Kurotsuchi

is a kunoichi of Iwagakure, the granddaughter of the Third Tsuchikage, and a descendant of the First Tsuchikage. After her grandfather's retirement, she would later follow their endowment by taking on the mantle as the.

Background
In the anime, after becoming a ninja, a young Kurotsuchi witnessed Deidara flee from Iwagakure, shortly after bombing surrounding buildings. At the time, Deidara had already become a part of the Akatsuki.

Personality
Kurotsuchi is generally calm and easy-going. She has displayed a powerful loyalty to her village, as she was more interested in killing the jinchūriki of the Eight-Tails and Nine-Tails than actually protecting them. She decided this was the best plan so Iwagakure could become stronger than Konohagakure and Kumogakure, something she picked up from her grandfather. In the anime, it is shown that she does care for her comrades, as she was prepared to fight to avenge Akatsuchi after he was injured despite their constant arguments.

Like her grandfather, Ōnoki, she is very audacious, often sarcastically implying that because he suffers from back pain, he should be replaced by someone younger. In the anime, it is implied she has a low opinion of messenger ninja, as she refers to Naruto as a "minion" while under the belief he was one. She also has an immature side to her, which she hides, as seen when she reprimands Akatsuchi on his childish excitement about flying when they were heading towards Genbu, though she was secretly excited about the prospect herself.

Kurotsuchi has the utmost confidence in her skills, as seen when battling and capturing Kabuto. This trait makes her somewhat arrogant of her abilities, another thing which she seemingly inherited from her grandfather.

As a Kage, Kurotsuchi retains her confidence but she has become more serious and is harsh with perceived failures, such as when she accused Boruto Uzumaki of dragging the Hokage name through the mud when caught cheating during his Chūnin Exam and after the genin of her village failed in the second part of the Exam, she was quick to anger and vowed to train them more severely. She has great pride in the Kage title, volunteering to assist in Naruto Uzumaki's rescue to defend the honour of the Kage. Upon the defeat of Momoshiki, she also poses for a picture with an irreverent pose and expression, indicating she has retained her lighthearted side as well. As expected of her as a leader, Kurotsuchi's main priority, above all else, is the prosperity of Iwagakure. She's shown willingness to jeopardise her village's relationship with Konohagakure and invade neighboring countries, despite the latter act leading to a downfall of the Shinobi Union and a war with Kumogakure, to abide by the wishes of the Earth Daimyō. However, she also respects the union's relationship with each other, as she denied her grandfather the permission to research building a private army as it would go against the agreement of demilitarisation in times of peace.

Appearance
Kurotsuchi has short, black hair and distinctly pink eyes (depicted as black in the anime and Boruto series) which are accentuated by her eyelashes running upwards at the corners. She wears the standard attire of the Iwa-nin consisting of a red uniform with her right sleeve missing and a lapel over her right leg, the brown Iwagakure flak jacket, fishnet tights and a skirt over them. She also wears regular shinobi sandals and a pair of gloves.

Years later, she abandons her forehead protector and dons a red dress that is kept open on the front-right side from the waist down, revealing her right leg. It only has a sleeve on the left side. She also started wearing her hair shorter around the sides as well as red nail polish.

Abilities
Kurotsuchi is a highly capable kunoichi, having been chosen to guard the Third Tsuchikage during the Kage Summit, and provide backup for Genbu. From her participation in the Fourth Shinobi World War, a legend arose that she didn't flinch when facing a hundred thousand Zetsu. Her skills ultimately earned her enough recognition to become the Fourth Tsuchikage years later.

Nature Transformation
Kurotsuchi is capable of using Earth, Fire, and Water Release nature transformations. With Earth Release, she can erect a protective rock dome that's sturdy enough to endure several tons of falling rock, hide underground, and launch sharp spikes to impale her enemies. She can also unearth things from underground, either with the help of her father in a large scale version, or by herself, creating pillars to defeat multiple enemies at once.

By combining the earth and fire-based chakra natures, Kurotsuchi can use Lava Release, which she can manipulate in two forms. Her initial use of Lava Release showed her creating quicklime to attack her opponent, which she can then combine with her Water Release: Water Trumpet technique to increase its range and cause it to harden like cement, trapping those caught. Another use of Lava Release, was expelling ash to restrain an opponent. By the time she became Tsuchikage, she mastered Lava Release. In the novels, she can also use the Yin Release.

Other Skills
Kurotsuchi can be quite deceptive in combat, able to mislead Kabuto Yakushi into thinking that her only intent was to send in her teammates direction, only for him to fall into her trap. In the anime, she is revealed to be skilled in kenjutsu and taijutsu, as seen when she defeated several of Naruto Uzumaki's shadow clones. She also displayed great evasiveness and sharp reflexes, as seen in her battle against Ganryū and the Kiri-nin under his command. She also displayed a high level of physical strength, able to send Kinshiki Ōtsutsuki flying back with a single punch. According to the Boruto: Naruto the Movie novel, she is the best genjutsu user amongst the five current Kage.

Five Kage Summit
Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi escorted the Third Tsuchikage to the Five Kage meeting. When they were leaving the Tsuchikage hurt his hips trying to carry his own luggage, so she suggested that he should retire. Despite this, they managed to arrive at the Land of Iron without further incidents. During the meeting, she came to the Tsuchikage's defence during the Fourth Raikage's outburst.

When Kurotsuchi heard that Sasuke Uchiha had infiltrated the meeting, she asked for permission to fight the man who defeated Deidara. The Tsuchikage agreed, but told her to keep out of the Raikage's way. She watched Sasuke's battle from the shadows and, when Sasuke caused the room to collapse, she created a dome to protect herself from falling debris. She also fended off Zetsu's Spore Technique. While leaving the Land of Iron, she suggested to the Tsuchikage that they eliminate Killer B and Naruto so they can foil Madara Uchiha's Eye of the Moon Plan and weaken Konohagakure and Kumogakure. When he disagreed, she exclaimed that he wasn't acting like the stubborn old man she knew of. He responded that he remembered who he was before he became a "hard-headed old man".

Upon their return to Iwagakure, they receive approval from the Earth Daimyō to continue on with the shinobi alliance. After Akatsuchi had informed Kurotsuchi about their encounter with Madara Uchiha, she mocks her grandfather by comparing his age to Madara's. She later shares her thoughts on the upcoming war, finding it unimaginable.

Paradise Life on a Boat
In the anime, Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi were sent by the Tsuchikage in a diplomatic mission to improve Kirigakure's relationship with Iwagakure, along with Chōjūrō, who was also sent by the Fifth Mizukage on the same mission to stop Ganryū in the process. After arriving the two were attacked by Ganryū and several of his allies. Despite the intervention of Naruto whose ship had stopped at the island to resupply she treated him poorly under the belief that he was a simple messenger ninja, after Akatsuchi was injured she went to battle Ganryū for revenge defeating all of the shadow clones Naruto created to stop her. Arriving after Naruto had managed to non-violently settle the dispute, she accepted Ganryū's apology. After seeing Naruto off after his ship was restocked she expressed annoyance after realising he had forgotten to introduce himself.

Fourth Shinobi World War: Countdown
Upon returning to their village, they were informed that the Earth Daimyō has approved the formation of the Allied Shinobi Forces. She and Akatsuchi then joined Ōnoki to reinforce the garrison on Genbu, before spotting and attacking Kabuto Yakushi and Deidara. After Ōnoki drew Deidara away to avoid damaging the turtle, she battled Kabuto and managed to trap him so that he could be interrogated by Aoba. However, Kabuto later freed himself by reverting into his snake-like form, claiming that knowing about Kurotsuchi's techniques beforehand had aided him in his escape. Knowing Kurotsuchi's techniques also helped him in lowering everyone's guard, giving him an opportunity to capture Yamato. Kurotsuchi chased after Kabuto, but Kabuto was able to hide in Manda II's nose and released the Summoning Technique, vanishing along with the giant snake.

Fourth Shinobi World War: Confrontation
After escorting Genbu back to Kumogakure, she is assigned to the Second Division of the Allied Shinobi Forces, unhappy with the fact that her father was her commander. Later on she used Earth Release: Opening Earth Rising Excavation with her father to unearth the White Zetsu Army and starts fighting them. After a long fight with the Zetsu Army, she retreated along with her division and the members of the Fifth Division so they could aid Darui's division.

In the anime, Kurotsuchi later visited the Fifth Division to speak with Deidara. She is later escorted by Okisuke to where Deidara was. While she interrogated Deidara about Kabuto Yakushi's whereabouts, she brings up the fact that Sasuke Uchiha was still alive and is a member of the Akatsuki which shocked Deidara who believed he had killed him. Kurotsuchi becomes annoyed by Deidara's lack of co-operation Deidara is giving and asks if the White Zetsu Army clone impersonating a Samurai could open Kuroari so she could speak to him. Before he could do so, news reaches the division of the impersonators within their ranks which leads Okisuke to question the samurai in front of him. Giving the wrong answer, the samurai is cut down mercilessly but Deidara still manages to escape. While chasing Deidara, Kurotsuchi is later trapped in the Hiding in Frost Technique cast by Chūkichi but he is quickly summoned away by Kabuto. Kurotsuchi, Kankurō and the Fifth Division soon caught up to Deidara and realise that he has planted land mines underground and reacted by using Lava Release: Quicklime Congealing Technique to stop the landmines from exploding once she touched the ground, Deidara then exploded and escaped once again. Kurotsuchi transforms into Sasuke Uchiha and finds Deidara and leads him off into a trap and re-seal Deidara inside Kuroari again and Kurotsuchi leaves. During the next day of battle, Kurotsuchi and the others were able to successfully defeat the Akatsuki forces that opposed them, and she, along with the remaining persons in her division made their way to the battlefield where the jinchūriki were.

Fourth Shinobi World War: Climax
She later stood alongside the other members of the Allied Shinobi Forces as they faced their opposition. Putting Shikaku's plan into action after her father and his team, sink the beast into a hold, Kurotsuchi and several other Lava Release bearers pour quicklime on the beast which is later mixed with water and super-dried by members of the Sarutobi clan. She later stood alongside her grandfather when he re-entered the battlefield and responded to his rousing speech with a fearsome war cry.

Kaguya Ōtsutsuki Strikes
Ultimately, Kurotsuchi and the rest of the world were freed from the Infinite Tsukuyomi by Naruto and Sasuke after they ended the war.

Kakashi Hiden: Lightning in the Icy Sky
Kurotsuchi accompanies the Third Tsuchikage to the Tobishachimaru and rescues Kakashi Hatake when the ship crashes.

New Era
Within a decade after the shinobi world war ending, Kurotsuchi had succeeded her grandfather and became Tsuchikage. At some point, she and Akatsuchi attend a Kage Summit in Konohagakure, where Sasuke mentions the origins of the White Zetsu Army and his hypothesis of a greater threat than Kaguya Ōtsutsuki. The Kage agree to keep the information secret from the public and to allow Sasuke to continue his research and further investigate his sources. She attends another meeting in Konoha at some point. Five years prior to the Ōtsutsuki attack, Iwagakure was attacked by a group of missing-nin which cost them the lives of many, including Kurotsuchi's cousin Kozuchi. This made desperate to protect his people and began researching the Akuta. Kurotsuchi however rejected the proposal researched on the grounds that they were both unstable and could case a shift in power that balanced the union between the Five Great Nations.

Versus Momoshiki Arc
Kurotsuchi attends the Chūnin Exams in Konoha and sits with Naruto and the other Kage during the third round. When Momoshiki and Kinshiki suddenly appear and kidnap Naruto with the intention of extracting Kurama from inside him, Kurotsuchi and the other Kage agree to ally with Sasuke, and later with Boruto to rescue Naruto.

They arrive in another dimension and engage in battle against the enemies. Kurotsuchi and the other Kage fight Kinshiki while Naruto and Sasuke fight Momoshiki. During the fight, with Chōjūrō's help, she manages to land a punch on Kinshiki and capture him, but he later breaks free and gets absorbed by Momoshiki. Momoshiki then uses Shikamaru's jutsu to capture the Kage before Boruto uses a Vanishing Rasengan to free them and then a Parent and Child Rasengan to destroy Momoshiki for good. After the defeat of Momoshiki, Kurotsuchi, the other Kage, Sasuke and Boruto take a photo together.

In the anime, after Konohagakure recovered from the Momoshiki's attack, a Kage Summit was held. Kurotsuchi and the other retired Kage were in attendance to discuss the still looming threat of the Ōtsutsuki.

Mitsuki's Disappearance Arc
In the anime, when two gatekeepers of Konohagakure were attacked, Naruto contacted Kurotsuchi. When she learned that the attackers were from Iwagakure and were on route to the Land of Earth, Kurotsuchi was deeply troubled by this revelation. Despite this, Kurotsuchi refused Naruto's request of letting the Konoha pursuit unit enter the Land of Earth. She did however promise to investigate matters herself and report back to him. She also promised to safely capture and return the Konoha genin that unofficially were tracking the attackers in the goal of retrieving Mitsuki.

After checking on her ancient grandfather's health, Kurotsuchi talked with her advisors on how best to handle the new enemy situation without drawing too much attention to the village. Before a decision could be made, the Tsuchikage was attacked by Kū and his artificial human soldiers. As Kurotsuchi realised who she was facing, he managed to knock her out and capture her.

Later, Shikadai Nara was captured and imprisoned alongside Kurotsuchi, who she recognised as Shikamaru's son. After Shikadai revealed that the conspiracy was orchestrated by Ōnoki, she explained to Shikadai what drove her grandfather to do this. Afterwards, she asked for Shikadai's help to end the madness, which he firmly agreed to. Later, Kurotsuchi was rescued by Konohamaru Sarutobi and freed the captured shinobi and villagers. She then went to work with the active shinobi to take down the Akuta. Kurotsuchi along with Naruto found Ōnoki and cried over his sacrifice to finally stop the Fabrications.

Later, Iwagakure and the Five Kage all mourned Ōnoki at his funeral. Naruto firmly said he left behind a grand legacy and lesson about perseverance. Later, while Naruto reluctantly was forced to strip the Team 7 genin of their shinobi status as punishment for deserting the village, Kurotsuchi's gratitude and recommendation convinced Naruto to reinstate them.

Shikamaru Shinden: A Cloud Dancing in Forlorn Falling Petals
After the Ōtsutsuki invasion, Kurotsuchi has a meeting with the other Kage, during which she shows distrust towards Naruto for developing weapons in secret, ignoring the Hokage's insistance that such a project was never authorised. As a result, Kurotsuchi demands that Konoha would disclose all of its confidential information, as proof of their commitment to peace. Shikamaru, however, theorises that Kurotsuchi is fully aware that such conditions will not be met and that her actual goal is to end the Shinobi Union so that Iwa and Kiri could invade the Land of Flowers, which is under the protection of Kumo, for their agricultural goods.

As Kurotsuchi is questioned during the following meeting with the fellow Kage, she admits to her agenda, causing an outrage from the enraged Darui. Seeing no other choice, Shikamaru restrains the Kage, despite Naruto's protests, with the intent to snap the Tsuchikage's neck. Insisting that Konoha is a major military threat, Kurotsuchi insists that Naruto's promises for peace are not permanent as one day the Hokage seat will be relinquished to a successor who may not share Naruto's convictions. She then storms out of the office, with Chōjūrō by her stead.

Some time later, due to the generous contribution to the Land of Earth made by Ikkyū Madoka, and the Seventh Hokage's speech, the Earth Daimyō was backed into a corner and had to reconsider his decision to invade the Land of Flowers, revealing that Kurotsuchi was not the instigator of the appeal for war, rather — she was obligated to obey the Earth Daimyō against her better judgement. After the Daimyō meeting, the Tsuchikage showed gratefulness to both Naruto and Shikamaru for resolving the conflict peacefully.

Kawaki Arc
When Team 7 found a mysterious boy with connections to Kara, Naruto called forth a Kage Summit, with Akatsuchi joining Kurotsuchi as her bodyguard. As talks about the boy's fate began, it was unanimously decided to treat the boy with sympathy as they were no strangers to children being made into weapons (i.e. Jinchūriki). It was also agreed for the boy to live with Naruto, who would watch over him at all times, which Kurotsuchi was impressed at how much multi-tasking Naruto could do through his shadow clones.

Video Games
In Naruto Shippūden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations, Naruto Shippūden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 and Naruto Shippūden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution, Kurotsuchi is a support-only character.

Creation and Conception
Masashi Kishimoto has noted that she looks a great deal like a dancer. This was intentional as he wanted give her a sense of lightness and agility. He's also noted that while it is hard to tell her gender, she is, in fact, female.

Trivia

 * means "Black Earth".
 * Kurotsuchi refers to Deidara as, an honourific meaning "big brother", which may mean that Deidara is of some relation to her or it's used as a sign of respect.

Quotes

 * (To Ōnoki)