Flame of Recca/Recca Hanabishi

A super powered teen who is obsessed with ninja's, not knowing he is one himself. Being a descendant of the leading line of the Hokage, Recca has the ability to create Fire. A son of a fireworks manufacturer, he sometimes employs small incendiary devices or smoke bombs in combination with his elemental power to distract his enemies. Recca is quick to test his strength and is especially persistent when defending his love, Sakoshita Yanagi. Rekka may be cocky and overconfident but manages to save his friends due to his ninja skills. Recca's flame power differs fundamentally from that of his allies and enemies in that it is innate to his being and thus does not require the use of an elemental item. He, however wears a Tekkou or armband, to control his flame power. He will be burned by his own flame if he removes it. Recca must train his body to with stand his flame without the Tekkou before he can use his real flame power.

He has eight Karyu or Flame Dragons. These Flame Dragons are the spirits of Rekka's ancestors and flame masters of the past. The names of the Flame Dragons are Saiha, Nadare, Homura, Setsuna, Madoka, Rui, Kokuu and Resshin. Every one of the Flame Dragons have their own personalities and powers. They lent Rekka their powers whenever he needs it. Before Rekka could use their powers, He must prove to them that he deserves to be their master. He acquired the 7 Flame Dragons except Resshin, the 8th Flame Dragon. Resshin is actually the spirit of Rekka and Kurei's biological father, Ohka. In the manga, eventually he achieved Resshin's power.

Birth
Born as the second son of Ohka, Recca was declared as the successor of the Hokage clan whereas his half brother Kurei was deemed as a cursed child. One year passed after his birth, and in a fit of jealousy, Kurei attacked Recca, causing a scar on his cheek. As a result, Kurei was thrown into the prison. Some time after the attack, in the same year, Oda Nobunaga attacked the Hokage village in order to obtain the clan's set of mystical weapons, Madogu. Ohka died fighting to defend the village, and in the midst of battle, Recca's mother Kagerou took him to the woods. She used the forbidden spell Jikuryuuri to create a time portal. After she gave him the Tekkou to protect him from his flames, she threw Recca to the portal, hoping that he'll grow up in a peaceful era. However, Kurei, who broke away from the prison in the midst of chaos, also jumped into the portal. As a result of using the forbidden spell, Kagerou was granted a curse of immortality. Although it was stated Recca was the true heir to the Hokage clan, Ohka, later exclaims he's the actual cursed child. Proof is that he holds the depressed flame dragons which were people who died in grief, not able to fulfill their purpose in life. He also says if Recca dies, he will become the 9th flame dragon. Kurei is actually the heir, and his flames aren't cursed, they are actually holy flames, although for some reason, the elders of Hokage feared it.

Present Day
Recca was thrown into the present day, and was found by a fireworks manufacturer Shigeo Hanabishi, who incidentally had the similar hothead attitude like Ohka. Shigeo adopted Recca as his own son. From that day forward, Recca lived like the usual boy of his age, going to school and such. But he enjoyed fighting, and wasn't really a good student despite of being able to graduate every year. Due to his birth origin as a ninja, he adores ninja in the present day and dreams to be one, to the point that people refer to him as 'Ninja maniac'. His record of fighting can be called impressive, as he never suffered any loss at all, using his agility, fireworks borrowed from Shigeo and ninja knowledge to surprise his opponents. He has two friends as well as bitter rivals, Fuuko Kirisawa and Domon Ishijima. However, they never defeat Recca, even though he always gives a motivator for those who fight him : "If you can defeat me, I will be your personal ninja."

One day, while walking in the park after going home from school, Recca witnessed several punks harassing a fragile girl named Yanagi Sakoshita. Recca immediately rescued her, but beforehand, he had his fireworks confiscated by Shigeo. As a result, Recca was knocked unconscious. He dreamt about a princess looking like Yanagi thanking him. When he woke up, they finally introduced each other and Yanagi revealed her healing power. Soon, Recca made up his mind and suddenly made Yanagi his 'master', calling her 'Hime'. He took her into an abandoned building and revealed his secret power: creating flame (which he got from his birth as the son of the Hokage Flame Master).

Soon, Kagerou appeared in front of them, taking a new name as 'Kage Houshi'. She pretended to be hostile with Recca and caused harm to both him and Yanagi, saying that only Recca's flame can kill her. After seeing that Recca was so devoted to Yanagi, Kage Houshi let them go.

Recca later would have to deal with his former rivals, Domon and especially Fuuko, who was quite surprised that he easily made Yanagi his master without her even putting up a fight. Fuuko went off a bit extreme and attempted to attack Yanagi. However, Recca defeats her and said that he chose Yanagi as his master because 'she fits my imagination as a princess'. Later Fuuko went missing, but suddenly she called him to come at night to school. It turned out that Kage Houshi manipulated Fuuko and gave her Madogu Fuujin, which she easily mastered. Domon later came to help and Recca managed to snap Fuuko back to her senses, after tearing her clothes, being punched by Domon and Fuuko and called a 'dirty rat' by Yanagi. But just when he was about to vent his anger on Kage Houshi, she purposely cut her own neck. But she survived, revealing that she's immortal. She also gave hint about her relation with Recca, that she's his family member. However, at the moment, Recca dismissed it.

Soon, Recca's friendship with Yanagi, Fuuko and Domon started to develop, and the latter two acknowledged that Yanagi is Recca's rightful master. Recca also found out that Yanagi works part time as a comic artist to entertain kindergarten children. However, he soon met his senior Tokiya Mikagami, who told him to stay away from Yanagi. As they argued, Mikagami revealed his Madogu, the Water Sword Ensui. Recca was defeated and Mikagami stated that if he cared about Yanagi, he should stay away from her. Distraught, Recca did as Mikagami said and distanced himself from Yanagi, losing his usual spirit. Fuuko and Domon later convinced Recca to apologize to Yanagi, and he got back to his senses. He confronted Mikagami in the Mirror House inside an amusement park. Using his battle instinct, he managed to trick and defeat Mikagami. He later made a vow to commit seppuku in case he failed to protect Yanagi, but Mikagami dismissed it, as he'll kill Recca himself in case such thing happened.

Kurei Mansion Saga
Recca later met Tatesako Fumio, a Japanese history teacher who's just as crazy about ninja as Recca. Invited to his house, Recca learnt a bit about the Hokage clan. But soon, they were attacked by Koganei Kaoru and Nagai Mokuren. Tatesako and Yanagi was kidnapped, and Tatesako's wife was injured. Waking up at the hospital, Recca learnt what happened from Fuuko and Domon. He swore to save them. At first she thought Kage Houshi was behind it, but she revealed that the one behind it was Kurei.

Recca, Fuuko and Domon headed to Kurei mansion and fought their way to Kurei's chamber. Along the way, Mikagami returned and joined their fight. Recca showed his anger by easily dispatching Mokuren. However, the four of them couldn't hold a candle against Kurei and his flame, Kurenai. Kage Houshi arrived and advised Recca to remove his Tekkou. He did so and unleashed his flame within him : the 8 Karyu/Flame Dragons. He offered his arm for their help and their leader, Resshin, agreed with the offer, knocking Kurei out. Kurei later retreated, and the mansion crumbled. But they were successful to save Yanagi and Tatesako.

Ura Butou Satsujin Saga
Later, Recca and the others (including Mikagami), was invited to Kage Houshi's hideout. It was there she revealed herself as Kagerou, and telling Recca's past and their relationship. Recca didn't believe it, however, after they were attacked by three minor underlings, he admitted that Kagerou was his mother. However, he became aware that one of the 8 Karyu (Nadare) was indirectly helping him.

Recca later went into a training session, attempting to fight the dragons himself and have them acknowledge his strength and accept him as their master. He gained the trust of Saiha and Nadare, and later he competed in the Ura Butou Satsujin, invited by Kurei. Recca's first battle was against Saichou from Team Kuu, master of the Madogu of Paper, Shikigami. Saichou lost due to heart failures, but Recca challenged the team captain Kuukai anyway, dissatisfied with his victory. Kuukai went berserk after being hit 3 times on the head, almost killing Recca. Eventually, Recca came out victorious, also gaining the trust of the third Karyu, Homura.

In the next round, Koganei defected from the Uruha and joined Recca's team. Recca himself fought Sakura Menou, an innocent girl who became victim to genetical experiment, her body being planted with the Hair Madogu Shikigami by one of Kurei's Uruha Jyuushinshu, Genjuro. Recca managed to win his match and solved Menou's problem. He later challenged Genjuro and almost got his dragons stolen. However, Genjuro accidentally angered one of the dragons, Setsuna. The dragon mercilessly burned Genjuro and suddenly allied itself with Recca.

Before the following round, Recca was caught into an argument with Mikagami, thinking that he got too close on Yanagi, sparking a tension. The tension remained until the day of fight. Their opponent, Neon of Uruha Jyuushinshu, managed to get Recca to agree to fight on a double bout against her and her sister, Miki. The tension between him and Mikagami hindered their performance and almost got them killed, but Domon reminded them the importance of teamwork at cost of losing one winning point. Recca started fighting as a team and was gaining the upper hand. In a desperate moment, Neon activated her ultimate technique, Requiem, to blow up the whole stadium. Mikagami stopped the attack, but risked to kill Neon. In a desperation and unable to withstand having to see Neon's sisters lament on her loss, Recca managed to invoke the fifth Karyu, Madoka. With his barrier, he saved Neon's life.

Later, a fellow calling himself Joker invited him to watch a battle in the other round, in which another Jyuushinshu called Jishou was participating. Out of his and Neon's prediction, Jishou ended up being killed by his opponent Magensha, who will later lead his team to fight Recca's in the semifinals. Receiving Madogu Kotodama from Aki (Neon's other sister), Recca attempted to break Kagerou's curse, but failed.

In the semifinal, Recca fought against copy ninja Kashamaru, who surprised him with his ability to copy the Karyu. But with the help of the new Karyu, Rui, he defeated Kashamaru. After Magensha thrown Fuuko into another dimension, Recca went off searching for her, only to find that there was another Magensha attacking Yanagi. Recca experimented the usage of two dragons at once and saved Yanagi. However, he found out that the Magensha he was fighting was another person, and the real Magensha was somewhere else. Indirectly, by doing this, Recca helped Domon win his match against Magensha. He later had a brief fight with Kurei, but they both walked away.

During the break before the finals, Recca heard of an old man giving advices to his allies. The old man revealed that Recca would lose and he would need to seek him in order to win. In the next day, the old man and Neon forced him to listen to the past of Kurei, learning the origin of Kurenai and how it was simply wrong to label him as 'monster'. After Kagerou told him that giving him mercy would just bring death, Recca was rather confused, although he still took Neon's words in heart. However, he later heard of a commotion. He found out that Joker was one of the Jyuushinshu and betrayed them by injuring Saichou.

Luckily Saichou was still alive. However, after Domon won his initial match against Noroi, the old man forced Recca to come with him by disabling his dragons. Recca was taken to 'the world within himself' and learnt that he must kept on living as a ninja. He later fought against his dragons in their human forms in order to get their trust back (except Setsuna, who he had to force to get into his body again). The old man revealed that he's the seventh dragon, Kokuu. Recca fought and managed to 'tame' him. Image:Recca on a rampage in the manga, and this doesn't happen in the anime Recca came just in time to fight his official battle against Kurei. They were both quite equal on terms of strength and power, however, in the end, after a very harsh fight, Recca came out victorious. He admitted that he carried the big burden to cure his mother's immortality, and if he died failing to protect Yanagi, he'll be doomed to be the 9th dragon. However, during the fight, Recca caught a glimpse of a more human Kurei.

Sealed Lands Saga
After the tournament, Recca led a peaceful life for several weeks with Koganei living in his house. When he met Rasen and Kirin, he learned that Mori Kouran, Kurei's foster father, was plotting something regarding as Tendou Jigoku, and Kurei was confirmed dead. Kokuu later provided information on the most evil Madogu Tendou Jigoku. Determined, Recca decided to pursue Mori Kouran and stop him from achieving Tendou Jigoku. Escorted with Joker, Recca and his team made their way to the Sealed Lands, learning further about the curse of Tendou Jigoku. The team later split up.

Recca managed to outwit Fumimaru in the Sealed Cavern, with the help from Kagerou. He almost lost hope after learning that Mikagami fell into the enemy captivity, Domon and Fuuko rumored to be dead. However, Domon resurfaced, and this resulted the rescue of Mikagami. However, Recca was defeated by Kirin, and knocked unconscious. When he woke up, Domon already defeated Kirin. Moving on, Recca faced off Rasen and his Madogu that was capable of erasing anything, Kokai Gyokuu, in which he lost his mother due to it. Fuuko resurfaced with the help of another Jyuushinshu, Raiha. In the same time, Recca reminded Rasen on the value of mother. Eventually, Rasen gave in and forfeited.

Facing off Mori Kouran and his 'daughter' Renge, Recca was soon asked by Tendou Jigoku if he wanted power. He refused and attempted to destroy it. Out of his prediction, the Madogu also refused him and chose Mori as his master. Recca fought the monstrosity for awhile, and told everyone to escape, except Fuuko who refused. After witnessing the murder of Fuuko's friend, Hisui, Recca went into a fit of rage. It was at that time suddenly Kurei resurfaced and indirectly helped Recca, even though both were still uneasy on each other. Recca learnt that Tendou Jigoku was still after Yanagi, but he made sure that he would protect her. Along with Fuuko and Kurei, he escaped the cavern. Upon resurfacing, Kurei left the entourage, fighting on his own way.

SODOM Saga
For several days, Recca enjoyed a moment of peace, until a transfer student named Kagura Aoi came along. At that time, Recca had a rather intimate moment with Yanagi, resulting her declaring her love and giving him a kiss. However, soon Mikagami came and informed his suspicion on Aoi, which they later concluded that Aoi was a spy from Mori Kouran. But on the way to save Yanagi, he, Mikagami and Koganei were stalled by Aoi's ally, Hiruko. In the end, Recca failed to save Yanagi.

Eventually, Kagerou located Mori's hideout in the city of SODOM. Kokuu also revealed that he's a Madogu maker, and told everyone that the battle will be the last and decide the fate of Hokage. He bore the message that Resshin would like to meet Recca. Recca told his friends to think about the decision to follow him or not.

Making his way, Recca met Resshin and learnt about Ohka's past, from his personal feelings on Kurei into how he failed to protect the one he considered important and was doomed to be one of the Karyu. Coincidentally, the person that Ohka sworn to protect was the ancestor of Yanagi. With a new determination, Recca returned to the real world and found all his friends waiting for him. He then proceeded to advance to the town of SODOM.

The team split up again. Recca fought Koganei's opponent in the Sealed Cavern, Kamui. He immediately continued to face Mokuren in a final showdown, although Kuukai came to help. Helped by a repented Kamui, Recca managed to make his way out of the crumbling dome as Mokuren wailed in insanity. Recca later resurfaced in Marie's house, helping Domon in his battle. After winning the battle, he made fun of Mikagami who was formerly trapped inside.

The team reunited and split up again. Recca's path pitted him against Aoi, who turned out to be a male dressed like a girl, and was extremely jealous of Recca's flame. Learning on his origin, Recca defeated and lectured him to stop being so down on himself. Moving on to the final bout, Recca was advised by Kokuu to meet Resshin again and achieve his power : the power of resurrection. Recca also learnt that he was supposedly the cursed one instead of Kurei, that he would bring the end of Hokage. If he dies, he'll be a useless dragon. At first, Recca refused to use Resshin's power.

Returning to the real world, Recca faced off the embodiment of evil, the true form of Tendou Jigoku emerging from its cocoon. He did his best to hold the monster at bay, and managed to snap Yanagi back to her senses. But, he was too late to save her, as she was dying. In the midst of anguish, Kokuu urged Recca to summon Resshin. Kurei also came and held off Tendou Jigoku while talking to Recca about his disappointment on him. Eventually, Recca made up his mind and summoned Resshin. Using it, he turned Yanagi into his flame angel, in the same fashion like Kurenai, except with healing flames, which turned out to be the real weakness of Tendou Jigoku. Helped with Kurei, Recca dealt the finishing blow, destroying the evil.

As a result of Tendou Jigoku's destruction, all the Madogu started to get destroyed, and the spirits of the Karyu would ascend to heaven. Recca was infuriated when he thought Yanagi would ascend as well, but fortunately that wasn't the case. Yanagi returned as a living human. Eventually, as Kurei prepared to return to the past, Recca bid farewell and made peace with his brother. However, Koganei also left him, following Kurei.

Finally, peace returned for real to Recca and he could enjoy peaceful life from that point on (Kagerou's immortality was cured beforehand). At one point, Yanagi stated that since the Hokage was no more, she'd prefer that Recca just to call her by name, not 'Hime'. As he prepared to lit a firework to end his saga, Recca exclaimed, "Then let's do it, Yanagi !"

Powers And Abilities
Recca has the spirit of the past 8 Hokage clan leaders living in his flame. Each Dragon has a special ability and power that Recca masters if that Dragon acknowledges him. Recca is also able to summon more than one dragon simultaneously, creating various combinations.

Saiha The Dragon Saiha focuses on making Recca's fire arm blade unbreakable and cut anything. There are certain parts in the manga where people block against Saiha, but not with a physical object (Saicho uses his aura and energy to surround his sword to hold against Saiha, and Neon uses the sound energy around her flute to repel Saiha as well.). As a human, Saiha is a standard ninja with spiky hair.

Nadare Nadare allows Recca to shoot multiple fire balls at once, the numbers increasing as he gets stronger. Human-wise, she is a kunoichi with a ponytail.

Homura Homura is the strength enhancement flame. Recca uses this with his close combat fighting to be more effective. He usually does a thrust punch with Homura visibly coiled and wrapped around Recca's hand and arm. This is one of Recca's strongest attacks. Recca can also use Homura as a flame whip. His human form is a somewhat bald man who still managed to keep a ponytail. He uses a whip enchanted with flame.

Setsuna Setsuna is the flash flame Dragon. When Setsuna opens his eye, it creates a bright and quick red flash. If one is in range of this flash, he will burn up and the flames wont go out until the target dies. However, Recca has only used this on people with properties of fire, which aren't as effective against a fire user (When he fought Genjirou, he had taken one of Recca's Dragon's which granted him the ability of being a flame user, so when Setsuna performed his move, Genjurou wasn't killed by it. He also did it to Kurei, but didn't effect him too much). As a human, Setsuna is known to be a blind, yet extremely ruthless man who uses blades attached on his hand, making them look like claws. Unlike the other dragons, he didn't enjoy being in Recca's body and would kill him when the opportunity arose. However, Recca managed to outwit him and forced him back to his body, whether he liked it or not.

Madoka The unbreakable barrier. In the anime, it was broken by Kurei, but wasn't broken in the manga. Recca uses this to defend against attacks. He can also use this to trap an enemy so they can't move or to stop people from committing suicide. Madoka as a human is a chubby ninja that could create barriers. However, he's rather sarcastic and vain.

Rui The Dragon that creates illusions right when Recca thinks of it instantly. Recca uses this dragon to teleport, and get into his opponents' mind. She can make his enemy relive nightmares or make them live their worse fears. In human form, Rui is a beautiful and gorgeous kunoichi who is not afraid to show her body to seduce her enemies. Her hobby is creating riddles.

Koku Koku comes out and shoots a big flame beam. This is a powerful attack that can take down almost anybody in one hit. This is Recca's second strongest attack. Koku has an exclusive power to pop out from Recca's body as a human whenever he pleases, although he didn't abuse it. His human form is a short old man with sunglasses and scar on his eye. He fits the 'Perverted Old Man' character stereotype, although he's not into lolicon. He's also one of the creators of Madogu. He's voice credited by Kenichi Ogata

Resshin This Dragon can engluf his opponent and either turn their soul as part of Recca's flame or completely desentigrate the soul. This is Recca's strongest move. He uses this on Yanagi when she dies and makes her apart of his flame. Resshin was in fact Ouka, the father of Recca and Kurei. Jurouta Kosugi provided his voice.

Yanagi (Flame Angel) Using Ressehin's powers of the phoenix flame Recca absorbed Yanagi's soul in order to prevent her from being eaten by the Tendō Jigoku and thus became part of his flame (in a manner similar to Kurenai). As a flame angel her flames were the golden flames of immortality and healing, which can heal any wound, while also in this state she has the ability of immortality, which Recca recieves since she is his flame. Possesing the power of immortality she can also take it away, as she 'healed' the souls absorbed by the Tendō Jigoku thereby setting those free and allowing the Tendō Jigoku to be defeated therefore one can consider this Recca's strongest attack, as it can allow him to defeat or kill an immortal being.

Trivia
Recca can be a bit perverted at times like when he saved Fuuko from the Fujin (which when he saved her he striped off her clothes) he gets a nose blood followed by Fuuko and Domon punching him, and Yanagi calling him a pervert. Also in the anime when he was fighting one of his dragons Rui, when she was creating a sandstorm her breasts were visible making Recca having a nose bleed, and when when she was transforming (she was nude) Recca says how the sight is too much making bleed even more. In the manga however, after Recca Rui, she transformed into Koku and asked the question "Which old man is the fake?" Recca then gets a picture of Fuuko changing her clothes (the only thing she's waering is a bra and underwear), and said that he took it from the sneaky pervet Fujimaru, but mumbles why he kept it resulting to the fact Recca is a pervert. Of course the real Koku becomes so deformed that he snatches the picture off the spot.