Nobunaga Hazama

Nobunaga Hazama (ノブナガ＝ハザマ,) is one of the original Phantom Troupe members hailing from Meteor City. His physical strength ranks ninth in the group.

Appearance
Nobunaga usually wears a classic Japanese style robe and shortpants, 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 unshaved. His sword almost never leaves his side.

Personality
Nobunaga is typically a calm individual but can be brash and get into conflicts with the other Troupe members. He is good friends with Uvogin, whom he knew long before the Phantom Troupe was founded. He cried after Uvo's death, and insisted that he wouldn't have lost in a fair fight, that the "Chain Dude" must have pulled something dirty. Nobunaga is said by Franklin to be more effective fighting on his own, contrary to Uvogin who gets stronger if he fights for the sake of others. This often causes the two to get to each other's throats, despite this, however, the two bring out the best in each other during combat. He also has some decent deducting skills, having had the same theory as Shalnark about Kurapika upon Uvogin's disappearance. He has great respect for Chrollo's leadership, stating that he always gets outwitted by him.

Nobunaga does not like Hisoka much because he thinks he sold out Uvogin to Kurapika, but does recognize his fighting and Nen abilities as being tough to beat. Seeing some of Uvogin's personality in Gon, he expressed an interest in having Gon join the Troupe, where Gon refused twice.

Other than Uvogin, he typically teams up with Machi for missions. Although the two of them don't seem to get along very well.

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 would later go 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.

Yorknew City arc
After being called on by Chrollo to assemble in Yorknew City, the Phantom Troupe made their way to their first meeting in two years. On his way to Yorknew City, Nobunaga got into a fist fight with Franklin, leaving his and Franklin's face in bruises. He got in 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 hanged out together in the open in an attempt to lure out Kurapika but were followed by Gon and Killua, whom they capture later on and brought them in their hideout where he ended up taking a liking to Gon, wanting to recommend him for membership when to Chrollo gets back. He kept watch over them alone until night fall when the two found a way to escape.



When he heard about Hisoka's fortune from Chrollo's newest stolen ability, he got into a rage that 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 warning Squala that the spider is on their way on his location he tried to escape by car. In the pursuit Chrollo's group splilt 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 being knocked out by Shizuku.

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

Combat
His Hatsu has not been shown yet, but he does seem proficient in the use of "En", because it seems most to suitable with his fighting style. Nobunaga ranks ninth in physical power among the Troupe.

Nobunaga is a very skilled swordsman. He is skilled in the art of Iaidō, which is 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.
 * Iaido swordsmanship style:

Nobunaga is skilled in En which he can spread a circle of 15m but only in the reach of his blade. He states that a true master can spread their En at 50m wide. It is unknown if he can spread it any further then 15 meters, but he has stated that is all he needs, since using it can be very exhausting because it uses up so much aura.
 * En:

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).