Uzumaki Naruto

Naruto Uzumaki (Japanese: うずまき ナルト, Hepburn: Uzumaki Naruto) (/ˈnɑːrətoʊ/) is the titular protagonist of the manga Naruto, created by Masashi Kishimoto. As the series progresses, he is a young ninja from the fictional village of Konohagakure (Hidden Leaf Village). The villagers ridicule and ostracize Naruto on account of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox—a malevolent creature that attacked Konohagakure—that was sealed away in Naruto's body. Despite this, he aspires to become his village's leader, the Hokage, in order to receive their approval. His carefree, optimistic, and boisterous personality enables him to befriend other Konohagakure ninja, as well as a ninja from other villages. Naruto appears in the series' films and in other media related to the franchise, including video games and original video animations (OVA), as well as the sequel Boruto: Naruto Next Generations by Ukyō Kodachi, where he is the Hokage, and his son, Boruto Uzumaki, is the protagonist. When creating Naruto for the initial part of the series, Kishimoto kept the character "simple and stupid", while giving him many attributes of an ideal hero. Kishimoto gave Naruto a dark side by adding tragedy to the character's past. He has revised Naruto's image many times, providing the character with different clothes intended to appeal to Western audiences and to make him easier to illustrate. Kishimoto changed his design for Part II of the storyline, which starts two-and-a-half years after Part I. Naruto is voiced by Junko Takeuchi in the original animated series and Maile Flanagan in the English adaptations. Merchandise based on Naruto includes figurines and keychains. Naruto's character development has been praised by anime and manga publications and has drawn scholarly attention. Although some initially saw him as a typical manga and anime protagonist comparable to those in other shōnen manga, others have praised his personality and character development as he avoids stereotypes typically seen in similar media. The character has also been the subject of researches in literature, making him stand out in fiction based on his traits and growth. In Naruto Part I Naruto is an orphan who has a dangerous fox-like entity known as Kurama the Nine-Tailed Fox sealed within his body by his father, the Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze, the leader of Konoha's ninja force, at the cost of his own life and that of his wife, Kushina Uzumaki.[60] This possession led to Naruto being ridiculed frequently by the rest of Konoha; being associated with him was considered taboo.[60] As a youth, Naruto makes jokes and plays pranks to attract attention.[60] Desiring what he lacked in his early life, Naruto dreams of becoming a Hokage himself with the hope that it will bring him the villagers' recognition and respect.[76][77] In an attempt to become a ninja, Naruto is horrified to learn of his Jinchuriki nature, but finds acceptance from his teacher Iruka Umino, whom he views as a father. After learning the powerful Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu, an ability to create physical copies of the user, Naruto becomes a ninja.[60][78] He joins a ninja group under the leadership of Kakashi Hatake where he gains the friends he lacked during his childhood. These are his classmates who are also assigned to Team 7: Sasuke Uchiha, with whom he has had a rivalry since they first met at the ninja academy, and Sakura Haruno who he has a crush on which is not reciprocated by her as she is infatuated with Sasuke.[61][79] While being examined to increase his ninja rank, Naruto meets the legendary ninja Jiraiya and learns how to summon toads to aid him in battle, and to control part of the Nine Tails's chakra energy.[80] The exams are interrupted by the invasion of Konohagakure by the criminal Orochimaru and the ninja of Sunagakure. Naruto defeats the sand village's One Tail Jinchuriki Gaara and convinces him there is a better way to live. Shortly afterward, Naruto discovers the Akatsuki, a criminal organization that seeks to extract the Nine-Tails from his body. Though Jiraiya drives them off during this first meeting, learning its member Itachi is both Sasuke's brother, and the man who killed their family, the Akatsuki still plan to kidnap Naruto.[81] While accompanying Jiraiya to find a new village leader, Naruto also learns the Rasengan (螺旋丸, lit. spiral sphere, English manga: "Spiral Chakra Sphere"), a sphere of chakra for offensive purposes.[77][82] When Sasuke leaves the village to join Orochimaru's forces to obtain the power to kill Itachi, Naruto on his insistence and promise to Sakura becomes part of a rescue team to retrieve him.[79] Naruto and Sasuke ultimately have a one-on-one battle, and after a close battle, Sasuke comes out as the victor. He, however can not bring himself to kill Naruto and instead leaves.[83] The two go their separate ways, but Naruto does not give up on Sasuke, leaving with Jiraiya for two and half years to prepare himself for his next encounter with Sasuke and the Akatsuki.[84] Part II After his two and a half years of training, Naruto returns to Konoha (the Leaf Village) and begins to deal more actively with the Akatsuki threat by saving Gaara from their clutches.[85] To fight them, Naruto trains with Kakashi to infuse the Rasengan with his own wind-element chakra, creating the Wind Release: Rasenshuriken (風遁・螺旋手裏剣, Fūton: Rasenshuriken) attack that proves instrumental in the downfall of the Akatsuki member Kakuzu.[86][87] Despite being targeted by the Akatsuki, Naruto dedicates himself to finding and retrieving Sasuke, who eventually disposes of Orochimaru and starts acting on his vengeance-driven whims.[88] Over time, though resisting the urge to use the creature's power, the Nine Tails's influence over him expands to the point where he begins to lose his rationality as more chakra manifests in the form of tails to the point the Tailed Beast can take control of his body. This ultimately causes him to go on a rampage, destroying everything in his path.[89] After learning that Jiraiya has been killed by the Akatsuki leader, Pain, Naruto prepares for a future encounter by learning toad-style Senjutsu (仙術, lit. "sage techniques"), a power-enhancing ability involving the gathering of natural energy through stillness, while also perfecting Naruto's Rasenshuriken in the process.[90][91] When they face off, Naruto is pinned to the ground with iron rods and loses control of the Fox's chakra when his Hinata Hyuga nearly dies protecting him. At that time, Naruto meets his father Minato Namikaze within his subconcious and learns about his status as the Fourth Hokage and him being the one who sealed the Fox so that Naruto could use it to defeat the Akatsuki founder Tobi who was behind the Fox's attack on Konohagakure.[92] With Minato stopping the Fox, Naruto regains control of his body, and defeats Pain. Learning that both are Jiraiya's students, Naruto convinces him to quit Akatsuki, seeking to take Jiraiya's path to create a better ninja world.[93] When Naruto discovers Sasuke's plan to attack the Leaf Village, he decides to confront him in a battle which could end both their lives should Naruto be unable to save him.[94] He prepares himself for the upcoming fight by becoming a student under the vessel of the Eight-Tails, Killer B, to take full control of Kurama's powers. He succeeds with help from his late mother, Kushina Uzumaki, who placed a chakra imprint of herself within the seal so when the time comes, she could have a chance to see her son again.[95][96] When Naruto learns that all his comrades are battling Tobi's army to protect him, he takes Killer B to join him in the battle, eventually cooperating with Kurama.[97][98] As he fights, Naruto meets Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki, the Sage of the Six Paths, who grants him enhanced Senjutsu known as the Six Paths Senjutsu.[99][100] After he and Sasuke join forces to face both Tobi and Madara who are using the Ten-Tails, they have to seal a bigger threat named Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, who is in her Ten-Tails form.[101] After defeating and sealing Kaguya with the cooperation of the rest of Team 7, Naruto ends up having to fight Sasuke due to their conflicting views regarding the ninja world's future.[102] As both end up losing an arm, Naruto and Sasuke reconcile.[103] He receives a new arm created from the First Hokage's cells later.[104] Years later, Naruto is married to Hinata with whom he has had two children – Boruto and Himawari Uzumaki. He becomes the Seventh Hokage (七代目火影, Nanadaime Hokage) in the epilogue.