Hachisuka Goemon

Hachisuka Goemon （蜂須賀衛門）is a ninja who was a companion of Kinoshita Toukichirou. Some time ago, she made a promise with Toukichirou that they would use their skills to advance in the world. Since Toukichirou's death, she made this same promise with Yoshiharu Sagara, and the two have worked alongside each other ever since; usually with Goemon aiding Yoshiharu in all his missions, and watching over him to ensure his safety. She leads a group of thieves called the Kawanami group, her father having been the groups original leader before his death.

Her seiyuu in the anime is Kaneda Tomoko.

Appearance
Goemon is a petite young girl, with bright-pink-coloured eyes, round face, and short silver-hair. In the manga, Yoshiharu says she would probably be a fifth year elementary school student in the modern world, but because of her fighting skills, maturity, and leader status, it's possible that she's much older than she appears. She is always seen in her ninja-attire, which consists of a black, sleeveless kimono-style top, black arm-warmers and leggings, with forearm and shin armour, and black tabi with waragi. She wears black headwear decorated with a turquoise band, with a pink skull on each side. She wears a black scarf, with sometimes conceals her face.

She always has an array of weapons on her, which includes a ninjatō and throwing knives.

Personality
Goemon is an enthusiastic, confident girl with strong leadership abilities. She's quite calm, even in tense situations, but seems to enjoy explaining things in a dramatic fashion. With a high level of initiative, she takes on any task seemingly without hesitation, even something very risky, like when she immediately goes with Yoshiharu to locate the Imagawa camp. Similar to Yoshiharu, she's very quick to react, and even put herself in danger for others' (usually Yoshiharu's) sake, like when she saves him from incoming flaming arrows, and even takes a bullet for him. She stays very calm, and without any worry or anxiety, even in tense situations, like when she wakes up after being knocked out by a bullet and seems unaffected. Humorously, she'll throw a fit when Yoshiharu does something, like hug her suddenly, but won't care about being hit by a bullet; this is explained in the Light Novels in which Yoshiharu believes it is due to her being at an age where she has only recently become conscious of men. This is further shown later on when she treats CPR as a big deal and then minutes later somehow didn't have a problem wearing nothing but a loincloth in front of Yoshiharu to dry her clothes. She's very eager to help those close to her, and she is always at Yoshiharu's side whenever he takes on a mission or is in danger.

One notable trait of her's is her inability to say long sentences without biting her tongue or messing up words, and often takes pauses when she tells a long story, which prompts Yoshiharu to refer to her as "another little girl," and annoys Katsuie. This problem can become far worse under intimidation, embarrassment or pressure, more than once robbing her of the ability to even speak a coherent sentence at all. When hugged by Yoshiharu or called cute because of her stutter, she will lose almost all of her ability to speak properly.

She can be quite trigger happy, so to speak, as her first solution to most problems, from dealing with the enemy to dealing with a crying child, is to kill it, however, in most cases, this just tends to be her sense of humour in action. She once suggested allowing Hanbei's uncle to be killed by Nagamasa, effectively sending the girl on a vengeful rampage which ultimately benefited the Oda clan as they could keep Inabayama Castle and Hanbei, however, when Yoshiharu cautioned her to never speak to him about such a plan again, Goemon admitted that she knew he would give that reply. Ultimately, she believes Yoshiharu is inherently too selfish and often tries to encourage him to make sacrifices or accept losses, such as even pretending to die, however she gradually warms up to his way of thinking.

Background
Very little is known about her past, as talks about herself very little, but it is known that at some point she and Kinoshita Toukichirou were allies and they made a promise that they would have important leadership roles in the world.

It is known that her group, the Kawanami, were a group of thieves once led by her father and she became their leader at a young age due to his unfortunate passing.

Arrival in the Sengoku Period Arc

 * Main Article: Arrival in the Sengoku Period Arc

Invasion of Mino Arc

 * Main Article: Invasion of Mino Arc

Yoshiharu Sagara
Goemon first appeared after the death of Toukichi who was shot by a stray bullet after saving Yoshiharu, she proclaimed that since his partner died she will work for Yoshiharu together to rise in fame. Goemon is protective to Yoshiharu, she would often protect Yoshiharu from the shadows.

Kawanami Group
The Kawanami Group views Goemon as an Idol due to her cute appearance and habit of stuttering after speaking 30 words, the Kawanami are loyal and would often do most difficult task if Goemon commands.

Inuchiyo Maeda
Goemon and Inuchiyo would often be seen together since Inuchiyo was serving Yoshiharu as an aide, they are both on good terms and and would do their best to protect Yoshiharu.

Skills and Abilities
Goemon is a ninja, and quite a skilled one for her age. She proves able to blend into forests or towns, usually Yoshiharu can tell whether she is present or not, but few if any other characters can. She is skilled with many weapons, including her smoke bombs and blades, she was skilled enough to eliminate a squad of Imagawa soldiers without killing them or even being noticed and was able to vapourise half a lake's worth of water with her techniques. She notes however that it's a misconception that ninja have super powers such as flight. She also proves to be useful at gathering information and is a capable leader over the Kawanami group.

Trivia

 * Even though she has no real-life counterpart with exactly the same name, it's probable that she is based on Hachisuka Masakatsu, due to the fact he was a retainer of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and was a rural daimyo, with much knowledge of the terrain around the Kiso River.
 * Another possible source is that she was based onGoemon Ishikawa, a mysterious individual attributed to as both a ninja and a theif who was said to give what he stole to the poor. Ironically Goemon Ishikawa is noted for trying to kill Toyotomi Hideyoshi, failing, and being boiled alive for the attempt.
 * Her name is also a mix of both Hachisuka Masakatsu and Goemon Ishikawa's own.
 * She wears a loincloth beneath her clothes and would often proclaims loincloth is ninja's spirit much to Yoshiharu's dismay.