Araya

is a shinobi of Sunagakure.

Appearance
Araya has brown hair styled into a spiked ponytail and wears a white and purple Hannya-like mask, which has a Suna crest on the forehead, along with purple markings around the eyes, nose and mouth areas. His attire consists of a beige jacket, brown pants and black calf-length shinobi sandals. He also carries a sword on his back, which is mounted to his right shoulder with a latch, allowing him to instantly draw it.

Personality
Araya is quick-witted and composed at all times. However, in the anime, he suffers from stage fright, not liking too many people watching him similar to Metal Lee. To compensate for that, he masquerades his puppet as himself.

Bukijutsu
Araya is a skilled kenjutsu practitioner, wielding a long sword in battle, and is his preferred method of fighting. He was able to use the sword to easily dismember Tenten's puppets. He also makes use of his sword's sheath, using its long size and spear tip as an effective use of bōjutsu.

Puppetry
In the anime, Araya excels in the use of the Puppet Technique, which he used to manipulate a life-like replica of himself. His control over the puppet allowed him to fight on par with Sarada Uchiha, even after activating her Sharingan. He could also manifest his Chakra Threads from a considerable distance, and remain unnoticed. He is also able to adjust to using other people's puppets, as seen from Kankurō's Sanshōuo.

Versus Momoshiki Arc
While en route to Konohagakure to participate in the Chūnin Exams, Araya expressed his readiness to Gaara and Kankurō when asked if they were ready for the examinations. Following attending the entrance ceremony for the exams with Shinki and Yodo, the team met Team Konohamaru at Lightning Burger. Afterwards, the three raced towards the first exam venue in the time provided in order to not get eliminated. Bypassing all traps and obstacles on their route, the team made it to Exam Venue B without using their jutsu. There, the team participated in a true or false question, which resulted in all competitors falling into a pit that contained a pool of ink. Saved by Shinki's Iron Sand, the team passed the first round of the Chūnin Exams.

Three days later, for the second round of the exams, Araya's team competed in a game of capture the flag against Team 5. Upon Shinki capturing the enemies flag, the team proceeded to the next round. In the third round, he was matched against Inojin, whom he effortlessly defeated. In the anime, during the semi-finals, Araya faced off against Sarada Uchiha. Exploiting a loophole in the rules of the tournament, Araya secretly put his puppet in place of him while he controlled it from afar. While initially repelling all of Sarada's attacks with ease and quickly cornering her, she soon realised through her Sharingan the Araya she was fighting was a fake, using her Lightning Ball to expose him. Now flustered at so many people watching him, Araya's focus was ruined, letting Sarada easily defeat the puppet, and as a stand-in for the match, eliminated Araya.

One-Tail Escort Arc
In the anime, as Gaara and Sasuke Uchiha were battling Urashiki Ōtsutsuki, Araya joined Yodo and Kankurō to aid their allies. Upon arrival, Sasuke was warped to a different dimension by Urashiki, but Gaara was able to temporally seal away the foe with the timely aid and arrival of Shukaku. Afterwards, it was decided that Yodo and Araya would escort Gaara back to Suna to tend to his injuries while Kankurō went with Shinki and Boruto to safeguard Shukaku at Konoha.

Along the way, Araya carried Gaara on Kankurō's Sanshōuo. They were later approached by Temari and Shikadai, as the former was growing concerned for her brothers. The two genin explained the situation, directing the Konoha-nin to Shinki and Boruto's last location. Soon afterwards, the winded Kazekage muttered that the seal would soon break.

Ultimately, the two genin were able to successfully return the Kazekage to the village, relieved when he recovered.

Trivia

 * According to character trivia from Boruto:
 * Araya's hobbies are miniature games and modelling.
 * His favourite foods are marshmallows and gummi candy, and his least favourite food is donuts.