Nobunaga Hazama

Nobunaga Hazama is member #1 of the Phantom Troupe. His physical strength ranked ninth among the group. Nobunaga usually wears a classic Japanese-style robe and short pants, while his midsection is wrapped in a sarashi (with wrappings also around his lower legs). He has long black hair that he ties into a single topknot. He also has a pencil moustache and a small patch of hair on his chin. His sword almost never leaves his side. Nobunaga's spider tattoo has yet to be revealed. Nobunaga is typically a calm individual, but can be brash and get into conflicts with the other Troupe members. While he demonstrates good fighting speed and capacity for reason, he does seem to struggle with impromptu decision-making. This is first seen when Owl traps the car the Troupe members were riding in; every occupant of the car was able to escape except for Nobunaga. However, this was mostly due to the fact that he was sitting in the middle back seat and had the worst position. Furthermore, when Gon and Killua announce their plan to attack him together, Nobunaga activates his En and prepares himself for the attack instead of pursuing either of the boys, ultimately giving them the chance to escape. Nobunaga is one of the friendlier members of the Troupe.

He frequently smiles at the sight of Gon and Killua, asking them to be friends and even asking Chrollo to make them Troupe members. This is especially the case for Gon since he has the same Nen type and attitude as Nobunaga's late best friend, Uvogin. He is extremely loyal to Chrollo, which he showed when he was willing to fight Phinks to prevent him from going after Pakunoda. Nobunaga hates when hostages speak without permission, and will coldly warn them against it at least twice. He tells them to answer all the questions truthfully whenever they are under interrogation by any members of the Troupe. In such a situation, Nobunaga warned Killua that if he spoke without permission, he would kill him. He is willing to kill hostages swiftly and unhesitantly if they don’t follow his repeated warnings, as he did to Squala. Nobunaga uses a katana as his preferred weapon. It is portrayed differently in each adaptation of the series. In the manga, its grip is wrapped in white bandages and sheathed in a dark scabbard. In the 1999 anime adaptation, the hilt is similar, but the scabbard is light brown. In the 2011 anime adaptation, the bandages are dark green, the scabbard black, and the blade slightly curved. In all three depictions, the katana lacks a tsuba, the grip is wrapped in the hineri maki way, and the tassel is rectangular. To disguise his weapon, Nobunaga sometimes wraps it in grayish-purple canvas, tied with a twine thread at the top. He carries it on his left hip in his obi sash. When fighting alongside Uvogin in the past and at the time of his arrival in Yorknew City, Nobunaga also carried a second katana, identical to the first. Due to Nobunaga being born in Meteor City, his existence is not recorded in any database, which makes obtaining information on him nearly impossible. He is very confident in his abilities, having attacked Hisoka without hesitation. In addition, when Gon and Leorio were unable to grasp the extent of his and Machi's strength, Killua compared it to that of Hisoka. Nobunaga is so skilled a swordsman that Killua guessed he would be unable to get close to him without getting sliced in half, and Nobunaga would still have time to strike a second time and kill Gon before the latter could pass him. According to Franklin, Nobunaga was better at fighting one-on-one and while he complained whenever he was paired up with Uvogin, he actually didn’t seem to mind it. Nobunaga is also rather observant, understanding that he and Machi were being watched by professionals. Nobunaga has been shown to possess what some may refer to as a sixth sense, gathering information from his surroundings outside of his rudimentary senses. He knew that multiple people concealed with Zetsu were tailing him and Machi, and that they were being observed by Gon, Leorio, and Killua, though he was unable to pinpoint their locations and number in both instances. Nobunaga is very skilled in the use of edged weapons. His blade of choice is a long katana, though when fighting beside Uvogin in the past and then on his way to Yorknew City, he was seen wielding two swords. Nobunaga is an Enhancer*. He seems to possess a powerful aura, as the clash of his hostility with Machi's frightened Gon, Killua, and Leorio. Little is known about his proficiency in Nen, but as a member of the Phantom Troupe, it must be quite high. Nonetheless, he was defeated by Gon in arm-wrestling despite being an Enhancer himself and having much greater base physical strength, as proven by his previous victories. If the defeat was not caused by a psychological weakness, this should mean Nobunaga's aura output and/or his skills in his natural category were considerably lower than Gon's at the time. Nobunaga has some skill in En, stating that his maximum range is four meters, which corresponds to the reach of his blade and complements his fighting style. His working command of the technique implies that he also knows at least Ten and Ren. His Nen ability has yet to be shown, but Shalnark stated that it could easily be replaced along with his own (in contrast to Shizuku and Pakunoda’s abilities).