Naruto Uzumaki

Returning to the Leaf after two and a half years of training with Jiraiya, Naruto is a louder, stronger jinchūriki still chasing two goals: becoming Hokage and dragging Sasuke home. Shippuden charts his growth from brawler to Sage, from a boy who fears the Nine-Tails to a partner who learns the fox's name, Kurama. His refusal to abandon anyone - even enemies like Nagato - becomes the series' moral engine.

Naruto returns from training noticeably taller and leaner, his round childhood face sharpened into adolescent angles. He keeps his spiky sun-blond hair, bright blue eyes and the three whisker-like marks on each cheek, and wears an orange-and-black tracksuit with a high collar, a black forehead protector and open-toed sandals. Sage Mode adds orange pigment around his eyes and toad-like horizontal pupils, while the Nine-Tails chakra cloak turns his hair, eyes and clothing to glowing gold with black seal-like markings. In the epilogue he is a broad-shouldered adult wearing the Hokage's white haori.

Loud, blunt and relentlessly optimistic, Naruto hides years of loneliness behind grinning bravado and a habit of announcing his goals to anyone within earshot. He is impulsive and poor at book learning, but astonishingly stubborn, and his refusal to abandon a friend borders on compulsion. Shippuden matures him considerably: he learns to weigh his desire to save Sasuke against the safety of the village, shoulders the guilt of others' deaths, and grows into a leader whom veteran shinobi willingly follow. He empathises instinctively with outcasts and enemies alike, preferring to argue an opponent out of hatred rather than simply defeat them, and he treats promises as absolutely binding.

Born the night the Nine-Tailed Fox attacked Konoha, Naruto was made the beast's host by his father, the Fourth Hokage, who died sealing it away along with his mother. Raised an orphan and shunned by villagers who saw the fox rather than the boy, he became a prankster desperate for any attention. Graduating from the Academy, he was placed on Team 7 with Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno under Kakashi Hatake, and found in them his first real bonds. After Sasuke defected to Orochimaru and Naruto failed to bring him back, he left the village for roughly two and a half years of training with Jiraiya, returning at the start of this series.

1. Kazekage Rescue

   Newly returned and reunited with Sakura and Kakashi, Naruto races to the Sand Village after the Akatsuki capture Gaara. He battles Deidara, struggles with the fox's influence, and arrives too late to prevent Gaara's death, learning firsthand what the organisation intends to do to every jinchuriki, including himself.

2. Hidan and Kakuzu

   Devastated by Asuma Sarutobi's murder, Naruto develops a new technique built on his wind-natured chakra, splitting his consciousness through shadow clones to learn at extraordinary speed. He completes the Rasenshuriken and uses it to help avenge his teacher, though the technique's recoil damages his own arm.

3. Pain's Assault

   After mastering Sage Mode at Mount Myoboku and receiving news of Jiraiya's death, Naruto returns to a Konoha reduced to a crater. He defeats the six Pain bodies, confronts Nagato directly, and chooses dialogue over vengeance, convincing him to revive the villagers he killed and returning as a hero.

4. Five Kage Summit and Jinchuriki Training

   Naruto tries to shield Sasuke from international condemnation and is forced to accept that his friend has chosen revenge. Training on the Island Turtle with Killer B, he confronts the hatred inside himself, wins his mother's parting help, and finally subdues and befriends Kurama.

5. Fourth Shinobi World War

   Naruto fights across the battlefield in Kurama's chakra mode, sharing that chakra with the entire allied army, and confronts Obito, Madara and Kaguya alongside a returned Sasuke. He receives Hagoromo's power, seals Kaguya, and finally settles matters with Sasuke at the Valley of the End.

Sasuke Uchiha

Rival and closest friend

The bond that defines his adolescence. Naruto refuses to give up on Sasuke even after he is branded an international criminal, insisting that their fight will end with mutual understanding rather than one of them dying alone.

Sakura Haruno

Teammate

Once the object of his childish crush, she becomes an equal he trusts absolutely. They share responsibility for Sasuke, and Naruto relies on her medical skill and level head while she draws strength from his refusal to despair.

Jiraiya

Master and father figure

The Sannin who taught him the Rasengan and sage arts, and the first adult to believe he could change the world. His death at Pain's hands drives Naruto's growth and his decision to break the cycle of revenge.

Kurama

Sealed tailed beast, later partner

Initially a hateful prisoner who manipulates Naruto's rage, the Nine-Tails gradually comes to respect him. Their eventual cooperation transforms Naruto into one of the strongest shinobi alive and gives the fox its first genuine friend.

Hinata Hyuga

Admirer and future wife

Her open declaration and willingness to die defending him during Pain's invasion shake Naruto profoundly. Their bond deepens through the war, and the epilogue shows them married with two children.

• He arrives at the ruins of Konoha in Sage Mode and defeats all six of Pain's bodies.
• He talks Nagato into reversing the destruction of the village rather than killing him.
• He confronts the darkness within himself at the Falls of Truth and earns Kurama's cooperation.
• He distributes Kurama's chakra to every member of the Allied Shinobi Forces during the war.
• He and Sasuke end their rivalry at the Valley of the End, each losing an arm in the exchange.

• His name is taken from the protagonist of a novel written by Jiraiya, who became his godfather.
• His preferred meal is ramen from Ichiraku, a running gag across the entire series.
• He is the second jinchuriki of Kurama after his mother, Kushina Uzumaki.
• Junko Takeuchi has voiced him continuously since the first series began in 2002.
• His habit of changing enemies' minds through conversation was nicknamed by fans after his jutsu naming style.

• Sasuke Uchiha
• Sakura Haruno
• Kakashi Hatake
• Sai
• Jiraiya
• Tsunade

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