Squalo noted that Yamamoto lacked the knowledge of a sword fighting style, which made it easy to defeat him. Lancia claims that he didn't even use a third of his strength against Takeshi.Īt the beginning of the Varia Arc, Takeshi was easily bested by Superbia Squalo in a sword fight. When he faces Lancia, Takeshi is rather easily beaten by the possessed man with two attacks from his Steel Serpent Ball. With no other options, Takeshi allows Ken to bite his arm and uses the opportunity to defeat his opponent with a strike to the head from his broken sword handle. During his battle against Ken Joshima, Takeshi was overwhelmed by his opponent's various Animal Channels and couldn't fight back because of the dark environment and having his sword broken. Chikusa chose to retreat and let Ken fight Takeshi later, rather than fight him. During the Kokuyo Arc, Takeshi is ranked in second place for the strongest students at Namimori Middle School by Futa, indicating that he is even stronger than Hayato.ĭuring his brief fight against an injured Chikusa Kakimoto, Takeshi is shown to be fast enough to dodge his opponent's yo-yos and cut the strings simultaneously. He also manages to develop a new form of the style, the 9th form, in a life-or-death situation, earning him respect and acknowledgement from Superbia Squalo. Takeshi is also a quick learner, remembering all 8 forms of the Shigure Soen Ryu despite only being shown once. His fast reflexes and athletically conditioned-body give him a natural advantage and he is shown to be able to dodge cannon fire, wayward fireworks, and even attacks from Hibari. In fact, Reborn clearly sees Takeshi's potential and often mentions to Tsuna that Takeshi is a natural born hitman, mentioning as well that he is the best athlete in the entire Vongola Famiglia. Despite his easy-going personality, Takeshi has shown that he has hidden talent as a hitman. In terms of personality, Takeshi resembles the First Vongola Rain Guardian Ugetsu Asari, something the latter acknowledges. His future self, however, seems to have finally acknowledged the reality of the situation, and by the time of the Future Arc, present Takeshi has also gotten a better grasp on his position as a guardian.įuture Takeshi still shows a bit of his easy-going self but has become more mature and serious. He has the tendency to believe that everything is a game, including the Vongola which he believes to be some sort of 'mafia role-playing game'. This was shown when he scolded Gokudera on being a proper right-hand man. Despite not being smart academically wise, he has shown an inner wisdom and tact belying his age. When it comes to the sport he loves, Takeshi is very focused to the point he can't restrain his strength.
However, it is shown that once he sits down and actually learns the theory, he can do any problem easily. In school, his grades are around the same as Tsuna's because of his focus on baseball. And when facing an opponent who uses sword, Takeshi wishes to fight them as a swordsman, which is evident when he confronts Genkishi and even got excited at the prospect of duelling him. Once he set his sight on the way of the sword, Takeshi become engrossed in his training, as shown when he watched the DVD sent by Future Squalo that shows all of his matches. His trainings and battles gradually developed Takeshi's pride as a swordsman. While maybe not as much as baseball, Takeshi also loves swordsmanship. He is also willing to sacrifice things important to him to save his friends from danger, as shown in the Kokuyo Arc where he sacrificed an arm (right before an important baseball game) to defeat Ken Joshima and when Superbia Squalo asked him whether he would choose baseball or the sword, he chose the sword in order to protect those he cared about. However, Takeshi can become angry when his friends are hurt or injured. Characters like Hibari, have been shown to have interest in Takeshi's battles, and Squalo has also shown to have interest in his development to the point of willingly tutoring him. Takeshi is the type of character that can make friends with everyone, and if not friendship, then at least respect. Unlike most of his other allies, Takeshi hardly ever wears a tie with his uniform. He wears a black sweater, with a white formal shirt underneath, and gray pants. His most prominent outfit is his Namimori Junior High uniform. In the future, he has a scar on his chin. He bears a strong resemblance to his father.
Takeshi is a fairly-tall teenager with short, spiky black hair and large brown eyes.