Naoto Kurogane

Naoto Kurogane is the main protagonist of the BlazBlue: Bloodedge Experience series. He is gifted with the Hunter's Eye and is the servant of Raquel Alucard. His life-force value hovered around 9,810 until he became Raquel's servant.

Information
Naoto was a fairly average student in all respects at Shin Kawahama First High School. He lives on his own in an apartment in the same building as his cousin Haruka Hayami that was lent out by his aunt, Yuki Hayami, for practically free due to their relation. He attends school with Haruka and Shinnosuke Fukuda.

What sets Naoto apart from the average person however, is the fact that he possesses the Hunter's Eye, an ability which allows him to see the numerical value of a persons life force. He first knew that the value he saw of a person was their life-force when he watched his mother die as her life-force value turned to 0.

Bloodedge Experience — Part 1
In the first chapter of BlazBlue: Bloodedge Experience — Part 1, Naoto was rudely awoken by Haruka and was teased about the types of video games he plays, namely ones that include a large number of females; Naoto attempted to defend himself against her prodding, claiming that the games were bought by Shinnosuke, but she refused to believe it. The two promptly left after their awkward discussion to have breakfast and they began to walk to school, with Haruka revealing that she actually stole some of his games to have an insight into Naoto's life; while talking, Naoto noticed that Haruka's life-force value had increased by 12 points.

However, soon after talking, Naoto noticed that he was all alone in the street he was walking in, with not a single soul to be seen; save one. In the distance, he saw a small girl with a black dress and blonde hair tied into twin tails, her silhouette reminiscent of a rabbit thanks to the ribbons that held her hair together. Naoto thought he recognized her from somewhere, but before he had a chance to ask, she muttered something he could not hear and then disappeared in exchange for the numerous people who had just vanished suddenly existing once more within his eye sight. Something, however, caught Naoto off guard; the young girl had no life-force value above her head.

Naoto eventually came to his school and began to converse with Shinnosuke about his 'learning material' and the fact that he's sharing an apartment with his cousin, whom Shinnosuke believes to be attractive. Soon after, Naoto, Haruka and Shinnosuke prepared for their first lesson; Earth Science with Tadayuki Isa. In lesson, Naoto couldn't help but smirk at his teacher's incredibly dangerously low life-force value; a mere 925. During the lesson, Naoto asked if Tadayuki did not feel well, as his erratic deportment seemed odd; this prompted Tadayuki to scream at his student before uttering a sound similar to an insect. After class, Naoto asked if the teacher was acting odd, but only Haruka seemed to think so; he later saw Tadayuki's life-force number raise to 1007.

Convincing Haruka to walk home without him, Naoto aimlessly wandered about his area until he saw Raquel Alucard being chased by a man with a life-force value of 0. He began to run after the two, curious about how someone with no life-force could still be wandering around; he eventually reached the street where the two were and saw that it was practically in ruin. The people watching began to take pictures, with Naoto believing that this would be updated to the TOi. Eventually, he arrived to the destination, a forbidden zone where no one dared enter.

Here, he bore witness to Raquel fighting against the man, who's face bored resemblance to an insect. After Raquel downed the man with a swift kick, Naoto, in a state of shock, announced her life-force value of 80,000,000; however, to cover this up, he made a perverted comment instead and was met with a pommel to the face. After the insect-like man arose to a more grotesque form, Raquel convinced Naoto to run, which he did. After saving Raquel's life from the monstrosity, an insect the size of the mans head arose from the corpse, severing Naoto's right arm from his body. Finally regaining conscience, Raquel asks if he wants to live, with Naoto responding that he indeed does; to save him, she bites into his neck after revealing that in exchange, he must help her find the Azure.

The following day, Naoto woke up, looked in the bathroom mirror and saw he had a right arm, however, his life-force value had teetered down to 0. Behind him, the door opened and Raquel appeared; in response, Naoto screamed. Later on in the living room, a naked Raquel introduced herself and explained the situation to Naoto, that he died and is only alive because the two are sharing her life. After one year has passed, however, Naoto will become a vampire and will most probably attack the closest person to him - Haruka; in order to save himself and those around him, he agreed to help Raquel discover the Azure. Before they begun the task at hand, Naoto attempted to get the struggling Raquel to wear some clothes. Unfortunately for him, Haruka walked in, saw the struggle, and walked into the kitchen to find something to stab the duo with.

After Raquel used her Slave Red to make Haruka believe that Naoto and herself were cousins, Naoto went to pick up the knife that Haruka had dropped earlier but cut himself on it. Standing stunned as the wound healed before his eyes, the youth went to check his pulse on both arms, only to find a pulse on his left, not his right. Shortly afterwards, Haruka and Raquel (in clothes) walked in, prompting Naoto to ask where the clothes were from, discovering that it was Yuki's hobby to collect clothes. Both Raquel and Naoto left the apartment shortly after, where the young man learnt of Raquel's power to control people; they eventually arrived to the Restricted Ward, where the young vampire explained the existence of Spinner Superior and the Remains of Azure, exclaiming that she planned to have Naoto take on the master mage and extract info from him since the servant cannot die.

As they got closer and closer to the location where they found the insect man the other day (explained to be one of Spinner's apostles), Raquel placed her finger on the ground and begun writing a magic circle to help strengthen her magic, shocking Naoto as he realized that the font of the ancient writing is the same as the numbers he sees with his Hunter's Eye. After Raquel asked what had happened in the area, Naoto explained what had happened - a virus attacked a local hospital and everyone melted, save for their clothes. Raquel then ordered him to stay silent as she finished the circle, while the young man himself went to look at the place where he died, only to find that there was no blood nor evidence that the events of yesterday had occurred. Eventually, Raquel came up to him and asked that he guide her through the city; during their stroll, Naoto stopped her pulling off her clothes before asking how old she was, being stumped that she was a mere 2 years old despite possessing a substantially huge knowledge that far exceeded the young man's own. Moments later, the vampire claimed to feel ill, and sunk into Naoto's shadow as she instructed him to head to the city center.

When he arrived, Naoto went to sit on a nearby bench and beckoned for Raquel to turn up, but was met with her snores. Bored, he wandered to the nearby vending machine before being thrown into the machine itself; as he crumpled to the ground, he dodged the attackers stomp and finally got a look at his assailant. The man came to the conclusion that since Naoto hadn't died from his attacks, he must be an immortal. However, before the man flung himself into the fray once more, he was stopped by a man with six marionette arms, beckoning to the man called Valkenhayn that he must stop. Valkenhayn responded to the man named Relius and the two bickered until Valkenhayn crushed Naoto's foot under his own and stormed off. Relius extended his hand to help the young man up, but he stood up on himself, claiming that he was fine but in absolute agony. After Relius and Raquel conversed, he left, flattered that she knew his name.

Afterwards, Naoto was left fuming, fearing that Valkenhayn would of killed him right then and there. He angrily asked Raquel who they were, being told that they were from the group Immortal Breaker. Naoto then suggested that they return home due to them spending all their energy, eventually, he managed to convince Raquel to come back to the apartment but needed a change of clothes because of Valkenhayn's savage attacks having ripped his clothes. In order for Haruka to not see his state, he asked that Raquel enter the apartment first, but when she did not signal that Haruka was not there, he grew worried and barged in, only to be met by Raquel's father - Clavis Alucard; Naoto thought that if he moved, he would be killed on the spot.

Mentally questioning where Haruka might be, Clavis assured him that she was safe and sound. This, however, made him more frustrated since he didn't know if he could trust the No-Life King; this distrust was further extended when he saw the immeasurable life-force value that the vampire possessed. Raquel told him not to worry, while Clavis himself told him that he was not there to eat him, only that he wanted to talk; despite this, Naoto could clearly see her shaking in fear. Clavis then began to apologize for the trouble Raquel had caused, but Naoto replied, halfheartedly, that she hadn't caused anything. The vampire then offered to take Raquel away from him if he wished, but Naoto denied the offer and called the vampire selfish, this was not met well and Clavis took off the arm that Raquel had fashioned for the young man. Naoto simply looked at it in shock as Raquel told him that it was made from her own blood. Clavis then instructed that Naoto come closer to him, and the age-old vampire constructed a new, and improved, arm for him. Moments later, Naoto heard a smash and the Immortal Breakers rushed into the building to attempt to assassinate the No-Life King, leaving the apartment in tatters, save for the kitchen. After marveling at the magic used to put Haruka to sleep, a feminine voice interrupted the moment.

The voice in question belonged to Kīro Hikagami, her presence alone invoked an extreme anxiety attack within Raquel, while Kīro herself constantly flirted with the young man, against his wishes. She explained that she had arrived to clean the mess that Valkenhayn and Relius had made, and that she was an agent of the Mitsurugi Agency, an agency which was after the head of Clavis Alucard due to the threat he posed to the world. Overall, Naoto thought it sounded fake, but he did realize that the Mitsurugi Agency were behind both repairing the roads that had been destroyed the previous day, and the disappearance of the blood left from the death of the apostle. Kīro eventually offered up a hotel for the two to stay in while the apartment was being repaired, but Naoto declined out of fear that the agent would be close by. Before she left, the agent asked Naoto what kind of Drive he possessed, but he was left stumped by the term. Haruka eventually woke up only to find that a team of lawyers had arrived to cover the situation, and after an hour of explanations, they eventually followed suit and left as well.

After the lengthy legal explanations, the time soon reached 11 pm, and Naoto rested on the nearby sofa inside the Hayami residence and began to observe his new arm, fashioned by Raquel's blood and improved upon by Clavis; eventually, he fell asleep only to wake up in Haruka's lap as she sung a nursery rhyme in the style of a lullaby, and the two reminisced about old times until they leaned in to kiss, however, Raquel innocently interrupted when she asked what they were doing. Unfortunately for the two teenagers, Haruka's mother, Yuki Hayami, had also just arrived.

Yuki started fawning over Raquel and her doll-like appearance, leading the vampire to yelp out for Naoto's help, but he stood idly until Haruka lead her away. Yuki invited Naoto to make some tea for her, and she became to tease him about the near kiss, going on to say that she hopes that the young man can make her daughter happy. Feeling that the conversation wasn't going anywhere, Naoto decided to leave, not before receiving a warning from her aunt about the Mitsurugi Agency.

Personality
Naoto is a caring individual who seemingly rushes into situations without thinking much about the consequences. Despite initially being thought of as rather cowardly by Raquel, he later reveals himself to be extremely courageous when the odds are stacked against him.

His relationship with Haruka Hayami is complicated, in Chapter 3 of BlazBlue: Bloodedge Experience - Part 1, the two teenagers nearly kiss until they were interrupted and throughout the novel, the two are highly implied to have strong romantic feelings for one another, yet Naoto's own stubbornness and oblivious nature tends to get in the way of the feelings blossoming.

Naoto is also shown to not be fond of tightly packed places or just people in general, lending reason as to why he avoids getting on the bus to school and instead walks the 30 minute distance.

Appearance
Naoto has brown eyes, a pale complexion and eye-length, styled brown hair with an ahoge poking out of the top. He wears the uniform of Shin Kawahama First High School; a black jacket and accompanying black jeans.

When using Bloodedge, his hair turns a shocking white and his eyes change to a fierce deep red, making him resemble the other Bloodedge - Ragna the Bloodedge. Additionally, a strange, red, glowing, rune-like symbols appear on his hand when utilizing the Bloodedge.

Powers and Abilities
While not physically powerful at first, after his death he gained more strength and speed as well as the ability Regeneration that heals any wounds at the cost of Raquel's life-value. And much like Ragna, his arm that was severed became replaced by an arm made by Clavis Alucard that was more powerful than his real right arm.

Naoto possesses the Hunter's Eye in his right eye; an ability which allows him to clearly see the value of someones life-force. The lower the life-force, the seemingly closer they are to death.

Naoto can also use Bloodedge, a red katana made out of blood.