Naruto Characters

Sasuke Uchiha

Last loyal Uchiha · Naruto's rival

Sasuke is a gifted, cold prodigy whose entire clan was killed by his brother Itachi. Revenge drives him away from the Leaf to Orochimaru, then into the Akatsuki's orbit once he learns the truth behind the massacre. His Sharingan, Chidori and later Rinnegan make him Naruto's equal, and their rivalry is one of anime's defining rivalries.

Voice

Noriaki Sugiyama (JP) · Yuri Lowenthal (EN)

Sakura Haruno

Medical ninja · Tsunade's apprentice

Sakura starts as a bright student with a crush on Sasuke and little to do in fights. She decides to stop being protected, trains under Tsunade and becomes the best medical ninja of her generation, with enough strength to split the ground. She later marries Sasuke and raises their daughter Sarada.

Voice

Chie Nakamura (JP) · Kate Higgins (EN)

Kakashi Hatake

The Copy Ninja · Sixth Hokage

Kakashi is Team 7's laid-back sensei, always late and always reading the Make-Out Paradise novels. He carries a Sharingan eye given to him by his dying teammate Obito and is said to have copied over a thousand techniques with it. Under the act is a man shaped by grief, and he's the one who teaches Team 7 that abandoning your comrades is worse than failing a mission.

Voice

Kazuhiko Inoue (JP) · Dave Wittenberg (EN)

Sai

Root operative · Sasuke's replacement

Sai joins Team 7 in Shippuden as an emotionless agent from Danzo's Root unit, trained to suppress every feeling. He brings his ink drawings to life to fight and handles social situations with alarming nicknames picked up from books. Watching him learn what friendship means is one of Shippuden's gentler threads. He later marries Ino.

Yamato

ANBU captain · Wood Style user

Yamato was a child test subject of Orochimaru's, implanted with the First Hokage's cells, and he's the only living Wood Style user. He leads Team 7 while Kakashi recovers and can suppress the Nine-Tails' chakra when Naruto loses control. He also does a very effective scary face.

Hinata Hyuga

Team 8 · Hyuga heiress

Hinata is painfully shy and her clan thinks she's too gentle to lead it. She admires Naruto because he never gives up, and she slowly takes the same approach to her own life. Her stand against Pain is one of her bravest moments. She marries Naruto, and their children are Boruto and Himawari.

Voice

Nana Mizuki (JP) · Stephanie Sheh (EN)

Kiba Inuzuka

Team 8 · Ninja hound user

Kiba fights alongside his dog Akamaru, using a spinning combo called Fang Over Fang and a nose that rivals a tracker hound's. He's brash, competitive and, like Naruto, insists he'll be Hokage one day. He's mostly a loyal friend and a dependable tracker.

Shino Aburame

Team 8 · Insect user

Shino hosts colonies of chakra-eating insects in his body and explains everything in calm, logical detail. He's genuinely strong but constantly overlooked, a running joke the series leans into. In the Boruto era he's an Academy teacher.

Kurenai Yuhi

Team 8 sensei · Genjutsu specialist

Kurenai is the Leaf's genjutsu expert and a patient teacher who helps Hinata build her confidence. She was in a relationship with Asuma and is carrying his child when he dies. Shikamaru's promise to look after the baby, Mirai, is part of how he grows up.

Shikamaru Nara

Team 10 · Strategist

Shikamaru is a genius who finds almost everything "a drag" and would rather watch clouds. His Shadow Possession techniques and planning make him the brains of every mission, and he was the only rookie promoted to chunin in their first exam. Asuma's death forces him to take responsibility, and he becomes Naruto's chief adviser.

Voice

Shōtarō Morikubo (JP) · Tom Gibis (EN)

Ino Yamanaka

Team 10 · Mind Transfer user

Ino can project her mind into others and later works as a sensor and medical ninja. She's Sakura's childhood friend turned rival turned friend again, and her honest, bossy warmth holds Team 10 together. She marries Sai and has a son, Inojin.

Choji Akimichi

Team 10 · Expansion user

Choji's clan can expand their bodies, and he fuels it with a huge appetite. He's the gentlest member of the rookie class and reacts badly to being called fat. In the war he masters a butterfly mode that lets him burn his own calories as chakra.

Asuma Sarutobi

Team 10 sensei

Asuma is the Third Hokage's son, a chain-smoking former guardian of the Fire Daimyo who fights with wind-infused trench knives. He teaches Shikamaru shogi and a sense of what's worth protecting. His death at the hands of the Akatsuki's Hidan is a turning point for his team.

Rock Lee

Team Guy · Taijutsu specialist

Lee can't use ninjutsu or genjutsu at all, so he trains harder than anyone else alive and fights with pure taijutsu. His match with Gaara in the Chunin Exams, where he opens five of the Eight Gates at great cost to his body, is one of the original series' best fights. He's the clearest case for hard work over talent.

Neji Hyuga

Team Guy · Byakugan prodigy

Neji is a genius from the Hyuga branch family, branded with a seal that lets the main house control him. He starts out believing fate can't be changed and blames Hinata for his father's death. Naruto changes his mind in the Chunin Exams, and Neji dies in the war shielding Naruto and Hinata.

Tenten

Team Guy · Weapons specialist

Tenten summons huge numbers of weapons from scrolls and admires Tsunade as proof that kunoichi can be legends. She gets less screen time than any other member of the Konoha 11, which fans regularly point out. She later runs a ninja tool shop.

Might Guy

Team Guy sensei · Kakashi's eternal rival

Guy is a green-jumpsuited taijutsu master who believes in the "springtime of youth" and challenges Kakashi to endless contests. He's ridiculous right up until the war, where he opens the Eighth Gate against Madara and nearly wins. Madara, not easily impressed, calls him the strongest he's fought in taijutsu.

Hashirama Senju

First Hokage

Hashirama ended the clan wars by founding the Hidden Leaf with his childhood friend and rival, Madara Uchiha. His Wood Style and enormous chakra made him the strongest ninja of his age. His idealism about peace, and his failure to keep Madara with him, haunts the series' history.

Tobirama Senju

Second Hokage

Tobirama was Hashirama's pragmatic younger brother and the architect of the Leaf's institutions, from the Academy to the police force. He invented several forbidden techniques, including Reanimation, which later causes enormous trouble. His wariness of the Uchiha planted seeds that grew into the massacre.

Hiruzen Sarutobi

Third Hokage

Hiruzen, "the Professor," taught the Legendary Sannin and led the village through two wars. He's a kindly grandfather figure to Naruto, but his compromises, including letting Danzo operate and sparing Orochimaru, come back to haunt the Leaf. He dies holding off Orochimaru during the Chunin Exams invasion.

Minato Namikaze

Fourth Hokage · Naruto's father

Minato was Jiraiya's student and Kakashi's teacher, famous as the Yellow Flash for his teleportation technique. He created the Rasengan. On the night Naruto was born he sealed half of the Nine-Tails into his son and died doing it, trusting Naruto to carry the burden.

Tsunade

Fifth Hokage · Legendary Sannin

Tsunade is Hashirama's granddaughter, the greatest medical ninja alive and a famously bad gambler. She had walked away from ninja life after losing her brother and partner, until Naruto convinced her to take the Hokage title. She trains Sakura in both medicine and monstrous strength.

Jiraiya

Legendary Sannin · The Toad Sage

Jiraiya is a spy, a summoner of giant toads, a master of Sage Mode and the author of the Make-Out books. Naruto calls him "Pervy Sage." He trained both Minato and Naruto, and his belief that his student would bring peace is the thread the whole series hangs on. He dies infiltrating the Rain Village to uncover Pain's identity.

Voice

Hōchū Ōtsuka (JP) · David Lodge (EN)

Orochimaru

Legendary Sannin · Rogue ninja

Orochimaru wants to learn every technique in existence and live forever to do it, moving between stolen bodies. He experiments on children, kills the Third Hokage and lures Sasuke away with promises of power. After Shippuden he becomes an uneasy, watched ally rather than a straightforward villain.

Voice

Kujira (JP) · Steven Blum (EN)

Itachi Uchiha

Akatsuki · Sasuke's older brother

Itachi wiped out his own clan and left only Sasuke alive, apparently to test his own strength. The truth, revealed after their final battle, is that the Leaf ordered the massacre to stop an Uchiha coup, and Itachi spent the rest of his life protecting his brother from the shadows. He's one of the series' most popular and tragic characters.

Voice

Hideo Ishikawa (JP) · Crispin Freeman (EN)

Madara Uchiha

Co-founder of the Leaf

Madara was Hashirama's friend and rival, and the Uchiha's greatest warrior. He left the village believing the world could never have real peace. His plan, the Infinite Tsukuyomi, would trap everyone in a dream. Revived in the war, he becomes the Ten-Tails' jinchuriki and the most overwhelming fighter in the series.

Voice

Naoya Uchida (JP) · Neil Kaplan (EN)

Obito Uchiha

Tobi · The masked man

Obito was Kakashi's cheerful teammate, believed killed on a mission as a boy. He survived, was saved and manipulated by Madara, and after watching Rin die he decided the world wasn't worth saving. As the masked "Tobi" he runs the Akatsuki from behind and starts the Fourth Great Ninja War. Naruto eventually reaches him.

Shisui Uchiha

Shisui of the Body Flicker

Shisui was Itachi's closest friend and the Uchiha's most gifted genjutsu user, with a Mangekyo ability that can rewrite someone's will without them noticing. He tried to stop the coup peacefully and died before he could, leaving one eye in Itachi's care.

Kushina Uzumaki

Naruto's mother

Kushina was the Nine-Tails' previous host, a fiery redhead from the Uzumaki clan whose chakra chains could restrain the fox. She died alongside Minato on the night of Naruto's birth. Naruto meets her inside his own mind, in one of Shippuden's warmest scenes.

Rin Nohara

Team Minato · Medical ninja

Rin was Kakashi and Obito's teammate. She was made the Three-Tails' host by enemy ninja, and she chose to die by Kakashi's hand rather than be used against the Leaf. Her death is what turns Obito.

Danzo Shimura

Leader of Root

Danzo is a Leaf elder who runs Root, a secret ANBU branch, and believes the village must be protected by people willing to do anything. He pushed for the Uchiha massacre and hid stolen Sharingan in his arm. He briefly becomes acting Hokage before Sasuke catches up with him.

Iruka Umino

Academy teacher

Iruka was the first adult to see Naruto as a person instead of a monster, even though the fox killed his own parents. He buys Naruto ramen, scolds him, and stays a father figure into adulthood. The first chapter's resolution depends on him.

Konohamaru Sarutobi

Hiruzen's grandson

Konohamaru starts as a kid who declares Naruto his rival and copies his worst techniques. He grows into a capable ninja who can use the Rasengan. In Boruto he leads the new Team 7.

Shizune

Tsunade's assistant

Shizune is Tsunade's long-suffering aide and a skilled medic who fights with poison needles and mist. She usually carries the pig Tonton. She keeps the Hokage's office running.

Anko Mitarashi

Special jonin · Exam proctor

Anko is Orochimaru's former student and still carries his curse mark. She's the gleefully menacing proctor of the Forest of Death in the Chunin Exams and loves dango. She later teaches at the Academy.

Pain (Nagato)

Akatsuki's leader

Nagato is a war orphan from the Rain Village who was taught by Jiraiya and inherited the Rinnegan. After his friend Yahiko's death he controls six bodies as "Pain" and decides the world can only learn peace through suffering. He flattens the Hidden Leaf, then is talked down by Naruto, and uses his last strength to revive the people he killed.

Voice

Kenyū Horiuchi (JP) · Troy Baker (EN)

Konan

Akatsuki · "Angel" of the Rain

Konan is Nagato and Yahiko's childhood friend and turns her body into paper. After Nagato's death she turns on the Akatsuki and holds off Obito with a sea of explosive tags. She dies protecting Nagato's eyes.

Kisame Hoshigaki

Akatsuki · Former Mist swordsman

Kisame is a shark-like swordsman whose living sword, Samehada, eats chakra. His reserves are so vast he's nicknamed the "Tailless Tailed Beast." He's Itachi's partner, and he chooses death over giving up the Akatsuki's secrets.

Deidara

Akatsuki · Bomber

Deidara has mouths on his palms that knead explosive clay into birds, spiders and bombs. He believes art is a fleeting explosion and resents the Uchiha for staring him down. He captures Gaara in Shippuden's first arc.

Sasori

Akatsuki · Puppet master

Sasori turned himself into a puppet to stop ageing and keeps a hundred others, including the Third Kazekage, as weapons. His fight against his own grandmother Chiyo and Sakura is Sakura's coming-of-age battle.

Hidan

Akatsuki · Jashinist

Hidan is an immortal zealot whose ritual links his body to an opponent's, so every wound he takes lands on them. He kills Asuma. Shikamaru beats him with a plan built around the fact that he can't die.

Kakuzu

Akatsuki · Bounty hunter

Kakuzu is the Akatsuki's money man, over 90 years old, with stolen hearts that let him use all five chakra natures. He once fought the First Hokage. Naruto's Rasenshuriken debut finishes him.

Zetsu

Akatsuki spy

Zetsu is a plant-like scout that can move through the ground. White Zetsu turns out to be one of an army made from Infinite Tsukuyomi victims. Black Zetsu is Kaguya's will, and he has been manipulating ninja history for centuries to bring her back.

Temari

Gaara's sister · Wind user

Temari fights with a giant fan and is every bit Shikamaru's equal in tactics. She's the Sand's emissary to the Leaf during the alliance. She later marries Shikamaru, and their son is Shikadai.

Kankuro

Gaara's brother · Puppeteer

Kankuro is a puppet master with face paint and a hooded outfit. He's one of the first people to rush to Gaara's defence once his brother changes. After beating Sasori's puppets he takes Sasori's own body as a weapon.

Chiyo

Sand elder · Puppeteer

Chiyo is Sasori's grandmother and the puppeteer who taught him. She fights her grandson alongside Sakura, then gives her own life to bring Gaara back after the Akatsuki kills him.

Killer Bee

Eight-Tails host

Killer Bee is a rapping, seven-sword-wielding jinchuriki who is the first to show Naruto that a host can actually be friends with his tailed beast. He trains Naruto to control the Nine-Tails' chakra. He's also the Raikage's beloved younger brother.

A

Fourth Raikage

A is a hulking, hot-tempered leader who wraps himself in lightning armour for speed. He loses an arm trying to kill Sasuke. He's fiercely protective of Killer Bee, and he's a decent leader once he calms down.

Mei Terumi

Fifth Mizukage

Mei leads a Mist village trying to leave behind its brutal "Bloody Mist" era, and she has two rare kekkei genkai, Lava Release and Boil Release. She's charming and dangerous. Any mention of marriage makes her quietly murderous.

Onoki

Third Tsuchikage

Onoki is a tiny, back-sore veteran with Dust Release, which can disintegrate almost anything. He's an opportunist at the start of the war. Naruto's generation reminds him what he used to believe in.

Zabuza Momochi

Demon of the Hidden Mist

Zabuza is Team 7's first real enemy, a rogue swordsman with the giant Executioner's Blade. He insists ninja are tools without feelings. Haku's death proves him wrong, and his final moments are an early sign that this series takes its villains seriously.

Haku

Zabuza's companion

Haku is a gentle boy with Ice Release, which builds mirrors of ice to fight from. He serves Zabuza because Zabuza gave him a reason to live. He dies shielding him, an early death that shakes Naruto.

Boruto Uzumaki

Naruto's son

Boruto starts out resentful that his father is always busy being Hokage, and he trains under Sasuke instead. A mark left on him by the Otsutsuki Momoshiki pulls him into a far bigger conflict. In Two Blue Vortex he becomes a fugitive working to clear his name.

Sarada Uchiha

Sasuke and Sakura's daughter

Sarada awakens her Sharingan young, has her mother's strength and wants to be Hokage. She's the sensible core of the new Team 7. Her loyalty to Boruto matters a great deal later on.

Mitsuki

Boruto's teammate

Mitsuki is an artificial human created by Orochimaru, who stretches like a snake and can use Sage Mode. He chooses Boruto as his "sun," the person he wants to follow. He's calm, odd and very loyal.

Himawari Uzumaki

Naruto's daughter

Himawari is Boruto's sweet younger sister with the Byakugan. She once knocked out her Hokage father with a single angry strike. She grows into a capable ninja as the sequel goes on.

Kawaki

Naruto's adopted son

Kawaki was a vessel for the Otsutsuki Isshiki who escaped and was taken in by Naruto. His devotion to Naruto turns obsessive, and it drives the sequel's central conflict with Boruto.