Minato Namikaze

was the of Konohagakure. A prodigy, he was famous in life for his speed and Space–Time Ninjutsu, leading to the moniker of. He also is the creator of the Rasengan. Shortly after becoming Hokage, however, he died during the Nine-Tails' attack on Konoha along with his wife Kushina, sacrificing his life to seal a part of the Nine-Tails into himself and his newborn son and future successor, Naruto Uzumaki.

Early life
Minato entered Konoha's Academy with dreams of earning the villagers' respect by becoming Hokage. When Kushina Uzumaki moved to Konoha she was placed in the same class as Minato. Minato was immediately drawn to her bright red hair, finding it beautiful. Years later, after they graduated and became ninja, Kushina was kidnapped by Kumogakure forces. Konoha mobilised its ninja to retrieve her, but only Minato noticed the strands of red hair Kushina left behind to mark their path. Minato, acting alone, rescued her from her captors. On their way back to Konoha, Minato confessed his admiration for her hair, causing Kushina – who had previously believed Minato "unreliable" and even "girly" – to fall in love with him.

Minato was a natural prodigy as a ninja, the likes of which appears only once in a generation. When he was added to a genin team under the leadership of Jiraiya, Jiraiya took a special interest in Minato and took him on as his apprentice, teaching him many of his own signature abilities. In time, Minato's exceptional skills led Jiraiya to believe he might be the Child of the Prophecy, someone who would someday save the world.

Konoha's Yellow Flash
Minato and Kushina were a couple from the time that he rescued her, and with his love Kushina was able to control the Nine-Tails sealed into her. They eventually married. From observing a Tailed Beast Ball, Minato began a three year process of creating the Rasengan, the height of shape transformation. He would spend the rest of his life trying to combine it with his own nature.

After proving himself an accomplished and responsible ninja, Minato was placed in charge of his own team, consisting of Rin Nohara, Obito Uchiha, and Kakashi Hatake. In the anime, the Third Hokage gave Minato the special task of helping Kakashi overcome the bitterness caused by his father's death and remind him of the human element of being a ninja. Minato gave his team a bell test upon its formation in order to teach them the value of teamwork. Although they passed the test, Kakashi would remain a staunch advocate of prioritizing the mission over the team, causing conflict with Obito. Minato did his best to keep the two on good terms.

When Konoha became involved in the Third Shinobi World War, Minato's obligations became split between training his students and helping with the war effort. During a mission into Kusagakure to destroy the Kannabi Bridge, Minato transferred leadership of the mission to Kakashi – who had recently become a jōnin – while he headed to the front lines. He met up with the surviving and out-numbered Konoha ninja and single-handedly wiped out the opposing Iwagakure forces. In the anime, his victory in this battle against a thousand ninja convinced the Third Tsuchikage to surrender. When he rendezvoused with his team afterwards he found Kakashi and Rin and surrounded by Iwa-nin, Obito having already been lost. He rescued them, helped them complete their original mission once they recovered, and returned to Konoha with them to mourn Obito. Minato's competing obligations would later repeat the tragedy of Obito's death: while he was away on another mission, Rin was kidnapped by Kirigakure and died during Kakashi's attempt to retrieve her.

Minato encountered A of Kumogakure a number of times during the war. During their first meeting, Minato and A compared their speed, with Minato proving the faster. He received orders to retreat before their competition could resolve, but he lingered to compliment A and his brother, B, a jinchūriki like Kushina; he encouraged A to take care of B and remember he was a person. A pursued Minato, so Minato moved against B, threatening to kill him if A didn't let him and his team go. Minato was confident he and A would someday meet as Kage.

Fourth Hokage
For his performance during the War, Minato was chosen over Orochimaru to become Fourth Hokage. He taught the Flying Thunder God Technique to the Hokage Guard Platoon to better aid them in their duties of serving the Hokage at any given time. In the anime, he also tried to help Kakashi, now an Anbu, emerge from the darkness he'd fallen into after Obito and Rin's deaths. During the gradual transfer of responsibilities from the Third Hokage to him, the Third advised Minato to restore Kakashi's value of life by tasking him with protecting Kushina during her pregnancy.

As a jinchūriki, the strain of childbirth would weaken the seal keeping the Nine-Tails sealed into Kushina. For that reason special precautions had to be taken: the child would secretly be delivered in a remote location outside of the village, with barriers around the area and several Anbu guards as extra protection. Minato was not greatly worried about the birth, and in fact gave Kakashi the day off in gratitude for his good work. He and Kushina had already decided on a name for their son, "Naruto", after the main character of Jiraiya's first book, hoping that their Naruto would be just as determined as the character (and thus its author). Jiraiya tried to convince them to make a different choice since that would make him Naruto's godfather, but they insisted that this was a good thing.

Naruto was born on the night of October 10. Only moments after the birth Minato began making preparations to restore the Nine-Tails' weakened seal, but he was interrupted by the arrival of a masked man, otherwise known as Tobi. Tobi killed the Anbu guards and midwives and took Naruto hostage, threatening to kill him if Minato didn't back away from Kushina. Minato immediately took Naruto back from him, yet discovered explosive tags had been planted on Naruto. Minato was forced to teleport away to keep Naruto from harm, allowing Tobi to escape with Kushina. He found a safe place for Naruto and teleported to Kushina in time to save her from being killed by the Nine-Tails, extracted from her body by Tobi. He reunited mother and son before heading out to protect the village.

Minato returned to the village in the early stages of the Nine-Tails' attack on Konoha, arriving in time to teleport away a Tailed Beast Ball before it destroyed the Hokage Monument. He attempted to reach the Third Hokage so that he could inform him of what happened, but was interrupted by Tobi, who tried to warp him away. Minato reacted in time to escape, but Tobi pursued him. Because Tobi was controlling the Nine-Tails' actions, defeating him was of prime importance in order to save Konoha. Minato initially struggled to successfully strike him but, after several failed attacks, he finally hit him with a Rasengan and branded him with a Flying Thunder God seal, allowing him to teleport to Tobi whenever he wanted. He then used a Contract Seal on Tobi to release the Nine-Tails from his control, forcing him to flee.

No longer being controlled, the Nine-Tails began retreating from the village, though it continued to attack the Konoha ninja that pursued it. As it prepared another Tailed Beast Ball, Minato once again arrived in time to stop it, this time by dropping Gamabunta on top of it. He had Gamabunta keep it restrained while he gathered the chakra needed to transport the Nine-Tails to Naruto and Kushina's location, the farthest from the village he could get. Kushina restrained it and erected a barrier so that it couldn't escape while they decided what to do. Already dying from the Nine-Tails' removal, Kushina offered to have it sealed back into her so it would die with her. Minato rejected this, believing the Nine-Tails' power would be needed in the future if and when the Tobi struck again. Remembering Jiraiya's words about the "Child of the Prophecy", Minato decided that Naruto was that child and that he would someday save the world. To prepare Naruto for this, Minato would make Naruto the Nine-Tails' new jinchūriki so he could make use of its strength.

Because the Nine-Tails' chakra was too immense to seal into an infant, Minato used the Dead Demon Consuming Seal to cut its chakra in half, sealing the Yin half in himself. Realizing what they were planning, the Nine-Tails tried to kill Naruto, but Minato and Kushina used themselves as shields. Minato summoned Gerotora, gave him the key to the seal he would use on Naruto, and sent him to Jiraiya. Meanwhile, Kushina told Naruto how much his parents loved him, which Minato seconded. He sealed the Nine-Tails' Yang half into Naruto, weaving Kushina's chakra into the seal so that she could someday assist Naruto with learning to control the Nine-Tails. He mingled in some of his own chakra, too, programming it to activate if ever the seal was about to break so that he could restore it. Seeing the Third Hokage nearby, Minato communicated to him a final request for the villagers of Konoha: to think of Naruto as a hero and not the container of the monster that caused so much death and destruction. With that, his soul was consumed by the Shinigami.

Personality
Despite his physical resemblance to Naruto, Minato was more perceptive and collected than his son; Jiraiya said that Minato was a shrewd person, not one to do something without a reason. He was well aware of the terror his reputation inspired in rival villages and would take advantage of it at times, but even then he would remain respectful to opponents and wouldn't pry in their personal affairs if he could help it. He was not the type to hold grudges, only feeling sorry for the Tobi (Obito) despite his role in his own and Kushina's deaths. If anything, Minato blames himself for his death, both because he couldn't save Obito from the fate that corrupted him or Konoha from the difficulties that arose after he was gone.

Naruto is not without any of his father's personality traits: both have indomitable spirits and fierce ambitions that drive them through all their choices in life. Both are of unwavering loyalty to Konoha and their loved ones – friends and family – and that devotion inspires all those around them. Like Naruto, Minato had the tendency to create long, complicated names for jutsu, such as "Scorch Release: Halo Gale Jet Black Arrow Style Zero", though he at least knew it didn't sound very good.

After becoming Hokage, Minato started to take more pride in himself, referring to himself as "ore", which is a prideful way of saying "I" or "me", instead of using "watashi", a more formal way of referring to one's self. Still, this did not make him haughty as he still addressed others with the appropriate honourifics.

Appearance
Minato has frequently been compared with Naruto in terms of physical appearance; both have bright, blue eyes and spiky, blond hair. Minato also had jaw-length bangs framing either side of his face. According to Jiraiya, Minato was considered to be very handsome. His normal attire consisted of a standard Konoha uniform with two bands on both of his sleeves, a green flak jacket, blue forehead protector, and blue sandals. After becoming Hokage, he started wearing a short-sleeved long white haori over his normal attire, closed in the front by a thin, orange rope. The haori was decorated by red flame-like motifs on the edges, with the kanji for written vertically down the back.

During his time in the Academy, he wore a simple white suit of clothing with green trimmings and a hood. After becoming a full-fledged shinobi, he wore a tracksuit with three stripes on the sleeves, mesh under-armour, a pair of black pants, and sandals.

Abilities
According to Jiraiya, Minato was one of the most talented shinobi who ever lived, a calibre that has yet to be met by anyone else. During the Third Shinobi World War, flee-on-sight orders were given to enemy shinobi should they ever see him appear on the battlefield. During the Nine-Tails' attack on Konoha, Tobi believed Minato to be the only one capable of interfering with his plans and, indeed, it was only though Minato's actions that the attack was ended and the village saved from complete destruction. When, years later, the invasion of Konoha loomed, Minato was believed to be the only one who could have stopped the threat Orochimaru posed to Konoha, and for that reason his death was deeply regretted. Minato's fighting style revolved around using no hand seals whatsoever so that he would not waste time in a battle.

Physical and Chakra Prowess
Minato was hailed as the fastest shinobi in history. While this recognition was due in large part to his space–time ninjutsu, his natural speed and reflexes were practically instantaneous: he could react to and avoid such techniques as Lightning Release Chakra Mode and Kamui, and with only the Body Flicker Technique he could engage an enemy or retrieve an ally before anyone realized what he was doing. In the anime, he could arrive at a destination before sensors even had a chance to detect his approach.

Minato had large chakra reserves, enough to summon Gamabunta and teleport the Nine-Tails. His chakra control was very refined, evidenced by his creation of the Rasengan. He was also able to weave hand seals with only one hand.

Ninjutsu
Minato was taught by Jiraiya how to summon toads, and was one of the few people to earn the respect and cooperation of Gamabunta. He demonstrated skill and knowledge with barrier ninjutsu and could use the Shadow Clone Technique. Minato had sensory abilities, able to sense chakra signatures from great distances. For closer targets, he could detect everyone within an area by simply placing his finger on the ground. Minato's nature transformations included fire, wind, lightning, along with yin and yang.

Rasengan
After observing the nature of the Tailed Beast Ball, Minato spent three years developing the Rasengan, the highest level of shape transformation. It requires no hand seals to create and, once formed, is self-sustaining, giving him an edge in combat. Although it requires very precise chakra control to use, Minato, as the Rasengan's creator, has mastered it; he can form it with either of his hands in almost no time.

He had intended to combine the Rasengan with his own chakra nature, but the task was too difficult to complete before his untimely death.

Shurikenjutsu
Minato had his own special brand of kunai that he used in combat. As standard weapons, Minato would throw them at opponents or wield them as melee tools; the kunai's triple-prong enhanced their offensive potential. He was skilled enough to effectively wield a kunai in his mouth. Their main use came from the Flying Thunder God seals they were marked with, allowing him to teleport to wherever one of the kunai was thrown. He carried a large number of the kunai in the field that he would scatter across a wide area so that he could move around quickly. He even strategically placed a network of kunai around Konoha's outskirts, including at least two safe houses, so that he could respond to threats to the village wherever they occurred. Although his normal tactics with the kunai did not require precision, Minato nevertheless had excellent aim and could coordinate his throws' timing and placement to allow him to perform complex maneuvers.

Space–Time Ninjutsu
Minato's signature ability was the Flying Thunder God Technique, which he'd gained a mastery of superior to its creator, the Second Hokage. Using the technique he could instantly move to the location of anything marked with his special seal, whether it's one of his kunai or a place or person he has personally branded. Minato was not limited to teleporting himself, as he could bring others with him, though he needed to provide the chakra for their transport. He did not even need to accompany who or whatever he was teleporting, giving him a defensive option to teleport incoming projectiles away from himself.

Fūinjutsu
Minato learned several of the Uzumaki clan's fūinjutsu from Kushina. The most notable of these was the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style he used to seal the Nine-Tails into Naruto, which would allow small amounts of the Nine-Tails' chakra to leak out and naturally mix with Naruto's own. The seal would slowly weaken over time to give Naruto increasing access to its chakra and Minato created a key that could be used to either accelerate or reverse this process. As an extra precaution he mixed his own and Kushina's chakra into the seal so that, when certain conditions were met, they could help Naruto with his control of the Nine-Tails, as well as to enable them to see their son after they were dead.

Other fūinjutsu he could perform included the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, which he had enough familiarity with to know it couldn't be used to seal all of the Nine-Tails' chakra. With the Contract Seal he could remove an opponent's control over any creatures they summoned. He also knew how transfer a tailed beast from one jinchūriki to another.

Jinchūriki Transformations
Minato became a jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails' yin chakra shortly before his death, though he has no chance to make use of it until after he is reincarnated. Unlike most tailed beasts, the Nine-Tails offers no resistance to cooperating with Minato, granting him immediate access to Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, which Naruto is impressed by. Minato's is slightly darker than Naruto's but is otherwise identical in appearance and abilities; he can use chakra arms, enter a Tailed Beast Mode, and create Tailed Beast Balls.

Minato later transfers his half of the Nine-Tails to Naruto, thus losing access to its power.

Senjutsu
Like Jiraiya, Minato was taught to use senjutsu at Mount Myōboku, enabling him to enhance his physical parameters and techniques by entering Sage Mode. By his own admission, Minato had little experience with it in the field because the amount preparation time necessary deviated from his normal fighting style of rapid responses. Nevertheless, he was able to perfectly balance the natural energy with his chakra, only displaying the pigmentation around his eyes — the true marking of a Sage.

Intelligence
Minato was very observant. Even at a young age only he, out of all the ninja sent to rescue Kushina, noticed the trail she left behind to mark her kidnappers' path. In combat he could correctly deduce the basic mechanics behind an ability after seeing it only once, and from there plan around its strengths and weaknesses to his or his allies' advantage. His observational skills extended beyond jutsu, as he could determine an opponent's plans and motivations based on only limited evidence. After he had finished analyzing, Minato would strike quickly and with precision, attacking vulnerabilities at the most opportune moments.

Pain's Assault
During his fight with Pain, Naruto is nearly tempted by the Nine-Tails to remove its seal. This activates the safeguard Minato placed on the seal, causing his imprint to appear within Naruto's subconscious and stop him. Minato says that he isn't happy to see the Nine-Tails again, but that at the same time admits that its actions have allowed him to see his son. Naruto picks up on this and, having never known his parents' identities, is overjoyed to meet his father. The Nine-Tails keeps threatening to kill Minato while they talk, so he and Naruto relocate.

Naruto is angry that his own father would seal the Nine-Tails within him and punches Minato out of frustration. He quickly gets over it, noting that, as the son of the Fourth Hokage, he can handle it. Minato's time with Naruto is limited so he does a quick run down of the things he has already observed through Naruto: that Pain has destroyed Konoha and killed Jiraiya. Despite what he's done, Minato suggests that Pain is only a symptom of the shinobi system and that he's being taken advantage of by Tobi. Naruto is overwhelmed, unsure if he can forgive Pain or do anything to stop the the cycle of death that produced him, but Minato responds that he has faith in Naruto. He restores the Nine-Tails' seal before disappearing.

Chikara Arc
In the anime, when Naruto nearly loses control after his clone absorbs the Nine-Tails' chakra, Minato appears before him again to restore the seal. Once again, Minato voices his confidence in his son and his ability to overcome any adversity.

Fourth Shinobi World War: Climax
At the request of Sasuke Uchiha, Orochimaru releases the souls of the first four Hokage from the stomach of the Shinigami so that he can reincarnate them. After taking in their surroundings, the First and Second Hokage are excited to meet Minato, the Fourth, and take him as a sign of the village's prosperity. Minato says he does not know since he died before the Third Hokage did. While Sasuke talks to the First Hokage, Minato detects Naruto's chakra and is glad to sense he has gained full control of the Nine-Tails.

From listening to the four Hokage, Sasuke decides to side against Tobi and Madara Uchiha in the ongoing Fourth Shinobi World War. The Hokage are allowed to help as well, and they set out for the site of the Allied Shinobi Forces' battle with the Ten-Tails. Minato, eager to see Naruto, arrives first, just in time to warp away the Ten-Tails' Tailed Beast Ball, saving Naruto and the Allies. He introduces himself to Sakura Haruno and asks if she is Naruto's girlfriend. Sakura becomes angry when Naruto doesn't deny it, reminding Minato of Kushina. When the other Hokage arrive they jointly erect a barrier to confine the Ten-Tails.

Sometime later, Tobi appears above the Ten-Tails and begins reviving Madara, which the Alliance focuses its efforts on preventing. Minato cannot leave his position or the barrier will fall, so he sends a shadow clone to help. Because Tobi is still branded with the Flying Thunder God seal from their last encounter, the shadow clone is able to teleport to him and strike him down. It is only after he attacks that he realizes Tobi is his old student, Obito Uchiha. The attack ends up coming too late and Obito seals the Ten-Tails into himself, becoming its jinchūriki. After Obito destroys the barrier, the First and Second engage him to determine his new abilities, leaving Minato to get everyone else to a safe distance.

Minato joins the offensive against Obito. He can no longer teleport directly to Obito because the Flying Thunder God seal has disappeared from his body, so he must engage him directly. Just before they clash Obito, having until now struggled to control the Ten-Tails' power, finally masters it and strikes at Minato.

Birth of the Ten-Tails' Jinchūriki
He severs Minato's right arm and plants a Truth-Seeking Ball on him, which the Second Hokage removes before it detonates. Minato, the Second, Naruto, and Sasuke coordinate efforts to attack Obito with Flying Thunder God Mutually Instantaneous Revolving Technique, but Obito emerges without damage. What's more, Minato's arm has not regenerated, indicating that Obito's Truth-Seeking Balls can nullify the advantages of the Impure World Reincarnation.

Obito traps the Alliance in his own barrier and prepares to destroy them all with a barrage of Tailed Beast Balls. With little time to act, Naruto forms a plan: he and Minato link their respective Nine-Tails' chakra – which networks in all of the Allied forces that Naruto has shared its chakra with – and lets Minato teleport all of them out of the barrier. Minato is very impressed by Naruto's quick-thinking and says he wishes he had more of a chance time to talk to him. Naruto explains there's no need as he's already met Kushina and heard everything. Minato is moved to tears with pride.

Having learned that Obito, despite all his new powers, is weak to senjutsu, Minato and Naruto enter Sage Mode to prepare for an assault. They each then enter Tailed Beast Mode and attack with a shared Rasengan, breaking Obito's defense and forcing him to manifest a recreation of the Shinju. They evade the tree's roots, but Minato's chakra levels are too depleted from all the jutsu he has been performing. He is forced to keep his distance and watch as Naruto leads the Allied Shinobi against Obito. When the Alliance starts to strip the tailed beasts from Obito's body, Minato helps Naruto pull out the fragments of the Nine-Tails' chakra Obito has taken, and ultimately they succeed.

Obito is unable to move after his defeat and Kakashi moves in to kill him. Minato stops him, having sensed Obito's change of heart while he was removing the Nine-Tails' chakra. While Naruto and the Allies leave to confront Madara, Minato and Kakashi stay with Obito. Obito reflects on his actions and decides he has done terrible things, which he wants to make amends for by using the Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique to revive those he's killed. While he is forming the hand seals, Black Zetsu emerges from the ground and takes control of his body. Minato and Kakashi are confused, so Obito explains he has been forced to revive Madara instead. Black Zetsu also tries to take Obito's Rinnegan to deliver to Madara. Minato and Kakashi move to stop it, but can't do anything without harming Obito. Before Black Zetsu assumes full control of his body, Obito pleads with Minato and Kakashi to destroy the Rinnegan at any cost.

Right before Minato can attack, the Nine-Tails alerts him to Naruto's loss of his own Nine-Tails' half. He is soon brought to Minato's side, with Sakura performing emergency life support and Gaara explaining that the only chance of saving Naruto's life is if he is given Minato's portion of the Nine-Tails. Just as Minato starts the transfer, Black Zetsu intercepts him and takes the Nine-Tails for itself. Madara arrives immediately afterwards, now the Ten-Tails' new jinchūriki and intent on taking Obito's Rinnegan. Minato enters Sage Mode and attacks him alongside Kakashi, but they are easily repelled and Minato loses his other arm. Before Madara can take what he wants, Obito reasserts control of his body and, with some help from Kakashi, escapes with Naruto and Sakura using Kamui.

Might Guy arrives, ready to give his life to defeat Madara. With his energy and arms gone, Minato can do very little to help directly, but he can at least give Guy an opening. He instructs Rock Lee to throw one of his Flying Thunder God Kunai at Madara's Truth-Seeking Orbs, which Minato teleports to in order to catch several and escape with them, allowing Guy to initiate his assault. Minato, meanwhile, teleports to the Hokage Monument where he remains with the inert Truth Seeking Balls. He later witnesses the others' failure when the Infinite Tsukuyomi is cast and Konoha's villagers are entwined by the God: Nativity of a World of Trees. He returns to the battlefield, reunites with the other Hokage, and they try to figure out what they can do to help.

Kaguya Ōtsutsuki Strikes
The four Hokage are met by the spirit of the Sage of the Six Paths, who recruits their help. Combining efforts with the spirits of the other dead Kage, they summon Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi, Sakura, Madara, and the tailed beasts back from Kaguya's dimension. Minato congratulates Naruto on finally ending the war and wishes him a happy seventeenth birthday. Happy with his son's prospects for the future, Minato and the other Kage are returned to the afterlife by the Sage of the Six Paths.

Legacy
After Minato died, the Third Hokage reported to the villagers Minato's last request that Naruto be regarded as a hero. Very few were able to separate their hatred of the Nine-Tails from Naruto, prompting the Third to forbid anyone from speaking of the Nine-Tails, hoping that the younger generation would not blindly hate Naruto as the rest of the villagers did. He also concealed Naruto's relation to Minato in order to keep him safe from his father's enemies, and otherwise did his best to give Naruto a comfortable life. For years Naruto did not know his parents' identities, and neither did most of Konoha.

Even when he was not aware of his relation to Minato, Naruto still greatly admired the Fourth Hokage, considering him a hero who gave his life for the village and becoming overjoyed whenever their similarities were remarked upon. Before Naruto left Konoha to begin his training with Jiraiya, he looked at the Fourth Hokage's face on the Hokage Monument and asked him to look after him. After learning that Minato was his father, Naruto took pride in it and felt it was his responsibility to makes his parents' sacrifices worth it.

With Minato's death, the Third was forced to resume his position as Hokage, a role he filled until his death, never being able to find a replacement of Minato's calibre. Minato himself became regarded as the village's hero, and, indeed, one of the greatest ninja Konoha had ever produced, so much so that villagers would regret his death whenever tragedy struck the village. Because Minato was never able to tell anyone what happened during the Nine-Tails' attack, villagers came to their own conclusions and the Uchiha were suspected of the act, creating ill-will that would culminate in the Uchiha Clan Massacre. Jiraiya recognised that Minato would not have sealed the Nine-Tails into his own son unless he had a good reason and that Minato intended Naruto to gain control of the Nine-Tails, but he could never conclude why.

Posthumously, he and Kushina became the grandparents of Naruto and Hinata's chidren, Boruto and Himawari Uzumaki.

Naruto Shippūden the Movie: The Lost Tower
Twenty years in the past, Minato and Kakashi are part of a team sent to Rōran to stop Mukade, a missing-nin from the future, from using the Source of the Ryūmyaku to make a Puppet Army that will conquer the Five Great Shinobi Countries. When they arrive in Rōran they meet Naruto, who Minato realizes is also from the future. Minato tries to get Naruto to leave so that he won't tell them anything that will change the future. However, Naruto believes Minato and his team mean to kill the Queen of Rōran, Sāra, and attacks them until he recognizes Minato as the Fourth Hokage.

In the interest of preventing Naruto from saying anything else about events that haven't happened yet, Minato instructs him to protect Sāra, also giving him a Flying Thunder God Kunai just in case. When Naruto and Sāra later fight Mukade, Minato and his team arrive to help. Mukade fuses with his puppets, becoming a giant puppet monster using the Ryūmyaku's power. While Sāra tries to cut off the Ryūmyaku at its source, Minato and Naruto attack him, the former being surprised when the latter uses Rasengan. The attack fails and Naruto is left exhausted, so Minato lends him some of his own and advises him on where Mukade's weak points are. Realizing that Naruto is his son and that they therefore have similar chakra, they are able to create the Supreme Ultimate Rasengan and defeat Mukade.

After Minato seals off the Ryūmyaku completely, Naruto begins to glow as he starts to return to his own time. Naruto tries to fight it, wanting to talk to Minato and warn him about what will happen, but Minato refuses. Naruto asks if there is at least a chance that Minato is his father, to which Minato responds that if he ever had a son, he wishes he would be just like Naruto. Naruto smiles and sheds tears of joy before being sent back to the future. Minato wipes everyone's memory so that their meeting Nartuo won't change the future.

Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie
In the alternate world, Minato never became Hokage and therefore he and Kushina did not die on the night of their son, Menma's, birth. While essentially the same as his real-world counterpart (kind, courageous, and dutiful), this Minato values his family's safety above all else, choosing to put their well-being before all others.

Video Games
Though not a playable character, Minato appears in early installments of the Ultimate Ninja series as part of Naruto's ultimate technique called "Mysterious Aid Arrives".

Trivia

 * "Minato" means and "Namikaze" means.
 * Minato ranked ninth in the sixth Naruto character popularity poll and seventh in the seventh poll.
 * Minato's silhouette can be faintly seen in the background of the Naruto Shippūden third opening standing behind Naruto and Sora and under the Nine-Tails, in reference to its attack on Konoha that binds all four characters.
 * In Hidden Leaf Village Grand Sports Festival!, Minato suddenly appears in the hallway of the stadium when Naruto is running to the toilets. All of these appearances in this special were only for the comical effect.
 * In Naruto Shippūden the Movie: The Lost Tower, Minato's chakra appears to be a light green colour, as opposed to the normal blue.
 * According to the databook(s):
 * Minato's hobby was reading; Jiraiya's novels were his favourite.
 * Minato wished to fight Jiraiya.
 * Minato's favourite food was Kushina's homemade cooking.
 * Minato completed 847 official missions in total: 122 D-rank, 147 C-rank, 216 B-rank, 323 A-rank, 39 S-rank.
 * Minato's favourite phrase was.

Quotes

 * (About his dreams) "I want everyone in the village to acknowledge me and become a great Hokage!"
 * (As quoted by Kakashi) "Those who stray from the path of justice have no courage, but under the wing of a strong leader, cowardice cannot survive."
 * (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!"
 * (To Kushina about sealing the Nine-Tails inside Naruto) "Have a little faith! He is our son after all!"
 * (Last words) "Naruto… This is your dad. Listen… To your motor-mouth mother."
 * (To Naruto) "Pain was the one who killed Jiraiya-sensei, but the more I think about it, the more I believe he was killed by that disorder that gave birth to Pain."
 * (About Naruto) "These feelings… It's really nostalgic. Even though the situation is so hard… He looks like he could do anything… Right… It feels exactly as if I were with Kushina… That's what it is…"