Konohamaru Sarutobi

**Konohamaru Sarutobi** (猿飛木ノ葉丸, *Sarutobi Konohamaru*) is a shinobi of Konohagakure's Sarutobi clan. After later becoming a jōnin, he becomes the leader of his own genin team. He strives to one day become Hokage after his idol, Naruto Uzumaki.

## Background

Konohamaru was born into the Sarutobi clan and was named after Konoha by his grandfather. While being raised by his Anbu parents, Konohamaru was never referred to by his name by the villagers, only ever called "Honourable Grandson" (お孫様, *Omago-sama*) because of his relationship to the Hokage. Wanting to be acknowledged as a person and not simply the Hokage's grandson, Konohamaru began trying to defeat Hiruzen in order to replace him as Hokage.

## Personality

Although he's introduced midway through a failed attempt to defeat his grandfather, Konohamaru initially finds a certain enjoyment in his status as the Hokage's grandson: he is often spared from being punished for his actions and will goad people who are unwilling to take a hand against him. When Naruto shows no restraint towards him and freely hits him, Konohamaru becomes impressed by him and declares Naruto to be both his rival and role model, variously calling him "boss" (オヤブン, *oyabun*) and "big brother" (兄ちゃん, *Nīchan*). Like Naruto, Konohamaru tends to be loud, headstrong, spends an inordinate amount of time inventing perverted ninjutsu, and, in the anime, even mimics Naruto's kabuki ninja registration photograph when taking his own. He also ends many of his sentences with "*kore*" (コレ, *literally meaning:* "hey", "oi", "yo"), much like Naruto does with "*dattebayo*".

Konohamaru also picks up a number of good qualities from Naruto, such as the realisation that becoming Hokage is a long process that there are no shortcuts for. This commits Konohamaru to his studies in the Academy and makes the job of his tutor, Ebisu, considerably easier. In his quest to rise to Naruto's level, Konohamaru masters a number of jōnin-level jutsu while still a genin and adopts a refusal to run from a fight, even against superior opponents. In the anime, Konohamaru eventually moves past his competition with Naruto for the Hokage mantle, deciding instead that he will strive to become Hokage only after Naruto has had his turn. While most of Konohamaru's reverence for Naruto is well-deserved, some of Konohamaru's praise for him is owed more to his own gullibility and denseness: when he trips during their first meeting he assumes Naruto did something, unwilling to blame his own clumsiness; Konohamaru's Cloak of Invisibility Technique is constantly discovered by Naruto not because of Naruto's skill but rather because Konohamaru's execution of his disguises were so poor. Naruto encourages this praise to a degree, never refusing the compliments and never correcting Konohamaru's perception of him as a lady's man.

Konohamaru has shown immense emotional endurance, recovering from tragedies close to his heart, such as the former deaths of his grandfather and his uncle, Asuma Sarutobi, in a relatively short time, displaying an ability to cope with heart-shattering grief that goes beyond his years. This aspect of his personality is likely in emulation of Naruto's take on the Will of Fire, as Naruto also had to cope with immense loss and depression at a young age, but still stuck to his optimistic and wilful outlook.

Years later, he became considerably more mature and appreciative to the task at hand, though his admiration for Naruto can still show: Konohamaru becomes emotional at the prospect that he can mentor Naruto's son, Boruto Uzumaki, in the same way that Naruto mentored him. His compassion for Boruto has grown to brotherly-love, secretly loving how Boruto would often refer to him as "Big Brother" even though he officially insists that the boy should use "Sensei" after Boruto enters the Academy, and wants greatly to see Boruto flourish. He has also formed a strong bond with Boruto's aunt Hanabi Hyūga, who also has similar compassion for her nephew. Konohamaru is shown to care greatly for his students, especially Boruto. He was overcome with joy when Boruto asked Konohamaru to teach him the Rasengan as Naruto was the one who taught it to him. Despite his great care for his students, in the anime, he was shocked and initially conflicted when the revelation that Mitsuki was the son of Orochimaru, the man who formerly killed Konohamaru's grandfather, having a difficult time in gathering his true feelings until Mirai spoke with him of it.