Uzumaki Naruto

 Uzumaki Naruto (うずまきナルト,Aka Naruto Uzumaki in the english version) is the title character/main protagonist of the series:Naruto and Naruto:Shippuden. He is a Genin from Konohagakure,a member of Team Kakashi, including the third/current jinchuriki of Kurama— the Nine-Tails Demon Fox.

Background
Naruto was born as the son of the Fourth Hokage,Minato Namikaze, and Kurama's second jinchūriki,Kushina Uzumaki. Naruto's parents named him after the main character ofJiraiya's fist book, thus making the Sannin his godfather.

Prior to Naruto's birth, his parents and theThird Hokage knew that the seal that kept Kurama  within Kushina would be in danger of breaking during childbirth. To prevent that threat Kushina was taken a short distance outside of the village to give birth in a secure, secret location with Biwako Sarutobi andTaji as her midwives, a few anbu as security, and Minato to keep the seal in place. However, immediately after Kushina gave birth,Tobi appeared and took Naruto hostage, demanding that Minato step away from Kushina or he would kill Naruto. He then used a clever diversion that forced Minato to transport the baby to a safer location, allowing him to escape with Kushina. By the time Minato could intervene, Tobi had already succeeded in releseing Kurama.

Fortunately, Kushina (who survived the extraction thanks to her strong vitality) was saved by Minato and brought to Naruto, leaving the weakened mother to care for the sleeping Naruto while Minato went to combat Tobi. To save the village, Minato sacrificed his life to seal Kurama within Naruto, believing that his son would someday have need of the beast's power to defeat Tobi. [ Suddenly orphaned, Naruto was left to grow up knowing nothing of his parents, receiving only his mother's last name because the Third Hokage thought that it was best that nobody knew that he was related to the Fourth Hokage.Before Minato died, he asked that the villagers of Konoha view Naruto as a hero who had helped defeat Kurama. However, only a few of the villagers honoured his request, while most instead resented him for containing the fox that had destroyed their home. In light of this, the Third Hokage decreed that nobody should ever speak of the truth about Naruto, hoping that by doing this, their children would not resent him as they did. The children, however, followed their parents' lead, despite not knowing why. Apart from the Third Hokage,Iruka Umino was the only one who acted as a surrogate family to the young Naruto along with the owner of Ramen Ichiraku:Teuchi and his daughter Ayame to some extent.

When Naruto first met Uchiha Sasuke in theNinja Academy, they were matched to spar against each other. Naruto was excited at the opportunity to defeat Sasuke and become so popular like him, however he was easily beaten. By looking at his eyes, Naruto realised that they were filled with hatred. When Iruka told them to make the reconciliation seal, they both refused.Then, Naruto became determined to beat Sasuke, making him his rival. When Naruto found out that Sasuke was also an orphan, he was secretly happy for not being the only one alone and wanted to talk to him, but couldn't because of his jealousy toward his skills. Still, Naruto wished that, someday, Sasuke would acknowledge him as an equal.

Personality
Naruto is exuberant, brash, inattentive, and heedless to formality or social standings. He inherited his catch-phrase "Dattebayo" (だってばよ!) from his mother, who would say "(da)ttebane" ((だ)ってばね) when excited or frustrated. Naruto has a number of childish traits, like keeping his money in a chubby, green-frog wallet he affectionately calls "Gama -chan", being a very picky eater (he almost exclusively eats Ramen and is a frequent customer at theRamen Ichiraku), and being afraid of ghosts. He is also somewhat perverted, something he tends to be reprimanded for by Haruno Sakura and Iruka, but has only become even more so after meeting his mentor Jiraiya, causing many to say that Jiraiya raised a perfect replica of himself. However, whenever someone dear to him is in trouble or the situation calls for it, Naruto can be very serious, and will instantly try to come to their aid.

According to Kakashi, Naruto learns through his body as he is relatively naive, simple, and being slow to understand a principle or situation, which often requires an oversimplified analogy in order to grasp what is being explained to him. Overall, Naruto responds best to competition and has a great deal of self-confidence, loudly proclaiming that he will master whatever technique he is learning within a fraction of the usual time, though he doesn't hesitate to ask for help if he needs it.While as naive as he appears to be throughout most of the series, Naruto has proven to have a keen eye to certain things most people don't see, showing that he can be smarter than what most people, especially Sakura, are willing to give him credit for when he wants to be, something even Choji  comments on once in a while. This was shown when Naruto was the first to notice the differences in Sai's book, later helped to decipher Jiraiya's dying message left from Fukasaku on his back and managed to help solve the message through Kakashi's Icha Icha book. He is also quite observant in regards to other people's feelings (though he was oblivious of Hinata love for him until she confessed her feelings to him) and is able to perceive the truth from people's intentions, such as when Sakura claimed she loved him and not Sasuke any more, Naruto immediately knew she was lying about how she felt, having witnessed her most extreme and inimitable signs of love for Sasuke.Naruto also saw through Iruka's lie about another creature on theIsland Turtle they were on from remembering Motoi's talk about B taming all the animals on the island.

Due to the prejudice and loneliness he suffered in his childhood, Naruto developed a craving for acknowledgement. In order to achieve this, Naruto would pull pranks all around the village and even going far as strive for the title of Hokage. Even after graduating from the academy, Naruto was still determined to be recognised, but as he made more and more connections with others, his reasons for wanting to become Hokage underwent a change, having less to do with the desire for recognition, and more to do with wanting the strength to protect his home and the people close to him. As noted by Tobi, Naruto possessed theWill of Fire, likening him toSeju Hashirama in this aspect.Naruto's determination and drive strongly impacts the lives of those around him, even his enemies have been affected by his empathy. Both Kakashi and Temari referred to Naruto's amazing charisma as a "unique power" that allows him to change the worldly views of others for the better.Son Goku also thought of him as an open and honest person. Like Might Guy and Rock Lee, when Naruto makes a promise, he assumes the "nice guy pose" and becomes dedicated to fulfilling it.

Sasuke's defection shocked Naruto to his core, but he never wavered in his resolve to bring him back to Konoha. When his teacher Jiraiya was killed in battle by the Akatsuki leader Pain, he vowed vengeance against the man and left Konoha for a time to train in Senjutsu. Upon returning home after Pain destroyed the village and succumbing to rage, he met and spoke with his father, Namikaze Minato, who explained to him the cycle of hatred and entrusted him with the duty of saving the ninja world from its hate.After listening to Nagato's story of how hatred can shape a person and the world into darkness, Naruto vowed he would end the cycle of hatred and bring peace to the ninja world.This decision however would come in direct opposition in his quest to bring Sasuke home, something that at first depressed him deeply. However after meeting again in the Land of Iron, Naruto resolved that if he had to, he would fight and potentially kill his friend to end thecycle of hatred and save Sasuke from despair, even if it costs his own life. undefined

When he discovered that theFourth Shinobi War had started, Naruto made it his mission to end the war all by himself, so no one else would suffer.He continued to do so until his battle with the reincarnated Nagato and Uchiha Itachi. After the fight, even though Itachi acknowledged Naruto had become stronger, he explained to Naruto that if he continued to believe that he could do everything alone, he would become arrogant like Obito.Itachi also said that if Naruto were to become Hokage, he should never forget his friends or do everything on his own.Afterwards, Naruto acknowledged his shortcomings in his attempts to do things himself and allowed others to help him, instead of shouldering burdens himself.

Dark Naruto
AfterKiller Bee refused to train Naruto, Motoi guided Naruto andYamato to theFalls of Truth, the place where B trained to control Gyuki's power. He instructed Naruto to sit on a platform and close his eyes. Soon after, Dark Naruto (闇ナルト, akaYami no Dark Naruto), the manifestation of hatred that existed within Naruto's heart, appeared, berating Naruto for how quickly the people from Konoha changed their ideals about him.Dark Naruto exclaimed that Kurama liked him better and he was the real Naruto while Naruto was an imposter. They started to fight, but after a while, Naruto realised that they both had the same techniques, skills, and tactics. As a result, their fight was a draw and Naruto mentioned that if they continued like this, it would take a very long time to settle it.

He appeared once again after Naruto returned to the Falls of Truth. Instead of fighting, Naruto projected an image from his mind of his autograph signature that he was unable to give to the Konoha shinobi. This angered Dark Naruto, pointing out to Naruto that those people were part of the same villagers who made him suffer as an outcast, telling him that he shouldn't trust them. However, Naruto stated that he trusted the villagers because they were important to him, but what was also important was that he needed to have faith in himself, so he would have the strength to live up to the villagers' trust in him. Naruto's statement started to weaken Dark Naruto, then forcing him to ask what was the reason for his existence. Naruto stated that Dark Naruto was really him and thanked Dark Naruto for pushing him to be the person he was now. He hugged Dark Naruto when the latter tried to attack him, telling Dark Naruto that it was all going to be alright. Letting go of his own anger at their past, Dark Naruto's eyes lightened as he gave into Naruto's words, and disappeared.

Later, when Naruto entered his subconscious, Kurama expressed surprise as it could no longer sense any hatred within Naruto, and questioned Naruto about where the "real him" was, to which Naruto replied that the real him was right in front of it. During his battle with Kurama to obtain its chakra, the fox infected it with its own hatred when Naruto started to gain the upper hand. This partially brought about Dark Naruto again briefly, before his appeared and helped banish him.

Relationships
Due to his friendly nature and his unique charisma, Naruto has built many relationships over the course of the series that have defined him and others, evenTailed-beasts and other jinchuriki. Many of these relationships started off antagonistic, but through his tenacity and empathy, they developed into deep and lasting friendships.

Apperance
As stated by Jiraiya, Naruto bears a striking resemblance to his father, having Minato's blue eyes and blond, spiky hair. From his mother, Naruto inherited the shape of both her eyes and face. During theFourth Shinobi War,Kato Dan initially mistakes him for Nawaki due to their striking resemblance as well. Naruto's most prominent physical characteristics, however, are the whisker marks on his face that he gained from Kurama's influence on him while he was in Kushina's womb. Probably Naruto's most regularly mentioned trait before the second half of the series (which easily provoked him) was his short stature for his age.After the time skip, he had a noticeably significant growth spurt which made him taller than his team-mate,Haruno Sakura.

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 swirl on the back, a large white collar, orange pants, blue sandals, and a blue forehead protector  that was given to him by Iruka after he graduated from the Ninja Academy.

Part II, Naruto's outfit undergoes modification after being worn to shreds during his training with Jiraiya. The outfit retains the orange colour as well as the white (without the tassel) and red swirls, but the jacket is 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 forehead protector has also changed with Naruto moving the metal portion to a new longer black bandanna and he wears black sandals instead of blue. During his battle with Pain, Naruto briefly sported a short-sleeved red coat with a black flame pattern along the hemline. He also carried a large summoning scroll on his back.

When he enters his Nine-tails Chakra Mode, his body is covered in a yellow shroud of chakra, upon which his seal is clearly visible. He also gains a necklace of magatama around his neck. Finally his hair spikes up, with the two endmost locks resembling horns. After he and Kurama melded their chakra, his appearance changed once again. The shroud splits down the middle and opens up into a cloak that has a tattered appearance. The previously smaller 'horns' grow out larger, and his whisker marks become thicker. Underneath the 'coat', the magatama are still visible and he gains a new set around the 'collar' of the coat. Underneath this his seal changes once again opening out into circles instead of swirls. He also gains seals on his hands and feet. The cloak also has nine, tail-like appendages formed from the cloak and flowing from it with lines running down the middle of each.

Abilities
At the start of the series, Naruto's ninja skills were either average or sub-par, as seen from his inept ability to perform a basic Clone Technique. One of the only techniques he could do without fail was the Transformation Technique, and his own original variant of the technique called theSexy Technique; a creative, but almost completely useless diversionary technique.Throughout Part I, he learns a number of short-range techniques, which are expanded upon during his two-and-a-half years of training with Jiraiya. Naruto also improves his knowledge of other ninja skills while under Jiraiya's tutelage, using more taijutsu and shurikenjutsu than he did in Part I. He also learned how to dispel genjutsu and despite his limited skill with it he was able to resist being put to sleep byUchiha Itachi, a genjutsu master. During Part II, he starts to master longer-range techniques, such as the Wind Release Rasenshuriken and the Tailed beast Ball.

In Part I, Naruto was regularly noted to have a great deal of potential by among some of the strongest ninja like Kakashi,Kabuto,even Tsunade,Jiraiya and Orchimaru proving himself as a late bloomer. Iruka remarked that Naruto could surpass all of the other previous Hokage when he saw him use the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique. When Orchimaru saw him defeat Kabuto, he tried to kill Naruto in fear of what he would become. Much of this potential manifests itself during Part II, regularly proving himself a match for the S-rank members of Akatsuki. His victory over Nagato'sSix Paths of Pain has earned him great accolade in the ninja world: Konoha villagers now even believe he is Hokage material after they hear about it, thereby earning status on par with other renown ninja within Konoha.Zetsu, after seeing the battle, even suggests that Naruto has become stronger than Sasuke, who also showed similar improvement against Akatsuki members. Naruto also gained the acknowledgement of other immensely powerful individuals such as Kurama and even Uchiha Madara.With further training and control of Kurana's  power, he is even able to hold his own against Kages  of both the previous, and current generation on the battlefield.

Being a descendant of the Uzumaki clan, Naruto inherited an incredibly strong life-force. This gives him extraordinary stamina and vitality, and by extension, an equally long lifespan. Despite his young age, Naruto has been repeatedly noted to have a massive chakra reserve, to which Kakashi, estimated it to be at least four times greater than his own during their initial missions together as Team 7. His chakra is especially strong and described by Karin to be warm and bright, the exact opposite of Sasuke's.He apparently was taught some skill and knowledge on fuinjutsu from Jiraiya, as he knew how to use the seal's key after receiving Gerotora, and resealed Kurama after he separated it from its chakra.Jiraiya had left Naruto with the key to help him complete an as of yetunknown technique which he, Naruto, and Minato have been working on, but never finished. Naruto stated that he was ready to complete it.

During the Fourth Shinobi World War, Naruto received some chakra from six of the nine tailed beasts: the effects of this gift are currently unknown.

Jinchuriki transformations
As Kurama's jinchuriki, Naruto's already considerable chakra reserve is greatly enhanced to enormous levels, to which Kakashi estimated it to be about a hundred times greater than his own when its influence is not suppressed. It also gives Naruto accelerated healing (recovering from minor injuries within seconds and major injuries within a day). Also, depending on the amount of Kurama's chakra he's using, Naruto is given an increase in strength, speed, and his healing factor are pushed to such levels that he completely recovered from a Chidori through his chest in mere seconds with no signs of injury left. At times, he is also granted a fox-shaped chakra shroud with massive invulnerability, being able to resist being pierced by Orchimaru's Sword of Kusanagi, a sword known as being able to cut through adamantine, and is completely undamaged by the alkalo substance excreted by Saiken, which was able to damage Gyuki and disintegrate its surroundings rapidly.

The seall had allowed a small amount of Kurama's chakra to always mix with Naruto's own. In Part I, Jiraiya once stated that Naruto's body was much too small a vessel to properly contain Kurama's overwhelming chakra, and his body would instinctively reject the bulk of it due to the damage it could cause.Ebisu also implied that Naruto's poor chakra control stemmed from this, as a portion of his chakra was used in attempt to suppress Kurama's own.

Kurama's chakra first came to Naruto during life-threatening situations, given to him by the fox itself to ensure its survival, but after training with Jiraiya, Naruto learned how to contact Kurama and demand some of its chakra. Alternatively, Naruto could give into his anger or frustration, allowing Kurama to force its influence upon him. Depending on how much he gained, Kurama's influence within its chakra could make Naruto lose control of his senses, devolving into an animal that attacks anything within reach, as well as damaging his own body, slowly shortening his lifespan. Although a number of methods had been devised to break its influence over Naruto (Jiraiya's seal tag,and Yamato's hokage style sixty year old technique,Kakuan enterig society bliss bringing hands, which was facilitated by Senju Hashirama;s necklce that Naruto wore before its destruction), [ Naruto simply limited his use of Kurama's chakra, and tried not to allow his anger get the best of him, but he eventually attempted to exercise more control over it.

The Nine tails Chakra Mode is a form that Naruto gained after he separated and sealed  Kurama from its chakra. He can access its chakra directly whenever he needs it without interacting with the beast at all. In doing so, he gains a chakra shroud that resembles the Sage of six path's silhouette. In this form, Naruto exhibits exceptional speed and strength. Like his predecessor,Uzumaki Mito, Naruto also gains Kurama's ability to sense negative emotions, even while he was inside a chakra isolation chamber within the Falls of truth; something that not even the best sensor-type ninja can do. Naruto can even use the shroud to create chakra arms that he can use for greater range of attacks as well as giving him greater dexterity and manoeuvrability to his fighting style without the use of shadow clones. The power of his techniques become so great that unless they already have some inherent durability, like theThird Raikage,reincarnated shinobi have a hard time regenerating.However, using the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode was a huge risk as Naruto had to temporarily "shelve" his own chakra in order to use Kurama's, which allowed the fox to automatically drain Naruto's own chakra. If Kurama managed to take all of Naruto's chakra, Naruto would die. But due to Naruto and Kurama's recently developed friendship this weakness is no longer an issue. He had shown to stay in this form for an entire night and most of the morning during the Fourth Shinobi War, much longer than that of Sage Mode.

Like Killer Bee anf Gyuki, Naruto eventually reconciled with Kurama and has access to its full powers, becoming one of the rare individuals, jinchūriki or otherwise to succeed in taming a tailed beast, especially a tailed beast known for being unreasonable. When they meld their chakra together, Naruto is able to enter Tail beast Mode as he gains access to a new chakra shroud as well as the ability to create a tailed beast-cloak. In both forms, he has shown tremendous speed and power able to deflect multiple Tailed Beast Balls and take on several tailed beasts simultaneously. He can release a powerful shock wave that is strong enough to knock back five fully transformed tailed beasts at once.He is also able to use the Tailed Beast Ball himself. His skill with the Tailed Beast Ball is high enough that he could aim it perfectly at the bottom of the combined Tailed Beast Ball Tobi's controlled beasts made to send both flying into the air and explode. He could also use his tails as chakra arms, making a Nine-Tails Chakra Mode shadow clone in each to attack multiple targets at once. Also like Killer B and Gyūki, Naruto can perform a barriage of tail beast balls at a single target.In this form, Naruto can perform partial transformations, such as manifesting a giant chakra arm or Kurama's head to block an attack or to fire a Tailed Beast Ball.

Taijutsu
Naruto has always been at least passable in taijutsu, ever since in the ninja academy where he received a B in class. Throughout Part I, his taijutsu slowly improved, where it was first showcased in his battle with Inzukza Kiba in the Chunin Exams preliminaries where he was able to hold his own and avoid multiple slash attacks from Kiba and Akamaru ' s four leg technique without the aid of his shadow clones. A testament to his skill with taijutsu was shown when Naruto was fighting against Hyuga Neji's Gentle Fist Technique in the Chūnin Exam finals, where he got into striking distance using only hand-to-hand combat. After the time skip, Naruto's taijutsu improved greatly under the tutelage of Jiraiya where he could hold his own in hand-to-hand against several shinobi skilled in taijutsu such as theDeva Path and disarm adept kenjutsu users such as Karui. Throughout the series, Naruto's taijutsu continually improved, eventually learning theFrog Kata style from Fukasaku. In Sage Mode, he was able to beat the Deva Path twice in taijutsu, the first time sending it flying back with a roundhouse kick and the second time disarming it of its chakra disruption blade and sending it crashing into a boulder with a single kick. After deducing the weakness of the Third Raikage, he was able to use his sensory and Frog Kata skills to outmanoeuvre the former and turn his own attack against him. While in Nine Tails Chakra Mode,he was also able to block several of A's immensely strong punches despite being intercepted several times.

On top of his taijutsu skills, Naruto has shown a high level of physical strength. During the Chunin Exams, he stopped a charge from one of Orchimaru's giant snakes albeit while using Kurama's chakra. During his senjutsu training in Part II, he was able to budge one of the huge statues without using the special oil. After the training, he could shatter stone with his raw strength, as seen when he escaped from the petrified Preta Path  after it absorbed too much of his senjutsu chakra. His strength is increased to such a point in Sage Mode where he can toss not only the animal Path's giant Rhino after stopping its charge, but Kurama itself. He can also shatter sharp objects with his bare hands, such as the Deva Path's chakra disruption blades, with relative ease. In Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, Naruto becomes strong enough to push a fully formed Taile beast ball through a multiple layered barrier with just one arm,neutralise White Zetsu with a single kick despite their durability, and, with help from Killer Bee in his eight tail form, he could also knock down Tobi's Demon statue outer path with an uppercut.

Naruto has also displayed impressive speed over the time skip as well. When confronting Sasuke after the Five Kage summit, he saved Sakura from her own poisoned kunai which Sasuke wielded to stab her and received only a shallow cut in exchange. Naruto was then able to restrain Kakashi while charging up a Rasengan, meeting Sasuke's Chodori charge and equalling it. While in Sage Mode, Naruto's speed increases greatly to the point where he could intercept the Asura Path, which was using its chakra boots before Nagato could complete his sentence or attack Tsunade. He was even able to avoid the Third Raikage's Nukite at near point blank range and retaliate with a Rasengan after meeting his charge. Naruto's speed is at its greatest however, while in his Nine tail Chakra Mode, where Killer B even had trouble determining if he used the Body flicker technique when attacking Hoshigaki Kisame, who was hidden in Samehad. His speed in this form surpasses even that of A's  while clad in his Lighting Release armour as seen when he was able to dodge A's attack while he was clad in a full-powered lightning armour and using what he referred to as his fastest attack,something that only the Fourth Hokage had done in the past, with his Flying Thuder God Technique. In Tailed Beast Mode, both his speed and strength are greatly enhanced to such an extent that he could deflect multiple Tail Beast Balls  at point blank range while remaining completely undamaged, and also to the point where Kakashi mistook him for Minato.

Ninjutsu
Although Naruto had trouble with the Clone Technique at the start of the series, he quickly learned how to use jonin-level techniques, like the Shadow Clone Technique and its large scale version. The technique would become his first signature technique, one of the two foundations of his ninjutsu, and later, the base of his training skills. The Shadow Clone Technique takes advantage of the massive chakra reserve Naruto possesses due to him being Kurama's jinchūriki. Naruto is able to create upwards of a thousand clones,and retain a decent amount of chakra in each of them. Because of this, Naruto can use his shadow clones for virtually anything, from straight combat to speed training. After the timeskip, Kakashi has noted that Naruto's timing with the technique has improved drastically.

Initially, Naruto would create a multitude of clones to overwhelm his opponents. Other times, however, he would employ the use of the Transformation Technique to change the appearance of these clones to catch his target off guard. By Part II, Naruto learned that whatever his shadow clones learn, he, the main mind, would also learn. By using this, he is able to learn techniques that would usually take months or years in days, which speeds up his training greatly. Naruto takes advantage of this often, using shadow clones to determine his opponents' abilities, to determine how many clones he will really need to defeat them instead of simply wasting chakra on thousands of clones.

Despite the risks of Naruto's chakra being drained faster by Kurama whenever he uses the Shadow Clone Technique while inNine Tailed Chakra Mode, Naruto did use the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique to scatter throughout the battlefield, although he didn't create as many as he normally does.His relationship with Kurama has improved since then, allowing Naruto to create clones inTail Beast Mode without having his chakra drained. Naruto also uses his shadow clones in a more innovative way so that he can access his various modes such as Sage Mode and the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode along with their respective abilities simultaneously through his clones.

Summoning technique
Naruto was first taught how to use the Summoning Technique by Jiraiya. After allowing Naruto to sign the summoning contract with the toads of Mount Myoboku, Jiraiya took Naruto through the execution of the technique in order to provide Naruto with allies in future battles. Additionally, Jiraiya's other motivation to teaching Naruto how to summon was to help Naruto to realise and take advantage of Kurama's chakra.

The type of toads that Naruto can summon at any time is proportional to his chakra and skill, as when he first started out he could only summon tadpoles. At first, Naruto had a hard time getting any specific toad, as he summoned eitherGamakichi or Gamatatsu. But when he used Kurama's chakra, or when he was truly motivated, Naruto was able to summon the toad boss,Gamabunta. Naruto is also capable of summoning Gamahiro to use Summoning:Food Cart Destroyer Technique.

Rasengan
Created by the Fourth Hokage and taught to him by Jiraiya, the Rasengan is Naruto's second and strongest signature technique. While the Rasengan is a one-handed technique, Naruto required the use of two to form it due to his poor chakra control, thus using a clone to form the "shell" of the sphere. Despite this, Naruto has used the Rasengan effectively in almost every one of his fights after mastering it. The Rasengan holds an advantage over its counterpart, the Chidori, in only requiring chakra control to form, while the Chidori uses so much chakra that it can only be used a few times a day. Naruto has mastered the Rasengan to a degree that he can do it almost instantaneously.He is now able to create Large Rasengan without the use of natural energy or Kurama's chakra..After obtainingTail Beast Mode Naruto is able to perform the Rasengan without a clone.

The Rasengan, like the Shadow Clone Technique, would be the base of several original techniques created by Naruto, such as the Big Ball Rasengan, a larger and more powerful version of the Rasengan. He has also created the Wind Release:Rasenganshuriken and Wind Release Rasengan after his wind training, and after his senjutsu training, the Sage Art:Big Ball Rasengan,Sage:Technique:Spiralling Serial Sphere andSage Art:Ultra-Big Ball Rasengan. He has also demonstrated the combined use of his shadow clones and the Rasengan, resulting in theSage Art:Many Ultra -Big Ball Spiralling Serial Spheres, in which Naruto and his shadow clones can each use a Rasengan many times their own size against a single target. Because of the risk of using the Shadow Clone Technique while in Nine-Tail Chakra Mode, Naruto instead uses the shroud's chakra arms to help him create new Rasengan variants, such as theSpiralling Strife Spheres, the Spiralling Abosorption Sphere and the Plantary Rasengan for example. He has completed the technique related to the Tailed Beast Ball and theTailed Beast Rasengan. He later developed a minature version of this technique.

Due to the unique nature of the Rasengan in the movies, Naruto creates a new type of Rasengan, often facilitated by a character in the movie, or a unique property present in the movie.

After failing to bring Sasuke back to Konoha for the second time, Naruto went through elemental training where he discovered that he had an affinity for Wind Release.By incorporating his wind affinity with the Rasengan, which was originally intended to be combined with an element, he greatly increased the technique's power and range. The wind nature compliments a fighter like Naruto, as the wind nature is a great match for short-range fighters. By focusing his wind chakra, Naruto can go as far as cutting objects with just his chakra. During his training to use his Wind Release,Sarutobi Asuma taught him how to channel it through his chakra blades.

Ragsenshuriken
Naruto had learned nature transformation to upgrade his Rasengan, which he achieved with the Wind Release Rasengan and then took it even further by creating the Rasenshuriken, combining peak levels of both shape and nature manipulation originally deemed impossible without natural talent or instinct. The Rasenshuriken was capable of slicing into the victim and cutting them at a cellular level faster than a Sharingan can see it. However, it caused similar damage to his own arm, as it was still a hand-held technique, despite its name. After his senjutsu training, he completed the Rasenshuriken. He could increase its power and attack radius, to the point where he could completely shred the Human Path to pieces leaving only a portion of its body behind.When thrown, the Rasenshuriken becomes Naruto's quickest attack with its speed being so great that it could cross an entire mountain range in a single second, and explode with enough force to fill up nearly half that area. In the Nine Tail Chakra Mode, Naruto can also create a miniature Rasenshuriken, using two small chakra arms on his forefinger.

Collaboration Technique
Collaboration Technique entail techniques that are comprised of at least two or more techniques that, when initiated with the right timing, one will feed into each other to become a technique of greater power than the sum of its parts. Naruto was introduced to the subject by Jiraiya in the anime, in order for him to synchronise with a toad, and develop a collaboration technique. Naruto eventually managed to synchronise with Gamakichi and Gamatatsu developing the Wind Release Toad Gun, and the stronger Wind Release Toad Oil Flaame Bullet. The stronger version had enough power to temporarily knock out the Three Tails. Naruto has also done collaboration techniques with both Gambunta and Yamato.

Senjutsu
With the strength of his chakra being so high, Naruto's training was able to expand to include the same Senjutsu arts of his late sensei Jiraiya. He learned this in Mount Myoboku, showing an even higher aptitude for it than Jiraiya and ultimately learning how to perfectly enter Sage Mode. In order to achieve this, Naruto had to learn to sense and then gather the natural engery  around him and perfectly balance it with his own chakra. Once mastered, Naruto was able to perfect the Rasenshuriken, so that he could throw it, and learn Frog Kata: a taijutsu style that uses the natural energy around the user to enhance the range and the potency of their attacks. In Sage Mode, Naruto's overall physical abilities are dramatically enhanced to the point where he could throw entities much larger than himself with little to no effort, including the animal path's giant Rhino and Kurama. He can even shatter sharp objects with his bare hands, such as the Deva Path's chakra disruption blades, with relative ease. Using Frog Kata, he was able to completely overpower theNine Tail Naruto Clone, even stripping him of his "Version 2" cloak with each of his punches. His durability increased to the point where he could fall on a bed of spikes and not even be damaged, as well as surviving the Giant Rhino's charge despite it tearing up the land behind him with its impact. His speed increases to the point where he was able to intercept a charging Aura Path, which had been using its chakra boots to attack Tsunade, create a Rasengan and slam it down before it could even react, showing him covering a considerable distance in a short amount of time. Also while in Sage Mode, Naruto gains a sensory ability to detect and identify other people's chakra even from very long distances away. This enabled him to be able to gain a sense of what was going on during the Fourth Shinobi World War, on battlefields a considerable distance away.He also attempted to use this mode to gauge the power of the Ten-Tails, only to find out that it was immeasurable. His sensing abilities have also enabled him to predict the movements of his enemies for easy retaliation.With his sensing abilities, he could pinpoint the chakra recievers that were on Tobi's tailed beast six paths of pain.

However, Naruto had two flaws in his senjutsu training: To mould natural energy, the user must remain absolutely still, something one cannot do while in combat; and because of Kurama, Shima and Fukasaku were unable to fuse with Naruto to mould it for him. To counter this, Naruto had to leave two shadow clones in a safe place to mould the natural energy for him. Once he depleted his current amount of senjutsu chakra, he would dispel one of the clones and use the natural energy it had gathered to re-enter Sage Mode. However, this method limits the maximum number of shadow clones that Naruto can create to five. Any more would interfere with the focus of the clones' gathering natural energy. However, this limit in shadow clones ceases should Naruto decide to go all out during a fight and forget having any clones store natural energy for him.Also, Naruto had been training to extend the time he could remain in Sage Mode. His skill with Sage Mode has increased greatly to the point where he can now enter it in a shorter span of time.

Although Naruto's intelligence is greatly downplayed for most of the series, his skills in deception and strategy are actually extremely high. According to Kakashi, this is all thanks to his cunning and imagination as a former prankster, which allows him to fool perceptive and dangerous jōnin-level shinobi like Momochi Zabuza in Part I and even defeat S rank ninja such as Kakuzu and Pain in Part II. He also possesses the ability to formulate complex plans in the midst of battle. Naruto's strategies typically involve shadow clones; either directing his opponent's attentions towards one of his clones to disguise his own movements, transforming them into various shapes such as shuriken, to allow for surprise attacks, or making himself seem predictable by creating a pattern, just to surprise them by breaking it (examples being when Naruto fooled Neji and Kakuzu into thinking the shadow clone furthest away from danger was the real him, or variations using the Shadow Shuriken Technique).

His deceptive skills were first best displayed in Team 7's first battle against Zabuza; he came up with the strategy to disguise himself as aFuma Shuriken in order to free Kakashi from Zabuza's Water Prison Technique. During the preliminaries of the Chūnin Exams, Naruto was even able to get around Kiba's sensitive nose by fooling him visually. These skills were shown to have increased exponentially by the time of his battle with Pain, allowing him to prevail through an elaborate and highly unpredictable array of back-up plans, such as transforming his clones to mimic the environment. He also used the Shadow Shuriken Technique and the Transformtion Technique to turn himself into a Rasenshuriken to temporarily neutralise the Preta Path while his real Rasenshuriken went to attack the Deva Path, while a clone attacked the Naraka Path from above with a Sage Technique:Spiralling Serial Sphere. When Naruto caught his second wind against Kurama to bypass its hatred completely, he systematically used the Sage Art:Many Uktra Big Ball Spiralling Serial Spheree,Wind Release Rasenshuriken and his mother's chakra chains to push Kurama's chakra out of its body from a safe distance to absorb it into his own body. During his fight with the reincarnated Third Raikage, knowing the speed of the Raikage is great, he tricks the Raikage into dodging the first Rasenshuriken, his true intentions being to use Kurama's chakra arm to redirect it and throw it at him from behind. Even after the second attempt fails, Naruto still has the where-with-all to attack the Kage with a third at point blank range before he can even get decent footing to dodge. After speaking with Gyuki about its battle with the Third Raikage, he deduced that the latter injured himself with his own technique and used this to his advantage by slamming a Rasengan to the side of his arm forcing the Raikage to impale himself with his own technique. When he learned the location of the chakra receviers on Tobi's Six Paths of Pain, he immediately formed a plan to eliminate them. Testing it out on Roshi, he nearly destroyed the chakra receiver if not for Han's interference.He then forms a two-fold plan to release Son Goku from Tobi's control by attacking from the outside in Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, pulling the receiver, while having a shadow clone in Sage Mode inside Son Gokū trying to push it out. [ When he learned that Kakashi and Tobi's Kamui's were connected, he formed a plan to send one of his clones into the other dimension which enabled him to destroy Tobi's mask.

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Learning capabilities
Naruto's ability to learn through study is somewhat limited due to his average intelligence, something he got from his mother. When he applies himself to physical training and experience however, he is able to learn highly advanced techniques in a much shorter period of time, the most prominents examples are his senjutsu and jinchūriki training.

Naruto can also be quite innovative, using his clones to master advanced techniques. Examples of this include a two-man Rasengan, three-man Rasenshuriken, using clones to perform senjutsu and using chakra arms to perform the Tailed Beast Rasengan.Naruto has also shown potential as a teacher, at least in regard to Konohama. He helped him to develop his transformation techinque, albeit for the sake of the sexy techinque, and the rasengan, albeit a very weak version, prior to the invasion of Pain.

Part One Introudction Arc
Naruto, labelled in his classes as"Dead Last", once again failing to graduate from the Ninja Academy. Disappointed that his plans of becoming Hokage have hit another hurdle, Naruto was approached by one of his instructors, Mizuki.Mizuki told Naruto that, if he could steal theScroll of Seals from the Hokage Residence and learn one of the techniques written in it, then he would be allowed to graduate. Naruto did so, and began struggling to learn the Multple Shadow Clone Technique, unaware that the village was now looking for him.Umino Iruka tracked him down, and discovered Mizuki's involvement in the theft, realising that Naruto had been tricked by Mizuki, in an effort to steal the scroll. Mizuki attacked them, and told Naruto about the Nine-Tails Fox being sealed within him, claiming that Iruka hated him because of it. When Iruka risked his life to protect Naruto, however, Naruto realised that Mizuki's earlier words were a lie, and created hundreds of shadow clones to beat Mizuki to a pulp. For mastering such a difficult technique, Iruka allowed Naruto to graduate.

In the days to come, Naruto befriended Sarutobi Konohamaru and became his on-off teacher, showing him how to perform a variety of both perverted and useful techniques throughout the rest of the series. He was also assigned to Team 7, where he was partnered with Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura, under the leadership of Hatake Kakashi  As the team's first order of business, Kakashi gave them a test to see if they were ready to become Genin. He had the three of them try to take the two bells he kept on his person, the goal of the test being to place teamwork above the fact that they couldn't all have a bell. Although they initially failed miserably, all trying independently to take a bell, they eventually decided to work together, allowing them to pass.

Land of Wave Arc
After completing a number of simple, uneventful missions, Team 7, at Naruto's insistence, was assigned the somewhat more difficult C rank task of escorting Tazuna to the Land of Waves. When they were attacked by theDemon Brothers along the way, who tried to kill Tazuna, they realised that there was more to this mission than a simple escort. Tazuna revealed that his country was under the control of Gato, who had left the people poor and unable to afford the more accurate A-rank mission payment. By building a bridge that would connect the Land of Waves to the mainland, Tazuna hoped to free the country from Gatō, prompting Gatō to try and kill him. Team 7 decided to help Tazuna, and act as his bodyguards until the bridge was completed.

They were soon attacked by Momochi Zabuza, another of Gatō's assassins, who engaged Kakashi in battle. When Zabuza captured Kakashi, he encouraged his team to escape with Tazuna. Having been of little use during the battle with the Demon Brothers, Naruto resolved to help Kakashi. With Sasuke's assistance, they were able to free Kakashi, who in turn almost defeated Zabuza. However, Haku, disguised as a hunter-nin, intervened, and appeared to kill Zabuza first, in actuality only putting him in a death-like state in order to get him to safety. Kakashi suspected that Zabuza was still alive, and gave Team 7 a Tree Climbing Practice to improve their chakra control. Naruto and Sasuke developed a competition over the exercise, each determined to complete the training first, and subsequently motivating each other to do better.

While Naruto was resting from training one day, he encountered Haku, unaware that it was the same boy he had encountered earlier. The two had a conversation about those who were precious to them, and the lengths they would go to protect them. After Haku left, Naruto finished the training, but was left so tired that the rest of Team 7 allowed him to rest the next day as they went to escort Tazuna. When he woke up, he went to assist them, only to find that they were in the midst of battle with Zabuza and Haku.Before he can get to his team, he saved Inari and Tsunami from Gato's men. He then asked Inari to looked after his mother, and went to battle Zabuza and Haku.

Naruto went to help Sasuke in his battle with Haku, but they were both trapped by Haku's Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals. When Haku tried to use a volley of needles to kill Naruto, Sasuke stepped in to protect him, appearing to die instead. Enraged by the apparent death of Sasuke, Naruto tapped into theNine Tails Chakra, allowing him to destroy the ice mirrors, and subsequently defeat Haku. Before he could kill Haku, however, the mask he was wearing broke away, revealing the face of the boy Naruto had met earlier. Naruto stopped himself, but Haku asked that he should finish the job, since he could no longer be of use to Zabuza. Although Naruto tried to comply, Haku stopped him at the last minute, and went to help Zabuza. When Naruto realised what had happened - that Haku had given his life to save an ungrateful Zabuza - an outraged Naruto reprimanded Zabuza for not appreciating Haku's actions. Touched by his words, Zabuza killed Gatō to repent in an effort to avenage Haku, but died of his wounds. The bridge (now named the Great Naruto Bridge) was completed, and the Land of Waves was saved. With a recovered Sasuke, Team 7 returned to the Konoha. On their way home, Naruto remarked to Kakashi that, even though Haku and Zabuza were their enemies, he still liked them.

Chunin Exam Arc
After returning home and completing a few other simple missions, Team 7 was entered into the Chunin Exams. In the first phase, a written test, the participating genin were tasked with completing the test by cheating, all the while being sure not to get caught. Though the rest of the examinees realised this, Naruto did not, and struggled to answer the questions, which were far beyond his comprehension.Hyuga Hinata, who was sitting next to him, offered to allow him to copy off her paper, but he refused, in fear that she would get caught. Naruto was forced to rely on getting the tenth question correct to pass. When faced with the prospect of correctly answering the question to proceed, failing and never being allowed to take the test again, or giving up to try it again during the next exams, Naruto insisted on answering the question, stating that, even if he got it wrong, he would still become Hokage. The willingness to face the unknown being the answer to the tenth question, Naruto and the rest of Team 7 were allowed to proceed to the second phase.

For the second phase, Team 7 was sent into the Forest of Death with one scroll, tasked to obtain a second scroll from another team and arrive at the forest's centre before the phase ended. Soon after entering the forest, they were attacked by Orchimaru, who immobilised Sasuke and Sakura with his murderous intent. Before Sasuke could forfeit their scroll in exchange for their lives, Naruto intervened, fighting Orochimaru by tapping into the Nine-Tails' chakra. Orochimaru rendered Naruto unconscious byusing a 5 bound seal to restrict access to the Nine-Tails' chakra, but Naruto's courage inspired Sasuke to fight in his place. After Orochimaru was driven off and Naruto awakened, he tried to open their scroll,which was forbidden, but he was stopped byYakushi Kabuto, who disguised himself as Konoha ninja. Team 7 and Kabuto encountered Team Oboro. After wasting a day trapped in the rival team's genjutsu,Team 7 was able to defeat them, take their scroll, and pass the round.

Because too many genin teams had passed the second phase, a round of preliminary matches, where genin faced each other in combat, were held to thin the field. After watching the first few rounds, Naruto was matched against Inuzuka Kiba and his dog Akamaru. Remembering Naruto to be talentless from their days in the ninja academy, Kiba believed it would be an easy match. He and Akamaru double-teamed Naruto, who initially had difficulty with the match. After combining the Transformation Technique with his shadow clones to turn Kiba and Akamaru against each other, Naruto was able to remove Akamaru from the competition. When Kiba was about to defeat him, Naruto farted, immobilising Kiba and his heightened sense of smell, and making him an easy target for theUzumaki Naruto Combo which he invented watching Sasuke'sLion Combo. Naruto won the match.

While watching the remaining matches, Naruto witnessedHyuga Neji's ruthless treatment of his cousin, Hinata. Angered by Neji's actions and claims that Hinata was a failure who couldn't escape her fate, Naruto vowed to defeat Neji during the first round of the finals a month later. In the meantime, Naruto started training with Ebisu to improve his chakra control. When Ebisu was knocked out by Jiraiya, Naruto forced Jiraiya to train him in his place. Jiraiya, noticing that Naruto was the container of the Nine-Tails, and the restrictive seal Orochimaru had placed on him earlier, Jiraiya removed the seal to ease his chakra control. He then taught him how to take advantage of the Nine-Tails' chakra by showing him how to summon toads. Because Naruto had troubles with it, Jiraiya pushed him from the cliff, hoping to provoke Naruto to use Nine-Tails' chakra. When falling, Naruto met with the Nine-Tails in his subconscious and convinced it to lend him its chakra. Thanks to that, he was able to summon Gamabunta, landing on the toad's back. After a short argue with the giant toad, he was hospitalised due to the loss of chakra he uesd with the Shadow Clone Technique. In the hospital he met Nara Shikamaru and the two encountered Gaara of the desert,who was going to kill Rock Lee. Gaara told them about Shukaku sealed within him and tried to kill both of them, but they were saved by the arrival of Might Guy.

When his match against Neji began, Naruto appeared to be at a disadvantage. Although he was able to overwhelm Neji with shadow clones, none of the clones could manage to land a hit. Convinced that Naruto was a failure that could not defeat a genius like himself, Neji used hisEight Trigrams Sixty-Four Plams Technique to cut off Naruto's chakra supply. Determined to prove Neji wrong, Naruto tapped into the Nine-Tails' reserves and, revitalised, clashed with Neji. When the smoke cleared, Neji emerged, Naruto appearing to have been defeated. This, however, was only a shadow clone, and the real Naruto burst from the ground beneath Neji, to deliver an uppercut and defeat him. Neji was taken away, contemplating the fact that fate was not predetermined, since a failure could beat a genius, while Naruto watched the remaining matches. When Sasuke fought Gaara, he was jealous of Sasuke's improvements, but the fight was interrupted by the beginning of the invasion of Konoha.

Invasion of Konoha Arc
Naruto was put to sleep when the invasion began, but was awakened by Sakura so that they could go after Sasuke, who was pursuing Gaara in order to continue their fight. They caught up in time to stop Gaara from killing Sasuke. Intrigued by Naruto's abilities since his battle with Neji, Gaara forced him into battle by threatening to kill Sakura. With the power of the Shukaku, Gaara tried to prove his existence by killing Naruto in which by playing with him. Although Naruto could relate to Gaara's life as a jinchūriki, he was not willing to allow anything to happen to Sakura and Sasuke. With the Nine-Tails' chakra, he summoned Gamabunta, and fought Gaara, who by now had progressed to his full Shukaku form.

Naruto was able to awaken Gaara from his technique and reseal Shukaku, and they exchanged final blows, with Naruto emerging the final blow. Both of them, being very exhausted, fell to the ground and Naruto crawled his way towards Gaara, who was shocked to see why Naruto was so strong. Naruto explained that he had also suffered a relentless lonely life, but was later saved by having friends. Gaara understood, and retreated with Kankuro and Temari, while Naruto was returned back to Konohagakure with Sakura and Sasuke.

Days passed, and Naruto along with the rest of the shinobi came to a ceremony to respect the death of the Third Hokage and his sacrifice for the village.

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 Hoshigaki Kisame andUchiha Itachi, 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. 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. 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.

Land of Tea Arc
With Konoha  having a shortage of jōnin due toOrchimaru's failed invasion,Tsunade was forced to use genin for more dangerous mission than normally allowed. Team 7 (minus Kakashi who was assigned to another mission) was given the assignment of the escorting a member of Land of Tea's Wasabi Family through a dangerous annual race as it was rumoured the rival Wagarashi Family had hired ninjas of their own to sabotage the Wasabi family. Along the way, they met an arrogant teenager named Idate who openly showed his hatred towards ninja. He also showed off impressive speed by running away from Team 7 after conning them into paying his bill at a restaurant. Upon arriving in the Land of Tea and meeting the Wasabi family’s leader, Jirocho, Team 7 was shocked to see Idate again and learn he was the man they were assigned to escort.

During the race, Naruto and Idate continued to show their dislike of each other. It was also revealed that Idate was actually the younger brother of Ibiki, and formerly a Konoha genin. They also encountered thethree Ame genin from the Chūnin Exams. After defeating them, they encounteredRokusho Aoi, another former Konoha shinobi, who betrayed Konoha to join Amegakure. He was also originally Idate's teacher and the one responsible for Idate running away from Konoha. After barely surviving Aoi’s attack, Idate explained how after he was failed by Ibiki himself for the Chūnin Exams, Aoi tricked Idate into stealing a special scroll and theSword of the Thunder God from the village. Being able to relate with Idate in both being taken advantage of and the need to have others recognise them, Naruto helped Idate regain his self-worth and continue the race.

While managing to catch up in the race, Aoi appeared again and used the Thunder Sword to initially overpower the Team 7. But thanks to Sasuke fighting Aoi and weakening the sword with his Chidori, Naruto was able to break it when they clashed and defeat Aoi with his Rasengan. With the danger overcome, Idate was free to continue and win the race for the Wasabi family. While returning to the village, Team 7 was escorted by Ibiki himself. Ibiki was glad that Naruto had helped his brother grow as a man.

Sauke retrieval Arc
After returning with Tsunade ( butin 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, eventually defecting from Konoha in order to seek out Orochimaru for power. Under the escort of Orochimaru'sSound Ninja 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.He then fought  with Sasuke provening to be in a disadvantage. 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 mark 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.

Kakashi and Pakkun didn't come in time to get Sasuke, and left with Naruto. In the hospital, Naruto vowed to Sakura that he would someday bring Sasuke home. Soon after, Jiraiya arrived suddenly, telling Naruto to train with him for three years prior. He also told him to give up on Sasuke, as he is no different from Orochimaru. Naruto accepts training with Jiraiya, but rejects to giving up Sasuke. In the manga, right after this, Naruto departs, but in the anime, he stays for a while, doing numerous filler arc missions.

Pre-Shippuden filler arcs
After the original Naruto anime had concluded the Sasuke Retrieval Arc, to make sure the anime did not over take Part 2 of the manga, the makers instead animated several filler arcs to take place before Naruto left for his three year training with Jiriaya. 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.

Rescue the kazekage 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 latestIcha Icha novel that they distracted Kakashi long enough to take the bells. Naruto reconnected with his old friends, who had all advanced to Chunin 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 Uchiha Itachi, 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 Mangekyo Sharingan to distract Deidara, giving Naruto an opportunity to attack him and retrieve Gaara. Deidara escaped. Then 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  more his entire 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 Uchiha Madara, 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.

12 Guardian Ninja Arc
Naruto has been having nightmares about the release of theNin Tailed Demon Fox's power. He,Sai and Sakura come to the hopstial meet Kakashi. Before leaving, he talks to Sakura and Naruto about friendship, and he stupidly nicknames Sakura "ugly", causing her to pummel the two. Afterward, Kakashi informs Naruto that he has special training that will make him strong quickly. They are cut off by Team Asuma, who have come to visit. Sai lunches with them and, trying to make friends, he angers Sakura by calling Ino  "beautiful" after concluding that women do not like to hear how they really are, and that it would be best to say the opposite of what he truly thought.

Kakashi was released from the hospital and promptly began Naruto's training program. Naruto learned that he has wind-style chakra.Yamato helped by setting up the training field with his special technique. Naruto also learned that he can use his Multiple Shadow Clone Technique to speed up his training, since whatever the clones learn, the original user learns upon the clone's dispersal. Naruto and his mass of clones each took a leaf and attempted to slice it in half with wind chakra as the first step to creating his new technique.

Naruto and his clones continue to work on chakra nature manipulation by slicing leaves. After some struggling, Naruto approaches Asuma, who is also a wind type, for advice. After which, Naruto is subsequently able to slice a leaf in half. Asuma and Yamato then head out with their teams on new missions. It is revealed that Asuma is the Third Hokage's son and that he is in a relationship with Kurenai. Meanwhile, on a hill overlooking a burnt village, four cloaked figures discuss the awakening of the Land of Fire by eliminating Konoha.

Naruto, Sakura, Sai and Yamato head out for a new mission near the Fire Temple. When the other party fails to show up at the rendezvous point, the team gets separated and Naruto stumbles upon one of the four hidden tombs they came to protect. Due to a misunderstanding, he fights one of the monks-in-training from the Fire Temple, Sora, who also uses wind chakra based techniques. After the confusion, the monks and Team Kakashi travel to the Fire Temple, and Naruto recognises it from his nightmare.

The temple monks explain that the tombs hold the loyal bodyguards of the Fire Daimyo. Naruto observes Sora sparring with other monks and becomes offended upon realising he is holding back. Naruto challenges Sora, but just as the matter is about to get serious, another monk stops him. Naruto realises Sora is despised by the other monks as he was himself and wishes to befriend him. Naruto visits Sora again and observes him practising his wind technique in earnest, hoping to get strong enough to avenge his father. They later return to the temple to receive news that another tomb has been robbed.

Tsunade suspected that Danzo  was plotting something, and ordered an investigation of him.Team Kakashi,Chiriku and Sora noticed the coffins moving on their own, but failed to intercept them. The coffins emerged on a cliff, where the leader of the enemy ninja ordered his subordinates to deal with their foes. The ninjas turned the area into a maze of rocky canyons and pits, full of deadly traps. The team members were separated from each other, and began facing off against the enemy separately. Yamato speculated that the ninja might have orchestrated the theft in order to target someone on hbegins facing off against the enemy shinobi. Yamato eludes his opponent,Fudo, by faking his death. Sora, unwilling looks for Naruto, and goes off on his own. Back in Konoha, Danzō reveals that he is aware that he is being watched by Tsunade's anbu. Naruto fights Fuka, whose kiss is fatal and shows her ability to use eath,fire,water,and lightning techniques. Naruto continues his fight with Fūka, and learns that she can use all five basic elements. Fūka manages to kiss Naruto and begins draining his chakra. Realising that Naruto is in trouble from extra-sensory perception, Sora rushes to rescue him. Sakura, Sai and Yamato arrive to help, but are trapped by Fudō and Fuen. Fūka drains Naruto's chakra until she begins drawing on the chakra of the Nine-Tails, which is too unnatural for her to successfully absorb. The enemy team retreats when Chiriku brings reinforcementsis team.

Asuma's team returns from its mission. Team Kakashi returns to Konoha as well, with Sora replacing Sai on the team. Naruto tries to show Sora around Konoha but Sora goes his own way. Sora's insults precipitate a brawl with Kiba and Choji, with Naruto and Rock Lee joining in.Shikamaru and Asuma stop the fight. Later Asuma tells Sora he knew Sora's father, who is revealed as one of the guardians involved in the coup attempt. He also shows Sora his chakra blade attack. Furido and the other body snatchers begin their attack on the Kohaku clan.

Asuma supervises Naruto and Sora'swind chakra training, and notices that Sora, like Naruto, has very powerful chakra.Tsunade and Yamato learn from Chiriku that Sora was inadvertently responsible for an incident in which the Fire Temple was destroyed. Later, Asuma gives Sora a claw made from the same materials as his Chakra Blades. It is revealed that Asuma killed Sora's father Kazuma, who had planned to kill the Hokage. Naruto approaches a furious Sora in the training grounds, who easily throws a chakra-powered kunai through a tree and destroys the stone behind it.

Naruto gets injured while shielding Sora from the attacks of an unknown individual, presumably from Root. Furido then approaches Sora, telling him to kill both Asuma and the Hokage to avenge his father. Later on, Naruto catches Sora going after Tsunade. Sora retreats as Shizune and a few other ninja arrive, but Naruto pursues him. At that moment, a mysterious lightning storm strikes, cutting off power to the entire village.

With Konoha in complete darkness, the village struggles to defend against the four attackers who have sealed the entire village behind a barrier. The entire village is in a state of emergency. Asuma, commanded by Tsunade to follow Sora and Naruto, finally catches up to them. Asuma realises that the four invaders plan to annihilate the entire village using the lightning powers of the corpses that they stole. The revelation shocks Sora. As Asuma leaves to help hold off the attackers, he instructs Naruto to continue pursuing Sora.Naruto caught up with Sora, but Sora ran off in search of Furido. Naruto tried to pursue him, but was assailed by Fuka.

Naruto deduces that Fūka's secret consists of switching bodies to use each corresponding element and that her hair preserves her youth and body. Naruto damages her hair and it takes a life of its own dispensing the body, but Naruto finally kills it with a Rasengan. Meanwhile, Asuma manages to break free of the electric barrier, catch up with Kitane and defeat him in a short fight. Realising that Kitane is no more, and that his three other companions were killed, Furiand tells him the truth: Sora is a pseudo jinchuriki. The chakra that had leaked from the Nine Taile Fox when it attacked Konoha 15 and a half years ago was harvested and implanted into Sora. Just then, Asuma arrives at the scene with Naruto. Asuma recognises Furido and it is revealed that he is Kazuma, Sora's father. Yamato, Sakura,Kiba,Lee,Ino Choj, and Shikamaru also turn up. Enraged, Sora wants to destroy everything, and turns into the three tail form of the demon fox. However, Yamato is unable to restrain him, because he does not have the First Hokage's Necklace on him.do causes the three other ninja guardians to disappear. But Furido has a back-up plan, Sora.

The chakra of the Nine-Tails rages out of control within Sora, preventing Naruto and the others from subduing him. Asuma and Kazuma resume their old battle. Naruto is repeatedly knocked down in his attempts to restrain Sora, and the chakra seeps into him and transforms him as well. Yamato is unable to suppress the Nine-Tails' chakra in both jinchūriki, being prevented by an unknown outside force. Sora's fourth tail emerges, causing the Nine-Tails' cloak to envelop his body. He temporarily gains his own consciousness when he witnesses Naruto stab himself in the leg and successfully prevent the original Nine-Tails' cloak from emerging.

The struggle between Naruto and Sora continues. Asuma and Kazuma fight.Sai arrives, having snuck out of hospital, and binds Kazuma with an ink snake. Kazuma breaks out of Sai's technique and charges at Asuma, but is killed. Naruto eventually reaches Sora, who manages to release the Nine-Tails' chakra. However the Nine-Tails' chakra that is released begins to become a miniature Nine-Tails. This provokes Tsunade to head out to engage the beast. It soon became clear that the miniature Nine-Tails could not form without a human host so it dissipated. Sora then leaves the village to travel the world.

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.

Three tails arc
Tsunade sends Yamato, Sai, and Sakura to help them along with Naruto who meets them along the way. Team Kakashi and Kurenai follow Guren and discover that the thing they were after was the Three-Tails. Shizune, Ino, Tenten and Lee are assembled to help with the hunt for the Three-Tails. They all meet up and split into to groups to seal the tailed beast in its own dimension and get Yūkimaru. The Sealing group, Team Three is Shizune, Hinata, Sakura, and Ino. The Guarding group, Team Two is Yamato, Tenten, Kiba, and Lee, while Team One the Fighting group is Naruto, Kakashi, Sai, and Shino. Team Three tried to use Four-Corner Sealing Barrier to permanently trap the beast in its own dimension. Just as the sealing began to work, the Konoha ninja were interrupted by Guren, which prompted the beast to attack them all. Yūkimaru was able to calm the beast down temporarily, but, after he became tired, the Three-Tails turned its attention to him. Guren and Naruto Uzumaki came to his defence, but were swallowed in the process. With the help of their allies on the outside, they were able to escape, and the Konoha ninja tried once more to seal the beast.Just when the sealing was almost complete, Yūkimaru, angered by the apparent death of Guren, empowered the beast to break free of its restraints. The Three-Tails went on a rampage, attacking everyone nearby and crushing Nurari, Kigiri, and Kihō. Its attempts to attack Yūkimaru, however, had no effect. It was only through the use of the Wind Release: Toad Oil Flame Bullet that the beast was driven away. The sealing attempt was left to ANBU members, and the remaining Konoha ninja returned home

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 andKiba 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 Narutosome 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.

Tsuchigumo Kinjutsu Arc
Team Yamato are assigned by Tsunadeto go and protect Hotaru on her way to theTsuchigumo Village . When the team find the fort, they saw Tonbee, who has been viciously attacked by the four-man bandits.Sakura stays and heals Tonbee, while Naruto,Sai along with Yamato follow Utakata and Hotaru. Naruto catches up to Utakata and Hotaru, and Utakata attacks Naruto with some of his Soap bubble ninjutsu. After Utakata learned that they are not attackers, he entrusts the protection of Hotaru to them.

Sai then tricks Hotaru into thinking that giant leeches are falling on her and she begs Naruto for protection. When they reach the hidden village, Naruto leaves the village with a suspicious feeling because of the way that the villagers looked at Hotaru. Utakata also starts fighting the Magaki Group, and starts to gain the upper hand easily, but then they trap him in a lighting release barrier that implodes.

Naruto and his team arrived and managed to loosen one of the water whips holding Utakata. Both parties began to fight, but the leader of the Kirigakure ANBU appeared, and discussed the situation with Yamato. Due to Hotaru's insistence to be with Utakata, it was agreed that Utakata stayed with Team Yamato and they wouldn't hunt him until she was safe, but afterwards, they'd resume tracking Utakata down.Tsurugi, the leader, asked Utakata to return to Kirigakure, saying that the village changed, no longer earning the nickname of Village of the Bloody Mist. Utakata refuses, and says that he'll keep doing as he pleases.

After the groups part ways, Hotaru begins hurting from an injury sustained during the earlier altercation. Utakata has Naruto collect medicinal herbs. When Naruto returns, he witnesses what was done to Hotaru's back, where her clan's kinjutsu was put. Utakata voices his absolute disdain for people who selfishly take advantage of people's loyalty, only to treat them as tools.

Everyone is shocked to learned that Hotaru actually requested for the technique to be sealed in her. After she explained that she wanted her grandfather's dream to restore their clan's glory to come true. When Tonbee voiced his sorrow that by now the clan had probably lost too much strength to ever return to such a status he suggested they end the potential danger of the kinjutsu by destroying it. Utakata was surprised that Hotaru's grandfather had created a way to safely remove it from Hotaru's body. When Tonbee insisted that no true master would do such horrific things without a way to undo them, Utakata wondered if the same was true for his master. Utakata resolved to find Tsurugi again to learn some answers about his late master.

Hotaru initially refused the idea to destroy the kinjutsu, feeling that it would make all her grandfather's efforts for nothing, but Utakata made her see that she couldn't restore their clan with such a destructive technique. While willing to accept this decision as a final act, she offered one other possible solution, to search for a man named Shiranami, who is an immensely gifted ninja who studied En no Gyōja's teachings and could be of great help. It was then decided that Naruto would attempt to find the man in two days while preparations for removing the kinjutsu were made.

When Naruto Uzumaki sought out Shiranami, the Magaki leader, who believed the latter was an ally, the Magaki Group ambushed Naruto and used Infinite Embrace to drain his chakra. While Chūshin beat Naruto, Benten almost revealed their plan before Akaboshi silenced him. Angered at being deceived, Naruto unleashed the Nine-Tails' chakra and broke out of the Infinite Embrace. Though shocked at Naruto's strength, the Magaki used their Multiple Infinite Embraces to crush Naruto. Much to their shock, however, Naruto was still able to resist, but not for long.

Later to Hotaru's dismay, Utakata suddenly leaves. Not wanting him to leave her, Hotaru goes off to find him. Along the way, she runs into Shiranami himself. He sympathises with Hotaru's loneliness and desire to restore their clan. After being convinced not to destroy the technique, she decides to write a message to Utakata. However, Shiranami revealAfterwards, he and Naruto track Shiranami back to Hotaru's village, where it is discovered that Shiranami took control of the villagers with his technique. The villagers attacked Utakata and Naruto and they were also confronted by the Magaki Group. Just before things got worse, the rest of Team Yamato arrived while hunting for Hotaru. Yamato, Sai and Sakura were fighting the villagers and the Magaki Group, while Naruto and Utakata were trying to save Hotaru from Shiranami. In the end Naruto and Utakata manage to save Hotaru and Team Yamato parts ways with Hotaru and Utakatas his true colours and knocks out Hotaru, taking her back to the Tsuchigumo village.

Afterwards, he and Naruto track Shiranami back to Hotaru's village, where it is discovered that Shiranami took control of the villagers with his technique. The villagers attacked Utakata and Naruto and they were also confronted by the Magaki Group. Just before things got worse, the rest of Team Yamato arrived while hunting for Hotaru. Yamato, Sai and Sakura were fighting the villagers and the Magaki Group, while Naruto and Utakata were trying to save Hotaru from Shiranami. In the end Naruto and Utakata manage to save Hotaru and Team Yamato parts ways with Hotaru and Utakata.

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 byIruka 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 Mounument 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 withFrog 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 theHuman Path. Running low on chakra because of the attack, Naruto had Gamabunta trap the Animal Path in his mouth, where Naruto defeated it with hisSage Technique Spiralling serial spheres without interference from the other bodies.

When he ran out of natural engery and was no longer in Sage Mode, Naruto had Fukasaku summon one of his shadow clones from Mount Myoboku 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 him (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 wher he enter 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 an 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'sbodies 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).

Konoha History Arc
After Naruto defeated Pain, Iruka, along with Suzume andDaikoku Funeno approach the ruins of the Academy. to salvage things for class. They split up and Iruka sees the destroyed academy, remembering when he began as a teacher and the day Hiruzen Sarutobi assigned Naruto to his class. Though he refused at first, due to Naruto being the jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails, Iruka accepts.

The next day, Naruto pulls a prank on Iruka but instead of scolding him, Iruka tells Naruto sit in his seat, remembering the advice given to him from Daikoku. When seeing Naruto being bullied by the other students because of his failed attempts to be better than Sasuke, Iruka tells them not to bother a kid like him. The next day, Naruto learns that Sasuke is the only surviving member of the Uchiha Clan.

After class, Naruto wants to join Hibachi and his friends in their "test of courage" though Hibachi tells him to not follow them. Naruto pranks them later in the night by dressing up as a fox demon. Hearing them say they saw a fox demon, Iruka runs to the Konoha grave site and learns it's Naruto. Recognising Iruka's glare as the same one everyone else in the village gives him, Naruto runs off with the intent not to return to the Academy again.

The next day, with Naruto is absent in class and denied to be seen by the Third Hokage, Iruka sits in the park where he meets Kakashi Hatake  and discusses his issues of being Naruto's teacher. Kakashi remembers when after his mission with him, Iruka decides to become an instructor at the Academy to pass the Will of Fire to the next generation.

Hibachi and his friends decide to let Naruto in their group if he would do their test of courage. Hibachi was told by his father that in the hills, there are corpses left by enemy ninja. Naruto agrees to get an item from a corpse in the hills. Hibachi tells his friends that there are still enemy ninja in the hills after Naruto left. When Iruka sees that Naruto is absent in class, Hibachi says he hasn't seen him, but Shikamaru Nara,having heard of his trick, tells Iruka who runs out the classroom to find Naruto. Remembering Suzume telling him of the enemy ninja, Iruka tries to find Naruto before the enemy ninja find him. Elsewhere, Kakashi hears from Shikamaru and Choji that Iruka went to look for Naruto in the hills.

Iruka finds Naruto and tries to get him to go back to the Academy, but Naruto refuses and tells him that he doesn't understand him. Naruto uses his Sexy Techinque to escape Iruka before finding a kunai with a paper on it. Three enemy ninga approach Naruto, demanding that he gives them the kunai but he refuses, having them resort to get it by force. Finding his Sexy Technique useless on women, Naruto flees before running into Iruka as he protects the boy while evading the kunoichi until Kakashi arrives and easily defeats the female ninja.

Iruka gives the Third Hokage the paper that was hidden on the kunai that Naruto found. Iruka then thanks Hiruzen for making him Naruto's teacher which made him remember why he became a teacher. Now being strict with Naruto to keep him from getting into trouble, Iruka's after class lecture on the Will of Fire gave Naruto his aspirations to become the next Hokage someday so everyone would respect and look up to him.

Team 7
When Naruto and Sakura go get water for the comatose Tsunade, Kakashi has a flashback of when he was appointed as the leader of Team 7 after the team's formation. He watches Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura, seeing Naruto and Sasuke's constant competition and remembers what Minato and Obito said to him about teamwork and those abandoning their comrades are worse than scum. Meanwhile,Koharu and Homura discuss with Hiruzen of his decision of having Naruto outside the village and being put in the same team as Sasuke.Danzo listens in on their discussion and thinks Hiruzen put Naruto and Sasuke in the same team due to the Uchiha being able to control the Nine-Tail demon Foxwith the Sharingan which he thinks is a good idea. After noticing Sakura depressed, Naruto tries to pick a fight with Sasuke though all his techniques are no use against Sasuke. Sasuke easily beats Naruto and the members of Team 7 decide to go meet their squad leader. Kakashi's flashback ends, knowing as the group's leader, it is up to him to put a stop to Sasuke's road of hatred.

Inari's courage
Naruto and Sakura meet up with Tazuna and Inari, who came to help rebuild the village. Naruto has a flashback that takes place after Team 7 finished their mission in the Land of Waves. Naruto remembers he had forgotten an  Ichiraku Ramen coupon at Inari's house and runs back to go get it. Tazuna finds the coupon and Inari decides to give it to Naruto. On his way, Inari runs into Akane and his friends who try to pick on him with Team 7 gone.Zori and Waraji Zōri and hear of this and kidnap the kids.

Sasuke, who was ordered by Kakashi to bring back Naruto, learn from Tazuna that Inari had went to meet up with them. Meanwhile, the remnants of Gato's  thugs decide to take Gatō's place and hold Inari and the others for ransom. Naruto finds his coupon and also traces of a struggle. Sasuke also notice cuts on the trees from a sword which Naruto remembers it was from Gatō's two bodyguards.

At the thugs’ hideout, Inari and the others escape from the thugs. Inari decides to distract them while Akane and his friends escape. Inari is chased into a dead end by the thugs but jumps into the water. While swimming away, Naruto and Sasuke find Inari and pull him out of the river. The thugs find him and fight Naruto and Sasuke, who are no match against them. When the thugs were about to flee, the villagers surround them, forcing them to give up. Akane and his friends apologise to Inari for bullying him and they all become friends. Then Inari tells Naruto he left his coupon at his house so then Naruto checks his pocket and wonders why its missing, Sasuke then tells Naruto that it probably drifted while he was at the river pulling out Inari, much to his dismay. The flashback ends and Inari decides to make it up to Naruto by building a new better Ramen Ichiraku for him.

Vendattas
In flashback of Naruto and Sakura's, Team 7 are on a mission to take an ostrich called Condor to his home. They arrive at a village where they see a swordsman named Tsukado who has a vendetta to carry on a man named Katazu who killed his distant relative Shikazo. Tsukado fails to defeat him so Naruto decides to teach him unusual revenge lessons. When Mr. Ostrich is running wild and about to run over a little girl, Tsukado shows his hidden skills to stop him shocking Naruto. Tsukado can't seem to use his skills against Katazu as the look he gives him seems to drain him.

The next day, a man named Kanabun and his gang bring Katazu to Tsukado who want to profit off their fight. Tsukado doesn't hold back and manages to get the upper hand though Naruto notices something is wrong. Naruto suddenly stops the fight, saying Katazu couldn't have killed Shikazo as he sword isn't sharpened and the look of his eyes. Katazu reveals that his twin brother Kageki accidentally killed Shikazo. Kageki loaned him some money and after his child's birth, he needed money and asked Shikazo if he can be repaid. Shikazo refused and they begin fighting, resulting in Shikazo falling and hitting his head hard on a stone, killing him. Katazu has then took his brother's identity and attracted Shikazo's pursuers while Kageki and his family went into hiding.

Tsukado decides not to kill him and ends their years of fighting though Kanabun wants them to keep fighting. The swordsmen, Team 7 and Mr. Ostrich chase the Kanabun Gang out of town. While going back home, Naruto wonders if it ended alright and Kakashi says it depends on them, there the flashback ends.

Gaara's First Bond
Team 7 are sent on a mission to stop a group of bandits located between Konoha and Suna, resulting in the two villages working together for the first time since Suna's invasion though Naruto is reluctant about it. They meet with a team from Suna who are lead by Gaara, shocking Team 7. Gaara introduces his subordinates, Yaoki and Korobi who are scared of Gaara's sand abilities. Kakashi notices a change in Gaara, noticing he is mellower than he was before and no longer has his bloodthirsty lust.

Both Gaara and Kakashi decide to split up so they can simultaneously attack the bandit base from different sides located on mountain. But before they do, Gaara secretly informs Kakashi that he is being followed by another group from Suna and hopes he won't be a burden though Kakashi is completely fine with it as the more they overcome, the stronger both their village's bond will be. Hiding in the trees are a group of Suna ninja who plan on killing Gaara. When Gaara's team are heading to their direction, Gaara is ambushed by the group of ninja who uses techniques that prevents Gaara from using his sand. Gaara tells Yaoki and Korobi to flee as the ninja are only after him. Team 7 notice another group of Suna ninja who are watching them. When realising they aim to kill Gaara, Naruto runs off to find Gaara while the rest of Team 7 fight the assassination squad.

Naruto finds Yaoki and Korobi and learns Gaara is danger. He asks them why they abandoned their friend which leaves Yaoki and Korobi wondering if Gaara is their friend. Naruto rescues Gaara from the assassination squad with multiple shadow clones who fight them off with the help of Yaoki and Korobi who tell Gaara they're his friends. Gaara then easily takes out the rest of the ninja. Team 7 and Gaara's team continue and finish their mission and they bid each other farewell. After Team 7 leaves, Gaara asks Yaoki and Korobi what they said to him and they happily say they're his friends which brings a smile to Gaara. The flashback ends and Gaara thanks Naruto for helping him form his first bond with Konoha.

Chakra Virus
Choji and Naruto bring lunch to Sakura and Shizune and Naruto leaves to assist rebuilding Ichiraku. When Chōji says the saying, "Fools never catch a cold", Sakura has a flashback of catching Naruto's cold. When Sakura sees Tsunade at her office, she collapses which Tsunade claims Sakura has an illness known as a chakra virus. It was an illness long ago in another village that would turn chakra into a terrible flu and Naruto recently went to that village for a mission. Tsunade, not wanting to scare the villagers orders Shizune and a team of medical ninja to capture Naruto.

The medical-nin try to capture Naruto, thinking they are after him for overeating ramen but he escapes them every time. The next morning, Naruto finds the village deserted and gets shot at from a distance from one of the medical ninja. Naruto finds the ninja and questions him. The medical ninja tells him that the villagers have evacuated and that Tsunade ordered Naruto's capture with explaining the reason. Shizune and a team of medical ninja arrive and chase after Naruto who tries to locate Tsunade. Naruto finds Tsunade but tries to corner him with a bunch of tall walls. In each sides are Chōji, Kiba and Tenten who are also ordered to capture Naruto though the groups of shadow clones they defeat do not contain the real Naruto.

The real Naruto flees to Konoha Hospital, distracting Shino with one last another shadow clone as he hides in one of the rooms. The room Naruto is in happens to be where Sasuke is still recuperating after their Land of Tea mission. Learning Naruto was the source of ruckus occurring outside, Sasuke kicks Naruto out of his room with medical ninja grabbing him. After getting results from Naruto, Shizune tells Tsunade that he doesn't have the chakra virus but sneezed due to pepper he had in his pocket and Sakura just has an allergic reaction from Naruto's sneeze. After he is released, Naruto demands an apology from Tsunade for her mistake though she covers it up by claiming the entire event as an "emergency drill.

Team Tenten
Might Guy has Naruto join Team Guy on a mission with Rock Lee in the hospital. For the mission, Guy assigns Tenten as captain of the team. Team Tenten arrives at the lab and ask the tool maker,Lo for more tools. He shows them some of his latest tools though all of them are completely useless. The impatient Tenten then demands for the tools they need from them. The team checks on Iō's progress but went missing. Neji uses his Byakugan and finds Iō hidden deep under the lab. They get past all of the traps placed with Tenten's help and find a stash of Iō's tools. Iō is impressed with Tenten's skills and decides to test her with his latest invention when suddenly one of the traps outside is triggered.

They all run outside to see two ninja named Gameru and Kusune who demand more tools from Iō who refuses. Naruto and Neji decide to fight them and they summon two prototype tools of Iō's,Dako and Tsurukame Iō's apprentice,Shoseki confesses that he sold them the tools. With Naruto and Neji struggling with the two ninja, Iō has Tenten use his latest invention,Jidanda. Tenten uses exploding tags to lift the giant iron ball in the air with the recoils of the explosions and throws Jidanda at Gameru and Kusune. Though the attack was blocked by Tsuru-Kame, the Jidanda reveals exploding tags inside and explodes on Gameru and Kusune. After the fight, Iō takes Jidanda back from Tenten, who was hoping to keep it, to make more adjustments to it. Naruto and Neji cheer her up with complementing on how great she was in the fight. The flashback ends and Tenten hopes that Iō finished the adjustments to Jidanda.

Training Ground Zero
Tsunade assigns Naruto to capture Mr. Ostrich who escaped again into Training Ground Zero. Unlike last time, Mr. Ostrich trained himself into becoming a nindachō. Tsunade has Kotetsu Hagane captain of the team of Naruto, Shino and Lee. Izumo Kamizuki learns of Kotetsu's mission and whines about not being with Kotetsu which annoys Tsunade. Kotetsu has Shino locate Mr. Ostrich with his kikaichū and the team manages to find him who laughs at Naruto. Shino has Naruto to try and distract him while he would surprise him with his bugs. Naruto makes an insult about Mr. Ostrich's father but makes a fool of himself instead. Shino's bugs get eaten by fly traps and the ostrich makes an escape. Lee runs after him but runs into a boxing kangaroo. Mr. Ostrich runs to Naruto and surprises him with his ability to speak. Naruto, Kotetsu and Lee all struggle in fighting against the powerful animals and decide to retreat.

Kotetsu decides for the team to longer hold back against them when suddenly Mr. Ostrich and the kangaroo find them. Mr. Ostrich, who now names himself Condor, is tired of humans domesticating animals and formed a team of ninja animals. Shino tries to sneak his bugs to Condor again but they are eaten yet again by an anteater that is part of Condor's team. The team battles against the animals, who prove to be a handful for them. Kotetsu decides to use his Conch Shell Mace to fight Condor who is knocked down by his powerful kicks. Izumo arrives and yells at Kotetsu to run from Condor's attack. Izumo uses his Water Release: Starch Syrup Capturing Field to trap Condor and Kotetsu manages to strike down Condor. The rest of the team manages to defeat the other animals they were fighting. Izumo arrived to help out Kotetsu but resulted in leaving a stack of Tsunade's paperwork unfinished. Kotetsu decides to make it up by finishing the work for him. The flashback ends and Naruto finds Condor who is surprised to see he escaped yet again and chases after him.

Naruto and Sakura find In Yamanaka at the hospital who tells them they have a mission together. They say their hellos to Lee in his room. Lee accidentally drops his youth drink bottle that Guy made for him but catches it and drinks it all, putting Lee is dismay. With the drink, Lee would be able to recover a little faster. Naruto decides to go see Guy and have him make another recovery drink.Guy appoints him to go mount jofuku to get a jofuku flower. A herb that is know to cuer any Illness,before leaving Naruto wears the green jumpsuit Might Guy gave him.

Naruto meets Sakura and Ino at the village gate who were waiting to leave with Naruto to their mission. Naruto tells them of his mission at Mount Jofuku which is also the place of his team's mission. The team takes a break at a small tea soup where the old lady there warns them of Jofuku Forest that has ghosts of dead ninja wandering about. The team head to Jofuku Forest where they find a large sign blocking a path. Naruto decides to go through it with Sakura and Ino following him, having no choice. Naruto finds the Jofuku Flowers but upon pulling them causes some sand appearing that forms into Gaara after the mention of him from Ino. The team are shocked to see "Gaara" and decide to retreat but suddenly the Gaara impostor starts attacking Naruto, having the same abilities as the real Gaara. Ino tries her Mind Body Switch Technique on the impostor but cannot sense a consciousness in it. Naruto destroys the Gaara impostor with the Naruto Uzumaki Combo and a Rasengan. Suddenly they are approached by an old medical ninja from Konoha named Furofuki who is doing research in the forest.

Sakura asks Furofuki who or what was the Gaara impostor and she tells it was a Jofuku Flower, which assumes the form of the nemesis of whoever pulls it. They give Furofuki the letter that they were assigned to do and are given another mission by her to take loads of Jofuku Flowers back to Konoha. With final ingredient made, Guy is able to finish the medicine and makes a bowl full of medicine balls for Lee. Lee is shocked to hear that Sakura and her team did this and decides to recover as soon as possible. While Lee starts devouring the horribly tasting medicine balls, Guy does 1000 push-ups, not wanting Lee the only one to suffer and the flashback ends.

Genjutsu Training
After leaving for his two year training with Jiraiya, Naruto begins training to prepare to counter genjutsu when he meets Sasuke again. Jiraiya summons Gamariki to help train Naruto to cancel genjutsu by putting in under a weird genjutsu by kissing him. Naruto finds Jiraiya, Sasuke and Sakura all with the appearance of Gamariki in the weird genjutsu world. Naruto tries to cancel it by disrupting his inner chakra flow but ends up knocking Gamariki into a river, having Jiraiya release Naruto from genjutsu. Outside the village they were at, Jiraiya and Naruto disrupt his chakra flow on a lake which he keeps failing at. At the end of the day, Jiraiya remembers why he chose to teach Naruto. He sees his student Minato Namikaze was like a son and that Naruto is like a grandson to him. The next day, Naruto successfully manages to disrupt his inner chakra without falling into the lake, completing the first part of his genjutsu training.

To complete the final part of the genjutsu training, Jiraiya takes Naruto to a village he once visited on his journeys that is surrounded by a forest that gives off something to someone's chakra flow to the brain similar to genjutsu. Jiraiya finds a wall around the village and him and Naruto are shot by Chilli Pepper Bombs. The boy who shot the pills named Tanishi whose parents once gave Jiraiya a place to stay during his journey. Tanishi demands them to leave when he hears the other villagers coming. Jiraiya and Naruto sneak in the village and demand Tanishi the situation. Tanishi tells about a group of missing-nin from Amegakure led by a ninja named Kandachi who were hiding from their village and wanted to take over his village. He threatened the women and children will be killed if word comes out of their presence at the village. Tanishi's father Sukune stood up against the ninja by freeing them from their genjutsu by shooting chilli pepper bomb at them. Kandachi brutally murdered Sukune who died to end protecting his village. To that day, Tanishi thought of his father as a fool for getting himself killed. Jiraiya knocks out Tanishi after being told to leave the village.

Jiraiya, pretending to be caught by Naruto, disguised as Tanishi, takes him to Kandachi who remembers Jiraiya. Jiraiya wonders why the right man of Hanzō ran from his village which Kandachi states no longer has a leader and is longer their village. The real Tanishi arrives, exposing of Naruto and Jiraiya's plan. Keeping his promise, Kandachi summons the Conch King and decides to have the hostage villagers killed. Tanishi begs Kandachi to spare the villagers but does not hear him out. While Jiraiya saves the villagers, Naruto decides to take on Kandachi and the Conch King but his Rasengan does no damage to the creature. The two beat Naruto down constantly and Tanishi wonders why Naruto is being such a fool that doesn't give up. Naruto tells Tanishi to take the villagers to safety while he fights Kandachi and the Conch King. With the help of a fellow villager and Jiraiya, Tanishi takes the villagers to safety. Jiraiya joins Naruto to fight Kandachi and the two are put under the Water Release Genjutsu: Mystic Fog Prison by the Conch King.

With arrival of Tanishi, deciding to be a fool like Naruto and his father, releases Naruto and Jiraiya from the genjutsu with the chilli pepper bomb. The Jiraiya with Naruto turns out to be a shadow clone and the real Jiraiya tells Naruto to create a more powerful Rasengan similar to the one that knocked out Gamariki. Naruto works on creating the Rasengan while Jiraiya held on to the Conch King with Wild Lion's Mane Technique. After Naruto finished creating his first Big Ball Rasengan, he uses it to defeat Kandachi and the Conch King. After the battle, Naruto asks Kandachi why he couldn't have asked the village to hide him and his group and tells him he is no fool which Naruto responds to by punching him saying if he has, things would've gone better. With the Ame ninja gone, Naruto and Jiraiya, along with the villagers, mourn for Sukune, telling him that they are finally free. Naruto and Jiraiya leave the village and sees Naruto as a grandson to him which seemed to freak out Naruto.

Paw Encyclopedia
Team 7 is hired by Nekobaa to get the paw print of the boss of the ninja cat underworld, Nekomata to put in her Paw Encyclopaedia which was a game played by Itachi Uchiha and Sasuke when they were younger. The mention of Itachi angers Sasuke and leaves to prepare for the mission. Nekobaa explains to Naruto and Sakura of the Uchiha brothers’ game where Itachi would assign Sasuke to collect paw prints from fast cats to large lions. Sometime Sasuke stopped playing the game and two paw prints remained. Nekobaa collected one of the two paw prints from Yugito Nii, the jinchūriki of the Two-Tails and asks Team 7 to collect the last one from Nekomata who has hidden himself in a fortress.

Outside the shop, Sasuke prepares for the mission, hoping to pass the boundary his brother set. Nekobaa gives Team 7 cat ears to infiltrate Nekomata's fortress. After being guided by Hina and Denka, Team 7 head to the fortress. At first they managed to fool the guards but after Naruto blows his cover, the cats alert the other cats of intruders. Sasuke and Sakura sneak in without Naruto and split up to find Nekomata. They both manage to find Nekomata's location from other cats and head to his location but run into cats they are forced to fight though they defeat in the end. Sasuke finds Nekomata who is surprised Sasuke got by all his guards. Nekomata begins the fight by placing Sasuke under a genjutsu but Sasuke breaks it with the Sharingan.

For the rest of the fight Nekomata relies on brute force. When Sasuke was about to be killed, Naruto and Sakura arrive to save him. Naruto decides to take on Nekomata though Sasuke decides to beat him himself with a bunch of kunai with exploding tags hanging above Nekomata which Sasuke had thrown during the fight. The ceiling collapses on Nekomata, defeating him and Sasuke collects the last paw print, ending the flashback. Nekomata remembers seven years before his fight with Sasuke that he fought and lost to Itachi who told him Sasuke will fight him in seven years and to not hold back on him. Nekobaa states that it is unfortunate that the two brothers who loved each other eventually began to have hatred towards to each other.

Eternal Genin
Naruto is tasked with patrolling areas near the village after the invasion, so other countries won't try invading them, and is surprised to learn that Kosuke is a ninja who's on the same team as this for the mission, and also about the famous Konoha ninja he served under. Naruto and the other members come to enjoy his presence, finding him very useful to have around.

During the mission Kosuke shares a bit of his history, including missions under the Second and Third Hokage. When Iwa-nin start to attack, the jōnin of the group stay behind to allow Naruto and Kosuke to alert the village. The Iwa-nin eventually reach them, but they're able to shrug them off. Naruto questions Kosuke about a high-level technique he used. The kunoichi captain of the Iwa nin reaches them, and gets angry when she learns so many of her genin troop were defeated by few genin. Kosuke tells Naruto to go on without him and starts fighting her, using techniques he learned from previous Hokage. Naruto comes back and Kosuke defeats the kunoichi. At the present, Kosuke sees Naruto from afar, and remembers serving under the Fourth Hokage, and muses to himself that the Fourth left behind a fine son, meaning he's one of the few people who was aware of Naruto's lineage.

Jomae Village
After returning from a mission, Team 7 sees ANBU members taking a captured spy in for questioning. When she resists Ibiki's interrogation, they decided to have Inoichi Yamanaka to read her mind. He learns that she didn't find anything about Konoha, but finds it curious that she knows nothing about her own village, and is surprised to see a young Kakashi in her memories. Kakashi has no memory of Hanare, and Inoichi suggests he spends time with Hanare, hoping he can use the Sharingan to learn more about Hanare. Kakashi and Hanare walk around the village. Ino lets Sakura know Kakashi is with someone, and rushes to see for herself, meeting Naruto and Sasuke on the way, who already know, and are also interested. Hanare tells Kakashi who she met him years ago when she was lost, and how he helped her find her way back. They try to eavesdrop on the two, but end up falling on top of them, knocking Kakashi directly on top of Hanare, uncovering his Sharingan. The three cover up by saying they approve Kakashi and Hanare's supposed relationship.

Konoha learns that Hanare's village has a Konoha jōnin in custody, and agree to a hostage exchange. Kakashi objects to the trade. During the trade, Kakashi explodes the bridge on which the trade occurred, intending to take Hanare back. The Jōmae Village head tells her to rush back to the village with the information she collected. When Team 7 corners him, the village head commits suicide to prevent information leaking. Hanare reaches a cliff, and Kakashi reaches her. He tells her that he knows about her special information gathering technique, which allows her to look inside her own mind, and read the mind of those probing her mind, because he accidentally copied with the Sharingan when he was knocked on top of her. Hanare tells him that she has erased all the information she had on Konoha, because for the first time, she felt like was home and belonged somewhere when Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura accepted her, having never known her parents and being raised out of her village. By the time the others reach him, Kakashi is alone, claiming Hanare jumped off the cliff when she was cornered. Hanare lived, and is seen walking where she met Kakashi as a kid.

The man who died twice
When Naruto was asked by Shikamaru and Shiho to see if he recognises anyone in the photos they were able to recover, Naruto grabs one and leaves. He then thinks back to how he met the man in the photo. He remembers a time when he found a tag with the name Kisuke written on it. We then see Naruto sitting on his bed. He sees a man sitting on the other side, and after realising he is a "ghost", he starts screaming. Naruto asks him who he is, but the man does not remember. After the man sees a tulip in Konoha, he suddenly remembers who he is and how he became to be a ghost. His name was Kisuke Maboroshi, an ANBU operative investigating infiltration of spies into Konoha. When he was alive he was investigating a suspect named Sabiru. After following him around, he was discovered, and the two clashed. The battle ended with Sabiru sealing away Kisuke's soul.

Naruto, disguised as Kisuke, breaks into a meeting involving Konoha's security system and accuses Sabiru of being a spy. When Sabiru says that the real Kisuke is dead, Naruto escapes with Kakashi and Sabiru on his trail. At some point in the chase, Kakashi caught Naruto, and gave Naruto a chance to prove Sabiru guilty of the murders of Kisuke and his wife. When Sabiru confessed to Naruto that he did kill the two, Kakashi appeared ready to arrest him, but Sabiru was promptly taken out by Kabuto Yakushi who was hidden in the trees. Near the end of the day, Kisuke's soul is ready to depart and says good-bye to Naruto. Back in the present, Naruto places a bouquet of tulips on the gravestone of Kisuke, just as he promised him he would do whenever he remembers him.

The worst three legged race
While Kiba Inuzuka and Akamaru were delivering some items Sakura Haruno and Naruto Uzumaki were watching. Sakura commented on how Naruto and Sasuke were inseparable those days and Naruto had a flashback to a mission where Team Kakashi had to retrieve a golden statue, which was stolen by a band of thieves from a Feudal Princess. As Naruto and Sasuke retrieve the statue, Sakura gets taken hostage. At first, Sasuke insists on continuing the mission, but Naruto tells him that those who abandon their friends are worse than scum. When they finally find Sakura and the bandits, it was at first hard for them because their hands got stuck together. However, one by one, through teamwork, the two quickly defeated the bandits and their leader, Jako. Although their mission was a success, the statue itself was very damaged, but Kakashi Hatake said that it could be melted down and re-casted. When Naruto complained about his hand being stuck to Sasuke's, Sakura said that it will naturally fall apart within two or three days, much to the disappointment of Naruto and Sasuke.

Cooperation Team 10
After a Village Headman's granddaughter was kidnapped by Baji, he hired Konohagakure's Team 7 and Team 10 for assistance. When the teams accepted the mission to stop Baji and rescue the girl, an ex-bandit named Tōfu acted as their guide. Shikamaru then instructed Asuma and Kakashi to find an alternate route to the Baji's fortress. Tofu later gets captured and is revealed to be a double agent working for the gang leader. When the six genin infiltrated the fortress, Shikamaru agreed to a hostage exchange between him and Tofu in order to find out the location of the Headman's granddaughter. Ino and Chōji managed to find the tower where the hostages were held, and later, helped defeat Baji. The mission ended with a success, the bandit group were captured, and the Headman's granddaughter was rescued. The scene then shifts back to present time, where Ino and Shikamaru leave Chōji the arduous task of carrying all the hogs back to the village.

Drive towards Darkness
Naruto along with Sakura have been sent to escort Naho, a relative of the Fire Daimyō, to Shizume village. Naho wants Sasuke to escort her, but he was with Kakashi in another mission. Naruto disguises himself as Sasuke so Naho agrees to go with them. After Sasuke and Kakashi noted that the fortress was empty, Naho's group was intercepted by Sadai and his associates. Naruto, Sakura, and Naho come across the criminal and his associates. Naruto defeats the associates, but can't take down their leader. They're all captured. Kakashi uses his ninken to track the criminal. Sasuke appears and the leader mocks him, mentioning he alone in his clan wasn't worth killing, mirroring Itachi's words. Sasuke takes on the leader, who reveals an Earth Release armour, the reason he's able to take on so many attacks. Sasuke defeats him with Chidori, and proceeds to keep punching him. Kakashi stops him and Sasuke goes back to Konoha by himself. Naho comments that Sasuke is scary, but Naruto assures her that Sasuke just has a lot going on with him at the moment, and promises to take her to see him once he's better.

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 was still in love with Sasuke, didn't believe her and said she was lying to herself. 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, sympathising 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. Both survived the clash, with Madara 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.

Advetures at the land of sea arc
A team consisting of Yamato, Aoba, and Might Guy and three other unknown shinobi, set off with Naruto to the Land of Lightning, to confine him in an isolated location from Akatsuki in preparation for the Fourth Shinobi World War. The team travels to a harbour in the Land of Fire to travel by sea. Tsunade ordered them to take the long way so Akatsuki wouldn't attempt to capture Naruto. The boat the team takes is rather small one, so they won't get noticed. Some fellow Konoha ninja warn them about a sea monster that attacks any ship that goes into open water. Guy decides to sail out with Aoba to the water to fight the monster. Suddenly, the monster attacks Guy and Aoba, and they learn that it is a Giant Marlin summon from the Third Shinobi World War, roaming around the waters of the Land of Fire. As the marlin swims towards Guy, a fisherman named Yūsuke, tries to capture it. The fish destroys Yūsuke's boat and the fisherman is saved by Naruto. Holding Yūsuke prevents Naruto from performing any techniques and is left open. Yamato shields Naruto and Aoba distracts the marlin with the Scattering Thousand Crows Technique while they all escape.

At Yūsuke's hut, the Konoha ninja try to figure out why the marlin did not return home after the war. Yūsuke tells them to not interfere as he wants to capture the fish himself, to avenge his father who died trying to capture it. As the team is about to depart, Naruto wants to help Yūsuke avenge his father to which everyone agrees. The next day, Yūsuke comes out to see a new boat and fishing rod made by Yamato. The team sails out with Yūsuke to search for the marlin. The marlin appears and Guy opens the second of his Eight Gates to keep up with the fish's speed. Yūsuke uses a large fishing lure resembling Naruto to catch the marlin. The fish eventually gets exhausted from pulling on the lure and Yūsuke finally captures the marlin. Afterwards, Naruto notices a fūma shuriken on the marlin's forehead and pulls it out. The marlin returns home shortly after and the Konoha sail on a new boat, waving goodbye to Yūsuke.

While on the way to the Land of Lightning, Naruto and his bodyguards stop off at a nearby island, due to all his bodyguards becoming seasick, Guy in particular. While there, they see Sakura, Ino and Chōji picking up medicinal herbs on the orders of Tsunade and Naruto decides to help them, although he does not fare well, from eating poisonous herbs to being paralysed on a bridge. As Chōji spots one of the medicinal herbs, some ninja from the Benisu Island appear and make the Konoha ninja waste their time, while collecting the exact same herbs. However, they have a change of heart and give Sakura, Ino and Chōji all the herbs they picked up, as Naruto saved them from a monster protecting the Elixir Mud. With Guy feeling better, they head off towards the Land of Lightning and Tsunade's team back to Konoha happily, unaware that the Benisu ninja just gave them the herbs, so they could collect the debt owed after the war.

As they continue their voyage towards the Land of Lightning, Naruto, Aoba, Guy and Yamato sail through a thick fog. Yamato tells Aoba and Naruto about the "Ghost Ship" to pass the time. Suddenly, they met another ship, very much same to Yamato's description of the said ship. They come to the ship to investigate, and meet Hishaku, who is revealed to be a "soul" who cannot rest because of the guilt when the ship was attacked by the Giant Corpse Crab. Naruto and the others help him revenge the said crab, and later was revealed all his co-sailors and the captain cann

While sailing to the Land of Lighting,Naruto and the others are attacked by pirates who wanted to sink their ship and loot the wreckage.Thanks to some fast thinking on Yamato's part and the early warning by one of the sensor-type shinobi however, the ship is saved and they dock in an underground cavern. There they find a burial ground and a journal telling of the plight of the native islanders at the hand of the wicked Gataro and his men. Hearing this, Naruto vows revenge for the deceased and comes up with an ingenious strategy on how to escape the giant geyser that they were trapped in. Using Naruto's strategy the Konoha shinobi and crew were able to escape the island and put Gataro and his men out of commissionot also rest. After defeating it, Naruto continued sailing, as well the ship set free.

While on their voyage to the Land of Lightning, a giant bird swoops down and kidnaps Guy. The team pursues the bird and are lead to a volcanic island. Upon arrival, Aoba spots a mysterious girl watching them and decides to pursue her while Yamato and Naruto search for Guy. During their search, Naruto and Yamato encounter many giant creatures, including the bird that kidnapped Guy. They eventually locate the bird's nest where they find Guy, who was actually kidnapped to babysit the bird's chicks. Meanwhile, as Aoba pursues the girl, he discoverers the animals on the island are actually bred to be used by shinobi as summons, as well as a research dedicated to developing the ultimate summon. He continues to follow her, and he is lead inside the volcano and finds a huge monster asleep inside an abandoned research lab. Using a mind reading technique, he discovers the monster was too powerful to be contained and had devoured many of the islands summons, as well as the researchers, before going to sleep.The bird takes Yamato, Guy and Naruto to the volcano where they then encounter Aoba, and the beast suddenly awakens, going on a rampage. The monster is powerful and uses genjutsu as well as Lightning Release. Naruto has to enter Sage Mode while Yamato protects him as Guy and Aoba fight the beast in order to buy some time. Guy manages to knock the beast into the heart of the volcano, but the monster can also fly. The bird which kidnapped Guy comes down and attacks the monster along with the other summons. The girl, actually the spirit of the girl who the researchers used to restrain the beast until it grew too strong, appears and manages to immobilise the beast, with Naruto finishing it off with Wind Release: Rasenshuriken.

The group stops for supplies and prepare to enter an area devoid of fish of the sea and wind that takes two weeks to be crossed. In the hold, a mushroom purchased by Naruto begins to multiply and to absorb the chakra of Yamato. After resisting for a long time without food, Naruto and Guy taste the mushrooms and it poisons them and push them to act in a violent manner. Without alternatives, Naruto calls Gamatatsu and asks him to bring him Shima's food, composed of insects. All aboard eat and regain strength, even managing to defeat the pirates who sold them the mushroom when they come to look for valuable cargo. After having braved a storm, four ofHis shadow clones rebel against him, taking him hostage, forcing the crew to stop in an island. Naruto's clones were going to kill him, but he wakes up and realises it was all just a dream of one of his clones. So, when the clone was extinguished, his memories was transferred to the real Naruto. Naruto becomes respectful of his clones and releases the technique, giving the clones the rest they craved and deserved.

While crossing part of their trajectory by land in the Land of Water's territory, Naruto's group comes across an imposter, claiming to be him. He and his partner are acting as criminal and hero duo, claiming to defeat Naruto, who had apparently become famous due to his victory over Pain, in order to build up a reputation for themselves during the upcoming war. Naruto however quickly defeats him. Mercenary ninja attack the imposter Naruto, thinking him to be a missing-nin, in order to collect a reward. Iggy calls Naruto's group for help, but they need to be on their way to the Land of Lightning. Iggy tries defending Banna on his own. Having stayed behind to see what he'd do, Naruto's group helps defeating the mercenary ninja and continue on their way.

Kokuyō wants Shizuka to be his wife in order to control her village, which she repeatedly spurns his advances. Tokiwa, her attendant saw Naruto and after being told that he was Jiraiya's student told him he had to battle Shizuka for his hand in marriage as Jiraiya had promised Shizuka's mentor. He declined the offer, but however Tokiwa tracked him down, and narrated Shizuka's past to him, as she also was against the village's law that female should marry the man who defeats them in battle, and accept the duel. He fooled Aoba, Guy and Yamato to buy some time. He defeats Shizuka, but Kokuyō attacked Shizuka again, only to be defeated by Naruto's Rasengan. Naruto talks to Shizuka about his unrequited love for Sakura Haruno. To encourage Shizuka to rethink her destiny.

Naruto,the dead-last in their Ninja Academy days, had become such a hero. After being Scolded byTsume and partner Shino,Kiba decided to train in order to become stronger. Seeking out Kakashi, the only available jōnin sensei currently, he asks him to help him train. Kakashi however summons hisninja hounds to aid Kiba andAkamaru in their training. After initially giving up after being defeated by the hounds, Akamaru carries Kiba to a tree in the village where he sees that Naruto had broken his record in speed since the time they were children racing for candy. With his determination renewed, he demands a rematch with the hounds and is successfully able to retrieve the scroll. With this Kiba races to the tree and sets a new record, declaring that he'd never give up.

While on his way to meet messengers from Iwagakure, Chōjūrō decides to go on ahead by himself, due to the slow progress in travelling. Naruto and his group stop in an island for restocking before going straight to the Land of Lightning. Naruto sets off to eat. Akatsuchi is sent by the Tsuchikage to the same isolated island in the Land of Water to rendezvous with Chōjūrō, and Kurotsuchi tags along. As they await, they're attacked by a group of Kirigakure ninja, led by Ganryū. Battle ensues and Akatsuchi is injured. Naruto and Chōjūrō interfere and stop the battle. Chōjūrō demands Ganryū and his team to withdraw, stating that they are violating the Mizukage's will. The team leaves, and Kurotsuchi argues with Chōjūro to tend Akatsuchi's injuries, who says they need to wait for a medical-nin. Chōjūrō explains those were ninja who oppose the Allied Shinobi Forces, Ganryū being the sole survivor of the Tragedy of Yosuga Pass.

Kurotsuchi heads out to kill Ganryū before he can kill her. Naruto stops Kurotsuchi and Ganryū from killing one another, also telling Ganryū that it will just create a cycle of hatred. Kurotsuchi attempts to slash Ganryū using her sword, but Naruto blocks it with his body. Ganryū agrees to let Naruto fulfil the peace. Chōjūro arrives with other Kiri ninja, telling Ganryū to surrender, which he does. Chōjūro informs him that the Iwa messenger was sent by the Tsuchikage himself, to formally apologise for the Tragedy of Yogusa Pass, and return a personal belonging of one of Ganryū's team-mates who was killed in it. Chōjūro tells the others that Ganryū won't be sentenced for execution. Akatsuchi then tells Kurotsuchi that Kiri will just owe Iwa a favour in the future to come, delighted that the Iwa-Kiri grudge has come to an end. Naruto leaves in a hurry, without introducing himself to the others. Once arriving with Yamato and the others, they await for a new ship to take them to the island in the Land of Lightning.

Confining the Jinchuriki Arc
As Naruto was about to eat at Ichiraku, he was suddenly summoned back to Mount Myōboku by Fukasaku, who told him that the Great Toad Sage wished to tell him about his future. He prophesied that Naruto would meet an "octopus" and would battle a "young man with powerful eyes". Gerotora was then summoned and gave Naruto the "key" to the Eight Trigrams Seal. Knowing he would need the Nine-Tails’ power for the battles to come, Naruto took the key into his body and Fukasaku then returned him back to Ichiraku, where some of the villagers asked for his autograph.

To keep Naruto safe from Akatsuki, the five Kage sent him along with Yamato, Might Guy, Aoba Yamashiro, and several other Konoha-nin to a remote island in the Land of Lightning. Upon arriving and meeting with Killer B, Naruto was marvelled at B's mastery of his tailed beast and immediately requested training from him, but B refused since he was on vacation. However, Naruto proved to be a capable rapper and bumped fists with him, but then he accidentally insulted B while rapping. Naruto then used his Harem Technique in order to persuade him, but with no results. After hearing that Naruto and B had bumped fists, Motoi took Naruto to the Falls of Truth, where B had started 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 who he truly was on the inside. 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 was going on within Naruto, as Yamato observed Naruto still meditating near the waterfall. Somehow, Naruto was able to break out of the meditation, and questioned Motoi about B's history in order to figure out how to conquer the darkness within himself. After that, while Naruto reminisced about how B and Gaara changed the peoples' opinions about them, and that he wasn't certain if the villagers of Konoha truly trusted him, Motoi was attacked by the giant squid. Fortunately, Motoi was saved by B and Naruto was happy to see the two being able to resume their friendship. After that, Naruto went back to the Falls of Truth and confronted Dark Naruto again. When Naruto said that he must have faith in himself, it started to weaken Dark Naruto and forcing him to ask what was the reason for his existence then. Naruto said he was really him and thanked him for pushing him to be the person he is now. He then hugged Dark Naruto when he tried to attack him, who cried and disappeared. After awaking and celebrating, B led both Naruto and Yamato to a special room within the secret temple behind the Falls of Truth, preparing Naruto to fight the Nine-Tails.

Within his subconscious, both Naruto and the Nine-Tails began their battle after he used the key to unlock the seal. Just when Naruto (in Sage Mode) was starting to gain the upper hand after he weakened the Nine-Tails with the Rasenshuriken and draining out its chakra, the Nine-Tails instantly planted its own hatred within its chakra and it began to consume Naruto. Just before Naruto was completely succumbed, the spirit of his mother, Kushina Uzumaki, appeared. At first, Naruto believed that Kushina was the Nine-Tails in disguise, which made her angry and clobbered Naruto on the head. Kushina then apologised for her short-temper, telling Naruto that she hoped that wasn't a trait he inherited from her. Picking up on this and realising Kushina was his mother, Naruto started to cry and hugged her. With his happiness, the Nine-Tails' spreading influence stopped, much to Yamato and B's surprise. When Kushina told Naruto that she loved him, his positive emotions was able to deplete the Nine-Tails' hatred within its drained chakra. He 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 the chakra merged with Naruto, the enraged, 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 Nine-Tails 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.

Outside his subconscious, as Naruto was showing B and Yamato his new form, Naruto quickly sensed Kisame hidden inside his Samehada by detecting his negative emotions, which surprised Kisame. When Kisame attempted to escape, Naruto used his blinding speed and quickly smashed Kisame into the wall with a powerful punch. However, Kisame was able to retreat as Naruto's foot got stuck in the wall, leading Yamato to stay behind to help free him while B chased after Kisame. 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, but Kisame broke free and committed suicide so they could not get any more information out of him. Shocked by this action, Naruto realised that even the shinobi in Akatsuki fought for their comrades. When Guy then opened the information scroll Kisame had tried to send to Akatsuki, it triggered to trap them in water prisons with summoned sharks to keep the shinobi occupied while the last shark took the scroll, and swam into the ocean to get it to Akatsuki.

Chikaku Arc
The reborn Team Kakashi is sent out on a mission by Tsunade to a location known as "The Hole" to investigate an incident where Tonika Village's people had been killed. Regretting that she could not assign more people to the mission because of recent incidents elsewhere, the team sets out nonetheless. While there, they split up into two man teams, with Yamato and Sai encountering officers from the neighbouring Hachō Village, consisting of Shiseru and her team. After finding out who the Konoha shinobi were, the officers escort them to their village leader, Disonasu. Elsewhere, Sakura and Naruto, who are at The Hole's water spring, encounter Kabuto Yakushi, who uses tiny, specially-created snakes to create a clone of Hidan using his DNA and the water of The Hole, which possesses special properties. Kabuto then reveals that he had reincarnated several shinobi. A fight ensues between the two sides as Yamato and Sai rejoin with their team-mates.

A flashback of the destruction of the village shows two young siblings, Leo and Miina, conversing with their grandfather, when the village is attacked by Kabuto's reincarnated shinobi. With the aid of their teacher, Dokku, the children are able to escape their burning house and are left in the nearby forest. The village head gives two steel bars to Dokku, instructing him to keep them secret. The two children, Dokku, Faz, Lando, and Sora survive the attack and make their way to Hachō Village.

As Team Kakashi continues to battle Kabuto, Hidan and the reincarnated shinobi, Naruto gets swallowed by a giant snake created by Kabuto, but manages to escape using shadow clones, accidentally ingesting Kabuto's clone snakes in the process. When Naruto resurfaces, Kabuto retreats, using the reincarnated Deidara as a diversion, after revealing a village guard's corpse in the mouth of a snake. Meanwhile, Dokku takes care of the orphans, while Miina, due to trauma, becomes mute. After the attack, Naruto and Sakura join up with Shiseru, Yamato and Sai in going with the rest of the guards. While Yamato and Sai investigate Kabuto's motive for destroying the village, Sakura and Naruto follow Shiseru to Dokku's house. When Dokku and the orphans see them, noticing that Naruto wears the same forehead protector as the reincarnated shinobi, Leo kicks Naruto and they run until they reach a broken bridge. Leo crosses first and when Dokku and Miina run, they fall down the ravine, but are saved by Naruto. Yamato and Sai ask Disonasu for information, prompting him to show them a book revealing the origin of The Hole; a great power resided within many years ago and nearly consumed the world. In his sleep, Naruto sees himself in front of the Nine-Tails' cage within his subconscious as he is surrounded by the snakes he had previously ingested. Naruto and Dokku discuss Dokku's failure to save a girl in his prime and all his failures in life, unlike Naruto, who became famous even in the Hachō Village, a rural area. Kabuto, while testing the effects of his talismans on Hidan and Deidara in a graveyard, converses with an unknown individual that communicates to him through a scroll.

After having what was seemingly a bad dream, Miina runs to Dokku in the night to seek comfort. Elsewhere, in a graveyard, Kabuto Yakushi prepares to reincarnate another individual. When day breaks the next morning, Leo, Faz and Lando are eager to start their ninjutsu training with Naruto, who is feeling under the weather. However, after being chided by the boys since he had made a promise to them, Naruto emphatically begins the training, which even Shiseru decides to partake it, having found it interesting. While elsewhere a reincarnated Deidara and Hidan's genetic clone argue over their predicament, having killed several members of the Hachō Village militia, and are later confronted by several more members along with Yamato and Sai. Plagued by vivid images all day, Miina approaches Naruto and begins repeatedly saying "get out". Thinking that Miina was simply being rude, Shiseru punishes her and Miina runs off. Later, Disonasu visits their home and, to everyone's surprise, the Tonika Village Head is with him. Greeting his grandchildren, he notes that he had injured his eyes but presses on past that, asking Dokku for the piece of the treasure he had given to him the night of the invasion of the village. However, Miina alerts everyone to the fact that there was something strange about her grandfather and it is revealed that he had been reincarnated. As a fight subsequently breaks out when Kabuto makes an appearance, Naruto soon begins writhing in pain. Rushing towards him, Miina once again begins shouting "get out", eventually forcing the tiny snakes out of his body. The snakes then form into a clone of Naruto in his four-tailed Version 2 state, which attacks all present individuals, including Kabuto, who is unable to gain control of it through a talisman. As the creature continues attacking indiscriminately, everyone looks on in fear.

The Nine-Tailed Naruto clone tries to attack Dokku and the orphans, when Might Guy and Rock Lee arrive to repel it. While they fight the beast, Kabuto tries to control it, but to no avail. The rest of Konoha 11 arrive. Team Asuma helps Sakura and Kakashi and Team Kurenai helps Naruto. Tenten and Neji arrive, but are cornered by the reincarnated puppets. Kakashi chases Kabuto. The beast grabs Naruto to absorb chakra, which the Nine-Tails gladly shares. Hinata tries to defend Naruto, but is sent flying. After the beast absorbs Naruto's chakra, it grows in size and starts to devastate the Hachō Village, even firing a Tailed Beast Ball in far away, missing Yamato, Sai, Deidara and Hidan who are fighting outside the village. Dokku tries to save Naruto, who is still unconscious. Moments before the beast tramples them, Kabuto summons a snake to swallow both of them alive and retreats. While inside the underground hall in the Tonika Village, Naruto, unconscious and strangled by snakes, meets the Nine-Tails again in his subconscious.

The Konoha-nin investigates Kabuto's intention in the meanwhile. Shiseru remembers an earlier conversation between her and Dokku about the pros and cons of them adopting the kids. While the Nine-Tails tries to control Naruto, Dokku calls him, but gets shouted instead. Dokku asks Naruto what burden a powerful person carries and made Naruto choose the reason why he desires to be powerful, seeing flashbacks of his comrades of Konoha and also Sasuke, leading to the seal inside Naruto to gain strength again. Dokku gives Naruto his forehead protector, stating that he believes in him. Meanwhile, Leo decides to save their teacher by giving the mysterious iron bars which were mentioned earlier by the Tonika Village Head. While inside the hall, Kabuto, along with two reincarnated puppets, approaches with Disonasu, revealed to have engineered Tonika's destruction. Disonasu pulls out a scroll from which emerges the item that he desired: the Saezuri.

While the Saezuri is revealed, learning that Disonasu employed Kabuto Yakushi to wipe out the residents of Tonika Village, Dokku tried to attack Disonasu, but stopped by a reincarnated puppet and restrained by a resurrected Takigakure shinobi. Disonasu also praised Naruto about defeating Pain, the one who scarred him and left him powerless, before kicking the boy repeatedly. Miina and the orphans came to The Hole to give the iron bars, but Kabuto's clone intercepted them. Meanwhile, the rest of Konoha 11, along with Kakashi, Shiseru, Yamato and Sai moved out to the area. Disonasu prepares the summoning of the "power" by putting the remaining iron bars while Naruto enters Sage Mode. Miina hums to the sound as the Saezuri is activated, causing the area Naruto is on, the Ama no Hoko, to rise above ground. Kakashi arrived on the scene, revealing Disonasu's past as a bloodthirsty murderer and former Akatsuki subordinate whose specialty is the field of Summoning Technique, having researched Impure World Reincarnation with Orochimaru. Kabuto summons his puppets, the Nine-Tailed Naruto Clone, Hidan, and Deidara. Naruto faces off with the clone, while Deidara uses Explosive Clay to create a diversion and chase Naruto.

Disonasu escapes and Hidan faces Shikamaru. Deidara activates the Explosive Clay on the bodies of the resurrected individuals, as Hidan uses his ritual against Team Asuma, and Sakura got restrained by Hayate and the others. While Naruto relentlessly attacked the clone, he learned there is more than power. As Yamato restrained Disonasu, he activated the Saezuri, opening the area where Naruto faces the clone, draining the lake as an obelisk rises and creates a storm. After Hidan's clone body breaks down due to the shorten life spans of the snakes composing his body, Deidara is controlled by Kabuto to escape Kakashi. A lightning hit the area where the orphans are running, Miina pointing to the obelisk. When the storm expands towards Konoha, Tsunade goes out as the storm engulfs the Land of Fire. Naruto tried to stop Disonasu from ascending the tower, only to face his clone after he absorbed some of the tower's power and transformed a Hydra-tailed fox monster.

Fourth Shinobi 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, Naruto, under the instruction of B (who knew that the war already started), was led 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, in the process of losing his forehead protector. With Naruto being outside of the chakra isolation chamber and sensing the war going on around him, Iruka finally told Naruto the truth. Naruto refused Iruka's order to stay at the temple, declaring that he would end the war and endure all the pain and hate on his own. 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, Naruto pinned the fox down with a torii in retaliation and exclaimed to it with great confidence that he would find a way to deal with both Sasuke and the war. The Nine-Tails then condescendingly complimented Naruto for finally learning how to stand up for himself, before being unnerved by the boy's 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 if he still insisted on proceeding, he would have to kill him; believing he would buy the Allied Shinobi Forces some time before the Nine-Tails could revive, which would delay Madara's plan. As A attempted to punch Naruto, B blocked his attack. After B defeated A in a Lariat clash, B explained to A that his and Naruto's strength came not only from their tailed beasts, but also because they had people who cared about them. To test Naruto, A then 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), who told them that Naruto was the only one who would be able to sense the chakra of the White Zetsu Army. Soon, as their path was blocked by a group of White Zetsu disguising as shinobi, Naruto quickly took them all out with his new techniques and he then deployed his shadow clones to the other battlefields. After that, Naruto and B soon encountered both the 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, but before Nagato could remove Naruto's soul, Naruto 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 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.

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 was 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 headbutted him, causing both of them to recoil from the impact.

When Naruto questioned Tobi about his true identity, Tobi simply replied he was no one and he only wished to complete the Eye of the Moon Plan and fix the miserable, worthless world. Tobi then said both Naruto and B should at least understand what that misery felt like, but Naruto argued that having a tailed beast sealed inside them wasn’t all bad and even in a world that Tobi deemed as 'worthless', no one was going to fall for his lies. Right after Tobi had the reincarnated jinchūriki enter the early stages of their tailed beast transformations, he made them clash with Naruto and B, who were at a great disadvantage by their numbers, abilities, and teamwork, as well as the area they were in. 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 engaged in a fight with Rōshi and attempted to destroy the receiver in his chest with a Rasengan, but was thwarted by Han, who sent Naruto flying with a 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, got inside of Rōshi's subconscious and found the beast in chains. After denying that he had come to steal the beast's power, Naruto was chastised by the ape that refused to be called "Four-Tails", telling him to call it by its proper name: Son Gokū, and at the same time learning the Nine-Tails was called Kurama. As Naruto expressed his wish to be friends with Kurama in the same manner that B was with the Eight-Tails, Son found it amusing, but when Naruto said that having understood their feelings because of the way he was mistreated in his youth and hated to see them mistreated by someone who didn't know who they were, Son came to realise that he was serious. Although Son agreed to tell the eager Naruto on how to stop it, it made a point beforehand of it not trusting jinchūriki and told him not to expect for it to become his ally, unless it trusted him. Outside of Rōshi's subconscious, Naruto forced the transformed Rōshi to vomit him out after the latter used the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique. While still being manipulated to attack Naruto, a clone in Sage Mode who had stayed inside the beast's mouth prepared a two-fold attack on the chakra receiver that located on the side of the neck. After Naruto succeeded in removing it and re-entered Rōshi's subconscious, he realised in shock that the chain that imprisoned Son was still there. Son explained that the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path still held its chakra and that Naruto had only freed it from Tobi's control. Noting Naruto's concern and his intention to save Son completely, it gave him some of its chakra before being sealed back into the statue. Drained of chakra, Kurama offered to lend him more its power. Before accepting, however, Naruto thanked Kurama for its help during one of his clone's encounter with Madara, to which the fox rebuffed him for. After Naruto argued with it about the way it took his gratitude, Kurama offered to meld its chakra with Naruto's. Noting that Kurama was no longer the monster fox that attacked Konoha, but an ally of the village and his team-mate, Naruto unlocked the seal's gate and released Kurama as he prepared to face the five remaining, fully-transformed jinchūriki.

With the gate opened, Naruto entered into his new form. With no time to waste as the opposing tailed beasts prepared to blast Guy and Kakashi with their Tailed Beast Balls, Naruto intervened and deflected the attacks with such speed that Kakashi mistook 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 he only had five minutes in 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 preformed 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 stakes, 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 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. 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 the jinchiruiki.

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 begins to attack he binds Naruto's clone with a Wood Release technique, and tries 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 gave Kakashi some of his chakra so he could attack Obito in the other dimension and also return to the real world using Kamui. Meanwhile Naruto and B — both in full Tailed Beast Mode form — charged and fired a huge Tailed Beast Ball at the Demonic Statue, hoping to destroy it and end the conflict once and for all. As B shouted it was the end and Naruto proclaimed that he could no longer sense its chakra, the Ten-Tails emerged from the smoke and Obito declared it was indeed the end of this world.

As the massive demon roared, Naruto noted that he could not sense anything from it. Kurama explained that the Ten-Tails was void of thought and feelings, and was more akin to a natural force of energy. Naruto then tried to better gauge its power by using Sage Mode, but found its power to be immeasurable. As Kurama began restoring Kakashi and Guy's respective chakra, the Ten-Tails attacked, quickly overwhelming him and Gyūki before they could finish devising a strategy. Despite the situation, Naruto was happy to see Kurama genuinely working with his friends. 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. After the dust settled, Kakashi and Naruto's shadow clone appeared above the Ten-Tails, where Kakashi teleported Gyūki who prepared to launch a Tailed Beast Ball from the beast's blind-spot. However, the beast simply flicks the attack back at Gyūki, leaving Naruto's shadow clone, and Kakashi open for an attack.

After the clone successfully pushes Kakashi out of the way, and gets dispelled by the tail himself, Obito reflects on how much Naruto was like himself before the Ten-Tails' attack disperses the shadow clone and sends Gyūki flying. With the Tailed Beast Mode transformation at its limits, Kurama tells Naruto to buy him some time while they generated more chakra to use. Naruto lashes out at Obito once again, stating his dream to become Hokage which leads Obito to tell him that he would make him the Hokage inside the Infinite Tsukuyomi, and as the Ten-Tails prepared to fire a Tailed Beast Ball, asked that Naruto vanish together with this world. As the ball fires, the shinobi are shocked to realise that the beast 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.

After a brief talk with Obito, Naruto asked Shikaku, via Inoichi's telepathy technique if he had bought enough time, which the strategist replied in the affirmative. As the Allied Shinobi Forces seemingly manage 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 mature form, sending Naruto and several others flying back. Naruto gets up and stares in shock at the beast's transformation.

Soon, the Ten-Tails begins to launch Tailed Beast Balls at nearby villages, and then fires one at the Allied Shinobi Headquarters, though not before Shikaku and Inoichi relay their final battle strategy. Naruto questions what happened to them, but suddenly Neji and Hiashi defend him from an incoming attack and tell him not to get distracted in the battlefield. After reminding Naruto that he's the key to their strategy, the two of them, plus Hinata, declare that they will protect him. The Ten-Tails then begins fired a barrage of wooden spears that prove difficult to defend against. Naruto manages to enter Sage Mode and launch a few Rasenshuriken at the projectiles, but exhaust his senjutsu chakra. Soon the beast launches a pinpointed attack at Naruto that the Hyūga are 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 reminds Naruto that Hinata, as well as everyone else, is willing to die for him. When Naruto pleads to know why he'd sacrifice himself for him, Neji says it's because he was called a genius, reminding him of their first battle.Devstated Naruto and Hinata tearfully mourns as Neji dies in Naruto's arms.

Taking advantage of 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, reminding Naruto of his parents' similar sacrifice to protect him. With his confidence restored, and his beliefs reaffirmed, Naruto thanked Hinata for staying by his side and took her hand as he re-entered the Tailed Beast Mode, with some of Kurama's chakra also surrounding Hinata. Ready to face his enemy once more, Naruto signalled Hinata to get ready.

Naruto Uzumaki is a playable character in the following video games:

Catchphrases
In the original Japanese release of Naruto, "(Da)ttebayo!" (「(だ)ってばよ!」) is his catch phrase. He uses it at the end of most of his sentences as a way of making his speech unique. Naruto inherited this from his mother,Kushina Uzumaki, who would instead end her sentences with "(Da)ttebane" (「(だ)ってばね」) when she got excited or angry, something she had hoped — albeit unsuccessfully – that her son would not inherit.[1]

Dattebayo has no literal English translation; however, "Believe It!" was used in the English dub whenever Naruto is making a big statement to keep a similar tone in the English version of the series. It is also used to match the lip movements from the original Japanese release. Around the start of the Chunin Exam Arc, however, "Believe it" fell out of use. It is translated also as "Do you get what I'm saying?", which he uses before the fight withZabuza Momochi, where it was hard to match the lip movements when translated into English.

Trivia

 * Spirals and swirl patterns are a recurring theme in Naruto, especially in relation to the character of Naruto Uzumaki himself. The word/name "Naruto" can mean "maelstrom," and is also short for 'Narutomaki', a kind of kamaboko with a pink whirlpool design in the middle that is used as a topping for ramen, which is Naruto's favourite food. The surname "Uzumaki" is a pun on "spiral" (渦巻), because it refers to a three-dimensional spiral, like a whirlpool or vortex. "Uzumaki" can also mean "whirlpool," in reference to the Naruto whirlpools (鳴門の渦潮), named after the city of Naruto. In addition, Naruto's mother, Kushina Uzumaki, is from Uzushiogakure in the Land of Whirlpools, who used the spiral pattern as their village symbol.
 * October 10th, Naruto's birthday, was Health and Sports Day in Japan when his character was conceived. The holiday, however, was later moved to the second Monday of October in 1999.
 * Naruto consistently ranked in the top two (taking first place twice) in the first five official Shōnen Jump character popularity polls. However, in the sixth character poll, he was ranked fourth. According to the Databook 3 character poll, which adds up all the votes from the first six polls, Naruto took second place. In the most recent poll, Naruto regained his status and reached first.
 * Naruto is one of four characters to have always stayed in the Top Ten of every Character Popularity Poll.
 * Despite being the main character, Naruto has taken several long absences, sometimes up to ten or more chapters. Naruto: Shippūden's omake sometimes reference this, joking that Naruto is not the main character of his own show.
 * In Naruto Shippūden: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 3 and Naruto Shippūden: Dragon Blade Chronicles video games, Naruto performs Fire Release techniques even though Fire isn't his nature type.
 * In addition, he can perform Water Release, Earth Release, and Lightning Release techniques in Naruto Shippūden: Dragon Blade Chronicles, it's likely that the scrolls that are attached to his clothing allow him to do so.
 * Naruto's mother was nicknamed the "Red Hot-Blooded Habanero" while his father was famed as the "Yellow Flash". Naruto's appropriate self-styled title of "Konoha's Orange Hokage" refers to the fact that the colour orange is a mixture of red and yellow.
 * Eiichiro Oda, author of One Piece stated that he was originally going to name Sanji as Naruto, but didn't because "Naruto" was about to make its début.
 * According to the databook(s):
 * Naruto's hobbies are pulling pranks and watering plants.
 * Naruto wishes to fight Sasuke Uchiha, the Third Hokage[1], and members of Akatsuki.[2] [3]
 * Naruto's favourite foods are Ichiraku ramen and red bean soup. His least favourite are fresh vegetables.
 * Naruto has completed 16 official missions in total: 7 D-rank, 1 C-rank, 2 B-rank, 6 A-rank, 0 S-rank.
 * Naruto's favourite phrase is "a large serving of miso ramen with roasted pork fillet" (味噌チャーシュー大盛り, miso chāshū ōmori) 

Quotes
(To Kakashi) "And my future dream is to be the greatest Hokage! Then the whole village will stop disrespecting me and start treating me like I'm somebody. Somebody important!"[105]
 * (To Ibiki) "Don't underestimate me! I don't quit and I don't run! You can act tough all you want! You're not gonna scare me off! No way! I don't care if I DO get stuck as a genin for the rest of my life! I'll still be Hokage someday!"[106]
 * (To Neji) "I'm not gonna run away, I never go back on my word! That's my nindō: my ninja way!"[107]
 * (To Gaara) "It's almost unbearable, isn't it… the pain of being all alone. I know that feeling; I've been there, in that dark and lonely place, but now there are others, other people who mean a lot to me. I care more about them than I do myself, and I won't let anyone hurt them. That's why I'll never give up. I will stop you, even if I have to kill you! They saved me from myself. They rescued me from my loneliness. They were the first to accept me as who I am. They're my friends."[108]
 * (To Sai) "I don't care who I have to fight… If he rips my arms off, I'll kick him to death. If he rips my legs off, I'll bite him to death. If he rips my head off, I'll stare him to death. And if he gouges out my eyes, I'll curse him to death… Even if I'm torn to shreds… I will take Sasuke back!"[109]
 * (To Pain) "You should give up… on me giving up!"[110]
 * (To Nagato, reciting a line from Jiraiya's first book) "Then I will break that curse. If there's such thing as peace, I will find it. I won't give up!"[31]
 * (To Sasuke) "If you attack Konoha, I will have to fight you… So save up your hatred and take it all on me, I'm the only one who can take it! It's the only thing I can do! I will shoulder your hatred and die with you! Because I'm your friend!"[111]
 * (To Kushina) "Don't apologise… I had a lot of hard times growing up as a jinchūriki, but I never blamed you or Dad. I couldn't understand what a parent's love was like because you guys were never there… so I could only guess… But now I know… I live because you and Dad gave your lives for me and filled me up with love before the Nine-Tails was inside me! So here I am, happy and healthy! I'm glad I ended up being your son!"[112]
 * (To Iruka) "I'll end this war myself! I'll endure all the hate and pain on my own! That's my role!"<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-ch535_33-1">[34]
 * (To A) "Yes, he might have died… but together, he and my mom protected Konoha from the Nine-Tails! They protected me! It may have only been for a second, but in that second, they gave me so much… their faith! Faith that I could finish their jobs! Faith that I could fulfil the role of a "saviour!""<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-112">[113]
 * (To Tobi) "You can call yourself no one, you can start a war, but even in this world you think of as "nothingness", no one's falling for your stupid lies! You can change your mask, you can take on as many names as you want, but you're still you, and you're just one guy! I've had enough. I'm gonna tear that mask right off your face!"<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-113">[114]
 * (To Kurama) "You're not the monster fox anymore. You're one of my team-mates from Konoha… Kurama