Name: Deidara
From: Rock
Birthday: May 5
Age: 19
Blood type: AB
Height: 166cm
Weight: 50.8 kg
Affiliation: Akatsuki
Ring: 'Blue' in kanji
Ring Position: Right Index Finger
Partner: Sasori, then Tobi
Weapon: Clay bombs
Hobbies: Playing clay
Background: Deidara is the youngest member of Akatsuki Group and has great respect and passion for art. He is an S-class missing nin from Rock Village who left his town in pursue of greater opportunities to practice his art.
The Deal with him: His artistry takes form in his clay creation. He molds figures using the mouths on his palms then infuses it with chakra to become a destructive weapon called clay bombs. His clay handiwork varies from the tiniest piece to gigantic clay explosives, from animal figures to deceivingly real human clones. He can control them at will and even uses it for transportation.
Deidara has an explosive personality as his clay bombs. His temper boils very quickly and he gets annoyed easily. Being trigger-happy that he is, you wouldn't want to risk making him angry, hmmm?
He is a clever strategist and often uses his clay to deceive his opponents. He is assigned to capture the one-tailed shukaku along with his then partner, Sasori. He had an explosive battle with Kazekage Gaara that cost him his left arm. Later after Sasori died, he is teamed up with Tobi who annoyed him with the newbie's carefree personality. He believes Akatsuki members must be formidable and serious.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Deidara
Sai
Name: Sai
Age: 17
Birthday: 25 November
Zodiac: Libra
Rank: Chunnin
From: Leaf
Team: Team Yamato
Teammates: Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura
Sai is known to be Sasuke's replacement. He does have to struggle with the title but he seems to be making a name for his own.
Another introverted ninja caused about the tragic loss of his brother. Sai is a gifted artist who has good eyes for details. A trait that is very useful to being a ninja. He is indeed observant and strategic in his mission.
Though being almost emotionless helped him in accomplishing his missions, it did him bad in the long run. He cannot conceive the meaning of friendship and brotherhood. He's even bewildered on Naruto's initiative to rescue Sasuke.
His great talent for drawing (which by the way, would surely earn a praise from Deidara) is also the source of his jutsu. He can make his drawings come to life by infusing chakra on it, also called “Super Beasts Imitation Picture.” Aside from this, he's exceptionally skilled in hand-to-hand combat as well.
Kabuto Yakushi
Name: Yakushi Kabuto
Age: 19
Birthday: 29 February (celebrates birthday once every 4 years)
Zodiac: Pisces
Rank: Genin
From: Leaf
Teacher: ??
Teammates: Akadou Yoroi, Tsurugu Misumi
Other Affiliates: Orochimaru
Most Used Technique: Running away from Kakashi
Background: His origins were unknown. Years ago, during the ninja wars, the leader of the Konoha medical squad brought a boy back from the battlefield and adopted him.
The Deal with him: Kabuto is a traitor and spy of the Hidden Village of Sound and Orochimaru's right hand man. He pretends to be a Genin of the Leaf who failed the Chunnin exams 6 times in a row on purpose to gather data for Orochimaru. He is as strong as a jounin and is even said that his strength is comparable to Kakashi's.
Kankurou
Name: Kankurou
Age: 15
Birthday: 15 May
Zodiac: Taurus
Rank: Jounin
From: Sand
Teacher: Baki
Teammates: Gaara, Temari
Family: Kazekage (Father), Temari and Gaara (younger siblings)
Weapon: Those weird puppets
Hobbies: Face painting.
Background: Son of former Kazekage and brother of current kazekage.
The Deal with him: Kankurou is probably best known for walking around in his pajamas and carrying heavy looking puppets on his back. Kankurou uses branded puppet weapons created by Sasori of the Red Sand, former Sand nin and current Akatsuki member.
Though a formidable ninja in his own right, Kankurou's career is shadowed by his baby brother Gaara's achievements. When they were little genins, all everyone talked about was how scary Gaara was. Gaara's insane abilities as the Shukaku's carrier also made him the the leader of the team. When Gaara became Kazekage, all everyone gushed about was how much they love him, once again side-lining Kankurou until he got his ass kicked by Sasori of the Desert.
Kankurou's avid hobby with experimental face painting of various symbols and shapes is also really useful in distinguishing his age and timeline of events during the flashbacks in the anime.
Iruka Umino
Name: Umino Iruka Background: Umino Iruka lost his parents during the invasion of the nine tailed demon fox The Deal with him: Umino Iruka is one of the first to acknowledge Uzumaki Naruto. Iruka relates to Naruto as he himself lost his parents in a young age and grew up trying to vie for attention. initially failing Naruto in the Genin exams, Iruka later passed Naruto after the boy saved him from Mizuki (and celebrated over a bowl of ramen). Umino Iruka has a mild kind hearted personality as docile as his name (which means dolphin), and is truly a new age sensitive ninja. He is also the first to be defeated by Naruto's devastating technique, the Sexy No Jutsu.
Age: 25
Birthday: 26 May
Zodiac: Gemini
Rank: Chuunin
From: Leaf
Occupation: Pre-Genin Teacher in the Ninja Academy
Most Seen: Eating ramen with Naruto
Anko Mitarashi
Name: Mitarashi Anko
Age: 24
Birthday: 24 October
Zodiac: Scorpio
Rank: Special Jounin
From: Leaf
Teacher: Orochimaru
Teammates: -
Forbidden Technique: Dual Snake Destroyer
Background: Former subordinate of Orochimaru.
The Deal with her: Not much is revealed about Anko yet. We first saw her during the Chuunin exams as the exuberant loud-mouthed examiner of the second exam. Her wide confident smiles were soon doused with the knowledge that her former teacher, Orochimaru had returned to the village. Orochimaru had used her years ago when she was his subordinate and had placed a cursed seal on her, which would have killed her had she been weaker. Anko is rash, impulsive, and very much haunted by her past affiliation with Orochimaru.
Gai Maito
Name: Maito Gai
Age: 26
Birthday: 01 January
Zodiac: Capricorn
Rank: Jounin
From: Leaf
Students: Rock Lee, Tenten, Hyuuga Neji
Eternal Rival: Hatake Kakashi
Calls himself: Konoha's sprouting leaf of acceptance
Background: Rock Lee's teacher.
The Deal with him: Gai plays a relatively minor role, mainly comic relief and toothpaste endorsement. The 1st time we see him, he engaged in a dramatic embrace with Rock Lee in a picturesque golden sunset with the Sexy soundtrack in the background. The introduction promises much laughter everytime he comes on screen subsequently.
Most remembered scenes of Gai are when he tries to compete with Kakashi only to get "modern" and "hip" nonchalent responses from his eternal rival and he goes "Oh My GOD!!".
Gai and Lee's relationship is very strong as the teacher tries his best to train his prized student to be the excellent ninja that Lee envisions himself to be.
Shino Aburame
Name: Aburame Shino
Age: in the series debut 12 (actually 15)
Rank: Genin
Birthday: January 23
Zodiac: Aquarius
From: Leaf Village
Teammates: Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba and Akamaru (Team 8)
Teacher: Yuuhi Kurenai
Techniques: Kikaich no Jutsu (Destruction Bug Host Technique), Mushi Bunshin no Jutsu (Bug Clone Technique), Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique)
Background: He’s a very strange guy who’s techniques are with bugs.
The Deal with him: Aburame Shino is a cool, collected, confident Genin from Naruto's graduating year who is quite mysterious and who always wears sunglasses. As a part of the Aburame clan tradition, Shino was infused with a special type of insects that feed on his chakra since birth and in return, they attack and do other tasks as he commands.
Shino was the only male Genin left out of the (failed) mission to retrieve Uchiha Sasuke when the latter decided to become a Missing-nin, and felt some bitterness and guilt over the matter, considering the eventual outcome might have been different had he been sent to help them as well.
Hinata Hyuuga
Name: Hyuuga Hinata
Age: 13
Birthday: 27 December
Zodiac: Capricorn
Rank: Genin
From: Leaf
Teacher: Yuuhi Kurenai
Teammates: Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino
Family: Hyuuga Hiashi (Father), Hyuuga Hanabi (younger sister), Hyuuga Neji (cousin)
Most heard phrase: "Naruto-kun" (plays with fingers)
Background: Successor of Hyuuga, the oldest noble clan in Konoha. Naruto's secret admirer.
The Deal with her: Hinata is burdened with the fate of being Hyuuga's successor. Shy and inward in nature, she gets depressed easily. She blames herself for being weak and tries hard to change herself. Hinata idolizes Naruto, whom she believes to be strong and confident. She managed to gain a little more confidence in the Chunnin exams when Naruto cheered her on.
Kiba Inuzuka
Name: Inuzuka Kiba
Age: 13
Birthday: 7 July
Zodiac: Cancer
Rank: Chuunin
From: Leaf
Teacher: Yuuhi Kurenai
Teammates: Aburame Shino, Hyuuga Hinata
Pet: Nin-dog Akamaru
Hobbies: Walking his dog.
Background: A Genin of Team 8, Inuzuka Kiba loves dogs and has jutsus in which he can pretend to be a dog.
The Deal with him: Kiba... loves dogs. It's a family thing. His faithful bow-wow is the little white canine named Akamaru, who turns red in the heat of battle with the help of Kiba's soldier pills. Their main combined jutsu involves transforming Akamaru into a Kiba look-a-like, and have the both of them growl and make other dog sounds so the enemy won't be able to tell which is the otherwise unintelligible one.
Kiba and Akamaru are almost never seen apart, and Akamaru is considered a ninja member of the team as well. While it is difficult to imagine the little puppy who is usually perched on Kiba's head to be useful in a fight, Akamaru have proven itself indispensible to Kiba's battles, and it's not only because it is capable of splashing enemies with his toxic dog-pee.
Choji Akimichi
Name: Akimichi Choji
Age: 13
Birthday: 01 May
Zodiac: Taurus
Rank: Genin
From: Leaf
Teacher: Asuma
Teammates: Nara Shikamaru, Yamanako Ino
Main jutsu : Baika no jutsu (Meat Tank Technique)
Bane: Being called a fat and stealing his last piece of chip.
Background: Choji is from the Akimichi clan of Konoha and best friend of Shikamaru.
The Deal with him: Your first impression of him must have been "that fat in Ino's group". Choji is almost the definition of 'Gluttony'. He is a compulsive eater and he has got this really cool waistpouch that looks small but can contain bags of potato chips AND a cake.
Choji grew up with people making fun of him because he's fat and soft-spoken but don't look down on this butterfly. Besides turning himself into a meat tank, Choji also has his clan's ultimate Houren pills to increase his chakra (though they come with great side effects). The 3 pills that reflect the traffic light colours lend him momentary great power when he take them. The final red pill though, not only increases his power to a hundred times and changes his voice but also doubles as an instant slimming pill.The drawback is that the user may very likely suffer from overdose and die.
During the Sasuke-hunt, Choji demonstrated his pills' abilities when he fought Jiroubu of the Sound 4
Shikamaru Nara
Name: Nara Shikamaru
Age: 13
Birthday: 22 September
Zodiac: Virgo
Rank: Chuunin
From: Leaf
Teacher: Sarutobi Asuma
Teammates: Akimichi Chouji, Yamanaka Ino
Most heard phrase: "How troublesome..."
Only Technique: Shadow Imitation Technique
Ambition: Be a so-so ninja drawing an average salary, marry an average looking wife, have 2 kids, a girl and a boy. Retire when daughter is married and son is independent and die before his spouse.
The Deal with him: Shikamaru is probably the laziest Genin in Konoha. But he's probably the smartest Genin in the village as well, with an IQ of over 200 points. Shikamaru loves just lying down looking at clouds thinking how carefree they are. Although Shika only knows one technique - the Shadow Imitation Technique, his intelligence often helps him win battles. He is also calm in times of danger. Asuma, his teacher, describes him as "just like an old man" who likes to play chess, taking life at a very slow pace.
Shikamaru became the only genin to pass the Chuunin exams as the other Chuunins and examiners were impressed with him.
Ino Yamanaka
Name: Yamanaka Ino
Age: 13
Birthday: September 23
Zodiac: Libra
Rank: Genin
From: Leaf Village
Teacher: Sarutobi Asuma
Teammates: Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji
Technique: Shitenshyin no jutsu (gets into another person's body by telepathy)
Background: Sakura's major rival.
How to deal with her: When she was little, Yamanaka Ino found lonely Haruno Sakura and became best friends until Sakura found out that Ino liked Sasuke too and so they became rivals in love.
She's always flirting with Sasuke and fighting with Sakura over him (how annoying), always calling fellow teammate Akimichi Chouji a fat ass and to lose weight because he's not going to get any girl. Vain Ino is also very focussed in keeping her figure. She works at her family a flowershop. One of the only distinctions between between Ino and Sakura is that Ino is a better fighter and that she appears to treasure Sakura's friendship more than Sakura does.
Tenten
Name: Tenten
Age: 13
Birthday: 09 March
Zodiac: Pisces
Rank: Genin
From: Leaf
Teacher: Maito Gai
Teammates: Rock Lee, Hyuuga Neji
Expert Technique: Throwing weapons
Background: Teammate of Lee and Neji
The Deal with her: Tenten specializes in weapon attacks and she never misses a hit. However, she was defeated by Temari in the Chuunin 3rd exams preliminaries when Temari nullified her weapon attacks using wind. Tenten seems to support Neji a great deal, helping Neji with his trainings, always stating how powerful Neji is and telling Lee he can never beat the genius Neji. We smell something cooking...
Sarutobi
Name: Sarutobi
Age: 68
Birthday: 08 February
Zodiac: Aquarius
Rank: Hokage (Sandaime)
From: Leaf
Teachers: 1st and 2nd Hokage
Students: Jiraiya, Tsunade, Orochimaru
Family: Konohamaru (grandson)
Background: 3rd Hokage of the Hidden Village of the Leaf. Teacher of the 5th Hokage.
The Deal with him: Sarutobi sensei is almost like a kind grandfather to the villagers of the Leaf. He was chosen to be the 3rd Hokage when he was just a child by the 1st and 2nd Hokages. He goes by the nickname of "Professor" for learning over a thousand jutsus. Some says he's the most powerful Hokage when he was in his prime.
After the 4th Hokage was chosen, Sandaime decided to retire. He was however forced out of retirement when Yondaime sacrificed himself while protecting the Village against the Kyuubi.
Even at the age of 68, Sarutobi still intended to be the Hokage for another 5 years or more. But his life was rudely interrupted by his former favourite student Orochimaru, who lost a screw after he wasn't chosen to be the 4th Hokage. Vengeful against the Leaf which exiled him, he came back to destroy the village and to kill his teacher. Sandaime was killed in the battle with Orochimaru and the 1st and 2nd Hokage (which Orochimaru brought back to life to aid his fight). Before he died, he took away the use of Orochimaru's hands.
Name: Tsunade
Age: 50
Rank: Hokage (Godaime)
From: Leaf
Teacher: Sarutobi - Sandaime Hokage
Teammates: Jiraiya, Orochimaru
Family: Shodamine (grandfather), Nawaki (younger brother), Dan (boyfriend) - all dead
Side-kick: Shizune
Summons: Slugs
The Deal with her: Quoted by Shikamaru's father to be the strongest and most beautiful of women, Tsunade is the 5th Hokage of the Village of the Leaf. The Godaime title was originally offered to Jiraiya, who turned it down and brought Naruto to hunt down Tsunade to take up the job. Before they found Tsunade, Orochimaru proposed a trade with Tsunade - to bring her little brother and boyfriend; both who died during the Ninja wars, back to life, if she would heal his arms so he could continue to destroy the Leaf. Tsunade was thus torn between seeing her loved ones again and protecting her village. She seemed to have chosen the former but fortunately for Konoha, Naruto reminded her of her dreams and her brother and boyfriend's dreams. So Tsunade beat the shit out of Orochimaru and returned to the Village with Naruto and Jiraiya to be the 5th Hokage.
Besides being the Hokage, Tsunade also has another nickname - The Legendary Sucker, for always losing in gambling. She is also vain as she uses a special technique to conceal her age so she could look young. Whether her titanic assets are part of the technique is still a mystery...
Jiraiya
Name: Jiraiya
Age: 50
Birthday: 11 November
Zodiac: Scorpio
Rank: One of the Legendary Sannin
From: Leaf
Teacher: Sarutobi - Sandaime Hokage
Teammates: Tsunade, Orochimaru
Students: Yondaime, Naruto
Summons: Frogs
Excuse for peeping: Data Gathering!
Background: Our favourite one from the Legendary Sannin, a big pervert and author of "Come Come Paradise" (finally made into a full length movie coming to theatres near you!). Calls himself Frog Hermit, but Naruto prefers to call him 'perverted hermit'
The Deal with him: How our favourite pervert managed to pry his lusty eyes away from the babes around him to pay enough attention to his ninjutsu training and become one of the Legendary Sannin is still a mystery. Jiraiya is often seen playing a fool, peeping at females and drooling at hot chicks. But this ero-sennin knows when to play and when to be serious. Jiraiya was the student of the 3rd Hokage; the teacher of the 4th Hokage; and the teammate of the 5th Hokage, after rejecting the latter title himself.
The 1st time we see Jiraiya was when Ebisu was training Naruto for the Chuunin exams and the closet pervert tried to stop Jiraiya from peeping at the baths. Jiraiya slammed Ebisu unconscious and Naruto chased the pervert all over town to get him to train him, which he succeeded. They continue to bond and at times, Jiraiya was like the father Naruto never had.
Itachi Uchiha
Name: Uchiha Itachi
Age: 17
Birthday: 09 June
Zodiac: Gemini
Rank: S-class Missing Nin
From: Leaf
Family: Uchiha Sasuke (little brother)
Side-kick: Kisame
Association: Akatsuki
Famous quote: Foolish brother, if you wish to kill me, hate me, detest me, and survive in an unsightly way. Run, run and cling to life.
Achievements: Graduated from the Ninja academy at age 7 with top grades, mastered the Sharingan at age 8, became a Chuunin at age 10, Anbu leader at age 12, wiped out his entire clan and promoted to S-class missing nin at age 13.
The Deal with him: Top member of secret society Akatsuki, who even Orochimaru admits is stronger than himself, Itachi is shrouded with mystery. He killed his whole family with the reason that it was to measure his strength. He left his little brother alive after screwing up his mind. Although it seemed that Itachi spared his brother so he could become stronger and thus a worthy opponent someday, we believe that somewhere deep in his very disturbed heart, he loves Sasuke in his own very weird fashion.
From someone who killed his whole family, Itachi is surprisingly unconfrontational and unbloodthirsty unlike how one would expect him to be. There were many incidents when he could have easily killed an adversary but instead left them heavily wounded and avoided as many fights as he could. Itachi has issues and it would be delightful when we finally find out why.
Rock Lee
Name: Rock Lee
Age: 14
Birthday: 27 November
Zodiac: Sagittarius
Rank: Genin
From: Leaf
Teacher: Maito Gai
Teammates: Hyuuga Neji, Tenten
Only uses : Taijutsu
Power jutsus : Primary and Secondary lotus
Background: Dropout from school who can only use taijutsu but trains to be strong. Believes that a dropout can defeat a genius through hard work.
The Deal with him: Too unique for Sakura's tastes but touched Sakura ultimately to care for him, Rock Lee is one who never gives up. In that way, he's like Naruto. Though a dropout who couldn't use ninjutsu, Lee's ambition was to be an excellent ninja. His perserverence (and fuzzy eyebrows) grabbed the attention of Maito Gai, his teacher, who trains him hard to be the most powerful taijutsu specialist at the Chuunin exams.
Unfortunately for Lee, he was matched up against Gaara during the final Chuunin exams preliminaries. Gaara used sand as an absolute defense to soften Lee's attacks and crushed Lee's arms and legs with his Desert Coffin technique. Having already opened life gates, Lee was heavily injured and would have been killed had Gai not stopped Gaara. Lee was injured so badly that even Tsunade the medical specialist had reservations about doing an operation on him and advised him to live a life other than a Shinobi's. Lee now must face the choice between choosing another life or taking the risk between fulfilling his dreams and dying.
Orochimaru
Name: Orochimaru
Age: 50
Birthday: 27 October
Zodiac: Scorpio
Rank: S class missing nin; one of the Legendary Sannin
From: Leaf
Teacher: Sarutobi - Sandaime Hokage
Teammates: Jiraiya, Tsunade
Student: Anko
Side-kick: Yakushi Kabuto
Summons: Snakes
Goal in life: Learn all the jutsus in the world
Background: The crazy one from the Legendary Sannin. Sarutobi's favourite student, who cracked after he was rejected from the title of Yondaime Hokage. He went into weird experiments that involved killing alot of people to create new jutsus to make himself immortal. He was exiled from the Leaf and later founded his own village.
The Deal with him: Sarutobi had noticed the malice and ambition in his snakey eyes even when he was just a genin. But the Hokage believed he could change Orochimaru as he saw much potential in him. It was a failed investment. Not only did Orochimaru grow up to be a twisted crazed psychopath, he also ultimately killed his teacher, but at the cost of losing the use of his hands/jutsus.
Orochimaru is a sore loser. He hankered after the title of the 4th Hokage, but after losing it to Yondaime, he claimed only idiots would want to be Hokage and sought to destroy the village.
His accomplishments are the founding of the Hidden Village of Sound, with the main objective being to destroy the Leaf (why? because he's a sore loser); developing malicious jutsus with one of them being to move his soul into somebody else's body so he could stay immortal, and biting people's neck to give them cursed seals. His current investment is Sasuke, whose Sharingan that can copy others' moves he is actively lusting after.
Temari
Temari is generally caring, if crude, toward her siblings and cohorts, but has a tendency to be quite cruel to her opponents in battle. She is more demonstrative with her feelings than Kankuro when dealing with Gaara and somewhat less afraid of him. Shikamaru, after witnessing her fighting style first-hand, has stated that she is more terrifying than his own mother. Temari basically fights using her fan. Her fan has three purple circles, which she calls stars, and each star revealed increases her fan's power greatly. She usually starts fighting with it closed, and then opens it up, revealing each star one by one until the third star is shown. Finally, she will finish her opponent using her main jutsu, Kamatachi no Jutsu (Cutting Whirlwind Technique), as it shown in her fight against Tenten. Temari also uses her fan as a thrusting tool or club, as in her fight against Nara Shikamaru. Temari mainly uses her fan to create a large wind gust to cut her opponents apart or force them back. She can also create whirlwinds and tornadoes. Upon hearing that Gaara had been kidnapped, she joins Team Kakashi and rushes back to the Hidden Sand. Upon reaching Sunagakure, Temari learns that Kankurō had been poisoned by Sasori as well. Sakura arrives in time and is able to heal him. As a result, Temari plans to join Team Kakashi in fighting Akatsuki However, Chiyo goes in her place, and Temari is left to see to the defense of Sunagakure instead. Later, Temari and a recovered Kankuro catch up to Naruto just as Chiyo performs her life-giving jutsu on Gaara, with the help of Naruto's chakra.
HistoryTemari is the daughter of the Fourth Kazekage, as well as being teammate and sister to Gaara and Kankuro. She carries a giant, Tessen (iron fan) on her back, which she uses as a powerful ninja tool; she specializes in long-range combat, and has demonstrated herself to be a keen analyst (although not of the same caliber as Nara Shikamaru).
Sasuke Retrieval arc
When the situation looked hopeless for Shikamaru in his fight against Tayuya during the failed mission to retrieve the renegade Uchiha Sasuke, Temari came to his rescue. Her fan was able to reflect the sound waves right back to their caster. Her Kuchiyose: Kirikiri Mai (Summoning: Quick Beheading Dance) to summon Kamatari (a Kamaitachi or "Sickle Weasel"), tore up and devastated an entire forest, defeating Tayuya's strategy to hide and attack from a far distance.
Naruto Part II
Temari makes her Naruto II debut in Chapter 247. During Naruto's two and a half year absence, she has advanced to the level of Jounin. Temari is now acting as a liaison between Sunagakure and Konohagakure as they prepare for the new round of Chuunin examinations.
Kakashi Hatake
Hatake Kakashi (Kakashi Hatake in the English anime) is a character in the anime and manga Naruto. The surname "Hatake" means "farmland" and "Kakashi" means "a scarecrow". Copy Ninja Kakashi These aliases refer to the fact he copied more than a thousand jutsu (ninja techniques) using his left eye, which possesses the Sharingan, an advanced bloodline trait found only in some members of the nearly defunct Uchiha clan. The three comma-like marks aligned in a wheel in the pupil of his left Sharingan-activated eye indicate that it is fully developed for a normal Sharingan, with only one more level -- Mangekyō Sharingan. However, he is not a real Uchiha, and in fact receives the Sharingan eye from a dying Uchiha Obito, his teammate, during his first mission as a Jōnin. During that mission, Kakashi injured his left eye in a battle trying to protect Obito, leaving behind the scar (which has nothing to do with the transplant operation). The scar comes from a slash that destroyed his original eye. Recently, in chapter 277 of the manga, it was revealed that Kakashi evolved his Sharingan to the Mangekyou...with a twist. His Mangekyou Sharingan can distort time and space...the full extent of its abilities have not been revealed yet. His history Kakashi Gaiden (sidestory), which began with chapter 239, entitled Gaiden 1: Mission Start...!, introduces the other two members of Kakashi's Genin team, shown in a team portrait in the conclusion of the Chuunin exam arc of the manga. The sensei or teacher in charge of Kakashi's team was the Fourth Hokage, while his teammates were Rin, a girl trained as a medic ninja, and Uchiha Obito, Kakashi's teammate who wears goggles in the team portrait from flashbacks at the conclusion of the Chuunin Exam arc. The gaiden begins on the eve of Kakashi's promotion to Jounin and team leader and the beginning of a mission to the battlefront in the middle of a conflict between Iwagakure (Hidden Rock) and the Konohagakure (Hidden Leaf). Obito, mentioned by Kakashi several times earlier in the series, is revealed to be a member of the Uchiha clan. But, unlike other noteworthy Uchiha including Sasuke and Itachi, Obito initially appears to be like Naruto in behavior, personality and ninja ability, while Kakashi is the acknowledged genius and leader of the group. Obito initially appears without the Sharingan ability. He manages to awaken the Sharingan in battle in chapter 242. The gaiden also explains the origin of the scar on Kakashi's left eye. In the earlier arcs, it was believed that Kakashi's left eye scar came from the surgical implantation of the Sharingan eye. However, in chapter 242 of the Naruto manga, entitled Gaiden Chapter 4: Crybaby Ninja, the scar on Kakashi's left eye appears now to have come from a battle with a Rock ninja. Kakashi detects a Rock ninja, and yells his warning at his teammate, Uchiha Obito, who is too slow to react. Kakashi jumps in front of Obito to save him from the enemy's kunai and thus Kakashi's left eye is slashed to form the scar that Kakashi still has today, blinding him in the left side. In chapter 243, named Present, the mission to rescue Rin from the Rock ninja continues. When Obito throws Kakashi out of the way of a falling rock, caused by a Iwa ninja's Doton: Iwayado Kuzushi (Earth Release: Rock Lodging Destruction), his entire right side is crushed from that falling rock. Mortally wounded, he offers Kakashi his Sharingan-capable, intact left eye as a belated promotion present and final gift to Kakashi. Rin successfully transplants Obito's left eye, replacing Kakashi's useless left eye. Obito's Sharingan eye only has two tomoe, suggesting that Kakashi succeeds in fully evolving the eye to its third stage at a latter time. Following the war, Kakashi earned renowned fame for his use of the Sharingan and developed a reputation for failing every potential Genin team that took the Survival Training Exam he proctored. Like the Sandaime Hokage, and probably Jiraiya and the Fourth Hokage, Kakashi uses the infamous "Bell Test" to test his potential students. Ostensibly a training exercise with Kakashi, the three Academy graduates each have to take a bell from Kakashi, however there are only two bells. The ultimate goal of the Bell Test is to test the potential Genin's teamwork and self sacrifice. This test is what Kakashi uses as the real Genin graduation exam, weeding out potential Genin selected by their passing of the Ninja Academy's graduation exam with a failure rate of more than 66%. While his exam is generally considered to be more exacting and stringent than those of other Jōnin, the Third Hokage believes that his decisions to fail previous teams ultimately proved to be correct and wise. Team 7 became the first Genin team to pass Kakashi's exam. Kakashi and Team 7 The team improved their skills under Kakashi's training, which included the tree-walking exercise seen in the anime and manga. This exercise, which involves the use of chakra to walk up trees with feet alone, greatly improved the chakra control abilities of the team as they prepared for a final battle in the Nami no Kuni (Land of Waves) against Momochi Zabuza and his student, Haku. Kakashi's controversial decision to permit Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura to take the Chūnin exam surprised many, who believed that Kakashi should have given the team another year to prepare. Yet, through this decision, the team begins to truly realize their potential to be ninja. By the end of the second stage, the three exhibit signs of extensive growth from their extreme ordeals. Kakashi, during the tree-walking exercise, is the first one to recognize Naruto's potential to surpass Sasuke and Kakashi in Chakra capacity. Initially considered to be weak and untalented, Naruto's growth as a ninja early in the series is attributed to Kakashi's training and influence. Naruto, in his fight against Inuzuka Kiba, quotes Kakashi's earlier admonition to him: "Use your techniques carefully, after giving some thought to what you're doing! Or it'll be used to the other person's advantage, stupid!" Through the Survival Training Exam, Kakashi recognizes Sakura's faculty with Genjutsu. However, despite the training that Kakashi has given to Naruto and Sakura, the one he has spent the most time in training with is Sasuke. After the second stage of the Chūnin exam until Sasuke's defection to Orochimaru, Kakashi takes an active role in training Sasuke, teaching him Chidori and how to use his Sharingan, as well as attempting to seal the effects of Sasuke's Cursed Seal. Kakashi, like Sasuke, has lost many important people in his life including Obito, whose grave he appears to visit frequently. Sasuke's and Obito's relation, plus Sasuke's Sharingan ability and natural talent, lead Kakashi to train Sasuke for the third portion of the Chūnin exam, much to Naruto's disappointment, believing that Kakashi is playing favorites with Sasuke. Kakashi's intention was for Sasuke to learn to use the Chidori to focus on protecting the important friends he has made in the present, rather than seeking vengeance for the loss of his family. With Akatsuki seeking to capture Naruto, Jiraiya appropriates responsibility for Naruto and his training from Kakashi, while they agree that Sasuke should develop his Sharingan under Kakashi's guidance. Following his recovery after a confrontation with Uchiha Itachi and his Mangekyō Sharingan, Kakashi awakes to find that much has changed. Sasuke's frustration at his inability to kill Itachi and his growing envy of Naruto's recent growth and success leads him to demand a fight against Naruto in order to prove his superiority. The fight quickly gets out of hand and Kakashi is forced to intervene to protect Sakura from accidental harm. Despite Kakashi's admonishment about Chidori and his need to end his quest for revenge, Sasuke's frustration and his need for revenge against Itachi lead him to leave the village and seek Orochimaru and his offer of power. Knowing that Naruto and Sasuke have the potential to kill each other, Kakashi attempts to intervene but arrives too late, finding Naruto seriously injured and Sasuke gone, having succeeded in his defection to Orochimaru. With Kakashi now called on by the village to take more A and S level missions due to the current manpower shortage, Sasuke's defection to Orochimaru, Naruto's three year apprenticeship to Jiraiya, and Sakura's medical apprenticeship to Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage, it seems that Team 7 is currently defunct. Yet, after two and a half years, Naruto and Jiraiya return to the village earlier than expected because of the impatience of Akatsuki at capturing Naruto for his Kyūbi no Yōko (Nine-Tails Fox Demon). Kakashi forms a team with Naruto and Sakura again. However, the relationship between the three is no longer master and students, but equal teammates. Kakashi decides to test Naruto and Sakura's skills with another bell exercise, identical to the one they underwent with Sasuke when they first met Kakashi. The exercise reveals that Naruto and Sakura's skills and abilities had improved over the years. However, Naruto and Sakura manage to finally retrieve the two bells by preying upon Kakashi's addiction to the "Icha Icha" ("Make-out") series of books written by Jiraiya, by trying to spoil the ending of the latest volume, Make-out Tactics, which Naruto gave Kakashi, but hasn't finished yet. His jutsu His Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique) involves a blood contract with a pack of Ninken (Ninja Dogs) used for searching and tracking, among other purposes, as seen in his battle with Momochi Zabuza. He has a special Kuchiyose called Kuchiyose: Doton: Tsuiga no Jutsu (Summoning: Earth Release: Tracking Fang Technique) His signature, and only original, jutsu is the Raikiri (Lightning Blade). Another name for it is Chidori (meaning, "A Thousand Birds"), due to the fact that the sound emitted from the chakra is similar to that of the chirping of a thousand birds. Doing the jutsu, he concentrates chakra into his right hand until it becomes visible. At high speed, this jutsu can cut through anything; thus, it serves as an effective assassination technique. Charging at an opponent, the chakra in his hand grows stronger from body activation, while the sound emitted by the chakra begins to resemble the chirping of a thousand birds. Because the jutsu involves a high speed, linear stab, the Sharingan is needed for the technique to be effective and to avoid enemy countermeasures. Developing Chidori before acquiring his Sharingan eye, he is nearly impaled by an enemy countermeasure, and is injured. As a result, the Fourth Hokage forbids Kakashi to use Chidori again. Kakashi resumes his use of Chidori after receiving the Sharingan eye. Kakashi is believed to have been able to use this jutsu to cut through a lightning bolt, which is why his nickname for the jutsu is Raikiri. There is a distinct difference between Raikiri and Chidori. While Chidori is A-rank (an ultra high level jutsu), Raikiri is S-rank (extreme level jutsu). This is due to Kakashi cutting a lightning bolt with it. Uchiha Sasuke, the only other person able to do this jutsu, is still only at A-rank level, thus he still calls it Chidori. Another famous "jutsu" of his, is the Konohagakure Hiden: Taijutsu no Ōgi: Sennen Goroshi (Hidden Leaf Secret: Taijutsu Supreme Technique: A Thousand Years of Death) (kancho), a verbose title for an extremely sharp, simple poke to the rectal region of an opponent with the index and middle fingers of both hands, launching him into midair with humiliating pain. This is first demonstrated by Kakashi on Naruto during the Survival Training Exam. Naruto "inherits" this jutsu and uses it in modified form later in the series. In addition to the three main types of techniques, Kakashi had been developing faculty with seals. This is seen in Kakashi's ability to restrain the effects of Orochimaru's Cursed Seal on Sasuke with the Fūja Hōin (Evil Sealing Method). Because of Kakashi's current skill level with seals, the seal's power to restrain the Cursed Seal depended on Sasuke's willpower and determination to forsake it and control his emotions. Otherwise, the seal is rendered ineffective. In Part II, Kakashi reveals he has developed a kind of Mangekyo Sharingan, although it looks different from Itachi's Mangekyō Sharingan. With it, he can manipulate space-time, even to a focus, and utilize it to conduct long range attack. In the jutsu's premiere, he managed to destroy Deidara's right arm. Later on, when Deidara's Bunshin attempted to blow himself up and take everyone around with him, he used the Mangekyo Sharingan to banish him out of existence. His emphasis The letter, disagreeing to Kakashi's previous inflexible attitude towards rules and regulations, says to Kakashi: "In the world of ninja, those who don't follow the rules are scum, that's true. But, those who abandon their friends are worse than scum." (Adapted US anime version) Kakashi, who has taken these words to heart in the following years, repeats these words to Team 7 after they pass the survival training, becoming the only Genin team to pass survival training with Kakashi as their proctor. His life Another ninja has proven to be a match for Hatake Kakashi: Yakushi Kabuto, Orochimaru's spy, lieutenant and medical ninja, who manages to elude Kakashi in several confrontations. Initially posing as an undistinguished Konoha genin, he proves to be a Jōnin level ninja with skills and abilities on par with Kakashi. His encounter with Uchiha Itachi demonstrated that while Kakashi has one Sharingan eye, he may not be able to match the eyes of a natural Sharingan user. While he could resist the Mangekyō Sharingan, it was the Tsukuyomi technique that ended up not only defeating Kakashi, but rendering him unable to fight for a very long time. Kakashi's personal life appears to be as much of a mystery as the face behind the mask he has worn for most of his ninja career. He has no living family, or at least none he cares to acknowledge (telling Sasuke in chapter 177 that everyone he loves is already dead), though he is immediately recognizable as the son of (or mistaken for) the 'White Fang' of Konoha, Hatake Sakumo. Whether the mask he wears is because of this resemblence or for some other reason is unknown. However, despite Naruto's theories to the contrary, the special chapter "At the Ichiraku Ramen" implies that he is in fact quite handsome. Though he reportedly has many hobbies, the one pastime most seen in the series is his reading of Icha Icha Paradise (Icha Icha Paradaisu, "Make-out Paradise"), the adult, probably pornographic novel authored by Jiraiya that is a runaway best seller in the Naruto mythology. He reads this book when testing Naruto , Sasuke and Sakura. In the first Naruto movie the new daimyo of the Snow country, Fujikaze Yukie, tells team Kakashi that she can be both the Snow Country's monarch and an actress. The fact that she's holding Icha Icha paradise while saying this probably means she'll be playing in an Icha Icha Paradise movie. Later on in the series, Kakashi is reading the second volume of the Icha Icha series, "Icha Icha Violence" ( Icha Icha Baiorensu, "Make-out Violence"). In episode 101, Kakashi sees an advertisement for a movie under that same title. The picture shows a woman kicking a man. With the beginning of Part 2 of the Naruto manga, Kakashi receives the third installment of the Icha Icha series, "Icha Icha Tactics" ( Icha Icha Takutikusu, "Make-out Tactics"), which has yet to be released in the Naruto world. He has also been reading Icha Icha Violence. Otherwise, Kakashi visits Konoha's memorial site, where the dead heroic ninja are remembered. In particular, he visits for Obito's sake. One past manga arc, Kakashi Gaiden, is a side-story, which focuses on Kakashi's past, his relationship with Obito and answers many of the mysteries of Kakashi's life, most notably the origins of his trademark Sharingan eye and Raikiri attack.
Kakashi is the Konohagakure Jounin assigned in the beginning of the manga and anime to train and look after Team 7, including Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, and Haruno Sakura. He is also known as Copy Ninja Kakashi (Kopī Ninja no Kakashi) or Kakashi of the Sharingan (Sharingan no Kakashi).
Chronically tardy, Kakashi initially appears to be flaky and unreliable. He is, however, an exceptionally skillful ninja, a child prodigy who attained Chuunin rank at the age of 6 and became a Jounin at age 13. His father was Hatake Sakumo, known as the "White Fang" of Konoha (Konoha no Shiroi Kiba) and a genius ninja on par with the Legendary Sannin (famous students of the Sandaime Hokage : Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Tsunade).
The initial results of the Survival Training Exam for Team 7 were unpromising. Naruto's impulsiveness, Sakura's tunnel vision focus on Sasuke and Sasuke's arrogant superiority and lone-wolf attitude resulted in a lack of teamwork, which led them to fail the Survival Training Exam. Given a second chance, an uncharacteristic display of teamwork impressed Kakashi enough to pass the team, the first Genin team he had ever passed.
In terms of the three main classifications of jutsu: Genjutsu, Ninjutsu, and Taijutsu, Kakashi appears to be balanced in his abilities, as demonstrated in the survival exam. Kakashi is a former member of Anbu (Black Ops in the English version).
In serious confrontations, however, Kakashi uncovers and uses his Sharingan eye. With the Sharingan, he is able to use its various abilities, which extend beyond its notorious copy ability, as demonstrated in his fight against Zabuza early in the series. Although not a member of the Uchiha clan, we see in chapter 142, entitled Kakashi vs. Itachi, that Kakashi's ability to use the Sharingan is nearly as skillful as Uchiha Itachi, who mastered the normal capabilities of the Sharingan at a very early age. Since Kakashi is not a Uchiha clan member, he should not be able to develop the Mangekyō Sharingan and thus cannot counter it. However, after the time skip, Kakashi is able to use the Mangekyo Sharingan, though his looks different from Itachi's. Also, Kakashi receives more adverse effects from prolonged use of the Sharingan as it drains more chakra energy from him then from an Uchiha. Additionally, he cannot activate or deactivate it at will. The result is Kakashi normally appearing with his forehead protector covering the left eye, to avoid activating the Sharingan in order to conserve chakra.
Kakashi is also a stickler for teamwork, as seen in his design of the survival exam for Team 7. Based on Kakashi Gaiden, Kakashi appears to have been a stickler to ninja rules and regulations, because of his father's suicide over guilt of breaking village rules to save his teammates, which lead to the failure of a vital mission. He seems to have mellowed out a bit, however; apparently with some help from the 4th Hokage and Obito.
Ninja no sekai de rūru ya okite o yaburu yatsu wa kuzu yobawari sareru...
Kedona... nakama o taisetsu ni shinai yatsu wa sore ijō no kuzu da
"In the world of the ninja those who violate the rules and laws are called trash
However... those who don't take care of their comrades are worse than trash" (Original Japanese version)
or
Kakashi has an ongoing rivalry with Maito Gai; Kakashi's current record stands at 49 wins, 50 losses. It is later revealed that these battles are diverse in nature, including sprints and Rock, Paper, Scissors. Gai serves as a perfect antithesis for Kakashi in personality, appearance and in technique. Unlike Kakashi, Gai has had to work hard to achieve success as a ninja and mainly uses taijutsu, which is the natural counter to the Sharingan.
Neji Hyuuga
Hyuuga Neji (Neji Hyuuga in the English anime) is a character in the manga and anime Naruto. Neji used to be particularly bitter about his own destiny, forced on him by the fact that his father, Hyuuga Hizashi, was born into the world after his uncle, Hyuuga Hiashi, even though they were twins. This made Hiashi a member of the main family and Hizashi, as well as Neji, a member of the branch family. In his childhood, Neji had nothing against the main family as he was probably being too young to fully understand the implications of being a branch family member, but as he grew up seeing his father feeling nothing but hatred for his own brother and the main family, he gradually came to resent it himself. His resentment only deepened as he witnessed his father enraged first hand while watching Hyuuga Hinata, Hiashi's elder daughter and then the destined Hyuuga main family heir, train with her father; for he knew that his own son, Neji, will never be the heir of his clan. Detecting Hizashi's vibes of animosity, Hiashi activated the Juin (Cursed seal), putting his brother in immense pain as his nerves were being attacked. It was Neji's first encounter with the Hyuuga Curse Seal. It was not until the incident with Kumogakure (Hidden Cloud)'s and Konohagakure (Hidden Leaf)'s peace treaty, however, that Neji truly became who he were when he showed up for the Chuunin exams. The two villages, which were at war with one another, apparently decided to sign a treaty, and for this representatives from Kumogakure arrived. On the same day, the very same curse seal that tortured his father was put upon Neji himself; and that night, the ambassador from the Lightning country attempted to kidnap Hinata, revealing that the intention of the "treaty" was all along to get into the Fire country and acquire the secret of Byakugan. Hiashi detected the intruder and killed him at once, for which Kumogakure, absurdly, requested payback in the form of Hiashi's dead body. That day, Neji's father was sent to his death instead of Hiashi, and Neji grew up believing that his father was sent against his will to protect the Hyuuga clan's secret bloodline. This chain of events drove him to the point of believing that destiny, what we are born as and our features are decided from birth and there's no way to escape or change them; he was also arrogant, cynical and holier-than-thou. Thanks to Naruto he has completely abandoned this attitude, however, and now no longer judges and labels people, believing in their power to change their fates as well as his own. His Team Neji and Lee have a rivalry going on, which, not unlike the rivalry between Gai and Hatake Kakashi, mostly comes from Lee's side. Lee, who has been fighting against his fate as a worthless shinobi all his life, tries desperately to prove himself to the world in general and Neji in particular. Neji has mocked Lee's dream of becoming a fine shinobi, saying one cannot go against fate. After Neji's defeat by Naruto, he seems to have warmed up to Lee. Tenten is often seen sparring with Neji, which usually consists of Tenten honing her skill with throwing weapons and Neji deflecting the weapons with his Hakkeshō Kaiten. The two of them are often equally annoyed with Lee and Gai's overreacting and childish behaviour. Although he is often annoyed with his team members and can act rude to them, he is willing to fight for them when necessary. Chuunin Exam Arc In doing so, however, he terribly enrages Uzumaki Naruto who had sympathy for Hinata as it was, and is probably the last person who will stand aside while somebody else carries speeches on how dropouts remain dropouts. Naruto calls for her to stand up for herself and this actually gives her the willpower to stand up to him, something Neji definitely did not fathom was a possibility. Even though he is far stronger than Hinata and manages to knock her out again and again, she refuses to give up and carries on fighting, and Neji, though still in a superior position, starts sweating as people who refuse to accept their "fate" do not fit into his world-view. When Hinata actually dares to tell him that he is actually the one suffering at the hands of fate, and trying with all his might to fight against it, he nearly kills her in a fit of rage, but is stopped at the last moment by the Jounin supervising the battle. Neji further calls both Hinata and Naruto dropouts subsequently after the fight, and this is the bursting point for Naruto who runs toward Neji to attack him, only to be prevented by Rock Lee who reasons that even a dropout can defeat a genius with enough training, but it has to happen in a proper fight. Naruto grudgingly accepts this, but is still so outraged that he swears on Hinata's spilled blood that he will defeat Neji in battle. A month afterwards when Naruto and Neji actually engage in battle in the third stage main event, Naruto continuously confronts Neji about his attitude and the way he treated Hinata, until Neji decides that if he cares so much, he will tell him about the sad story of his twin father and uncle. While Naruto is shocked at the tragedy, he refuses to acknowledge it as an excuse for how Neji is acting, and berates him for his hypocrisy, going on about fate but defying his in a twisted way, almost killing Hinata where as a Hyuuga branch family member it is his duty to protect her. Though Neji manages to block Naruto's tenketsu completely, Naruto harnesses the power of Kyuubi by concentrating about how he is now fighting for Hinata as he promised and for Rock Lee, who always wanted to fight Neji to prove that a hard worker can surpass a genius, but is now incapable of doing so himself because of the injuries he sustained in his battle with Gaara. With the power of the Kyuubi, Naruto is able to overwhelm Neji and wins the battle. Realizations and elations rain on Neji that day as Naruto's speeches on the fact that people can change, himself being an obvious in-your-face example for this, combined with his uncle's explanation that Neji's father chose to sacrifice himself for the clan rather than doing it involuntarily, completely redesign his view on the world, amounting in the conclusion that even a bird in a cage, if smart enough, and with enough willpower, can open the lock with its beak and soar in the skies again. Kishimoto Masashi says: "The theme for the Neji-Naruto fight is "destiny." I wanted to express the difference between Neji who believed that destiny can't be changed and suffers within that belief and Naruto who lives to change destiny while looking forward." Sasuke Retrieval Arc At the epilogue of the first part of the manga and anime, Neji is shown having friendly conversation with Hinata and training with Hiashi, and they later all have tea together, symbolizing that the internally bleeding Hyuuga clan seems to finally be coming to terms with one-another.
Personality and ability
A Genin at the start of the series, Hyuuga Neji is the #1 rookie of his Ninja Academy graduating class during the first several volumes of the manga. He is also considered to be the strongest and most talented of all the Konoha Genin who attended the Chuunin exam during that arc, and is the first of them (and currently the only one) to become a Jounin.A member of the Hyuuga Clan, branch house, Neji can never be leader of his clan despite his mastery of the Jyuuken and Byakugan (Viz "Evil Eye") being advanced to the point of being able to see the chakra opening points. Neji also has a very powerful defense in the form of the Hakkesho Kaiten (Eight Trigram Palms Heavenly Spin), along with the Hakke Rokujuyon Sho (Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms), (and, in the anime, the Hakke Hyaku Nijuha Sho (Eight Trigrams One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms)) which effectively seals off a person's chakra points, rendering them completely unable to channel any chakra. However, his Byakugan does not have a complete 360° vision due to a blind spot located behind his first thoracic vertebra. He is a very heavy taijutsu user, naturally being proficient in the Leaf's strongest taijutsu style: Jyuuken (Gentle Fist). Since taijutsu are physical attacks, he is a good close range fighter, and a long-range defender with his Kaiten.
Neji was in the same Genin team as Rock Lee, Tenten and their Jounin sensei Maito Gai. Although Neji is now a Jounin, he still does missions with his old team.
Though he appears calm and stoic on the outside, Neji is full of pent-up hatred for the main house, which culminates when he is randomly chosen to be Hinata's opponent in the chuunin exam third stage preliminaries. He tells her that she is a harmony-seeking person not fit to be a shinobi, and that he can see that she wants nothing more than to be somewhere else; when she stutters that this is not true, and that she entered the exam because she wanted to change herself, Neji concludes that she is truly a spoiled child of the main family, believing in such absurdities, and gives her a stern speech of absolute determinism about how people cannot change.
Some time later in the series, the reformed Neji joins Nara Shikamaru's squad (consisting of Uzumaki Naruto, Inuzuka Kiba, Akimichi Chouji and later also Rock Lee and Gaara, Kankuro and Temari who arrive just in the nick of time to bail out a member of Shikamaru's squad who is in dire straits) on the failed mission to prevent Uchiha Sasuke from crossing over Hi no Kuni (Land of Fire)'s borders and into the Oto no Kuni (Land of Sound) and Orochimaru's control. He confronts Kidōmaru of the Sound Four, risking his life for the sake of his comrades, sustains critical injuries and at one point coming inches from death, surviving only thanks to treatment by a med-nin team that is prompty dispatched. In fact, during the fight against Kidōmaru he feels for once how it is to be on the hopelessly disadvantaged side while your opponent taunts and mocks your hopeless predicament, as he has done to Lee, Hinata and Naruto. Much like they did when up against his former, bitter self, Neji refuses to give up and fights with feverish determination; and this is what enables him to emerge victorious in the end.
Gaara
Gaara is a character in the manga and anime Naruto. He is known as Gaara of the Sand in the Viz translation, and Sabaku no Gaara (Gaara of the Desert) in the original Japanese. Gaara was raised mainly by his uncle, Yashamaru. For six years, Gaara, being feared by his family and the other villagers, believed Yashamaru was the only one who loved him. However, when Gaara was six years old, Yashamaru was ordered to assassinate Gaara by Gaara’s father the Kazekage. However, Gaara killed the assassin before he knew the assassin was in fact Yashamaru. Before he died, Yashamaru revealed to Gaara that he never did love him. In fact, Yashamaru always resented Gaara for taking away the life of his beloved sister and Gaara’s mother, Karura. Yashamaru also reveals Gaara's namesake: a demon that fought only for himself. Gaara's mother had resented the village for using her and her son as a sacrifice for a weapon, and wished that Gaara would live, for nothing else but to curse the village that had created him. After realizing nobody loved him, Gaara used his sand to create the tattoo on his forehead, (ai, "love"), as a symbol of a "demon loving only himself." For the next 6 years, Gaara has been the victim of almost constant assassination attempts, all ordered by his father. Gaara was to play a major part in the attack on Konohagakure (Konoha), which was engineered by Orochimaru. The plan was to release Shukaku inside Konoha simultaneously with Orochimaru's giant snakes spearheading an attack from outside, but Shukaku proved to be too unpredictable. He was then defeated in battle by Uzumaki Naruto. Naruto puzzled Gaara by fighting for those he cared about. While the battle technically ended in a draw, what surprised Gaara was Naruto's undying devotion to his friends. Upon witnessing Naruto literally inch and crawl his way to make sure Gaara is defeated while they were both on the ground, Gaara realized that Naruto's strength comes from the desire to protect his precious friends. As Gaara and his siblings fled, Gaara apologized to them, which brought out surprised looks from each. Gaara later appeared as an ally, after the Fifth Hokage asked them to assist the team sent to retrieve Uchiha Sasuke. Gaara arrived in time to rescue Rock Lee from Kimimaro. After the mission ended in failure, Gaara and his siblings returned home to Sunagakure. When Uzumaki Naruto returned to Konohagakure after his two and a half year training under Jiraiya, he was shocked to find that Gaara had become Kazekage. Gaara defended his village from an attack by Akatsuki who were actually after the Shukaku. Gaara was defeated by Deidara, captured and Shukaku was extracted from his body. This led to his death, but Chiyo was able to use her life-restoring technique (and the help of Naruto's chakra) to bring Gaara back to life at the cost of her own. It has been comfirmed that he can still control sand and use sand-based attacks, but his fighting strength sans-Shukaku remains untested. In the manga, Gaara seems to have fangirls (shown after his resurrection), much to the chagrin of Naruto. Personality and Ability In fact, the main problem Gaara faces in life is almost idetical to Naruto's, albeid a more unfortunate one. Loneliness and the desire to be liked, loved and to be acknowledged as an individual(this means they want to be free of prejudices - they are themselves, not the demons they were forced to "contain") drives both into a desperate state, where Naruto develops the misconception of the need of mischiefs to draw attention(more precisely: recognition), and at the same time Gaara comes to the conclusion, that if people don't care about him, there is the way of murdering everybody he comes across to verify his own existence as a human being. Before that, they both tried to show their good side, being cheerful(in NAruto's case over-energetic), kind and caring, with absolutely no success. Gaara was rejected when he wanted to play with other children, and hurt one of the girls unintentionally with the sand(he didn't want to be left alone, that's why he grabbed them unconsciously). Later, ha was again rejected when he wanted to help the girl heal - he bought oinment, but she slammed the door and called Gaara "bakemono". Such bitter experiences were common. In the end, both Naruto and Gaara turned to the better, if not the best(Naruto with the help of Iruka Sensei and the Team 7, Gaara with the unintentional help of Naruto). Gaara's jutsu are all sand-based and, although most are simple offensive and defensive jutsu, can be used for a variety of purposes, including floating in the air (Sabaku Fuyū (Desert Suspension)) and spying (Daisan no Me (Third Eye)). While fighting, Gaara often uses a combination of Sabakukyu (The Coffin of Crushing Sand) followed by Sabakusoso (Imploding Sand Funeral). Although most of his attacks are small scale, Gaara can wreak havoc with his Ryusa Bakuryū (Quicksand in the Style of a Waterfall). Gaara's main defense is his Suna no Tate (Shield of Sand). This shield protects Gaara from all harm, even against his will, but can still be defeated with great enough speed and strength. If his Suna no Tate fails, Gaara still has his Suna no Yoroi (Armour of Sand). This is a layer of highly compacted sand, wrapped around Gaara's body. Although it gives Gaara an almost ultimate defense, it takes a large toll on Gaara's chakra and stamina, and it also slows Gaara down.
Biography
Gaara is the youngest son of the Fourth Kazekage, thus having Temari and Kankuro as his older siblings. Because of Sunagakure’s weakened state, the Fourth Kazekage ordered one of Suna’s elders, Chiyo, to use a possession jutsu to seal the Ichibi Shukaku into Gaara. Because of this possession, Gaara’s mother, Karura, died while giving birth. Before she died, Karura cursed Suna, hoping Gaara would avenge her death.
Because of the demon inside of him, Gaara is feared and hated by his entire village. This in turn has made Gaara hate everybody but himself. Gaara had lost all emotion years ago and filled the gap with the unrelenting goal of killing anybody in the world that was not himself. To Gaara, killing is the only way he can verify his existence. His insomnia, forced upon him by the fact that the demon inside him would eat away at his personality if he were to fall asleep, made his personality further unstable.
Thanks to Shukaku, Gaara has the ability to control sand. The sand also protects him from harm, even against his will, using Suna no Tate (Shield of Sand). This makes Gaara almost unable to use Taijutsu. Gaara almost always carries a gourd on his back. However, instead of water being carried in it, the gourd contains sand soaked in the blood of his enemies and enhanced with chakra. Although Gaara can control any sand, and can even make sand himself, using the minerals in the ground, he can control the sand in his gourd best. With this sand, not only does Gaara always have his own sand supply, his attacks also increase in both speed and power.
Naruto Uzumaki
Uzumaki Naruto (Naruto Uzumaki in the English anime) is the main character of the manga and anime series Naruto. He is a student of Hatake Kakashi's and later of Jiraiya. History Personality and characteristics Naruto has a knack for inspiring people to realise their potentials and resolve to work harder or change their ways for the better; his determination and resolve often earn him sympathy from other characters. One early example of this is Konohamaru, the grandson of the third Hokage, who was inspired by Naruto to stop trying to find shortcuts to becoming Hokage, as there are no shortcuts and the only way is paved with plenty of hard work. Another is Inari, whom Naruto helped by making him see that anyone can make a difference and by confronting him about his refusal to come to terms with his painful past (as Naruto's past was similarly tragic). Both of them have gotten very attached to Naruto and have taken to calling him Onii-chan (big brother). Though he is naturally impetuous, hyperactive and tends to rush into combat without thinking, Naruto is capable of devising some quite clever plans by creative usage of his jutsu. He has more than once upstaged what looked like a superior opponent by exploiting the element of surprise an unconventional usage of a technique entails; Kakashi even dubs him the "number one ninja in surprising people". Another main driving force behind his otherwise average Taijutsu and Ninjutsu abilities is the huge power and chakra reserves of the Kyūbi. Kyūbi is by no stretch of the imagination a particularly pleasant character, but nevertheless does everything in his power to help Naruto - lending chakra as requested, healing Naruto with his extreme healing ability and so forth - if only for the fact that Naruto's death would apparently mean the Kyūbi's death as well. There are downsides to the huge chakra load that is Kyūbi; like most of the biggest weapons, it can't be lifted, let alone wielded, with ease. Naruto is a relatively small container that cannot quite handle the whole of Kyūbi's chakra, which might account for Naruto's inability to control and focus chakra consistently for jutsu during his days at the academy. Even later, when Naruto learns to better control his chakra, any technique relying on Kyūbi's chakra to work properly runs a chance of failing, as it takes great conviction or control on Naruto's part to draw Kyūbi's chakra effectively. However, Naruto's Chakra and Kyūbi's chakra are slowly fusing and are expected to eventually become one, which is bound to drastically change this status-quo. Ninja academy While labeled as dumb at the academy, Naruto shows surprising talent in unexpected areas and often comes up with inventive solutions and strategies. Later in the series, Naruto manages to learn the Rasengan, a technique that took the fourth Hokage three years to develop, in just a month (he takes a couple of days for the first step, three weeks for the second, and one week for the third). An example of Naruto's inventiveness is shown here -- he lacks the chakra control required to execute the technique using only one hand, but he settles for an inferior delivery method which is slower and requires another hand (either by occupying his other one or using a kage bunshin). While not on par with the original, Naruto's version is still very effective. Later in the manga, Naruto is seen to be able to use Rasengan with only one hand (though this might be a misinterpretation due to the graphic limitations of manga). Early in the Naruto II arc while out to rescue Gaara, Naruto uses a new version of Rasengan called Odama Rasengan- essentially two combined Rasengan spheres from him and a clone requiring only one hand of each, again suggesting that he is now capable of executing Rasengan as originally intended. Team 7 Though Genin are only supposed to go on D-Rank missions, Naruto insists on doing something more exciting and the Sandaime Hokage agrees to send them on a C-Rank mission to escort a client. During their mission, the team is attacked by two enemy Chūnin- something that is definitely not supposed to happen on C-Rank missions- and Naruto panics and freezes; Sasuke however deals with the attackers quite efficiently. Sasuke rubs his one-upping Naruto in by calling him a "Scaredy-cat"; this name-calling, which Naruto would imitate many times later in the series, is a defining moment in the Naruto-Sasuke rivalry. Team 7 also undergoes chakra training in this arc of the manga, another point of rivalry between the two ninja, as they constantly challenge themselves to try to outdo each other, but instead end up helping and motivating each other to succeed. After his graduation, Naruto gradually becomes more acknowledged and appreciated, as more and more people come in contact with the real Naruto behind the "demon" and "idiot prankster" stigmas. From his previous state of isolation he develops friendships with all sorts of people; his relationship with Sasuke grows into a mix of friendship and rivalry, eventually escalating into very strong friendship and a rivalry of epic proportions, while Haruno Sakura's role slowly develops from that of Naruto's mere crush into that of his important friend. Chuunin exam During the exam, Naruto finds himself for the first time in a truly desperate situation, up against Orochimaru - an S-ranked criminal so powerful that the third Hokage later mentions that there is nobody in the hidden Leaf Village that can fight him equally (even he himself, he admits, cannot). Naruto and Sasuke's reactions to the situation are a complete reversal of what happened in their previous mission - Sasuke is paralyzed with panic while Naruto fights on fearlessly, at one point stopping Orochimaru's huge summoned snake in its tracks on his own, and muttering to Sasuke, in a a moment of glorious comeuppance that marks another milestone in their rivalry, "are you all right... scaredy-cat?". Naruto eventually snaps Sasuke out of his panic, and when Naruto is knocked out Sasuke continues to fight Orochimaru. In the month between the third stage preliminary matches and the third stage main matches, Naruto meets Jiraiya - one of Konoha's legendary three - for the first time. Jiraiya agrees to be his sensei and is the one who teaches him most of the advanced techniques he learns during that time. He also undergoes a brief training period under Ebisu, who earlier saw him as nothing more than the container of the demon fox but after spending some time with him decides that he is indeed a true ninja of the leaf. Naruto's defining trait of being extremely spirited and never giving up is further emphasised in this arc. During the written test part, when given a choice between taking a question or not taking a question - when not taking it would mean failing the exam, and taking it but not answering correctly would mean failing and staying a genin forever - he not only chooses to take the question but proclaims his resolve to will himself to be Hokage even if he stays a genin forever loudly, inspiring many people in the room to do the same (in a twist, it later turns out that the whole point of the "question" was to see who was fit and who wasn't fit for being a chūnin, an occupation in which one does not have a choice of whether to undertake missions which risk everything or not, and Naruto has answered correctly by merely deciding to confront it). He also faces up with determination to Hyūga Neji and Gaara - Two opponents that, he frankly admits to himself often at various points during the arc, terrify him. Naruto's encounters during the Chūnin exam arc are characterized by Naruto relating to or opposing to sentiments and outlooks on life, and it is through this relation that he makes many new friends (and on three different occasions, by defeating an enemy). He gradually bonds with Rock Lee, a Taijutsu expert, who represents the ideal of hard work prevailing against all odds and stands up against the much more powerful Gaara during the third stage preliminary exams even while unconscious. Naruto deeply identifies with Lee and feels very sorry for him when Gaara beats him (since he does such a thorough job as to, according to the doctors' first impressions, permanently cripple Lee.) Another contrast that deeply affects Naruto is the clash between Hyūga Hinata, the forsaken heir of the Hyūga clan head house, and Hyūga Neji, her cousin, who is much stronger but will never be the heir because he is a part of the branch house. Naruto watches the start of the fight with little knowledge of either fighters (apart from that Hinata is a nice person, as she offered to let him copy off of her paper in the written test stage and offered him medicine immediately after his fight with Inuzuka Kiba); however about a minute later, after Hinata mumbles quietly that she just wanted to change herself and Neji lectures her about the supreme rule of destiny and how people cannot change, Naruto is already shouting into the stadium for Hinata to stand up for herself. She loses the fight, much like Lee loses his own fight with Gaara - still standing at a point where she should technically be dead; when she finally goes down, Naruto is so overwhelmed with sympathy for her predicament and antagonism for Neji's attitude that he closes his punch around her overflowing blood and flings it at Neji, promising to her that he will beat the Hyūga prodigy himself. The climax of the arc is Naruto's battle with Gaara. Gaara represents the opposite reaction to Naruto's very predicament than the one Naruto had; Naruto looked for acknowledgement and attention to form his identity, while Gaara built more and more walls around himself, eventually concluding that his purpose in life was to kill everybody that was not him. At first Naruto is clearly outpowered, but later in the fight he gains more ground by using clever tactics and employing the techniques Jiraiya taught him. Most of all what enables him to triumph is his devotion to his important people, which turns out to be a source of much greater strength of Gaara's hatred, contrary to Naruto's first impression that Gaara's state of mind makes him somebody he could not possibly face. After the battle ends, Gaara wonders whether he'd be able to love again, and appears later in the series as a positive character and another important friend Naruto has made during this arc. Sasuke arc Naruto II arc When Naruto returns to the village two and a half years later he finds out, much to his chagrin, that he is the only one of his former-Genin social circle (known as the "Rookie 9") who is still a Genin. During his absence, the rest have become Chūnin (and Hyūga Neji even made Jōnin). In this new arc of the story, dubbed Naruto II, we see the growth of all of the characters, including Naruto. Naruto shows physical growth, sports a new outfit, and appears to not only have increased in strength and techniques, but intelligence as well (the pervertedness of his Sensei also seems to have slightly rubbed off on him). He has little time, however, to wander the village and greet all his old friends, as the Hokage sends him, Sakura and Kakashi on yet another rescue mission, this time to retrieve the helpless Gaara (who, to Naruto's utter awe, has become the fifth Kazekage during his absence) from the hands of Akatsuki, who plan to extract the sealed demon from him for purposes yet unknown. Jiraiya's information sources indicate that Akatsuki has been growing impatient with their lack of success capturing Naruto, and thus this clash with Akatsuki seems to have been inevitable. Upon retrieving Gaara from Deidara's clay bird, Naruto undergoes the second-stage Kyūbi transformation, which he used against Sasuke. Because Kakashi knew how to contain Naruto's further transformation using a special seal he received from Jiraiya, it has been implied that Jiraiya also witnessed Naruto's transformation during the last three years.
Little is known about Naruto's birth or parentage, and it is very probable that he has no living relatives at all. What is known, however, is that around the time his mother was about to give birth to him, the Nine-tails Demon Fox, or Kyūbi no Yōko, attacked his village, Konohagakure (Hidden Leaf) and the Yondaime Hokage (Fourth Hokage) decided to seal the demon away with a forbidden technique inside him, sacrificing his life in the process. Yondaime's wish was for Naruto to be remembered as a hero by the people of the village.
Things, unfortunately for him, definitely did not turn out that way. The people of the village needed something to blame and channel their bitterness and loss onto, and he was the perfect candidate. The adults of the village, without known exceptions, knew him and treated him as nothing more than the demon fox that has attacked the village; As a result he grew up alone and isolated. It is implied in the manga that he went through very difficult emotional times and often shed many tears, but kept reprimanding himself for doing so and telling himself nothing would be achieved by crying. Eventually he developed into the loudmouth, hyperactive prankster he was at the start of the manga, though as the Third Hokage (Sandaime) observed (and even Naruto himself, in a moment of rare enlightenment, once admitted this), it is only an act to cover up for his deep insecurity in a desperate plight for recognition.
By chance or fate, Umino Iruka, who had felt much of the same desperation as Naruto in his younger years, was Naruto's teacher, and he was the first person to recognize Naruto as a human being and ninja, and not just as a stupid screwup or the Nine-Tails. Naruto, at one point, says that when he is with Iruka, he often wonders whether that is what being with a father is like.
Naruto is very determined and has very strong values that he never once fails to act by, even in hopeless situations. His dream is to become Hokage, as it is the epitome of his ambitions to have the village acknowledge him and live for the sake of protecting his important people.
Up to his academy graduation, Naruto has precious little of the acknowledgement and empathy he seeks. His sensei, Umino Iruka, and to a lesser extent the Third Hokage, are the only positive influence on him in that respect (though Hyūga Hinata thinks very highly of him as well she never actually gathers the courage to address him). He neglects his academy studies so much that he repeatedly fails to graduate (though the Bunshin no Jutsu, the one he is worst at, being the final test every year doesn't help much). That is until he is manipulated to steal the scroll of seals (a scroll belonging to the village containing forbidden techniques) by Mizuki. During the short conflict between Mizuki and Iruka, Naruto acquires his signature technique, Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, by learning it from the scroll. When he demonstrates usage of this technique, Iruka passes him and congratulates him on graduating.
In order to become a genin, in addition to graduating from the Ninja Academy, one must first undergo an evaluation with a Jōnin; if one passes, they will be assigned to that Jonin for training. Naruto, Haruno Sakura (his crush) and Uchiha Sasuke (her crush) are assigned to Team 7 under the leadership of Hatake Kakashi. The evaluation test is simple. There are three members and two bells: the two who manage to put their hands on a bell win and are awarded with food, and the one who is left out remains hungry. Kakashi easily defends himself from all three, and after a while calls a break and points out their flaws in teamwork; he lets Sakura and Sasuke eat so they can all try again later, but forbids them to feed Naruto, who is also tied to a log for good measure. Sakura and Sasuke decide to go against Kakashi's words and feed Naruto anyway, figuring that if the problem is their teamwork this would be a good way to start working on it; Team 7 thus becomes the first group that Kakashi ever passed to be Genin, as this is exactly the message he was trying to get across - caring for your friends is more important than "the rules".
Naruto's "hidden power" is also revealed in this arc. In a particularly ferocious battle in which he believes Sasuke has been killed, Naruto loses control and is consumed by Kyūbi's chakra. Its power is so immense that the chakra is visible, all of Naruto's wounds heal near-instantaneously, and Naruto's appearance changes. He completely overwhelms his enemy with this power and speed. Although the power of the Kyūbi is introduced at this point, the full extent of it is not shown yet. Naruto has not communicated with the Demon Fox inside of him; he only subconsciously calls upon this power.
Team 7 returns to Konoha to continue with their lives as regular Genin, accomplishing menial missions. Eventually, whilst playing with Konohamaru and his friends, Naruto meets with two of the three Genin from Sunagakure (Hidden Sand), Kankurō and Temari and shortly learns the reason for their presence; Chūnin Selection Exams are in effect. Naruto is thrilled about the possibility of becoming a Chūnin, and though he fails to, various events during the exams drastically affect his ability and enrich his social relations (much later in the manga, when Naruto reminisces on how he was alone but slowly more and more people became his friends, we see a growing line which first contains Iruka, Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakura, and later expands to include people he met on the Chūnin exam).
Naruto vastly improves in ability during the three stages of the Chuunin exam; beside winning his first true fight (against Kiba) by having shadow replications perform a combo attack, he improves his chakra control by practicing walking on water, learns how to call upon Kyūbi's energy at will and how to use the summoning technique to call a toad to his aid (the former skill essential for the usability of the latter, as without Kyūbi's chakra his summons are generally not much more than tadpoles). He uses these skills to a powerful effect in later battles, and at the climax of the arc triumphs against Gaara, an opponent Sasuke could not face equally, thus reversing their roles and inducing in Sasuke deep feelings of inferiority - though Sasuke still attempts to maintain the same attitude in front of Naruto, in an attempt to cling to his former superiority. At an early point Naruto tells Sasuke that he wants to fight him during the exam; Sasuke acknowledges Naruto in his own way later on when he tells him that he wants to fight him as well.
Naruto's fight with Neji a month later is a very dramatic one. As techniques are used and advantages are gained and nullified, Neji lectures Naruto much like he did earlier with Hinata, telling him that dropouts remain dropouts and cannot change. Naruto suffers somewhat of an emotional impact when Neji gives him a speech about the Hokages being people who were destined to become ones, and how one cannot become one just because they want to; Ultimately, however, he would have none of it and keeps confronting Neji about his attitude, until Neji tells him of the tragedy of his father's death and the Hyūga fate of hatred. Naruto eventually wins the battle through sheer motivation and believing in victory, and in the process changes Neji's outlook on life one-hundred and eighty degrees, inspiring him to create his own fate and forming another important bond ("Stop talking about fate and how it can't be changed," says Naruto sardonically, "you're not like me. You're not a dropout.")
Naruto's influence on Sasuke, though profound, is powerless to prevent Sasuke from deciding to become a Nukenin (Missing-nin) and leaving the leaf to receive training from Orochimaru. Sasuke's decision to leave is the result of a chain of events that rekindles his hatred and desire to avenge his clan so much that it overshadows all other influences in his life. This experience is traumatic to Naruto, as he has promised Sakura to bring Sasuke back and this is the first time he is unable to live up to something he promised to an important person. Unlike Jiraiya, however, who from his own experience with Orochimaru believes that Sasuke is too far gone and that Naruto should forget about him and concentrate on his own survival, Naruto believes that there is hope for Sasuke yet. He tells Sakura that he will, one day, bring Sasuke back to the village and live up to his promise.
After this failed attempt to retrieve Sasuke, Naruto learns that circumstances have granted him a 3-year window to prepare himself for when the time comes to face Orochimaru (who has switched bodies prematurely and now has to wait 3 years before executing his original plan of transferring into Sasuke) and defend himself against additional kidnap attempts from the shady organisation Akatsuki (who, according to Jiraiya's information sources and for reasons unknown, halt their plans to attempt capturing Naruto for three years). Naruto takes this opportunity for intensive training under Jiraiya, as does Sakura under Tsunade. As Jiraiya was the Fourth's sensei, this places Naruto in a very good position to actually fulfill his dream to become Hokage or at least a ninja of great renown, as most legendary ninjas and hokages are closely tied to one another through student-teacher relations (though she does not tell him this, Tsunade is already certain he will grow up to become Hokage).
Naruto, along with Sakura, Kakashi, Team Gai, and Chiyo, go on a mission to rescue the recently-captured Gaara from the Akatsuki. They are first confronted by Itachi and Kisame, who turn out to be body substitutes by means of Shoten no Jutsu (Shapeshifting Technique), and defeat them. Upon arrival at the grotto where Gaara is being held, the group figures out that a barrier jutsu seals off the entrance. To facilitate entry, Team Gai goes to remove four seals scattered in the area; doing so creates clones of them which copy their every movement. Meanwhile, Naruto and Kakashi decide to confront Deidara while Chiyo and Sakura face Sasori. Both pairs defeat the Akatsuki members, and Gai and company defeat their clones, with help from Neji.
