Uzumaki Naruto

**Naruto Uzumaki**(*うずまきナルト, Uzumaki Naruto*) is a shinobi of Konohagakure. He became the jinchūriki of Kurama on the day of his birth, a fate that caused him to be ostracised and neglected by most of Konoha throughout his childhood. After joining Team Kakashi, Naruto works hard to gain the village's respect and acknowledgement with the eventual dream of becoming Hokage. In the following years, Naruto becomes a capable ninja who is eventually regarded as a hero, both by the villagers and the shinobi world at large. Naruto's goal other than becoming Hokage was saving his best friend and fellow teammate Uchiha Sasuke, who succumbed to hatred and darkness, which he eventually accomplished after defeating him in their final battle. Years after the Fourth Shinobi World War, Naruto achieved his dream and became the **Seventh Hokage** (*七代目火影, Nanadaime Hokage*; Literally meaning "Seventh Fire Shadow"), while also marrying Haruno Sakura and forming his own family.

## Background

Born to the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato and Kurama's second jinchūriki, Uzumaki Kushina, Naruto is born into an era of relative peace. Naruto was named after the protagonist of Jiraiya's first book, thereby making the Sannin his godfather. Prior to his birth, his parents and the Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen feared that the stress of giving birth would compromise the seal which kept Kurama contained within Kushina. As a precaution, Kushina was taken to a top-secret location outside the village with Sarutobi Biwako and Taji as her midwives, guarded by Anbu and Minato to keep the seal in place. Through unknown means, a masked ninja who intended to take the fox for his own evil ends uncovered their plans. After killing the midwives and Anbu, the masked man took the newborn Naruto hostage as a means of separating Minato from Kushina in order to release Kurama. Minato quickly sprung into action, however, by the time he secured Naruto at a safer location, the masked man had succeeded in releasing Kurama and used it to devastate Konoha. Minato managed to save Kushina and left Naruto in her care before he went to protect the village. After having severed the masked ninja's control over the tailed beast, Minato realised the only way to stop Kurama was to seal it within Naruto, believing that his son would someday have need of the fox's power to defeat the masked ninja when he returned. However, Kurama's chakra was too immense for the seal to hold, and thus Minato was forced to sacrifice his soul in order to first weaken the fox by splitting its Yin and Yang chakra amongst himself and his son before succumbing to his wounds alongside Kushina after taking a fatal blow from the fox meant for their son. Suddenly orphaned, Naruto was left to grow up knowing nothing of his parents, receiving only his mother's last name as Hiruzen believed it was best that nobody knew that he was related to the Fourth Hokage.

Despite Minato's dying wish to see his son heralded as a hero, only the Third Hokage and a small number of the villagers could put their pain of loss aside and honour this request. The majority of Konoha, consumed with bitterness over the lives lost and destruction in the wake of Kurama's attack, resented Naruto for it, unable to separate the beast from the boy, and with some even seeing him as the fox itself. In the interest of protecting Naruto and in the hope that the younger generations would not emulate this position, Hiruzen passed a decree of secrecy that strictly prohibited the adults from divulging Naruto's status as a jinchūriki. This policy was not entirely effective, as many of Naruto's peers followed their parent's example and shunned him. The social isolation would cause Naruto to develop a need to be acknowledged through mischief. Naruto later enrolled at the Academy.

Naruto eventually became the student of Umino Iruka and met his class mate Uchiha Sasuke when the two were paired to spar against each other. Though excited at the chance to achieve popularity by beating Sasuke, Naruto was easily beaten. By looking at Sasuke's eyes, Naruto realised that they were filled with hatred, even though it wasn't directed at him. When Iruka told them to make the reconciliation seal, they both refused. Since then, Naruto came to see Sasuke as a rival and intended to beat him. 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 Sasuke's skills. Still, Naruto wished that someday, Sasuke would acknowledge him as an equal. Despite this, when Naruto and Sasuke traded glance when they were kids, they immediately looked away in annoyance but secretly smiled shortly afterwards, meaning Sasuke actually considered Naruto a friend somewhere deep down. Soon after, Naruto began attending class again at the time that Iruka, who now acted as a surrogate brother to keep the boy in line, gave a lecture on the Will of Fire that inspired Naruto to become the next Hokage someday to achieve the acknowledgement he is striving for. At times, Minato and Kushina's best friends Senju Yūichi and Ayase Haruka would invite Naruto to have lunch or just generally spend time with them at the Senju household, in which he would play with Senju Haru sometimes. Naruto would never understand why they were usually so kind with them, but he felt very happy and always felt a great appreciation towards them. The rest of the Senju clan, however, wouldn't be so kind to Naruto, so he couldn't go there and be as close to them as he wished. Apart from the Senju, Hiruzen and Iruka, Naruto also found a surrogate family with the owner of Ichiraku Ramen, Teuchi and his daughter Ayame to some extent.

## Personality

Growing up with very few parental figures, Naruto is exuberant, brash, inattentive, and heedless to formality or social standings. He would end sentences with "Dattebayo!" (*だってばよ!*) when excited or frustrated. He has a number of childish traits, such as being a very picky eater (he almost exclusively eats ramen), being afraid of ghosts, and carries a chubby green-frog wallet which he calls "Gama-chan". Naruto has a habit of giving people he meets nicknames or without appropriate honourifics, as shown when he offended the Second Hokage by not calling him "Lord Second" *(二代目様, Nidaime-sama*). He can be quite perverted, creating different forms of his Sexy Technique and once tried to sneak a peak in the women's bath when the opportunity presented itself. Despite these quirks, Naruto is said to have a personality that brings people to him, inspiring friendship and loyalty from most of the people he meets through acts of genuine kindness and sincerity that could change a person's entire world view. For example, during the Fourth Shinobi World War, Naruto's kindness inspired loyalty from the tailed beasts, and when linked to the entire Shinobi Alliance through telepathy, he was able to reignite the demoralised armies' fighting spirit, choosing to continue fighting despite the losses he could receive as shinobi were meant to endure through hardships.

Years of isolation and scorn from the village made Naruto thirst for acknowledgement. He would pull pranks around the village just to get a response from anyone and his desire to be Hokage was in hopes of being someone that mattered. Naruto's time at the Falls of Truth revealed that a part of him hated the village for treating him as a pariah, only to turn to him after he saved them during the Invasion of Pain. This hatred allowed Kurama to manipulate Naruto in his rage, causing him to go on a rampage several times until Naruto confronted the problem and learned to let it go. As Naruto grew in his career as a ninja, his desire to be Hokage went from acknowledgement to a desire to help and protect the people close to him. Naruto developed his nindō of never going back on his word, putting himself through any lengths required to keeping his promise, as shown in his Promise of a Lifetime (*一生の約束, Isshō no Yakusoku*) to Sakura, which was to bring Sasuke back after his defection from Konoha. This also shows Naruto's selfless nature, by putting Sakura's happiness above his own, since it hurt him because of his until then unrequited love for her.

According to Kakashi, Naruto learns through his body, as he is relatively naive, simple, and slow to understand principle or situations, often requiring an oversimplified analogy in order to grasp what is being explained to him, something he has grown more willing to admit. Naruto responds best to competition, using it as an additional drive learn new techniques, though he doesn't hesitate to ask if he needs it. However, despite his naiveness, Naruto can be quite observant picking up on things others miss and can retain information casually gathered through conversation. In battle, Naruto has shown to be calm and collected most of the times, but he can get frustrated when he is unable to defeat his opponent. He can also be a quick thinker, making up strategies on the fly or inventive use of his techniques to catch his opponents off guard during the fight, though he can get overexcited and forget some concepts or weaknesses that he himself noted beforehand.

The death of his master Jiraiya and the invasion of Pain caused a large world shift for Naruto. Grieving for Jiraiya, Naruto swore vengeance on Pain and left the village to learn senjutsu. While training, Naruto read a copy of The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi, which taught him that he was named after a hero from the book. Although further enraged by Pain's actions during the invasion, Naruto soon spoke with his father, who explained to him the cycle of hatred of the shinobi world. After finally listening to Nagato's story and the results of the cycle of hatred, Naruto vowed he would break the cycle and bring real peace to the world. Despite this desire bringing him in direct opposition to Sasuke, Naruto continued down this path, resolving to end both the Fourth Shinobi World War and the cycle of hatred.

## Appearance

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 the Fourth Shinobi World War, Dan initially mistakes him for Nawaki due to their stark resemblance as well. Naruto's most prominent physical characteristics, however, are the whisker marks on his face. 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, 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 Uzumaki swirl crest on the back, a large white collar, orange pants with a shuriken holster attached to his right knee (due to being right-handed), blue sandals, and a blue forehead protector that was given to him by Iruka after he graduated from the Academy. Naruto would usually wear a black T-shirt inside his tracksuit, but sometimes wore armour underneath his clothing. During his early childhood, Naruto would usually wear a T-shirt (white, navy green or black) that had either an Uzumaki or fire symbol on the front, also wearing a pair of shorts. He also donned green goggles that he wore on his forehead sometimes.

In Part II, Naruto's outfit underwent modification after being worn to shreds during his training with Jiraiya. The outfit retained the orange colour as well as the white (without the tassel) and red swirls, but the jacket was much more form fitting with the blue parts changed to black and the colour extending from around the neck and shoulders, down the front and sleeves. The metal portion of his forehead protector had moved to a longer black bandanna, and he wore black sandals instead of blue. Naruto occasionally was seen wearing a navy green T-shirt with a fire symbol and white shorts on casual days or his off-duty days from missions.

During his battle with Pain, Naruto briefly sported a short-sleeved red coat with a black flame pattern along the hemline and carried a large summoning scroll on his back. After meeting the spirit of Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo and receiving the Yang half of his power, Naruto obtained a light sun-like mark on his right palm, which vanished after Kaguya's sealing. After his final clash with Sasuke following Kaguya's defeat, Naruto lost his right forearm.

Two years after the Fourth Shinobi World War, Naruto, at age 19, wears a black uniform-style jacket with an orange zipper that features several buttons on the waist and sleeves, allowing him to fold up the left sleeve and rear coattails, giving him easy access to the pouches on the back of his belt. He wears a red armband with an Uzumaki crest on his left arm and his right arm was replaced with an artificial one, created from Hashirama's cells by Tsunade, which is completely covered in bandages. While off-duty, he wears an orange hooded sweatshirt and black and orange shorts with sandals.

Several years later his attire consists of a standard blue Konoha uniform, a green flak jacket, blue forehead protector, blue sandals and a red armband with an Uzumaki crest over his left bicep. After becoming Hokage, inspired by his father, he wears a short-sleeved long red haori decorated by black flame-like motifs on the edges, with the kanji for "Seventh Hokage" (*七代目火影, Nanadaime Hokage*) written vertically down the back. He no longer had his right forearm covered in bandages since due to increased technology his arm replacement was nearly perfect and simulated his skin.

## Abilities

Initially, Naruto didn't display much talent in terms of being a shinobi. He was dead-last in the Academy, struggled with basic ninjutsu and had failed to graduate three times. In fact, while he could not produce a proper Clone Technique, he was able to create the Sexy Technique; an inventive but entirely useless diversionary technique. However, through sheer willpower and perseverance, Naruto managed to push past this stumbling block to learn very difficult and complex techniques as a late bloomer, earning his graduation by mastering the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique. Naruto's rapid growth during Part I enabled him to fight on par with noteworthy prodigious and skilled shinobi such as Uchiha Sasuke and Gaara, as well as master several high-level techniques, usually within the allotted time frame. Several highly skilled shinobi, including the legendary Sannin, have noted Naruto's great potential. Naruto's fighting style, much like his father's, rarely used hand seals other than for his signature Shadow Clone Technique.

After his training with Jiraiya for two-and-a-half years, Naruto has developed his abilities to match the S-rank members of Akatsuki. Upon defeating their strongest member and leader Pain, Naruto was praised by Konoha villagers as a hero worthy of earning the Hokage title. By the Fourth Shinobi World War, Naruto's presence on the battlefield became much like his father's; with his unique skill set, he could dramatically change the outcome of the battle even against several Kage-level shinobi. After receiving the Six Paths Chakra, he was shown capable of overwhelming the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki, Uchiha Madara, and even Ōtsutsuki Kaguya on separate occasions. By war's end, Naruto has been acknowledged by others to have surpassed all of the previous Hokage. Despite being low on chakra from the war, as well as holding back during their final battle, Naruto managed to defeat his old rival Sasuke, who was noted to have gained comparable prowess to Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo .

### Life Force and Chakra Prowess

Naturally, Naruto alone possesses a massive amount of chakra, which is estimated to be at least four times greater than Kakashi's. Like his mother, Naruto's chakra is special, which was part of the reason why he was able to become Kurama's jinchūriki. Early in his shinobi career, he had very little chakra control, causing him to waste more chakra than necessary, however his natural reserves made up for this flaw. Even when Orochimaru used the Five Elements Seal on Naruto, further disrupting his already poor chakra control, it had little to no noticable affect on Naruto's chakra reserves other than his ability to access Kurama's power when angered. Over time, once this issue was pointed out to him, Naruto learned greater chakra control, allowing him to not waste chakra unnecessarily. This chakra control allowed him to balance his chakra with natural energy, leading him to learn Sage Mode. Later, when taught the principles of transferring chakra like a tailed beast, Naruto was able to share his chakra with the entire Shinobi Alliance by matching his chakra with everyone around with just a touch. His chakra levels were so high and potent, they could be felt as far away as Konoha and Senju Hashirama compared the volume he had shared with the entire Alliance army to be near equal to his own. A true testament to his impressive stamina was his ability to fight for nearly the entire Fourth Shinobi World War, facing multiple Kage-level and above opponents and only becoming exhausted during his final battle with Uchiha Sasuke.

Due to his Uzumaki lineage, Naruto has a much greater longevity than most humans, along with a considerably strong life force and physical energy. From this, he could survive the extraction of a tailed beast (albeit he was rendered unconscious and in a critical state). Naruto is also known for his greatly accelerated healing which has been attributed to Kurama.

### Jinchūriki Transformations

Combined with his already massive chakra reserves, being the jinchūriki of Kurama's Yang half gives Naruto a reserve a hundred times greater than Kakashi's. Due to being Kurama's jinchūriki his entire life and inheriting his mother's special chakra, Naruto's chakra was more effectively mixed with the fox's. Because of this, Naruto can perform very chakra-taxing techniques in quick succession without feeling fatigued. When tapping into Kurama's chakra, Naruto gains enhanced speed, strength and healing. Later, Naruto had both Yin and Yang-Kurama sealed into him and seemingly restored as one being, presumably increasing Naruto's strength and chakra reserves even more.

At first, Naruto could only access Kurama's power when he was enraged or his life was in danger, but after training, Naruto learned how to access the chakra by consciously requesting the fox for help. However, while Naruto was able to utilise Version 1 transformations, he only had the briefest of control of his own actions. If he fell deeper into a rage, Naruto could slip into Version 2, losing himself to Kurama's negative influence and going berserk, requiring outside help to suppress the fox's chakra. Because of these drawbacks, Naruto wouldn't make use of Kurama's chakra until he was given the means of controlling the chakra completely.

After his close victory against Pain, Naruto realised he could no longer avoid using Kurama's power and sought Killer B, the jinchūriki of Gyūki, to learn how to control it. With his mother and B's help, Naruto was able to separate and take most of Kurama's chakra, giving him access to Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, which massively increases his speed, strength, and defences. As conquering Kurama was not the same as cooperating with it, Naruto at the time couldn't use the complete output of the fox's power and had to exercise extreme caution when using Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, as it could cost him his life. Eventually, realising its own respect for Naruto after all he had endured in his life and the type of person he has become, Kurama decides to accept his friendship. With this new unity, Kurama freely gives Naruto its chakra and the ability to enter Tailed Beast Mode, which was yet another increase in speed, strength, and the ability to use the Tailed Beast Ball. Unlike other Tailed Beast Modes, which become physical copies of their beasts, Naruto's form is transparent, allowing others to enter the chakra shroud, granting them a bit of Naruto's power while inside of it. For example; Naruto had the other members of the Konoha 12 jump into the chakra, which gave them each a chakra mantel similar to the one Naruto wore along with a Rasengan for each to wield, even Rock Lee whom could not perform ninjutsu on his own. He also still has access to his previous forms shown when he entered Version 1, which was capable of deflecting the unquenchable flames of Amaterasu.

### Taijutsu

While a short-range fighter by nature, Naruto's taijutsu was not that skillful or organised, making up for this with unpredictable attacks to throw off guard specialists like Inuzuka Kiba and Hyūga Neji. Later, his two-and-a-half year training with Jiraiya significantly improved his skills, enabling him to hold his own against skilled taijutsu users such as Pain's Deva Path, Karui and Omoi simultaneously, and even fend off one of theTen-Tails' clones. Naruto's preferred tactic is fighting in unison with his shadow clones to help him. From this method, he has created techniques such as the Naruto Uzumaki Combo, its larger-scale version and a Six Paths Sage Mode-enhanced version, where he and his clones assault the enemy with a powerful barrage of punches and kicks. Naruto was also able to clash with Sasuke, the force of which began to crack Hashirama's statue. Despite being exhausted and nearly out of power, Naruto was able to equal Sasuke, who had the same conditions, in taijutsu during their final battle for almost an entire day.

Naruto has shown a high level of raw strength, being able to shatter stone as seen when he escaped from Pain's petrified Preta Path after it absorbed too much natural energy. He has also displayed impressive speed, as he quickly saved Sakura from her own poisoned kunai that Sasuke wielded to stab her and received only a shallow cut in exchange. Even while exhausted, he could counter Sasuke's Chidori with an uppercut punch, knocking him a considerable distance away into the mountain side.

### Ninjutsu

Naruto's massive reserves of chakra allow him to make use of various chakra-taxing techniques. However, his initial mediocre chakra control left him barely able to perform basic techniques, which caused him to fail three times in the Academy. Over time, with his chakra control steadily improving, Naruto's arsenal expanded with it.

Under his training with Jiraiya, Naruto continued to rapidly improve his skills, mastering various advanced techniques and forms to expand his repertoire. Eventually, he surpassed Kakashi in sheer ninjutsu prowess as seen with his mastery of the Rasengan and the creation of its many variants. Once he met Hagoromo and gained some of his power, as well as the chakra of all the other tailed beasts, Naruto gained access to a large array of new and unique abilities.

#### Shadow Clone Technique

Naruto's first trademark in battle is the Shadow Clone Technique. Whereas most ninja must be careful with this technique as to not deplete their chakra reserves, Naruto's immense reserves can handle creating thousands of clones and retain a decent amount of chakra in each of them. This lets him overwhelm opponents with sheer numbers or carry out multiple tasks at once. Upon receiving Hagoromo's power, Naruto's clones are able to fly and were able to equally combat with Madara's corporeal shadows. Naruto's clones are also capable of performing his Tailed Beast Mode to form clones of Kurama's chakra replica as well.

While originally Naruto relied on his shadow clones only for overwhelming numbers in battle, during Part II, Naruto came to be more tactical with them, overall making him waste less chakra in battle. As seen in his second bell test, he could use his shadow clones to manoeuvre him in mid-air and transform them into weapons to conserve his normal supply. After learning that all knowledge and experiences shadow clones gain will be transferred back to the user once they disperse, Naruto would frequently employ this to complete years' worth of training in days. In combat, it also lets him scout an area or test an opponent's abilities. Naruto's constant usage of shadow clones combined with his great chakra reserves has given him great mastery of the technique that, according to Kakashi, is far superior to that of his own and even Minato's, even noting that only Naruto can apply shadow clones to catalyse the learning, usage, and mastery of complex techniques.

#### Summoning Technique

To encourage improved control over Kurama's chakra, Jiraiya taught Naruto the Summoning Technique. By offering a certain amount of chakra, Naruto can summon the toads of Mount Myōboku as allies. He was initially restricted to tadpoles and small toads such as then-young Gamakichi or Gamatatsu due to his poor chakra control. During Part I, he could only summon larger toads when accessing Kurama's chakra, but by Part II, Naruto's skills with the Summoning Technique improved as he becomes capable of summoning Gamabunta and the likes whenever he desired.

#### Rasengan

Naruto's second trademark technique is the Rasengan, which was created by his father. Originally, because of the very intricate chakra control the Rasengan requires, Naruto struggled to learn it. Although the Rasengan is intended as a one-handed technique, Naruto made up for his poor control by incorporating the assistance of a shadow clone: he provides the chakra while the clone forms it into the spherical shape. Since acquiring the Rasengan, Naruto began expanding on its nature to create variations of it such as the Big Ball Rasengan. In the anime, Naruto also figures out how to throw the Rasengan, thereby using it as a mid-range projectile technique. To make up for the need for shadow clones, Naruto steadily increases the number Rasengan he uses at a time, with feats like having the shadow clones having them make their own Rasengan to bombard the target with. During the Fourth Shinobi World War, Naruto gained enough mastery over the Rasengan to form it with one hand instead of aid from shadow clones.

Through the usage of Sage Mode and/or Kurama's chakra, Naruto can create more powerful and elaborate variations of the Rasengan. Also towards the latter, since the Rasengan was conceptually based on the Tailed Beast Ball, Naruto takes it further by creating the Super Mini-Tailed Beast Ball.

#### Nature Transformation

Naruto's natural elemental affinity is wind. As his wind affinity works best at short to mid-range, this compliments a short-ranged fighter such as himself. Through a lesson given from Sarutobi Asuma, Naruto greatly refined his wind-type chakra control, allowing him to increase the potency of his weapons by embuing them with his wind-chakra. After completing his wind training, as the Rasengan was originally intended to be combined with a user's nature transformation, Naruto set out to combine his wind affinity with the Rasengan.

Mixing elemental chakra to the Rasengan was a such a difficult task that Minato, the technique's creator, left the technique incomplete by the time of his death. Naruto found his solution to this issue with shadow clones: one clone is used like he normally would to create a Rasengan, but adds a second one to combine the wind-chakra. This results in the creation of the Wind Release: Rasengan, and later the Wind Release: Rasenshuriken, which cuts the enemy at a cellular level. At first, Naruto could only use it hand-held, causing him to suffer similar damage inflicted on his enemy. After learning Sage Mode, he can throw the Rasenshuriken and increase its speed and cutting power, preventing harm to himself and becoming able to expand it at will. While in his Six Paths Sage Mode, Naruto can add his wind-nature to his Tailed Beast Balls to create the Tailed Beast Ball Rasenshuriken.

With the Six Paths Yang Power seal and the Six Paths Chakra he gained from Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki, Naruto can utilise Yang Release as well as all five natural transformations, Yin Release, and Yin-Yang Release. He can also use the Magnet Release, Lava Release, and Boil Release kekkei genkai from Shukaku, Son Gokū, and Kokuō, respectively. After obtaining his artificial right arm made from Senju Hashirama's DNA, Naruto presumably gained Wood Release through it.

### Senjutsu

After Jiraiya's death, Naruto, along with his teammate Haru , learns how to use senjutsu, the art of gathering natural energy to augment one's techniques. Naruto quickly showed not only the high chakra levels necessary for senjutsu, but also a greater aptitude for it than Jiraiya. He progresses through the learning steps rapidly, becoming able to sense and then gather the natural energy around him and perfectly balance it with his own chakra. Through further training, Naruto ultimately becomes able to use the highest level of senjutsu in accessing a perfect Sage Mode, symbolised by the orange marks around his eyes. The only issue is that as Sage Mode required the user to be perfectly still to gather the natural energy, it could not be used in battle.

It was at first attempted by Fukasaku, a former teacher of Jiraiya's, to fuse with Naruto and gather the natural energy for him to use while he fought. This ultimately failed as Kurama rejected Fukasaku, refusing to let the toad be housed in Naruto's being alongside it. Naruto found a way somewhat around it by using shadow clones: while he fights, the clones gather natural energy for him and then disperse after Naruto's time limit runs out, transferring their natural energy to him to resume using Sage Mode. While effective, this method limits the maximum number of shadow clones that he can create to five for as long as the clones are gathering natural energy, as anything more would interfere with their focus on regulating the proper amount of chakra and natural energy.

In Sage Mode, Naruto's overall physical parameters are dramatically enhanced, able to easily stop and throw a massive rhino, survive falls from great heights unharmed, and easily push through a large group of shinobi, two of which were Akimichi clan members. He is also able to utilise Frog Kata, a taijutsu style that uses the natural energy to enhance the range and the potency of one's attacks. Naruto notes that he can also access Sage Mode at a faster rate when combined with his Tailed Beast Mode.

### Sensory Perception

After mastering Sage Mode, Naruto can detect and identify other people's chakra from vast distances. With this skill, he can better react against high-speed opponents like the Third Raikage, able to dodge his attack and effectively counter. He also gained the ability to sense negative emotions after taking control of Kurama's chakra. Naruto can also use both of these abilities simultaneously through his senjutsu-enhanced Tailed Beast Mode and the Six Paths Sage Mode respectively. Upon achieving the latter, Naruto is able to sense the other half of Hagoromo's chakra, as well as Madara's Limbo: Border Jail.

### Fūinjutsu

Naruto's skills with fūinjutsu have not been explored greatly, but he knew how to use the seal's key after receiving Gerotora, and later resealed Kurama after he separated a majority of chakra from the tailed beast. When accessing Shukaku's power, Naruto gains the ability to use its natural cursed seal markings to bind targets. During his meeting with Hagoromo, Naruto was taught the Six Paths — Chibaku Tensei fūinjutsu, which when used with Sasuke, was strong enough to completely seal Kaguya.

### Intelligence

While headstrong and often acting without thinking to ultimately come off as somewhat dense, Naruto's years as a prankster acquired a cunning imagination that is useful in battle. He is a remarkable tactile learner, able to learn better through executing a task rather than theorising about it. Once they see him in action, even the likes of the Second Hokage revise their thoughts about his intellect. Although Naruto instinctively knows the mechanics behind techniques he uses, he still gets easily confused if someone verbally explains the mechanics.

Naruto can formulate multi-step plans and even backup plans in the thick of battle. His strategies typically involve shadow clones: he may direct his opponent's attentions towards one of his clones to disguise his own movements; he may transform them into objects or other individuals for surprise attacks; he may make himself seem predictable by creating a pattern, just to throw them off by breaking it. Naruto is rather observant, able to notice details others may overlook and subsequently take advantage of it. Even when given new information, he can act quickly.

### Other Skills

After the time-skip, Naruto has improved his knowledge of other ninja skills while under Jiraiya's tutelage, such as displaying skill in shurikenjutsu and scroll sealing to store weapons. Naruto has also employed cloak-and-dagger tactics like keeping a spring-loaded kunai up his sleeve for quick access. Though he has no skill in genjutsu, he has learned how to dispel it and avoid falling prey to it.

## 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.
* Naruto is the fourth known jinchūriki known to have survived the extraction of a tailed beast, along with Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo, Uzumaki Kushina, and Uchiha Obito.
* 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.
* Naruto's hobbies are pulling pranks and watering plants.
* Naruto wishes to fight Uchiha Sasuke.
* 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*).