Inazuma Kazuo

Inazuma Kazuo is a member of the Royal Guard/Zero Division and the direct predecessor to Heikishou Kikou as the Seventh Division Captain. He was the Lieutenant 80 years ago.

Appearance
Medium-length shaggy hair, 5 o'clock shadow, huge sideburns. Has sleepy eyes that are sometimes obscured by his shades.

Personality
Always seems to be sleepy, but this belies his true strength. Strove for peace and stability in Soul Society. Usually calm and good-nature, respected the Senior Captains except for Kenpachi.

Has a rare ability to fall asleep in the strangest of situations, even while fighting. Some have diagnosed this as narcolepsy -- Inazuma insists it's "super narcolepsy".

History
Not much is known about him, except that he was Lady Shirahoshi's bodyguard, and that they joined the Gotei 13 together. He eventually became the Seventh Division Lieutenant by the time of the Noble Rebellion, and when Shirahoshi was promoted to the Royal Guard he became the Captain.

About twenty years before current time he was promoted to the Royal Guard, naming Kikou as his successor.

Central 46 Arc
When the situation with the Central 46 and the Gotei 13 got out of hand, Inazuma as well as several other Royal Guards were called in to intervene. As ordered, Inazuma remained neutral, though he expressed disdain that the Gotei 13, who he personally believed were right, shed lives unnecessarily. He fought a battle with his successor and friend Heikishou Kikou, though neither fought seriously, mostly catching up during the fight rather than trying to hurt each other. After a short fight they agreed to help quell the conflict.

In the aftermath, he attended the trial of the Central 46 along with the other Royal Guards and Gotei 13 representatives.

Reprieve Arc (Reprise)
Inazuma and Kikou shared a conversation reminiscing about the good old days, then Inazuma went back to the King's Realm.

Powers and Abilities
Super Narcolepsy - Described as the ability to fall asleep in the strangest of situations. Inazuma has mastered the skill of pretending to be awake while sleeping, and back when he was a Captain of the Gotei 13 he had a reputation of remaining silent throughout a Captain's Meeting, and when someone finally took off his shades he'd be revealed to have been sleeping the entire time.

Master Swordsmanship Specialist - Uses a unique sword style called "Nemui Ken", or "Sleepy Swordsman Style". Similar to Drunken Swordsman Style, Inazuma sways with unorthodox movements to catch opponents off-guard. Inazuma can also fight while asleep using this style: this is due to a combination of his "super narcolepsy" and muscle memory resulting from decades of fighting.

Shunpo Master

Master Strategist and Tactician

Expert Hand-to-Hand Combatant

Enhanced Endurance

Kido Expert

Zanpakutō
Kanimaru: Takes the form of two swords, a katana and a wakizashi. Inazuma usually uses only one at a time; when he uses both, it's an indication of respect for his opponent.
 * Shikai: Holds both swords out in front of him in an X-shaped cross. Released with "Shear, Kanimaru!" Becomes a pair of giant scissors (about six feet in length) that can split apart into two swords in the form of individual scissor blades.
 * Shikai Special Ability: Can manipulate what it cuts like paper. Cannot manipulate organic things.
 * Bankai: Kurairei Kanimaru (Dark Energy Kanimaru). Seemingly disappears, leaving Inazuma with no visible weapons; but in fact takes the form of microscopic blades.
 * Bankai Special Ability: Can "cut" things on the molecular level, "shearing" them down into atoms. On the macroscopic scale people will perceive this as objects seeming to disintegrate into nothingness. Because this works on living people as well as objects, Inazuma does not use his Bankai often, and in fact there were restrictions by the Central 46 preventing him from using his Bankai without explicit permission.