Hermit AKA Natsu Tanimoto, was one of the Eight Fists of Ragnarök, holding the position of the sixth fist. After Ragnarök's disbandment, he would eventually join Yomi after replacing Chou Enshin.
Biography[]
As a child, Natsu and his little sister Kaede were orphans. They were adopted by a rich businessman who would groom Natsu to become the heir to his business in exchange for having his sister's disease treated. The businessman was originally cold and distant, and treated Natsu badly until he fell in love with the doctor treating Kaede and married her. For a few years, they became an actual family until the doctor betrayed them by poisoning Natsu's father to try and steal his fortune and leaving Kaede untreated. The doctor was arrested for murder while Kaede died from her disease, her last words to him being “don't lose."
Natsu inherited his father's company, but was unable to manage it and had to rely on corrupt workers who previously worked under his father and they stole much of his fortune. When the corrupt men tried to kill him to take his many, he was saved by Isshinsai Ogata, who introduced him to the world of martial arts. Natsu found a master in Sōgetsu Ma, paying him a tuition of rare wine and alcohol. Sōgetsu was a harsh master whose training was brutal, though he would often speak of and praise his younger brother Kensei Ma during Natsu’s training. Sōgetsu would one day disappear and return to his life as a wandering hermit without telling Natsu anything, leaving him to search for his master while resuming his own training. During the search he would eventually join Ragnarök as the sixth fist to continue his training until he could find his master. He also became acquainted with Shō Kanō from Yomi during this time.
When Kisara Nanjo AKA Valkyrie was inducted as the Eighth Fist, all of the Eight Fists are gathered to fight a gang of 50 delinquents. Only Hermit, Valkyrie, and Loki fight and they easily defeat the entire gang. Afterwards, Hermit decides to take action against the Shinpaku Alliance, a rival gang that has recently been fighting Kisara's faction of Ragnarök. He takes a particular interest in Kenichi Shirihama, who uses Chinese Martial Arts among other styles, who he believes may have learned from Sōgetsu Ma. Hermit forbids Kisara and her faction from going after Kenichi and the Shinpaku Alliance and targets the Shinpaku Alliance's leader Niijima to interrogate him about where Kenichi learned martial arts, but Niijima escapes thanks to his unorthodox escape strategy.
Not long after, Hermit enrolls in Kenichi's school and establishes himself as a popular and charming model student. Natsu becomes the president of the school's Drama Club and is cast as Romeo in its Romeo and Juliet play, while Miu Furinji is cast a Juliet, earning Kenichi's jealousy as they grow closer. To examine Kenichi's skill, he hires a group of delinquents to attack the drama club while Kenichi is there with him. Despite his jealous of Natus, Kenichi defends him and sends the delinquents running. Afterward, Hermit brutally attacks and hospitalizes the delinquent, leading to Kenichi being framed for the act and becoming ostracized by most of the school. Natsu seemingly gives his support in believing Kenichi is telling the truth and offers his friendship, but despite accepting the off Kenichi senses something is off about him. Later, Loki meets with Hermit and learns Hermit is investigating Kenichi's masters and waiting for him to grow strong enough to be a fitting challenge.
On the day of the play, Natsu puts on a spectacular performance, and during which Kenichi's masters Kensei and Akisame notice Natsu has martial arts training and is faking his personality. After the play, Natsu is given flowers by some fangirls, but destroys them when no one is looking. Kenichi discovers this and Natsu reveals his true cynical personality and admits he just joined the acting club to hone his skill at deception and improve his popularity. He accuses Kenichi of also lying about his kind personality, but Kenichi insists he is just being himself and leaves. Incensed, Natus dons his Hermit disguise and ambushes Kenichi and Miu atop a bridge. During the fight, Kenichi is thrown off the bridge and lands on top of a moving bus. Hermit jumps on the same bus and questions Kenichi who taught him Chinese Martial Arts. After Kenichi explains it was Kensei, not Sōgetsu who taught him, Hermit declares personally despises Kenichi and reveals his true identity as Natsu. He attacks Kenichi with lethal intent and tries to land a killing blow to the back of the head, but Kenichi's durability allows him to shrug it off. Before resuming the fight, Kenichi asks Hermit if he was truly faking everything about himself. Hermit confirms this and reveals he framed Kenichi for hospitalizing the delinquents. He declares he doesn't need friends and that his solitude is what makes him strong, but Kenichi realizes he is lying to himself. The fight resumes and Kenichi manages to force it into a draw by knocking them both off the bus. Kenichi is saved by his masters Kensei and Akisame while Hermit holds into the bus and is carried away. Afterward, Hermit stops attending school and begins training for a rematch.
After the Fifth Fist Siegfried is defeated by Kenichi, Hermit returns to town and begins street fighting with delinquents. During one of these fights, he ends up saving Honoka Shirahama, Kenichi's little sister from his opponents and takes her back to his house to treat her injures since he distrusts doctors. He strikes up a friendship with her due to her resemblance to his late sister despite the trouble she causes, and she ends up visiting him regularly, but neither of them is aware of the other's connection to Kenichi. This changes when the Fourth Fist Loki discovers that Honoka is Kenichi's sister and kidnaps her to lure Kenichi into a trap. When Hermit objects to Loki's cowardly methods, Loki reveals that the Great Sage Fist (Isshinsai Ogata's alias) has given him his authority. Loki sends a message to Kenichi about kidnapping Honoka and lures him to an abandoned church where Hermit is waiting to face him. During the battle, neither Kenichi or Hermit is able to get the upper hand and the latter reveals his history to Kenichi and how it left him unable to trust anyone, but Kenichi refuses to let himself be tricked into pitying Hermit and let down his guard. As the fight drags on, Hermit begins landing blow after blow on Kenichi, who refuses to believe Hermit's claims that trusting others is a weakness and summons the strength to land a powerful Double Palm technique that severely injures Hermit. Before the fight can continue, Loki makes himself known, has his underling Number 20 hold Honoka at knifepoint to prevent Kenichi from fighting back and taunts Hermit by revealing how he became indebted to the Great Sage Fist. Despite Loki having the Great Sage Fist's authority, Hermit refuses to attack Kenichi when he can't defend himself and Loki decides to beat Kenichi personally. When Honoka is cut trying to escape and calls out to her brother, Hermit is reminded of his sister's death and turns on Loki. He grabs the hand Number 20 is holding her knife and forces her hand to stab himself in the pectoral so she can't use it on Honoka before knocking her out. With Honoka safe, Kenichi is free to retaliate against Loki, who kicks Hermit out of Ragnarök for betraying him. Before Loki can fight both Kenichi and Hermit, the First Fist Odin arrives and admonished Loki for lying about having the Great Sage Fist's authority to get control of Hermit. Odin gives Hermit the chance to rejoin Ragnarök, but Hermit refuses and quits Ragnarök. After Odin and Loki leave, Hermit insists on finishing his fight with Kenichi despite being injured and is defeated when he passes out standing up.
Hermit and Kenichi are brought to Ryōzanpaku for treatment. While Hermit is being treated from his stab wound by Kensei Ma, he is hostile due to his hatred and distrust of doctors and tells Kensei how harshly Sogetsu treated him during his training, but he was happy his brother had found a good life. He soon begins leaving despite still being in recovery and forbids Honoka from visiting his home again to keep her from getting in trouble again. On the way out of Ryōzanpaku, Hermit has an encounter with the Elder who advises him that he shouldn't go through life alone. Natsu returns to school the next day and clears up the rumor about Kenichi hospitalizing the delinquents who attacked the acting club, but he privately vows to Kenichi he will defeat him someday.
After quitting Ragnarök, Hermit is pestered by Niijima to join the Shinpaku Alliance, and constantly turns him down. During the final battle against Ragnarök, Hermit joins the battle along with Thor to take revenge on Loki for manipulating him. When Loki attempts a coup in the middle of the fight to replace Odin with Berserker as the leader of Ragnarök, it fails due to Berserker remaining loyal to Odin and knocking out Loki and his henchman. With his chance at revenge stolen, Hermit decides to fight Berserker instead. Hermit's training allows him to go toe to toe with Berserker's raw talent and briefly gets the advantage when he uses attacks that counter the human reflex to bypass Berserker's instincts. After knocking Berserker to the ground, Hermit tells him his raw talent is his weakness, as it has kept from learning how to struggle for victory. However, Berserker unleashes his Berserk Mode and overwhelms Hermit with a flurry of random attacks. When Berserker tries to land a finishing blow, Hermit reveals he was waiting for the opening and counterattacks, dislocating Berkserker's arm and winning the battle. Declaring his training surpasses Berserker's talent, Hermit gives Berserker his first defeat and tags out with Kenichi so the latter can fight Odin. During Kenichi's fight, Odin orders his men to kill Hermit and the Shinpaku Alliance, leaving them to fight off most of the remaining men in Ragnarök.
Personality[]
Hermit's public persona is that of a kind, intelligent, and charming individual. However, his real personality is callous, cynical, deceitful, and aggressive. The hardships he suffered as a child left him with a world view that believes everyone is a liar and hiding something, leading him to join the acting club to perfect his deception and use it to rule over the public. This cynicism extended to the point he developed a personal disdain for Kenichi for the latter's belief in justice and kind personality and tried to kill him. The betrayal of his adopted mother for not treating his sister's illness gave Hermit a personal distrust of doctors.
His sister's death and last words "don't lose" left a lasting impact that has given Hermit an incredible drive and willpower that can push him to keep fighting even while seriously injured. It has also given him a stubborn streak where he refuses to give up until he wins, no matter how many times he is defeated. When he encounters Honoka Shirahama, her resemblance to his late sister begins opening him up and continued encounters with Kenichi and his influence led Hermit to contemplate changing the path he is on.
Even as he changes for the better, Hermit retains a strong pride and refuses to admit aloud he has come to value his new friends, though he privately admits it to himself. This pride persisted even before leaving Ragnarök as he refuses to fight Kenichi while Honoka was being threatened to keep him from fighting back. Even after joining Yomi, Hermit doesn't follow Yami's conduct of killing opponents, and is eventually revealed to have joined to save his master from the path of the killing fist.
Skills[]
Chinese Martial Arts - Hermit uses Chinese Kenpo and has shown an expertise in of all its various styles and techniques. He mainly uses Piquaguan, which focuses on long range open palm techniques empowered by the speed of arm rotation for destructive force, and Bājíquán, a close-range style with an emphasis on strong striking power generated by the feet and legs.
Acting - Hermit is a skilled actor, further honed by joining his school's acting club. He is so skilled; he was able to create and maintain a public persona of a kind and popular student that fooled his entire school. Despite his skill at deception, his insincerity was detected slightly by Kenichi and Miu, and completely by Akisame.
Talent - Hermit is a highly intelligent and talented individual. Paired with his incredible drive, Hermit is able to pick up any skill quickly, be it martial arts techniques, school, acting, running the Tanimoto Concern, or tactics.
Gallery[]
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Ragnarök Valkyrie | Thor | Hermit | Siegfried | Loki Three of Cards Other members Takdea | Ukita | Koga | Tsuji | Leader Unarmed Division One Shadow Nine Fists Alexander Gaidar | Akira Hongō | Agaard Jum Sai | Cyril Rahman | Diego Carlo | Isshinsai Ogata | Mikumo Kushinada | Silkwat Jenezad | Sōgetsu Ma Armed Division Hachiou Executioner Blade Seitarō Raigō | Rin Tachibana | Mihai Știrbey | Mildred Lawrence | Marmaduke Brown | Raki Hoshinano | Edeltraft von Schiller | Unarmed Division Armed Division | ||
