User Profile

Canon Point:

Just before he fights Kenshin in Kyoto. Literally. He opens the door to get to the room where he and Kenshin are supposed to fight, and he pulls a Narnia, walking right into the city.

Personality:

Due to the traumatizing effect of his childhood, Soujiro lost the ability to feel any emotion except amusement. He is always - always - smiling, and laughing, and it's nigh impossible for him to get offended by people underestimating him because of his appearance and mannerisms (he tends to smugly use this to his advantage in order to catch opponents off guard, even.) His blatant disregard for the value of human life often shows in his playful attitude regarding matters of life-and-death, concerning even people he appears to be close to.

He also is perfectly fine with not thinking for himself, doing whatever Shishio orders him to even if he doesn't understand why (like when Shishio orders him to show Kenshin some of his abilities in Shingetsu village even though it would give him a strategic advantage in their next fight). However, he is not shown to be willing to listen to anyone else, unless it goes along with what he was already willing to do. He doesn't openly treat Shishio with any more respect than anyone else (which isn't terrible considering the fact that he speaks politely to everyone he meets), though, showing not even a hint of remorse when he shattered one of Shishio's prized swords (saying only "oh well, it was Shishio-san's anyway.")

He steadfastly believes in only two things; the first, that the strong deserve to live (/are always right) and the weak deserve to die, and the second, that Shishio is the strongest. When these things are questioned by someone he thinks of as strong, he begins to lose the ability to keep his head straight, and tends to go a wee bit wacko, releasing his emotions other than contentment and as a result being unable to handle them/control himself. This ultimately leads to his loss to Kenshin in Kyoto.

Aside from his incredibly unstable personality type, he probably hasn't matured emotionally at all from the age of eight, when he slaughtered his family. He has a childish love for things like sweet pastries, and can't seem to comprehend battles as anything other than games. He even brushes off the death or defeat of his comrades/allies by saying "they were weak, that's all there is to it."

Due to his lack of feelings, he can also be immensely cruel, going behind Shishio's back on more than one occasion and slaughtering henchmen who had been spared, for whatever reason, simply because he didn't understand why. Also, he tends to have an affinity for intimidating the people who actually realize how dangerous he can be, but that's more for his amusement than anything else.

Abilities:

The first and foremost effective ability Soujiro has is his speed. Whereas Kenshin possesses what everyone refers to as "godlike speed" (in essence, the ability to move faster than the eye can follow), Soujiro has something even faster than that, the ability to move faster than the eye can see. He can run so quickly that he negates the pressure of gravity on his body, allowing him to run up walls and across the ceiling just as easily as he runs across a floor. In addition to that, his reflexes are fast enough to keep up with him, and he can react quickly enough to counterattack or dodge any variable his opponent throws at him. This is all while at two or three steps below his top speed.

Due to the obscene amount of manual labor he did as a child, hauling 100 or more rice barrels a day as big as he was across a large farm, etc, Soujiro built up intense strength and destructive power in his legs. Because of this, he can form craters in the ground while running on it. He has a high pain tolerance, and no aura at all (a great hindrance for those who predict their opponent's movements by reading emotions and/or killer's intent.) He is unaffected by other's fighting auras/killer intent/ki, no matter how crushing or impressive they are.

He is a natural-born prodigy of the sword, apt at creating his own techniques (or unknowingly mimicking complex ones already in existence) and adapting his fighting to succeed against the styles he's faced with. On top of the considerable natural ability he possesses, he was personally trained by Makoto Shishio (one of the strongest swordsmen of the RuroKen universe), though he lacks the ability to think for himself when it comes to anything but swordplay.

And while it is assumed he knows more, the special techniques he uses on-screen are: the shukuchi (or 'folded earth') a technique that utilizes the immense strength in Soujiro's legs to allow him to go from standing still to moving faster than the eye can see, instantly. While using this he is capable of attacking from any/all directions (not just left or right, front or behind). The second is one he created himself, the Shuntensatsu (or 'heaven's instant kill'); a combination of battoujutsu drawing techniques and the shukuchi. It's the only technique Soujiro said he bothered to name.

History: