Minato Namikaze

, also known as, was the and the father of Naruto Uzumaki. He was the student of Jiraiya and the teacher of Kakashi Hatake, Obito Uchiha, and Rin.

Background
According to those who knew him, Minato was a very talented ninja, having been considered a genius that appeared once a generation. He graduated from the Ninja Academy at the age of ten, and was added to a Genin team under the tutelage of Jiraiya. Jiraiya took a special interest in Minato, and accepted him as an apprentice.

In later years, Minato was put in charge of a Genin team of his own, consisting of Kakashi Hatake, Rin and Obito Uchiha.

Konoha's Yellow Flash
During Kakashi Gaiden, set during the Third Great Shinobi World War, Minato led his team on a mission into Kusagakure. Because Kakashi had recently become a Jonin, Minato gave leadership of the mission to Kakashi, while he went to help Konoha's forces on the front lines. Before leaving, he gave Kakashi a special kunai as a congratulatory present, outfitted with the seal used for his Flying Thunder God Technique.

While helping his fellow Konoha ninja, he used the Flying Thunder God Technique to wipe out all of the opposing Iwagakure ninja in an instant. He returned to Kakashi in time to save him from another group of Iwagakure ninja, but could not save Obito. When Kakashi and Rin recovered from the ordeal, Minato helped them complete the task of destroying the Kannabi Bridge.

Fourth Hokage
Some time after the war ended, Minato was chosen by Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, to lead as the Fourth Hokage before he was even 30 years of age. . During his reign, he had a relationship with Kushina Uzumaki, who would later become pregnant with his son. After reading Jiraiya's book, where the main character was named Naruto, Minato and Kushina decided to name their son "Naruto", in the hopes that he would grow up to be just like the Naruto of the book (Jiraiya's). This, in turn, made Jiraiya Naruto's godfather.

Soon after Naruto was born, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox attacked Konoha. Minato rushed to the village's help, where he and Gamabunta faced off against the demon fox, but the beast's power could not be matched. Recognising that the demon fox was being controlled by Madara Uchiha, Minato decided to defeat it and give Konoha the means to combat Madara if he should ever attack the village again. He used the Dead Demon Consuming Seal to seal the demon fox into Naruto's body, hoping that Naruto would someday be able to make use of its power. The act cost Minato his life, and he died as the village's greatest hero.

Legacy
In the moments before he died, Minato asked that Konoha view Naruto as a hero who had helped defeat the demon fox, rather than the host of the monster that had attacked the village. However, few of the villagers would honor this request, leaving Naruto to grow up as an outcast of the village. During the course of the series, Naruto is able to change how the villagers view him for the better, but at the same time must combat the demon fox sealed within him. All the while, Naruto would never know who his parents were, Hiruzen feeling it was best that the world not know who Naruto's father was.

With Minato's death, Hiruzen was forced to resume his position as Hokage, due to Minato not being able to choose his successor. He made a decree that forbade the villagers from speaking aloud that Naruto was the container of the demon fox, hoping that the villagers' children would not shun him as their parents did. He otherwise tried to make Naruto's life as comfortable as he could, being one of the few people to appreciate him and putting up with his mischievous deeds.

During the sealing process, Minato split the demon fox's chakra in two, giving Naruto access to the Yang chakra and permanently cutting off access to the Yin. He left Jiraiya a key to the seal that kept the demon fox sealed within Naruto, to be used to strengthen it whenever it began to weaken. As a final safety measure, he left an imprint of himself within Naruto's subconscious that would react whenever the seal was on the verge of breaking. This imprint could watch Naruto grow up and had the one-time ability of returning the seal to its original strength.

Part II
For most of the series, Minato was only made reference to in passing. Later, in Part II, he began appearing in flashbacks.

Invasion of Pain
It was not until Pain attacked Konoha that he made an actual appearance in the story. When Naruto started to give to the temptations of power from the demon fox, and was about to release the beast, the imprint Minato left behind stopped him. Although he voiced his dislike of seeing the demon fox again, he pointed out that its actions had allowed him to see his son. Naruto picked up on this, and was overjoyed to finally find out who his father was. Minato tried to talk with Naruto, but the fox kept interrupting the conversation, so they went someplace that was quiet. After the shock of finding his father, Naruto was quickly outraged at the idea that Minato would seal the demon fox in his own son, and punched him in the gut. Minato apologized for having sealed the Nine Tailed Fox in his own son and explained his reasoning for doing it, and Naruto quickly got over his rage at the thought of being the Fourth's son.

Because he had a limited amount of time to talk to Naruto, Minato briefly caught up with him, at the same time indicating that he knew Pain had killed Jiraiya. He expressed his suspicions that Pain, like the demon fox years earlier, was being controlled by Madara Uchiha. He went onto suggest that, so long as the current ninja system exists, people like Pain, who were ruined by war and only went on to create new wars, will continue to exist. He restored the seal on Naruto's stomach, and encouraged Naruto to find a way to stop the vicious cycle of death and destruction, voicing his confidence in Naruto before disappearing.

Abilities
According to Jiraiya, Minato was easily one of the most gifted shinobi who ever lived. He created the Rasengan, a technique that does not rely on hand signs, but instead uses a concentration of spinning chakra in the palm, which causes immense damage to its target on contact. Minato had planned to add his own nature manipulation training to the Rasengan, making it even more powerful, but couldn't manage to combine the two prior to his premature death. He had a keen knowledge of fūinjutsu, and was one of the few people capable of getting Gamabunta to work with him.

It is unknown exactly how strong Minato was in combat. Flee-on-sight orders were given to enemy shinobi during the Third Great Shinobi World War in case he ever appeared on the battlefield. This stemmed from his Flying Thunder God Technique, which essentially allowed him to teleport to any location with the use of a special seal. By throwing kunai that had the seal attached to them behind enemy lines, Minato could wipe out an entire platoon in the blink of an eye without receiving a scratch. This earned him the nickname of Konoha's Yellow Flash, because of the speed at which Minato (with his yellow hair) moved when using this jutsu.

Past Speculation
Before it was revealed true, many fans speculated that Minato was Naruto's father, mostly because of their nearly identical physique and looks. The two characters also have the same blood type and technique styles. Throughout the course of the series, the characters who knew Minato had also given references to him when talking about Naruto. However, until it was revealed in Chapter 367, information about Naruto's family relations had been carefully avoided.

Before Pain (specifically the Deva path) was revealed, some speculated that Minato was the leader of Akatsuki, because their silhouettes were similar, and Pain had some knowledge of Konoha. This theory was propagated by a fan-made manga collage, where the Akatsuki leader revealed himself as Minato.

In scenes where the toad summoning contract is present, the names of the most recent characters to sign the contract are shown. Although the names are indecipherable, some fans insisted that, in the column where the Fourth Hokage's name was supposedly written, "Arashi Uzumaki" was given.

Trivia

 * Minato's full name means "harbor" (Minato) and "waves and wind" (Namikaze).
 * He appears in all of the Naruto: Ultimate Ninja games as an ultimate jutsu of Naruto's called "Mysterious Aid arrives", and is a playable character in Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 3 and Ultimate Ninja 4: Naruto Shippūden and Naruto Shippūden: Narutimate Accel 2.
 * Minato appears in the fourth installment of the Naruto OVA called: "Hidden Leaf Village Grand Sports Festival!" where he is seen walking down a hallway as Naruto is rushing by to use the restroom.
 * Minato's silhouette can be seen in the background of the Naruto: Shippūden season 3 intro standing behind Naruto and Sora and under the demon fox, in reference to the Demon Fox Attack of Konoha that binds all four characters.

Quotes

 * (To Jiraiya) "You're a man with a true skill ... an example we should all follow. I can't think of a finer shinobi than you!"
 * "The seal is set so that if eight tails are released, I'll appear within your consciousness. I didn't want that to happen ... I never wanted to see you again, Nine-Tails, but ... I looked forward to seeing how my son had grown ... so I guess you could call it even."
 * (To Nine-Tails) "Saying you're going to rip me to shreds isn't going to make me come closer."
 * (To Naruto) "Yeah! Just what I said. You are my son."
 * (To Naruto) "You will find the answer ... I believe in you."