Naruto Uzumaki

is the title character and main protagonist of the series: Naruto. He is a genin from Konohagakure, a member of Team Kakashi, and the third and current jinchūriki of Kurama — the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox.

Background
Naruto was born as the son of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, and Kurama's second jinchūriki, Kushina Uzumaki. Naruto's parents named him after the main character of Jiraiya's first book, thus making the Sannin his godfather.

Prior to Naruto's birth, his parents and the Third Hokage knew that the seal that kept Kurama within Kushina would be in danger of breaking during childbirth. To prevent that threat Kushina was taken a short distance outside of the village to give birth in a secure, secret location with Biwako Sarutobi and Taji as her midwives, a few ANBU as security, and Minato to keep the seal in place. However, immediately after Kushina gave birth, Tobi appeared and took Naruto hostage, demanding that Minato step away from Kushina or he would kill the newborn child. He then used a clever diversion that forced Minato to transport the baby to a safer location, allowing him to escape with Kushina. By the time Minato could intervene, Tobi had already succeeded in releasing Kurama.

Fortunately, Kushina (who survived the extraction thanks to her strong vitality) was saved by Minato and brought to Naruto, leaving the weakened mother to care for the sleeping Naruto while Minato went to combat Tobi. To save the village, Minato sacrificed his life to seal Kurama within Naruto, believing that his son would someday have need of the beast's power to defeat Tobi. Suddenly orphaned, Naruto was left to grow up knowing nothing of his parents, receiving only his mother's last name because the Third Hokage thought that it was best that nobody knew that he was related to the Fourth Hokage.

Before Minato died, he asked that the villagers of Konoha view Naruto as a hero who had helped defeat Kurama. However, only a few of the villagers honoured his request, while most instead resented him for containing the fox that had destroyed their home. In light of this, the Third Hokage decreed that nobody should ever speak of the truth about Naruto, hoping that by doing this, their children would not resent him as they did. The children, however, followed their parents' lead, despite not knowing why. Apart from the Third Hokage, Iruka Umino was the only one who acted as a surrogate family to the young Naruto along with the owner of Ramen Ichiraku: Teuchi and his daughter Ayame to some extent.

When Naruto first met Sasuke Uchiha in the Academy, they were matched to spar against each other. Naruto was excited at the opportunity to defeat Sasuke and become so popular like him, however he was easily beaten. By looking at Sasuke's eyes, Naruto realised that they were filled with hatred. When Iruka told them to make the reconciliation seal, they both refused. Then, Naruto became determined to beat Sasuke, making him his rival. When Naruto 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. Still, Naruto wished that, someday, Sasuke would acknowledge him as an equal.

Personality
Naruto is most prominently characterised as being exuberant, brash, inattentive, and heedless to formality or social standings. He inherited his catch-phrase from his mother, who would say  when excited or frustrated. Naruto has a number of childish traits, like keeping his money in a chubby, green-frog wallet he affectionately calls "Gama-chan", being a picky eater (he almost exclusively eats ramen and is a frequent customer at the Ramen Ichiraku), and being afraid of ghosts. He is also somewhat perverted, something he tends to be reprimanded for by Sakura Haruno as well as Iruka, but has only become even more so after meeting Jiraiya, causing many to say that Jiraiya raised a perfect replica of himself. However, whenever someone dear to him is in trouble or the situation calls for it, Naruto can be very serious, and will instantly try to come to their aid. According to Kakashi, Naruto learns through his body, as he is relatively naive, simple, and being slow to understand a principle or situation, which often requires an oversimplified analogy in order to grasp what is being explained to him. Overall, Naruto responds best to competition and possesses a great degree of confidence in himself, loudly proclaiming that he will master whatever technique he is learning within a fraction of the usual time, though he will not hesitate to ask for help if he needs it.

Due to the prejudice and loneliness he suffered in his childhood, Naruto developed a craving for acknowledgement. In order to achieve this, Naruto would pull pranks all around the village and even going far as strive for the title of Hokage. Even after graduating from the academy, Naruto was still determined to be recognised, but as he made more and more connections with others, his reasons for wanting to become Hokage underwent a change, having less to do with the desire for recognition, and more to do with wanting the strength to protect his home and the people close to him. As noted by Tobi, Naruto is a fervent believer in the Will of Fire, likening him to Hashirama Senju in this respect. Naruto's unstoppable determination and drive strongly impacts the lives of those around him, even his enemies had been affected by his empathy. Both Kakashi and Temari had referred to Naruto's amazing charisma as a "unique power" that allows him to change the worldly views of others. Son Gokū also thought of him as an open and honest person. Like Guy and Rock Lee, when Naruto makes a promise, he assumes the "nice guy pose".

Sasuke's defection shook Naruto to his core, but he never wavered in his resolve to bring him back to Konoha. When his teacher Jiraiya was killed in battle by Akatsuki leader Pain, he vowed vengeance against the man and left Konoha for a time to train in senjutsu. Upon returning home after Pain destroyed the village, and succumbing to rage he met and spoke with his father, Minato Namikaze, who explained to him the cycle of hatred and entrusted him with the duty of saving the ninja world from its hate. After listening to Nagato's story of how hatred can shape a person and the world into darkness, Naruto vowed he would end the cycle of hatred and bring peace to the ninja world. This decision however would come in direct opposition in his quest to bring Sasuke home, something that at first distressed him deeply. However after meeting again in the Land of Iron, Naruto resolved that if he had to he would fight and potentially kill his friend to end the cycle of hatred and save Sasuke from despair, even if it costs him his own life to do so.

When he discovered that the Fourth Shinobi World War had started, Naruto made it his mission to end the war all by himself, so no one else would suffer. He continued to do so until his battle with the reanimated Nagato and Itachi Uchiha. After the fight, even though Itachi acknowledged Naruto that he had become stronger, he explained to Naruto that if he continued to believe that he could do everything alone, he would become arrogant like Madara. Itachi also said that if Naruto were to become Hokage, he should never forget his friends or do everything on his own.

Dark Naruto
After Killer B refused to train Naruto, Motoi guided Naruto and Yamato to the Falls of Truth, the place where B trained to control Gyūki's power. He instructed Naruto to sit on a platform and close his eyes. Soon after,, the manifestation of hatred that existed within Naruto's heart, appeared, berating Naruto for how quickly the people from Konoha changed their ideals about him. Dark Naruto exclaimed that Kurama liked him better and he was the real Naruto while Naruto was an imposter. They started to fight, but after a while, Naruto realised that they both had the same techniques, skills, and tactics. As a result, their fight was a draw and Naruto mentioned that if they continued like this, it would take a very long time to settle it.

He appeared once again after Naruto returned to the Falls of Truth. Instead of fighting, Naruto projected an image from his mind of his autograph signature that he was unable to give to the Konoha shinobi. This angered Dark Naruto, pointing out to Naruto that those people were part of the same villagers who made him suffer as an outcast, telling him that he shouldn't trust them. However, Naruto stated that he trusted the villagers because they were important to him, but what was also important was that he needed to have faith in himself, so he would have the strength to live up to the villagers' trust in him. Naruto's statement started to weaken Dark Naruto, then forcing him to ask what was the reason for his existence. Naruto stated that Dark Naruto was really him and thanked Dark Naruto for pushing him to be the person he was now. He hugged Dark Naruto when the latter tried to attack him, telling Dark Naruto that it was all going to be alright. Letting go of his own anger at their past, Dark Naruto's eyes lightened as he gave into Naruto's words, and disappeared.

Later, when Naruto entered his subconscious, Kurama expressed surprise as it could no longer sense any hatred within Naruto, and questioned Naruto about where the "real him" was, to which Naruto replied that the real him was right in front of it.

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 his eyes and face. During the Fourth Shinobi World War, Dan Katō initially mistakes him for Nawaki due to their stark resemblance as well. Naruto's most prominent physical characteristics, however, are the whisker marks on his face that he gained from Kurama's influence on him while he was in Kushina's womb. Probably Naruto's most regularly mentioned trait before the second half of the series (which easily provoked him) was his short stature for his age. After the time skip, he had a noticeably significant growth spurt which made him taller than his team-mate, Sakura.

In Part I, Naruto's outfit consisted of an orange tracksuit with blue on the upper shoulders area as well as around the waist, a white swirl with a tassel on the left side, a red swirl on the back, a large white collar, orange pants, blue sandals, and a blue forehead protector that was given to him by Iruka after he graduated from the Academy.

In Part II, Naruto's outfit undergoes modification after being worn to shreds during his training with Jiraiya. The outfit retains the orange colour as well as the white (without the tassel) and red swirls, but the jacket is much more form fitting with the blue parts changed to black and the colour extending from around the neck and shoulders, down the front and sleeves. The forehead protector has also changed with Naruto moving the metal portion to a new longer black bandanna and he wears black sandals instead of blue. During his battle with Pain, Naruto briefly sported a short-sleeved red coat with a black flame pattern along the hemline. He also carried a large summoning scroll on his back.

When he enters his Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, his body is covered in a yellow shroud of chakra, upon which his seal is clearly visible. He also gains a necklace of magatama around his neck. Finally his hair spikes up, with the two endmost locks resembling horns. After he and Kurama melded their chakra, his appearance changed once again. The shroud splits down the middle and opens up into a cloak that has a tattered appearance. The previously smaller 'horns' grow out larger, and his whisker marks become thicker. Underneath the 'coat', the magatama are still visible and he gains a new set around the 'collar' of the coat. Underneath this his seal changes once again opening out into circles instead of swirls. He also gains seals on his hands and feet. The cloak also has nine, tail-like appendages formed from the cloak and flowing from it with lines running down the middle of each.

Abilities
At the start of the series, one of the only techniques Naruto could do without fail was the Transformation Technique, and his own original variant of the technique called the Sexy Technique; a creative but almost completely useless diversionary technique. Throughout Part I he learns a number of short-range techniques, which are expanded upon during his two-and-a-half years of training with Jiraiya. Naruto also improves his knowledge of other ninja skills while under Jiraiya's tutelage, using more taijutsu and ninja tools than he did in Part I. He also learned how to dispel genjutsu and despite his limited skill with it he was able to resist being put to sleep by Itachi Uchiha. During Part II, he starts to master longer-range techniques, such as the Wind Release: Rasenshuriken, Mini-Rasenshuriken, chakra arms, and Tailed Beast Ball.

In Part I, Naruto was regularly noted to have a great deal of potential. When Orochimaru saw him defeat Kabuto, he tried to kill Naruto for fear of what he would become. Much of this potential manifests itself during Part II, regularly proving himself a match for the S-rank members of Akatsuki. His victory over the Six Paths of Pain has earned him great accolade in the ninja world: Konoha villagers now even believe he is Hokage-material after they hear about it, and Zetsu, after seeing the battle, suggests Naruto has become stronger than Sasuke, who also showed similar improvement against Akatsuki members. As another testament to his power, Naruto earned the acknowledgement of the revived Madara Uchiha, who was considered one of the most powerful shinobi in history, second only to Hashirama Senju after stopping one of the Uchiha's strongest attacks. With further training and control of Kurama's power, he is even able to fight on a comparable level against Kage of both the previous and current generation on the battlefield. After forming an alliance with Kurama, he could fight Tobi's fully transformed tailed beasts and overwhelm them, ultimately freeing them from his control all at once.

Being a descendant of the Uzumaki clan, Naruto inherited an incredibly strong life-force. This gives him extraordinary stamina and vitality, and by extension, an equally long lifespan. Despite his young age, Naruto has been repeatedly noted to have a massive chakra reserve, to which Kakashi, who also has a large reserve of chakra, estimated it to be at least four times greater than his own. His chakra was described by Karin to be warm and bright, the exact opposite of Sasuke. He apparently has some knowledge on fūinjutsu, as he knew how to use the seal's key after receiving Gerotora, and resealed Kurama after he separated it from its chakra. Jiraiya had left Naruto with the key to help him complete an as of yet unknown technique which he, Naruto, and Minato have been working on, but never finished. Naruto stated that he was ready to complete it.

Jinchūriki Transformations
As Kurama's jinchūriki, Naruto's already considerable chakra reserve is greatly enhanced to enormous levels, to which Kakashi estimated it to be a hundred times greater than his own when its influence is not suppressed. It also gives Naruto accelerated healing (recovering from minor injuries within seconds and major injuries within a day). Also, depending on the amount of Kurama's chakra he's using, Naruto is given an increase in strength, speed, and his healing factor are pushed to such levels that he completely recovered from a Chidori through his chest in mere seconds with no signs left. At times, he is also granted a fox-shaped chakra shroud with massive invulnerability, being able to resist being pierced by Orochimaru's Sword of Kusanagi, a sword known as being able to cut through adamantine, and is completely undamaged by the alkali substance excreted by Saiken, which was able to damage Gyūki and disintegrate its surroundings rapidly.

The seal had allowed a small amount of Kurama's chakra to always mix with Naruto's own. In Part I, Jiraiya once stated that Naruto's body was much too small a vessel to properly contain Kurama's chakra, and his body would instinctively reject the bulk of it due to the damage it could cause. Ebisu also implied that Naruto's poor chakra control stemmed from this, as a portion of his chakra was used in attempt to suppress Kurama's own overwhelming chakra.

Kurama's chakra first came to Naruto during life-threatening situations, given to him by the fox itself to ensure its survival, but after training with Jiraiya, Naruto learned how to contact Kurama and demand some of its chakra. Alternatively, Naruto could give into his anger or frustration, allowing Kurama to force its influence upon him. Depending on how much he gained, Kurama's influence within its chakra could make Naruto lose control of his senses, devolving into an animal that attacks anything within reach, as well as damaging his own body, slowly shortening his lifespan. Although a number of methods had been devised to break its influence over Naruto (Jiraiya's seal tag, and Yamato's Hokage-Style Sixty-Year-Old Technique — Kakuan Entering Society with Bliss-Bringing Hands, which was facilitated by Hashirama Senju's necklace Naruto wore before its destruction), Naruto simply limited his use of Kurama's chakra, and tried not to allow his anger get the best of him, but he eventually attempted to exercise more control over it.

The Nine-Tails Chakra Mode is a form that Naruto gained after he separated and sealed Kurama from its chakra. He could access its chakra directly whenever he needed it without interacting with the fox at all. In doing so, he gained a chakra shroud that resembles the Sage of the Six Paths' silhouette. This form's chakra shroud also gave Naruto a great deal of protection, but he noted that it would have been dangerous, and the fight would have been over, if A had got a clean hit on him. Like his predecessor, Mito Uzumaki, Naruto also gains Kurama's ability to sense negative emotions, even while he was inside a chakra isolation chamber within the Falls of Truth; something that not even the best sensor-type ninja can do. The power of his techniques become so great that unless they already have some inherent durability, like the Third Raikage, reincarnated shinobi have a hard time regenerating. He had shown to stay in this form for an entire night and most of the morning during the Fourth Shinobi World War, much longer than that of Sage Mode.

Like Killer B and Gyūki, Naruto eventually reconciled with Kurama and has access to its full powers. When they meld their chakra together, he gains a new Nine-Tails Chakra Mode as well as the ability to create a tailed-beast cloak. In both forms, he has shown tremendous speed and power able to deflect multiple Tailed Beast Balls and take on several tailed beasts simultaneously. He is also able to use the Tailed Beast Ball himself. His skill with the Tailed Beast Ball is high enough that he could aim it perfectly at the bottom of the combined Tailed Beast Ball Tobi's controlled beasts made to send both flying into the air and explode. He could also use his tails as chakra arms, making a clone in each while in the initial Nine-Tails Chakra Mode to attack all at once.

Taijutsu
Naruto has always been at least passable in taijutsu, ever since the Academy where he received a B in that class. Throughout Part I, his taijutsu slowly improved, where it was first showcased in his battle with Kiba Inuzuka in the Chūnin Exams preliminaries where he was able to hold his own and avoid multiple slash attacks from Kiba and Akamaru's Four Legs Technique without the aid of his shadow clones. A testament to his skill with taijutsu was shown when Naruto was fighting against Neji Hyūga's Gentle Fist techniques in the Chūnin Exam finals, where he got into striking distance using only hand-to-hand combat. After the time skip, Naruto's taijutsu improved greatly under the tutelage of Jiraiya where he could hold his own in hand-to-hand against several shinobi skilled in taijutsu. Throughout the series, Naruto's taijutsu continually improved, eventually learning the Frog Kata style from Fukasaku. He was also able to react quickly enough to block Karui's sword with his elbow while she was slashing, then catch her blade when she tried a spinning slash, and even break it. In Sage Mode, he was able to beat the Deva Path twice in taijutsu, the first time sending it flying back with a roundhouse kick leaving it vulnerable to a Wind Release: Rasenshuriken, and the second time disarming it of its Chakra Disruption Blade and sending it crashing into a boulder with a single kick. After thinking he found a weakness in the Third Raikage's ultimate shield, Naruto used the Frog Kata style to avoid his Hell Stab when it was just one finger by sensing the chakra, before slamming a Rasengan right into the Raikage's elbow to send his Nukite slamming right into his chest. While in Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, he was also able to block several of A's immensely strong punches despite being intercepted several times.

On top of his taijutsu skills, Naruto has shown a high level of physical strength. During the Chūnin Exams, he stopped a charge from one of Orochimaru's giant snakes albeit while using Kurama's chakra. During his senjutsu training in Part II, he was able to budge one of the huge statues without using the special oil. After the training, he could shatter stone with his raw strength, as seen when he escaped from the petrified Preta Path after it absorbed too much of his senjutsu chakra. His strength is increased to such a point in Sage Mode where he can toss not only the Animal Path's Giant Rhino after stopping its charge, but Kurama itself. In Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, Naruto becomes strong enough to push a fully formed Tailed Beast Ball through a multiple layered barrier.

Naruto has also displayed impressive speed over the time skip as well. When confronting Sasuke after the Five Kage Summit, he saved Sakura from her own poisoned kunai which Sasuke wielded to stab her and received only a shallow cut in exchange. Naruto was then able to restrain Kakashi while charging up a Rasengan, meeting Sasuke's Chidori charge and equaling it. While in Sage Mode, Naruto's speed increases greatly to the point where he could intercept the Asura Path, which was using its chakra boots before Nagato could complete his sentence or attack Tsunade. He was even able to avoid the Third Raikage's Nukite at near point blank range and retaliate with a Rasengan after meeting his charge. Naruto's speed is at its greatest however, while in his Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, where Killer B even had trouble determining if he used the Body Flicker Technique when attacking Kisame Hoshigaki, who was hidden in Samehada. His speed in this form surpasses even that of A's while clad in his Lightning Release Armour as seen when he was able to dodge A's attack while he was clad in a full-powered lightning armour and using what he referred to as his fastest attack, something that only the Fourth Hokage had done in the past, with his Flying Thunder God Technique. His speed and strength seems to have increased again in his Tailed Beast Mode, using it to deflect multiple Tailed Beast Balls at point blank range, to the point where Kakashi mistook him for his sensei.

Shadow Clone Technique
Although Naruto had trouble with the Clone Technique at the start of the series, he quickly learned how to use jōnin-level techniques, like the Shadow Clone Technique and its large-scale version. The technique would become his first signature technique, one of the two foundations of his ninjutsu, and later, the base of his training skills. The Shadow Clone Technique takes advantage of the massive chakra reserve Naruto possesses due to him being Kurama's jinchūriki. Naruto is able to create upwards of a thousand clones, and retain a decent amount of chakra in each of them. Because of this, Naruto can use his shadow clones for virtually anything, from straight combat to speed training.

In the beginning, Naruto would create a multitude of clones to overwhelm his opponents. Other times, however, he would employ the use of the Transformation Technique to change the appearance of these clones to catch his target off guard. By Part II, Naruto learned that whatever his shadow clones learn, he, the main mind, would also learn. By using this, he is able to learn techniques that would usually take months or years in days, which speed up his training greatly. Naruto takes advantage of this often, using shadow clones to determine his opponents' abilities, to determine how many clones he will really need to defeat them instead of simply wasting chakra on thousands of clones.

Despite the risks of Naruto's chakra being drained faster by Kurama whenever he uses the Shadow Clone Technique while in Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, Naruto did use the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique to scatter throughout the battlefield, although he didn't create as many as he normally does.

Summoning Technique
Naruto was first taught how to use the Summoning Technique by Jiraiya. After allowing Naruto to sign the summoning contract with the toads of Mount Myōboku, Jiraiya took Naruto through the execution of the technique in order to provide Naruto with allies in future battles. Additionally, Jiraiya's other motivation to teaching Naruto how to summon was to help Naruto to realise and take advantage of Kurama's chakra.

The type of toads that Naruto can summon at any time is proportional to his chakra and skill, as when he first started out he could only summon tadpoles. At first, Naruto had a hard time getting any specific toad, as he summoned either Gamakichi or Gamatatsu. But when he used Kurama's chakra, or when he was truly motivated, Naruto was able to summon the toad boss, Gamabunta. Naruto is also capable of summoning Gamahiro to use Summoning: Food Cart Destroyer Technique.

Rasengan
Created by the Fourth Hokage and taught to him by Jiraiya, the Rasengan is Naruto's second and strongest signature technique. While the Rasengan is a one-handed technique, Naruto required the use of two to form it due to his poor chakra control, thus using a clone to form the "shell" of the sphere. Despite this, Naruto has used the Rasengan effectively in almost every one of his fights after mastering it. The Rasengan holds an advantage over its counterpart, the Chidori, in only requiring chakra control to form, while the Chidori uses so much chakra that it can only be used a few times a day. Naruto has mastered the Rasengan to a degree that he can do it almost instantaneously. He is now able to create larger Rasengan without the use of natural energy or Kurama's chakra.

The Rasengan, like the Shadow Clone Technique, would be the base of several original techniques created by Naruto, such as the Big Ball Rasengan, a larger and more powerful version of the Rasengan. He has also created the Wind Release: Rasengan and Wind Release: Rasenshuriken after his wind training, and after his senjutsu training, the Sage Art: Big Ball Rasengan, Sage Technique: Spiralling Serial Spheres and Sage Art: Ultra-Big Ball Rasengan. He has also demonstrated the combined use of his shadow clones and the Rasengan, resulting in the Sage Art: Many Ultra-Big Ball Spiralling Serial Spheres, in which Naruto and his shadow clones can each use a Rasengan many times their own size against a single target. Because of the risk of using the Shadow Clone Technique while in Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, Naruto instead uses the shroud's chakra arms to help him create new Rasengan variants, such as the Spiralling Strife Spheres, the Spiralling Absorption Sphere and the Planetary Rasengan for example. He has yet to complete the technique related to the Tailed Beast Ball: the Tailed Beast Rasengan.

Due to the unique nature of the Rasengan in Naruto movies, Naruto creates a new type of Rasengan, often facilitated by a character in the movie, or a unique property present in the movie.

Nature Transformation
After failing to bring Sasuke back to Konoha for the second time, Naruto went through elemental training where he discovered that he had an affinity for Wind Release nature manipulation. By incorporating his wind affinity with the Rasengan, which was originally intended to be combined with a nature element, he would greatly increase the technique's power and range. The wind nature compliments a fighter like Naruto, as the wind nature is a great match for short-range fighters. By focusing his wind chakra, Naruto can go as far as cutting objects with just his chakra. During his training to use his Wind Release, Asuma Sarutobi taught him how to channel it through his weapons.

Naruto had learned nature transformation to upgrade his Rasengan, which he achieved with the Wind Release: Rasengan and the Rasenshuriken, combining peak levels of both shape and nature manipulation originally deemed impossible without natural talent or instinct. The Rasenshuriken was capable of slicing into the victim and cutting them at a cellular level faster than a Sharingan can see it. However, it caused similar damage to his own arm, as it is still a hand-held technique, despite its name. After his senjutsu training, he completed the Rasenshuriken. He could increase its power and attack radius, to the point where when one exploded it took up half the area of a mountain-range, or reduce Human Path to just the top of its head. The speed of the Rasenshuriken is so great it could cross an entire mountain-range in a single second. In Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, Naruto can create a miniature Rasenshuriken, using two small chakra arms on his forefinger.

Collaboration Techniques
Collaboration Jutsu entail techniques that are comprised of at least two or more techniques that, when initiated with the right timing, one will feed into each other to become a technique of greater power than the sum of its parts. Naruto was introduced to the subject by Jiraiya in the anime, in order for him to synchronise with a toad, and develop a collaboration technique. Naruto eventually managed to synchronise with Gamakichi and Gamatatsu developing the Wind Release: Toad Gun, and the stronger Wind Release: Toad Oil Flame Bullet. The stronger version had enough power to temporarily knock out the Three-Tails. Naruto has also done collaboration techniques with both Gamabunta and Yamato.

Senjutsu
With the strength of his chakra being so high, Naruto's training was able to expand to include the same senjutsu arts of his late-sensei Jiraiya. He learned this in Mount Myōboku, showing an even higher aptitude for it than Jiraiya and ultimately learning how to perfectly enter Sage Mode. In order to achieve this, Naruto had to learn to sense and control the natural energy around him. Once mastered, Naruto was able to perfect the Rasenshuriken, so that he could throw it, and learn Frog Kata, a taijutsu style that uses the natural energy around the user to enhance the range and the potency of their attacks. In Sage Mode, Naruto's overall physical abilities are dramatically enhanced to the point where he could throw entities much larger than himself with little to no effort, including the Animal Path's Giant Rhino and Kurama. His durability increased to the point where he could fall on a bed of spikes and not even be damaged, as well as surviving the Giant Rhino's charge despite it tearing up the land behind him with its impact. His speed increases to a point where he was able to intercept a charging Asura Path, which had been using its chakra boots to attack Tsunade, create a Rasengan and slam it down before it could even react, showing him covering considerable distance in a short amount of time. Also while in Sage Mode, Naruto gains a sensory ability to detect and identify other people's chakra from very long distances. His sensing abilities have also enabled him to predict the movements of his enemies for easy retaliation. With his sensing abilities, he could pinpoint the Chakra Receivers that were on Tobi's tailed beast Six Paths of Pain.

However, Naruto had two flaws in his senjutsu training: To mould natural energy, the user must remain absolutely still, something one cannot do while in combat; and because of Kurama, Shima and Fukasaku were unable to fuse with Naruto to mould it for him. To counter this, Naruto had to leave two shadow clones in a safe place to mould the natural energy for him. Once he depleted his current amount of senjutsu chakra, he would dispel one of the clones and use the natural energy it had gathered to re-enter Sage Mode. However, this method limits the maximum number of shadow clones that Naruto can create to five. Any more would interfere with the focus of the clones' gathering natural energy. However, this limit in shadow clones ceases should Naruto decide to go all out during a fight and forget having any clones store natural energy for him. Also, Naruto had been training to extend the time he could remain in Sage Mode. His skill with Sage Mode has increased greatly where he only needs a couple moments to enter it. During his battle with Kurama within his subconscious, Naruto and his large group of shadow clones entered Sage Mode (though it appeared that his "physical self" was able to enter Sage Mode in his meditative state, then his "mental self" reflected the act as well as all of his shadow clones). This is possibly a reverse on how Naruto got past his original five minute limit by having a clone transfer the already balanced senjutsu chakra to him.

Deception and Strategy
Although Naruto's intelligence is greatly downplayed for most of the series, his skills in deception and strategy are actually extremely high. According to Kakashi, this is all thanks to his cunning and imagination as a former prankster, which allows him to fool perceptive and dangerous jōnin-level shinobi like Zabuza Momochi in Part I and even defeat S-rank ninja such as Kakuzu and Pain in Part II. He also possesses the ability to formulate complex plans in the midst of battle. Naruto's strategies typically involve shadow clones; either directing his opponent's attentions towards one of his clones to disguise his own movements, transforming them into various shapes such as shuriken, to allow for surprise attacks, or making himself seem predictable by creating a pattern, just to surprise them by breaking it (examples being when Naruto fooled Neji and Kakuzu into thinking the shadow clone furthest away from danger was the real him, or variations using the Shadow Shuriken Technique).

His deceptive skills were first best displayed in Team 7's first battle against Zabuza; he came up with the strategy to disguise himself as a Fūma Shuriken in order to free Kakashi from Zabuza's Water Prison Technique. During the preliminaries of the Chūnin Exams, Naruto was even able to get around Kiba's sensitive nose by fooling him visually. These skills were shown to have increased exponentially by the time of his battle with Pain, allowing him to prevail through an elaborate and highly unpredictable array of back-up plans, such as transforming his clones to mimic the environment. He also used the Shadow Shuriken Technique and the Transformation Technique to turn himself into a Rasenshuriken to temporarily neutralise the Preta Path while his real Rasenshuriken went to attack the Deva Path, while a clone attacked the Naraka Path from above with a Sage Technique: Spiralling Serial Spheres. When Naruto caught his second wind against Kurama to bypass its hatred completely, he systematically used the Sage Art: Many Ultra-Big Ball Spiralling Serial Spheres, Wind Release: Rasenshuriken and his mother's chakra chains to push Kurama's chakra out of its body from a safe distance to absorb it into his own body. During his fight with the reincarnated Third Raikage, knowing the speed of the Raikage is great, he tricks the Raikage into dodging the first Rasenshuriken, his true intentions being to use Kurama's chakra arm to redirect it and throw it at him from behind. Even after the second attempt fails, Naruto still has the where-with-all to attack the Kage with a third at point blank range before he can even get decent footing to dodge. After speaking with Gyūki about his battle with the Third Raikage he deduced that the latter injured himself with his own Nukite and used this to his advantage by slamming a Rasengan to the side of his arm forcing the Raikage to impale himself with his own technique. When he learned the location of the chakra receivers on Tobi's Six Paths of Pain, he immediately formed a plan to eliminate them. Testing it out on Rōshi, he nearly destroyed the chakra receiver if not for Han's interference. He then forms a two-fold plan to release Son Gokū from Tobi's control, attacking from the outside in Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, pulling the receiver, while using Sage Mode from the inside to try to push it out.

Naruto can also be quite innovative, using his clones to master advanced techniques. Examples of this include a two-man Rasengan, three-man Rasenshuriken, using clones to perform senjutsu and using chakra arms to perform the Tailed Beast Rasengan.

Introduction Arc
Naruto, labelled as his classes 'Dead-Last', once again failing 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 gave them a 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. Although they initially failed miserably, all trying independently to take a bell, they eventually decided to work together, allowing them to pass.

Land of Waves Arc
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 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 Exam Arc
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 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 Uzumaki Naruto Combo which he invented watching Sasuke's Lion Combo. Naruto won 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, 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 Nine-Tails' chakra. When falling, Naruto met with the Nine-Tails in his subconscious and convinced it to lend him its chakra. Thanks to that, he was able to summon Gamabunta, landing on the toad's back. After a short argue with the giant toad, he 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 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.

When his match against Neji began, 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 invasion of Konoha.

Invasion of Konoha Arc
Naruto 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 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 life as a jinchūriki, he was not willing to allow anything to happen to Sakura and Sasuke. 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 Arc
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.

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 in 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 Retrieval Arc
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, eventually 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 retrieval 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 headband, 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.

Pre-Shippūden Filler Arcs
After the original Naruto anime had concluded the Sasuke Retrieval Arc, to make sure the anime did not over take Part II of the manga, the makers instead animated several filler arcs to 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 Retrieval Arc.

Kazekage Rescue Arc
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. Afterward, Team Kakashi and Team Guy returned to Konoha.

Sai and Sasuke Arc
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.

En 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 tried to tempt 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 criticised Sasuke for being similar to Madara Uchiha, Sasuke coldly reacted by using his Sharingan to suppress the Nine-Tails back into its cage, to which it never thought that he was quite capable of that feat. 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, defeated team-mates, but he was stopped by Orochimaru and they retreated, leaving Team Yamato to return home.

Hidan and Kakuzu Arc
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 Twelve Guardian Ninja Arc, 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 Arc
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.

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.

Invasion of Pain Arc
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 (in Sage Mode), Fukasaku, Gamaken, Gamahiro, Gamabunta, and Gamakichi were summoned to the centre of Konoha, Naruto did not immediately recognise the crater he had been summoned to, but then saw the Hokage Monument in the distance. Realising that Pain had destroyed the village, an infuriated Naruto destroyed Pain's Asura Path with a Rasengan before it could attack Tsunade. Naruto told the Hokage to make sure that none of the other villagers would intervene in the battle. Pain's Animal Path summoned a number of animals to attack Naruto, who used the Sage Mode's immense strength to bat them aside to his toad allies. While they dealt with the summons, Naruto disposed of the Preta Path with Frog Kata before preparing the fruits of his senjutsu training: a perfected Rasenshuriken. He hurled the attack at Pain's remaining bodies, and it expanded when it neared them, disintegrating the Human Path. Running low on chakra because of the attack, Naruto had Gamabunta trap the Animal Path in his mouth, where Naruto defeated it with his Sage Technique: Spiralling Serial Spheres without interference from the other bodies.

When he ran out of natural energy and was no longer in Sage Mode, Naruto had Fukasaku summon one of his shadow clones from Mount Myōboku that gathered it for him. Revitalised, Naruto attacked with another Rasenshuriken, only for the Preta Path to appear and absorb the attack. Realising that the Naraka Path had restored it, Naruto focused his efforts on getting rid of it by distracting the Deva Path with a smokescreen, and landing a great blow on the Naraka Path. Though he had defeated four of Pain's six bodies, Naruto was captured through a combination of efforts from both the Deva and Preta Paths. The Preta Path absorbed his chakra to make sure he was no longer a threat, but being unable to handle natural energy, the Preta Path turned into a frog statue, allowing Naruto to free himself. However, the Deva Path quickly captured Naruto again, and killed Fukasaku when he tried to come to help. While immobilising Naruto, the Deva Path told Naruto about his plans for world peace. When Naruto disagreed with his views, the Deva Path questioned Naruto for a better solution. Before he could answer, Hinata came to intervene. Worried about her own safety, Naruto demanded Hinata to stay away from the fight, but she refused to leave despite knowing that she didn't have the power to defeat the Deva Path. After she confessed her love to Naruto (greatly shocking him), Hinata fought bravely against the Deva Path, but was immediately taken down by its Shinra Tensei. When it looked as if the Deva Path had killed Hinata right before his very eyes, Naruto became so furious to the point where he entered his six-tailed form.

Even though his necklace reacted to quell the transformation, the Nine-Tails quickly destroyed it and attacked Pain. Unable to deal with this new threat, the Deva Path retreated to a location where it could use Chibaku Tensei, drawing in and containing Naruto. Within his subconscious, Naruto thought of Pain's plans for peace, and pleaded for someone to help him with a response. Through his suffering, the Nine-Tails tempted Naruto to entrust his heart to it so that it could destroy everything that was causing Naruto pain, thus distorting the seal to the point where the eight-tailed form was released, breaking free of the Chibaku Tensei. Before he could completely release the Nine-Tails, his father, Minato, appeared in Naruto's subconscious and stopped him. Minato revealed that he designed the seal to allow an imprint of himself to appear in an event that the seal was about to break, a failsafe meant to protect his son. Picking up on this, Naruto was overjoyed to finally know who one of his parents was. His time being short, Minato revealed that he had sealed the Nine-Tails into his own son because he thought Naruto would someday find use for it in finally stopping the masked man of Akatsuki. They also discussed the concept of peace, and Minato revealed that hatred gave rise to Pain, and that ninja must find a way to end the hatred. While Naruto doubted that he could do it, Minato replied that he believed Naruto would be able to find the answer, and restored the Nine-Tails' seal before disappearing.

Outside, Naruto emerged from the Chibaku Tensei, with the Nine-Tails' influence gone and Sage Mode having returned. After he expressed tears of relief when he found that Hinata was still alive, he clashed one final time with the Deva Path. Taking advantage of the five-second gap between its attacks, Naruto was finally able to defeat the Deva Path with his Rasengan and win the battle. Using the Deva Path's chakra receivers, Naruto sought out Nagato, Pain's base mind, to finally answer his earlier question about peace. Naruto admitted that he hated Nagato, but restrained himself long enough to ask how Nagato, a fellow student of Jiraiya, turned out this way. After hearing Nagato's past and his reasons for desiring war, Naruto agreed on some points, but rejected the overall conclusion on the grounds that it differed from Jiraiya's ideals. To break the cycle of hatred, Naruto told Nagato and Konan that, despite hating them, he would not kill them. Amazed by Naruto's determination to his answer, Nagato said that he would believe in Naruto, and revived 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. After confirming that she had quit Akatsuki, 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 Arc
While the exhausted Naruto was returning to the village, Kakashi found him and carried him back. He was greeted by the entire village and celebrated as a hero. Soon afterwards, he learned that Tsunade had been left in a coma as a result of protecting the villagers from Pain. Sakura tried to cheer him up, but her efforts were interrupted by the news that Danzō Shimura has replaced Tsunade as Hokage and has ordered that Sasuke be executed as a traitor to the village. Naruto and Sakura questioned Sai about Danzō, hoping to learn how they can change his mind, but Sai was unable to help them. Their questions gained the attention of two Kumo-nin, Karui and Omoi, who told Naruto and Sakura about Sasuke's work with Akatsuki and demanded any information that might be useful in killing him. To spare Sakura from having to help them, Naruto volunteered, but ultimately could not bring himself to sell out Sasuke. He offered to allow the Kumo-nin to take their anger out on him by beating him up, to which they gladly accepted before being stopped by Sai.

While Naruto recovered from his injuries, he asked Yamato and Kakashi to take him to the Land of Iron so that he could ask A, the Fourth Raikage, to forgive 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 massacre, all of which now drove Sasuke along a path of vengeance. Naruto insisted that that he could still get through to Sasuke, but Tobi laughed and left, saying that Naruto and Sasuke are fated to fight again.

While Naruto was practising on extending his Sage Mode's sensory skills in hopes of finding Sasuke, Sakura interrupted him, having come to the Land of Iron to speak with him. She told him that she loved him and she no longer had any feelings for Sasuke. Naruto, knowing that Sakura was still in love with Sasuke, didn't believe her and said she was lying to herself. Angered by this, Sakura insisted that she was telling the truth and he therefore doesn't need to fulfill his earlier promise of bringing Sasuke home. Naruto firmly replied that his actions had nothing to do with the promise and that he just wanted to save Sasuke, choosing not to reveal what Tobi had said to him before. Sakura then left with the others, saying she was going home. Soon, one of Sai's ink clones approached Naruto, telling him, Kakashi, and Yamato about Sakura and the rest of the Konoha 11's decision to kill Sasuke to prevent him from involving Konoha in another war, and also mentioned that he thinks Sakura is still in love with Sasuke, later proven to be true, and wanted to be the one to stop him from sinking any lower. Gaara also appeared and told them about the Fourth Shinobi World War, and the decision to protect Naruto from Akatsuki. Gaara pleaded with Naruto to think about all of the people who will be fighting the likes of Sasuke on his behalf and, as Sasuke's friend, to do what was best given his actions. When Gaara left, Naruto considered what everyone had told him and started hyperventilating. He passed out and when he woke up, he discovered from Yamato that Kakashi had gone to stop Sakura and deal with Sasuke.

Using a shadow clone as a decoy, Naruto escaped from Yamato and pursued Kakashi using his Sage Mode to follow the latter's chakra. He arrived just in time to save Sakura from being killed by Sasuke. Naruto made a last attempt to reason with his former friend, sympathising with his pain and acknowledging Itachi's sacrifice. However, Sasuke was unmoved and made his resolve to destroy Konoha clear. Shocked by the depths of his hatred, Kakashi resolved to kill Sasuke, but was stopped by Naruto, who instead fought Sasuke head-on; matching his Rasengan with the latter's Chidori. Both survived the clash, with Madara and Zetsu coming to Sasuke's aid. Before Sasuke left, Naruto noted that they had both become top-class ninja, and if they ever fought again, they would both die. He nevertheless accepted such an outcome, since it would at least enable him to shoulder Sasuke's hatred alone. In answer, Sasuke declared that he had no intention to die, and promised to kill Naruto first. He left with Tobi, and Naruto returned to Konoha with his team-mates, bearing Karin as a captive. In the anime, Naruto, Karin, and the rest of Sakura's team rest while Kakashi sent his ninken to the other Hidden Villages.

Upon returning to the village, Naruto explained the situation to his friends. When he insisted to handle Sasuke alone, Neji and Shikamaru said it was foolish not to finish Sasuke when he was already weakened from his fight against the other Kage and Danzō, but Naruto explained that at his current level, he wouldn't be able to kill Sasuke. As Shikamaru berated Naruto for taking all this on his own, Naruto dismissed this and headed off to Ramen Ichiraku. Sakura realised Naruto was hiding something however, remembering what he said to Sasuke directly.

Confining the Jinchūriki Arc
As Naruto was about to eat, he was suddenly summoned back to Mount Myōboku by Fukasaku, who told him that the Great Toad Sage wished to tell him about his future. He prophesied that Naruto would meet an "octopus" and would battle a "young man with powerful eyes". Gerotora was then summoned and gave Naruto the "key" to the Eight Trigrams Seal. Knowing he would need the Nine-Tails’ power for the battles to come, Naruto took the key into his body and Fukasaku then returned him back to Ichiraku, where some of the villagers asked for his autograph.

To keep Naruto safe from Akatsuki, the five Kage sent him along with Yamato, Might Guy, Aoba Yamashiro, and several other Konoha-nin to a remote island in the Land of Lightning, under the story that he was there to study the island's ecology. Upon arrival, Naruto met with Killer B and was marvelled at his mastery of his tailed beast. Naruto immediately requested B to train him, but he refused since he was on vacation. However, Naruto proved to be a capable rapper and bumped fists with him, but then he accidentally insulted B while rapping. Naruto then used his Harem Technique in order to persuade him, but with no results. After hearing that Naruto and B had bumped fists, Motoi took Naruto to the Falls of Truth, where B had started 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 who he truly was on the inside. 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 was going on within Naruto, as Yamato observed Naruto still meditating near the waterfall. Somehow, Naruto was able to break out of the meditation, and questioned Motoi about B's history in order to figure out how to conquer the darkness within himself. After that, while Naruto reminisced about how B and Gaara changed the peoples' opinions about them, and that he wasn't certain if the villagers of Konoha truly trusted him, Motoi was attacked by the giant squid. Fortunately, Motoi was saved by B and Naruto was happy to see the two being able to resume their friendship. After that, Naruto went back to the Falls of Truth and confronted Dark Naruto again. When Naruto said that he must have faith in himself, it started to weaken Dark Naruto and forcing him to ask what was the reason for his existence then. Naruto said he was really him and thanked him for pushing him to be the person he is now. He then hugged Dark Naruto when he tried to attack him, who cried and disappeared. After awaking and celebrating, B led both Naruto and Yamato to a special room within the secret temple behind the Falls of Truth, where Naruto would fight the Nine-Tails.

Within his subconscious, after Naruto used the key to unlock the seal, the Nine-Tails pushed open the cage's doors and fired a Tailed Beast Ball at Naruto, but B used the remaining bit of the Eight-Tails' power to contain the attack. While in Sage Mode, Naruto was able to weaken the Nine-Tails with the Rasenshuriken and started to drain out its chakra. However, the Nine-Tails planted its hatred within its chakra and it suddenly began to consume Naruto, making him lose the control and forcing him out of Sage Mode. Just before Naruto was completely succumbed, his mother Kushina Uzumaki appeared. At first, Naruto believed that Kushina was the Nine-Tails in disguise, which made her angry and clobbered Naruto on the head. Kushina then apologised for her short-temper, telling Naruto that she hoped that wasn't a trait he inherited from her. Picking up on this and realising Kushina was his mother, Naruto started to cry and hugged her. With his happiness, the Nine-Tails' spreading influence stopped, much to Yamato and B's surprise. When Kushina told Naruto that she loved him, his positive emotions was able to deplete the Nine-Tails' hatred within its drained chakra. He 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 the chakra merged with Naruto, the enraged, 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 Nine-Tails 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.

Outside his subconscious, as Naruto was showing B and Yamato his new form, Naruto quickly sensed Kisame hidden inside his Samehada by detecting his negative emotions, which surprised Kisame. When Kisame attempted to escape, Naruto used his blinding speed and quickly smashed Kisame into the wall with a powerful punch. However, Kisame was able to retreat as Naruto's foot got stuck in the wall, leading Yamato to stay behind to help free him while B chased after Kisame. 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, but Kisame broke free and committed suicide so they could not get any more information out of him. Shocked by this action, Naruto realised that even the shinobi in Akatsuki fought for their comrades. When Guy then opened the information scroll Kisame had tried to send to Akatsuki, it triggered to trap them in water prisons with summoned sharks to keep the shinobi occupied while the last shark took the scroll, and swam into the ocean to get it to Akatsuki.

Shinobi World War Arc
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, still not knowing the true purpose of being there. Due to the battle outside, Naruto became suspicious of what was happening, but Yamato managed to convince Naruto that it was his mission to stay on the island, while Yamato went outside to investigate. After he was done, Naruto, unaware that Yamato had been captured by Kabuto Yakushi, stated that he wanted to return to Konoha so he could wait and fight Sasuke. However, B, in order to keep Naruto on the island, lead him back into the temple within the Falls of Truth to have him trained how to handle his Nine-Tails Chakra Mode properly.

While Naruto continued to train under B's supervision, Naruto suddenly sensed the Nine-Tails' chakra within the rampaging six-tailed Kinkaku far away from the temple. Wanting to investigate, Naruto was able to trick B into letting him out, but was stopped by Shibi Aburame along with a handful of Konoha-nin, which confirmed his earlier suspicions that something was wrong. Iruka Umino, who happened to be with them, tried to trick Naruto into believing that he had a second mission on the island, but Naruto used Sage Mode to barge through the guards, in the process of losing his forehead protector. With Naruto being outside of the chakra isolation chamber and sensing the war going on around him, Iruka finally revealed to Naruto that he had to be kept away from the battlefield in order to protect him from the enemy. However, Naruto refused to stay at the temple and declared that he would end the war on his own. When Iruka returned Naruto his fallen forehead protector, he immediately trapped Naruto within a barrier, but Naruto easily broke free while in Nine-Tails Chakra Mode. On his way to battle, he found a note from Iruka in his forehead protector, in which Iruka told him that in the event he could not stop Naruto from leaving, he asked Naruto to come back alive. Naruto then proceeded to eat the note after reading it.

Naruto and B, who had been asked by Iruka to watch over Naruto and finally caught up with him, both broke through a barrier that surrounded the Island Turtle and continued their way to the battlefield. After that, the Nine-Tails pulled Naruto into his subconscious, berating him for using its chakra so carelessly. Calling Naruto naive for thinking he could stop the war by himself, the Nine-Tails tried to tempt him again with power, but to no avail, earning Naruto some recognition. After the Nine-Tails taunted Naruto about his goal to erase the hatred from others and the world, Naruto pinned the beast down with a torii in retaliation and exclaimed to it with great confidence that he planned to do something about both Sasuke and the war. When the Nine-Tails condescendingly complimented Naruto for finally learning how to stand up for himself, Naruto said that maybe someday he would do something about its hatred as well. The Nine-Tails reproached him for believing that, but Naruto, determined as ever, vowed to the Nine-Tails that it would be worth a shot as he left his subconscious, leaving the fox speechless.

Sometime later, A and Tsunade showed up at Naruto and B's location to prevent them from going another step further. After Naruto failed to argue his way through with A, Naruto tried to bypass them with his speed, but the Raikage, in his Lightning Release Armour, matched his speed and punched him back. Naruto pleaded with Tsunade to allow him to pass, but Tsunade stated she had to follow through on her role as a leader of the Allied Shinobi Forces. Understanding Tsunade's position, Naruto made another attempt to bypass them, only to be intercepted by A once more. A then declared to Naruto that if he still insisted on proceeding, he would have to kill him; believing he would buy the Allied Shinobi Forces some time before the Nine-Tails could revive, which would delay Madara's plan. As A attempted to punch Naruto, B blocked his attack. After B defeated A in a Lariat clash, B explained to A that his and Naruto's strength came not only from their tailed beasts, but also because they had people who cared about them. To test Naruto, A then fully powered up his Lightning Release Armour and attacked Naruto with his fastest punch, but when he was able to dodge it, A allowed Naruto and B to pass.

While on their way, Naruto and B were contacted by Shikaku Nara (with the help of Inoichi Yamanaka's telepathy), who told them that Naruto was the only one who would be able to sense the chakra of the White Zetsu Army. Soon, their path was blocked by White Zetsu, disguised as shinobi from the Allied Shinobi Forces, and Naruto quickly took them all out with his new techniques. After summoning Gamahiro to crush a merged White Zetsu clone, he then deployed his clones to the other battlefields. Naruto and B later came across a Kumo and a Suna-nin and he saved them from Toroi's attack with a Rasengan. After seeing a reincarnated shinobi for the first time, Naruto and B moved on and later encountered the reincarnated Itachi Uchiha and Nagato.

After having a quick talk with Nagato and Itachi, the battle commenced. While Naruto sparred with Itachi, Naruto revealed to him about Sasuke's plight, but reassured him that he still had a plan to do something about him. After Nagato summoned his giant dog and bird, Itachi then activated his Mangekyō Sharingan in order to use Amaterasu on Naruto, but the crow Itachi placed inside Naruto before his death suddenly emerged from Naruto's mouth and locked eyes with Itachi, causing him to use Amaterasu on Nagato and his summons instead. Itachi explained that the crow used Kotoamatsukami, thus releasing him from Kabuto's control. Nagato, having his personality completely removed by Kabuto, used his Asura Path ability to restrain both Naruto and B respectively, but before Nagato could remove Naruto's soul, Naruto and B were subsequently rescued by Itachi with his Susanoo. After Nagato used Chibaku Tensei as an attempt to trap them, Naruto used his Wind Release: Rasenshuriken, along with Itachi's Yasaka Magatama and B's Tailed Beast Ball, to attack the centre of Nagato's technique, effectively destroying it. After Itachi sealed Nagato with his Sword of Totsuka, he told Naruto that he would help end Kabuto's Impure World Reincarnation while Naruto would focus on fighting Tobi. Naruto insisted that Itachi come and see Sasuke again, but he declined, saying that he should leave his brother to his friends. After Itachi left, Naruto and B continued heading towards an unknown destination.

One of Naruto's shadow clones arrived at the Fourth Division's location at the battlefield to fight against the reincarnation Mū and the Third Raikage. Although Naruto's clone was able to defeat Mū, none of Naruto's attacks had much effect against the Third Raikage, as Dodai explained that the Third's physical endurance could withstand almost any kind of technique, along with the relative invulnerability of Impure World Reincarnation. When Naruto noticed a scar on the Third's chest, Dodai stated that the Third got it during his past fight with the Eight-Tails. Believing that only a tailed beast was capable of harming the Third, Naruto attempted to form the Tailed Beast Ball, only for it to dissipate, and was then forced out of Nine-Tails Chakra Mode due to chakra overuse. After learning from the Eight-Tails that both it and the Third only collapsed after their prolonged battle with their techniques still in their hands, Naruto entered Sage Mode and charged toward the Third with a Rasengan in hand. Using Sage Mode's sensory ability, Naruto dodged the Third's attack at the last second and aimed the Rasengan at the Raikage's arm. The attack knocked the Third's arm into his chest, impaling him long enough for him to be sealed away. Naruto then went towards where Gaara was fighting the Second Mizukage, arriving just in time to see the sealing take place.

While Naruto's clones arrived at the other division's locations to help find and fight off the remaining White Zetsu within the areas, the one clone with Gaara and his unit was alerted to someone's presence by a sensor. They spotted Mū on a cliff above them and Ōnoki informed them that he must have split in half. They were even more shocked when Ōnoki told them that the person beside him was none other than Madara Uchiha. Gaara pointed out that Madara was reincarnated, and they all wondered who the masked man claiming to be Madara really was. As Madara began his assault, Naruto's clone made more clones to fight him and stall for time while he entered Sage Mode. The clones attacked Madara with a Ultra-Big Ball Rasengan, but it was blocked with Susanoo. Naruto finished going into Sage Mode and formed a Rasenshuriken. He and Gaara attack simultaneously, but their attack failed when Madara revealed his Rinnegan. Madara retreated to the top of a rock formation and summoned a meteorite, leaving Naruto shocked.

After the meteorite was stopped by Ōnoki and Gaara, a second one was sent crashing into it, which made a landfall and devastated the division. As Madara attempted to summon the Nine-Tails, Naruto could feel his stomach burning and the fox angrily reconised his chakra calling for it. As the Nine-Tails resolved to lend Naruto its chakra, he first thought that it was going to attempt to take over his body like it used to, but the fox said it would rather help Naruto than be manipulated by Madara again. Using its chakra, Naruto's clone was able to create more clones and countered Madara's Wood Release Secret Technique: Nativity of a World of Trees with a series of Big Ball Rasengan. After that assault, the clone was left severely weakened to the point where he could feel like he could disappear at any moment. As Madara and Mū moved to attack, Tsunade, A, and Mei Terumī suddenly appeared and was able to keep them at bay. Naruto’s clone pleaded with Tsunade to heal him as he didn't want to disappear yet or have Tsunade to use her forehead seal. However, she refused and Ōnoki explained to him that the war was about protecting everyone, not just him. Tsunade also told Naruto that the Kage would handle the real Madara, while he should focus on defeating the imposter. Elsewhere, the real Naruto received the dispersed clone's information and vowed to win. Naruto noticed Tobi approaching and immediately headbutted him, causing both of them to recoil from the impact.

When Naruto questioned Tobi about his true identity, Tobi simply replied he was no one and he only wished to complete the Eye of the Moon Plan and fix the miserable, worthless world. Tobi then said both Naruto and B should at least understand what that misery felt like, but Naruto argued that having a tailed beast sealed inside them wasn’t all bad and even in a world that Tobi deemed as 'worthless', no one was going to fall for his lies. Right after Naruto shouted his intention to rip off his mask, Tobi had the revived jinchūriki enter the early stages of their tailed beast transformations, which shocked both Naruto and B. After narrowly escaping from the revived jinchūriki and taking refuge under a shrub, Naruto, B, and the Eight-Tails began to formulate a counter measure against the jinchūriki. After being informed by B that he had seen a black rod embedded into Yugito's chest, Naruto engaged in a fight with Rōshi and attempted to destroy the receiver in his chest with a Rasengan, but was thwarted by Han, who sent Naruto flying with a kick. Clutching onto B as he transformed into the Eight-Tails and devastated a large area of the forest, Naruto watched on as B used his ink clones to try and seal the jinchūriki, but the technique was cancelled when they all entered into their Version 2 forms at the last second. As Naruto was fending off the jinchūriki, he eventually became overwhelmed and was weighed down, thus allowing Tobi the opportunity to try and capture Naruto. However, Naruto was saved by the timely arrival of Kakashi and Guy.

After Guy destroyed the coral that was restricting his movement, Naruto began assisting them in battling Tobi's Six Paths of Pain. Suddenly, Tobi had both Utakata and Rōshi fully transform into the Six-Tails and the Four-Tails respectively, throwing him off onto the Eight-Tails, and he fell out of the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode. With Kakashi and Guy cut off from him, the Four-Tails tossed the Eight-Tails and Naruto quickly re-entered Nine-Tails Chakra Mode when he was right between the giant ape's teeth. As he struggled to free himself, he was eventually swallowed by the Four-Tails and, to his surprise, got inside of Rōshi's subconscious and found the beast in chains. After denying that he had come to steal the beast's power, Naruto was chastised by the ape that refused to be called "Four-Tails", telling him to call it by its proper name: Son Gokū, and at the same time learning the Nine-Tails was called Kurama. As Naruto expressed his wish to be friends with Kurama in the same manner that B was with the Eight-Tails, Son found it amusing, but when Naruto said that having understood their feelings because of the way he was mistreated in his youth and hated to see them mistreated by someone who didn't know who they were, Son came to realise that he was serious.

Although Son agreed to tell the eager Naruto on how to stop it, it made a point beforehand of it not trusting jinchūriki and told him not to expect for it to become his ally, unless it trusted him. Outside of Rōshi's subconscious, Naruto forced the transformed Rōshi to vomit him out after the latter used the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique. While still being manipulated to attack Naruto, a clone in Sage Mode who had stayed inside the beast's mouth prepared a two-fold attack on the chakra receiver that located on the side of the neck. After Naruto succeeded in removing it and re-entered Rōshi's subconscious, he realised in shock that the chain that imprisoned Son was still there. Son explained that the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path still held its chakra and that Naruto had only freed it from Tobi's control. Noting Naruto's concern and his intention to save Son completely, it gave him some of its chakra before being sealed back into the statue. Drained of chakra, Kurama offered to lend him more its power. Before accepting, however, Naruto thanked Kurama for its help during one of his clone's encounter with Madara, to which the fox rebuffed him for. After Naruto argued with it about the way it took his gratitude, Kurama offered to meld its chakra with Naruto's. Noting that Kurama was no longer the monster fox that attacked Konoha, but an ally of the village and his team-mate, Naruto unlocked the seal's gate and released Kurama as he prepared to face the five remaining, fully-transformed jinchūriki.

With the gate opened, Naruto entered into his new form. With no time to waste as the opposing tailed beasts prepared to blast Guy and Kakashi with their Tailed Beast Balls, Naruto intervened and deflected the attacks with such speed that Kakashi mistook him for his own former teacher. As the beasts rallied again and prepared to attack the shinobi, Naruto transformed into Kurama — seemingly "absorbing" Guy and Kakashi into the beast's chakra for safe-keeping. After creating a Sage Mode clone to help locate the other chakra receivers, Kurama warned Naruto that he only had five minutes in the form because it was his first transformation. With this, he grabbed the Seven-Tails in mid-flight, intending to pile-drive the beast into the Three-Tails, but the giant turtle rolled out of the way. Right after that, the Six-Tails quickly swallowed Kurama's hand, rendering it immobile and allowing the Three-Tails to attack, but was stopped by the Eight-Tails. The Two-Tails attempted to pounce on Naruto and Kurama from behind, but they fiercely swung the Six-Tails right into the monster cat, throwing the two away from a distance while B dealt with the Five-Tails. As the other tailed beasts gathered and preformed a collaborative Tailed Beast Ball, Naruto and Kurama preformed one of their own, intending to counter the attack by aiming slightly below his opponents', which sent them both flying upwards in a massive explosion.

Then, as the massive dust cloud was clearing, Naruto used Kurama's tails, transforming them into chakra hands, to grab his opponents by their throats. He then used Nine-Tails Chakra Mode clones to pull out the stakes, while silently promising to free all the tailed beasts. Suddenly, Naruto found that his subconscious had been pulled into a space so that the remaining beasts and their jinchūriki could converse with him. When Yagura tried to thank him, Naruto ended up crying, thinking that the Mizukage had died young, without ever eating ramen or kissing a girl. When Kurama jokingly reminded Naruto that he had never kissed a girl, but he had kissed Sasuke, Naruto started to throw up, completely ignoring Yagura until he mentioned Son Gokū, who the jinchūriki explained that it insisted that they wait for Naruto and try to help him. Both the jinchūriki and tailed beasts then introduced themselves, and offered Naruto some of their power. In the real world, Naruto successfully managed to pull the chakra receivers from the beasts, just before his time in the new form ran out, which forced Tobi to seal all of the tailed beasts back into the Demonic Statue. Tobi was left incredulous about these turn of events, but remained convinced that still changed nothing. Naruto, though, disagreed, stating that he just learned a bunch of difficult names all at once, and teased Tobi for not knowing any of them.

While continuing to fight Tobi and the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, Naruto is heavily injured from the battle but still standing. He notices Tobi's Paths of Pain all begin to fade away thanks to the Impure World Reincarnation being released to which Naruto thanks Itachi.

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 Shonen 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 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

 * Spirals and swirl patterns are a recurring theme in Naruto, especially in relation to the character of Naruto Uzumaki himself. The word/name "Naruto" can mean "maelstrom," and is also short for 'Narutomaki', a kind of kamaboko with a pink whirlpool design in the middle that is used as a topping for ramen, which is Naruto's favourite food. The surname "Uzumaki" is a pun on, because it refers to a three-dimensional spiral, like a whirlpool or vortex. "Uzumaki" can also mean "whirlpool," in reference to the , named after the city of Naruto. In addition, Naruto's mother, Kushina Uzumaki, is from Uzushiogakure in the Land of Whirlpools, who used the spiral pattern as their village symbol.
 * October 10th, 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.
 * Masashi Kishimoto stated in an interview with the U.S. Shonen Jump that his childhood was like that of Naruto's years while he was enrolled in the Academy.
 * Naruto consistently ranked in the top two (taking first place twice) in the first five official Shōnen Jump character popularity polls. However, in the sixth character poll, he was ranked fourth. According to the Databook 3 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.
 * Despite being the main character, Naruto has taken several long absences, sometimes up ten or more chapters. Naruto: Shippūden's omake sometimes reference this, joking that Naruto is not the main character of his own show.
 * In Naruto Shippūden: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 3 and Naruto Shippūden: Dragon Blade Chronicles video games, Naruto performs Fire Release techniques even though Fire isn't his nature type.
 * In addition, he can perform Water Release, Earth Release, and Lightning Release techniques in Naruto Shippūden: Dragon Blade Chronicles, it's likely that the scrolls that are attached to his clothing allow him to do so.
 * 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.
 * Eiichiro Oda, author of One Piece stated that he was originally going to name Sanji as Naruto, but didn't because "Naruto" was about to make its début.
 * According to the Naruto databooks:
 * 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.

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 Jiraiya) "If being smart means what you say it does, I rather be a fool my entire life!"
 * (To Sai) "I don't care who I have to fight… If he rips my arms off, I'll kick him to death. If he rips my legs off, I'll bite him to death. If he rips my head off, I'll stare him to death. And if he gouges my eyes, I'll curse him to death… Even if I'm torn to shreds… I will take Sasuke back!"
 * (To Pain) "You should give up… on me giving 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 Kushina) "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!"
 * "I am Naruto Uzumaki, ninja of Konoha. My dream is to become Hokage! One to surpass all the previous Hokage. To become a bigger badass than my father! To become stronger shinobi than my mother!"
 * (To Iruka) "I'll end this war myself! I'll endure all the hate and pain on my own! That's my role!"
 * (To A) "Yes, he might have died… but together, he and my mum protected Konoha from the Nine-Tails! They protected me! It may have only been for a second, but in that second, they gave me so much… their faith! Faith that I could finish their jobs! Faith that I could fulfill the role of a "saviour!""
 * (To Tobi) "You can call yourself no one, you can start a war, but even in this world you think of as "nothingness", no one's falling for your stupid lies! You can change your mask, you can take on as many names as you want, but you're still you, and you're just one guy! I've had enough. I'm gonna tear that mask right off your face!"
 * (To Kurama) "You aren't a monster fox anymore. You're one of my team-mates from Konoha… Kurama."