A (Fourth Raikage)

is the of Kumogakure.

Background
A is the son of the Third Raikage. At some point in the past, a group of children were gathered in order to determine who would be A's tag-partner in keeping with a long-standing Kumogakure tradition of the Raikage having a tag-team partner. Only one of the children were able to successfully match A's power and use the Double Lariat on a training dummy.

As a result, the child was given the name "B", and A stated that they would be brothers from that day on. He and B would eventually be teamed together on a mission with Killer B's cousin, the jinchūriki of the Eight-Tails. While on the mission, he told A that Killer B would need something to fill the void that would be created if he was chosen as the beast's next jinchūriki.

Some time later B's cousin lost control of the beast and it went on a rampage. A was made part of a special team tasked with subduing the rampaging Eight-Tails. When the beast impaled Motoi's father with its horn, A cut it off. After B became the beast's jinchūriki, A, remembering what B's cousin had said to him, tried his best to fill that apparent void.

Sometime during a conflict involving Konoha and Kumo, A would clash with Minato Namikaze for the first time. Before Minato retreated he recognised Killer B as the jinchūriki of the Eight-Tails and told A that next time they met it would be to put the title of "Kage" on the line and also offered A the advice of making sure his brother knew who he was before becoming neither human nor jinchūriki. They would clash many more times after that. A was once even told by Jiraiya that he believed Minato was the "Child of Prophecy". When A's father died, he inherited the title of Raikage. Afterwards, he forbade B's continued training in the Lariat and ordered him to complete his training in the Tailed Beast Ball at the Valley of Clouds and Lightning and restricted him to the confines of the village. At some point, he forbade B from fully transforming into his tailed beast due to its extreme power.

Appearance
He is a tall dark-skinned man with a large muscular build, with his white hair (blond in the anime) combed back, a small moustache and beard. His face is very distinguished with pronounced cheekbones and tear troughs under his eyes, and a prominent crease across his forehead. He has pointed canines and his top lip also has a darker hue than the bottom one; traits he inherited from his father. During his fight with Sasuke Uchiha, he amputated his left forearm after it was burned by the flames of Amaterasu.

Unlike other Kage, A seems to wear his Kage cloak and hat on a regular basis without a shirt underneath, further displaying his hulking physique. He has black Fūma Shuriken tattoos on both shoulders. Up until his fight with Sasuke, he had gold bangle bracelets on each wrist which have protrusions that can jut out when he attacks. Though he still wore the bracelet on his right arm after amputating the left arm at the Summit and even when he convened the second meeting of the Kage, since the Fourth Shinobi World War started however, he has stopped wearing it altogether. He also wears a gold belt around his waist with a boar's face engraved in the centre. All of these aspects combined give him the appearance of a professional wrestler.

When he was younger, A wore a high-collared outfit with ragged sleeve and matching pants along with a flak jacket and shin guards.

Personality
A is very caring and protective towards his younger brother, despite Killer B's status as a jinchūriki, and wept at the idea of his younger brother being captured by Akatsuki. However, when Killer B's ploy to use the affair to have a vacation was discovered, A was furious, and swore to punish his little brother for it. He claims, that as the Raikage, he has made peace with the idea of having to kill his brother if the situation ever called for it. He also cared deeply for, and respected his father as seen when he was brought to tears at his father's funeral and, upon assuming the mantle of Raikage, swore to protect the village as he did.

He is also headstrong and somewhat easily aggravated, smashing a desk apart when news of his brother being captured arrived. He also seemingly has very little patience as seen when he burst through the window of his office to attend the Kage Summit, smashed the table at the Summit when the conversation was deviating and smashing through a wall to go after Sasuke. His assistant implied that he is prone to such actions whenever he was in that mental state. A also has a method of punishing his little brother with what he calls his "Iron Claw".

A also has a very stern and decisive demeanour, as seen when he was seemingly unaffected by Naruto's pleas for Sasuke's life. In his eyes, respect and strength mean everything in the ninja world, and the weak should and will be crushed. This correlates with his philosophy that a ninja should never compromise or bow down in front of another ninja. A has also been shown to be very suspicious of the other ninja villages, accusing all of them of working with Akatsuki and questioning their loyalties. In battle, A is shown to be physically brutal, as he uses extreme physical force to devastate his opponents, and is willing to sacrifice a limb, rather than lose a chance to defeat his opponent. In spite of all this, A seems to be capable of acknowledging and respecting the skills of other shinobi and is not above accepting defeat should they best him in any way, as seen when he finally allowed B and Naruto to enter the battlefield after they surpassed him, in strength and speed, respectively. And before this, A even once thought that there was no one who could surpass the Fourth Hokage.

When he learned his brother was alive, his attitude had mostly calmed down since his first appearance. He spoke with civility with the other members of the Alliance, and kept his cool during Tsunade's outburst. However, after learning that Akatsuki reincarnated his father, A became enraged again. Like his brother, the Raikage is a compassionate person as well, as he reassured Darui about his left arm that he lost and told him not to blame himself.

A also holds strongly to the belief that the jinchūriki is not an individual, but instead is a tool of the village they live in and its Kage and as such, have no right to make decisions for themselves.

Abilities
As the Raikage of Kumogakure and Supreme Leader of the Allied Shinobi Forces, A is undoubtedly an extremely powerful shinobi. His younger brother Killer B also mentioned in his fight with Sasuke that, before him, only A was able to deflect the Eight-Tails. Karin also notes that his chakra level is comparable to that of a tailed beast. A's signature fighting style is a combination of taijutsu and ninjutsu to form the powerful nintaijutsu.

Taijutsu
A possesses great physical strength, capable of lifting a large amount of weight with just one hand, shattering a cliff with a single punch, as well as snapping the Kubikiribōchō in two (although it had been previously damaged). He was even able to snap a couple of Sasuke Uchiha's Susanoo's ribs. In his youth A was even able to cut through one of the four horns of Eight-Tails when it was being subdued thirty years prior, even knocking it to the ground by the sheer strength of his blow. While blocking his punch in his Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, Naruto Uzumaki commented that it was immensely powerful and that he would have lost the match instantly if he hadn't been using the Nine-Tails' chakra.

Befitting his appearance the Raikage seems to prefer taijutsu combat, to the point that he has yet to be seen using traditional hand seals-based ninjutsu. He has shown tremendous prowess in this field: when Naruto and Killer B tried escaping him, A showed considerable taijutsu skill, stalling Naruto and B for a considerable amount of time before letting them pass, even turning B's use of the Eight-Tails' tentacles against him. However, he did state that he needed the Hokage's help after some time. In addition to powerful punches, he is able to use equally impressive throws and take-downs as well as kicks. He prefers using wrestling techniques to more traditional forms of taijutsu. Despite his large physique, the Raikage is noted for being very fast, grabbing Zetsu by the throat before he had a chance to react. A has claimed that since the Fourth Hokage passed away, there is no shinobi that is faster than he is until Naruto surpassed him with his speed in his Nine-Tails Chakra Mode.

A has shown immense durability, being able to take two Lariats to the chest from B without getting damaged, while a final Lariat just seemed to knock the wind out of him. Similar to his father, he could also survive being transported by Mabui's Heavenly Transfer Technique relatively unharmed. A also has an immense tolerance for pain, as he was able to withstand having his arm set on fire by Amaterasu and was even able to cut it off himself without flinching.

Nature Transformation
On top of his physical capabilities, A is also skilled in lightning-based techniques, releasing a continuous surge of electricity from his body to form the Lightning Release Armour. This electricity complements A's natural physical strength and speed to the point where he claims not even the Sharingan should be able to keep up with his movements. This is due to electricity stimulating his nervous system and speeding up his neural synapses, amplifying his reflexes. Because of this, he is considered a master of nintaijutsu. While using this ability, he is able to dodge Jūgo's multiple chakra blasts and Amaterasu, both of which were at point-blank range. His speed in this state is greatly increased, to the point that it was mentioned by C that the Raikage's reaction speed are comparable to those of the Fourth Hokage.

The electric armour can also work as a powerful defence. By momentarily increasing the electrical surge, A was able to deflect a strike from Sasuke's Sword of Kusanagi: Chidori Katana from behind and receive only a minor wound on his chest from a frontal Chidori strike. He has also shown the ability to focus lightning chakra into a point sharp enough to neatly cut through human limbs.

Invasion of Pain Arc
He was first seen when he received news of Killer B's capture by Akatsuki. Enraged that his own brother had been lost so soon after Yugito Nii, A called for a meeting of the five Kage to discuss Akatsuki. Because B's captor was Sasuke Uchiha, a former Konoha ninja, A had Team Samui take a letter to the Hokage to inform Konoha that he would personally deal with Sasuke.

Five Kage Summit Arc
A departed for the Kage summit with two bodyguards: Darui and C. On their way to the Land of Iron they reunited with Team Samui, who provided them with information on Sasuke acquired in Konoha. C quickly discovered that Team Samui had been followed by Naruto Uzumaki. A kept his men from attacking Naruto and agreed to listen to what he had to say. Naruto pleaded with the Raikage to spare Sasuke, but his request was flatly refused and the Raikage berated him for sticking up for a criminal.

When the Kage Summit began, A quickly showed his disapproval of the other villages by smashing the table in front of him, prompting all of the bodyguards to come to their Kage's aid. After they returned to their position, A voiced his suspicions of the other Kage: that Sunagakure used Akatsuki in order to destroy Konoha; that the Third Tsuchikage employed Akatsuki in the past; that the Fifth Mizukage and the rest of her village is the least trustworthy due to suspected ties with Akatsuki. He pointed out that only Kumogakure has never had an Akatsuki representative, nor has it ever employed Akatsuki for a battle. He insinuated that the current Hokage, Danzō Shimura, used Akatsuki to dispose of the Third Hokage and the Fourth Kazekage.

When the idea of a Shinobi Alliance was raised, Danzō was nominated to lead it. A was outraged, but before he could raise much of an objection Zetsu appeared and revealed that Sasuke was nearby. A immediately grabbed Zetsu by the neck and demanded information on Sasuke's location, and later broke his neck when he took too long to respond. He then left with C and Darui to track Sasuke down. Upon finding them, A tried to attack Sasuke but he was instead drawn into battle with Sasuke's team. He first snapped Suigetsu's damaged sword and then engaged a transformed Jūgo, A overpowering him after a brief fight. With his team out of the way, A was able to attack Sasuke uninhibited.

Sasuke had difficulty breaking through A's Lightning Release Armour, with his Chidori only managing to cause a minor wound to A. A went on the offensive with his Liger Bomb, but he too had difficulty damaging Sasuke due to the latter's Susanoo. Sasuke tried to hit him with Amaterasu, but A was too fast. Sasuke then coated his Susanoo with Amaterasu's flames to deter additional physical attacks. In his growing rage, A ignored this and attacked through the flames to smash through the defence and hit Sasuke. Although his arm was caught ablaze he continued the assault, only to be stopped by the Fifth Kazekage. The Kazekage asked for a chance to speak with Sasuke. Although irritated, A used this as an opportunity to deal with his arm; he cut it off to prevent Amaterasu from spreading to the rest of his body and then had C stop his bleeding.

While A was being healed, Sasuke caused a cave-in to cover his escape. A smashed the falling debris and joined the Kazekage in pursuing him back to the Summit hall. When they arrived they were met by Tobi, who sent Sasuke to safety before telling them about his Eye of the Moon Plan, in the process revealing that B eluded capture. Tobi then requested that B, along with Naruto be handed over to him. A and the other Kage refused, prompting Tobi to declare the start of the Fourth Shinobi World War. A Shinobi Alliance was suggested again, this time with A as the proposed leader. The Kage agreed to this before returning to their respective villages to prepare for war.

Before going back to Kumo, A and his men tracked down B. They found him in the middle of a fight with Kisame Hoshigaki. A and B teamed up to decapitate "Kisame" with a Double Lariat. A angrily scolded B for pretending to be captured on their way back to the village. They were informed that the daimyō had agreed to the Shinobi Alliance's formation when they returned. A then convened a war council to assess the village's military-readiness.

Confining the Jinchūriki Arc
Three days later, the other Alliance heads met with A in Kumogakure to discuss the Alliance's organisation. As their first matter of business they discussed what to do with the jinchūriki. The recently-reinstated Fifth Hokage, believed that Killer B and Naruto Uzumaki should be allowed to fight on the front lines, whereas A and the other leaders believed they should be sent into hiding, to prevent the enemy from capturing them.

The Hokage eventually agreed with their decision, albeit reluctantly. A selected the Island Turtle as the hiding place and assures them of its security. When Akatsuki later discovered this location, A refused to have B and Naruto moved. He instead sent the Tsuchikage as extra protection and had him bring the island back to Kumo. In the anime after the meeting with the other heads of the Alliance the Hokage asked to speak with A privately and requested that B teach Naruto to achieve the control over the Nine-Tails.

Shinobi World War Arc
A remained at headquarters with the Hokage and the Tsuchikage while the Alliance's armies mobilised. Shikaku Nara provided a great deal of input on how to organise the army and engage Akatsuki's White Zetsu Army, forcing A to acknowledge the calibre of Konoha's ninja. Despite being the leader of the Alliance, A was uncomfortable not being on the front lines; when news reached headquarters of his father's reincarnation, A wished to go and confront him, but opted to send the Tsuchikage instead after learning that Mū was also amongst the reincarnated.

He had a similar response when the First Division engaged the Gold and Silver Brothers. A explained to the people at headquarters about the brothers and made preparations to deal with them should they begin using their Nine-Tails chakra. He had Mabui send the Kohaku no Jōhei to Darui and called in reinforcements from other divisions to help out the First Division. His plans paid off and the brothers were sealed.

Upon learning that B and Naruto had escaped from confinement, A and Tsunade decided to personally stop them, leaving Shikaku in charge while they were gone. Upon intercepting them, A tried to impress upon them the importance of keeping them out of Akatsuki's grasp. Naruto tried to flee using his Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, but A was able to keep up with him and block his escape. Feeling that he wouldn't be able to sway Naruto, A tried to kill him to prevent his capture. B blocked his attack and informs his brother that he would have to be willing to kill both of them. A claimed to have no problem with this but B, unbelieving, bumped fists with him to remind him of all they had been through together. When A still wouldn't listen to words, B attacked and defeated him with a Lariat, proving his strength. Despite his defeat, A still refused the pleas of B and Tsunade, prompting Tsunade to decide to battle A as well.

B however tried once more to reason with his brother, telling him that the tailed beasts weren't the only thing that made them strong but also the people who cared about them, referring to them as "suns". B told A that Naruto had two of them. A then asked him about it and Naruto told him about his parents, and that despite them dying shortly after he was born, they made him strong. After hearing this, A fully charged his lightning armour and attacked, however, Naruto was able to completely evade the attack. With this as proof of Naruto's power, A allowed Naruto to enter the battlefield stating that the "saviour" might still be alive in the form of him. After returning to headquarters, he was briefed about the White Zetsu Army. As Tsunade diagnosed the situation, A asked her if there were any hints on how to defeat Tobi to which she declared that he might just be the true definition of an immortal.

When news from Inoichi of Naruto's arrival to each battlefield gave the Allied Forces a huge upper hand, Tsunade teased A who stubbornly smiled in response. After hearing that the real Madara Uchiha had been summoned to the battlefield, he and the others at headquarters tried to decipher who the masked man really was. However, after hearing Inoichi's report of the onslaught that was taking place on the battlefield, and Tsunade's intention to have Mabui teleport her there, he told Mabui to prepare her Heavenly Transfer Technique for two people instead of for just Tsunade. Despite Mabui's initial protest, since the technique could potentially kill humans it was used on, they were transported to the battlefield where A immediately attacked Mū with a powerful punch sending him flying into nearby rocks.

After asking if Tsunade was all-right, as well as remarking that he was finally able to cut loose, an opportunity he said he had waited days for, he stood together with the other Kage to face Madara. Covering Tsunade while she healed Gaara and Ōnoki, A and Mei faced Madara head-on. Punching Madara into Mei's lava after he evaded it, A crashed into Madara's Susanoo using his Lightning Oppression Horizontal Chop technique. This failed to have any effect, and A realised that he would have to up the speed of his attacks in order to break through Susanoo's defence. As Madara retaliated with his Yasaka Magatama technique, they were protected by a combination of Gaara's sand and Ōnoki's giant Rock Golem. Combining their skills, Ōnoki first made A lighter so as to increase his speed and then as he attacked Madara increased the weight behind his attack, breaking through Susanoo and punching Madara. Before Naruto's clone disperses A and the other Kage left him with one final message: "win".

As the battle between the Kage and Madara waged on, A stood atop Ōnoki's golem which beared down on Madara. The golem was however destroyed by Madara and A took to the skies with Ōnoki to avoid the pollen being released by Madara's attack. The Kage were however ambushed by a twofold attack from Madara, fell prey to the pollen, and were knocked unconscious. After Ōnoki destroyed the forest and part of Madara however, A and the others regained consciousness in time to see the face formed from the DNA of the First Hokage jutting out from a regenerating Madara's chest. As Madara regenerated, A, who was noticeably irritated, told Madara to stop ranting while making himself sound important after listening to him berate Tsunade and her lineage and then praise it all in the same breath. With Ōnoki still allowing A greater manoeuvrability, A assisted Tsunade in a two fold attack on Madara which sent the latter plummeting into the ground. A then calls out to Gaara who seemingly trapped and sealed Madara. A later watched in shock as Tsunade was impaled by a Susanoo Sword and Madara revealed that they had sealed a wood clone.

A was later shocked even further to see Tsunade launch a surprise attack on an unsuspecting Madara and then spured the Tsuchikage on as he launched a surprise attack of his own. As Madara later sent his wood clones to confront each of the Kage, A looked on in shock as Madara asked them whether or not they'd prefer his clones use Susanoo.

Trivia

 * His name is the Japanese pronunciation of the English letter "A". This is similar to the names of several shinobi from his village such as: B, C and F that are the pronunciations of the letters "B," "C," and "F" respectively.
 * A was left-handed before his self-amputation.
 * In the last page of chapter 562, A looks like he has regained his left hand, but in the next chapter it is still missing. This was however corrected in tankobōn release.

Quotes

 * (To Killer B) "You're a special being to me! We're the strongest tag team!"
 * (To Naruto) "Shinobi ought not lower their heads so easily, action and power are what shinobi respect! There should be no compromise between shinobi. The history of the human race is a history of war! Ever since the three Shinobi World Wars… Every country… every village has fought for the strongest techniques. The weak will be crushed! That is inescapable truth of the ninja world!"
 * (To Darui) "I have no regrets about my left arm, because I still have both of my right arms. This one, and you."
 * (To Naruto) "''It seems our saviour is alive and well… inside you.