Kite Tenjo (ARC-V)

Kite Tenjo, known as Kaito Tenjo ( カイト, Tenjō Kaito) in the Japanese version, is a character in the Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V anime. He is an alternate universe version of the Kite Tenjo that appeared in the Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL  anime. He was a famous professional Duelist in the Xyz Dimension's Heartland City before the invasion of Duel Academy, after which he became a member of the Resistance. After his family were sealed into cards by Duel Academy, Kite abandoned the Resistance and began a one-man vendetta against Duel Academy, vowing to seal thousands of their soldiers into cards and earning a bounty on his head as a result.

Appearance
Kite's design is largely unchanged from his appearance in Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL. He has light blue-grey eyes, pale skin and blonde hair that curls up in a point with a dark green spiked front and bangs. Kite wears a black trench coat with a high collar over a grey shirt and white pants with black boots. He also wears a belt with two purple Deck boxes. In place of the black finger-less glove he sported on his hand in ZEXAL he wears a red Resistance scarf wrapped around his right wrist. Unlike his ZEXAL counterpart, Kite does not undergo Photon Transformation nor use a Duel Gazer Tattoo when he Duels; he maintains his regular outfit when he does so. During his time as a student at the Clover Branch, Kite wore the outfit that he wore in his youth in ZEXAL; a light pink shirt, brown pants, and braces attached to his belt, and he also used a normal Xyz Duel Disk.

Personality
Kite used to be a kind and a cheerful person who enjoyed Dueling but in the present he is cold and serious. Like Shay and Yuto, Kite holds a vengeful hatred against Duel Academy, which manifested after they invaded the Xyz Dimension. Similar to Shay, Kite Duels and acts ruthlessly when it comes to facing Duel Academy Duelists, immediately turning them into cards once he defeated them. Duel Academy's invasion also caused Kite to be distrustful of outsiders who are not from the Xyz Dimension, even if they are not from Duel Academy, seeing them as nothing more than intruders that threaten the peace of his world. Unlike Shay who can be pragmatic, losing his family and comrades at the hands of Duel Academy has completely hardened Kite's heart, making him more aggressive with little to no compromise, necessitating force to make him listen.

After his Duel with Shay, which ended with Kite narrowly deciding not to seal Shay in a card, Kite began to display more noble traits; intervening to save Yuya against the Obelisk Force and telling him to take care of his comrades. He also refrained from sealing the Obelisk Force into cards after he defeated them.

According to Yuto, Kite's previous Dueling style was subtle and dynamic and he had an uncanny ability to see through his opponent's strategy. However, the hardships he faced changed this, and though Yuto still describes his style as dynamic, the subtlety had been replaced by ruthlessness. Allen Kozuki later agreed with this claim, stating that Kite had become stronger on his own.

Like Shay, Kite has a habit of saying "field" in kanji (「場」, Ba) instead of in katakana (「フィールド」, Fīrudo). He also commonly asks his enemies "Are you ready to repent?" before challenging them to a Duel, making his winning move, or sealing them into a card.

History
Kite attended the Clover Branch of Heartland Duel School and he used to be close friends with Sayaka Sasayama and Allen Kozuki who attended the same school as him. One of the teachers at the school was Yusho Sakaki. Kite was known as the school's best Duelist and was predicted to be a future Duel Champion in Heartland City. He was a rival of Shay Obsidian, who attended Heartland Duel School's Spade Branch. Whenever the two Dueled one another, they drew large crowds of children who looked up to them. Shay, Yuto and Lulu Obsidian watched some of Kite's matches from the audience.

During the invasion Kite joined the Resistance and fought alongside Shay and Yuto. At some point after the two departed for the Standard Dimension, Kite's family was sealed into cards by Duel Academy. Enraged and seeking revenge, Kite became infamous among the soldiers of Duel Academy for the large amount of them he sealed into cards, resulting in them being ordered to take him down, and he also chose to cut ties with the rest of the Resistance.

Heartland City
Kite encountered three Duel Academy Duelists after they were defeated by Yuya, Gong and Sylvio. He proceeded to seal the Duel Academy Duelists into cards before confronting the trio from Standard with his "Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon". Suspecting that Yuya, Gong, and Sylvio were Duel Academy Duelists, Kite immediately challenged Sylvio to a Duel. In the middle of the Duel, Gong joined as well, and Sylvio attempted to seal Kite's Xyz Summons. Kite traded blows with the two and learned of Action Duels, Action Cards, Pendulum Summoning and Synchro Summoning. Kite decided that these unknown techniques meant that the Lancers were invaders from another dimension and thus enemies of Heartland and he defeated both of them with the power of "Cipher Dragon".

With Yuya learning his name, Kite concluded that Yuya and his friends were indeed from Duel Academy. Yuya denied this accusation, stating he simply wanted to speak with him through a Duel. Kite replied that talking was pointless as he vowed to destroy every single Duel Academy Duelist. Kite took the first turn and immediately brought out "Cipher Dragon", while Yuya Summoned "Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon". Having Dueled Sylvio and Gong, Kite easily deduced the tactic Yuya would use and countered each of Yuya's attacks by using a combination of "Double Sensor Ship", "Cipher Interfere", and "Cipher Dragon", but Yuya saved himself with "Miracle". Unwilling to give up, Yuya Xyz Summoned his strongest monster, "Odd-Eyes Rebellion Dragon", surprising Kite, who started to question Yuya's identity. Even then, Kite used "Double Cipher" to Summon another "Cipher Dragon" and double its ATK. Likewise, Yuya also doubled the ATK of "Odd-Eyes Rebellion" with "Descend Dragon Magician". The attack destroyed both monsters, but Kite had another "Cipher Dragon" left on the field.

Yuya then activated the effect of "Odd-Eyes Rebellion" to Summon "Timebreaker Magician" and "Performapal Whim Witch" back to the field under Yuto's instructions. Kite deduced that Yuya would Xyz Summon a Rank 3 monster, but to his shock, Yuya instead used the effect of "Performapal Le-Bellman" to increase his monsters' Levels and then used them to Xyz Summon "Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon", causing Kite to recognize it. For a moment, Kite thought that Yuya had defeated Yuto and stole his card, but then saw Yuto within Yuya, making Kite think that he was him. Shay, Allen, and Sayaka interrupted the Duel and cleared up the misunderstanding as Shay revealed that Yuya, Sylvio and Gong were his comrades. While Kite was still in doubt, Shay assured Kite that Yuya wanted to stop Duel Academy as much as they did, asking him to trust Yuya like he did. Upon hearing Yuya's last name and Sayaka's plea to return, Kite refused before taking his leave of them.

Kite continued hunting Duel Academy Duelists. Upon defeating three of them, Kite was found by Allen and Sayaka, who had been searching for him. Kite told them not to get in his way and sealed the Duel Academy Duelists into cards despite their pleas to be spared. He immediately walked away, ignoring Allen and Sayaka. Shay arrived and grabbed Kite's shoulder. Kite threatened to seal Shay into a card as well if he got in the way. Shay told Kite to go ahead and try and the two began a Duel. Shay Summoned "Raidraptor - Rise Falcon" on his first turn, a move Kite called a disgraceful misplay. Despite bringing out "Cipher Dragon", Shay was able to counter the effect of "Cipher Dragon" with "Raptor's Intercept Form" and mitigate some of the impact of that attack with an Action Card, "Miracle". Kite claimed Shay was a coward for using Action Cards. Shay brought out "Raidraptor - Blaze Falcon" and destroyed "Cipher Dragon", but Kite revived it and Summoned a second one. Yuya arrived and asked them to stop the fight, as they were comrades. Kite claimed that "Cipher Dragon" was a part of him and that he no longer needed comrades. Shay used a combination of the Action Cards in an attempt to take down "Cipher Dragon" but failed, and brought out "Raidraptor - Ultimate Falcon". Kite chided him for claiming the Action Cards represented his new comrades and that the move failing must mean his comrades will fail too. Though "Ultimate Falcon" nearly won Shay the Duel, "Cipher Mirror Knight" and "Cipher Clone Magic" enabled Kite to come back and defeat Shay. Kite moved to seal Shay into a card after the Duel, but stopped to reconsider after Sayaka pleaded with him. Having already lost Lulu, Sayaka said she couldn't bear to lose Shay as well. Kite still seemed to consider sealing Shay into a card, but stopped and left without saying a word.

Kite reappeared during Yuya and Shay's Duel against three Obelisk Force members. He grabbed and activated the Action Card Yuya missed, "Quick Guard", to protect Yuya from defeat, but took the intrusion penalty in the process. Kite managed to quickly use his "Cipher Wings" to bring out "Cipher Dragon" and combined its effect with "Cipher Diffusion" and "Cipher Interfere" to defeat the Obelisk Force. Kite was ready to seal them into cards, but he decided to leave them alone and turned to join Yuya and the others. Before he could reach them, Aster Phoenix and his squad suddenly appeared and challenged Yuya to a Duel.

Deck
Kite uses a "Cipher" Deck. He uses an array of Continuous Cards that largely focus on giving benefits by controlling multiple "Cipher" monsters, using cards like "Cipher Interfere" to double the ATK of one of them, or "Cipher Shield" to prevent them from being destroyed by battle. His main tactic is to swarm the field through "Cipher Wing" in order to gain the benefits of his "Cipher" cards or to increase the Levels of his monsters to 8 in order to Xyz Summon his ace card "Galaxy-Eyes Cipher Dragon".

Like Shay, many of his card effects specifically apply when he controls multiple monsters with the same name, which is also aided by the effect of "Cipher Dragon". Kite also uses cards like "Cipher Chain" and "Cipher Diffusion" to deal with multiple opponents at once; the use of the former being a more ruthless strategy that he developed after the invasion of Heartland.