after their child's birth, he surprised Hanzō by kidnapping his own daughter and using her and the child to blackmail Hanzō to hand over all of his research. If the shock that came from Oboro's abduction was not enough, her ultimate death at the hands of five captains of the Gotei 13 was almost too much for him. Oboro's death and the apparent death of his child, along with what he saw as Oboro's murder by his own comrades, which he saw as a betrayal on not just their but also on Soul Society's side, broke something fundamental in him. His pain making him give into his own darkness, the once kind-hearted captain turned his back on everything that was good in him to not only kill a fellow captain, but also coming close to killing Jūshirō Ukitake, a person who had been a close friend of his and was akin to an elder brother to him.

Since fleeing Soul Society his personality has undergone a great deal of change, with him slowly descending into his own "darkness". At first he began frequenting dens of vice, from drugs to women, pursuing this new habit with a near-manic intensity; using them as a means to escape from his pain. Though he deplored the institutions he visited, he could not bring himself to actually stop and face the pain of Oboro's death. But over time he managed to get a hold over his life when he realized that Oboro would have expected more of him, deciding then that he could put his life to better use by bringing those who had wronged him, Oboro and their child to justice. All the confidence he had in Soul Society's ability to uphold peace and deliver justice was gone and he came to the conclusion that they had to be destroyed. He slowly started becoming much more dark and sinister, taking one step after down a dark path from which he did not wish to return. Even his research changed to fulfill darker purposes, while before his inventions had helped others and had been aimed at alleviating the pain of others, now they only served to fulfill his desires, were aimed at seeking revenge and inflicting pain and suffering.

The final step in his descent into the darkness was the murder of the five captains responsible for Oboro's death. He killed them one by one, capturing them and them slowly torturing and killing them in the most painful ways possible. Each murder was marked by slash on his forehead protector, and each of the bodies were returned heavily mutilated. But each of the murders was more risky and dangerous than the other and he came close to getting caught on more than one occasion. But such was his desire for the five captains' blood that his usually brash and reckless self was augmented with no thought for his own safety. After fulfilling much of his thirst for revenge he slowly started to emerge from the blind dash he had been taking towards his own death. He slowly realized that he could not completely destroy Soul Society by himself and had to be more careful than he had been up till that point if he intended to do justice to Oboro's memory. He personality has undergone a number of changes since then as have his views about the world. He sees Soul Society as a plague that is hindering the good that Shinigami could do and has made it his mission to destroy it in its entirety. The majority of his hatred is now directed towards Soul Society though he is not above killing innocents and anyone who gets in his way if it furthers his own goals. HE normally puts on the appearance of a highly lethargic, laconic and disinterested person, though he still sometimes shows a caring and sensual side to his nature. Viewing the world through a cynical, but seemingly amicable point of view, he is actually much more egotistical, self-assured and cold-hearted than he used to be.

Appearance
In his youth Hanzō had short spiky orange hair, bright blue eyes and was almost forever smiling. He was tall and well built, emanating a powerful aura that scared his enemies and comforted his friends.

Since going rogue and as a result of the numerous experiments he has carried out on himself his appearance has changed. He still retains his spiky orange hair, but his his skin has visibly paled and the playful smile that was his trademark is a thing of the past. The most noticeable difference are his eyes. While before they were blue, now they are purple in color with ripple-like patterns around the pupil, with the iris and sclera being a lighter shade of purple. His body also bears a number of piercings, a metal bar through each ear, three studs through the side of hiss upper nose, and one spike stud on each end of the bottom lip. He also has three piercings on each wrist, a number on his upper wrist and some just under his neck. He also wears a black neckless made of the same material as his piercings. His clothing consists of a long, dark cloak with a red interior and a chin-high collar. The cloak has a red line running down the center and a pattern of red clouds on it. Below the cloak he wears a blue v-neck T-shirt, blue pants with a body mesh under the T-shirt, and a white sash around his waist on the outside of the shirt much like a tunic. He also wears a forehead protector on his head that bears five slashes on it, four short vertical ones and a long horizontal slash that bisects the other four.

Equipment
Mask:

Power and Abilities
Overwhelming Spiritual Power: As a being almost as old as the Gotei 13 itself, Hanzō possesses an exceedingly dense and powerful Reiatsu whose true levels are absolutely monstrous. His spiritual power itself is capable of making even some captain level Shinigami sweat in fear and can easily paralyze beings of lower strength. His spiritual power has the same effect as his Zanpakuto, representative of it's connection with darkness. He has a very dark and menacing aura about him and he seems to emanate a feeling of dread and hopelessness. His very presence can seemingly suck the light out of his surroundings and his aura has the potential to seemingly suck the life out of plants and smaller animals and life forms shrivel up and die in his surroundings even without the use of his Zanpakutō. By his own claims most Shinigami and Humans are incapable of sensing his reiatsu, unless he voluntarily lowers his powers to their level. A true testament to his power is the fact that despite always wearing his energy-sealing mask he can fight on par with multiple captain-level opponents without using his full power.

Master Swordsmanship Specialist: Considered to be one of the most proficient Zanjutsu masters ever in all of the Soul Society, Hanzō is a true genius with the blade, his natural aptitude and proficiency with the blade second to none. He is capable of effortlessly combating an opponent's Shikai and Bankai with his own blade still sealed. He can perform tremendously powerful and precise strikes, capable of cutting through targets both great in size and exceedingly sturdy in structure with ease. He has in the past faced and defeated multiple captains (some of whom made use of their Bankai and Shikai) with ease and even ended up killing one of them in the process. On that instance the only one who truly managed to stand up to him was Jūshirō Ukitake, who himself is considered to be a combatant stronger than any and whose power is considered to be unrivaled by anyone who had came before him or anyone since.

Hakuda Master: Though not as skilled as some of the other members of the Quadrumvirate, he is still a skilled hand-to-hand combatant.

Zanpakutō
Kurayami (暗闇, Darkness): One of the few Zanpakutō in existence with the ability to manipulate the powers of darkness, it is considered to be the most powerful of the so called "darkness-type Zanpakutō". In it's sealed state it takes the form of a simple katana with a black handle, pure white sheath and a hexagon cross guard, with the two sides parallel to the blade being longer than the other four. It is a unique Zanpakutō in that it has a number of characteristics akin to a constant-release type Zanpakutō despite not actually being one. It allows Hanzō to access some of its powers in its sealed state, though they are nowhere near as potent as its true powers. While in the sealed form Kurayami's spirit takes the form of numerous little children completely made up of shadows, with gleaming purple eyes and wide smiles on their faces revealing gleaming white teeth. It's nature in this form is very different from that in its unsealed forms, resembling children not just in form but also in personality. Hanzō's usage of Kurayami's abilities in its sealed form is described by him to involve calling one of "shadow-children" to come and play with him. He has said that the children, being children, are more interested in playing rather than helping him out and can be highly temperamental. So his powers can often backfire in rather comical fashion if the children loose interest in his "games".

Though it might be better to release his shikai and use its powers in that form, Hanzō seems to prefer the sealed form. He once stated that interacting with Kurayami's child form was a refreshing change as its innocent and playful nature was just like Oboro.

Shikai: Its shikai release command is Engulf the World (巻き込む世界, Makikomu Sekai). Its release is accompanied by the release if a tremendous amount of spiritual pressure affecting all in the area. As it is released, Kurayami slowly fades away, getting blown away with the wind as if it were made of black powder until the blade completely vanishes. Kurayami's spirit also changes form, all the children merging into a single entity existing in a shadowy form similar to the children but bigger in size and with a single, distinct, bright red eye in the center of its face.