Naruto Uzumaki

"Believe It!"

- Naruto's Catchphrase

Naruto Uzumaki (うずまきナルト, Uzumaki Naruto) is the titular main protagonist of the Naruto anime/manga series.

He is voiced by Maile Flanagan in the English version and by Junko Takeuchi in the Japanese version.

Background
Naruto is the son of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze and the second Nine-Tailed Fox Jinchuuriki, Kushina Uzumaki, making Naruto one of the last members of the famous Uzumaki Clan. Naruto was born on the night of October 10 in secret under the guard of the Anbu. Just as Minato was sealing Kushina after the birth, a mysterious masked man named Tobi killed Kushina's midwife and the Third Hokage's wife Biwako and took Naruto hostage and threatened Minato to had over Kushina or the infant dies. Minato tried to reasoned with Tobi but Tobi just threw the infant back to Minato that contains explosive tags on the blanket which allowed Minato to safely protect Naruto from the explosion as Tobi made his escape with Kushina in toll. Minato took Naruto back to their home while he goes and rescues Kushina. After Minato returns with Kushina who was greatly weaken by the Beast extraction from Tobi to allow him to control the beast and destroy the village, Minato had Kushina watch over and protect Naruto as he goes and defend the village. Moments later, Minato summoned Kushina and Naruto on the battle grounds. Minato told Kushina that he was going to seal half of the Nine Tails inside Naruto with the Reaper Death Seal so that when Naruto is old enough to master that power, he will stop Tobi once and for all and protect the village by keeping the beast in check. Kushina at first disagreed with this idea because of the pain and suffering that Naruto will endure. But after Minato reasoned with Kushina and told her that this was the best option, Kushina sadly agreed with it. Just as the Minato was preparing the sealing ceremony, the Nine tails attempted to kill Naruto, but his parents intervened in the beast's way and took the hit. In their last breaths, Minato had the Key of Sealing sent to Jiraiya as Minato and Kushina said their heartfelt goodbyes to Naruto before they sealed him and died in the process. After Naruto's parent's death, the Third Hokage took Naruto in and raised him until he was old enough to live on his own. He gave Naruto Kushina's last name "Uzumaki" so that Naruto would not be known by Minato's enemies. This after effect caused Naruto to be scorned and casted out by the adults of the village and because of that, Naruto had hardly any friends his age and he lived a lonely life as an orphan. However, there were some adults like Iruka Umino who witnessed the attack and also lost his parents, and he became a father figure to Naruto. Naruto entered the Academy at 6 years old, but he was not the brightest student. He may have ADHD, because he flunked a lot of exams and has had a difficult time paying attention in class and he was known as the dead last. He even made a rivalry with his classmate Sasuke Uchiha who was the genius prodigy of the class and Naruto even fell in love with Sakura Haruno. Naruto even enjoyed playing pranks on people to gain attention and to be acknowledged, much to the villager's annoyance.

Personality
Naruto is a boisterous and exuberant individual. He would end sentences with "Dattebayo!" (だってばよ!) 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 is heedless to formality or social standings and has a habit of giving people he meets nicknames or addressing them without appropriate honourifics, as shown when he opted to call the Second Hokage a name he thought of off the top of his head instead of simply "Lord Second" (二代目様, Nidaime-sama). He can also be quite perverted, creating different forms of his Sexy Technique and once tried to sneak a peek in the women's bath when the opportunity presented itself. Despite these, plus other quirks and the great amounts of criticism that follows them, Naruto is said to have a personality that brings people to him, inspiring friendship, loyalty and love 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 reignited the demoralised armies' fighting spirit, choosing to continue fighting despite the losses he could receive, as shinobi were meant to endure through hardships. On several occasions, the Second Hokage has stated in many ways Naruto is very similar to the First Hokage.

Years of isolation and scorn from the villagers made Naruto thirst greatly for acknowledgement and love. He would pull pranks around the village just to get a response from anyone and his desire to be Hokage was in hopes of becoming someone that mattered. Because no one in the village cared for him apart from Iruka, Naruto was completely unresponsive to the villagers yelling at him from his pranks, only showing response when Iruka showed up. Naruto's time at the Falls of Truth revealed that a part of him hated the villagers for treating him as a pariah, only to turn to him after he saved them during Pain's assault on Konoha. This hatred allowed the Nine-Tails 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 he grew in his career as a ninja, his goal to be Hokage went from a desire for 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. This was especially shown in Naruto's 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, as well as the pain it and his unrequited feelings for her was causing him.

According to Kakashi, Naruto is a kinesthetic learner, as he is relatively naive, simple, and slow to understand principles or situations, often requiring an oversimplified analogy in order to grasp what is being explained to him, much to his teachers' annoyance. Naruto is aware his own ineptitude, and admits that he puts up a strong front so people around him won't know of his embarrassment and frustration about it, despite of all his accomplishments. Naruto responds best to competition, using it as an additional drive in order to learn new techniques, though he doesn't hesitate to ask for help if he needs it. Despite his naivety, Naruto can be quite observant, picking up on things others miss and retaining information casually gathered through conversation. In battle, Naruto has shown to be a quick thinker, making up strategies on the fly or inventive use of his techniques to catch his opponents off guard. While he can be calm and collected most of the times during a fight, Naruto can also get frustrated when he is unable to defeat his opponent, and can 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 and the rest of Akatsuki, Naruto continued down this path, resolving to end both the Fourth Shinobi World War and the cycle of hatred.

After realising he is in love with Hinata, Naruto became not only protective of her, but also shy and flustered in her presence to the point where he accidentally told her how he felt. When Hinata "rejected" him so she could be with Toneri Ōtsutsuki, Naruto fell into a great depression and came close to giving up on everything, until Sakura helped him realise how deep and unwavering Hinata's feelings for him truly were, and that she only pretended to reject him to have a better chance of saving Hanabi and stopping Toneri. This made Naruto more determined than ever to save the Hyūga sisters, stop Toneri, and make his desire to be with Hinata for the rest of his life a reality. After several months of dating, Naruto and Hinata got married and started a family together with a son and daughter.

In adulthood, Naruto has become far more calm, level-headed, intelligent, wiser and mature in his approach, but still retains some of his childlike excitement. After becoming Hokage, Naruto has grown more serious and strict with his duties, taken up huge responsibilities and becoming overwhelmed, leading him to create shadow clones to tend to his family, which has strained his relationship with his son, who would occasionally pull pranks such as defacing the Hokage Rock to seek his attention. However, Naruto still shows that he deeply cares about and loves his family and is willing to protect them in times of danger, and tries to make time for them in actual person, 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, blond, spiky hair and face. From his mother, Naruto inherited the shape of her eyes. During the Fourth Shinobi World War, Dan Katō initially mistook him for Nawaki due to their stark resemblance as well. Naruto's most prominent physical characteristics, however, are the three whisker markings on his cheeks. His most regularly mentioned trait before the second half of the series (which easily provoked him) was his short stature for his age. Over time, Naruto continued to grow as after the time skip, he was taller than his team-mate, Sakura. Two years after the Fourth Shinobi World War and by the time he became Hokage, Naruto became one of the tallest of his generation.

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 with "Naruto" written on them that he wore on his forehead sometimes, though he eventually stopped wearing it and replaced it with his forehead protector.

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 his chakra and therefore the Six Paths Sage Mode, Naruto also 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. Sometime after the war ended, Tsunade constructed a fully manoeuvrable prosthetic forearm for Naruto made of Hashirama Senju's cells, wrapped completely in bandages from his fingertips to halfway through his bicep.

Two years after the Fourth Shinobi World War, Naruto grew taller again with his hair cropped 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. While off-duty, Naruto wears an orange hooded sweatshirt and black and orange shorts with sandals. He initially wore a teal and light blue striped scarf that was knitted by his mother, but later took it off when he found out Hinata was knitting a long red scarf for him. When he and Hinata married, Naruto was wearing a traditional black wedding kimono.

After becoming Hokage, Naruto stops wearing a forehead protector 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, with the kanji for "Seventh Hokage" (七代目火影, Nanadaime Hokage) written vertically down the back, and held together by a red rope, similar to the one worn by his father.

Minato Namikaze
Minato was Naruto's father.

Despite not knowing that the Fourth Hokage Minato was his father, Naruto had expressed the utmost respect for him. Though angry at Minato's chakra imprint at first once learning of their relation and that it was his own father who sealed Kurama inside of him, Naruto quickly got over his anger and expressed pride in being the Fourth Hokage's son.

On his way to the Fourth Shinobi World War, Naruto defended his parents with vigour when the Fourth Raikage insulted Minato on how he failed as the "Children of the Prophecy" upon his death. Naruto also explained to the Raikage that despite the fact his parents died shortly after he was born, their love and faith in him made him strong.

Naruto would later fight alongside his reincarnated father against the Ten-Tails during the war where Minato not only became proud of how far his son had come as a shinobi, but was also reminded so much of how he was fighting alongside Kushina, moving him to tears of joy. After Kaguya's defeat, Minato and the spirits of the other deceased Kage summoned back Naruto's team, the tailed beasts, and an unconscious Madara from the princess's dimension. Before departing, Minato had one final conversation with Naruto, congratulating him for finally ending the war and wished him a happy birthday, with Naruto promising to do his best to follow the teachings Kushina and Minato left him.

Kushina Uzumaki
Kushina was Naruto's mother.

During his training to control Kurama's power, Naruto tearfully embraced his mother Kushina when her chakra imprint came to his aid. Naruto found his mother is similar to him in terms of personality, and also complimented on her red hair as "beautiful". After learning how his parents met each other, and how they died in what actually occurred during Kurama's attack on Konoha, Naruto told his mother that he could finally understand what a parent's love felt like and that he didn't blame them, instead feeling glad to be their son.

After his father's passing in Fourth Shinobi World War, Naruto explained to Hagoromo how his mother Kushina was a truly good person compared to the heartless Kaguya.

Two years after the war, Naruto found a teal and light blue striped scarf knitted by his mother and began treasuring and wearing it to honour her memory. However, this unknowingly interfered with Hinata's attempts to give Naruto a red scarf she knitted to confess her feelings for him. He would later stop wearing his mother's scarf in Hinata's presence after realising his own feelings for Hinata.

Jiraiya
Jiraiya was Naruto's godfather.

Inarguably one of the closest relationships Naruto ever had, Jiraiya indirectly played a role in his life even before he was born, as he was mentor to both Minato and to Nagato due to being foretold that a student under him would be destined for greatness. He was also the one who gave Naruto his name, with the boy named after the protagonist in his "The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi" novel, thus making him Naruto's godfather. Because of Orochimaru's defection, and learning of the Akatsuki's existence, Jiraiya was forced to leave the village to spy on the organisation and was unable to take care of his godson during the first twelve years of his life. Jiraiya would only meet Naruto years later during the boy's first Chūnin Exam, being labelled "Perverted Hermit" (エロ仙人, Ero-sennin, English TV: Pervy Sage).

While ultimately more perverted than Naruto, Jiraiya had many similarities to his godson from a desire to bring world peace to an unrequited affection for their respective female team-mates. Since their meeting, Jiraiya and Naruto became close with the latter holding him in high regard and after learning of Jiraiya's death at the hands of Pain, Naruto fell into a deep depression and mourned him. Jiraiya's death was the first time Naruto ever felt the pain of losing a loved one. After being moved to tears from reading "The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi", Naruto confronts Jiraiya's killer and the true identity of Pain, his fellow pupil Nagato. Meeting Nagato face to face, Naruto vowed to seek vengeance against him and he would kill him to avenge Jiraiya. However, realising this was similar to the path Sasuke took, Naruto later declared that what he inherited from Jiraiya will help him bring peace in this world, and that if Jiraiya was willing to place his faith in him, then Naruto was willing to believe in himself and stated that he would find peace for the world. Naruto also made a memorial grave in honour of Jiraiya. In the Fourth Shinobi World War, when Obito and Naruto argued about dreams, Naruto answered back that he thought of Jiraiya as a hero.

Boruto Uzumaki
Boruto is Naruto's eldest child and only son.

Naruto used to be very close to his son before the former became the Hokage, he still loves his son, but his relationship with him had grew more complicated and strained, as Naruto's duties as Hokage detracted him from spending enough time with his family, which made Boruto feel neglected, as well as resentful to the Hokage title. Boruto would occasionally pull pranks such as defacing the Hokage Rock just to seek his father's attention.

When Boruto and his team report to Naruto after a mission, Naruto asked his son to address him as "Lord Hokage" or "Lord Seventh" instead of "Dad", and reminded him the importance of teamwork, which annoyed his son, as he believed that he could handle anything on his own. Boruto warned his father to be home for Himawari's birthday party or else he will never forgive him, a statement that Naruto did not take very seriously.

Naruto was unable to make it to his daughter's birthday party and sent a shadow clone instead. However, the clone ended up disappearing and dropping the cake when Naruto became fatigued, which enraged Boruto and caused him to throw Naruto's old, tattered jacket out the window. Naruto felt guilty for letting his family down.

Naruto wasn't surprised when Boruto won the first test but after being advised by Shikamaru to reach out to Boruto, Naruto congratulated him via email, much to Boruto's annoyance. While the scroll was being deciphered, Naruto sent a clone to meet up with Sasuke and asked him if it was true that he was training Boruto.

Naruto said that perhaps Sasuke was right in regards to the nature of shinobi remaining the same, to which Sasuke agrees. Naruto was nervous on the outcome of the second test but after learning Boruto passed, Naruto was overjoyed. Later, he met with Boruto in his bedroom and personally congratulated him and told him not to lose against Shikadai. Naruto offered a fist bump, but Boruto only smiled as he didn't want his father to discover the Kote he was wearing. For the third test, Naruto chose to sit with Hinata and Himawari rather than with the other Kage as they watched Boruto fight in the third round and finally against Shikadai Nara.

Near the end, Naruto suspected something was wrong after it appeared Boruto won. He asked Hinata to use her Byakugan and she noticed Boruto wearing a Kote. Naruto then realised that Boruto used a Kote to produce several shadow clones in order to win the battle. Disappointed, Naruto confronted in the arena, unfortunately he went too far when ordered that Shikadai be declared as the winner and took Boruto's forehead protector from him, publicly humiliating him in front of the entire audience and the letting them know his son was cheating. He told Boruto they would talk about this at home, but Boruto lashed out at him that Naruto doesn't know how give him a lecture when he's never home and Boruto blames Naruto for everything that has happened, Naruto became both shocked and hurt by what his son says, this causes him to realize that he had (albeit unintentionally) neglected Boruto for years since he became the Hokage.

Suddenly, Momoshiki and Kinshiki Ōtsutsuki appear and began attacking the arena. Naruto is knocked out of the arena by Momoshiki but he rushes back to defend his son when he is in danger and is shortly joined by Sasuke and Sarada. Sasuke informed Naruto that the two enemies are the new threat written about in the scroll. Naruto realises he is their target and demands to know what they want. After Momoshiki reveals he wanted Kaguya's chakra, and eventually Kurama's from the Seventh Hokage, Naruto and Sasuke combine Kurama and Susanoo to shield themselves and their children from the enemies' attacks. Naruto also dispatches shadow clones to protect civilians that hadn't managed to flee from the arena. Determined to protect his son and friends, Naruto ultimately decides to allow himself to be captured in Momoshiki's jutsu and asks Sasuke to take care of Boruto for him. Just before Naruto disappears, he looks over his shoulder and offers his son one last smile.

it was not long before Sasuke, Boruto, and the other Kage arrived to rescue him. Naruto, surprised to see Boruto wearing his old jacket, told his son that it was like looking at one of his shadow clones. When he tried to apologise to Boruto for not being there for him, Boruto replied that it was alright and he just wants to hear more about Naruto's past (although he was interrupted by his son before he could finish his sentence, it is obvious that Naruto want to say that he was sorry for all the years neglected Boruto, and for now on, he will try and spend as much time with his son as possible).

Naruto repairs his relationship with Boruto to the point where he is at home more often and his son wished for him to do his best at work.

Himawari Uzumaki
Himawari is Naruto's youngest child and only daughter.

In contrast to his strained relationship with his son, Naruto is very close to his daughter Himawari, as she was quite patient, supportive, and understanding with her often-absent father and his Hokage duties. However, she also missed him very much and was sad when he sent a shadow clone as a stand-in for her birthday party, and got worried when he disappeared during his fight with Momoshiki and Kinshiki.

Sakura Haruno
Back in the Academy days, Naruto had a crush on Sakura Haruno, who considered Naruto an annoyance because of his constant antics. She even went as far as to insult Naruto for being an orphan, a statement which offended Sasuke when she shared this belief with him. Sasuke, in turn, admonished Sakura for saying that, which led Sakura to realise that she had gone too far and decided to be more pleasant towards Naruto from then on. Shortly after being assigned to Team 7, Sakura eventually began to see Naruto in a new light due to his constant dedication to his friends, and made good on her resolution to be nicer to Naruto, as shown when she explained the mechanism behind the Tree Climbing Practice during their mission in the Land of Waves. She was even willing to forfeit her entry into the Chūnin Exams upon realising that Naruto would not have been able to pass the first test, which would have resulted in him being stuck as a genin, thus ending his dream to become Hokage. Later, when she learned from Sasuke that Naruto was the one who saved her from Gaara during the Konoha Crush, she was surprised, but grateful. When Sasuke defected from Konoha, Naruto, aware of her feelings for their former team-mate, promised Sakura that he would do everything in his power to bring Sasuke back to her. Despite Naruto's failure, Sakura was inspired by his determination to fulfil his promise, and became Tsunade's apprentice to help Naruto retrieve Sasuke.

Even after Naruto returned from his training with Jiraiya after two-and-a-half years, both he and Sakura displayed that their friendship had not suffered during the time apart and continued to grow, bearing great resemblances to those of their Sannin masters. Shortly after learning that the Akatsuki was targeting Naruto because he was a jinchūriki, Sakura became protective of him and constantly tried to repay the many things he has done for her. Some time after Pain's assault on Konoha, Sai, remembering his conversation with Naruto about why he hadn't told Sakura of his feelings for her, informed Sakura that the strain of making her happy and fulfilling his promise to her to save Sasuke have been the source of Naruto's pain. Shocked, she felt guilty for asking too much from Naruto and decided to stop Sasuke from sinking any lower by herself. Sakura tried to release Naruto from his promise by telling him that she loved him and not Sasuke any more, but Naruto and the others present immediately knew that she was lying, and Naruto shocked her when he said he hated people who lied to themselves. Naruto also adamantly refused to believe Sakura would kill Sasuke because he knew how much she loved him. After Naruto saved Sakura from being killed by Sasuke and voiced his resolve that he would shoulder Sasuke's hatred as a friend even if both were to die, she was touched by Naruto's determination, for he had again given her hope that there may still be a happy ending for Team 7.

When the Fourth Shinobi World War reached its climax, Sakura resolved to aid Naruto in fighting against Obito, Madara, and the Ten-Tails, stating that he didn't need to carry the burden alone and that everyone would be there to help him. Her understanding and care of Naruto was strengthened when he exclaimed how not having any friends was the most painful thing to him, to the point where she raised the morale of the Shinobi Alliance. Later, after Yang-Kurama was extracted from Naruto, Sakura expressed great concern when he was in critical condition and used her medical ninjutsu to keep her friend alive, swearing she would not let him die when was close to achieve his goal in becoming Hokage.

Two years after the war, Sakura was deployed on the same team as Naruto. After Hinata tricked Naruto so that she could destroy the Tenseigan and save her sister Hanabi, who had been captured by Toneri Ōtsutsuki, the traumatised Naruto was nearly killed when his own chakra was nearly completely drained. Sakura exhausted all her chakra trying to heal him for three days straight, causing her to collapse afterwards. Sakura then helped Naruto realise his feelings for Hinata, even noting that they are more genuine and real in comparison to his crush on Sakura, as it never went deeper than wanting to win her over as another means of competing with Sasuke, whom she has feelings for. Some time after they succeeded their mission to save Hinata's sister Hanabi, Sakura was one of the many guests that attended Naruto and Hinata's wedding. Even many years into adulthood, Naruto and Sakura remained close friends.

Hinata Hyūga
Hinata is Naruto's wife.

In their childhood days, Naruto first met Hinata Hyūga while they were preparing to enrol at the Academy. Despite not knowing her, Naruto refused to let the three bullies insult Hinata and came to her defence, but he was outnumbered and knocked unconscious, and the bullies damaged the red scarf he was wearing. When he regained consciousness, Hinata thanked Naruto for helping her and returned his scarf to him, but he let her keep it. Ever since then, Hinata developed a strong admiration towards Naruto, and because he was treated as an outcast by almost everyone in the village, she found herself able to relate with his desire to be acknowledged. She was also amazed that despite having nothing and no one to rely on, Naruto never gave up in believing he could become something great like Hokage. Inspired by his determination, Hinata decided to try her best to become strong so she could be acknowledged as well, and adopted Naruto's nindō of never giving up. Her admiration for Naruto eventually grew into love.

Because of his socially ostracised childhood, Naruto was unaware that Hinata had feelings for him. However, he held her in high regard because of her desire to change herself and be acknowledged. During the Chūnin Exams, Naruto had cheered for Hinata in her match against Neji after watching her cousin's attempt at verbally abusing her into giving up, and even vowed with her blood to defeat Neji in her place. A month later, when Naruto revealed to Hinata about his growing doubts on the upcoming match and his own abilities, she reassured him that he never gave up because he always had the strength to overcome his own failures. Naruto gratefully thanked Hinata for bringing him out of his depression, and he said to her that even though he had thought of her as a shy and weird girl, he really liked a person like her. As Naruto departed to train with Jiraiya, Hinata watched him leave, but was unable to bring herself to say goodbye to him. As he left, she vowed to become stronger, and to work as hard as he did.

During Pain's assault on Konoha, Hinata immediately came into the fray after she saw Naruto being pinned down by the Akatsuki leader. Worried about her safety, Naruto demanded Hinata to stay away from the fight, but despite knowing that she stood no chance against Pain, Hinata refused to leave and confessed her love and willingness to protect Naruto, even at the cost of her own life. Left speechless upon hearing her confession, Naruto instantly erupted into a rage after he saw Pain stabbing Hinata, allowing Kurama to take control and continue the battle. Later, once Kurama was suppressed, Naruto became very distressed at the thought that he might have killed Hinata and the villagers while he was under the fox's influence, but was brought to tears of relief upon learning that she and the others were still alive. After her wounds were healed by Sakura, Hinata shed tears of joy and relief over the news that Naruto had defeated Pain and he safely returned to the village, and was later seen smiling as everyone celebrated Naruto's victory.

During the Fourth Shinobi World War, after one of Naruto's shadow clones helped Hinata and the Second Division defeat a group of White Zetsu clones, she began to lament the fact that though she wanted to protect Naruto, he ended up saving her instead. However, Naruto saw Hinata feeling down on herself and reassured her that she was strong, recounting her coming to his aid against Pain, to which she silently thanked him for. Later on, when Obito attempted to shatter Naruto's belief in himself after Neji sacrificed own his life to protect both Naruto and Hinata from the Ten-Tails, Hinata snapped Naruto out of it by telling him that if his life was connected with everyone who shared his beliefs and were willing to sacrifice themselves for him, he should not give in to despair and have Neji die in vain, reminding him of their shared nindō. With her and Kurama's aid, Naruto's self-confidence was restored and he took Hinata's hand, thanking her for staying by his side before transferring Kurama's chakra into her and the rest of the Shinobi Alliance.

Two years after the war, as the Rinne Festival was approaching, Hinata decided to confess her feelings for Naruto by knitting a scarf for him, a replacement for the one he gave her when they were children. Although she completed the scarf, Hinata encountered problems such as her own shyness and the new-found competition with the many other female admirers for Naruto's affections. When Hinata finally made an attempt to give it to him, she saw Naruto wearing a scarf his late mother had knitted for him, which made her sadly back down as she thought it was given by another girl. As she ran off and cried over the scarf alone, she was approached by Toneri Ōtsutsuki, who captured her with his puppets and tried escaping Konoha with her, but Naruto defeated the puppets and rescued her; the scarf she made was ripped in the battle.

When Toneri kidnapped Hanabi, Naruto, Hinata, Sakura, Sai, and Shikamaru were deployed on the mission to rescue her. Later, while the team got caught in the Gatekeeper's genjutsu that dredges up old memories, the red scarf - which Hinata was in the process of repairing - got loose from her bag and wrapped around Naruto, sharing her memories and corresponding feelings with him. Left utterly bewildered after witnessing how long Hinata had loved and acknowledged him, Naruto became fiercely protective of her, even bashful in her presence. When the team arrived in what they later discovered was the Moon's interior and explored the landscape, Naruto later saw Hinata knitting the red scarf and realised it was for him, to which he decided to stop wearing his mother's scarf. As he spent time interacting with Hinata, Naruto began to experience a special kind of happiness he had never felt before and realise that her being was irreplaceable and essential to him. Eventually, in their moment alone, Naruto confessed he had fallen in love with her, which left Hinata speechless.

However, driven to save her captured sister and destroy the Tenseigan, Hinata, after giving the red scarf to Naruto, left with Toneri and pretended to accept his offer, much to Naruto's shock and confusion when she said goodbye to him. As Naruto was chasing after them, he was greatly saddened because Hinata did not deny Toneri's statement that they would be married. After Toneri attacked Naruto by draining almost all of his chakra, he was left near death, and the scarf was destroyed. After recovering three days later, the broken-hearted Naruto fell into a state of great depression and came very close to giving up on everything, but it wasn't until Sakura helped him realise how deep and unwavering Hinata's feelings truly were that his mental strength had returned and he set out to rescue her. Once he reunited with Hinata, she apologised to Naruto for her earlier act, but he replied that he understood why she had to do it and he himself should be the one to apologise. As Naruto and Hinata regrouped with the rest of the team (including Hanabi) after the two destroyed the Tenseigan, Naruto then happily took a small remnant of Hinata's replacement scarf that was callously ripped by Toneri, saying that even in its ruined state, he would cherish it, which left her on the brink of tears of joy by his kind gesture.

After Naruto defeated Toneri and saved the shinobi world, Naruto then reiterated his love for Hinata and stated that he wanted to be with her for the rest of his life, much to her happiness, and the two had their first kiss upon returning to Earth. After several months of dating, Naruto and Hinata got married and eventually had two children together. When Naruto became Hokage, Hinata remained supportive of him and his increased responsibilities and tried to keep Boruto and Himawari happy despite his frequent absences, even though she herself also yearned for her husband to be at home. After Momoshiki Ōtsutsuki's attack, Naruto's schedule lessened and he was able to spend more time at home, making Hinata happier once more.

Iruka Umino
As it was because of his parents' death by Kurama's attack that he suffered a miserable childhood, Iruka initially found it awkward to become a teacher to Naruto, before eventually deciding to be strict with the boy so he could work harder and reach his potential. In time, learning from Hiruzen that the boy acted out with his antics to be acknowledged, just as he had in his youth, Iruka understood Naruto's loneliness and went out of his way to connect with the boy outside the classroom - treating Naruto like a younger brother. As a result, after Naruto learned of his nature as a jinchūriki and Kurama's role in the deaths of his teacher's parents, Iruka confidently believed in Naruto as a shinobi of their village and nothing else, becoming the first person to do so. Ultimately, Naruto began looking to Iruka as a father-figure, as he noted to Sasuke at the Valley of the End.

Even after Naruto graduated, Iruka still treated his former student at the Ramen Ichiraku whenever he returned from a mission. Though times like that allowed him an opportunity to see how Naruto was developing as a shinobi, Iruka still tended to worry about him. During the Fourth Shinobi World War, Iruka was among the shinobi assigned to keep an unaware Naruto safe from the army Obito amassed to take him and Killer B by force. But once Naruto learned of the war, Iruka attempted to talk him out participating in the fight until Naruto reminded him of the confidence he had in him years ago. Staging an apparent capture of him while secretly giving his former student a message to come back alive. Naruto, upon reading the message, swallowed it to keep his sensei's words close to him. Iruka was assured by Killer B that he and his teachings were with Naruto in his heart.

Two years after the war, when Naruto was getting married to Hinata, he had asked Iruka to be his "best man" for the ceremony, bringing Iruka to tears. Years later, Iruka watched on proudly as Naruto finally achieved his lifelong dream of becoming Hokage. Iruka also notes that Naruto's son Boruto tends to ironically act like his father in pulling pranks for attention from Naruto.

Hiruzen Sarutobi
Naruto was looked after by Hiruzen after his parents' deaths. The Hokage kept his parents' identity a secret and gave him his mother's last name. He asked the village to never reveal anything about Kurama to Naruto or the children. Naruto was inspired by the Hokage, originally due to the respect they received, including Hiruzen, and hoped to become Hokage himself someday. He would often get under Hiruzen's skin by the disturbances he would make by his pranks or the use Sexy Technique, the latter of which often caused Hiruzen to suffer from nosebleeds due to being a closet pervert. Despite their unique relationship, Naruto deeply cared for Hiruzen and was very saddened by his sudden death, to which he paid his respects to the Hokage at the ceremony for the sacrifices he made for the village. Likewise, he was very verbal about his anger towards people insulting Hiruzen's memory. Thanks to Hiruzen's teachings and value, Naruto would continue to help and protect the village after his death.

During the Fourth Great Shinobi War, when the reincarnated Hiruzen saved Naruto from nearly dying to the Ten-Tails in its tree form, a half-conscious Naruto sincerely thanked Hiruzen, happy to see him again.

After assuming office as the Seventh Hokage, Naruto would adopt Hiruzen's mindset that regardless of blood relation or not, the people of the village were his family; a mindset he would constantly relay to the next generation.

Konohamaru Sarutobi
Even though he and Naruto had a rough start when they first met, Konohamaru Sarutobi is the second person to acknowledge Naruto as he is. This was due to Naruto not seeing Konohamaru as simply Hiruzen's grandson like everyone else in Konoha originally did. Though he pretended to be Naruto's rival for the position of succeeding Hokage, Konohamaru clearly has a deep and understanding friendship with him. Having trained under Naruto to learn the Sexy Technique, Konohamaru devised his own variations of the unorthodox transformation technique. At some point, Naruto would go on further to teach him the Rasengan, further establishing both a brotherly and mentor-pupil relationship. Eventually, Konohamaru would begin to train Naruto's son Boruto as his jōnin teacher and would later teach Boruto the Rasengan out of honour for Naruto.

Sasuke Uchiha
Naruto's relationship with Sasuke Uchiha was the highlight of the majority of his life. Their relationship was complicated, especially due to the circumstances of their ancestors' feud, dating back to the beginning of Shinobi; Naruto and Sasuke are the latest reincarnations of Asura and Indra Ōtsutsuki, the sons of the Sage of the Six Paths.

When the two were both Academy students, Naruto wanted to befriend Sasuke, knowing that he too was alone. But when Sasuke proved to be better than him at everything, gaining popularity and admiration, Naruto grew jealous and made it his goal to surpass him. Ever since then, Naruto saw him as his rival and was bent to prove himself as an equal before both youths were made members of Team 7. Even though he thought of Naruto as a loser, Sasuke understood the pain of being an orphan well enough, to the point of taking offence to Sakura insulting and blaming Naruto's stupidity on him not having parents.[40] As they continued to work together as team-mates, Naruto came to view Sasuke as a brother. In turn, Sasuke gained respect for Naruto, and saw him as a dear friend and rival until the events of the Chūnin Exams: noticing that Naruto was beginning to surpass him and that he was nowhere near strong enough to defeat Itachi convinced Sasuke that defecting from Konoha to train under Orochimaru was the only way he could become strong enough to avenge his clan.

Even after failing to stop Sasuke from leaving, Naruto was determined to bring him back as a promise to Sakura, despite Sasuke's willing defection and eventual corruption. When Naruto came to understand both the nature of the cycle of hatred and the reason behind Sasuke's malice, his desire to save him grew even stronger. It became so immense that Naruto was willing to take physical abuse from Kumo-nin rather than sell Sasuke out, and begged the Fourth Raikage, who had branded Sasuke an international criminal following his attack on Kumogakure, to pardon Sasuke for his crimes against his village.

Naruto would later learn that Obito turned Sasuke even further against Konoha by revealing to him the truth behind Itachi's actions. According to him, Naruto and Sasuke were mortal enemies, whose respective embodiments of the Will of Fire and the Curse of Hatred were fated to clash. It was then that Naruto revealed to Sakura that his wish to bring Sasuke back to Konoha was no longer fueled by the promise he made to her, but rather his own desire to save his best friend. Finding Sasuke and intending to bare his friend's hatred, Naruto concluded that reasoning him out of destroying Konoha was no longer a viability and believed that they would most likely die during their fated conflict. However, during the Fourth Shinobi World War, Sasuke renounced his intent to destroy Konoha and joined forces with his former team-mates against Madara and the Ten-Tails. The dynamics between the two had not changed and their innate rivalry still caused Naruto and Sasuke to challenge each other, even more so when Sasuke announced his desire to become Hokage, and with both of them noticing their respective improvements and new abilities.

Later, when both Naruto and Sasuke met Hagoromo and learning of their status as reincarnations, Naruto declared that even though they were not real brothers, he was confident that together they could change the world. Sasuke, meanwhile, acknowledged Naruto as his best and only friend, but would have to kill him to "erase the past". After they successfully sealed Kaguya, Sasuke revealed his intent to begin a revolution and noted that Naruto was the only one capable of stopping him. Hagoromo sombrely believed this was a result of the constant fighting between his sons, but Naruto was quick to state he was not Asura and Sasuke was not Indra. He also revealed his intent to finally end the brothers' and, by proxy, his and Sasuke's feud. The two engaged in an arduous battle, with both teens losing their dominant arms as a result. Lying together, both too injured to move, Naruto explained that even after everything they had put each other through, he still considered Sasuke his best friend. Brought to tears by Naruto's resolve, Sasuke forfeited the fight, realising that he was always envious of Naruto, just like he had been of Itachi. With their friendship restored, the two were able to undo the Infinite Tsukuyomi together and finally end the feud of Asura and Indra. After the war, Naruto used his influence as a hero to absolve Sasuke of his status as an international criminal. As Sasuke once again left the village to travel the world, Naruto came to greet him and returned the forehead protector Sasuke had discarded following their first battle, with the surrogate brothers promising to one day skirmish again.

Two years later, Sasuke briefly returned to Konoha to stop a meteor from destroying it, stating that only he could protect the village in Naruto's absence.

After both men had started families, Naruto, now the Seventh Hokage, would tell Sasuke's daughter that the two were still rivals and that despite Sasuke's shortcomings as a person and father, he was a terrific shinobi that he could see a lot of him in her. The relationship between the two men has become much more friendly, allowing them to converse casually, make jokes and entrust the safety of their respective children to each other.

Kakashi Hatake
Kakashi is the leader of Team 7, the squad Naruto was assigned to after becoming a genin, and one of his first mentors. Initially seeing Naruto as a slacker who didn't understand camaraderie, Kakashi soon came to understand that Naruto's unpredictability was his greatest asset and also came to believe in the young man he labelled Konoha's "Show-Off, Number One Unpredictable, Noisy Ninja". In turn, Naruto would cherish the lessons he learned from Kakashi about friendship and teamwork. After he came back from training with Jiraiya, Kakashi would train Naruto in nature transformation and acknowledged that he was the only one who could surpass his sensei, the Fourth Hokage, and realised not long after that Naruto had surpassed him as well. With Kakashi's help, Naruto was able to create and master the Wind Release: Rasenshuriken which would become one of the most powerful techniques in his arsenal. When Naruto learned of Kakashi's death at the hands of Pain, he was enraged and later noted Kakashi as one of the many reasons Naruto had to hate him.

Kakashi sees much of his beloved friend Obito inside Naruto and has noted that his ideals and personality are much like the Uchiha's when he was a child. Kakashi also sees some of his sensei (and Naruto's father), Minato Namikaze, in Naruto so much that he momentarily mistook him for the Fourth Hokage upon seeing him in Tailed Beast Mode for the first time. When Kakashi began to falter against Obito, he looked to Naruto for inspiration; seeing him as a representative of the old Obito, Kakashi realised the only way he could protect that was to kill the current Obito. During the battle against Madara, Kakashi took a moment to reflect the changes of his students, starting with how Naruto went on to become a hero and gain acknowledgment from everyone but becoming Hokage was still his dream. When the odds were against them as they dealt with Kaguya, Kakashi's trust in Naruto never wavered and he would exclaim how proud he was of how much Naruto and the team has accomplished.

Years after the war, Kakashi, now the Sixth Hokage, would trust in Naruto's capabilities enough to name him his successor as the Seventh Hokage. While officially retired now, Kakashi would still act as an unofficial advisor for Naruto, who would often seek his wisdom for help.

Sai
When Naruto first met Sai, they had a rough start due to Sai's constant criticism and regards of Sasuke as a traitor. However, the two got to understand each other better during their attempt to retrieve Sasuke with Naruto now considering Sai a member of Team Kakashi. Inspired by Naruto, noting that he reminded him of his own brother Shin, Sai works to become a more social person though his attempts can sometimes be awkward. Although Naruto's ties to Sasuke were his overall motivation for bettering himself, Sai began to feel what he believed to be anger over Sasuke becoming beyond redemption with all the grief that he caused for Naruto through his crime-riddled vendetta. During the Fourth Shinobi World War, Sai finally reaches a full understanding of friendship before arriving to Naruto's side during his battle with the Ten-Tails.

Shikamaru Nara
Shikamaru Nara was a "dead last" student like Naruto during their Academy days. Having noticed the way the other villagers ostracised Naruto, Shikamaru seemed to be one of the first of their peers to see him as more than as a jinchūriki. Furthermore, Shikamaru himself stated that something about Naruto compelled him to follow him. Because of this, outside of the missions that may include them working together, Shikamaru would sometimes hang out with Naruto. Having lost his mentor Asuma Sarutobi prior, Shikamaru played a role in helping Naruto cope with Jiraiya's death. In some ways, Shikamaru had became one of Naruto's best friends and strongest bonds among his male friends.

During the Fourth Shinobi World War, when he was weakened by the Ten-Tails, aware that Naruto was always alone, Shikamaru believed Naruto needed an intelligent brother figure, like Tobirama was to Hashirama, by his side, and resolved to be Naruto's adviser when he becomes Hokage so he would never have to be alone again. Years after the war, this dream became true, as Shikamaru accompanied Naruto to the Five Kage Summit as both his advisor and personal bodyguard.

Rock Lee
Nicknaming him Centipede Brows (ゲジマユ, Gejimayu, English TV: Bushy Brows), Naruto originally saw Lee as a rival and vice-versa. Lee's victory over Naruto before the Chūnin Exams started was used by the latter as motivation to get stronger. After he stopped Naruto from attacking Neji for nearly killing Hinata, Lee admitted his resolve to prove his team-mate's ideals of a fixed destiny being wrong. Seeing him sharing that same resolve, Lee was willing to let Naruto handle Neji in his stead prior to his injuries from fighting Gaara. Wanting to help Lee make a full recovery, Naruto brought Tsunade to Konoha in hopes that she could heal him.

During the Fourth Shinobi World War, mourning over Neji's death, Naruto helped give Lee the strength needed to continue fighting and, with his assistance, helped sever Madara's and Obito's connections to the Ten-Tails. To strike the final blow on Obito, Naruto enabled Lee to wield a ninjutsu for the first time by giving him a Rasengan he created. When Lee questioned whether he could do it or not, Naruto gave a shout of encouragement.

Neji Hyūga
In the beginning, Naruto developed a strong dislike towards Neji Hyūga due to his ideals that no one can ever change their fate. Furthermore, after Neji left his cousin Hinata in critical condition, Naruto vowed to beat him at their match. Their match proved not only a physical battle, but also a conflict of ideals with Neji losing on both accounts after revealing his own fight with his fate as a branch member of the Hyūga clan. When Naruto promised that he would change the fate of the Hyūga clan for him, Neji became a nicer person as he set aside his hatred for the main house, looking after Hinata as he trained with her, and desired to become strong enough to return the favour to Naruto.

Years after, Neji got his chance during the Fourth Shinobi World War when he and Hinata came to Naruto's aid in a plan to defeat the Ten-Tails. However, their defences proved no match for the monster, and Neji took a deathblow from the Ten-Tails meant for Naruto and Hinata. As Naruto pleaded why Neji sacrificed himself, the latter, reminding him of their battle years ago replied that Naruto called him a genius. Neji realised in his final moments that, like his father before him, he made the choice to die for those he holds dear. Upon Neji's death, Naruto's resolve was shattered even further as Obito openly mocked Naruto for failing to protect his comrades. However, Hinata and Kurama managed to remind Naruto of his life not being just his own nor should he give up on Neji's death so easily. As his confidence was restored, Naruto thanked Hinata and admitted to himself how he'd never be able to thank Neji enough for everything he had done.[60] Naruto then told a saddened Lee that he'll keep the real Neji in his heart forever and stated to Obito that Neji's will isn't dead and used his death to increase the morale of the Allied Forces.

After the war ended, Naruto and the rest of Konoha attended Neji's funeral, and Naruto was shown reflecting on the death of his friend.

Tsunade
Naruto's relationship with Tsunade began when he aided Jiraiya in looking for her as an ideal successor to their mentor Hiruzen. Upon finding her, Naruto challenged Tsunade after she said only fools would want to become Hokage, accepting her wager of mastering the Rasengan within a week. Despite her reluctance to become Hokage and lack of faith, Tsunade was loyal to her village and attempted to kill her former team-mate Orochimaru before Kabuto used her haemophobia to his advantage. When Naruto defeated Kabuto with a fully mastered Rasengan, Tsunade overcame her phobia to aid him and accepted the position of Fifth Hokage. As a sign of thanks for restoring her faith in their village, Tsunade entrusted Naruto with her grandfather's necklace.

Tsunade found Naruto similar to her younger brother Nawaki both in appearance and personality. In fact, the three are all descended from the Uzumaki clan.

Overall, the two have a very strong relationship based on mutual love and respect, one that could almost be called familial, as Naruto is the only person to refer to Tsunade as "grandma", and likewise he is the only one Tsunade has ever allowed to refer to her in such a manner. Tsunade aided Naruto in not only keeping the Konoha Council from restricting his movement, but also supporting his search for Sasuke and keeping him out of Konoha's Bingo Book. During the Fourth Shinobi World War, Tsunade was the only Kage who argued in favour of Naruto being allowed to fight with them. Though she was outvoted, the other Kage eventually agreed with her resolve. Watching Naruto head off into battle, Tsunade looked on with an expression of nostalgia and pride on her face. Two years after the war, she attended Naruto and Hinata's wedding to congratulate them.

Sarada Uchiha
Due to Sarada being Sasuke's daughter and Sasuke being away on a top secret mission for many years, Naruto cares deeply for Sarada. When Naruto secretly left the village to met with Sasuke to discuss a mysterious boy with a Sharingan, Sarada followed him in hope of meeting her father for the first time in years. Naruto saved her from being captured by Shin and, at her insistence, he told her a little about Sasuke from their childhood. Sarada was happy to learn she inherited some good characteristics from him but was disappointed to learn how aloof and stubborn he was. Naruto cheered her up by telling her that while she looked just like Sasuke, her personality mirrored that of Sakura's. Naruto comforted Sarada after Sasuke refused to explain his absence and he assured her that, despite his shortcomings as a person and father, he is one of the best shinobi in the world.

Naruto was just as shocked as Sarada was when a DNA test erroneously showed that Karin, not Sakura, was her biological mother and he furthermore shocked to see that she had awakened her Sharingan. In Sarada's mental crisis, Naruto convinced her that a real family is made up of love rather than blood, and asked her to think carefully about her bond with her parents, leading Sarada to decide she loved her mother. However, Naruto reacted with relief when it turned out Sakura was Sarada's biological mother and Sasuke was never unfaithful to Sakura, and he watched on as the Uchiha family reconciled. It would be her admiration for Naruto and his actions that would make Sarada decide to make her dream of becoming Hokage.

Kabuto Yakushi
When Naruto first met Kabuto Yakushi, he saw him as an ally during the Chūnin Exams. Despite his seeming politeness and helping the younger ninja out, Kabuto has some fixation on him. Eventually, when Naruto later discovered that he worked under Orochimaru, Kabuto became his enemy and defeated him in a fight that nearly killed him were it not for Tsunade.

However, three years later, Naruto learns that his win inspired Kabuto to undergo the painful process of modifying his body with Orochimaru's DNA after his master's defeat. Stating that Naruto was his inspiration for the risky act, Kabuto handed over a book containing intelligence on the Akatsuki before taking his leave with the hope that he can settle things with Naruto after honing his new abilities and dealing with Sasuke. Though he crossed paths with Kabuto during the Power arc, Naruto only faced the shinobi that Kabuto reincarnated for the Fourth Shinobi World War.

Some time after becoming Hokage, Naruto would develop enough trust in Kabuto to entrust him with caring for the Shin Uchiha clones at the Konoha Orphanage.

Itachi Uchiha
Though he learned from Sasuke that he is looking for his brother, Itachi Uchiha, Naruto had no idea that Sasuke intended to kill Itachi for the downfall of their clan. By the time Naruto learned of this, he was attacked by Itachi when the Akatsuki sent him and Kisame Hoshigaki to capture him. Naruto was forced to stand by and watch Sasuke's failed attempt of revenge that lead him to defect from Konoha.

When encountered by Itachi again years later, Itachi seemed to express concern over Naruto being alone and asked to talk with him. Naruto refused, intending to capture Itachi and use him to bring Sasuke back to the village. Itachi questioned why Naruto would go so far for Sasuke, and Naruto told him that Sasuke was more of a brother to him than to Itachi. This made Itachi smile, but he still put him under genjutsu. In the genjutsu, Itachi asked Naruto what he would do if Sasuke were to attack the village, and Naruto stated he would save Sasuke and Konoha; although Itachi questioned that he might have to endure hardships, Naruto simply responded with his nindō. Unbeknownst to Naruto, this caused Itachi to acknowledge Naruto and trust him to redeem Sasuke. Taking his leave, Itachi placed a crow containing chakra in Naruto's body with hopes that he may never need to use it.

Eventually, after Itachi's death, the crow is revealed to be embedded with Shisui Uchiha's Sharingan with Itachi installing a command that would compel Sasuke to protect Konoha. However, reincarnated and under the control of Kabuto during the Fourth Shinobi World War, tasked alongside Nagato to capture Naruto and Killer B, Itachi is forced to sacrifice his gambit to free himself from Kabuto's control and aid Naruto. Upon learning that Naruto was told the truth of the Uchiha Clan Downfall, gaining his respect for the lengths he would go to protect their village and promise not to reveal it to anyone else, Itachi entrusts Sasuke's well-being to Naruto. After Nagato was sealed away, he decided to depart to stop Kabuto and release all the reincarnated shinobi to give their side a fighting chance, leaving Naruto and Killer B to deal with Sasuke and Madara. Naruto, however, declared he would accomplish both tasks on his own. Seeing that Naruto was becoming arrogant, Itachi told him to put his faith in his comrades as they had put their faith in him. He also told Naruto that being the Hokage means to be able to care for the village while also gaining utmost acknowledgement from them beforehand. This changed Naruto's worldview and gave him a new incentive to become Hokage.

Obito Uchiha
Similar to Naruto in his youth in many ways before his presumed death during the Third Shinobi World War, Obito Uchiha was at first a reflection of the person Naruto would become if he ever gave in to hatred and despair. Though he saw Naruto of no concern, Obito had been the cause of almost everything negative in Naruto's life, having been the one who used the newborn as a hostage, started Kurama's attack on Konoha, and indirectly killed his parents. Years later, after adopting the name Tobi, he would encounter Naruto again when he distracted the youth and the rest of the Eight Man Squad from interfering with Sasuke's fight against Itachi. Tobi later appeared before Naruto again, revealing the truth behind the Uchiha Clan Downfall and how he engineered Sasuke's descent into darkness. Though Tobi claimed his actions were for world peace, he embraced being called a monster while proclaiming that Naruto and Sasuke were fated to battle each other.

Though Tobi initially saw Naruto as a means to stimulate Sasuke for his ambitions, the youth's inadvertent thwarting of his plans forced him to plunge the entire shinobi world into war to expedite his plans. Even after Naruto broke his thrall over the tailed beasts he captured, Tobi reiterated his contempt for Naruto and reassured himself that the boy was no match for him. However, as Kurama stated, Naruto was made a jinchūriki for the purpose of defeating him. Ultimately, it was because of Naruto that Tobi was finally exposed as Obito. While using the Ten-Tails to fight him, Obito realised the similarities between himself and Naruto as he vainly attempted to point out the futility of the youth's struggle against him and Madara. But when Naruto vowed to make sure none of his friends die and expressing disapproval on Obito's nihilistic outlook on life, the Uchiha resolved to put both him and the Allied Shinobi Forces into the same despair he experienced. Though he almost succeeded in breaking Naruto with his guilt over his "inability" to protect Neji, Obito's plan failed when Hinata and Kurama intervened. As a result, now above his psychological warfare, Naruto told Obito that the only difference between them was that he wanted to keep the bonds he made with his friends.

However, before finally separating Obito from the tailed beasts, Naruto showed a more sympathetic side towards him after experiencing visions of the Uchiha's past - even going as far as to shedding tears for Obito's loss. Naruto told Obito that if things were different, he would have looked up to him because like himself, Obito also dreamed of becoming Hokage. To this end, Naruto proclaimed that even though the Uchiha claimed he was no one, there was no sense in Obito hiding any longer, and that he was going to tear off his true mask once and for all. After forcing the tailed beasts out of Obito's body, Naruto did not let Sasuke give the final blow to the defeated enemy, and even tried to reason with Kakashi so that Obito would be given the chance to atone for his crimes instead of being killed by his old comrade, though it was Minato who stopped him. Ultimately, Naruto succeeded in changing Obito's mindset and it led Obito to attempt to revive everyone he had killed with the Outer Path - Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique. After finding out that Obito had used that technique, and was forced to revive Madara, Naruto displayed a hint of sadness over the fact that Obito was at the time doomed to perish after using the technique, despite the two fighting against each other moments before.

Naruto's and Obito's lives crossed once again when the latter stopped Black Zetsu from giving the just stolen Yin-Kurama to Madara, who recently became the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki. Taking a small portion of Shukaku and Gyūki's chakra from Madara and transferring them to the dying Naruto (who had Yang-Kurama extracted from him by Madara), Obito managed to save Naruto's life and allowed him to gain portions of chakra from all the tailed beasts. Naruto would later return the favour by using his newfound abilities to save Obito's life. When Obito was revived, Naruto expressed delight that he was alive and despite their history, they both put it aside in order to stop Kaguya. Later, Obito would take a fatal blow for Naruto, leaving Naruto to try and desperately heal him. Obito, knowing his time was up, however, made final amends with Naruto and willed his dream of Hokage to him before dying at Naruto's side. Naruto was enraged when Black Zetsu continued to mock him after his death. In the end, Naruto looked up to Obito for wanting to become Hokage, protect his friends, and make peace, something he had always related to, going so far as to call him "awesome". After becoming Hokage, Naruto inherited Obito's tendency to help out the elderly in the village, as seen when he carried an old woman across the village on his back and used a clone to carry her groceries.

Nagato and Konan
Like Naruto and his father, Nagato and Konan were apprentices under Jiraiya. However, events resulting from the death of their friend Yahiko, particularity at the hands of certain power-hungry ninja, forced Nagato and Konan to stray from their ideals as Obito warped the organisation they created into the current version of the Akatsuki that Naruto was facing. After defeating Pain, one of six corpses that Nagato used as a vessel for his Deva Path ability, Naruto confronted Nagato. Though angry at Nagato for killing their mentor and destroying Konoha, Naruto asked him how, as a fellow student of Jiraiya, could he have strayed so far from their master's teachings. Hoping that Naruto would come to agree with his solution for peace, Nagato told him his past and how he came to the conclusion to believe that only pain and suffering would save the world.

Although Naruto understood Nagato's conclusion, he could never accept it as he explains that putting an end to the cycle of hatred is the only way to achieve true peace, something this meeting would ultimately drive Naruto to pursue. Amazed by Naruto's resolve to the point of being spared, Nagato decided to put his faith in the youth as he sacrifices himself to revive everyone he killed during his invasion while wishing for Naruto's dream of peace to become a reality. Konan, showing admiration for Naruto as he touched Nagato's heart along with her own, gave Naruto a bouquet as a sign of a truce and her new undying faith in him. Though she later died by Obito's hand, Konan continued to have faith that Naruto's light can extinguish Obito's darkness even in her final moments.

After Nagato's reincarnation, he was shown to be kinder and carefree to the point he was even willing to start making jokes, something that surprised Naruto. His opinion of Naruto also strengthened after he last saw him, pointing out to Itachi that he wasn't surprised that Naruto was able to advance his control over Kurama's power since they both had studied under the same master. Upon Nagato's sealing, he bid Naruto farewell and how he would leave Naruto to finish the story their master started with a better resolution than before.

Jinchūriki and the Tailed Beasts
Although he didn't know all of them personally, the jinchūriki and the tailed beasts were all considered by Naruto as his comrades. During the Fourth Shinobi World War, Naruto encountered the other jinchūriki that were reincarnated by Kabuto and the tailed beasts that were resealed in their respective jinchūriki. Naruto understood their pain and resolved to free them from Obito's control, which in turn convinced Kurama enough to trust the human as Naruto was taken into the tailed beasts' shared subconscious with the other jinchūriki. As stated by Han, Naruto's words and actions also allowed the tailed beasts and their jinchūriki to get along and come together on Son Gokū's behalf.

The jinchūriki and their tailed beasts each introduced themselves while placing their faith in Naruto and Kurama through fist bumps. While their jinchūriki were allowed to pass on, the tailed beasts each gave Naruto a part of their chakra before being pulled back into the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path prior to its regeneration into the Ten-Tails. Even when Obito became the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki, Naruto, through the combined effort of the Allied Shinobi Forces and Taka, eventually was able to extract all of the sealed tailed beasts from Obito's body. The tailed beasts had collectively agreed that Naruto was the one spoken about by Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki, and began to aid Naruto in fighting against the revived Madara, and later Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, lending him their powers.

Gaara
When Naruto first met Gaara prior to the Chūnin Exams, he was unaware that he was a jinchūriki like himself until he and Shikamaru stopped him from finishing off the hospitalised Lee. Ever since their encounter, Naruto understood that Gaara had been through the same pain like he had. Though he was afraid to fight Gaara at first, later during the Konoha Crush, Naruto was able to overcome this fear after seeing both Sasuke and Sakura in danger and was determined to protect them both from Gaara. When Naruto defeated him, Gaara, in great shock, questioned him why was he so strong. Naruto explained that despite having suffered a relentless lonely life, he never gave up hope on being acknowledged as a person and ultimately found friends who truly cared for him.

From that day on, Naruto's undying devotion and desire to protect his loved ones inspired Gaara to take on a similar path, and over time, he eventually became the Fifth Kazekage of Sunagakure and was finally able to connect with his people and be acknowledged as a person rather than a jinchūriki. When Naruto insisted to save Gaara from the Akatsuki, he lamented to find that they killed Gaara by extracting Shukaku. Though he criticised Chiyo for sealing the tailed beast inside him, Naruto offered his chakra to her for Gaara's revival.

Two years after the war, Gaara argued in favour of not destroying the moon, as Naruto and his team were still there. He later attended Naruto and Hinata's wedding, while shaking hands with Hinata. Over the years, Naruto's friendship with Gaara remained intact, to the point that Naruto keeps a photo of them at his house. He attends the Chūnin Exams and sits with Naruto and the other Kage during the third round. After Naruto is kidnapped by Momoshiki and Kinshiki, Gaara and the other Kage team up with Sasuke and Boruto to rescue him.

Killer B
When Naruto first met B, he thought his raps were a little bit weird, but after discovering that he was a jinchūriki like him and had full control, he immediately requested B to train him. After gaining B's respect, the two became good friends and can actually relate to one another, even by communicating with B's raps and fist bumps, something that Yamato, much to his own frustration, couldn't understand. Naruto in return shows respect for B, calling him uncle. B was also willing to help him fight Kurama within his subconscious with Gyūki's help. B even stood up for him against his brother, A, when he tried to kill him and stated he would keep his promise from Iruka to protect Naruto, even going as far as to offer up his own life in exchange for A allowing Naruto to continue on. The two then fought off against Obito and his Six Paths of Pain and could understand the other tailed beasts' suffering from Obito's control.

Two years after the war, B, who was controlling one of the chakra cannons, defied his brother once more and couldn't use the Chakra Cannon to destroy the moon since Naruto was still on it, still valuing their friendship. He later attended Naruto and Hinata's wedding, while bumping fist with Naruto.

Zabuza Momochi and Haku
During his first C-rank mission of escorting Tazuna to the Land of Waves, Naruto met two mercenary rogue ninjas hired to kill the elderly carpenter - Zabuza Momochi of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist and his ward Haku. While he met Zabuza only twice in his life on the battlefield, Naruto unknowingly met Haku between the two fights. Both youths got into a discussion over protecting those who were precious to them, with Naruto gaining his unselfish desire to protect his friends and to never give up. By the time Naruto learned Haku was his enemy during their battle, he was reluctant to take his life before Haku acted on his own ideals and sacrificed himself to protect Zabuza after being inflicted with numerous injuries.

When Naruto reprimanded Zabuza for not appreciating Haku's actions after hearing the older shinobi talking ill of Haku's sacrifice, Zabuza, who was hiding his actual feelings of sadness for someone he grew to care about, finally opened his heart and killed his former employer, before he died from his wounds. Soon after Zabuza and Haku were buried, Naruto admitted to Kakashi that he liked the two, with his mentor feeling the same way.

When Kabuto brought the pair back to life for the Fourth Shinobi World War, Zabuza and Haku encountered Kakashi, who revealed that Naruto had grown into a fine and well-known shinobi since their deaths.

Kaguya Ōtsutsuki
Kaguya is Naruto's greatest enemy in the anime/manga series.

Kinshiki Ōtsutsuki
Kinshiki is one of Naruto's enemies.

Momoshiki Ōtsutsuki
Momoshiki is one of Naruto's enemies.

Shadow Clones Jutsu
Naruto fancies the Shadow Clone Jutsu the most of any other Jutsu. This technique allows him to create many copies of himself that disappear in a cloud of smoke upon being struck. The copies are able to strike enemies, and work together with fighting combos.

Summoning Technique
In order to encourage improved control over Kurama's chakra, Jiraiya teaches Naruto to perform the Summoning Technique. By offering a certain amount of chakra, Naruto can summon the toads of Mount Myōboku as allies that fight beside him. He is initially restricted to tadpoles due to his poor chakra control, but as his control improves he can summon small toads such as then-young Gamakichi or Gamatatsu. During Part I he must rely on Kurama's chakra to summon toads of Gamabunta's size, but by Part II, Kurama's help is merely optional.

Rasengan
Once Naruto gets the hang summoning, Jiraiya teaches him the Rasengan. His reasons for teaching it to Naruto are various: the training involved in learning the Rasengan improves his chakra control; it is in many ways the counterpart to Sasuke's Chidori; it was invented by Naruto's father. Because of the very intricate chakra control the Rasnegan requires, Naruto struggles to master it, and is not helped by the time limit he imposes on himself during his training. Although the Rasengan is intended as a one-handed technique, Naruto learns to use it with more than one hand, specifically a shadow clone's: he provides the chakra that will make the Rasengan while the clone forms it into shape.

Nature Transformation
As a possible alternative to Kurama's chakra, Kakashi teaches Naruto how to take advantage of his natural elemental affinity: wind. The wind nature compliments Naruto, as the wind nature is a great match for short-range fighters. Because the Rasengan was originally intended to be combined with a user's nature transformation, Naruto sets out to combine his wind affinity with the Rasengan. He struggles with it, finding it as near-impossible as his father did before him, but once again finds a solution with shadow clones: while he provides the chakra and a clone provides the shape, as is done with normal Rasengan, a second clone infuses it with their nature. This results in the creation of the Rasenshuriken.On contact with a target, the Rasenshuriken explodes into a torrent of wind that cuts them at a cellular level. At first, Naruto uses it like a blunt object that he forces into opponents, causing him to receive the same level of damage as they do. After learning Sage Mode he becomes able to throw it, preventing harm to himself and at the same time increasing its speed and cutting power. In Nine-Tails Chakra Mode he can further augment its size, making a miniature version, a gigantic version, or even Twin Rasenshuriken, all without the help of shadow clones.

Senjutsu
After Jiraiya is killed by Pain, Naruto is taught senjutsu by Fukasaku, a former teacher of Jiraiya, to prepare him for the day when Pain comes after him. During his training he proves to have a greater aptitude for senjutsu than Jiraiya, helped in no small part by his necessarily high chakra levels. 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. However, doing this requires absolute calm, which can't be achieved or maintained in the middle of combat. For this reason, Fukasaku and his wife would theoretically fuse with him, gathering the natural energy for him to use. During all attempts at fusion, Kurama rejected Fukasaku, a threat to its power, leaving Naruto with no way to enter Sage Mode.Naruto found a away to use shadow clones as a workaround. While he fights, the clones gather natural energy for him and then, when he is in need, he has them disperse, transferring their natural energy to him. Although this lets him enter a perfect Sage Mode that Jiraiya was never able to, this method limits the maximum number of shadow clones that he can create to five for as long as the clones are gathering natural energy, as anything more would interfere with their focus. To make sure he has enough shadow clones for use in battle, Naruto has only two shadow clones gather senjutsu chakra, allowing him to enter Sage Mode a total of three times.Fox toad mode Once in Sage Mode, Naruto's speed, strength, durability, and proficiency with the Rasengan and its variants increases. He can utilise the Frog Kata - a form of taijutsu that uses the natural energy around the user to enhance the range and the potency of their attacks - and sensory abilities effective even at long ranges. His sensing abilities also let him predict the movements of his enemies for easy retaliation.Following his befriending of Kurama, he can even combine Sage Mode with Tailed Beast Mode, which has the added bonus of letting him gather natural energy faster.

Kitsune Demon
Kurama who lives inside Naruto is dedicated to keeping Naruto alive, as Naruto's demise would mean his as well. Naruto receives great healing powers from the demon, with cuts and scratches disappearing very quickly. When Naruto becomes very angry, the fox demon partially takes over his mind, and releases the power of the Red Chakra.

Nine-Tails Chakra Mode
Nine-Tails Chakra Mode is a heightened transformation unique to those with Kurama's chakra sealed into them. Naruto Uzumaki, as Kurama's jinchūriki, is able to enter the form using the beast's Yang chakra. Minato Namikaze, having sealed the fox's Yin chakra into his body immediately before his death, has been able to access the form once reincarnated. While this mode is active, Naruto gains a chakra shroud with six magatama around his neck and two distinctive pieces of hair-like horns resembling the Sage of the Six Paths' silhouette along with a swirl design that resembles the Uzumaki clan's symbol. Naruto's chakra shroud is also covered by various other black lines and spiral patterns, which expand further along his body in certain situations.At times, Naruto's shroud gains the additional seals that appear on his hands while in Tailed Beast Mode.The colour of his eyes changes from blue to orange when he is in this form and while the demon fox shroud is red and releases chakra as acidic bubbles, this form's shroud is yellow and releases chakra as flickering flames. While in this form Naruto's chakra signature and smell are different as noted by Neji and Kiba.When used by Minato, this mode holds resemblance to something in between both of Naruto's two shrouds; while predominately looking like Naruto's Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, Minato's shroud has additional seals on his hands and feet as well an additional magatama design that appears on his collar, causing it to resemble Naruto's shroud in Tailed Beast Mode. When Minato first entered this mode, the bangs at the sides of his face went upwards as well. As with all jinchūriki transformations, the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode gives the user increased strength, speed, and defences. The Nine-Tails Chakra Mode's increases are noticeably superior: Naruto becomes strong enough to push a fully formed Tailed Beast Ball through a multiple layered barrier with just one arm,neutralise White Zetsu with a single kick despite their durability,and, in collaboration with B in his full Eight-Tails form, he could also knock down Tobi's Demonic Statue of the Outer Path with an uppercut.Naruto's speed is so great in this form that Killer B even had trouble determining if he had used the Body Flicker Technique when attacking Kisame,he could even surpass the speed of a fully charged A,as well as blitz the extremely fast Third Raikage before the shinobi had any chance to react.Naruto's durability is also very high in this form, so high in fact, that he was able to endure extreme heat with only minor burns.He could even withstand the Tenpenchii technique in this form and while the shroud was completely destroyed after this, he only suffered minor physical wounds.Naruto is able to use chakra arms while in Nine-Tails Chakra Mode. Like other jinchūriki he can use the arms to improve his dexterity and manoeuvrability, granting him increased means of interacting with his environment and his opponents. More unique to Naruto, he uses the arms as substitutes for shadow clones in his creation of various Rasengan-variants. Instead of needing a shadow clone to help him with shape transformation, he can do both with just one hand, either his own or the hands of his chakra arms.He still needs more than one hand for the nature transformation of the Rasenshuriken, but this also is accomplished without shadow clones. Once the Rasengan-variants are formed, Naruto can then use the chakra arms to deliver them across long distances or, in the case of Rasenshuriken, guide them to their target.Initially, Naruto tried to create a technique related to the Tailed Beast Ball: the Tailed Beast Rasengan.However, he later develops a more effective version of this technique: the Super Mini-Tailed Beast Ball, which is basically a miniature Tailed Beast Ball that he's able to control with the help of a shadow clone. Like his predecessor, Mito Uzumaki, Naruto gains Kurama's ability to sense negative emotions, something that not even the best sensor-type ninja can do.In addition, he is capable of sensing Kurama's chakra signature, even while he was inside a chakra isolation chamber within the Falls of Truth;as well as the ability to sense other chakra signatures from great distances.Due to having Kurama's Yang chakra in this form, Wood Release techniques will react to the chakra's life-giving properties and mature into full-grown trees within a matter of seconds, either by contact or close range.

Tailed Beast Mode
All jinchūriki can enter Tailed Beast Mode, which grants them all the strength and abilities of their corresponding tailed beast. However, where other jinchūriki become full-scale replicas of their tailed beast, Naruto and Minato enter a form very visually similar to the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode.

Introduction and Land of Waves Arc
Naruto was 12 years old and was a Ninja in training. At first, he failed the Shadow Clone test and was tricked by Mizuki to steal the Scroll of Shadow Clones and was even revealed by Mizuki that he was the Jinchuuriki of the Nine Tailed Fox whose name is Kurama. However, Naruto defeated Mizuki with the pure made shadow clones and Iruka, who witnessed this was so proud of Naruto that he gave Naruto his head band and Naruto graduated. Naruto was teamed up with Sasuke Uchiha (to his dismay) and Sakura Haruno (to his happiness). The three didn't get along really well at first, but started to understand the meaning of teamwork as they were lead by their leader, Kakashi Hatake and pasted the Bell Test. The team was then assign to protect the Bridge Builder named Tazuna as they traveled to Wave Country and were attacked by Mist ninjas, with Sasuke and Sakura did all the work, and Naruto who felt weak was taunted by Sasuke for being a coward. Naruto who was injured by the poison in his hand, shocked everyone by taking the poison out of his hand with a kunai and made a pledge that he will never back down and lose to Sasuke.

As the group made it over to Wave Country, they were ambushed by Zabuza Momochi who had a brief battle with them, Naruto managed to gather up his courage and even come up with a plan which involves him working together with Sasuke and with Kakashi having the upperhand against Zabuza. However, Haku intervened and took Zabuza away. The team made to Tazuna's house where they recovered from their wounds and they realized that Zabuza was still alive. For the next whole week, the team trained in using chakra control by climbing trees with their feet. Sasuke and Naruto where still having a hard time getting along, but they soon started to get use to each other and even work together to improved their climbing. Naruto even meet a young woman who is actually Haku. The woman asked Naruto waht he was doing, and Naruto told her that he was training. Then Haku asked why he was training and Naruto told her that he was training so that he can be really strong and that he wanted to be acknowleged by others. Haku asked him if there was someone who is very precious to him and she told him that truth strength comes from the burning desire to protect those who are precious to them and before she left, she told Naruto that she was really a boy which caused Naruto to be shocked. Inari who had a hard time getting over his stepfather's death tearfully told the team that there is no such thing as heroes which caused Naruto to angrily scold at Inari by calling him a coward and a baby. Later, Kakashi told Inari that Naruto did not mean to be so hard on him and that Naruto has been through alot of hard times than Irari has, much to Inari's surprise. The next day, Naruto was recovering and the rest of them head out to have a final battle with Haku and Zabuza. When Naruto was awakened he found the team when on without him, Naruto hurrily head out. On his way he came across a boar that has been attacked by a sword and Naruto followed the trail that lead back toward the house. Once he arrived, he quickly defeated Gato's men who took Inari and his mother hostage. Naruto told Inari that he was very strong and brave and told him to look after his mother. As Naruto arrived he and Sasuke where forced to battle Haku and his Ice Mirrors Jutsu. However Naruto and Sasuke were quickly getting defeated and exhausted. Sasuke risked his live to protect Naruto by shielding him against Haku's attack and Naruto asked Sasuke why he protected him, and Sasuke said that he doesn't know and that his body just moved on it's own (in truth, Sasuke actually cared about and bonded with Naruto, but didn't want to admit it). After Sasuke seemingly died, Naruto's Nine tailed fox power started to surfaced from his deep rage over his friend's "death" and quickly defeated Haku. Haku was amazed by Naruto's powers and told him that he was just a broken tool with no purpose of being any use to Zabuza, and told Naruto to kill him. However, Haku decided to cancel this and protected Zabuza against Kakashi's Lightning Blade and died in the process. Moments later, Gato appeared and taunted and kick Haku's corpse for breaking his arm earlier. Naruto told Zabuza to do something, but Zabuza didn't listen and told Naruto that Haku was just a tool and that the was nothing to him. Naruto tearfully told Zabuza how much Haku loves him and that it was very wrong to see someone as a tool and not a human being. This in turn caused Zabuza to be deeply touched by the child's words, and Zabuza was redeemed and killed Gato and died from his injuries. Sasuke even awakened and Sakura told Naruto that Sasuke was alright which made Naruto cried tears of joy. Naruto and Kakashi then used their shadow clones to defeat Gato's men. The next day the team had a burial memorial for Zabuza and Haku. Tazuna and the villagers where very grateful and waved goodbye as the team head home. Tazuna and the villagers of Wave Country decided to call the bridge, The Great Naruto Bridge in honor of Naruto and his team.

Chunnin Exams Arc
Weeks after returning from Wave Country, the team continued with their minor missions with Sasuke and Naruto being annoyed by each others presence (to Sakura's dismay). Kakashi even gave the team applications to participate in the Chunnin Exams so that why they can move forward to higher ranks and improve their skills and even gave them time to think about it. During that time, the team met Gaara and his older Sand Village siblings : Temari and Kankuro who told them that they too are participating in the exams where Naruto was hoping to go up against Kankuro and Sasuke going up against Gaara. After making their minds up, Team 7 signed the applications and went to take their first test. On their way, they met up with Rock Lee who wishes to fight Sasuke because of his membership of the legendary Uchiha Clan. However, Naruto wanted to go up against Lee to prove that he is a better fighter, but Lee turn him down and insisted on fighting Sasuke. In anger, Naruto charged at Lee, but Lee quickly took down Naruto with his Konaha Hurricane technique. Sasuke decided to battle Lee, but during the fight, Sasuke was overwhelmed by Lee's great speed and was about to use his trump card technique on Sasuke but was stop by Guy who punched, scolded, and dramatically hugged Lee (much to the team's shock and disgust). Guy told the team that Lee is even participating in the exams and even recognized the team as Kakashi's team. After Lee and Guy left, Naruto and the Team head out to participate in the Exams and they came across Kakashi, and Kakashi told them that they came a long way and that he was proud of them. With new determination, Naruto led the team into the room and was astonished by the number the people who are taking the test and Naruto was even reunited with the Rookie 9 who graduated with Naruto. Afterward, they even met a strange young man named Kabuto Yakushi who was participating and even explain to the team about the teams of the different villages with the use of chakra cards. Naruto, with pride, announced to the whole room his name and that he was going to defeat all of them (much to the Rookie 9's annoyance). In the first phase of the Chunin Exams, each of the participants must first do a paper test while working together with their teams to obtain answers without getting caught. When the tenth question came, the question was to choose to trying in answering the tenth question or give up in becoming a ninja. If the participants try to answer the question and they get wrong, they will automatically fail the test. Naruto, with new determination, stated that he will never quit, that he will become Hokage, and that he does not care what kind of abuse they throw at them, he will endure it and not be afraid. Impressed by the boy's strong courage, the Exam Proctor decided that the entire candidates left in the room passed the test (much to everyone's shock) and explain that the true purpose of the test was spying and using their spying techniques in gathering information without getting caught and test their courage. Moments later, Anko Mitsubashi arrived and lead the team to the second phase of the exams. The candidates are to travel through the Forest of Death for five days and try to get both a Heaven and an Earth Scroll. They eventually came face to face with a Grass Ninja (Orochimaru in disguise) with Naruto briefly using the power of the Nine-Tailed Fox. However Orochimaru was able to stop Naruto and used an odd numbered Reverse Sealing Jutsu which caused Naruto to loose consciousness. After Naruto regained consciousness, Naruto and his team continued on their quest.

Search for Tsunade Arc
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.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 in 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 Retrival Arc
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 that 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.

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 Retrieval Arc.

Kazekage Rescue Arc


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.

Sai and Sasuke Arc
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.

Hidan and Kakuzu Arc
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 Twelve Guardian Ninja Arc, 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 Arc
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.

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.

Invasion of Pain Arc
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 her with one of his 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 Naruto 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 teacher (師, shi).

Five Kage Summit Arc
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 A, the 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 massacre, 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.

Confining the Jinchuriki Arc
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 that 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.

Shinobi World War Arc
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 Armour, 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 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 Armour 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.

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, 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.

Ten Tails Arc
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 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 produces a shadow clone, the shinobi agree that the use of feint attacks would be crucial in this battle because of Tobi's abilities. Moving directly towards Tobi, Naruto uses the Super Mini-Tailed Beast Ball to attack Tobi. However, becoming intangible, Naruto passes through him. Guy then leaps in with his Sōshūga to join battle. Using his nunchaku to counter Tobi's gunbai, Guy is able to sent the masked man throttling towards Naruto and his Super Mini-Tailed Beast Ball. As Naruto's attack is about to make contact, Tobi teleports 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 appears to join in the fight with his Lightning Release infused kunai. As Kakashi launches the kunai, Tobi became intangible once again and kicks the kunai towards Naruto. Telling Naruto to ignore it, Kakashi uses Kamui to warp away the kunai. As Naruto makes his last attempt to land a blow on Tobi, he becomes intangible. Regrouping as the last attack seemingly fails to land, the shinobi wonder how they were going to defeat Tobi. Just then a tiny crack appears on Tobi's mask. Noticing the crack Guy believes Naruto's attack caused the damage but Kakashi disagreed noting that the crack was not consistent with a punch. Naruto agrees to confirm Kakashi's hypothesis and climbed aboard Gyūki's hand and is then launched across the battlefield towards Tobi. He allows 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 is still intangible forcing him to absorb his nunchaku. This allows 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 is later seen expressing alarm that Tobi's identity is revealed to be Obito Uchiha, a former comrade Kakashi and Guy are acquainted with. After his question about who was standing, unmasked before them is answered, Naruto tries 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 Uchiha makes an appearance on the battlefield. With Madara's appearance, Naruto demands to know what happened to the five Kage while the two Uchiha casually discussed the current situation, but Madara notes 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 blocks 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. While Sakura stayed behind to have Katsuyu heal everyone, Naruto and Sasuke used their combined powers to land a direct hit on the Ten-Tails, much to everyone's delight. Naruto asks Sasuke to take the change to help him remove the tailed beasts from inside the Ten-Tails, but Sasuke refuses. However, they only hit a portion of the Ten-Tails' arm and it sheds its skin. hey then fight Obito, who absorbs the Ten-Tails inside of him and becomes its jinchuriki. After several failed offensive attacks, Naruto and Sasuke realize they are no match against Obito, even with the help of the former four Hokage. Eventually, with indirect help from Gamakichi, Naruto realizes that sage power is Obito's only weakness. Naruto enters sage mode along with his Tailed Beast Mode, and condemns Obito for scolding his father for failing as a Hokage and teacher. With the help of the Second Hokage, Naruto manages to land a hit on Obito with a Rasengan filled with sage power. With this injured him, Obito healed quickly and Naruto and his father use their respective Nine-Tails chakra to release Yin-Kurama and Yan-Kurama, and form a Parent-and-Child Rasengan. Obito avoids being hit and Naruto prepares a tailed beast ball with sage power, but Obito traps everyone in a barrier and was about to unleash four tailed beast balls to kill everyone. Naruto converses with his father on a way to get everyone out of the area; he lent his Nine-Tails chakra to everyone and, by fist-bumping with Minato, they were able to teleport everyone outside of the barrier with Minato's instant teleport technique. Obito enters in the Ten-Tails Shinju form and drains some shinobis chakra, killing anyone who comes into contact with it. Naruto was almost captures but was saved by the Second and Third Hokage, and was horrified to see so many of his comrades had been killed. Obito once again tries to have Naruto give up and asks him why he refuses, Naruto replies that is his ninja way.

Naruto and Sasuke regroup and decide to combine Kurama and Susanoo to extract the tailed beasts from inside Obito. Knowing they'll need additional chakra to do so, they converse with their former classmates to aid them and the original Konoha 9 agree to help. Naruto, while encasing them with Nine-Tails chakra, gives them each a Rasengan with sage power and this begins a tug of war with Obito. During this, Naruto mentally connects with Obito, asking him to give up his hatred and realize his mistakes. At first Obito refuses and says he is doing this to bring peace to the world and free it from war. Naruto, growing agitated, forces Obito to remember his younger self when he was Kakashi's friend, Minato's student, and a kid who dreamed of being Hokage like Naruto does now. After Obito begins to question who he really is and his motives, Naruto offers him a chance of redemption by taking his hand and joining the Allied Forces to end the war. It appeared Naruto's words had reached Obito as he thinks about if he had stayed in Konoha and became Hokage, and reaches for Naruto's hand. 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 a dying Obito to revive him rather than those who died in the war, allowing the dangerous Uchiha to use the full might of his enhanced body and repel both Sai's seal and Hashirama's restraints.

Madara captures all the nine tailed beasts and Kurama is extracted from Naruto in the process. Slowly dying from the extraction, Naruto is caught by Gaara who takes him to the Allied Forces to be healed by Tsunade, who says she has no more chakra left. Sakura volunteers to heal Naruto and Gaara takes them to Minato to have the Yang-Kurama transferred into Naruto. Along the way, Naruto's heartbeat starts to weaken more and sakura runs out of chakra, forcing her to make an incision in his chest and perform CPR on him. When they reach their destination, Minato and Kakashi are facing Madara who is trying to get Obito to side with him again into fulfilling Madara's goal of releasing the Infinite Tsukuyomi. Obito, however, refuses and decides to save naruto by extracting the Yin-Kurama chakra Madara stole from Naruto. Kakashi and Obito teleport Naruto and Sakura away from Madara while they figure out a way to get back to Naruto without Madara stopping them. Obito finally does meet up with Naruto and Sakura and gives back the Yin-Kurama chakra to Naruto, but he doesn't wake up. As he is on the verge of death, his subconscious meets Harogomo Otsutsuki, the legendary Six Paths. He tells Naruto the history of his mother Kaguya Otsutsuki, the shinobi world, and the centuries-old feud between his two sons Asura and Indra. Naruto learns he is the current reincarnation of Asura, which doesn't surprise him because he can sense Asura's chakra in him, and deduces that Sasuke is Indra's reincarnation. Harogomo asks Naruto what he plans to do in the future and his answer on saving Sasuke because he considers him as a friend satisfies Harogomo into give half of his powers to Naruto. Revived, Naruto heads to the battlefield to fight Madara, now the jinchuriki of the Ten-Tails. Sasuke, who was also on the verge of death and met with Harogomo, arrives and madara realizes both received new powers from the sage. Naruto is now in possession of the six paths of senjutsu and is able to sense Madara's limbo shadow clone, which Madara says is normally impossible. Naruto and Sasuke try to use their new powers to kill Madara by hitting him with senjutsu Rasengan and Chidori but Madara escapes. Realizing he is no match for them, Madara steals Kakashi's Sharingan and teleports to Obito's location to steal his Rinnegan. Naruto has a shadow clone seal away Madara's shadow clone and meets up with his team, and restores kakashi's original eye with his new powers. As they discuss the situation, Kakashi remembers the day he first met Naruto and relates how Naruto has become a hero, been acknowledged by everyone, surpassed the Hokage, and still dreams of being Hokage. When Madara reappears, everyone is shocked to see he has regained both Rinnegan and has Obito under control of the Black Zetsu. Sakura impulsively attacks Madara, leading Naruto to pull her away from Madara and Sasuke cuts off the rod Madara used to stab her with. Naruto uses shadow clones to fight Madara's shadow clones while Sasuke tries to stop the Catastrophic Planetary Constructions pods from impacting the surface. However, Madara succeeds in releasing the Infinite Tsukuyomi and places everyone under the genjutsu. Naruto and his team manage to escape when Sasuke shields them with his Susanoo.

Kaguya Otsutsuki Strikes
With the situation growing more uncertain for them, Naruto, along with Sakura and Kakashi, was curious of what was happening outside. Much to Naruto's outrage, Sasuke decided to take full leadership of Team 7 because, as Kakashi agrees, his Rinnegan is what can help save the world. Once the light from the moon dims down, Naruto and his team-mates find everyone under the genjutsu and Madara manically declaring himself as the world's savior. Much to everyone's shock, Madara is mortally stabbed in the chest by the Black Zetsu, which says it is following the will not of Madara but Kaguya Otsutsuki, whom Naruto remembers from his conversation with Hagoromo. Madara and Black Zetsu are blended together and transform into Kaguya, putting Naruto and the others in high alert due to her chakra being stronger than the Ten-Tails. Kaguya recognizes Naruto and Sasuke as reincarnations of her grandsons and sends Team 7 into a dimension of lava to eliminate them. Naruto is saved when Sasuke summons a hawk but ignores Naruto's outburst to save Sakura and Kakashi (the latter saves himself and Sakura by attaching a kunai to a scroll into the wall). When confronted about this by Naruto, Sasuke explains they are the only ones capable of stopping Kaguya and they must keep their focus on her, even if it means sacrificing their comrades. While appearing angry, Naruto says he understands what Sasuke means and points out that Sasuke didn't mean to save him on the bridge at the Land of Waves. Naruto then saves everyone from falling into the lava once again upon discovering his ability to fly. Before they can fight Kaguya, she tries to absorb chakra from Naruto and Sasuke, but Naruto manages to fight her off after berating Kaguya and the Black Zetsu for thinking they are the sole authority of the world. Naruto suggests he use his Reverse Harem Jutsu to distract Kaguya so he and Sasuke can land a hit on her. While this succeeds in distracting Kaguya, she is able to prevent them from sealing her by sending them to the ice dimension and imprisoning them in ice boulders. Kaguya sends Sasuke to the dessert dimension and Naruto is forced to fight her on his own while Sakura and Obito try to locate Sasuke after Naruto's shadow clone informs them of the situation. Knowing releasing chakra on Kaguya will only get absorbed by her, Naruto lures her close enough to him for him to ambush her with a thousand shadow clones. However, Kaguya is able to dodge his clones' attacks and escapes to another dimension, with Naruto following her. Kaguya stabs him with wooden rods and seemingly kills him, but it turns out she actually killed another shadow clone and the real Naruto was with Sakura and Obito the whole time.

Once again, Naruto uses numerous shadow clones to hold off Kaguya until he is joined by Sasuke, Sakura and Obito. Angered, Kaguya teleports them to a dimension with high gravity, causing Naruto and the others to get pinned to the ground. She fires two rods at Naruto and Sasuke to kill them but Kakashi shields Sasuke and Obito shields Naruto. Obito uses Kamui to save Kakashi and sacrifices himself to save everyone else. As he dies, Obito tells Naruto to become Hokage and Naruto, seeing how Obito is similar to him, thanks him. Naruto angrily tells Black Zetsu not to mock Obito's sacrifice and joins Sasuke in continuing the battle against Kaguya. With the help of using his new powers with Sasuke's Susanoo, they manage to land several hits on Kaguya and Naruto uses Sage Art Super Biju Rasenshuriken on Kaguya, destroying her left arm and causing her to turn into a mass of the tailed beasts. Naruto tells Sasuke to save Sakura from getting killed when Kaguya moves towards her, but befire Sasuke can, she is saved by Kakashi's Susanoo due to a spirit Obito temporarily granting him the Mangekyo Sharingan, much to everyone's shock. Realizing the battle is in their favor now, Naruto and his team come up with a strategy to seal Kaguya away and Kakashi tells his students this will be their final mission as Team 7. Kakashi uses Kamui Lightening Blade to allow Naruto and Sasuke to catch her off guard. Kaguya tries to stab Naruto with a rod and teleport Sasuke away, only to see they were shadow clones and the real Naruto and Sasuke move in to seal her. It takes a punch from Sakura to allow them to finally seal her with Six Paths Catastrophic Planetary Construction, ending the threat of Kaguya Otsutsuki.

The tailed beasts are free from their prison and Naruto finds Black Zetsu on Kaguya's severed hand, who says he can always resurrect Kaguya again. Irritated, Naruto says the world consists of shinobi's lives and deaths, which is something the Black Zetsu will never understand, throwing the hand into the prison sphere as it travels to the moon. Naruto then panics over how they will return to the real world, but they are all summoned back by Harogomo and the spirits of the previous Kage. Haroomo thanks naruto and his team for saving the world and, as the previous four Hokage prepare to return to the afterlife, Minato wishes Naruto a happy 17th birthday. Naruto asks his father to tell his mother he meet some of her expectations of him as father and son bid their goodbyes. Harogomo asks Naruto if his answer is still the same, to which Naruto confirms and compared to his mother, Kaguya was a scary person. To Naruto's dismay, Sasuke announces he plans to kill the current five Kage and seals the tailed beasts into Catastrophic Planetary Construction, intending to kill them as well. Sasuke explains he simply wants to create a new ninja system by starting a revolution and to kill the tailed beasts, he needs to kill Naruto for having the chakra of each beast. Harogomo is sad to see the feud between his two children still continues, but naruto quickly responds he is not Asura and Sasuke is not Indra, and he will end the brothers' feud. Naruto asks that Sasuke at least release the tailed beasts, but Sasuke refuses and says he will kill Naruto for being the one person who can stop his plan. Naruto reaffirms his promise to Sakura and Kakashi about bringing Sasuke back and heads to the Valley of the End to settle his feud with Sasuke.

After hearing Sasuke's definition of Hokage, Naruto points out the errors in Sasuke's judgment and how he can't bear the world's hatred on his own for the sake of keeping peace among the nations because this is in contrast to what Itachi wanted for him. Sasuke, however, thinks otherwise and his resolve requires him to cut off the past, starting with Naruto's death. Enraged, Naruto vows to stop Sasuke and they begin their fight. Naruto manages to avoid Sasuke attacking him with Fire Style technique and uses Tailed Beast Mode to counterattack Sasuke's Susanoo. Sasuke mocks Naruto for not taking the battle seriously and it will only lead to his death, to which Naruto retorts he will not kill him. After clashing with Sasuke's Susanoo Chidori and Naruto's Tailed Beast Ball, they mentally connect. Naruto again tries to point out the mistake Sasuke is making but to no avail. When they return to reality, Sasuke draws chakra from all the tailed beasts and Naruto makes three Kurama shadow clones to counter Sasuke's Susanoo. As they prepare to attack each other with two Rasengan and Susasnoo Chidori arrow rod respectively, naruto shouts he wants to fight Sasuke but not in the condition the latter is in now. The impact of the blast exhausts Naruto and Sasuke; Naruto is still able to fight Sasuke with taijutsu with three shadow clones until he trips over his own feet before he can use a Rasengan. Sasuke proceeds to beat Naruto, who headbutts Sasuke. Drained of chakra, the fight with taijutsu for an entire day until they become too weak to continue. Kurama tries to lend a bit of chakra to Naruto but is absorbed by Sasuke and he moves to kill Naruto while bidding farewell to his one and only friend. Naruto, however, manages to counter his attack and slam him into the wall. In the climax, Naruto and Sasuke clash with Rasengan and Chidori respectively. The clash destroys the mountain statues and their respective arms (naruto loses his right arm and Sasuke loses his left arm).

After being knocked unconscious, Naruto wakes up first and tells Sasuke they will bleed out if they move anymore. Too injured to move, they start to talk about their friendship; Sasuke asks why Naruto would go so far for him, and Naruto says they are friends. Sasuke doesn't believe him because it obviously goes further than that and Naruto explains he feels pain whenever Sasuke is going through a touch time. They fall sleep and wake up they are still unable to move. Naruto was angry that he couldn't fight Sasuke in his condition, causing Sasuke to laugh at Naruto. Naruto tries to defend himself but Sasuke finally admitted he lost the fight. Naruto shouted this wasn't a fight about winning or losing but to make Sasuke come to his senses. Sasuke says he has acknowledged Naruto as an equal and wanted to make amends by asking Naruto to give his Rinnegan to Kakashi to undo the Infinite Tsukuyomi but Sasuke wanted to end his own life. Naruto refused this and asked Sasuke to help him, also telling Sasuke not to worry what the others will think and he will stop Sasuke if he opposes him again even though he doubts Sasuke will do that again. As Naruto promises to be there for Sasuke as his friend Sasuke is moved to tears, which Naruto sees and smiles knowing their friendship is restored. Sakura and Kakashi arrive and Sakura heals them, and Team 7 smiles and laughs together. Naruto and Sasuke form a special hand gesture to free everyone from the Infinite Tsukuyomi, and he later attends Neji's funeral, standing next to Hinata.

It would be Naruto's status as a hero, along with Kakashi becoming the Sixth Hokage, to absolve Sasuke's status as an international criminal. As Sasuke prepares to leave Konoha to seek redemption, he meets up with Naruto, who offers him his old forehead protector he discarded from their first battle. Sasuke accepts it as a sign of reconcilement and the two best friends smile at each other.

The Last: Naruto the Movie
Two years after the fourth shinobi war Naruto gain a new arm from Tsunade, yang-kurama was sealed back in him restoring it to its full form and Naruto became famous throughout the entire world as a hero. During this time Hinata made a new red scarf in an attempt to give it to Naruto as a sign to show her love to her. However a surviving member of the ōtsutsuki Toneri came and kidnapped Hinata's little sister Hanabi and attempted to kidnapped Hinata but failed due to Naruto's interference. Kakashi now the Six Hokage put Naruto on a team, with Hinata, Sakura, Shikamaru and Sai to not only bring Hanabi back but also to stop the moon from colliding with Earth.

When the team enter the portal that will lead them to the moon they were caught in a genjutsu that caused them to dream of their pasts. During this the red scarf Hinata made for Naruto drifted out from her bag and wrapped itself around Naruto showing him her memories, and how long she loved him. After Sakura free them all from the genjutsu Naruto finally begin to realize his own feelings for Hinata. As the team search the moon for Hanabi Naruto became very protective even bashful in her presence. One night while Hinata continued knitting the scarf Naruto accidentally confess his love for her greatly shocking Hinata. However Toneri appeared and asked Hinata to come with him. Naruto plan to fight him but to his shock Hinata went with him. As Naruto gain chase after them he is with shock when Toneri told him Hinata has agreed to marry him, before hitting him with a jutsu draining him of all his chakra. Naruto lay in a coma for three days and when he awoken he was in a deep depression of Hinata leaving him that he nearly gave up on everything, however Sakura tired and weaken from saving Naruto's life gives him the motive to go save her.

While Sakura and Sai saved Hanabi, and Shikimaru hold back Toneri's puppet army, Naruto and Hinata worked together to destory the energy vessel pulling the moon down to earth temporary stopping the moon's path. However Toneri, who stole Hanbi's eyes activates the Tenseigan, the evolved form of the Byakugan, with the power of Tenseigan Toneri did battle with Naruto in his nine-tails chakra mode, while forcing Hinata to watch as Toneri plans to kill Naruto in front of her eyes. However, Naruto managed to defeat him with a powerful punch before Hinata took back her sisters eyes. After showing Toneri his mistakes the group returns home to earth. While traveling Naruto confess his love to Hinata again saying he wishes to spend the rest of his life with her moving her to tears. When they arrived back home Naruto and Hinata kiss each other for the first time, marking the beginning of their relationship.

Epilogue
Roughly three years after the war, Naruto married Hinata and they had a son named Boruto and a daughter named Himawari. After a few years of "Hokage training", Naruto was deemed suitable to become the Seventh Hokage after Kakashi stepped down as the Sixth Hokage. On the day of his inauguration, Naruto slept in late and was woken up when his son jumped on him. Hinata went to go pick up his cloak and told Naruto to go to the ceremony with the kids. However, Boruto and Himawari fought over a stuffed toy Himawari wanted to bring, and their tug of war over it caused it to get ripped in half. Himawari awakened her Byakugan and naruto, who tried to reason with his children, was knocked unconscious by his daughter. Hinata found him out cold and speculated he would be like this for a whole day, causing him to miss the inauguration.

Shortly after becoming Hokage, Naruto called for a Kage Summit after Sasuke uncovered evidence that Kaguya was forming a White Zetsu army to stop a threat greater than herself. Sasuke asked to go on a top-secret mission and Naruto offered to go with him, but was declined because it was Naruto's responsibility to protect the village. Naruto and the other Kage agreed to keep Sasuke's mission a secret from the public in order to prevent a panic. A few years later, on the day Naruto was preparing to host a Kage Summit in Konoha, he learned his son had defaced the Hokage Monument. Naruto swiftly appeared and scolded his son, but then explained to Boruto why he can't always be there for him, as the whole village is like a family and Boruto, as a ninja, must learn to endure it. Naruto spent time with Boruto by helping him clean up the mess and causing him to be late for the meeting. After arriving, he declared it to begin.

Naruto Gaiden: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring
Naruto become busy with the Academy graduation coming up in a week and he appeases his son's desire to train by sending a shadow clone. In his office, he receives a message from Sasuke's hawk about a mysterious boy with a Sharingan. He then contacts Kakashi who suggests the boy is a test subject of Orochimaru's. Naruto decides to secretly meet with Sasuke but halfway there, he finds out that Sarada had followed him because she wants to see her father for the first time in years and ask him questions regarding her parentage and his absence. Naruto saves her from being captured by the boy named Shin, who flees. Sarada informs him of the lunch Boruto tried to deliver to him and, as they take a break, Sarada asks Naruto to tell her about her father. Naruto proceeds to tell her how popular, smart, and talented Sasuke was (also saying he was more so than Sasuke) when they were younger but disappointed her when he mentioned how stubborn and aloof he was. He does cheer her up telling her that he and Sasuke are still rivals and Sarada is a combination of Sasuke and Sakura/ When Sarada gets ahead of Naruto to see her father, Naruto follows her and is scolded by Sasuke for bringing her. Sasuke's refusal to answer her questions angers her and she runs away, with Naruto comforting her by telling her that, despite Sasuke's shortcomings as a person and father, he is really one of the most powerful shinobi in the world. They are then attacked by Shin, who manipulates Sasuke's sword into stabbing Naruto but this has little effect on him while he is in his Tailed Beast Mode. Naruto and the others are shocked by Sakura's sudden arrival by plummeting Shin to the ground out of anger for trying to kill her family. After Sakura is kidnapped by Shin, Naruto is eager to go save her, but Sasuke takes them to Orochimaru's hideout to find Shin's whereabouts, ignoring Naruto's pleas to be cautious. Naruto was dismayed to see how youthful Orochimaru looked and learned that Shin is a clone experiment of his that escaped recently. Naruto notices Sarada going into another room with Suigetsu and follows them, only for him to overhear that a DNA test seemingly showed Karin, not Sakura, as Sarada's mother. This shocks and angers Naruto at the idea that Sasuke was unfaithful to Sakura and kept this a secret from everyone. When he tries to tell Sarada they need to save her mother, Sarada shocked him by calling her father a liar and wanting nothing to do with her parents for lying to her, showing him that she awakened her Sharingan. As Sarada decides to leave Konoha after thinking she has no family, Naruto was determined to stop her from walking down the path her father once did; he told her that a family was made up of love rather than blood and convinced her that she still loved her mother no matter what. When they regrouped with Sasuke, Naruto was scolded by him for upsetting Sarada but Naruto told Sasuke they needed to talk once everything was over, much to Sasuke's confusion.

After learning Shin and Sakura's location due to Naruto sensing her chakra, they used Sasuke's Susanoo to get to the location, rescuing Sakura in the process. All the while, Naruto assured Sarada that her parents loved each other and her. They then fought Shin and his clones. Naruto was shocked along with Sakura and Sasuke when Sarada destroyed several clones and the area around her by using enhanced chnch. Naruto released Kurama into getting the clones to surrender in fear of the tailed beast, as well as promising to not retaliate if the clones promised to stop fighting, which Sasuke called too soft. When asked what to do with the clones, Naruto decides to drop them off at the Konoha Orphanage and reacted with relief upon learning Sakura is Sarada's biological mother. After this, they return to Konoha.

Boruto: Naruto the Movie
Several months later, Naruto is overwhelmed with the responsibilities of being Hokahe and often sends shadow clones to tend to his family and the villagers. His duty as Hokage keeps him from home often and giving him little to no time for his family, which puts a strain on his relationship with his son, Boruto. After Boruto's team comes back from a mission, Naruto reminds Boruto the importance of teamwork but Boruto thinks Naruto is in no position to lecture him because he is never around and tells his father that if he misses Himawari's birthday party, he will never forgive him. Katasuke asks naruto for permission to allow the Kote, a new ninjutsu instrument, to be used in the Chunin Exams but Naruto refuses because the purpose of the Exams is to nurture new shinobi. Naruto is unable to make it to his daughter's birthday party and sends a shadow clone, which angers his son. Naruto feels guilty for letting his family down and Shikamaru offers to finish up the rest of his work so he can go home and rest. However, Sasuke returns to Konoha and delivers a scroll he found in Kaguya's ice castle. Getting a bad feeling from it, Naruto decides to make it deciphered a priority and receives his old, tattered jacket from Sasuke, who picked it up from the street after Boruto threw it out of the window. Sasuke says he met Boruto and the boy is like Naruto, who at first Boruto is like Sasuke but then says he is like neither of them because Boruto never works hard as a ninja like they did and Boruto wears clothes that always look brand new. Naruto thinks they are behind the new generation but Sasuke says the nature of a shinobi never changes, leading them to make a bet over this when Naruto disagrees.

After the first phrase of the Chunin Exams, Naruto reacts calmly upon learning Boruto's team passed but is pressed by Shikamaru to reach out to Boruto. Naruto sends his son an email to congratulate him, which irritates Boruto that Naruto didn't at least send a shadow clone. Naruto was nervous about the outcome of the second phase and, upon learning Boruto's team passed, he was overjoyed. Naruto meet with Sasuke as they still waited for the scroll to be deciphered and Naruto told him he learned from Konohamaru that Sasuke is training Boruto. While expressing sadness at not being able to train his own son, Naruto believes Sasuke was right about the nature of a shinobi never changing. Naruto later goes home to personally congratulate Boruto and expresses his pride in him; he initiates a fist bump, but Boruto declines to hide the Kote on his wrist. On the day of the final phase, Naruto chose to sit with his wife and daughter rather than with the other Kage while his son fought against Shikadai. When it appeared Boruto won the match, Naruto suspected something was wrong and, after asking Hinata to use her Byakugan, he learns Boruto has been cheating with a Kote. He goes to the arena to confront his son, has Lee disqualify Boruto, and declares Shikadai the winner. Naruto takes Boruto's headband and tells him he will lecture him when they get home. Angry, Boruto tells Naruto when does he have the time to lecture him and if he had done so earlier, Boruto wouldn't have turned out the way he did. Just then, Momoshiki and Kinshiki Otsutsuki attack the arena and Boruto tries to get his son to safety before being knocked out of the arena by Momoshiki. Naruto returns to get his son away from Momoshiki and regroups with Sasuke and Sarada. After the two enemies introduce themselves, Sasuke informs Naruto that the scroll detailed how the two would come steal Kaguya's chakra and that's why she was forming a White Zetsu army. Naruto becomes disgusted with Momoshiki talking about gaining powers by absorbing chakra rather than training and enters his Tailed Beast Mode to counter Momoshiki's attacks. Sasuke uses Susanoo as an extra layer of protection but their efforts are futile. Naruto asks Sasuke to take care of their children, which Sasuke does, and Naruto releases Kurama to counter Momoshiki's attack, giving his son a smile before he is captured.

Naruto is taken to another dimension and Momoshiki attempts to extract Kurama's chakra from inside him but Naruto resists and says ninja don't like to make things easy before Sasuke, Boruto, and the four other Kage arrive to rescue him. Seeing Boruto donning his old jacket and Sasuke's headband, Naruto asks why and Sasuke tells him that Boruto has somehow become a ninja. Naruto tells Boruto its like he's looking at his own shadow clone and apologizes to Boruto for neglecting him, but Boruto tells him things are fine the way they were but all he wants to hear stories about Naruto's past. Naruto joins in the fight against Momoshiki until Sasuke warns him not to use ninjutsu on him because he can absorb and release jutsu. Kinshiki tries to throw everyone off and offers himself to be turned into a chakra fruit so Momoshiki can absorb him. Naruto enters Tailed Beast Mode and fights Momoshiki with Sasuke; they initially have the upper hand with taijutsu until Momoshiki imprisons Naruto in boulders and burns Sasuke with Lava Release. Naruto breaks free, comes to his friends aid, and becomes enraged to see Sasuke so badly hurt, releasing Kurama in the process. After being healed by Kurama's chakra, Sasuke combines Susanoo with Kurama and they defeat Momoshiki's lava creature until Momoshiki absorbs katasuke's Kote attacks and restores his strength. naruto and the other Kage are caught in a Shadow Paralysis Technique by Momoshiki, who moves to kill the other Kage. Boruto uses his Vanishing Rasengan to knock down Momoshiki and free his father and the Kage, and Naruto is surprised that Boruto can use the Rasengan due to how hard it is to perfect. Naruto then lends his chakra to Boruto to create a parent and Child Rasengan and silently offers his son encouragement as Boruto destroys Momoshiki for good. Exhausted, Naruto and Sasuke comment how much of a wreck the other is and they sit together, with Sasuke declaring he won their bet. Naruto agrees and mentally tells Boruto that unlike his father who wasn't alive when he was growing up, Naruto is the Hokage present now and he will be able to watch Boruto grow up.

After the battle, Naruto posed for a photograph with Boruto, Sasuke, and the other Kage. From this experience, Boruto and Naruto reconcile their differences and have a closer relationship. Naruto is able to be home more often and, one morning, he and Boruto leave home together for work and a mission respectively and part ways by fist-bumping.

Tailed Beast Gallery
For Naruto, the shroud parts down the middle and opens up into a full-length cloak (haori), revealing a black undergarment with three magatama on each side of his high collar. His seal's numerous swirl-patterns, which were located all over his body, open out into complete, dark circles. His eyes become red and slitted and his whisker-markings become much thicker, as they do in his early transformations.