Might Guy (マイト・ガイ, Maito Gai) is a jōnin of Konohagakure. A master of taijutsu, Guy leads and passes his wisdom onto the members of Team Guy.
Background[]
Guy is the son of Might Duy, who was known throughout Konoha as the "Eternal Genin". Duy was not bothered by this moniker and instead was grateful that other people cared enough to know him at all. Duy encouraged this same kind of optimism in Guy, as well as his belief that one always has youth and that they could both become taijutsu masters through diligent training. Guy did his best to embody his father's teachings, but had doubts that Duy's words were devoid of meaning. He nevertheless loved his father and fought others when they called Duy the "Eternal Genin" mockingly; when one of these fights landed him in the Konoha Hospital, Duy encouraged Guy not to be upset by this loss and to instead remember that victory is achieved by defending things that are important.
Guy applied to enter Konoha's Ninja Academy, but did not pass the entrance exam. Kakashi Hatake was not surprised due to Guy's lack of talent in ninjutsu and genjutsu, which Guy chose to take as a supportive observation. This strength of character convinced Kakashi's father, Sakumo, that Guy was not handicapped by his shortcomings and that he might be offered a position as an alternate in the year's Academy class. Guy was indeed allowed to enter the Academy with Kakashi, and upon graduation he was added to a team that, in the anime, was led by Chōza Akimichi. The team at one point entered Konoha's Chūnin Exams and passed to the final stage; Guy himself advanced to the exams' last one-on-one match, where he lost to Kakashi. While on a mission during the Third Shinobi World War, Guy and his team were attacked by the Seven Swordsmen of Kirigakure. They were rescued by Duy, who used the Eight Gates Released Formation to fight off the Seven Swordsmen. Duy died from opening all Eight Gates, but it satisfied his one rule for its use: giving his life to protect something precious, namely Guy.
Guy at some point decided that Kakashi was his lifelong rival, driven by a desire to prove his perseverance could be just as good as Kakashi's natural genius. He would constantly challenge Kakashi to contests of skill, from eating contests to Rock, Paper, Scissors. Kakashi was indifferent to these contests, which only fueled Guy's desire to defeat him. In the anime, Kakashi prevailed in the earlier of these competitions, but Guy soon started catching up, eventually achieving only a one point difference in their scores that has remained consistent over the years. Guy is proud of his score despite the fact that, because of how varied the contests are, it is hardly representative of anything. Through their competition, Kakashi and Guy became good friends; they were hanging out together on the night of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox's Attack, yet were prevented from helping defend the village, instead being confined within a barrier to keep them safe.
In the anime, Guy was aware of the losses Kakashi experienced during and after the Third Shinobi World War and tried to help him deal with them. Following the death of Obito Uchiha, Guy filled in for Obito while Team Minato was on a mission into Iwa-territory. When they were surrounded, Guy tried giving his life to allow Kakashi to escape, but they were able to fight off their enemies until reinforcements arrived. Following the death of Rin Nohara, Kakashi's teacher, the Fourth Hokage, sent Guy to tail Kakashi on a mission in case memories of Rin started to get to him. This proved wise: when Kakashi began hyperventilating from using the Chidori - the same jutsu that killed Rin - Guy intervened in time to save Kakashi and take him home. Following the Fourth's death during the Nine-Tails' attack, Guy requested to be admitted into the Anbu so that he could help Kakashi through his growing depression. The Third Hokage refused his request, which Danzō Shimura seconded, explaining that Guy lacked the necessary darkness for Anbu-service. Guy witnessed this "darkness" when Kakashi provided backup for him during a meeting with the Land of Woods, wherein Kakashi mercilessly killed all the Land of Woods' forces. Guy asked the Third Hokage to remove Kakashi from the Anbu because these kind of acts didn't become him. When the Third eventually complied, Guy suggested that Kakashi try leading a team of genin to help him regain his lost kindness.
Guy at some point heard about a boy in the Academy who was unable to use ninjutsu or genjutsu. Guy approached this boy, Rock Lee, and encouraged him to use his youth to keep training. Lee was eventually added to Guy's Team Guy, along with Neji Hyūga and Tenten; in the anime, before accepting them, he required them all to demonstrate a desire to succeed no matter the odds. Guy took a particular interest in Lee after the team's first meeting, as Lee wished to become a splendid ninja who could only use taijutsu. Guy decided to dedicate his life to helping Lee achieve his dream, teaching him all he knew of taijutsu, telling him the same keys to self-improvement his father had taught him, and encouraging him to use a rivalry with Neji to push him to new heights. Lee developed well under his guidance, as did Neji and Tenten, though Guy felt it was best to have them wait a year before entering the Chūnin Exams.
Personality[]
Guy is perhaps most fully represented by his "nice guy" pose: a thumbs up, wink, and winning smile - complete with the proverbial ping. The pose captures his optimism and confidence, as by striking the pose he is promising that whatever words accompany it are either true now or will become true in time. It represents his energy, as he will, through his understood-only-to-himself-and-select-others "Power of Youth (青春, seishun)", enthusiastically seek to live up to his promise no matter the personal investment doing so will require of him. It plumbs his deep emotional well because he only reserves it for the most important promises to the most important people for the most important reasons, and as such tears frequently stream down the face of somebody (inevitably Guy) when the pose is struck.
Guy can be serious at times despite his odd mannerisms, usually when engaging an enemy who threatens Konoha or one of his comrades. But even his serious moments can be undermined by one of his eccentricities: Guy has faced Kisame Hoshigaki on three separate occasions, yet on each occasion he's been fairly confident that he never met Kisame before - Guy is aware that he has a poor memory for faces. From observing the vibrancy of youth that his students possess, Guy may, in a moment of thoughtful self-reflection, wonder if his own youth has passed him by, only to immediately dismiss this as impossible because youth can never fade; if his student, Lee, should break one of his tenets of conduct, Guy will discipline him with a physical strike, only to then immediately start crying at the realisation of the harm he's inflicted and the well-intentioned passion that led Lee astray in the first place.
Guy refers to himself as "Konoha's Sublime Green/Blue Beast of Prey" (木ノ葉の気高き碧い猛獣, Konoha no Kedakaki Aoi Mōjū). Like many of Guy's traits, the moniker may be fitting. Lee wholeheartedly approves of Guy, modelling his own appearance and personality after Guy's so that he can become as beautiful a man as Guy is. For these similarities and their common backgrounds, Guy is in turn dedicated to Lee, doing all in his power to help Lee achieve his dream of becoming a master of taijutsu. Their almost father-son bond is so powerful as to sometimes be disturbing to others; Neji and Tenten, though they also benefit from Guy's teachings, are only willing to join in on Guy and Lee's antics up to a point, and will either rein them in or leave them to their devices if their patience has been exhausted. Kakashi shares Neji and Tenten's reservations with Guy, and is often only an unwilling or indifferent participant in their contests. Rather than discourage Guy, this further motivates him, as he wants to defeat Kakashi's "cool, hip, and trendy" personality. There is no animosity to their rivalry, however, and Kakashi in fact considers Guy to be one of his closest and most reliable friends: they work well together in the field, can understand what the other is thinking without anything being said, and are concerned for each other's well-being.
Appearance[]
Guy has a shiny bowl style hair cut and remarkably thick eyebrows; Naruto Uzumaki affectionately calls him "Master Intense Brows" (激眉先生, Gekimayu-sensei, English TV: Bushier Brows Sensei). He wears a green jumpsuit, orange striped leg warmers, and the standard Konoha flak jacket, which he normally leaves unzipped. His red forehead protector is worn around his waist like a belt. Guy's appearance has not changed substantially during his ninja career, though as a genin his jumpsuit was sleeveless and he wore a scarf around his neck. His appearance even remains almost identical after the Fourth Shinobi World War, two exceptions being Konoha's redesigned flak jacket and the red wheelchair he uses for mobility. During The Last: Naruto the Movie, his right leg is in a cast because of the damage he received during the war, but the cast is gone by the time of Boruto: Naruto the Movie.
Abilities[]
Because of his lack of skill with ninjutsu and genjutsu, Guy did not seem to have a very promising future as a shinobi when he first applied to the Academy. Sakumo Hatake, however, sensed in Guy a willingness to succeed, what he believed was a great strength yet to be fully realised. Sakumo's son, Kakashi Hatake, agrees with this years later during the Fourth Shinobi World War, calling Guy stronger than himself. Over the years, others have echoed the Hatakes' views: Itachi Uchiha warns others not to underestimate Guy; Kisame Hoshigaki, after being defeated by Guy, is impressed that Guy could fight him on two prior occasions without using some of his more powerful jutsu; Madara Uchiha calls Guy the most exciting opponent he's had since fighting Hashirama Senju. Despite his permanent damage from the Fourth Great Shinobi War officially ending his ninja career, Guy still proved as powerful as ever. Ultimately, Guy became recognised as a legendary shinobi.
Because he's known that he wasn't suited for ninjutsu and genjutsu since he was very young, Guy has been able to dedicate his life to taijutsu; his father, Duy, called this early knowledge of his own strengths and weaknesses a "virtue" most shinobi didn't have. By adulthood, Guy is a taijutsu master, of such skill that Madara Uchiha believes him to be unsurpassed. He is extremely physically strong, able to use his Strong Fist combat style to defeat an opponent with one punch and then send them flying through the wall behind them. He is also extremely physically fast, consistently able to attack an opponent before they're fully aware of his presence, if at all. In Kakashi Hiden, his skills are not hampered by his damaged leg, and in fact its cast makes his kicks more painful to his opponents (and Guy himself).
Guy's unprecedented physical skill is owed to several factors. He trains constantly: tasks he needs to complete anyway he makes into exercises; exercises that aren't challenging him he makes into contests that usually only Rock Lee is willing to join him on; for contests he loses he stipulates new tasks for himself that, by completing, he hopes will help him to not lose again. In all of these cases, Guy's training is quite arduous, either having an almost impossible time limit or a needlessly difficult goal, such as doing 500 laps around Konoha while walking on his hands. The end product, however, is what Tenten calls Guy's inhuman stamina, making physical feats that would be difficult for most others easy for Guy. Competition with Kakashi motivates Guy in many of these regimens and also comes with its own benefits: in his pursuit to beat Kakashi, Guy has devised a way of combating Sharingan-users by focusing on the positioning of their feet to predict their movements and negate the Sharingan's eye-contact-based genjutsu.
Eight Gates[]
Guy's father taught him when he was a child how to open the Eight Gates, what Duy called the only thing he'd learned during his decades of training that was worth passing to Guy. With each gate he opens, Guy's physical speed, strength, and chakra levels increase; with each gate he opens, his body also takes more and more damage, with the opening of all eight gates causing eventual death. For this reason, Duy stipulated that the Eight Gates were only to be opened in order to protect something or someone precious, a philosophy Guy follows and that he also requires of Lee. Guy has been shown enduring the rigors caused by the gates for periods of time after using them, but inevitably he succumbs to the pain or exhaustion they cause.
Guy has created several different jutsu that he can perform once certain gates have been opened: with the first gate, he can use the pile-driving Front Lotus; with the third gate, he overwhelms opponents with punches through the Reverse Lotus; with the sixth gate, Guy produces a series of rapid punches that ignite his hands through air friction, what he calls Morning Peacock; with the seventh gate, he launches concentrated air pressure at opponents that violently expands on contact, creating what he calls his one-hit kill move, the Daytime Tiger; with the eighth gate, his punches create shock-waves of such power and range that he doesn't even need to make contact with his opponent, what Guy calls Evening Elephant; also with the eighth gate, he has Night Guy, a single kick that is so fast that it distorts the space around him. Night Guy, though it almost kills Madara Uchiha, is responsible for the irreparable damage to Guy's leg.
Ninjutsu[]
While rarely performing any usage of ninjutsu or genjutsu (in the anime, he even prefers unconvincing disguises rather than the Transformation Technique), Guy is still capable in them. Among Guy's ninjutsu-skills are the fire and lightning natures, as well as the ability to summon tortoises such as Ningame. Guy is at least knowledgeable about other ninjutsu, recognising the Four Red Yang Formation and speaking informatively about its power and difficulty. He is also able to dispel a high-level genjutsu.
Other Skills[]
Guy has other practical skills that do not require chakra to use. He is proficient with nunchaku, and with his personal pair, Sōshūga, he can smash through rock and trade blows with Tobi's gunbai. In the anime, he trained Tenten extensively in using her various ninja tools. He at times make herbal remedies to help Lee with his training, but it's not clear if these actually do any good.
New Era[]
Konoha Shinden: Steam Ninja Scrolls[]
Main article: Konoha Shinden: Steam Ninja Scrolls
On the day of the Five Kage Summit in Konoha, Kakashi and Guy meet up, before departing from the village with their escort Mirai Sarutobi.
Versus Momoshiki Arc[]
Main article: Boruto: Naruto the Movie
Guy watches the genin battle it out in the final round of the Chūnin Exams in Konoha alongside Kakashi and Iruka Umino.
Quotes[]
- (To Lee) "Yes!! This is what youth is all about!"
- (To Lee) "For those who don't believe in themselves… hard work is worthless!! …You are very much like me, Lee. I used to be a loser too. But these days I can even win against the elite genius Kakashi. "I want to prove that even without ninjutsu and genjutsu I can become a great ninja" that's your nindō right? That's a great goal, it's worth working hard for!"
- (To Kakashi) "What would you know about that boy? That kid has a precious thing he would give up his life to prove. So I wanted to turn him into a man that could accomplish it… That is all…"[47]
(To Lee) "You worked hard Lee, there's no doubt in my mind the surgery will be a success. You have the power to shape your own destiny. And on the one-in-one thousand, no, one in a million chance something to happen to go wrong, I will die right along with you. Since the day I met you, my nindō has been to train you to become the most splendid ninja possible. That's a promise!"
(About Kisame Hoshigaki) "Water Release ninjutsu… and that huge sword! You must be… …Someone I've met before!"
(About Kisame) "He was a worthy opponent! A man who lived and died like a real shinobi! Kisame Hoshigaki! I'll remember that name for the rest of my life!"
(To Kakashi) "The springtime of youth has yet to fade away! Don't lose hope! We may not always be able to accomplish all the things we wish for… but if we only do the things we want to do, we'll never start… just like my challenges to you. This is by no means just a show of bravery or courage. The green days of Konoha are over. The time has come to become the red beast."
(To Madara) "…That may be true… but they don't just rot and die!! They will become nourishment for the new, fresh leaves! The time when a new spring comes and the fresh leaves bud… is the peak of youth!! It's the time to burn, deep crimson!!!"