Gaara
| Gaara |
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Gaara我愛羅GaaraGaara of the Sand Waterfall (砂瀑の我愛羅, Sabaku no Gaara)
Fifth Kazekage (五代目風影, Godaime Kazekage) |
| Debut (Manga) | Chapter 35 |
| Debut (Anime) | Naruto Episode 20 |
| Appears in | Anime and Manga |
| Seiyū (Japanese) |
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| Voice actor(s) (English) |
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| Highest rank |
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| Classification | Jinchūriki |
| Birthdate | January 19 |
| Age |
- Part I: 12-13
- Part II: 15-16
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| Height |
- Part I: 146.1-148.1cm
- Part II: 166.1cm
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| Weight |
- Part I: 39-40.2 kg
- Part II: 50.9 kg
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| Gender | Male |
| Blood type | AB |
| Affiliation | Sunagakure |
| Team | Team Baki |
| Occupation | Kazekage |
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Gaara (我愛羅) is a main protaganist in the anime and manga series
Naruto. He is a
shinobi of
Sunagakure and is the
Fifth Kazekage (五代目風影,
Godaime Kazekage; Literally meaning "Fifth Wind Shadow"). Gaara is also the youngest child of the late
Fourth Kazekage, and the younger brother of both
Kankuro and
Temari. He is the
Jinchūriki of the
One-Tailed Shukaku and, being raised as a tool of
Sunagakure, Gaara gained the nickname Gaara of the Sand Waterfall (砂瀑の我愛羅,
Sabaku no Gaara; English "Gaara of the Desert"). Though Gaara debuted as a main antoganist, as the series progresses, he is one of the series' main protaganists.
Background
Gaara is the son of the Fourth Kazekage, and the younger brother of
Temari and
Kankuro. Before Gaara's birth, his father ordered
Chiyo to seal the
One-Tailed Shukaku within him, in hopes that Gaara would become the ultimate weapon for Suna. Because a sacrifice was needed, Gaara's mother, Karura, was used. Before she died, Karura cursed Sunagakure, hoping Gaara would avenge her death. Gaara was trained by his father, but raised mainly by his maternal uncle,
Yashamaru.
Because of the power of Shukaku, the villagers of Suna hated and feared Gaara, seeing him only for the monster sealed within him. For a time, Yashamaru seemed to be the only person who cared about Gaara. When Gaara would mistakenly harm others due to the subconscious abilities granted to him by Shukaku, Yashamaru would be the only one who understood that Gaara hadn't intended to harm anyone. Gaara's father, however, did not see Gaara in the same light, and viewed Gaara's frequent attacks upon villagers as a result of a failed experiment that was a threat to Suna.
Because of the danger Gaara imposed, his father began sending assassins to kill him, though when all attempts were met with failure, the Kazekage requested Yashamaru to kill Gaara. As a result, Yashamaru tried to assassinate Gaara, only to fail just as those before him. Gaara dealt a lethal blow to him. But when Gaara realized that it was Yashamaru, he was horrified, and screamed, before bursting into tears. Although Gaara tried to dismiss Yashamaru's attack as an order of the Kazekage, Yashamaru corrected him, by saying that he had willingly accepted the mission. Having never truly loved Gaara, Yashamaru hoped that killing Gaara would avenge the death of his sister, who had named Gaara after the phrase "a self-loving carnage" (我を愛する修羅,
Ware wo ai suru shura), a sign of her intense hatred for Suna, not as love for her son. In the last ditch effort to kill Gaara, Yashamaru detonated a number of
paper bombs covering his body, asking Gaara to "please die". Using his sand, Gaara survived the blast, and lost the only person he thought had cared for him. Since this incident, Gaara became an aloof and cruel person who would kill anyone to prove his existence and to obtain recognition from the village.
Personality
While Gaara had initially tried to be friendly towards others, despite their fear of him, Yashamaru's actions and words changed him. Realizing that nobody loved him, Gaara used his sand to create the kanji on his forehead "love" (愛,
ai), as a symbol of a "demon loving only himself", and to live up to his name, as
Karura intended. Gaara became emotionally withdrawn, all but silent, and consumed with a bitter loathing for everyone but himself and "Mother", the voice of Shukaku in his head. He learned to find pleasure, and eventually a reason to live, in annihilating the numerous assassins sent to kill him – and, by extension, anyone who threatened his existence. This was only worsened by the occasional demand by Shukaku for blood to sate its blood lust. Gaara's insomnia, forced upon him by the fear that the demon inside him would eat away at him if he were to fall asleep, only furthered his instability and desire to kill. In fact, his hatred extends to his siblings, as he never saw them as such, and was fully willing to kill them were they to cross him. In time, Gaara's father would come to appreciate Gaara and the uses he could serve, and canceled all assassination orders in the hopes that Gaara would become an effective tool.
Gaara's childhood was, in many ways, similar to
Naruto Uzumaki's, though more unfortunate due to his lack of anyone to call a friend. Both were lonely and desired to be liked, loved, and acknowledged as an individual, free of others' prejudices — they were themselves, not the demons they were forced to "contain" — and both were driven into a desperate state. While Naruto consequently developed the misconception that pranks and mischief would bring him the attention he sought, Gaara came to the conclusion that he could preserve and confirm his own existence by killing any and all who challenged it, securing an extreme form of existentialism as his key personality trait. In the absence of others' acknowledgment, he could compensate by valuing only himself to the exclusion of everyone else. Furthermore, while Naruto eventually had
Iruka Umino and
Team Kakashi to acknowledge him, Gaara never had anyone to bond with, not even his father or siblings, as they all despised and feared the Shukaku that dwells within him. The person who was closest to being friendly with Gaara was the deceitful Yashamaru, who ultimately betrayed him, which turned Gaara into a lonely sociopath. As such, Gaara did not understand the concept of fighting for anything other than himself until his confrontation with Naruto.
After being defeated by Naruto, Gaara was shocked to find that Naruto knew very well the pain that Gaara had endured all his life. He was even more surprised that Naruto never gave up hope on being acknowledged as a person and ultimately found friends who truly cared for him. Seeing the determination that Naruto had to protect his friends made Gaara question his own path in life. Realizing that he gave up too easily, Gaara decided to follow Naruto's path, wishing to become Kazekage of Sunagakure so he could be connected to his people, and hopefully have them finally acknowledge his existence as a person. Over the next few years, Gaara's determination to find happiness became apparent from his decision to rely on his own power rather than his inner demon's. Gaara eventually formed a close friendship with Naruto. Although he remained ruthless against his opponents, Gaara appears extremely protective of his allies and innocent people, as seen when he protected his village from Deidara; and his siblings, Darui and even the Raikage against Sasuke. He also appears to deeply understand those who have suffered from loneliness and hatred in the past by the look in their eyes, such as Naruto, or even
Sasuke.
Appearance
Gaara in Part II
Like
Naruto, Gaara is a little shorter than the average males of his age. He has pale skin and short, straight hair that is brick-red. Gaara's eyes are light turquoise. In the manga and the anime, the pupils of his eyes are mostly invisible. Gaara has no eyebrows either. He has two very notable traits in his outward appearance: firstly, he has tanuki-like black eye rings, having them since his birth due to insomnia caused by the Shukaku. Secondly, he has created the kanji "love" (愛) on the left side of his forehead, having it since Yashamaru's betrayal. Gaara's forelocks are parted from the left side, making the kanji more visible. Gaara is often seen to stand straight, with his arms crossed over his chest.
In Part I, Gaara has been seen in three different costumes. When he was seen for the first time, he wore black full body suit with t-shirt-like sleeves, ¾-length legs, and an open neck. With this, he wore a white cloth over his right shoulder and the left side of his hips, and a wide leather band system over the left shoulder and right side of his hips. With this leather band, he carried around his gourd containing his sand. He also wrapped his
forehead protector over the band. In his childhood flashbacks, he was seen wearing beige poncho-like clothing with full-length blue trousers and a short-sleeved black t-shirt. In the Sasuke Retrieval arc, and in the final pre-
Shippuden filler arc, he switched his previous black overalls to a reddish-brownish one with longer sleeves and an upright collar. He used this costume in
Naruto the Movie 2: Legend of the Stone of Gelel as well. In Part II, battling against
Deidara, he wore full-length dark trousers, a long-sleeved red coat with a flaring hemline, and a purplish grey vest. He is also seen wearing
Kazekage robes, and a simple black tunic-trousers suit, the latter one greatly resembling Kankuro's suit, and worn for the memorial of Elder
Chiyo. All the time, he has been seen wearing some sort of black shoes.
Part I
Chunin Exam arc
Gaara participated in the
Chunin Exams, where he was quickly identified as a skilled competitor. He was able to pass the first phase without giving any indications that he was cheating (the objective of the test). During the second phase, he demonstrated his thirst for blood by killing
Team Shigure, who Gaara claimed had looked at him the wrong way. Gaara wanted to continue searching for people to kill, but Kankuro told him that it was enough. However, Gaara said that he didn't care for them, and didn't consider Temari and Kankuro as his siblings. Gaara and his team finished this phase in an hour and thirty-seven minutes, beating the previous record by over four hours, with Gaara not getting so much as a speck of dust on his clothes, a feat that would be very difficult even for an experienced ninja.
In the preliminary matches, Gaara was matched against
Rock Lee. Lee's formidable speed and strength were enough to bypass Gaara's Shield of Sand completely, forcing him to rely on his secondary Armour of Sand. Despite Lee's best efforts, Gaara's sand protected him from even Lee's Reverse Lotus, which left Lee in no condition to fight after its use. Gaara used his sand to crush the weakened Lee's arm and leg, critically injuring him. Gaara tried to kill Lee, but
Might Guy intervened before he could harm Lee any further. For the finals, Gaara was matched against
Sasuke Uchiha. In the month before the finals,
Dosu Kinuta tried to kill Gaara in order to ensure that he could fight Sasuke. Gaara promptly killed him with the power of Shukaku.
In the final round matches of the Chunin Exams, Gaara was to play a major role in
Orochimaru's invasion upon
Konohagakure, by releasing Shukaku within the center of the village. Prior to his battle with Sasuke, he brutally killed
Tsuba and
Midori, both of whom tried to threaten Gaara to lose the battle for a bet. During his match with Sasuke, however, Gaara was wounded by Sasuke's
Chidori, disabling him from serving his role in the invasion. With Gaara no longer in a condition to join the battle, Gaara and his siblings fled the village, while the invasion proceeded without them.
Invasion of Konoha Arc
Gaara was pursued by the members of
Team 7, along with
Shikamaru Nara and
Shino Aburame, which forced Gaara to begin transforming into Shukaku. As his transformation progressed, Sasuke tried to use Chidori two additional times, but when both proved ineffective at stopping Gaara, he was left exhausted. Gaara tried to kill Sasuke, but was stopped by Naruto and
Sakura's arrivals. Intrigued by Naruto's abilities, Gaara pinned Sakura to a tree, in order to force Naruto to fight. When Naruto began gaining the upper hand, Gaara completed his transformation, and put himself to sleep to bring out Shukaku's personality. With the help of
Gamabunta, Naruto woke Gaara up, and broke the transformation.
With the last of their energy, the two exchanged final blows, Naruto ending up claiming victory. Gaara was puzzled by Naruto's undying devotion to his friends, causing Gaara to realise that Naruto's strength came from the desire to protect those close to him. As Gaara and his siblings fled the scene, Gaara openly apologized to Kankuro and Temari, which surprised and confused them. Thanks to Naruto's influence, the defeat proved to be a major turning point for Gaara.
Sasuke Retrieval arc
Team Baki was called by
the Fifth Hokage to assist the
Sasuke Retrieval Squad in retrieving Sasuke when he defected from Konoha. Gaara arrived to save Rock Lee in time from preventing
Kimimaro's final blow. Though, Lee tries to attempt to continue, Gaara stops him, and volunteers he will handle it, and that Lee is in no condition to fight since Gaara injured Lee during the Chunin Exams. This showed Gaara's new personality. In the fight, Gaara showed off several new abilities, though he proved unable to defeat Kimimaro. In the end, Gaara and Lee were almost killed from Kimimaro, only to be saved by Kimimaro's disease, which killed him right before drilling his bone into Gaara's eye. After the battle, Gaara explains even a person who works for the bad has someone precious in them, and explains Lee was like
Naruto Uzumaki. Later, the two returned to
Konoha. After this, Gaara and the rest of the Sand Siblings returned to
Sunagakure.
Pre-Shippūden filler arcs
The Sand Siblings would later appear when they became teachers at a Konoha-style ninja academy at Suna. As an instructor, Gaara took on the only student who was willing to train under him,
Matsuri. Because of Matsuri's fear of weapons, Gaara trained her to use a
jouhyou. When a group of people called the
Four Celestial Symbols Men kidnapped her in order to get to Gaara, Suna called for aid from the
Konoha 11 to repay their help during the
Sasuke Retrieval arc. Gaara first fought
Suiko, then he caught and attacked the Four Celestial Symbols Men leader,
Hoki, but was captured. Naruto tries desperately to save Gaara, though nothing would work. To escape, Gaara did a partial Shukaku transformation, reviving the
Takumi Village's ultimate weapon,
Seimei. Gaara later destroyed Seimei with
Ultimate Absolute Attack: Shukaku's Halberd, and killed Jin with a
Sand Waterfall Imperial Funeral.
After this, Gaara rests in the Konoha hospital, and overhears
Naruto's conversation with
Jiraiya. Gaara and the rest of the siblings, including Matsuri, leave
Konohagakure.
Part II
Rescue Gaara arc
Gaara in Part II while in his Kazekage Robes.
Having become the Fifth
Kazekage during the gap in time between Part I and II, Gaara was targeted by
Akatsuki, who sought to extract Shukaku from within him. Gaara proved highly capable of holding off Deidara, even managing to crush one of his arms, and had him on the run for most of the battle, but his inevitable duty to protect Sunagakure was taken advantage of by Deidara, by threatening to drop one of his most powerful bombs on the village. Gaara prevented any damage being inflicted by summmoning a vast amount of sand to cover it entirely, albeit at the cost of practically all of his remaining chakra, which left him open for capture. Being unconscious, he was taken to Akatsuki's hideout by Deidara.
Although Team Kakashi did their best to save Gaara, they did not arrive in time to stop Akatsuki's extraction of Shukaku, resulting in Gaara's death.
Naruto Uzumaki cries in front of him, regretting not saving only
Sasuke, but Gaara as well. He blames the rest of the Sand Shinobi because of putting such a demon inside of him in the first place, and letting him feel so much pain as a child. However,
Chiyo resurrected Gaara with the help of Naruto's chakra using her life-restoring technique, in the hopes that it would make up for her sealing of Shukaku into Gaara years earlier, and hoping Naruto and Gaara will both change the world, by bringing Gaara back to life at the cost of her own. Gaara awoke, shocked by being surrounded by his friends from Konoha and the Sunagakure villagers that had gone looking for him, all relieved that he was alright. This was the first time Gaara truly felt loved and not so alone. Gaara later orders everyone to pray for Chiyo.
Before Naruto went back home, he tried to say goodbye, but admitted that it wasn't something he was good at. Gaara used some sand to encourage and guide Naruto's hand, and the two shook hands, symbolizing Gaara and Naruto's friendship, and Gaara's new characteristics. Even with Shukaku removed, Gaara still retained the ability to control sand and went on to continue his work as Kazekage.
Five Kage Summit arc
The Sand Siblings' new look.
Because of Akatsuki's increasing activity, the
Raikage calls for a meeting of the five
Kage. When Gaara left for the summit his hair had grown a little longer, he still wore his sand gourd on his back, and the traditional Kazekage hat and gown were attached to it. Temari and Kankuro accompany him for protection, but Kankuro notes that he doesn't need bodyguards.
Gaara is the first Kage to arrive in the
Land of Iron. When the other Kage arrive and the meeting starts, Gaara is the first to speak. He indicates that, because he was captured by Akatsuki and almost died when Shukaku was removed from his body, he considers the organization very dangerous. He adds that he had previously requested collaboration between the villages against Akatsuki, but that only
Tsunade of Konoha responded. Gaara is repeatedly interrupted by the other Kage for the rest of the meeting and his input is dismissed because of his young age.
When
Sasuke is revealed to have infiltrated the meeting and the Raikage goes to fight him, Gaara has a chance to speak with the remaining Kage. He voices his concern with the others' lack of ethics and says that a world without faith and understanding would be a world with only fear. Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari then leave to join the Raikage's battle with Sasuke. When they arrive, Gaara uses his sand to stop Sasuke and the Raikage from attacking each other, demonstrating that despite the loss of Shukaku, Gaara's sand manipulation powers were still strong. While the Raikage recuperates, Gaara tries to convince Sasuke to stop living in the darkness, citing past experience by saying no good will come of it. Sasuke cannot be convinced so, with a tear in his eye, Gaara joins Kankuro, Temari, and
Darui in their attack.
Sasuke is able to elude their combined efforts. They follow him back to the room where the Kage met and find Sasuke with
Madara Uchiha. Madara sends Sasuke away and tells everyone in attendance about his
Moon's Eye Plan. Because Madara concludes by requesting that the Kage give him Naruto, Gaara refuses. The other Kage agree, so Madara declares the start of the
Fourth Great Shinobi World War.
Immediately after Madara teleported away, Gaara brought the group's attention back to the need of an alliance, now more than ever. After agreements were made, Gaara offered to relay the news to Konoha through ninja he trusted such as Kakashi as Danzo proved himself untrustworthy. He also pointed out the importance of not playing into Madara's hands by carelessly putting the remaining Jinchuriki out in the open as mere weapons, and thereby risk them being captured.
Mifune agrees to let the Raikage to lead the alliance. Gaara and the rest of the Kage accept the offer, and, as the first objective, must inform all the Daimyo about the incident.
Movies
Legend of the Stone of Gelel
In the
second Naruto movie, Gaara and Kankuro came to the aid of a band of Suna villagers who came under attack. A group of seemingly invulnerable armored warriors attacked the shinobi, and it was only Gaara's sand manipulation abilities that saved the group from certain defeat. The Suna ninja then destroyed the warship that brought the warriors, only to come under attack from knights wielding the power of the
Stone of Gelel. Gaara engaged one of these warriors, called
Ranke, who wielded lightning powers, and was able to thwart her using his sand. When Ranke transformed into a monstrous form of greater power, she seemingly outmatched Gaara, until he crushed her using
Sand Waterfall Imperial Funeral. By doing this, he made lightning rods to drain her lightning; the jutsu was called
Thunder God of Sand. He is later seen amazed by the destruction the Gelel caused. It is unclear whether Gaara met Naruto after the incedent. Later, he and Kankuro safely return to Sunagakure.
Abilities
Sand Control
As the host of Shukaku, Gaara possessed the ability to manipulate sand, typically moving it through the air to serve various purposes. The amount of sand he can control at one time is fairly immense, as in Part II he is able to gather enough sand to cover Sunagakure as a shield. If sand is lacking in abundance, Gaara can break down the earth minerals in the ground to create more sand. While he can control any dry sand, ordinary sand requires more chakra to manipulate it, tiring him at a rapid rate. As a result, Gaara keeps his own chakra-enhanced sand with him at all times, in a calabash gourd also made out of sand on his back. Because this sand is already infused with his chakra, Gaara has a great deal more control over it, enabling stronger and faster attacks with it.
During battle, Gaara rarely moves, attacking with his sand from a single location, and rarely using
taijutsu. When first introduced, his basic means of attacks is to first use
Desert Coffin to capture, immobilize, and potentially suffocate an opponent with sand. Once the opponent is subdued, he uses
Desert Funeral to cause the sand to crush the opponent with varying intensities. Though he comes up with other means of attack throughout the series, the "
catch and crush" tactic remains at the center of his
fighting style, as he attempted to use it four times on Kimimaro but Kimimaro's hardened layer of bone under his skin prevents Gaara from killing him, in Part 1, despite having new jutsu.
As the second element of his stationary combat style, Gaara has a number of sand-based defenses to be used in case an opponent gets too close. His primary defense is his
Shield of Sand, an automatic sand shield that surrounds and protects him from damage whether he wants it to or not. Gaara can control the shield to some degree, strengthening it to steel-like quality or calling upon it to completely encase himself. While an effective defense, the shield can be overcome with high speed attacks, or simply be broken through with incredibly forceful strikes. Should this happen, Gaara has a layer of sand covering his body called the
Armor of Sand. Although it's a useful secondary defense, the armor requires large amounts of chakra to remain active, and also has the side-effect of weighing Gaara down.
In addition to these basic methods of offense and defense, Gaara also has a number of miscellaneous attacks that, while capable of being an attack or a shield, are not limited to such purposes. By making a
Sand Clone of himself, Gaara can have an ally to be used in battle, or as a mere distraction to be used to buy him time. Unlike most other clone jutsu in the series, the Sand Clone can retain its shape after more than one attack, and can even reform itself or capture an opponent upon being dispersed. With
Desert Suspension, Gaara can use sand as a platform, to allow himself and others to float in the air. His
Third Eye also allows him to create a floating eyeball of sand in any location, which he can see through as a means of spying, or to guide his attacks while completely enclosed by his defenses. Also, Gaara has mentioned being trained in various ninja arts and can efficiently use weapons such as a rope javelin, or jouhyou.
Even after the removal of
Shukaku Gaara has still shown to be able to use his sand. The sand is fast enough that he could block the Raikage's kick seconds before it touched Amaterasu and even blocking Amaterasu itself.
Jinchūriki Transformations
Gaara partially transformed into Shukaku.
In desperate situations, Gaara could take on the form of Shukaku by layering sand on his body, making him many times more powerful than he already is. Shukaku's personality grew more dominant during this transformation, increasing Gaara's homicidal tendencies. Once finished, Gaara assumed a human-sized version of Shukaku, wherein he relied on his brute strength to destroy everything around him.
If need be, Gaara could almost instantly create a life-sized version of Shukaku, should the human-sized form fail. In this form, he remained deep within the Shukaku copy, safe from harm, though unable to move. Gaara could also unleash the spirit of Shukaku through his
Feigning Sleep Technique, which forced him to sleep, to allow the Shukaku copy to operate at its full potential. To do so, however, Gaara must emerge from within the copy, leaving him open to attack for the duration of the jutsu.
In time, he began gaining better control over Shukaku, such that he could suppress its personality by himself towards the end of the anime's filler arcs. By the time Part II began, Gaara was even capable of using Shukaku's arms to attack numerous times, without losing control of himself.
Yugito Nii
| Yugito Nii |
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| Yugito Nii二位ユギトNii Yugito |
| Debut (Manga) | Chapter 312 |
| Debut (Anime) | Shippūden Episode 71 |
| Appears in | Anime and Manga |
| Seiyū (Japanese) |
|
| Highest rank | Jonin |
| Classification | Jinchūriki |
| Birthdate | July 24 |
| Age | 29 (Deceased) |
| Height | 170.2 cm1.702 m
5.584 ft
67.008 in |
| Weight | 50.8 kg111.995 lb |
| Gender | Female |
| Blood type | A |
| Affiliation | Kumogakure |
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Yugito Nii (二位ユギト,
Nii Yugito) was a
kunoichi from
Kumogakure, and the
jinchūriki of the
Two-Tailed Monster Cat.
Background
Yugito was made the Two-Tails' jinchūriki at the age of two and, at the end of a detestable training that was imposed on her, she was able to control her
transformation into her
tailed beast at will.
[1]
Personality
Yugito gained confidence in herself through hard work, making her a proud, wise and courageous kunoichi. Also, it is said that she was firm and thoughtful of her teammates.
Part II
Hidan and Kakuzu arc
She was first seen running through the sewers from some unknown people, who were later revealed to be
Hidan and
Kakuzu. When she entered a large room, where all the sewers seemed to meet, she finally stopped. After some bickering between the two
Akatsuki members, she revealed that she had intentionally led them there, and activated an
exploding tag on the tunnel behind them, sealing them in. Knowing that they were from
Akatsuki, she transformed into a miniature version of the Two-Tails. However, after a 30-minute unseen battle, she was taken down by Hidan, and brought to the Akatsuki lair. The Two-Tails was extracted from her body, resulting in her death.
During the Five Kage Summit arc, it is indicated that Kumogakure is furious over the loss of Yugito
Abilities
The only one of her abilities ever shown in the series was the ability to turn into a smaller version of the Two-Tails, giving her an upgrade in her abilities, such as strength and the ability to breathe fire. The way she transformed is very similar to Naruto, being slowly covered in a dense blue
chakra that took the form of her
tailed beast. It would seem that, although she let go of her control over the Two-Tails, she still had some control over the transformation and how much of its chakra that she would use.
According to the Second Artbook, Yugito was an extremely highly-skilled and powerful kunoichi that even
Killer Bee looks up to very much.
Yagura
| Please note that this is the Narutopedia's article on the jinchuriki Yagura, if you are looking for the article on the anime character Yagura then you should head to Yagura (anime). |
| Yagura |
 |
| YaguraやぐらYaguraFourth Mizukage (四代目水影, Yondaime Mizukage) |
| Debut (Manga) |
- Chapter 420 (splash page)
- Chapter 458 (mentioned)
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| Appears in | Manga
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| Highest rank | Kage |
| Classification | Jinchūriki |
| Age | Deceased"Deceased" is not a number. |
| Gender | Male |
| Affiliation | Kirigakure |
| Occupation | Mizukage |
Yagura (やぐら) was the
jinchūriki of the
Three-Tailed Giant Turtle and the
Fourth Mizukage (四代目水影,
Yondaime Mizukage) of
Kirigakure. When the Three-Tails was captured by
Akatsuki, it had no host and roamed out in the wild. The reason why the Three-Tails was removed from Yagura is unknown.
History
During his time as
Mizukage, until the massacre of
Academy Students by a young
Zabuza Momochi, the village was known as the "Village of the Bloody Mist" (血霧の里,
Chigiri no Sato), due mostly because of the barbaric ritual where Academy students kill one another for graduation. It is likely that Yagura was the Mizukage who Zabuza tried to assassinate.
Despite the terror of his reign, he appears to be kind. Apparently the people of Kirigakure fear that Yagura was being manipulated, a fear which was confirmed by
Ao, who saw through an unnamed genjutsu with his
Byakugan.
[1]
Eventually, the Three-Tails was removed from Yagura for unknown reasons, and the beast was allowed to roam free. With that, Yagura's life and reign came to an end.
Abilities
Yagura was one of the few jinchūriki that were able to fully control their tailed beast. Yagura's wielded what seems to be a large staff, with two hooks on each end, one larger than the other, along with a flower on the larger end.
Rōshi
| Rōshi |
|
| Rōshi老紫Rōshi |
| Debut (Manga) | Chapter 353 |
| Debut (Anime) | Shippūden Episode 121 |
| Appears in | Anime and Manga
|
| Classification | Jinchūriki |
| Age | Deceased"Deceased" is not a number. |
| Gender | Male |
| Affiliation | Iwagakure |
|
|
|
|
Rōshi (老紫) was the
jinchūriki of the
Four-Tailed Monkey. He hailed from
Iwagakure.
Background
Rōshi became the jinchūriki of the Four-Tails at a very young age. He left his hometown of
Iwagakure at some point to better understand and control the power of the beast within him.
Appearance
Rōshi in his first appereance in the anime.
Rōshi was shown wearing a large headpiece consisting of a three pointed crown-like ridge, bearing both his Iwagakure forehead protecter and ring, and a prominent black piece of armor running across his cheeks and the bridge of his nose.
Despite his advanced age, his hair was solid red. It should be noted that his hair and beard style were exactly the same as that of the Four-Tails inside him.
Part II
Hunt for Uchiha arc
After an unseen and difficult battle with
Kisame Hoshigaki of
Akatsuki, Rōshi was somehow defeated and captured by Kisame. He later died as the result of having the Four-Tails extracted from his body.
Abilities
By borrowing the Four-Tails' power, Rōshi was able to use its
Lava Release ninjutsu, a combination of
Fire and
Earth-based
chakra. He was also shown with a unique, curved
kunai.
Han
| Han |
 |
| HanハンHan |
| Debut (Manga) | Chapter 420 (splash page) |
| Appears in | Manga
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| Classification | Jinchūriki |
| Age | Deceased"Deceased" is not a number. |
| Gender | Male |
| Affiliation | Iwagakure |
|
|
Han (ハン) was a shinobi from
Iwagakure and was the
jinchūriki of the
Five-Tailed Dolphin Horse, as well as the physically largest jinchūriki, easily standing a head taller than
Killer Bee. The Five-Tails has been captured and sealed by
Akatsuki, causing Han's death when the beast was extracted. He fought using steam.
Appearance
Unlike most other ninja seen in the series, Han is heavily armored, wearing a so-called steam armour (蒸気の鎧,
jōki no yoroi) with a furnace on the back that emits steam.
Utakata
| Utakata |
 |
| UtakataウタカタUtakata |
| Debut (Manga) | Chapter 420 (splash page) |
| Appears in | Manga
|
| Classification | Jinchūriki |
| Age | Deceased"Deceased" is not a number. |
| Gender | Male |
| Affiliation | Kirigakure |
|
|
Fū
| Please note that this is the Narutopedia's article on the character Fū from Takigakure, if you are looking for the article on the character Fū from Konohagakure then you should head to Fū (ANBU). |
| Fū |
 |
| FūフウFū |
| Debut (Manga) | Chapter 420 (splash page) |
| Appears in | Manga
|
| Classification | Jinchūriki |
| Age | Deceased"Deceased" is not a number. |
| Gender | Female |
| Affiliation | Takigakure |
Fū (フウ) was a kunoichi from
Takigakure and the
jinchūriki of the
Seven-Tailed Horned Beetle. The Seven-Tails has been captured and sealed by
Akatsuki, causing Fū's death when the beast was extracted.
Appearance
Fū has bright green hair and pink eyes. She wears a high white shirt and armlets and a fishnet waistband. She also wears the Takigakure forehead protector on her arm like Shikamaru. She also carries a cylindrical object on her back.
Trivia
- Fū can mean "seal" (封) or "method," "style" (風). The latter kanji also means "wind." Fū is also the Japanese name for the Chinese sweetgum (楓, Liquidambar formosana).
- Fū is the only jinchūriki to not come from one of the Five Great Shinobi Countries.
- The author, Masashi Kishimoto, isn't completely sure yet about the gender of this jinchūriki. However, for the time being, Fū is a girl.
- Fū and Yugito Nii were the only female jinchūriki.
Killer Bee
| Please note that this is the Narutopedia's article on character Killer Bee, if you are looking for the article on the summoned killer bees then you should head to Bees. |
Killer Bee (キラービー,
Kirābī) is a
shinobi from
Kumogakure and the
jinchūriki of the
Eight-Tailed Giant Ox. He is also the mentor of
Team Samui. It is hinted he comes from the
Yotsuki clan. He is the
current Raikage's younger brother.
Appearance
Killer Bee is very similar in terms of appearance with his older brother, being dark-skinned and possessing a muscular build, as well as white hair and beard. On his right shoulder, he has a tattoo that says "iron" (鉄,
tetsu); and on his left cheek, he has a tattoo of a bull's horn (correspondingly, the Eight-Tails has horns like a bull, and the left one is missing).
Killer Bee wears oval-shaped sunglasses and a white-colored
forehead protector. He also wears a white-colored one-strap-over-one-shoulder
Flak Jacket of a Kumogakure Jonin, with a red rope tied around his waist, white hand-bands, and a white scarf around his neck. He carries seven swords on his back, but currently has only two, losing five others in battle against
Taka.
Personality
Killer bee and the Eight-tailed beast
It seems that he demands respect from others and asks to be called "Lord Jinchūriki" (人柱力様,
Jinchūriki-sama) and his tailed beast be called "Lord Eight-Tails" (八尾様,
Hachibi-sama). He also appears willing to speak in song, more specifically in rap-style, even when confronted with potential threats. He will even stop in a middle of a fight to write whatever rhymes come to him, even if they are no good. This sometimes causes his opponents to become greatly bothered by him. He has a casual relationship with the Eight-Tails, frequently engaging in friendly conversation with it. The Raikage notes that he is the only being that Killer Bee will listen to.
Despite Killer Bee's conceited arrogance, he knows talent when he sees it, and respects those with it. The primary example is his fellow Kumogakure jinchūriki,
Yugito Nii, who he looks up to for her extreme skills.
Killer Bee appears to dislike light, as he complained when he exited his training area to find that the sun had risen.
Killer Bee seems to wish to leave his village for a vacation due to being tired of being the guardian and he can also be very deceitful; as he transformed into his full Eight-Tails form and faked his defeat and capture, only to escape from his village for a "vacation". When the
current Raikage,
Darui and
Shī learned that Killer Bee was not captured by Akatsuki, they immediately guessed his intentions and were not surprised by it, though they were very displeased. He does, however, seems to care for those who shares similar interests with him, as seen when he prioritized the safety of his singing master, Sabu and his pet Ponta first over confronting Kisame head-on when the Akatsuki confronted his entourage
The Raikage has noted that Killer Bee is not the type of person to work with the strategies created by people and that he would only bring chaos into a battlefield.
Gaara compares
Naruto Uzumaki in regards to this attribute.
Part II
Hunt for the Eight-Tails arc
Taka tracks Killer Bee to the
Valley of Clouds and Lightning soon after he finishes training with his tailed beast. When
Suigetsu attacked him, he easily overpowered him, and uses Suigetsu's sword to defeat
Jugo afterwards. He later shows an unorthodox sword style where he manages to hold all seven of his swords in a rather awkward pose; this is deceiving as his seven sword style is extremely formidable and he even fatally wounds
Sasuke Uchiha as Sasuke could not track the sword movements even with his
Sharingan.
As he moves in to finish Sasuke, Suigetsu comes to save him while Jugo attacks from behind. Even while the three fighting him at once Killer Bee appears unfazed by their attacks and quickly moves away from their location. Finally getting annoyed with Taka, Killer Bee announces he will unveil the "
Eighth" (八本目,
Happonme). Killer Bee formed his own
demon chakra shield and proceeded to attack Taka. Sasuke then attempted to place him in a
genjutsu but as Sasuke lowered his guard, Killer Bee struck. In the end, he blasted a hole in Sasuke's chest and neck claiming that a jinchuriki that has full control of his beast can become immune to genjutsu. He then
completely released the full power of the Eight-Tails, ordering the team to cower in fear of him.
Sasuke then hit the Eight-Tails with
Amaterasu. As one of it's tails was about to fall on Karin, Sasuke cut it with
Chidori Sharp Spear. Killer Bee disguised himself as the cut part of the tail and escaped. The Eight-Tails transformed into an unconscious form of Killer Bee. With his defeat, Sasuke carries him away. When his brother, the current Raikage, learns of his capture, he makes plans to deal with Sasuke and
Akatsuki. When Akatsuki later tries to extract the Eight-Tails from Killer Bee's body, they find that it is only one of the beast's tentacles disguised as Killer Bee. He had made the appearance that he was captured to escape his village, where he had grown bored of being a guardian. Since his village now believes him to be captured, he uses this as an opportunity to take a "vacation" from being a guardian. As Eight-Tails comments that a new era is coming, Killer Bee thinks he means about his new music career.
Kage Summit Arc
Killer Bee is shown to be near a far off mountain practicing his music career with his seemingly new music teacher, Master
Sabu, who thinks Killer Bee lacks passion in his singing. Later, Killer Bee is approached by
Kisame Hoshigaki saying his
Samehada tracked his powerful chakra scent. Killer Bee says he'll make quick work of Kisame.
Much to Killer Bee's shock, all of his lightning techniques fail against Kisame as Samehada continues to eat all the chakra that gets close enough, even his demon chakra. Eventually, Kisame has Samehada unleash its true form. Later as the battle progresses, Killer Bee uses the Eight-tail's chakra to transform into a seven-tailed version of the Eight-tails, similar to a six-tailed Naruto along with the skeleton of an ox. Killer Bee then uses the Lariat technique on Kisame severely injuring him to the point of exposing Kisame's ribcage, while Samehada absorbs the Eight-Tails' chakra. Kisame then uses Samehada to heal himself and combines with Samehada transforming himself into a monstrous shark-like form. Bee continues to fight Kisame and eventually gets a head on attack from Kisame in which he partially transforms one of his tails into a Octopus tail and wraps Kisame in it. When Kisame tried to slice off Killer Bee's legs after he was rendered unconscious, Samehada dug itself into the ground to prevent that from happening. It also attacked Kisame to protect Killer Bee as it has grown fond of his chakra. Killer Bee is now conscious again after obtaining some chakra from Samehada, but still appears to be in a weakened state. Kisame kicks Samehada aside and prepares to sever Bee's legs with one of his own swords.
Abilities
Killer Bee is an extremely powerful ninja, capable of overwhelming the entire Team
Taka all by himself, and has had his skills praised by several Kumogakure ninja, including his brother, the current Raikage. Madara Uchiha claimed that he is the perfect host. Similar to how other Jinchūriki obtain physical traits from their inner demon, Killer Bee is able to
produce ink from his mouth, which he mainly uses to write lyrics when he is lacking of regular writing tools or to blind his opponent. As expected of a Jinchūriki, Killer Bee has a very large reservoir of chakra, enough to make
Samehada to get very excited and taken a liking to him.
Physical Prowess
Bee possesses immense physical strength and combat prowess, capable of disarming a skilled opponent like Suigetsu with his bare hands. He is also shown to be incredibly durable in battle, having received a solid kick to the neck from Sasuke Uchiha only to drop his sword and begin writing lyrics, escaping unscathed after being hit by Sasuke's Chidori, and blasted from behind with Jugo's rocket-augmented attack.
Sword Skills
As a swordsman, Bee specializes in
swordplay. Possessing a unique fighting style, Bee holds his blades in between the joints of his arms, left leg, stomach, the left side of his neck, and in his mouth. As strange as it appears, Bee is very skilled with this, spinning around like a buzz saw and overwhelming his opponent with all of the varying swings, giving him great versatility. When he finds an opening, Bee can impale his opponent with most of his swords quickly and simultaneously. Neither Suigetsu nor Sasuke could read his sword work, despite being a highly trained swordsman and having the Sharingan. Capable of cutting through almost anything. Also, by covering himself with the Eight-Tailed Beast's chakra, he creates an "
Eighth" sword.
Lightning Element
During the battle with Sasuke he displayed the ability to flow
lightning-natured chakra through his blades to increase their cutting power, similar to Sasuke's own
jutsu. Killer Bee's prowess in Lightning Release techniques is so great, he can even charge a sharp but weak pencil-point to pierce straight through a large tree trunk and even through the ground. As stated by Kisame, Killer Bee is able to do this by increasing the vibration frequency of his lightning chakra to surpass the standard penetrative force of wind chakra.
Jinchūriki Transformations
Main article: Killer Bee Jinchūriki FormsLike other jinchūriki, Killer Bee has the ability to create a chakra cloak by drawing on part of his demon's power. He can then form this chakra into the form of two horns, and use them to attack the enemy, or he can partially transform into his tailed beast, with a technique called
Lariat. This attack has incredible speed and power, but the linearity of his movements makes him easier to predict. Because he has a strong relationship with his own tailed beast, it acts as his partner in battle, disturbing his chakra to dispel even genjutsu from Mangekyo Sharingan.
Like his fellow Cloud shinobi,
Yugito Nii, Killer Bee is able to become his tailed beast itself with great ease. Unlike her, however, he can retain complete control even in this fully released state, partially transform parts of his chakra shroud into parts of the Eight-Tails body. When he fully transforms, he can easily and repeatedly fire
massive chakra blasts many times the size of its already giant body, but Killer Bee was forbidden from transforming by the
current Raikage.
Naruto Uzumaki
| Naruto Uzumaki |
 |
| Naruto UzumakiうずまきナルトUzumaki Naruto |
| Debut (Manga) | Chapter 1 |
| Debut (Anime) | Naruto Episode 1 |
| Appears in | Anime and Manga |
| Seiyū (Japanese) |
|
| Voice actor(s) (English) |
|
| Voice actor(s) (Spanish) |
|
| Voix française(s) (French) |
|
| Highest rank | Genin |
| Classification | Jinchūriki, Sage |
| Birthdate | October 10 |
| Age |
- Part I: 12-13
- Part II: 15-16
|
| Height |
- Part I: 145.3-147.5 cm
- Part II: 166 cm
|
| Weight |
- Part I: 40.1-40.6 kg
- Part II: 50.9 kg
|
| Gender | Male |
| Blood type | B |
| Affiliation | Konohagakure |
| Team | Team Kakashi |
| Previous team(s) |
|
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|
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Naruto Uzumaki (うずまきナルト,
Uzumaki Naruto) is the title character, and main protagonist of the series. Although he is only a
Genin of
Konohagakure, he is trained as a
sage and thus is one of the village's most powerful ninja. He is the son and only child of
Minato Namikaze and
Kushina Uzumaki, a member of
Team Kakashi, and the
jinchūriki of the
Nine-Tailed Demon Fox.
Background
Naruto was born the son of the Fourth
Hokage,
Minato Namikaze, and
Kushina Uzumaki. Before his birth, they had decided to name him after the main character in
Jiraiya's first
book, hoping their son would be as great a ninja as the character was. This made Jiraiya Naruto's godfather. Soon after his birth, however, the
Nine-Tailed Demon Fox attacked Konoha. To save the village, Minato engaged the Nine-Tails in combat and sealed its
yang chakra it into Naruto's body, using the
Dead Demon Consuming Seal sacrificing his life in the process, believing his son would someday have use for it. Naruto was left to grow up knowing nothing of his parents, receiving only his mother's last name since
Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, felt that it was best that nobody knew that he was related to the Fourth Hokage.
Before Minato died, he asked that the villagers of Konoha view Naruto as a hero who had helped to stop the Nine-Tails. Few did as he asked, instead openly resenting him for containing the monster that had destroyed their home. In light of this, the Third Hokage decreed that nobody should ever speak of the Nine-Tails sealed within Naruto, hoping that their children would not resent him as they did. The children, however, followed their parents' lead, despite not knowing why.
Iruka Umino would be one of the few exceptions, who was always compassionate to Naruto's plight. For this, Naruto came to view Iruka as the father-figure he never had.
Appearance
As stated by Jiraiya, Naruto bears a striking resemblance to his father. Naruto possesses similar blue eyes and spiky blonde hair; however, the actual shape of his eyes resemble his mother's. Naruto is regularly seen with an upbeat and eager persona, always eager for something such as learning a new technique or a hot bowl of
ramen. A trait regularly mentioned, that easily angered him, was his short stature for his age. During Part I, he was one of the shortest in his graduating class, second only to Hinata. During Part II, he had a significant growth spurt that was noticeable to all, as first mentioned by Sakura, who stated he was now much taller than her. Even
Kiba Inuzuka stated that Naruto had become a 'giant', and
Temari remarked that the 'shorty' had grown dramatically upon seeing him. Also, earlier in the series, Naruto used to squint his eyes a lot when confused, but stopped after a while.
Personality
Because of the prejudice and loneliness he experienced during his childhood, Naruto developed a craving for acknowledgment. In order to achieve this, Naruto would play pranks all around the village and even go as far as to strive for the rank of
Hokage. Even after graduating from the
academy, Naruto was still determined to be recognized. Though as Naruto made more and more connections with others, his reasons for wanting to become Hokage underwent a change, having less to do with the desire for recognition, and more to do with wanting the strength to protect his home and the people close to him.
Naruto's exuberant personality and fiery desire for self-improvement strongly impacts the lives of those around him. At the beginning of the series, Naruto befriended
Konohamaru Sarutobi, the grandson of the
Third Hokage, and it is through his brief tutelage that Konohamaru learned that the path to success is through plenty of hard work.
Kakashi described this as Naruto's "
unique power," as he seems to change the world views of everyone he meets, and inspires courage for the future within them. Naruto was able to redeem
Zabuza, and make
Neji abandon his view of destiny and inescapable fate, inspire courage in
Inari,
Sakura, and
Hinata, persuade
Tsunade to come out of seclusion, change
Gaara from the dark demon into one of his closest friends, and even earn the trust of
Nagato, the apparent leader of Akatsuki, who was one of the main antagonists of the
series. Neji believes that only Naruto can save
Sasuke from darkness; however, Sasuke and the
current Raikage are to date the only people Naruto has failed to persuade.
As mentioned above, Naruto is characterized as being
hyperactive; he is typically exuberant, easily excitable, impulsive, and suffers from a short
attention span. This is supported by
Asuma Sarutobi in the 'Fire Temple' arc in the anime, describing Naruto as being the type who doesn't think before acting, similar to
Sora. Asuma also identifies Naruto's personality type and
fighting style, like Sora's, as being a 'power type' (types that are best suited to 'charging straight in') and are best effective in battle when sent in first, in the front to 'clear a path' through the enemy's defensive line, making a way in after them for the rest of the team. While raw power is one of his strengths, Naruto has begun to learn in recent chapters that it is something that he needs to temper with focus in order for it to become truly effective.
According to Kakashi, Naruto is someone who
learns through his body. Naruto is relatively naive, being slow to understand a
jutsu's principles, and often requiring a dumbing-down of an already dumbed-down analogy in order to grasp what is being explained to him. This assumes he is able to keep his attention long enough, as he commonly seeks to change the subject in light of his ignorance, outwardly insisting that he already gets the concept. Though he retains this confidence in himself to great degrees, loudly proclaiming that he will master whatever technique he is learning in a fraction of the usual time, Naruto will not hesitate to ask for help if he needs it.
As an extension of his naivety, Naruto has a number of childish traits. His pajamas always include a comical black nightcap with eyes and teeth, and he keeps his money in a chubby, green-frog wallet he affectionately calls "
Gama-chan." He is also very brash and rarely pays heed to formality or social standings. He almost exclusively eats
ramen, and is a frequent customer at the
Ichiraku Ramen Bar. He has only refused ramen on one occasion: when Jiraiya died. He has a natural affinity for
perverted ideas and jutsu, something he tends to be reprimanded for by Sakura, and which is only brought to new levels after meeting
Jiraiya. He also smiles near-constantly, which during his childhood, was to mask the sadness of his lonely life. Those who are closest to him are able to recognize when his smile isn't genuine.
However, when the situation calls for it, when someone dear to him is in trouble, Naruto can be very serious, and will instantly try to come to their aid. This is most commonly seen in the series through his interactions with his teammates,
Sasuke Uchiha and
Sakura Haruno. With Sasuke, Naruto views him as a brother, and throughout Part II strives to bring him back to Konoha, despite his willing defection from the village. With Sakura, Naruto had a long-standing crush on her, and will do all in his power to make her happy, even if it is at the expense of his own happiness.
Sai has indicated that this dedication has progressed to the point of love. Sai also notes that the strain of making Sakura happy and bringing Sasuke home are the source of Naruto's internal pain.
After talking with his father, and the loss of his mentor Jiraiya and talking to his killer, Nagato; Naruto came to understand the downside of revenge, and desired to stop Sasuke from it even more. Also, Naruto tried to stop the
Kumo-nins from exacting their revenge against Sasuke, for this would only create a cycle of hatred. It appears that Naruto is becoming increasingly desperate in his quest to save Sasuke, as he was willing to get down on his knees before the Raikage and beg for Sasuke to be forgiven for his crimes and even take physical abuse over selling him out. Furthermore, after learning from Madara the reason of his hatred he decided and proclaimed to Sakura, who was trying to get him to leave his quest, that he truly understands him now and he wants to save him not just because of the promise he made to Sakura but for also to himself.
Naruto and the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox
The Nine-Tails, trapped within Naruto.
Main article: Naruto Jinchūriki Forms As the
jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails, both Naruto's mind and body are occasionally influenced by it. Physically, Naruto has some of the fox's characteristics, such as whisker-like marks on his cheeks and larger than normal canines, which become enhanced further during his transformations. He also has increased stamina and healing abilities, which allows him to recover from major injuries usually within a day, and minor injuries within a few seconds. Mentally, Naruto remains largely unaffected, save for a few animalistic traits that slip through, such as his occasional tendency to leap between trees
on all fours. Since the Nine-Tails was sealed inside Naruto at birth, it is unclear just what parts of his personality it has had an effect on; however, it could explain Naruto's impish side for pulling pranks to gain attention, as well as his stubbornness to never back down from a challenge.
Naruto's normal chakra level is considered extremely high, partially because of the Nine-Tails. Even without directly drawing upon it, a small amount of the Nine-Tails' chakra is always mixed with his own.
Jiraiya once commented upon the fact that Naruto's body is much too small a vessel to properly contain the chakra of the Nine-Tails, and his body will instinctively reject the bulk of it due to the damage it would cause.
Ebisu implied that Naruto's poor chakra control stems from this, as a portion of his chakra is used to reject the Nine-Tails' overwhelming chakra. What chakra that does not get suppressed by Naruto's body is assimilated by his chakra, making Naruto's usual chakra capacity unusually high. According to Kakashi, Naruto's regular chakra level is about four times of Kakashi's own. As such, he is naturally suited to jutsu that use a large amount of chakra, such as his signature jutsu,
Shadow Clone Technique. While most ninja are only capable of creating a few clones safely, due to the jutsu's hazard of equally dividing the user's chakra among the clones, Naruto is able to create hundreds while maintaining a decent supply of chakra in each one.
The Nine-Tails' chakra usually comes to Naruto during life-threatening or other stressful situations, given to him by the Nine-Tails itself to ensure its survival. Naruto eventually learns to contact the Nine-Tails and demand some of its chakra, which it seems to comply to out of amusement. The reason Naruto is able to access its chakra is because of the unique way in which it was sealed. Though the Nine-Tails remains trapped within Naruto, its chakra can leak out through the seal and mix with Naruto's. The Nine-Tails' near-limitless supply of chakra becomes an invaluable weapon for Naruto, often turning the tide of a difficult battle in his favor. Though useful, expanding the magnitude of his other abilities, Naruto cannot handle too much of the Nine-Tails' influence. As he draws upon additional amounts of the Nine-Tails' chakra, "tails" are produced, and from the fourth tail onwards he is reduced to animal instincts, no longer being able to differentiate between friend and foe. Although he usually stops himself from getting too far, once the fourth tail is attained he needs outside assistance to force the Nine-Tails' influence to recede.
Part I
See also: Plot of Naruto The series begins with Naruto, labelled as his classes '
Dead-Last', once again failing to graduate from the
Ninja Academy. Disappointed that his plans of becoming Hokage have hit another hurdle, Naruto was approached by one of his instructors,
Mizuki. Mizuki told Naruto that, if he could steal the
Scroll of Seals from the
Hokage Residence and learn one of the jutsu written on it, then he would be allowed to graduate. Naruto did so, and began struggling to learn the
Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, unaware that the village was now looking for him.
Iruka tracked him down, and discovered Mizuki's involvement in the theft, realizing that Naruto had been duped by Mizuki, in an effort to steal the scroll. Mizuki attacked them, and told Naruto about the Nine-Tails sealed within him, claiming that Iruka hated him because of it. When Iruka risked his life to protect Naruto, however, Naruto realized that Mizuki's earlier words were a lie, and created hundreds of shadow clones to beat Mizuki to a pulp. For mastering such a difficult technique, Iruka allowed Naruto to graduate.
In the days to come, Naruto befriended Konohamaru and became his on-off teacher, showing him how to perform a variety of both perverted and useful jutsu throughout the rest of the series. He was also assigned to
Team 7, where he was partnered with
Sasuke Uchiha and
Sakura Haruno, under the leadership of
Kakashi Hatake.
As the team's first order of business, Kakashi gave them a test to see if they were ready to become
Genin. He had the three of them try to take the two bells he kept on his person, the goal of the test being to place teamwork above the fact that they couldn't all have a bell. Although they initially failed miserably, all trying independently to take a bell, they eventually decided to work together, allowing them to pass.
Land of Waves arc
After completing a number of simple, uneventful missions, Team 7, at Naruto's insistence, was assigned the somewhat more difficult
C-rank task of escorting
Tazuna to the
Land of Waves. When they were attacked by the
Demon Brothers along the way, who tried to kill Tazuna, they realized that there was more to this mission than a simple escort. Tazuna revealed that his country was under the control of
Gato, who had left the people poor and unable to afford the more accurate
A-rank mission payment. By building a bridge that would connect the Land of Waves to the mainland, Tazuna hoped to free the country from Gato, prompting Gato to try and kill him. Team 7 decided to help Tazuna, and act as his bodyguards until the bridge was completed.
They were soon attacked by
Zabuza Momochi, another of Gato's assassins, who engaged Kakashi in battle. When Zabuza captured Kakashi, he encouraged his team to escape with Tazuna. Having been of little use during the battle with the Demon Brothers, Naruto resolved to help Kakashi. With Sasuke's assistance, they were able to free Kakashi, who in turn almost defeated Zabuza. However,
Haku, disguised as a
hunter-nin, intervened, and appeared to kill Zabuza first, in actuality only putting him in a death-like state in order to get him to safety. Kakashi suspected that Zabuza was still alive, and gave Team 7 a
Tree Climbing Practice to improve their chakra control. Naruto and Sasuke developed a competition over the exercise, each determined to complete the training first, and subsequently motivating each other to do better.
While Naruto was resting from training one day, he encountered Haku, unaware that it was the same boy he had encountered earlier. The two had a conversation about those who were precious to them, and the lengths they would go to protect them. After Haku left, Naruto finished the training, but was left so tired that the rest of Team 7 allowed him to rest the next day as they went to escort Tazuna. When he woke up, he went to assist them, only to find that they were in the midst of battle with Zabuza and Haku.
Naruto's first use of the Nine-Tails' chakra.
Naruto went to help Sasuke in his battle with Haku, but they were both trapped by Haku's
Demonic Ice Mirrors (because Naruto was an idiot and thought it'd be a good idea to "sneak in to help"). When Haku tried to use a volley of needles to kill Naruto, Sasuke stepped in to protect him, appearing to die instead. Enraged by the apparent death of Sasuke, Naruto tapped into the Nine-Tails' chakra, allowing him to destroy the ice mirrors, and subsequently defeat Haku. Before he could kill Haku, however, the mask he was wearing broke away, revealing the face of the boy Naruto had met earlier. Naruto stopped himself, but Haku asked that he should finish the job, since he could no longer be of use to Zabuza. Although Naruto tried to comply, Haku stopped him at the last minute, and went to help Zabuza. When Naruto realized what had happened - that Haku had given his life to save an ungrateful Zabuza - an outraged Naruto reprimanded Zabuza for not appreciating Haku's actions. Touched by his words, Zabuza killed Gato to repent in an effort to do Haku justice, but died of his wounds. The bridge (now named the
Great Naruto Bridge) was completed, and the Land of Waves was saved, so Team 7 (with a recovered Sasuke) returned home.
Chunin Exam arc
After returning home and completing a few other simple missions, Team 7 was entered into the
Chunin Exams. In the first phase, a written test, the participating Genin were tasked with completing the test by cheating, all the while being sure not to get caught. Though the rest of the examinees realized this, Naruto did not, and struggled to answer the questions, which were far beyond his comprehension.
Hinata Hyuga, who was sitting next to him, offered to allow him to copy off her paper, but he refused, in fear that she would get caught. Naruto was forced to rely on getting the tenth question correct to pass. When faced with the prospect of correctly answering the question to proceed, failing and never being allowed to take the test again, or giving up to try it again during the next exams, Naruto insisted on answering the question, stating that, even if he got it wrong, he would still become Hokage. The willingness to face the unknown being the answer to the tenth question, Naruto and the rest of Team 7 were allowed to proceed to the second phase.
For the second phase, Team 7 was sent into the
Forest of Death with one scroll, tasked to obtain a second scroll from another team and arrive at the forest's centre before the phase ended. Soon after entering the forest, they were attacked by
Orochimaru, who immobilized Sasuke and Sakura with his murderous intent. Before Sasuke could forfeit their scroll in exchange for their lives, Naruto intervened, fighting Orochimaru by tapping into the Nine-Tails' chakra. Orochimaru rendered Naruto unconscious by restricting access to the Nine-Tails' chakra, but Naruto's courage inspired Sasuke to fight in his place. After Orochimaru was driven off and Naruto awakened, Team 7 encountered
Team Oboro. After wasting a day trapped in the rival team's
genjutsu, Team 7 was able to defeat them, take their scroll, and pass the round.
Naruto vs. Kiba and Akamaru.
Because too many Genin teams had passed the second phase, a round of preliminary matches, where Genin faced each other in combat, were held to thin the field. After watching the first few rounds, Naruto was matched against
Kiba Inuzuka, and his dog,
Akamaru. Remembering Naruto to be talentless from their days in the academy, Kiba believed it would be an easy match. He and Akamaru double-teamed Naruto, who initially had difficulty with the match. After combining the
Transformation Technique with his shadow clones to turn Kiba and Akamaru against each other, Naruto was able to remove Akamaru from the competition. When Kiba was about to defeat him, Naruto blew off, immobilizing Kiba and his heightened sense of smell, and making him an easy target for the
Uzumaki Naruto Combo. Naruto won the match.
While watching the remaining matches, Naruto witnessed
Neji Hyuga's ruthless treatment of his cousin, Hinata. Angered by Neji's actions, and his claims that Hinata was a failure who couldn't escape that fate, Naruto vowed to defeat Neji during the first round of the finals a month later. In the meantime, Naruto started training with
Ebisu to improve his chakra control. When Ebisu was knocked out by Jiraiya, Naruto forced Jiraiya to train him in his place. Jiraiya, noticing that Naruto was the container of the Nine-Tails, and the restrictive seal Orochimaru had placed on him earlier, Jiraiya removed the seal to ease his chakra control. He then taught him how to take advantage of the Nine-Tails' chakra by showing him how to use the
Summoning Technique to summon
toads. Although having little success at first, Naruto was eventually able to summon the likes of
Gamabunta in time for the final round.
When his match against Neji began, Naruto appeared to be at a disadvantage. Although he was able to overwhelm Neji with shadow clones, none of the clones could manage to land a hit. Convinced that Naruto was a failure that could not defeat a genius like himself, Neji used his
Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms to cut off Naruto's chakra supply. Determined to prove Neji wrong, Naruto tapped into the Nine-Tails' reserves and, revitalized, clashed with Neji. When the smoke cleared, Neji emerged, Naruto appearing to have been defeated. This, however, was only a shadow clone, and the real Naruto burst from the ground beneath Neji, to deliver an uppercut and defeat him. Neji was taken away, contemplating the fact that fate was not predetermined, since a failure could beat a genius, while Naruto watched the remaining matches. When Sasuke fought
Gaara, he was envious of Sasuke's improvements, but the fight was interrupted by the beginning of the invasion of Konoha.
Invasion of Konoha arc
Naruto was put to sleep when the invasion began, but was awakened by Sakura so that they could go after Sasuke, who was pursuing Gaara in order to continue their fight. They caught up in time to stop Gaara from killing Sasuke. Intrigued by Naruto's abilities, Gaara forced him into battle by threatening to kill Sakura. With the power of the
One-Tailed Shukaku sealed within him, Gaara tried to prove his existence by killing Naruto by playing with him. Although Naruto could relate to Gaara's life as a jinchūriki, he was not willing to allow anything to happen to Sakura and Sasuke. With the Nine-Tails' chakra, he summoned Gamabunta, and fought Gaara, who by now had progressed to his full Shukaku form.
Naruto was able to awaken Gaara from his jutsu to reseal the Shukaku, and they exchanged final blows, Naruto emerging the final blow. Both of them, being very exausted, falls on the floor, Naruto crawling his way towards Gaara. Gaara is shocked to see why Naruto was so strong. Naruto explains that he has also suffered a relentless lonely life, but was later saved by having friends. Gaara understands, and retreats with
Kankuro and
Temari, while Naruto is returned back to
Konohagakure with Sakura and Sasuke.
Search for Tsunade arc
After the failed invasion resulted in the death of the Third Hokage, Jiraiya was tasked with finding a Fifth Hokage. He convinced Naruto to come with him by promising to teach him a new jutsu. Along the way, they were met by
Kisame and
Itachi, two members of
Akatsuki, who sought to capture Naruto for the Nine-Tails sealed within him. Jiraiya was able to draw them off, but Naruto was introduced to the organization that would become more of a problem for him in Part II. To prepare him for their future encounters, Jiraiya taught him how to use the
Rasengan, a jutsu created by Minato. While Naruto was able to complete the first two steps of the learning process with little difficulty, he struggled to complete the third and thus master the technique.
Naruto and Jiraiya eventually found
Tsunade, the ideal candidate for the position of Fifth Hokage. When she turned down the offer, and insulted all those who had previously held the title, an angry Naruto attacked her with an incomplete Rasengan. Although his effort failed to hit her, she was surprised by his progress and made a bet with him: if he could master the technique in a week, she would give him her
necklace. He agreed, and started practicing, but in a week's time still had yet to finish the training. Disappointed, Tsunade met with Orochimaru, the murderer of the Third Hokage, and Naruto and Jiraiya tried to stop her from helping him.
Tsunade turned out to have no intention of helping Orochimaru, and fought him and his assistant,
Kabuto. When Kabuto left her unable to fight, Naruto came to her aid. By using shadow clones to help him form it, Naruto was able to hit Kabuto with a perfected Rasengan, winning the bet. Amazed by his determination to keep to his word and to survive against a superior opponent, Tsunade gave him her necklace, drove off Orochimaru and Kabuto, and accepted the position of Fifth Hokage. They returned to Konoha, Tsunade confidently believing Naruto would someday become a great Hokage.
Sasuke Retrieval arc
After returning with Tsunade, Sasuke began to fall into the corruption set in place for him by Orochimaru. He began lashing out at Sakura and Naruto, not as teammates but as enemies, eventually defecting from Konoha in order to seek out Orochimaru for power. Under the escort of Orochimaru's
Sound Four, Sasuke left to join Orochimaru, and Naruto joined a
retrieval team that would bring him back. While the other members of the team dealt with the Sound Four, Naruto finally engaged in a fight with the Sound Four's fifth member,
Kimimaro. However, he was not able to beat him. When he was about to be killed, he was saved by
Rock Lee, who told him to continue the pursuit of Sasuke while he fought Kimimaro.
Naruto finally caught up with Sasuke in a place called
Valley of the End, very near the border of the
Land of Fire and the
Land of Sound, and fought Sasuke. With Sasuke determined to kill Naruto in his quest for power, Naruto decided he would have to take the battle seriously if he was to bring Sasuke back. When Sasuke's drive to kill proved greater than Naruto's resolve of friendship in a 'fair' fight, Naruto tapped into the Nine-Tails' chakra to level the playing field. Sasuke, pushed to his limits, managed to develop the mature Sharingan, greatly overpowering Naruto. When Naruto, even with the Nine-Tails' chakra, was defeated, he tapped into the chakra even more, and a red aura of the Nine-Tails' chakra, in the shape of a fox, surrounded him. Sasuke then drew on the power of the second stage of his
cursed seal to properly compete with Naruto. The two had one final clash, Naruto with his
Rasengan and Sasuke with his
Chidori. Sasuke struck Naruto, and effectively defeated him. After staring at Naruto's unconscious body, Sasuke couldn't bring himself to kill his best friend, and he simply continued on his way.
Although he failed to retrieve Sasuke, Naruto vowed to Sakura that he would someday bring Sasuke home.
Filler arcs
After the anime of
Naruto had concluded the
Sasuke Retrieval arc, to make sure the anime did not over take
Part II of the manga, the makers instead animated several filler arcs to take place before Naruto left for his three year training with
Jiraiya. Naruto is sent on various missions with the other members of the
Konoha 11, but while there is little character development for himself, the filler arcs tend to develop the supporting characters.
Part II
Rescue Gaara arc
When Naruto returned to Konoha, the remaining members of Team 7 were reorganized into Team Kakashi. As their first order of business, Kakashi gave them another bell test, this time the only goal being to take a bell, and that he would use his
Sharingan against them. Although their abilities had improved, Naruto and Sakura were still unable to beat Kakashi, and it was only by threatening to spoil the end of the latest
Icha Icha novel that they distracted Kakashi long enough to take the bells. Naruto reconnected with his old friends, who had all advanced to
Chunin-rank, and then heard that Gaara, the new
Kazekage, had been kidnapped by Akatsuki. Naruto and Team Kakashi set out for
Sunagakure to save him.
Upon arrival in Sunagakure,
Chiyo was added to Team Kakashi as an adviser, and they followed Akatsuki's trail. Along the way, they encountered a body-double of Itachi Uchiha, which engaged them in battle. Kakashi and Naruto teamed up in order to defeat the lookalike, before continuing onto the Akatsuki lair. There, they found Gaara's body in the possession of
Deidara and
Sasori. When Deidara flew off with Gaara, Naruto and Kakashi pursued him, leaving Sasori to Chiyo and Sakura. While initially unable to catch Deidara, Kakashi was able to use his
Mangekyo Sharingan to distract Deidara, giving Naruto an opportunity to attack him and retrieve Gaara. Deidara escaped, and Naruto and Kakashi reunited with Sakura and Chiyo.
Although Sakura tried to heal Gaara, he had already died, a casualty of Akatsuki's
tailed beast extraction-process. Angered that Gaara had died because he was a jinchūriki, something he had never asked for and had suffered because of his whole life, Naruto lashed out at Chiyo, the one who had sealed Shukaku into Gaara in the first place. To make up for what she had done, Chiyo, with the help of Naruto, restored Gaara to life, at the cost of her own. Gaara awakened surrounded by friends, and, after Chiyo's funeral, Naruto and Gaara finally shake hands (Gaara insisting), as a sign to their close relationship. Afterwards, Naruto and the gang went back to Konoha.
Sai and Sasuke arc
During Sakura's battle with Sasori, she learned of a spy in Orochimaru's inner circle, an opportunity for them to find Sasuke after his years of absence. Kakashi was left hospitalized from overuse of the Mangekyo Sharingan, so
Yamato was assigned to lead Team Kakashi in his place.
Sai was also added to the team as Sasuke's replacement, but neither Naruto nor Sakura were able to accept him as such.
En route to the meeting place with the spy, Yamato tried to get the team to work together, although Sai's personality and disdain for his predecessor caused only conflict amongst the team. When they arrived at the meeting spot, they found that the spy was Kabuto. Yamato, disguised as Sasori, spoke with him, but they were interrupted by the arrival of Orochimaru. Kabuto, in turn, turned against Yamato, who was forced to call Naruto and the others for back-up. Surprised to see Naruto, Orochimaru wondered aloud if Naruto had become as strong as "his Sasuke". Enraged that Orochimaru had spoken as if Sasuke belonged to him, Naruto entered a
three-tailed transformation, and attacked him.
Naruto in his four-tailed transformation.
While a fair match, Orochimaru was able to evade Naruto's attacks. Further provoked by his inability to land a debilitating blow, Naruto advanced to the
four-tailed form, losing his sense of self in his anger. Now a danger to Orochimaru, Naruto was forced back so that he could switch targets, his first being Sakura. Yamato restrained him before he could do any real harm, and forced the Nine-Tails' influence to recede. When he woke up, they found that Sai had joined up with Orochimaru. They followed him in the hopes that he would lead them to Sasuke, and to see what he was up to. During a break, Yamato took Naruto aside, and told him of how he had attacked Sakura, encouraging him not to rely on the Nine-Tails if he really wanted to protect those close to him.
When they arrived at Orochimaru's hideout, they infiltrated the lair, and captured Sai. Exposed, Sai revealed that his superiors had sent him to help organize another invasion of Konoha. He was restrained for his treachery, while the others went looking for Sasuke. Sai, having earlier met Sasuke, asked why Naruto was so determined to bring him back. Naruto explained that the two had a bond that couldn't be broken, and that he would risk his life to protect this bond. Intrigued, Sai switched sides, helping them to capture Kabuto and then scouring the base in order to reunite Sasuke with Naruto. He succeeded, but was attacked by Sasuke, the magnitude of which drew the rest of Team Yamato to their location.
Together again, Naruto and Sakura tried to convince Sasuke to come home. Still determined to gain power, he refused, prompting the team to use force. Their efforts were unsuccessful, and Naruto, in his inability to compete with Sasuke's growth, struggled to reject the Nine-Tails. Within his subconscious, he told it that he never wanted its assistance again, but it was not until Sasuke entered Naruto's subconscious that the Nine-Tails gave up on spreading its influence. In the real world, Sasuke tried to finish off his former, defeated teammates. He was stopped by Orochimaru, however, and they retreated, leaving Team Yamato to return home.
Fire Temple arc
In the anime, Team Yamato was sent on a mission to the
Fire Temple. There they met
Sora, a young monk who openly disliked Naruto. Despite this, Sora was added to their team to help investigate the grave-robbing of a number of former
Twelve Guardian Ninja. Soon after the investigation began, Naruto noticed that the other monks treated Sora much as the villagers of Konoha used to treat him: as an outcast sentenced to loneliness. Naruto asked him about this, but Sora only replied that he didn't blame them.
Upon finding the grave robbers, Naruto was forced into battle with
Fuka, a woman that kept trying to kiss Naruto. Through the use of shadow clones, he was able to escape her advances, only to find out that she was a master of all five types of elemental jutsu. Soon afterwards, she managed to kiss him, an act that sucked all the chakra from his body. Once his normal chakra was gone, however, she began sucking out the Nine-Tails' chakra, a force she couldn't handle, and was promptly overwhelmed by. She retreated with her team, and Team Yamato returned to Konoha, with Sora as a temporary substitute for Sai.
Naruto continued to try and befriend Sora, only for his and the efforts of others in Konoha being turned away. When later following Sora, Naruto found him to be trying to kill
Asuma and Tsunade. After stopping him, Naruto asked why Sora was being so hostile. He discovered that Asuma had killed
Sora's father. Asuma soon arrived to try and explain, but Sora ran off. Naruto once again followed him, but was stopped by Fuka. Forced into battle with her again, Naruto attacked, only to find that she was apparently regenerating from her injuries. Upon noticing that she had stopped using certain elements, Naruto realized that Fuka somehow had multiple bodies, and that each had its own affinity which she could switch between. Coming to the conclusion that her soul resided in her hair, Naruto destroyed all of Fuka's bodies before destroying her hair too, allowing him to follow Sora uninhibited.
When he arrived back in Konoha, Naruto discovered that not only was Sora's father still alive, but that he was behind the various grave-robbings. The more pressing matter, however, was that he had. years earlier, sealed some of the excess chakra, left behind during the Nine-Tails' attack, into Sora, and sought to use its power to destroy Konoha. As Sora lost control of the Nine-Tails' chakra within him, Naruto also struggled to control the Nine-Tails' attempt to create a four-tailed form. He was able to maintain his senses, however, and forced the Nine-Tails' influence to recede, and was able to get through to Sora to help him return to normal as well. The Nine-Tails' chakra was expelled from Sora's body and, finally free, he said goodbye to Naruto before setting out to explore the world.
Hidan and Kakuzu arc
Kakashi, hoping to make Naruto better prepared for his next encounter with Sasuke, trained him to create a new
wind-based jutsu. In the anime, this training began before, and continued throughout, the Fire Temple arc, with Naruto seeking assistance from Asuma and Sora, two other wind chakra users. Kakashi had Naruto train with shadow clones to master wind manipulation in only a fraction of the time. When he did this, Kakashi left him with the task of combining what he had learned with the Rasengan. He explained that infusing one's chakra nature with the Rasengan was what Minato had intended to do when he created the Rasengan, but had not been able to do so before he died. Kakashi believed Naruto would prove successful where his father could not, inspiring Naruto to do his best.
While he struggled to create his new Rasengan, the rest of Konoha mobilized to deal with the Akatsuki members,
Hidan and
Kakuzu. When the two managed to kill Asuma, Kakashi left Yamato in charge of overseeing Naruto's training so that he could help
Team 10 avenge Asuma. Once he achieved a usable jutsu, Naruto and Team Yamato went to provide assistance, arriving in time to save Kakashi and Team 10 from Kakuzu. Naruto engaged Kakuzu by himself with his
Wind Release: Rasenshuriken, created with the help of shadow clones. Once striking Kakuzu with the attack, two of his hearts were destroyed, and his final heart was left on the brink of failure. Tired out by the ordeal, Naruto's injuries were healed while Kakashi finished off Kakuzu.
Upon retuning to Konoha, Naruto was forbidden by Tsunade to use the Rasenshuriken again. While it was devastating to his opponents, it was equally devastating to the arms he used it with, endangering him and his hopes of remaining a ninja. Naruto said that he realized this, but claimed he understood his own body better than anyone else.
Three-Tails Arrival arc
In the anime, while still recovering from over-using his Rasenshuriken, Jiraiya appeared to congratulate his student's latest successes: defeating one of the Akatsuki members and completing Minato's jutsu. Jiraiya offered to take Naruto on another journey to train, which Naruto quickly agreed to. In truth, Jiraiya's main reason for taking Naruto from Konoha again was so he would not join Kakashi and
Team 8 on their mission to find Orochimaru's latest hideout. For their training, they went to a neighboring town to teach Naruto how to use
collaboration jutsu with toads.
Gamariki was initially summoned to help in this endeavor, but when Naruto proved unable to work with him,
Gamakichi and
Gamatatsu were summoned instead.
Later, while resting at a hot springs, Naruto met a young boy named
Yūkimaru. They talked for a short time about bonds, which made Yūkimaru happy. When Yūkimaru left, Naruto resumed his training, and started having success performing synchronized jutsu with Gamakichi and Gamatatsu. Jiraiya was soon called away, so they returned to Konoha, where Naruto taught Gamatatsu how to perform
water-based jutsu. Soon afterwards, he met up with Sai, who let slip that the rest of the team was about to provide back-up for Kakashi in his search for Orochimaru. Determined to help, since he might meet Sasuke, Naruto convinced Tsunade to let him go too.
While searching for Team 8, Naruto ran into Yūkimaru again, and offered him a chance to join him back at Konoha, in response to which Yūkimaru quickly disappeared. As Naruto and his team found themselves halted by
Guren's crystal barrier, Naruto summoned Gamakichi and Gamatatsu for help. They then used the
Wind Release: Toad Gun to break through, and on the opposite side found Team 8. When they noticed that Hinata had been captured, they helped rescue her, before retreating. The combined teams followed Guren to a lake, where Naruto was sent ahead to scout the area. He found Guren and her forces (amongst them being Yūkimaru) with the
Three-Tailed Giant Turtle, who created a tidal wave that drove them all back to shore.
While the team decided what to do with the Three-Tails, Naruto went off to confront Yūkimaru. He found Guren instead, and they argued over what would really make Yūkimaru happy. Yūkimaru soon appeared as well, but after saying that he appreciated Naruto's efforts but would rather stay with Guren, left with her. Before he could go after them, he was called back to help with the
tailed beast, his goal being to prevent Guren and her forces from interfering with its sealing. To his delight, Kakashi also tasked him with safely retrieving Yūkimaru.
Despite their best efforts, Guren was able to stop the sealing. Yūkimaru used this as an opportunity to try and control the beast, prompting both Naruto and Guren to come to his aid. In the process, they were both eaten by the Three-Tails, giving them an opportunity to talk and find out they both had Yūkimaru's best interests in mind. Setting their differences aside, they teamed up to escape. Outside, they found
Rinji trying to drug Yūkimaru. After Naruto and Guren managed to stop Rinji, they discovered that it was really Kabuto in disguise. Kabuto revealed that Rinji had become part of his corpse collection long ago, and was reanimated through his
medical ninjutsu.
While Naruto faced off against Kabuto, Rinji was resummoned and sent up against Guren, whose bat-oriented jutsu turned out to be a perfect counter to Guren's crystal jutsu. After Guren sacrificed herself to defeat Rinji, Yūkimaru went into such an emotional outburst that it gave the Three-Tails the power to break free from the sealing barrier. Afterwards, with the Three-Tails escaping and Kabuto disappearing, Naruto went to aid the weakened Yūkimaru. Later, Shizune was able to heal Yūkimaru, but explained his chakra network was too damaged to ever control the Three-Tails again.
The following morning, after Tsunade had ordered the team to return to Konoha, Naruto discovered that Yūkimaru had vanished. After discovering that Yūkimaru had left his crystal from Guren behind, he realized that Guren was still alive, and with Yūkimaru. Knowing that the two would be fine, he decided not to pursue them. While failing to seal the Three-Tails, the successful saving of Yūkimaru inspired Naruto more than ever to bring Sasuke back to his true home, with his friends in Konoha.
Hunt for Itachi arc
After news of Orochimaru's defeat at the hands of Sasuke, Team Kakashi decided to make another attempt to find him. Knowing that Sasuke was going after his older brother,
Itachi, they teamed up with the members of Team 8 to find either of the Uchiha brothers. They scoured the landscape, and eventually encountered Kabuto, who had absorbed some of Orochimaru's remains into his body. As thanks to Naruto, his efforts to overcome the Nine-Tails being similar to his efforts to overcome Orochimaru, Kabuto gave him a book containing some information on Akatsuki before he could be captured.
After regrouping and picking up on Sasuke's trail, Naruto used a number of shadow clones to search the area faster. When one of his clones neared what he thought was Sasuke's location, he found Itachi there instead. Itachi repelled all of Naruto's attempts to attack him, insisting that he only wanted to talk. He trapped Naruto in a
genjutsu and, as was later revealed, questioned Naruto on his dedication to Sasuke and to Konoha. When Naruto insisted that he would protect both at any cost, Itachi gave Naruto some of his power in case he ever needed it. Itachi left, and Naruto continued his search, eventually finding Sasuke.
When the real Naruto and the rest of the team moved to intercept him, they were stopped by
Tobi. Despite their efforts to quickly dispose of Tobi, none of their attacks worked, and it was only after word reached them that Sasuke had killed Itachi that they were allowed to continue. Tobi, however, reached Sasuke first. Having lost the trail, the Konoha ninja were forced to give up the search.
Senjutsu Training arc
When he returned to Konoha, Naruto learned that Jiraiya had died in his battle with the leader of Akatsuki,
Pain. Grief stricken, Naruto blamed Tsunade for his death, and departed. He spent the rest of the day mourning the loss of his teacher, musing over the fact he had wanted Jiraiya to be there when he became Hokage. After being comforted by Iruka, Naruto helped to decipher Jiraiya's dying message with
Shikamaru. When the code was broken, Naruto decided to go to train with the toads to learn
senjutsu, knowing that Pain was coming for him and deciding to make the most of the time Jiraiya had bought for him.
To learn senjutsu, Naruto trained to harmonize with nature, a process he sped up by using a limited amount of shadow clones. He rapidly progressed through the introductory stages and attained a perfect
Sage Mode, something Jiraiya had never been able to do. Because harmonizing with nature cannot be done in the midst of battle,
Fukasaku tried to fuse with Naruto so that he could gather natural energy for Naruto's use. When the Nine-Tails rejected all of Fukasaku's attempts at fusion, Naruto was forced to find an alternative, and used shadow clones in a desperate attempt to learn how to gather natural energy while moving. News of Pain's attack on Konoha soon reached them, and they mobilized for battle.
Invasion of Pain arc
Naruto preparing to fight
Pain.
Naruto (in Sage Mode), Fukasaku,
Gamaken,
Gamahiro,
Gamabunta, and
Gamakichi were summoned to the center of Konoha. Naruto did not immediately recognize the crater he had been summoned to, but then saw the
Hokage Monument in the distance. Realizing that Pain had destroyed the village, an infuriated Naruto destroyed Pain's
Asura path before it could attack Tsunade. Naruto sent Tsunade away, instructing her to make sure none of the other villagers intervened in the battle.
Pain's
Animal path summoned a number of animals to attack Naruto, who used the increased strength granted to him by Sage Mode to bat them aside to his toad allies. While they dealt with the summons, Naruto disposed of the
Preta path, before preparing the fruits of his senjutsu training: a perfected Rasenshuriken. He hurled the attack at Pain's remaining bodies, and it expanded when it neared them, disintegrating the
Human path. Running low on chakra because of the attack, Naruto had Gamabunta trap the Animal path in his mouth, where Naruto was able to defeat it with his
Rasenrengan without interference from the other bodies.
Having run out of natural energy and thus having exited Sage Mode, Naruto had Fukasaku summon one of his shadow clones from
Myōbokuzan. As a workaround for his inability to have a constant supply of natural energy, he had had some of his shadow clones gather it for him. Revitalized, Naruto attacked with another Rasenshuriken, only for the Preta path to appear and absorb the attack. Realizing that the
Naraka path must have restored it, Naruto focused his efforts on getting rid of it. He distracted the
Deva path with a smokescreen, and landed another Rasenrengan on the Naraka path.
Though he had defeated four of Pain's six bodies, Naruto was captured through a combination of efforts from the Deva and Preta paths. The Preta path absorbed his chakra to make sure he was no longer a threat but, being unable to handle natural energy, turned into stone, allowing Naruto to free himself. The Deva path captured Naruto again, and killed Fukasaku when he tried to come to help. While immobilizing Naruto, the Deva path told Naruto of his plans for world peace. When Naruto disagreed with his views, Jiraiya's death being a byproduct of that peace, the Deva path asked Naruto for a better solution.
Naruto in his six-tailed transformation.
Before he could answer, Hinata came to Naruto's aid. She confessed her love for Naruto (greatly shocking him) and engaged Pain in battle in a futile effort to save him. When she was apparently killed, an enraged Naruto exploded into his
six-tailed transformation. His necklace reacted in an effort to quell the transformation, but the Nine-Tails destroyed it and attacked Pain. Unable to deal with this new threat, the Deva path retreated to a location where it could use
Chibaku Tensei. Naruto was drawn into it and restrained and Naruto, in a desperate attempt to gain the power needed to stop Pain, allowed the Nine-Tails to produce an
eight-tailed transformation. Before he could completely release the Nine-Tails, however,
Minato appeared in Naruto's subconscious to stop him.
Minato revealed that he had designed the seal of the Nine-Tails to allow an imprint of himself to appear if ever the seal was about to break, a failsafe meant to protect his son. Picking up on this, Naruto realized that the Fourth Hokage was his father, and was overjoyed to finally know who one of his parents was. His time being short, Minato revealed that he had sealed the Nine-Tails into his own son because he thought Naruto would someday find use for it in finally stopping
Madara Uchiha. They also discussed the concept of peace, and Minato revealed that hatred gave rise to Pain, and that ninja must find a way to end the hatred. While Naruto doubted that he could do it, Minato replied that he believed Naruto would be able to find the answer, and restored the Nine-Tails' seal before disappearing.
Outside, Naruto emerged from the Chibaku Tensei, the Nine-Tails' influence gone and Sage Mode having returned. He clashed one final time with the Deva path, finally defeating it by taking advantage of the five-second gap in time its between attacks. The battle won, Naruto sought out
Nagato, Pain's base mind, to finally answer his earlier question about peace. Naruto admitted that he hated Nagato, but restrained himself long enough to ask how Nagato, a fellow student of Jiraiya, turned out this way. After hearing Nagato's past and his reasons for desiring war, Naruto agreed on some points but rejected the overall conclusion on the grounds that it differed from Jiraiya's ideals. To break the cycle of hatred, he tells Nagato and
Konan that, despite hating them, he would not kill them.
Amazed by Naruto's determination to his answer, Nagato said that he would believe in Naruto, and revived all the people Nagato had killed in Konoha, at the cost of Nagato's own life. With this, Naruto helped Konan retrieve Nagato and
Yahiko's bodies for burial in Amegakure. After confirming that she had quit Akatsuki, she left Naruto a bouquet of paper flowers for him, symbolizing their new alliance. In volume 48 of the manga, Naruto leaves these flowers and a copy of
The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi by a rock, a memorial for Jiraiya.
Five Kage Summit arc
Konoha greeting Naruto after his return
While Naruto is returning to the village, Kakashi finds him and carries him back. There, he was greeted by all of the Konohagakure villagers. Naruto thinks back to his original reason to become Hokage: to be acknowledged by everyone in the village. He smiles as the village celebrates his success, some of the villagers even voicing the opinion that he should be Hokage.
When the village begins to rebuild after Pain's attack, Naruto runs into
Tazuna and an older
Inari, who have come to help with the reconstruction effort. They catch up, but Naruto avoids telling them that about what happened to Sasuke, instead sating that they had "had a fight" that made Sasuke leave, but that he would be back soon. Soon afterwards, Naruto learns that
Danzo has been appointed as Hokage to replace the comatose Tsunade. In addition, he has ordered Sasuke been eliminated as a missing-nin. Naruto and Sakura contemplate how to get Danzo to change his mind, but Kakashi advises them against it.
Naruto and Sakura ask Sai about Danzo, but they are unable to learn anything useful. They are then approached by
Kumogakure ninja,
Karui and
Omoi, who tell them of Sasuke's recent involvement with Akatsuki. They demand information on Sasuke and the Akatsuki. Seeing Sakura's tears, Naruto volunteers to tell them about Akatsuki in private so that Sakura won't need to, but when Karui and Omoi question him about Sasuke, Naruto is unable to bring himself to sell out Sasuke, and offers Karuni the opportunity to beat on him up so as to release herself of her grief and her desire for revenge. She gladly accepts, and only stops at Sai's insistence.
While Naruto is recovering, he asks Kakashi and Yamato to escort him to the
Land of Iron so that he can ask the
current Raikage to forgive Sasuke. When they arrive there and meet with the Raikage, Naruto pleas for the Raikage to pardon Sasuke, trying to explain why Sasuke has done what he has done. The Raikage refuses and berates Naruto's belief that he can change Sasuke. Having failed, Naruto goes to a nearby inn to reflect upon Sasuke's actions, noting that he no longer understands Sasuke's motives.
Naruto is interrupted by the arrival of Madara Uchiha, who asks for an opportunity to speak with him. Kakashi and Yamato, having expected him, appear and try to catch him. Madara voices his surprise that Naruto could have such an effect on Nagato, but Naruto ignores this and asks what he is going to do with Sasuke. Madara tells him of Sasuke's descent into darkness, caused by Konoha's leadership's role in the
Uchiha Clan Massacre. Naruto is unwilling to believe this and says he can still get through to Sasuke. Madara laughs at the suggestion and states that Naruto and Sasuke are fated to fight again at some point before leaving.
Naruto decides that he must confront Sasuke face-to-face. He practices with Sage Mode, hoping to extend the reach of his sensory skills, but is interrupted by the arrival of Sakura. Sakura tells him that she loves him and that she no longer has any feelings for Sasuke. He does not believe her and suggests she is lying, stating that he knows her better than that. Angered by this, Sakura insists it is true and that he therefore does not need to fulfill his earlier promise of bringing Sasuke home. Naruto says his actions have nothing to do with the promise and that he just wants to save Sasuke, choosing not to reveal what Madara has said about the Uchiha clan. Suspecting that Sakura is keeping something from him, Naruto presses her on her real reasons for following him to the Land of Iron, but she leaves rather than answer.
Abilities
At the start of the series, one of the only jutsu Naruto could do without fail was his own original
Transformation Technique, called the
Sexy Technique; a creative but almost completely useless diversionary jutsu, used simply to shock his instructors.
[1] Naruto was also able to use simple
E-rank abilities, like the
Cloak of Invisibility Technique and
Body Replacement Technique. Although Naruto had trouble with the
Clone Technique at the start of the series, he quickly learned how to use
Jonin-level techniques, like the
Shadow Clone Technique and its
larger-scale version.
While under the tutelage of
Jiraiya, Naruto's abilities have continued to improve; his prowess in
ninjutsu and
taijutsu have grown greatly, and he had also been taught some limited skill at dispelling
genjutsu but the most valuable assets that Naruto has gained in his training with Jiraiya are an increased range of battle smarts and more knowledge of the basics of a shinobi, which he lacked during Part I. This, along with the skills and abilities Naruto has gained over the course of Part II, makes him a much more complete ninja. Also, during Part II, Naruto has regularly proven himself a match against the
S-Class members of Akatsuki. It has been said by Kakashi at different points in time that Naruto has surpassed Jiraiya, Tsunade, his father, and even Kakashi himself in strength. He was suggested to be
Hokage in Tsunade's place by several villagers after Pain Invasion.
Shadow Clone Technique
Naruto's first signature jutsu, the Shadow Clone Technique takes advantage of the massive chakra reserve Naruto possesses due to him being the jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails. Naruto is able to create upwards to two thousand clones, and able to have a decent amount of chakra in each of them. Because of this, Naruto can use his shadow clones for almost anything, from straight combat to speed training.
In the beginning, Naruto would create a multitude of clones to overwhelm his opponents. Other times however, he would employ the use of the Transformation Technique to change the appearance of this clones to catch his target off guard. By Part II, Naruto learned that whatever his shadow clones learn, he, the main mind, will also learn. By using this, he is able to learn something that would take years in days, which greatly increased his rate of learning. Naruto also learned that he could use the shadow clones to determine his opponents' abilities, to determine how many clones he will really need to defeat them instead of wasting chakra on thousands of clones.
Toad Summon Skills
Naruto was first taught how to use the
Summoning Technique by Jiraiya. After allowing Naruto to sign the Summoning Contract with the
toads of
Myōbokuzan, Jiraiya took Naruto through the execution of the technique in order to provide Naruto with allies in future battles. Additionally, Jiraiya's other motivation to teaching Naruto how to summon, was in order to help Naruto to realize, and take advantage of, the Nine-Tails' chakra reserves.
The type of toads that Naruto can summon at any time is proportional to his chakra and skill, as when he first started out he could only summon tadpoles. At first, Naruto would have a hard time getting any specific toad, as he would summon either
Gamakichi or
Gamatatsu. But when he used the Nine-Tails' chakra, or when he is truly motivated, Naruto was able to summon the toad boss,
Gamabunta.
Collaboration Jutsu
Collaboration Jutsu, also synchronized or combination jutsu, pertains to an area of jutsu which entail techniques that are comprised of at least two or more jutsu that, when initiated with the right timing, one will feed into each other to become a jutsu of greater power than the sum of its parts.
Naruto was introduced to the subject by Jiraiya in the anime, where Jiraiya summoned Gamariki to synchronize with Naruto in order for him to develop a collaboration technique. Though he found it difficult to work with Gamariki and summoned Gamakichi and Gamatatsu of whom he was already accustomed to working with and trained with the two, later Naruto asked if they could speed up the training in which case he would need to be inside Gamatatsu's mouth and release his wind chakra the moment Gamatatsu released water chakra. This training developed
Wind Release: Toad Gun the attack was strong enough to blast through Guren's
Crystal Release: Jade Crystal Labyrinth Technique.
Later in the midst of a battle with the
Three-Tailed Giant Turtle, Naruto developed a collaboration Jutsu with both Gamakichi and Gamabunta known as,
Wind Release: Toad Oil Flame Bullet, this technique was powerful enough to temporarily knock out the tailed beast. He has also been seen using
Fire Release: Toad Oil Flame Bullet with Gamabunta but knowing no Fire Release ninjutsu and needing an ignition source, he substituted an exploding tag instead.
Rasengan
Created by the
Fourth Hokage and taught to him by Jiraiya, the Rasengan is Naruto's second and strongest signature jutsu. While the Rasengan is a one handed technique, Naruto required the use of two to form it due to his poor chakra control, thus using a clone to form the "shell" of the sphere. Despite this, Naruto has used the Rasengan effectively in almost every one of his fights after mastering it. The Rasengan holds an advantage over its counterpart, the
Chidori. The Rasengan only requires chakra control to form, while the Chidori uses so much chakra that it can only be used a few times a day. Naruto mastered the Rasengan to a degree that he can do it almost instantaneously.
The Rasengan, like the Clone Technique, would be the base of several original jutsu created by Naruto, such as the
Great Ball Rasengan, a larger version of the Rasengan, and after his wind training created the
Wind Release: Rasengan and
Wind Release: Rasenshuriken, and after his senjutsu training, the
Sage Art: Great Ball Rasengan and
Sage Technique: Rasenrengan.
Due to the unique nature of the Rasengan in
Naruto movies, Naruto creates a new type of Rasengan, often facilitated by a character in the movie, or a unique property present in the movie.
Wind Release
After failing to bring Sasuke back to Konoha, Naruto went through elemental training where he discovered that he had an
affinity to wind, which by incorporating into the Rasengan, which was originally intended to be combined with a nature element, would greatly increase his power and his chances. The wind nature compliments a fighter like Naruto, as the wind nature is a good match with short ranged fighter. By focusing his wind chakra, Naruto can go as far as cut things with only his chakra.
Naruto had learned
nature transformations to upgrade his Rasengan, which he achieved with the Wind Release: Rasengan and the Rasenshuriken, combining both shape and nature manipulation originally deemed impossible without natural talent or instinct. The Rasenshuriken was capable of slicing into the victim and cutting them at a cellular level faster than a
Sharingan can see it. It however caused similar damage to himself as it is still a handheld jutsu, despite it's name. After his sage training, he could throw the Rasenshuriken and expand it, increasing its power and attack radius. This also helped to nullify the damage it would normally do to his arm.
Senjutsu
After Jiraiya's death at the hands of
Pain, Naruto began training with
Fukasaku in
Myōbokuzan to learn
senjutsu and how to enter
Sage Mode. In order to achieve this, Naruto had to learn to sense and control the natural energy around him. Once mastered, Naruto was able to perfect the Rasenshuriken, so that he could throw it, and learn
Frog Kata, the taijutsu style that uses the natural energy around the user to enhance the range and the potency of their attacks.
However, Naruto had one fatal flaw in his senjutsu training. To mold senjutsu chakra, the user must remain absolutely still. Something one can not do while in combat, and because of the Nine-Tails, Shima and Fukasaku are unable to
fuse with Naruto to mold it for him. To counter this, Naruto has to leave two shadow clones in a safe place to mold the senjutsu chakra for him. Once he depletes his current amount of senjutsu chakra, he would dispel one of the clones and gather it's senjutsu chakra to reenter Sage Mode. However, he is currently trying to extend the time he can remain in Sage Mode at one time.
Intelligence
Although Naruto's intelligence is greatly downplayed for most of the series, his skills in deception and strategy are actually extremely high allowing him to defeat even S-Class ninja such as Kakuzu and Pain. He also possesses the ability to formulate complex plans in the midst of battle. Naruto’s strategies typically involve shadow clones; either directing his opponent’s attentions towards one of his clones to disguise his own movements, or transforming them into various shapes (such as shuriken) to allow for surprise attacks. His skills in deception are shown to have grown exponentially during his battle with Pain, allowing him to prevail through an elaborate and highly unpredictable array of back-up plans, such as transforming his clones to mimic the environment.
Nukenin
