Kunoichi

Kunoichi (くのいち) is a character introduced in Samurai Warriors. She is the fictional female ninja bodyguard of Yukimura Sanada. Her spot was filled with Nene in the sequel but returned in the third installment. Her age is the first Samurai Warriors is listed as 15 years old and her height is 152 cm (approximately 5'). In the third game, her height is 158 cm (5'2"). She's symbolized by the characters "kill" (殺) and "bury" (葬).

Since the characters in Samurai Warriors series never refer to her by name, it was thought by Japanese fans that she had no real name at all. This was debunked in the Warriors Orochi series, which has Xiahou Yuan, Zhang He, and others distinctly call her "Kunoichi".

Role in Games

 * "Lady Kunoichi, there are no words to describe your beauty."
 * ―Zhang He; Warriors Orochi 2

Samurai Warriors
As her name suggests, Kunoichi is often seen performing covert activities for her master. She first works for Shingen and is ordered to guard his vassal, Yukimura. When the daimyo experiences a premature end at Mikatagahara, she sees herself out of a job when the Takeda clan falls. With free time on her hands, she decides to turn her employer's murderers against one another by feeding Mitsuhide a sob story about her life being ruined by Nobunaga. With them out of the picture, Kunoichi decides that serving Yukimura is more interesting than being leisurely and returns to Ueda Castle. At the same time, Ieyasu orders Hanzō to assassinate her master. Wanting to prove that she is the better ninja, she infiltrates the castle to rescue him. When she arrives by Yukimura's side, she is given a mission to protect him from Hanzō's doubles. If Yukimura sustains too much damage, he will suffer greatly during the defense of Osaka. To try to assist him, she rushes for a preemptive strike on Ieyasu at Odawara Castle. In reality, the "Ieyasu" at her location was really a ruse set up by Hanzō and the ninja have their final showdown. Though she returns after her rival is slain, Yukimura dies at Osaka.

In her upper path ending, Yukimura is in good health and both warriors join the defense at Osaka Castle. During the battle, she realizes that she can fight with a purpose alongside Yukimura and takes efforts to care for the castle's defense. Again, she faces and defeats her rival; this time, she does so with more confidence in her master and herself. When the Toyotomi defeat Ieyasu, however, she disappears after the battle.

During Ina's story in the Xtreme Legends expansion, she is a trickster who continuously mocks Ina's bloodlust. Should the archer give into her taunts, Kunoichi will be slain with a morbid sense of satisfaction. An Ina who firmly believes she fights for peace will spare her and the shinobi lives to play with Ina's infant. Aside from these instances above, she also acts as a rival for the first game's edit characters and makes a rare appearance during the Suguroku game in Samurai Warriors 2. She steals the player's gold and takes it for herself.

In Samurai Warriors 3, she is a shinobi who distinctly serves Yukimura. She meets Kaihime when the Sanada armies clash with the Hojo at Tonegawa. After the battle, Yukimura compliments both Kaihime and Kunoichi, much to the latter's shock. The two girls get into a small fight which is broken up by Ujiyasu, who tells them that there will be plenty more oppurtunities to prove themselves. Kunoichi follows Yukimura throughout his campaigns, where she fights against Kaihime once more at Oshi Castle and becomes aqquainted with her master's friends Kanetsugu, Keiji Maeda, and Mitsunari Ishida. When Mitsunari is attacked in Kyoto by his fellow Toyotomi generals, Kunoichi goes with Yukimura to rescue him. They succed, but Mitsunari perishes at Sekigahara and Ieyasu Tokugawa becomes the land's ruler. Despite this a saddened Yukimura rises up against Ieyasu to defend Osaka Castle. However, the Toyotomi face impossible odds, causing Yukimura to get depressed and even act hostile towards Kunoichi. Shocked by her master's drastic change, Kunoichi attempts to abandon him, but is stopped by Kaihime, convincing Kunoichi to fight on and not give up. With Kunoichi's efforts, the Toyotomi emerge victorious over the Tokugawa, and they slay Ieyasu. In the following era of peace, Yukimura thanks her for standing with him, saying that with her, he could now move on. Kunoichi replies that she too can now move on, and the two catch up to Kaihime, Kanetsugu and Keiji to watch Okuni dance.

Warriors Orochi
In the first game, Kunoichi appears in Wu's Gaiden at Wan Castle, where she volunteers to help the common folk escape. She also appears to help Nene's ninja army in Wei's story.

Kunoichi is a spy for Wei in the sequel. She scouts for the enemy and reports to Cao Cao generally before the battle. At Si Shui Gate, she works with Xiahou Dun to stall the enemy at the center while Xiahou Yuan circles to the enemy's flank for a fire attack. She is important for the first few battles but she appears less as the story progresses.

Development
Kunoichi was developed to be the quickest character for Samurai Warriors. Her outfit, snide speech patterns, and fighting style were made to reflect this concept. Her fighting style was made to deliberately contrast Hanzō's. She is roughly based on the popular rumor of Yukimura employing Takeda ninja for his troops. These maidens allegedly disguised themselves as shrine priestess and were noticed by Shingen for their deceptive nature. They roughly imply that she is one of the kunoichi trained by Chiyome. The general goal for her visual design was to create a ninja-like design that has never been seen before. While her first outfit represents her cute and playful nature, her second costume was designed to be "more ninja-like".

Personality
A playful free thinker, Kunoichi does what she wants and does it how she pleases. In spite of her profession, she doesn't care much for traditions or duty and is rather mischievous. She ignores most of the "mysterious" ninja catchphrases in fiction and talks in a modern and more frank manner. Kunoichi also chronically taunts her enemies and is referred to as "Vixen" by Masamune, Noh, Hanzo and several other characters for her flirtatious attitude. In the Japanese dub, she adds nonsensical words, such as "Nyaha~" or "Ururu", at the end or beginning of her sentences. She is very prideful of her ninja training and doesn't want to lose to anyone in speed or fighting. When Hanzō outwits her at Mikatagahara, she holds a grudge against him. The Japanese script in Warriors Orochi, however, has her genuinely touched to have him recognize her as a true shinobi. Contrarily, she is annoyed with Goemon. In the third game, she seems to have matured from a whimsical child to an outgoing young woman, as she is generally kinder and more serious towards everyone.

Her relationship with Yukimura can be interpreted as either a one-sided infatuation or a normal work relationship. The official character relation chart has Kunoichi share a one-sided link to him as "Loyal to?" (Yukimura does not link back to Kunoichi). There are enough insinuations in the game to suggest either one is possible. Shingen jokes about their relationship at Kawanakajima.

In Samurai Warriors 3, Kunoichi's feelings for Yukimura are less subtle. He is featured in every one of her four cutscenes, including one where she is watching him from a tree, and another that shows his reflection in her eyes. Though Yukimura's feelings are still, for the most part, a mystery, their relationship is much more pronounced and personal in this game.

Upon first meeting Kaihime, she is indifferent towards her. After Yukimura pays Kaihime a compliment, Kunoichi becomes jealous and treats Kaihime as a rival. They remain this way for a long while until Yukimura and Kunoichi's relationship sours, at which point Kaihime comforts Kunoichi and persuades her not to abandon him. Afterwards, the two are on good terms.

Voice Actors

 * G.K. Bowes - Samurai Warriors and Warriors Orochi series (English)
 * Yūko Nagashima - Samurai Warriors and Warriors Orochi series (Japanese)

Quotes
to Mitsuhide
 * "Let's play nice."
 * "Play of the day!! I do love this game!"
 * "Ooh, this just isn't your day."
 * "I seek a more worthy foe! Or... something like that."
 * "Woo! That'll teach ya!"
 * "I think we should see other people."
 * "Justice always prevails. I kid you not!"
 * "Silence, dog of Nobunaga! He'll pay for what he did to my family!"
 * "Nothing personal, but my boss needs your head."
 * "Konichi wa. How do you do? My my, you sure do have a lot of gold. You don't mind if I take it do you?"
 * "Only you can help Yukimura, if you know what I mean."
 * "I don't think I want to know..."
 * "Come on, let an old man have his fun!"
 * Shingen and Kunoichi; Samurai Warriors


 * "I wish there were no wars, then we could play Kemari all the time."
 * "Yeah, and I could sleep all day-- wait, what am I saying!?"
 * Yoshimoto and Kunoichi; Samurai Warriors: Xtreme Legends


 * "Assist me."
 * "Okay, but only if you admit I'm the better ninja!"
 * Hanzō and Kunoichi; Warriors Orochi

Ground Moveset

 * undefined,(undefined,undefined): Kunoichi charges up and then runs around slashing as she runs.
 * ,undefined,(undefined,undefined): Kunoichi slashes opponent in air and jumps up after them spinning with blades in hand, and as they fall she throws an explosive at them
 * ,,undefined,(undefined,undefined): Kunoichi does a forward kick, then spins at an angle with knives and jumps behind opponent and releases a blast correlating with element, if no element she releases a stream of projectiles in one direction
 * ,,,undefined,(undefined,undefined): dashes forward slashing about 4-6 times then throws weapons like a boomerang.
 * ,,,: Three slashes from Knives and then a series a kick which Kunoichi turns around after each one and a final spinning kick
 * Spins like a top with her weapons out stretched. When she finishes, she rests on her knees to recover. In her true musou version, she finishes it with her C3 combo.


 * , : Like all nimble, ninja type characters, she can double jump.
 * , undefined: Lands with kunai pointed downward then backflips to her feet.
 * , : Slashes with both her daggers in a downwards strike.

Horse Moveset

 * undefined: The horse stomps the ground making a small shockwave, if dashing the horse jumps a fairly long distance doing the same on landing.
 * ,undefined: A rather powerful strike to the right
 * ,,undefined: Throws a smokebomb at the ground
 * ,,,undefined: Throws blades in front of the horse making a X shaped projectile path
 * ,,,: Kunoichi leans to the right and does a series of very quick slashes.
 * Musou, if held during musou she does her chain at higher speeds.

In the first game, her C3 ends with a bigger explosion. As with the rest of the Samurai Warriors cast, her horse musou changes to have the horse stampede forward.
 * Warriors Orochi


 * R1 - hops back and becomes invincible to any attack for a short time. Greatly increases her attack power, which can be tweaked with proficiency levels.

Samurai Warriors
Kuniochi is the fastest character in Samurai Warriors. She is the fastest runner, rolls far, and has the highest natural jumps, and her pre-existing double jump adds on to this. Her running speed makes her ideal for Castle Stages as she can zip through floors, roll through any trap and jump into special ninja paths to make life easier. On the field ninja paths are again useful, and her speed is such that a horse is optional, and although she can't run as fast as Matsukaze, she comes close with high leveled Tenku Shoes.

As for her fighting strengths, again the word speed applies. She is annoying to fight against because she can pull off an attack before a lot of characters can even begin their swings; when using her, make note of this. Her moveset is useful for the situation. Her undefinedundefinedundefined is used for killing generals, her undefinedundefinedundefined kills crowds if your element is either Fire, Lighting, or Ice, and arguably most multi-useful attack is undefinedundefinedundefined as it hit crowds, and damages generals and it is useful for taking on multiple generals at once.

Kunoichi, although horses are optional for her, is a great horsemen. Her string comes out fast and combos generals enough to be deadly, and for crowds her undefined and undefined kill crowds quite nicely, the former has more range, but the latter more power.

As far as ranged combat, Kunoichi isn't quite the best. She doesn't do horrible at it however, her main drawback is her lack of power, so she has to use multiple shots (Which means unless your knocking them off a horse don't use on fleeing foes), but her forte in ranged combat is her reload speed which is among the fastest, like her enemy Hanzō, and the ranged expert Magoichi.

Weapon Suggestion
These are some Suggested Weapons for her, playstyle however differs among players, so some might not work for you that are listed, and some that aren't listed may work miracles for you

Some suggested stats for weapons for her are: Flame or Ice Elements - Flame greatly improves her combos as they are multiple hit and keeps foes in the air, on top of this it gives huge range and area to her ,,undefined,(undefined,undefined)'s explosion. Ice glues an enemy to the ground allowing more damage and easier combos
 * Attack range - Kunoichi's reach is rather low this helps improve it.
 * Attack - Kunoichi's attack isn't the highest so this helps her kill easier.
 * Speed - Kunoichi's speed is one the highest so this takes advantage of that and improves it further if augmented with Tenku Shoes she can run as fast a horse easily


 * Things not suggested


 * Lightning or Dark: Lightning screws up her combo's especially undefinedundefinedundefined. Dark changes her explosion to a thin projectile without much area, and it's effect is almost negligible.
 * Hare Greaves- her jump is high enough to reach any ledge she needs to, and she is already augmented by double jump.

Warriors Orochi
One of her attack strings is downgraded in Warriors Orochi 2 which was the only combo to have a longer range and explosion.

Weapon Suggestion
Suggested weapons for her playstyle differ among players, so that ones that are listed might not work for you and some that aren't may work miracles for you.


 * Highly Recommended


 * Flash- breaks guard of enemy so they don't block you
 * Slay-instant kill on peons and added damage to generals
 * Might-More damage to any one charges does X1.4 damage coupled with the below it is X2 to generals
 * Brave- As Kunoichi's special makes you invincible she will often be used to kill generals, so it is good to kill them fast.


 * Recommended


 * Rage- Kunoichi is one of the few characters who can fully utilize Rage, as when you hit low life You can become invincible and the bonuses means massive damage. This is risky because if they hit you again before your special activates on higher difficulties your dead.
 * Absorb- Kunoichi is generally reliant on her special so absorb help her gather musou. Some people don't like Absorb because of how little it gathers.
 * Multi- Adds a little damage and bonus effects to Kunoichi's strikes.
 * Ice- When frozen enemies take more damage, and can't attack you.


 * Not Recommended


 * Drain- unless coupled with Rage, which this is counter productive to it Kunoichi's life shouldn't get low due to her Invincibility, and if she is hurt a lot you should switch out as it recovers life faster.
 * Bolt- While adds damage it screws up combos so she can't do her full damage.
 * Flame-Kunoichi should be doing enough damage that this doesn't have time to activate

How to Obtain Kushinada

 * Stage: Defense of Ueda Castle
 * Requirements: Finish her Musou Mode once. Get to the fifth level of the castle without killing anyone (including foot soldiers) in 3'45 minutes.

Note: An easy way to get a good 4th weapon (if you do not own or use Samurai Warriors: Xtreme Legends since this stage is redone) is to set the setting on Chaos mode, equip Lantern and Kappa Amulet and do the same stage as above. It is a good stage because you do not have to kill anyone, Hanzo can kill Yukimura; in fact, it is a good idea to let him as he will all to happily kill you with ease on Chaos. You find weapons on the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th floors. This trick is good for items too which you can do at the same time which are on the 1-3rd floors. If you need healing, health is on the 4th and 5th floor.

How to Obtain Kokuanten

 * Stage: Siege of Osaka-Summer.
 * Requirements: Complete every mission in the stage with no ally casualties. It is recommended that you use the War Drums item and Matsukaze saddle.

Samurai Warriors 3
Stage to clear for Unique Weapon - Rescue of Mitsunari

Trivia

 * In the Japanese script, Kunoichi playfully punctuates the line "お.や.ま.だ～！"　(Oyamada~!). For Japanese fans, this is considered to be an inside reference to Zhang Liao's nickname with fans.
 * Initial announcements for her re-appearance in Samurai Warriors 3 was listed on G.K. Bowes' online resume, but was doubted due to its source and eventual removal.