C: The Sensor of Kumogakure at the Raikage's Side

The Sensor's Craft

C (シー, Shi) is a jonin of Kumogakure, the hidden village of the Land of Lightning. He is placed in two categories that are rarely combined: medical ninja and sensor-type ninja. He commands two chakra natures, Raiton, Lightning Release, and Inton, Yin Release, the one that gives illusions their substance. His ninja registration number is CL5517.

The sensor's craft is like no other. It is not about striking, but about seeing. A sensor ninja perceives chakra signatures, counts them, identifies them and places them in space. C exercises this ability over considerable distances: he is the one who picks up the chakra of Killer Bee from several kilometers away, while the jinchuriki is sealed inside an enormous sphere of water. The liquid screen, raised by Kisame Hoshigaki, hid nothing at all, and C thanks his opponent for having unintentionally guided him.

This ability comes at a price. A sensor who is probing is no longer guarding himself. While he sweeps the surroundings, his combat reflexes dull and his back stays exposed. In the Land of Iron, the Fourth Raikage orders him to find and eliminate the enemy sensor: a sensor's first target is almost always another sensor. C sets off on the hunt, lowers his guard, and a genjutsu from Sasuke brings him down. Darui has to revive him and get him back on his feet.

His two other strings complete the picture. Medical ninjutsu first, which lets him heal his allies out in the field. Then genjutsu, with his signature technique: the Illusory Lightning Flash (Raiton - Raigen Raikochu). Four hand signs are enough, Ram, Horse, Snake, Tiger, and his whole body discharges a blinding light. The opponent loses his sight, then receives fabricated images: Jugo thus believes he sees Sasuke pinned to the ground by the Raikage. The technique injures no one, it opens a breach for those who strike.

At the Fourth Raikage's Side

C never works alone. Together with Darui he forms the pair assigned to the person of the Fourth Raikage, A. The two men are exact opposites of each other. Darui drags his feet, sighs, drops disillusioned remarks. C, for his part, is serious to the point of stiffness: barely back from the Five Kage Summit, he refuses his partner any break, because the war has to be prepared for. Masashi Kishimoto has said that he drew him as a handsome leading man while giving him this grave temperament.

The division of roles is clear. A is a storm: extreme speed, brute force, a quick temper. Darui brings the striking power and the cutting edge, notably with Ranton, Storm Release. C brings the information and the healing. One opens the way, the other closes it behind. When the Raikage flies into a rage in the middle of the Summit session, the two guards leap up together to block the other Kage's escorts.

His usefulness goes beyond the field. C sits on the Kumogakure council and takes part in the war council that follows the Summit, where he advises the Raikage on the makeup of a reconnaissance team tasked with locating the Akatsuki's base. The anime gives him another characteristic mission: watching Killer Bee, together with Darui, to keep him from slipping away to an improvised Chunin Exam. Guarding A also means guarding his brother.

The Five Kage Summit

The Five Kage Summit is held in the Land of Iron, neutral ground guarded by the samurai, and each Kage is allowed only two bodyguards. A picks Darui and C. On the road, during a brief encounter with Samui's team, C senses a presence: Naruto Uzumaki, Kakashi Hatake and Yamato have followed the convoy. He makes no secret of his irritation and calls them "Konoha dogs".

In the Summit hall, the escort serves first of all as a brake. The Raikage erupts, his guards cover him, then return to their places when the tension drops. It spikes again with the appearance of White Zetsu, who announces that Sasuke Uchiha, the presumed kidnapper of Killer Bee, is nearby. A immediately sets off in pursuit, his two guards behind him.

C locates the enemy team and notes several fallen samurai along the way. He opens the engagement with the Illusory Lightning Flash: Sasuke and his teammates are blinded, and the opening immediately benefits the Raikage and Darui. Then comes the order to hunt down the enemy sensor, then the search, then the fall. C collapses under an illusion and Darui gets him back on his feet in time to witness what follows.

What follows is brutal. A charges through the black flames of Amaterasu to reach Sasuke and his left forearm catches fire. To stop the black fire from spreading to the rest of his body, the Raikage amputates it himself. C stops the bleeding with medical ninjutsu, silently worrying about how far his leader is willing to go. Shortly after, Sasuke's Susanoo brings the ceiling down. The survivors come face to face with Tobi, his Eye of the Moon Plan and the declaration of the Fourth Great Ninja War. C learns along the way that Bee was never captured and sighs: another escapade.

The Fourth Great Ninja War

The war places C where he is most useful, in the Allied Shinobi Forces' sensor unit, commanded by Ao, of Kirigakure. He trades his Kumogakure forehead protector for the Alliance's. And he admits his worry: this is his first war. Ao sets him straight without harshness, because if the unit does its job properly, it will weigh heavily on the outcome of the conflict.

The setup then splits in two. Ao stays at headquarters to extend a vast detection barrier, supported by Inoichi Yamanaka and the intelligence unit. C, for his part, leaves with the bulk of the division. On the second day, he reaches the battlefield where the jinchuriki are fighting, the very one where the Ten-Tails is brought back to life.

Against the Ten-Tails, his technique changes scale. Following the strategy relayed by Shikaku Nara, C and several Kumogakure ninja trigger the Illusory Lightning Flash at the same time and saturate the giant's sight. In the opening thus created, Darui and the other Ranton users aim at the beast's eye with the Laser Circus. A genjutsu designed for a single opponent becomes a collective weapon.

Obito Uchiha's attack nearly carries him off: C is wounded, but alive. Once recovered, he returns to battle wrapped in the chakra of Kurama shared by Naruto, whose transformation he comments on with a sensor's eye. To the very end, he does the same job. He is the one who senses that Obito is still breathing and warns his comrades, and again the one who sees the tailed beasts preparing to face Madara and orders the Alliance to clear the area. He survives the war.

Summary Table

FAQ

• Is C a medical ninja or a sensor?
  Both at once, which remains rare in the story. He is classified as a medical ninja and as a sensor-type ninja, and he uses both skills in the same scene in the Land of Iron: first to locate Sasuke's team, then to stop the Fourth Raikage's bleeding after the amputation of his forearm.
• What is C's best-known technique?
  The Illusory Lightning Flash, Raiton - Raigen Raikochu. It is a genjutsu that combines Raiton and Inton: the caster's body discharges a blinding light, then the illusion inserts false images into the target's mind, as when Jugo believes he sees Sasuke pinned to the ground by the Raikage. During the war, several Kumogakure ninja trigger it together to blind the Ten-Tails.
• Why is this character simply called C?
  Shi is the Japanese pronunciation of the letter C. Several Kumogakure shinobi bear a name built on the same principle, starting with the Fourth Raikage himself, A, and with Killer Bee. It is a naming convention specific to the hidden village of Lightning.
• Why couldn't C defend himself against Sasuke?
  Because a sensor in the middle of a search is a defenseless target. The Raikage had just ordered him to find and eliminate the enemy team's sensor, a mission that forces him to focus on detection rather than on his own guard. Despite Darui's protection, he is hit by a genjutsu from Sasuke and loses consciousness. Darui then revives him.
• What becomes of C after the Fourth Great Ninja War?
  He survives the conflict, wounded but alive after Obito's attack. He is seen again in the anime adaptation of Sasuke Shinden: Book of Sunrise, still at the side of the Raikage and Darui during an operation far from Kumogakure. The main story does not detail the rest of his career, while his partner Darui eventually becomes the Fifth Raikage.

In summary

In summary, C is the textbook example of the shinobi you only notice when he is gone. No spectacular strike, no forbidden technique: a jonin of Kumogakure who sees before the others, heals when it is needed and blinds the opponent so that others can land the blow. His career comes down to three moments, the close protection of the Fourth Raikage, the Five Kage Summit and the sensor unit of the Fourth Great Ninja War. In each of them, he holds the most exposed position in the setup, that of the man who watches for everyone.