Benimaru Shinmon

is a hybrid Second and Third Generation Battalion Commander of the 7th Special Fire Brigade.

Appearance
Benimaru is a young man of average height with neck-long, wavy, black hair that partially covers the front of his face. His right pupil is a red circle with a black dot in the middle, and his iris is also black; while his left eye has a red iris and a white cross-shaped pupil, reminiscent of the tic-tac-toe game. He normally carries a gloomy facial expression. Benimaru's outfit consists of a white t-shirt with a dark-coloured vest over it, a grey kimono upper-garment that he only wears on his left arm, and the Special Fire Brigade uniform trousers that he tucks into his dark boots. Previously, he wore dark-coloured, finger-less gloves and a dark jumper, which is wrapped around his waist.

When not attending a mission, Benimaru is seen wearing a black t-shirt underneath a black samurai-styled hakama, with a white strap around the waist acting as a belt and black boots. Benimaru is later seen wearing a black-shirt underneath a grey kimono upper-garment with the Special Fire Brigade uniform trousers and black boots.

Personality
Benimaru is short-tempered, would rather work alone or solely with his brigade, and can be somewhat disrespectful to many of his seniors. Despite this, he has a lot of faith in himself and in his brigade. He doesn't concern himself with any part of Tokyo other than Asakusa, not caring about the rules that the emperor has created, and proudly acts on his own agenda along with his brigade. He is an honest man, though sometimes honest to the point where he is rude to others. Although Benimaru destroys buildings and houses in Asakusa when facing a Flame Human, he is seen as a hero and benevolent by the citizens. He seems to care about Asakusa and the people who reside in it, and is upset by having to put an end to the life of someone he once knew, and becoming extremely angered when misinformed at the cause of death of Kantarō to the point of fighting the entire 8th Brigade. Generally, he is very calm and nonchalant, even while purifying Flame Humans, but when angered, fights recklessly. Benimaru is a original country idealist who prefers to be called Shinmon Benimaru, and calling others by their family names before their given names. At the beginning of the attack on Asakusa, Benimaru was hesitant and not confident about acting as leader and taking control of the citizens, and would rather Konro do the job, but after encouragement from his brigade, he finally stepped up to the matter.

Abilities
Benimaru is a Battalion Commander-level Fire Officer, and is known to be the strongest Fire Officer in the entire force. He possesses the rare trait of being a Second and Third Generation, which ultimately allows him to ignite his own flames willingly, but also control flames from an external source. Benimaru is known as "Asakusa's King of Destruction" because of the devastating power that he is capable of unleashing. Benimaru predominantly uses matois (a flag that was used in the edo period by firemen to indicate fires) as a weapon of combat; igniting and controlling the flames on the flag. He can use the matoi as a pole to fly to long-distance areas, and by using his Second Generation ability, can control the flames of other ignited matoi and direct them to a certain place. He can control the direction and speed of gun bullets in the same fashion as Takehisa. Benimaru is also highly skilled in hand-to-hand combat, shown when he easily overpowered Maki Oze and Shinra Kusakabe.

Benimaru is a practitioner of the iaido martial arts. Instead of using a sword, he can create a sharp blade of flames on the palm of his hand and strike his foes, a technique branching from his unique fighting style. Utilizing his Iai Hand-Sword: Seventh Form, Benimaru creates a ring of fire behind him that he throws into his opponents. When using his ultimate technique, Benimaru unleashes a powerful blast of flames that creates a circular shape and resembles a crimson-coloured moon, powerful enough to kill Haran who turned himself into a Demon Flame Human.

VS. 1st Special Fire Brigade arc
Benimaru and his brigade confront a giant Flame Human that showed up in Asakusa, noting it to be larger than normal, but encouraging his brigade not to be afraid. Soon after, Benimaru and his brigade defeat it.

Preacher Pursuit arc
Some time later, Benimaru attends the conference of the Battalion Commanders in central Tokyo along with Konro, representing the 7th brigade. Shinra looks at him with a grin on his face, and Benimaru responds rudely. As everyone begins to pray while the emperor of Tokyo walks in, Benimaru sits relaxed, feet on the row of chairs in front of him, showing little respect. The discussion begins but before everybody was in agreement of all the Special Fire Brigades working to find the preacher, Benimaru speaks out, claiming the 7th Brigade will be acting on their own accord, wanting nothing to do with anything else, and walks out of the room.

Asakusa arc
Some time after, Benimaru is seen in his hometown, Asakusa. As he returns to his headquarters after a walk, he is told by Konro that the 8th want to pay a visit, to which Benimaru wants to ignore due to his unconcern with the investigation of the Preacher, but is soon approached in person by the 8th brigade. Reiterating to the brigade of his disinterest of the investigation of the white hoods or anything else, he ends up in a disputes with Shinra, but is interrupted by a sudden alert on an appearance of a Flame Human, and attends the scene to purify it. After destroying multiple houses using his rare ability as a Second and Third Generation, he confronts Kantarō, claiming that damage had been done and that the beasts role had been accomplished. He quickly puts an end to Kantarō's life, commenting it had done a good job of putting up with the pain. As if nothing happened, he goes back to sitting at his headquarters, and takes a bite of the daifuku, saying it's too sweet. As time passes, a funeral commemoration was held for Kantarō. Benimaru orders his brigade to repair the houses that were destroyed in the confrontation. As the 7th and 8th brigades get to work, Benimaru mends to Konro's injuries and talks with Konro, saying that he should be the Battalion Commander instead of him, but Konro states he is not fit to be a Commander. Soon after, Konro reassures the idea of collaborating with the 8th, and Benimaru sees it as a possibility after noticing the 8th willingly help out with the repairs. As he walks out looking for Akitaru, he stumbles upon Shinra, who apologizes for their earlier interaction. After, Shinra tells him where Akitaru and Takehisa are, and as Benimaru walks toward them, he over hears them saying they will ignite more people in Asakusa like they did with Kantarō, initially shocking Benimaru.

Soon after, an infuriated Benimaru chases the two, hurling fiery objects at them, claiming that they killed Kantarō and are planning to create other artificial Flame Humans, but the two have no idea what he is talking about. Benimaru continues his fiery pursuit, not listening to what they have to say, and a full-out battle between him and the 8th begins. Unbeknownst to everyone, two white hoods are hiding on a roof, impersonating Akitaru and Takehisa and preparing for their next move. As Benimaru easily dismantles the group one by one, a fully-equipped Akitaru walks out alone prepared to fight the Commander one-on-one. As the two begin confrontation, and Benimaru choosing not to listen to Akitaru, the 8th Commander continuously regathers his strength as he is put to the floor numerous times. Both the Commanders deal a fair amount of damage on each other, and realizing that weak attacks won't work, Benimaru prepares his final attack.