Naotora Takeda

"I hate to do this, but... this time i'll be taking... Your precious first triumph!"

- Chapter 04

Naotora Takeda is one of the Five Grand Generals of Hi no Moto and the Captain of the Takeda Bushi. He is one of the first Five Grand Generals to meet Musashi and Kojiro from the beginning in Tatsuyama Mine.

Appearance
Naotora is a tall, muscular man, with short spiky blue hair like beast ear, and golden eyes. He has a scar on his left cheek.

He wears what looks like a light blue traditional samurai armor with a white cape.

Personality
He is a very charismatic man, meaning he is easily able to bring people over to his side with his sense of honor and how he cares for the people of Hi no Moto. He also has a rather mischievous side, often taking any chance he can to play small jokes on Musashi.

Unlike other Bushi, he does not seem rooted in tradition, deciding that Uesugi was a bit too strict when it came to blood relations among Bushi. Likewise, he does not revere the Obsidian Goddess as a necessary entity and likens her more to a person the world could do without; however, the reason for this has not been explained properly yet.

He carries a vendetta against the Obsidian Brotherhood for causing a slaughter in his clan 10 years ago. It is noted he especially blames Shiro, as he was the one present during the tragedy.

History
Little is known about his past. However, it was stated he knew the other four Great Generals, as all five of them were friends in childhood.

During the Awaji Island Recapture, he was stated to have honed his sword skills in order to defeat Shiro Inukai. Naotora remembers seeing Shiro around 10 years ago, saying that he recalled a warrior surrounded by a white aura reveling in the massacre of his brothers being feasted on by hoards of demons. After creating an elemental blade and breaking Shiro's Kitetsuto, Naotora gets an injury on his arm that he calls a "Dark Depravity Curse". He believes it's because he was fighting a bit recklessly.

Equipment

 * Blue Wing Breaker (青羽々斬):

Abilities
Blue Sword Soul: He possesses one of the most common soul colors, blue. He is able to unleash a multitude of strikes in a single swing using Blue Wing Breaker, producing many more than a basic blue Bushi such as Kojiro.

Naotora honed his sword skills as a Blue Bushi to be able to concentrate elemental properties and condense them into a small cosmic blade.

Firstly, he is able to control water and fire alike, bending them to his will even when brought forth by the special distortion caused by Shiro. It can be said that attacks involving both are ineffective against him, as neither a downpour of lava or even being submerged in a cube of water was able to harm him. He is able to mold these elements into two large tigers to strike at his opponents.

The ultimate reason as to why Naotora learned these techniques was to combat the Obsidian Brotherhood. By condensing both fire and water, the opposing elements create a contradiction on a subatomic level. This creates a cosmic knife (which was able to destroy Shiro’s kitetsuto in one hit). The only time such a feat was shown prior was when the Obsidian Goddess overloaded a kitetsuto during her fight with Shiro.

Trivia

 * His name and character are most likely a reference to Shingen Takeda and his descendant, given the structure of Orient's story. Fittingly, he also has many tiger motifs, as a reference to Shingen Takeda's nickname.
 * Naotora ranked 7th place in the manga's 1st Character Popularity Poll.
 * It is still unknown how his left cheek was injured.

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