Kurotsuchi

is a kunoichi of Iwagakure, and the granddaughter of the Third Tsuchikage. She would later succeed her grandfather to become 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 Iwa could become stronger than Konoha and Kumo, something she picked up from her grandfather. 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. 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, which she seemingly inherited from her grandfather.

Appearance
Kurotsuchi has short, black hair and eyes (pink eyes in Naruto) that 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 red nail polish.

Abilities
Kurotsuchi is a highly capable kunoichi, having been chosen to guard the Third Tsuchikage during the Kage Summit, and the reinforcement of Genbu. Years after the Fourth Shinobi World War, Kurotsuchi's abilities earned her enough recognition to become the Fourth Tsuchikage.

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

Kurotsuchi can combine the basic natures she can manipulate to create an advanced one by combining earth and fire-natured chakra to create Lava Release, which in her case, creates quicklime. She can use Lava Release: Quicklime Congealing Technique to cause corrosive damage, and combine it with Water Release: Water Trumpet to increase its range and cause it to harden and trap the opponent. She can also manipulate her kekkei genkai in the form of ashes which can be used to trap and seal opponents. By the time she become the Tsuchikage, she has already mastered Lava Release.

Other Skills
Kurotsuchi can be quite deceptive in combat, as demonstrated when she told her team-mates that she would send Kabuto in their direction, only to have him jump in the other direction falling into her trap. In the anime, she is revealed to be skilled in kenjutsu as well as taijutsu, defeating several of Naruto Uzumaki's shadow clones. She also displayed great evasiveness as well as sharp reflexes as seen against Ganryū and the other Kiri-nin under his command, and great physical strength when she sent Kinshiki Ōtsutsuki into the sky with a single punch. In the Boruto: Naruto the Movie novel, she was stated to be the best genjutsu user amongst the five 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 land mines 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.

Kakashi Hiden: Lightning in the Icy Sky
Kurotsuchi makes an appearance in this novel.

Epilogue
Years later she succeeded her grandfather and becomes Tsuchikage, after he finally decides to retire from the position. She and Akatsuchi later attends 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.

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 an Ultra-Big Ball Rasengan to destroy Momoshiki for good. After the defeat of Momoshiki, Kurotsuchi, the other Kage, Sasuke and Boruto take a photo together.

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)