Asuma Sarutobi

Asuma was a tall man, with brown eyes, olive skin, short black spiky hair, and a beard. His clothing consisted of the standard Konoha ninja uniform with the sleeves rolled up halfway, flak jacket, regular shinobi sandals and forehead protector. He also wore a sash that had the kanji for "Fire" (火) marked on it around his waist, a pair of black bangles, and bandages wrapped around the arms of his sleeves. As a genin, he wore a white short-sleeved shirt with a blue and black collar over chain-mail armour, along with a simple white vest, a pair of black pants, and a white belt. In the anime, it was shown that while he was a member of the Twelve Guardian Ninja, he wore a simple long sleeved shirt with bandages on the arms, pants, that sash denoting he was a guardian and a jacket with a fur collar. He also had his trench knives with him at that point.

Asuma was a highly talented, well respected jōnin of village, gaining praise from Shikaku Nara of being a great shinobi who is not easy to take down. He established a great record in military prowess — something many upcoming shinobi greatly admired. His abilities earned him a position into the Twelve Guardian Ninja — an elite hand-picked team which served to protect the Land of Fire's daimyō — a role which later earned him a bounty of 35,000,000 ryō. He could effortlessly take down nine Oto-nin during the Konoha Crush, noted to have been chūnin-level or above, and was able to compete against Hidan, a powerful member of the Akatsuki, while also protecting his team.

Asuma was hailed as Konoha's foremost skilled ninja in close-ranged melee combat. His battle style revolved mainly around taijutsu, combined with his special trench knives to create a melee-type fighting style. These knives are made of a special metal that is capable of easily being infused with chakra. With his Flying Swallow, he could extend the blades with his chakra to injure an enemy several feet out of the blade's physical range, as well as increase the cutting power of the blades to the point of easily slicing through trees, rocks, and even metal. He was also physically strong enough to block Kisame Hoshigaki's Samehada using his trench knives.

In the anime, Asuma was taught how to use the ultimate technique of the Fire Temple, the Welcoming Approach: Thousand-Armed Murder. While admitting to not be as skilled with it as Chiriku, he was able to effectively manifest the spirit to attack and defend to a certain extent.

Asuma has a typically carefree and laid-back personality. He seems to be addicted to smoking, as he is almost always seen smoking a cigarette. He will shown to stop smoking when something is bothering him or if he is in a serious situation. He has a very close relationship to his team, particularly Shikamaru Nara.