Naruto Uzumaki

is a shinobi of Konohagakure. He became the jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails on the day of his birth — a fate that caused him to be ostracised by most of Konoha throughout his childhood. After joining Team Kakashi, Naruto worked hard to gain the village's acknowledgement all the while chasing his dream to become Hokage. In the following years, through many hardships and ordeals, he became a capable ninja regarded as a hero both by the villagers, and soon after, the rest of the world. He soon proved to be one of the main factors in winning the Fourth Shinobi World War, leading him to achieve his dream and become the village's.

Background
Naruto is the son of the Fourth Hokage: Minato Namikaze, and the second jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails: Kushina Uzumaki. He was named after the protagonist of Jiraiya's first book, thereby making the Sannin his godfather. Fearing that the stress of giving birth would break the seal containing the Nine-Tails, the Third Hokage arranged Naruto's parents to go to a top-secret location on the outskirts of the village guarded by Anbu, with the midwives Biwako and Taji helping Kushina in delivering her child while Minato would keep the seal in place. Shortly after Naruto was born on the night of October 10th, a masked man, who managed to track down their location, killed the midwives and Anbu, and took the newborn hostage as a means of separating Minato from Kushina, in order to release the Nine-Tails for his own ends.

Minato quickly sprung into action, however, by the time he secured Naruto at a safer location, the masked man had succeeded in releasing the Nine-Tails and used it to devastate Konoha. Minato managed to save Kushina and left Naruto in her care before he went to protect the village. After having severed the masked ninja's control over the tailed beast, Minato realised the only way to stop the Nine-Tails was to seal it within Naruto, believing that his son would someday have need of the fox's power to defeat the masked ninja when he returned. Because the Nine-Tails' chakra was too immense for the seal to hold on such a small child, Minato was forced to sacrifice his soul in order to first weaken the fox by splitting its Yin and Yang chakra amongst himself and his son before succumbing to his wounds alongside Kushina after taking a fatal blow from the fox meant for their son. Suddenly orphaned, Naruto was left to grow up knowing nothing of his parents, receiving only his mother's last name — as Hiruzen believed it was best that nobody knew that he was related to the Fourth Hokage.

Despite Minato's dying wish to see his son heralded as a hero, only the Third Hokage and a small number of the villagers could put their pain of loss aside and honour this request. The majority of Konoha, consumed with bitterness over the lives lost and destruction in the wake of the Nine-Tails' attack, resented Naruto for it — unable to separate the beast from the boy — and with some even seeing him as the fox itself. In the interest of protecting Naruto and in the hope that the younger generations would not emulate this position, Hiruzen passed a decree of secrecy that strictly prohibited the adults from divulging Naruto's status as a jinchūriki. This policy was not entirely effective, as even without knowing why, many of Naruto's peers followed their parent's example and shunned him. The social isolation would cause Naruto to develop a need to be acknowledged through mischief.

On a snowy day while preparing to enrol at the Academy, Naruto first met Hinata Hyūga, who was being degraded by a group of three bullies. Despite not knowing her, Naruto refused to let the bullies insult Hinata and came to her defence, but was outnumbered and easily beaten, with his red scarf trampled over by them. After Hinata genuinely thanked Naruto for his efforts, he let her keep the scarf since it was ruined, unaware that was when the young Hyūga girl's affections for him began.

In the anime, one day, he was confronted by Sakura Haruno, Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and Chōji Akimichi. They accused him of making someone named Yota, who was a stranger to the village, disappear. Seeing them look at him with such distrust like the rest of the village, Naruto grew furious and ran away, so angry that people would like even an outsider over him. He then heard a young boy crying who strangely appeared to control the weather, making it rain with his tears. Naruto then realised this boy must be Yota. Immediately taking a liking to Naruto, the young boy asked him to teach him how to whistle like he saw Naruto do earlier. As Naruto began teaching him, the two soon became close friends. Later, Naruto and Yota began playing along with other the Konoha children that knew about Yota. One day, while playing a game of hiding, Yota insisted to hide with Naruto. When Naruto told him to hide somewhere else, Yota mistakenly thought Naruto didn't like him any more and ran away crying. His crying caused another rain-shower, which alerted the Anbu. As they took Yota captive, Naruto and the others tried to stop the Anbu, but to no success.

Determined to save his first ever friend, Naruto and the others staged a plan with Naruto acting as a diversion. Despite finding Yota, the Anbu easily foiled their plan. Naruto quickly joined his friends, refusing to let Yota be kept prisoner. Seeing how much Naruto cared for him and then got struck down by the Anbu, Yota summoned bolts of lightning to knock the Anbu out. Greatly weakened by the act, Naruto carried Yota out of the village with the others, determined to bring him to freedom. Upon reaching a river, unable to walk over it yet, they chose to swim. Their attempts proved futile and nearly drowned, only to be saved by Yota. Having overtaxed himself, Yota felt his life fading. Happy to have had friends, Yota didn't want them to suffer with this sad memory and erased all knowledge of him from their minds.

Naruto eventually became the student of Iruka Umino and met his class mate Sasuke Uchiha when the two were paired to spar against each other. Though excited at the chance to achieve popularity by beating Sasuke, Naruto was easily beaten. By looking at Sasuke's eyes, Naruto realised that they were filled with hatred, even though it wasn't directed at him. When Iruka told them to make the reconciliation seal, they both refused. Since then, Naruto came to see Sasuke as a rival and intended to beat him. When he found out that Sasuke was also an orphan, he was secretly happy for not being the only one alone and wanted to talk to him, but couldn't because of his jealousy toward Sasuke's skills and reputation. Still, Naruto wished that someday, Sasuke would acknowledge him as an equal. Despite this, when Naruto and Sasuke traded glance when they were kids, they immediately looked away in annoyance but secretly smiled shortly afterwards, meaning Sasuke actually considered Naruto a friend somewhere deep down.

In the anime, when Naruto pulled a prank on a group of boys for not being invited to their "test of courage", he refused to return to the Academy after being glared at by Iruka with the same resentful stare everyone else gives him. Later, Naruto was tricked by the boys' leader, Hibachi, to get himself killed by enemy ninja in the hills. Learning of this, Iruka ended up saving Naruto from a trio of Takigakure kunoichi before Kakashi Hatake dispatched their pursuers. Soon after, Naruto began attending class again at the time that Iruka, who now acted as a surrogate brother to keep the boy in line, gave a lecture on the Will of Fire that inspired Naruto to become the next Hokage someday to achieve the acknowledgement he is striving for. Apart from Hiruzen and Iruka, Naruto also found a surrogate family with the owner of Ramen Ichiraku, Teuchi and his daughter Ayame to some extent.

Personality
Naruto is a boisterous, exuberant, and unorthodox individual. He would end sentences with when excited or frustrated. He has a number of childish traits, such as being a very picky eater (he almost exclusively eats ramen), being afraid of ghosts, and carries a chubby green-frog wallet which he calls "Gama-chan". Naruto is heedless to formality or social standings and has a habit of giving people he meets nicknames or addressing them without appropriate honourifics, as shown when he called the Second Hokage a name he thought of off the top of his head instead of simply. He can also be quite perverted, creating different forms of his Sexy Technique and once tried to sneak a peek in the women's bath when the opportunity presented itself.

Despite these quirks and the criticism that follows them, Naruto is said to have a personality that brings people to him, inspiring friendship, loyalty and love from most of the people he meets through acts of genuine kindness and sincerity that could change a person's entire world view. For example, during the Fourth Shinobi World War, Naruto's kindness inspired loyalty from the tailed beasts, and when linked to the entire Shinobi Alliance through telepathy, he reignited the demoralised armies' fighting spirit, choosing to continue fighting despite the losses he could receive, as shinobi were meant to endure through hardships. On several occasions, the Second Hokage has stated in many ways Naruto is very similar to the First Hokage.

Years of isolation and scorn from the villagers made Naruto thirst greatly for acknowledgement and love. He would pull pranks around the village just to get a response from anyone and his desire to be Hokage was in hopes of becoming someone that mattered. Because no one in the village cared for him apart from Iruka (and unknowingly Hinata), Naruto was completely unresponsive to the villagers yelling at him from his pranks, only showing response when Iruka showed up. Naruto's time at the Falls of Truth revealed that a part of him hated the villagers for treating him as a pariah, only to turn to him after he saved them during Pain's assault on Konoha. This hatred allowed the Nine-Tails to manipulate Naruto in his rage, causing him to go on a rampage several times until Naruto confronted the problem and learned to let it go. As he grew in his ninja career, his goal to be Hokage went from a desire for acknowledgement to a desire to help and protect the people close to him, which Tobi attributed to the Will of Fire. Naruto developed his nindō of never going back on his word, putting himself through any lengths required to keeping his promise. This was especially shown in Naruto's promise to Sakura to bring Sasuke back after his defection from Konoha, despite the various hardships he was facing toward fulfilling his promise.

According to Kakashi, Naruto is a kinesthetic learner, as he is relatively naive, simple, and slow to understand principles or situations, often requiring an oversimplified analogy in order to grasp what is being explained to him, much to his teachers' annoyance. Naruto is aware of his own ineptitude, and admits that he puts up a strong front so people around him won't know of his embarrassment and frustration about it, despite of all his accomplishments. Naruto responds best to competition, using it as an additional drive in order to learn new techniques, though he doesn't hesitate to ask for help if he needs it. Despite his naivety, Naruto can be quite observant, picking up on things others miss and retaining information casually gathered through conversation. In battle, Naruto has shown to be a quick thinker, making up strategies on the fly or inventive use of his techniques to catch his opponents off guard. While he can be calm and collected most of the times during a fight, Naruto can also get frustrated when he is unable to defeat his opponent, and can forget some concepts or weaknesses that he himself noted beforehand.

The death of his master Jiraiya caused a large world shift for Naruto. Grieving for Jiraiya, Naruto swore vengeance on Pain and left the village to learn senjutsu. While training, Naruto read a copy of The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi, which taught him that he was named after a hero from the book. Although further enraged by Pain's assault on Konoha, Naruto soon spoke with his father, who explained to him the cycle of hatred of the shinobi world. After finally listening to Nagato's story and the results of the cycle of hatred, Naruto vowed to break the cycle and bring real peace to the world. Despite this desire bringing him in direct opposition to Sasuke and the rest of Akatsuki, Naruto continued down this path, resolving to end both the Fourth Shinobi World War and the cycle of hatred.

After realising he is in love with Hinata, Naruto became not only protective of her, but also shy and flustered in her presence to the point where he accidentally told her how he felt. When Hinata "rejected" him so she could be with Toneri Ōtsutsuki, Naruto fell into a great depression and came close to giving up on everything, until Sakura helped him realise how deep and unwavering Hinata's feelings for him truly were, and that she only pretended to reject him to have a better chance of saving Hanabi and stopping Toneri. This made Naruto more determined than ever to save the Hyūga sisters, stop Toneri, and make his desire to be with Hinata for the rest of his life a reality. After several months of dating, Naruto and Hinata got married and started a family together with a son and daughter.

In adulthood, Naruto has become much calmer and wiser in his approach, but still retains some of his childlike excitement. After becoming Hokage, Naruto has grown more serious and strict with his duties, taking up huge responsibilities and becoming overwhelmed. This has lead him to create shadow clones to tend to his family, which has strained his relationship with his son Boruto, who would occasionally pull pranks to seek his attention. Nevertheless, Naruto loves and deeply cares about his family, as he is more than willing to protect them in times of danger, and tries to make time for them in actual person.

Appearance
As stated by Jiraiya, Naruto bears a striking resemblance to his father, having Minato's blue eyes and blond, spiky hair. From his mother, Naruto inherited the shape of both her eyes and face. During the Fourth Shinobi World War, Dan Katō initially mistook him for Nawaki due to their stark resemblance as well. Naruto's most prominent physical characteristics, however, are the three whisker markings on his cheeks. His most regularly mentioned trait before the second half of the series (which easily provoked him) was his short stature for his age. Over time, Naruto continued to grow as after the time skip, he was taller than his team-mate, Sakura. Two years after the Fourth Shinobi World War and by the time he became Hokage, Naruto became one of the tallest of his generation.

Two years after the Fourth Shinobi World War, Naruto grew taller again with his hair cropped short and moved the metal portion of his forehead protector to a simple black elastic headband. He wears a black uniform-style jacket with an orange zipper that features several buttons on the waist and sleeves, allowing him to fold up the left sleeve and rear coattails, giving him easy access to the pouches on the back of his belt. He wears a red armband with an Uzumaki crest on his left arm. While off-duty, Naruto wears an orange hooded sweatshirt and black and orange shorts with sandals. He initially wore a teal and light blue striped scarf that was knitted by his mother, but later took it off when he found out Hinata was knitting a long red scarf for him. When he and Hinata married, Naruto was wearing a traditional black wedding kimono.

After becoming Hokage, Naruto stops wearing a forehead protector altogether. He now wears an orange sweatshirt with black stripes, along with black pants and sandals. Along with the traditional Hokage headpiece, he also dons a white cape decorated with red flame-like motifs on the edges, with the kanji for written vertically down the back, and held together by a red rope, similar to the one worn by his father.

Abilities
Although starting off clumsy and untalented as the lowest graduate of his class in the Academy, Naruto persevered and improved rapidly as a late bloomer. He defeated strong shinobi such as Neji Hyūga and Gaara and became acknowledged by the Sannin for his potential in Part I. Under Jiraiya's tutelage for two-and-a-half years, Naruto grew strong enough to fight the members of Akatsuki; Konoha praised him as a hero of Hokage-material after he defeated Pain. During the Fourth Shinobi World War, he fought and overcame multiple Kage-level and above opponents, leading others to believe that Naruto had surpassed the previous Hokage. Naruto's abilities continued to improve in the following years, ultimately becoming the Seventh Hokage.

Chakra and Physical Prowess
Naruto has massive amounts of potent chakra, estimated as at least four times greater than Kakashi's. Its quality has the same unique form as his mother and was described by Karin as "bright and warm". Initially, Naruto's poor chakra control caused him to waste extra chakra, which was offset by his natural reserves. His control improved greatly over time, learning to transfer his chakra to others by moulding it to match their unique signatures. He can also perform one-handed hand seals, and focus chakra into his hands for enhanced strength. Naruto later received chakra from the other tailed beasts and Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki.

As an Uzumaki and a reincarnation of Asura Ōtsutsuki, Naruto possesses a powerful life-force and physical energy. This gives him an extreme longevity, stamina, and vitality, allowing him to survive the extraction of a tailed beast, though he was still left near death. Naruto also has great healing abilities, heightened further after receiving a prosthetic forearm made from Hashirama's cells.

While a short-range fighter by nature, Naruto's taijutsu was not quite skilful or organised in Part I, using only unpredictable attacks to throw combat specialists like Kiba Inuzuka and Neji off-guard. He often utilised shadow clones or Kurama's chakra to engage or overwhelm his enemies in combat; with the former, he has created techniques such as the Naruto Uzumaki Combo and its stronger versions. Although these tactics resume in Part II (along with learning senjutsu), Naruto becomes more capable in taijutsu on his own due to Jiraiya's training, being able to contend with other skilled users. He has grown strong enough to shatter stone, and fast enough to rescue an ally from nearby danger. By adulthood, Naruto's improved taijutsu allows him to defeat dozens of opponents without using shadow clones or enhancements.

Jinchūriki Transformations
Naruto is the jinchūriki of Kurama's Yang half, increasing his already massive chakra reserves to at least a hundred times greater than Kakashi's. Due to his Uzumaki lineage and being Kurama's jinchūriki his entire life, Naruto's chakra was more effectively mixed with the fox's. Because of this, Naruto can quickly perform several chakra-taxing techniques without feeling fatigued. When using Kurama's chakra, Naruto gains enhanced speed, strength and healing. At first, he could only access Kurama's power while enraged or his life was in danger, but after training, he learned how to consciously request the fox for chakra.

In Version 1 transformations, Naruto had only the briefest of control of his own actions. If he fell deeper into a rage, Naruto could slip into Version 2, losing himself to Kurama's negative influence and going berserk, requiring outside help to suppress the fox's chakra. Because of these drawbacks, Naruto wouldn't make use of Kurama's chakra until he was given the means of controlling the chakra completely. In the anime, Miina helped Naruto gain control of himself in this state.

After his defeat of Pain, Naruto realised he could no longer avoid using Kurama's power and sought Killer B, the jinchūriki of Gyūki, to learn how to control it. With his mother and B's help, Naruto separated and took most of Kurama's chakra, giving him access to Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, which massively increases his speed, strength, and defences. As defeating Kurama was not the same as cooperating with it, Naruto at the time couldn't use the fox's full power and had to exercise extreme caution when using Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, as it could cost him his life.

Eventually realising its own respect for Naruto after all he had endured in his life and the type of person he has become, Kurama decides to accept his friendship. With this new unity, Kurama freely gives Naruto its chakra and access to Tailed Beast Mode, which was yet another increase in speed, strength, durability, and the ability to create Tailed Beast Balls. Unlike other Tailed Beast Modes, Naruto's form is transparent, allowing others to enter the chakra shroud and gain some of Naruto's power while inside of it. He can still access his previous forms, as shown when he entered Version 1 to deflect Amaterasu. He can also use Kurama's chakra to revatilise the life forces of others. Should the need arise, Kurama can limit how much chakra it transfers for Naruto's use alone, even if it was instead absorbed. Both halves of Kurama were sealed into Naruto after the Fourth Shinobi World War, restoring the fox into one being with its full power.

Two years later, Naruto became capable of flight and focusing his chakra cloak's power into a single part of his body. With this, he could remove Toneri's Puppet-Cursing Sphere from Hinata's body, overpower Toneri's Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion (which cut the moon in half), and knock the latter in his Tenseigan Chakra Mode a considerable distance away with a single punch. Naruto has even demonstrated the ability to manifest both his Tailed Beast Mode and Kurama's physical body outside of his own body, allowing the two to fight independently.

Naruto has also received chakra from the other eight tailed beasts during the war. This has allowed him to communicate with them and utilise their unique skills to produce various powerful techniques, despite not truly being sealed within him. Naruto can access Shukaku's Magnet Release, along with its natural curse seal formula and the ability to manifest and control sand, Matatabi's blue Fire Release, Isobu's Water Release, Son Gokū's Lava Release, Kokuō's Boil Release, Saiken's caustic capabilities, and Gyūki's ink creation. With the aid of shadow clones, Naruto can use all of these abilities at once. In this regard, he was considered a pseudo-Ten-Tails' jinchūriki by Shikamaru.

Ninjutsu
Initially, Naruto constantly failed to utilise basic techniques like clones or transformations, except his own invention, the Sexy Technique. Over time, he became able to master more complex techniques, surpassing Kakashi in ninjutsu prowess. Naruto is capable in shurikenjutsu, using shadow clones to barrage an enemy or storing weapons in scrolls. He displays some skill in kenjutsu as an adult, and knows to how counter genjutsu, but is not shown using it.

Naruto learned how to summon toads of Mount Myōboku from Jiraiya in Part I, having them serve as allies in battle or crush enemies from above. He initially could summon only tadpoles or small toads and relied on Kurama's chakra for larger summons like Gamabunta, though he later becomes capable of summoning the latter on his own.

Shadow Clone Technique
Naruto's first trademark technique is the Shadow Clone Technique, which he is noted to have attained a mastery of superior to other users. A ninja with unusually high chakra reserves, Naruto can create thousands of shadow clones and retain a decent amount of chakra in each one with relative ease. This enables him to outnumber or deceive his enemies in combat, as well as carry out multiple tasks at once. He becomes more tactical with shadow clones during Part II, using them to manoeuvre him in mid-air, transform into weapons, scout an area, or test an opponent's abilities. Most notably during his wind training, Naruto learns that he, the original user, receives all knowledge and experiences that shadow clones gain once they disperse, allowing him to complete years' worth of training in just days.

Rasengan
Naruto's second trademark technique is the Rasengan, a one-handed technique created by his father. Due to his poor chakra control, Naruto often uses a shadow clone to form the spherical shape while he provides the chakra. Over time, Naruto's improved skill allows him to produce larger versions of the Rasengan, perform it faster, and even have his shadow clones make their own Rasengan. During the Fourth Shinobi World War, he became able to form a Rasengan and its variants without any shadow clones or transformations. Naruto has also shown the ability to release the Rasengan as an energy wave, or as a projectile in the anime.

Using senjutsu or Kurama's chakra, Naruto can create more powerful and elaborate variations of the Rasengan. Also towards the latter, since the Rasengan was conceptually based on the Tailed Beast Ball, Naruto takes it further by creating the Super Mini-Tailed Beast Ball.

Nature Transformation
Naruto's natural affinity is Wind Release, which he learned from Asuma Sarutobi to flow into his weapons to increase their offensive might. Using shadow clones, he was able to complete his father's difficult task of adding his elemental nature to the Rasengan. One shadow clone helps form the Rasengan, while the other provides the wind chakra, producing the Wind Release: Rasengan and the Wind Release: Rasenshuriken. The latter, when used as a melee attack, inflicts cellular damage on both the enemy and Naruto; he later learns to throw the Rasenshuriken to avoid injuring himself. Two years after the Fourth World Shinobi War, he became skilled enough to form a Rasenshuriken without any shadow clones and even guide it. Using Sage Mode or Kurama's chakra, Naruto can create different-sized variations, or even two Rasenshuriken simultaneously.

Via Six Paths Senjutsu, Naruto can utilise all five nature transformations, as well as Yin–Yang Release. He can make perfect use of the latter to revitalise life-forces, heal whomever he touches, and even restore missing organs. This ability, however, has its limits as he was unable to fully restore Might Guy's leg after his use of Night Guy, or save Obito Uchiha from Kaguya's All-Killing Ash Bones. With chakra from the tailed beasts, Naruto can also use the Magnet Release, Lava Release, and Boil Release kekkei genkai from Shukaku, Son Gokū, and Kokuō, respectively.

Cooperation Ninjutsu
Naruto appears to collaborate well with others, such as creating the Typhoon Water Vortex Technique with Yamato. Alongside Sasuke, he can perform the Scorch Release: Halo Hurricane Jet Black Arrow Style Zero, perform a team attack with most of the members of the Konoha 11, and use the Six Paths — Chibaku Tensei that can seal powerful beings like Kaguya. In addition, Naruto can combine his Rasengan with Hinata's Eight Trigrams Twin Lions Crumbling Attack to destroy Toneri's weapon. Working alongside his father and later his son, he can create a massive Rasengan that could overpower Obito's chakra arms, as well as defeat Momoshiki.

In the anime, Jiraiya taught Naruto collaboration techniques, combining his wind affinity with the affinities of summoned toads for a single stronger technique. Working together with Gamakichi and Gamatatsu, he can use techniques like the Wind Release: Toad Gun and Wind Release: Toad Oil Flame Bullet. Even before his formal training, Naruto could perform collaboration techniques with Gamabunta, such as the Combination Transformation and the Fire Release: Toad Oil Flame Bullet.

Fūinjutsu
Naruto's skills with fūinjutsu have not been explored greatly, but he knew how to use the seal's key after receiving Gerotora, and later resealed Kurama after he separated a majority of chakra from the fox. When accessing Shukaku's power, he can use its natural cursed seal markings to bind targets. During his meeting with Hagoromo, Naruto was taught the Six Paths — Chibaku Tensei, which when used with Sasuke, was strong enough to completely seal Kaguya.

Senjutsu
After Jiraiya's death, Naruto was trained in senjutsu at Mount Myōboku, requiring his high chakra reserves. Unlike Jiraiya, Naruto quickly became able to properly balance natural energy with his chakra to enter Sage Mode, symbolised by the pigmentation around his eyes. He became more skilled in entering Sage Mode faster, accelerated further while in Kurama Mode. Since Kurama rejected Fukasaku's attempts to fuse with and gather natural energy for Naruto, he employs shadow clones instead. Once the clones disperse, the natural energy they absorb will transfer to the original when the need arises, allowing him to use Sage Mode a number of times. However, this limits Naruto to creating only five shadow clones overall, as anything more would interfere with the ones gathering natural energy.

In Sage Mode, Naruto's overall physical parameters are dramatically enhanced, being able to survive falls from great heights unharmed, easily throw entities much larger than himself, and intercept high-speed opponents like the Asura Path and the Third Raikage. He can also utilise Frog Kata, a taijutsu style that uses the natural energy to enhance the range and potency of one's attacks. In Naruto's final fight with Sasuke, Kurama proved able to gather natural energy for Naruto's usage while in battle, effectively bypassing his Sage Mode's weakness.

Six Paths Sage Mode
With the power given to him by Hagoromo, Naruto gained access to the. In this mode, his eyes become yellow and his pupils take on a cross-like shape — without manifesting the orange pigmentation around his eyes present in Sage Mode. Naruto can also don a new chakra cloak similar to the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, which he can access instantly and maintain much longer than Sage Mode. His enhanced physical parameters allow him to pressure Madara as the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki, blitz Kaguya Ōtsutsuki after catching her off-guard, and withstand Sasuke's Chidori unharmed. Naruto also becomes immune to the effects of the Truth-Seeking Balls and gains the ability to fly.

Naruto can still use his Tailed Beast Mode replica of Kurama and even increase its size and might to rival Sasuke's Complete Body — Susanoo. It can also levitate, and with Kurama's aid, gather huge amounts of natural energy. Using shadow clones, Naruto can combine three Kurama avatars into a single construct with three faces and six arms, similar to Asura's. In this state, he can use a combination of his two strongest techniques infused with natural energy. After becoming Hokage, Naruto's Six Paths Sage Mode cloak has gained a new appearance, which he used to easily fend off a Shin clone without even moving.

Truth-Seeking Ball
While in his Six Paths Sage Mode, Naruto manifested nine Truth-Seeking Balls, which were composed of the five basic nature transformations, Yin–Yang Release, and Six Paths Sage Chakra. He can mould the balls into staves and platforms, fire them as projectiles, or convert them into Tailed Beast Balls and add his wind-nature to create Tailed Beast Ball Rasenshuriken. Naruto can pass them onto any of his shadow clones, gaining a tactical advantage of hiding his original self amongst his clones.

Sensory Perception
After mastering Sage Mode, Naruto can detect and identify other chakra signatures from vast distances, allowing him to better react to and counter very fast opponents. He also gained the ability to sense negative emotions after taking control of Kurama's chakra. Naruto can also use both of these abilities simultaneously through his senjutsu-enhanced Tailed Beast Mode and the Six Paths Sage Mode respectively. Upon achieving the latter, Naruto's sensory capabilities were empowered to the highest possible level, making it possible for him to sense the other half of Hagoromo's chakra, as well as Madara's shadows.

Intelligence
While headstrong and often acting without thinking to ultimately come off as somewhat dense, Naruto's years as a prankster acquired a cunning imagination that is useful in battle. He is a remarkable tactile learner, able to learn better through executing a task rather than theorising about it. Although Naruto instinctively knows the mechanics behind techniques he uses, he still gets easily confused if someone verbally explains the mechanics.

Naruto's most famous skill lies in his ability to deceive his opponents, making effective uses of even the most simple techniques to trick the deadliest of opponents. Once they see him in action, even the likes of the Second Hokage revise their thoughts about his intellect. Naruto can formulate multi-step plans and even backup plans in the thick of battle. His strategies typically involve shadow clones: he may direct his opponent's attentions towards one of his clones to disguise his own movements; he may transform them into objects or other individuals for surprise attacks; he may make himself seem predictable by creating a pattern, just to throw them off by breaking it. Naruto is rather observant, able to notice details others may overlook and subsequently take advantage of it. Even when given new information, he can act quickly.

With the power given to him by Hagoromo, Naruto is bestowed the innate ability to instinctively grasp the nature of chakra and comprehend all universal things. With this ability, he was able to quickly master the new powers that came subsequent to his meeting with the legendary sage.

Prologue — Land of Waves
Naruto, labelled as his class's 'Dead-Last', once again failed to graduate from the Academy. Disappointed that his plans of becoming Hokage have hit another hurdle, Naruto was approached by one of his instructors, Mizuki. Mizuki told Naruto that, if he could steal the Scroll of Seals from the Hokage Residence and learn one of the techniques written in it, then he would be allowed to graduate. Naruto did so, and began struggling to learn the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, unaware that the village was now looking for him. Iruka Umino tracked him down, and discovered Mizuki's involvement in the theft, realising that Naruto had been duped by Mizuki, in an effort to steal the scroll. Mizuki attacked them, and told Naruto about the Nine-Tails sealed within him, claiming that Iruka hated him because of it. When Iruka risked his life to protect Naruto, however, Naruto realised that Mizuki's earlier words were a lie, and created hundreds of shadow clones to beat Mizuki to a pulp. For mastering such a difficult technique, Iruka allowed Naruto to graduate.

In the days to come, Naruto befriended Konohamaru Sarutobi and became his on-off teacher, showing him how to perform a variety of both perverted and useful techniques throughout the rest of the series. He was also assigned to Team 7, where he was partnered with Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno, under the leadership of Kakashi Hatake. As the team's first order of business, Kakashi had them introduce themselves to him by saying their name, interests, distastes, hobbies, and goals. Going first, Naruto said that he liked ramen, particularly at Ramen Ichiraku, hated when ramen took too long to warm up, and that his hobbies were pulling pranks and watering plants. Although Kakashi initially began to think little of Naruto other than ramen, Naruto then proclaimed his goal to become the Hokage and gain the villagers' acknowledgement, impressing Kakashi.

Kakashi then gave the team the Bell Test to see if they were ready to become genin. He had the three of them try to take the two bells he kept on his person, the goal of the test being to place teamwork above the fact that they couldn't all have a bell despite this not being revealed to them beforehand. When the test began, Naruto, unlike Sakura and Sasuke, charged Kakashi head-on and used his minimal skills to try and take a bell by sheer force. This resulted him facing the One Thousand Years of Death and getting tied with rope by his legs onto a tree branch. As Kakashi then focused on Sakura and Sasuke, Naruto broke free and tried to eat lunch, only to get caught and be the one tied to the post. Eventually, the three decided to work together, allowing them to pass.

After completing a number of simple, uneventful missions, Team 7, at Naruto's insistence, was assigned the somewhat more difficult C-rank task of escorting Tazuna to the Land of Waves. When they were attacked by the Demon Brothers along the way, who tried to kill Tazuna, they realised that there was more to this mission than a simple escort. Tazuna revealed that his country was under the control of Gatō, who had left the people poor and unable to afford the more accurate A-rank mission payment. By building a bridge that would connect the Land of Waves to the mainland, Tazuna hoped to free the country from Gatō, prompting Gatō to try and kill him. Team 7 decided to help Tazuna, and act as his bodyguards until the bridge was completed.

They were soon attacked by Zabuza Momochi, another of Gatō's assassins, who engaged Kakashi in battle. When Zabuza captured Kakashi, he encouraged his team to escape with Tazuna. Having been of little use during the battle with the Demon Brothers, Naruto resolved to help Kakashi. With Sasuke's assistance, they were able to free Kakashi, who in turn almost defeated Zabuza. However, Haku, disguised as a hunter-nin, intervened, and appeared to kill Zabuza first, in actuality only putting him in a death-like state in order to get him to safety. Kakashi suspected that Zabuza was still alive, and gave Team 7 a Tree Climbing Practice to improve their chakra control. Naruto and Sasuke developed a competition over the exercise, each determined to complete the training first, and subsequently motivating each other to do better.

While Naruto was resting from training one day, he encountered Haku, unaware that it was the same boy he had encountered earlier. The two had a conversation about those who were precious to them, and the lengths they would go to protect them. After Haku left, Naruto finished the training, but was left so tired that the rest of Team 7 allowed him to rest the next day as they went to escort Tazuna. When he woke up, he went to assist them, only to find that they were in the midst of battle with Zabuza and Haku.

Naruto went to help Sasuke in his battle with Haku, but they were both trapped by Haku's Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals. When Haku tried to use a volley of needles to kill Naruto, Sasuke stepped in to protect him, appearing to die instead. Enraged by the apparent death of Sasuke, Naruto unknowingly tapped into the Nine-Tails' chakra, allowing him to destroy the ice mirrors, and subsequently defeat Haku. Before he could kill Haku, however, the mask he was wearing broke away, revealing the face of the boy Naruto had met earlier. Naruto stopped himself, but Haku asked that he should finish the job, since he could no longer be of use to Zabuza. Although Naruto tried to comply, Haku stopped him at the last minute, and went to help Zabuza. When Naruto realised what had happened - that Haku had given his life to save an ungrateful Zabuza - an outraged Naruto reprimanded Zabuza for not appreciating Haku's actions. Touched by his words, Zabuza killed Gatō to repent in an effort to do Haku justice, but died of his wounds. The bridge (now named the Great Naruto Bridge) was completed, and the Land of Waves was saved. With a recovered Sasuke, Team 7 returned to the Konoha. On their way home, Naruto remarked to Kakashi that, even though Haku and Zabuza were their enemies, he still liked them.

Chūnin Exams
After returning home and completing a few other simple missions, Team 7 was entered into the Chūnin Exams. In the first phase, a written test, the participating genin were tasked with completing the test by cheating, all the while being sure not to get caught. Though the rest of the examinees realised this, Naruto did not, and struggled to answer the questions, which were far beyond his comprehension. Hinata Hyūga, who was sitting next to him, offered to allow him to copy off her paper, but he refused, in fear that she would get caught. Naruto was forced to rely on getting the tenth question correct to pass. When faced with the prospect of correctly answering the question to proceed, failing and never being allowed to take the test again, or giving up to try it again during the next exams, Naruto insisted on answering the question, stating that, even if he got it wrong, he would still become Hokage. The willingness to face the unknown being the answer to the tenth question, Naruto and the rest of Team 7 were allowed to proceed to the second phase.

For the second phase, Team 7 was sent into the Forest of Death with one scroll, tasked to obtain a second scroll from another team and arrive at the forest's centre before the phase ended. Soon after entering the forest, they were attacked by Orochimaru, who immobilised Sasuke and Sakura with his murderous intent. Before Sasuke could forfeit their scroll in exchange for their lives, Naruto intervened, fighting Orochimaru by tapping into the Nine-Tails' chakra. Orochimaru rendered Naruto unconscious by restricting access to the Nine-Tails' chakra, but Naruto's courage inspired Sasuke to fight in his place. After Orochimaru was driven off and Naruto awakened, he tried to open their scroll what was forbidden, but he was stopped by Kabuto Yakushi, who disguised himself as a Konoha ninja. Team 7 and Kabuto encountered Team Oboro. After wasting a day trapped in the rival team's genjutsu, Team 7 was able to defeat them, take their scroll, and pass the round.

Because too many genin teams had passed the second phase, a round of preliminary matches, where genin faced each other in combat, were held to thin the field. After watching the first few rounds, Naruto was matched against Kiba Inuzuka, and his dog, Akamaru. Remembering Naruto to be talentless from their days in the academy, Kiba believed it would be an easy match. He and Akamaru double-teamed Naruto, who initially had difficulty with the match. After combining the Transformation Technique with his shadow clones to turn Kiba and Akamaru against each other, Naruto was able to remove Akamaru from the competition. When Kiba was about to defeat him, Naruto farted, immobilising Kiba and his heightened sense of smell, and making him an easy target for the Naruto Uzumaki Combo (which he invented from watching Sasuke's Lion Combo), winning the match.

While watching the remaining matches, Naruto witnessed Neji Hyūga's ruthless treatment of his cousin, Hinata. Angered by Neji's actions and claims that Hinata was a failure who couldn't escape her fate, Naruto vowed to defeat Neji during the first round of the finals a month later. In the meantime, Naruto started training with Ebisu to improve his chakra control. When Ebisu was knocked out by Jiraiya for disturbing him on his "research", Naruto forced Jiraiya to train him in his place. Jiraiya, noticing that Naruto was the container of the Nine-Tails, and the restrictive seal Orochimaru had placed on him earlier, Jiraiya removed the seal to ease his chakra control. He then taught him how to take advantage of the Nine-Tails' chakra by showing him how to summon toads. Because Naruto had troubles with it, Jiraiya pushed him from the cliff, hoping to provoke Naruto to use the Nine-Tails' chakra. When falling, Naruto entered his subconscious and met with the Nine-Tails for the first time. The fox expressed immediate desire to kill and devour the young shinobi, but Naruto, even though he knew the power of what he faced, bravely demanded he be given chakra as a form of "rent" for living in his body. Realising that Naruto's death would result in its own, the intrigued Nine-Tails complied, giving Naruto enough chakra to summon Gamabunta. After a short arguement with the giant toad, Naruto had to be hospitalised due to the chakra loss. In the hospital, he met Shikamaru Nara and the two encountered Gaara who was going to kill the confined Rock Lee. Gaara told them about Shukaku sealed within him and tried to kill both of them, but they were saved by the coming of Might Guy, which brings Gaara no choice but to retreat.

When the day of his match against Neji arrived, Naruto, concerned that he would be unable to defeat him despite his vow, ran into Hinata at the training grounds. When he revealed his growing doubts about the match and his own abilities to Hinata, she reassured him that he never gave up because he always had the strength to overcome his own failures, which was something she admired, and that she had become more confident after he cheered for her. Naruto gratefully thanked Hinata for bringing him out of his depression and giving him the drive to go face Neji.

In the beginning of the match, Naruto appeared to be at a disadvantage. Although he was able to overwhelm Neji with shadow clones, none of the clones could manage to land a hit. Convinced that Naruto was a failure that could not defeat a genius like himself, Neji used his Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms to cut off Naruto's chakra supply. Determined to prove Neji wrong, Naruto tapped into the Nine-Tails' reserves and, revitalised, clashed with Neji. When the smoke cleared, Neji emerged, Naruto appearing to have been defeated. This, however, was only a shadow clone, and the real Naruto burst from the ground beneath Neji, to deliver an uppercut and defeat him. Neji was taken away, contemplating the fact that fate was not predetermined, since a failure could beat a genius, while Naruto watched the remaining matches. When Sasuke fought Gaara, he was envious of Sasuke's improvements, but the fight was interrupted by the beginning of the Konoha Crush.

Konoha Crush
Naruto, like all the other spectators, was put to sleep when the invasion began, but was awakened by Sakura so that they could go after Sasuke, who was pursuing Gaara in order to continue their fight. They caught up in time to stop Gaara from killing Sasuke. Intrigued by Naruto's abilities since his battle with Neji, Gaara forced him into battle by threatening to kill the unconscious Sakura. With the power of the Shukaku, Gaara tried to prove his existence by killing Naruto by playing with him. Although Naruto could relate to Gaara's painful life as a jinchūriki, he was not willing to allow anything to happen to Sakura and Sasuke as they are his friends. With the Nine-Tails' chakra, he summoned Gamabunta, and fought Gaara, who by now had progressed to his full Shukaku form.

Naruto was able to awaken Gaara from his technique and reseal Shukaku, and they exchanged final blows, with Naruto emerging the final blow. Both of them, being very exhausted, fell to the ground and Naruto crawled his way towards Gaara, who was shocked to see why Naruto was so strong. Naruto explained that he had also suffered a relentless lonely life, but was later saved by having friends. Gaara understood, and retreated with Kankurō and Temari, while Naruto was returned back to Konohagakure with Sakura and Sasuke.

Days passed, and Naruto and the rest of the shinobi came to a ceremony to respect the death of the Third Hokage and his sacrifice for the village.

Search for Tsunade
After the failed invasion resulted in the death of the Third Hokage, Jiraiya was tasked with finding a Fifth Hokage. He convinced Naruto to come with him by promising to teach him a new technique that would be stronger than Sasuke's Chidori. Along the way, they were met by Kisame Hoshigaki and Itachi Uchiha, two members of Akatsuki, who sought to capture Naruto for the Nine-Tails sealed within him. Jiraiya was able to draw them off, but Naruto was introduced to the organisation that would become more of a problem for him in Part II. To prepare him for their future encounters, Jiraiya taught him how to use the Rasengan, a technique created by Minato. While Naruto was able to complete the first two steps of the learning process with little difficulty, he struggled to complete the third and thus master the technique later on.

Naruto and Jiraiya eventually found Tsunade, the ideal candidate for the position of Fifth Hokage. When she turned down the offer, and insulted all those who had previously held the title, an angry Naruto challenged her to a fight and attacked her with an incomplete Rasengan. Although his effort failed to hit her, she was surprised by his progress and made a bet with him: if he could master the technique within a week, she would give him her necklace, but if he couldn't, she would take his money and his frog wallet, Gama-chan. Naruto agreed, and started practising, but in a week's time, he still had yet to finish the training. Disappointed, Tsunade met with Orochimaru, the murderer of the Third Hokage, and Naruto, Jiraiya, and Shizune, Tsunade's assistant, tried to stop her from helping him.

Tsunade turned out to have no intention of helping Orochimaru, and fought him and his assistant, Kabuto Yakushi. When Kabuto left her unable to fight, Naruto came to her aid. Although he was getting beaten by Kabuto and Tsunade told him to run, Naruto refused and by using shadow clones to help him form it, Naruto was able to hit Kabuto with a perfected Rasengan, defeating Kabuto and winning the bet. Amazed by his determination to keep to his word and to survive against a superior opponent, Tsunade gave him her necklace, drove off Orochimaru and Kabuto, and accepted the position of Fifth Hokage. They returned to Konoha, Tsunade confidently believing Naruto would someday become a great Hokage.

Sasuke Recovery Mission
After returning with Tsunade (in the anime, after returning from the mission in the Land of Tea), Sasuke began to fall into the corruption set in place for him by Orochimaru. He began lashing out at Sakura and Naruto, not as team-mates but as enemies. Naruto eventually fought with him, the battle ending with Naruto and Sasuke about to clash with the Rasengan and Chidori, with Sakura in the middle. Kakashi ends the feud, sending the two crashing into water towers, Naruto unknowingly doing more damage than Sasuke, much to Sasuke's annoyance. Despite his promises to Sakura, Sasuke eventually ends up defecting from Konoha in order to seek out Orochimaru for power. Under the escort of Orochimaru's Sound Four, Sasuke left to join Orochimaru, and Naruto joined a recovery team that would bring him back; he also made a promise to Sakura that he will bring Sasuke back at all cost. While the other members of the team dealt with the Sound Four, Naruto finally engaged in a fight with the Sound Four's fifth member, Kimimaro. However, he was not able to beat him even with Nine Tails-enhanced shadow clones. When Naruto was about to be killed, he was saved by Rock Lee, who told him to continue the pursuit of Sasuke while he fought Kimimaro.

Naruto finally caught up with Sasuke in a place called Valley of the End, very near the border of the Land of Fire and the Land of Sound, and fought Sasuke. With Sasuke determined that he would kill Naruto in his quest for power, Naruto decided he would have to take the battle seriously if he was to bring Sasuke back. When Sasuke's drive to kill proved greater than Naruto's resolve of friendship in a 'fair' fight, Naruto tapped into the Nine-Tails' chakra to level the playing field, allowing him to batter around Sasuke. Sasuke, pushed to his limits, managed to develop the mature Sharingan, greatly overpowering Naruto. When Naruto, even with the Nine-Tails' chakra, was defeated, he tapped into the chakra even more, and a red aura of the Nine-Tails' chakra, in the shape of a fox, surrounded him. Sasuke then drew on the power of the second stage of his cursed seal to properly compete with Naruto. The two had one final clash, Naruto with his Rasengan (enhanced by the Nine-Tails' chakra) and Sasuke with his Chidori (empowered by the cursed seal). Upon contact, a giant, black energy dome formed and surrounded them. In the dome, Sasuke struck Naruto in the stomach, while Naruto scratched Sasuke's forehead protector, proving the latter's earlier taunt of the subject wrong. Sasuke won the fight, but after staring at the unconscious Naruto, he couldn't bring himself to kill his best friend, so he simply continued on his way to Orochimaru.

Kakashi and Pakkun didn't come in time to get Sasuke, and left with Naruto. In the hospital, Naruto vowed to Sakura that he would someday bring Sasuke home. Soon after, Jiraiya arrived suddenly, telling Naruto to train with him for three years prior. He also told him to give up on Sasuke, as he is no different from Orochimaru. Naruto accepts training with Jiraiya, but rejects to giving up Sasuke. In the manga, right after this, Naruto departs, but in the anime, he stays for a while, doing numerous filler arc missions.

Original Anime Arcs
In the anime, several filler arcs take place before Naruto left for his three year training with Jiraiya. Naruto is sent on various missions with the other members of the Konoha 11, but while there is little character development for himself, the filler arcs tend to develop the supporting characters, as well as Gaara. The final filler arc was right before Naruto's departure with Jiraiya, though in the manga, this was right after the Sasuke Recovery Mission. For the next three years, Naruto's influence on his friends drove them to train more arduously than ever before, determined to learn from his example of perseverance.

Gutsy Master and Student: The Training
Naruto and Jiraiya have left Konoha to begin their three-year journey. As they walk, they talk about Naruto's need to overcome Sasuke's Sharingan. During a genjutsu practice, Naruto tries to disrupt his inner chakra flow, but instead, creates a wave of chakra around him thus hitting Gamariki in the physical world. To overcome this part of the training, Naruto follows Jiraiya to the Genjutsu Tree Village. After realising that the village was taken over by a man named Kandachi, Naruto and Jiraiya decide to liberate the village. As the final battle with Kandachi continued, Naruto and Jiraiya got trapped in the Conch King's Water Release Genjutsu: Mystic Fog Prison but later managed to escape thanks to Tanishi's Chilli Pepper Bomb. At the end of the battle, Naruto defeats Kandachi with his Big Ball Rasengan.

In Naruto's Footsteps: The Friends' Paths
Over the course of training, Jiraiya begins training Naruto to gain better control of the Nine-Tails' chakra, soon helping Naruto to master wielding the chakra cloak up to two tails. Feeling he was ready to take it to the next level, Jiraiya had Gerotora tweak the seal enough for additional charka to be unleashed. The Nine-Tails however took advantage of this and began mocking Naruto for his failure to save Sasuke, able to use Naruto's negative emotions to overwhelm him with additional chakra. This ultimately caused Naruto to slip into a four-tailed "Version 2" state, which allowed the Nine-Tails to go on a rampage in Naruto's body. Jiraiya was narrowly able to reseal the fox's chakra, to which his passive methods of saving Naruto led to Jiraiya being severely injured.

Kazekage Rescue Mission
When Naruto returned to Konoha, the remaining members of Team 7 were reorganised into Team Kakashi. As their first order of business, Kakashi gave them another bell test, this time the only goal being to take a bell, and that he would use his Sharingan against them. Although their abilities had improved, Naruto and Sakura were still unable to beat Kakashi, and it was only by threatening to spoil the end of the latest Icha Icha novel that they distracted Kakashi long enough to take the bells. Naruto reconnected with his old friends, who had all advanced to chūnin-rank or higher, and then heard that Gaara, the new Kazekage, had been kidnapped by Akatsuki. Naruto and Team Kakashi set out for Sunagakure to save him.

Upon arrival in Sunagakure, Chiyo was added to Team Kakashi as an adviser, and they followed Akatsuki's trail. Along the way, they encountered a body-double of Itachi Uchiha, which engaged them in battle. Kakashi and Naruto teamed up in order to defeat the lookalike, before continuing onto the Akatsuki lair. There, they found Gaara's body in the possession of Deidara and Sasori. When Deidara flew off with Gaara, Naruto and Kakashi pursued him, leaving Sasori to Chiyo and Sakura. While initially unable to catch Deidara, Kakashi was able to use his Mangekyō Sharingan to distract Deidara, giving Naruto an opportunity to attack him and retrieve Gaara. Deidara escaped, and Naruto and Kakashi reunited with Sakura and Chiyo.

Although Sakura tried to heal Gaara, he had already died, a casualty of Akatsuki's tailed beast extraction-process. Angered that Gaara had died because he was a jinchūriki, something he had never asked for and had suffered because of his whole life, Naruto lashed out at Chiyo, the one who had sealed Shukaku into Gaara in the first place. To make up for what she had done, Chiyo, with the help of Naruto, restored Gaara back to life, at the cost of her own. Gaara awakened surrounded by his rescue party and the ninja from Sunagakure. After Chiyo's funeral, Naruto and Gaara finally shake hands (Gaara insisting), as a sign to their close relationship. Afterwards, Team Kakashi and Team Guy returned to Konoha.

Tenchi Bridge Reconnaissance Mission
During Sakura's battle with Sasori, she learned of a spy in Orochimaru's inner circle, an opportunity for them to find Sasuke after his years of absence. Kakashi was left hospitalised from overuse of the Mangekyō Sharingan, so Yamato was assigned to lead Team Kakashi in his place. Sai was also added to the team as Sasuke's replacement, but neither Naruto nor Sakura were able to accept him as such. In route to the meeting place with the spy, Yamato tried to get the team to work together, although Sai's personality and disdain for his predecessor caused only conflict amongst the team. When they arrived at the meeting spot, they found that the spy was Kabuto. Yamato, disguised as Sasori, spoke with him, but they were interrupted by the arrival of Orochimaru. Kabuto, in turn, turned against Yamato, who was forced to call Naruto and the others for back-up.

Surprised to see Naruto, Orochimaru wondered aloud if Naruto had become as strong as "his Sasuke". Enraged that Orochimaru had spoken as if Sasuke belonged to him, Naruto entered his three-tailed form, and attacked him. While a fair match, Orochimaru was able to evade Naruto's attacks. Further provoked by his inability to land a debilitating blow, Naruto advanced to his four-tailed form, losing his sense of self in his anger. Now a danger to Orochimaru, Naruto was forced back so that he could switch targets, his first being Sakura. Yamato restrained him before he could do any real harm, and forced the Nine-Tails' influence to recede. When he woke up, they found that Sai had joined up with Orochimaru. They followed him in the hopes that he would lead them to Sasuke, and to see what he was up to. During a break, Yamato took Naruto aside, and told him of how he had attacked Sakura, encouraging him not to rely on the Nine-Tails if he really wanted to protect those close to him.

When they arrived at Orochimaru's hideout, they infiltrated the lair, and captured Sai. Exposed, Sai revealed that his superiors had sent him to help organise another invasion of Konoha. He was restrained for his treachery, while the others went looking for Sasuke. Sai, having earlier met Sasuke, asked why Naruto was so determined to bring him back. Naruto explained that the two had a bond that couldn't be broken, and that he would risk his life to protect this bond. Intrigued, Sai switched sides, helping them to capture Kabuto and then scouring the base in order to reunite Sasuke with Naruto. He succeeded, but was attacked by Sasuke, the magnitude of which drew the rest of Team Yamato to their location.

Together again, Naruto and Sakura tried to convince Sasuke to come home. Still determined to gain power, he refused, prompting the team to use force. Their efforts were unsuccessful, and Naruto, who was exhausted from his fight with Orochimaru in his four-tailed form, wasn't able to compete with Sasuke's growth. Within his subconscious, the Nine-Tails began to offer Naruto its chakra, but he firmly rejected its assistance. The Nine-Tails became contemptuous at Naruto, mocking him that if it wasn't for its power, he would be nothing. It then tempted Naruto to break the seal so it can "grant" him all of its power, but he still refused. However, before their quarrel could escalate any further, Sasuke with his Sharingan activated, suddenly appeared within Naruto's subconscious, which surprised both Naruto and the Nine-Tails. As the Nine-Tails stated that Sasuke had similar chakra to Madara Uchiha, Sasuke used his Sharingan to suppress the beast's residual chakra. The Nine-Tails concluded that this was probably its last meeting with Sasuke, so it warned him not to kill Naruto, for he would only end up regretting it. Back in the real world, Sasuke tried to finish off his former team-mates, but he was stopped by Orochimaru and they retreated, leaving Team Yamato to return home.

Akatsuki Suppression Mission
Kakashi, hoping to make Naruto better prepared for his next encounter with Sasuke, trained him to create a new wind-based technique. In the anime, this training began before, and continued throughout, the arc of the Twelve Guardian Ninja, with Naruto seeking assistance from Asuma and Sora, two other wind chakra users. Kakashi had Naruto train with shadow clones to master wind manipulation in only a fraction of the time. When he did this, Kakashi left him with the task of combining what he had learned with the Rasengan. He explained that infusing one's chakra nature with the Rasengan was what Minato had intended to do when he created the Rasengan, but had not been able to do so before he died. Kakashi believed Naruto would prove successful where his father could not, inspiring Naruto to do his best.

While he struggled to create his new Rasengan, the rest of Konoha mobilised to deal with the Akatsuki members, Hidan and Kakuzu. When the two managed to kill Asuma, Kakashi left Yamato in charge of overseeing Naruto's training so that he could help Team 10 avenge Asuma. Once he achieved a usable technique, Naruto and Team Yamato went to provide assistance, arriving in time to save Kakashi and Team 10 from Kakuzu. Naruto engaged Kakuzu by himself with his Wind Release: Rasenshuriken, created with the help of shadow clones. Once striking Kakuzu with the attack, two of his hearts were destroyed, and his final heart was left on the brink of failure. Tired out by the ordeal, Naruto's injuries were healed while Kakashi finished off Kakuzu.

Upon returning to Konoha, Naruto was forbidden by Tsunade to use the Rasenshuriken again. While it was devastating to his opponents, it caused minor injuries to Naruto's arm as well. Even though they weren't as bad as his opponent's injuries, it was harmful enough to cause the arm to be beyond medical repair if performed again with contact of his hand and the opponent, endangering him and his hopes of remaining a ninja. Naruto said that he realised this, but claimed he understood his own body better than anyone else.

Itachi Pursuit Mission
After news of Orochimaru's defeat at the hands of Sasuke, Team Kakashi decided to make another attempt to find him. Knowing that Sasuke was going after his older brother, Itachi, they teamed up with the members of Team 8 to find either of the Uchiha brothers. They scoured the landscape, and eventually encountered Kabuto, who had absorbed some of Orochimaru's remains into his body. As his thanks to Naruto for "inspiring" him to overcome Orochimaru, Kabuto gave him a book containing some information on Akatsuki, while making an escape to avoid capture.

Tale of Jiraiya the Gallant
After regrouping and Kiba picked up on Sasuke's trail, Naruto used a number of shadow clones to search the area faster. When one of his clones neared what he thought was Sasuke's location, he found Itachi there instead. Itachi repelled all of Naruto's attempts to attack him, insisting that he only wanted to talk. He trapped Naruto in a genjutsu and, as was later revealed, questioned Naruto on his dedication to Sasuke and to Konoha. When Naruto insisted that he would protect both at any cost, Itachi gave Naruto some of his power sealed inside a crow in case he ever needed it. Itachi left, and Naruto continued his search, eventually finding Sasuke.

When the real Naruto and the rest of the team moved to intercept him, they were stopped by Tobi. Despite their efforts to quickly dispose of Tobi, none of their attacks worked, and it was only after word reached them that Sasuke had killed Itachi that they were allowed to continue. Tobi, however, reached Sasuke first, and having lost the trail, the Konoha-nin were forced to give up on the search.

Pain's Assault
When he returned to Konoha, Naruto learned that Jiraiya had died in his battle with the leader of Akatsuki, Pain. Grief stricken, Naruto spent the rest of the day mourning the loss of his teacher, musing over the fact he had wanted Jiraiya to be there when he became Hokage. After being comforted by Iruka and Shikamaru, Naruto helped to decipher Jiraiya's dying message. When the code was broken, Naruto decided to go to train with the toads to learn senjutsu, knowing that Pain was coming for him and deciding to make the most of the time Jiraiya had bought for him. To learn senjutsu, Naruto trained to harmonise with nature, a process he sped up by using a limited amount of shadow clones. He rapidly progressed through the introductory stages and attained a perfect Sage Mode, something Jiraiya had never been able to do. When news of Pain's attack on Konoha reached them, they began to mobilise for battle.

As Naruto, Fukasaku, Gamaken, Gamahiro, Gamabunta, and Gamakichi were summoned to the centre of Konoha, the group was confronted by the Six Paths of Pain, whom had just destroyed the village. After destroying the Asura Path before it could attack Tsunade, Naruto told the Hokage to make sure everyone left the battle to him. After a brief scrimish with Animal Path, Naruto and the toads defeated the Animal, Preta, and Human Paths before running out of senjutsu chakra. Naruto revealed that he had two shadow clones waiting back at Mount Myōboku to revitalise him with natural energy. Naruto went back on the offensive, dispatching the healed Preta and Naraka Path, before the Deva Path regained its full power. Pain killed Fukasaku and used the opportunity to capture Naruto, pinning him down to the ground.

With Naruto restrained, Pain opened up his reasons for Akatsuki, their plan for the tailed beasts, and the peaceful world he wanted to create. Though Naruto rejected his notion that using a weapon to force peace, he could offer no alternative. Before Pain could depart with Naruto, he was attacked by Hinata Hyūga. Declaring her love for Naruto and vowing to protect him, she continued to fight against Pain before she was subdued and critically wounded. Believing Hinata to had been killed, an enraged Naruto erupted into his six-tailed form. Resisting the First Hokage's Necklace's attempted to quell the transformation and destroying it, the Nine-Tails attacked Pain, forcing him out of the village to get close enough to his actual body to use the Chibaku Tensei, trapping Naruto within the small satellite. The technique was not enough to stop the Nine-Tails however, as it simply progressed to eight-tailed form to force its way out of the satellite. Meanwhile within his subconscious, Naruto was tempted by the Nine-Tails to open its seal to save him from the pain of not having Pain's answer for peace. However, before Naruto could, Minato appeared, who had left some of his chakra within the seal in case of an emergency to protect his son. Overjoyed at meeting his father, but angered that he would condemn him to life as a jinchūriki, Naruto listened to his father encouraging him, confident that he would find a way to break the cycle of hatred. After repairing the seal, Minato disappeared and the newly-inspired Naruto prepared to resume his battle with Pain.

Confidence restored, Naruto was greatly relieved to learn that not only had Hinata survived, but nobody was injured during his rampage. After clever use of shadow clones, Naruto was able to destroy the Deva Path with a Rasengan, defeating the last of Pain's Six Paths. Using one of Pain's Black Receivers, Naruto followed the chakra signal to Nagato and Konan's positions. Confronting Nagato, Naruto listened to Nagato's story that turned him into Pain and came to understand why he made the actions he did. Despite not forgiving him, he told Nagato he would not kill him and would instead try to create the better world that their teacher wished for. Moved by Naruto's determination to create a better world, Nagato decided to put his trust in Naruto and used the Outer Path: Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique to revive all the people he had killed in Konoha, at the cost of his own life. With this, Naruto helped Konan retrieve Nagato and Yahiko's bodies for burial in Amegakure. Konan left Naruto a bouquet of paper flowers for him, symbolising their new alliance.

He then created a memorial for Jiraiya and left the flowers and a copy of The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi by a rock with the kanji for.

Five Kage Summit
While the exhausted Naruto made his way back to the village, he was found by Kakashi who carried him the rest of the way. Upon arrival, Naruto was greeted as a hero. Sometime later, he learned that Tsunade had fallen into a coma from overuse of her abilities and that Danzō Shimura had not only replaced her as Hokage, but had ordered that Sasuke to be executed for abandoning the village. As Naruto, Sakura, and Sai tried to think of a way to change Danzō's mind, they were interrupted by the Kumo-nin Karui and Omoi who demanded to know how to find Sasuke, after his affiliation with Akatsuki had resulted in their mentor, Killer B's capture. Instead of turning on Sasuke, Naruto offered to let the Kumo-nin take their anger out on him, to which Karui obliged, beating him until being stopped by Sai. Later, he asked Yamato and Kakashi to take him to the Land of Iron, so that he could ask Fourth Raikage to pardon Sasuke. Yamato and Kakashi agreed, but when they arrived and spoke with A, the Raikage refused his request and berated Naruto for standing up for a criminal. Naruto went to a local inn to consider what to do next, where he was soon confronted by Tobi, who asked Naruto on how he got Nagato to change his mind. Naruto ignored the question and demanded to know about his plans with Sasuke. Tobi told him about the Sage of the Six Paths, the Uchiha clan, and the truth about the Uchiha Clan Downfall, all of which now drove Sasuke along a path of vengeance against Konoha and anyone else who would dare cross his path. Naruto insisted that that he could still get through to Sasuke, but Tobi laughed and left, saying that Naruto and Sasuke were fated to fight again.

While Naruto was practising his Sage Mode's sensory abilities in the hopes of finding Sasuke, Sakura, who had come to the Land of Iron with Rock Lee, Kiba and Sai, attempted to dissuade Naruto in his attempts to bring Sasuke back to Konoha, falsely telling him that she loved him over Sasuke. However, Naruto knew she was lying and he rejected her confession and her proposal to abandon Sasuke, stating it had nothing to do with his promise to her. After Sakura's party left, an ink clone from Sai revealed that the rest of the Konoha 11 had decided to kill Sasuke themselves to prevent another war, while Sakura had her own plans of dealing with Sasuke personally and alone, at Sai's unintended insistence. Gaara, whom attended the Five Kage Summit revealed Tobi's declaration of the Fourth Shinobi World War, telling Naruto over Sasuke's involvement in the Akatsuki's attack at the summit and how they would be fighting Sasuke to protect Naruto, but he did advise Naruto to consider for himself what was the right thing to do. After hearing that most of his friends have turned against Sasuke, while Sasuke now wanted to unleash his vengeance on just about everyone, Naruto started to hyperventilate and lost consciousness. When he awoke, he was told by Yamato that Kakashi went to stop Sakura from dealing with Sasuke.

Using a shadow clone as a decoy, Naruto escaped from the inn and followed Kakashi. He arrived just in time to save Sakura from being killed by Sasuke. Making one more attempt to reason with Sasuke, commiserating with his pain and acknowledging Itachi's sacrifice. However, Sasuke was unmoved and made his resolve to destroy Konoha and severing the Uchiha's connection to the "rotten shinobi world" clear. Naruto and Sasuke then battled each other head on; clashing with their signature techniques with Naruto realising that everything in his life he could have easily gone down the same path of Sasuke, and despite his jealousy toward the Uchiha, he had come to like Sasuke and was glad to have met him. Sasuke, despite believing his words, told Naruto nothing would change his mind and Naruto could either kill him or watch as he killed everything he loved. Shortly after, Tobi and Zetsu arrived, coming to Sasuke's aid. As they prepared to depart, Naruto resolved that if he and Sasuke were to battle again, they would kill each other, but he was willing accept it as he would shoulder Sasuke's hatred alone. Sasuke vowing he would kill Naruto first, left with Tobi and Zetsu, and Naruto and his teammates returned to Konoha, with the captive Karin. In the anime, Naruto, Karin, and the rest of Sakura's team rest while Kakashi sent his ninken to the other villages. Upon returning to Konoha, Naruto explained the situation to his friends, determined to get stronger so he could properly battle Sasuke.

Fourth Shinobi World War: Countdown
As Naruto was about to eat at Ichiraku, he was suddenly summoned back to Mount Myōboku by Fukasaku where he learns from the Great Toad Sage's fortune that he would meet an "octopus" and would battle a "young man with powerful eyes". When Gerotora was summoned to give Naruto the "key" to the Eight Trigrams Seal, Naruto knew he would need the Nine-Tails' power for the battles to come and accepted the key. From there, Naruto was sent back to Ichiraku, where some of the villagers asked for his autograph. Naruto was unaware of that the five Kage were planning to keep him from the upcoming Fourth Shinobi World War for his safety on a remote island in the Land of Lightning with Yamato, Might Guy, Aoba Yamashiro, and several other Konoha-nin as security.

Once at the island, Naruto met his fellow jinchūriki Killer B, requesting to be his student after being marvelled at B's mastery with his tailed beast. B refused the offer on the grounds that he was on vacation, with Naruto worsening it when he accidently insulted B while pulling off a capable rap and his Harem Technique having no effect. However, when word of him bumping fists with B reached Motoi, Naruto was taken to Falls of Truth, where B began his training to control the Eight-Tails. Motoi instructed Naruto to sit on the platform in front of the waterfall and close his eyes, and he would see his true self. While doing this, Naruto was greeted by another version of himself, who berated Naruto on how quickly the people from Konoha changed their opinions of him. Both he and Dark Naruto began to fight and were evenly matched both physically and chakra level wise as both were able to produce the exact same number of shadow clones. It was revealed that the entire battle occurred within Naruto's mind, as Yamato observed Naruto still meditating near the waterfall. Somehow able to break out of the meditation, Naruto questioned Motoi about B's history in order to figure out how to conquer his inner darkness.

After that, Naruto reminisced about how B and Gaara changed everyone's opinions about them, he began to doubt if the villagers of Konoha truly trusted him. After witnessing B save Motoi from giant squid and resume their friendship, an inspired Naruto returned to the Falls of Truth and confronted Dark Naruto again. With Naruto now having faith in himself, it started to weaken Dark Naruto as he asked what his reason for existing was. Answering his question, Naruto accepted Dark Naruto as a part of him while thanking him for pushing him to become a better person. He then hugged a struggling Dark Naruto, who finally relented and faded. After awaking and celebrating, Naruto and Yamato was led by B to a special room within the secret temple behind the Falls of Truth where Naruto was prepared to fight the Nine-Tails for its chakra. Within his subconscious, after unlocking the seal, Naruto (in Sage Mode) appeared to have the upper hand after he weakened the Nine-Tails with the Rasenshuriken and drained out its chakra, but the fox instantly planted its own hatred within its chakra with the absorbed energy, consuming Naruto as it began to use his body to give Yamato and B trouble.

Just before Naruto was completely succumbed, the spirit of his mother, Kushina Uzumaki, appeared. When Naruto believed that Kushina was the Nine-Tails in disguise, the woman clobbered him on the head, but she immediately apologised and hoped that he did not inherit her short-temper. Realising Kushina was his mother as he hugged her while crying, the love-filled reunion purged the Nine-Tails' hatred from the drained chakra, much to Yamato and B's surprise. With Kushina holding the Nine-Tails at bay, Naruto quickly made a large number of shadow clones, entered Sage Mode, and bombarded the Nine-Tails with the combination of Sage Art: Many Ultra-Big Ball Spiralling Serial Spheres and the Rasenshuriken, weakening the Nine-Tails further and completely separate it from its chakra. When its chakra merged into Naruto, an enraged and emaciated Nine-Tails attempted to fire a much larger Tailed Beast Ball, but its attack ultimately dissipated as Naruto used a new, stronger seal to imprison the weakened tailed beast once again. After that, when Naruto learned from Kushina about his heritage, the truth behind the Nine-Tails' attack on Konoha, and how his parents gave their lives to protect him. Naruto then told Kushina that he was glad to know that he was filled with their love before the Nine-Tails was sealed within him, and he was happy to be their son. Before she completely faded away, Kushina tearfully hugged Naruto, and thanked him for letting her and Minato be his parents.

Once out of his subconscious, Naruto showed off his new form to B and Yamato before sensing Kisame hidden inside his Samehada by detecting his negative emotions. When the surprised Kisame attempted to escape, Naruto used his blinding speed to quickly smash Kisame into the wall with a powerful punch. Naruto's foot got stuck in the wall, allowing Kisame to escape with B in pursuit as Yamato stayed behind to help Naruto out of the wall. Naruto and Yamato then caught up with the others as they watched Guy and Kisame's fight from a distance. After the battle, the Konoha and Kumo-nin restrained Kisame and attempted to interrogate him before the Akatsuki member commits suicide before they could get any more information out of him. Shocked by this action, Naruto realised that even the shinobi in Akatsuki fought for their comrades before being trapped in one of Kisame's booby trap water prisons and occupied with summoned sharks as one of the sharks takes the information scroll on Kisame to Akatsuki's base.

After Motoi sent his summoned owl to inform the Allied Shinobi Forces about the situation, Naruto and Killer B started evacuating the giant animals into the Island Turtle's shell for their safety in case an attack came. Naruto was trying to log the island's ecology as part of his "official" S-rank mission, but did not realise that it was a ploy to keep him away from the war.

Fourth Shinobi World War: Confrontation
Naruto and B returned to the Falls of Truth so that the former could start practising with his Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, specifically learning how to use Tailed Beast Balls. Since Tailed Beast Balls couldn't be made without the Nine-Tails' cooperation, Naruto tried to create the Tailed Beast Rasengan as a workaround. While struggling to balance the jutsu's composition, he sensed a distant source of the Nine-Tails' chakra. Naruto left the Falls of Truth to investigate and was met by a contingent of Konoha-nin, amongst them Iruka Umino. Iruka tried to convince him to go back to his training, but Naruto bypassed them and, from entering Sage Mode, sensed the ongoing Fourth Shinobi World War. Naruto became angry that they would try to keep the war a secret from him and that they wouldn't let him help. Iruka apologised, yet still made an effort to restrain him. Naruto escaped and found a Self-Repairing Barrier, preventing him from leaving by himself. B, at Iruka's request, decided to join him and together they broke through the barrier.

Shortly after that, the Nine-Tails pulled Naruto into his subconscious, berating him for squandering its chakra and calling him naive for thinking he could stop the war by himself. When the Nine-Tails failed to once again tempt Naruto with power, the fox then went off to claim that his attempt to put an end to hatred was futile, using his history with Sasuke as proof. In retaliation, Naruto pinned the fox down, refuting that it was the one who was being naive. As Naruto exclaimed with great confidence that he would find a way to deal with Sasuke and end the war, the Nine-Tails, recalling its jinchūriki's growth, condescendingly complimented him for finally learning how to stand up for himself, before being unnerved by Naruto's promise to someday resolve the fox's own hatred.

On their way to the battlefield, Naruto and B were met by the Fourth Raikage and Tsunade, both intent on stopping the jinchūriki. B tried to convince the Raikage to let them go, and when that failed, Naruto tried to get around them, but the Raikage's Lightning Release Chakra Mode was too fast for that. The Raikage became increasingly aggressive in his determination to stop Naruto and B from joining the war effort, going so far as to threaten to kill Naruto if it would keep Akatsuki from capturing the Nine-Tails. First B and then Tsunade joined Naruto in arguing to allow them to fight, which the Raikage relented to once Naruto was able to dodge his Lightning Release Chakra Mode. On Tsunade's orders, Shikaku Nara contacted Naruto and informed him about Akatsuki's White Zetsu Army and the accompanying Impure World Reincarnations. Naruto and B soon afterwards encountered a squad of seeming Allied forces, but with his Nine-Tails Chakra Mode's ability, it allowed him to detect them as disguised Zetsu. He quickly defeated them and sent shadow clones to various other battlefields to lend assistance.

Naruto and B soon ran into the reincarnated Itachi Uchiha and Nagato. They greeted Naruto and briefly caught up on what had happened since their deaths, but were quickly forced to attack by their summoner, Kabuto Yakushi. Nagato advised Naruto and B on how to counter his jutsu while Itachi, between his own attacks, was able to recall the crow he planted in Naruto during their last meeting. Itachi activated the Kotoamatsukami of the crow's Mangekyō Sharingan to release himself from Kabuto's influence. Itachi joined Naruto and B in fighting Nagato, first by neutralising the Rinnegan Summoning and then saving them from being killed by Nagato. Nagato, his personality now suppressed, tried capturing them with Chibaku Tensei, which the three combined efforts to destroy. While Nagato was distracted by their attack, Itachi sealed him with Susanoo. Nagato, his personality restored, used his last moments to apologise to Naruto again for everything. Afterwards, Itachi destroyed the crow, its Kotoamatsukami too valuable to let fall into the wrong hands, and left to find Kabuto so that he could end the Impure World Reincarnation.

As Naruto and B continued onwards, Naruto's shadow clones started arriving at various locations. In the anime, shadow clones were able to: save the members of the Sasuke Recovery Team from the reincarnated Sound Four's Space–Time Technique Formula: Underworld Turnover; update Tatewaki about the fates of the children he was responsible for during life, granting him peace and allowing him to return to the afterlife; run in to Yota, a childhood friend, and giving Yota a chance to play with him again before releasing himself from the Impure World Reincarnation; assist Omoi in saving the Thundercloud Unit.

A shadow clone arrived at the site of the Fourth Division's battle with various reincarnated Kage. When the clone arrived, it was able to land a sneak attack on Mū, allowing the Third Tsuchikage to seal him before he had the chance to say anything. The Tsuchikage went to help Gaara fight the Second Mizukage, leaving Naruto to fight the Third Raikage along with the other members of the Fourth Division. Like the Fourth Raikage, the Third was very fast, easily dodging most attacks. The few attacks that did land had almost no effect, his body's natural defence was too high, and the Raikage's offences allowed him to break through every attempt to contain him. When the clone noticed that the Raikage had a scar from his fight with the Eight-Tails years earlier, the clone contacted it via B to ask how the Raikage received the scar. The Eight-Tails explained that the scar was self-inflicted. With that information, the clone manipulated the Third's actions and used his own attack to damage his own body, allowing him to be sealed. The clone then joined Gaara and the Tsuchikage, but found that the Second Mizukage had already been defeated.

Fourth Shinobi World War: Climax
Shadow clones arrived at all the remaining battlefields, helping secure Impure World Reincarnations, weeding out the Zetsu that had infiltrated the Alliance's ranks, and defeating any other Zetsu that remained. Victory appeared near when the Sensor Division detected a new threat near the Fourth Division. The Fourth Division and Naruto's shadow clone were alerted to first Mū, who split himself before his sealing, and then the man accompanying him, who the Tsuchikage identified as Madara Uchiha. Since the masked man thought to had been Madara was known to be elsewhere, they all wondered who Tobi really was. Madara gave them little time to discuss it, attacking them immediately. He cut swaths through the Fourth Division's ranks and used his Rinnegan to avoid the clone's, the Tsuchikage's, and Gaara's counterattack. Wishing to eliminate them all at once, Madara dropped a meteorite on them.

While the survivors regroup, Madara tried to summon the Nine-Tails. Although it failed, the fox sensed the attempt and offered some chakra to help fight Madara, preferring Naruto over the Uchiha. The shadow clone used the Nine-Tails' chakra to counter Madara's Nativity of a World of Trees with Big Ball Spiralling Serial Zone Spheres, though the extended fighting left the clone exhausted afterwards. Madara moved in to capture it, but was parried by the arrival of Tsunade, the Fourth Raikage, and the Fifth Mizukage. The Five Kage vowed to deal with Madara themselves and asked that Naruto should instead focus on defeating Tobi. The clone dispersed just as the real Naruto converged on Tobi. Naruto and B clashed with Tobi's reincarnated jinchūriki, styled like a Six Paths of Pain. During the fighting, Naruto took an opportunity to ask who Tobi really was. From Naruto's references to another Madara, Tobi realised his lie was exposed, but refused to accept any particular identity, believing it to be irrelevant. If he must be anybody, he would be nobody.

B soon entered Tailed Beast Mode to clear the surrounding forest that was giving him and Naruto a disadvantage against the reincarnated jinchūriki. He then tried to seal the jinchūriki, but Tobi had them enter Version 2 forms to escape at the last second. The increased strength of the jinchūriki caused difficulties for Naruto and B. Tobi, taking advantage of the situation, nearly captured Naruto, but was blocked by the arrival of Kakashi and Guy. Their arrival balanced out the two sides, so Tobi had the Four-Tails and the Six-Tails enter Tailed Beast Modes as well. The Four-Tails captured Naruto in its mouth, allowing it to communicate with him. The Four-Tails, introducing itself with the name Son Gokū, was angered to be controlled by Tobi, but it doubted Naruto would be any better since humans had always sought to control it and its fellow tailed beasts. Naruto insisted he was different and Son Gokū, touched by his desire to help it, told him how to release it from Tobi's control. Naruto managed to break out of its mouth, locate the black receiver, and remove it.

Son Gokū thanked Naruto for his help, but explained that it couldn't actually be saved, as it was still bound to the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. Before it was pulled back into the Demonic Statue, Son Gokū gave some of its chakra to Naruto and wished him luck. Tobi, having lost the use of one tailed beast, forced the others to enter Tailed Beast Modes so that the battle could be brought to an end. The Nine-Tails remarked that Naruto couldn't possibly win without its help. Naruto stated that he was not up for taking its chakra by force at the moment and that he would figure something out. However, Naruto's earlier determination to help Son Gokū moved the Nine-Tails, reminding it of the many selfless things Naruto had done during his life and the perseverance he always displayed. The Nine-Tails no longer wanted to oppose Naruto and instead offered to join him as a partner, asking only that Naruto call it by name: Kurama.

Naruto entered his own Tailed Beast Mode and went to save Kakashi and Guy, deflecting the other five beasts' Tailed Beast Balls. The Kurama avatar fought the beasts in close combat, forcing them to combine their Tailed Beast Balls into one against it. Kurama countered theirs with a single one of its own Tailed Beast Balls and Naruto then used the avatar's tails to grab and remove the beasts' black receivers. From the contact, Naruto was able to interface with the other beasts, who introduced themselves and, like Son Gokū, gave him portions of their chakra. Tobi recalled the beasts back into the Demonic Statue and, though irritated, remained confident in his eventual victory as he faced off with Naruto, B, Kakashi, and Guy. By the time night fell, however, Tobi had still not been able to defeat them. A light eventually descended on the reincarnated jinchūriki that B had kept restrained, returning them to the afterlife and signalling that Itachi had finally defeated Kabuto.

With his options running out, Tobi deposited the Benihisago and the Kohaku no Jōhei (which contained portions of Kurama's chakra) into the Demonic Statue which, combined with an fragment of the Eight-Tails, Gyūki's, chakra he acquired previously, was enough to start the revival of the Ten-Tails. Naruto, B, Kakashi, and Guy started focusing on destroying it, but were constantly stopped by Tobi and his peculiar teleportation and intangibility abilities. From the fighting, however, Kakashi noticed that Tobi's abilities were seemingly linked to his own Kamui. To take advantage of this, Kakashi had one of Naruto's shadow clones attack Tobi and, just as the clone was about to be destroyed by one of Tobi's attacks, Kakashi used Kamui on it without Tobi noticing. Naruto then attacked with a Tailed Beast Ball, which Tobi escaped by retreating to Kamui's dimension. He found the clone waiting for him there and it destroyed his mask with a Rasengan.

When they saw his face, Guy and Kakashi recognised Tobi as their childhood friend, Obito Uchiha, who they'd long thought dead. Obito declined to explain his actions to them and instead attacked, which attracted Madara to their location, who was able to escape the release of the Impure World Reincarnation. Seeing Madara, Naruto asked what happened to the Kage, to which the elder Uchiha replied that they were in bad condition when he left them. From that and the conversation he overheard between Madara and Obito, particularly their manipulation of Nagato, Naruto attacked in a rage. Madara reflected him and then tried to capture him and B so that the Ten-Tails could be revived in its complete form. Naruto split his attention, he and B fighting Madara's wood dragon with their Tailed Beast Modes and one of his shadow clones trying to help Kakashi get over the revelation that Obito was alive.

Obito tried to convince Naruto of the futility of resistance. Naruto insisted that protecting his comrades was always worthwhile, no matter how hopeless things may seem. His words brought Kakashi out of his slump, enabling him to start fighting Obito on his own, and energised Guy, who created an opening for Naruto and B to attack the Demonic Statue with a combined Tailed Beast Ball. The attack came too late, however, and the Ten-Tails was revived. Naruto, B, Kakashi, and Guy regrouped and coordinated an attack, but the Ten-Tails was too powerful and Madara and Obito, once they linked themselves to it, were able to deploy its powers effectively. Just before they could kill Naruto and the others, the combined remaining Allied Shinobi Forces arrived to help. Shikaku Nara, communicating to all of them from the Alliance's headquarters, staged an offensive to restrain the Ten-Tails. Although it failed, it was effective enough that Madara and Obito had the Ten-Tails destroy the distant headquarters, killing Shikaku and everyone else stationed there.

The Allies made individual attacks against the Ten-Tails, but none had any effect. At the same time, the Ten-Tails started raining wooden skewers all over the battlefield, killing many. When one was about to hit Naruto, Hinata shielded him with her body and Neji shielded her with his own. Dying, Neji collapsed on Naruto's shoulder, asking him to be more careful in the future since many lives, Hinata's particularly, now depend on his. With his last breath, he thanked Naruto for calling him a genius all those years ago. Naruto was deeply distraught by Neji's death, which Obito tried to use as an example of the needless death that resistance caused and that could be solved in the new world he wanted to create. Hinata brought Naruto back to his senses by reminding him of all the people who had given their lives to protect him and whose memories he would be insulting if he had given up now. As Naruto thanked her, he took her hand and coated her with some of Kurama's chakra.

Naruto distributed Kurama's chakra throughout the Allied Forces, increasing their strength and protecting them from harm. They all manoeuvred into a formation that Shikaku was able to communicate to them before he died and, taking the form of a bird in memory of Neji, successfully removed the Ten-Tails from Obito and Madara's control. Forced to fend for themselves, Obito sought out Naruto, criticising him for wasting his energy protecting others. Naruto replied that protecting them actually gave him strength, motivating everyone within earshot. They then sensed the Ten-Tails was about to attack, which Kakashi tried to stop with Kamui. Obito intercepted him and they teleported away, leaving the others to endure the Ten-Tails' Tenpenchii. Kurama's chakra protected everyone, but it faded in the aftermath; Naruto was left quite beaten up, requiring Sakura to heal him. When the Ten-Tails attacked with another Tailed Beast Ball, the Allies mustered what little defence they could. Before it could reach them, however, the Tailed Beast Ball was suddenly teleported away and Naruto's reincarnated father, Minato Namikaze, appeared at Naruto's side.

The First, Second, and Third Hokage arrived soon afterward and, along with Minato, erected a barrier around the Ten-Tails to confine it. Sasuke arrived shortly too, at whose request the previous Hokage were reincarnated by Orochimaru and who now opposed Obito and Madara. Their fellow Rookie Nine had set aside their differences with Sasuke for the time being and joined forces in launching an attack against the Ten-Tails' cruft. On Sai's advice, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura all summoned their signature animals (Naruto calling on Gamakichi) in order to focus directly on the Ten-Tails itself. Naruto and Sasuke successfully damaged the Ten-Tails' arm with a combined Scorch Release: Halo Hurricane Jet Black Arrow Style Zero, but it merely removed the arm to prevent the flames of Sasuke's Amaterasu from spreading.

Before they could attack again, Obito returned, landing on top of the Ten-Tails head and seemingly about to use the Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique to restore Madara to life. While everyone focused on stopping Obito, Naruto couldn't help but notice that the hand seals he was using were different from what Nagato used. Minato tried to cut Obito down, but discovered that it was too late as he sealed the Ten-Tails into his body, becoming its jinchūriki.

Birth of the Ten-Tails' Jinchūriki
Obito used his new power to destroy the barrier, forcing the Hokage to put the energy they were using toward the barrier into the fight instead. Because they had immortal bodies, they launched the first attack so that the others could learn what they could about Obito's new abilities, but they were quickly defeated. Naruto and Sasuke engaged him as well, but were nearly killed, saved only by Naruto using his chakra arms to connect to Minato so he could teleport them to safety. Hoping to emulate their earlier success against the Ten-Tails, Naruto and Sasuke combined their attacks again, having Minato and the Second Hokage coordinate teleports so that the attack would connect. Obito's Truth-Seeking Balls dissipated much of the attack and the damage that he did incur was quickly regenerated.

From the development and some of the previous exchanges, Minato concluded that Obito was able to neutralise ninjutsu. Gamakichi, determined to make some final contribution to the fight before he was forced to return to Mount Myōboku, attacked with his Starch Syrup Gun. Minato took this opportunity to try and reason with Obito, reminding him of his former dream to become Hokage. Obito berated the title and those who had held it, as he had surpassed them. Naruto was insulted not only because that was a slight against his father, but also because he hadn't abandoned his dream of being Hokage like Obito had. The Second Hokage teleported him to Obito and he attacked with a Rasengan, which successfully damaged Obito; Naruto noticed that Gamakichi's attack wasn't neutralised and hypothesised Obito was vulnerable to senjutsu, which was then confirmed.

With a weakness discovered, Obito trapped the Alliance in a barrier and began charging multiple Tailed Beast Balls that he would use to wipe out everyone within its confines. Minato noted that he wouldn't be able to teleport them all away in time, so Naruto came up with a different approach: he linked his chakra with Minato and remotely restored the Alliance's chakra cloaks, networking everyone in with Minato's Flying Thunder God Technique, allowing him to teleport everyone out of the barrier. Minato did so and was afterward extremely proud of his son, telling him that he wished they had more time to talk. Naruto replied that it was not necessary since he already met his mother and that she explained everything. Naruto and Minato each entered Tailed Beast Modes, with Naruto merging his with Sage Mode so that he could imbue their shared Rasengan with senjutsu. The Second teleported them to Obito and they attacked, but he blocked it with his Truth-Seeking Balls.

To move ahead with his plans, Obito created a giant tree in the image of the God Tree, the first step in performing the Infinite Tsukuyomi. The tree started absorbing chakra from those nearby until they die, a fate that Naruto nearly succumbed to until he was saved by the Third Hokage. Obito pointed to the growing number of casualties as further evidence that Naruto should stop resisting, an arguement that Naruto was increasingly having trouble ignoring. Sasuke, unmoved by Obito's words, used Susanoo to hack through the tree and then mocked Naruto for giving up. Naruto was reminded of his desire to not lose Sasuke or anyone else for that matter and, reinvigorated, joined Sasuke in the offensive. Although their senjutsu-enhanced Susanoo and Tailed Beast Mode could compete with Obito, they were individually unable to defeat him. Obito continued trying to convince Naruto to stop, but he ignored him.

Sasuke then coated his Susanoo around Naruto's Tailed Beast Mode, granting the Kurama-avatar a sword and armour. Sensing that it was the final exchange, Obito created a sword and shield of his own out of Truth-Seeking Balls. Naruto created a Rasengan in each of the Kurama-avatar's tails, which his friends from Konoha guide in a coordinated assault to Obito's shield, destroying it. As soon as Naruto and Sasuke sliced through Obito with their sword, the tailed beasts then began to emerge from the Uchiha's body, giving Naruto and the combined Allied Shinobi Forces the opportunity to pull them out. The tug-of-war for the tailed beasts linked Naruto's consciousness with Obito's. Naruto reminded Obito of his earlier claim that he was nobody and set out to prove to him that he was Obito Uchiha, specifically the Obito Uchiha that Kakashi used to know. Naruto pointed out their similarities, how both were orphans and that, because of that, they wanted to be Hokage. Obito agreed that they were similar, but that was the reason why he was been trying so hard to convince Naruto that he was right, and insisted that the world he wanted to create was a better one because his vision of the future was clear, whereas the future of the current world was ambiguous. Naruto argued that was the point and that uncertainty, when faced with comrades, was worthwhile, and offered Obito his hand so that they might see what happened together.

The Allies successfully removed the tailed beasts from Obito and he fell to the ground, defeated. Minato and Kakashi insisted that Obito be left to them while Naruto and the rest of the Alliance should focus on Madara. They did so, joining forces with the First Hokage against him, but right before he could seal him, Madara put one final fail-safe into effect: he had Black Zetsu force Obito to revive him. Madara quickly neutralised the First, fended off Naruto, Sasuke, and Sai, and then went after the freed tailed beasts. Naruto entered Tailed Beast Mode and assisted them with fighting him off. They were initially successful, but when Madara reacquired one of his Rinnegan, he easily defeated them with Limbo: Border Jail, sealing them all back into the Demonic Statue, including B's Gyūki and Naruto's Kurama.

The removal of Kurama from his body caused Naruto to pass out and placed his life in immediate danger. His Uzumaki heritage prevented him from dying instantly, but he required constant medical attention from Sakura in order to keep him alive. On the advice of Kurama right before it was extracted, Gaara took Naruto to Minato so that Minato's portion of Kurama's chakra could be sealed into him, saving him. Kakashi sent Naruto and Sakura to Kamui's dimension so that she could continue performing life support without interruption. Obito soon arrived to help her, having overcome both Black Zetsu and Madara in order to acquire Minato's half of Kurama and give it to Naruto, as his form of penance.

While on the border of life and death, Naruto was met by the Sage of Six Paths, Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki. He explained his past conflicts with his mother, Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, and the conflicts that emerged between his sons, Asura and Indra. His sons' conflict had continued through the centuries, with their chakra reincarnated every generation in new individuals to fight anew; Naruto was the current reincarnation of Asura, while Sasuke was the reincarnation of Indra. Naruto was not greatly surprised, having sensed something like that when he met Sasuke during the Five Kage Summit. Because of Madara's aims for the world, Hagoromo asked that he and Sasuke join forces to stop him, a task he was only encouraged by from the tailed beasts' positive words concerning Naruto. He gave Naruto the Six Paths Yang Power, his chakra and Six Paths Sage Mode to help him in this goal.

When Naruto woke up, he had Obito send him back to the normal dimension. There, he stopped Madara from killing Might Guy and then used Hagoromo's power to stabilise Guy's life from using the Eight Gates Released Formation. Madara was surprised by Naruto's sudden increase in power and only narrowly avoided Naruto's Sage Art: Lava Release Rasenshuriken, which was fueled by Son Gokū's chakra and instantly cut down the giant tree Obito created earlier. When Sasuke arrived, Naruto entered Six Paths Sage Mode and they started overwhelming Madara. Realising his window was closing, Madara went after Kakashi and took his Mangekyō Sharingan, which he used to follow after Obito. Sakura appeared shortly afterward, sent by Obito so Madara wouldn't kill her. She couldn't do anything about Kakashi's eye, so Naruto used Hagoromo's power to restore the one he lost years ago.

Madara soon returned, now having both his Rinnegan and Black Zetsu in control of Obito's body. Naruto and Sasuke immediately resumed their attack, but Madara had an easier time with them. He rose into the sky, raining Chibaku Tensei on them to keep them busy while he projected the Infinite Tsukuyomi on the world. While Naruto destroyed the remaining satellite-like constructs, Sasuke shielded him, Sakura, and Kakashi with Susanoo from the Infinite Tsukuyomi's gaze. He let them out once the illusion was finished casting and they emerged to find themselves alone, with the rest of the world being wrapped into Madara's God: Nativity of a World of Trees. As Madara confronted them and started explaining how he had saved the world, he was stabbed in the back by Black Zetsu. Black Zetsu then transferred to Madara's body from Obito's and forced him to absorb the world's chakra, converting him into a woman that Naruto and Sasuke recognised as Kaguya Ōtsutsuki.

Kaguya Ōtsutsuki Strikes
Kaguya detected that Naruto and Sasuke as the reincarnations of Asura and Indra, and also that her son Hagoromo had given them the power to defeat her. Not wanting to further the damage the world that their fighting would cause, she shifted them all to one of her dimensions, placing them above a sea of lava. Sasuke summoned his hawk Garuda to save himself and Naruto, but ignored Naruto's pleas to save Sakura, Kakashi, and Obito too since only he and Naruto were vital to the fight. Kakashi was able to briefly stop their fall, but the heat burned the scroll he used to save them and it was only Naruto's sudden discovery that he was able to levitate that saved them from the lava. He left a shadow clone to hold onto them and engaged Kaguya, creating an opening for Sasuke to attack.

Sasuke's attack failed and Naruto must save him from the lava. With their attacks ineffective and the environment such a hazard, Naruto and Sasuke discussed what to do. Kaguya appeared behind them and paralysed them, binding them with Black Zetsu while she started absorbing their chakra. Black Zetsu took the opportunity to expand on the history earlier given by Hagoromo, painting Kaguya as the victim of her sons, Hagoromo and Hamura. Black Zetsu had for centuries been manipulating others toward the outcome of reviving her, and only then had it finally succeeded. It encouraged them to bask in the embrace of their oblivion, but Naruto refused, breaking himself and Sasuke free. Needing to take drastic action, Naruto used his "ultimate" jutsu: Sexy: Reverse Harem Technique. Kaguya was so distracted that she was nearly sealed, but she recomposed herself in time to shift dimensions again, freezing Naruto and Sasuke in place.

Because Naruto and Sasuke were only a threat to her when together, Kaguya sent Sasuke to a different dimension while she focused on Naruto. While Kaguya manipulated the ice dimension against him, his shadow clone explained to Kakashi, Sakura, and the now-awake Obito that his and Sasuke's powers were both necessary to defeat her. Obito offered to use his Kamui to try and explore Kaguya's dimensions to find Sasuke. To give Obito an opening, Naruto used Naruto Region Combo to overwhelm Kaguya, forcing her to retreat to another dimension to get her bearings. When she did so, Obito infiltrated the dimension Kaguya went to with Sakura and the shadow clone. The shadow clone faced her so that she wouldn't notice them while they look for Sasuke. Kaguya returned to the ice dimension and resumed her fight with the army of Naruto's clones. He kept her preoccupied until Obito returned with Sasuke.

Increasingly frustrated, Kaguya shifted them to another dimension with powerful gravity to immobilise Naruto and Sasuke while she attacked with her All-Killing Ash Bones. Kakashi and Obito used themselves to shield the attack, with Obito then using Kamui to protect Kakashi, leaving Obito unable to defend himself. Naruto tried to heal the damage to his body, but even Hagoromo's power couldn't save him. While Sasuke fought Kaguya, Obito thanked Naruto for reminding him of who he was and made him promise to become Hokage for both their sakes. Naruto agreed and Obito's body crumbled. Black Zetsu ridiculed Obito for living an insignificant life and dying an insignificant death. Enraged, Naruto severed Kaguya's arm, in the sleeve of which Black Zetsu had been hiding, and then pinned it to the ground with his Truth-Seeking Balls.

Naruto used Tailed Beast Ball Rasenshuriken, imbuing each of nine Rasenshuriken with the chakra of one of the tailed beasts. When the attack hit Kaguya, the tailed beasts' chakra within her began reacting and Kaguya started losing control of her form. She was able to reconfigure herself and prepared an Expansive Truth-Seeking Ball to destroy them. Kakashi interfered, using Susanoo (a last gift from Obito) to make an opening for Naruto and Sasuke. She tried to escape, but Sakura punched her to keep her in place, allowing Naruto and Sasuke to trigger Six Paths — Chibaku Tensei. The tailed beasts were removed from her, Madara was spat out, and she was entombed in her own dimension. Not wanting Black Zetsu to scheme for her release again, Naruto made a point to trap it with her.

Team 7 wondered how they would return to their world. Sensing their need, Hagoromo combined the efforts of the dead Kage to summon them, the tailed beasts, and Madara back. Hagoromo thanked them for saving the world, as did the tailed beasts for saving them. Naruto happily greeted to his original Kurama, asking if it missed him, to which the flustered fox denied. After Madara died from his ordeal, Naruto met with Minato who, as day broke, wished him a happy seventeenth birthday. As Hagoromo returned Minato's and the souls of the other dead Kage to the Pure Land, Minato voiced his pride in Naruto and promised to tell Kushina everything about him. The other Kage also gave words of parting, which Naruto tearfully accepted.

With all threats gone, Hagoromo explained that the Infinite Tsukuyomi could be released if Naruto and Sasuke combine their chakra. Sasuke agreed to this, but first he wanted to kill the Kage and destroy the tailed beasts, believing both were inhibitive to world peace. When he was unwilling to back down from his threat, the tailed beasts moved in to stop Sasuke, but he captured each in their own Chibaku Tensei. Hagoromo recognised that as a continuation of Indra's feud with Asura, but lacked the time and power to do anything about it. Sakura tried to reason with Sasuke, but he knocked her out and left. Naruto followed after him, promising to Hagoromo that he would bring him around and finally end the centuries-long feud.

Naruto and Sasuke ended up at the Valley of the End, where they fought years ago. Sasuke stated his willingness to bear the world's burdens by himself and live independently of the past, neither of which Naruto believed were possible, or at least wise. He wasted little time trying to talk to Sasuke, having known for some time that their differences would be settled with combat in the end. After a brief exchange of blows reminiscent of their fight years ago, Naruto and Sasuke started trading punches with their Tailed Beast Mode and Susanoo respectively. Sasuke chastised Naruto for not attacking with an intent to kill, but Naruto, like last time, was unwilling to do that, not wishing for either of them to go without the other. Sasuke used his Susanoo to perform Chidori and Naruto used Tailed Beast Mode to make a Tailed Beast Ball, which they clashed with.

The collision of the two attacks created a large explosion, doing noticeable but not debilitating damage to their respective avatars. Each therefore powered up the avatars, Sasuke by channelling the captured tailed beasts into his Susanoo and Naruto by merging his avatar with the avatars of two shadow clones. The two met attacks once again, creating a giant explosion that stripped away their avatars and left them with too little chakra to use practically. They instead resorted to taijutsu, kicking and punching each other into the night. As Naruto started to become exhausted, Kurama mustered enough chakra for him to make one last attack, but Sasuke absorbed it. Having expected this, Naruto delivered a solid punch, finally irritating Sasuke over the endless repetition of their fight. Kurama gave the last of its chakra to Naruto, who used it to make a Rasengan to counter Sasuke's Chidori.

Both woke up later to find that much of the Valley of the End had been destroyed, that they had each lost an arm, and that neither could move. Sasuke reflected that Naruto had been a constant obstacle to his goals, but that he was also the only person who never given up on him. Naruto's usual response that they were friends didn't convince Sasuke since it obviously went beyond, so Naruto elaborated that he experienced pain if he didn't have Sasuke. Sasuke was awed, knowing full well that Naruto had experienced various misfortunes in his life, smiled through all of them, yet would suffer without Sasuke. When they woke up the next day, Sasuke admitted defeat, as he came to accept that Naruto was just as vital to him as he was to Naruto.

Kakashi and Sakura eventually tracked them down and Sakura healed them, though she couldn't do anything about their missing arms. Once they were able to walk, they returned to where the Allied Shinobi Forces were all trapped still, dispelled the Infinite Tsukuyomi according to Hagoromo's instructions, and Sasuke released the tailed beasts. The Fourth Shinobi World War finally over, everyone returned to their villages.

Blank Period
After the war, Sasuke was pardoned for his crimes on the good word of Naruto and Kakashi (who had been selected to become the Sixth Hokage). Just before Sasuke left Konoha to wander the world, he was met by Naruto, who returned to him his forehead protector.

Kakashi Hiden: Lightning in the Icy Sky
Nearly a year after the end of the Fourth Shinobi World War, Naruto and Sai were sent to the Land of Waves to capture Garyō, leader of the Ryūha Armament Alliance. Once they located the Alliance's hideout, Naruto launched an assault with multiple shadow clones; although he was still missing an arm, he had learned how to perform one-handed hand seals. He easily dealt with most of the Alliance's members, but was briefly stalled by the Ice Release of Garyō's bodyguard. Naruto distracted the bodyguard with a shadow clone for long enough to apprehend Garyō. Garyō tried to convince Naruto that the Alliance was doing good work by releasing the world from money's corruptive influence. Although sympathetic, Naruto couldn't abide their terrorist actions and escaped with Garyō on Sai's bird.

At some point within the next two months, Naruto received a prosthetic arm to replace the one he lost during the war. While eating at Ramen Ichiraku one day, he saw Kakashi walking by and asked him when he would officially take on the responsibilities of Hokage. He tried to convince Kakashi by listing the many shortcomings of Tsunade, unaware that she was standing behind him; she angrily knocked Naruto unconscious. Kakashi finally accepted the Hokage position shortly after the mission involving the Ryūha Armament Alliance and the Blood Prison. When Naruto learned about the mission, specifically that he was expressly forbidden from being informed about it at the time, Naruto started spreading rumours about Kakashi's relationship with the Blood Prison's new warden, Kahyō. Kakashi angrily attacked him and then bought him some ramen to apologise.

Shikamaru Hiden: A Cloud Drifting in Silent Darkness
Naruto ran into Shikamaru early one morning and they discussed their heavy workloads for the Shinobi Union. Since Naruto's assignments were given to him by Shikamaru, he took the opportunity to complain. Shikamaru explained that Naruto, a prime candidate for an eventual Hokage position, needed to get used to it. Naruto later discussed what Shikamaru had said with Sakura, having sensed that there was something Shikamaru was keeping from him. Sakura reminded Naruto of all the work Shikamaru did to prepare Naruto for becoming Hokage and that it likely had something to do with that. Naruto was aware of all that Shikamaru did on his behalf, but wondered if he was worth Shikamaru's trouble.

A few days later, Naruto was approached by Temari, who was worried about Shikamaru's recent behavior and now asked where he was. Naruto didn't know, and was troubled to find that neither did Chōji or Ino. He finally asked Kakashi, who admitted under pressure that Shikamaru was on a secret assignment to the Land of Silence. Naruto joined Temari's team of Suna ninja to go to the Land of Silence to provide assistance to Shikamaru. They interrogated the locals upon arrival and learned that Shikamaru had been captured by the Enlightened Ones. They attacked the prison where Shikamaru was being held and successfully freed him, enabling him to complete his mission by taking the country's leader, Gengo, into custody. Afterwards, Naruto demanded that Shikamaru never keep anything from him again, otherwise their future Hokage—advisor relationship would be very problematic. Shikamaru agreed and apologised. While Shikamaru returned to Konoha, Naruto and several other Konoha and Suna shinobi remain in the Land of Silence to help the country recover from Gengo's control.

The Last: Naruto the Movie
During the Rinne Festival, Naruto, being the hero of the village, was bombarded with gifts from various young Konoha residents. To distract Naruto from all the attention, Konohamaru invited him over to his grandfather's storage, where Naruto found a scarf that his mother had knitted for him before she passed. He happily began wearing the scarf around the village, treating it as a precious memento. Naruto attempted to discuss his new-found attention to Hinata over ramen, but it made her uncomfortable and ran away with embarrassment, much to his confusion and leading him to chase after her. While looking for her, Naruto stumbled across a horde of puppets trying to abduct Hinata. After he rescued her, they were notified that Hinata's sister Hanabi was kidnapped by Toneri Ōtsutsuki, and were assigned on a team to rescue her.

Kakashi informed the team of the imminent crashing of the moon onto the Earth, and asked that they do what they can to stop it in case Toneri was connected in any way. They followed Hanabi's trail and were led into a cave. While travelling through it, they were caught in genjutsu formed from their own memories. From seeing events of his own past and some of Hinata's, Naruto was reminded of her feelings for him and realised that he felt the same way. Sakura released them from the genjutsu and they continued with the mission. After the team encountered the Gatekeeper, Naruto noticed that Hinata was missing and left to find her, only to discover that she was in a conversation with a disguised Toneri who he quickly defeated. Hinata wouldn't share what she discussed with the puppet, so Naruto vowed not to let her out of his sight again. They continued through the cave and eventually arrived in the moon's interior, which the team then split up to investigate the surrounding settlement.

After the team regrouped, Naruto watched Hinata as she repaired her ruined scarf. She expressed her concerns that she wasn't doing enough to save her sister, so Naruto reassured her and also told her how he felt. Toneri appeared before she could respond, prompting Hinata to give Naruto the scarf and departed with Toneri. Naruto chased after them, believing Hinata was being taken against her will. When Hinata did not deny Toneri's statement about them getting married, Naruto became too shocked to react. Toneri attacked him, destroying the scarf and leaving him badly injured. After three days of around-the-clock medical attention from Sakura, he woke up. Naruto was distraught, believing there was no reason to go on if Hinata had chosen Toneri. Sakura reassured him that Hinata couldn't really have feelings for Toneri as she loved Naruto too much, and had a reason for doing what she did. As his strength returned, Naruto vowed he would save Hinata and for her to wait for him.

The team soon infiltrated Toneri's castle and after locating Hinata, Naruto went after her while the others rescued Hanabi. He arrived in time to interrupt Toneri's and Hinata's wedding ceremony. Toneri, who was controlling Hinata, had her attack Naruto, only for him to break his control and escape with her. Hinata lead him to the Tenseigan that was controlling the moon's decent, which they individually tried to destroy to no success, but together they succeeded. Regrouping with the others, Sakura handed over the remains of the scarf Hinata knitted for Naruto, which he graciously accepted. The team then attempted to flee the castle, but a furious Toneri appeared and separated the group, which gave him the opportunity to recapture Hinata. During their intense fight, Naruto managed to overcome Toneri's new power and overwhelm him by concentrating all his chakra into his fist and defeated him with a single punch, freeing Hinata in the process.

Toneri tried one final attack, but was unable to control its power, leading to Naruto to intervene and save him from drifting out into space. Afterwards, Hinata informed Toneri of Hamura's actual decree and he, regretful about what he did, allowed the team to return home. As they were returning to Earth, Naruto reaffirmed his feelings for Hinata and stated that he wanted to be with her for the rest of his life, much to her happiness, and the two later shared their first kiss.

Soon afterwards, Naruto and Hinata started dating. On one such occasion, he took her out to lunch at a restaurant, but became worried that he didn't have enough money after seeing the prices. Seeing Naruto so nervous, Hinata picked up on this with her Byakugan. Deciding to spare his feelings by hiding her knowledge of his money shortage, she suggested that they should go for a simple meal at Ichiraku, which Naruto eagerly agreed to.

Sakura Hiden: Thoughts of Love, Riding Upon a Spring Breeze
While wandering around Konoha one day, Sakura found Naruto teaching a class of Academy students how to spar. Sensing that she needed a distraction, Naruto insisted that she help him, which took her mind off recent events. As thanks, Sakura informed Naruto of something she avoided telling him: there were rumours that Sasuke was trying to destroy Konoha. She didn't believe the rumours were true, but nobody had been able to get in touch with Sasuke to confirm. Naruto pointed out that Sasuke must not be worried by these rumours, otherwise he would respond to the messages he'd been sent. Sakura thought that was a good point and was put at ease.

Konoha Hiden: The Perfect Day for a Wedding
Only a few months after the mission to the moon, Naruto and Hinata decided to get married. They invited their friends and family from Konoha and the other shinobi villages. Because his parents were dead, Naruto asked Iruka to attend as his father, which Iruka happily agreed to. On the day of their wedding, though, Naruto kept his real father in his thoughts, looking upon Minato's face on the Hokage Rock with admiration as he and Hinata were about to walk down the aisle.

Sasuke Shinden: Book of Sunrise
Naruto appears in the novel.

Epilogue
Eventually, Naruto and Hinata had two children, a son named Boruto and a daughter named Himawari. One winter morning, his children rushed to greet him while he was training outside, excitedly asking him to play with them. As they started a snowball fight, Hinata happily decided to join in, to which Naruto warned his children that when their mother got serious, she was incredibly strong.

Several years later, Kakashi decided to step down and selected Naruto to be the Seventh Hokage. On the day of his inauguration, Naruto got caught in a fight between Boruto and Himawari, the latter's panda toy having been destroyed by the former. Naruto stepped in to defend Boruto from Himawari's Gentle Fist-strike and took the blow instead, rendering him unconscious. He ended up missing his own inauguration, forcing Konohamaru to impersonate him during the ceremony.

Despite the technological advances since the end of the Fourth Shinobi World War and the new-found peace amongst the villages, the Hokage office still came with a heavy workload. One such issue was Sasuke's report that a threat greater than Kaguya Ōtsutsuki may still exist somewhere, which Naruto and the other Kage decided to keep the information between themselves to avoid causing a panic. Boruto was upset that his father's busy schedule was frequently keeping him from spending time with the family, and when he did, it was often only a shadow clone. As such, Boruto developed the habit of pulling pranks around the village to try and gain his father's attention, a desire that Naruto understood, but that he couldn't do anything about.

Naruto Gaiden: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring
As Boruto's graduation exam from the Academy was approaching, Naruto used a shadow clone to help him train. Meanwhile, the real Naruto received a report from Sasuke about a boy with the Sharingan. After he consulted with Kakashi about it, Naruto decided to accompany Sasuke to a meeting with Orochimaru, leaving behind a shadow clone to manage Konoha in his absence. He made a point to leave the village before Boruto could come to see him off, though he asked Shikamaru to apologise to Boruto on his behalf.

While on his way to the rendezvous point, Naruto sensed that he was being followed by Sarada - Sasuke's daughter - and Chōchō - Chōji's daughter. He initially tried to ignore them, but eventually decided it would be better to confront them than to let them continue coming after him. When he arrived to speak with them, however, he found them being attacked by the same boy from Sasuke's report. Although he was pleased that they were able to hold their own against their attacker, Naruto decided to get personally involved when he saw the boy had a Mangekyō Sharingan. The boy could do nothing against Naruto's Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, so he fled with a creature's space–time ninjutsu. Because the boy was apparently after Sarada, Naruto allowed them to come with him so that he could keep them safe.

While having lunch, Naruto told Sarada and Chōchō about what their fathers were like growing up and in what ways they take after them. Sarada was not only interested to hear about Sasuke, but also found she got along quite well with Naruto. As they got close to where they were supposed to meet up with Sasuke, Sarada snuck away from Naruto and Chōchō so that she could see him first. Naruto followed and, on arrival, was reprimanded by Sasuke for bringing children with him. Sarada explained that she came without permission as she wanted to know if Sakura was her real mother. Sasuke ignored the question, which only upset her and caused her to storm out. Naruto tried to comfort her, but his assurances that Sasuke meant well did not improve her mood. Before he could continue, he sensed the boy's return and defended Sarada as the boy and his father, Shin Uchiha, attack.

Sasuke assisted in fighting off Shin and his son, but Shin was able to manipulate Sasuke's sword and used it to stab Naruto. Naruto continued attacking Shin despite his injury, though tried to use being impaled by the sword to win sympathy; Kurama ridiculed Naruto for allowing himself to be stabbed at all, but assured him that it wouldn't kill him. Sakura suddenly arrived to lend assistance and landed a fatal blow on Shin, forcing Shin to escape and took Sakura with him. Unable to detect where Shin had taken Sakura, they continued to Orochimaru's lair. Orochimaru informed them that Shin was an old experiment of his that he since lost control of. Naruto noticed Sarada sneaking off with Suigetsu during Orochimaru's explanation and followed them, listening in as Suigetsu ran a DNA test that suggested Sarada's real mother was actually Karin.

Not knowing what the truth was, Naruto was upset first with Sasuke for the secret he was seemingly been keeping, but also with Suigetsu for getting involved. He approached Sarada to discuss it with her, but she lashed out at him, believing he had been a knowing participant in the lie that Sakura was her mother. When she tried to insist that having no blood relation to Sakura meant they weren't family, Naruto took a firm stance: he wasn't related to most of Konoha's villagers, yet he still considered them his family because they were important to him. In the same way, Sakura and Sarada were family because they were important to each other. Sarada realised how much she loved Sakura and decided she wanted to help rescue her. They reunited with the others and head out for Shin's hideout.

Using Sasuke's Rinnegan, they were able to reach where Shin took Sakura, only to find Sakura faring fine on her own fighting him. With the numbers against him growing, Shin called in his sons (actually his clones) to assist, but they turned against him and killed him because he always mistreated them. The clones then turned their attentions to Naruto and the others, which Naruto engaged with his own shadow clones. Because they were only children, he frightened them into surrendering by manifesting Kurama. Sarada reconciled with her parents and they all returned to Konoha, with Shin's clones being delivered to the Konoha Orphanage.

Boruto: Naruto the Movie
Several months later, Naruto remained busy with his Hokage duties and continued having a strained relationship with his son, Boruto. Konoha has grown into a large city under Naruto's leadership, although Naruto is overwhelmed with the responsibilities of being Hokage, leading him to create shadow clones to tend to his family and the villagers. When Boruto and his team report to Naruto after a mission, Naruto asked his son to address him as "the Seventh" instead of "Dad," and reminded him the importance of teamwork, which annoyed his son, as he believed that he could handle anything on his own. Boruto warned his father to be home for Himawari's birthday party or else he will never forgive him. Katasuke then entered his office, requesting permission from Naruto to allow participants of the upcoming Chūnin Exams to use his new invention, the Kote. However Naruto refused on the grounds that it did not show one's true abilities a shinobi. Naruto was unable to make it to his daughter's birthday party and sent a shadow clone instead. However, the clone ended up disappearing and dropping the cake when Naruto became fatigued, which enraged Boruto and caused him to throw Naruto's old, tattered jacket out the window. Naruto felt guilty for letting his family down and Shikamaru told him to go home and rest. The jacket was found by Sasuke, who returned to Konoha to ask for help in deciphering a scroll he found in Kaguya's abandoned castle. They met in Naruto's office where Sasuke mentioned his meeting with Boruto and this leads to them making a bet on whether the nature of a shinobi has changed in regards to Boruto, to which Sasuke says it hasn't and Naruto says it has.

Naruto wasn't surprised when Boruto won the first test but after being advised by Shikamaru to reach out to Boruto, Naruto congratulated him via email, much to Boruto's annoyance. While the scroll was being deciphered, Naruto sent a clone to meet up with Sasuke and asked him if it was true that he was training Boruto. Naruto said that perhaps Sasuke was right in regards to the nature of shinobi remaining the same, to which Sasuke agrees. Naruto was nervous on the outcome of the second test but after learning Boruto passed, Naruto was overjoyed. Later, he met with Boruto in his bedroom and personally congratulated him and told him not to lose against Shikadai. Naruto offered a fist bump, but Boruto only smiled as he didn't want his father to discover the Kote he was wearing. For the third test, Naruto chose to sit with Hinata and Himawari rather than with the other Kage as they watched Boruto fight in the third round and finally against Shikadai Nara. Near the end, Naruto suspected something was wrong after it appeared Boruto won. He asked Hinata to use her Byakugan and she noticed Boruto wearing a Kote. Naruto then realised that Boruto used a Kote to produce several shadow clones in order to win the battle. Disappointed, Naruto confronted him in the arena, ordered that Shikadai be declared as the winner and took Boruto's forehead protector from him. He told Boruto they would talk about this at home, but Boruto lashed out at him that Naruto doesn't know how give him a lecture when he's never home. Suddenly, Momoshiki and Kinshiki Ōtsutsuki appear and began attacking the arena. Naruto is knocked out of the arena by Momoshiki but he rushes back to defend his son when he is in danger and is shortly joined by Sasuke and Sarada. Sasuke informed Naruto that the two enemies are the new threat written about in the scroll. Naruto realises he is their target and demands to know what they want. After Momoshiki reveals he wanted Kaguya's chakra, and eventually Kurama's from the Seventh Hokage, Naruto and Sasuke combine Kurama and Susanoo to shield themselves and their children from the enemies' attacks. Naruto also dispatches shadow clones to protect civilians that hadn't managed to flee from the arena. Determined to protect his son and friends, Naruto ultimately decides to allow himself to be captured in Momoshiki's jutsu and asks Sasuke to take care of Boruto for him. Just before Naruto disappears, he looks over his shoulder and offers his son one last smile.

Naruto was teleported to another dimension and bound by Momoshiki and Kinshiki to a tree similar to the God Tree. Naruto resisted as Momoshiki attempted to extract Kurama from inside Naruto and it was not long before Sasuke, Boruto, and the other Kage arrived to rescue him. Naruto, surprised to see Boruto wearing his old jacket, told his son that it was like looking at one of his shadow clones. When he tried to apologise to Boruto for not being there for him, Boruto replied that it was alright and he just wants to hear more about Naruto's past. After the other Kage failed to defeat Kinshiki, and the latter was absorbed by Momoshiki, Naruto and Sasuke joined forces to fight him and initially gained the upper hand until Naruto was briefly imprisoned by boulders and Sasuke was severely burned by Momoshiki's Lava Chakra. Naruto became enraged upon seeing Sasuke injured but was relieved to find he was all right and still able to fight after being healed by Kurama's chakra. By once again combining Kurama and Susanoo, they managed to defeat Momoshiki and cut his lava creature in half, but Katasuke rushed in and began firing ninjutsu attacks from his Kote at Momoshiki, which he absorbed and used to attack Naruto and the others. Naruto is restrained by black rods while Momoshiki prepares to eliminate the rest of the Kage. When Boruto used his Vanishing Rasengan against Momoshiki to free his father and the other Kage, Naruto was greatly surprised to find that his son was able to use the Rasengan. As they prepare their final assault, Naruto helps Boruto to create a Parent and Child Rasengan, which Boruto himself unleashes upon Momoshiki and ultimately kills him. After the battle ends, Naruto sits with Sasuke and Naruto agrees Sasuke won their bet. Naruto proudly looked on at his son and stated that he would always be there to watch Boruto grow as his father.

After returning home, Naruto posed for a photograph with Boruto, Sasuke, and the four other Kage. One morning, as Boruto left to meet with his team and Naruto left to go to work, both wished each other to do their best and bumped fists with each other. While Boruto was giving his interview, Naruto could be seen watching him on the television in his office.

Video Games
As the main character of the series, Naruto is a playable character in every Naruto video game. As the series has progressed, Naruto has become playable in various forms, often with different move-sets for each. New video game-exclusive forms are also available at times, such as a version of Naruto wearing Might Guy's jump suit, Naruto from Shippū! Konoha Gakuen Den!, and "Mecha-Naruto".

Live Spectacle Naruto
Koudai Matsuoka plays as Naruto in this stage play adaption.

Creation and Conception
When creating Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto incorporated into the character a number of traits he felt made an ideal hero: a straightforward way of thinking, a mischievous side, and many of the attributes possessed by Son Gokū from the Dragon Ball franchise. He also made sure to keep Naruto "simple and stupid," since he does not like smart characters. Naruto himself is not modelled after anyone in particular, being conceived as childlike, with something of a dark side as a result of his harsh past. Despite this, he is always positive, making him unique in Kishimoto's eyes.

Naruto's wardrobe is based on clothing Kishimoto wore when he was younger; according to Kishimoto, using a pre-existing design would not have made Naruto unique, whereas something original would have made him stand out too much. The orange colouring of his costume is used to make Naruto "pop", with blues often being used to complement the orange. Because Naruto is associated with spirals, swirl patterns are incorporated into his costume. Initial illustrations of Naruto had him wearing boots, but Kishimoto substituted these for sandals, because he likes drawing toes. The goggles that Naruto used to wear were also replaced with a forehead protector, because the goggles themselves were too time-consuming to draw. Kishimoto said that he felt glad that his character had blond hair and blue eyes. The editor of Shōnen Jump in the United States added that Kishimoto implied that the traits may have led the character to appeal to a Western audience. Kishimoto said that he most identifies with Naruto out of all of the Naruto characters (in an interview with the U.S. Shōnen Jump, Kishimoto stated that his childhood was like that of Naruto's years while he was enrolled in the Academy).

In the Japanese versions of Naruto, Naruto often ends his sentences with the addendum "-ttebayo" (which gives a similar effect to ending a sentence with "you know?"). Kishimoto wanted to give Naruto a childlike catchphrase, and "dattebayo" came to mind. It complemented Naruto's character, and served as a verbal tic that showed him to be something of a brat. Throughout the beginning of the English, the dub replaced "dattebayo" and "-ttebayo" with the phrase "believe it!" to mirror the effect, as well as to match the character's lip movements.

Trivia

 * Spiral patterns are a recurring theme in Naruto, especially in relation to the character of Naruto Uzumaki himself. The name "Naruto" is short for, a kind of kamaboko with a pink spiral design in the middle that is used as a topping for ramen, which is Naruto's favourite food. His family name "Uzumaki" can mean "whirlpool" or "maelstrom". His full name is also a reference to the , named after the city in the Tokushima Prefecture in Japan. In addition, Naruto's mother, Kushina Uzumaki, is a relative to the Uzumaki clan from Uzushiogakure in the Land of Whirlpools, who used the spiral pattern as both their clan and village symbol.
 * According to the databook(s):
 * Naruto's hobbies are pulling pranks and watering plants.
 * Naruto wishes to fight Sasuke Uchiha, the Third Hokage, and members of Akatsuki.
 * Naruto's favourite foods are Ichiraku ramen and red bean soup. His least favourite are fresh vegetables.
 * Naruto has completed 16 official missions in total: 7 D-rank, 1 C-rank, 2 B-rank, 6 A-rank, 0 S-rank.
 * Naruto's favourite phrase is.
 * October 10, Naruto's birthday, was Health and Sports Day in Japan when his character was conceived. The holiday, however, was later moved to the second Monday of October in 1999.
 * Naruto consistently ranked in the top two (taking first place twice) in the first five official Shōnen Jump character popularity polls. However, in the sixth character poll, he was ranked fourth. According to the third databook character poll, which adds up all the votes from the first six polls, Naruto took second place. In the most recent poll, Naruto regained his status and reached first.
 * Naruto is one of four characters to have always stayed in the top ten of every character popularity poll.
 * Naruto is the fourth known jinchūriki known to have survived the extraction of a tailed beast, along with Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki, Kushina Uzumaki, and Obito Uchiha.
 * Naruto is the third known jinchūriki to have become a Kage during their lifetime after Yagura and Gaara.
 * Naruto's mother was nicknamed the "Red Hot-Blooded Habanero" while his father was famed as the "Yellow Flash". Naruto's appropriate self-styled title of "Konoha's Orange Hokage" refers to the fact that the colour orange is a mixture of red and yellow.
 * When Naruto first became a genin, while using his Sexy Technique, his settei reveals that he is 160cm tall.
 * Kishimoto's various concept art of Naruto for The Last: Naruto the Movie showed that his height had gone through various changes: first 170cm, then 173cm, and finally 180cm.
 * Despite Naruto being a user of the Truth-Seeking Balls and gaining Hagoromo's power, both of which contain Yin-Yang Release, Yin Release is not listed as one of his natures in the fourth databook.
 * Eiichiro Oda, author of One Piece, stated that his character Sanji's name was originally going to be Naruto, but changed it because Naruto series was about to become serialised and wanted to avoid confusion.
 * Naruto makes an undetailed background appearance on the cover page of the 766th chapter of One Piece, where the person behind Nami (who is wearing a changpao with the Konoha symbol) is implied to be Naruto. Also, both main characters are seen eating each others' respective favourite foods, as Naruto is eating meat, and Monkey D. Luffy is eating ramen. Additionally, this chapter was released on the same week as the release of the final two Naruto manga chapters.
 * In the 700th chapter of the Naruto manga, the symbol of the Straw Hat Pirates appears on the forehead protector of Naruto's statue as part of Boruto's graffiti.
 * While Naruto was initially the shortest of the Konoha 11, he ultimately becomes taller than all of them.
 * In the original manga pilot, Naruto was actually a demon fox and lived his life as a human boy.

Quotes

 * (To Kakashi) "And my future dream is to be the greatest Hokage! Then the whole village will stop disrespecting me and start treating me like I'm somebody. Somebody important!"
 * (To Ibiki) "Don't underestimate me! I don't quit and I don't run! You can act tough all you want! You're not gonna scare me off! No way! I don't care if I do get stuck as a genin for the rest of my life! I'll still be Hokage someday!"
 * (To Neji) "I'm not gonna run away, I never go back on my word! That's my nindō: my ninja way!"
 * (To Gaara) "It's almost unbearable, isn't it… the pain of being all alone. I know that feeling; I've been there, in that dark and lonely place, but now there are others, other people who mean a lot to me. I care more about them than I do myself, and I won't let anyone hurt them. That's why I'll never give up. I will stop you, even if I have to kill you! They saved me from myself. They rescued me from my loneliness. They were the first to accept me as who I am. They're my friends."
 * (To Pain) "Just give up… on trying to make me give up!"
 * (To Nagato, reciting a line from Jiraiya's first book) "Then I will break that curse. If there's such thing as peace, I will find it. I won't give up!"
 * (To Sasuke) "If you attack Konoha, I will have to fight you… So save up your hatred and take it all on me, I'm the only one who can take it! It's the only thing I can do! I will shoulder your hatred and die with you! Because I'm your friend!"
 * (To his mother) "Don't apologise… I had a lot of hard times growing up as a jinchūriki, but I never blamed you or Dad. I couldn't understand what a parent's love was like because you guys were never there… so I could only guess… But now I know… I live because you and Dad gave your lives for me and filled me up with love before the Nine-Tails was inside me! So here I am, happy and healthy! I'm glad I ended up being your son!"
 * (To Kurama) "You're not the monster fox anymore. You're one of my team-mates from Konoha… Kurama."
 * (To Obito) "Quit it with your stupid reasoning! I meant to say that I'll stand any pain for my friends!! I'm not gonna give up on them!! It might just be me being selfish, but… not having my friends here… is the most painful thing for me!! Period!!!!"
 * (About Hinata) "Hinata… This big idiot finally understands… The real meaning of the scarf you gave to me when you went with Toneri… I know now, from the scarf you painstakingly knitted and took so long to finish, that your love can't be unravelled so easily… Wait for me… This whole time, you always loved me for the way I am… Now, as a man, there's something I must tell you… Hinata, I swear I will save you!"
 * (To Hinata) "Hinata… Do you remember that lesson in class? The one with, "If the end of the world came, who would you spend your last day with?" I couldn't write anyone's name down. I didn't know my parents, and I didn't have any friends… But now, I know exactly whom I'd choose. I want to be with you. Now and forever, until I die… I want to be with you, and only you, Hinata!"
 * (To his son) "Boruto… with what I do now, all the people in this village are like a family. So there will be times that you won't be able to have me as a father all to yourself. I know this must be hard for you… but you must learn to endure it. You're a shinobi too, aren't you?"