Suitai Shiba

Suitai Shiba (衰退芝, Decaying Shiba), once feared as Suitai of the Northern Wind (北風の衰退, Kitakaze no Suitai), is a disgraced member of the Shiba clan and Kenji's fraternal uncle. Following the Collapse he acts as a quasi-advisor to Kentaro Hiroshi regarding the Kikkashō, and is thus loosely affiliated with the Six Directions.

Appearance
Suitai is a tall man with a muscular physique who sports short-cut black hair, a thin and well-maintained moustache as well as a goatee. He wears traditional Shinigami attire with a personalized white haori emblazoned with green diamonds along the base. Following his defeat to Kentaro he has let himself go; his facial hair is no longer trimmed in a tidy manner, he has bags under his eyes, his attire has gave way to scuffed and torn rags, and he no longer cuts his hair. Prior to the Collapse Kenji finally agreed to heal Suitai which resulted in the return of his former strength and physique. He has since regained his confidence; he carries himself with pride, usually being seen in a white kosode and hakama, with a high-necked blue-coloured coat with his Zanpakutō secured around his waist with the handle poking out of the coat.

Personality
During his battles with Itazura and Kentaro, Suitai demonstrated a mostly calm exterior not unlike that of his nephew Kenji, but immediately reacted to Kentaro's goads with a show of violence that almost killed the younger man. In a way it can be said that he and Kentaro are much alike; like his grandnephew Suitai seems to be predisposed to violence and can rarely be reasoned with, even when in a situation where reason could potentially spare his life. This earned him the wrath of the Kikkashō when he refused to sell out his family, though in Kentaro's eyes it just cemented in his own mind why he spared Suitai in the first place. Kentaro likened himself to Suitai prior to Akiye's positive influence on his character and suggested he hoped that his uncle too could change for the better like he had.

When he was defeated he responded to Kentaro's show of mercy with contempt, explaining that Kentaro was just like Dastan; merciless in battle to the point that he would maim his opposition, and then offer them "mercy" by allowing them to live with their injuries, not realizing what he offered was in actuality the greatest insult a warrior could receive. It was this outlook that ultimately made Suitai reject Kentaro's offer, though Kentaro spared him regardless. In the aftermath of this defeat Suitai seemed to lose his drive. He allowed his appearance to degrade and he even allowed himself to be captured and held captive by the Kikkashō, though he admitted that the latter was beyond his control even had he been in the mood to do battle with them. He has gone as far as to say that Kentaro did indeed kill Suitai Shiba because the man he was now was no longer as good as he once was, showing a depressed and somewhat downtrodden attitude. This latter trait vanished following the healing of his body, though he has seemingly taken to drink.

Suitai strongly objects to what many consider to be his "true" background: despite abandoning his clan some years ago to journey with known criminal Toru Satonaka as a member of the Collective Vices, he claims he never attacked Dastan nor attempted to remove him as Head of the clan; this suggests that a lot of his deeds and intentions have been grossly exaggerated. Kenji revealed that Suitai was the only man who actually stood up to and called Dastan out on his draconian attitude towards his immediate family and clan, which caused Dastan to attack him out of spite and Suitai to defend himself. Suitai later told Kentaro that the only reason he attacked Kenji was because he did not know at the time that Kenji was his nephew and a member of the Shiba clan; he later claimed it was this event, coupled with the proposed plot to assassinate Kentaro, is what drove him to leave the Kikkashō behind and warn his kin.

Synopsis

 * Main Article -- Bleach (Kenji Hiroshi).

Ending a War arc

 * Dealing with Loose Ends
 * Dealing with Loose Ends: Family Cleanup

Kikkashō Unveiled arc

 * Death of a Shiba
 * Tense Negotiations

Part IV

 * Main article -- Bleach: Cataclysm.

Testing the Waters arc

 * Meeting upon the Sands
 * Leaving Doubt at the Door (mentioned)

Part V

 * Main Article -- TBA.

Powers and Abilities


Enhanced Strength: Suitai was capable of sending Kentaro flying a large distance with a single thrust kick.

Enhanced Durability: Suitai, in a similar vein to his younger brother Dastan, is capable of taking a beating. He suffered a number of superficial and grievous injuries in his battle with Kentaro and continued the battle without appearing to be affected.

Hakuda: Suitai ended some of his more complex sword sequences with thrust kicks.

Zanjutsu Mastery: Suitai is a remarkably skilled and experienced swordsman. He was capable of easily dealing with Itazura during their battle, and demonstrated enhanced reflexes and powerful sequences of attacks against Kentaro which, without the latter's preprepared Kidō defenses, would have killed him.

Hohō: Suitai demonstrated enough skill with Shunpo to evade some of Kentaro's faster attacks.

Kidō: Suitai demonstrated the skill required to shatter the Bakudō spells used by Kentaro with a single counter-spell.

Zanpakutō
Kitikaze (北風, North Wind). Suitai's Zanpakutō takes the form of a standard.


 * : Suitai releases his Zanpkutō with the command "Blow".


 * Shikai Special Ability: Kitikaze is a Zanpakutō that commands the power of the northern winds, which, according to Kentaro, can cut as deep as any blade. Suitai can direct incredibly sharp wind currents toward his opponent to completely eviscerate his opposition.


 * : Not yet revealed.