Hayate Gekkō

was a tokubetsu jōnin-level shinobi of Konohagakure.

Background
As a genin, he was placed in a team with Ibiki Morino and Tokara. During the Chūnin Exams, Hayate and his team confronted Anko Mitarashi and her team-mates.

In the anime, at some point, Hayate was chosen to be Yūgao Uzuki's instructor in kenjutsu; the time the two spent training together eventually led to them falling in love with each other.

Personality
Hayate seemed to be a calm and composed individual. He was also described as being an individualist, and gentle person. He also had a great sense of duty to his village, as he risked his life to spy on Kabuto Yakushi and Baki.

Hayate seemed to be well known and respected by his fellow Konoha ninja as many of them, including Kakashi Hatake, were saddened after learning of his death. He cared deeply about his girlfriend Yūgao, displaying a light teasing mood when alone with her, and showed concern for her well-being, asking her to be careful on missions after her promotion to ANBU due to their increased difficulty.

Appearance
Hayate had short brown hair and dark markings under his eyes. Even though he was a young man, he had pronounced lines under his eyes as well as an unexplained chronic cough that plagued him. He wore the standard Konoha shinobi outfit complete with a forehead protector that he wore as a bandanna, flak jacket and regular shinobi sandals. He also carried a katana with a rectangular hand guard strapped over his back. When reincarnated, other than facial cracks, the only change in Hayate's appearance is the grey sclerae common in all the other ninja Kabuto brought back.

As a genin, he wore a simple outfit with a long-sleeved, red-coloured haori, and ¾ length pants with bangles around his wrist and legs. He carried his sword tied to two strings on his hip. He also had dark markings under his eyes which makes it unclear whether or not he was ill since his youth or not.

Abilities
As a Tokubetsu Jōnin, Hayate was an extremely skilled shinobi, further emphasised in the anime where he was chosen to be reincarnated by Kabuto Yakushi. Baki, a skilled and experienced shinobi from Sunagakure, commented that the village had many talented ninja after seeing Hayate's skill at such a young age.

Kenjutsu
Hayate's signature ability was his skill in kenjutsu. He was highly proficient in the Leaf Style, being able to perform the difficult Dance of the Crescent Moon, an advanced technique that attacks the enemy's blind spot while using the Shadow Clone Technique as a distraction, something Hayate could summon without using hand seals. The anime notably extended his abilities; he was seen performing the Dance of the Crescent Moon equipped with nothing more than kunai, still resulting in an huge impact. During his fight against Baki, Hayate proved to have possessed keen reflexes as he was able to draw a kunai in time to block an attack despite being inches away from his opponent and, on several occasions, was fast enough to use his sword to deflect kunai thrown at him while he was in mid-air. Hayate also displayed great physical strength and precision in his sword attacks, slicing through or shattering several boulders with one strike. In addition, he was well versed in sword techniques that required great speed to confuse the enemy such as the Secret Sword: Moonlight.

Other Skills
Notably, Hayate also had excellent tracking and stealth skills, having remained undetected for a considerable period of time while spying on Kabuto. The anime showed that Hayate was an adept at using the Transparent Escape Technique which gave him personal praise from the Third Hokage, who later assigned him as the only suitable candidate to undertake the dangerous mission of spying on Orochimaru's right-hand man.

In the anime, Hayate also showed proficiency with taijutsu, able to hold his own during his confrontation with Naruto Uzumaki and could kick him away with such force that the wall Naruto smashed against received massive cracks. He also had a keen sense of smell, being able to smell the blood of thousands of people even though he was far away from the battlefields. He showed himself to be very nimble, able to effectively manoeuvre through a barrage of rock projectiles while still moving in for an attack. Hayate also proved to be quick thinking and a cunning strategist as shown in his fight with Baki, where he used Baki's own spit powder as a substitute, confusing Baki, before delivering a kick to the Sunagakure ninja's face. Hayate had a very strong will and mentality; after being reincarnated, he was able to prevent the commands he was given in a few instances, even when his personality was erased, a feat very few that are reincarnated have managed to accomplish.

Chūnin Exam Arc
At first sight, Hayate appeared to be not in the best of health, as he had an unexplained chronic cough and eye bags. He, however, is scheduled to be the proctor during the final rounds of the Chūnin Exams, and as such, oversees the preliminary matches that will decide who advances to the final round. During the battle between Neji and Hinata Hyūga after an enraged Neji prepared to attack Hinata with the intent of killing her, Hayate along with the other jōnin present stopped him from doing so.

After the preliminaries were completed, the participants were given a chance to train and recuperate. In the anime, learning of the death's of several Anbu who had been assigned to guard Sasuke Uchiha, worried about Yūgao who was in that unit, Hayate rushed to the village hospital. After a brief conversation with Yūgao in which the two lovers promised on the moon to be there to protect each other no matter what. He was assigned by the Third Hokage to investigate Kabuto Yakushi, who had been revealed as Orochimaru's spy after a confrontation with Kakashi, tracking his target to Kikyō Castle Hayate learned of Sunagakure and Otogakure's plans to invade Konoha after overhearing the conversation between Baki and Kabuto. Before he could escape to tell the Third Hokage what he had learned, he was sensed by the two and chased down. After a short battle with Baki, Hayate used his Dance of the Crescent Moon technique on him. However, the swing of his blade was too shallow and got stuck in his flak jacket. As Baki praised him for his skill and effort, he used his Blade of Wind technique to kill Hayate. His body was found the next day by a squad of Anbu, including Yūgao, who had been sent to investigate the sounds of a disturbance in the area. Genma Shiranui subsequently replaced Hayate as proctor for the Chūnin Exam finals.

In the anime, the fight between Hayate and Baki was expanded upon, revealing Baki actually needing to use his bare hand to stop Hayate's strike. It is shown that Hayate was hit multiple times by wind discs and that Kabuto took away his DNA, removing his corpse's odour in the process.

Chikara Arc
In the anime, after the Five Kage Summit, Hayate's grave was defiled by Kabuto, and he was later reincarnated for the massacre in Tonika Village. Hayate confronted and almost killed Dokku until his movements stopped during the finishing strike. He was summoned again to battle Team Kakashi, who were investigating the massacre that Kabuto brought about to gain access to The Hole. Hayate confronted Sakura Haruno and was punched a ways away by the kunoichi while she apologised for attacking her fellow Konoha comrade. This, however, proved futile as Hayate began to reconstruct from the attack. Hayate was returned to his coffin as Kabuto and his other reincarnated shinobi retreated.

The next day, he was again forced to fight against his former comrades and took on a dramatically weakened Naruto, attacking him with taijutsu and defeating him with the Dance of the Crescent Moon. Hayate was summoned to battle once more when the Ama no Hoko was activated. He, along with Kabuto's other reincarnated shinobi, were planted with explosive clay by Deidara and used as suicide bombers. Rather than reforming upon exploding as those reincarnated by Kabuto typically would, Hayate and the others instead turned to dust, with the bodies of the sacrifices used to reincarnate them falling out.

Shinobi World War Arc
In the anime, Hayate was reincarnated by Kabuto to assist him in finding corpses of elite shinobi to be used as tools against the Allied Shinobi Forces. When he is reincarnated, Hayate immediately recognises Kabuto, and asks him what happened leading up to and after his death. Kabuto takes a moment to explain the failed invasion and the effects of his death. After explaining this to Hayate, he reincarnates a Sunagakure shinobi and a Kumogakure shinobi to go retrieve the KIA scroll from the Logistical Support and Medical Division. While attacking the Medical Camp, he spotted his lover Yūgao. After escaping with the scroll, Hayate and the other reincarnated shinobi were pursued by a small group, including Yūgao. After swiftly being tracked down by the assembled pursuit team, they engaged in battle while, the other two reincarnated shinobi are quickly sealed away, Hayate easily defeats two of the Konoha ninja, Iō and Yokaze. Despite his plea for her to stop him, Yūgao finds herself unable to fight Hayate. He subsequently flees to deliver the scroll to Kabuto, He is soon tracked down by Sakura Haruno, who he quickly recognises from her participation in the Chūnin Exams, after noting that she has become a fine shinobi, he effortlessly overwhelms her in a brief struggle, however she is saved by Yūgao who has mustered the courage to face Hayate after remembering their promise. After a clash between their Dance of the Crescent Moon techniques Hayate congratulates Yūgao on her improved skills and admits that he is happy he could see her again, Kabuto begins taking full control of him. Feeling his consciousness slipping away, Hayate quickly charges Yūgao, giving her the opportunity to subdue him. As the reinforcements arrive, Hayate bids Yūgao farewell before being sealed away.

Later with the release of the Impure World Reincarnation, Hayate's soul was returned to the afterlife.

Trivia

 * The name "Gekkō" means "moonlight" and "Hayate" means "quick as wind" or "hurricane". Both are names of Japanese fighter planes from World War II.
 * Despite his relatively minor role, Hayate placed in the top 10 of the character popularity poll following his death and has continued to rank in the top 20.
 * Although the Chikara Arc and Hayate's appearance during the war are both anime fillers, Sakura addresses him as "Hayate-sensei" in one and "Hayate-san" in the other.
 * In an omake in the anime, Hayate appears in one of Naruto's "dreams" along with the third Hokage, telling him that it is time to leave. Written on Naruto's ceiling states, "Be sure to visit my grave sometime, and make sure to bring Konohamaru with you!" - signed The Third and Hayate.
 * Hayate makes a very brief appearance in Naruto Shippūden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 at the very end of the game. He is seen in a small crowd of villagers, smiling at Naruto.
 * In another omake in the Shippūden anime, Hayate makes a brief appearance as a ghost, floating behind Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno who are walking through the forest from a festival. Hiruzen shows up soon after and scares them near to death.
 * In the Naruto OVA #4, he makes an appearance, though he is dead.
 * According to the databook(s):
 * Hayate had completed 642 official missions in total: 56 D-rank, 83 C-rank, 407 B-rank, 96 A-rank, 0 S-rank.
 * Hayate has a blood-type of AB (Rh-).

Quotes

 * (To Yūgao) "Then let's make a promise! With the moon as our witness… I swear to you and you swear to me… That we will love each other above all else, and protect each other."