Land of Sound
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The Land of Sound (音の国, "Oto no Kuni") is a geographical feature in the Naruto anime and manga series. It was likely named after the Otogakure, which Orochimaru founded, and both refer to what could be considered as one political entity.
The Land of Sound, along with Otogakure, is a relatively new country in the political scene, though the country itself existed long before Orochimaru took it over and renamed it. It conspired with the Land of Wind to launch a surprise attack and hopefully destroy the Land of Fire. Instead of using elemental jutsu, the Sound ninja use sonic-based jutsu, often augmented by various devices.
In the anime, the country in which Orochimaru established his village is named the "Land of Rice Fields" or "Rice Field Country" (田の国, "Ta no Kuni"). Orochimaru seems to have renamed it after his takeover.
Otogakure
Villagers
Orochimaru
Orochimaru is the leader of the village and country. Though he is not a Kage (the other villages do not recognize him as an equal), he has been nicknamed the Otokage ("Sound Shadow") by fans due to his Kage-level power and knowledge. Orochimaru is also one of the Legendary Three from Konoha. Though he is essentially the military dictator of the Sound village, he does not live in it. For most of the series, he is seen using a secret underground base as his headquarters. After Sasuke joins him, Kabuto mentions that they move into a new base every week.
Uchiha Sasuke
Though originally a member of the Hidden Leaf Village, Uchiha Sasuke has since joined Orochimaru in his quest to become more powerful.
Yakushi Kabuto
Yakushi Kabuto is Orochimaru's right-hand man and most-trusted agent, though Kabuto does not always seem to be completely loyal to Orochimaru. Orochimaru also seems to recognize this, but trusts Kabuto regardless.
Sound Four
The Sound Four (音隠れの忍四人衆, "Otogakure no Shinobi Yonin Shū", literally "Hidden Sound Shinobi Four People") are Orochimaru's elite bodyguards (Sakon and Ukon are counted as one entity due to their kekkei genkai). They are specialists in barrier jutsu and each has a cursed seal. Each one also has a cardinal direction associated with them; this is probably a reference to their positions when performing jutsu as a group. They were all defeated and killed by Naruto's friends in the Sasuke Retrieval arc. It is unknown if Orochimaru has replaced them yet. Kaguya Kimimaro was a part of the group for a short time (making them the Sound Five), since he was stronger than all four put together and was intended to be Orochimaru's next host, but an unexpected illness prevented him from participating normally.Jirōbō
- Age: 14 (deceased)2
- Rank: Genin
- Height: 181.3 cm2
- Weight: 97.3 kg2
- Birthday: June 26
- Blood Type: B
- Gate: Nanmon, 南門, "Southern Gate"
- Seiyu: Kenta Miyake
- Unique traits: Immense physical strength, chakra absorption abilities
Kidōmaru
- Age: 14 (deceased)2
- Rank: Genin
- Height: 159.2 cm2
- Weight: 56.2 kg2
- Birthday: December 16
- Blood Type: A
- Gate: Tōmon, 東門, "Eastern Gate"
- Seiyu: Susumu Chiba
- Unique traits: Six arms, able to make webs out of a special liquid and chakra, able to excrete a chakra-blocking liquid from his pores that solidifies into a metal.
Sakon
- Age: 14 (deceased)2
- Rank: Genin
- Height: 155.1 cm2
- Weight: 45 kg2
- Birthday: June 20
- Blood Type: AB
- Gate: Seimon, 西門, "Western Gate"
- Seiyu: Shunsuke Sakuya
- Unique traits: Able to unify his body with Ukon's through Souma no Kou ("Attack of an Evil Spirit Pair"),
Trivia
- Both Sakon and Ukon's names are also the names of the two connected sticks of a nunchaku.
- The way to tell Sakon apart from his twin brother Ukon is that Sakon's hair falls to the left, while Ukon's falls to the right. Also, Sakon wears a necklace of beads, and Ukon does not.
- Sakon means 'left', while Ukon means 'right'.
Ukon
- Age: 14 (deceased)2
- Rank: Genin
- Height: 155.1 cm2
- Weight: 45 kg2
- Birthday: June 20
- Blood Type: AB
- Gate: Seimon, 西門, "Western Gate" (since he shares Sakon's body, he shares his gate as well)
- Seiyu: Shunsuke Sakuya
- Unique traits: Able to unify his body with Sakon's through Souma no Kou ("Attack of an Evil Spirit Pair"),
Tayuya
- Age: 14 (deceased)
- Rank: Genin
- Height: 148.2 cm
- Weight: 38.2 kg
- Birthday: February 15
- Blood Type: A
- Gate: Hokumon, 北門, "Northern Gate"
- Seiyu: Akeno Watanabe
- Unique traits: Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique) (, genjutsu-casting flute
Kaguya Kimimaro
- Age: 15 (deceased)2
- Rank: Genin
- Height: 166.1 cm2
- Weight: 49.8 kg2
- Birthday: June 15
- Blood Type: A
- Gate: None
- Seiyu: Toshiyuki Morikawa
- Unique traits: Shikotsumyaku ("Dead Bone Pulse"), highly-skilled taijutsu user
Kimimaro died in his fight with Rock Lee and Gaara. While he was evidently more powerful than Gaara, who appeared as a result of renewed relations between the Hidden Sand and Hidden Leaf villages, he succumbed to his illness just before finishing off Gaara in a surprise attack. Gaara came to the conclusion after the fight that no one can defeat loneliness, even if it means to care for an evil person like Orochimaru. Gaara comments that Kimimaro has the same eyes as Sasuke, which say (so to speak) "I want to confirm the value of my existence."
Kimimaro is much like Haku, even to the point that young Haku says that he had the same eyes when they once met during childhood in the anime.
While belonging to a clan that loves killing, murder, and slaughtering, as well as being the most powerful of this clan, Kimimaro is not truly violent because he never really knew the outside world. Thus, he does not know why he really fights (until he meets Orochimaru). He always wondered what really was accomplished through the fighting he knew. It may be the reason why he retreated from the final battle of his war-loving clan and the Hidden Mist Village. Somewhat like Uchiha Itachi, Kimimaro does not show much of any emotion; such as his last few moments in the fight against Gaara, which may indicate there is somewhat of a connection between the two (in personality).
Other villagers
Numerous other residents of the Hidden Sound Village, as well as the Land of Sound in general, have been seen, but don't play an especially large role in events.Gen'yūmaru
Gen'yūmaru (幻幽丸) is Orochimaru's current body. He was told to have a fight to the death with the others that Orochimaru had kept captive, and the winner would be able to go free. Gen'yūmaru defeated and massacred them all, only to find out that he was the next vessel for Orochimaru. As his last wish, he asked for his clan to be released, which were being held captive for Orochimaru's experiments. It is unknown if this request was ever granted. Orochimaru comments that part of Gen'yūmaru would remain within Orochimaru after the transfer, so he is still alive, in a sense.
Fūma clan
The Fūma clan (ふうま一族, Fūma Ichizoku) is a shinobi clan from the Land of the Rice Fields. Some of their most powerful members were tricked by Orochimaru, who promised to restore their clan status, and were used in his kinjutsu development experiments. This clan appears only in the anime storyline, not in the manga.Arashi
- Age: ? (deceased?)
- Rank: Jōnin5
- Height: ?
- Weight: ?
- Birthday: ?
- Blood Type: ?
- Unique traits: Jibaku Mandara (Self-Destruction Mandala), Shisha Kugutsu (Casualty Puppet)
Hanzaki
- Age: ?
- Rank: ?
- Height: ?
- Weight: ?
- Birthday: ?
- Blood Type: ?
- Registration #: ?
- Unique traits: Zanbatō
Jigumo
- Age: ? (deceased?)
- Rank: Jōnin5
- Height: ?
- Weight: ?
- Birthday: ?
- Blood Type: ?
Like Kidōmaru, Jigumo used spiders and spider webs in combat and for scouting, though his skills are not on the same level.
Kagerō
- Age: ? (deceased?)
- Rank: Jōnin5
- Height: ?
- Weight: ?
- Birthday: ?
- Blood Type: ?
- Unique traits: , Utakata (Ephemeral Vengeance)
Kamikiri
- Age: ? (deceased?)
- Rank: Jōnin5
- Height: ?
- Weight: ?
- Birthday: ?
- Blood Type: ?
- Unique traits: Giant pincers
Sasame
- Age: ?
- Rank: ?
- Height: ?
- Weight: ?
- Birthday: ?
- Blood Type: ?
- Registration #: ?
- Unique traits: Makibishi
Kabuto's team
Kabuto's Jōnin sensei
Yakushi Kabuto, Akadō Yoroi and Tsurugi Misumi are a three-man genin team that entered the exam. It is unknown whether or not they had a Jōnin in charge of their team. Since all the other teams had a sensei, it would stand to reason that they do as well. If they had a Jōnin sensei, it is unknown whether or not this person was loyal to Orochimaru, or if he was a normal shinobi. During the preliminaries battles of the third stage of the Chūnin exam, all the Jōnin sensei are standing on a platform behind the Hokage. Among them is an unnamed, Leaf Village Jōnin (pictured to the right) whose attire is similar to that of Kabuto and his team. Given that all the other Jōnin present were assigned to the other teams, this would mean that this particular Jōnin is the leader (whether in actuality or simply as a ruse) of Kabuto's team. As none of Kabuto's team makes it to the third exam, no further info was made available regarding who their Jōnin was, or if he may have been cooperating with Orochimaru. This Jōnin appears again in the Naruto anime during the Third Hokage's funeral, standing next to Kamizuki Izumo, Hagane Kotetsu, and Uzuki Yugao, but this is not seen in the manga. This makes the canonicity of his appearance questionable.
Akadō Yoroi
- Age: 23 (deceased?) 1
- Rank: Genin1
- Height: 180 cm1
- Weight: 70 kg1
- Birthday: February 21
- Blood Type: O
- Seiyu: Takuya Kirimoto
- Voice Actor: Grant George
- Unique traits: Chakura Kyūin Jutsu (Chakra Absorption Technique)
Akadō Yoroi makes a second appearance with Tsurugi Misumi in the Sea Country filler arc, where he is depicted as a research assistant to Orochimaru's scientist, Amachi. He has taken off the cloth covering his lower face, appearing much older with a very defined facial structure. During the events of this arc, he is defeated twice by Aburame Shino. Upon his second defeat, he sinks beneath the water and does not visibly resurface. As he is not pursued, his death remains unclear. He may have died from complete chakra drainage by Shino's Kikai bugs, or from drowning by being unable to resurface. Conversely, he could have been fished out of the water and taken by the local authorities afterwards.
Trivia
- The name "Akadō" means "a red armor" and "Yoroi" means "an armor" as well. This may be taken from a group of elite soldiers of Tokugawa Ieyasu who dressed in the red armor to instill fear to the enemy's heart.
- Together with Yakushi Kabuto ("helmet") and Tsurugi Misumi ("sword"), they form an armor-helmet-sword trio.
Tsurugi Misumi
- Age: 23 (deceased?) 1
- Rank: Genin1
- Height: 174.7 cm1
- Weight: 61.4 kg1
- Birthday: November 30
- Blood Type: A
- Registration #: 011981
- Seiyu: Kunihiro Kawamoto
- Voice actor: Richard Cansino
- Unique traits: Nan no Kaizō (Soft Physique Modification)
Tsurugi Misumi makes a second appearance with Akadō Yoroi in the anime's Sea Country filler arc, where he is depicted as a research assistant and bodyguard to Orochimaru's scientist, Amachi. He, like Yoroi, has taken off the cloth covering his lower face. During the events of this arc, he is restrained in the lab when it caves in. He is never seen dead, but presumed so due to being buried alive, which would eventually lead to him suffocating even with his contortional abilities.
Trivia
- Tsurugi Misumi means ("sword").
- Together with Akadō Yoroi ("armor") and Yakushi Kabuto ("helmet"), they form an armor-helmet-sword trio.
Amachi
Amachi is a medical ninja/scientist who is an accomplice of Orochimaru. He and Orochimaru terrorized the peoples of the Sea Country and kidnapped the citizens for their deadly experiments. He also seems to know Anko as well, since she was with Orochimaru at the time. Much later, in the Kaima filler arc, he is joined by Yoroi and Misumi as bodyguards and assistants. He also summons the indestructible Umibōzu in this arc.Sound Genin
Sound Jōnin disguise
The Jōnin for the three Sound Genin, observing during the preliminary matches, was none other than Orochimaru acting as their Jōnin sensei. As none of the Sound Genin were present for the third exam, no excuses for his absence were made, and he could later easily fill the role of the Kazekage without any suspicion.
Similar to Orochimaru's normal appearance, it is confusing to some as to why he was not recognized, even after his confrontation with Kakashi in which he admitted that the Hidden Sound Village was his. It can be assumed that, like Anko's knowledge, this did not result in the stopping of the exam and declaration of martial law due to unwillingness to jeopardize relations with other nations, as well as Orochimaru's threat of reprisal against the Leaf Village if the exam were halted. During the Chūnin exams, the Genin from other villages are gathered to come compete against one another so much of the attention is put on them instead. This is why Kabuto gave up before the prelims as he was a spy in the Leaf Village for many years and didn't want onlookers. In fact, outside of Guy's Team and the Rookie Nine, all the other Genin were a hidden threat to Konoha and weren't noticed in matches of the third exam.
Dosu Kinuta
- Age: 14 (deceased)1
- Rank: Genin1
- Height: 156.0 cm1
- Weight: 49.0 kg1
- Birthday: June 12
- Blood Type: A
- Seiyu: Daisuke Egawa
- Voice actor: John DeMita
- Unique traits: Sound-amplifying speaker on arm (Melody Arm)
Dosu wounded both Rock Lee and Yakushi Kabuto (presumably Kabuto healed himself with his medical abilities) during the first and second exams by directing his sound into their inner ears. Both later recovered for their fights. In the preliminary examination, Dosu easily defeated Akimichi Chōji. Dosu was largely a jealous person, attempting to kill Sasuke after realizing that Orochimaru's intentions were not as he had told them. Similarly, his attacking of Kabuto was a result of not being notified of Kabuto's affiliation. He seems to be loyal to Zaku and vice verse. After Zaku is maimed in the battle with Aburame Shino, Dosu says he will avenge him (or rather, his severed arm). Dosu and Zaku really didn't bother to help or sympathize with Kin after her possession by Ino and her defeat by Shikamaru. They even attacked her once (though they said that they would kill any of their teammates if they absolutely had to).
Orochimaru treated him as largely a pawn, even though he was quite a powerful ninja. Dosu's undoing, however, was his own attempt to kill Gaara so that he could fight Sasuke earlier in the third stage of the Chūnin exam. Not realizing the monstrosity he was actually going up against, his death was quick and unceremonious, only taking Gaara one strike to kill him due to the demon inside him.
Trivia
- "Dosu" is onomatopoeia for the sound of a sword piercing flesh.
- A kinuta is a wooden stick used to air out clothing.
- Some fans have rearranged Zaku, Kin, and Dosu's names to fit the Asian format, but the canon way to arrange their names is the western way. It was revealed in a footnote about Zaku's shirt in volume 5 that Kishimoto had originally planned on using their current surnames as their given names and vice versa, but decided against it, possibly to give them a more "foreign" feel.
Kin Tsuchi
- Age: 14 (deceased)1
- Rank: Genin1
- Height: 150 cm1
- Weight: 39 kg1
- Birthday: July 6
- Blood Type: O
- Seiyu: Akiko Koike
- Voice actor: Stephanie Sheh
- Unique traits: Genjutsu-casting bells
In the third stage preliminaries she is matched against Nara Shikamaru, who defeats her through his Kagemane no Jutsu ("The Art of Me-and-My-Shadow" or "Shadow Possession Jutsu") by contracting his shadow and minimizing it under the string attached to a needle she threw; she didn't notice that a string at that height wouldn't be able to cast a shadow. Shikamaru used his jutsu to bring her head into the wall while he was a different distance away. In the process, Kin received a concussion.
Kin is later betrayed and murdered by Orochimaru in order to be one of the sacrifices needed to summon the First and Second Hokages from their graves with his .
Trivia
- Kin is named for the sound of metal clashing.
- Tsuchi means Earth.
Zaku Abumi
- Age: 14 (deceased)1
- Rank: Genin1
- Height: 157.3 cm1
- Weight: 49 kg1
- Birthday: September 14
- Blood Type: AB
- Seiyu: Keiji Okuda
- Voice actor: Sam Riegel
- Unique traits: Vents in arms that can release air, sound, or a powerful mixture of both.
After saving his partner Dosu from Rock Lee's lotus attack, he brutally fought off Sakura who attempted to prevent him from killing Sasuke. When Sasuke awoke, he dislocated and greatly injured Zaku's shoulders. He was the only sound ninja to fight Sasuke. During his fight with Aburame Shino in the preliminary exams, he overcame the injuries to his shoulders and was able to use his arms to defend himself against Shino. His arms were even more brutally crippled in a counterattack that prevented him from doing any damage in the future. (In the manga, his right arm is blown off due to the beetles Shino used to fill up Zaku's air tubes, and the left was kept intact but halfway sliced. In the anime both of his arms are left intact, but have numerous holes in them, achieving the same, albeit less gruesome, result.) Dosu says he will avenge him (or rather, his severed arms), but failed to do so. He is later murdered as a sacrifice for Orochimaru's for the First and Second Hokages against the Third Hokage.
Trivia
- Zaku's name is derived from "to cut," which relates to his "air cutter" attack. It is also the sound of a person walking on snow or sand. With the former name meaning, he and his two teammates have names relating to swords, fitting based on their aggressive behavior and deadly intentions. However, based on the latter meaning, he and his two teammates all have names that come from onomatopoeias, fitting since they come from the Hidden Sound Village. Their naming pattern (Slash, Clang, and Crunch) is similar to that of Snap, Crackle, and Pop.
- The kanji on Zaku's shirt is 死 ("Shi", death).
- "Abumi" means "stirrup"
- Zaku is the only Oto-nin that was never affiliated with a previous village (besides Orochimaru) whose past is explored.
Sources
- First Official Data Book (秘伝・臨の書キャラクターオフィシャルデータBOOK, "Hiden: Rin no Sho Character Official Data Book")
- Second Official Data Book (秘伝・闘の書キャラクターオフィシャルデータBOOK, "Hiden: Tō no Sho Character Official Data Book")
- Jump's 2nd Great Hero Book's Mini Data Book (秘伝・翔の書オフィシャルキャラクターデータBOOK mini, "Hiden: Shō no Sho Official Character Data Book mini")
- Naruto manga chapters
- Based on character's ability and status
| Naruto | |
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| Naruto universe | |
| Franchise: | Episode list | OVA list | Video game list | Media list |
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| Main: | Uzumaki Naruto | Haruno Sakura | Uchiha Sasuke | Hatake Kakashi | Sai |
| Supporting: | Aburame Shino, Hyūga Hinata & Inuzuka Kiba (Team Kurenai) Akimichi Chōji, Nara Shikamaru & Yamanaka Ino (Team Asuma) Hyūga Neji, Rock Lee & Tenten (Team Guy) Gaara, Kankurō & Temari (Sand Siblings) |
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| Konoha-nin: | Genin | Chūnin | Jōnin |
| Enemies: | Momochi Zabuza and Haku | Orochimaru (of the Legendary Three), Yakushi Kabuto, and the Land of Sound | Akatsuki | Other enemies |
| Neutral/Other: | Bijū | Summons | Ichiraku Ramen Bar | Puppets |
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