Uzumaki Naruto



Name: Uzumaki Naruto, うずまきナルト
Age: 12 years old at the start of manga, now 15 years old
Date of birth: October 10
Height: 147.5 cm
Weight: 40.6 kg
Hair color: Blonde
Eye color: Blue
Blood type: B
Registration #: 012607
Rank: Genin
Jutsu/Kekkei genkai:Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Multiple Shadow Clone Technique), Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu), Rasengan, Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique) (Toads), Ōdama Rasengan (Great Ball Rasengan), Oiroke no Jutsu (Ninja Centerfold), Hāremu no Jutsu (Ninja Harem)
Bunshin Taiatari (Clone Body Blow), Sennen Goroshi (One Thousand Years of Death), Konbi Henge (Combination Transformation) (with Gamabunta), Shihōhappō Shuriken (Shuriken from All Directions), Uzumaki Naruto Rendan (Uzumaki Naruto Combo), Uzumaki Naruto Nisen Rendan (Uzumaki Naruto Two Thousand Combo), Henge no Jutsu (Transformation Technique), Kawarimi no Jutsu (Body Replacement Technique)
Current affiliation: Konohagakure (Hidden Leaf)
Current team: Team Kakashi (Hatake Kakashi, Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura; also temporarily Yamato and Sai)
Previous affiliation: N/A
Previous team: Team Kakashi (Hatake Kakashi, Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura)
Relatives: Orphan, no currently known relatives, dead or alive.

Background

Little information has been disclosed about Naruto's birth or parentage. We do know that, as an infant, the spirit of the Nine-tails Demon Fox's (Kyūbi no Yōko)who attacked the village of Konohagakure (Hidden Leaf), was sealed within his body through the secret Fūin Jutsu: Shiki Fūjin from the Fourth Hokage of Konoha — a selfless act which cost him his life.

The orphan Naruto experiences a traumatic youth, oblivious to the knowledge that a monster resides within him. The villagers of Konoha harbor a fierce hatred for the young child who bears the spirit of the demon who decimated the once peaceful village, in spite of the Fourth Hokage's wish that Naruto be seen as a hero who contained the Kyūbi, thus preventing it from causing further harm to the villagers. He is shunned by the fellow villagers and their children—his classmates—leaving Naruto a confused and broken child.

Fortunately, Naruto befriends his compassionate ninja instructor, Umino Iruka. Though his own parents perished at the hands of the Kyubi's assault, Iruka doesn't blame Naruto for their deaths. Instead, Iruka accepts Naruto and empathizes with his desire to be accepted, and he is the first person to ever believe in Naruto. It is through Iruka's presence as Naruto's only family figure that Naruto learns to overcome his sadness.

Personality

Determined to be recognized, Naruto is the loudest, most hyperactive, and mischievous ninja of Konoha. Naruto is very ambitious (though at times arrogant) and lives by a unyielding perseverance he proudly proclaims many times to be his "way of the ninja." Naruto's dream is to become Hokage.

Naruto's exuberant personality and fiery desire for self-improvement strongly impact the lives of those around him. In one instance, Naruto befriends Konohamaru, the grandson of the Third Hokage, and it is through his brief tutelage that Konohamaru learns that the path to success is through hard work.

In the beginning, he is driven by his intense emotions, and it tended Naruto to rush into combat, giving little thought into strategy. Despite his headstrong nature, Naruto is a clever prankster who overcomes his opponents through sheer willpower and, at times, dumb luck. The saving grace to his otherwise mediocre Taijutsu and Ninjutsu abilities is the Kyūbi's huge reserve of red chakra which, in the most dire circumstances, imbues Naruto with incredible regenerative capabilities and unstoppable strength. Naruto does manage to improve his own Ninjutsu and Taijutsu abilities greatly as the story goes on.

This tremendous power is not without its disadvantages. In the beginning both Naruto's mind and body are incapable of effectively controlling the Kyūbi. He does manage to get more control over the Kyûbi's throughout the series. As seen in the climactic battle against Sasuke, unleashing the fox's power exhausted Naruto to the point his own body began to decay. Naruto, in his brief moments of anger, can do little to control the demon's malevolence — he, like the fox, becomes an unrestrainable beast.

Training at the Ninja Academy

As a student at the ninja academy, Naruto's reputation as a troublemaker and failure have earned him infamy among the teachers and students. His sensei, Umino Iruka, and, to a lesser extent, the Third Hokage, are the only positive influences on him (though Hyūga Hinata thinks very highly of him as well as she stated it during the Chunin Exam arc before Naruto's fight with Neji). Yet, they can do little for the young ninja who has failed, on numerous attempts, the final exam, a test that requires student to demonstrate their jutsu, specifically the Bunshin no Jutsu, or Clone Technique.

These "normal" days end when a rogue ninja, Mizuki, tricks Naruto into stealing the Scroll of Seals, a collection of forbidden techniques housed within the Hokage's study. In a brief skirmish between Mizuki and Iruka, Naruto learns the terrifying secret of the Kyūbi and, in a rage, demonstrates the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, a secret technique from the scroll. In demonstrating the advanced usage of this technique, Iruka hands Naruto his forehead protector, a sign that he has officially graduated.

While labeled as dumb at the academy, Naruto shows surprising talent in unexpected areas and often comes up with inventive solutions and strategies. Later in the series, Naruto manages to learn the Rasengan, a technique that took the Fourth Hokage three years to master, in just a month (he takes a couple of days for the first step, three weeks for the second, and one week for the third). An example of Naruto's inventiveness is shown here — he lacks the chakra control required to execute the technique using only one hand, but he settles for an inferior delivery method which is slower and requires another hand (either by occupying his other one or using a kage bunshin). While not on par with the original, Naruto's version is still very effective.

As an official ninja, Naruto is finally on his way of surpassing the stigmas others hold of him.

Team 7 Fated Meeting

To officially obtain the rank of Genin, or first-level ninja, students of the academy must undergo a field evaluation under a Jōnin, an elite, third-level ninja. Organized into groups of four (three Genin + one Jonin), the groups are each assigned a test which they must pass in order to be considered elligible for official missions. Naruto is grouped into Team 7 and it is with these fellow ninjas that eternal bonds are made and are, unfortunately, later shattered.

Team 7 consists of Naruto, Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke and the Jonin instructor, Hatake Kakashi. Like a recipe for disaster, the initial group chemistry is terrible: Naruto is infatuated with Sakura but completely detests Sasuke's inherent genius; Sakura couldn't care less about Naruto and the title of "ninja" for her focus is on wooing Sasuke; Sasuke is a lone wolf with hidden agendas who detests everyone in the group; Kakashi's first impression is less than impressive as he is seemingly aloof to his duties as a Jonin. But as deceptive as a ninja tends to be, Kakashi bears an acute insight into matters that the young three have yet to see.

Kakashi's test is a simple but theoretically ruthless task: attached to his belt are two bells which must be procured by the trainees in order for the examination to be considered a success. Kakashi easily defends himself from all three. At the end of the exercise, he points out their flaws in teamwork and says that all three don't have what it takes and will never be ninja. However, he has decided to give them a second chance, and lets Sakura and Sasuke eat so they can all try again later. However, Naruto (who is tied to a training post) is forbidden to eat because he attempted to eat without obtaining a bell earlier. Sakura and Sasuke decide to go against Kakashi's words and feed Naruto anyway, figuring that if the problem is their teamwork, Naruto would mess it up due to his lack of energy. Kakashi appears as Sakura is feeding Naruto and and tells them that they pass. Team 7 thus becomes the first group that Kakashi ever passes to be Genin, as this is exactly the message he was trying to get across - Those who disobey the rules are trash, but those who abandon their friends are even lower than that.

The Land of Waves

Though Genin are only supposed to go on D-Rank missions, Naruto insists on doing something more exciting and the Sandaime Hokage agrees to send them on a C-Rank mission to escort a client. During their mission, the team is attacked by two enemy Chūnin, something that is not supposed to happen on C-Rank missions, and Naruto panics and freezes. Sasuke, however, deals with the attackers quite efficiently. Sasuke rubs in his one-upping Naruto by calling him a "Scaredy-cat." This name-calling, which Naruto would imitate many times later in the series, is a defining moment in the Naruto-Sasuke rivalry. Team 7 also undergoes chakra training in this arc of the manga, another point of rivalry between the two ninja, as they constantly challenge themselves to try to outdo each other, but instead end up helping and motivating each other to succeed.

Naruto's "hidden power" is also revealed in this arc. In a particularly ferocious battle in which he believes Sasuke has been killed (he was actually put in a temporary death-state) by Haku, Naruto loses control and is consumed by the Kyūbi's chakra. Its power is so immense that the chakra is visible, all of Naruto's wounds heal near-instantaneously, and Naruto's appearance changes; his eyes become red and cat-slitted, his "whiskers" deepen, his fingernails grow to become clawlike and his canine teeth become sharper. He completely overwhelms his enemy with this power and speed. Although the power of the Kyūbi is introduced at this point, the full extent of it is not shown yet. Naruto has not communicated with the Demon Fox inside of him; he only subconsciously calls upon this power.

Even with the small amount of power Naruto used, he proved to be too powerful for Haku. Haku knew that he wouldn't stand a chance against Naruto because he was running out of Chakra and Naruto's attacks were too powerful. Haku asked Naruto to kill him, but he ran away to save Zabuza before Naruto could finish Haku off.

After Naruto witnessed what happened to Haku and Zabuza, he decided to become a ninja his own way.

Chūnin exam

Team 7 returns to Konoha to continue with their lives as regular Genin, accomplishing menial missions. Eventually, whilst playing with Konohamaru and his friends, Naruto meets with two of the three Genin from Sunagakure (Hidden Sand), Kankurō and Temari and shortly learns the reason for their presence; Chūnin Selection Exams are in effect. Naruto is thrilled about the possibility of becoming a Chūnin, and though he fails, various events during the exams drastically affect his ability and enrich his social relations (much later in the manga, when Naruto reminisces on how he was alone but slowly more and more people became his friends, we see a growing line which first contains Iruka, Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakura, and later expands to include people he met on the Chūnin exam).

During the exam, Naruto finds himself for the first time in a truly desperate situation, up against Orochimaru - an S-ranked criminal so powerful that the Sandaime Hokage later mentions that there is nobody in Konohagakure that can fight him equally (even he himself, he admits, cannot). Naruto and Sasuke's reactions to the situation are a complete reversal of what happened in the Wave Country mission - Sasuke is paralyzed with panic while Naruto fights on fearlessly, at one point stopping Orochimaru's huge summoned snake in its tracks on his own(with the help of some Kyubi chakra), and muttering to Sasuke, in a moment of glorious comeuppance that marks another milestone in their rivalry, "are you all right... scaredy-cat?". Naruto eventually snaps Sasuke out of his panic. Orochimaru uses one of his techniques to seal the Kyūbi's chakra, not allowing Naruto to use the Nine tailed fox's chakra.

Naruto vastly improves in ability during the three stages of the Chūnin exam; beside winning his first true fight (against Kiba) by having shadow replications perform a combo attack, he improves his chakra control by practicing walking on water, learns how to call upon Kyūbi's energy at will after Jiraiya uses a counter jutsu to dispell Orochimaru's sealing jutsu, and how to use the summoning technique to call a toad to his aid (the former skill is essential for the usability of the latter, as without Kyūbi's chakra his summons are generally not much more than tadpoles). He uses these skills to a powerful effect in later battles, and at the climax of the arc triumphs against Gaara, an opponent Sasuke could not face equally, thus reversing their roles and inducing in Sasuke deep feelings of inferiority - though Sasuke still attempts to maintain the same attitude in front of Naruto, in an attempt to cling to his former superiority. At an early point Naruto tells Sasuke that he wants to fight him during the exam; Sasuke acknowledges Naruto in his own way later on when he tells him that he wants to fight him as well.

In the month between the third stage preliminary matches and the third stage main matches, Naruto meets Jiraiya - one of Konohagakure's legendary three - for the first time. Jiraiya agrees to be his sensei and is the one who teaches him most of the advanced techniques he learns during that time. He also undergoes a brief training period under Ebisu, who earlier saw him as nothing more than the container of the demon fox but after spending some time with him decides that he is indeed a true ninja of the leaf.

Friendships and conflicts

Naruto's defining trait of being extremely spirited and never giving up is further emphasised in this arc. During the written test part, when given a choice between taking a question or not taking a question - when not taking it would mean failing the exam, and taking it but not answering correctly would mean failing and staying a genin forever - he not only chooses to take the question, but loudly proclaims his resolve to will himself to be Hokage even if he stays a Genin forever, inspiring many people in the room to do the same (in a twist, it later turns out that the whole point of the "question" was to see who was fit and who wasn't fit for being a Chūnin, an occupation in which one does not have a choice of whether to undertake missions which risk everything or not, and Naruto has answered correctly by merely deciding to confront it). He also faces up with determination to Hyūga Neji and Gaara — two opponents that, he frankly admits to himself often at various points during the arc, terrify him.

Naruto's encounters during the Chūnin exam arc are characterized by Naruto relating to or opposing to sentiments and outlooks on life, and it is through this relation that he makes many new friends (and on three different occasions, by defeating an enemy). He gradually bonds with Rock Lee, a Taijutsu expert, who represents the ideal of hard work prevailing against all odds and stands up against the more powerful Gaara during the third stage preliminary exams, even while unconscious. Naruto deeply identifies with Lee and feels very sorry for him when Gaara beats him (since he does such a thorough job as to, according to the doctors' first impressions, permanently cripple Lee.)

Another contrast that deeply affects Naruto is the clash between Hyūga Hinata, the forsaken heir of the Hyūga clan head house, and Hyūga Neji, her cousin, who is much stronger but will never be the heir because he is a part of the branch house. Naruto watches the start of the fight with little knowledge of either fighters (apart from that Hinata is a nice person, as she offered to let him copy off of her paper in the written test stage and offered him medicine immediately after his fight with Inuzuka Kiba); however about a minute later, after Hinata mumbles quietly that she just wanted to change herself and Neji lectures her about the supreme rule of destiny and how people cannot change, Naruto is already shouting into the stadium for Hinata to stand up for herself. She loses the fight, much like Lee loses his own fight with Gaara - still standing at a point where she should technically be dead; when she finally goes down, Naruto is so overwhelmed with sympathy for her predicament and antagonism for Neji's attitude that he closes his fist around her spilled blood on the floor and points his fist towards Neji, promising to her that he will beat the Hyūga prodigy himself.

Naruto's fight with Neji a month later is a very dramatic one. As techniques are used and advantages are gained and nullified, Neji lectures Naruto much like he did earlier with Hinata, telling him that dropouts remain dropouts and cannot change. Naruto suffers somewhat of an emotional impact when Neji gives him a speech about the Hokages being people who were destined to become so, and how one cannot become one just because they want to; ultimately, however, he'll have none of it and keeps confronting Neji about his attitude, until Neji tells him of the tragedy of his father's death and the Hyūga fate of hatred. Naruto eventually wins the battle through sheer motivation and believing in victory, and in the process changes Neji's outlook on life one-hundred and eighty degrees, inspiring him to create his own fate and forming another important bond. "Stop talking about fate and how it can't be changed," says Naruto sardonically, "you're not like me. You're not a dropout."

The climax of the arc is Naruto's battle with Gaara. Gaara represents the opposite reaction to Naruto's very predicament; Naruto looked for acknowledgement and attention to form his identity, while Gaara built more and more walls around himself, eventually concluding that his purpose in life was to kill everybody that was not him. At first Naruto is clearly outpowered, but later in the fight he gains more ground by using clever tactics and employing the techniques Jiraiya taught him. Most of all what enables him to triumph is his devotion to those important to him, which turns out to be a source of much greater strength than Gaara's hatred, contrary to Naruto's first impression that Gaara's state of mind makes him somebody he could not possibly face.

After the battle ends, Gaara wonders whether he'd be able to love again, and appears later in the series as a positive character and another important friend Naruto has made during this arc.

Sasuke retrieval arc

Starting with Naruto and Sasuke's fight at the hospital rooftop. Sasuke felt left behind by Naruto. Ever since the Chūnin exam and the fight against the one-tailed spirit, Gaara of the Sand, Sasuke felt that Naruto has been improving immensely. Naruto only wanted recognition from Sasuke, recognition that he really has gotten stronger but Sasuke would never recognize Naruto because by doing so, he must admit that he is weaker than Naruto. So Sasuke decided on leaving Konoha and train under Orochimaru.

Naruto's influence on Sasuke, though profound, is powerless to prevent Sasuke from deciding to become a Nukenin (Missing-nin) and leaving Konohagakure to receive training from Orochimaru. Sasuke's decision to leave is the result of a chain of events that rekindles his hatred for his brother and desire to avenge his clan, to do so, he must claim a great amount of power which became the center of his entire life.

Despite a five man attempt by Kiba, Shikamaru, Naruto, Chōji, and Neji to bring back Sasuke, and even Naruto upgrading to a One-tailed incarnation of the Kyūbi's power, interference by the Sound Five and Sasuke's refusal to go back (while refusing to kill Naruto which would have gotten him the Mangekyō Sharingan) makes the retrieval operation fail; and if it wasn't for the Sand Ninjas and the emergency treatment back at Konoha, then the entire group and Rock Lee (he joined later) would have been killed.

This experience is traumatic to Naruto, not only because he has promised Sakura to bring Sasuke back and it's the first time he is unable to live up to something he promised to an important person. Unlike Jiraiya, however, who from his own experience with Orochimaru believes that Sasuke is too far gone and that Naruto should forget about him and concentrate on his own survival, Naruto believes that there is hope for Sasuke yet. He tells Sakura that he will, one day, bring Sasuke back to the village and live up to his promise.

Naruto Part II

After this failed attempt to retrieve Sasuke, Naruto learns that circumstances have granted him a 2 and a half-year window to prepare himself to face Orochimaru (who had to switch bodies prematurely and now has to wait 3 years before executing his original plan of transferring into Sasuke) and defend himself against additional kidnap attempts from the shady organization Akatsuki (who, according to Jiraiya's information sources and for reasons unknown, halt their plans to attempt capturing Naruto for three years). Naruto takes this opportunity to undergo intensive training under Jiraiya, as does Sakura under Tsunade. As Jiraiya was the Fourth Hokage's sensei, this places Naruto in a very good position to actually fulfill his dream to become Hokage or at least become a ninja of great renown, as most legendary ninja and Hokage are closely tied to one another through student-teacher relations. Though she does not tell him this, Tsunade is already certain he will grow up to become Hokage. So, after 3 months, Naruto heads off to train with Jiraiya. In the anime, Naruto's filler adventures take place during the 3 months before he leaves with Jiraiya.

When Naruto returns to the village two and a half years later, he finds out, much to his chagrin, that he is the only one of his former-Genin social circle who is still a Genin. During his absence, the rest have become Chūnin ( Hyūga Neji, Temari and Kankurō even made Jōnin, and Gaara had even become the Fifth Kazekage), though in terms of strength, Naruto is clearly many times more powerful than the average Genin (especially with his Kuchiyose no Jutsu and Rasengan).

New Personality

In this new arc of the story, dubbed Naruto Part II, we see the growth of all of the characters, including Naruto. Naruto shows physical growth, sports a new outfit, and appears to not only have increased in strength, speed and techniques, but intelligence as well - although, according to Tsunade, Naruto is also slowly adapting some of Jiraiya's attitude about being a pervert. During the apprenticeship with Jiraiya, he was able to read the latest of the "Icha Icha" series written by none other than Jiraiya, although when he presents a copy to Kakashi, he says he thought it was boring, but Kakashi would like it.

Naruto's feelings for Sakura seems to have matured to a certain extent. His feelings don't seem to be like a child-like crush anymore. Also his relationship with Sakura has become more mature as well. They have become much closer friends, and Naruto also told Sakura that he is the living container for the Kyūbi (The Nine Tailed Fox). They are able to talk to each other without much problems.Their teamwork and their skills have improved so much that they were able to pass Kakashi's second bell test. With exceptions of two punches and strangling Naruto once because he was being perverted and arrogant in front of Tsunade, Sakura has been much gentler and kinder to Naruto (on a side note Sakura has hardly insulted Naruto and she has actually complimented him). In fact, Kakashi's replacement, Yamato, has noted that Sakura may actually have developed feelings for him.

Rescue Gaara arc

Naruto has little time to wander the village and greet all his old friends, as the Hokage sends him, Sakura and Kakashi on yet another rescue mission, this time to retrieve the captured Gaara (who has become the fifth Kazekage during Naruto's absence) from the hands of Akatsuki, who plan to extract the sealed demon from him for purposes yet unknown. Jiraiya's information sources indicate that Akatsuki has been growing impatient with their lack of success capturing Naruto. Thus this clash with Akatsuki seems to have been inevitable.

During this mission, Naruto finally tells Sakura that he is the living container for the Kyūbi (The Nine Tailed Fox). Sakura finally seemed to understand Naruto in many ways. She could understand why almost everyone hated him, excluded him, and why he was alone. Sakura cried for Naruto when she found out if the demon inside him is removed, he will die. Naruto only tells her not to worry because he'll save Gaara. Sakura tries to tell Naruto that it's him she's worried about, but he ignores her.

They are first confronted by Itachi and Kisame, who turn out to be body substitutes by means of Shōten no Jutsu (Shapeshifting Technique), and defeat them. Upon arrival at the grotto where Gaara is being held, the group figures out that a barrier jutsu seals off the entrance. Naruto and Kakashi decide to confront Deidara while Chiyo and Sakura face Sasori, with Gai's team being preoccupied with a trap triggered by them breaking the seals. Both pairs defeat the Akatsuki members, and Gai and company defeat their clones. Upon this face off, Kakashi reveals his newly developed technique, using his mangekyō sharingan.

Upon retrieving Gaara from Deidara's clay bird and realizing he's dead because the one-tailed spirit, the Shukaku was extracted from him, Naruto manifests Kyūbi's power into a similar form which he used against Sasuke, but this time almost advances into a two-tailed state and is handling it better than before. The fact that Kakashi knew how to contain Naruto's further transformation using a special seal he received from Jiraiya implies that Jiraiya has also witnessed Naruto's transformation during the last three years. Naruto then lends Chiyo some of his chakra and she is able to revive Gaara at the cost of her own life.

Naruto returns to his village after this mission. In their arrival, Kakashi has been confined in the hospital and is not able to guide Naruto and Sakura for the time being of his recovery.

Grass Country arc

It is discovered that some of the village elders are worried about the possibility of Naruto being captured by Akatsuki. He is assigned to go on another mission with Sakura and the newly introduced Yamato, an ANBU, and Sai, a member of the now-defunct independent subdivision of the ANBU called 'Ne' (根, "Root"). They are to travel to the World Bridge in the Grass Country to meet Sasori's spy.

Naruto dislikes Sai, and his interactions with him are similar to his interactions with Sasuke from the beginning of the series. Sai even increases Naruto's hatred towards him by saying things about Sasuke being a traitor giving Sakura and Naruto a great irritation towards him.

When they arrive at the World Bridge, Yamato goes to meet the spy inside a replica of Sasori's puppet Hiruko. The spy is revealed to be Kabuto, but he is apparently still loyal to Orochimaru. He destroys the puppet replica, revealing Yamato inside. Orochimaru then calls Sai, Sakura, and Naruto out, most likely with the intent to fight, saying that he wonders who is now stronger: Naruto or Sasuke. Naruto is so provoked by the mention of Sasuke that he goes into a three-tailed Kyūbi state.

During the timeskip, Jiraiya has apparently witnessed Naruto trigger a four-tailed Kyūbi and nearly lost his life in this encounter. With three tails, Naruto was still able to retain his own identity, but when he entered the four-tails version he began to lose the ability to distinguish friends from foes, instead letting Kyūbi's instinct control him. Also, while in four-tailed state his body begins to suffer severe damage from the shield of chakra & his own blood, while also being constantly healed by Kyūbi chakra. This process weakens his body, much like how Tsunade's cell regeneration technique decreases her lifespan. It is speculated by Jiraiya and Tsunade that Yondaime's seal is weakening.

While battling Orochimaru with three tails, Naruto caused extensive damage to the surrounding area and was able to land hits on Orochimaru. Orochimaru continues to taunt Naruto by talking about Sasuke as though he belongs to him, which causes Naruto to go into the four-tailed state. This is depicted in Naruto's mind by Naruto swimming through the bars of Kyūbi's cage and Kyūbi closing its hands around Naruto. In this state, Naruto resembles a fox, covered with what appears to be black-colored chakra caused by the mixture of his blood and Kyūbi's chakra. During the battle with Orochimaru, Naruto's four-tailed state is shown to be extremely powerful. With one swipe of his hand, he can create a powerful shockwave (as noted by Yamato). He also has the ability to stretch his arms and attack from long distances. When Orochimaru grabs Naruto's arm with his own, he got burnt. Kyūbi-Naruto uses the four tails to concentrate his chakra into a dense dark ball, which Orochimaru states will kill him if he is hit.

Naruto eats the black chakra ball, and fires it out of his mouth. The immense energy forces Orochimaru to summon 3 of his Rashōmon demon gates to block the attacks. The demon gates however are no match for the attack and are shattered. When the dust clears, it appears that Orochimaru has been defeated, but in fact used the attack as a distraction to launch a sneak attack by burrowing his head underground and impaling Naruto with the Kusanagi sword, sending Naruto flying. However, even this attack does not harm Naruto. Kyūbi-Naruto grabs the extended Kusanagi and tosses it aside, sending Orochimaru flailing.

Meanwhile, Kabuto speaks with Sakura and Yamato, saying that Naruto was so desperate to save Sasuke that he let himself turn into a monster. Tears in her eyes and overcome by emotion, Sakura runs towards Naruto, ignoring Yamato's warning and tries to calm Naruto down. Yamato quickly acts to protect her, using Mokuton Ninjutsu, but does not make it in time. Naruto uses his leftmost tail to swipe Sakura aside, cutting her arm in the process. Kabuto, seeing Sakura as another opposing force to Akatsuki, heals her arm, hoping that if she lives, she can kill another Akatsuki member either by chance. Yamato then proceeds to using a technique that appears to be a Jinchūriki-containing move called Hokage Shiki Jijun Jutsu: Kakuan Nitten Suishu, which roughly translates to 'Hokage-Style Sixty-year-old Technique: Enclosed Hermitage Return to Society'. A seal appears on Yamato's palm, which then, by a thick string of chakra, pierces Naruto's chest and forcefully starts returning Naruto to his normal state.

Sakura and Yamato rush to Naruto's side and Sakura uses her medical skills to force the remainder of the Kyūbi chakra into remission. It is during this that Sakura asks Yamato if he can teach her Kakuan Nitten Suishu. However, Yamato explains that he cannot due to the fact that the only one who could perform the technique was the First Hokage and thus only he can do it because he is the only one in Konoha who has the cells compatible to the Shodai-sama's(ability not as well as the First, since Yamato is an experimental copy). This causes Sakura to cry, with regret that she has only ever been able to help Naruto in small ways.

Yamato states that it is irrelevant whether or not the things she does for him are big or small in nature. All that matters is the strength of the feelings she has for Naruto. He then implies that she is starting to become infatuated with Naruto. Before he can finish however, Naruto awakens.

When Naruto realizes that the bridge and certain parts of the forest have been leveled, he wondered what happened. Apparently, after he grew the fourth tail, he forgot everything after that because he does remember starting a fight with Orochimaru. Sakura lies to Naruto in order to protect him from the truth for now. Unfortunately, due to the damage that Naruto took from being possessed by the Kyūbi chakra, he is still very weak. Yamato tells Sakura to leave Naruto so they could go after Orochimaru knowing they wouldn't get a second chance. Sakura reluctantly leaves but only after Naruto tells her to stop worrying about him and go.

Naruto catches up with the rest of his team, sans Sai, after he has rested and goes along with them to follow Sai. While traveling, Sakura falls out of the tree she is jumping from after the cut on her arm caused by Naruto's four-tailed form starts to hurt badly. Her fall is broken by Yamato, who suggests that they rest while Sakura attempts to recover, as her expertise as a medical ninja is needed if they are to complete the mission. However, he realizes that the damage caused by the Kyūbi's chakra cannot be healed even by a medical ninja with Sakura's level of proficiency. When Naruto inquires about the wound, Sakura says that she was injured by Orochimaru during the fight. Naruto tells her to be more careful, since she is the team's medical ninja.

Yamato calls Naruto aside and explains to him that the damage to the surrounding landscape and Sakura's cut were both caused by him in his four-tailed form, and that Sakura lied to him about the events concerning his fight with Orochimaru in order to protect him. He also states that although relying on the strength of the Kyūbi might allow Naruto to rescue Sasuke faster, it is not Naruto's true strength. Relying too much on its strength will hurt Naruto and all of his friends. Yamato tells Naruto that he is going to completely seal off his Kyūbi power, but it will not make Naruto weaker as his true power comes from his own chakra, not that of the Kyūbi. Yamato says that Naruto will be able to protect Sakura and save Sasuke with his own strength and his own eyes. Naruto quickly agrees.

While Yamato and Naruto are discussing this, Sakura goes through Sai's belongings and finds his art book. She calls attention to this book and shows it to the rest of the team.

Trivia

It has been debated about how Naruto's other friends will react when they find out Naruto is the container of the Nine Tailed Fox. Some fans believe that the others will distance themselves from Naruto. However, a majority of the fans believe their reaction will be similar to Sakura's, and they will finally understand Naruto completely.

The surname "Uzumaki" is a pun to "spiral" (渦巻). The Konohagakure leaf symbol is drawn with an arrow attached to a spiral, the seal on his abdomen is a spiral, the symbol on his jacket's back and shoulders is a spiral, and one of his attacks is Rasengan which means "Spiralling Sphere".

"Uzumaki" can also mean "whirlpool" in reference to the Naruto whirlpool (鳴門の渦潮), named after the city of Naruto, lies between said city and Awaji Island.

Naruto can mean "maelstrom", and is also the name for a sliced stick of Kamaboko with a pink whirlpool design in the middle which is used as a topping for Ramen (Naruto's favorite food). The Japanese sometimes use it as a nickname for the commercial at (@).

The Kitsune(狐) is a well-known character in Japanese myth, and the influence behind not only the Demon Fox, a.k.a. the Kyūbi, 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 Ninja Centerfold (Oiroke no Jutsu, literally Sexy Technique), which is often called "Sexy no Jutsu" by people in the North American Naruto fanbase). Foxes are also known to be especially fierce and resourceful when pushed into a corner, and can even kill a hound or other powerful animals, something which also reflects Naruto's determination. It should also be noted that every time Naruto loses control and is overwhelmed by the Kyūbi's chakra, he seemingly gains another "tail" of chakra. This stems from the Japanese myth that when kitsune reach 100 years, they gain an additional tail, as well as increased powers and intelligence; their powers and number of tails continue to grow every 100 years until the age of 1000 when they receive the ninth and final tail and incredible powers which in some versions even reach up to immortality. The Kyūbi's powers are limited to seep through to how much Naruto can take, though it seems that this limit is severely stretched the older Naruto gets, and will probably be broken altogether when their chakra finishes melding.

Naruto, the city in Japan (鳴門) transliterates to "loud door" if read by the individual Kanji in Mandarin Chinese. The offical Chinese dub for Naruto actually uses the first part, 鳴 ("Ming," literally "loud"), with an addition of 人 ("Ren," literally "person"), thus forming the name of "鳴人" meaning "loud person" -- which is particular fitting for Naruto's character.

Naruto's blonde hair is a possible reference to the belief that the fur of Kitsune turns gold as they increase in power and wisdom (white and silver are other variations of this).
October 10, Naruto's birthday, was "Taiiku no hi" (Health and Sports Day) 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 during 1999.

According to the Game Boy Advance game Naruto: Konoha Senki and the official databooks, one of Naruto's hobbies is gardening and 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). His hobbies are playing pranks and watering plants. His favorite kinds of food are Ramen from the Ichiraku Ramen shop and o-shiruko (sweet red bean soup) and his least favourite kinds of food are fresh vegetables. His favorite phrase is "味噌チャーシュー大盛り" (Miso chāshū Ōmori, "Miso roasted pork fillet large serving").

Fans of the series have noticed the parallels between Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura's story and that of Jiraya, Orochimaru and Tsunade. The former seem to be what they legendary Sannin should have been like instead of what they are. It is possible that, if Sasuke returns to the village and each become Jōnin, they will become the next legendary Sannin.

A recurring theme of past 3-man cells is the use of character personality similarities. There tends to be someone who starts of as a loudmouth, obnoxious ninja, but usually becomes the most hardworking member on the team or the "Naruto" of the group ( Sandaime Hokage in his youth, Jiraiya, and Uchiha Obito), the one that starts out to be a calm, collected, the "genius' ninja, or the "Sasuke" of the group, but it seems like the "Naruto" of the group usually seems to either equal him or surpass him at one point, Orochimaru, and Hatake Kakashi), and the kunoichi of the team, attitude varying, or the "Sakura" of the team, Tsunade, and Rin )

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