Naruto the Toad Sage!!

Name: Naruto Uzamaki
Gender: Male
Age: 16
Biju: Nina tails, kyuubi
Village: Leaf
Height: 166cm
Weight: 50.9kg
Rank: Sage rank
Background
Naruto Uzumaki (うずまきナルト, Uzumaki Naruto) is the main character in 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 which is also Naruto's favorite food. The surname Uzumaki is a pun on "spiral" (渦巻), while uzumaki refers to a three-dimensional spiral, like a whirlpool or vortex. A more accurate translation for spiral would be "Rasen". The Konoha leaf symbol is drawn with an arrow attached to a spiral, part of the seal on his abdomen is a spiral, the symbol on the back of his jacket and shoulders is a spiral, and one of his attacks is Rasengan, which means "Spiraling Sphere". Uzumaki can also mean "whirlpool", in reference to the Naruto whirlpool (鳴門の渦潮), named after the city of Naruto. An interesting fact is that his mother is from the Whirlpool Country.

Naruto's definitive characteristic in battle is his immense amount of chakra. While naturally having a significant amount of chakra on his own, he can summon a gargantuan amount given to him by the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox.

October 10th, Naruto's birthday, was Health and Sports Day ("Taiiku no hi") in Japan when his character was conceived. The holiday, however, was moved to the second Monday of October in 1999.

Masashi Kishimoto, the creator of the manga series, stated in a recent interview with the U.S. Shonen Jump that his childhood was like that of Naruto's years while he was enrolled in the Academy.

Naruto consistently ranked in the top two (taking first place twice) in the first five official Shonen Jump character popularity polls. However, in the sixth character poll, he was ranked fourth. According to the latest character poll, Naruto took second.


Naruto was born on October 10th to Minato Namikaze the Fourth Hokage, and Kushina Uzumaki, a kunoichi from the former Whirlpool Country, and was named after the lead character in Jiraiya's book. As a newborn infant, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, which had attacked the village of Konohagakure, was sealed within Naruto's body by his father.

Despite Minato's wish that Naruto be seen as a hero rather than a container of the demon fox, the villagers of Konoha harbored a fierce hatred for the young child, since he bore the demon fox who decimated their once peaceful village. Naruto wasn't even aware of the presence of the demonic entity inside him until he was twelve years old, leaving him confused for most of his childhood about why the villagers of Konoha hated him so much.

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.

Wave Country Arc
With Team 7 officially formed, they started going on simple missions. Naruto, wanting to be challenged, inadvertently got Team 7 assigned an A-rank bodyguard mission for a bridge builder named Tazuna, 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 froze out of fear, while Sasuke calmly took on the enemy. Kakashi intervened before either was seriously injured, though Naruto was poisoned. Sasuke made fun of Naruto for his fear, beginning their long-standing rivalry. The rest of the team then had a conversation over what to do about the poison, all the while making Naruto feel like more and more of a burden because he froze. Finally out of frustration Naruto took action by stabbing a kunai into his wound to bleed out the poison, vowing to protect the bridge-builder and never freeze up again. Kakashi then had to bandage the wound out of fear of Naruto dying of blood loss, but it was seen that the wound already started to heal.

In a subsequent battle against Zabuza Momochi, a Jonin-level ninja sent by evil businessman Gato to assassinate their client, Naruto froze up again but upon seeing the bandage on his hand and remembering his vow, got over his fear and worked with Sasuke to free Kakashi from a water prison created by Zabuza. Despite their rivalry, the two made a perfect team and freed Kakashi, who subsequently defeated Zabuza. Zabuza was 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 continued protecting the bridge builder, Kakashi taught Team 7 to walk up trees using chakra. Sakura mastered the technique instantly, while Sasuke only got a short distance and Naruto couldn't manage to stick to the practice tree. While normally not one to ask for help, Naruto asked Sakura for pointers, and quickly caught up to Sasuke. The two served as motivation for one another, since neither wanted to lose to the other, and they mastered the technique in a few days. During their training, Naruto stumbled upon Haku, not knowing who he really was, and the two had a short conversation about protecting those precious to them.

This conversation served as a basis for their eventual battle, during which Sasuke seemingly gave his life to protect Naruto (Haku had in fact done the same thing to Sasuke as he had to Zabuza, but deliberately avoided telling Naruto). Enraged, Naruto subconsciously calls upon the demon fox's chakra and defeated Haku in a blind rage, despite Haku being even stronger than Zabuza. Though it appeared as if Naruto would kill Haku, he pulled back when he realized that Haku was the same person he met in the woods earlier. Haku, having no other purpose in life than to protect Zabuza and fulfill his dreams, asked that Naruto kill him. Naruto was eventually persuaded to do so by the story of Haku's past, but didn't get the chance. Haku, sensing Zabuza was in danger, instead killed 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 did care, however, and couldn't hide that fact after Naruto's speech. When Zabuza's employer betrayed him, Zabuza sacrificed his own life to kill him. As a final wish, Zabuza died next to Haku, hoping to be in death where he wasn't in life.

Profoundly affected by the mission, Naruto vowed not to become an emotionless weapon as Zabuza and Haku were (for the most part). At the end of the episode, when Naruto and company left, the villagers decided to name the bridge "The Great Naruto Bridge," as Naruto changed one character in the arc, Inari, who had lost all hope after his "father" died after Gato had taken control of the Wave Country.

Chuunin Exam Arc
Fresh from their mission in the Wave Country, Team 7 was admitted into the Chunin Exams. During this time in particular, Naruto made several friends out of former enemies, and grew much stronger through these battles. He also saw some of the other Genin in a new light.

During the first part of the exam, which was a written exam designed specifically to be too hard for Genin to complete, Naruto was left sweating over the fact that he couldn't answer any of the questions. He did not realize that the purpose of the exam was to cheat without being caught by the proctors positioned around the room. Hinata Hyuga, who was sitting next to him, offered to let him copy her test. Though not sure at first, he almost took her up on her offer. However, he heard the tell-tale sound of a moving pencil from one of the proctors, signifying that they see someone cheating, and decided it's best not to, since Hinata would get in trouble, too. Hinata was glad that Naruto really does care about her, protecting her from getting into trouble and having to forfeit the Chunin exams. The last question of the test, whose secret answer was merely the willingness to try, is where Naruto's attitude rubs off on the other Genin. Unwilling to give up, he proclaimed in front of everyone participating that he wouldn't be scared away, and as such many more decided to do the same than they would have otherwise.

During the second part of the exam, Naruto and Sasuke ended up in opposite positions as they had during Team 7's first battle. Sakura and Sasuke, having met Orochimaru after a giant summoned snake ate Naruto, were paralyzed with fear from Orochimaru's great intention to kill. Naruto, who wasn't there to experience it, not only killed the giant snake which had previously detained him, but fought off another one of Orochimaru's summoned snakes by using the demon fox's chakra. In this instance, he retained control. Sakura and Sasuke got their first look at Naruto's demon fox state, though they didn't truly understand what it meant. After pinning the giant snake, Naruto mocke Sasuke in the same manner as Sasuke had done to him. Orochimaru used the opportunity to grab Naruto and seal the demon fox's chakra, which remained sealed until after the preliminary parts of the Chunin Exam. Naruto was left unconscious for the remainder of the fight, and Team 7 only survived 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, were 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 defeated the entire team almost single-handedly using his clones, though a small distraction from Kabuto also helped.

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 was slightly more than twice the normal amount, so preliminary exams were held to cut the numbers in half with one on one battles. Before the exams began, Sasuke admitted to Naruto that he wanted to fight him. Naruto was eventually paired against Kiba Inuzuka. Kiba and virtually everyone else present believed Naruto stood no chance, and Kiba even mocked Naruto's dream of being Hokage. Naruto, however, took everything Kiba throws at him, despite the clear advantage in Kiba's favor. Kiba gave Naruto one punch, which knocked him over, but surprising everyone, Naruto got up. Kiba managed to throw two smoke bombs and Akamaru attacked Naruto. Naruto appeared to be unconscious, but it turned out Naruto transformed into Akamaru to attack Kiba. Kiba was surprised that Naruto learned the Transformation Technique and the Shadow Clone Technique, which originally was his worst technique. Kiba gave Akamaru a special food pill and took one himself, and his increased strenth and speed completely overwhelms Naruto, but after a while, Naruto got an idea. After Kiba's next attack, which involved smoke bombs, Naruto transformed into Kiba, and everyone is confused on which one was Naruto and which was Akamaru. Naruto tricked Kiba into attacking Akamaru, but was still at a disadvantage. He paralyzed Kiba by farting directly in his face (Kiba was trying to attack from behind). Kiba had hightend senses which were disturbed by Naruto's gas. Then, for the first time, dished out his Uzumaki Naruto Combo. Other notable battles included Hinata's battle against Neji Hyuga. Neji labeled Hinata as a failure and a dropout who couldn't change her fate, which enraged Naruto. After her utter defeat at Neji's hands, Naruto tried to attack him, but was stopped by Rock Lee, who insisted 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 sweared to defeat Neji. Sure enough, he got his chance. Once the preliminaries are over, he was paired against Neji for the first match. The nine remaining candidates were given one month to prepare for the main matches.

Hoping to get a lot of training in during the month-long break, Naruto tried to get Kakashi to help. Kakashi, however, was busy training Sasuke, and left Naruto in the care of Ebisu. Ebisu began training Naruto to walk on water, but the training was cut short with the introduction of Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Sannin, three of the most powerful ninja alive. Ebisu caught Jiraiya peeping on women and tried to stop him. Not happy about the interruption, Jiraiya summoned a toad and had it tongue-whip Ebisu into unconsciousness. Minus one teacher, Naruto insisted that Jiraiya replace Ebisu. Always the insatiable pervert, it's Naruto's Sexy Technique that convinced him to do so. For the remainder of the month, Jiraiya taught Naruto to summon toads and use the demon fox's chakra, which was essential for the former technique. It was during this time that Naruto first summoned Gamabunta, who, after cowing Naruto into submission, agreed to make Naruto his subordinate. However, summoning the toad king landed Naruto in the hospital the day before the main matches begin. Shikamaru Nara came and brought him a fruit basket, but both 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 learned that Gaara contains a demon too, and that their pasts were 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 stopped him from doing so.


Naruto fighting Neji.Once the main matches began, Naruto originally appeared outmatched once again against the genius Neji. Despite this, Naruto continually questioned Neji's outlook on life, even though every attack he tried was repelled. Neji eventually decided to finish the match by closing off Naruto's chakra points, but Naruto got up from this attack, too. Impressed, Neji told Naruto about his painful past and the cursed seal on his forehead. Neji insisted 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. Naruto used his shadow clones throughout the match, but when he finally tricked Neji, Neji uses his Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms. Now all hope for Naruto seemed to have vanished completely, and even Hinata began crying, but Naruto remembered about Jiraiya's statement that Naruto has two kinds of chakra. Not convinced by Neji's reasoning, Naruto called upon the demon fox's chakra, surprising everyone even more, and instantly evened the odds. In the end, Naruto defeated Neji with the use of a shadow clone, which surprised everyone in the arena even more, as they thought Naruto was a terrible ninja who only beat Kiba through dumb luck. This convinced Neji that fate truly can be changed.

Tsunade Arc
After the attack on Konoha, Jiraiya was asked to become the Fifth Hokage by Konoha's elders. He declined the offer, however, and instead decided to locate Tsunade, also one of the Legendary Sannin, and have her become the Fifth. The elders offered to have an ANBU squad accompany him, but he refused. Aside from the fact that traveling with an ANBU squad would only make Tsunade harder to find, he already had someone he wanted to take: Naruto. Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki, two members of Akatsuki, were searching for Naruto, so Jiraiya was taking Naruto to protect him. Naruto initially didn't want to go, but Jiraiya offered to teach him a powerful technique, which instantly sold Naruto on the idea. Despite Jiraiya taking him along for the trip, Itachi and Kisame eventually found them. Using a hypnotized woman to draw Jiraiya away, the two attempted to kidnap Naruto. The arrival of Sasuke slowed them slightly, though only because Itachi was unwilling to finish Sasuke off. Regardless, the short delay was enough time for Jiraiya to arrive and force the two Akatsuki to retreat.

With the threat from Akatsuki gone, Jiraiya began teaching Naruto the Rasengan, an advanced A-rank technique, developed by the Fourth Hokage, that only required one hand and no hand seals to use; it's chakra manipulation in its purest form. Naruto was mostly left to learn the technique by himself, since he needed to learn the trick to doing it by himself. Jiraiya never told Naruto this, leaving Naruto disappointed. While they were searching for Tsunade, Tsunade was approached by Orochimaru, who wanted her to heal his sealed arms. In exchange, he offered to resurrect her dead brother and lover, and allowed her a week to consider the offer. When Jiraiya and Naruto finally found Tsunade, Naruto couldn't believe that she was going to be the Fifth Hokage. Her disrespectful remarks to both the position and the recently deceased Third didn't help matters, and he challenged her to a fight. Against one of the Sannin, Naruto had no chance, and Tsunade held him off with a single finger. Though he had yet to perfect it, he attempted to use the rasengan on her. She dodges this, too, and then berated Jiraiya for teaching Naruto a technique he couldn't possibly master. Naruto insisted that he could, and bet that he could learn it in three days. Naruto's personality reminded Tsunade of her deceased loved ones, so she took the bet, giving Naruto a week. If Naruto won, 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 hadn't mastered the technique, but noted that he had an alternate means of completing it should it be necessary. Their bet was interrupted by the arrival of Orochimaru and Kabuto, whom Tsunade betrayed. Naruto was initially left out of the fight, but came to Tsunade's aid after Kabuto tried to kill her. It was during their fight that Naruto finally completed the rasengan, using a shadow clone to do what he could not do by himself. Kabuto was severely injured by the technique, but injured Naruto just as badly. Naruto was saved by Tsunade, who got over her hemophobia, or fear of blood, in order to save him. He regained consciousness just long enough to proclaim he won their bet. In turn, she gave him her necklace and accepted that he would become Hokage someday.

Sasuke Retreival Arc
In the anime, a short filler arc involving a mission to the Land of Tea preceded 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 recognized Sakura's feelings for Sasuke. Though still jealous, he was mature enough not to get in the way. Meanwhile, Sasuke brooded over the substantial progress Naruto has made in comparison to his own. Feeling inferior, Sasuke challenged 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 stepped in to prevent them from injuring Sakura, who attempted to intervene. Kakashi deflected their attacks into adjacent water towers. At first, it appeared as if Sasuke did more damage, because Naruto's tower only had a small hole in the front while Sasuke's was greatly damaged. Later it was revealed Naruto's attack also blew a large hole out the back of the tower, demonstrating that Naruto's strength was greatly superior. Though Kakashi tried to convince Sasuke to give up his quest for revenge, his defeat at the hands of the Sound Four led him to defect to Orochimaru.

Naruto's friends hold off the Sound Four so Naruto could reach Sasuke. Once he did, 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 claimed that he didn't need any friends, as that did nothing to make him more powerful, since killing Itachi was his only goal. Naruto refused to accept Sasuke's decision, as by his own admission Sasuke was like a brother to him and he couldn't bear to lose him to the twisted path of self-destruction he had chosen. This drove Naruto to draw upon the demon fox's chakra to such a degree that he nearly overcame Sasuke's fully awakened Sharingan. As such, Sasuke finally acknowledged Naruto as an equal. In the end, the two used their most powerful attacks against each other once more, only this time enhancing the attacks with their respective gifts (for Naruto it was the Vermilion Rasengan and Sasuke the Flapping Chidori). They do not go through with their attacks, however. Naruto purposefully missed, instead scratching Sasuke's headband, and Sasuke didn't kill Naruto because he didn't want to become like Itachi (though this mentality seemingly changed in Part II as he now has no reservations about killing Naruto).

Rescue Gaara Arc
When Part II began, Naruto reestablished himself in Konoha, after meeting some of his old friends again. Kakashi then took the remaining members of Team 7 for a second bell test, which even with their now excellent team work, the two couldn't take the bells from Kakashi by force. It was Naruto who thought of using Kakashi's obsession with the Icha Icha series of books to their advantage. Naruto and Sakura rushed Kakashi at once, with Naruto yelling spoilers for the new book, causing Kakashi to close his eyes, thus losing the advantage of the Sharingan, and his ears so he couldn't hear what they were saying, allowing the two to retrieve the bells. Afterward, Tsunade gave them a mission, a request from Sunagakure, to help rescue their captured Kazekage.

It was when Team 7 was on the way to Sunagakure that Naruto finally revealed to Sakura and Temari that the demon fox was sealed inside him. Sakura sympathized with him, as did Temari, who was very grateful to Naruto for the change in her little brother, Gaara. With this revelation, Sakura began to understand why the village hated him and why he was so alone growing up. Continuing on their mission with the help of Team Guy Naruto and his team got as far as to find Gaara, already dead, the Shukaku extracted from him by the Akatsuki, and the only members there, Deidara, and Sasori. In a rage, Naruto went after Deidara alone, after the latter used one of his clay creations to grab Gaara's body as bait to capture Naruto as well, with Kakashi deciding to back him up. While they chased him, Kakashi used his Mangekyo Sharingan to cripple Deidara, allowing Naruto and a few clones to grab and attack him, while another grabed his clay bird to retrieve Gaara's body, whom Naruto hoped survived. Seeing Gaara's body and releasing that the Deidara he was attacking was just a Clay Clone, Naruto became enraged. Kakashi watched as Naruto began to grow two chakra tails of the demon fox, to which he quickly suppressed before it was complete, using a seal Jiraiya gave him just before the mission. When Deidara escaped and Chiyo revived Gaara at the cost of her life, Team 7 and Team Guy returned to Konoha, with new information about Orochimaru's location.

Sai and Sasuke Arc
When the teams returned to Konoha, Naruto was reunited with Shino, whom Naruto couldn't recognize because of his hood, Kiba, who calls Naruto a "giant" because he was now taller than him, and Hinata, was so overcome with emotions by simply seeing Naruto, she couldn't bring herself to see him herself, instead looking up to see Naruto talking to her and faints. Later Naruto met up with Shikamaru and Choji before the three were "attacked" by Ink Lions, created by Sai, the repleacement of Sasuke in Team 7. Team 7 was then given a new leader, the ANBU ninja, Yamato, for their next mission, to use Sasori's information to get info on Orochimaru's plans, and more importantly, get Sasuke back. On the way, Sai's personality, and his general lack of respect for the traitorous Sasuke caused conflicts with his other teammates.

The meeting with Kabuto didn't however go as planned as Orochimaru himself showed up before they could get the information from Kabuto. Yamato called his team for support, but Orochimaru brought up the touchy situtaion of Sasuke. Naruto, enraged that Orochimaru was referring to Sasuke like he belonged to him, demanded Sasuke to be returned to them, and quickly slipped from one to three-tails transformation. When it was clear Orochimaru couldn't be beaten that easily, his fury increased and Naruto slips into the grasp of the demon fox, and he grew four chakra tails, allowing the demon fox to take over his body, turning him into a miniature demon fox.

In battle, four-tailed Naruto was almost unbeatable. No matter what Orochimaru attacked him with, Naruto either shrugged it off, or attacked with greater force. Finally, Naruto began to charge a concentrated chakra ball and fired it that seemingly defeated Orochimaru. However Orochimaru simply used his snake like body to expand his neck and stabbing Naruto in the chest with his Kusanagi Sword, which sent Naruto back towards the bridge, but didn't go through his chakra shield. Kabuto mentioned to Sakura that Naruto was like this because of his desire to save Sasuke, and to fulfill his promise to Sakura to bring him home, to the point where he would kill Orochimaru and not even be conscious. In tears, Sakura ran to try to talk sense into Naruto, saying she would bring Sasuke back for both of them, but the four-tailed Naruto instead attacked her with one of his tails, injuring her left arm and thus leaving an opening for Yamato's wood trap. Yamato then forcibly suppressed the demon fox's chakra so Naruto turned back to normal, but covered in his own blood. As Sakura healed him, Sakura revealed to Yamato that she wanted to be more helpful to Naruto and be there for him and beat the Akatsuki, who was commenting that Sakura had stronger feelings for Naruto than she'll admit, but he was interrupted by Naruto regaining consciousness.

When the remainder of the team broke into Orochimaru's hideout they first found Sai who revealed to them his mission from Danzo, to side with Orochimaru in destroying Konoha, and to then betray him in the end. They brought Sai out of the base where he questioned Naruto on why he would risk his life to save someone who didn't care about him anymore, and Naruto explained that he is his friend, the first person to truly acknowledge his existence. Just then, Kabuto appeared but was quickly subdued by Sai. With Kabuto temporarily dealt with, they once again split up to find Sasuke, Sakura going with Yamato, and Sai going with Naruto. Together, Sai saw his brother in Naruto and he finally smiled from the heart, only to be interrupted by the deviant, Orochimaru. Naruto told Sai he would deal with Orochimaru while he goes after Sasuke. When Sakura and Yamato arrived to support Naruto, Orochimaru simply told them he would rather go after Sai now and disappeared. Yamato showed Naruto and Sakura Sai's Bingo Book, with Sasuke's profile. Naruto initally refused to believe Sai would try to kill Sasuke, but remembered what he told them when they first met; a smile can fool anyone, even if its fake.

As they searched the compound, they heard a loud explosion and follow it leading them to Sai and Sasuke. Sasuke looked down at his former teammates with very little concern, as Sai explained his new intentions to help them bring Sasuke back. When Sasuke explained that bonds had made him weak, made him lose sight of his goal, which was to kill Itachi, Naruto questioned why Sasuke didn't kill him at the Valley of the End in their last fight. Sasuke explained that he spared Naruto only on a whim, and it was on a whim that he was going to end Naruto at that moment. Sasuke then asked why someone who wished to become Hokage would risk so much just to save one person. Naruto explained that if he couldn't even save one person, he shouldn't be Hokage. At that moment, Sai came to block the blade from cutting into Naruto and a short fight began with Sasuke having the clear upper hand. After getting hit with Sasuke's Chidori Current, Naruto's consciousness was sent to the sewer where he had another talk with the demon fox. This moment gave a sign of the seal weakening, as when first revealed the demon fox could barely get its claws through the gate [1], to now the demon fox could pull itself, even if its just its chakra a great deal out of its cage[2]. Naruto told the demon fox that he didn't want to see it's face anymore, and that he didn't want to use the it's chakra. The demon fox mocked Naruto[3] and told him that Naruto had always been running to it's aid when ever he was in a fight, but Naruto tells the demon fox that he didn't need it anymore, just as Sasuke appeared inside Naruto's mind. Sasuke simply said he could "see" the demon fox.

It was also shown that Sasuke's defection still affects Naruto and Sakura, and when the whole of Team 7 (minus Kakashi) finally met after 2½ years, Sasuke greeted them, as he did when they became a team, with cold indifference, and said he doesn't care if he becomes Orochimaru's vessel as long as Itachi would die. He even attempted to kill Sakura and Naruto. Later, after Sasuke left with Orochimaru and Kabuto, Naruto and Sakura were clearly upset that he was no longer the Sasuke they knew.

Hidan and Kakuzu Arc
After successfully mastering his wind-chakra, Kakashi revealed to Naruto the true goal of Naruto training; to complete the Rasengan by combining it with element chakra. While attempting to complete it, Naruto was told about Asuma falling in battle against members of Akatsuki. Wanting to help avenge Asuma, but still needing to complete his jutsu, Naruto was given the deadline by Tsunade to finish the training, or he would be unable to aid Team 10 and Kakashi deal with the two Akatsuki members Hidan and Kakuzu.

Naruto and Yamato arrived to help Choji, Ino, and Kakashi battle Kakuzu, who so far had been revealed to be more than a match for the team. Naruto challanged Kakuzu himself and revealed his new jutsu, the Wind Release: Rasengan, and its special ability, the Wind Release: Rasenshuriken. After one failed attempt, Naruto managed to get behind Kakuzu, trapping him in the incredable vortex of wind, tearing Kakuzu apart.THe attack took out two of his three remaining hearts, Kakashi then eliminates the last heart. When Shikamaru arrived to tell them Hidan was delt with, they returned to Konoha. Upon their return, Naruto needed to be hospitalized due to injuries to the arm he used the Rasenshuriken in. Tsunade told Kakashi that the Rasenshuriken caused cellular damage to cells in his arms which could render him unable to use chakra, and has since forbidden the use of the technique.

Hunt for Uchiha arc
Team Yamato would later be called into Tsunade's office where Jiraiya informed that Sasuke had killed Orochimaru. With joy, Naruto expected Sasuke to return to Konoha on his own, but Tsunade and Jiraiya told him that that's not the case. Naruto then asked Tsunade to form a team to hunt down Itachi for a single purpose; Sasuke was after Itachi, if Konoha captured Itachi, Sasuke would have no choice but return home. Tsunade assigned Team Yamato, Kakashi, and the members of Team 8; Hinata, Shino, and Kiba to hunt down Itachi.

While searching, Naruto, Yamato, and Hinata were found by Kabuto. Kabuto told them how without Orochimaru, he was left without a leader and had since made a resolve to make himself stronger. But to achieve this, Kabuto implanted Orochimaru's remains into his own body. Kabuto left the group vowing he would return to kill Naruto once he took care of Orchimaru's killer. After this, the 8-man squad heard and followed a large explosion and went to investigate. Kiba informed them that Sasuke was there at that explosion and he could follow his scent. Unfortunantly, Karin sensed them coming and attempted to lead them off the trail by using Sasuke's old clothes and scatter them in different directions. Naruto used his Shadow Clone Technique to follow the scents, only to find Itachi. Naruto attacked Itachi, who only wanted to talk. Itachi asked Naruto why he cared so much about Sasuke to which Naruto explained that Sasuke was like a brother to him and he would be a much better brother to him than he (Itachi) could ever be. To this response, Itachi gave a rare smile (possibly because of what he had already sacrificed to protect Sasuke). Naruto again tried to attack him but was quickly caught in his Genjutsu. Once again regrouping with the squad, one of Naruto's shadow clones was destroyed when Sasuke plowed through it, once again leading them to Sasuke's trail. While still following Sasuke the squad ran into Tobi, who taunted them playfully until Naruto attempted to attack him with a Rasengan. Instead, Naruto phased straight through Tobi. He was then apart of the battle group as they tried several different formations to take down Tobi, but all failed, leaving Shino to use his clans secret techniques to handle him. Tobi retreated when he heard of Itachi's death. Naruto's team rushed to the battlefield, to find Sasuke's scent mixed with the scent of the Akatsuki, and none of them present.

It was later revealed by Itachi that he had transfered some of his power to Naruto before he died. It was suspected he did this because he anticipated Sasuke's attack on Konoha. To what extent these powers have been granted is unknown.

Sage Arts Training
After he assisted Shikamaru in deciphering Jiraiya's code, Naruto was dead set on destroying Pain. Fukasaku offered to train Naruto the art of Senjutsu, seeing as Naruto stood no chance of killing the apparent Akatsuki leader. Naruto readily accepted his offer. Then Naruto and Fukasaku traveled to Myobokuzan through a reverse summon from Gamakichi. Senjutsu is a way to make a ninja's chakra mixed together with nature, or the ground, atmosphere, and all the things that are related to nature. Fukasaku demonstrated it to Naruto by lifting a giant statue, and Naruto had a hard time understanding about Senjutsu. Eventually, he began to sense the Natural energy around him through the use of toad oil. He was eventually able to lift a giant frog statue. Even Fukasaku thought that Naruto was learning at a faster rate than Jiraiya. After he mastered using the toad oil, Fukasuku told Naruto that he had to master Senjutsu without the oil. But before they began, he handed Naruto Jiraiya's first book "The Legend of the Gutsy Ninja." This was the book that gave Naruto his name.

Soon after, Fukasaku tried to make Naruto stand still while balancing on a spike. After achieving balance, Naruto was able to enter Hermit Mode. Fukasaku was amazed to see that Naruto only had sage eyes and no toad mutations while in Hermit Mode. At night, Naruto began training in secret to perfect a secret jutsu. After that, Naruto was told that he could not use Hermit Mode in battle because he would need to stop moving in battle in order to do so, leaving him as an open target in the process. Fukasaku then told Naruto that they needed to "merge" together in order to use Hermit Mode in battle. Fukasaku then explained to Naruto that while Naruto is fighting, he would be sitting on Naruto's shoulder taking in Natural energy. Naruto and Fukasaku tried to merge together, but couldn't because the demon fox rejected Fukasaku. Knowing he had no other option, Naruto insisted that he would perform Hermit Mode activation while moving, to which Fukusaku protested. This was short-lived, however, as Naruto was later seen attempting this very feat. Naruto kept on attempting to run while gathering Natural energy, but couldn't maintain it. Fukasaku then said that to do it, you'd have to look both left and right at the same time. Naruto recalled Kakashi saying something similar in regard to mixing Rasengan with wind chakra.

Naruto and Fukasaku were later told by another toad that the messenger toad's name, Kousuke, had gone missing from the tubes, and also heard from Shima, who was near Konoha, that something was happening. Naruto, Shima, and Fukasaku began planning to summon something big, something that would apparently require all three of them to work together to summon.

Invasion of Pain Arc
After Pain successfully used Shinra Tensei to devastate the entire village of Konoha, in the middle of it all, Naruto appeared alongside Gamaken, Gamahiro, Gamabunta, and Gamakichi on top of Gamabunta's head, with Naruto on top of Gamakichi and with Fukasaku on his side. Naruto now sported a red and black flamed coat, similar to his father's, and a scroll on his back, similar to Jiraiya's.

When he appeared he wondered if he was really in Konoha, and when Shima came to them, both Naruto and Fukasaku asked if she had summoned them to the right place. She confirmed that she actually did, something Naruto comfirmed by spotting the Hokage Monument.

There he was greeted by Pain's Deva Path who thanked him, for coming to him all by himself, something that enraged Naruto. When Tsunade challenged Pain again, the repaired Asura Path rushed to attack her, but Naruto demonstrated tremendous speed by intercepting him and smashing him with a Rasengan. Naruto then proceeded to call out to Pain, to finish things. He then noticed he could sense everyone's chakra in Konoha and he asked Tsunade if Kakashi was away. As she didn't responsed, he just stated that he understood. He then had Gamakichi take Tsunade to Sakura.

As the battle begun, Pain's Animal Path summoned the rhino and it charged towards Naruto, but Naruto stopped it bare handed and heaved it up high into the air. He then told the toads to kill the rhino, dog, and yak alongside two clones of himself. He then got into a fist fight with Pain's Preta Path and after Naruto, apparently, misses to connect a punch, Preta Path is killed. Pain's Deva Path gave a shocked look and Fukasaku explained that Naruto doesn't have to land a punch to harm his enemies. Naruto then proceeds to show the fruits of his secret jutsu too, the fully perfected and improved Rasenshuriken.

Pain finally realizes that Naruto is using the same Hermit Mode Jiraiya used and reveals that he too was a student of Jiraiya. Naruto becomes furious that someone who trained under that man would become so violent to the point of rejecting his teachings and even kill his former teacher. Naruto then shocks his opponents by hurling his jutsu. While they initially dodge it, Naruto drastically expands its size to take down Human Path. Unfortunately, it uses up alot of chakra. Realizing he is running out of time for using his Hermit Mode, Naruto works in combination with Gamabunta to take down Animal Path with a Rasenrengan.

As Naruto feared and Pain anticipated, Naruto finally ran out of enough nature chakra to sustain Hermit Mode and reverts to an exhausted normal state. As Deva Path finally goes on the assault, Naruto takes out the summoning scroll on his back and gives it to Fukasaku. He then uses it to summon one of Naruto's shadow clones from Myobokuzan. As it immediately disperses, Naruto returns to Hermit Mode and goes back on the offensive.

Naruto then tries another Rasenshuriken, only for it to be absorbed by a newly revived Preta Path. Remembering that Naraka Path has the power to revive the other bodies, Naruto uses the Rasenrengan as a smokescreen to blind Pain again and takes down Naraka Path with another Rasenrengan. Unfortunately, Deva Path has returned to full strength and can use his power again. Pain then proceeded to subdue Naruto by using Banshō Ten'in to pull him in and having Preta Path to drain Naruto of his chakra. Naruto however focused the Senjutsu chakra from his body into the Preta Path, causing it to turn into stone. When Pain attracts and impaled Fukasaku before he and Shima could complete their Genjutsu, Pain then quickly overpowered Naruto and stabed him to the ground by his hands. Pain at the advantage gave Naruto a chance to ask him whatever he likes. Naruto then asked the reason why Pain did it, and Pain easily answer it gaining sympathy from Naruto. Naruto's response to Pain was the same as Jiraiya, when people learn to understand each other, there would be no violence.


Naruto in his Six-Tailed Transformation.Pain then stabbed more of his chakra blades throughout Naruto's body to keep him from moving, but was attacked by Hinata. At peace, Hinata declared her love for Naruto, which greatly shocked him, and proclaimed she would die to protect him. As Naruto watched, Hinata was hit with Pain's Shinra Tensei, and when she was out of sight, stabbed by one of his chakra blades.

Enraged, Naruto then violently explodes into his four-tailed transformation, and then quickly slips into his six-tailed transformation, complete with the demon fox's skeleton on his back. His ferocious roar at Pain, only results in the latter saying that his pain is still greater.

Surprisingly, the transformed Naruto's first action is to repel the First Hokage's gem from his being and crush it. He then attacks Pain with full force, ultimately overpowering Pain's repulsion power and tries to fire a Six-Tailed Fox Menacing Ball but Pain makes him fire it prematurely. This forces Pain, who at the same time marvels at the demon fox's power, to retreat and perform Chibaku Tensei to condense a large amount of earth into a miniature moon to encase Naruto within it. Unfortunately, for Pain, his victory over Naruto's six-tailed state was short-lived when Naruto suddenly achieved the eight-tailed transformation, and broke out of the barrier of earth that Pain's Chibaku Tensei just created.

As the demon fox fought Pain, Naruto appeared in his consicnoussness and reflected on Pain's plans and how he has no plan for peace of his own. Taking advantage of his pain, the demon fox tempts Naruto to release the seal causing the seal on his stomach to crack and allow the nine-tailed transformation. Giving in, Naruto moves to release the seal and free the demon fox only to be stopped by his father. Minato set the seal so that in the chance that eight tails grew, he would appear in his mind to deal with Naruto and the demon fox. He remarked that while he didn't wish to see the demon fox again, he was proud to see how much his son has grown.

Naruto is shocked by the Fourth appearing in front of him, and asks "How?" when Minato says Naruto's name, wondering how he knew it. Minato responses by saying that he gave Naruto his name, as he is his heir and his son. Naruto is silent for a few moments before he smiles at this. As the demon fox growls at the Fourth, Minato takes Naruto into possibly another part of his mind. He then tells Naruto that he is sorry, if people knew he was his son, there might have been trouble.

Naruto then punches Minato in the stomach while crying, asking why did he seal the demon fox inside his own son, and if he knew the trouble it caused him. He comments he doesn't know if whether he is happy or pissed off at his father. Minato then asks Naruto how old he is and after hearing he is 16, he apologizes once again, saying he has done nothing but cause trouble for Naruto. Naruto responds that it is ok, he is the son of the Fourth so he can deal with it.

Minato then tells Naruto the reason why he sealed half of the demon fox's chakra inside Naruto was that he believed he could use it against the person who had controlled the demon fox to attack Konoha. He warned Naruto that he thinks the person will attack Konoha again, when Naruto says that Konoha has already been destroyed. The Fourth knows this already, along with knowing what happened to Jiraiya. Naruto then asks if Pain was the one who sent the demon fox to attack, with Minato replying no.

It was an Akatsuki member, the one with the mask, Tobi. Pain is being used by this man, when Naruto replied that it isn't true, Pain hates Konoha. Minato then responded that Pain is being used because of that. Naruto gets very confused and wonders why all of this is happening to Konoha. Minato then tells Naruto something similar to what Pain has said, that maybe as long as there is a ninja system, there can be no order or peace, that trying to save your loved ones breeds war, and with love, there will always be hate and that hate will make more creatures like Pain.

Naruto asks what should he do to end the hate, Minato doesn't know the answer and tells Naruto he has to find it for himself. Naruto then yells that if he and Jiraiya couldn't find the answer, how could he. Minato then grabs Naruto by his hair and smiles at him, saying he will find the answer because he believes in him, as parents always believe in their children. The Fourth's chakra starts fading away but before he disappears, he restores the seal one last time and tells Naruto Konoha can be rebuilt, and that he is counting on him. When he disappears, Naruto thanks his father.

Outside of his mind, the Eight-Tails transformation has disappeared, shocking Pain as he looks up and sees Naruto in Sage Mode looking down at him from the large sphere of earth, his determination clear in his eyes and his hesitation gone

Normal Jutsu
All Directions Shuriken Clone Spinning Heel Drop
Combination Transformation
Fire Release: Toad Oil Flame Bullet (With Gamabunta)
Flying Swallow (Anime only)
Flying Tool
Great Ball Rasengan
Harem Technique
Multiple Shadow Clone Technique
One Thousand Years of Death Rasengan
Reverse Summoning Technique Senjutsu
Sexy Technique Shadow Clone
Summoning Technique (Toads)
Typhoon Water Vortex Technique (With Yamato)
Uzumaki Naruto Combo Uzumaki Naruto Two Thousand Combo
Wind Release: Rasengan
Wind Release: Rasenshuriken
Wind Release: Toad Gun‎ (With Gamatatsu)
Double Rasengan
Four Way Clone Rasengan
Naruto Uzumaki Rasencombo
Rasengan of Truth
Shadow Clone Rasengan
Special Attack Rasengan
Hiding in a Toad Technique
Summoning: Food Cart Destroyer Technique (Summons Gamahiro)

Sage mode Jutsu
Frog Katas
Hermit Mode
Hermit Technique: Rasenrengan
Hermit's Art: Great Ball Rasengan
Hermit's Art: Ultimate Wind Rasengan
Barrier: Dome Method Formation
Barrier: Toad Gourd Prison

biju jutsu
One Taisl Jutsu
Demon Fox Rasengan Demon Fox Transformations
Demon Fox Chakra Tornado
Demon Fox Attacking Arm

Three Tails
Chakra Destroying Punch
Three Tails Spinning Demon Rasengan

Four Tails Jutsu
Menacing Demon Fox Chakra Barrier
Four-Tailed Fox Menacing Ball (Post transformation)

Size Tails Jutsu
Six-Tailed Fox Menacing Ball (Post transformation)
Six-Tailed Fox Crushing Impact
Demon Fox Rushing Collision

Summon's Jutsu
Shima and Fukasaku Jutsu
Demonic Illusion: Toad Confrontation Singing
Frog Kata (Fukasaku)
Hermit's Art: Amphibian Technique
Hermit's Art: Frog Call
Hermit's Art: Goemon
Hermit's Art: Wind Release Dust Cloud
Hermit's Art: Flame Wave
Hermit's Art: Amphibian Chakra Wall
Reverse Summoning Technique Senjutsu Summoning Technique
War of Words Binding (Shima)
War of Words Decapitation (Fukasaku)

Gamabunta Jutsu
Fire Release: Toad Oil Flame Bullet (with summoner)
Toad Sword Beheading
Water Release: Bullet Technique
Oil Expanding Wave

Gamakichi
Reverse Summoning
Shrinking Technique
Toad Destroying Punch

Gamaken
Mountain Toad Staff
Pinning Toad Staff
Beheading Toad Shuriken