Nobunaga Hazama

Nobunaga Hazama (ノブナガ=ハザマ, Nobunaga Hazama) is one of the members of the Phantom Troupe, an infamous gang of thieves with class A bounties. He is Troupe member #1 and his physical strength ranks ninth in the group.

Appearance
Nobunaga usually wears a classic Japanese style robe and short pants, while his belly and ankles are tied up inside by a sarashi. He has long hair that he ties into a single topknot and leaves his beard and mustache unshaven. His sword almost never leaves his side. Nobunaga's spider tattoo has yet to be revealed.

Personality
Nobunaga is typically a calm individual, but can be brash and get into conflicts with the other Troupe members. While he demonstrates good fighting speed and capacity for reason, he does not seem to be good at impromptu decision making. This is first seen when Owl traps the car the Troupe members were riding in; every occupant of the car was able to escape except for Nobunaga, in part because he was riding in the middle of the back seat but also because he did not prepare himself to leave through one of the two doors ahead of time. Furthermore, when Gon and Killua announce their intention to take him on from both sides, Nobunaga activates his En and prepares himself for an attack rather than to pursue either one of the children, allowing them to escape.

However, Nobunaga is one of the friendlier members of the Troupe. He frequently smiles at the sight of Gon and Killua, asking for them to be friends and to the point of asking Chrollo to make them Troupe members. This is especially the case for Gon, since he shares the same Nen type and a similar attitude with Nobunaga's late best friend, Uvogin.

Background


Nobunaga is one of the Troupe's founding members along with Chrollo Lucilfer, Feitan, Franklin, Machi, Pakunoda and Uvogin. The group originated from Meteor City: a slum inhabited by societal outcasts. People who live there do not exist in any official records and the existence of the city itself is known to very few people.

It is stated that the people of Meteor City were once allies of the Mafia Community (because the lack of records pertaining to their existence made it difficult for enemies to obtain information) and they were called upon by the Mafia to do jobs for them. The situation later took a sour turn and it is hinted that there was a war between the two. The Phantom Troupe seem to have helped the people of the junkyard city to win the conflict. Chrollo then added more members to the Troupe to bring the total up to 13 exactly, including himself.

Yorknew City arc


After being called on by Chrollo to assemble in Yorknew City, the Phantom Troupe make their way to their first meeting in two years. On his way to Yorknew City, Nobunaga gets into a fist fight with Franklin, leaving his and Franklin's face in bruises. He gets into a small disagreement with Uvogin before his man-hunt against Kurapika which they settled by coin-toss. When Uvogin did not return, he and Machi hang out together in the open in an attempt to lure out Kurapika, but are followed by Gon and Killua, whom they capture later, with the assistance of Pakunoda, Feitan and Phinks. They take Gon and Killua back to their hideout. When Franklin and Feitan recognize Gon as the arm wrestler, Nobunaga challenges him into it. During the fight, Nobunaga brings up the topic about Uvogin, on how he knows Uvogin better than the others. Nobunaga begins to cry and expresses his intent to kill the Chain user. In a fit of rage, Gon slams Nobunaga's hand and wonders how could he mourn for a friend and kill other people at the same time. Feitan sets out to harm Gon but when they flip coins, Nobunaga is tasked to watch over Gon and Killua. He ends up taking a liking to both of them and even thinks of recommending them to Chrollo.



Gon and Killua are in a prison-like setting, with the only exit blocked by Nobunaga himself. The boys begin arguing with each other over their escape plan and Nobunaga laughs it off, saying that they can leave once Chrollo refuses them as Troupe members. As Gon and Killua finally decide, they both crash into the walls, thereby making their own exit routes, and boldly announce their attempt to attack him from both sides. Nobunaga uses En to counter their offensive but Gon and Killua have run away instead.



When he heard about Hisoka's fortune from Chrollo's newest stolen ability ('Lovely Ghostwriter'), he got into a rage and tried to attack Hisoka, but the fight was stopped by Chrollo. He then comes with Chrollo to chase after the copied scarlet eyes Kortopi made that was in Squala's care at the time. After Squala was warned that the Spiders were on their way to his location he tried to escape by car. In the pursuit Chrollo's group split up into two teams with Nobunaga chasing after the scarlet eyes. He killed Squala and returned to the hotel to see Gon caught again. After the rest of the troupe found out that Chrollo was abducted, he had a heated argument with Phinks and Feitan, who wanted to follow Pakunoda regardless of Chrollo's safety, but due to the troupes' attitude towards arguments, he ended up being knocked out by Shizuku.

Greed Island arc
Nobunaga is teamed up with Machi to watch over the exorcist. After Hisoka's dodge ball game, he heads to them in order to convince Abengane. He also introduces Kalluto as Hisoka's replacement in the group.

Chimera Ant arc
Nobunaga contacts Shalnark on his cellphone, asking him if he and the others need any help taking out the Queen.

Succession Contest arc
Nobunaga is on the Black Whale with the rest of the Troupe, hunting for treasure and Hisoka. He, along with Feitan, Phinks, and Franklin, thrash three unruly passengers to gain seating in the cafeteria. Once the thugs submit to them, he asks them how they can get to the second floor. After learning about the facilitator, he suggests that they find the facilitator and use him to negotiate with the top.

Equipment


Katana: Nobunaga uses a katana as his preferred weapon. It is portrayed differently in each adaptation of the series. In the manga, its grip is wrapped in white bandages and sheathed in a dark scabbard. In the 1999 anime, the hilt is similar, but the scabbard is light brown. In the 2011 anime, the bandages are dark green, the scabbard black, and the blade slightly curved. In all three depictions, the katana lacks a tsuba, the grip is wrapped in the hineri maki way and the tassel is rectangular. To disguise his weapon, Nobunaga may wrap it in grayish-purple canvas, tied with a twine thread at the top. He carries it on his left hip in his obi sash. When fighting alongside Uvogin in the past and at the time of his arrival in Yorknew City, Nobunaga also carried a second katana, identical to the first.

Abilities & Powers
Due to Nobunaga being born in Meteor City, his existence is not recorded in any database, which makes obtaining information about him nearly impossible. He is very confident in his abilities, as he attacked Hisoka without hesitation. Furthermore, when Gon and Leorio were unable to grasp the extent of his and Machi's strength, Killua said that picturing two Hisoka would be of help. Nobunaga is a skilled swordsman, so much that Killua reckoned he would not be able to come close to him without getting sliced in half, and Nobunaga would still have the time to strike a second time and kill Gon before the later could pass him. According to Franklin, Nobunaga was better at fighting one-on-one than in a team, despite admitting that Uvo would always best him in unarmed combat. He is rather observant, managing to keep every person in a crowded square under control and understand a couple had recognized Machi and him.

Preternatural Perception: Nobunaga has been shown to possess what some may refer to as a sixth sense, gathering information from his surroundings outside of his rudimentary senses. He sensed that multiple people concealed with Zetsu were tailing him and Machi and knew that they were being observed by Gon, Leorio and Killua at a cafe they were at, though he was unable to tell their locations and number in both instances.

Enhanced Strength: Nobunaga was able to defeat Gon several times in arm-wrestling without apparent effort,  losing only once, when Gon began to use aura. It is possible said loss was caused by Nobunaga's surprise at Gon's sudden increase in strength or his resemblance to Uvogin.

Enhanced Speed and Reflexes: Nobunaga is an Iai master, thus he is extremely quick. After he unleashed his deafening howl, Uvogin stated that for people like him covering his ears before the sound reached was no business at all. He was able to behead Squala in a flash while already concealing his sword. He was also able to clash with Franklin in mere seconds as well.

Enhanced Agility: Nobunaga can run on the sides of buildings and easily jump horizontally from one to another. He can easily reach a window located on the third floor of a building with only one leap.

Keen Intellect: Although Nobunaga often lets his emotions get the best of him, he can be fairly analytical when calm, as seen when he explained Machi why he believed the Chain guy was acting alone.



Master Swordsman: Nobunaga is very skilled in the use of edge weapon. His blade of choice is a long katana, though when fighting at Uvogin's side he was seen wielding two swords.
 * Iaidō Master: Nobunaga stated that anyone who entered his attack range would be instantly killed. He is skilled in the art of Iaidō, which is a set of controlled movements of drawing the sword from its scabbard, striking or cutting an opponent, removing blood from the blade, and then replacing the sword in the scabbard, as stated by Killua. He employs his kenjutsu both standing still (e.g. when watching over Killua and Gon) and moving (for example when he decapitated Squala).

Nen


Nobunaga is an Enhancer. Little is known of his proficiency in Nen, although, due to him being a Member of the Troupe, it must be quite high. Nonetheless, he was defeated by Gon in in arm-wrestling despite being an Enhancer himself and having much greater base physical strength, as proven by his previous victories. If the defeat was not caused by a psychological weakness, this should mean Nobunaga's aura output and/or his skills in his natural category were considerably lower than Gon's at the time.

Nobunaga is skilled in En, which he can cast with a range of up to 4 meters, corresponding to the reach of his blade, and indeed befitting his fighting style. With En, he can detect anything within the vicinity of his range. His Hatsu ability is unknown, but Shalnark stated it can be easily replaced.

Trivia

 * Nobunaga is likely named after Oda Nobunaga, the famous Japanese daimyō.
 * In the second character popularity poll for Hunter × Hunter, Nobunaga took 14th place with 133 votes.
 * In the third character popularity poll for Hunter × Hunter, Nobunaga took 21st place with 89 votes.
 * He is the only Phantom Troupe member who has not showed his Hatsu.
 * Nobunaga is one of three members of the Phantom Troupe whose last names have been revealed (Chrollo Lucilfer and Kalluto Zoldyck being the other two).
 * Nobunaga is played by Kagawa Kouji in the Hunter × Hunter stage play Hunter × Hunter: Real Stage.

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