Hōichi

is a shinobi from Sunagakure.

Background
When he was a child, Hōichi studied Bunpuku's fūinjutsu and power to mould currents. Two years after Gaara, the current host of Shukaku, was made Kazekage, he met with Fugi. The two discussed their plan to seal Shukaku.

Appearance
Hōichi is a bald young man with brown eyes and a long, horizontal scar from his left ear across to his face. He wears what appears to be a dark blue monk attire, albeit without sleeves, with a white collar and garb at the end. He also dons a dark blue sash and carries a biwa around with him, tied to a white cloth. Hōichi wears a pair of red rosary beads on his wrists. He also has a forehead protector attached to the centre of his attire.

Abilities
When he was a child, Hōichi noted that he had studied Bunpuku's power to mould currents. He also learned Bunpuku's fūinjutsu, including the Dharma Power Sealing Technique: Sen no Rikyu, allowing him to forcibly extract multiple tailed beasts at once. He is also capable of using sand, hardening it to either provide an additional form of defence or to conceal his presence in a similar terrain. Hōichi is shown to be proficient in playing a biwa, using its tones in the same way as shinobi regularly use hand seals to perform his techniques.

In Naruto's Footsteps: The Friends' Paths
In the Demon Desert, as Team Matsuri heads out to the direction of the tower, Hōichi notices Matsuri, a student of Gaara, and recalls his meeting with Fugi before the Chūnin Exams and their plan to seal Shukaku in a tea kettle, with the Kazekage's life being the necessary cost. He later observes Fugi's attempt to overwrite the Sensing Barrier in the desert, creating a gigantic sandstorm in the process. After Fū saves Team Matsuri and Gaara thanks the kunoichi for the help, Fū leaves and Hōichi comes out from the sand, in which he was hiding to observe the events that were happening, and prepares to attack the Kazekage.

Hōichi targets Team Matsuri as a bait, using their own shadows against them, in order to call out Gaara, knowing that he will come to save the genin. As the Kazekage approaches, the boy uses his sealing technique, that he learned from studying Bunpuku's abilities, and creates chains, which latch on to Gaara and begin to extract Shukaku's chakra. As the two shinobi stand against each other, Fū comes in, attempting to save Gaara. Realising that the Taki kunoichi is also a jinchūriki, Hōichi decides to test the power of his seal and tries to extract her tailed beast at the same time as Gaara's.