Hayate Gekkō

was the examiner of the preliminary round portion of the Chūnin Exams.

Part I
At first sight, Hayate appeared to be not in the best of health, as he had an unexplained chronic cough and bags under his eyes. He is scheduled to be the proctor during the final rounds of the Chūnin Exams, and so oversees the preliminary matches that will decide who advances to the finals. After the preliminaries are completed and the participants are given a chance to train and recuperate, Hayate learns of Sunagakure and Otogakure's plans to invade Konoha by eavesdropping on Baki and Kabuto. Before he can tell the Third Hokage what he has learned, he is killed by Baki. Genma Shiranui replaces Hayate as proctor for the finals.

Abilities
Little is known about Hayate's abilities, except for a move which he used on Baki that failed. This technique is called Dance of the Crescent Moon, which is an advanced technique that creates multiple clones of the user while the real person attacks from a blind spot from above. Baki comments that the village has talented ninja, seeing Hayate can use this technique and has mastered it at such a young age. He also possesses great speed, as he demonstrated during the Chūnin Exams when stopping Neji from attacking Hinata.

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 his lover, Yūgao Uzuki, swore to avenge his death, Baki and the rest of Konohagakure have since become allies. This would make revenge difficult.
 * 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
 * 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. The 3rd Hokage shows up soon after and scares the kids near to death.
 * In the Naruto OVA #3, he makes an appearance, though he is dead.