Minato Namikaze

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

Background
When Minato was in the Ninja Academy, his classmate and future wife Kushina Uzumaki thought he looked "flaky" and even "girly". He nevertheless dreamed of becoming acknowledged by the Konoha villagers by becoming Hokage, which Kushina considered to be an impossible dream. Later, when Kushina was kidnapped by Kumogakure ninja, Minato was the only Konoha ninja to pick up on the fact that she was leaving behind strands of her hair to mark their path. After rescuing her, Minato explained that he had always admired her hair. No longer seeing him as "flaky", she fell in love with him.

According to those who knew him, Minato was a very talented ninja, having been considered a rare genius that appeared only 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, amongst other things teaching him the Summoning Technique. 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. Due to Kakashi recently being promoted to Jōnin, 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 destroy all the opposing Iwagakure ninja in an instant. He returned to Kakashi in time to save him and Rin from another group of the foes, but could not save Obito, who, after being mortally wounded, gave Kakashi his Sharingan. When Kakashi and Rin recovered from the ordeal, Minato helped them to complete the task of destroying the Kannabi Bridge.

Fourth Hokage
Some time after the war ended, Hiruzen Sarutobi chose Minato, who was not even thirty years of age, to lead Konoha as the Fourth Hokage. This choice supposedly initiated the decision of Orochimaru, the leading contender to the position and Hiruzen's former protege, to defect from Konoha. During Minato's reign, his relationship with Kushina Uzumaki would bear him a son. After reading Jiraiya's book, where the main character was named Naruto, Minato said that the protagonist was just like Jiraiya. It was then that Minato revealed that he and Kushina wanted to raise their child to be a shinobi like the one in the book, and for that reason they decided to name him "Naruto" after the main character. Jiraiya pointed out that it would make him Naruto's godfather and asked if they were sure that they would want that. Minato stated Jiraiya was a good example for them all and that he could not think of a finer shinobi than him.

Prior to Naruto's birth, Minato and Kushina knew that the seal that kept the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox within her would weaken during childbirth, so they set up a plan to prevent that from ever happening. Kushina was taken a short distance outside of the village to give birth in secret, with Biwako Sarutobi and Taji as her midwives, a few ANBU as security, and with Minato keeping the seal in place. Their location was eventually tracked by Madara Uchiha, killing the ANBU, Biwako, and Taji, as well as holding the newborn Naruto hostage. Madara ordered Minato to step away from Kushina or he would kill Naruto. While Minato was able to save Naruto and protect him from the rigged Exploding Tags, he was forced to use the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport Naruto to a safe place, letting Madara run away with Kushina.

Madara released the Nine-Tails to wreak havoc in Konoha, greatly weakening Kushina whom would have been killed by the Nine-Tails had Minato not come beforehand to teleport her to where Naruto was. Initially, Minato was able to hold back the Nine-Tails rampage, forcing Madara to confront Minato. After seeing Madara's prowess first hand, Minato deduced who Madara really was. When it became clear that Madara's superior space-time manipulation prowess put him at a disadvantage in direct combat, Minato was able to use a well-timed diversion to subdue him.

Minato rushed to the village's help, where he and Gamabunta faced off against the Nine-Tails, but the beast's power could not be matched. Having understood what a threat Madara still was to the village, Minato decided to defeat the Nine-Tails 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 Nine-Tails into Naruto's body, hoping that his son would someday be able to use its power. When Minato sealed the Nine-Tails within Naruto, he split its chakra in two, the Yin and Yang. Minato sealed the Yang half within Naruto with the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style, and sealed the Yin half with the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, thus making it inaccessible to Naruto. The act cost Minato his life, and he died as the village's greatest hero.

Legacy
Minato's dying wish was for Konoha to view Naruto as a hero who had helped defeat the Nine-Tails, rather than the host of the monster that had attacked the village. However, only a few of the villagers honored his request, thus 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 Nine-Tails 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 the exception of a few people.

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 Nine-Tails, 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.

Minato left Jiraiya a key to the seal that kept the Nine-Tails 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.

Appearance
Minato's standard attire was a standard Konoha-nin uniform and a flak jacket with two bands each on both of his sleeves; after becoming Hokage, he also wore a short-sleeve long white coat with red flame edges and the kanji "Fourth Hokage" written vertically down on the back. On more than one occasion, Naruto has been said to look strikingly like his father Minato. Like Naruto, Minato had bright blue-eyes and spiky blond hair with the addition of jaw-length bangs framing either side of his face. According to Jiraiya, Minato was considered to be very handsome as many women became infatuated with him.

Personality
Jiraiya and Tsunade pointed out that, while Naruto physically bears great resemblance to Minato, his personality and style of Ninjutsu are almost identical to his mother. While Naruto is boisterous and relatively thick, Minato was calm, collected, and highly perceptive. When faced with an enemy, he could kill in cold blood, and seemed well aware of the terror his reputation inspired in his foes. He appeared to be respectful of those around him; he didn't like freely speaking about others' pasts, and was said to be a very nice person. As revealed during Naruto's birth, he deeply cared and loved his wife and child, becoming very nervous because of Kushina's pain during labor and even crying of joy when his son was born.

Jiraiya said that Minato was a shrewd person, and was not a man who would do something without reason. He was also shown to be very analytical from how quickly he could determine the strength and weakness of Kakashi's new technique, the Chidori and from how he was instantly able to analyze Madara Uchiha's space-time techniques to gain an upper hand in their battle. All in all, Minato was known for his unbeatable determination and unbelievable drive, which he passed onto his son. Apparently in his youth, Minato also had a desire to be acknowledged by everyone in the village and to become a great Hokage, again, a trait passed onto his son. His devotion to the village and his love for his friends inspired all those around him, and, as a result, he became well-liked by the villagers. Minato was nevertheless understanding that Naruto must feel hurt by the fact that his own father had sealed a monster inside him.

Abilities
According to Jiraiya, Minato was one of the most gifted shinobi who ever lived. It is still unknown exactly how strong he was in combat. Anko, in discussion with the Third Hokage about Orochimaru's immense strength and his threat to the village, stated that she wished the Fourth had been alive to face him. During the Third Great Shinobi War, flee-on-sight orders were given to enemy ninjas should they ever see him appear on the battlefield. Minato was also capable of countering the Nine-Tails' attacks to the point Madara himself needed to step in to face him directly.

Jutsu Prowess
From a young age, Minato's natural aptitude for techniques was shown to be very high. He created various unique and powerful techniques, one of which being the Rasengan, which is one of the few techniques not to need handseals. He also had a high degree of knowledge in fūinjutsu, partially due to learning some from his wife, as he is one of only two shinobi known to be capable of performing the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, the other one being the Third Hokage. Also, in order to imprison the Nine-Tails and allow Naruto access to it's chakra, Minato placed the Four Symbols Seal on to him. In addition, he knew how to summon toads and was one of the few individuals capable of getting Gamabunta to cooperate with him, something even Jiraiya had trouble doing.

Minato was infamous for his unique space-time technique, the Flying Thunder God, which essentially allowed him to teleport to any location with the use of special seals. 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. Minato could teleport to his special kunai even as it is quickly traveling through the air in mid-flight. This earned him the nickname of Konoha's "Yellow Flash", due of the near untraceable speed at which Minato moved when using this technique. He incorporated the Flying Thunder God formula into Kushina's seal, so he could always come to her aid. For defensive use, Minato was capable of implementing space-time barriers to counter large attacks such as a large sphere of chakra, sending the blast to a distant area away from the village. This expertise allowed him to analyze Madara's own space-time technique, find its weakness, then counter it.

Rasengan
With his high aptitude in ninjutsu, Minato created the Rasengan, a jutsu that is said to require the highest level of Shape Transformation. The technique did not rely on hand signs, but instead uses a concentration of spinning chakra in the form of a sphere in the user's palm, which inflicts immense damage to its target on contact. As the creator of the technique, Minato had a high mastery over it, as he could perform the technique very quickly and with one hand. His standard Rasengan was also slightly larger than the other users of the jutsu. Minato planned to add his own nature to the Rasengan, making it even more powerful, but could not manage to combine the two prior to his premature death.

Intelligence
Minato was shown to be very intuitive and clever from a young age, as seen when he was the only one to find Kushina based on the hair trail she left behind. He was highly perceptive, taking in a great deal of information and using it effectively. By simply touching the ground with his index finger, Minato could detect the presence and number of enemy shinobi, even calculating his team's odds of survival. After seeing a technique once, he could correctly deduce the basic mechanics behind it. During difficult battles, he was still capable of maintaining his composure, assess the situation, and devise an appropriate plan of action. Minato was also a highly capable strategist and tactician as according to Jiraiya, Minato was never one to do things without a reason. This gave Minato incredible foresight and allowed him to form plans elaborate enough to span several years into the future, such as the sealing of the Nine-Tails within his son.

Speed
One of Minato's trademark attributes was his immense speed and seemingly instantaneous reflexes. C compared the Fourth Raikage's reflexes to Minato's while he was using the Lightning Release Armor. Without using his Flying Thunder God Technique, Minato proved to be fast enough to quickly catch his infant son in mid-air, just before Madara Uchiha tried to impale him on a kunai. Minato then out ran an explosion from the explosive tags that Madara put on Naruto's blanket, only receiving a shallow wound on his ankle from a shard of wood in the exchange. Later, during his battle with Madara, his speed proved greater than the Uchiha's Space-Time jutsu while using it in combination with his Flying Thunder God Technique and Rasengan, landing a hit on Madara.

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

Invasion of Pain arc
It was not until Pain attacked Konoha that he made an actual appearance in the story. When Naruto started to give into the temptations of power from the Nine-Tails, and was about to release the beast, the imprint Minato left behind stopped him. Although he voiced his dislike of seeing the Nine-Tails 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 Nine-Tails 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 Nine-Tails in his own son, and punched him in the stomach. Minato apologized for having sealed the Nine-Tails into him and explained his reason 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 and was aware of the destruction of the village as he saw it through Naruto. He expressed his suspicions that Pain, like the Nine-Tails years earlier, was being controlled by Madara Uchiha. He went onto suggest that, as long as the current ninja system exists, people like Pain, who were ruined by war and only went on to 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.

Naruto Shippūden 4: The Lost Tower
Minato was shown to have been interacting with Naruto when the latter was transported twenty years back into the past by the missing-nin Mukade. He asked for his son's aid at his attempt to intervene in the crisis in Roland with his teammates Shibi Aburame and Chōza Akimichi (aided by a young Kakashi Hatake).

Trivia

 * "Minato" means and "Namikaze" means.
 * 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, Ultimate Ninja 4: Naruto Shippūden, Naruto Shippūden: Ultimate Ninja 5, Naruto Shippūden: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 3 and ''Naruto Shippūden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2
 * Minato's silhouette can be seen in the background of the Naruto Shippūden third opening standing behind Naruto and Sora and under the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, in reference to its attack on Konoha that binds all four characters.
 * According to the third Naruto databook:
 * Minato's hobby was reading. Jiraiya's novels were his favorite.
 * Minato wished to fight Jiraiya.
 * Minato's favorite 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 favorite phrase was.

Quotes

 * (As a child, when asked what his dream for the future was) "I want everyone in the village to acknowledge me and become a great Hokage!"
 * (To Kushina, when he rescued her from her kidnappers) "I noticed your beautiful hair right away."
 * (To his team) "The most important thing for a shinobi is teamwork!"
 * (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 the Nine-Tails) "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 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."
 * (To Naruto) "You will find the answer... I believe in you."
 * (To Naruto) "Konoha can be rebuilt... I'm counting on you, Naruto."