Hayate Gekkō

was a tokubetsu jōnin-level shinobi of Konohagakure.

Background
As a genin, he was placed in a team with Ibiki Morino and Tokara. During the Chūnin Exams, Hayate and his team confronted Anko Mitarashi and her team-mates.

Personality
Hayate seemed to be a calm and composed individual. He was also described as being an individualist, and gentle person. He also had a great sense of duty to his village, as he risked his life to spy on Kabuto Yakushi and Baki.

Appearance
Hayate had short brown hair and dark markings under his eyes. Even though he was a young man, he had pronounced lines under his eyes as well as an unexplained chronic cough that plagued him. He wore the standard Konoha Shinobi outfit complete with a forehead protector that he wore as a bandanna, flak jacket and regular shinobi sandals. He also carried a katana with a rectangular hand guard strapped over his back.

As a genin, he wore a simple outfit with a long-sleeved, red-coloured haori, and ¾ length pants with bangles around his wrist and legs. He carried his sword tied to two strings on his hip. He also had dark markings under his eyes which makes it unclear whether or not he was ill since his youth or not.

Abilities
Little is known about Hayate's abilities, except that he was very skilled in kenjutsu and was able to use high-level techniques such as the Shadow Clone Technique. He demonstrated the use of the Dance of the Crescent Moon, which is an advanced technique that creates multiple shadow clones of the user while the real person attacks from the enemy's blind spot from above. Baki commented that the village had many talented ninja after seeing that Hayate could use this technique and had mastered it at such a young age. He also possessed great speed, as he demonstrated during the Chūnin Exams when rushing in to stop Neji from fatally injuring Hinata.

Chūnin Exam Arc
At first sight, Hayate appeared to be not in the best of health, as he had an unexplained chronic cough and eye bags. He is however scheduled to be the proctor during the final rounds of the Chūnin Exams, and as such, oversees the preliminary matches that will decide who advances to the final round. During the battle between Neji and Hinata Hyūga after an enraged Neji prepares to attack Hinata with the intent of killing her, he along with the other jōnin present stop him from doing so.

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 overhearing the conversation of Baki and Kabuto Yakushi. Before he can escape to tell the Third Hokage what he had learned, he is sensed by the two and chased down. As he faces off with Baki, Hayate uses his Dance of the Crescent Moon technique on Baki, however the swing of his blade was too shallow and got stuck in his flak jacket. As Baki praises him for his skill and effort, he uses his Blade of Wind technique to kill Hayate. Genma Shiranui then replaced Hayate as proctor for the Chūnin Exam finals.

Chikara Arc
In the anime, Hataye is reincarnated by Kabuto.

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 Sunagakure 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. Hiruzen shows up soon after and scares them near to death.
 * In the Naruto OVA #4, he makes an appearance, though he is dead.
 * According to the databook(s):
 * Hayate had completed 642 official missions in total: 56 D-rank, 83 C-rank, 407 B-rank, 96 A-rank, 0 S-rank.
 * Hayate has a blood-type of AB (Rh-).