Naruto was born the son of Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage, and Kushina Uzumaki. Before his birth, they had decided to name him after the main character in Jiraiya's first book, hoping their son would be as great a ninja as the character was. This made Jiraiya Naruto's godfather. Soon after his birth, however, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox attacked Konohagakure. To save the village, Minato engaged ...
Naruto was born the son of Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage, and Kushina Uzumaki. Before his birth, they had decided to name him after the main character in Jiraiya's first book, hoping their son would be as great a ninja as the character was. This made Jiraiya Naruto's godfather. Soon after his birth, however, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox attacked Konohagakure. To save the village, Minato engaged the Nine-Tails in mortal combat and sealed it into Naruto's body, believing his son would someday have use for it. Minato died afterwards, leaving Naruto to grow up knowing nothing of his parents. He received his mother's last name since Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, felt that it was best that nobody knew 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 to stop the Nine-Tails. Few did as he asked, however, instead openly resenting him for containing the monster that had destroyed their home. In light of this, the Third Hokage decreed that nobody should ever speak of the Nine-Tails sealed within Naruto, hoping that their children would not resent him as they did. The children, however, followed their parents' lead, despite not knowing why. Naruto was forced to live confused over why the villagers hated him so, and strived to win their recognition. Iruka Umino would be one of the few exceptions, who was always compassionate to Naruto's plight. For this, Naruto came to view Iruka as the father-figure he never had.
PersonalityBefore graduating from the Academy, Naruto had a craving for acknowledgement. During his days as an academy student, Naruto would play pranks all around the village in an attempt to be recognized by its inhabitants. He would also tell everyone who doubted him on a near-constant basis that he would one day become Hokage. As he told Iruka, he wished to achieve this rank in order to be recognized by those around him, and to have the responsibility of defending them.
Even after graduating, Naruto was still determined to be recognized, and became the "Number One Loudest, Unpredictable, Hyperactive Knuckleheaded Ninja of Konoha", as described by Kakashi Hatake. As the series progressed, with Naruto making 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.
Naruto's exuberant personality and fiery desire for self-improvement strongly impacts the lives of those around him. At the beginning of the series, Naruto befriended Konohamaru Sarutobi, the grandson of the Third Hokage, and it is through his brief tutelage that Konohamaru learned that the path to success is through plenty of hard work. Kakashi described this as Naruto's "unique power", as he seems to change the world views of everyone he meets, and inspires courage for the future within them. This is most prominently shown when Naruto earned the trust of Nagato, the leader of Akatsuki, and one of the main antagonists of the series.
As mentioned above, Naruto is characterized as being hyperactive; he is typically exuberant, easily excitable, impulsive, and suffers from a short attention span. This is supported by Asuma Sarutobi in the 'Fire Temple' arc in the anime, describing Naruto as being the type who doesn't think before acting, similar to Sora. Asuma also identifies Naruto's personality type and fighting style, like Sora's, as being a 'power type'--types that are best suited to 'charging straight in'--and are best effective in battle when sent in first, in the front to 'clear a path' through the enemy's defensive line, making a way in after them for the rest of the team. While raw power is one of his strengthes, Naruto has begun to learn in recent chapters that it is something that he needs to temper with focus in order for it to become truely effective.
According to Kakashi, Naruto is someone who learns through his body. Naruto is relatively naive, being slow to understand a jutsu's principles, and often requiring a dumbing-down of an already dumbed-down analogy in order to grasp what is being explained to him. This assumes he is able to keep his attention long enough, as he commonly seeks to change the subject in light of his ignorance, outwardly insisting that he already gets the concept. Though he retains this confidence in himself to great degrees, loudly proclaiming that he will master whatever technique he is learning in a fraction of the usual time, Naruto will not hesitate to ask for help if he needs it.
As an extension of his naivety, Naruto has a number of childish traits. His pajamas always include a comical black nightcap with eyes and teeth, and he keeps his money in a chubby, green-frog wallet he affectionately calls "Gama-chan". He almost exclusively eats ramen, and is a frequent customer at the Ichiraku Ramen Bar. He has a natural affinity for perverted ideas and jutsu, something he tends to be reprimanded for by Sakura, and which is only brought to new levels after meeting Jiraiya. He also smiles near-constantly, which, during his childhood, was to mask the sadness of his lonely life. Those who are closest to him are able to recognize when his smile isn't genuine.
However, when the situation calls for it, typically when someone dear to him is in trouble, Naruto can be very serious, and will instantly come to their aid. This is most commonly seen in the series through his interactions with his teammates, Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno. With Sasuke, Naruto views him as a brother, and throughout Part II strives to bring him back to Konoha, despite his willing defection from the village. With Sakura, Naruto has a long-standing crush on her, and will do all in his power to make her happy, even if it is at the expense of his own happiness. Recently, Hinata Hyuga confessed her love for Naruto. He was greatly angered when she was seemingly fatally wounded afterwards, and was relieved to hear that she had survived, but it is unclear whether he now has feelings for her.
After talking with his father, defeating Nagato and having a truce with him and Konan, Naruto came to understand the downside of revenge, and desired to stop Sasuke from it even more. Also, Naruto tried to stop the Kumo-nins from exacting their revenge against Sasuke, for this would only create a cycle of hatred.
Read more
