Tayuya

was a kunoichi from Otogakure and a member of the Sound Four.

Personality
Tayuya was overbearing and foul-mouthed towards most people, especially Jirōbō, calling him "fatty", as he criticised her over it. She didn't think much of Shikamaru Nara as a leader, but as a weak, useless rat, who ran away when she used her Doki to attack him. Like several of the Sound Four, Tayuya had her own perception of morality as she criticised Shikamaru for sacrificing members of his team to bring back one person who left with them voluntarily. Orochimaru commented that Tayuya has a "doesn't-want-to-lose" mentality that can slow down the team. Like the rest of the Sound Five, Tayuya constantly referred her enemies as "trash".

Appearance
Tayuya's most distinctive feature was her long, untamed, pink hair (depicted as red in the anime). She also wore a black hat with bandages on the sides but it was shredded once Tayuya got into her second state. She wears a tan tunic, along with all of the other members of Sound Four, with black shorts and standard black shinobi sandals. In her second state her skin turns brown and her usually brown eyes turn yellow. Her hair grows longer and turns pink in the anime. She also grows a set of horns.

Abilities
Tayuya was very intelligent, and could think of excellent strategies, though not quite on par with Shikamaru. According to Shikamaru, she would probably also "be very good in shōgi". She claimed to be the second strongest member of the Sound Four, inferior only to Sakon.

When in Level 2 Cursed Seal form, her hair grew longer and turned pink, her skin turned dark brown, and she grew several horns on her head. She also gained immense stamina and endurance, which allowed her to overcome even Shikamaru's various shadow techniques.

Flute
Tayuya is the only member of the Sound Four to use sound as her primary fighting style, in the form of her Demonic Flute. She was shown to have immense skill using it. In the fight with Shikamaru she was able to dodge attacks and play her flute simultaneously. The flute is her only weapon, as she does not even carry kunai. This makes her vulnerable to close-range combat. Despite this, Tayuya can use her flute for a variety of purposes; with it she could control her Doki and perform genjutsu, which she called Demonic Flute: Phantom Sound Chains. The flute is hard enough to block strikes from a kunai.

Invasion of Konoha Arc
Tayuya made her first appearance with the rest of the Sound Four, erecting a barrier to keep others from interfering in Orochimaru's fight with the Third Hokage. She later escorted Orochimaru when he fled.

Sasuke Retrieval Arc
The Sound Four escorted Sasuke Uchiha when he decided to join sides with Orochimaru. When Sasuke Retrieval Team caught up with the Sound Four after having left Neji and Chōji behind to deal with Kidōmaru and Jirōbō, they managed to take the barrel Sasuke was being carried in from her. While trying to take it back Sakon and Ukon were separated from her, leaving her to get it back. While trying to, she was confronted by Kimimaro, her former leader, who threatened to kill her if she didn't deal with some of the Konoha ninja resulting in her fighting Shikamaru Nara.

Tayuya summoned her three demons, which she controlled with her flute and easily gained the upper hand against Shikamaru, while at the same time activated stage one of her cursed seal. Being unable to read her music, he had to fall back and build a strategy. When he got done, he had nine moves. As he used them, Tayuya used her Doki to block them, while Shikamaru observed her finger positions and how her Doki reacted to them. He eventually took control of the three with his shadow, telling her how he found shōgi fun because he can take over his opponent's pieces. Shikamaru then attacked with the three demons prompting Tayuya to unsummon them, but Shikamaru still caught her with his shadow by keeping her distracted. Tayuya activated the second stage of her cursed seal, and resisted Shikamaru's shadow. He then activated his Shadow–Neck Binding Technique to choke her, but she was able to overcome it since he wasn't close enough. She then used her flute to trap him in a genjutsu, causing him to throw his last kunai at her and miss.

Picking up the kunai that had missed her she tried to slit his throat but was suddenly punched in the gut and caught by his shadow again, and sees that he broke his finger in order to break the genjutsu revealing that he only pretended to fall prey to her genjutsu. Shikamaru then explained about his plan and how he missed with that kunai on purpose to get her to come closer while he then prepared his Shadow–Neck Binding Technique. When she started relying on brute strength after going into Level 2 of her cursed seal, Tayuya was eventually able to overcome him again after the shadow had shifted back and forth and was almost able to kill Shikamaru.

Temari, however, arrived at the last second, and blew her away with a strong gust of wind. She then tried to use her genjutsu, but Temari blew it away and damaged her flute. She then went into hiding. Shikamaru and Temari then discussed their situation. After Shikamaru suggested they retreat, Temari disregards him and uses her Summoning: Quick Beheading Dance to destroy the forest. When the attack reached the tree Tayuya was hiding behind, it sliced it up, slashing her several times, causing her to scream in agony. Several sliced tree trunk parts then fell on Tayuya and killed her. Her body then reverted to its original form and she lay dead on the forest floor

Trivia

 * The flute melody Tayuya used to control the Doki was in later episodes, used as background music in the Naruto anime.
 * Tayuya made a brief appearance in an omake in Naruto Shippūden episode 129, as she is seen walking around the festival.
 * Tayuya's hair is shown as dark pink in the manga. In the anime it has a colour closer to red, but becomes pink when she enters Cursed Seal stage 2.
 * According to the Naruto Official Databook:
 * Tayuya has completed 46 official missions in total: 20 D-rank, 15 C-rank, 8 B-rank, 2 A-rank, 1 S-rank.

Quotes

 * "I'll play you the melody of death!"
 * "No one has survived the sound of my flute."
 * "You said this was your last hand, right? I'm afraid it's reverse checkmate, you damn rat!"
 * "He's an amazing piece of trash."