Naruto Collection

Kiba Inuzuka

2006-10-15T20:29:00.000-07:00

Kiba Inuzuka
(犬塚キバ)

Kiba Inuzuka (犬塚キバ, Inuzuka Kiba^?) is a fictional character in the anime and manga series Naruto.

The name "Inuzuka", meaning "house of dogs", belongs to a clan that was one of the most powerful in the Chiba prefecture in Japan during the Edo period. They were known as "dog warriors" and worshipped Inu ("Dog"), a deity representing the zodiac sign of the dog. The name "Inuzuka" also originates from Hakkenden, a novel about a dog samurai. "Kiba" literally means "fang".

Kiba Inuzuka is a loud and head-strong Chunin member of Kurenai Yuhi's Team 8, although he has a very soft and caring side that he shows to his friends. He's from Konohagakure's Inuzuka family, known for their use of Nin-dogs (忍犬, Ninken^?) in battle, and has an almost symbiotic relation with his nin-dog Akamaru - they are even able to communicate with each other, allowing Kiba to gain information from Akamaru's heightened senses of smell and hearing. The two also perform many jutsu together, such as Beast Human Clone so that they both look like a beastlike Kiba. Afterward they can use Double Piercing Fang to spin towards the opponent at high speed, causing great damage on impact. By gathering chakra to his nose, Kiba can also increase his own sense of smell a thousand-fold.

Kiba and his team members, Hinata Hyuga and Shino Aburame, are highly specialized in tracking and survival; Kiba's and Akamaru's heightened senses, combined with Hinata's Byakugan and Shino's Destruction Bug Host Technique, make their team exceptional at this. Compared to Team 7, Team 8 appears to be on very good terms with one another, although Kiba proclaims his dislike for Shino's bossy attitude during the second part of the Chunin exam and Shino seems to think Kiba should be more serious and less goofy. The three spend time together as they pursue their hobbies (Kiba training Akamaru, Hinata picking flowers, and Shino collecting bugs).

According to official databook Kiba's favorite foods are beef jerky and gristle. His least favorite foods are anything that he can't chew. His hobby is walking with Akamaru, which rarely involves simple walking. His favorite phrase is "Akamaru". Unlike the rest of his team, Kiba takes off his jacket when he sleeps and goes to bed in his undershirt. While sleeping, Kiba curls up like a sleeping dog.

Part I

Chunin Exam Arc

During the first part of the Chunin exam, a written test, Akamaru is sitting on Kiba's head, thus being able to look at the other examinees' papers. Since Kiba is the only one in the classroom able to understand Akamaru's barking and growling, Akamaru can easily pass the answers through to Kiba.

In the third stage preliminaries, Kiba is set up against Naruto Uzumaki. Although Kiba has the upper hand for most of the battle, Naruto manages to turn the tables for a while through his use of surprisingly clever strategy, as well as some luck. While everyone is amazed by Naruto's growth, Kiba gives Akamaru a food pill, increasing his chakra. This turns Akamaru's fur red, revealing the true reason for Akamaru's name ("aka" meaning "red" in Japanese). Once again having the upper hand, Kiba and Akamaru attack Naruto. However, Naruto, with his determination, and a clever use of the Transformation Technique, manages to eliminate Akamaru from the fight. While Kiba is down, Naruto attempts to debut his Uzumaki Naruto Combo, but Kiba gets up and tries to prevent this, eventually ending up behind Naruto. Having his concentration disrupted by Kiba, Naruto farts, turning Kiba's own heightened sense of smell against him. This distraction allows Naruto to finish the Uzumaki Naruto Combo, thus finally defeating Kiba. As Kiba is being carried to the emergency room, Hinata comes and offers him the same ointment that she gave Naruto. He tells her to forfeit if she is placed with Gaara or Neji.

Though during the fight Kiba taunted Naruto about his inferior strength and mocked his dream to be Hokage, by defeating him Naruto earns his respect and Kiba cheers for him with Hinata in the third stage main matches. Kiba has realized that Naruto has changed and is one of the few viewers that believe that Naruto has a chance in beating Neji. When Hinata begins coughing up blood and is taken by the medics, Kiba follows them, thus missing Naruto's fight. He is knocked out by Kabuto after returning, since Akamaru recognized Kabuto's smell.

Sasuke Retrieval Arc

Kiba is a part of the team sent to retrieve the renegade Sasuke Uchiha, together with Naruto, Neji, Choji Akimichi and their leader Shikamaru Nara. He and Akamaru successfully kept Sakon and his twin brother Ukon occupied, allowing the rest to move on and continue the mission. The fight is a close one, with Sakon and Ukon having to resort to using Orochimaru's last defense to protect themselves from Kiba and Akamaru's powerful Double Wolf Fang. He shows amazing intelligence during the fight which impresses even Ukon who tells Kiba, while fused into his body, that his nose and brains won't help in this situation.

The twins are ultimately stronger, and almost kill Akamaru, so Kiba decides to withdraw and hide with Akamaru from the brothers. They eventually find him, but Kankuro intervenes at the last second — saving Kiba from certain death and killing Sakon and Ukon - as a part of a joint effort by him, Gaara, and Temari to aid the Leaf-nin on their mission.

In the anime, we see during their fight, how Kiba met and grew up with Akamaru, which goes some way to explain how incredibly close the two are.

Filler arcs

Like Neji, Kiba is teamed up with Naruto numerous times on other missions in the anime after the failed Sasuke retrieval mission. During the episode "Kiba's Long Day," more of the connection between Kiba and Akamaru is seen while Akamaru is infected with a biological weapon. It also takes an in-depth look at Kiba's family life. We also see that Kiba has very good hospitality. When Kiba finds Naruto trespassing in the Inuzuka's garden, he is not angered, but instead invites him to come into the house.

In the Treasure Hunt arc, Kiba sees the error of his and Naruto's ways of wanting leadership. When he points out that the team of Naruto, Hinata, and himself has a weakness, Naruto and Hinata think he is talking about Hinata because she has an injured leg. Kiba then tells them that Hinata is the strong part of the group since she worries about everyone and that he and Naruto are the weakness because they always argue. Kiba makes the point that they will be a better team if they work together.

In the Konoha 11 arc, Kiba and Shino unsuccessfully attempt to search the village for the missing blueprints, only to find that a smoke bomb set off the previous night also had a scent-neutralizing agent. Later on in the arc, Kiba is teamed up with Neji while searching the school. Kiba proves that he can easily lose his temper when he is angered by a group of children taking part in a kunai throwing practice. The reasoning for this is because if a kunai hit the bulls-eye, the academy would be blown up. While Kiba does lose his temper, it is simply because he doesn't want to hear the kids complain.

Part II

Kiba & Akamaru in Part II

During Naruto's two-and-a-half-year absence from Konohagakure, Kiba passes the Chunin exam and is promoted to Chunin level. He has largely remained true to his loud, joking personality. He has exchanged his fur coat for what appears to be a leather jacket. Akamaru also grew so much that Kiba can ride on his back. When Naruto commented on Akamaru's growth, Kiba said he hadn't noticed since he had been around him the entire time.

Hinata Hyuga

2006-10-15T20:26:00.000-07:00

Hinata Hyuga
(日向ヒナタ)

Hinata Hyuga (日向ヒナタ, Hyūga Hinata^?) is a fictional character in the anime and manga series Naruto.

Hyuga (日向, Hyuga^?) means "toward the sun" and is the name of a city in the Miyazaki Prefecture in Japan. "Hinata" as her first name is a pun, as it is another way to read this kanji and means "a sunny place".

Despite her relatively little time in the spotlight, Hinata is a very popular character: she generally ranks among the top ten in Shonen Jump's character popularity polls.

Hinata is the oldest daughter and heiress to the Hyuga clan. Along with Shino Aburame and Kiba Inuzuka, she is part of Kurenai Yuhi's Team 8. As a member of the Hyuga clan, she possesses the Byakugan, which gives her an almost 360° field of vision, and specializes in the Gentle Fist fighting style, which allows her to damage her opponent's chakra circulatory system and inner organs directly with even a slight tap. While Hinata is technically the heiress to the Hyuga clan, her father deemed her a lost cause in her early teens – apparently of even lesser skill than her younger sister, Hanabi, and not even comparable to her cousin Neji – and thus left her in the care of Kurenai when she became Hinata's sensei, stating, "Do what you want with her. She is of no use to me."

In the beginning, Hinata lacks self-confidence and gives up easily. Though she stayed at the training grounds longer than anyone else and worked hard to improve her skills, she would give up when faced with any real competition. In an attempt to change herself, Hinata entered the Chunin exam, where she finally finds the will to never give up. She finds inspiration in Naruto, her academy student crush, whose constant determination and confidence she admires. Hinata's strong affections for Naruto seem to be a rather glaring exception, as no other introduced girl of around Naruto's age has displayed anything of the sort for him.

	Humans are separated by differences they are born with but I want to believe that people can change and wanted to express that. Hinata's theme is 'by believing in yourself, you can become a new person.'
—Masashi Kishimoto

Hinata seems to share similarities with a somewhat established stereotype (or archetype, depending on how one looks at it) of typical manga/anime girls - characterized by cuteness to the point of adorability (or an eerie beauty, as in the case of Rei Ayanami), introversion, dark hair, a fierce resolve to work harder, and a crush on the unaware main character. The "Sailor Hinata" incident is consistent with this, as the uncharacteristic encounter where the main character is shocked by a side of the character he hasn't seen before, often involving nudity, is a recurring theme as well. Compare Shinobu Maehara, Nodoka Miyazaki, and partly Ami Mizuno (who is, ironically, Sailor Mercury).

Hinata's hobby is pressing flowers. Her favorite foods are senzai (soft bean jam) and cinnamon rolls; her least favorite foods are crab and eel. Her favorite phrase is "self-confidence".

Part I

Chunin Exam arc

When Naruto briefly breaks the fourth wall during the start of the Chunin Exam and introduces his classmates - the "Rookie 9" - to the audience, he describes Hinata as "a shy, dark, weird girl who always looks away when I look at her". He gradually learns of the kind of person she is by snippets of interaction during the exam; she offers to let him copy off of her paper during its first stage and gives him a case of medicine during the third stage, both acts of kindness rather out of place in the fiercely competitive environment that is the Chunin exam. Though Naruto is oblivious to her attraction to him, his opinion of her becomes more sympathetic and caring.

In an attempt to change herself, Hinata enters the Chunin exam with her team. Because of their exceptional skills in tracking and reconnaissance, they pass the first two tests easily. They encounter a minor obstacle in the form of Gaara, who they witness killing another team single-handedly simply because they looked at him the wrong way. Gaara would have killed Team 8 as well, but Temari convinced Gaara to stop. However, this good fortune does not continue into the last stage.

Hinata is paired against her cousin Neji Hyuga in the preliminary battles. Not only is this an abysmal match-up for her, as Neji not only uses the same fighting style, but is much better at it, Neji also has a bitter grudge against the main house. He takes this opportunity to belittle her aspiration of changing herself, carrying a rather mentally unbalancing speech tinged with fatalism with the conclusion that personality traits and ability are determined at birth and, ultimately, people cannot change. As the ferocity of the speech and Neji's psychological warfare intensifies, Hinata is practically brought to tears, at which point Naruto, who is enraged by Neji's belittling, shouts for her to stand up for herself.

Hinata vs. Neji in the preliminary matches of the Chunin Exams.

Inspired by Naruto's words, Hinata battles Neji, much to his surprise. Though it seems as if she is actually doing well at first, it turns out that Neji was merely toying with her. Although he blocks off the chakra holes in her arms, rendering her Gentle Fist attacks useless, she fights on, unwilling to submit. Her continued defiance of the obvious outcome of the match confuses Neji, causing him to sweat, but he remains in command of the match. After a second attack aimed at her heart by Neji, it seems as if she isn't getting up. Just as the examiner is about to call the match, Naruto stops him. Sakura berates him for it, since Hinata is unconscious, but he merely looks at her, noticing that she's getting up once more. On the verge of collapse, Hinata tells Neji that he has the situation backwards. It's him that is fighting against his fate, not Hinata. This drives Neji into a blind rage, and it took four Jonin to stop him from landing a killing blow on Hinata. Regardless, the previous injuries have left Hinata near death, and she collapses shortly after they stop him. When Naruto comes up to check on her, she tries to ask him if she's changed even a little, but can only manage to say, "do you." Then, unable to speak, she thinks to herself and finishes her sentence in her head, "think I changed, maybe even a little," before losing consciousness.

One month later, just as the main matches are about to begin, Hinata meets Naruto again, this time in the training area. Despite the training he's had over the one-month break, he confides in her that his self-doubt is strengthening, and he thinks he only appears strong to her because he's always acting strong to cover up the frustration of his constant failures. Upon hearing this, Hinata immediately speaks up, telling him that it isn't true. She tells him that even though he fails a lot, he never gives up. Awed and cured of his self-doubt, Naruto in turn tells her that he always thought of her as "a dark, weird girl", but that now, he thinks he likes people like her. This leaves her blushing in place, which goes comically undisturbed even after Naruto is long gone and Kiba arrives to take her to the stadium.

During Naruto's match against Neji, the injuries Hinata suffered in her match against her cousin show to be not fully healed. She begins coughing and is healed by a masked ninja, later to be revealed as Kabuto Yakushi. Kabuto heals Hinata of her injuries and then knocks both her and Kiba out so they don't get in the way of the oncoming invasion. Her injuries prevent her from watching the rest of the match, so she never sees Naruto win, nor does she see him use the Demon fox's chakra.

Filler arcs

Curiously, Hinata enjoys a large amount of spotlight in the "filler" arcs. Though it follows the common filler pattern of sending Naruto off to a mission with members of another team, the Bikochu arc is about her and her development for all intents and purposes, which is very unusual since filler arcs tend to shy away from developments regarding the original cast in order to maintain continuity with the manga.

Bikochu arc

In this arc, Hinata – who is pained to see Naruto's constant frustration about losing Sasuke – convinces the rest of Team 8 to try to find some way to help him. Shino recalls the existence of the Bikochu (微香虫, "Faint smell bug" or "scent bug"^?), a rare insect with great tracking ability, which, he says, is pretty much their only chance to help, and consequently says that they shouldn't go because the chance of finding this bug is very small. Very uncharacteristically, Hinata insists that they should go and they wind up taking the idea to Tsunade, who agrees to send them off to the mission, even sending Naruto off with them, who she claims would have gone anyway.

During one of their sleeping breaks on the way to the Bikochu's habitat, Naruto wakes up to relieve his bladder. While he does so, his attention is drawn to a nearby waterfall, where a beautiful nude girl is performing a sort of swirling dance which causes the water to sprout in an orb around her. Awed by this captivating sight, he approaches her and asks who she is, only to slip on a rock and fall in the water, thus alerting her to his presence. He apologizes but there is no response, as she is already gone. Though it is quite obvious that this girl was Hinata, Naruto fails to make the connection and later excitedly recounts to Kiba how he saw this "ultra-pretty girl" during the night, embarrassing her incredibly. He fails to notice this connection, as well.

Hinata uses Protection of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms.

However, other shinobi from the Aburame's rival bug clan in Hidden Rock are also after the Bikochu in order to restore their clan, so after numerous decoys, counter-decoys, traps and other types of underhanded warfare, during which all of the team members come inches from gruesome deaths, it is ultimately Hinata who comes to the rescue. Presumed dead by the Konoha-nin's adversaries, she appears in a crucial moment and nullifies the combined effect of all of the Kamizuru bee swarm jutsu, including a gigantic bee summon, by means of a new, original jutsu she has developed - Protection of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms, a technique combining elements of Neji's Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms and Eight Trigram Palms Heavenly Spin. Shino explains Hinata's motives of pushing herself to this level - she did it to be acknowledged by her father and Naruto; and as she drops to the ground from exhaustion Naruto catches her and pronounces her performance "awesome", grinning. Hinata, not unexpectedly, blushes and smiles.

Later, when back in the village, the Hyuga clan - Hiashi, Hinata and Neji - are seen sitting together in the clan residence. Hiashi asks her how the mission went to which she responds, smiling, that it was a complete and utter failure. Quite surprised by this change of attitude, Hiashi smiles and tells her to do her best, and the arc ends with the smiling Hyuga clan and her staring up at the sunlight and resolving to always strive to become stronger. This concept is largely not filler; the manga similarly deals with the healing of the Hyuga clan and Hinata's ever-strengthening resolve.

Treasure Hunt arc

In a later filler arc, Tsunade decides to send Naruto, Hinata, and Kiba on a mission to retrieve a box that a man who calls himself Kaisen Agari is looking for. However, there is a catch: due to the fact they failed in both the Bikochu and Bounty Hunter missions, if the 3 genin fail once again, they would be sent back to the academy. Fearing for their ninja status, Naruto and Kiba spend much of the trip bickering about who is lagging down who, while Hinata quietly watches, not wanting to get in the way. As a result, Hinata gets a nasty cut on her leg while following Naruto's brazen way of path finding.

They are soon trapped in a cave by Agari, and his comrades proceeded to use a jutsu that allowed them to copy the faces and bodies of Naruto, Hinata, and Kiba. This jutsu is apparently potent enough to escape detection by smell. Before leaving, the cave is rigged with explosive notes that will crush the three real genin. However, Naruto, Kiba, and Akamaru manage to free Hinata from her ropes via biting, and Hinata proceeds to use Shugohakke Rokujuyon Sho to deflect the debris from the explosion. After momentarily fainting again when she got too close to Naruto, Hinata frees Kiba, who uses Gatsuga to dig them out. Once on the outside, all three of them realize their lack of teamwork was what had made this mission become almost a failure. It was decided that Naruto and Kiba would run ahead to the village and stop the imposters while Hinata would go her own pace. Upon returning to the village, Hinata finds that all is well and that the imposters were actually hired by Tsunade to test their skills; however, she found out too late to stop herself from giving Naruto a Juken attack after Naruto forgot the sign that was suppose to indicate he was the real Naruto.

Their mission does end in success, but it turned out this mission was a ploy to increase and improve their teamwork skills. Most importantly, they didn't have to worry about losing their status.

The Land of Vegetables

In a recent filler arc, Hinata, Naruto, and Choji are sent to escort a group of peddlers from Nano country, which is being pillaged by three mysterious ninja brothers who use nature-elemental jutsu. The group from Konoha discover that among the peddlers was hidden the last heiress of the Nano Country nobility and that the three mysterious ninja were trying to kill her.

The princess believed Naruto was a living failure of a ninja because he listened to his emotions. Hinata defends Naruto stating that Naruto was always alone and he didn't have a family. Hinata also stated that Naruto has never thought about running away or abandoning people to save himself, and works hard to gain respect and become the next Hokage. The princess questions Hinata on her feelings for Naruto, but all Hinata does is blush. The princess figures it out and says she understands. However, when Hinata turns around the princess knocks her out with a rock and said that she has no intention of dying due to Hinata or Naruto. Naruto later finds Hinata and berates her for not being able to defend herself. Naruto runs ahead to find the princess and tells Hinata to find Choji.

Hinata is unable to find Choji, but she finds Naruto's headband on the ground. When she meets up with Naruto, he's fighting a powerful enemy that utilizes magnetic jutsu. Naruto tells Hinata that she will be in danger if she comes to help him and he falls down due to his injuries. Hinata decides that she will protect him. She's no match for him at first, just narrowly escaping his magnetic attacks, but eventually turns his own magnetism techniques against him, causing him to become covered in a thick laver of iron particles and subsequently buried deep underground. She would have been buried, too, but Naruto and Choji arrived in time to save her. Naruto is somewhat surprised that she won, later saying that he can't lose to her (in an encouraging way), and leaves her with Choji as he goes to find the princess. A little later, Hinata and Choji are captured by the third and most powerful brother.

Naruto confronts the final brother, and he has some trouble with him for a while. Eventually, Naruto uses the brother's power against him by reflecting the light back at the Criminal brother and injuring him. As a result, Naruto emerged the victor over him. Afterwards, Shizune comes with Shikamaru, and it turns out they rescued Hinata and Choji. The princess seemed to have a change of heart after all of this, and she starts to value other people's lives over her own. The princess wanted to hire Naruto to help her rebuild her country, but he said that he needs to go home so he can train and become stronger, so he could help his friends. The princess understood and said goodbye and thanked Naruto, Hinata, and Choji for their services.

Konoha 11 arc

Like the rest of the Konoha Genin, Hinata is part of Shikamaru's investigation into the plot of Gennou, repeatedly using her Byakugan alongside Neji to help discover traps. At one point, Naruto, in need of a Byakugan user, bumps into Hinata and asks for her help, accidentally using a double entendre which can also be mistaken as asking someone out on a date. Hinata, at a loss of words, begins to blush and twiddle her fingers. Sakura, who was also present, also misconstrues his intention and scolds him. Confused, Naruto simply notes that they're busy and decides to ask Neji, both shocking and confusing the two. Later on, while everyone talks around her, Hinata silently glances over at Shino who senses her distress and turns around to ask what's wrong. She sees a second trail leading away from the trigger. She and Neji survey the village, learning that a massive network of interconnected exploding tags had been woven throughout the village during Gennou's time as a carpenter. When Gennou tried to use his summoned bird to blow up Konoha, Hinata helped Naruto defeat it by using her Byakugan to predict its movements.

Part II

Hinata 2 ½ years later

Like the rest of the "rookie nine", Hinata has become a Chunin during Naruto's absence. She makes her Part II debut in Chapter 282, having blossomed into a young woman, sporting longer hair, and wearing slightly different-colored clothing. Hinata's feelings for Naruto seem to have been magnified by his long absence; she wasn't even able to bring herself to greet him, opting to hide instead and fainting when he rather loudly detects her.

It is as of yet unknown how her skill has changed during the two and a half years Naruto was gone as she has yet to show any new techniques; however, it is reasonable to assume that she has attained at least the skills she has shown in the anime.

Sai

2006-10-11T08:15:00.000-07:00

Sai

Sai
(サイ)

Background

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

A member of a now-defunct independent subdivision of the ANBU called 'Root,' Sai is the codename of a ninja about Naruto's age specializing in artistic ninjutsu and functioning as an undercover agent sent by Danzo to infiltrate Team 7 as the replacement of Sasuke Uchiha. The name "Sai" was assigned only for the Grass Country mission. His birth name is currently unknown, as he is mostly cut off from the rest of the world. There is a good chance he can't remember his original name. His mission and its full objective was to kill Sasuke because of his supposed danger to Konoha, but after realizing the bond between him and Naruto, he decides against this, instead stating that he wishes to protect that bond by rescuing him from Orochimaru. When he successfully became a part of Team 7, his initial attitude toward Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno would not be evidence of this. His introduction to Naruto was an attack on him, Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi, which was followed by an insult to Naruto's manhood by asking him if he even has a penis (and makes several other comments about it in later chapters). Calling Sakura ugly later does not win him any points with her either.

Later, he tops it off by vehemently denouncing Sasuke using quite colorful language. With this, it earned him Naruto's rather emphatic flat-out refusal to accept him as a member of the team, insisting that Team 7's third member is still Sasuke, even when he's gone. Sai also earns a well-aimed power punch from Sakura for bad-mouthing Sasuke. As the story unfolds, Sai admits that he has a problem of showing his emotions (even when his big brother died) because he is somehow devoid of his own emotion or thoughts. He values the completion of his ANBU mission more than the safety of his teammates, as shown during training with Naruto, as well as when he ignored Yamato's order to catch an unconscious Sakura who fell from a bridge during the confrontation with Orochimaru.

Sai uses a scroll, brush and ink to draw animals that will jump out of the scroll and attack to his will. He can also use this method to produce a fully flight-capable bird, which he can ride. He also wields a short sword like weapon that he keeps on his back at all times.

After the Sasuke and Sai Arc, Sai heads to the library to read books on improving relationships with people. Specifically, he reads about how nicknames can forge some intimacy with others. Unsure of how to give people nicknames, he consults Sakura and Naruto for help. Sakura advises Sai to use characteristics to which Sai replies by calling her an ugly dog. So far he has called:

Naruto: Dickless Wonder (results in Naruto responding comically. In the Sasuke and Sai arc, when Yamato, Sakura, Sai, and Naruto were in the hotsprings, Sai commented that Naruto does indeed have one, which made Naruto jump up and start yelling at how strange Sai was for always mentioning it, and Naruto was at the same time rather disturbed and creeped out that Sai actually was watching him. It should be noted that he called his brother the same thing.) However, he doesn't call Naruto that anymore.

Sakura: Hag/Ugly-Dog (He called Sakura this twice. The first time, Yamato held Sakura back, but the second time earned him a nasty beating, as Sakura did not hold back with her chakra-augmented strength.)

Choji: Fatty/Fatso/Tubby (Japanese term is "Debu", which is an offensive way to call someone fat; Naruto prevents him from actually doing so)

Ino: Ms. Lovely/Beautiful/Gorgeous (afraid of receiving a similar reaction like the one Sakura gave him, he decided to give Ino a compliment instead of pointing out physical flaws; this annoyed Sakura to the point where she beat him again)

Sasuke and Sai Arc

After the fight between demon fox-powered Naruto and Orochimaru ends, Sai confronts Orochimaru with a message from Danzo. The message prompts Orochimaru to leave with Kabuto, taking along Sai as his new subordinate. However, this event is not done so without witness, as Yamato's clone spies the group's dealings before they leave.

Following them, Yamato discovers what is apparently Sai's body hanging from a tree, dead. But in the following chapter, he is discovered alive and well, still on the run with Orochimaru and Kabuto. The "body" was an elaborate fake body created by a technique of Kabuto's. Yamato is able to discern the true nature of the body due to unnatural appearance of the stitching around the body's neck from which it was hung.

Sai dropped his sketchbook and left it with his things where Sakura, Naruto and Yamato find it. The sketchbook contains mysterious drawings of Sai and his assumed older brother growing up and going through a gauntlet of enemies. In each later image, Sai took the weapons and armor of his previous opponent. The center pages, where the two brothers are supposed to meet, are unfinished. The left page is completely empty, probably because Sai's brother has died, whereas the right page has an image of Sai in full ANBU attire, only without a face. The true meaning of this is unknown to them.

Following Orochimaru to his hideout, Sai is introduced to Sasuke himself, who has been training under Orochimaru for the past 2 and a half years. Sasuke seems indifferent to him, expressing discontent towards Orochimaru. When Sai mentions that he might get along better with Sasuke than he did with Naruto, Sasuke fixes him with a stare, freezing Sai with a huge amount of killing intent. Sai expresses surprise that his emotionless self felt afraid after just a glimpse into Sasuke's eyes. He then relates that Naruto has not given up on Sasuke, and thinks of him as a brother. Sasuke once again seems indifferent and says that he only has one brother, the one that he has vowed to kill.

Orochimaru then orders Kabuto to get started in making a bingo book from the information contained within the message from Danzo, complete information on the ANBU directly under the control of the Hokage. Kabuto then leads Sai to a room within the hideout and locks the door, stating that he is not needed at this time. However, he forgets the envelope full of information in the room and leaves the room. Sai makes sure that Kabuto is gone, before pulling out a scroll and activating the seals on it to summon a book, which he immediately starts to read, surprised at its (unknown, as of now) contents.

However, when he hears a sound at the door, Sai quickly stashes the book in his bag. The sound turns out to be the Yamato unlocking it using a wooden skeleton key formed out of his hand, followed by the rest of Team Kakashi, who had infiltrated Orochimaru's hideout and tracked Sai by a wood "seed" that Yamato had planted earlier on his body. Although Sai expresses gratitude towards Sakura when she returns his art book, he is barraged with questions from the team about Danzo's motives. Sai just stands there, emotionless, with his eyes closed, until he cracks a smile and says that all of their assumptions about Danzo were incorrect. However, Naruto recognizes Sai's fake smile for what it is and yells that he is lying. Caught, Sai states that his mission is a failure and confirms that Danzo is indeed planning an attempt to destroy Konoha as it exists today. However, he is also to spy on Orochimaru for Danzo, since Danzo knows that as soon as the old Konoha is destroyed, Orochimaru will turn on him. Sai's abilities made him the best choice for Danzo to send, as his jutsu can make the ink he writes with turn into animals that can make their way back to Danzo, providing him with information.

When Sakura yells at him about the collateral damage that would occur due to Danzo's planned invasion, Sai states that he doesn't care, as those were his orders and he is only following them. Sai considers himself only as Danzo's emotionless tool. However, Sakura says that a shinobi cannot be completely emotionless, and uses Sai's attachment to his art book as a link to his brother as an example. Yamato mentions that Danzo had implemented special training to eliminate emotions in 'Ne'. This training was similar to the former graduation exam of Kirigakure, in which fellow students, or family members in this case, had to fight each other to the death. Sai denies this and claimed that his brother merely died from sickness, and the book was supposed to be a present for him. Furthermore, he claimed that he and his brother were not related by blood, they were merely two orphans who found a strong connection between each other. He says that the book is unfinished because he forgot what he had wanted to put there after his brother died.

After they return to the surface, Team Kakashi ties Sai up, leaving him under the watch of one of Yamato's Wood Clones. Naruto states that they will now go rescue Sasuke. However, Sai doubts their success, stating that he met Sasuke, who no longer cares about Naruto. If they go after him, Orochimaru will defeat them and use them for his experiments. He then asks Naruto why he is willing to oppose Orochimaru even if he hasn't been ordered to do so. Naruto responds that he used to hate Sasuke, but now he has formed a bond with him over time due to their shared experiences. Sai still doubts their success against Orochimaru, but Naruto states that he will do whatever it takes to retrieve Sasuke.

Before Team Kakashi could set out, Kabuto shows up and frees Sai. However, before a battle could develop, Sai, moved by Naruto's words and hoping to understand his relationship with his own brother, shocked everyone by helping Yamato immobilize Kabuto.

Sai finally showing a true smile after completing his picture book about him and his brother.

After his capture, Kabuto was forthcoming about information on the lair, but not Sasuke's whereabouts. Team Kakashi split into two pairs; Sai was paired up with Naruto, and Sakura with Yamato, in search of Sasuke. After Naruto collapses inside the lair due to fatigue from when he activated his Demon fox form, Sai suggested that they should rest. During this rest period, Sai said that Naruto reminded him of his brother, and it was at that moment when he finally remembered how to draw the final picture in his book. He draws his brother and himself holding hands and smiling as both wear ANBU uniforms. This appears to bring an actual smile to his face. Orochimaru then appears questioning Sai's loyalty.

Naruto tells Sai to escape while he holds off Orochimaru, telling him to find Sasuke and bring him back. Sakura and Yamato arrive to backup Naruto, as Yamato has sensed Naruto's chakra emission. Orochimaru decides not to fight due to these odds and retreats. After he leaves, Naruto, Sakura, and Yamato find Sai's bingo book, which contains orders for assassination. His next victim is supposed to be Sasuke, as Danzo considers him a threat to Konoha.

Sai uses rats he drew to locate Sasuke, and when he finds him, uses drawn snakes to attack him while he is seemingly asleep. Sasuke senses the attack, but does nothing to prevent it. However, Sai reveals in a surprising move that he is going to bring Sasuke back to Naruto, instead of following his assigned mission. This is because he doesn't want to break Naruto's bond with Sasuke and will fight to protect that bond which Naruto was willing to give his life to defend.

As the fight between Sasuke and Team 7 begins, Sai moves to prevent Sasuke from stabbing Naruto with his hiltless version of the Kusanagi sword. However, before he can counterattack, Sai is stunned by Sasuke's new jutsu, Chidori Current.

Sai gave comforting words to Sakura and Naruto after they realized that Sasuke was gone. Finally, Sai has been accepted by Team Kakashi as their "companion". Upon returning to Konoha, Sai decided to continue using this name, and requested to stay with Team 7, despite some minor objections from Danzo. In his home he remembers what Naruto has told him and regains his emotions. Naruto then calls for him to go on their next mission together. He leaves his house to join Naruto, Sakura, and Yamato on their new mission, but not before placing a scroll in front of his window that says "Friends".

Current Arc

During a little R&R, Sai has been working on his personality and relationship skills by reading about it at the Konoha library, where he reads books on how to gain people's trust. Sai has gotten very close and friendly with his team members and they head out to meet Kakashi. As one could expect from someone who learned to communicate with others via a book, Sai initially has problems putting what he read into practice, but Naruto tells him not to worry about being formal. Reading earlier that giving friends nicknames was a positive thing, Sai calls Sakura "Hag" in a friendly way, which solicits a not-so-friendly reaction from Sakura. At the hospital, Kakashi tells the new Team 7 about a training technique that will help Naruto become strong enough to compete against Sasuke. Possibly even surpass Kakashi himself.

However, further talks are postponed as Team Asuma had come to visit them (chunin exams had ended). Team 7, along with Choji and Ino, ended up going to the Yakiniku place to re-introduce themselves to each other. Sai attempts again to put what he read into practice by giving nicknames to Asuma's team. He almost makes the severe mistake of calling Choji "Fat", but is saved by Naruto at the last second. At this point, taking into consideration his prior experience with Sakura, Sai determines that nicknames based on compliments are more suited for women. To this end, Sai calls Ino "beautiful" — promptly earning another severe beating from an annoyed Sakura.

Kakashi Hatake

2006-10-08T21:17:00.000-07:00

Kakashi Hatake

Kakashi Hatake
(はたけカカシ)

Kakashi Hatake (はたけカカシ, Hatake Kakashi^?) is a fictional character in the anime and manga series Naruto.

Though his name is written in katakana in the manga, the family name "Hatake" can be written in kanji either as 'farmland' or 'leaf warrior'. The literal translation of "Hatake" is "cultivated field"; however, "Kakashi" means 'scarecrow'. Interestingly, Naruto used a scarecrow look-alike of Kakashi to practice on the day before Team 7's first test. Also, when Sakura spied on Kakashi so he would take off his mask, he replaces himself with a scarecrow to get rid of her.

Kakashi is a popular character, consistently ranking in the Top 5 in Shonen Jump magazine's official polls. He has taken 1st place in these polls twice.

Background

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Kakashi is a Konohagakure Jonin and the current leader of Team 7, which originally consisted of Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno. He is known as Copy Ninja Kakashi (コピー忍者のカカシ, Kopī Ninja no Kakashi^?) or Sharingan Kakashi (写輪眼のカカシ, Sharingan no Kakashi^?), referring to the Sharingan in his left eye and his use of it in battle, which has allowed him to copy more than a thousand jutsu. Kakashi's Sharingan eye is not his own; it originally belonged to his former teammate, Obito Uchiha.

Though he reportedly has many hobbies, the one pastime seen most in the series is his reading of "Icha Icha Paradise" (イチャイチャパラダイス, Icha Icha Paradaisu^?, literally "Make out Paradise"), an adult and probably erotic novel authored by Jiraiya that is a runaway bestseller in the Naruto world. Kakashi most prominently reads it while training and speaking with Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, and later in the series can be seen reading the second volume, "Icha Icha Violence" (イチャイチャバイオレンス, Icha Icha Baiorensu^?, literally Make Out Violence").

Kakashi has an ongoing, albeit slightly one-sided, rivalry with Might Guy; Guy constantly proclaims that Kakashi is his rival and challenges him on occasion, but Kakashi simply acts indifferent to the matter, annoying Guy to no end. Kakashi's current record stands at 49 wins and 50 losses, though the contests that make up this figure are so varied that it is not much of an achievement on Guy's part. Nevertheless, Guy is proud of his record. The contests have included 100-meter dashes, sumo-wrestling, ramen-eating contests, and even Rock, Paper, Scissors. Guy serves as a perfect antithesis for Kakashi in personality, appearance, and technique. Unlike Kakashi, Guy has had to work hard to achieve success as a ninja and mainly uses taijutsu. Kakashi, on the other hand, uses mainly ninjutsu and other techniques he copies with his Sharingan.

Kakashi's personal life appears to be as much of a mystery as the face behind the mask he has worn for most of his ninja career. He has no living family, or at least none he cares to acknowledge, and he's confirmed that everyone he loves is already dead. He is immediately recognizable as the son of (or mistaken for) the "White Fang of Konoha" (木ノ葉の白い牙, Konoha no Shiroi Kiba^?), Sakumo Hatake. Though his face has never been seen, episode 101, which is devoted to Team Kakashi trying to remove their sensei's mask, implies that he is in fact quite handsome.

According to official handbook his favorite foods are broiled saury with salt and miso soup with eggplant; his least, Tempura. His favorite phrase is "Teamwork." His hobby is reading "Icha Icha Paradise."

History

See also: Kakashi Gaiden

The Fourth Hokage, Rin, Obito Uchiha and Kakashi from his earlier years.

Like his father, whose skills have been compared to that of the Legendary Sannin, Kakashi is considered a genius shinobi, graduating from the Ninja Academy at age 5 and achieving the rank of Chunin at 6. A few years after these accomplishments, Kakashi's father was disgraced by the village for abandoning a mission in favor of saving his comrades, which cost the Land of Fire dearly. Because of the shame he felt, Sakumo committed seppuku, leaving Kakashi to bear witness to the event. After his father's suicide, Kakashi began to adhere strictly to the rules of the shinobi – in particular the rule dictating that the success of the mission must come before the well being of one's teammates, causing him to become arrogant, humorless, and by-the-book.

At the age of 13, Kakashi achieved Jonin status, mainly because of an ongoing war that required ninja more quickly than normal. As a reward for his accomplishment, he was assigned to lead his team on a sabotage mission to blow up a bridge in order to prevent Iwagakure forces from entering the Land of Grass, where the enemy could easily mount an attack on Konohagakure. Shortly after the mission started, Kakashi's team encountered an enemy shinobi and his clones. Kakashi saw this as a good time to test his newly-developed jutsu One Thousand Birds, but could not find the real enemy amongst the clones. After Kakashi's shoulder was slashed by the shinobi in the confusion, the Fourth Hokage had to rescue Kakashi. The Fourth Hokage sternly told Kakashi never to use the jutsu again. Later on, Kakashi's teammate Rin was captured by enemy shinobi. Obito wanted to save her, but Kakashi said they had to focus on the mission, opting not to make the same mistake his father had. Though Kakashi believed that they had to complete their objective, Obito eventually convinced him that his father had done the right thing, causing Kakashi to join in on the rescue effort.

During their attempt to save Rin, Kakashi loses his left eye as a result of an enemy ninja's attack. To protect Kakashi, Obito manages to awaken his Sharingan, and kills Kakashi's assailant. Soon after saving Rin, Obito again saves Kakashi, pushing him out of the way of another enemy's rock-dislodging attack, but becomes crushed in the process. Shortly before he died, Obito had Rin (a medical ninja) implant his Sharingan eye in Kakashi's damaged eye socket as a gift, thus creating Copy Ninja Kakashi. As his first act, Kakashi avenges Obito by killing the enemy ninja with his now-perfected jutsu, One Thousand Birds.

Obito's death changes Kakashi, and Kakashi adopts many of Obito's traits. One such trait is Obito's concept of teamwork, which is most clearly seen in the way Kakashi tests newly-graduated students hoping to become a squad under him. He uses the bell test to test his students, which requires the three students to get the two bells he keeps on his person. Only those who get a bell get to pass, which would be difficult even with teamwork, as at least one ninja would fail regardless. However, the rule is only a ruse; the point of the test is to foster teamwork and teach the students that some rules need to be broken on occasion. Team 7 is the only team to have realized this and passed the test. Kakashi also inherits Obito's chronic lateness due to his frequent visits to Konoha's memorial site, which he visits for Obito's sake.

Ability

As stated by Sakura, Kakashi is the highest-ranking technique specialist in Konoha, and said to be the strongest Jonin in the village by the manga databooks. He tends to focus mainly on ninjutsu though, using his Sharingan to copy the techniques of others and then turn them on their source. However, he is skilled in all three forms of jutsu, having shown his abilities with genjutsu in the bell test with Team 7. Though having never shown prowess in taijutsu, Naruto commented that Kakashi was more skilled than Rock Lee, who himself is extremely good at it. Kakashi actually uses Lee's Front Lotus during the first movie to kill an opponent, though the movie doesn't quite fit into the series' timeline.

Kakashi has his own personal pack of Ninken ("ninja dogs"), which he calls into battle with the Summoning Technique. The dogs were apparently trained by Kakashi, and the smallest one, Pakkun, can even speak. He uses these dogs for tracking purposes, but they can also be used for attack, as seen during his battle with Zabuza Momochi, in which he uses Summoning: Earth Release: Tracking Fang Technique to hold Zabuza still by having the dogs follow Zabuza through the ground by tracking the scent of Kakashi's blood on his sword.

Though Kakashi has copied the majority of his jutsu, his most powerful jutsu is one of his own creations: the One Thousand Birds, a ball of lightning-based chakra held in the hand that can kill in a single hit. Kakashi's current version is known as Lightning Cut, because he is said to have cut through a lightning bolt with it. His version is also more powerful and requires better chakra control, making the two separate, yet still similar, techniques. While the jutsu normally has the downside of leaving the user open to a counter-attack, Kakashi's Sharingan eye allows him to bypass the weakness.

Kakashi's Sharingan eye gives him a significant advantage in battle, as he can copy enemy techniques and use them as his own, as well as track and predict his opponent's. In addition, he can even copy a jutsu that an opponent hasn't used through the Sharingan's hypnotic and suggestive abilities. However, because it is a transplanted eye, his Sharingan eye is always active. While this would not be a problem for an Uchiha, his non-Uchiha blood causes it to use much more chakra than it should. Because of this, he covers it with his forehead protector and only reveals it for the toughest of battles. Kakashi's use of the Sharingan is almost as good as that of Itachi Uchiha, though the aforementioned handicaps brought about by the nature of his eye make him weaker in comparison.

Kakashi's Mangekyo Sharingan

In Part II, Kakashi has developed his own variant of the Mangekyo Sharingan, which acts differently than Itachi's. With it, he can manipulate space-time, even to a focus, and utilize it to conduct long range attacks. In its premiere, he managed to sever Deidara's right arm. Later on, when Deidara's clone attempted to blow himself and everyone around him up, he used the Mangekyo Sharingan to send the clone to another dimension. The Mangekyo Sharingan tires Kakashi considerably, and after using it up to three times he had to be hospitalized for weeks.

Part I

Team 7

The initial results of the Survival Training Exam for Team 7 were unpromising. Sakura's tunnel vision focus on Sasuke, Naruto's impulsive insistence on being a one man show and Sasuke's arrogant superiority complex and loner attitude resulted in a huge lack of teamwork, which led them to fail the Survival Training Exam. During lunchtime, Naruto was not to be given any food from either Sasuke or Sakura since he tried to eat it by himself during the test. But by breaking that rule, they were the first to pass the test, since the true purpose was to test their teamwork and commitment to each other; not to follow rules that would jeopardize the lives of their comrades.

The team improved their skills under Kakashi's training, which included the tree-walking exercise seen in the anime and manga. This exercise, which involves the use of chakra to walk up trees with feet alone, greatly improved the chakra control abilities of the team as they prepared for a final battle in the Land of Waves against Zabuza Momochi and his student, Haku.

Kakashi's controversial decision to permit Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura to take the Chunin exam surprised many, who believed that Kakashi should have given the team another year to prepare. Yet, through this decision, the team begins to truly realize their potential to be ninja. By the end of the second stage, the three exhibit signs of extensive growth from their extreme ordeals.

Kakashi, during the tree-walking exercise, is the first one to recognize Naruto's potential to surpass Sasuke and even himself in Chakra capacity. Initially considered to be weak and untalented, Naruto's growth as a ninja early in the series is attributed to Kakashi's training and influence. Naruto, in his fight against Kiba Inuzuka, quotes Kakashi's earlier admonition to him: "Use your techniques carefully, after giving some thought to what you're doing! Or it'll be used to the other person's advantage, stupid!" Naturally, Kakashi was amused.

However, despite the training that Kakashi has given to Naruto and Sakura, the one he has spent the most time in training with is Sasuke. After the second stage of the Chunin exam until Sasuke's defection to Orochimaru, Kakashi takes an active role in training Sasuke, teaching him One Thousand Birds and how to use his Sharingan, as well as attempting to seal the effects of Sasuke's Cursed Seal. Kakashi, like Sasuke, has lost many important people in his life including Obito, whose name is engraved in the memorial stone. Sasuke's Sharingan ability and natural talent, combined by a need for supervision due to the cursed seal and Orochimaru, lead Kakashi to train Sasuke for the third portion of the Chunin exam, much to Naruto's disappointment, believing that Kakashi is playing favorites with Sasuke. Kakashi's intention was for Sasuke to learn to use the Chidori to focus on protecting the important friends he has made in the present, rather than seeking vengeance for the loss of his family.

With Akatsuki seeking to capture Naruto, Jiraiya appropriates responsibility for Naruto and his training from Kakashi, while they agree that Sasuke should develop his Sharingan under Kakashi's guidance.

Following his recovery after a confrontation with Itachi Uchiha, Kakashi awakes to find that much has changed. Sasuke's frustration at his inability to kill Itachi, and his growing envy of Naruto's recent growth and success, leads him to demand a fight against Naruto in order to prove his superiority. The fight quickly gets out of hand and Kakashi is forced to intervene to protect Sakura from accidental harm.

Despite Kakashi's admonishment about One Thousand Birds and his need to end his quest for revenge, Sasuke's frustration and his need for revenge against Itachi lead him to leave the village and seek Orochimaru and his offer of power. Knowing that Naruto and Sasuke have the potential to kill each other, Kakashi attempts to intervene but arrives too late, finding Naruto seriously injured and Sasuke gone, having succeeded in his defection to Orochimaru. This is the first time that being late has severely cost him, though it is worth noting that Kakashi was away on a mission when Sasuke left and immediately pursued Naruto and Sasuke when he heard from Tsunade that Sasuke had left.

With Kakashi being called on by the village to take more A and S level missions due to the current manpower shortage, Sasuke's defection to Orochimaru, Naruto's three-year apprenticeship to Jiraiya, and Sakura's medical apprenticeship to Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage, Team 7 was defunct during the timeskip.

Filler arcs

Curiously, Kakashi had very few appearances in the filler arcs compared to his role in the main series. He first appeared briefly in the Mizuki Strikes Back arc, summoning Pakkun to aid Iruka Umino in locating the escaped criminals. He also briefly appeared at the beginning of the one-episode-long comedy arc, Green Beasts, where he notified Tsunade of the Guy and Lee impostors. Later, Kakashi came to the aid of Naruto, Neji and Tenten in the latter half of the Land of Birds arc, defeating two of the main Watari Ninja.

Naruto the Movie

Kakashi played a small role in the 1st movie. He freed the Princess Fuun movie's staff from being tied up by Sakura and Sasuke due to them thought to be guilty of hunting Fuun. The three Snow Ninja and Doto appear to know Kakashi from a time before the movie takes place. Kakashi encountered Nadare throughout the movie and killed him using Front Lotus. It also states in the movie that Kakashi, as an ANBU member, was the one who saved Fuun when she was a child.

Part II

Kakashi shielding his ears from Naruto's "Make-out Tactics" spoilers

After two and a half years, Naruto and Jiraiya return to the village earlier than expected because of the impatience of Akatsuki at capturing Naruto for his nine-tailed demon fox. Kakashi forms a team with Naruto and Sakura again. However, the relationship between the three is no longer teacher and students, but equal teammates.

Kakashi decides to test Naruto and Sakura's skills with another bell exercise, identical to the one they underwent with Sasuke when they first met Kakashi. This time, however, the purpose is to actually retrieve the bells, since there's no longer an uneven number. The exercise reveals that Naruto and Sakura's skills and abilities had improved over the years, though he is still able to keep the bells from them. However, Naruto and Sakura manage to finally retrieve the two bells by preying upon Kakashi's addiction to the "Icha Icha" ("Make Out") series of books written by Jiraiya. During the test, they try to spoil the ending of the latest volume, "Icha Icha Tactics" (イチャイチャタクティクス, Icha Icha Takutikusu^?, literally "Make out Tactics"), which Naruto gave to Kakashi. Kakashi is forced to both cover his ears and close his eyes, since he could read their lip movements with his Sharingan.

[edit]

Rescue Gaara Arc

Upon hearing that Gaara had been kidnapped by Akatsuki, the team of Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi are sent to the village of the Sand for assistance. When they arrive, Chiyo attacks Kakashi, believing him to be the White Fang of Konoha. She soon realizes her mistake and laughs it off. After Sakura heals Kankuro from his poisoning in the hands of Sasori, Chiyo joins the three Leaf Ninjas in tracking down Gaara. However, they are confronted by Itachi Uchiha, who engages Naruto and Kakashi in combat. However, it turns out that this manifestation of Itachi was nothing more than a body substitution jutsu.

Finally arriving at the place where Gaara was being held (and meeting Team Guy there also), they break into the cave to find Deidara and Sasori standing over Gaara's limp body. Deidara creates a clay bird with his hands and takes Gaara's body, and Kakashi and Naruto chase, leaving Chiyo and Sakura to deal with Sasori. Whilst chasing Deidara, Kakashi uses his new Mangekyo Sharingan and uses it to tear off Deidara's remaining arm. Naruto advances to finish him off, but when Naruto realizes his Rasengan hits nothing more than a Deidara bunshin, he starts to lose composure and grow chakra tails. Kakashi then uses a seal that Jiraiya gave him to quickly return Naruto to normal, thus stopping Naruto's transformation at only two tails.

As Deidara tries one last attack with his explosive clay, Kakashi once again utilizes Mangekyo Sharingan to send the clay explosion to another dimension. Kakashi then collapses from exhaustion from overusing his Sharingan. The effects on his body are so severe that, in a rather hilarious moment, Kakashi has to be carried back to Konoha on Might Guy's back. As a result, Kakashi is unable to accompany Naruto and Sakura on their next mission, and Yamato temporarily replaced him as the leader of the new Team 7.

Current Arc

Yamato has informed Kakashi of all that has occurred during the Grass Country mission. When Naruto, Sakura, and Sai visits him at the hospital, he informs them of a new training technique he created that will help them improve their strength and be able to compete with Sasuke. Specifically it was designed for Naruto. After this training, Kakashi says that Naruto's strength might surpass his own. This training involves creating his own ultimate jutsu, one that can even surpass Naruto's Spiraling Sphere. He also stated that due to this, Naruto wouldn't be super powerful within a few days like some protagonist from a novel (this likely refers to Shonen manga in general, parodying it in that the main characters frequently gain enormous amounts of power easily and in a short period of time). Before he can finish, Ino and the rest of her group come in and interrupt during the conversation so they weren't able to go on but Kakashi says they will continue later. Kakashi is also about to discuss an important matter with Asuma. Then Kurenai interrupts them, and Asuma leaves with her, while Kakashi muses on the fact that he was led on by Asuma just like he led on Naruto.

Later, when Kakashi leaves the hospital, he finally begins to explain to Naruto how he will train him to complete a new more powerful jutsu. It involves two techniques. The first technique involves 'altering the nature' of one's chakra. The second technique involves 'altering the shape' of one's chakra. He explains that the Spiraling Sphere is an example of altering the shape of chakra, and that his One Thousand Birds is an example of 'altering the nature' of chakra (in this case creating an electric current). In order for Naruto to create his new jutsu he must learn the technique of altering his chakra's nature.

Kakashi explains to Naruto that the method to speed up his training involves the use of shadow clones. Kakashi explains that because they are actual clones, Naruto will remember everything the clones do once they disperse. Kakashi then helps Naruto discover the element Naruto's chakra is based on using a special kind of paper that reacts to chakra. Handling the paper as an example, Kakashi makes it crumple, showing his affinity to lightning. When Naruto channels his chakra into the paper, it splits, indicating that he has an affinity for wind. With that, they begin training to manipulate that element. Kakashi explains to Naruto that the wind element is considered the strongest close and mid-range type for battle.

Kakashi begins the training by having Naruto and each of his clones hold a single leaf in their hands, and try to split the leaf with just their chakra. After some effort, only one of the 1000 clones manages to split the leaf. After seeing this, however, Kakashi remarks that this training may go faster than he thought. He also comments that Naruto is learning how to use his clones effectively, after he uses one to pick up some tips from Asuma Sarutobi, another wind-element user. After Naruto successfully manages to split the leaf, Kakashi tells Naruto to go and cut a waterfall that Yamato had created earlier, using Yamato's wood as a floor to stand on. Once Naruto splits the whole waterfall (rather quickly according to Kakashi) Kakashi takes Naruto to get some Ramen after Naruto passes out. When finishing his meal, Kakashi states that he has something very important to show Naruto. This is revealed to be the Spiraling Sphere, which Kakashi learned from the Fourth, apparently before Kakashi had even developed the Chidori. He notes that the Rasengan is an incomplete jutsu, since it is meant to be used in conjunction with the user's nature manipulation, a feat neither he nor the Fourth Hokage could accomplish. He also stated to Yamato that he truly believes that Naruto will be greater than the Fourth.

As Naruto trains alone, Kakashi continues to watch him. However, frustrated at this lack of progress, Naruto tries to pull too much chakra causing a surge of the demon fox's chakra to suddenly appear and begin changing Naruto. Yamato is able to suppress the chakra, but is unsure if he will always be able to stop these changes. Kakashi comments that the success or failure of this training rest on Yamato's ability to control the Demon fox.

Reference: http://www.wikipedia.org/

Sakura Haruno

2006-10-08T21:13:00.000-07:00

Sakura Haruno

Sakura Haruno
(春野サクラ)

Sakura Haruno (春野サクラ, Haruno Sakura^?) is a fictional character in the anime and manga series Naruto.

The name "Haruno" means "spring field" and "Sakura" means "cherry blossom", which is cherished in Japan due to its beauty and almost tragically short life span (sakura blossoms have historically been associated with samurai).

In the June 2006 issue of Shonen Jump, Masashi Kishimoto (in the voice of Kakashi) stated that Sakura would make the best ninja instructor, because "she has flaws in her personality, like stalking Sasuke. But, Sakura is the closest to being normal."

In Shonen Jump's character popularity polls, Sakura is frequently in the top ten.

Background

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

In the beginning of the series, Sakura is a Genin-level student of Kakashi Hatake's. Initially, Sakura's stamina and overall talent were quite below average, having had only used a few skills over the course of the series, the most advanced of which is dispelling genjutsu. Sakura's main strengths are her intelligence and her great chakra control. She was able to climb trees using her chakra on her first try while it took several days of constant training for Sasuke and Naruto to manage it.

Inner Sakura.

Inside Sakura resides the "Inner Sakura", which ridiculously seems to be much more ill-tempered than Naruto's demon fox. Inner Sakura seems to represent an assertive part of her personality and mostly serves as comic relief. Sakura's typical gentle responses are juxtaposed with the Inner Sakura's constant "Shannaro" (しゃーんなろー). The phrase has no literal meaning, but is usually translated as "Hell yeah", "Hell no", or "Damn it", depending on the situation (in English, it's translated as an angry and forceful "Cha!"). Inner Sakura is often attributed to being Sakura's defining ability, aside from her chakra control, much like Sasuke's Sharingan or Naruto's Demon fox. Inner Sakura actually exists as a separate spirit within Sakura, which came in handy during her battle with Ino. When Ino hit Sakura with her Mind Body Switch Technique, she only suppressed the regular Sakura. As such, Inner Sakura, after a little prodding by Naruto, was able to emerge and force Ino to leave. Ino's lack of chakra also helped Sakura to resist. After this point, Inner Sakura only appears once in episode 197 of the anime, when Sakura fails to notice that a smoke bomb was set off the night before, and once in chapter 250 of the manga, when Naruto tries to refuse a mission assigned by Tsunade. Sakura, however, does occasionally exhibit traits that would have originally have been confined to Inner Sakura, though they are rarely seen (they become more frequent after the timeskip, a sign that Sakura is becoming more comfortable with herself and is showing her true nature more often).

Sakura's favorite foods are syrup-coated anko dumplings and umeboshi (pickled ume fruits); her least favorite food is anything really spicy. Her hobbies are quizzes and memorizing things and her favorite phrase is 勇気 ("Yuki", "Courage"), although this was 一愛の十分の生命！ ("Issen ai no jinsei yo!," "A lifetime full of love") in the first databook. The latter was also featured in the ending song of episode 170 as a painting on her bedroom wall. She is also shown to be afraid of frogs.

Part I

Early childhood

In her early school years, Sakura was timid and was occasionally made fun of and bullied because of her large forehead, until the popular Ino Yamanaka approached and befriended her, giving her a ribbon and telling her not to hide behind her bangs. Sakura looked up to Ino for her looks and ability, but while she appreciated Ino's friendship, she couldn't help the feelings of inferiority she induced in her. At one point, during a flower arrangement lesson, Sakura wonders whether Ino was like a fully bloomed flower, and if so, then what was she? Ino cheered her up, telling her that even a bud eventually becomes a flower, and there's no point to a flower unless it blooms. Their friendship continued until it became clear that both of them were infatuated with Sasuke Uchiha; Sakura felt that she could never equal Ino, let alone surpass her at anything, while she was trapping herself as Ino's mere sidekick in her mind. She handed Ino her ribbon back and proclaimed that they were rivals from that point on. Their friendship slowly deteriorated into a spiteful rivalry; by the start of the series, there is no indication that they were once best friends, and the story of their friendship is only elaborated on later.

In a sharp contrast to most other characters, Sakura lacks any childhood tragedy and, initially, defining themes (Kishimoto Masashi said that he made her initially unlikable by design). When she, Naruto, and Sasuke are assigned to form Team 7, she is ridiculously fixated on Sasuke and (like the rest of the village) downright cannot stand Naruto - hardly knowing either of them. Shortly after their team's formation, she tells Sasuke that she believes the reason that Naruto behaves mischievously is due to the fact that he doesn't have any parents to tell him what's right and wrong; though Naruto isn't there to be outraged at this, Sasuke knows from personal experience that parental chastisement is nothing compared with loneliless, and harshly berates her frivolous attitude. This is the first hint that Sakura isn't as shallow as she's been presented, and she concludes that Sasuke was probably right and she should treat Naruto better (though even this may be partly due to her infatuation - Kakashi later notes that she always agrees with Sasuke without question).

Survival Test and Wave Country arcs

Though her initial infatuation with Sasuke still overshadows her interactions with both him and Naruto at that stage, Sakura's understanding and respect for both her teammates slowly increase as they spend more time together. Another wake-up call for her is when the sensei of their newly formed team, Kakashi Hatake, easily manages to prevent the three from getting even a single bell of the two he challenged them to get. He berates them for their lack of teamwork and specifically admonishes Sakura for her constant attention on Sasuke even though Naruto was right next to her and could use her help. Kakashi allows them to eat - having forbidden it since the morning - except for Naruto, saying that he will fail them all if they fed him. After Sasuke decides to give Naruto his food anyway, she joins in to feed him, in Team 7's first true bonding moment, and Team 7 thus becomes the first team Kakashi ever passed, as all along he was looking for the team with enough spirit to put a starving teammate on higher priority than "the rules."

Later, when the team is sent on a dangerous mission in the Land of Waves, Sakura is first confronted with the meaning of being a kunoichi as she witnesses what appears to be Sasuke's death. Reciting to Tazuna shinobi rule #25 (to not show emotion under any circumstance) she tries to keep her feelings in check, but fails, and her tears flow freely during this conversation. Afterwards, Sasuke wakes up and she cries again, but this time with happy tears.

Chunin Exam arc

Sakura's leaps in maturity and the growth of her relationships with Naruto, Sasuke and Ino start in the Chunin exam. The first stage of the exam is a written test, designed specifically to be too difficult for Genin to complete, forcing them to cheat. However, Sakura is able to complete the exam by herself, a testimony to her intelligence. At the end of this exam, the teams are presented with the mysterious "tenth question" and given a choice of whether to take it or not. The examiner tells them that not taking it fails your whole team immediately, but failing to answer correctly prevents you from becoming a Chunin forever. Sakura, knowing that Naruto couldn't have answered questions of this difficulty correctly, starts to raise her own hand to quit, forfeiting her own chance at becoming a Chunin this year so that Naruto would have the chance to take the exam again (she is stopped by Naruto's declaration that he won't back down or quit).

Sakura's shining moment comes in the second stage, set in the Forest of Death. At a certain point in the exam, Sasuke is feverish and unconscious on the ground after being branded with Orochimaru's cursed seal, and Naruto is knocked out from the impact of being struck into the air and branded with a seal to block his Demon fox chakra, although Sakura did save him from a fatal fall. When the Sound-nin choose this moment to attack, Sakura realizes that she will have to protect her friends if they are to live and pass the exam. As Kin Tsuchi grabs her long hair and immobilizes her, she comments on how Sakura's hair was glossier than her own, saying Sakura spent more time on her looks than on her training. (Sakura had grown her hair long because of the rumor that Sasuke liked girls with long hair.) At this point, she begins to think about how she always scorned Naruto, believing herself to be above him, even though she could only watch from the sidelines while he fought to protect her. She realizes that she was the weakest member of Team 7, not Naruto as she had always assumed, and, deciding to change herself and fight for her friends, cuts off her hair with a kunai, freeing herself from Kin's grasp. After getting away from Kin, she delays Zaku Abumi's attack on Sasuke by tricking him with a series of replacement jutsus, slamming her kunai into his arm and biting him. Even as Zaku punches her repeatedly in the head, Sakura refuses to let go. This display, along with Shikamaru telling her that she should, is what finally convinces Ino and her team to come to Sakura's aid.

Sakura, stopping cursed seal Sasuke.

The battle with the Sound-nin ends not by the intervention of team Asuma (though they make a laudable effort) or even the two other members of Rock Lee's team, who come searching for him as he had come to Sakura's aid earlier. In fact, Lee's team doesn't even get a chance to fight. Rather, it is Sasuke, who finally awakes, engulfed by Orochimaru's cursed seal. He inquires about who is responsible for Sakura's wounds and, upon learning that it is Zaku, Sasuke proceeds to savagely brutalize him, making several scathing and ominous comments about Zaku's arms before finally breaking them. However, before he can continue, Sakura, knowing that the Sasuke she knew would never go on a pointless killing spree, catches him in a hug from behind, begging him to stop and causing the cursed seal to recede.

After that incident, Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto manage to use teamwork (and the help of Kabuto Yakushi) to pass the second exam. In the preliminaries of the third exam, Sakura fights against Ino, her longtime rival. During their fight Sakura notices that Ino is holding back, and insults Ino to fluster her to the point where Ino cuts her own hair (not wanting to be outdone by Sakura's newfound determination). This turns out to nearly be Sakura's undoing, as Ino is then able to turn her hair into living ropes with her chakra, and hold Sakura in place. When Ino manages to hit Sakura with her Mind Body Switch Technique, Naruto cheers Sakura on. While this just seem to annoy Ino, it also helps Inner Sakura break free, allowing her to force Ino out of her mind. In the end, however, the fight between Sakura and Ino ends in a draw, with both girls knocking each other out at the same time. When Sakura wakes up, Ino comments that she has finally blossomed into a beautiful flower, and the two finally reconcile their differences and rekindle their friendship (though they remain rivals).

In the actual third exam, she exhibited feelings of slight jealousy when Naruto won his match against Neji, and his victory inspired her to do her best as well. She also managed to show extreme bravery when she tried to protect Sasuke from a semi-transformed Gaara's assault.

Sasuke Retrieval arc

Sakura, trying to stop Sasuke from leaving.

Eventually, perhaps inevitably, Sasuke decides to take Orochimaru up on his offer of power. He advances the cursed seal into Level 2 instead of attempting to contain it, and turns his back on Team 7 to join Orochimaru's Hidden Sound Village, betraying the entire village in the process. As he sneaks out of the village, Sakura finds him, and soon understands the magnitude of what he is about to do.

Crying and desperate not to lose Sasuke, Sakura does anything she can think of, confessing her love for him, offering to help him with his revenge, and even offering to join his twisted journey so they can at least be together. Sasuke's cryptic last words before swiftly knocking her out and departing are "Sakura... Thank you." The databook elaborates on this a bit, saying "Sasuke is unable to answer her feelings. At the end, he leaves her with only a word of gratitude rather than words of parting."

The next day, before Naruto leaves to bring Sasuke back, Sakura appears and begs Naruto to bring back Sasuke, stating that only Naruto is able to do it. "Naruto...only you...my only wish...please...bring Sasuke back!" Naruto, looking at the crying Sakura, promised her that he will bring Sasuke back, making it his promise to her for a lifetime (even using Rock Lee's "nice guy" pose to seal the bargain). Sakura seems to finally understand how Naruto feels for her, and she realizes that he is not what she originally thought he was.

When Naruto comes back from the retrieval mission, he can only tell Sakura that he's sorry for failing. He tells Sakura that he'll definitely keep his promise, because he said it was a lifelong promise. Sakura, seeing his determination, replies, giving him a strong smile, "Next time, we'll do it together!" Later on, she asks Tsunade to make her her apprentice. Tsunade, recognizing her determination, agrees to Sakura's request. At this point, each member of Team 7 is now training under one of the Legendary Three: Naruto under Jiraiya, Sasuke under Orochimaru, and Sakura under Tsunade.

The anime filler shows some of her progress from Tsunade's training before the timeskip. She gets noticeably stronger and exhibits amazing progress in her healing abilities as well.

Anime filler arcs

Konoha 11 arc

During the Konoha 11 arc, Shikamaru has Sakura examine the body of Gennou. With the help of Ino and Hinata, she learns that it is actually the body of a random civilian. After Gennou is discovered and it appears as if he succeeded in destorying the Hokage mountain, Sakura declares that all is an illusion and dispells it. After Gennou summons his bird, she tries to hit it with a large boulder, but misses.

Naruto the Movie

Sakura played a small role in the 1st movie. She encountered Mizore through out the movie and defeated him with Cherry Blossom Blizzard Technique. She looked out at the newly born Spring Country with a greatly injured Sasuke.

Naruto the Movie 2

Sakura played a major role in the 2nd movie. She managed to destroy a Knight and was taken hostage by another one. She encountered Haido's wolf-like henchman and killed her using metal pillars to reflect her ear-splitting howl and caused the pillars to collapse in on her. Sakura saved many people from Haido's castle and was in the bonus ending.

Naruto the Movie 3

Sakura is assigned to protect the prince of the Land of the Moon during his world trip, along with Naruto and Rock Lee. The Land of the Moon is a very wealthy nation, so the prince tends to buy whatever he wants, and isn't too quick to follow the directions of his escorts. When the group happens upon a circus with a rare saber-toothed tiger, he ends up purchasing not only it, but the rest of the animals as well. Now the team has to look over both the spoiled prince and his newly-acquired pets. On top of that, three powerful ninja hunt them down. In this movie, Sakura is seen with her newly acquired strength from the tutelage of Tsunade. When fighting a blonde-haired assailant, Sakura destroys a wall with a single punch.

Part II

Sakura, two and a half years later

New personality

After the timeskip, Sakura's personality has taken on a much more mature and even tone. Like most people when they come of age, she seems to be much more comfortable in her own skin than when she was younger, frequently displaying the more ferocious aspects of her personality formerly personified in the Inner Sakura segments, instead of just responding within her timid restraint. Jiraiya comments that she is becoming another Tsunade upon first seeing her.

Sakura has developed some quirks about how others view her appearance. When reunited with Naruto, she asks him if she looked more like a woman in a flirting way. A clueless Naruto remarks that she looked no different, annoying her. On two separate occasions, Sakura has beaten up her new teammate Sai over the issue, once for calling her 'Hag', and a second time when Sai 'complimented' Ino by calling her 'Miss Lovely' (Sakura had expected Sai to insult Ino).

Sakura's first impression of the new Naruto was that of a more mature person; she was sorely disappointed to discover he was still somewhat lacking in that department. Despite this, she does see that he has mostly changed for the better, and they are very close. They are able to work together much better than before, passing their second bell test due to their excellent, if somewhat unorthodox, teamwork. She still insults him, but in a much more playful manner than before. When Naruto defines one of their outings as a date, Sakura, still furious over the previous letdown, replies "Fine. As long as you're paying." She is more concerned for his well-being, especially since he's a target of Akatsuki and under constant danger of death. She has cried for him on several occasions, especially upon learning that if the Demon fox is extracted by Akatsuki, Naruto will die. Yamato tries to give a clear description of these feelings at one point while Naruto is unconscious, but Naruto wakes up and interrupts him before he can finish.

The state of her feelings for Sasuke are still unclear, though she still seems to care for him, as she hits Sai when he insults Sasuke. Even with those feelings, during the Grass Country arc Sakura looked at Sasuke with hostility and tried to attack him. Needless to say, for both herself and Naruto, Sasuke is still a touchy subject, and both have a moment of exaggerated gloominess when Kakashi mentions him during the second bell test. However, over the past two and a half years, Sakura has become more confident and less self-conscious around him; she is even willing to attack him to protect her friends and bring him home. In a later chapter, she sheds a tear over a picture of the former Team 7.

New abilities

Sakura manipulating her chakra to decimate the ground beneath her

After two and a half years of intense training under Tsunade, Sakura has become an excellent medical ninja, and her abilities as a ninja have improved substantially in the form of medical jutsu and the use of chakra to create immense physical strength, also due to Tsunade's tutelage. During the Wave Country arc in Part I, it had already been mentioned that she had top-notch chakra control, which is essential for medics, and she does exhibit some enhanced strength in the filler arcs even before being trained. An example of her enhanced strength is seen when she slams her fist into the ground to force Kakashi, who had hidden underground, to reveal himself during the bell test; her superhuman strength easily splits the ground apart. Naruto and Kakashi, both shocked by the display, commented on her technique in reaction to this, calling it her "insane strength".

The reason why Tsunade and Sakura possess such remarkable physical strength is due to their unrivalled chakra control; their strength comes from the precise build-up and release of chakra, which requires almost inhuman timing and precision. If Sakura's chakra control weren't top notch, Tsunade would have never been able to teach her the technique, let alone medical jutsu. Over time, both Tsunade and Sakura seem to instinctively use this jutsu (storing up chakra and releasing it), without actually having to concentrate. Sakura is amongst the most efficient chakra users in the entire series, potentially surpassing even her own master, considering she was able to learn such high level medical abilities in such a short amount of time. Also, Sakura's medical skills have been said to exceed those of many medical nin of higher rank, and she is probably on par with, or even surpasses, Tsunade's and Kabuto's skill when they were her age. Both Kakashi and Chiyo have praised Sakura for having the potential to surpass Tsunade.

Sakura, like Naruto, now has A-rank and S-rank jutsus in her arsenal. Sakura played an instrumental role in the opening chapters of the new arc, creating an antidote for Sasori's poison and curing Kankuro. With the assistance of Chiyo, she also defeats Sasori in combat, gaining information about Orochimaru in the process. Chiyo used chakra strings to control Sakura like a puppet, so she could help her dodge Sasori's attacks, as Chiyo was familiar with the puppet, and she herself could not fight one on one with Sasori. With her vigorous strength, Sakura easily demolished the puppet Sasori was hiding in with one hit. Sakura also seems to have a determination that was previously not present when she was younger; she had kept herself going even when she got stabbed in the stomach with Sasori's poisoned katana to help protect Chiyo. She is now motivated by an intense desire to be of use to her village and friends, help Naruto rescue Sasuke, and prevent Naruto from becoming a victim of the Akatsuki.

Reference: http://www.wikipedia.org/

Sasuke Uchiha

2006-10-08T21:08:00.000-07:00

Sasuke Uchiha

Sasuke Uchiha
(うちはサスケ)

Sasuke Uchiha (うちはサスケ, Uchiha Sasuke^?) is a fictional character in the anime and manga series Naruto.

Sasuke's first name comes from the legendary ninja Sarutobi Sasuke. His surname, "Uchiha" is another way of pronouncing "uchiwa", or a paper fan, which is actually the Uchiha clan symbol. In ancient Japan, uchiwa were used in court ceremonies to denote nobility, as souvenirs, and to protect soldiers from arrows. More importantly, such fans are can be used to fan flames, making the flame hotter — which refers to the fact that the Uchiha is a clan of fire-jutsu users.

In Shonen Jump's June 2006 edition, Masashi Kishimoto (in Kakashi's voice) remarks that while Sasuke is a genius, he is a little dull to teach because he learns everything easily compared to the less predictable Naruto.

In Shonen Jump's character popularity polls, Sasuke usually ranked the 3rd or 4th spot for the majority of the series. More recently, however, he has been ranked at 1st.

Background

A Genin level ninja, Sasuke is the natural genius offspring of the once powerful Uchiha clan. One of the more outstanding clans in Konohagakure, the Uchiha clan was known for its kekkei genkai, the Sharingan, as well as their use of fire element jutsu after their country's namesake. The clan also formed much of Konohagakure's village police force. Sasuke is one of two known remaining survivors.

Like most of the Uchiha clan members, Sasuke's chakra seems to have an affinity for fire-based jutsu. His chakra also seems to have an affinity for lightning as well, shown in his progress with the One Thousand Birds.

Early childhood

Sasuke, age 8.

The second son of a Konohagakure police captain, Sasuke grew up in the shadow of his older brother, Itachi. Itachi was an acknowledged prodigy who graduated at the top of his Academy class at age 7, mastered the Sharingan by age 8, became a Chunin at age 10, and an ANBU squad leader at the age of 13. As a result, the Uchiha clan took great pride and interest in Itachi and viewed him as a genius whose work would further strengthen the bonds between the village and the clan. In particular, Sasuke's father took an active interest in Itachi. Itachi, on the other hand, was rather ambivalent and full of oddly conflicting undercurrents, acknowledging Sasuke by taking interest in his progress as a ninja when even their father did not, but spending little quality time with Sasuke. Even after Sasuke enrolled in the Ninja Academy, he still was unable to escape Itachi's shadow. Despite consistently scoring at the head of every class, Sasuke failed to receive any recognition from his father, who defined Sasuke's success only in terms of his older brother. Itachi acknowledged the rivalry Sasuke felt, telling him, "We are unique siblings. I am the barrier you must overcome, so you and I will continue to exist together."

After an incident between Itachi and a few other Uchiha clan members, relations between Itachi and Sasuke's father began to deteriorate. Itachi's behavior became increasingly bizarre, estranging him further from other members of the Uchiha clan. During this time, Sasuke's father, on a whim, decided to spend time with Sasuke, teaching him the Great Fireball Technique. Sasuke (age 8 at the time) eventually succeeded in performing the jutsu in front of his father, surprising him. At that moment, Sasuke finally received his father's recognition; the Uchiha clan considered the ability to perform fire jutsu as proof that one had become an adult. Sasuke's father told him that he could now proudly wear the clan's emblem on his back. Sasuke also received a stern warning not to follow in Itachi's footsteps. Shortly thereafter, Itachi killed every Uchiha member with the exception of Sasuke. Itachi said that Sasuke was not even worth killing. In addition, Itachi told him "You've always wanted to surpass me. That's why I'm going to let you live." Itachi also revealed to Sasuke where the secret meeting place of the Uchiha was hidden and suggested that Sasuke go there to learn what the true history and purpose of the Sharingan is.

Sasuke collapses, and awakes in the Konoha hospital to find the village gossiping about the destruction of his clan. He escapes the hospital and wanders the village, remembering happy times with his murdered family and finally collapsing into tears as he reaches the spot where his parents were killed. He then travels to the Nakano shrine and finds the secret of the Sharingan that Itachi promised him. Whatever he reads there only seems to harden his heart, and from this point forward, Sasuke's life is dedicated to vengeance against his brother.

Part I

Team 7

Sasuke in Team 7.

Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke are forced to cooperate against their will when they become the members of the newly founded Team 7 of academy graduates. Naruto initially has a one-sided rivalry with Sasuke, because Naruto spent his whole life shunned, scorned and desperately seeking to attain the very same recognition and popularity Sasuke has been getting; this is only made worse by the fact that Naruto has a crush on Sakura who, in turn, is head over heels for Sasuke. Sasuke initially looks upon Naruto and his admirer, Sakura, with an equal smug distaste, viewing them as annoyances that would only get in the way. His loner attitude is one of the negative factors responsible for Team 7's initial state of borderline non-existent teamwork, which Kakashi Hatake, the team's sensei, notes and berates him for. However, Naruto and Sasuke's relationship slowly shifts from an incompatible mix of frustration and dislike into a mutually positive rivalry - while Sasuke appears to always be one step ahead of Naruto, Sasuke sees Naruto as constantly gaining ground each moment, which results in a state where they push and motivate each other to improve. Similarly, Sasuke's relationship with Sakura slowly changes for the better as a friend and teammate, while she slowly comes to understand the troubled person behind the "popular, brooding, pretty boy" image she initially crushed on.

His first major mission was escorting an architect and bridge expert to his home in the poverty-stricken Wave Country. Sasuke showed exceptional skill when attacked by two Chunin-level ninja from the Hidden Mist village. Later on in the same mission, during an exercise to improve chakra control, he managed to stay ahead of Naruto for a good length of time. He also stood toe to toe for a while with Haku, an exceptionally dangerous ninja with extreme speed and dexterity. It was during this battle that Sasuke awakened the legacy of his clan, the Sharingan, and in which he first demonstrated a willingness to put others before himself, selflessly putting himself in the way of Haku's attack on Naruto in a move that would have resulted in his death if Haku had meant to kill him rather than induce a temporary death-state. Although he claimed his body moved on its own, his actions show that, even at that early stage, he was willing to put himself in mortal danger for Naruto's sake.

Sasuke makes a point out of taunting Naruto on occasion, goading and egging him on with his air of superiority. He also continually disappoints Sakura by repeatedly informing her that he is not interested in going out with her. However, a bond between the three forms and Sasuke gradually learns the value of teamwork. As he does, he eventually begins to learn to trust and pushes his thoughts of revenge into the recesses of his mind.

Naruto's positive influence on Sasuke does not please Orochimaru, who is interested in Sasuke as his next potential body, thanks to the Sharingan's technique copying ability, which would help greatly in Orochimaru's ambition to master all jutsu in the world. Orochimaru decides that it is imperative to somehow counter Naruto's positive influence on Sasuke and "dye him to his own color". To advance this cause he puts his cursed seal on Sasuke's neck during the second stage of the Chunin exam (which, coincidentally, has the same design as a fully-developed Sharingan). As Sasuke lies unconscious, he is haunted with hallucinations of his parents dying and Orochimaru blaming him and his weakness for their death, exploiting his trauma to subvert the bond he has with his comrades with promises of power.

Sasuke, engulfed by Orochimaru's cursed seal.

Sasuke turns out to be strong enough to survive the one in ten chance of withstanding the seal and regains consciousness, but its influence is far from over. The cursed seal from then on activates and forcefully pulls out his chakra whenever he molds it, causing intense pain and corroding his body and free will. Though Sasuke wakes up in a psychologically twisted state, colored by the seal in a sinister black flame-pattern and influenced by Orochimaru's suggestion, this is still far from enough to destroy his bond with his teammates - the first thing he sees is a very wounded Sakura, and he consequently almost kills the Sound ninja who injured her. At the last minute, he is stopped by Sakura's pleas, who knows that the maniacally grinning Sasuke she sees before her "couldn't possibly be the Sasuke [she] know[s]."

Though the cursed seal slowly recedes at the sound of her pleas, Orochimaru, on a later encounter with Kakashi, leaves him with lingering, ominous words: "He will eventually seek me out... For power, that is. He carries that kind of disposition."

Naruto the Movie

Sasuke played a small role in the first movie. Sasuke was the one who had the tickets to a Princess Fuu'un movie and encountered Fubuki through out the movie and defeated her with Lion Combo. Sasuke used One Thousand Birds to damage Dotou's armor, which led to a painful sacrifice (getting knocked out). He was seen looking out at the newly created Spring country with Sakura and presented Naruto the autograph that he got him from Fuu'un in the ending credits.

Defection from Konoha

Sasuke leaves a pleading Sakura behind.

Sasuke's willpower is surprisingly strong enough to hold back the cursed seal, and after Kakashi performs his Evil Sealing Method technique on him, the cursed seal enters a dormant state that remains as long as the Evil Sealing Method is fueled by Sasuke's will. However, a series of events unfolds that changes Sasuke's outlook on life, causing a regression back into his former absolute fixation on revenge. With Sasuke already pressured by a growing jealousy over witnessing Naruto's leaps of improvement - culminating on Naruto defeating Gaara and saving Sakura, which Sasuke failed to do even when using the cursed seal - Itachi visits Konoha in search of Naruto and the demon fox, and upon challenging him, Sasuke is subjected to the Mangekyo Sharingan by Itachi, and the beating he receives drives him over the edge, returning him to his original goal: gaining enough power to kill his brother.

When Naruto returns from his search for Tsunade, Sasuke immediately challenges him to a fight, enraged that Itachi was more interested in Naruto's power than he was in Sasuke's. The two go to the roof of the hospital, where Sasuke reiterates that he is the superior of the two. Naruto retorts that he never considered himself to be inferior to Sasuke, and that their forehead protectors indicated they were equals, but Sasuke refuses to wear his. With that, Sasuke and Naruto spar with such intensity that Kakashi has to stop them from using One Thousand Birds and Spiraling Sphere on each other. Kakashi deflects their attacks into adjacent water towers, and Sasuke momentarily revels in the sight of his tower being more damaged, taking this as proof his One Thousand Birds was stronger than Naruto's Spiraling Sphere. However, upon closer inspection, Sasuke is shocked to find that the back of Naruto's tower had completely been blown out by the power of the Spiraling Sphere.

Frustrated by Naruto's increasing power, Sasuke is lectured by Kakashi, who tells Sasuke that his comrades are the most important thing about being a Konoha ninja, and that One Thousand Birds should never be used on a fellow team member. Sasuke seems slightly receptive of Kakashi's message, but he has no time to contemplate any of it. As soon as Kakashi leaves, Orochimaru's Sound Four attack. Sasuke tries his best, but his every attempt is rendered useless. Sakon proceeds to goad Sasuke by telling him that if the Sound Four can beat him so easily, he has no chance of ever exacting revenge on Itachi. The Sound Four then extend an invitation to Sasuke: Follow them to the village of Sound and align himself with Orochimaru, who in turn will grant him the power he so desperately wants.

For this cause, Sasuke decides to take Orochimaru up on his offer, advancing his Cursed Seal into Stage Two instead of attempting to contain it, and turning his back on Konoha in the process. As he sneaks out of the village, Sakura finds him, and soon understands the magnitude of what he is about to do. Desperate not to lose Sasuke, Sakura does anything she can think of, confessing her love for him and even offering to join his twisted journey so they at least can be together. Sasuke's cryptic last words before swiftly knocking her out and departing are "Sakura... Thank you".

A genin team consisting of Naruto, Kiba Inuzuka, Neji Hyuga and Choji Akimichi and led by Chunin Shikamaru Nara is sent to retrieve Sasuke, but encounters opposition from Orochimaru's Sound Four, who, by activating their cursed seals, can overpower Jonin-level ninjas. Naruto manages to reach Sasuke with tremendous aid from his teammates, several of whom are critically wounded. It is revealed that in his famous speech after slaughtering the Uchiha clan, Itachi did not only tell Sasuke to "run, run and cling desperately to life", but also that he will only be able to match him in battle when he has the Mangekyo Sharingan - which can only be attained by killing one's best friend.

Naruto refuses to accept Sasuke's decision, as by his own admission Sasuke is like a brother to him and he can't bear to lose him to the twisted path of self-destruction he has chosen. They therefore engage in battle, and Sasuke's Sharingan develops into the final stage prior to the Mangekyo Sharingan, with three of the tomoe in each eye. The battle from this point onward tips drastically into Sasuke's favor with Naruto barely managing to keep up, as the two shoot ambivalent statements back and forth attempting to persuade one another to stop the fight and accept the other's worldview. Though Sasuke maintains a show of indifference to the obvious moral conflict at first, this pretense deteriorates gradually throughout the fight, as Sasuke slowly starts acknowledging that whether his avenger self wishes it or not, Naruto - while his greatest rival - is also his best friend: thus killing Naruto could bring him the power he desires. As Naruto is repeatedly injured by Sasuke, he draws upon more and more of the demon fox's chakra, reducing his personality to a semi-animalistic state and surrounding him in a fox-shaped shield of chakra. To counter the release of the fox's chakra, Sasuke activates the second stage of his cursed seal, becoming a demonic figure with a pair of huge, hand-like wings sprouting from his back. Before Sasuke does this, he puts on his Hidden Leaf forehead protector, indicating that he was finally acknowledging Naruto as strong and as an equal, which Sasuke was not willing to do during their first fight on the hospital roof. He still, however, scoffs at the idea that Naruto would even be able to scratch his headband.

Sasuke unleashing his Flapping One Thousand Birds.

At this point, the two rivals clash in a final display of power, Naruto attacking with a one-tailed demon fox-powered Spiraling Sphere, and Sasuke with a level two Cursed Seal of Heaven-powered One Thousand Birds. Upon impact, a massive black dome of energy forms around the two. Sasuke hesitates, striking Naruto with the back of his hand instead of the One Thousand Birds, and sparing his life, as he realizes that killing Naruto to gain the Mangekyo Sharingan would be exactly what Itachi wanted. He chooses to leave Naruto unconscious but alive on the ground, thus giving up his chance to gain the Mangekyo Sharingan and proving that he is indeed not like his brother and that Naruto is, ultimately, the person most important to him. In the aftermath Kakashi finds Naruto - hanging on to Sasuke's old headband (which Naruto has managed to scratch as his final act before losing consciousness) and returns him to Konoha for medical treatment. Sasuke descends to the darkness, still headed for Orochimaru, and in his mind resolving (to Itachi): "I will not be your puppet! I will gain power in my own way! I will surpass you in my own way!"

Sasuke is briefly seen in episode 170 of the anime with Orochimaru. He shows off his Sharingan on one of Orochimaru's acquaintances and says to Orochimaru that it is unnecessary to refer to him as Itachi Uchiha's little brother. He also later appears in episode 202 as a "special guest" and he was seen wearing a grey robe, but his bottom wear was unseen.

Part II

Sasuke's new look after two and a half years with Orochimaru.

New personality

For the most part, Sasuke has stayed true to his original personality. When first meeting Sai, he did not care the slightest and was interested more in Orochimaru's presence. When Sai states that he might be able to get along better with Sasuke than he did with Naruto, Sasuke freezes him with a stare, exuding a large amount of killing intent. Sai is amazed that even an emotionless person such as himself was affected by Sasuke's gaze, showing the power of his Sharingan. When Sai comments on how Naruto and Sakura have been searching for him, Sasuke once again regarded him with indifference.

It would appear that during his time with Orochimaru, he came to the conclusion that if he ever wished to stand a chance against Itachi, he would need to push away all of his past bonds with his friends and make revenge a priority even above his life. Because of this, he shows that he no longer cares about Konoha or anyone from the village, despite the fact that when Sasuke encounters Naruto for the first time after the time skip, he makes remarks about Team Kakashi and also scolds Naruto, saying that his quest to recover Sasuke could threaten his chances of becoming Hokage. He also states that unlike their last encounter at the waterfall, Sasuke has no more reservations about killing Naruto, and attempts to do so. He's also aware of the fact he is intended to be the container for Orochimaru's soul, showing that he doesn't care what happens to himself as long as it results in Itachi's death.

Unlike Kabuto or any of Orochimaru's subordinates, who address him as "Orochimaru-sama" (which shows that they highly respect him), he simply refers to him as Orochimaru. Sasuke also never called Kakashi "Kakashi-sensei" (teacher) like the others did, something the Japanese would consider as very insulting or rude. Despite his association with the Sound Village, Sasuke does not wear a Sound headband, unlike most other subordinates of Orochimaru.

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New abilities

Sasuke's fighting skills have improved greatly over the timeskip, which is exemplified by his new jutsu, One Thousand Birds Current. One Thousand Birds Current allows Sasuke to project electricity from his entire body for both defensive and offensive purposes. Sasuke now wields a Kusanagi sword like Orochimaru's, though his doesn't seem to carry the special abilities that Orochimaru's does. His version is also depicted as katana-like, whereas Orochimaru's looks more like a Chinese Jian or Roman Spatha. Sasuke uses the One Thousand Birds Current in conjunction with his sword to increase its cutting power, as well as paralyze his opponents when he strikes them.

He has also become much more skilled with his Sharingan, to the point where he can perform genjutsu through simple eye contact. When Sasuke looks down to see Naruto crawling over to him in a sub-demon fox state, Sasuke is able to get into Naruto's mind and make contact with the demon fox, much to the surprise of Naruto. Unexpectedly, the demon fox itself knew about the Uchiha clan. The demon fox mentions a Madara Uchiha, saying that Sasuke's eyes and chakra are even more sinister than its own. Furthermore, it appears that Sasuke can suppress the demon fox's chakra. The demon fox warns Sasuke not to kill Naruto, as he would regret it. Just before his departure, Sasuke attempts to use another jutsu to end the battle, only to be stopped by Orochimaru. Orochimaru says that leaving them alive would help Sasuke against his brother because they are also opposing Akatsuki.

Reference: http://www.wikipedia.org/

Naruto Uzumaki

2006-10-08T20:28:00.000-07:00

Naruto Uzumaki Naruto Uzumaki
(うずまきナルト)

Naruto Uzumaki (うずまきナルト, Uzumaki Naruto^?) is the main character of the anime and manga series Naruto.

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 Japanese sometimes use "Naruto" as a nickname for the commercial at (@).

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, 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.

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 US 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

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The infant Naruto — the newly-made seal can be seen on his stomach.

Naruto was born on October 10, but not much is known beyond that. His parentage remains a mystery, as do any other family ties he may have had. As an infant, the nine-tailed demon fox, which had attacked the village of Konoha, was sealed within Naruto's body by the Fourth Hokage of Konoha.

In spite of the Fourth Hokage's wish that Naruto be seen as a hero who contained the demon, the villagers of Konoha harbored a fierce hatred for the young child, since he bore the spirit of the demon who decimated their once peaceful village. He was shunned by his fellow villagers and their children, his classmates, leaving Naruto a confused and lonely child.

Fortunately, Naruto was befriended by his compassionate ninja instructor, a Chunin named Iruka Umino. Though Iruka's own parents perished at the hands of the demon fox, Iruka didn't blame Naruto for their deaths. Instead, Iruka accepted Naruto and empathized with the boy's desire to be accepted, since he too once had the same desire. He may have been the first person to believe in Naruto, and has made a lasting impact on Naruto himself. It is through Iruka's presence as Naruto's only family figure that Naruto learns to overcome his sadness.

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Personality

Naruto is lighthearted and, at times, a merciless prankster.

Before graduating from the Academy, Naruto was craving for acknowledgement. He would play pranks all around the village in an attempt to be recognized by its inhabitants. This included, but was not limited to, painting graffiti on the monument depicting the first four Hokages. He would also tell everyone who doubted him on a near-constant basis that he would one day become Hokage. As he tells Iruka, he wishes to become Hokage in order to be recognized by those around him. Even after graduating, Naruto is still determined to be recognized, and becomes the "Number One Loudest, Unpredictable, Hyperactive Knuckleheaded Ninja" of Konoha, as described by Kakashi Hatake.

Naruto's exuberant personality and fiery desire for self-improvement strongly impacts the lives of those around him. At 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 plenty of hard work. Despite his headstrong nature, Naruto is a clever prankster who overcomes his opponents through a combination of willpower, dumb luck (though as Kakashi states, luck is very important), and clever diversions.

Naruto has a great sense of humor, albeit somewhat perverted in some cases, and is usually all smiles and laughs around (though, at times, he smiles to hide whatever's 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.

One of Naruto's hobbies is gardening, even though Naruto was beaten in episode 20 for not knowing the difference between weeds and herbs. 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" or "(verb)-ttebayo", and as such has a unique style of speech. In the Japanese language, an ending can be added with no meaning to make the tone sound tougher, childish, girlish, or many other changes depending on the many existing endings. "-ttebayo", which is not a well-known ending, has no literal meaning and cannot be translated, but carries the connotations of the speaker being uncultured, brusque, and seeming tougher than they really are.^{[citation needed]} In the English anime and video games, he often says "Believe it!" to fit with the mouth flaps of "-ttebayo".

Despite rapidly maturing throughout the series, Naruto retains 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 potbelly.

Naruto and the demon fox

A glimpse into Naruto's mind as he stands before the locked-up 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 than normal canines. 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 myth, 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 (obviously the inspiration for Sexy Technique). Also, Kitsune are known to keep their promises, a trait Naruto has; 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. This stems from the Japanese myth that the more tails a kitsune has, the more powerful it is, with nine tails usually being the limit.

Naruto's normal chakra level is considered high for a ninja of his level, partially because of 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 double that 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 upwards of two thousand while maintaining a decent supply of chakra in each one.

Naruto in his one-tailed fox transformation.

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. 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 can usually suppress the fox's chakra by himself before his tailed transformations begin surfacing. 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.

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.

Naruto in his four-tailed Demon fox transformation.

Naruto's state of mind coincides with his tailed transformation states, which are characterized by a fox-shaped shield of chakra surrounding Naruto. Naruto becomes more powerful with each "tail" the chakra shield grows, but also loses more of himself to the Demon fox. This is shown within his mind as the Demon fox drawing ever closer to him. At first, some of the demon fox's chakra merely leaks through the bars. The amount of chakra increases as the Demon fox grows more dominant. 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 his mind, Naruto slips through the bars and into the demon fox's grasp. 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. The only thing Naruto can do is plead for the demon fox to stop. As Jiraiya describes it, Naruto becomes a miniature version of the demon fox.

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 act as a separate entity, which confuses opponents, even those with the Sharingan. 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 shock waves 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 also gains the ability to mold the chakra to a much finer degree. In this state, he was able to create a ball of concentrated chakra to fire at an opponent. The chakra ball was powerful enough to break through three Rashomon gates without losing momentum.

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 black (or dark red, considering that such details are lost in black and white drawings) 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.

Part I

Graduation

Naruto begins as a loser in the series, having failed to pass the graduation exam at the Ninja Academy two times previous. Each time, it had been based on the Clone Technique, which he could never perform properly. His third try ends up no different, and it seems as if he'll have to go through yet another year at the Academy. However, he gets an unusual break in the form of Mizuki, who tricks Naruto into stealing a forbidden scroll in order to steal it himself without being blamed. To do so, he claims that Naruto will graduate if he simply learns a technique from the scroll. In an ironic twist, the jutsu he learns is the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, which is an enhanced form of the regular version. After learning the truth about Mizuki and subsequently beating him to a pulp for it, he is allowed to graduate for learning such an advanced clone technique. Naruto also learns about the demon fox from Mizuki, who tells Naruto about it despite the taboo forbidding it.

Survival Test and Wave Country arcs

Having graduated, Naruto is paired with Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha in Team 7. The three do not work well together, and having Kakashi Hatake assigned as their Jonin-sensei doesn't help matters, since he emphasizes teamwork above all else. His first test, which is designed to test their teamwork, goes badly to say the least, since not one of them passes and Naruto is tied to a post for cheating. However, Kakashi gives them another chance, and they pass the test by learning to think as a team.

With Team 7 officially formed, they start going on simple missions. Naruto, wanting to be challenged, inadvertently gets Team 7 assigned an A-rank bodyguard mission for a bridge builder, though it was listed as C-rank due to misinformation on the client's part. In their first battle with two Chunin-level ninja, Naruto freezes out of fear, while Sasuke calmly takes on the enemy. Kakashi intervenes before either is seriously injured, though Naruto is poisoned. Sasuke makes fun of Naruto for his fear, beginning their long-standing rivalry. In a subsequent battle, Naruto gets over his fear and works with Sasuke to free Kakashi from a water prison created by Zabuza Momochi, a Jonin-level ninja sent to assassinate their client. Despite their rivalry, the two make a perfect team and free Kakashi, who subsequently defeats Zabuza. Zabuza is saved from death by Haku, who disguised himself as a hunter-nin and put Zabuza into a death-like coma. He departed with the body under the guise of disposing with it for security reasons.

While they continue protecting the bridge builder, Kakashi teaches Team 7 to walk up trees using chakra. Sakura masters the technique instantly, while Sasuke only gets a short distance and Naruto can't manage to stick to the practice tree. While normally not one to ask for help, Naruto asks Sakura for pointers, and quickly catches up to Sasuke. The two serve as motivation for one another, since neither wants to lose to the other, and they master the technique in a few days. During their training, Naruto stumbles upon Haku, not knowing who he really is, and the two have a short conversation about protecting those precious to them.

This conversation serves as a basis for their eventual battle, during which Sasuke seemingly gives his life to protect Naruto (Haku had in fact done the same thing to Sasuke as he had to Zabuza, but deliberately avoids telling Naruto). Enraged, Naruto subconsciously calls upon the demon fox's chakra and defeats Haku in a blind rage, despite Haku being even stronger than Zabuza. Though it appears as if Naruto will kill Haku, he pulls back when he realizes that Haku is the same person he met in the woods earlier. Haku, having no other purpose in life than to protect Zabuza and fulfill his dreams, asks that Naruto kill him. Naruto is eventually persuaded to do so by the story of Haku's past, but doesn't get the chance. Haku, sensing Zabuza was in danger, instead kills himself by intercepting a fatal attack from Kakashi. Zabuza was initially indifferent to Haku's death, leading to a guilt trip by Naruto. Zabuza actually does care, however, and can't hide that fact after Naruto's speech. When Zabuza's employer betrays him, Zabuza sacrifices his own life to kill him. As a final wish, Zabuza dies next to Haku, hoping to be in death where he wasn't in life.

Profoundly affected by the mission, Naruto vows not to become an emotionless weapon as Zabuza and Haku were (for the most part).

Chunin Exam and Destruction of Konoha arcs

Fresh from their mission in the Wave Country, Team 7 is admitted into the Chunin Exams. During this time in particular, Naruto makes several friends out of former enemies, and grows much stronger through these battles. He also sees some of the other Genin in a new light.

During the first part of the exam, which is a written exam designed specifically to be too hard for Genin to complete, Naruto is left sweating over the fact that he can't answer any of the questions. He does not realize that the purpose of the exam is to cheat without being caught by the proctors positioned around the room. Hinata Hyuga, who is sitting next to him, offers to let him copy her test. Hinata has a crush on Naruto, though he's oblivious to it, and tries to help in any way she can. Though not sure at first, he almost takes her up on her offer. However, he hears the tell-tale sound of a moving pencil from one of the proctors, signifying that they see him cheating, and decides it's best not to, since Hinata would get in trouble, too. Hinata is glad that Naruto really does care. The last question of the test, whose secret answer is merely the willingness to try, is where Naruto's attitude rubs off on the other Genin. Unwilling to give up, he proclaims in front of everyone participating that he won't be scared away, and as such many more decide to do the same than would have otherwise.

During the second part of the exam, Naruto and Sasuke end up in opposite positions as they had during Team 7's first battle. Sakura and Sasuke, having met Orochimaru after a giant summoned snake incapacitated Naruto, are paralyzed with fear from a technique used on them. Naruto, unaffected by the technique, not only kills the giant snake which had previously detained him, but fights off another snake that Orochimaru had summoned by using the demon fox's chakra. In this instance, he retains control. Sakura and Sasuke get their first look at Naruto's demon fox state, though they don't truly understand what it means. After pinning the giant snake, Naruto mocks Sasuke in the same manner as Sasuke had done to him. Orochimaru uses the opportunity to grab Naruto and seal the demon fox's chakra, which remains sealed until after the preliminary parts of the Chunin Exam. Naruto is left unconscious for the remainder of the fight, and Team 7 only survives because Orochimaru never intended to kill them, only wanting to brand Sasuke with the Cursed Seal of Heaven. To complete this part of the exam, Team 7 and Kabuto Yakushi, a fellow Genin, are forced to fight off a group of Rain Genin, one of whom had attacked Sasuke earlier. Despite his own chakra being disrupted from the seal, Naruto defeats the entire team almost single-handedly using his clones, though a small distraction from Kabuto also helps.

Because of Naruto's earlier outburst during the first part of the exam, as well as a particularly skilled group of remaining candidates after that point, 21 people make it to the third part of the exam. This is slightly more than twice the normal amount, so preliminary exams are held to cut the numbers in half with one on one battles. Before the exams begin, Sasuke admits to Naruto that he wants to fight him. Naruto is eventually paired against Kiba Inuzuka. Kiba and virtually everyone else present believe Naruto stands no chance, and Kiba even mocks Naruto's dream of being Hokage. Naruto, however, takes everything Kiba throws at him, despite the clear advantage in Kiba's favor. In the end, Naruto wins through a little dumb luck and a clever use of his shadow clones. Other notable battles include Hinata's battle against Neji. Neji labels Hinata as a failure and a dropout who can't change her fate, enraging Naruto. After her utter defeat at Neji's hands, Naruto tries to attack him, but is stopped by Rock Lee, who insists that a dropout defeating a genius would be sight to see, but should be done in a proper match. On Hinata's spilled blood, Naruto swears to defeat Neji. Sure enough, he gets his chance. Once the preliminaries are over, he is paired against Neji for the first match. The nine remaining candidates are given one month to prepare for the main matches.

Hoping to get a lot of training in during the month-long break, Naruto tries to get Kakashi to help. Kakashi, however, is busy training Sasuke, and leaves Naruto in the care of Ebisu. Ebisu begins training Naruto to walk on water, but the training is cut short with the introduction of Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Sannin, three of the most powerful ninja alive. Ebisu catches Jiraiya peeping on women and tries to stop him. Not happy about the interruption, Jiraiya summons a toad and has it tongue-whip Ebisu into unconsciousness. Minus one teacher, Naruto insists that Jiraiya replace Ebisu. Always the insatiable pervert, it's Naruto's Sexy Technique that convinces him to do so. For the remainder of the month, Jiraiya teaches Naruto to summon toads. He also unseals Naruto's demon fox chakra, which is essential for the former technique. It is during this time that Naruto first summons Gamabunta, who, after cowing Naruto into submission, agrees to make Naruto his subordinate. A few days before the main matches begin, Naruto and Shikamaru inadvertently catch Gaara attempting to kill Rock Lee, whom he had tried to kill during an earlier battle. During their confrontation, Naruto learns that Gaara contains a demon too, and that their pasts are quite similar. Gaara, however, only had one person acknowledge him, and that one person ended up trying to kill him. This drove Gaara insane, and convinced him that the only way to insure his existence was to kill anyone who threatened it. Gaara would have killed both Naruto and Shikamaru then and there, but Might Guy stops him from doing so.

Once the main matches begin, Naruto originally appears outmatched once again against the genius Neji. Despite this, Naruto continually questions Neji's outlook on life, even though every attack he tries is repelled. Neji eventually decides to finish the match by closing off Naruto's chakra points, but Naruto gets up from this attack, too. Impressed, Neji tells Naruto about his painful past and the cursed seal on his forehead. Neji insists that Naruto could never know what it's like to carry a mark that will be with him till death, though this couldn't be further from the truth. Not convinced by Neji's reasoning, Naruto calls upon the Demon fox's chakra and instantly evens the odds. In the end, Naruto defeats Neji, convincing him that fate truly can be changed.

After the attack on Konoha begins, Naruto, Sakura, Shikamaru, and Pakkun are sent to retrieve Sasuke, who is chasing after Gaara. Sasuke had injured Gaara during their battle, so Temari and Kankuro escaped with him so he could recover. During their pursuit, Shikamaru decides to stay behind to deal with a group of Sound-nin tracking them. Though Sakura is unsure if Shikamaru will actually confront them, Naruto has complete faith in him. He notes that Shikamaru is lazy, but when he actually tries to do something will always come through. Upon catching up to Gaara, Naruto is initially unwilling to fight him, since he is aware of just what Gaara is and Sasuke is unable to help. He is convinced to fight after Gaara captures Sakura and pins her with a detached hand of sand, which constricts on her at a slow rate. Since defeating Gaara is the only way to remove it, Naruto gets serious, badly damaging Gaara in order to protect his friends. Even in the face of Gaara's full Shukaku form, he refuses to give up, summoning Gamabunta and destroying the sand creature with the toad boss' help. In the end, Naruto lands the final punch on Gaara, leaving him unable to move. Naruto's not much better off, but crawls his way to Gaara to make sure he's defeated. As he crawls, he admits to Gaara that he knows the same pain of loneliness, but won't let Gaara kill the people who saved him from it. Though Sasuke stops Naruto, he still manages to change Gaara's outlook on life.

Return of Itachi and Search for Tsunade arcs

After the attack on Konoha, Jiraiya is asked to become the Fifth Hokage by Konoha's elders. He declines the offer, however, and instead decides to locate Tsunade, also one of the Legendary Sannin, and have her become the Fifth. The elders offer to have an ANBU squad accompany him, but he refuses. Aside from the fact that traveling with an ANBU squad would only make Tsunade harder to find, he already has someone he wants to take: Naruto. Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki, two members of Akatsuki, are searching for Naruto, so Jiraiya is taking Naruto to protect him. Naruto initially doesn't want to go, but Jiraiya offers to teach him a powerful technique, which instantly sells Naruto on the idea. Despite Jiraiya taking him along for the trip, Itachi and Kisame do eventually find them. Using a hypnotized woman to draw Jiraiya away, the two attempt to kidnap Naruto. The arrival of Sasuke slows them slightly, though only because Itachi is unwilling to finish Sasuke off. Regardless, the short delay is enough time for Jiraiya to arrive and force the two Akatsuki to retreat.

With the threat from Akatsuki gone, Jiraiya begins teaching Naruto the Spiraling Sphere, an A-rank technique developed by the Fourth Hokage that only requires one hand to perform. Naruto is mostly left to learn the technique by himself, since he needs to learn the trick to doing it by himself. Jiraiya never tells Naruto this, leaving Naruto disappointed. While they are searching for Tsunade, Tsunade is approached by Orochimaru, who wants her to heal his sealed arms. In exchange, he offers to resurrect her dead brother and lover, and allows her a week to consider the offer. When Jiraiya and Naruto finally find Tsunade, Naruto can't believe that she's going to be the Fifth Hokage. Her disrespectful remarks to both the position and the recently deceased Third don't help matters, and he challenges her to a fight. Against one of the Sannin, Naruto has no chance, and Tsunade holds him off with a single finger. Though he has yet to perfect it, he attempts to use the Spiraling Sphere on her. She dodges this, too, and then berates Jiraiya for teaching Naruto a technique he can't possibly master. Naruto insists that he can, and bets that he can learn it in three days. Naruto's personality reminds Tsunade of her deceased loved ones, so she takes the bet, giving Naruto a week. If Naruto wins, she'll accept that he can become Hokage, and give him her incredibly valuable necklace that originally belonged to the First Hokage. Her two deceased loved ones had also owned it for a time, and died soon after receiving it.

By week's end, Naruto still hasn't mastered the technique, but notes that he has an alternate means of completing it should it be necessary. Their bet is interrupted by the arrival of Orochimaru and Kabuto, whom Tsunade betrays. Naruto is initially left out of the fight, but comes to Tsunade's aid after Kabuto tries to kill her. It is during their fight that Naruto finally completes the Spiraling Sphere, using a shadow clone to do what he could not do by himself. Kabuto is severely injured by the technique, but injures Naruto just as badly. Naruto is saved by Tsunade, who gets over her hemophobia in order to save him. He regains consciousness just long enough to proclaim he won their bet. In turn, she gives him her necklace and accepts that he will become Hokage someday.

Sasuke Retrieval arc

In the anime, a short filler arc involving a mission to the Tea Country precedes this arc. This filler arc does little except reinforce Sasuke's point of view in the next arc. After returning with Tsunade and having Sasuke healed, Naruto recognizes Sakura's feelings for Sasuke. Though still jealous, he is mature enough not to get in the way. Meanwhile, Sasuke broods over the progress Naruto has made in comparison to him, which is substantial. Feeling inferior, Sasuke challenges Naruto to a fight. The two go to the roof of the hospital, where each voices their opinion of their rivalry, with Naruto insisting they're equals while Sasuke thinks otherwise. Their battle is short, ending with each trying to use their most powerful attack on the other. Kakashi steps in to prevent them from injuring Sakura, who attempts to intervene. Kakashi deflects their attacks into adjacent water towers. At first, it appears as if Sasuke did more damage, but in reality Naruto did. While Sasuke does put a bigger dent in the front of his tower, Naruto actually blows out the back of the other, demonstrating that Naruto's strength had truly surpassed his. Though Kakashi tries to convince Sasuke to give up his quest for revenge, his defeat at the hands of the Sound Four leads him to defect to Orochimaru.

Naruto's friends hold off the Sound Four so Naruto can reach Sasuke. Once he does, the two have a much more serious battle, during which they each bring out their respective "gifts", those being Naruto's demon fox chakra and Sasuke's cursed seal. During the battle, Sasuke claims that he doesn't need any friends, as that does nothing to make him more powerful, since killing Itachi is his only goal. Naruto refuses to accept Sasuke's decision, as by his own admission Sasuke is like a brother to him and he can't bear to lose him to the twisted path of self-destruction he has chosen. This drives Naruto to draw upon the demon fox's chakra to such a degree that he nearly overcomes Sasuke's Sharingan. As such, Sasuke finally acknowledges Naruto as an equal. In the end, the two use their most powerful attacks against each other once more, only this time enhancing the attacks with their respective gifts. They do not go through with their attacks, however. Naruto purposefully misses, instead scratching Sasuke's headband, and Sasuke doesn't kill Naruto because he doesn't want to become like Itachi (though this mentality seemingly changes in Part II as he now has no reservations about killing Naruto).

With Sasuke's successful defection, Naruto's main goal is to bring Sasuke back before Orochimaru can take him as his new host. Jiraiya, recognizing Naruto's determination, remembers his own attempt to stop Orochimaru from defecting. Though he clearly believes Naruto's goal to be foolish, he takes Naruto with him for a two-and-a-half year period of training. There is a three-month break before this happens, which is covered by an ongoing series of filler arcs in the anime. Like the Tea Country arc, these provide very little plot development. There are a few exceptions, but none involve Naruto directly.

Part II

Naruto, two and a half years later.

New personality

In the second part of the story, after a two-and-a-half year time skip, Naruto shows physical growth (he is now taller than Sakura), sports a new outfit, and appears to not only have increased in strength, speed, and techniques, but intelligence as well, Kakashi even said that Naruto has become more cunning. However, according to Tsunade, Naruto is also slowly adopting some of Jiraiya's perverted traits. During his apprenticeship under Jiraiya, Naruto was able to read 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.

It seems Naruto's feelings for Sakura have matured. He does not seem to have a child-like crush anymore. They 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. Naruto is now noticeably taller than Sakura and some of his other friends. (In Part I, he is made fun of for being shorter than her.)

It is when Team 7 was on the way to Sunagakure that Naruto revealed to Sakura and Temari that the demon fox was sealed inside him. She sympathizes with him, as does Temari, who is very grateful to Naruto for the change in her little brother, Gaara.

It is also shown that Sasuke's defection still affects Naruto and Sakura, and when the whole of Team 7 finally meets after two and a half years, Sasuke greets them, as he did when they became a team, with cold indifference, and says he doesn't care if he becomes Orochimaru's vessel as long as Itachi will die. He even attempts to kill Sakura and Naruto. Later, after Sasuke leaves with Orochimaru and Kabuto, Naruto and Sakura are clearly upset that he is no longer the Sasuke they knew.

New abilities

Naruto has displayed a few new abilities since the start of Part II. Sometime during his training with Jiraiya, Naruto transformed into a four-tailed form of the demon fox without his remembering. Jiraiya claims that this is one of the only two times in his life when he nearly died – the first was an incident with Tsunade in which she beat him within an inch of his life for being a pervert. During Naruto's battle with Orochimaru, he gets angry to the point of accessing his four-tailed form again. Orochimaru states that this form is powerful enough to actually kill him.

Naruto has greatly improved his ninjutsu and taijutsu post-timeskip, as well as becoming a much better tactician. He managed to catch Kakashi by surprise during his second bell test, and even used Kakashi's obsession to Icha Icha Paradise to his advantage. Apparently, Naruto is starting to wield and become more skilled with weapons (other than regular kunai or shurikens), as seen in the Rescue Gaara arc.

Naruto has also developed a more powerful version of the Spiraling Sphere, titled the Great Ball Spiraling Sphere. Naruto uses both his and his clone's hand to control it due its unstable nature. During his battle with Itachi, Naruto utilizes this new technique to defeat him, only to realize that he had defeated a clone of Itachi formed by the Akatsuki leader's Shapeshifting Technique.

Recently, Kakashi has been training Naruto to alter the nature of his chakra, in order for Naruto to create a jutsu that is unique to him. Yamato has been helping by controlling the demon fox's chakra and building various structures for Naruto to train with. Though this normally takes a long time to do, there is a trick that speeds up the process. By creating one thousand clones of himself, Naruto can complete twenty years worth of training in just one week. Because the clones are linked to Naruto, he remembers everything they experience after they disperse. By dispersing a clone after it makes progress, every clone picks up the knowledge. With so many clones, the odds that at least one will pick up the trick to doing the jutsu increases greatly. Naruto was ignorant of this fact until told by Kakashi, despite his near-constant use of the technique. Kakashi also helps Naruto to discover the nature of his chakra through a special form of paper that reacts differently to different chakra. When Naruto channels his chakra into the paper, it splits in half, indicating that Naruto has an affinity for wind.

The first part of Naruto's training involves him and his many clones trying to cut a leaf in their hands with chakra alone. Whenever one makes progress, it disperses itself so each clone gains the knowledge. During this time, Naruto asks Kakashi if there are any other wind element users, so Kakashi points him to Asuma. Asuma gives one of Naruto's clones some pointers by explaining how he uses his trench knives, but not before getting Naruto to cover his team's next party dinner. After a while, he disperses every single clone, allowing him to gain all their knowledge at once, but also causing extreme mental fatigue. He does this again to complete his training.

The second part of Naruto's training involves the same technique, but with a much bigger object: in this case, a waterfall Yamato had earlier created as a demonstration. At first he fails to even stop the water, but an argument with Kakashi over the need to get stronger than Sasuke makes Naruto even more determined. That night, Naruto sees a shooting star and is reminded why he is doing this training. Naruto gets up and resumes his training. By daybreak Naruto and his clones split the waterfall all the way across, completely severing it from side to side. He disperses his clones once more, leaving him both tired and hungry.

With the second step done, Naruto can start creating his first original jutsu. Before they begin, however, Kakashi reveals that he can perform Rasengan. He explains that the ultimate purpose of the Fourth's jutsu was to combine both the form manipulation and nature manipulation of one's chakra into an extremely powerful jutsu. However, the Fourth was unable to complete the jutsu and the Rasengan was the maximum that both the Fourth and Kakashi were able to achieve. This means that Naruto will have to, from now on, train by himself. Kakashi then tells Naruto that he can do it, for if there was anyone who can surpass the Fourth, it's him, then walks away with Yamato. Yamato commends Kakashi on his "way with words" but Kakashi tells him that he does believe that Naruto will be more powerful than the Fourth.

Despite Kakashi's confidence, Naruto is having a lot of trouble combining the two forms of chakra manipulation into one jutsu. As Naruto describes it, it's like trying to look left and right at the same time. He even begins transforming into a four-tailed fox state at one point due to his frustration. Though Yamato successfully reverses the change, he notes that he can't guarantee he'll be able to stop it every time. Despite this, Naruto continues training.

Reference: http://www.wikipedia.org/