Naoto Kurogane

Naoto Kurogane (黒鉄ナオト) is the main protagonist of the BlazBlue: Bloodedge Experience series. He is gifted with the Eye of the Hunter and is the servant of Raquel Alucard. His life-force value hovered around 9,810 until he became Raquel's servant. He became a playable character in BlazBlue: Centralfiction.

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 New Kawahama First High School; a black jacket and accompanying black jeans.

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

In Centralfiction, he now wears a modified black collar skintight jacket with short sleeves and cross emblems, black fingerless gloves with red guards, with his right arm tightly covered by a material, black trouser with a red belt, and black-red boots with metal guards. A red cross with white outlines appears on the back of his jacket and on his trousers, it is identical to the one that Rachel and Raquel bear on their own clothes. Additionally there is another big, yellow, strange symbol on the back of his jacket, right above the cross symbol. He has a similar marking as Ragna, but it has writing a cross his chest. When using Bloodedge, his marking changed differently.

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. Eventually, they do kiss, however.

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.

History
Naoto was a fairly average student in all respects at New 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 Eye of the Hunter, 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. As well as his unique ability, Naoto is also the heir to the Terumi family, which was wiped out by his sister, Saya Terumi; instead of using the name Naoto Terumi, he chose his mother's name, Kurogane.

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 blond 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 Blue.

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 Blue. 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 the Blue, exclaiming that she planned to have Naoto take on the master conjurer 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 Eye of the Hunter. 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 from 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 have 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 reattached the arm while he also improved it 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 Kiiro Hikagami, her presence alone invoked an extreme anxiety attack within Raquel, while Kiiro 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. Kiiro 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 his aunt about the Mitsurugi Agency.

The following day at school, Naoto sat in the library, holding his head in hands after the stress of trying to control Raquel's antics earlier in the day. At the end of the day, he had earned the nickname of "pretty blond girl's servant". At the library Naoto and the vampire conversed about the 8 Drive users present within the school, and the fact that Remains of the Blue lingered in the area. Naoto asked if his Eye of the Hunter is a Drive, but upon closer inspection, it seemed more likely to be implanted than a manifestation of the soul. Raquel later requested to be taken to the center of the school where they cannot be seen.

At the back of the school, Naoto expressed a huge amount of shock at Raquel's decision of not wearing any underwear, calling her tiresome, and that what she was doing was worse than being naked. After the brief incident, Shinnosuke interrupted the two and playfully insulted Naoto for moving from Haruka to Raquel, offering up another video game for the young man to play. After his friend rushed off to attend a meeting, Naoto was greeted by the vice president of the student counsel – Kana Kirishima. After she asked him several questions about Haruka and their relationship, Kana left; Raquel stated that Remnants were around her, making Naoto question if her coming over to talk to him was a mere coincidence.

Later that day, Naoto sat down to dinner with Raquel and Haruka, asking the latter a lot of questions surrounding Kana, eventually getting a clue in that she was seen in a dark alley recently. When Haruka innocently asked if Naoto liked girls with long black hair, he replied that he preferred Haruka's hairstyle, suggesting that she keep it since it makes him calm whenever he sees it.

The following day at school, Naoto asked everyone he could about Kana, attempting to gather as much information as he could, however,the majority of it turned out to be useless. He was suddenly greeted by the girl herself (Naoto taking note of her unfortunately low life-force value), and he called her beautiful in a fluster for words, only to get slightly berated by Kana herself. After Kana left, Naoto consulted Raquel for her opinions, being told that they she follow her since the Remnants were stronger around her this time. Due to Haruka being unable to go shopping with him for dinner later, Naoto agreed and followed Kana alongside Raquel.

They followed Kana until they reached a dead end at an adult store. Seeing Raquel ask frequent questions to the attendant, Naoto couldn't bear to look, silently cursing Clavis for not giving Raquel more information concerning adult matters. Raquel eventually gathered enough information about Kana, and Naoto pushed her out of the store, being unable to watch her fumble around any longer. Raquel located Kana and the two flew there from the help of Raquel's Drive.

When they arrived at the stack of apartments where Kana seemed to be, the two watched as she entered a building and the duo gave chase, despite protests from Naoto. When they arrived at the fifth floor, they found a startled Kana and attempted to comfort her when she broke down to tears. He dutifully listened to the young girl's story and how she ended up in the situation. Kana mentioned that the, so far unnamed, teacher wanted Haruka and that she tried hard to not get the young girl involved. Naoto looked up and saw that the apartment belonged to none other than his teacher, Tadayuki Isa. He burst through the door into an empty apartment and screamed at Raquel to locate Tadayuki. When he found that he was at the high school where Haruka also was, Naoto jumped out of the apartment window and rushed to the school on foot.

When Naoto arrived at the school, he found Tadayuki attempting to force Haruka into perverse sexual acts. Naoto kicked the door down and launched a power-packed fist at Tadayuki's face, landing the teacher down onto his back. He rushed over to the young girl's side as she began to cry, temporarily putting her unconscious, and handing her to Raquel for safe keeping. Tadayuki began to metamorphose with multiple appendages growing from his back. Successfully dodging each attack, Naoto stood in the middle of an attack aimed towards Haruka and Raquel, being pierced in his stomach and arms; thanks to his ability of regeneration, Naoto punched the appendages off and tag-teamed with Raquel to knock him down on the ground once more. Having had enough, Naoto launched himself towards his teacher, deflecting his attack as he suddenly accessed the power of Bloodedge. His hair turned a shocking white and his eyes became blood red as a crimson red blade appeared in his hands. Using the new blade, Naoto struck at Tadayuki's legs, knocking him down to the ground. He then repeatedly punched him until he was knocked out.

Shortly afterwards, the Mitsurugi Agency, lead by Kiiro Hikagami, arrived to take charge of the incident. Kiiro blocked Naoto as he attempted to prevent the medics from carrying Tadayuki out, and gave her permission to try and save him from the insect that had infected him. Awkwardly trying to escape Kiiro's grip, Naoto sheepishly asked if she wanted anything in return for helping him, to which she replied that she would expect a favor from him at a later date. As soon as the agent was about to leave, Spinner Superior arrived.

Spinner tore the soldiers of the agency to shreds and asked where and who Naoto was, prompting Raquel to grab his arm so Spinner could see who he was. The next second, the young man was sent flying into a wall. Naoto desperately tried to run away from Spinner's relentless assault, which only further annoyed the conjurer, thankfully for Naoto, Kiiro came to his rescue and Raquel diffused the situation, leading to Spinner and Kiiro leaving the area. Raquel tried to explain why Spinner knew his name, but it only lead to Naoto screaming several vanities at the vampire for putting him in a dangerous situation.

Days later, Naoto met up with Kiiro to discuss the situations of Tadayuki, Kana, and Haruka, being told that the last was his business and he was to look after her. His apartment had been fixed from the earlier fight between the Immortal Breakers and Clavis, and Haruka was safe. Raquel began living with Naoto in his apartment, with Haruka frequently visiting for lunch. Naoto and Haruka began to talk on the Sunday, and they reached a mood which lead to them very nearly kissing until the doorbell rang. Naoto went to answer but was pulled back by Haruka and the two kissed, Naoto white-lying about it being his first. Haruka went to answer the door afterwards and Naoto followed. The novel ends as the two see Saya Terumi at the entrance.

Bloodedge Experience — Part 2
Disappointed with Saya rudely walking into the apartment unannounced, Naoto asked her why she is there, and was told that Mei Amanohokosaka had asked her to deliver a letter to him. When Saya had finally got him alone, Naoto read the letter and told her to go away, however, she lunged for his throat and put him against the wall, using her Drive, Soul Eater, to sap away at his borrowed life-force, telling him that she was going to murder him and take his eye. Thankfully, Naoto was saved as Raquel leaped into the fray, having forced the young girl to flee. Haruka took Raquel and Naoto out for dinner later that evening.

Naoto had secretly met Kiiro again, where she explained that she had fallen in love with him at first sight, earning a vicious remark from the young man. When she felt she couldn't explain it with words, she placed his hand on her chest, and Naoto finally realized what she meant; their heartbeats were in complete synchronization.

After school the following day, Raquel began to fume at Naoto for not telling her about Saya, but his response was to ask about her Drive, and began to tell Raquel about how Saya had slaughtered the Terumi family, also asking if Saya could be cured. He then began to talk with some knowledge he gained from Kiiro earlier, only to further anger his master as she forced him to tell her what they spoke about.

Later on, Naoto and Raquel met Kana to find that she had no recollection of the events of the previous week. They went home afterwards and had a small talk with Yuki before Naoto had his training;to find one of the Apostles and to kill him. After struggling through the fight, Naoto managed to defeat the bug within the Apostle. The Mitsurugi Agency soon arrived later to clean up the mess.

When Naoto came home, he decided to take a bath but Raquel interrupted halfway through, ordering him to clean her hair; he obliged but refused to clean her body, instead doing a dogeza. Raquel then informed him that his body had become much stronger because his blood had merged with the vampire blood, thankfully not influencing his year's notice of turning into said species.

Later on, Naoto walked down a street with Haruka and Raquel as Clavis Alucard used Event Interference to have a private talk with the young man. Clavis began to explain Raquel's origins and his own personal goals. After the intervention had ended, Raquel began to scold Naoto again before her attention was stolen by the presence of Drive users.

Naoto soon interrupted a fight between Saya and Valkenhayn, coming to his sister's rescue, but he was too late as Spinner kidnapped her. After tracking them down, Naoto came to fight the strongest of Spinner's bugs which had Saya in his possession. He began to fight the bug but it assaulted him, and his wounds would not heal; Spinner explained that it was because the bug was designed to take on Clavis himself. After some more fighting, Naoto found himself in a good position to kill his sister; he heard a man's voice ask if he was going to kill, forcing him to scream that he would save her as he ripped the legs off of the bug and killed it.

After Spinner took Raquel and fused with her, Naoto's link with her weakened and his right arm turned to blood. He tried to fight the chimera again but Spinner reacted as he cut off Naoto's left arm and right leg. He began to become slowly unconscious but he heard a man's voice, he couldn't make sense of it but the man approached him and slugged him in the chest with a black arm. The impact shook Naoto awake and he activated his Drive; Bloodedge. The wounds stopped bleeding and a black fog came to replace his missing limbs. He formed a scythe out of his blood and began to slash away at Spinner's body before going into the darkness and pulling Raquel out of it.

With Raquel back, Naoto's right arm appeared again, but his new limbs quickly evaporated as he saw Spinner twist into a grotesque form, but he was saved by Kiiro as she finally killed the insane conjurer. A little afterwards, Relius formed a new arm and leg to replace the ones that Naoto had lost in the fight. Naoto was visited by Raquel in hospital afterwards, with him telling her that Kiiro was an artificial human and asked her why she had chosen him; she answered by placing her head on his heart as she told him that she feels a blue heartbeat from him. She then repeated her order to him to find the Blue and then to find her.

BlazBlue: Centralfiction
Naoto jumped into a Kiln in order to find Raquel who had gone missing. However upon arrival, Naoto found himself lost, so he asked Celica for directions, but Minerva strangely attacks him. After beating and calming Minerva, Celica agrees to help Naoto, however the two end up separating. He later sees Valkenhayn, who looks older compared to when they last met. He concludes that he's somehow in the future, with Valkenhayn angrily warning him to go back to his world or he'll throw Naoto back there himself. Naoto defeats Valkenhayn and moves on, where he finds Rachel, who looks similar to Raquel. During their encounter, a mysterious flash occurs, which Rachel recognizes as a life link. Fearing Naoto will harm Ragna's existence and sense he's after the Blue, Rachel tries to kill him, but Naoto holds her off, mistaking her Drive for Raquel's "Tempest". After calming her down, he asks her where to find Raquel Alucard, confusing Rachel as she is her father's only blood relative, to which Naoto recalls is Clavis. Before their conversation continues, he is teleported by Nine, who warns him to return to his world or else he'll be stuck in her world.

After being warped to Ikaruga, he finds Makoto, who he states that she resembles his aunt Yuki. Makoto asks him for identification, finding suspicious. After settling and clearing things up, Naoto decides to locate the person people are looking for, Izanami. He is later encountered by Lambda, who was sent by Kokonoe to capture him. After beating Lambda, he furiously yells at Kokonoe about how artificial humans still have feelings and a will and if she's ignoring and knowing what Lambda is feeling, he'll never forgive her. He later comes face to face with Ragna, who people mistake him for occasionally. After fighting, they recognize each other's Drives, but before they can continue, Naoto is teleported again, this time by Izanami. After briefly mistaking her for his sister, Saya Terumi, Izanami tries to kill him, but finds her body is not moving right in his presence. Despite not wanting him to have it, a Blue shard appears before Naoto, in which despite hearing a warning from Raquel, touches it. After seeing a vision of a monolith and a girl in a blue dress, is sent to Ikaruga, without Amaterasu in the sky. After clarifying that Izanami isn't his sister and curious about the girl in his vision, decides to learn about the world he's currently in.

Deciding that he needs info, he runs into Hazama, who he recognizes but Hazama doesn't. After the battle, Hazama said he observed something interesting and takes his leave. Coming to the conclusion that this is the same Hazama he knows, but knowing he can't pursue him, decides to speak with Rachel again. On his way to find her, he gets ambushed by Hakumen, who notes he's similar to the Black Beast. Ignoring Naoto's questions and declaring he'll become a new threat, attempts to kill him, however Naoto holds off Hakumen and retreats, while noting him to be similar to a woman he knows. Later, he meets with Relius, who strangely questions him about how he is alive. Relius reveals that Naoto met Clavis at one point and died at his hands. After confirming he is Naoto from 'another possibility', Naoto tries to ask Relius some questions, but is whisked away by Rachel. Rachel, having had enough of Naoto and having no intention of speaking to him, proceeds to fight Naoto, with the intention of forcing him back to his world. After beating Rachel, Raquel mysteriously possesses her to let Naoto know she's alright and that she summoned him to the world they are currently in. With little time she possesses Rachel, she reveals to Naoto that their world is in danger and in order to save it, they must save the world they're in, stating the world they're in is the starting point to the world they come from, with an overwhelmed Naoto commenting on the sudden responsibility drop Raquel gave him.

He later meets up with Celica and is currently with her.

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 from Raquel's blood and enhanced by Clavis Alucard, which was more powerful than his real right arm.

Naoto possesses the Eye of the Hunter 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.

In terms of physical ability, Naoto fights with a fighting style that is akin to brawling due to a majority of swinging blows with active movement, but also has shades of boxing due to his focused fighting stance. Compared to Ragna, Naoto's fighting style is more fluid with a heavier focus on defensive-bypassing combat as well as having slightly more durability than him; these foils cause Naoto to somewhat be a force that unknowingly threatens to override Ragna's existence during the events of Centralfiction, even to the point of forcibly establishing a life-link with Rachel.

Thus, Naoto has several abilities that emulate Ragna in many ways as shown in Centralfiction, such as an anti-air attack with an Inferno-naming motif, a fang-motif based attack with followups, and more. Naoto even has both his Exceed Accel and Astral Heat emulate Ragna's scythe motif as well in a similar fashion.

Naoto's Drive is Bloodedge (ブラッドエッジ), which allows him to control his blood. In novels he gave it the shape of various weapons, and in the game he creates temporary blades of blood. These blades can be charged to crush his opponent's guard.

He also possesses an ability called Enhancer, which changes properties of his special moves and drive attacks if he performs them while running; this is akin to certain attacks in other fighting games that can only be done mid-run/dash.

His Overdrive, Blood Repulsor (ブラッドリパルサー), causes his hair to turn white and eyes red (making him the only character to undergo a physical-appearance change when Overdrive is activated), while shortening the startup of Bloodedge attacks and strengthening effects of Enhancer.

Trivia

 * "Naoto" (直人) is a Japanese masculine name meaning "one who is honest", and "Kurogane" (黒鉄) literally means "black iron" in Japanese; the latter is a coincidental nod to his Bloodedge ability due to iron being a component of blood.
 * Naoto's leitmotif, "Jaeger", is German for "Hunter", nod to his gifted ability Eye of the Hunter, but without the umlaut normally used for the "ae" portion.