Gennō

, renowned as the was a shinobi from the Kagerō Village.

Background
When his village was wiped out, Gennō was the only survivor. Decades later (after doing work in the Land of Sand), with his life failing, Gennō decided to resurface his last mission from his village. He began by infiltrating Konoha as a carpenter, where he was hired by Kanna. After successfully placing himself within the village, he stole the blueprints of the fort structure around Konohagakure to refine his leftover traps from his last infiltration. After the village was left preoccupied with threats of an impending invasion by a neighbouring country, it was left to the Konoha 11 to stop Gennō.

Abilities
Despite his advanced age, Gennō was still a famous and powerful ninja. Gennō was shown to be very crafty, as well as skilled in battle, utilising several expert level combinations in all three main skills of shinobi combat.

Taijutsu
Gennō was a very proficient barehanded fighter. In his short skirmish against Rock Lee, a young shinobi with advanced training in taijutsu, he was able to keep up with the younger opponent, and presumably lost only because of his failing health. Likewise, he showed great mental fortitude, being able to effectively continue his mission despite the pain he endured.

Ninjutsu
His regular use of his advanced trap skills during combat made his opponents more hesitant to approach him. Some of his tricks included rigging himself with smoke bombs under his clothing, which, if set off, would allow him to counter-attack with taijutsu while the enemy was blinded. Another version of this tactic substituted smoke bombs for exploding tags. He was also able to summon a giant bird who could emit a shrill cry to signal others, and attack or set off a trap by using an exploding tag located on its left leg. Gennō could also use it as a mean of transport.

Intelligence
His greatest trait was his intelligence, great enough to outsmart an entire squadron of Anbu. Gennō was adept at perceiving everything around him and formulating well-thought-out plans several steps ahead of his opponent that could also involve misdirections, as well as quickly altering his plans should the situation change. His intellect best served him in his actions as a trap expert, which earned him the nickname "Trap Master".

Since Gennō's style for traps revolved around infiltration of an enemy's territory and stealthily laying exploding tags, he proved himself to be a very capable actor. According to Shikamaru, Gennō's talent for infiltration and espionage, whether hiding in the shadows or blending into the environment and disguising his true objective, deserved legendary status.

Konoha Plans Recapture Mission
Although Gennō was at first only interested in destroying the village, he came to appreciate Naruto Uzumaki and the young generation's determination as they managed to find and safely remove his bomb. He then decided to use his trap-making skills to give them an interesting hunt. He amazed the young ninja by how skilfully he faked his death and how he successfully planted explosive tags all throughout the village in a chain-effect. After Sakura Haruno, Hinata Hyūga and Ino Yamanaka discovered that Gennō was still alive, Gennō decided to move into the final phase of his mission. Gennō then had his bird drop all of the blueprints all over the village. Whilst everyone tried to make sense of them all, Gennō planted more explosive tags in and on the face of the Hokage Mountain.

Eventually, Naruto encountered Gennō at the Hokage Mountain where he then revealed everything, including his plans to blow up the plateau to bury Konohagakure. With his plans finally revealed, he took on the Konoha Genin. He managed to dodge Kiba Inuzuka and Akamaru's combination attack, and used a trick to escape Shino Aburame's insect attack. After using a genjutsu, Gennō summoned a giant bird. When Ino entered his mind, she felt pain so extreme that she left it immediately.

Rock Lee then moved in to subdue Gennō, but he managed to match Lee's taijutsu. Gennō then finally revealed the final part of his plan, as he had placed explosive tags in the Third Hokage's face as a trigger for the explosion. After Naruto and Chōji Akimichi defeated the bird, Gennō could no longer push his failing body any further, and he passed away from old injuries that had never healed. Before he had passed he said he didn't get revenge, but he had fun. When Shikamaru explained to the Hokage what had happened, he said that Gennō had intended to blow up the village when he first arrived. However, after Gennō had met Naruto, he had deactivated all of the bombs, and decided to not blow up the village. Instead, he turned his plan into a treasure hunt, like he had done with his own son, since Naruto had reminded him of his son.

Trivia

 * Written as 玄翁, Gennō means "sledgehammer".

Gennou Gennō