Konatsu

Konatsu, sometimes mistakenly referred to as Konatsu Kunoichi, is a "female" ninja and the love interest of Ukyo Kuonji towards the end of the Ranma ½ manga. Like all of Ukyo's love interests, Konatsu is a male to female cross dresser.

Konatsu is often mentioned along with the words "Kunoichi" and "Kenzan". Konatsu means "short summer". Kunoichi literally means "female ninja," but can be broken down to "troubled one". Kenzan is an archaic Japanese word that means "I've appeared here just now", not his last name. Ironically, when broken down it means "sword" and "cruelty or brutality" since his foster family was so terrible to him.

Personality
Konatsu was brought up as a female. Because of this he behaves, thinks and talks like a demure, humble and subservient Japanese lady. He is very shy at times, barely ever shows signs of anger and can sometimes be extremely kind and naive. However, he doesn't mind trying to poison others through trickery, though generally only by temporary paralysis. He usually wears female ninja clothing or cute waitress outfits, though in his last prominent appearance he was just as happy to dress up in a men's uniform (albeit a ridiculously over-decorated one) in order to attract female customers to Ucchan's, and referred to himself as a male.

His personality seems to be that of a Cinderella, and he is extremely grateful and loyal for the least amount of offered kindness, which Ukyo takes advantage of by letting him work double shifts for 10 Yen an hour (it was originally 5 Yen, but Ranma convinced Ukyo to raise it up by five).

When Konatsu ate an ingredient called Toushintan his full fighting instinct/ability was brought forth, and his personality changed to that of a Ninja assassin whose only desire was to fight and kill Ranma. Given that the latter severely held back during the fight, Konatsu managed to reach a draw.

History
In her early youth, Konatsu lived with her Mother and Father and after her mother passed away, her father remarried to Kotetsu. However, shortly after the marriage her father passed away as well, leaving Konatsu at the whim of her stepmother and stepsisters, who force her to do all the chores etc.

Konatsu Intro
One day, Konatsu is sent to clean some towels for her step-sisters and step-mother and believes that by now they're probably having lots of fun with men. When Konatsu finishes she decides to go back to the Red Hot Tea House Kunoichi, but when she gets close she hears Happosai (who went to the Tea House, taking Ranma and Genma with him) using his "Happo-Fire Burst" technique.

Not knowing what happened, Konatsu investigates (jumping over and unnoticed by Happosai, Ranma and Genma) and sees the pile of rubble that the Tea House has become and, while shouting the names of her step-sisters and step-mother, pours some Kerosene over the rubble and sets it alight. Unfortunately for Konatsu, her sisters are fine and punish her for doing, as Konatsu describes, "cleaning". Konatsu is then told to get the people who destroyed the Tea House and she shouldn't even think of returning before she does.

In Furinkan and Happosai is on his usual panty hunt, but is unhappy that he hasn't seen any naked girls yet. Just then Happosai sees a girl bathing in an oil drum. Overjoyed Happosai jumps towards her saying that this will make him forget about last night. However, the girl turns out to be Konatsu who uses her "Hundred Wet Towels Attack" and (after quickly getting out of the drum and dressing) uses "The Drink-Snack Attack" soon followed by "The Drink" to knock Happosai unconscious.

However, Happosai recovers and tries to attack Konatsu, but is distracted by Konatsu's buttocks and squeezes them, only to be knocked out again by the angered Konatsu. Continuing her task and Konatsu sets out a plate of food with a sign saying "eat as much as you want", Genma (in his panda form) sees this and has the food, only to get paralysed by the potion Konatsu put in the food.

Akane is walking with Ranma and asks him where he was last night, to which Ranma says hot to ask. Ranma then senses something, but is then set upon by Konatsu's "Bill Whirlwind Attack" and "Beautiful Woman's Dart Attack", which makes Ranma flee from the attacks (Akane, meanwhile tries to avoid the paper bills and stop her skirt going up from the whirlwind).

Konatsu then appears behind Ranma and grabs him and uses her "Greetings Suplex" to bend backwards making Ranma's head hit the floor. This angers Ranma who gets out of Konatsu's "Greetings Suplex" and demands to know who they are. Ranma manages to grab the material around Konatsu's head and pull them away, revealing her face.

With her disguise gone, Konatsu introduces herself as "Kunoichi, Konatsu Kenzan", this leaves both Akane and Ranma surprised. Konatsu continues by throwing a matchbox at Ranma with the Tea House's logo on it and asks him if he remembers, she then says that she's the only survivor of the incident at Red Hot Tea House Kunoichi.

After Ranma gets beaten up by Akane for going somewhere with "Red Hot Tea House" in the name, Konatsu believes that Ranma did perverted things to her sisters and admires his courage. Suddenly, Konatsu's stepfamily appear and punish her for getting on good terms with the enemy as well as flirting with a boy.

Konatsu then falls to the floor and wonders why she's treated so badly, she soon decides it must be jealousy of her own beauty. Konatsu continues by getting a microphone and saying that it's painful to be beautiful, to which Koeda responds by poking a shuriken into her head. Koume then points out that while Konatsu was saying that, Ranma and Akane got away.

That evening, Konatsu sits outside next to some trashcans in her own "world" thinking about nice things like turkey and Christmas trees, while saying that it's hard to find happiness.

Later on and Konatsu is preparing for her impatient stepfamily and is about to add poison to the food, but is noticed and hit by Kotetsu for doing so. When her stepsisters hear this they assign her with multiple tasks to do. Eventually, Konatsu asks for a break, which causes her stepfamily to sent her out to get revenge for what's happened (kicking Konatsu through the roof in the process).

Konatsu finds the Tendo Dojo and sneaks into Ranma's room, where he and Genma are sleeping soundly. Konatsu is about to strike Ranma, when she notices his futon and pokes it. Next morning, Ranma wakes on the floor and when he goes into his room, sees Konatsu in his futon happily sleeping. Ranma tries to get Konatsu out of the futon, but she throws shurikens at him and wraps the futon tightly around herself.

Annoyed, Ranma gets a megaphone and uses to shouts down Konatsu's ear, telling her to wake up. Luckily, Konatsu does awaken and says she's never slept this well before as she's used to cardboard and newspaper. Konatsu then suddenly, throws a smoke bomb and says she's going now.

Downstairs, and Kasumi is making breakfast. Konatsu sneaks into the room via the crawling on the ceiling, opens the rice container with the intention of poisoning it, but sees how good the rice is and steals it instead. While Ranma, Akane and Kasumi wonder where the rice went, Konatsu is about to eat it when her stepfamily appear and tell her she should be getting revenge, followed by a quick kick which sends her flying (while she flies off, Konatsu asks if she can have at least one of the rice balls).

At Furinkan High School, Konatsu disguises herself as a female student and, while Ranma has a break from doing sport, offers him a hot towel. Suspicious, Ranma puts the towel in a nearby fishbowl, revealing the towel has paralysing potion in it. Shocked, Konatsu asks what the fishbowl was doing there, to which Ranma angrily says that that's not the question here.

Deciding that her disguise didn't work as well as she'd hoped, Konatsu removes it (revealing she was still wearing her ninja outfit underneath) and uses her "Sneak Up and Crimson Hell Attack" on Ranma. At first it seems like Konatsu didn't do anything, but she actually left a lipstick mark on Ranma's shirt, leaving Ranma to suffer the wrath of an angered Akane.

Konatsu declares Ranma as good as dead, and puts on some more lipstick. Just then, Koume and Koeda appear, landing on top of Konatsu. After putting some lipstick on themselves (with overly large lipstick tubes) they try to attack Ranma, but are easily defeated, giving Ranma and Akane time to escape. Konatsu is once again punished by her stepfamily for letting them live.

Later on, Konatsu manages to fight off a dog for some food, but is noticed and attacked by Ukyo who recently learned what she's been doing to Ranma. Ukyo then quickly whips up a challenge Okonomiyaki, but Konatsu eats it before reading what was written in the sauce. Grateful for the food, Konatsu bows to Ukyo and thanks her for her kindness.

Ukyo takes Konatsu back to Okonomiyaki Ucchan's where she gives her lots of Okonomiyaki (while also telling Konatsu not to eat the plates as well). Konatsu begins to cry and when Ukyo enquires as to why, Konatsu explains that ever since she was born nobody has ever treated her like a human being. Just then Ranma enters the restaurant, causing to Konatsu to attack him, but is soon but in her place by Ukyo using her giant Spatula.

Later on, Konatsu explains about her childhood and how she came to be with her stepfamily. Akane (who'd joined Ranma at Okonomiyaki Ucchan's during the time lapse) then asks Konatsu why she didn't just try to escape if she's meant to be a genius Kunoichi that's meant to come around once every 1,000 years. Konatsu replies by telling Akane that she's not that smart and is just a plain, simple girl (while saying this Konatsu uses her "Duplicating Body Technique" to make duplicates of herself). Seeing the technique Konatsu just used, Akane decides that Konatsu must be the genius Kunoichi after all.

That night, Konatsu, Ukyo, Akane and Ranma are running and when Konatsu asks where they're going, Ranma explains that they're going to help her confront her stepfamily. This surprises Konatsu, who thinks to herself about how she never thought before that if she defeated her stepmother and sisters, she'll be free.

When they arrive, Konatsu tells her stepfamily to come out to see her. However, her stepfamily quickly give Konatsu chores to do and she gets to doing as they wish. Luckily Ranma shouts at Konatsu making her remember and apologise as it's a habit she's developed. Ranma then challenges Konatsu's stepfamily but they use a "Three Bodies as One" technique, which turns out to be just the three of them making shapes out of their bodies (like a pyramid and kettle), before disappearing.

Confused about what just happened, Ranma and co return to the Tendo Dojo.

Abilities
Konatsu is a genius master in conventional ninja arts; mainly meaning stealth, distractions, ambushes and traps, but he is also extremely skilled in using swords, shuriken, smoke bombs and similar direct combat techniques. He generally doesn't seem as dangerous as Ryoga, Ranma, Ryu, or Mousse in open combat, but on the other hand, he was also too much for Ranma to handle in the no-injury manner used to, for example, effortlessly disable Shampoo in a few seconds, so he might give Mousse a challenge if he either was highly motivated or his killer instinct was enhanced by the "Toushintan" again.

Most of his special techniques are of a silly, or very weak nature (by Ranmaverse standards) or both, alternately simply recycled and renamed general techniques (All the kunoichi family members tend to shout out a name for anything they do, no matter how simple or pointless), but a few of them are quite useful, or can be dangerous when properly applied.

Generally useful moves:

Duplicating Body Technique: Konatsu turns into at least 4 doubles. Given that this would be Konatsu's by far most useful ability, and that it was never used in combat, it may be an illusion similar to Cologne's Splitting cat hairs, or given that it seemed real, more likely simply not developed enough yet to be useful under pressure.

Smoke bomb: Fog cloud to cover an exit.

Bill Whirlwind Attack: Unleashes a whirlwind of paper bills as a distraction.

The Greetings Suplex: Konatsu grabs his opponent from behind and slams him/her head first into the ground.

Beautiful Woman's Dart Attack: General multiple shuriken usage.

Kunoichi Takemitsu Blade: Originally meant to be a ninja blade, but it had been pawned to get food, so Konatsu resorted to using a Takemitsu—an imitation sword made of bamboo, but it is still capable of easily cutting through tree trunks.

Sixth Sense: Like several other martial artists in the series, Konatsu has displayed a certain extrasensory awareness, warning him for incoming danger.

Traps, or unreliable techniques:

Hundred Wet Towels Attack: Only used as a trap, and likely not preferable to shuriken in actual combat. Konatsu throws several rolled up hot wet towels with unusual force. This Technique was successfully used as a surprising ambush sucker-attack against Happosai, after first destroying his guard through faux 'feminine' distraction (as anyone is able to do with lingerie), and then throwing 4-5 of them into his open mouth.

The Drink-Snack Attack: Konatsu throws a barrage of very heavy and durable snacks. Used in combination with the former, and may technically be useful in general, but less so than regular shuriken.

The Drink: Another comical follow-up to the previous two. Konatsu hits the opponent over the head with a bottle of Sake. Happosai instantly recovered, but was bashed when groping 'her' behind (possibly characteristically freezing from revulsion).

Kunoichi Mystery Bust Technique: A one-use resort. Konatsu stuffs his chest with pepper smoke powder, and when an opponent tries to grab on to his non-existent breasts, it can be released, causing the attacker to sneeze, while Konatsu wears a scarf for limited protection. It can easily be reflected however.

Toushintan: A drug that was fed to him by his mean stepmother in order for his fighting instinct/ability to be stimulated to its full current potential. (Likely similar to turning supremely motivated for other fighters, rather than Akane's battle-dougi manner), which turned him into a much greater challenge for Ranma, and managed to reach a draw. However, it was explicitly stated and very apparent that Ranma held back and limited himself evasion and restraining tactics for all but the final seconds, due to his belief that Konatsu was a girl and given that the latter was subject to mind-control.

Poisonous potions: Konatsu paralysed Genma through leaving free food on the pavement. He tried to poison a meal to his abusive stepfamily, and later the Tendo's rice dinner, but decided to eat it instead. He gave Ranma an envenomed gym towel, but it's unknown if this would have worked through the skin.

Completely useless moves, or renamed previous mentions:

Sleepy Kunoichi Shuriken Throw: Just regular shuriken throwing, but while just awakened.

Sneak Up and Crimson Hell Attack: Despite how it sounds, it's just a small kiss mark, left on Ranma's shirt hem.

Kunoichi's Gratitude Technique/Kunoichi Delaying Tactic Crimson Storm: This technique can give hundreds of kisses in less than a second. It has also been used to keep male customers from leaving Ucchan's.

Cute Disguise: Konatsu will dress up as a cute girl, to get close to and poison an enemy, but similarly to Ranma's disguises it's quite transparent.

Relationships
While an effeminate cross-dresser and not adverse to giving a quick peck on the cheek of men, he's completely heterosexual and harbors a strong (unanswered) romantic attraction toward Ukyo. Konatsu is very devoted to her and will gladly do almost anything to help her, as long as he can be with her. He expressed regret when Ukyo felt the need to help crash Ranma & Akane's wedding. He despises his stepmother and stepsisters, and the feeling is reciprocal. However, he's been conditioned to the point where he can perform the tasks they assign him out of habit.

Trivia

 * His hair style is very similar to Sango's in her demon slayer offit from InuYasha.
 * His outfit is a little similar to InuYasha of the series InuYasha.
 * He bears some resemblance to Jakotsu (who, unlike Konatsu, is homosexual) of the Band of Seven from InuYasha.