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 #1 Troupe member.

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. 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.

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 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 hung out together in the open in an attempt to lure out Kurapika but were followed by Gon and Killua, whom they captured later on and brought them to their hideout where he ended up taking a liking to Gon, wanting to recommend him for membership to Chrollo when he got back. He kept watch over them alone until nightfall 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 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 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 up 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.

Phantom Troupe
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.

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 Hisokas 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 ressemblance 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 a 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.

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.
 * Iaido: 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 4 metres, 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.

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).