Nobunaga Hazama

"He would never... Uvo will never lose in a fight! He must've been caught in some dirty trap! I will make the killer pay. I will find him, no matter how many I have to kill."

- Nobunaga to Gon

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. His physical strength ranks ninth in the group and he's Troupe Member #1.

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.

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.

In the manga and anime, it is stated that the people of Meteor City were once allies of the Mafia Community (because the lack of record pertaining to their existence was useful) and they were called upon the Mafia to do jobs for them. But it later went all bad, 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.

Personality
Nobunaga is typically a calm individual, but can be brash and get into conflicts with the other Troupe members. He can be friendly, as seen when he constantly 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. He treats them in such a way since their attitude resemble that of his best friend, Uvogin.

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 won't accept them as Troupe members. As Gon and Killua finally decide, they both crash into the walls, thereby making their own exit routes. Nobunaga attempts to use En but Gon and Killua are already away.



When he heard about Hisoka's fortune from Chrollo's newest stolen ability, he got into a rage and he tried to attack Hisoka but the fight was foiled 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 got 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 they found out that Chrollo was abducted he had a heated argument with Phinks and Feitan that wanted to follow Pakunoda regardless of Chrollo's safety, where 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 tells Hisoka that Kalluto is his replacement in the group.

Chimera Ant arc
Nobunaga makes a brief appearance in the arc calling Shalnark on the phone asking him if he and the others need any help taking out the Queen.

Abilities & Powers
His Hatsu has not been shown yet, but he does look proficient in the use of "En", because it seems most suitable with his fighting style, a branch of kenjutsu. He has a lot of confidence in his abilities, as he attacked Hisoka without hesitation. Furthermore, when Gon and Leorio couldn't grasp the extent of his and Machi's strength, Killua said that picturing two Hisoka would be of help.

Enhanced strength: He was able to defeat Gon several times in arm-wrestling, even if he lost once. It was possibly because he was caught by surprise by Gon's resemblance with Uvogin when he gets furious. His strength is relatively low despite him belonging to the Enhancement category, albeit he prefers speed over power.

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.

Enhanced perception: He sensed that multiple people concealed with Zetsu where tailing him and Machi, though he was unable to tell their locations and number.

Master in swordsmanship: 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: 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 employes his kenjutsu both standing still (e.g. when watching over Killua and Gon) and moving (for example when he decapitated Squala).

Nen
Little is known of Nobunaga's proficiency in Nen, except his skills in En and the fact that he is an Enhancer, though, being a Member of the Troupe, it must be quite high. His power seem to improve drastically when he is seriously angered. Nobunaga is skilled in En, which he can cast in the form of a circle of 15 meters, corresponding to the reach of his blade. It is unknown if he can spread it any further then that, but he has stated that that is all he needs, since using it can be very exhausting because it uses up so much aura. With "En" Nobunaga can detect anything within the vicinity of his range. Shalnark stated that Nobunaga's Nen ability can be easily replaced.

Trivia

 * Nobunaga is likely named after Oda Nobunaga, the famous Japanese daimyo.
 * In the second character popularity poll for Hunter x Hunter, Nobunaga took 14th place with 133 votes.
 * In the third character popularity poll for Hunter x Hunter, Nobunaga took 21st place with 89 votes.
 * He is the only Phantom Troupe member who hasn't 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).