NARUTO

Naruto Uzumaki
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Naruto Uzumaki
Naruto character

Naruto Uzumaki by Masashi Kishimoto
First appearance Naruto manga chapter 1
Naruto anime episode 1
Voiced by Japanese
Junko Takeuchi[1]
English
Maile Flanagan[2]
Profile
Age 12[3]-13[4] in Part I
15[5]-16[6] in Part II
Date of birth October 10[4]
Notable relatives Minato Namikaze (father, deceased)

Kushina Uzumaki (mother, presumed deceased)
Ninja rank Genin[4]
Ninja team Team 7
Naruto Uzumaki (うずまき ナルト ,Uzumaki Naruto?) is a fictional character in the anime and manga franchise Naruto created by Masashi Kishimoto. Naruto is the main protagonist and titular character of the series. In creating Naruto, Kishimoto wished to keep the character "simple and stupid" while giving him many attributes of Son Goku, the main character from the Dragon Ball franchise. However, Kishimoto also added his dark past to make him look unique. Naruto's initial design has been changed several times by Kishimoto giving him different clothes to make him more appealing to Western audience as well as to be easier to draw.

In the series, Naruto is a ninja affiliated with the fictional village of Konohagakure. The villagers ostracize Naruto because the nine-tailed demon fox, a malevolent creature that attacked Konohagakure, is sealed within his body. As such, Naruto has ambitions of becoming the village's leader, the Hokage in order make everybody respect him. However, Naruto maintains a cheerful and boisterous personality, allowing him to befriend several other Konoha ninja throughout the series, as well as ninja from other villages. He builds an especially close relationship with Team 7, the ninja team where he belongs, treating them as his family. Naruto appears in all of the series' films, as well as in other media related to the franchise, including all video games and OVAs.

Several anime and manga publications have expressed acclaim and criticism of Naruto's character. Some view him as a stereotypical manga and anime protagonist comparable to those in many other shōnen manga, while others have praised his personality as well as his development in the series. Nevertheless, Naruto has remained highly popular with the Naruto reader base, placing high in several popularity polls.[7] Merchandise based on Naruto has also been released, including figurines and plush dolls.

Contents[hide]
1 Creation and conception
2 Character outline
2.1 Personality
2.2 Abilities
3 Plot overview
4 Appearances in other media
5 Reception
6 References



[edit] Creation and conception
When Kishimoto created Naruto's character, he incorporated a number of traits he felt made an ideal hero: a straightforward way of thinking, a mischievous side, and many of the attributes possessed by Goku from the Dragon Ball franchise. He also made sure to keep Naruto "simple and stupid." Kishimoto did not model Naruto after anyone in particular, instead conceiving him as childlike with a dark side induced by his harsh past. Despite this, he is always optimistic, a trait Kishimoto says makes him unique.[8] Naruto's personality is, by and large, childish in nature. Kishimoto frequently tries to show this when illustrating Naruto, such as depicting him mimicking a turtle like a child might do on the manga cover of volume 10.[9]

Naruto's wardrobe is based on clothing Kishimoto wore when he was younger; according to Kishimoto, using a pre-existing design would not have made Naruto unique whereas something original would have made him stand out too much.[10] The orange coloring of his costume is used to make Naruto "pop," with blues often being used to complement the orange.[11] Because Naruto is associated with spirals, swirl patterns are incorporated into his costume.[12] Initial illustrations of Naruto had him wearing boots, but Kishimoto substituted these for sandals, because he enjoys drawing toes.[13] The goggles that Naruto used to wear were also replaced with a hitai-ate, or shinobi headband, because the goggles themselves were too time consuming to draw.[14]

Kishimoto said he is glad his character has blond hair and blue eyes. The editor of Shonen Jump in the United States added that he implied that the traits may have led the character to appeal to a Western audience. Kishimoto said that he most identifies with Naruto out of all of the Naruto characters. When asked why Naruto's favorite food is ramen instead of kitsune udon Kishimoto said that he personally liked eating ramen.[15][16] In the Naruto: Clash of Ninja video game series, Naruto is playable in various stages of the demon fox's manifestation characterized by a red-colored chakra. Kishimoto took inspiration from the presentation of these forms, imitating one of them for the manga cover of volume 26.[17] When designing Naruto for his Part II appearance, Kishimoto drew Naruto's forehead protector wider to make his eyebrows easier to draw, something that had bothered him in his previous design. He also noted that Naruto's pants made the character look childish. To remedy this, Kishimoto designed a portion of Naruto's pants to roll up, giving the character a more mature appearance.[18]

In the original Japanese versions of Naruto, Naruto often ends his sentences with the addendum "-ttebayo" (which achieves an effect similar to ending a sentence with "you know?"). Kishimoto wanted to give Naruto a childlike catch phrase, and "dattebayo" came to mind. Kishimoto believes the phrase complements Naruto's character, and serves as a verbal tic that portrays him as somewhat of a brat.[10] Throughout the beginning of the English version, the dub replaced "dattebayo" and "-ttebayo" with the phrase "Believe it!", both to mirror the effect and to match the character's lip movements.[19] The producers of the English anime stated that, of all of the characters, Naruto was the most difficult character to cast for, adding that Maile Flanagan "has Naruto down, from the mischievous side, that precocious twelve year old we learn to love, to the serious side."[20]