Jigen

is the leader of Kara and the parasitic host of Isshiki Ōtsutsuki, as well as a failed prospective vessel for his Kāma.

Background
Jigen was originally a monk who lived during Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's era, but after Kaguya betrayed Isshiki Ōtsutsuki and left him for dead, Isshiki secretly shrunk in size and entered Jigen's head through his ear, parasitically fusing with his flesh to survive and eventually taking over his mind. Soon Isshiki embedded his Kāma in Jigen, but because his body wasn't powerful enough to sustain him, Isshiki opted not to utilize Jigen's body to revive himself, instead waiting until a more suitable vessel could be found. Despite this, Isshiki still physically lived on within Jigen's body, controlling his actions and speaking through him. In time he formed a clandestine organization to help achieve his goal, dubbed Kara.

Eventually Jigen found and purchased Kawaki from his abusive father with a large sum of money, to use as a potential new vessel. After taking custody of the boy, Jigen introduced himself as his new father and reassured him. He would later attempt to transfer Kāma to Kawaki and fourteen other boys in an experiment conducted with the help of the Kara scientist Amado, with Kawaki being the only known success and thirteen dying outright. Despite promising him safety, Jigen put Kawaki through grueling training to master the Kāma and would constantly berate him as only having value as a vessel, striking the boy whenever he questioned him. As with the rest of Kara, Jigen also had his body extensively modified by Amado's Scientific Ninja Tools.

Personality
While it is unclear how much of Jigen's nature is his own and how much is influenced by Isshiki, Jigen appears to be formal and courteous, addressing the fellow members of his organisation politely before beginning their meeting, and even extends his manners to his enemies, as he politely greeted Naruto Uzumaki, and apologised for not removing his shoes when entering the Uzumaki household. He also lacks the confrontational tendencies of Delta, preferring to only incapacitate enemies when not necessarily having to kill them and even willing to avoid conflict if potential adversaries are agreeable to his terms, as shown by how he merely left Naruto pinned down after he easily knocked him aside and was willing to accept Kawaki's deal of sparing Naruto if he returned willingly. He does have a serious and authoritarian side to himself, as he is fully capable of commanding respect among the group, to the point even prideful Victor and hot-tempered Delta are easily silenced by him. He is very composed and systematic in his approach to matters at hand. Even when dealing with momentary failure, he remains determined as ever, convinced that all will fall into place as he designed it.

Although he may prefer to avoid battles, when he has to fight he is shown to be very confident in his abilities, bordering on arrogance. When facing the Seventh Hokage, the well-considered strongest shinobi in history, he was completely unfazed at the prospect of fighting Naruto. Even more, facing Naruto alongside the equally powerful Sasuke Uchiha made Jigen laugh at them for believing they could defeat him, but this self-confidence doesn't prevent Jigen from praising his opponents and also remaining calm when cornered, commending Sasuke Uchiha for his intellect and mastery of his dōjutsu along with actually thanking them for revealing the weakness of his absorption abilities instead of lashing out. At the same time, he has shown an irritable side, as when tasks fail to reach his expectations, he can lash out, as he kicked a broken tank after another setback to his plans. He is also shown to be a perfectionist, viewing his work on Kawaki and his Kāma as work of great importance and expressing disgust to see his adopted son's preference of his prosthetic right arm over the left arm that held the seal and quickly expressing his desire to restore his right arm.

He is also shown to have a very amoral and remorseless side, caring not in the slightest at how many innocent lives he must sacrifice to obtain his goals. His single-minded nature views all his actions towards Kawaki, no matter how harsh, as truly in his best interest. Apparently, he views those who value peace as the utmost priority as being cowardly and foolish, likewise considering Naruto a peace-obsessed idiotic coward who only cares for the peace of his village, and considers Kawaki's attachment to Konoha as being a weakness, openly degrading the village in an attempt to convince his adopted son to distrust Konoha and leave with him willingly. Arrogant as he appears, Jigen is very cautious and secretive, capable of keeping the full scope of his abilities secret even from his allies. He's very perceptive and deceptive, as he was fully aware of Koji Kashin and Amado's treason, yet still hid it fully from the other Inners, feigning complete trust to the point of admonishing Delta for not following Koji's way of executing the mission of retrieving Kawaki and likewise reassuring Amado he would be rewarded for his service, and was able to easily trick Koji into revealing his desire to know Jigen's secrets and ultimately make him and Amado expose themselves.

Jigen's greatest goal apparently is to perfect the Kāma to create a "perfect Ōtsutsuki" and a new God Tree. So much so that he is noted to get over-excited and reckless in battle from the idea of things proceeding so swiftly. As long as it obtain results, Jigen appears fully willing to solve problems with a great amount of financial investment, as Delta noted that money Jigen had invested for his experiments, where the final result was Kawaki being turned into the "vessel," was enough to buy an entire country. His immense devotion to his goal is such that he shows no interest to other serious matters such as Naruto, who he did not even bother to finish off upon defeating, but became interested in Boruto for also bearing Kāma, believing the boy would be like Kawaki, a "perfect Ōtsutsuki" that will further Kara's plan and having intended to take him back along with Kawaki to Kara.

Appearance
Jigen has long black hair tied in a ponyhawk style, a broad nose, eyes with large black irises that seem to blend with the pupil, and slightly pale skin. He bears a diamond-shaped Kāma mark on his chin, which when activated spreads across his chin, eyes, and body in vertical sunburst patterns. Below his left eye, he has a Roman numeral "Ⅳ" tattooed. The area where his stomach is seems to be completely black. In his first appearance he wears the black hooded cloak with maroon lining typical of Kara members, along with light-coloured capri pants and sandals, and a dark collar.

In later appearances, he dons a flowing white robe with black vertical lines on the sleeves and coattails and his personal crest on the back, loosely fastened at the waist with a tasselled belt, worn with matching red hair tie, hairband, collar, waistband, bracers, and pants, all decorated with red pearl studs, and simple sandals.

Abilities
As the leader of Kara, Jigen's body is modified with Scientific Ninja Tools, and is a complete monster in terms of power and ability. The strongest of his organisation, his might far surpasses even the other Inners. As the current vessel of Isshiki Ōtsutsuki, it is unclear how much of his might is truly his own and likewise if he actually wields the man's power or is simply a puppet of the latter. Regardless, from just sensing his power, Ino Yamanaka opted that the Seventh Hokage confronts him with aid. Even without accessing his full power, he could still fight and pressure both Naruto and Sasuke Uchiha, the two strongest shinobi in history simultaneously. However, only from the direct assistance of Isshiki was Jigen able to defeat Naruto and Sasuke at all as prior, the two shinobi took Jigen to his limits, where upon accessing Isshiki's power was Jigen able to decisively defeat both of them, sealing the former while nearly killing the latter. The fight severely weakened Jigen to the point he was forced to withdraw his attempt to retrieve Kawaki and engage in a two-day recuperation process.

Jigen appears to be skilful in genjutsu, as he was able to use it as a means to communicate with many over a large distance at once. Jigen also has considerable senses, as he was easily able to sense the presence of Koji's toad that went unnoticed even to Naruto. Jigen also can seemingly manifest items as he sees fit, replacing destroyed furnishings and chemical reactions, such as a table, food and drink, and even lit candles.

Ninjutsu
Jigen is able to produce black rods capable of draining chakra from the victim and can also shrink matter to microscopic levels and just as easily return it to normal so rapidly that it appears as if he conjures and vanishes objects from thin air, which he can perform with the most minute of gestures such as a mere wave of his hand or even just a flick of his fingers. He utilises this ability to launch the black rods at microscopic size into the bodies of his foes while leaving them completely unaware, before returning them to their original size to instantly inflict catastrophic injuries. He can also enlarge them whenever necessary to counter armed blows from enemies. He can also apply the ability to his own body, allowing him to disappear from sight and manoeuvre around the battlefield, as if teleporting, fast enough to catch the likes of Naruto and Sasuke off-guard. The limitations of this ability remain unknown, but Sasuke was able to track his movement even at a microscopic level thanks to the Sharingan. Once activating Kāma's full power, Jigen became able to use these abilities at an even greater level, able to spontaneously summon large black rods instantly to incapacitate Naruto and Sasuke and even form them from his neck to block Sasuke's sword attack.

Apart from that, he can use Space–Time Ninjutsu via Kāma as a medium to open a rift to any chosen location, including other dimensions, which he can perform fast enough to catch opponents off-guard and forcibly transport them alongside himself, and levitate in the air. He can also perform those feats while in microscopic size to suspend himself, and teleport out of attacks he couldn't dodge. He appears to have his own personal dimension, a world with rolling purple storm clouds and desiccated white land, which he can use to strand his victims. The crater-shaped battlefield which he chooses to teleport foes into is actually a gigantic sealing coffin, with its lid suspended above the clouds, powerful enough to seal away even the likes of Naruto firmly by lowering and closing the lid from the sky, and then reduce it to normal size. Only Jigen himself is capable of breaking the seal and cracking it will only destroy whatever is inside. However, it is possible to use space-time ninjutsu to safely remove the sealed individual from inside the casket.

Physical and Chakra Prowess
Jigen is an extremely skilled melee-combatant, both with weapons and hand-to-hand combat, having personally brutally trained Kawaki into becoming a specialist in close-quarters combat. He has shown tremendous speed and strength, easily kicking Naruto away, impressing the Hokage with his reaction, and effortlessly catching a punch from Kawaki when he had Kāma activated, causing Kawaki visible pain by merely lightly twisting his arm. He is also highly durable, suffering no injuries from a kick to the jaw from Naruto in his Six Paths Sage Mode. While he had Kāma activated, Jigen was easily capable of handling Naruto in his Six Paths Sage Mode in physical combat and would have dealt a lethal blow had Sasuke not interfered in both times. Upon accessing Kāma's enhanced state, Jigen effortlessly defeated Naruto and overpowered his shadow clones within a matter of moments. He has also displayed remarkable proficiency with a large black rod to easily parry blows from Sasuke, despite his skill in kenjutsu

Jigen wields tremendously powerful chakra, compared to Naruto in his Six Paths Sage Mode form by Kawaki. When he activated Kāma's transformed state, his chakra was such that it intimidated Sasuke into fleeing and later on unnerved both him and Naruto. Even without Kāma, his sinister chakra was already strong enough to terrify Ino Yamanaka to the point of near-collapse, whereas she only felt a slight reaction upon sensing Delta's chakra. His reserves are shown to be able to maintain prolonged usage of his Kāma without issue against the likes of Naruto and Sasuke simultaneously, although using its full power for such a long period could still weaken him considerably, draining him of almost all of his chakra and taking two days to return to full power.

Kāma
Jigen possesses a Kāma mark on his chin, which he can activate at will, causing it to spread across his entire body in nearly symmetrical sunburst patterns. He is able to pass a Kāma on to other individuals through the aid of science, albeit with a low success rate, more often resulting in death, and with Kawaki's coming from him, he can synchronise with the latter's Kāma to open a portal to his current location. Jigen is also skilled enough in its usage to have taught Kawaki proper usage of its power, with Kawaki noting he knows everything about Kāma.

With his Kāma activated, even without accessing its transformed state, Jigen's power is already amplified to such levels that he was able to pressure both Naruto and Sasuke at once for an extended period of time. His physical parameters are greatly enhanced, his strength being such that his blow pushed back Naruto noticeably despite him having properly blocked it, shocking the Hokage by the feat, resilient enough to be completely uninjured and instantly recover from being harshly kicked to the jaw by Sasuke. His prowess with the absorption can absorb large quantities of chakra from tailed beast-like entities, and effortlessly neutralise Naruto's powerful Rasengan techniques and Sasuke's Amaterasu, being unaffected even while in his microscopic state. However, he can not manoeuvre as efficiently while absorbing.

When accessing the full power of the Kāma, his enhanced state progresses it far enough to make a horn protrude from his left temple and wrap around the back of his skull, resembling a crown. In this state, Jigen gains an even more tremendous boost in power, able to easily defeat both Naruto and Sasuke. He was so fast and strong he could easily dodge Sasuke's Complete Body Susanoo's sword slash and then penetrate it with a single kick to send Sasuke flying as well as punch Naruto out of his Tailed Beast Mode and causing him to draw blood with a single attack. Along with that, he was able to make Naruto and Sasuke bleed severely with just a few punches, even reverting Naruto back to his base form.

Ao Arc
Upon his organisation's vessel being lost, Jigen held a meeting with the other members of Kara to discuss the urgent situation, during which Koji was given the task of recovering Kawaki. As he dispelled the genjutsu, Jigen voiced that their group must recover the vessel at all costs.

Kawaki Arc
While eating a meal with Delta, she voiced her frustrations about the time it was taking to recover Kawaki, during which Jigen gave her permission to partake in the recovery of the vessel with the condition that she follow Koji's ways. Later, after Delta's decisive defeat by the Seventh Hokage, upon Jigen silencing the argument between her and the other Inners and asking on what Koji was doing, she reported that Koji was holding off on retrieving Kawaki to study Boruto Uzumaki after learning that the boy obtained his own Kāma. Smirking at this development, Jigen deduced that Momoshiki Ōtsutsuki was behind this. Later, Jigen went to an undisclosed location accessible only through space–time ninjutsu to see an immobilised beast. He spoke nonchalantly to it, hovering above and addressing it as Ten-Tails. The "Ten-Tails" tried to eat Jigen, but failed to do so as Jigen was out of reach. Jigen stated that it was too soon as he needed to complete the vessel. Jigen then used his Kāma to absorb more of its chakra and his physical form changed into an Ōtsutsuki who supposedly partnered with Kaguya Ōtsutsuki briefly. After absorbing the beast's chakra, Jigen intended to visit Boruto and Kawaki.

Using the connection between his and Kawaki's Kāma, Jigen teleported to Naruto Uzumaki's house instantly to bring back Kawaki. He noticed Koji's toad and watched suspiciously as it was incinerated by Koji before apologising to Naruto for his rude arrival and stating he desired no confrontation, only to take Kawaki and leave. When Naruto rebuked his politeness with hostility and attacked him, Jigen easily subdued Naruto by pinning him down with rods before turning to Kawaki, telling his wayward adopted son his rebellious stages and momentary "vacation" is over, only for Kawaki to attack him. Easily restraining Kawaki, Jigen, exasperated by the preference of his prosthetic over his hand that held Kāma, stated that the arm was just a monitoring device no different than the seal he gave him. When Kawaki defended Naruto, Jigen berated him for not believing he was just used as a bait and tightened his grip around Kawaki's hand, twisting it painfully, and stated that he was the only one who did anything for Kawaki's sake and that Naruto was just a peace-obsessed idiot, stating he would chop off Kawaki's prosthetic hand and leave it behind so he could fix his hand when they returned to the base. Kawaki's Kāma activated and a horn grew out of it, surprising Jigen with how much Kawaki's mark advanced. Naruto then kicked him away and Jigen, seeing his foe won't back down, activated his Kāma to begin fighting the Seventh Hokage, intent on killing him for his interference. When Kawaki offered himself up in exchange for Naruto not being hurt, Jigen was willing to agree as long as he was cooperative but seeing Naruto's determination quickly changed his mind, seeing no compromise.

He then teleported Naruto to another dimension and attempted to strand him there but Sasuke arrived and kicked Jigen away. Jigen calmly identified Sasuke's identity based on his Rinnengan and criticised him for having a lousy timing that made them now pitted up against him, unfazed at facing the two without restraints. Swiftly displaying his overwhelming might, Jigen faced the two legendary shinobi, using his seemingly instant vanishing and black rod manifestation ability to easily dodge their attacks and impale them while shrugging off any attacks that did connect with Kāma's powers, until the repeated performance ultimately let Sasuke deduce the true nature of Jigen's ability. Jigen simply praised Sasuke for his analysis before deeming him the one he should eliminate first. As the two Konoha-nin began anticipating his patterns and pressured him into a retreat, Jigen praised his foes' performance and thanked them for revealing his weaknesses to him before warning them in return that they would never have that same luck again as he revealed his Kāma's full power.

While Naruto was unimpressed by Jigen's new look, Sasuke revealed his findings, knowing about the existence of Isshiki and his juvenile Ten-Tails, knowing about the new Ōtsutsuki's goal to drain the entire planet of all its chakra, angering Jigen as he realised Sasuke had accessed the location he sealed his Ten-Tails in. This prompted the two shinobi to fight with their full power. Despite their strong avatar forms and team-work, Jigen, now seemingly being controlled by Isshiki, easily ploughed through their defences and proceeded to swiftly wear down and pummel his foes into his submission. However, as he had them beaten, the black centre of his abdomen began to visibly crack, causing Isshiki to scoff at the limits of Jigen as a vessel and voiced his desire for Kawaki. Deciding to finish things quickly, he restrained the two foes by impaling them with his black rods and decided to keep the Jinchūriki alive while killing Sasuke due to his Rinnegan's Space-Time Ninjutsu. Accepting the truth, Naruto had his clones hold off Jigen while he convinced Sasuke to escape. Jigen revealed that he was after Boruto Uzumaki for his Kāma before sealing Naruto in a giant kettle-like jar. However, soon afterwards, Jigen finally collapsed over the strain, even shedding a tear, as the black centre of his abdomen cracked even more. Isshiki cursed his unworthiness to be his vessel as Jigen teleported away.

Back at Kara's headquarters, apparently back in control, Jigen was hooked up by Amado to treat his body. The man voiced his disapproval of Jigen being so reckless with his body, noting that it would take at least two days to fully recover. Jigen voiced that he couldn't help but get excited after seeing how far and quickly Kawaki's Kāma was evolving and him synchronising with it. He theorised that it was because of his exposure to Boruto's own Kāma, also believing that Boruto was going through similar development. From this, Jigen strongly believed the two of them would become "perfect" Ōtsutsuki and form a God Tree to consume the planet. He also assured Amado that everyone would get what was promised.

Later, as Jigen had only returned to 10% power, Koji arrived, intent on killing him. Jigen was talking with Code, who was guarding the Ten-Tails, and told him to stay put while revealing Boro had not contacted him again, when Koji arrived in his quarters. Jigen at first cordially welcomed him and asked him on his mission but when Koji questioned on how he was able to so easily appear before Kawaki, Jigen coldly dismissed the question and revealed that he was aware that Koji and Amado had betrayed him and that they had crashed the airship to let Kawaki escape. He questioned their motives as all the Inners had collectively agreed on obtaining the Chakra Fruit but was ignored by Koji who attacked him with shuriken. Effortlessly avoiding the attack, Jigen blindsided and impaled Koji with multiple black rods, intent on having him tell everything before killing him, but found it was a Shadow Clone. Commenting on his cheekiness, Jigen looked on as Koji declared he had no interest in the Chakra Fruit and just wanted to kill Jigen.

Trivia

 * The word was used in an advertising for climactic battle against Jigen in an issue of Weekly Shonen Jump, with the furigana pronunciation given as Jigen's katakana name, potentially suggesting that it is its intended meaning. Other possible meanings include, , and.
 * As the vessel for Isshiki, Jigen's powers draw inspiration from Issun Kotaro, a fairy tale hero from Japanese folklore who was only an inch tall. As a boy he went on an adventure to rescue a girl from an ogre, triumphing after being swallowed by it and using his sword — a needle — to attack it from within. He then claimed the ogre's magic hammer, Uchide no kozuchi, and used it to transform into a full-sized adult.