Uzumaki Naruto
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| Uzumaki Naruto | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (うずまきナルト) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 is the main character of the anime and manga series Naruto. Contents
Background
 Very little information has been disclosed about Naruto's birth or parentage. It is known that, as an infant, the spirit of the Kyūbi (nine-tailed demon fox), who had attacked the village of Konoha, was sealed within Naruto's body by the Fourth Hokage of Konoha. The villagers of Konoha harbored a fierce hatred for the young child, since he bore the spirit of the demon who decimated their once peaceful village, in spite of the Fourth Hokage's wish that Naruto be seen as a hero who contained the demon. He was shunned by his fellow villagers and their children, his classmates, leaving Naruto a confused and lonely child. Fortunately, Naruto was befriended by his compassionate ninja instructor, a Chūnin named Umino Iruka. Though Iruka's own parents perished at the hands of the Kyūbi's, Iruka didn't blame Naruto for their deaths. Instead, Iruka accepted Naruto and empathized with the boy's desire to be accepted, since he too once had the same desire. He may have been the first person to believe in Naruto, and has made a lasting impact on Naruto himself. It is through Iruka's presence as Naruto's only family figure that Naruto learns to overcome his sadness. Personality
 Before graduating from the Academy, Naruto was craving for acknowledgement. He would play pranks all around the village in an attempt to be recognized by its inhabitants. This included, but was not limited to, painting graffiti on the monument depicting the first four Hokages. He would also tell everyone who doubted him that he would one day become Hokage. As he tells Iruka (and pretty much everyone else), he wishes to become Hokage in order to be recognized by those around him. Even after graduating, Naruto is still determined to be recognized, and becomes the "Number One Loudest, Unpredictable, Hyperactive Knuckleheaded Ninja" of Konoha, as described by Hatake Kakashi. Naruto's exuberant personality and fiery desire for self-improvement strongly impacts the lives of those around him. At beginning of the series, Naruto befriends Konohamaru, the grandson of the Third Hokage, and it is through his brief tutelage that Konohamaru learns that the path to success is through plenty of hard work. Despite his headstrong nature, Naruto is a clever prankster who overcomes his opponents through sheer willpower and, at times, dumb luck (though as Kakashi himself states, luck is very important). Naruto has a great sense of humor, albeit somewhat perverted in some cases, and is usually all smiles and laughs around (though, at times, he smiles to hide whatever's bothering him so no one worries about him; those who are closest to him see right through it). Outside his world, he's just an ordinary kid with a laid-back attitude. Naruto and the KyūbiAs the host (known as a Jinchūriki) of the Kyūbi, both Naruto's body and mind (occasionally) are influenced by it. Physically, Naruto has some of the Kyūbi's characteristics, such as whisker-like marks on his cheeks and larger than normal incisors. He also has increased stamina and healing ability, which allows him to recover from most injuries within a day. Mentally, Naruto remains largely unaffected, save for a few animalistic traits that slip through, such as his tendency to leap between trees on all fours. Since the Kyūbi was sealed inside Naruto since birth, it is unclear just what parts of his personality it has had an effect on; however, it could explain Naruto's devilish side for pulling pranks to gain attention, as well as his stubbornness to never back down from a challenge. These traits become more pronounced as he draws upon the Kyūbi's chakra.Naruto's normal chakra level is considered high for a ninja of his level, partially because of the Kyūbi. Even without directly drawing upon it, a small amount of the Kyūbi's chakra is always mixed with his own. His body instinctively rejects the bulk of it due to the damage it would cause. As such, he is naturally suited to jutsu that use a large amount of chakra, such as his signature technique: Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Art of the Shadow Doppelganger). While most ninja are only capable of creating a few clones safely, due to the jutsu's hazard of equally dividing the user's chakra among the clones, Naruto is able to create upwards of one thousand while maintaining a decent supply of chakra.
 The Kyūbi's chakra usually comes to Naruto during life-threatening or other stressful situations, given to him by the Kyūbi itself to insure both Naruto's and its survival. Naruto eventually learns to contact the Kyūbi and demand some of its chakra, which it seems to comply to out of amusement. The reason Naruto is able to access its chakra is because of the unique way in which it was sealed. Though the Kyūbi remains trapped within Naruto, its chakra can leak out through the seal and mix with Naruto's. Other Jinchūriki apparently possess similar seals. The Kyūbi's nearly limitless supply of chakra becomes an invaluable weapon for Naruto, often turning the tide of a difficult battle in his favor. The Kyūbi chakra increases every aspect of Naruto's physiology, making him a nearly unstoppable force. His speed and strength increase far beyond that of any normal human, and even beyond that of most ninja. It also increases his healing rate, allowing him to regenerate even major wounds in a few seconds. His stamina is also increased beyond its normal level, allowing him to fight without tiring.
 This tremendous power is not without its disadvantages. At first, Naruto is unable to retain control when using the Kyūbi's chakra, allowing its innate rage and anger to take over his personality. Over time, Naruto gains more control over the Kyūbi, allowing him to retain his personality while using its chakra. However, his degree of control is determined by the amount of chakra he draws upon and his emotional state, and as becomes more emotional and draws on more of the Kyūbi's chakra, his own personality is gradually supplanted by the Kyūbi's. In his four-tailed transformed state, Naruto's mind is completely supplanted by the Kyūbi's. Additionally, Naruto's human body is only able to handle so much of the Kyūbi's chakra, as demon chakra is far more intense than that of any human. As he draws upon greater amounts of its chakra, his own body is weakened by it. In his four-tailed transformed state, the Kyūbi's chakra is so intense that it actually burns Naruto. The black-ish color of his chakra (likely dark red, if it were animated) is caused by Naruto's blood mixing with the Kyūbi's chakra. Naruto also heals these injuries just as quickly, causing the process to repeat endlessly and weaken his cellular structure. This shortens his overall lifespan, similar to Tsunade's self-regeneration jutsu. RelationshipsNaruto's personality tends to inspire similar traits in those around him, and as such he has changed the worldviews of several people, mostly through his battles with them. During the Chūnin exam, Naruto forges several bonds with other participating Genin. Naruto's encounters during the Chūnin exam are characterized by Naruto relating to or opposing to sentiments and outlooks on life, and it is through this relation that he makes many new friends (on three different occasions, by defeating his future friend in battle). Naruto's own way of thinking is also strengthened by these encounters, particularly from his first real battle against Haku and Momochi Zabuza. Haku's sacrifice and Zabuza's initial lack of compassion in regards to it leads him to reject the idea of becoming an emotionless living weapon, the very definition of being a shinobi. GaaraGaara, like Naruto, is the unwilling host of a demon, the one-tailed Shukaku. As such, Gaara had a similar childhood. Unlike Naruto, however, Gaara never had someone like Iruka to alleviate his loneliness. Instead, the one person who befriends Gaara eventually tries to kill him. This event leads Gaara to believe that his purpose in life is to kill everybody around him, so no one will be able to deny his existence. Naruto realizes that were it not for his own friends, he could have easily become like Gaara. During Naruto and Gaara's fight at the end of the Destruction of Konoha arc, Naruto explains to Gaara that he gets his strength from protecting those who he believes are important. This outlook, along with Naruto's unwillingness to be defeated, changes Gaara's outlook on life. He starts to value other people's lives, and he comes to consider Naruto his best friend.Hyūga HinataWhile Naruto never has any previous problems with Hinata, except for the fact that her innate shyness prevented her from doing anything more than blushing and not say anything when they spoke, which made him uncomfortable. Naruto even states that he knows Hinata is a good person, but he did say she is timid and weird, regardless. He was (and still is) completely oblivious to the fact that she's extremely attracted to him.Naruto never truly notices Hinata until the preliminaries of the Chūnin exam, during Hinata's battle with Hyūga Neji. Hinata is part of the main house of the Hyūga clan, and supposedly the heir to its leadership, but she is only an average ninja, while Neji is recognized as a genius of his clan, but is part of the branch house and can never become its leader. As such, he takes out his frustration on Hinata, who doesn't give up despite being clearly outmatched against her genius cousin. During the fight, Neji berates her for her lack of ability, which inspires Naruto to cheer her on, since he knows what it's like to be underestimated. Hinata fights on because of his cheering, but loses anyway. Naruto is extremely overcome with emotion when he sees Hinata lose to Neji. He then decides that he will beat Neji. As she's taken away by medics, having been severely injured by Neji, Naruto seems to notice her as a woman for the first time when she's seen with her jacket unzipped. Even though Hinata lost, Naruto was able to inspire her to change, and she is able to become stronger later in the series. After the timeskip, Naruto gives Hinata a friendly greeting, much to her embarrassment (as she had been hiding from him trying to figure out what to say when he discovered her). It is easy to assume that her feelings for Naruto have become stronger based on her reaction and her inner monologue. Hyūga NejiAfter the preliminaries, Naruto is paired to fight against Hyūga Neji in the finals of the Chūnin exam. When the chance comes, Naruto tells Neji to stop blaming everything on fate, challenging Neji's statements about how everything is predetermined. After Naruto defeats Neji, Naruto is able to convince him that fate isn't predetermined, and that destiny can be changed. Neji may never admit it, but he is thankful to Naruto for showing him a brighter part of life. Neji even admits that Naruto saved him from his own personal darkness, and they become good friends.Rock LeeNaruto gradually bonds with Rock Lee, calling him "Bushy Brows" (ゲジマユ, "geji-mayu"). At first, the name is derisive, but later becomes affectionate. Rock Lee is a taijutsu expert who is incapable of using either ninjutsu or genjutsu. Faced with that limitation, Rock Lee compensates by training himself to be almost ridiculously skilled in taijutsu, and thus represents the ideal of hard work prevailing against all odds. During Lee's fight with the more powerful Gaara during the preliminary exams, Rock Lee refuses to give up, even trying to fight while unconscious and having a crushed arm and leg. Naruto deeply identifies with Lee because they are somewhat similar. Lee's concept of 'hard work' is something they've both had to do, and both met with numerous failures before getting any success. They both wish to achieve their goals, and they want to prove themselves to gain other people's respect. Naruto feels very sorry for Rock Lee after Gaara beats him. Later, when Gaara tries to make an attempt on Lee's life in the hospital, Naruto and Shikamaru stop Gaara from crushing Lee with his sand. Naruto and Shikamaru would have been forced to fight Gaara themselves if Might Guy hadn't arrived to visit Lee. Naruto is also happy for Lee when he is able to fight again and continue being a ninja.Part IINew personality
 In the second part of the story, after a two-and-a-half year time skip, Naruto shows physical growth, sports a new outfit, and appears to not only have increased in strength, speed, and techniques, but intelligence as well. However, according to Tsunade, Naruto is also slowly adopting some of Jiraiya's perverted traits. During his apprenticeship under Jiraiya, Naruto was able to read the latest of the "Icha Icha" series written by Jiraiya, although when he presents a copy to Kakashi, he says he thought it was boring. It seems Naruto's feelings for Sakura have matured to a certain extent. They do not seem to be a child-like crush anymore. They have a very easy time communicating with each other, despite the nearly three-year separation. They are capable of having a casual conversation together, and they seem to like spending time together. Naruto is now noticeably taller than Sakura and some of his other friends. (In Part I, he is made fun of for being shorter than her.) It is when Team 7 was on the way to Sunagakure that Naruto revealed to Sakura and Temari that the Kyūbi was sealed inside him. Sakura had already found out, but she sympathizes with him, as does Temari. New abilitiesNaruto has displayed a few new abilities since the start of Part II. Sometime during his training with Jiraiya, Naruto accidentally transformed into a four-tailed form of the Kyūbi without his remembering. In this form, Naruto loses all control of himself and cannot remember what happens during this state. He becomes an unrestrainable beast who attacks anyone he sees. Jiraiya claims that there were only two times in his lifetime when he nearly died – the first was an incident with Tsunade, the second time being when Naruto transformed into the four tailed state. During his battle with Orochimaru, he gets angry to the point of turning into the four-tailed Kyūbi. Orochimaru states that this form is powerful enough to actually kill him.Naruto has greatly improved his ninjutsu and taijutsu post-timeskip, as well as becoming a much better tactician. He managed to catch Kakashi by surprise during his second bell test, and even used Kakashi's obsession to Icha Icha Paradise to his advantage. Apparently, Naruto is starting to wield and become more skilled with weapons (other than regular kunai or shurikens), as seen in the Rescue Gaara arc. Naruto has also developed a new version of the Rasengan, titled the Odama Rasengan. Classified as an S-rank jutsu, the Odama Rasengan is a much larger and powerful version of the normal Rasengan. Naruto uses both his and his clone's hand to control it due its unstable nature. During his battle with Itachi (actually a clone of Itachi formed by the Akatsuki leader's Shoten no Jutsu (Shapeshifting Technique)), Naruto utilizes this new technique to defeat Itachi's clone. Recently, Kakashi has been training Naruto to alter the nature of his chakra, in order for Naruto to create a jutsu that is unique to him. Though this normally takes a long time to do, there is a trick that speeds up the process. By creating one thousand clones of himself, Naruto can complete three years worth of training in just a few weeks. Most ninja are unable to train using this method due to a lack of chakra and stamina, something Naruto doesn't need to worry about. Because the clones are linked to Naruto, he remembers everything they experience after they disperse. Naruto was ignorant of this fact until told by Kakashi. Kakashi also helps Naruto to discover the nature of his chakra through a special form of paper that reacts differently to chakra. When Naruto channels his chakra into the paper, it splits in half, indicating that Naruto has an affinity for wind. Trivia
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