Naruto Uzumaki

is a shinobi of Konohagakure. He became the jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails on the day of his birth, a fate that caused him to be ostracised and neglected by most of Konoha throughout his childhood. After joining Team Kakashi, Naruto worked hard to gain the village's respect and acknowledgement with the eventual dream of becoming Hokage. In the following years, Naruto became a capable ninja regarded as a hero, both by the villagers and the shinobi world at large. He soon proved to be the main factor in winning the Fourth Shinobi World War, leading him to achieve his dream and become the.

Background
Born to the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze and second jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails, Kushina Uzumaki, Naruto is the first of Asura Ōtsutsuki's reincarnations to be born into the era of relative peace. Naruto was named after the protagonist of Jiraiya's first book, thereby making the Sannin his godfather. Prior to his birth, his parents and the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi feared that the stress of giving birth would compromise the seal which kept the Nine-Tails contained within Kushina. As a precaution, Kushina was taken to a top-secret location outside the village with Biwako Sarutobi and Taji as her midwives, guarded by Anbu and Minato to keep the seal in place. Through unknown means, a masked ninja who intended to take the fox for his own evil ends uncovered their plans. After killing the midwives and Anbu, the masked man took the newborn Naruto hostage as a means of separating Minato from Kushina in order to release the Nine-Tails.

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

Despite Minato's dying wish to see his son heralded as a hero, only the Third Hokage and a small number of the villagers could put their pain of loss aside and honour this request. The majority of Konoha, consumed with bitterness over the lives lost and destruction in the wake of the Nine-Tails' attack, resented Naruto for it, unable to separate the beast from the boy, and with some even seeing him as the fox itself. In the interest of protecting Naruto and in the hope that the younger generations would not emulate this position, Hiruzen passed a decree of secrecy that strictly prohibited the adults from divulging Naruto's status as a jinchūriki. This policy was not entirely effective, as many of Naruto's peers followed their parent's example and shunned him. The social isolation would cause Naruto to develop a need to be acknowledged through mischief.

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

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

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

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

Personality
Growing up with very few parental figures, Naruto is exuberant, brash, inattentive, and heedless to formality or social standings. He would end sentences with when excited or frustrated. He has a number of childish traits, such as being a very picky eater (he almost exclusively eats ramen), being afraid of ghosts, and carries a chubby green-frog wallet which he calls "Gama-chan". Naruto has a habit of giving people he meets nicknames or address them without appropriate honourifics, as shown when he offended the Second Hokage by not calling him. He can be quite perverted, creating different forms of his Sexy Technique and once tried to sneak a peak in the women's bath when the opportunity presented itself. Despite these quirks, Naruto is said to have a personality that brings people to him, inspiring friendship and loyalty from most of the people he meets through acts of genuine kindness and sincerity that could change a person's entire world view. For example, during the Fourth Shinobi World War, Naruto's kindness inspired loyalty from the tailed beasts, and when linked to the entire Shinobi Alliance through telepathy, he was able to reignite the demoralised armies' fighting spirit, choosing to continue fighting despite the losses he could receive as shinobi were meant to endure through hardships.

Years of isolation and scorn from the village made Naruto thirst for acknowledgement. He would pull pranks around the village just to get a response from anyone and his desire to be Hokage was in hopes of being someone that mattered. Naruto's time at the Falls of Truth revealed that a part of him hated the village for treating him as a pariah, only to turn to him after he saved them during Pain's assault on Konoha. This hatred allowed Kurama to manipulate Naruto in his rage, causing him to go on a rampage several times until Naruto confronted the problem and learned to let it go. As Naruto grew in his career as a ninja, his desire to be Hokage went from acknowledgement to a desire to help and protect the people close to him, which Tobi attributed to the Will of Fire. Naruto developed his nindō of never going back on his word, putting himself through any lengths required to keeping his promise, as shown in his promise to Sakura to bring Sasuke back after his defection from Konoha, despite Sakura herself having grown to see this as impossible due to Sasuke becoming a dangerous international criminal later on.

According to Kakashi, Naruto learns through his body, as he is relatively naive, simple, and slow to understand principle or situations, often requiring an oversimplified analogy in order to grasp what is being explained to him. He has grown more willing to admit this over time, even to Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki, and possibly puts up a strong front so people wouldn't know about his embarrassment and frustration at his own ineptitude, despite all of his accomplishments so far. Naruto responds best to competition, using it as an additional drive learn new techniques, though he doesn't hesitate to ask if he needs it. However, despite his naiveness, Naruto can be quite observant picking up on things others miss and can retain information casually gathered through conversation. In battle, Naruto has shown to be calm and collected most of the times, but he can get frustrated when he is unable to defeat his opponent. He can also be a quick thinker, making up strategies on the fly or inventive use of his techniques to catch his opponents off guard during the battle. However, he can get overexcited and forget some concepts or weaknesses that he himself noted beforehand.

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

In adulthood, Naruto has gained much wisdom. When Boruto defaced the Hokage Monument, Naruto knew that his son just wanted his father's attention as the latter doesn't have much personal time as Hokage. Despite reprimanding Boruto for his behavior, Naruto agreed to help his son clean up the mess to spend some time with him, even though it caused him to be late to the five Kage meeting, proving himself to be a loving father and husband.

Appearance
As stated by Jiraiya, Naruto bears a striking resemblance to his father, having Minato's blue eyes and blond, spiky hair. From his mother, Naruto inherited the shape of both her eyes and face. During the Fourth Shinobi World War, Dan Katō initially 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. 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 Uzumaki swirl crest on the back, a large white collar, orange pants with a shuriken holster attached to his right knee (due to being right-handed), blue sandals, and a blue forehead protector that was given to him by Iruka after he graduated from the Academy. Naruto would usually wear a black T-shirt inside his tracksuit, but sometimes wore armour underneath his clothing. During his early childhood, Naruto would usually wear a T-shirt (white, navy green or black) that had either an Uzumaki or fire symbol on the front, also wearing a pair of shorts. He also donned green goggles that he wore on his forehead sometimes.

In Part II, Naruto's outfit underwent modification after the original was worn to shreds during his training with Jiraiya. The outfit retained the orange colour as well as the white (without the tassel) and red swirls, but the jacket was 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 metal portion of his forehead protector had moved to a longer black bandanna, and he wore black sandals instead of blue. Naruto occasionally was seen wearing a navy green T-shirt with a fire symbol and white shorts on casual days or his off-duty days from missions. During his battle with Pain, Naruto briefly sported a short-sleeved red coat with a black flame pattern along the hemline and carried a large summoning scroll on his back; the coat was destroyed following his transformation into his six-tailed Version 2 form. After meeting Hagoromo's spirit and receiving the Yang half of his power, Naruto obtained a light sun-like mark on his right palm, which vanished after Kaguya's sealing. After his final clash with Sasuke following Kaguya's defeat, Naruto lost his right forearm, and most of his clothes were completely destroyed.

Two years after the Fourth Shinobi World War, Naruto, at age 19, grew taller again and has cropped his hair short and moved the metal portion of his forehead protector to a simple black elastic headband. He wears a black uniform-style jacket with an orange zipper that features several buttons on the waist and sleeves, allowing him to fold up the left sleeve and rear coattails, giving him easy access to the pouches on the back of his belt. He wears a red armband with an Uzumaki crest on his left arm and his right arm was replaced with an artificial one, created from Hashirama Senju's cells by Tsunade, which is completely covered in bandages. While off-duty, he wears an orange hooded sweatshirt and black and orange shorts with sandals. He initially wears a teal and light blue striped scarf that was knitted by his mother, but later dons a long red scarf knitted by Hinata Hyūga. The latter scarf is eventually destroyed in battle.

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

Abilities
Initially, Naruto didn't display much talent in terms of being a shinobi. He was dead-last in the Academy, as he struggled with basic ninjutsu, and had failed to graduate three times. In fact, while he could not produce a proper Clone Technique, he created the Sexy Technique; an inventive but presumed useless diversionary technique. However, through sheer willpower and perseverance, Naruto pushed past this stumbling block to learn very difficult and complex techniques as a late bloomer, earning his graduation by mastering the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique. Naruto's rapid growth during Part I enabled him to fight on par with noteworthy prodigious and skilled shinobi, such as Neji Hyūga, Gaara, and Sasuke, as well as master several high-level techniques, usually within the allotted time frame. Several highly skilled shinobi, including the legendary Sannin, have noted Naruto's great potential. Naruto's fighting style, much like his father's, rarely needed hand seals other than for his signature Shadow Clone Technique.

After his two-and-a-half year training with Jiraiya, Naruto developed his abilities to match the S-rank members of Akatsuki. Upon defeating their strongest member and leader Pain, Naruto was praised by Konoha villagers as a hero worthy of earning the Hokage title. During the Fourth Shinobi World War, Naruto's unique skill set allowed him to dramatically change the outcome of the battle even against several Kage-level shinobi. After receiving the Six Paths Chakra, Naruto managed to pressure Madara Uchiha as the Ten-Tails jinchūriki, overwhelm Kaguya Ōtsutsuki (the progenitor of chakra), and later defeat Sasuke and his usage of the captured tailed beasts' chakra despite Naruto's own exhaustion and holding back. Two years after the war, he became a world-famous hero who received many visitors from different parts of the world, and even single-handedly defeated Toneri Ōtsutsuki, a wielder of the Tenseigan. Years later, Naruto's abilities continued to improve until he eventually succeeded his former sensei, Kakashi, as the Seventh Hokage.

Chakra Prowess and Life Force
Naturally, Naruto alone possesses a massive amount of chakra, which is estimated to be at least four times greater than Kakashi's. Like his mother, Naruto's chakra is "special", which was part of the reason why he was able to become Kurama's jinchūriki. Karin described his chakra quality to be "bright and warm". Early in his shinobi career, he had very little chakra control, causing him to waste more chakra than necessary, but his natural reserves made up for this flaw. Even when Orochimaru used the Five Elements Seal on Naruto, further disrupting his already poor chakra control, it had little to no noticable affect on Naruto's chakra reserves other than his ability to access Kurama's power when angered. Over time, once this issue was pointed out to him, Naruto learned greater chakra control, allowing him to not waste chakra unnecessarily.

Naruto's improved chakra control allowed him to balance his chakra with natural energy, leading him to learn Sage Mode. Later, when taught the principles of transferring chakra like a tailed beast, Naruto was able to share his chakra with the entire Shinobi Alliance by matching his chakra with everyone around with a simple touch. His chakra levels became so high and potent, they could be felt as far away as Konoha. Even Hashirama compared the volume Naruto had shared with the entire Alliance army to be near equal to his own. After gaining some of the other tailed beasts' chakra, his reserves increased even further. A true testament to Naruto's impressive stamina was his ability to fight for nearly the entire Fourth Shinobi World War, facing multiple Kage-level and above opponents and only becoming exhausted during his final battle with Sasuke.

Due to his Uzumaki lineage, Naruto has a much greater longevity than most humans, along with a considerably strong life force and physical energy. From this, he could survive the extraction of a tailed beast (albeit he was rendered unconscious and in a critical state). Naruto is also known for his greatly accelerated healing which has been attributed to Kurama. Part of his power stems from being a reincarnation of his ancestor, Asura. After meeting Hagoromo's spirit, the legendary sage gave Naruto half of his chakra.

After Naruto lost his right forearm in his final fight with Sasuke, Tsunade constructed a prosthetic arm for Naruto using the cells of Asura's previous reincarnation, Hashirama Senju. Possessing the First Hokage's cells, Naruto's chakra reserves are boosted further and he can heal nearly any wound without the need of hand seals.

Jinchūriki Transformations
Combined with his already massive chakra reserves, being the jinchūriki of Kurama's Yang half gives Naruto a reserve a hundred times greater than Kakashi's. Due to being Kurama's jinchūriki his entire life and inheriting his mother's special chakra, Naruto's chakra was more effectively mixed with the fox's. Because of this, Naruto can perform very chakra-taxing techniques in quick succession without feeling fatigued. When tapping into Kurama's chakra, Naruto gains enhanced speed, strength and healing. Later, Naruto gained some of the other tailed beasts' chakra. This combined with both Yin and Yang-Kurama sealed into him and restored as one being presumably increased Naruto's chakra strength and reserves even more.

At first, Naruto could only access Kurama's power when he was enraged or his life was in danger, but after training, Naruto learned how to access the chakra by consciously requesting the fox for help. However, while Naruto was able to utilise Version 1 transformations, he only had the briefest of control of his own actions. If he fell deeper into a rage, Naruto could slip into Version 2, losing himself to Kurama's negative influence and going berserk, requiring outside help to suppress the fox's chakra. Because of these drawbacks, Naruto wouldn't make use of Kurama's chakra until he was given the means of controlling the chakra completely.

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

Eventually, realising its own respect for Naruto after all he had endured in his life and the type of person he has become, Kurama decides to accept his friendship. With this new unity, Kurama freely gives Naruto its chakra and the ability to enter Tailed Beast Mode, which was yet another increase in speed, strength, and the ability to use the Tailed Beast Ball. Unlike other Tailed Beast Modes, which become physical copies of their beasts, Naruto's form is transparent, allowing others to enter the chakra shroud and grant them some of Naruto's power while inside of it. For example; Naruto had the other members of the Konoha 11 jump into the chakra, which gave them each a chakra mantel similar to the one Naruto wore along with a Rasengan for each to wield, even Rock Lee whom could not perform ninjutsu on his own. He can still access his previous forms, as shown when he entered Version 1, which was able to deflect the unquenchable flames of Amaterasu. Naruto can also use Kurama's chakra to revatilise others, such as his aid in Shikamaru's recovery after he was caught by the roots of the Ten-Tails' tree form.

Two years after the Fourth Shinobi World War, and with Kurama's power complete, Naruto became capable of partitioning all of his transformation's power into a single part of his body. As seen in his final fight against Toneri, a single strike was powerful enough to form a massive crater and knock Toneri in his Tenseigan Chakra Mode a considerable distance away crashing into a wall, depowering and defeating him. Naruto also demonstrated the ability to manifest Kurama outside of his body, allowing the two to fight independently. In addition, Naruto's durability in this form had increased tremendously, able to withstand Toneri's Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion without major damage despite the technique cutting the moon in half.

The portions of chakra Naruto received from the other eight tailed beasts allow him to not only console with them, but also to utilise their unique skills to produce various powerful techniques, despite not truly being sealed within him. Naruto can access Shukaku's Magnet Release, along with its natural curse seal formula and the ability to manifest and control sand, Matatabi's blue Fire Release, Isobu's Water Release, Son Gokū's Lava Release, Kokuō's Boil Release, Saiken's caustic capabilities, and Gyūki's ink creation. With the aid of shadow clones, Naruto can use all of these abilities at once.

Senjutsu
After Jiraiya's death, Naruto learns how to use senjutsu, the art of gathering natural energy to augment one's techniques. Naruto quickly showed not only the high chakra levels necessary for senjutsu, but also a greater aptitude for it than Jiraiya. He progresses through the learning steps rapidly, becoming able to sense and then gather the natural energy around him and perfectly balance it with his own chakra. Through further training, Naruto ultimately becomes able to use the highest level of senjutsu in accessing a perfect Sage Mode, symbolised by the orange marks around his eyes. The only issue is that as Sage Mode required the user to be perfectly still to gather the natural energy, it could not be used in battle.

It was at first attempted by Fukasaku, a former teacher of Jiraiya's, to fuse with Naruto and gather the natural energy for him to use while he fought. This ultimately failed as Kurama rejected Fukasaku, refusing to let the toad be housed in Naruto's being alongside it. Naruto found a way somewhat around it by using shadow clones: while he fights, the clones gather natural energy for him and then disperse after Naruto's time limit runs out, transferring their natural energy to him to resume using Sage Mode. While effective, this method limits the maximum number of shadow clones he can create to five for as long as the clones are gathering natural energy. Anything more would interfere with their focus on regulating the proper amount of chakra and natural energy.

In Sage Mode, Naruto's overall physical parameters are dramatically enhanced, able to survive falls from great heights unharmed, easily stop and throw a massive rhino, and push through a large group of shinobi, two of which were Akimichi clan members. His speed is also increased to the point where he could intercept a charging Asura Path and destroy it with a Rasengan before it could attack Tsunade. He is also able to utilise Frog Kata, a taijutsu style that uses the natural energy to enhance the range and the potency of one's attacks. Naruto notes that he can also access Sage Mode at a faster rate when combined with his Tailed Beast Mode. In Naruto's final fight with Sasuke, Kurama proved capable of gathering natural energy for Naruto's usage while in battle, effectively bypassing his Sage Mode's weakness.

Six Paths Sage Mode
By mixing the chakra of the nine tailed beasts, natural energy, and the Six Paths Chakra he received from Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki, Naruto gained access to the Six Paths Sage Technique. He becomes able to enter Sage Mode without manifesting the orange pigmentation around his eyes, though the pupils still take on a cross-like shape. Naruto can take his transformation a step further by drawing on the chakra of the nine tailed beasts, causing him to don a new chakra cloak known as the Six Paths Sage Mode.

While using this power, Naruto becomes immune to the effects of a Truth-Seeking Ball and gains the ability to fly. Both his speed and strength are heightened to the point where he could pressure Madara as the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki, evade Kaguya's Yomotsu Hirasaka, and outright blitz her while catching her completely off-guard. Using the power he gained from Hagoromo, Naruto can also utilise the Yin-Yang Release to revitalise life-forces and heal whomever he comes in contact with, which allowed him to restore even missing organs. This ability however, has its limits as he was unable to fully restore Might Guy after his use of Night Guy, or save Obito from Kaguya's All-Killing Ash Bones. Naruto can maintain this mode for a much longer period of time with no visible exhaustion afterwards, as opposed to his normal Sage Mode.

Naruto can still access his Tailed Beast Mode, however it has been greatly enhanced; its size and power have grown to match those of Sasuke's Rinnegan-enhanced Complete Body — Susanoo, able to block its giant sword with its tails several times over. Naruto can merge his and two of his shadow clones' Tailed Beast Mode shrouds to create a stronger battle avatar of Kurama with six arms and three heads, similar to Asura's. Naruto's enhanced Tailed Beast Mode can also levitate, and with Kurama's aid, gather huge amounts of natural energy. Naruto can also merge natural energy with two of his strongest techniques to counter Sasuke's most powerful lightning-nature attack.

Truth-Seeking Ball
In his Six Paths Sage Mode, Naruto can manifest the Truth-Seeking Balls behind his back, which are composed of the five basic nature transformations, Yin-Yang Release and Six Paths Sage Chakra. He can perform various tasks with them, such as moulding them into staves and platforms, transferring them his clones to hide his location, or firing them as speeding projectiles.

Taijutsu
While a short-range fighter by nature, Naruto's taijutsu was not that skillful or organised in Part I, making up for this with unpredictable attacks to throw off guard specialists like Kiba Inuzuka and Neji Hyūga. By Part II, Naruto had significantly improved his taijutsu skills under Jiraiya's tutelage, being able to hold his own against skilled users such as Pain's Deva Path, Karui and Omoi simultaneously, and even fend off one of the Ten-Tails' mini-clones. Naruto later clashed with Sasuke at the Valley of the End, managing to equal the force of his blow and fight on par with the latter in taijutsu for almost an entire day, even while both of them were heavily exhausted. Two years after the Fourth Shinobi World War, Naruto's taijutsu had further improved, being able to defeat several of Toneri's puppets while attempting to save Hinata.

Naruto's preferred taijutsu tactic is fighting in unison with his shadow clones to help him, using this method to defeat two rogue samurai to protect Inari. He has also created techniques such as the Naruto Uzumaki Combo and its larger-scale versions, where he and his shadow clones assault the enemy with a powerful barrage of punches and kicks. Even without his shadow clones, Naruto remains manoeuvrable in a fight, being able to get near skilled taijutsu practitioners and spar with them for a time. To ultimately defeat his opponents in speed or strength, however, he must utilise either Kurama's chakra or, in Part II, Frog Kata and Sage Mode.

Naruto has shown a high level of physical strength, being able to shatter stone as seen when he escaped from Pain's petrified Preta Path after it absorbed too much natural energy. He has also displayed impressive speed, as he quickly saved Sakura from her own poisoned kunai that Sasuke wielded to stab her and received only a shallow cut in exchange. Even while heavily exhausted, Naruto could counter Sasuke's Chidori with a swift uppercut, sending the latter flying a considerable distance away into a mountain side.

Ninjutsu
Naruto's massive reserves of chakra allow him to make use of various chakra-taxing techniques. However, his initial mediocre chakra control left him barely able to perform basic techniques, which caused him to fail three times in the Academy. Over time, with his chakra control steadily improving, Naruto's arsenal expanded with it.

Under his training with Jiraiya, Naruto continued to rapidly improve his skills, mastering various advanced techniques and forms to expand his repertoire. Eventually, he surpassed Kakashi in sheer ninjutsu prowess as seen with his mastery of the Rasengan and the creation of its many variants. Once he met Hagoromo and gained some of his power, as well as the chakra of all the other tailed beasts, Naruto gained access to a large array of new and unique abilities.

Shadow Clone Technique
Naruto's first trademark in battle is the Shadow Clone Technique. Whereas most ninja must be careful with this technique as to not deplete their chakra reserves, Naruto's immense reserves can handle creating thousands of clones and retain a decent amount of chakra in each of them. This lets him overwhelm opponents with sheer numbers or carry out multiple tasks at once. Upon receiving Hagoromo's power, Naruto's clones are able to fly and equally combat Madara's corporeal shadows. Naruto's clones are also capable of performing his Tailed Beast Mode to form clones of Kurama's chakra replica as well.

While originally relying on his shadow clones only for overwhelming numbers in battle, Naruto came to be more tactical with them during Part II, overall making him waste less chakra in battle. As seen in his second bell test, he could use his shadow clones to manoeuvre him in mid-air and transform them into weapons to conserve his normal supply. After learning that all knowledge and experiences shadow clones gain will be transferred back to the user once they disperse, Naruto would frequently employ this to complete years' worth of training in days. He can also use shadow clones to scout an area or test an opponent's abilities in combat. Kakashi noted that Naruto's great mastery of the technique far exceeds his own and even Minato's, as only Naruto can apply shadow clones to catalyse the learning, usage, and mastery of complex techniques.

Summoning Technique
To encourage improved control over Kurama's chakra, Jiraiya taught Naruto the Summoning Technique. By offering a certain amount of chakra, Naruto can summon the toads of Mount Myōboku as allies. He was initially restricted to tadpoles and small toads such as then-young Gamakichi or Gamatatsu due to his poor chakra control. During Part I, he could only summon larger toads when accessing Kurama's chakra, but by Part II, Naruto's skills with the Summoning Technique improved as he becomes capable of summoning Gamabunta and the likes whenever he desired.

Rasengan
Naruto's second trademark technique is the Rasengan, which was created by his father. Originally, because of the very intricate chakra control the Rasengan requires, Naruto struggled to learn it. Although the Rasengan is intended as a one-handed technique, Naruto made up for his poor control by incorporating the assistance of a shadow clone: he provides the chakra while the clone forms it into the spherical shape. Since acquiring the Rasengan, Naruto began expanding on its nature to create stronger variations of it such as the Big Ball Rasengan. To make up for the need for shadow clones, Naruto steadily increases the number Rasengan he uses at a time, with feats like having the shadow clones make their own Rasengan to bombard the target with. During the Fourth Shinobi World War, Naruto gained enough mastery over the Rasengan to form it with only one hand, with his regular Rasengan expanding to the size of a Big Ball Rasengan.

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

Nature Transformation
Naruto's natural elemental affinity is wind. As his wind affinity works best at short to mid-range, this compliments a short-ranged fighter such as himself. Through a lesson given from Asuma Sarutobi, Naruto greatly refined his wind-type chakra control, allowing him to increase the potency of his weapons by embuing them with his wind-chakra. After completing his wind training, as the Rasengan was originally intended to be combined with a user's nature transformation, Naruto set out to combine his wind affinity with the Rasengan.

Mixing elemental chakra to the Rasengan was a such a difficult task that Minato, the technique's creator, left the technique incomplete by the time of his death. Naruto found his solution to this issue with shadow clones: one clone is used like he normally would to create a Rasengan, but adds a second one to combine the wind-chakra. This results in the creation of the Wind Release: Rasengan, and later the Wind Release: Rasenshuriken, the latter of which cuts the enemy at a cellular level. Intially, Naruto could only use it as a hand-held technique, causing him to suffer similar damage inflicted on his enemy. After learning Sage Mode, he can throw the Rasenshuriken and increase its speed and cutting power, preventing harm to himself and becoming able to expand it at will.

Naruto can manipulate the Rasenshuriken's size using Sage Mode or Kurama's chakra, creating miniature and gigantic versions, or even two Rasenshuriken simultaneously. While in his Six Paths Sage Mode, Naruto can add his wind-nature to his Tailed Beast Balls to create the Tailed Beast Ball Rasenshuriken. Two years after the Fourth Shinobi World War, Naruto's skill with the Rasenshuriken had greatly improved, being able to instantly form, throw and even guide it toward enemies without the use of shadow clones or any of his heightened forms.

With the seal of the Six Paths Yang Power and the Truth-Seeking Balls from the Six Paths Sage Mode he gained from Hagoromo, Naruto can utilise all five elemental nature transformations, along with Yang Release, Yin Release, and Yin-Yang Release. He can also use the Magnet Release, Lava Release, and Boil Release kekkei genkai from Shukaku, Son Gokū, and Kokuō, respectively.

Cooperation Ninjutsu
Naruto appears to collaborate well with others, as with Yamato, they created the Typhoon Water Vortex Technique. Alongside Sasuke, Naruto can perform the Scorch Release: Halo Hurricane Jet Black Arrow Style Zero, perform a team attack with most of the members of the Konoha 11, and use the Six Paths — Chibaku Tensei that can seal powerful beings like Kaguya. Through his Six Paths Chakra, Naruto can combine his Rasengan with Hinata's Gentle Step Twin Lion Fists to destroy Toneri's weapon used for destroying the Earth.

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

Sensory Perception
After mastering Sage Mode, Naruto can detect and identify other people's chakra from vast distances. With this skill, he can better react against high-speed opponents like the Third Raikage, being able to dodge his attack and effectively counter. He also gained the ability to sense negative emotions after taking control of Kurama's chakra. Naruto can also use both of these abilities simultaneously through his senjutsu-enhanced Tailed Beast Mode and the Six Paths Sage Mode respectively. Upon achieving the latter, Naruto's sensory capabilities were empowered to the highest possible level, making it possible for him to sense the other half of Hagoromo's chakra, as well as Madara's Limbo: Border Jail.

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

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

Naruto can formulate multi-step plans and even backup plans in the thick of battle. His strategies typically involve shadow clones: he may direct his opponent's attentions towards one of his clones to disguise his own movements; he may transform them into objects or other individuals for surprise attacks; he may make himself seem predictable by creating a pattern, just to throw them off by breaking it. Naruto is rather observant, able to notice details others may overlook and subsequently take advantage of it. Even when given new information, he can act quickly.

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

Other Skills
By Part II, Naruto has improved his knowledge of other ninja skills while under Jiraiya's tutelage, such as displaying some skill in shurikenjutsu and scroll sealing to store weapons. Naruto has also employed cloak-and-dagger tactics like keeping a spring-loaded kunai up his sleeve for quick access. Even during Part I, he could combine his shadow clones with shurikenjutsu to unleash a massive barrage of weapons at the enemy. Despite having no skill in genjutsu, Naruto has learned how to dispel it and avoid falling prey to it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Because too many genin teams had passed the second phase, a round of preliminary matches, where genin faced each other in combat, were held to thin the field. After watching the first few rounds, Naruto was matched against Kiba Inuzuka, and his dog, Akamaru. Remembering Naruto to be talentless from their days in the academy, Kiba believed it would be an easy match. He and Akamaru double-teamed Naruto, who initially had difficulty with the match. After combining the Transformation Technique with his shadow clones to turn Kiba and Akamaru against each other, Naruto was able to remove Akamaru from the competition. When Kiba was about to defeat him, Naruto farted, immobilising Kiba and his heightened sense of smell, and making him an easy target for the Naruto Uzumaki Combo which he invented 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 for distrurbing him on his "research", Naruto forced Jiraiya to train him in his place. Jiraiya, noticing that Naruto was the container of the Nine-Tails, and the restrictive seal Orochimaru had placed on him earlier, Jiraiya removed the seal to ease his chakra control. He then taught him how to take advantage of the Nine-Tails' chakra by showing him how to summon toads. Because Naruto had troubles with it, Jiraiya pushed him from the cliff, hoping to provoke Naruto to use 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 the confined Rock Lee. Gaara told them about Shukaku sealed within him and tried to kill both of them, but they were saved by the coming of Might Guy, which brings Gaara no choice but to retreat.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sasuke Recovery Mission
After returning with Tsunade (in the anime, after returning from the mission in the Land of Tea), Sasuke began to fall into the corruption set in place for him by Orochimaru. He began lashing out at Sakura and Naruto, not as team-mates but as enemies. Naruto eventually fought with him, the battle ending with Naruto and Sasuke about to clash with the Rasengan and Chidori, with Sakura in the middle. Kakashi ends the feud, sending the two crashing into water towers, Naruto unknowingly doing more damage than Sasuke, much to Sasuke's annoyance. Despite his promises to Sakura, Sasuke eventually ends up defecting from Konoha in order to seek out Orochimaru for power. Under the escort of Orochimaru's Sound Four, Sasuke left to join Orochimaru, and Naruto joined a 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
In the anime, several filler arcs take place before Naruto left for his three year training with Jiraiya. Naruto is sent on various missions with the other members of the Konoha 11, but while there is little character development for himself, the filler arcs tend to develop the supporting characters, as well as Gaara. The final filler arc was right before Naruto's departure with Jiraiya, though in the manga, this was right after the Sasuke Recovery Mission.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As Naruto (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 and stabbed by one of the Deva Path's chakra blades despite Naruto begging him not to. 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 him 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 fail safe 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
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 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 Downfall, 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 still had feelings for Sasuke, didn't believe her and said she was lying to herself, as well as he hated people who lied to themselves. Angered by this, Sakura insisted that she was telling the truth and he therefore doesn't need to fulfil 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, commiserating 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. As the two clashed, their feelings became clear to each other. While Naruto admitted that he could have easily went down Sasuke's path after all the anger he felt towards the village shunning, he came to like Sasuke, knowing that someone could relate to him being alone despite his jealousy of Sasuke. While believing Naruto's words, Sasuke insisted that nothing will change his mind, that Naruto must either kill Sasuke or be killed himself by Sasuke. Both survived the clash, with Tobi 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.

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

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

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

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

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

Fourth Shinobi World War: Confrontation
After Motoi sent his summoned owl to inform the Allied Shinobi Forces about the situation, Naruto and Killer B started evacuating the giant animals into the Island Turtle's shell for their safety in case an attack came. Naruto was trying to log the island's ecology as part of his "official" S-rank mission, but did not realise that it was a ploy to keep him away from the war. After he was done, B instructed Naruto back into the temple within the Falls of Truth and started to train on how to utilise his Nine-Tails Chakra Mode properly. However, during his training, 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 Iruka Umino, Shibi Aburame, and a handful of Konoha-nin, which confirmed his earlier suspicions that something was wrong. Iruka 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, losing his forehead protector in the process. With Naruto out the chakra isolation chamber and sensing the war going on around him, Iruka finally told Naruto the truth. Naruto refused Iruka's order to remain, vowing to end the war and endure whatever pain and anguish is there by himself. 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. Shortly after that, the Nine-Tails pulled Naruto into his subconscious, berating him for squandering its chakra. 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. When the Nine-Tails claimed that his attempt to put an end to hatred was futile, using the boy's history with Sasuke as proof, Naruto pinned the fox down with a torii in retaliation and tells it that he will find a way to deal with both Sasuke and the war. Though Nine-Tails then condescendingly complimented him for standing up for him, Naruto unnerved the tailed beast with the promise to someday resolve the fox's own hatred.

Some time 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 Chakra Mode, 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 he will kill him if he refuses to comply; believing he would buy the Allied Shinobi Forces some time before the Nine-Tails could revive, which would delay Madara's plan. However, B blocked A's attack and defeated his brother in a Lightning Release: Lariat clash while explaining that his and Naruto's strength come from both their tailed beasts and those who cared about them. To test Naruto's resolve, A fully powered up his Lightning Release Chakra Mode 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) that the former is the only one who can sense the White Zetsu Army. When their path was blocked by a group of White Zetsu disguising as shinobi, Naruto quickly takes them all out with his new techniques and he then deploys his shadow clones to the other battlefields.

After that, Naruto and B find themselves facing reincarnated Itachi Uchiha and Nagato. 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. Before Nagato could remove Naruto's soul, he 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 should 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.

Fourth Shinobi World War: Climax
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 he 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's clone 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's clone 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's clone entered Sage Mode and charged toward the Third with a Rasengan in hand. Using Sage Mode's sensory ability, he dodged the Third's Hell Stab 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's clone then went towards where Gaara was fighting the Second Mizukage, arriving just in time to see the sealing take place.

In the anime, one of Naruto's clones senses an immense source of hatred. Then, realising that he couldn't sense Shikamaru, Neji, Chōji, and Kiba's presence any more, Naruto's clone quickly rushes to their aid. Along the way, eliminating more White Zetsu clones in disguise, Naruto's clone finds a member of the communications team, contacting HQ for help. He learns from Inoichi Yamanaka that his missing friends have been affected by a strange technique. By locking in on the reincarnated Sound Four's malice, Naruto was able to find and destroy the barrier, letting Inoichi dispel the technique and save Shikamaru and the others. Jumping in to face the Sound Four, with their souls no longer bound to the world, Naruto quickly destroyed them as well. Meanwhile, another Naruto clone finds Karui and her division being attacked by former reincarnated samurai named Tatewaki. As the division is quickly overwhelmed by Tatewaki's swordsmanship, Naruto is shocked to meet the man again after three years. Remembering Naruto, he asks Naruto what became of the two children he was guardian. After Naruto assured him that the children were safely brought to their destination, the relieved samurai was able to let go of his past pains, breaking the summoning contract and returned to the afterlife.

Later in the anime, Naruto noticed three unusual weather patterns near each other, one of strong rain, one of snow, and one of lightning. While searching for the source, he found to his shock a reincarnated Yota, who began attacking him with powerful wind blasts. While at first unable to remember the child, Naruto gradually began recalling the events that led to Yota's death. As Naruto continued evading the attacks, he received word from his allies that Yota was currently fighting in three other locations. It was then deduced that at least three of the Yota were White Zetsu disguised and using Yota's power from a distance. While the three fake Yota were quickly defeated, Naruto found himself unable to attack Yota. Suddenly, despite being controlled, Yota was able to contact Naruto and his friends telepathically, revealing that he in fact died long before meeting them. Coming from a wandering clan with the same powers as him, Yota was a test subject by Orochimaru to refine the Impure World Reincarnation technique and as such was soon reanimated after "dying" while with Naruto and the others. Happy to see how well his friends grew up, Yota was able to break the summoning contract and destroyed his body with a bolt of lightning. When Omoi is reported to have left his post on the battlefield to find the Thundercloud Unit, the Allied Shinobi Forces' Headquarters asks Naruto to assist. He arrives and saves Omoi from a vast army of White Zetsu, stating he believes him. With his help, they manage to defeat a large number of them. Naruto's time at the battle comes to an end when Omoi accidentally slices through the shadow clone when striking a White Zetsu clone.

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 and stall him for time to enter Sage Mode. He and Gaara attack simultaneously, but their attack failed when Madara revealed his Rinnegan and used its power to summon a large meteorite to finish everyone within the area off. 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. When Madara attempted to summon the Nine-Tails, Naruto could feel his stomach burning and the fox angrily recognised 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 felt like that he could disappear at any moment. As Madara and Mū moved to attack, Tsunade, A, and Mei Terumī suddenly appeared and were 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's clone that the Kage would handle the real Madara, while he should focus on defeating the imposter. Elsewhere in a dense forest area, the real Naruto received the dispersed clone's information and vowed to win. Naruto noticed Tobi approaching and immediately head-butted him, causing both of them to recoil from the impact.

When Naruto questioned him about his true identity, Tobi simply replied that he was a nobody and that only completing the Eye of the Moon Plan and fixing the worthless world mattered to him. Though Tobi claimed he and B understand misery as jinchūriki, Naruto argued that having tailed beasts sealed inside them is not that bad while stating he is not going to fall for his lies. Tobi then had his jinchūriki paths enter the early stages of their tailed beast transformations to attack the gravely disadvantaged Naruto and B. After narrowly escaping from the jinchūriki, Naruto, B, and the Eight-Tails began to formulate a counter measure against them. After being informed by B that he had seen a black rod embedded into Yugito's chest, Naruto battles Rōshi to destroy the receiver in his chest with a Rasengan before being sent flying by Han's 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, Naruto was eventually swallowed by the Four-Tails and, to his surprise, ended up inside of Rōshi's subconscious and found the Four-Tails in chains. After denying that he had come to steal the beast's power, Naruto was chastised by the ape as it demands to be called by its proper name: Son Gokū. Learning the Nine-Tails' true name is Kurama, talking from experience, Naruto expressed his wish to be friends with it in the same manner that B was with the Eight-Tails. Hearing the resolve in Naruto's words, Son Gokū decided to help Naruto defeat it but explained to the boy not to expect it as his ally until he wins the tailed beast's trust. Using his Multiple Shadow Clone Technique to force the transformed Rōshi to vomit him out while leaving one clone in Sage Mode behind, Naruto staged a two-fold attack on the chakra receiver that was located on the side of the neck. Though Naruto succeeded in removing it, he learns that he only severed Tobi's control over Rōshi while Son Gokū's being is still held by the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. Regardless, Naruto earned the Four-Tails' trust as he gave the boy some of its chakra before being sealed back into the statue. Drained of chakra, finding out about his actions also earned the Nine-Tails' trust while thanking it for aiding his clone against Madara, Naruto accepts Kurama's offer to meld their chakra. Noting that Kurama was no longer the monster fox that attacked Konoha, but the village's ally and his team-mate, Naruto unlocked the seal's gate as he and a released Kurama prepared to face the five remaining, fully-transformed jinchūriki in their new form.

Wasting no time, Naruto intervened to save Guy and Kakashi from the jinchūriki's Tailed Beast Balls, with the latter mistaking 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 they only had five minutes to maintain 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 performed 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 receivers, 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. Yagura and the other jinchūriki explained that Son Gokū insisted that they wait for Naruto and try to help him. After both the jinchūriki and tailed beasts introduced themselves and offered Naruto some of their power, Naruto, back in the real world, successfully managed to pull the chakra receivers from the beasts, just before his time in the new form ran out. Forcing 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 this 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. Later, when Naruto saw the end to Kabuto's Impure World Reincarnation as the corpses of the jinchūriki began to deconstruct, he silently thanked Itachi and continued battling Tobi and the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.

As Naruto taunted his opponent on taking off his mask, Tobi summoned both the Benihisago and the Kohaku no Jōhei that contained the reincarnated Gold and Silver Brothers, who possessed a portion of Kurama's chakra, and tossed them into the Demonic Statue's mouth. That, along with the chakra from one of Gyūki's tentacles that was cut from B's last fight with Sasuke, the Demonic Statue began its transformation into the Ten-Tails. When Tobi exclaimed that the world no longer needed the concept of heroes, hopes, or future, Naruto argued that his own heroes were the reason why he was able to keep moving forward without faltering and would make his dream to become Hokage a reality. With that, Naruto resolved to first crush Tobi's mask, to which the masked man responded that he would not allow them to touch the Demonic Statue.

Formulating their strategy as Naruto produced a shadow clone, the shinobi agreed that the use of feint attacks would be crucial in this battle because of Tobi's abilities. Moving directly toward Tobi, Naruto used the Super Mini-Tailed Beast Ball to attack Tobi. However, becoming intangible, Naruto passed through him. Guy then leaped in with his Sōshūga to join battle. Using his nunchaku to counter Tobi's gunbai, Guy was able to send the masked man throttling toward Naruto and his Super Mini-Tailed Beast Ball. As Naruto's attack was about to make contact, Tobi teleported which Naruto had the idea to sense him out to anticipate Tobi emerging from the ground in a surprise attack. Dodging the attack, Naruto now has a harder time blocking Tobi's gunbai. Kakashi then appeared to join in the fight with his Lightning Release infused kunai. As Kakashi launched the kunai, Tobi became intangible once again and kicked the kunai toward Naruto. Telling Naruto to ignore it, Kakashi used Kamui to warp away the kunai. As Naruto made his last attempt to land a blow on Tobi, he became intangible.

Regrouping as the last attack seemingly failed to land, the shinobi wondered how they were going to defeat Tobi. Just then, a tiny crack appeared on Tobi's mask. Noticing the crack Guy believed Naruto's attack caused the damage, but Kakashi disagreed, noting that the crack was not consistent with a punch. Naruto agreed to confirm Kakashi's hypothesis and climbed aboard Gyūki's hand and was then launched across the battlefield toward Tobi. He allowed Guy to initiate the first attack, breaking the rocks before him and force Tobi to phase through them, but Guy continues his assault even as the masked man was still intangible forcing him to absorb his nunchaku. This allowed Naruto to attack Tobi with a Rasengan during this vulnerable period and injure his left arm. Naruto later listened in surprise as Kakashi explained the mechanisms behind Tobi's technique. Confused as to why the kunai made a mark but his punch didn't, Kakashi explained causing Naruto to realise that this was what his Rasengan did as well.

As Tobi chastised Kakashi, Naruto interjected stating that he would not give up on his dreams no matter what. When Tobi began to chastise Naruto as well, the young man switched places with Kurama who told Tobi in Naruto's stead that he would not lose, no matter what. With that they entered the Tailed Beast Mode and charged at Tobi. After Tobi evaded Naruto's attack, and chided him for attacking alone, Naruto rebutted that he was not alone, in that he had his friends and teachers with him, getting Kakashi out of his slump and moving to attack again as a group. Using a shadow clone, Naruto had B cover him while he had the clone charge at Tobi with a Rasengan while the real Naruto charged a Tailed Beast Ball. Tobi thought he destroyed the clone when Kakashi's Kamui failed to warp the Rasengan, and then phased through the Tailed Beast Ball. Once in the other dimension however, he discovered that Kakashi had instead sent the entire clone over and before he could react, Naruto hit him in the face with a Rasengan, breaking his mask.

He was later seen expressing alarm that Tobi's identity was revealed to be Obito Uchiha, a former comrade Kakashi and Guy were acquainted with. After his question about who was standing, unmasked before them was answered, Naruto tried to rally his sensei, telling him that for now, they had to focus on stopping his plans. When Obito attacked Guy and Kakashi, Naruto manifested Kurama's tails and used them as a blockade — dispelling the flames before Madara made an appearance on the battlefield. With Madara's appearance, Naruto demanded to know what happened to the five Kage while the two Uchiha casually discussed the current situation, but Madara noted that the Naruto in front of them was a clone, and informed him that the Kage were not doing well. Further angered by his casual disregard of Nagato, Naruto launched an attack on Madara, first releasing B from the chakra stakes, then throwing them at Madara, who blocked them, and then attacking with a mini Tailed Beast Ball. However, Madara sent the force back with his gunbai, destroying the clone before moving to deal with the jinchūriki.

Naruto, Killer B, and Guy all engaged Madara in combat after that point. Madara overwhelmed B and Guy, and Naruto rose to challenge him and announced that he was the Fourth Hokage's son. In response, Madara created a gigantic wood dragon to attack him after remarking he won't take it easy on Naruto any more. In response, Naruto countered with his full Tailed Beast Mode, smashing and biting the dragon. However, the dragon eventually gained the upper-hand in their struggle and began to absorb Kurama's chakra, causing the beast's shroud to falter. Hearing Obito and Madara's ideals once again, Naruto noted that they annoyed him to no end before creating a shadow clone to intercept Obito's attack on Kakashi while he protected Guy and B from Madara. He noted that he was not trash and that he would never become trash and that he would protect his comrades. After Kakashi rallied to his side, he and Naruto stand to face their opponents head-on. As Obito began to attack, he bound Naruto's clone with a Wood Release technique, and tried to send Kakashi to the other dimension, however, Naruto head-butted him, boldly denying Obito's claim that Kakashi was trash.

As Obito regained his composure and charged at a visibly exhausted Kakashi, planning to send him to the other dimension to keep him from stopping his plans, Kurama asked that Naruto switch with him. As Naruto did so, Kurama grabbed Kakashi's hand and hurled him at Obito, letting Kakashi get absorbed — much to Naruto's shock — to which Kurama simply stated that Naruto could now fight without hesitation. Without much time to discuss the matter as he was set upon by Obito once again, Naruto used his chakra arms to fend off his would-be attacker. As his attacks phased through him, Obito showed signs of being attacked much to Naruto's shock; there it was revealed that Kurama had actually given Kakashi some of its chakra so he could attack Obito in the other dimension and also return to the real world using Kamui. Meanwhile, the original Naruto entered the full Tailed Beast Mode to create a giant Tailed Beast Ball with B and Gyūki and fired it at the Demonic Statue. This was all done in vain however, as after the resulting explosion, the Ten-Tails had been revived.

Naruto and the others quickly regroup while Kurama restored Kakashi and Guy's respective chakra, but the Ten-Tails, under the control of Obito and Madara, quickly overwhelmed them before they could finish devising a strategy. Kurama and Gyūki then fired a barrage of Tailed Beast Balls at the Ten-Tails, who easily deflected them with a single blast of its own. Naruto and Kurama were able to withstand the attack (losing six of its tails in exchange) and threw Kakashi and Naruto's Sage Mode shadow clone above the Ten-Tails, where Kakashi teleported Gyūki and B who prepared to launch a Tailed Beast Ball from the beast's blind-spot. However, the Ten-Tails simply flicked the attack back at Gyūki, leaving Naruto's shadow clone, and Kakashi open for an attack. After the clone successfully pushed Kakashi out of the way, and gets dispelled by the tail himself, Naruto and Kurama were able to rescue Kakashi, Gyūki, and B before the Tailed Beast Mode was deactivated, which Kurama noted to Naruto that it needed time to generate more chakra.

As Obito and Madara had the Ten-Tails fire another Tailed Beast Ball at Naruto's group, the shinobi were shocked to realise that the attack had missed. Just then, from above, Ino, Hinata, Hiashi and a few others arrived and it is revealed that Ino was able to shift the blast after taking control of the beast for a split second. Shrouding the battlefield in mist and releasing kikaichū to stop them from being sensed, the entire Allied Shinobi Forces arrive at the battlefield, and Naruto announces that they were no longer a disorderly crowd before announcing that the "Ninja Alliance Technique" could stop the Infinite Tsukuyomi. As the Allied Shinobi Forces seemingly managed to trap the Ten-Tails with their battle strategy, Naruto entered Sage Mode and prepared to attack the two Uchiha with a Rasenshuriken. He throws the Rasenshuriken like planned as he and the other Allied Shinobi attack only to be repelled by the beast emerging in its matured form, sending Naruto and several others flying backwards, only to be left in shock at the beast's transformation, also leaving Naruto with a dislocated shoulder.

After the Ten-Tails launched several Tailed Beast Balls at nearby locations and the Allied Shinobi Headquarters (not before Shikaku and Inoichi relay their final battle strategy), Naruto questioned what happened to them, but suddenly Neji and Hiashi defended him from an incoming attack and told him not to get distracted in the battlefield. After reminding Naruto that he was the key to their strategy, the two of them, plus Hinata, declared that they will protect him. The Ten-Tails then started firing a barrage of wooden spears that proved difficult to defend against. Naruto entered Sage Mode and launched a few Rasenshuriken at the projectiles, but exhausted his senjutsu chakra. Soon the Ten-Tails launched a pinpoint attack at Naruto that the Hyūga were unable to deflect in time. Hinata prepares to defend Naruto as a human shield, only for Neji to take the fatal blow instead. In his final moments, Neji reminded Naruto that Hinata, as well as everyone else, was willing to die for him. When Naruto pleaded to know why he'd sacrifice himself for him, Neji replied it was because he was called a genius, reminding him of their first battle. Devastated, Naruto and Hinata tearfully mourn as Neji passed away.

Capitalising on Naruto's grief, Obito mocked Naruto about his earlier statement that he wouldn't let any of his comrades to die by reminding him of many shinobi that were already killed. Naruto was then left in a bewildered and depressed state as Obito lashed out at his beliefs, telling him that they would only lead to more of the same. As Obito tried to tempt Naruto into joining his plan, Hinata managed to snap Naruto out of his rut. She told him that if his life was connected to everyone who shared his beliefs and were willing to sacrifice their lives for him like Neji had, that he shouldn't give up and let their deaths be for nothing. Kurama also joined in, telling Naruto of his parents' similar sacrifice to protect him. With his confidence restored and his beliefs reaffirmed, Naruto took Hinata's hand and he thanked her for staying by his side. As he re-entered Tailed Beast Mode, Naruto transferred some of Kurama's chakra to Hinata, and created three shadow clones to swiftly transfer more of its chakra to many of the still alive across the battlefield, in particular Ino, Shikamaru, and Chōji, whose clans' Ino–Shika–Chō Formation figured in Shikaku's last strategy.

When Naruto finished distributing chakra to the rest of the Allied Shinobi Forces, he lead a charge attack with two Rasenshuriken prepared. One of them he used in front as they cut right through a couple of the Ten-Tails' tails. He prepared to throw the second one at Obito, but his dislocated shoulder got in the way. Hinata quickly fixed it with her Gentle Fist, allowing him to throw his technique, successfully cutting Obito's connection to the beast, alongside Lee cutting Madara's. The Uchiha duo quickly recollect themselves and began attacking the Allied Shinobi Forces directly with collaborated techniques. Naruto's chakra shrouds were able protected everyone from being killed by the barrage, but Kurama warned Naruto to be careful about micro-managing all of the chakra he had given them, as it was exhausting him and causing him to revert to his Nine-Tails Chakra Mode. Obito confronted Naruto, telling him he was contradicting himself by saying he was closest to his friend after they died but still wished to protect them. Naruto rejected Obito's words completely, telling him that his words were meaningless and that a loner like him wouldn't understand. Suddenly, the Ten-Tails started going berserk, completely distorting the weather around the area into powerful storms. As Kakashi attempted to stop the beast with Kamui, Obito intervened. As Naruto called to his sensei in concern, Kakashi told Naruto to take care of things here while the two former friends teleport back to the alternate dimension.

Naruto once again protected everyone from the Ten-Tails' Tenpenchii, but doing so drained him all of Kurama's chakra to maintain the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode and the chakra forming the Alliance disappeared. Despite that, however, members of the Alliance protected the exhausted Naruto as Sakura healed Naruto. Soon, the Ten-Tails prepared a giant Tailed Beast Ball, only for it to be stopped by the arrival of Naruto's reincarnated father. After sending the Ten-Tails' Tailed Beast Ball to the sea, Minato thanked Sakura for healing Naruto, then asked him if she was his girlfriend, to which Naruto responded "more or less". Sakura hit him in anger because of his response and told him to focus on the current situation; the action reminded Minato of Kushina and her own short temper. Naruto stated that he had felt their chakra in Tailed Beast Mode, just as the other Hokage arrived. Minato donned a chakra cloak, much to the others' shock, and led Naruto to brag about his father once again to Kurama. After sealing the Ten-Tails in a barrier, Sasuke and Jūgo arrived on the battlefield. After some dispute between the original Rookie Nine and Sasuke declaring to everyone that he would change the village and become Hokage, Naruto, finally healed, stood beside Sasuke and said that it was he who would actually become Hokage. Naruto and Sasuke moved to the battlefield, followed by Sakura, and the reborn Team 7 prepared to face the Ten-Tails.

The rest of the Rookie Nine rallied them, and they set out. The Hokage used the barrier to contain the Ten-Tails' Tailed Beast Ball, and Hashirama created an opening in the barrier for them to get it. As Sakura began to lay waste of the miniature Ten-Tails clones, a shocked Naruto made a mental note to never tease her again. When she momentarily let her guard down, he and Sasuke protected her. Sakura praised Sasuke, but not Naruto, causing him to complain about it. Naruto was annoyed when she declared that if Sasuke and Naruto begin fighting again, she'd snatch the Hokage seat from under their noses. As the trio stood together, back to back, Naruto examined Sasuke's Amaterasu and his Mangekyō Sharingan, while Sasuke examined Naruto's tailed beast form. After he got into a short scuffle with Kiba, Naruto proceeded to save Sai from his failed aerial attack on the Ten-Tails' main body. Sai asked Naruto if he could give chakra to the Alliance, but he explained he couldn't since Kurama was still moulding more chakra. Sai suggested that it would be best to defeat the largest of the clones, and slip close enough to beat the Ten-Tails itself, but it would be too far to jump at one go. He explained, however, that if they were to suffer severe wounds, the medical group would not be able to make it up front. Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke simultaneously used the Summoning Technique, saying that they fortunately have a solution to the problem. Naruto summoned Gamakichi, while Sasuke and Sakura summoned Aoda and Katsuyu, as each the solution to one problem.

Naruto wondered who his summonning was, but after realising it was Gamakichi, he was shocked at his rapid growth. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke, due to their summonings were noted by onlookers to be the new Three-Way Deadlock as each used their summoning for a purpose. Gamakichi leaped high into the air and used his tantō to protect him and Naruto from the attacks of the guards. Naruto created an Ultra-Big Ball Rasenshuriken, and threw it at the Ten-Tails. As he and Sasuke attacked the Ten-Tails, they were cheered on by the rest of the Rookie Nine, including Sakura, who shed some tears. Naruto's technique merged with Sasuke's Blaze Release: Susanoo Kagutsuchi arrow, creating a shuriken-shaped mass of black flames, which hit the Ten-Tails. Naruto then asked Sasuke to extinguish the flames so he and Kurama could pull the other tailed beasts out of the Ten-Tails' body. Wanting to end the twisted system, Sasuke refused to do so, which angered Naruto. When Obito returned from the other dimension and Madara began to control him, he let out a scream as Naruto looked on in shock.

Mobilising after being instructed by Hashirama to stop Obito, Naruto called out to Sasuke as he rushed towards their target. However both young men are bested by Minato who created a clone and used the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport to where Obito was. Still making his way to where Sasuke and now his father were, Naruto is shocked to see the beast begin to disappear. Using chakra arms to grab his father and Sasuke, Naruto noted that this was Obito's plan all along. Noting that he sensed the beast's chakra being absorbed by Obito, and having seen the Outer Path — Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique once before, he realised that the seals were entirely different.

Birth of the Ten-Tails' Jinchūriki
He later watched on as Hashirama attempted to restrain Obito to no avail and then later looked on in shock as Obito effortlessly destroyed portions of both Hashirama and Tobirama's bodies. As Naruto worries about protecting the Hokage, Sasuke notes that they were using their immortal bodies to gain a sense of Obito's abilities so they could find a way to defeat him which led Sasuke to tell Naruto to stop worrying about them. Minato, while noting Sasuke's intelligence, notes that their bodies took a while to reconstruct so he would have to create an opening for them. While Minato prepares to use the Spiralling Flash Super Round Dance Howl Style Three, Obito makes a play to attack Naruto, but is blocked by Sasuke's Susanoo. As Sasuke attempts to attack Obito, however, he takes both him and Naruto by surprise, breaking through Susanoo's defence and attacking the two.

With Minato unable to teleport to their aid, Naruto, remembering his father's words about how the Flying Thunder God Technique worked, created two chakra arms and grabbed onto Sasuke and attached the other to his father allowing Minato to teleport them to safety. Watching on as the scene unfolded on the battlefield, on his father's command, Naruto prepared to launch a collaborative strike on Obito after his father had attacked the Uchiha. Watching on as Obito attacked himself, and later as Minato himself is attacked by Obito, a worried Naruto is reprimanded by Sasuke who reminded him that they needed to prepare to strike. When his father is able to seemingly narrowly avoid Obito's attack and teleport back to them, Naruto and the others looked on in shock as a ball of the mysterious substance that had been attached to Minato started to glow and expand.

Saved by Tobirama who teleported the orb away from them, Naruto thanked him, but Tobirama reprimanded the young man for the way he addressed him. He and Sasuke later launched their counter-attack against Obito forming another Kagutsuchi-infused Rasenshuriken. As they charged, Minato teleported in front of them taking the blow of the technique, his father then used the Flying Thunder God Mutually Instantaneous Revolving Technique to land a surprise attack on the new jinchūriki. Though they believed the attack to have worked initially, they are all shocked to see Obito emerge from the attack unscathed. As they rushed forward, Naruto noted that Obito was much like the perfect jinchūriki he had imagined himself as in his dreams.

As they readjusted their strategy, Naruto informed Sasuke that he was going to go all out again and asked if he would be able to keep up. Attempting to go into Tailed Beast Mode, Naruto's mantle disappeared entirely. As he asked Kurama to give him more chakra, Naruto is shocked to see Gamakichi attack Obito with the Starch Syrup Gun. Questioning his intentions, Naruto thanked Gamakichi for helping out after the toad told him that he could not stay any longer. Watching as Obito attempted to deflect the attack, Naruto initiated his strategy and upon hearing Obito not only decry the position of Hokage, but his father as well. Forming a Rasengan, Naruto told Obito that even more than looking down on a position he never attained, Obito should not bad mouth his father. With this, Tobirama teleported Naruto to Obito's location and the young man sent the senjutsu-enhanced Rasengan crashing into the Uchiha. When he retreated to his comrade's side, Naruto explained to Sasuke how senjutsu worked and then noted that he was then going to use Frog Kata to fight the jinchūriki. He later watched on as Obito created an enormous tree which he used to prepare four Tailed Beast Balls to attack the Alliance with. As they prepared to deflect the attacks, Obito trapped them within a barrier and continued to berate his father, Naruto noted that it would be his birthday the following day and declared that the world would not end because he was in it.

Bumping fists with his father, he called to him to get ready as he donned the Tailed Beast Mode, Naruto matched his father's chakra signature, recombining the two halves of Kurama's chakra reforming and strengthening the chakra shrouds on the rest of the Shinobi Alliance, just before Obito fired the Tailed Beast Balls. By linking his chakra with his father's, Minato was able to use the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport everyone outside of Obito's barrier and to safety. When Minato noted that he had wanted to speak to Naruto, the young man dismissed this, noting that men could say all they wanted to each other with a simple look, and that both his, and his mother's feelings had already been conveyed to him. Entering his full Tailed Beast Mode with renewed vigour, Naruto's charge towards Obito was halted by Tobirama, who reminded the young man that only Sage Mode techniques were going to be effective against their opponent. While he had completely forgotten this already, Naruto chased off Yang-Kurama, mocking his stupidity before being reminded of the time he had entered Sage Mode while utilising the fox's power as well. Entering Sage Mode, Naruto is soon joined by his father in Tailed Beast Mode as well, and together, both men create an enormous senjutsu-enhanced Rasengan and are teleported to Obito's location by Tobirama. This attack, however, is anticipated by their target, leading them to readjust their strategy by creating a Tailed Beast Ball enhanced with natural energy. Before they can launch the attack, Naruto and his team are soon face-to-face with the Ten-Tails once again as Obito continued his Eye of the Moon Plan.

As Obito's assault using the Ten-Tails' tree form began claiming the life of the Allied Forces, Obito took advantage of their despair, insisting that they surrender. Hashirama's clone has Ino Yamanaka telepathically connect him to everyone via the Mind Body Transmission Technique so that he could inform them about the Eye of the Moon Plan and to try and rally them to continue fighting. While Hashirama's words failed to inspire them, Naruto's emotions and memories are conveyed to them via Ino's technique. Shocked at Naruto's refusal to give up despite of his hard life, the Allied Forces quickly begin to regain their will to fight. Naruto then joined the Susanoo-clad-Sasuke who had already begun to cut down the tree into battle once again. As Naruto prepared to attack, he and his father connected to one another so that Yin-Kurama could supply them with more chakra. With this, the two senjutsu-enhanced young men leaped into battle once again.

While pressing on with his attack, subconsciously still thinking about saving his allies, Naruto's chakra responded to his will and formed the Version 1 shroud around Shikamaru Nara in an attempt to aid his recovery. With a senjutsu-enhanced Tailed Beast Ball, as well as Sasuke firing a senjutsu-enhanced arrow with his Susanoo Bow, they cracked the sphere Obito had wrapped around himself as he pushes forward. The battle continued resulting in Sasuke's Susanoo and Naruto's Tailed Beast Mode form being destroyed. However, Sasuke and Naruto got up on their feet again, their resolves untouched.

Obito once again tried to instil doubt into Naruto to deter him from his path but Naruto refused to listen. Sasuke then claims to finish the battle with the next attack and manifested his final Susanoo which encased Naruto's Tailed Beast Mode mantle. Using the telepathic link, Naruto called for his comrades who rallied to his side all donning Tailed Beast Mode mantles as they entered Yang-Kurama's tails. Using the Rasengans Naruto had created, they all attacked Obito's defences who had formed a shield to defend himself. They broke through the shield allowing himself and Sasuke to deliver a devastating blow against Obito and destroying the Sword of Nunoboko and forcing out the chakra of all the tailed beasts. Grabbing hold of the two through seven tailed beasts, Naruto, with the aid of the Shinobi Alliance began to pull the chakra from Obito's body, with Gaara and B pulling Shukaku and Gyūki's chakra respectively to reduce Obito to a shell of the tree form of the Ten-Tails and prevent the flower from blooming. As they pulled, Naruto and Obito entered a level of shared subconscious where Naruto told Obito he would break his true mask: the facade of being nobody.

Obito continued to deny his past identity, claiming to have ascended to the same realm as the Sage of the Six Paths. Naruto scoffed the remark, saying that he was still the same Obito Uchiha of Konoha, and like him, they both grew up alone and wanted to become Hokage, originally to be acknowledged by others and ultimately to help the village. Naruto went on to say that Obito's warped views were just a desperate means to escape his personal pain. Obito admitted that there was an undeniable likeness between Naruto and him as a child, but still insisted that the Eye of the Moon Plan was to help the world as a whole. Naruto strongly asked Obito if he really believed that; unable to look Naruto in the eye, Obito said he does. In response, Naruto angrily denied that choice, stating that there are no short-cuts to achieving peace, dreams, or changing yourself, and pointed out to Obito that when he was about to be subjugated by the Ten-Tails, he refused to give up his memories of his genin team and overcome the beast. While Naruto noted that Obito would still have to pay of his crimes, he still had a home in Konoha and insisted that Obito come back to his friends, shocking the older Uchiha with an outstretched hand of friendship.

However, instead of holding his hand, Obito tried to strangle Naruto, saying he had no regrets for his actions. Naruto immediately broke free and punched him, stating if Obito truly thought that then he should stop picturing himself as a Hokage. Obito then began to see Naruto as his younger self completely, insisting that Rin would hate what Obito had become and never watch over him. As Obito continued to tell himself he preferred to be alone, Naruto grabbed Obito and forcibly dragged him over, telling Obito it was time to rejoin his friends and not underestimate them. Finally, the Shinobi Alliance managed to separate all the tailed beasts' chakra from Obito, reverting him to his original state. Naruto and Sasuke then broke their chakra unison.

As Naruto is acknowledged and thanked by the freed tailed beasts, Sasuke quickly moved in to kill the collapsed Obito. Kakashi suddenly teleported in front of Sasuke, pinning down Obito; the same desire to finish his fallen friend. He was stopped at the last second by Minato, who notes that Naruto's persistent scolding has reached Obito. Minato told Naruto to go aid the First Hokage against Madara, to which Naruto quickly rushed to the scene. Once finding the legendary rivals, Naruto prepares his Big Ball Rasenshuriken. Ultimately, Madara was subdued by Hashirama, allowing Sai to come and seal Madara. Before the seal was complete, Madara succeeded in truly reviving himself through manipulating Obito, allowing the dangerous Uchiha to use the full might of his enhanced body and repel both Sai's seal and Hashirama's restraints.

Madara's revival deprived him of his dōjutsu powers and even his sight as he removed his eyes years before actually dying. Despite this handicap, Madara's skills and remaining senses allowed him to easily fend off Naruto and Sasuke's attacks, enhanced even further by siphoning Hashirama's senjutsu chakra. The recently freed tailed beasts then arrived to aid Naruto, and begin coordinating attacks against Madara, quickly overpowering him. Naruto watched on as Madara retreated to a safe distance and implanted one of his Rinnegan eyes he received from a White Zetsu clone. As Madara summoned forth the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path from Obito's body, he stunned all the tailed beasts at once and proceeded to unleash chains from the Demonic Statue to restrain them. As he continued to struggle against the restraints, Naruto attempted to exit Tailed Beast Mode but when he found that he could not, he opted to continue fighting the restraints. Ultimately, as the beasts are all dragged towards Madara, Naruto was ejected from the mode and sent hurtling towards the ground. As Yang-Kurama was extracted from him, still alive but weak and unconscious, Naruto was caught by Gaara, who moved him away from the battlefield, promising not to let Naruto die. Gaara quickly took Naruto to Tsunade to recover. As she had already used up nearly all her chakra battling a Tobi and its massive Wood Release, Sakura instead joined Gaara as he continued to bring Naruto to their next location, though stated herself she was in no better shape than her master.

Gaara explained Sakura their next location was where Minato was. If they could reach him, Yin-Kurama could be sealed within Naruto to save his life. Sakura desperately tried to keep Naruto alive, even manually operating his heart to keep his blood flowing. They eventually reached Minato and Kakashi, who were fighting against the barely alive Obito being controlled by Black Zetsu. Once Gaara explained Yang-Kurama's plan to Minato, he prepared to transfer the Yin half to Naruto. However, as the former Hokage is about to seal Yin-Kurama within Naruto, Black Zetsu gets in the way and absorbs the Yin half instead, just before Madara; now the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki, arrived nearby the unconscious Naruto. During the confrontation, Kakashi sent Naruto and Sakura to Kamui's dimension. Obito, having chosen to side with the Allied Forces, arrived shortly after and transfers Yin-Kurama to Naruto under Sakura's sceptical eye.

Opening his eyes, Naruto found himself in a separate plane of existence, where he was greeted by the Sage of the Six Paths, who transcended time after his death to meet with Naruto. The Sage began to explain to Naruto about his family's history, noting that Naruto was in fact the reincarnation of the Sage's youngest son Asura. While surprised by this news, Naruto was easily able to accept it, having already realised it on some level. He also realised that Indra Ōtsutsuki, the sage's eldest son, was reincarnated into Sasuke. As Hagoromo asked Naruto to stop Madara for him, Naruto thanked the sage for his trust, to which he denied deserving such praise due to his failings as a father and leader. Naruto disagreed with the sage's views of his efforts, to which Gyūki and Shukaku appeared, along with Yin-Kurama, and agreed with Naruto. The tailed beasts explained that Obito chose to save Naruto by sealing them inside the young ninja. Turning their attention to Hagoromo to speak with him for the first time in ages, they deemed Naruto as the one of prophecy to save the world. The other six tailed beasts chakra manifested to join in the meeting. Trusting Naruto, Hagoromo passed on the Yang half of his chakra and Six Paths Sage Mode to the young shinobi. After receiving Hagoromo's power, Naruto awakens and sits up.

Obito then sent Naruto back to the normal dimension. Once there, Naruto found Madara battling Guy with the power of the Eight Gates. Naruto arrived in time to save Guy from Madara's final attack on a dying Guy, shocking the Uchiha. With a new look in his eyes, Naruto placed his right hand on Guy's chest and somehow stabilised Guy's life-force, sparing the older ninja from certain death. As Madara notes Naruto being different from before, Naruto boldly states he feels like he can accomplish anything now. Using his newfound power, Naruto attacked Madara hard with a chakra-enhanced punch, forcing the Uchiha to block with his chakra orb. Naruto then followed up with assistance from Son Gokū to produce his Sage Art: Lava Release Rasenshuriken. Madara then attempted to retaliate with Limbo, but Naruto, having gained the ability to sense its presence, instinctively dodged the technique and fired his technique, slicing the Ten-Tails' tree form in two and almost slicing Madara in two as well. Realising the situation, Madara then proceeded to absorb the tree itself, fully regenerating him. Naruto then grabbed Guy and brought him over to Lee for safety. As Naruto picked up his father's kunai, Madara mocked Naruto's attempt to stop him, calling himself immortal. Naruto calmly said he didn't intend to defeat Madara alone. As if on cue, Sasuke then appeared, wielding the Yin half of Hagoromo's chakra and the Sage's dōjutsu powers, the latter manifested within Sasuke's left eye as a Rinnegan. Naruto then proceeded to transform into a new chakra mode. As Madara deduced that the two childhood friends had somehow obtained the power of the great Sage like he did, Madara became determined to prove his power unparalleled.

As Madara began unleashing various powerful techniques on the duo, Sasuke easily evaded them while Naruto countered them with his chakra staff. Each time Naruto attempted to strike Madara, his attack was somehow blocked before it even reached the Uchiha. With his new Rinnegan, Sasuke quickly saw through Madara's ability. He explained to Naruto that Madara was generating an invisible clone to aid him. After explaining the mechanics and weaknesses to Naruto, Sasuke was able to subdue the hidden threat. Following Sasuke's advice to immobilise Madara, Shukaku called upon Naruto, letting Naruto use its Magnet Release to generate a new Rasengan imbued with the tailed beast's natural cursed seal. Naruto managed to strike Madara with it, but the older ninja was able to have his clone take the effects for him. Realising the situation was turning against him, Madara decided to first regain his left eye. He stole Kakashi's Sharingan and used its Kamui to teleport to the other dimension where Obito was. After stopping Madara's shadow from moving with his chakra staffs and a shadow clone, he went to Kakashi and the returned Sakura and used his new powers to restore Kakashi's original left eye. At Kakashi's warning, Naruto was recalled of their first lesson as Team 7.

Madara soon returned with both his Rinnegan and was accompanied by Obito, who was now under the complete control of Black Zetsu. Sakura proceeded to attack Madara but failed and instead was impaled by him, but Naruto came just in time to rescue her. Madara produced four shadows to keep Naruto and his allies occupied while he performed the Chibaku Tensei. Naruto created four shadow clones to battle the shadows and while Sasuke entered his Complete Body — Susanoo form, Naruto created the Tailed Beast Ball Rasenshuriken to counter and repel Madara's attack. As Madara initiated the Infinite Tsukuyomi, Naruto fired multiple Tailed Beast Ball Rasenshuriken at the numerous meteors coming down on them. While he carefully aimed to prevent them from hitting Sasuke and warned him not to come down so hastily, Sasuke told him to stay still and covered him and the others with his Susanoo to protect them from the genjutsu, as the Susanoo could block the technique's light. As everyone was tied up by the tree's vital energy, Naruto tried to dash to assist them, to which Sasuke stopped him and urged him to be patient.

Kaguya Ōtsutsuki Strikes
As everyone asked Sasuke the nature of this technique, Sasuke stubbornly told them to be quiet, insisting that he was in command. While Naruto was furious at Sasuke's still independent attitude, Kakashi solemnly admitted that with Sasuke's Rinnegan, he may be the only one able to save the world. As the light of Madara's Infinite Tsukuyomi finally ended, Sasuke let down his Susanoo, noting that only a Rinnegan has a chance of cancelling the genjutsu. Madara then confronted the remaining free individuals, only for Black Zetsu to suddenly betray Madara and impale his hand through Madara's chest, shocking its audience. As Madara asked his own manifestation why he would do this, Black Zetsu boldly stated that it is actually a manifestation of Kaguya Ōtsutsuki. Black Zetsu then proceeded to expand its being into Madara. When Madara began to absorb a huge amount of chakra from those captured by the Infinite Tsukuyomi while swelling up to many times his normal size, Naruto and Sasuke attempted to stop him, before being caught by hair-like appendages. Madara eventually shrunk back down, but was replaced by Kaguya while Black Zetsu was completely absorbed in the process, leaving Obito free of his presence and unconscious. When questioned on her motives, Kaguya went to comment that she wanted no more fighting, before shifting them to another dimension.

Sasuke managed to save himself and Naruto by summoning his hawk. While Kakashi saved himself, Sakura and Obito. Sasuke pointed out that if either him or Naruto dies it's the end of the world, and they are mankind's last hope. Kaguya continued her attack on the pair injuring Sasuke's hawk's wing. Naruto saved everyone by using his chakra arms and the ability to fly. While Naruto clashed with Kaguya, he gave Sasuke an opening to attack Kaguya from above with his final Susanoo after being repelled by Kaguya's attack. After Sasuke's attack proved ineffective, Naruto and Sasuke were briefly rendered immobile when Kaguya materialised from behind and grabbed them, using Black Zetsu to drain the two of their chakra. After Black Zetsu explained further details of his role in resurrecting Kaguya, Naruto managed to rip it off himself and Sasuke before preparing for another attack.

Convincing Sasuke to use his plan to create an opening, the Uchiha attacked Kaguya with Amaterasu, allowing Naruto to get in close to use his Sexy: Reverse Harem Technique which successfully distracted Kaguya long enough for him to get a direct hit. Sasuke then warped the two of them around Kaguya to seal her, but the woman shifted the dimension to a frozen kingdom, encasing the three of them in ice which she effortlessly escaped from. She attempted to absorb their chakra, but the two were saved by Sasuke's Blaze Release. Taking Black Zetsu's advice, Kaguya warped Sasuke to another dimension, leaving Naruto to combat her alone. Kaguya then process to bombard Naruto with a powerful blast of ice, to which Naruto feigns being trapped in hopes of catching Kaguya off guard. Meanwhile, Naruto's clone succeeds in resuscitating Obito. The reformed Uchiha then deduces that Kaguya's space-time manipulation is akin to Kamui. He theorises that he should be able to synchronise his Kamui with both eyes to Kaguya's portal once it opens, giving them a chance to save Sasuke. As Obito notes however he is too weak to make the journey both ways, the Naruto-clone and Sakura offer their chakra. Seeing that Obito is determined to save Sasuke, Naruto-clone thanks Obito, who solemnly says he wishes to walk the right path even if it costs him his life.

As Kaguya approached the seemingly pinned Naruto, realising that the same trick wouldn't work twice, he called for Kokuō's aid, using his chakra to strongly boost his offensive strength, breaking free and quickly smashing through Kaguya's defences to launch her away. With Yin-Kurama granting Naruto even more chakra, Naruto then unleashed a massive army of shadow clones. As the assault quickly began to overwhelm Kaguya, the princess teleported away, giving Obito the chance to teleport with Sakura the Naruto-clone, followed also by the real Naruto. As the shadow clone quickly dispersed from the journey, Black Zetsu was shocked that the real Naruto was able to follow them to Kaguya's base dimension. The dark manifestation insisted that even if they must give up forever the massive chakra within Naruto, he must be stopped now. Not liking the idea but agreeing, Kaguya launched a powerful jagged bone barrage to skew Naruto. After returning to the previous dimension, Kaguya and Black Zetsu noticed that Naruto's clones didn't disappear where in reality. The Naruto that was impaled by Kaguya was, in fact, a clone that was accompanying Obito and Sakura. Naruto and his army of clones continued their battle with Kaguya and Black Zetsu, in which the real Naruto was identified by latter as the one attached with the Truth-Seeking Balls.

As Kaguya charged forward, intending to kill Naruto to prevent Sasuke's return, he used his clones to protect himself. Sasuke then suddenly returned, along with Sakura and Obito, distracting Naruto long enough for Kaguya to take the opportunity to stab him, but instead mistook a clone for the real one which Naruto passed his Truth-Seeking Balls to. Upon realising the situation, Kaguya shifted the dimension to another with extremely strong gravity to prevent Naruto and Sasuke from reacting to her attacks, along with stopping everyone, including herself, from moving by pinning them to a spiked terrain. She attempted to use the All-Killing Ash Bones to quickly kill Naruto and Sasuke, but missed due to a miscalculation. When she then attempted to rectify her mistake with another salvo, Kakashi and Obito managed to throw themselves in the way of the attack. While Kakashi was saved by Obito using Kamui, the latter was unable to protect himself, causing him to receive a direct hit from the attack. Upon Obito being skewered by the bone, Naruto tried to save Obito but to no avail. Following this, Obito spoke his final words to Naruto and told him to become Hokage at all costs before dying and crumbling into ashes. Black Zetsu then proceeded to insult Obito and tell Naruto that if he stood in their way, he would meet the same fate as Obito. Naruto angrily reacted by cutting off Kaguya's left arm, which the sleeve contained Black Zetsu, and saying that he thinks Obito is awesome.

As Naruto began to bombard Kaguya with multiple tailed beast chakra-infused attacks, the tailed beasts inside Kaguya began to react to Naruto, warping Kaguya's body into a random mass of all the tailed beasts with a demonic rabbit head. Soon regaining control of herself, Kaguya then shaped the tailed beast-mass into a giant Truth-Seeking Ball. Kakashi devised a plan and shared it with his students, telling them to be ready for what could be their last mission as a team. Quickly enacting this plan, Team 7 was able to coordinate their efforts, including Naruto using his shadow clones as diversions, and penetrate Kaguya's defences to land a decisive blow on her. Once Naruto and Sasuke make physical contact with Kaguya, their respective hand markings activate Six Paths — Chibaku Tensei and seals her physical form away in a forming moon; causing her to revert to the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path before freeing the Tailed Beasts within along with Madara's body. As the earth starts flying into the air to form the moon, Naruto goes to where he trapped Black Zetsu and is told by the entity that he is a product of the Shinobi world he created. After thinking about his parents and various shinobi, he tells Black Zetsu that Shinobi history was created by the lives and deaths of many shinobi and that a brat like him who never leaves his mother's side would never understand any of that. With that said, Naruto hurls Black Zetsu into the moon before returning to his team and telling them that the seal is complete as Sakura brings up that they've no way to leave the dimension.

While Naruto is freaked out by this, he, his team-mates, the tailed beasts and Madara's body are transported back to the main land by Hagoromo's spirit, the Hokage, and each of the previous Kage, all of whom were summoned from the pure land by Hagoromo to assist in the summoning. Upon being greeted by Minato, Naruto and Team 7 are thanked by Hagoromo for saving the world. As Hagoromo then prepares to send the past Kage back to the afterlife, Naruto approaches his father, who wishes him a happy birthday. Naruto then gives his parting words to Minato as he finally leaves. Once all the Kage have departed, everyone begins making plans for what to do next, Hagoromo informs the tailed beast that because their chakra is within Naruto, they all meet and discuss within Naruto using that chakra, and for Kurama to return to Naruto, something the fox didn't object to and to Naruto's joy. The final step was to release the Infinite Tsukuyomi using Naruto's tailed beast chakra and Sasuke's Rinnegan. Sasuke however reveals his desire for revolution; executing the sitting Kage and taking control of all the tailed beasts, trapping them within Chibaku Tensei satellites. His time running out, Hagoromo places his trust in Naruto, who vowed to end the brothers' feud once and for all, though he urged Sasuke to at least free the tailed beasts, confident that they wouldn't be a problem anymore. After learning Sasuke was planning on using them to dispel the Infinite Tsukuyomi and then kill them, Naruto declared he wouldn't let that happen.

After Sasuke used genjutsu to prevent Sakura from following them, Naruto followed Sasuke to the Valley of the End where he told his rival he was confident he would not lose a second time. He then resolves to not hand over the title of Hokage to Sasuke, believing that he does not understand the meaning of the role. Sasuke replies and explains his reasoning behind his motivation for change in the shinobi world, much to Naruto's disapproval. After exchanging words, Naruto and Sasuke then charge at each other and begin their fight. Repelling against each other, Sasuke immediately fires a massive fireball at Naruto, who manages to deflect the attack by activating his Six Paths Sage Mode. Leaving Naruto little time to react, Sasuke shifts behind Naruto, activates his Chidori, and knocks Naruto into the water. As Naruto recovers, Sasuke activates his Susanoo and fires three arrows towards Naruto, though he manages to block Sasuke's attack by utilising three of his Truth-Seeking Balls, resulting in several small explosions. Sasuke activates his Complete Body — Susanoo and tries to slice down Naruto, only for his attack to be countered by Naruto's Tailed Beast Mode.

The two titans's fists clash together, as memories of the past are shared between the two. While Naruto forms a Tailed Beast Ball, Sasuke applies the Chidori to his Complete Body — Susanoo. The two techniques clash, resulting in a massive explosion, as Naruto and Sasuke enter their inner subconscious once again. Naruto tries once more to convince Sasuke to stop fighting, stating that his goal is pointless, however Sasuke is unfazed by Narutos plea and determent to carry through with his revolution. Returning to the real world, Sasuke and Naruto are knocked back as a result of the explosion of their colliding attacks.Sasuke then brings forth the satellites encasing the tailed beasts and begins channeling their chakra into his Complete Body — Susanoo. As it changes into a more humanoid form, Kurama notes that Sasuke is on the level of Hagoromo. After Naruto summons three shadow clones, Sasuke immediately attacks him from behind, knocking one of his clones into the earth. The two battle in the sky, as Naruto tries to attack Sasuke, but fails as Sasuke uses a lightning-based senbon to counter Naruto's technique, resulting in a massive explosion.

Naruto combines his clones to form one powerful chakra avatar and throws two Rasenshuriken, while Sasuke fires a lighting-enhanced arrow. As the two attacks collide in the air, the explosion rattled the entire area, even destroying the heads of the Madara and Hashirama statues. After the two came crashing down, Sasuke used Amaterasu, which Naruto deflected with his Version 1 chakra shroud before following up with shadow clones, catching Sasuke in a Naruto Uzumaki Combo. Sasuke retaliated with shuriken, dispersing the shadow clones, but both ran out of chakra and resorted to basic taijutsu. Ultimately, the two collapsed into each other, neither willing to give up. Sensing that Naruto received chakra from Kurama, Sasuke used his Preta Path ability to absorb it all, giving him enough chakra to use his Chidori, aiming down on Naruto. Reflecting on his own words to Kurama about helping Sasuke, Naruto is able to counter with a punch, sending Sasuke reeling into the mountain side. Using the last of Yin-Kurama's chakra, he uses his Rasengan against Sasuke's Kagutsuchi-enhanced Chidori.

The two attacks resulted in destroying the valley and costing Naruto his right arm in exchange for Sasuke's left arm. Waking up some time later, Sasuke asks why Naruto would go through such lengths to save someone like him. Naruto's response was that he understood Sasuke's pain and couldn't let that stand. The two slept through the day to the following morning where Sasuke admitted defeat and was willing to let himself die and Naruto end the genjutsu using his Rinnegan. However, Naruto told Sasuke that as his friend, he wouldn't leave him behind, moving Sasuke to tears. After being noticed by the remainder of Team 7, Sakura rushed to their side and began healing both their wounds with a pleased Kakashi looking on. Naruto and Sasuke later dispelled the Infinite Tsukuyomi, releasing the Allied Shinobi Forces from the genjutsu and saving the world. Sasuke later freed the tailed beasts from their prisons in the Chibaku Tensei, much to Naruto's delight.

After the war, Naruto and the newly appointed Hokage managed to have Sasuke pardoned of his past crimes. Naruto later encountered Sasuke, after the latter decided to leave the village, and returned his discarded forehead protector to him, parting ways on good terms with his friend. At some point, Yang-Kurama was resealed in Naruto and restored with its other half into its complete self.

The Last: Naruto the Movie
Canonically set two years after his final battle with Sasuke, Naruto has become a hero to the entire world. He has gained much fame and popularity, having many visitors coming from all over the world to the village to see him. Hinata fixes Naruto's old red scarf that was ruined by bullies from their childhood and prepares to give it to him as a personal gift of love at the Konohagakure Winter Festival to once again confess her feelings for him, but flees when she sees him surrounded by his admirers, and again when Hinata got embarrassed by her hungry stomach, leaving Naruto genuinely confused. When Toneri Ōtsutsuki kidnaps Hanabi; Naruto, Hinata, Sakura, Sai, and Shikamaru set out on a mission to rescue her. During their mission, Hinata "chooses" to go with Toneri, which causes Naruto to fall into a deep depression. Eventually, Sakura helps him snap out of his depression by helping him realize that Hinata truly loves Naruto, which gives him the confidence to lead the charge into Toneri's moon base. After a long and grueling battle, Naruto defeats Toneri. He then professes his love for Hinata and the two kiss. The two soon married and started a family with a son and daughter.

Epilogue
Years later, when Kakashi stepped down as the Sixth Hokage, he chose Naruto to be the Seventh. While loving his children and wife greatly, Naruto's duties as Hokage made it harder to spend as much time with his family as he wanted. Because of this, his son would often pull pranks as his father did in childhood to be noticed. An example of this is when Boruto defaced Naruto's face on the Hokage Monument. After he was informed, Naruto swiftly appeared next to Boruto and smacked his head. He explained to Boruto why he couldn't be there for him as the whole village is his family including Boruto. Naruto helped his son clean the Hokage Monument which made him appear late to a Kage meeting he was hosting. After he arrived, he declared it to begin.

Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow
Team 7 are dispatched to the Land of Snow to protect the lead actress Koyuki Kazahana, during the shooting of the new Princess Gale movie.

Naruto the Movie: Legend of the Stone of Gelel
Naruto, Sakura and Shikamaru are sent to track and bring a ferret back to its owner. However, when the group are attacked by mysterious soldiers, they embark on to something big.

Naruto the Movie: Guardians of the Crescent Moon Kingdom
Naruto, Sakura, Rock Lee and Kakashi are assigned to protect the future prince of the Land of the Moon, Hikaru Tsuki.

Naruto Shippūden the Movie
Naruto is assigned to protect the priest Shion who starts having visions of his death.

Naruto Shippūden the Movie: Bonds
A group of ninja from the Sky Country launched a surprise attack on Konoha and to stop this new threat, Naruto and Sasuke join forces.

Naruto Shippūden the Movie: Will of Fire
Team Kakashi works together to stop Kakashi from sacrificing himself to stop a world war.

Naruto Shippūden the Movie: The Lost Tower
Naruto is sent on a mission to stop Mukade. However, during the mission Naruto is sent 20 years into the past.

Naruto the Movie: Blood Prison
Naruto gets framed for the attempted assassination of the Raikage. In his subsequent attempts to break out of the prison, he gradually discovers the prison's dark secrets.

Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie
Naruto and Sakura end up in an alternate reality in a test version of Project Eye of the Moon Plan where the Naruto never lost his parents and many characters have different personalities.

Boruto: Naruto the Movie
Naruto will make an appearance in this film.

Video Games
Throughout the games, different non-canon variants of Naruto have appeared as playable characters. Those include Naruto wearing his Might Guy jump suit, Naruto from Shippū! Konoha Gakuen Den! and Mecha-Naruto, who was designed by Masashi Kishimoto as an exclusive character for Naruto Shippūden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution.

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

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

In 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.
 * Naruto is the fourth known jinchūriki known to have survived the extraction of a tailed beast, along with Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki, Kushina Uzumaki, and Obito Uchiha.
 * October 10, Naruto's birthday, was Health and Sports Day in Japan when his character was conceived. The holiday, however, was later moved to the second Monday of October in 1999.
 * Naruto is the third known jinchūriki to have become a Kage during their lifetime after Yagura and Gaara.
 * Masashi Kishimoto stated in an interview with the U.S. Shōnen 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.
 * 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 his character Sanji's name was originally going to be Naruto, but changed it because Naruto series was about to become serialised and wanted to avoid confusion.
 * Naruto is right-handed.
 * When Naruto first became a genin, while using his Sexy Technique, his settei reveals that he is 160cm tall.
 * Kishimoto's first concept art of Naruto for The Last: Naruto the Movie showed that he was 173cm, but it later changed to 180cm.
 * According to the databook(s):
 * Naruto's hobbies are pulling pranks and watering plants.
 * Naruto wishes to fight Sasuke Uchiha, the Third Hokage, and members of Akatsuki.
 * Naruto's favourite foods are Ichiraku ramen and red bean soup. His least favourite are fresh vegetables.
 * Naruto has completed 16 official missions in total: 7 D-rank, 1 C-rank, 2 B-rank, 6 A-rank, 0 S-rank.
 * Naruto's favourite phrase is.
 * Naruto makes an undetailed background appearance on the cover page of the 766th chapter of One Piece, where the person behind Nami (who is wearing a changpao with the Konohagakure symbol) is implied to be Naruto. Also, both main characters are seen eating each others' respective favorite foods, as Naruto is eating meat, and Monkey D. Luffy is eating ramen. Additionally, this chapter was released on the same week as the release of the final two Naruto manga chapters.
 * In the 700th chapter of the Naruto manga, the symbol of the Straw Hat Pirates appears on the headband of Naruto's statue as part of Boruto's graffiti.
 * Although Naruto has killed various antagonists in anime fillers and movies, the only canon character he ever killed was Yūra.
 * In the third segment of The Simpsons Halloween special, Treehouse of Horror XXV: The Others, an alternate version of Bart Simpson cosplayed Naruto.

Quotes

 * (To Kakashi) "And my future dream is to be the greatest Hokage! Then the whole village will stop disrespecting me and start treating me like I'm somebody. Somebody important!"
 * (To Ibiki) "Don't underestimate me! I don't quit and I don't run! You can act tough all you want! You're not gonna scare me off! No way! I don't care if I DO get stuck as a genin for the rest of my life! I'll still be Hokage someday!"
 * (To Neji) "I'm not gonna run away, I never go back on my word! That's my nindō: my ninja way!"
 * (To Gaara) "It's almost unbearable, isn't it… the pain of being all alone. I know that feeling; I've been there, in that dark and lonely place, but now there are others, other people who mean a lot to me. I care more about them than I do myself, and I won't let anyone hurt them. That's why I'll never give up. I will stop you, even if I have to kill you! They saved me from myself. They rescued me from my loneliness. They were the first to accept me as who I am. They're my friends."
 * (To Pain) "Just give up… on trying to make me give up!"
 * (To Nagato, reciting a line from Jiraiya's first book) "Then I will break that curse. If there's such thing as peace, I will find it. I won't give up!"
 * (To Sasuke) "If you attack Konoha, I will have to fight you… So save up your hatred and take it all on me, I'm the only one who can take it! It's the only thing I can do! I will shoulder your hatred and die with you! Because I'm your friend!"
 * (To 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!"
 * (To Kurama) "You're not the monster fox anymore. You're one of my team-mates from Konoha… Kurama."
 * (To Obito) "Quit it with your stupid reasoning! I meant to say that I'll stand any pain for my friends!! I'm not gonna give up on them!! It might just be me being selfish, but… not having my friends here… is the most painful thing for me!! Period!!!!"
 * (About his life) "I was always so alone. But I've made friends. I finally know what I have to protect. That's why I...!"
 * (To Boruto) "Boruto… with what I do now, all the people in this village are like a family. So there will be times that you won't be able to have me as a father all to yourself. I know this must be hard for you… but you must learn to endure it. You're a shinobi too, aren't you?"