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 twelve children all died, however Jigen succeeded with Kawaki, his thirteenth attempt. 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.

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.

In time he would be placed in a coffin-like container as part of a Kara operation to transport him to a new location. He broke free, however, causing the airship he was aboard to crash in the Land of Fire. Demonstrating immense strength to defeat the autonomous puppets that were meant to guard him, he fled the scene.

Personality
While much is unknown about Kawaki's personality and views, he 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. Kawaki seems to hold a deep grudge against the Kara organisation, becoming highly alert and aggressive when facing off against members of the group. 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.

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, a tattoo of the Roman numeral Ⅸ under his left eye, a pair of piercings on his right eyebrow and stud earrings. He wears a shirt with a sleeveless vest jacket with stripe patterns on his 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
Kawaki is a strong combatant, 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 the attack, with Delta openly praising Kawaki's might.

Kāma
Kawaki possesses the Kāma mark, with which he is able to absorb flames and cause large-scale explosions. However, using the mark causes his body to overheat, leaving him unconscious. Three years later, he is able to willingly activate it as well, which changes to expand across his body.

Body Modifcations
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.

There are microscopic scientific ninja tools throughout his entire body, which seemed to be making 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. 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 Konohamaru, 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 Konohagakure while Naruto watched over him. To which, Naruto escorted him through the village to his house. During which Kawaki fled for not wanting to be used. To his shock, Naruto effortlessly caught up and blocked his path, prompting Kawaki to go to Naruto's house.

Afterwards, the boy continued to make his distrust of Naruto apparent. When he brought Kawaki to his home, the boy made a scene, destroying a table in a effort to "escape". Done being so passive, Naruto quickly showed his power, making the boy freeze in horror at the sight. Naruto insisted that he means no harm to the boy and will let the boy go as he pleases, but vows that he will follow him wherever he goes until Naruto is sure the boy is no danger to the village. As the boy settled down, Boruto arrived, shocked to see him again. When Boruto and the boy got into an argument about how the guest destroyed Himawari's gift vase to their mother, the boy begrudgingly apologised before finally introducing himself.

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.