KNOW THE CHACTERS!

Kakashi

Kakashi Hatake like his father, Sakumo Hatake whose skills have been compared to that of the Legendary Ninja, is considered a genius shinobi, graduating from the Ninja Academy at age 5 and achieving the rank of Chunin at 6. A few years after these accomplishments, Kakashi's father was disgraced by the village for abandoning a mission in favor of saving his comrades, which cost the Land of Fire dearly. Deeply ashamed and ostracized even by those he had saved, Sakumo committed seppuku, leaving Kakashi to bear witness to the event. After his father's suicide, Kakashi began to adhere strictly to the rules of the shinobi � in particular the rule dictating that the success of the mission must come before the well being of one's teammates, causing him to become arrogant, humorless, and by-the-book. At the age of 13, Kakashi achieved Jonin status. As a reward for his accomplishment, he was assigned to lead his team on a sabotage mission to blow up a bridge in order to prevent enemy forces from attacking Hidden Leaf Village. Shortly after the mission started, Kakashi's teammate, Rin was captured by enemy shinobi. Kakashi's other teammate, Obito Uchiha immediately stated his intention to save her, but Kakashi said they had to focus on completing the mission, opting not to make the same mistake his father had. Though Kakashi believed that they had to complete their objective and they parted ways, a little reflection on Obito's words and Rin's prior kindness eventually convinced him that his father had done the right thing in saving his teammates. This revelation prompted Kakashi to turn back to join Obito in the rescue effort, although he initially claims that he did not believe Obito could survive on his own�a statement that is more or less supported by how his arrival coincided with saving his oblivious teammate from a ninja's attack. During their attempt to save Rin, Kakashi lost his left eye as a result of taking an enemy ninja's attack for Obito. To protect Kakashi in return, Obito managed to awaken his Sharingan and killed their assailant. Soon after saving Rin, a rockfall technique was triggered and a rock struck Kakashi on his blind side. He would have been buried beneath the rocks had Obito not pushed Kakashi out of the way, getting the right side of his body almost completely crushed in the process. Shortly before he died, Obito had Rin (a medical ninja) implant his Sharingan eye in Kakashi's damaged eye socket as a gift. As his first act with his new eye, Kakashi avenged Obito by killing the enemy ninja with his now-perfected Chidori technique, bringing the Kakashi of today into being. Years later Kakashi would become a member of the Hidden Leaf Villagegakure ANBU where he served as a squad leader. During this time, he had several kohai, named Yugao Uzuki and Tenzo, and recognized the latter as the most successful of his kohai. It is unknown when or why he left ANBU, but he still wears iron guards on his gloves, a characteristic of ANBU uniforms. While he makes frequent appearances throughout Part I, Kakashi's role largely deals with protecting his students and keeping them unified. Most prominently he tries to steer Sasuke away from seeking Orochimaru as a source of power, even teaching him how to use the Chidori so that he will not rely on the Cursed Seal for power. In time, however, Sasuke begins to turn against his team and readily attacks them, which, despite Kakashi's protests and attempts to convince him that revenge should not be pursued, ultimately leads to his betraying Hidden Leaf Village. As Naruto and Sasuke carry out a final battle Kakashi rushes to their location to prevent them from killing each other. He arrives too late and Sasuke escapes, and Naruto and Sakura go their separate ways to find their own methods of getting stronger. Kakashi begins to take part in more battles in Part II as he no longer needs to focus his attention on his students, who have improved greatly over the timeskip. As Akatsuki becomes increasingly more active, Kakashi joins the various battles in defeating its members. Likewise, Kakashi joins Naruto and Sakura's efforts in bringing Sasuke back to Hidden Leaf Village and has since organized an 8-man team that is in part dedicated to this cause. Still, Kakashi has not fully outlived his role as guidance for his students, and he helps Naruto in creating the Wind Release: Spiraling Shuriken.



Tsunade

Tsunade, as a child along with her former teammates Orochimaru and Jiraiya, were students of the Third Hokage. Because of the three's exemplary skills, they are known as the "Legendary Three Ninja" or simply the "Sannin". Because she is the granddaughter of the First Hokage and the grandniece of the Second Hokage, the word "Hime" is often attached to her name. In the English anime, it is translated into "Lady Tsunade." Tsunade is well known for her large breasts, despite the fact that Jiraiya referred to her as "flat-chested Tsunade" during their childhood. One of Tsunade's noteworthy possessions was an amulet that belonged to her grandfather, which is said to be valuable enough to buy "three gold mines and the mountains on top of them". On her brother, Nawaki's, twelfth birthday, Tsunade gave the amulet to him in the hopes that it would help him achieve his dream of becoming Hokage. The next day, Nawaki died as one of the many casualties of the war going on at the time, and the amulet was returned to Tsunade's possession. Sometime afterwards, Tsunade fell in love with a man named Dan, who also wanted to become Hokage. As a sign of her affection and in the hopes that it would help him achieve his goal, Tsunade gave him the amulet as well. Dan too would go on to die a bloody death during the course of the war despite Tsunade's attempts to treat him, once again returning the amulet to her possession. With her spirit broken, Tsunade left Hidden Leaf Village with Dan's niece, Shizune, taking her in as her apprentice. During her later battle with Orochimaru, Tsunade's fear of blood leaves her paralyzed and unable to protect herself. Naruto arrives to save her and manages to land a perfected Rasengan on Kabuto Yakushi. After Naruto passes out due to his injuries, Tsunade acts on her promise and puts the amulet around his neck, wishing once more for its wearer to become Hokage. When Orochimaru attempts to kill Naruto, Tsunade overcomes her fear of blood for the sole purpose of protecting him, willing to do whatever is necessary to ensure that Naruto becomes Hokage. Finally, Tsunade accepts the title of Fifth Hokage, Naruto's influence convincing her that the title her loved ones so dearly desired is something to be valued. Since then, Tsunade has maintained the belief that Naruto will someday become a great Hokage, her entire outlook on life changed because of him.



Jiraiya

Jiraiya, as a child along his former teammates, Orochimaru and Tsunade, were students of the Third Hokage. Because of the three's exemplary skills, they are known as the "Legendary Three Ninja" or simply the "Sannin", while Jiraiya himself is known as the "Toad Hermit". During their years as a team, Jiraiya developed a close relationship with Orochimaru and came to hold him as a good friend. Once becoming a Jonin capable of leading a squad, Jiraiya became the sensei of Minato Namikaze and two other, as yet unknown, Genin. Years later, when Orochimaru betrayed Hidden Leaf Village and fled the village, Jiraiya pursued him, trying to convince his friend to come back. Orochimaru refused and attacked Jiraiya, turning his back on Hidden Leaf Village forever. While he tried to find a reason for Orochimaru's defection, he eventually realized that his friend wasn't coming back. Feeling he was responsible for Orochimaru's escape, Jiraiya left Hidden Leaf Village so he could follow Orochimaru's movements as well as the organization he eventually joined, Akatsuki. In doing so, Jiraiya was unable to fulfill the Third's wishes of taking on the role of Hokage, finding the tracking of Orochimaru to be more important. Since his introduction, Jiraiya has largely acted as Naruto's teacher, instructing him on how to better utilize the demon fox's chakra and showing him how to perform jutsu such as the Rasengan and the Summoning Technique, allowing Naruto to summon toads when needed. He takes Naruto with him at the end of Part I for an additional two-and-a-half years of training to help him better face the challenges that await him in Part II. Due to the amount of time they have spent together, Jiraiya has come to think of Naruto as a grandson. He also acts as an intelligence-gatherer for Hidden Leaf Village, and frequently appears after long absences to report on Akatsuki and Orochimaru's doings.



Shino

Shino Aburame is a rarely seen character who has a fascination with bugs; most of his spare time is spent watching bugs, he often makes analogies to bugs when talking, and even the name, "Aburame Shino", bears a close resemblance to the Japanese word for cockroach. In addition to liking bugs, Shino is characterized by his emotionless, solitary, and collected way of doing things. He speaks very bluntly and never allows emotion to interfere with his judgment, sometimes offending people in doing so. Shino seems to be aware of these odd personality traits and even seems to be proud of them, as during the anime's filler arcs he threatens Naruto Uzumaki to make sure nobody ever knows that he could tell jokes. These odd traits have caused people to identify Shino as "creepy" or "weird" and tend to dislike being in his company.



Kiba and Akamaru

Akamaru is Kiba Inuzuka’s nin-dog, best friend, and companion. At the beginning of the Naruto series, Kiba carries Akamaru around on his head or inside his jacket. As Akamaru grows, he becomes large enough to ride atop Kiba’s back. Akamaru’s heightened senses, such as smell and hearing, along with Kiba’s power to communicate with him, make him a powerful tool for gathering and sharing information. Akamaru also has the ability to sense chakra with his nose, enabling him to judge an enemy’s strength so as to warn Kiba if they are particularly powerful. When in battle, the two join forces by synchronizing attacks or by combining into a single entity. Because Akamaru lacks his own chakra reserves, Kiba supplies the chakra in order to perform their combinational jutsu, although Akamaru is able to contribute when it comes to physical attacks. Akamaru can also urinate on a target with great accuracy, known as Dynamic Marking, which allows Kiba or Akamaru to easily find that target by scent. Kiba can feed Akamaru a food pill to increase his abilities, with the side effect of turning his fur red. This fits with Akamaru’s name, “Aka” meaning “red”.



Hinata

Hinata Hyuga is the eldest daughter of the Hyuga clan's main branch. Hinata was trained by her father, Hiashi Hyuga, to become the clan's heiress, though in time he came to deem her a lost cause. Believing her to be of lesser skill than her younger sister, Hanabi Hyuga, her father left Hinata in Kurenai Yuhi's care once she was assigned to Team 8, claiming he didn't care what happened to her. Throughout her early time in Team 8, Hinata's lack of self-confidence and unwillingness to fight hamper her abilities. Although she would train to improve her skills, she would immediately give up when faced with competition and failed every mission she was assigned as a result. In an attempt to change herself, Hinata enters the Chunin Exams, where she is pit against her cousin, Neji Hyuga, in the exam's preliminary matches. Neji is quick to ridicule Hinata for her personality traits and attempts to convince her that she is a failure who will never be able to change herself, bringing her to tears. Naruto Uzumaki's encouragement, however, empowers her to fight her cousin despite repeatedly being struck down. Although she is defeated, Naruto's words have a lasting effect on Hinata and she becomes more confident in her abilities, and even sticks up for herself by telling Neji that he is the one who is attempting to fight against what cannot be changed. After recovering from her wounds, Hinata continues training to prove herself to her father and Naruto. Her efforts are successful in both regards, as she is eventually able to acquire a better relationship with her father, who encourages her to continue working on improving herself. Naruto has also come to hold her in a higher standing, and he tells her that while he had considered her timid and weird before, he now views her as a likable person. Hinata has a long-standing crush on Naruto, which has been present since their time in the Academy. Her feelings for him are rooted in his determination, confidence, and strength, all of which Hinata feels she lacks. Despite her rather obvious feelings, Hinata has yet to openly admit that she likes Naruto, though many characters have been shown to be aware of her feelings. In a similar fashion, Naruto has remained completely oblivious to Hinata's feelings. With her affection for Naruto, Hinata is constantly willing to break away from her typical personality traits in order to help him. She also becomes more assertive on Naruto's behalf, and also doesn't hesitate to defend him, even to himself. Her feelings for Naruto are one of the driving forces in her self-improvement, as she tries to gain strength in an attempt to both impress him and become like him. When they meet again in Part II, Hinata is unable to bring herself to greet Naruto and passes out when he comes to greet her, her feelings for him having apparently been amplified during his absence. Despite this, she gradually becomes more comfortable around Naruto, going from being unable to look him in the eye to being able to talk to him, and is able to work with him without difficulty when they are on missions together.



Choji

Choji Akimichi is a childhood friend of Shikamaru Nara. While many of his early years were spent trying to play with his peers, his fellow children felt he was unworthy of playing with them and always refused to allow him to join them. After another failed attempt to play with them one day Shikamaru stuck up for Choji, arguing that without Choji, the teams would be uneven, and Choji was excluded. Choji then went to see his father, who told him that he was kinder than anyone else, and would one day find a person who would be his best friend. Shortly afterward, Shikamaru arrived, and they shared snacks while watching the clouds. Because of Shikamaru's willingness to look past Choji's athletic deficiencies and recognize his true strength, Choji came to view Shikamaru as his best friend. The two have since developed complete trust in one another, with Choji willing to give up his life to defend Shikamaru, and considering the act of insulting him unacceptable. Choji has a love for food, his favorite being Korean barbecue, general snacks and sweets, and basically anything that is edible. He openly displays this love of food by wearing clothing with the kanji for "eat" in Part I and "food" in Part II, and is commonly seen eating from a bag of chips. His nigh-constant hunger is a constant annoyance for his teammates, as sating himself often comes before other necessities such as stealth and teamwork. Because of this, his teammates often use food against him, such as offering him food as a reward for accomplishing a task or simply using his favorite foods as a form of blackmail. Despite his open display for his love of food, Choji is very sensitive about his size and becomes highly agitated when somebody calls him "fat" (he refers to himself as "big boned", "chubby", or "pleasingly plump"). Once called "fat", Choji's resolve to fight is elevated to new levels and he becomes much more hostile to his opponents than he would otherwise. Just as they use food against him, Choji's teammates use this personality trait against him as well. Should Choji be reluctant to fight, one of them need only comment on his size to spur him into combat form. In Part II he starts to look more muscular than obese, causing him to look like he always claimed he did: big-boned. Even with this new look, he is apparently still sensitive about his size, and others make it a point to avoid using the word "fat" around him. As an Akimichi, Choji's style of combat focuses on increasing his size. At the series' start he uses Multi-Size Technique to serve this purpose, reshaping him into a large, round form. Once in this form he can use Human Bullet Tank to tuck his limbs inside his increased mass and roll at opponents at rapid speeds. With the Spiked Human Bullet Tank variant he can increase the amount of damage this technique does to a target, either by wrapping himself in a cloak of kunai or, as seen in Part II, by lengthening and sharpening his hair. Choji sees a number of other advancements in Part II; the Multi-Size Technique, while still increasing his size, no longer makes him round. Because of this he has developed the Mega Palm Thrust, and after increasing his size with the Multi-Size Technique he can funnel chakra into his enlarged hands to cause extensive crushing damage to anything caught under his palms. While he is seen using the Partial Multi-Size Technique in Part I, Choji also becomes more adept with it in Part II, and is now able to use it with little effort and with a better reaction time.



Ino

Ino Yamanaka is a childhood friend of Sakura Haruno. Sakura was often picked on due to her sensitivity about her large forehead, though through Ino's influence, she was able to overcome this and develop her own identity and self-worth. As Sakura's confidence in herself grew, she developed a crush on Sasuke Uchiha, whom Ino also had a crush on. When Sakura found out about this, she ended their friendship so that the two could properly compete for Sasuke's affection, beginning a bitter rivalry between the two. The two maintain this rivalry until the end of their match in the Chunin Exam, after which they begin to rekindle their friendship, but it seems each of them have too much self-pride to admit it. Nevertheless, the two maintain a competitive relationship and constantly attempt to outdo the other. Ino is somewhat egocentric and superficial, apparently thinking highly of her looks and seeming to dislike "ugly" people. Ino also has no problem telling people what she dislikes about their physical appearance, such as telling Choji that he should focus more on his appearance because girls dislike overweight boys. Although both of her teammates fit the profiles of people she wouldn't like for these reasons (Choji being overweight and Shikamaru being "uncool"), Ino actually cares very deeply for their well-beings and maintains a strong bond with both. As a member of the Yamanaka clan, Ino works in her family's flower shop and has become particularly talented in ikebana. The anime's filler arcs show that she has been able to find other uses for her time in the flower shop, and can tell a person's profession by simply looking at the condition of their hands. The anime has also shown that Ino, like Sakura, has developed her own inner-self named "Inner Ino". In addition to becoming talented with flowers, Ino's membership in the Yamanaka clan has also shaped the mind-altering jutsu she uses. With the Mind Body Switch Technique, Ino can transfer to another's body and start using it as her own for a short period of time. In Part II, Ino is able to use this ability on a hawk, and flies into the air to perform reconnaissance, which is the technique's intended purpose. In the anime, Ino also learns the Mind Body Disturbance Technique, which she can use to force opponents to fight each other while still remaining in her own body. The anime expands upon Ino's abilities more than the manga; she develops the New Approaching Technique (, Shin-dashin no Jutsu?) to engulf a target in a puff of smoke and drag them to her location. The anime also addresses her learning of medical jutsu, as the manga leaves it unexplained. During the final filler arc, Ino finds herself unable to be of use for her teammates and becomes envious of Sakura's ability to heal others. As such, Ino becomes Tsunade's second apprentice in learning medical jutsu, hoping to be more useful to her friends.



Shikamaru

Shikamaru Nara is an extremely unenthusiastic person, and as such lives his life avoiding work. This is partly due to seeking paths of least resistance, as he often chooses to do things he would otherwise not do if people nag him enough. His plans on life reflect this aspect of his personality, as he plans to be an average ninja making an average salary, and retire once his children become independent. In his free time he typically takes naps, watches clouds, and plays abstract logic games such as Shogi and Go. When put into a situation where he potentially needs to put effort into something, he attempts to try to find a way to avoid it such as forfeiting a battle or by pretending to be preoccupied with something else. In the instances where he can't avoid these situations, Shikamaru tends to remark "how troublesome". He is fully aware of this side of his personality, and even dubs himself "the number one at running away" or "the number one coward". Despite his cowardly tendencies, Shikamaru is extremely intelligent. Asuma, wondering why Shikamaru was always able to beat him at Shogi and Go despite receiving abysmal grades at the Academy. Asuma then disguised an IQ test as a series of puzzles to see how smart Shikamaru really was. In doing so, Asuma found Shikamaru to have an IQ of over 200, and learned that Shikamaru's poor grades were a result of him finding lifting a pencil to be too troublesome. Nevertheless, Shikamaru works very well with his teammates as their fathers were teamed together in their youth as well. Of his teammates, Shikamaru is closest with Choji, who repays Shikamaru's confidence in him with unyielding loyalty to Shikamaru. Shikamaru also has a strong bond with Asuma, often spending time with him playing strategy games. He even vows to protect Asuma and Kurenai's unborn child for Asuma's sake. One of Shikamaru's more distinctive characteristics is that he finds all women to be bossy and "troublesome". He also often discusses how women ought to act. This viewpoint seems to be largely due to his mother's tyrannical personality, though also seems to be influenced by his father's identical view of women. Contrary to this opinion on women, he has expressed a notably mature interest in marriage and raising a family with one son and one daughter. Ironically, almost all of Shikamaru's opponents have been female. Shikamaru has had a number of his appearances coincide with those of Temari. The two face each other during the final matches of the Chunin Exams. Shikamaru has a chance to claim victory in this match, but he forfeits the match instead, having run low on chakra. Temari later comes to his aid during the Sasuke Retrieval arc and defeats Tayuya of the Sound Four to save him. Shikamaru returns the favor in the last of the anime's filler arcs and saves her from one of the Shiitenshounin. In addition, the two are seen together in their Part II debuts. In this instance, Naruto Uzumaki asks if the two are on a date, though both state that this is not the case. Temari ranks as one of the women he finds most troublesome, along with Ino and his mother.



Sasuke

Sasuke Uchiha spent the early years of his childhood living in the shadow of his older brother, Itachi Uchiha, who had proven time and again that he was an extremely talented ninja. Because of Itachi's successes, most of the members of the Uchiha clan looked to Itachi as the clan's future, the biggest proponent of this idea being Sasuke's father, Fugaku Uchiha. Due to this focusing on Itachi, Sasuke did what he could to prove himself to his family, though no amount of training could help him in surpassing the milestones set in place by his brother. Itachi, aware of Sasuke's struggle for recognition, tried to shift some of their father's attention to Sasuke, even offering to train Sasuke in various fields of ninja abilities. Although Itachi succeeded in getting Fugaku to spend more time with Sasuke, much of that time was still dedicated to Itachi, and all the while Itachi never lived up to his promises of training Sasuke. As time went by, Itachi's standing in the clan began to falter as his trustworthiness was constantly called into question. At this time, Itachi also began to create a more competitive relationship with Sasuke, challenging Sasuke to surpass him. Because of Itachi's changing personality, Fugaku began to take a more active interest in Sasuke's development, teaching him the Great Fireball Technique in less time than Itachi had taken to learn it, which also gave Sasuke proper membership into the clan. Most prominently, Fugaku encouraged Sasuke to not follow in Itachi's footsteps, the former prodigy of the clan having lost his father's confidence. Soon after receiving the attention from his father that he had so yearned for, Sasuke returned home late one evening to find all the members of his clan dead. After finding Itachi standing over the bodies of their parents, indicating he was the one responsible for the clans' murders, Itachi informed Sasuke that he wasn't worth killing. As he left, Itachi repeated his encouragement to Sasuke to get strong enough to surpass him, and disappeared into the night. From that day forth, Sasuke lived as an orphan, longing for the parents that had been taken from him and allowing his brother's words to fester. Soon after the clan's annihilation, Sasuke's only goal in life became to gain power through any means necessary in order to kill Itachi and avenge the clan. Sasuke sees little change from his personality and mindset at the end of Part I, still craving power above all else. His lust for strength is such that, during his reunion with Naruto and Sakura, he claims to be willing to give his body to Orochimaru if it means killing Itachi. Sasuke has at least changed to a point that he no longer cares for his former teammates' well-beings, being more than willing to kill them since neither is of any use to him. His relationship with Orochimaru shows a similar lack of loyalty, as during their time together he applies no honorifics to Orochimaru's name, is somewhat rude to him, and does not express his allegiance with Otogakure by wearing a Sound headband. Of the loyalties Sasuke has, the only one he displays is that of the Uchiha clan, the symbol of which he wears on his back collar. Despite this lack of allegiances to those close to him, Sasuke seems to be unable to bring himself to needlessly harm those he has never met before, and makes it a point to prevent their deaths when possible.



Naruto

Naruto Uzumaki is the main character of the series. When Naruto was a newborn infant, the powerful nine-tailed demon fox attacked his village. In order to save the village from destruction, the demon fox was sealed in Naruto's newborn body by Minato Namikaze, who sacrificed his life to do so. While it is not outwardly stated, it is heavily implied that Minato Namikaze is Naruto's father. The current whereabouts of his mother are not known. Despite the Fourth Hokage's dying wish that Naruto be viewed as a hero for serving as the container for the demon, the adult villagers of Hidden Leaf Village harbored a fierce hatred for him. Many believed that Naruto and the demon were one and the same and openly displayed an abhorrence towards Naruto, thus leading to the unknowing village children picking up the adults' hatred. However, no one told Naruto about what his body harbored until he was twelve years old, leaving him confused for most of his childhood as to why the villagers of Hidden Leaf Village treated him with hostility. Naruto is seen to be a prankster and a loner. He lives alone in a small apartment and has supposedly done so for years. Even though Naruto was treated as an outsider, he was befriended by his compassionate ninja instructor named Iruka Umino when he was twelve. Although Iruka's own parents perished during the battle with the demon fox, he refused to view Naruto as the cause of their deaths. Instead, Iruka attached himself to Naruto because he was similarly isolated after the death of his parents. Naruto was deeply moved by Iruka's kindness and confidence in him. As a result, Naruto now values Iruka as a father figure, as well as an instructor. After a two-and-a-half year time skip, Naruto shows physical growth and sports a new outfit. Naruto is now noticeably taller than Sakura, (In Part I, he is made fun of for being shorter than her) and some of his other friends, (Kiba even states Naruto has become a "giant"). However, Naruto is still a Genin, since he hasn't had a chance to take the Chunin Exams again, while the rest of the Hidden Leaf Village 11 have become Chunin, and Neji subsequently becomes a Jonin. He is initially jealous that Gaara has become the Fifth Kazekage- thereby achieving the equivalent of Naruto's lifelong dream- but is happy for him. According to Tsunade, Naruto is also slowly adopting some of Jiraiya's perverted traits. During his apprenticeship under Jiraiya, Naruto was able to read ten pages of the latest of the "Icha Icha" series written by Jiraiya, although when he presents a copy to Kakashi, he says he thought it was boring. Naruto appears to not only have increased in strength, speed, and techniques, but intelligence as well; Kakashi had even said that Naruto has become more cunning. During his training, Kakashi remarks that he believes Naruto will surpass himself as well as the Fourth Hokage and later, even sees a vision of the Fourth Hokage around Naruto. After Naruto shows off the results of his special training(In which he learned In Naruto: Shipp�den, after a two-and-a-half year time skip, Naruto shows physical growth and sports a new outfit. Naruto is now noticeably taller than Sakura, (In Part I, he is made fun of for being shorter than her) and some of his other friends, (Kiba even states Naruto has become a "giant"). However, Naruto is still a Genin, since he hasn't had a chance to take the Chunin Exams again, while the rest of the Hidden Leaf Village 11 have become Chunin, and Neji subequently becomes a Jonin. He is initially jealous that Gaara has become the Fifth Kazekage- thereby achieving the equivalent of Naruto's lifelong dream- but is happy for him. According to Tsunade, Naruto is also slowly adopting some of Jiraiya's perverted traits. During his apprenticeship under Jiraiya, Naruto was able to read ten pages of the latest of the "Icha Icha" series written by Jiraiya, although when he presents a copy to Kakashi, he says he thought it was boring.



Sakura

Sakura at the series' start shows great infatuation towards Sasuke Uchiha. This consists of following him everywhere in an attempt to help him and valuing his opinion and abilities above all others. Once Sasuke begins to be put in more dangerous situations, Sakura's display of her emotions shifts to concern for his well-being, first seen when he appears to have died and she goes against the Shinobi Code by crying for his loss. While his death turns out to be an illusion, Sakura maintains this method of showing her feelings for Part I's duration. The most long-standing example of this is the Cursed Seal Sasuke receives from Orochimaru as a source of power. In addition to worrying for Sasuke when he is left bedridden after the seal's use, Sakura also worries about the seal's potential to draw him away from Hidden Leaf Village. In time, her fears are realized and Sasuke abandons the village to seek out Orochimaru. Before he leaves Sakura attempts to stop him at the village exit, expressing her love for him and begging him to stay. She fails at this and changes tact, saying she will go with him, willing to do anything to be with him. Rather than leave her with words of parting, Sasuke gives her a simple "thank you" before knocking her out In Part II, Sakura begins to learn of the various hardships in Naruto's life, particularly that he is the container of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox and that Akatsuki seeks to capture him because of it. Furthermore, should Akatsuki succeed in capturing Naruto and remove the demon fox from his body, Naruto will die. Because of these revelations, Sakura has acquired a worrying mentality for Naruto, and cries over the various difficulties he faces. To help him in overcoming these obstacles, Sakura has become very protective of him and does whatever is necessary to keep him safe. Upon finding that the medical abilities she has learned over the timeskip are ineffective in overcoming the demon fox, Sakura tries to see if there are other things she can learn to be of more use to Naruto. As the two spend more time together, she starts to see Naruto more as a very reliable comrade and a trusted friend. As a result of these newfound feelings, Sakura is generally more accepting of Naruto's personality traits and is much more capable of working well with him. She draws the line at his growing perversion, though, although she can be just as perverted at times.