Kōji (Suna)

is a shinobi from Sunagakure and a team-mate of Ameno and Shishio.

Personality
When Ameno healed a fellow Suna shinobi and she refused the scroll they offered her, Kōji seemed frustrated about it, but then thought his village would never let him hear the end of it if he took a scroll from a wounded comrade. He is also rather condescending, belittling a team of Suna shinobi for not being familiar with the dangers of their own homeland.

Appearance
Kōji has messy dark blonde hair with a bang that conceals the right if his violet eyes. He wears a light violet off-shoulder top with a brown vest over it, which contains a pocket on one side and an attached scroll on the other. The vest also contains Kōji's forehead protector on its back. He also wears black gloves, dark blue shorts and long black boots.

Abilities
Kōji is proficient in sand manipulation. With enough sand around him, he is able to form various constructs to aid him in battle, including mallets and shields. He has showcased a high level of strength, both by wielding his sand weapons and by being able to block one of Chōji's enlarged punches.

In Naruto's Footsteps: The Friends' Paths
Kōji and his team arrive in Konohagakure to partake in the Chūnin Exams. For the first phase of the exams, they placed separately in another room from his other team-mates. His team was able to qualify for the second round. A preliminary round had to be held to lessen the many participants there were. The preliminary round involved a race to Sunagakure with only the first 30 teams qualifying for the primary second round. The next day, the second exam proctor — Temari, announced the start of the second round taken place within Demon Desert. Shishio used his sensing seal to find an enemy team, ultimately locating Team Asuma. Ameno warned her team-mates that one of them, Sakura Haruno was an apprentice to the Fifth Hokage.

Upon approaching Team Asuma, Ameno offered to let the team pass and use the oasis if they give up their scroll. The Konoha-nin quickly rejected the offer and Ino Yamanaka quickly launched an attack, to which Kōji quickly countered and knocked Ino out. Kōji then engaged Chōji Akimichi, but was quickly pressured by their taijutsu. Soon enough, Shishio finished moulding enough chakra to camouflage his team. Despite hiding themselves from the enemies' sight, Ino recovered and used her sensory skills to guide her team. Ultimately, Kōji and his team were defeated. While Ameno and the other medical-kunoichi treated everyone, showing no ill-feelings towards each other, Ameno offered their scroll as they lost, but Sakura insisted that it was unneeded as they already had two scrolls. While Kōji felt uneasy being given a pass, they all agreed to meet up again in the third exam.