Shiro Morimoto

"Over the years, I've lost people dear and close to me because of the lack of strength and courage I had. But now its different. I've grown strong. And somehow I'm not satisfied."

- Shiro

Shiro Morimoto (シロ森本, White Source of God's Tribute) also known as "Wind Monarch" (風君主,Kaze Kunshu)is a Shinigami, and currently the Lieutenant of the 7th Division in the new generation of Gotei 13.

Appearance
Shiro is a youthful appearing man with sun kissed skin tone, a muscular body tone and standing six feet tall. He has messy short brown hair that has bangs that dangle on his face and light brown eyes. His most distinguishing trait are the three scars that go down his left eye that he got when he was a child and encountered a hollow in his District. On his collarbone next to his left arm he has a long vertical scar that extends to his left pectoral and another scar that goes horizontally on his gut. Shiro used to wear a standard Shinigami shihakushō when he was a seated member of the 7th division, but ever since his promotion to Lieutenant, he wears a modified version of the Shinigami uniform, most notably a red sash along his waist that is adorned with gold fur lacing, and black boots that have white trim. He also wears golden gauntlets on his forearms.

Personality
Shiro's personality could be summarized as a laid-back and easy to get along with, compared to the other lieutenants of the Gotei 13, Shiro is seen as rather childish and fun-loving individual who adds fun and comical displays to events which are otherwise dire, often irritating his fellow lieutenants and friends who prefer the following of rules and discipline. Shiro is lazy, often trying to avoiding his duty unless absolutely necessary or when there is a rather severe emergency.

Compassionate and caring to pretty much everyone, Shiro makes friends easily. However, his lazy persona hides an extremely keen mental eye and intellect matched only by the greatest minds the Soul Society has produced. During any crisis of great magnitude, Shiro always reveals the cunning and dangerous side of his intelligence, which also gives Shiro quite a degree of knowledge pertaining to some things most don't know. Most have also called Shiro's natural intelligence into light, stating several times that whenever disaster strikes, there's no one better to turn to than Shiro.

In battles he cannot simply ignore or otherwise talk himself out of, he changes from the lazy, fun-loving Captain seen in everyday situations to a ferocious fighter whose strength and bloodthirstiness is matched by few others within Soul Society's ranks. He has been called merciless in battle and a fierce enemy. Shiro is a man well-known for his wild style of combat, especially when it comes to his ferociousness. Despite his apparent childish side often being his most seen traits, Shiro, despite popular believe among the other divisions and captains of the Gotei 13, can be serious and decisive should the situation demand the need. This is shown most notably when something serious, involving planning for difficult missions, and battles. He always keeps a calm head and proceeded to suggest methods that will work to his side's advantage.

Back in his single days, Shiro used to be a womanizer, saying that he has a gift as in he can repeatedly woo girls with much success. His trait led to some strict captains, lieutenant, and seated members to openly hate Shiro, though Shiro himself remains oblivious to this himself at present. It should be noted that Shiro didn't just hit on just anyone, though he only ever attempted to woo those he takes a general interest in.

When at home, Shiro is actually full of energy because, according to him, his home is "where the fun truly is.". He generally acts in a manner that pleases him alone, showing himself to be quite good with children because these habits are often quite comical and silly. As a husband he is pretty much very romantic and will do anything for his wife. He even explained that the love for his wife that is like a star that will never die. When with his kids, calling him a large, overgrown teddy bear with a child's complex would be an understatement. He loves to spoil his kids and in times somewhat overprotective. Even with others he acts the goof, always welcoming Nigawarai Makaze with a headlock after a few weeks where he hadn't seen him, or hug the crap out of Jewel because he considers her his niece. Shiro carries an iron-clad will to protect and serve those who have his love or respect.

Powers and Abilities
When it comes to a fight, he blends his smarts with his combat skill. Never one to rush head on into a fight, Shiro always watches, always listens, and never turns his attention away from his opponent. Speed and strength are key to him when in a battle, as he is regarded as the fastest Vice Captain in the Gotei 13 and therefore, uses it to his advantage constantly. He can also be fairly arrogant when he starts to gain the upper hand against a foe, but for the most part, he remains level headed.

Natural Abilities
Master Swordsmanship Specialist: Shiro demonstrated highly proficient skill in swordsmanship, enough to fight most of the battles with only a single hand and with well-timed maneuver. His time spent training with his father, Gaiden, allowed him to acquire basic knowledge of how to wield a sword like a professional, and he demonstrated a great amount of skill with it. By the time he entered the Shino Acadamy, he was outclassing each and every one of the other students when practicing in Zanjutsu. It was this skill that garnered him much respect among his subordinates and his Captain when he obtained the rank of Vice Captain. Similar to most experts of Zanjutsu, Shiro utilizes a form of fighting resembling Kendo. He grips his massive sword with great force, and puts effort and power into each and every one of his strikes. Shiro is extremely proficient with Kendo; a sword fighting style, having an uncanny talent for delivering all of its basic and advanced techniques with expert precision. It is considered his primary form of sword fighting, as it is easy to access and it allows Shiro to go all out in a battle when he desires to. It is primarily a two-handed art that centers around testing the opponent's spirit and resolve, as well as bringing discipline to the wielder on the art of using the katana. It consists mostly of strikes and thrusts, at least, when it comes to the more modern styles like what Shiro uses, in contrast to more stance based techniques traditional Kendo style. Using both of his hands on his sword grip, Shiro can swing in very powerful and destructive motions when he chooses, sometimes capable of disrupting the immediate atmosphere around himself and his opponent when augmenting these swings with his mighty wind based powers. Striking with intense precision and power, Shiro is a deadly opponent when using Kendo. Shiro's swordsmanship along with his strength and spiritual pressure allows him to redirect oncoming energy attacks, such as Kidou or even other Zanpakuto abilities, away from him, as well as shield himself from them. Shiro has a tendency to "go loose" when fighting a powerful foe, often resorting to flashy, stylish attacks that often don't resemble a form of sword fighting at all.
 * Kendo User: Kendo is a swordfighting style that was invented by Raian Getsueikirite and passed down to several of his pupils and others who eventually became masters. Shiro was supposedly taught by one of these masters in either the Shino Acadamy or by one of the Morimoto teachers. Shiro is extremely proficient with this sword fighting style, having an uncanny talent for delivering all of it's basic and advanced techniques with expert precision. It is considered to be his primary form of sword fighting, as it is easy to access and it allows Shiro to go all out in a battle when he desires to. It is primarily a two-handed art that centers around testing the opponent's spirit and resolve, as well as bringing discipline to the wielder on the art of using the katana. It consists mostly of strikes and thrusts, at least, when it comes to the more modern styles like what Shiro uses, in contrast to more stance based techniques like Raian's. Using both of his hands on his sword grip, Shiro can swing in very powerful and destructive motions when he chooses, sometimes capable of disrupting the immediate atmosphere around himself and his opponent when augmenting these swings with his mighty wind based powers. Striking with intense precision and power, Shiro is a deadly opponent when using Kendo.
 * Bōjutsu (棒術, Staff Technique) : While being able to fight with one's sword is considered to be the most basic and required trait of a Shinigami, the Shikai of a Zanpakuto can force one to improvise if it's shape is anything but a sword. Shiro's former Zanpakuto design in particular was a large staff, forcing him to rely on something besides mere swordplay. With training, focus, and time, Shiro had managed to hone his skills in staff-work to where he can hold his own against even some of the most seasoned of Zanjutsu users. Interestingly enough, Shiro doesn't use any set staff fighting standards or styles seen by most modern masters. Instead, he utilizes a sort of "free-style" manner of combat, resorting to various unorthodox movements and attacks that his opponents almost always never see coming. Nevertheless, Shiro does have a good deal of knowledge on how proper Bojutsu technique works. He treats his staff as if it were an extension of one of his own limbs, using a sort of "Empty Handed" manner of combat that allows him to keep his opponents at range. Despite his current Zanpakuto becoming something more closer to a sword, Shiro is still more than capable of doing battle against an enemy with a staff in hand.

Peak Physical Condition: Shiro has reached a remarkable amount of strength for a human, stated to be taken to higher levels through intense exercise, training, and experience. The strength of the swing is enough to make anyone mistake a shock wave for a massive energy rift attack. While he has never been seen using it often, it is obvious when he is capable of crushing large, solid poles with the grip of a hand. Also, Shiro possesses a high-level of resilience and stamina, evidenced by his ability to take heavy damage. Thanks to his durability, he can continue fighting effectively even after receiving many injuries and can survive attacks that would easily kill normal Humans effortlessly. As such, Shiro is able to withstand attacks that would be fatal to most humans. A side from his strength and durability being at his peak, Shiro has repeatedly shown himself to be a very agile fighter and has demonstrated great reflexes in battle, able to quickly dodge a strike with no wasted effort and he can instantly counterattack right after. He is able to strike quickly without warning and in rapid succession, almost like a blink of an eye.

Impressive Speed/ Shunpo: Shiro is masterful in the art of Flash Steps beyond an average Lieutenant's level. Shiro's speed has made him a legend in the eyes of his division and even the entirety of the Gotei 13. Along with his peak physical conditioning, he is extensively skilled in the Shinigami art of high-speed movement, with some saying that he could even rival the 2nd Division Captain. His standard movements, as mentioned above, allow him to lay several well placed and powerful strikes upon his targets within just a few seconds and avoid fast attacks in return. Moving as if he were a burst of wind in a mighty storm, he is capable of outclassing an entire enemy squad in terms of movement and mobility, infiltrating and blowing through their lines with such profound speeds, they would swear that he was nigh invisible. His Hohō skills, such as Flash Step, are even more impressive, with each Flash Step capable of causing disorientation in his foes. He can also create clones of himself using Flash Step. When Shiro releases Shikai, his speed increases even more. Shiro is capable of utilizing Kagentsuru's wind manipulation to his advantage when moving. Picking up the wind currents around him, he can move with such speeds that it is almost impossible to even see him. One of his favored manners of utilizing Flash Steps is charging his opponents head on, and then quickly Flash Stepping behind them. He does this with such great speed that an after-image of his charging form remains while the real Shiro appears behind them to attack.

Great Spiritual Energy: In comparison to most other Vice Captains, Shiro has a great amount of Spiritual Pressure within him. From the time he was born to the present day, he had always projected a level of Spiritual Energy that was oddly unique among the other people. Those who have known Shiro for a long time recall feeling an almost soothing and yet unyielding amount of power within him, as if the winds themselves followed wherever he ventured. As he continued to train and develop his powers, his Spiritual Energy began to increase to a much higher levels. By the time he became the Vice Captain of the 7th Division, he was considered one of the strongest of Shinigami who wasn't at Captain rank or level, and as such, a very potent fighter. Due to his recently acquired Bankai, his Spiritual Energy has increased even more, making him more powerful than he was when he first joined the Gotei, though how strong he is now hasn't been specified. His Spiritual Energy is light blue in coloration, releasing it causes a large buildup of air pressure around him and can even suffocate lower level opponents and allies who are within close-vicinity. When it is exerted, his Spiritual Pressure has a tendency to shake the area around him slightly, while also carrying an influx of wind that can push back lower level fighters. It is light blue in coloration. Upon the release of his Bankai, an entire windstorm is generated, of which carries enough power to level an entire city block.

Great-Intellect/Tactitian: Despite being known as the "lazy" and "childish" Lieutenant of the 7th Division, Shiro has shown to be very crafty and a very intellectual person. Shiro in a number of occasions has shown to be capable of understanding any situation that presents himself and adjust to it effectively. When it come to battles, he is a genius. Never one to underestimate his opponents unless victory is certain, Shiro is a tactical fighter by nature, at least at the start of a battle. Always watching his opponent, Shiro is able to deduce their basic tendencies and powers, but he can be taken by surprise if several powers come to light during a battle. One of his greatest skills is to create several strategies before entering battle and executing them. And he is quick to switch to a different strategy if his initial one fails to me his standards. This is one of the things that made him great for his position in the Gotei 13.

Kidō Practitioner: While not his strongest suit, or even his most preferred, Shiro is adequate in the use of Kidō. He is capable of performing spells up to level 60, but he still must use their respective incantation, or the spell will not function properly or at full power. His favored spell to use, unsurprisingly, is Tenran (闐嵐, Orchid Sky).

Zanpakuto
Kagentsuru (風限界鶴, Wind Bound Crane) is Shiro's Zanpakuto. Kagentsuru takes the form of a standard katana, more of a daito like weapon with a star shaped guard, of which has a circular piece going around the tips of the star's arms. The handle is dull and dark purple in color. When Shiro meditates to enter Jinzen, he is able to enter into his Inner World where Kagentsuru resides in. There, Kagentsuru reveals its true form, a crane, the largest flying bird in the world. Fitting with it's physical form, the spirit is possessed of brilliant white plumage covering it's entire body, couple with a large Lavender crest around it's neck as well as matching feathers on the legs and similar purple markings around it's eyes. From Kagentsuru's wings to lower body, glowing blue markings cover it. Surrounding the bird are dark, circular clouds that hover around it, bouncing lightning throughout the clouds. The most stunning trait of Kagentsuru, however, is it's immense height, standing at a towering 35 feet, more than dwarfing Shiro Morimoto. When Kagentsuru speaks, the wind around him blows softly. While his voice sounds like very deep that speaks at a slow pace, like in an eerie way.

Shikai: Kagentsuru is released by the command "Spread your wings" (スプリド ユー ヰングス, Supurido yuu wingusu). Blue spiritual energy and wind currents then wrap around the blade; elongating it and quickly turning Kagentsuru into a long and elegant metal black staff made out of obsidian with golden tips, while wind currents and a blue glow surround the staff.


 * Shikai Special Ability: Kagentsuru's abilities revolve around the power to manipulate air and its wind currents and use them for both offensive and defensive purposes.


 * Rasentsue (螺旋杖 Spinning Cane): Shiro spins his staff over and over again as it gathers up wind currents and is able to repel any sort of attack, be it energy-based or physical. It can also be used to suffocate his opponent, or can be expelled outwards and push them back a great distance, or even suck the oxygen out of the air to prevent the use of fire. This technique must be maintained in order to be effective, and Shiro is incapable of countering while it is in use.


 * Kazakami (風上 In Downwind): Shiro swings his staff above his head repeatedly as it charges wind currents. Once he is done he swings the staff towards the target releasing a devastating wind slash. If it is charged enough, Shiro can release several of these slashes at once. This technique is capable of slicing through several small buildings. Another variation of use with this technique is a small tornado creation.He manipulates the wind around him, and attack the opponent with his staff as he holds out his staff like a bat and spins around with the tornado, he can render the opponent helpless while he strikes. The strikes he delivers can fling people out of the tornado completely, wound them, or kill them. He can even spiral out of the tornado, allowing the tornado to rage on and fling out his damaged opponent. He can even cast a Kido, like Tenran, to strike the opponent while he flies out to safety. Remember that along with his staff hitting his opponent repeatedly, he can cut up the opponent with the wind tornado if he chooses, and shred them while he escapes

Bankai: Enrai Kagentsuru (遠雷風限界鶴, Distant Thunder of the Wind Bound Crane): Shiro holds his staff out vertically as it slowly begins to dissipate into visible wind currents. Upon saying Bankai, the compressed wind is released in a massive burst, causing a booming noise and pushing all enemies and allies alike backwards. Immediately afterwards, the skies begin to darken for miles on end and the wind begins to pick up to hurricane levels. Lighting and freezing rain fall from the sky all around, and a single eye of the storm appears in the clouds directly above Shiro. While in Bankai, Shiro's eyes glow blue and his hair spikes up slightly as his heightened Spiritual Energy becomes more visible and wind currents wrap around Shiro' body, creating a "wind armor" per-say. Depending on Shiro's mood, the currents of wind increase in speed and may be able to cut anything near it. Because of the air currents giving him the ability to launch high pressure wind currents from his body, Shiro has the ability of flight by air currents.
 * Bankai Special Ability: Enrai Kagentsuru gives Shiro the same Air and wind-controlling capabilities as his Shikai, but it pushes that beyond its limits. Enrai Kagentsuru has ultimate Aerokinesis, or Air Manipulation, such as all forms of wind from tornadoes, hurricanes, vertical drafts, micro-bursts and other devastating forms of wind. Naturally can also create any less extreme air/wind movement and manipulate the various gaseous molecules within the atmosphere for various effects, and it determines and controls climate and weather, and the generating force of most ocean and freshwater waves. Wind occurs because of horizontal and vertical differences in atmospheric pressure, and include breezes, squalls, gusts, whirlwinds, zephyrs, gales, tempests, and hurricanes. Enrai Kagentsuru is considered to be the strongest  Air-based Zanpakuto in History, allowing him to control anything that contains air. As Shiro has yet to fully master the power of his Bankai, he can only keep it in use for a limited amount of time. However, rather than shut off immediately after the time has expired, Enrai Kagentsuru instead simply weakens the longer it is used. For instance, at full strength, Shiro is only able to keep the Bankai active for 30 minutes. When these 30 minutes have passed, Enrai Kagentsuru will weaken every ten minutes afterwords. Eventually, the storm will completely subside and Shiro will be left in an exhausted state.


 * Temperature Manipulation: Shiro in Bankai can modify the temperature of the environment, control all forms of precipitation, humidity and moisture, and has demonstrated excellent control over atmospheric pressure. He can incite all forms of meteorological tempests, such as tornadoes, thunderstorms, blizzards, and hurricanes, as well as mist. He can dissipate such weather to form clear skies as well. His precise control over the atmosphere allows her to create special weather effects. He can create precipitation at higher or lower altitudes than normal, make whirlwinds travel pointing lengthwise in any direction, flash freeze objects and people, coalesce atmospheric pollutants into acid rain or toxic fog, and, along with his natural ability of flight, summon wind currents strong enough to support his weight to elevate himself to fly at high altitudes and speeds.


 * Plasma Manipulation: Shiro is able to manipulate Plasma by compressing the wind vectors to a single point at their utmost limit at overwhelming speeds. Shiro manifests plasma, which is complex and near incomprehensible in its formation, rendering it virtually impossible to deconstruct. Shiro can also utilize this plasma as if it were his wind manipulation with little to no effort. Shiro is able created expanding plasma bolts that expands rapidly on contact with an object, plasma blasts,plasma strikes.


 * Wind Enhanced Speed: Shiro's speed is already considered as one of the fastest in the Soul Society, but thanks to his Bankai he is able to break through his limits by reducing air resistance and utilizing pressurized air for propulsion. Shiro uses violent and massive gales of wind wrap around his arms and legs to mimic jet propulsion like characteristics. It has been shown that Shiro's speed is so fast that the wind would leave drifts behind that can be used as "blade of wind", which he will strike at his opponents when in range. But this isn't all that Shiro's enhanced speed can do. In an instant after reaching his maximum speed thanks to his Bankai's wind manipulation, Shiro's spiritual molecules vibrate at a high speed; enabling him to move around freely, without restraint at high speeds, negating any obstructions that would dare to cross his path, allowing him to pass through kishi and reishi matter. Even if someone could detect his trajectory, it is near impossible to catch him. In an instant, Shiro can disengage the speed, reverting himself back to mass and attack his foes with impunity. Shiro has state he always avoids to use the full potential of this technique because it takes a dangerous toll on him. He explained that after using the full ability of this technique takes most of his time in Bankai, as well as his spiritual pressure drops drastically. Shiro also stated another reason he avoids this technique is because of the amount of stamina it takes away from him and as well as distorted perceptions in his sense.


 * Enhanced Senses: Enrai Kagentsusu bestows Shiro with enhance senses during Bankai state with the help of the winds. With help of the wind the sense of Hearing and touching are highly enhanced by amplifying air molecule vibrations. Able to hear anything in his surrounding, including the wings of a small mosquito passing by. Touch is another sense that is enhanced during Bankai state. Shiro is able to "feel" textures of things around him and allowing him to detect specific persons, objects, substances or even places, locate their origin and track with nothing but the tip of his fingers. He may even be able to detect the thinnest crack on anything that is invisible to the naked eye.


 * Wind Intangibility: Shiro avoiding to use the maximum ability of his enhanced speed in Bankai learned a new technique. Shiro is able to modify the spiritual particles that compose his body into the wind itself; enabling him to move around freely, without restraint. In this form of intangibility, Shiro allows attacks to either pass right through him or be harmlessly absorbed into his bodies, as well as phase through solid objects that do not obstruct the element of air/wind. Downside to this technique is that its purely defensive and can not attack anyone in this form. He can only be in this intangible state for 30 seconds before going back to being tangible along with less energy than before.


 * Self-Immunity: Similar to Senbonzakura's "Hurtless Area", the eye of the storm that is above Shiro acts as a defensive ward against his own techniques, making it to where he is incapable of damaging himself while using Bankai.

Bankai:Raidu Su Raitoningu (卍解•ライヅ ス ライトニング, "Final Release:Ride the Lightning"): Shiro's most powerful attack, and the most dangerous for him to use. He begins the technique by placing his palms against each other in front of him, which in turn, causes the entire storm generated by his Bankai to slowly dissipate. As he begins to slowly pull his two palms apart, the storm begins to convert into visible blue energy that comes to the spot between his two hands. When all of the storm has formed into Shiro's hands, letting the weather and sky return to normal, he rears his upper body back, and forms all of the energy into a staff similar to his Shikai. He then throws the spear like a javelin at his desired target, which, upon contact, creates a massive orb of raw explosive power that completely eradicates his target's existence. One wrong step, however, and Shiro could cause this explosion to instead destroy him. When it is finished, Shiro reverts back to his sealed state, and his Shikai and Bankai remains inaccessible for several days.