Everything about Naruto Uzumaki totally explained
is a
fictional character in the
Naruto universe created by
Masashi Kishimoto as the main
protagonist for the series and
developed into other media. While creating Naruto, Kishimoto kept in mind to keep the character "simple and stupid" while giving him many attributes of
Son Goku from the
Dragon Ball franchise.
In the series, Naruto is a ninja affiliated with the fictional village of Konohagakure, and has ambitions of becoming
Hokage, or the leader of the village. Due to being the host for the
nine-tailed demon fox, a malevolent creature that attacked Konohagakure, he's ostracized by the other villagers. He compensates for this with his cheerful and boisterous personality, and over the course of the series, manages to befriend several other Konohagakure ninja, as well as ninja from other villages. He obtains an especially close relationship with
Sasuke Uchiha, one of his fellow ninja in Team 7, and treats him as his brother. Naruto appears in all of the series' films, as well as in other media related to the franchise, including
video games and
OVAs.
Several
anime and
manga publications have expressed acclaim and criticism of Naruto's character. While many reviewers consider him one of the most memorable anime and manga characters in history, he's been viewed as a stereotypical manga and anime protagonist comparable to many other protagonists in other
shōnen manga. Nevertheless, Naruto has remained highly popular with the
Naruto reader base, placing high in several popularity polls. Merchandise based on Naruto has also been released, including
figurines and
plush dolls.
Creation and conception
When creating Naruto, Kishimoto incorporated into the character a number of traits he felt made an ideal hero: a straightforward way of thinking, a mischievous side, and many of the attributes possessed by Son Goku from the
Dragon Ball franchise. He also made sure to keep Naruto "simple and stupid," since he doesn't like smart characters. Naruto himself isn't modeled after anyone in particular, being conceived as childlike with somewhat of a dark side as a result of his harsh past. Despite this, he's always positive, making him unique in Kishimoto's eyes. The orange coloring of his costume is used to make Naruto "pop," with blues often being used to complement the orange. Because Naruto is associated with spirals, swirl patterns are incorporated into his costume. Initial illustrations of Naruto had him wearing boots, but Kishimoto substituted these for sandals, because he likes drawing toes. The goggles that Naruto used to wear were also replaced with a forehead protector, because the goggles themselves were too time consuming to draw. Kishimoto said that he felt glad that his character had blond hair and blue eyes. The editor of
Shonen Jump in the
United States added that he implied that the traits may have led the character to appeal to a Western audience. Kishimoto said that he most identifies with Naruto out of all of the
Naruto characters. When asked why Naruto's favorite food is
ramen instead of
kitsune udon Kishimoto said that he personally liked eating ramen.
In the
Japanese versions of
Naruto, Naruto often ends his sentences with the addendum "
-ttebayo" (which gives a similar effect to ending a sentence with "you know?"). Kishimoto wanted to give Naruto a childlike
catch phrase, and "
dattebayo" came to mind. It complements Naruto's character, and serves as a verbal tic that shows him to be somewhat of a brat.
The producers of the English-language anime stated that of all of the characters Naruto was the most difficult character to cast for; they added that
Maile Flanagan "has Naruto down, from the mischevious side, that precocious 12-year old we learn to love, to the serious side."
Character outline
Background
Naruto was born the son of
Minato Namikaze and
Kushina Uzumaki. Soon after his birth, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox attacked their hometown of Konoha, leaving destruction throughout the village. In order to stop the fox's attack Minato sealed it within Naruto's body, giving Naruto access to its great power at the cost of Minato's life. Before his death, Minato requested that Naruto be viewed as a hero of the village rather than a container for the fox. Many villagers chose to ignore this request, leading to the enactment of a law forbidding anyone to speak of Naruto as the fox's host. With his father dead and his mother presumably sharing the same fate, Naruto has spent all of his life as an orphan, not knowing who his parents were.
Personality
With no family to speak of and the villagers of Konoha always showing him animosity for being the container of the demon fox, Naruto never had a source of love or attention during his early childhood. Naruto's efforts have proven successful as the series progressed, as many characters have reached the conclusion that Naruto will someday be an excellent Hokage.
Since his introduction, Naruto's determination has resulted in some of his traits rubbing off on those around him, such that in
Part II his teacher,
Kakashi Hatake, notes this to be Naruto's unique power.
Gaara, after being defeated by Naruto in battle, discovers that true strength is found in fighting for one's friends, not for oneself. These changes that other characters experience serve as the moral for the part of the story they take place in, and subsequently become the creed for the particular character's life.
Through his ability to change others, Naruto has gained the friends that he lacked during his childhood. Among the many friendships he's formed, none are more prominent in the series than those he's with his two teammates:
Sasuke Uchiha and
Sakura Haruno. With Sasuke, Naruto shares a highly competitive relationship that he likens to brotherhood. Though Sasuke betrays Naruto and the rest of Konoha at the end of Part I, Naruto maintains his attachment to Sasuke, readily lashing out at anyone who speaks poorly of him. With Sakura, Naruto possesses a deep dedication to her, rooted in the crush he's had on her for years. Naruto's commitment to Sakura is such that he'll do anything to make her happy, vowing to someday return Sasuke to Konoha for her sake.
Abilities
Because of the demon fox within him, Naruto has access to its great
chakra reserves, allowing him to perform
jutsu that someone of his rank would ordinarily be incapable of using. Naruto can forcibly draw upon its reserves in one of two ways: by submitting to rage or by directly asking the fox for a donation of its strength. Once doing so the fox's power begins to consume Naruto, eventually creating a fox-shaped shroud around him complete with a number of tails indicating his current level of strength. While each tail drastically increases his fighting strength, Naruto begins to lose his sense of self as more tails appear. Because he can quickly become a danger to those he cares for in these situations, Naruto has begun to limit his usage of the fox's power.
The
Shadow Clone Technique, used to create solid, completely identical copies of the user, is Naruto's most frequently used jutsu. In addition to using these clones to overwhelm his opponents, Naruto often uses them to help him form his preferred form of attack: the
Rasengan, an attack that grinds into whatever it touches. By using the copies of himself to spin and mold his chakra into shape, Naruto can form the Rasengan without the hassle required to create it single handedly. In Part II, Naruto trains with his shadow clones to infuse the Rasengan with his wind elemental chakra. This culminates in his creation of the, which damages what it contacts on a cellular level. Though this massive level of damage is useful against opponents, the hand he's performing the technique with is damaged as well, making it a double-edged sword.
Plot overview
As the main character of the series, Naruto is present in every arc and typically plays a prominent role for its duration. During Part I, Naruto's involvement in the plot is relatively indirect, as he spends his time improving his ninja abilities and pursuing his own goals while the overarching events occur elsewhere. Following the invasion of Konohagakure, Naruto is introduced to
Akatsuki, a fictional criminal organization that seeks to extract the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox from his body. Though
Jiraiya drives them off during this first meeting, Akatsuki's interactions with Naruto become a more central conflict in Part II. It isn't until Sasuke attempts to leave Konohagakure that Naruto takes a leading role in the plot, joining a team of ninja dedicated to stopping Sasuke from joining forces with
Orochimaru. The two go their separate ways, but Naruto doesn't give up on Sasuke, leaving Konoha together with Jiraiya for two-and-a-half years of training to prepare himself for the next time he meets Sasuke.
In Part II, Naruto receives less attention than he did in Part I. As other characters begin to receive additional development and the plot begins to cover multiple incidents across large distances, Naruto's role in the story is considerably lessened. Upon his return to Konoha, Naruto begins to deal more actively with the Akatsuki threat. He first saves Gaara from Akatsuki's clutches, and subsequently proves instrumental in the downfall of
Kakuzu. Most of Naruto's actions, however, are dedicated to finding and retrieving Sasuke. He and the rest of his team are briefly able to locate Sasuke, but Sasuke's rapid development leaves them no match for him. After creating his new
jutsu, Naruto and company try once again to find Sasuke.
Appearances in other media
]]
Being the
title character, Naruto has appeared in all of the series' movies thus far. In the, Team 7 is assigned to escort Yukie Fujikaze, the secretive actress of a movie character, whom Naruto becomes obsessed with, to the Land of Snow to shoot the movie's sequel. In the Naruto, Sakura, and
Shikamaru Nara get involved with a war between inhabitants of
Sunagakure. In the, Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi, and
Rock Lee are assigned to escort the prince of the Land of the Moon to his land, though once they reach the nation, the throne has been seized by the noble Shabadaba. In the, Naruto becomes the guard of Shion who predicts his death. A is currently in development.
Naruto appears in all three OVAs produced for the series, helping
Konohamaru to find a four leaf clover in the, joining his team in escorting a ninja named Shibuki to his village and helping him fight the
missing-nin that stole the village's "Hero's Water" in the, and participating in a tournament in the . In the OVA shown before the first
Naruto movie, Naruto has to use the toilet, only to be prevented in each attempt by his fellow Genin and his own mistakes.
Naruto is a
playable character in all of the
Naruto video games. In several of the titles, it's possible to unlock and play a version of him enhanced by the Nine-Tailed Fox as well as a variant with his own versions of Rock Lee and
Might Guy's
trademark techniques. In the, Naruto is playable in various stages of the demon fox's manifestation characterized by a red-colored chakra. Kishimoto liked the presentation of these forms enough that he imitated one of them for the manga cover of volume 26. marks the first appearance of Naruto in his Part II appearance in a video game, with the second one being .
In the 62nd episode of the
Gintama anime, the protagonist
Gintoki Sakata is shown saying "
dattebayo" while reading an issue of
Weekly Shonen Jump with Naruto on the cover.
Reception
In every official
Shonen Jump popularity poll of the series, Naruto has ranked within the top five characters, coming in first place twice. However, in the sixth poll, in 2006, Naruto lost his top-two status to the characters
Deidara, Kakashi and Sasuke. There hasn't been another official poll since 2006. Due to the popularity of Naruto, several pieces of merchandise have been made into his likeness, such as plush,
key chains, and numerous action figures,
Several popular websites for manga, anime, video games, and other subjects praise Naruto highly, often calling him one of the most memorable anime and manga characters in history.
IGN has commented on Naruto developing from the lonely rebel during the series' beginning.
GameSpot claims that Naruto lives the ideal teenage life, as he's a ninja and eats all he likes, but, on the other hand, he's parentless and is shunned by the other villagers.
Anime News Network, however, comments that sometimes (especially in the Chunin Exams) Naruto's fights are not as good as others fought by the Konoha 11,
T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews noted that while Naruto is a "likeable enough scamp", his type of character has been done before in many previous anime and manga series.
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