Kazuma Minami

Kazuma Minami (美鞍数馬, True Harmony of Beautiful Waves) often shortened to "Kazu" for short, is a relatively new Shinigami from a currently unknown area. He can usually be seen traversing from both the World of the Living and Soul Society, usually defeating the hollows that appear in both areas as well as sharpening his skills.

Appearance


Kazuma is a lean and well-built young man of average height. He was born with dark green eyes and short, spiky raven-colored black hair, giving him a slightly shadowy appearance. Kazuma's hair hangs down over his ears and juts out at the ends while he has long bangs covering a small portion of his face.

Whether on a mission or not, Kazu can often be found wearing dark baggy clothing. His typical outfit consists of a vest that drapes over his shoulders and possesses a bell-shaped collar, held closed by four silver buttons; while underneath the vest he wears a thin grey-colored shirt which has the durabiility of chainmail. Over his right hand he wears a complete black glolve while on his left hand he wears a fingerless teal glove as this is his swordhand.

Personality
Kazuma at first appears to be come of as a very violent person to those around him, a trait that seems to have been with him since his younger days. He comes across as cold, stoic, and arrogant, even to his friends. In battle Kazuma will often do anything to win, much to the chagrin of those around him. People tend to think that he looks down on those that are weaker than him as though they were nothng but weeds and that he has no problem with attacking people from behind, though he only does this when he has few other options. When speaking to people he has yet to associate himself with, Kazuma describes himself as both serious and solitary. He keeps this facade up in order to prevent people from becoming too close to him and getting hurt by his enemies. Going along with this, he claims that he has no friends and does not desire them. Despite his claims to not care for anyone, it seems that he tends to rapidly begins to develop feelings for people that he meets.

However, once one gets past this act Kazuma is normally a very cheerful person to be around, even becoming completely helpless and incompetent when against the face of a pretty girl. However, he has been shown to have a dark side and is brutally tactless when he wants be. Such as when he once allowed a fellow shinigami to be captured and killed by a group of hollows, after said unnamed shinigami bad-mouthed him moments earlier. He has a knack for finding clandestine information with ease, knowing about most things that would seem to be vague details, and is unusually perceptive. When a conflict is unfolding that doesn't involve him, he prefers remaining on the sidelines observing and is extraordinarily capable of removing himself from any incoming danger.

Kazuma is cheerful, yet laid back, outside of missions, is compassionate to others, and has a chronic tardiness problem. At times he tends to push everyone away, though he means well.

His naturally calm attitude is used to his advantage in battle, as it is easier for him to maintain his composure to stay focused on the situation at hand and ultimately notice everything around him. Through this, he can make keen and thought-out decisions allowing him to stay steps ahead of his opponents. Despite his strong belief in cherishing and protected loved ones, Kazuma's personal life is almost non-existent because of the persona he initially displays.

Though generally seen as a laid-back, jovial fellow, this side of Kazuma is deceptively different from his cunning and serious side of his personality, when the situation warrants it. Despite his carefree attitude, his speech is always polite, though it is sometimes sarcastic.

Powers and Abilities
High Spiritual Energy: Despite initially restraining himself when entering into combat, once Kazu becomes serious his true level of Spritual Energy is revealed. Once it is released, Kazuma begins to gain a purple-colored aura around his being that causes his air to begin to flow as though it were being blown by air. He is also able to flow his spiritual aura over his Zanpakuto in order to augment the cutting edge of its blade. Saori has noted that once Kazuma becomes serious, he becomes similar to that of a berserker, being able to withstand damage with ease and dish out twice as much to whoever his unfortunate opponent is.

Expert Swordsmanship Specialist: Kazu typically relies on his swordsmanship skills to get him through his battles. While he does not have any formal training, he uses a combination of quick thinking, his strength, and ingenius ways of using his zanpakuto special ability to get him out of majority of situations. Kazuma's skill in Zanjutsu is comparable to that of a skilled graduate of Shino Academy. Due to him not finishing in its entirety, Kazuma had to teach himself by watching others battle, leading to him be capable of creating various techniques on a whim. Kazuma's swordplay consists of wild yet precise flowing strikes. His speed is one of his highest trained skills and shows when he begins to demonstrate his swordsmanship prowess. Using his highly tuned speed, Kazu is able to attack an opponent several times in a matter of moments and even strike and retreat in a blink of an eye.

Enhanced Strength: With his strength, Kazu is capable of breaking stone with his bare hands and even able to send a grown man flying across a room with a single punch. He uses his strength to his advantage, often coming up with new ways to injure his opponents. Kazuma also has a great degree of control over his body. His high level of body control allows him to manipulate his muscles so that he may surpress and release them at will. The control of his body improves his speed, agility, as well as his overall movements. Allowing Kazuma to accomplish many things such as shift the weight and force of his body during an attack at a moments notice.


 * Hitoisogu (人急ぐ, Spirit Rush): The is a form of combat which is only known to be usable by Kazuma himself. By focusing and utilizing his spiritual energy Kazuma is able to drive his own spiritual energy signature directly into an opponent's body through a physical strike with his fists. This can cause strong direct and internal damage, it is even capable of damaging someone who is being protected by a thin layer of armor

Keen Intellect: Kazuma is a naturally talented fighter. He is extremely skilled and because of his natural ability he can do things that most have extreme difficulty doing and learn new techniques in a short amount of time. His natural intellect allows him to quickly grow stronger and evolve at a moments notice. Because of his ability he has even been able to do things that should be impossible for him, such as fighting a hollow only moments after realizing what was attacking him. Kazuma grows stronger from experience to the point where he can fight a long battle, rest, and then go into another battle with a completely different level of strength. He can also surpass his limits and evolve even while in the midst of combat.

Enhanced Speed: One of Kazuma's greatest traits is his great speed. The speed at which he moves and his attacks are extremely fast, because of this he often surprises his enemies and takes out some in the blink of an eye. Because of his speed his attacks often catch opponent's off-guard. Since Kazuma's body is extremely light, he has such a high degree of agility that he can attack an opponent in mid-air. His agility combined with his speed and great ability of perception allows him the ability to dodge, intercept, and counter-attack most of his enemies.

Zanpakuto
Taiō (対応, "Taiou"; literally meaning "Interaction") is the name of Kazuma's zanpakutō that when sealed it takes the form of a Zanbatō with a scarlet wrapped hilt and a rounded crossguard, above the crossguard is a red ruby-like crystal that glows when Kazuma uses his zanpakutō powers.


 * Shikai Special Ability: When released Taio allows the power to control the interactions between the fundamental elements and with it Kazuma can use the aspects of all of the basic components of fire, water, earth, air and lightning. With this power he can manipulate the molecular components of natural elements in nature and combine them for the needed effects or split them for another reaction. An example of this is when he split hydrogen molecules in the air to form a fiery explosion but then quickly fused them with oxygen to put out the remainder of the blaze by making water.


 * Dōshi: (同士, Bonding) This technique is one of the fundamental powers of Taio's shikai allowing her to combine the molecules of elements together in order to cause the needed reactions to use his other shikai skills. To use he swings his zanpakutō form through the air and call out "Dōshi: " and then his blade will glow signifying the accurate reaction has taken place. Once the glow turns white he fires a pure white energy wave at his opponents and the reaction(s) he willed to happen happen all at once around them.


 * Kaimetsu: (壊滅, Destruction) This technique allows for Kazuma to control the interactions between hydrogen molecules in order to make fire. At full power he can create black flames with an emerald tint. It is used by Kazuma channeling his reioku into the hydrogen molecules and causing them to burst explosively and then commanding the resulting flames like a puppet master. The fire changes color to signify that they are under his control.


 * Kyūsai: (救済, Salvation) This technique enables Kazuma to control water and moisture much like Tōshirō controlled his Ice. It can be used to block most incoming attacks, bind or drown opponents, and shape the water into various attacks, allowing him in conjunction with lightning based kidō or interactions by trapping the target in water for conductivity. It is able to extract and utilize groundwater, and as is very effective most areas, but useless in rocky areas.


 * Enkiri: (縁切り, Severing of Connections) this is the second half of his zanpakutō's fundamental powers and it specializes in the separation of molecules to cause reactions or cancel the reactions caused by Dōshi. To use this power Kazuma does the same as when using dōshi and calls out "Enkiri, " and then the blade glows with a black tint as he fires a black energy wave which will either cancel the previous reaction or split the molecules of what he trying to attack and cause a new reaction to occur.


 * Makuheki: (膜壁, Membrane Wall) This technique "unzips" the fabric of space/time in order to cause a disturbance in the area where he is. This is an extension of the Enkiri technique and like its base power it disrupts the particles in the air in order to affect a large area rather quickly.


 * Shindō: (振動, Vibration) This technique is strange as it deals with the interactions between the blade and its own molecules allowing Kazu to cause his blade to vibrate at supersonic speeds and extend rapidly. This can be seen as being similar to both Gin Ichimaru's shikai and bankai, but it lacks the force of Gin's powers and cant extend nearly as long, stopping at five kilometers.

Bankai: Not Yet Acheived