Uzumaki Naruto

Naruto Uzumaki (うずまきナルト, Uzumaki Naruto) is a fictional character and the main protagonist in the anime and manga series Naruto created by Masashi Kishimoto. He is a member of the Konoha 11, who serve as the series main protagonists.
Naruto can mean "maelstrom," and is also the name for a sliced stick of Kamaboko with a pink whirlpool design in the middle that is used as a topping for Ramen (Naruto's favorite food). The surname "Uzumaki" is a pun on "spiral" (渦巻), while "Uzumaki" refers to a three-dimensional spiral, like a whirlpool or vortex. A more accurate translation for spiral would be "Rasen." The Konoha leaf symbol is drawn with an arrow attached to a spiral, part of the seal on his abdomen is a spiral, the symbol on the back of his jacket and shoulders is a spiral, and one of his attacks is Rasengan, which means "Spiraling Sphere." "Uzumaki" can also mean "whirlpool," in reference to the Naruto whirlpool (鳴門の渦潮), named after the city of Naruto, Tokushima.
October 10, Naruto's birthday, was Health and Sports Day ("Taiiku no hi") in Japan when his character was conceived – a holiday full of physical activity fit for a hyperactive kid. The holiday, however, was moved to the second Monday of October in 1999.
Masashi Kishimoto, the creator of the manga series, stated in a recent interview with the U.S. Shonen Jump that his childhood was like that of Naruto's years while he was enrolled in the Academy.
Naruto consistently ranked in the top two (taking first place twice) in the first five official Shonen Jump character popularity polls. However, in the sixth character poll, he ranked fourth.

Background

Naruto was born on October 10 to an unknown couple in the fictional village of Konoha. When Naruto was a newborn infant, a powerful nine-tailed demon fox attacked his village. In order to save the village from destruction, the demon fox was sealed in Naruto's body by the Fourth Hokage, leader of the village at the time of the attack, who sacrificed his life to do so.

Despite the Fourth Hokage's dying wish that Naruto be viewed as a hero for serving as the container for the demon, the villagers of Konoha harbored a fierce hatred for him, with many believing that Naruto and the demon were one and the same. However, nobody told Naruto about what his body harbored until he was twelve years old, leaving him confused for most of his childhood about why the villagers of Konoha treated him with hostility.
Naruto is seen to be a prankster and a loner, living by himself in a small apartment, and has supposedly done so for years. Even though Naruto was treated as an outsider, he was befriended by his compassionate ninja instructor named Iruka Umino. Although Iruka's own parents perished during the battle with the demon fox, he refused to view Naruto as the cause of their deaths. Instead, Iruka attached himself to Naruto, because he was similarly isolated after the death of his parents, causing him to seek recognition. Naruto was deeply moved by Iruka's kindness and confidence in him. As a result, Naruto values Iruka more as a father figure, as well as an instructor.

Personality

Before graduating from the Ninja Academy, Naruto had a fierce desire for attention. As a result, Naruto would prank the villagers and vandalize the monument that depicted the Hokages. Naruto skill in ninjutsu was very limited at the begining of the series, his most dangerous jutsu being his "Sexy Technique"; transforming himself into a naked female version of himself simply to stun his male instrutors, even stunning the Third Hokage on several occasions. Naruto is determined to achieve the rank of Hokage for recognition. When he graduates and learns under an official ninja master, and becomes the "Number One Loudest, Unpredictable, Hyperactive Knuckleheaded Ninja" of Konoha, as described by his teacher Kakashi Hatake.
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 befriends Konohamaru, the grandson of the Third Hokage, and it is through his brief tutelage that Konohamaru learns that the path to success is through hard work. Despite his brash, headstrong, and even slightly dumb nature, Naruto is a clever prankster who overcomes his opponents through a combination of willpower, clever diversions, and often, dumb luck (though as Kakashi states, luck is very important).
Naruto has a great sense of humor, albeit somewhat perverted in some cases, and smiles and laughs at most times. Despite this at times, he smiles to hide whatever is bothering him so no one worries about him; those who are closest to him see right through it. Outside his world, he's just an ordinary, loud, hotheaded kid with a fierce will and a knack for getting into trouble. Naruto also has a less keen sense of etiquette than many of his peers do, typically saying what he means regardless of how he believes the listener will react to it, and rarely using honorifics for people. While most people call Tsunade "Tsunade-sama", ("Lady Tsunade" in the English dub) he refers to her as "Tsunade-baachan", ("Granny Tsunade", or "Grandma Tsunade" in the English dub), taking a jab at her age.
One of Naruto's hobbies is gardening, even though Naruto was beaten in episode 20 for not knowing the difference between weeds and herbs, though this may have been due to carelessness in his effort to outdo Sasuke. He is the one who gives Kakashi Mr. Ukki, the plant seen on Kakashi's windowsill (Kishimoto once described how he had the same plant for a while until he fed it undiluted plant food).
In the Japanese versions, Naruto often ends his sentences with "dattebayo," and as such has a unique style of speech. In manga and anime, characters are frequently given speech quirks (rather than pure dialect/speech variations) in order to make them sound childish, girlish, tough, cute, and the like. The "-ttebayo" suffix is used to emphasize something the speaker already said, primarily as an attention-getting device among children. Throughout the beginning of the series, VIZ replaced the ending with the phrase "Believe it!" to mirror the effect, as well as to match the character's lip movements, though they seem to have abandoned its use as of late.
Despite rapidly maturing throughout the series, Naruto retains a naive streak and a knack for childish accessories. For example, his pajamas always include a comical black nightcap with eyes and teeth. Naruto also keeps his money in a chubby, green-frog wallet he affectionately calls Gama-chan.
Naruto is an avid eater with an appetite comparable to that of Choji Akimichi's. His favorite food, ramen, serves as a bond between Naruto and anyone who would treat him to it. In many episodes, he can be seen devouring enormous servings of ramen in a variety of flavors. However, an opportunity to eat any sort of food usually leaves Naruto lying down and exclaiming, "Whew, I ate too much!" with an exaggerated pot belly.
Though Naruto is usually quite dense in most cases (which often results in Sakura or someone nearby hitting him), missing details that are obvious to the viewer and many other characters, he can actually be quite observant when he wants to be, or the subject interests. During their first meeting with Rock Lee, it is Naruto who points out to the rest of Team 7 that Lee's handwraps hide his battered and bruised knuckles, indicating Lee is the type of person who trains non-stop.
Naruto's perpetual determination and refusal to back down has been known to rub onto other characters from time to time. Naruto's cheering has rekindled spirits of fighters in hopeless situations, most notably Hinata Hyuga, whose admiration for Naruto's persistence causes her to develop a crush on him. Naruto's willingness to risk death to save his friends has even carried onto Gaara, a previously impulsively murderous child who also is host to a demon. Under Naruto's positive influence, Gaara has become more aware of lives other than his own, to the point that he would sacrifice himself for his village. Naruto's numerous monologues about the values he holds dear have inspired changes of heart in many more of his opponents, notably Zabuza Momochi and Neji Hyuga.
Although Naruto grew up in isolation, Kakashi notes that he has an ability to make friends with everyone he meets, and often quickly changes how they view him. While Kurenai Yuhi thinks that Naruto has no chance to defeat her student Kiba Inuzuka in the Chunin exam preliminaries, her opinion of him gradually changes as Naruto withstands Kiba's attacks and outwits him, and Kurenai finally admits to herself that Kiba should not be ashamed of losing to Naruto. This ability to find friends sets Naruto apart from others who had lived in isolation, and Naruto suspects that without this ability, he would have become like some of the evil people he faced.
In Naruto: Shippūden, after a two-and-a-half year time skip, Naruto shows physical growth and sports a new outfit. Naruto is now noticeably taller than Sakura, (In Part I, he is made fun of for being shorter than her) and some of his other friends, (Kiba even states Naruto has become a "giant"). However, Naruto is still a Genin, since he hasn't had a chance to take the Chunin Exams again, while the rest of the Konoha 11 have become Chunin, and Neji subequently becomes a Jonin. He is initially jealous that Gaara has become the Fifth Kazekage- thereby achieving the equivalent of Naruto's lifelong dream- but is happy for him. According to Tsunade, Naruto is also slowly adopting some of Jiraiya's perverted traits. During his apprenticeship under Jiraiya, Naruto was able to read ten pages of the latest of the "Icha Icha" series written by Jiraiya, although when he presents a copy to Kakashi, he says he thought it was boring.
Naruto appears to not only have increased in strength, speed, and techniques, but intelligence as well; Kakashi had even said that Naruto has become more cunning. During his training, Kakashi remarks that he believes Naruto will surpass the Fourth Hokage and later, even sees a vision of the Fourth Hokage around Naruto. After Naruto shows off the results of his special training, Kakashi admits to himself that Naruto has surpassed him.

Naruto and the demon fox

As the host of the demon fox, both Naruto's body and mind (occasionally) are influenced by it. Physically, Naruto has some of the demon fox's characteristics, such as whisker-like marks on his cheeks and larger canines than normal. His eyes are also somewhat slitted like a fox. He also has increased stamina and healing ability, which allows him to recover from major injuries 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 demon fox 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 devilish side for pulling pranks to gain attention, as well as his stubbornness to never back down from a challenge. These traits become more pronounced as he draws upon the demon fox's chakra.
The kitsune (狐) is a well-known character in Japanese folklore, and the influence behind not only the demon fox but many other reincarnations in modern Japanese culture. It likes to play tricks and pranks on people, and on occasions transforms itself into a beautiful woman and seduces a man. Also, Kitsune are known to keep their promises, a trait Naruto has, as his "ninja way" is to "never go back on [his] word." It should also be noted that every time Naruto loses control and is overwhelmed by the demon fox's chakra, he seemingly gains another "tail" of chakra. The chakra that surrounds his body and its "tail" act as a sort of shield most of the time, until it gets to as high as four "tails". This stems from the belief that the more tails a kitsune has, the more powerful it is, with nine tails usually being the limit.
The demon fox's chakra usually comes to Naruto during life threatening or other stressful situations, given to him by the fox itself to ensure its survival. Naruto eventually learns to contact the fox 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 fox remains trapped within Naruto, its chakra can leak out through the seal and mix with Naruto's. The fox's near-limitless supply of chakra becomes an invaluable weapon for Naruto, often turning the tide of a difficult battle in his favor. Beyond that, the fox's chakra seems to increase in intensity with time. Several external methods can be used to suppress it once this occurs, such as Jiraiya's sealing talisman or Yamato's sealing techniques.
This tremendous power is not without its disadvantages, however. When he first accesses it, Naruto is unable to retain control when using the demon fox's chakra, allowing its innate rage and anger to take over his personality. Over time, Naruto gains more control over the demon fox, allowing him to retain his personality while using its chakra. However, his degree of control is determined by the amount of chakra he draws upon and his emotional state. As he becomes more emotional and draws on more of the demon fox's chakra, his own personality is gradually supplanted by the demon fox's. When Naruto completely loses control and grows four chakra "tails" the demon fox's personality takes control. His body is completely covered in the fox's chakra to a point where he looks like a miniature demon fox as his body acts like a skeleton for it. Because his body is completely covered in the fox's chakra, it is constantly destroying and healing his skin, therefore shortening his lifespan.

Team 7

Naruto's growth in the series is promoted primarily by his relationships with the others in his four-man cell, Team 7. Among the group were Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha, and Kakashi Hatake, their Jonin squad leader. Naruto's motivation is often a combination of his desire to impress Sakura and his aspiration to surpass Sasuke.

Sakura Haruno

Naruto's relationship with Sakura begins on rocky ground. Sakura had been Naruto's long-time crush; unfortunately for him, Sakura did not think much of Naruto at first. Her judgement was partially influenced by his rivalry with her own long-time crush, Sasuke Uchiha. In addition to this, Naruto's childish attitude played a role in her initial dislike, and she was likely influenced by the other villagers' shunning of Naruto, as with most other children, even though she was unaware that Naruto was the demon fox's host until Part II. Sakura's view of Naruto improves after a while, however; she observes Naruto's growth throughout the series, occasionally even pointing out her desire to be as strong as he is, although she sometimes seeks to improve herself to avoid being inferior to Naruto, which she believes is particularly humiliating.
Naruto's relationship with Sakura seems to have matured after the time skip: He does not seem to have a child-like crush anymore, and genuinely admires Sakura's healing abilities. Naruto and Sakura have a very easy time communicating with each other, despite the nearly three-year separation. They are capable of having a casual conversation together, and they seem to like spending time together. Regardless of their closer bond, Naruto and Sakura still have the same sort of childish disputes from before the time skip on occasion.

Sasuke Uchiha

Perhaps Naruto's most defining relationship, the bond between Naruto and Sasuke remains at the core of the series. The two are both rivals and friends, though more of the former than the latter. Their rivalry pushes them to outperform one another, which makes it a mutually beneficial relationship. The opinions of this greatly differ, however. While Naruto sees himself as an equal to Sasuke, or at least works his way up to that point, Sasuke sees himself as stronger than Naruto. As such, whenever Sasuke finds that Naruto is either catching up to him or surpassing him, Sasuke feels as though he is inferior or weak. This opinion is not helped by the fact that Naruto is usually the most responsible for their team's victories, notably in the Invasion of Konoha Arc, when Naruto defeats Gaara after Sasuke fails to do so.
Sasuke's defection from the village leads to a grand battle between the two friends, during which their true sentiments are expressed. Naruto refuses to let Sasuke go, for fear that his greatest friendship will end. During this battle, Sasuke finally recognizes Naruto as an equal, and although Sasuke barely wins, he spares Naruto on a whim. Naruto's drive to save and locate Sasuke remains at the core of early filler arcs and stays evident throughout several other episodes.
Sasuke's defection still affects Naruto and Sakura after the time skip; Sasuke is still a touchy subject for both of them. When Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke finally meet again, Sasuke greets them as he did when they became a team- with cold indifference- and even attempts to kill the two. Naruto and Sakura are clearly upset that he is no longer the Sasuke they knew. After his reunion with Sasuke, Naruto sinks into a deep depression. This is short lived, however. Even as an enemy, Sasuke still motivates Naruto; no longer is it through rivalry, but through the hope that they may one day be friends again. With his last encounter with Sasuke driving him, Naruto becomes more serious and focused than he's ever been.

Powers and abilities

At the start of the series, the only jutsu Naruto could do without fail was Sexy Technique[1], a creative but almost completely useless diversionary technique used simply to shock his instructors. Though Naruto had trouble with the Clone Technique at the start of the series, he quickly learns how to use the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique and the smaller-scale Shadow Clone Technique, Jonin-level techniques, in the first episode of the series. This particular ninjutsu grows to be his most-used techniques, as it often serves as the basis for other moves. The Shadow Clone technique allows Naruto to create replicas of himself. Unlike the Clone technique, the replicas are physical beings rather than illusions, making them capable of attacking and intercepting blows, and even adding intensity to one's training. He even uses his Shadow Clones to "add" to his first jutsu to create the Harem Technique though it is still a fairly useless technique.
At the start of the series, Naruto primarily creates Shadow Clones for the purpose of taijutsu in terms of combat. Naruto also often creates Shadow Clones to act as decoys or for other deceptive tactics, such as diverting attention away from himself so that he might use the Transformation Technique unnoticed. Naruto makes more intelligent use of his clones as the series progresses. In his fight with Neji, for instance, Naruto dispersed several of his clones once one was hit, creating the illusion that Neji had hit the real Naruto. Later in the series, Naruto would even hide away while several clones attack, confusing the enemy when no Narutos remain. During his fight with Gaara, Naruto even uses his clones as shields and platforms to bound off of in the air. By Naruto: Shippūden, Naruto's usage and timing of the technique has become more advanced. Various tactics he has shown include creating clones to push himself out of the way of an attack, transform into weapons, and fall for traps in his stead.
Naruto has also developed several advanced combat techniques using his clones. The first of these is his Naruto Uzumaki Combo, a move based on a similar move used by Sasuke. In performing this, Naruto kicks the opponent high into the air multiple times using his clones and sends them crashing to the ground with a flying kick, chanting the syllables of his name with each blow. He performs a larger-scale version of this technique using 1999 clones, known as the Naruto Uzumaki 2k Combo. Other clone-enabled techniques include the Clone Body Blow, in which Naruto throws a clone as a projectile weapon, the Clone Spinning Heel Drop, in which multiple clones axe kick the opponent simultaneously, and Shuriken from All Directions, in which all active clones throw a barrage of cloned shuriken simultaneously. Some moves are unnamed, such as forming a human ladder out of clones to catch someone.
Naruto can also use his clones to aid him in his strongest offensive technique: the Rasengan, taught to him by Jiraiya. This ninjutsu, which was invented by the Fourth Hokage, is performed without hand seals. Naruto must focus his chakra into his palm and use it to create a ball of swirling chakra to strike the opponent with. Even though Jiraiya and Kakashi can perform this with one hand, Naruto cannot achieve this when he first learned it due to his poor chakra control. Instead, he uses a Shadow Clone to shape the chakra into a sphere. In Naruto: Shippūden, Naruto has demonstrated the ability to perform this technique with a single hand, but still prefers using Shadow Clones. He can also perform a larger and more devastating version of this techniqe, the Great Ball Rasengan; this version of the jutsu is unstable, though, and requires the Shadow Clone to hold on to the sphere with the real Naruto.
Much later, Kakashi teaches Naruto to manipulate elemental chakra. Naruto's elemental chakra type is revealed to be wind, which is well suited to combat for its slicing ability. The elemental training is a prerequisite to creating his own unique jutsu. This jutsu is revealed to be a combination of his elemental chakra and the Rasengan, which the Fourth Hokage had created expressly for that purpose. He, however, could not manage to combine the two before his death. After much training and a few shortcuts inspired by Kakashi, Naruto creates the Wind Release: Rasengan, a much more powerful version of the original. The jutsu is capable of producing a massive crater beneath Naruto. Despite the great power of the technique, Yamato confirms that it is still only about halfway finished. Even only half-finished, Naruto's control over the technique is finely-tuned, allowing him to manipulate the wind chakra into various shapes, such as a shuriken in Wind Release: Spiraling Shuriken. The jutsu is capable of damaging every cell in the opponent's body. Such is its power that Tsunade likens the effect to poison, stating plainly how concentrated the effect is. Unfortunately, Naruto's arm suffers nearly the same damage, and the technique is only to be used as a last resort.
In battles against larger opponents such as Shukaku or Manda, Naruto attempts to use the Summoning Technique, a jutsu that requires a small offering of blood in exchange for calling forth an animal for assistance. Naruto has the ability to summon toads in combat. Because of Naruto's poor chakra control, Naruto has not displayed the ability to call forth a specific toad, but he always summons either Gamakichi, Gamatatsu, or the gigantic Gamabunta. As the animals have minds of their own, Naruto has difficulty controlling them, meaning that they typically have to become motivated to fight on their own.

Demon fox's assistance

Naruto's most dangerous trait is his ability to draw chakra from the Demon Fox. Even without directly drawing upon it, a small amount of the demon fox's chakra is always mixed with his own. His body instinctively rejects the bulk of it due to the damage it would cause. Ebisu implies that Naruto's poor chakra control stems from this, as a portion of his chakra is used to reject the overwhelming fox chakra. According to Kakashi, Naruto's regular chakra level is about twice that of Kakashi's own. As such, he is naturally suited to jutsu that use a large amount of chakra, such as his specialty 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 upwards of two thousand while maintaining a decent supply of chakra in each one.
The fox chakra increases every aspect of Naruto's physiology, making him a nearly unstoppable force. His speed and strength increase far beyond that of any normal human, and even beyond that of most ninja. It also increases his healing rate, allowing him to regenerate even major wounds in a few seconds. His stamina is also increased beyond its normal level, allowing him to fight without tiring. Naruto also gains the ability to mold the chakra to a much finer degree, allowing one-handed Rasengans.
If Naruto musters enough of the fox's chakra, a chakra shield is summoned. This shield is capable of acting on its own as a separate entity, making it difficult to predict Naruto's movements. The shield created by the demon fox's chakra is perhaps the most versatile defense seen in the series, since it is impervious to almost any attack. The shield can also stretch and skew to many sizes and lengths, allowing Naruto to attack opponents from a distance. Additionally, Naruto can use it to create waves of concentrated chakra to repel opponents. In Naruto's four-tailed state, the chakra shield is intense enough to burn others and act as a potent poison.
Naruto's state of mind coincides with his tailed transformation states, which are characterized by a fox-shaped shield of chakra surrounding Naruto with a number of tails to indicate the amount of chakra. Naruto becomes more powerful with each "tail" the chakra shield grows, but also loses more of himself to the demon fox. Up to his three-tailed state, he remains in control, though somewhat more feral than normal. He also starts feeling pain from the intense chakra. In his three-tailed state, Naruto has to fight the demon fox for dominance, and the chakra is intense enough to not only cause him pain, but anyone in the vicinity as well. Once he reaches his four-tailed state, the demon fox becomes dominant. In this state, which is the highest state Naruto has reached, Naruto's mind becomes mixed with the demon fox's, causing the regular Naruto to fade out. As Jiraiya describes it, Naruto becomes a miniature version of the demon fox.
Even with all of its benefits, Naruto's human body can only handle so much of the demon fox's chakra, as demon chakra is far more intense than human chakra. As he draws upon greater amounts of the demon fox's chakra, his own body is weakened. In his four-tailed state, the demon fox's chakra is so intense that it constantly burns Naruto's skin, causing him to bleed from every pore. This causes his blood to mix with the demon fox's chakra, creating a red chakra shield. In addition to the constant damage, the demon fox's chakra also constantly regenerates Naruto's damaged tissue. This repeated cycle of damage and repair severely weakens Naruto's cellular structure, shortening his overall lifespan in a manner similar to Tsunade's Creation Rebirth jutsu.

Other Media

In the Clash of Ninja series, Naruto has better control of the Nine-Tailed Fox and can transform into his standard Nine-Tailed Fox form at will, yet cannot cancel it out. In Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 2 and 3, a variant Green Beast of Konoha Naruto (that in one episode he fantasized about being) is playable. He is given his own variations of Rock Lee and Might Guy's trademark technique such as Dynamic Entry (Narutimate Entry) and Front Lotus (Naruto Lotus). The variant Spiraling Sphere he used on Sasuke in their final battle was named Nine-Tailed Fox Spiraling Sphere. Naruto uses variant Spiraling Spheres in each movies. The Seven-Colored Rasengan which relied on the Spring Heat Generators, Gelel Rasengan which relied on the Nine-Tailed Fox's and Temujin's Gelel chakra, and Moonray Rasengan which relied on the Rasengan being exposed to the Full Moon's light.