"The duty you absolutely must fulfill still hasn't been carried out yet. To live and go home with the shogun, and with us. To go back to Edo together. Before being Oniwabanshuu, and before being shogun, that is a duty we have to fulfill as friends."
Ayame Sarutobi
Sarutobi Ayame (猿飛 あやめ, Sarutobi Ayame), mostly referred to as Sa-chan, is a ninja from the Oniwabanshuu by training, but is currently working as an assassin. She also has a part-time job at the Kunoichi Café.
Since her initial appearance, she has developed a seriously obsessive infatuation with Sakata Gintoki, to the point of even stalking him. She is severely myopic, to the point of being almost blind (cannot tell living things from inanimate objects) without her eye glasses.
It is also hinted that she doesn't see well even with her eye glasses on, as she once mistook Kagura (dressed up as Gintoki at episode 97 part 2) for Gintoki himself. However, this could solely be due to her infatuation with him. She has frequently clashed with Otae for various reasons.
Not much is known about Sa-chan's past. She was trained as a ninja in the Oniwabanshuu, but would later resign and become an assassin, as seen written in her resumé.
She attended the funeral of Zenzou's Father and it came to light that both she and Wakikaoru were his students and attended the same class together, during which they would often play Kick-the-can because it demanded the ability for them to hide themselves and make instantaneous decisions.
Appearance
She has long, light purple hair and wears dark-red glasses. There is a beauty mark under her right eye, and she is apparently big-breasted (mentioned by both Gintoki and Kagura). Her usual attire consists of a Martial Arts training uniform top with its arms cut off and a red band wrapped around the waist. Her arms are covered by dark purple forearm sleeves that matches her scarf in the same color, and on her left breast she has a protection cup. She wears black boots and her legs are mostly uncovered, except for some black hot-pants. She has been shown using many different kinds of weapons, such as kunai, metallic claws and other items. However, one that stands out in particular is her natto which basically means beans they are presented as sticky fermented bean dish, which she regularly uses to slow down her enemies, making them unable to move.
In her male form, she has short hair with her bangs on the left side of her head. Her usual outfit is similar to her female form only with a black long jacket.
Throughout the series, she has been shown wearing different outfits and costumes.
Sarutobi Ayame's Gallery
Sarutobi Ayame Standard
Sarutobi Chibi Standard
Sarutobi during her childhood
Sarutobi full body
Akio Sarutobi during the events of the Dekoboko Arc
Sa-chan has a very loud personality. She has the tendency to scream and screech when excited or thrilled. She also consistently shows that she is very sex-oriented and perverted. Since Episode 22, after her encounter with Gintoki, she has evidently shown her masochistic side and infatuation with the samurai, and in most of her appearances she is seen stalking him. He often treats her badly, especially when she is doing that, but she gladly enjoys the treatment. Sa-chan, however, does not like to be compared to Kondo Isao and his stalking to Shimura Tae. Although she is often very boisterous, she is sometimes shown to be very grave and serious in certain situations, such as when her job was protecting the Shogun
Strength and Abilities
She's been trained by Zenzou's father since childhood as a ninja. Sa-chan is an extremely skilled assassin who is especially good at throwing Kunais. Her physical skills are extraordinary and her aim is perfect. She can hit her target even without wearing her glasses, although Sa-chan's eyesight is extremely poor.
Ayame would soon reach the conclusion that she had to separate her love-life from her work, and thus she creates two different "modes" for herself. One of them is the Lovestruck-pig mode, while the other is her Killer-mode, as she works an assassin.
Sa-chan in her Lovestruck-pig mode
Sa-chan in her Killer-mode
Her Lovestruck-pig mode usually activates anytime she is around Sakata Gintoki, making her unstable and worrying about him rather than her work. Her Killer-mode, on the other hand usually activates anytime she has to prioritize her job. Hilarity ensues when her cover is as a nurse, and she activates Killer-mode on her patients whenever they interrupt her and Gintoki (who's in the hospital after his moped exploded).
Her favorite food is natto, which she can also use in combat. As it's so sticky, she can instantly immobilize her enemies.
When Hiraga Gengai repaired her glasses, he upgraded and added new features and these features are:
Shooting Laser beams.
The Earpiece can extend, multiply and attacking enemies.
Can analyse enemies from power level, range, lock on targets and predicting attack form.
Can transform her whole body into an armored angel:
Sa-chan in her "The Flight of Hundred Glasses" mode
Use "The Glasses school of Ninjutsu" style.
The ultimate attack: "The Flight of Hundred Glasses", which fires hundreds of glasses from the wings at locked on targets face and detonates.
Story
Sarutobi Ayame is an assassin, but she also has a part-time job in the Kunoichi Kafé, where she works as a waitress. Her manager there is Kawasaki. When she is not working she seems to be spending most of her time stalking Sakata Gintoki. She also spends her time fighting with Tae, who she considers her love-rival. As she's very often lurking in Gintoki's house or following him around, she took part in many events the Yorozuya experienced.
Gintoki asked her to help them saving Elizabeth because her ability as a kunoichi. So she trained Gintoki, Katsura, Shinpachi and Kagura to be one day ninja. The five of them called themselves Go-ninja when attacking Toyama Chintarou's organization (The one who they believed had kidnapped Elizabeth). They had to battle against Shinobi Five, the group of ninja, which Hattori Zenzo led. They won the battle, thanks to Hattori's hemorrhoids. Later on, it is revealed that Toyama Chintarou was not the one who abducted Elizabeth, but he was just setting a trap for Katsura.
To hunt the aliens, who had changed their body parts to screwdriver, Gintoki, Shinpachi, Kagura, Katsura and Kondou wanted to seek help from M, the legendary monkey hunter. Instead of the legendary hunter, they met "M" means maso-onna (masochistic woman), who is actually the avatar of Sa-chan. They had a journey together and decided to meet offline since they had completed the game but there was no clue where the aliens were. In the offline meeting, they gave up searching and tried to move on as screwdriver. Sa-chan, who did not attend the meeting, could not give up since the aliens did not change her body part as screwdriver, which is compatible with Gintoki. She tried her best to investigate the location of the aliens alone. She told everyone about the aliens' whereabout. Gintoki, who had become a lorry driver, did not interested and chased Sa-chan away. Sa-chan told him that he should fight for his life. Getting enthusiastic by Sa-chan's words, he kicked Sa-chan away and went to the aliens' location.
She and Otae were pissed off by the presence of the newcomer, Tsukuyo who succeeded to get a place in top 10 in character ranking. Instead of bringing Tsukuyo down, they were using her to be in top 10 by forming a group called Diamond Perfume, consist of Kyubei, Sa-chan, Otae and Tsukuyo.
She wrapped herself to be a present for Gintoki. Gintoki kicked her into the pond before she finished telling them that she was naked under the wrapper. Enthusiastic by everyone claiming themselves as santas, she decided to join the santa contest and become a santa for Gintoki.
Due her frequent hobby of stalking Gintoki, she sneaked in his house and hid in the television. She pretended to be the 3d screen television and asked for a kiss from Gintoki to turn the television off. Gintoki was pissed off and asked Sadaharu to kiss her instead of him. Sadaharu accidentally broke her glasses. She was very sad because the glasses were inherited from her grandmother. Knowing it was her fault, she left the house and left Gintoki with guilt. The guilty Gintoki brought her to an optical shop. Instead of buying new glasses, Gintoki took the shop owner's glasses and gave them to Sa-chan and sent the broken glasses to Gengai's shop for reparation. Sa-chan was so happy because it was the first present from Gintoki and promised him that she will take good care of the glasses. Even when she was in the missions, she wore that glasses although the glasses' description was not compatible with hers. Because of that, she failed as an assassin and was targetted to be annihilated by assassin punishers. She was severely injured protecting the glasses till the end. When visiting Sa-chan in the hospital, Hattori Zenzou told Gintoki, Shinpachi and Kagura about the incident. They decided to protect Sa-chan by assasinating the assassin punishers. Hattori was forced to help them and their battle was held in his house. After having a tough fight and it was a dead end for Yorozuya team to win, Sa-chan finally realized that the glasses were not the one who always be her pillar of strength, but their friendship.
She seems to like the club since there are S&M services, carried out by Sougo. Hijikata and Shinpachi called them sick people. She became a customer, along with Tsukuyo, Yagyuu Kyuubei and Tokumori Saigou. Gintoki, Hijikata and Shinpachi had a hard time to serve them since they were all drunk and the host club had to please a special customer, Madame Yagami.
Sa-chan is infatuated with Sakata Kintoki, who hypnotised everyone that he is Gintoki. She mistook Gin for Kin whilst not wearing glasses, and does not recognise Gin. She later realise, along with Kyubei and Tsukuyo that Gintoki wasn't a bad person, since she was saved by him when fell onto a top building and saved Kyubei and Tsukuyo when trouble appeared to them.
Sa-chan transformed into a male body version where she becomes sexist to men, and claims to not be attracted to the female Gin, but this would prove to be not true as Sa-chan pesters Gin to wear a S&M outfit she has. Still associated with the S&M play, s/he stays as a masochist while the female Sougo plays the sadist. At the end, when everybody went to their normal appearances, she clings onto the sleeping Gintoki while watching a movie with everyone.
After five years, Sa-chan's physical appearance didn't change at all. She kept the same outfits and the same look as she always did, because she was among the few people who believed that Gintoki was still alive. To cover the fact that Edo became a sad and terrifying place, she wanted to look the same as ever for Gintoki. But not just her appearance but also her feelings for Gintoki never changed, thus she strongly believed that he'd come back one day.
She visited Tae in a hospital along with Kyuubei and Tsukuyo. The fact that Tae was going to die because of the uncurable "White Plague" very soon grieved Sa-chan deeply. Thus she angrily shook and insulted Tae when she stated that Gintoki is supposed to hurry up before she dies and it's too late for her to say good bye, not wanting to accept that her eternal love-rival will die.
Sa-chan and Tsukuyo sending Gintoki off
After Gintoki manipulated the past to prevent the White Plague from spreading in Edo, Sa-chan later joined the war and teamed up with Tsukuyo, Kyuubei and Tae, who came back to life after the past was manipulated. When the women protected Gintoki and fought the Amantos trying to kill him, both Sa-chan and Tsukuyo refused to look Gintoki in the face, telling him that they're tired of seeing his face. After they promised him to take care of the Amantos, Sa-chan and Tsukuyo sent him off, hiding their crying faces from the man they love. When the Emmi and his troops were finally defeated, everyone, including Sa-chan, faded away, as the time line in which Gintoki didn't exist anymore was erased. Before fading, Sa-chan threw herself at Gintoki, asking for a final kiss. However, Tsukuyo made use of everyone fading and took Sa-chan's head to prevent her from kissing Gintoki, demanding her to fade away quietly.
Relationships
Mentor
Zenzou's Father: She was a student of his during her childhood along with Zenzou. She even visited his funeral.
Friends & Allies
Hattori Zenzou: She is a close acquaintance of Zenzou. They have most likely known each other since childhood, as evident with the fact that they were trained by the same person. Despite all this, Zenzou still refers to her as "Sarutobi-san"
Kondo Isao: She see him as a good friend who can help her make Otae back out from Gintoki. Sarutobi always meets up or hangs around with him when they want to spy on Gintoki and Otae, and sometimes they both pop out of their hiding spot which most of the times cause them to get beaten up by Gintoki and Otae.
Shimura Tae: She sees her as her foremost love-rival standing between her and Gintoki. She would always hide in Otae's house when she discovers Gintoki going to the Shimura dojo in order to prevent Otae and Gintoki from being alone. She even one time confused the baby Hashida Kanshichirou as Gintoki's and Otae's son. But as with most characters in the series, she suggestively sees her an older sister figure when she teamed up with her in the Character Poll Arc.
Tsukuyo: Tsukuyo and Sa-chan usualy argue. This is not always because of Tsukuyo being another rival for Gintoki's affection but because of Tsukuyo's serious attitude and Sa-chan's somewhat childishness. Sarutobi always complains about the character ranking with Tsukuyo as Sarutobi ranked in 25th and Tsukuyo in 10th. However, there are numerous cases when the two get along such as in Episode 205. Sa-chan also frequently calls Tsukuyo "Tsukki". When the two are together, there usually tends to be dirty jokes due to Sa-chan's nature and Tsukuyo having been influenced in all the time she spent in Yoshiwara.
Tokugawa Shige Shige: She and Zenzou used to be Tokugawa Shige Shige's best friends during their childhood and were loyal to him as a Shogun. Though it seems that when Sa-chan is drunk, she forgets about her loyality towards him.
She and Sougo first met in Episode 83 at the cabaret club when Sougo took note of her masochism and suggested that he show her a good time. In Episode 277.
She has apparently fallen for Gintoki on Episode 22. Gintoki was the one who awoke her masochistic side and has helped her despite having lied to him. On her day-offs, she stalks him, with her stealth skills coming in handy. However, Gintoki usually throws things at her when he notices her. On later episodes, her stalking of Gintoki is so well known, that even when Tama found her hog-tied in Yorozuya, she ignored her. Gintoki is usually mean to Sa-chan, calling her different names like "perverted" or "dirty woman". Which only serves to fuel her more because of her masochism. Gintoki's display of affection for her is rare. However, she cherishes Gintoki's actions for her.
Shiramizu Pinko: She customized her Pinko - looking almost exactly like Gintoki, and calling her version "Pin-san", claiming that she is "Pin-san's virtual girlfriend". She did this to spite Gintoki for choosing Pinko as his virtual lover, with only the result that Gintoki deemed her crazier than before. It is implied that her "Pin-san" was achieved through hacking, as when she enters the love hotel with "Pin-san", the interior transforms into a Dragon Quest-type game. Later, when Gintoki removed his trunks upon finishing Shinpachi in their final battle, Sacchan immediately turns her attention to him and takes pictures of his naked body.
Enemies
Leader of Annihilation Punishers
Trivia
She is most likely to be based on the historic ninja Sarutobi Sasuke.
She bears a resembalace to Ayane from the the Ninja Gaiden/Dead or Alive series as well as as having similar names. Although her dirty pervert personality seems to be based of Kunoichi from Warriors series. Ayane & Kunoichi are owned by Tecmo Koei and Ayame's character seems to be based on them.
Sarutobi share some similarities with Sheele from the anime "Akame ga Kill!". They were both wearing a glasses and purple hair.
In one of the postscripts in the Gintama manga, Sorachi Hideaki explained why Sarutobi's nickname is Sa-chan. It is actually because Sa-chan is more suitable than Saru-chan, because Saru in Japanese means monkey.
She is known for being a true stalker alongside Kondou and Toujou.
During the Scandal arc, Sarutobi revealed that she decided to help in punishing Gintoki just to get a chance to live with him.
Sarutobi is the only female character that Gintoki dares to beat up, although only during the second part of Episode 97 Gintoki did not physically abuse her. This maybe due to him been sick and feable, or it could be in the way that Sarutobi approached him and slept next to him.
In Episode 207, Sarutobi stated that her glasses came from her late grandmother.
When she was turned into a male in the Dekkoboko arc she starts to act like a sexist towards men.
Sarutobi has the same voice actress as Kikuno Asahina from SKET dance, Amazoness from Arakawa Under the Bridge and Sasha Braus from Attack on Titan.
Sakamoto, a character from Sakamoto Desu Ga?, seems to be based on Sarutobi's Gender Bender form.
As of February 11th, 2016 she is currently ranked as Number 7 in Watchmojo.com's "Top 10 Female Anime Perverts".
Quotes
(To Sakata Gintoki) "If you really want to live in reality, then fight for it. Create your own destiny and live in your own reality. Isn't that what it truly means to live? Isn't that a true gamer? One who plays the game of life, Sakata Gintoki?"
(To the Punishers) "I'll wear them like I should. These beautiful glasses that reflect everyone's hearts in them... I'll make sure to keep them with me."
Gintama The Final Chapter: Be Forever Yorozuya
(To Shimura Tae) "What the hell are you talking about? You can't die like this! Get on your feet, bitch! You sadistic psycho! Do you know why I haven't changed after all these years? Its because I know he'll come back one day! And when he's back, I'll meet him like nothing has ever changed from before! And here you say you're going to die?! You're going to leave him, leave all of us and die?! I wont let you... You can't die until you see Gin-san and I get married, you hear me?! Now, bring it on! I know you won't take this lying down! Come at me like you always do, you wench! Say something!"
(To Gintoki along with Tsukuyo) "The villian who destroyed the world, and the savior who defended it. When it comes to him, they're basically the same thing. But know this... From now on, we'll stand and fall together."
(To Gintoki) "You took so long, I ended up crossing space and time just to see you."
(To Gintoki) "I'm sick and tired of looking at your face! Don't get so full of yourself!"
(To herself about Gintoki) "I'm so stupid! I was supposed to welcome him back looking the same as always!"
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