Kawaki

is the key to the fulfilment of Kara's greatest wish.

Background
During his childhood, Kawaki was raised solely by his father, a physically and emotionally abusive drunkard, until Jigen bought him with a large sum of money. Upon taking custody of the boy, Jigen told him that the suffering he endured was over and there was nothing to fear, as he was his new father.

Some time afterwards, Jigen took him to a laboratory where he met Amado, telling him that he would give him a gift when they truly become parent and child. Kawaki was one of fifteen children placed in artificial wombs connected by tubes to jars of fluid, through which Jigen attempted to transfer Kāma to them. The first thirteen children all died, however Jigen succeeded with Kawaki, one of his last attempts. Kawaki later awoke with a Kāma branded on his left hand. Despite Jigen's promise of safety, Kawaki would later describe his life from then on to be a living hell. He would constantly be put through gruelling training, all for he'd master the Kāma as Jigen wanted. During it, he would constantly berate Kawaki as only having value as a vessel for the Kāma and would strike the boy whenever he questioned him.

Kawaki eventually also underwent extensive body modification, with microscopic technology being implanted into his body that constantly alters his physiology at the cellular level, granting him unique superhuman abilities similar to a kekkei genkai. At some point he battled Garō, delivering a blow that tore off the man's lower jaw, for which he claims to have apologised.

Personality
Kawaki is shown to be highly aggressive and vulgar to people he dislikes or opposes. At the same time, he can remain calm and collected when questioning strangers, such as when Kawaki listened to Konohamaru Sarutobi's explanation about himself and his team. Due to the massive suffering he has endured while forced to be a vessel of the Kara, which he described as being a living hell he would gladly die rather than be stuck in for the rest of his life. He has even shown signs of PTSD, as simply seeing dripping roots of plants a reminder of his struggles and left panting in horror. Kawaki harbours deep resentment towards the organisation, becoming highly alert and aggressive when facing off against members of the group. He particularly resents Jigen for what he deemed as a violation of his promises of safety, as shown by how he quickly erupted to a rage while unconscious upon being reminded of Jigen's adoption of him and later on when he showed clear resentment when describing Jigen's experiment. Due to his harsh childhood, he is a stranger to simply joys like pastries, openly amazed at their flavor. He is also constantly on guard, instinctively attacking a child for bumping into him, although he claims he was only interested in scaring the child to show him the harshness of life.

Kawaki also seems to possess a dry sense of humour, seen when Kawaki made fun of Garō's disfigured jaw, which Kawaki himself caused in the past. He is also shown to be extremely ruthless, killing anyone who either opposes or angers him. However, he is shown to be not above apologising when he does something wrong even if he initially believed it to be unnecessary, as shown by how he apologised, even if half-heartedly, on how he broke the flower vase Himawari gifted to Hinata after seeing how much it hurt her. In addition, he is not above fixing his mistakes if necessary, as although begrudgingly, Kawaki was willing to buy another vase to make Boruto agree to work with him.

Later, Kawaki apparently came to despise shinobi as he became driven to end its era once and for all.

Appearance
Kawaki is a young man with grey eyes and bushy black hair, the sides of which are shaven and blond in colour. As noted by Ino, despite his gruff demeanor, he is very handsome. Additionally, he has a tattoo of the Roman numeral Ⅸ under his left eye, a pair of piercings on his right eyebrow, and stud earrings. Kawaki wears a green shirt with a sleeveless vest jacket with stripe patterns on the collar and dark pants with a studded belt. He has a Kāma on the palm of his left hand in the shape of a diamond, which spreads across the left half of his face, chest, and arm, glowing red upon activation.

Later in life, he is seen wearing a violet infinity scarf and belt, white overalls with his chest exposed, and a black vest trench coat.

Abilities
Though Kawaki is not a ninja and does not know how to harness his chakra, he is an exceptionally skilled fighter, brutally trained in armed and unarmed combat by Jigen from a young age. In the past he was able to destroy Garō's jaw and dozens of robotic puppets. Even in an exhausted state, his power was enough to repel Team Konohamaru and fend off Garō, easily defeating and killing him upon activating his Kāma, and would have killed Team Konohamaru with a single attack had Boruto not tapped into his own Kāma and absorbed it, with Delta openly praising Kawaki's might.

Kāma
Kawaki possesses the Kāma mark, which he acquired after being the only one to survive Jigen's attempt to transfer his own Kāma. At first, he was unable to activate it at will but unlike Boruto, he was already able to properly utilise its power, able to absorb ninjutsu and cause large-scale explosions. However, using the mark causes his body to overheat, leaving him unconscious. Three years later, he becomes able to willingly activate it as well, which changes to expand across his body.

Body Modifications
Kawaki's body has undergone significant modification at the hands of an extremely talented scientist, down to the level of his circulatory and nervous systems, transforming him into something of a living scientific ninja tool. Upon initial examination, Katasuke Tōno deems the cybernetics in his body a work of art, as advanced as the prosthetic arm he designed for Naruto Uzumaki, if not more so. He also clarifies that unlike Mitsuki, who is a synthetic human that was genetically engineered using organic technology, Kawaki is a human being who was transformed into something else using inorganic technology.

His Shinobi-Ware takes the form of microscopic scientific ninja tools implanted throughout his entire body, which seem to be make particular alterations at the cellular level. For example, his body tissue can undergo rapid cellular division, causing it to expand, and it can also instantly undergo sclerosis or malacia to harden or soften. This allows him to partially transform his body in a manner similar to Jūgo's Sage Transformation, weaponizing it to produce sharp blades or piercing tendrils; these growths can even be shed, or thrown as projectiles. He can also produce a powerful shockwave from his body, repelling all around, even the ground below him.

Physical Prowess
Kawaki specialises in close-range combat. He is able to easily dodge Garō's blast and is shown to be very resilient, as he could continue fighting effectively despite his battered state. He is proficient in taijutsu, able to go toe-to-toe with Boruto in their fight. Kawaki is later shown to be proficient in using a bō, able to match Boruto's swordsmanship.

Ao Arc
When the blimp that was transporting Kawaki crashed in the Land of Fire near the border, he left the scene, resulting in some of Kara's autonomous puppets pursing him. After travelling a fair distance away from the crash, he defeated all the pursing puppets before falling unconscious.

Kawaki Arc
Upon his body being discovered by Team 7, the shinobi discovered he had an identical mark to Boruto Uzumaki's. When both their seals began to hurt, Kawaki was dreaming of his first time meeting Jigen, leading to him abruptly waking up and destroying the area within his vicinity. Questioning who the team were, Konohamaru identified himself, and asked for information regarding the crash. Refusing to provide information and wanting to be left alone, Boruto revealed to Kawaki he also had Kāma, resulting in Kawaki believing they were pursuers from Kara. As they tried to correct him, Garō made his presence known, announcing his intentions of recovering Kawaki. Launching another attack, Kawaki dodged and began fighting while modifying his body, despite his weakened state. Upon Garō managing to subdue Kawaki, his Kāma activated and strengthened him, leading to Kawaki destroying Garō'a prosthetic arm. Walking towards Garō and absorbing his blast, Kawaki impales him with his modified arm, before killing the Outer with a shock wave.

To his surprise, Boruto instinctively activated his mark to absorb the shock wave and protect his team. This made Kawaki more convinced than ever that they were with Kara. Kawaki told Boruto to tell Jigen if he pursued him, the mountain of corpses would increase. Their conversation was cut short as smoke emerged from his body, leading to Kawaki collapsing and being examined by the shinobi. Ultimately, the Konona-nin decided to bring him back to Konohagakure to meet with the Seventh Hokage. When he awoke, he found himself in a hospital bed surrounded by the Konoha shinobi. Learning that he was in Konoha, Kawaki attempted to flee out of the room's window, but was restrained by Shikamaru Nara. Afterwards, Naruto introduced himself as the Hokage. Later, after an agreement between the five Kage, it was decided for Kawaki to remain unrestrained within Konoha while Naruto watched over him.

Naruto escorted Kawaki through the village to his house, during which he fled for not wanting to be used. To his shock, Naruto effortlessly caught up and blocked his path, prompting Kawaki to continue going to the Hokage's house. There, he attempt to flee again, but in the process destroyed a vase, leading to Naruto asserting his prowess and intimidating Kawaki into submission. When Boruto discovered Kawaki would be living with his family, he begrudgingly apologised before introducing himself. Later, after the frustrated boys fought each other, Kawaki revealed how he obtained his Kāma, and suggested they work together to remove their markings. Telling Boruto he'll replace the vase, Naruto took him to get a replacement. On their way, he met Sarada Uchiha, before arriving at Yamanaka Flowers. There, Kawaki had a panic attack after flower roots reminded him of Jigen's experiment. Seeing how traumatised Kawaki was, Naruto gave him a comforting hug, insisting that it was fine. Upon returning to the Uzumaki house with a new vase and flowers, Boruto gave him glue to repair the broken one.

Later, he watched Boruto and Naruto spar with each other. Kawaki insisted that Boruto try using his Kāma, as understanding its power would be the first step to removing it. Knowing that Boruto still couldn't activate it at will, Kawaki activated his own so Boruto's would respond in kind. Naruto approved of his son using it and quickly showed a considerable improvement in performance. Afterwards, despite Boruto still losing, Naruto applauded his son on his recent growth. The mutual respect and support between the father and son surprised Kawaki, remembering his own harsh experience with father-figures. Later, Naruto offered for Kawaki to try sparing with Boruto next time. While Kawaki declined as he couldn't use chakra, Naruto insisted that all can learn to do so, since it would get in touch with the original principle of chakra to connect with people. Kawaki did admit he would like learning to use a shadow clone, so he could beat himself up. Knowing the feeling of having nothing and no one, Naruto insisted that self-hatred would solve nothing. He also insisted that having strong rivals will help one in accomplishing great things. Afterwards, Kawaki bitterly decided to repair the broken vase.

Later, as Kawaki struggled to finish fixing the vase, Boruto decided to take Kawaki's offer of learning what he knows about their Kāma. Deciding to do so through sparring, the two children quickly activated their respect marks. Kawaki then launched a blast at Naruto with the intent of him absorbing it like previously, only for Boruto to instead damage his hand. Naruto called of the match and told the two to perform the Seal of Reconciliation. The event made their marks react. While Boruto saw a vision Momoshiki Ōtsutsuki, Kawaki insisted he saw nothing when asked about it. Before the subject could be pushed, Naruto was alerted of an intruder. Naruto told his son to take Himawari away while he stayed with Kawaki, certain that the intruder was after Kawaki. His assumption proved correct as they were quickly met with Delta.

Flashforward
In the wake of Konohagakure's destruction three years after meeting Team Konohamaru, the two faced off on the destroyed Hokage Rock, where Kawaki vowed to defeat him and told Boruto that the shinobi era was over.

Trivia

 * means "dry" or "parched".
 * Kawaki first appeared in a promotional illustration for the Boruto: Naruto Next Generations manga with a slightly different design, having slightly younger features and wearing a dark blue jacket over a pink shirt and white pants, with his back turned.
 * Kawaki's appearance on the cover of chapter 1 has him wearing a white jacket over a purple turtle-neck shirt with the tattoo under his left eye resembling a dagger instead of the Roman numeral Ⅸ.