Hyuuga Hinata

• Age: 12-13 in Part I, 15 in Part II
• Rank: Chunin
• Seiyu: Nana Mizuki
• Voice actor: Stephanie Sheh

Hinata Hyuga is the eldest daughter of the Hyuga clan’s main branch, and thus is the heiress of the clan. Her father trained her to use the clan’s more basic abilities such as the Gentle Fist style of combat, though in time he came to deem her a lost cause and abandoned her to Kurenai’s care as he began training her younger sister instead. Throughout her early time in Team 8, Hinata’s lack of self-confidence and unwillingness to fight bring her failure in every mission she is assigned. In an attempt to change herself Hinata enters the Chunin Exams, where she is forced to fight against her cousin, Neji Hyuga. Although Neji easily outmatches her and taunts her for the battle’s duration, Hinata perseveres in an attempt to prove her own worth. After recovering from the wounds she receives, Hinata continues training to improve herself. Her efforts eventually allow her to acquire a better relationship with her father, who encourages her to continue working on improving herself.

Hinata has a long-standing crush on Naruto Uzumaki, 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 she 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 it. Similarly, Naruto has remained completely oblivious to Hinata’s feelings, identifying her blushing as just her being weird, though he now enjoys her company more than he once did. Hinata tends to break away from her usually timid self when around Naruto, such as going out of her way to help him or putting more effort into something because he is nearby. She also becomes more assertive on Naruto’s behalf and never hesitates to defend him, even to himself. Naruto also acts as a key component in her quest to better herself, as she trains so that she can be like him and impress him at the same time.

In the anime, her training eventually results in her creation of Protection of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms , (Shugohakke Rokuj?yon Sh?), a combination of the Hyuga clan’s more powerful techniques. With it, Hinata creates blades of chakra that she can use to hit any target in her Byakugan’s field of vision. Due to the speed at which these blades move as well as the amount of control she has over them, Hinata can use this technique to attack and defend simultaneously.

Before her appearance Masashi Kishimoto had intended not to make her a ninja and to give her normal clothes instead of the Hyuga clothes.

All the information of this page was taken from wikipedia and written by Naruto fans. All this content is available for reuse under the terms of the GFDL. For more information see Wikimedia Foundation Sharing Policy.

Creation and conception

When creating Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto incorporated into the character a number of traits he felt made for an ideal hero: a straightforward way of thinking, a mischievous side, and many of the attributes possessed by Dragon Ball’s Son Goku. He also made sure to keep Naruto “simple and stupid,” since he doesn’t like smart characters. Naruto himself isn’t modeled after anyone in particular, being conceived as childlike with somewhat of a dark side as a result of his harsh past. Despite this, Naruto is always positive, making him unique in Kishimoto’s eyes.

Naruto’s wardrobe is based on clothing Kishimoto wore when he was younger; using a preexisting design wouldn’t have made Naruto unique whereas something original would have made him stick out too much. The orange coloring of his costume is used to make Naruto “pop,” with blues often being used to complement the orange. Because Naruto is associated with spirals, swirl patterns are incorporated into his costume. Initial illustrations of Naruto had him wearing boots, but Kishimoto substituted these for sandals since he likes drawing toes. The goggles that Naruto used to wear were also replaced with a forehead protector, because the goggles themselves were too time consuming to draw.

In the Japanese versions of Naruto, Naruto often ends his sentences with the addendum “-ttebayo” (which gives a similar effect to ending a sentence with “you know?”). Kishimoto wanted to give Naruto a childlike phrase, and “dattebayo” came to mind. It compliments Naruto’s character, and serves as a verbal tic that shows he’s kind of a brat. Throughout the beginning of the series, the English anime replaced “-ttebayo” with the phrase “Believe it!” to mirror the effect, as well as to match the character’s lip movements. The phrase has since fallen out of use aside from promotional use.

Character attributes

Background

Naruto was born the son of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki. Soon after his birth the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox attacked their hometown of Konohagakure, leaving destruction wherever it went. In order to stop the fox’s attack Minato sealed it within Naruto’s body, giving Naruto access to its great power at the cost of Minato’s life. Before his death, Minato requested that Naruto be viewed as a hero of the village rather than a container for the fox. Many villagers chose to ignore this request, leading to the enactment of a law forbidding anyone to speak of Naruto as the fox’s host.

With his father dead and his mother presumably sharing the same fate, Naruto has never known his parents. Although knowing that Minato sealed the fox within him, Naruto is currently unaware of their relation to each other. Despite this, Naruto is the spitting image of his father and many characters confidentially find the two have a number of other similarities. The abilities he learns and begins to utilize as he gets older are also reminiscent of those used by both of his parents during their lives.

Personality

Having lived without a family for all of his life, Naruto has always needed to look to others for attention. Because he is initially viewed only as the container of the demon fox, many villagers are unwilling to pay him this courtesy. To force them to give him their recognition and respect, Naruto’s dream has become to gain the title of Hokage, the village’s protector, hoping that it will bring him the attention he desires. In his quest to become Hokage, Naruto displays a fierce determination in any situation, putting his all into everything and guaranteeing that he can complete a task. This often results in him promising more than he can live up to, such as stating that he would be able to perfect the attack, Rasengan, in three days. In these situations where Naruto is unable to meet his own expectations, he readily asks anyone for help in achieving the goal. Naruto’s efforts have proven successful as the series has progressed, as many characters have reached the conclusion that Naruto will someday be an excellent Hokage.

Since his introduction, Naruto’s determination has resulted in some of his traits rubbing off on those around him, such that in Part II his teacher, Kakashi Hatake, notes this to be Naruto’s unique power. This trait has caused Naruto to be a catalyst for change amongst many characters introduced in the series, whose beliefs and views are completely altered as a result of their interaction with Naruto. Neji Hyuga learns that fate is not predetermined and that people can choose their own destiny. Gaara discovers that true strength is found in fighting for one’s friends, not for one’s self. Tsunade is shown that the seemingly impossible can become a reality and that dreams really are attainable. These changes that other characters experience serve as the moral for the part in the story they take place in, and subsequently become the creed for the particular character’s life.

Through his ability to change others, Naruto has gained the friends that he lacked during his childhood, each of whom he holds very dear. Sasuke Uchiha, the character Naruto considers to be his closest friend, defects from Konoha at the end of Part I. Naruto does all in his power to stop Sasuke so as to bring him back home and to save him from the life he is choosing. Though Sasuke escapes and becomes labeled as a traitor, Naruto is unwilling to think of him as such and readily lashes out at anyone who speaks poorly of Sasuke. Sakura Haruno, Naruto’s long time crush, is just as affected by Sasuke’s defection as Naruto. Being in love with Sasuke, Sakura pleads for Naruto to bring Sasuke home, which Naruto swears to do despite his own feelings for her. Even after his initial failure, Naruto keeps this promise to Sakura as his lifetime vow, placing her happiness before his own well-being.

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 cover of Naruto manga volume 10. Food is a major component of Naruto’s life, with ramen being his favorite. As such, ramen is typically the only thing Naruto will eat and he can often be found dining at a Konoha ramen shop when he’s not away on a mission. He possesses a number of perverted tendencies, such that his first original ability is the Sexy Technique, which transforms him into an attractive naked woman that he utilizes to win over men. Most recurring of his childish tendencies, however, is Naruto’s thickheadedness, as he is slow to notice, if ever, what is obvious to others. This is best seen in his relationship with Hinata Hyuga; Hinata has had a crush on Naruto since they went to ninja school together. Though Hinata’s feelings for Naruto are obvious to most characters, Naruto only considers her tendency to blush when around him as “weird”.

Abilities

As the container of the demon fox, Naruto has access to its great chakra reserves. In addition to allowing him to rapidly recover from injuries, the fox enables Naruto to perform jutsu that someone of his skill and rank would ordinarily be incapable of using. While portions of the fox’s chakra are constantly being mixed with Naruto’s own, Naruto can draw upon large amounts of the fox’s reserves if need be. This is most commonly accomplished by submitting to rage and allowing the fox’s power to leak out and consume him. As its influence grows, the fox begins to manifest itself through a fox-shaped shroud that surrounds Naruto and that has an ever-increasing number of tails. With each tail Naruto is given a drastic increase in strength, such that with only four tails he almost killed Jiraiya during training and is a match for the likes of Orochimaru. Consequently, the fox’s violent personality begins to supplant Naruto’s own as the number of tails increases to the point that he can no longer distinguish between friend and foe. Because of the danger he poses to those he cares for in these situations, Naruto has begun to limit his own usage of the fox’s power.

Naruto first takes advantage of the fox’s chakra through the Shadow Clone Technique, which creates any number of physical copies of the user. Because the user’s chakra levels are evenly distributed amongst all of the clones, most ninja only create a few clones to keep from depleting their reserves. Since Naruto has the near-limitless chakra of the demon fox, he can create hundreds of clones at once without worrying about tiring out. He has found a number of uses for these clones, such as overwhelming an opponent and scouting a large area in a short period of time. His ability to summon toads in battle also relies on the fox’s chakra, as he can only summon larger toads with the fox’s help.

Rasengan, a concentrated ball of spinning chakra first created by his father, is Naruto’s favored form of attack. When performing the technique Naruto creates shadow clones to help him form the attack, one Naruto providing the chakra and the others spinning it into shape. While devastating by itself, capable of grinding into whatever it touches and causing great damage, Minato created the Rasengan with the intention of infusing it with his own elemental chakra. He was unable to do so prior to his death, but Naruto has since begun to complete his work. Through repeated training with his shadow clones, Naruto has been able to infuse the Rasengan with his wind chakra. This has resulted in the creation of the Wind Release: Spiraling Shuriken (????????, F?ton: Rasenshuriken?), which damages what it hits on a cellular level. Even though it is extremely effective at defeating opponents, the hand he is performing the technique with is damaged in the process. Should he continue to use this technique, Naruto will eventually be unable to perform any more jutsu.

Part in the story

As the main character of the series, Naruto is present in every arc and typically plays a prominent role for its duration. During Part I, Naruto’s involvement in the plot is relatively indirect, as he spends his time improving his ninja abilities and pursuing his own goals while the overarching events occur elsewhere. During the Return of Itachi arc, Naruto is introduced to Akatsuki, a criminal organization that seeks to extract the demon fox from his body. Though Jiraiya drives them off during this first meeting, Akatsuki’s interactions with Naruto become a more central conflict in Part II. It is not until the Sasuke Retrieval arc that Naruto takes a direct part in the plot, joining a team of ninja dedicated to stopping Sasuke from joining forces with Orochimaru. Naruto and Sasuke ultimately have a one-on-one battle, though neither is able to bring themselves to finish off the other. The two go their separate ways, but Naruto does not give up on Sasuke, leaving Konoha with Jiraiya for two-and-a-half years of training to prepare himself for the next time he meets Sasuke.

In Part II, Naruto receives less attention than he did in Part I. As other characters begin to receive additional development and the plot begins to cover multiple incidents across large distances, Naruto’s role in the story is considerably lessened. Upon his return to Konoha, Naruto begins to more actively deal with the Akatsuki threat. He first saves Gaara from Akatsuki’s clutches, and in a subsequent arc proves instrumental in the downfall of Kakuzu. Most of Naruto’s actions, however, are dedicated to finding and retrieving Sasuke. He and the rest of his team are briefly able to locate Sasuke during the Sasuke and Sai arc, but Sasuke’s rapid development leaves them no match for him. After creating his new Rasengan, Naruto and company try once again to find Sasuke, and are currently in the process of following Sasuke’s trail.

Other media

Being the titular character, Naruto has appeared in all the Naruto movies so far, plus the additional OVAs that follow. In the first Naruto movie Team 7 is assigned to escort Yukie Fujikaze, the secretive actress of a movie character Naruto becomes obsessed with, to the Land of Snow to film the movie’s sequel. Yukie, however, turns out to secretly be heir to the throne, and by the first movie’s end Yukie, who has acquirred her thrown, awards Naruto with an autograph. The second movie beings with Naruto, Sakura, and Shikamaru Nara delivering a lost pet to its village, where through a chain of events they eventually get involved with a war between Sunagakure.In the third film, Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi, and Rock Lee are assigned to escort the prince of the Land of the Moon to his land, though once they reach the nation, the throne has been seized by the noble Shabadaba. In the fourth movie (1st of Shipp?den) Naruto becomes the guard of Shion who predicts his death. Although the only way to escape from his death is by escaping from Shion, Naruto decides to challenge the prediction and stay with her. A fifth film, which also takes place in the Shippuden timeline, is currently in development.

In the 1st OVA Konohamaru asks Naruto Uzumaki to help him find a red four leaf clover, which is supposed to grant any wish as Konohamaru is in love with a girl. To help him find Naruto goes to a forbidden zone with Konohamaru in order to find it. In the 2nd OVA Team 7 escort a ninja named Shibuki, the leader of his village, to his home at Takigakure. Naruto and Sasuke fight against the missing-nin that stole and drank “Hero’s Water”. In the 3rd OVA Naruto enters the tournament Jonin vs. Genin in order to create a rule helping him to become a Hokage. In the OVA showed before the first Naruto movie during a sports competition Naruto has to use the toilet throughout the entire OVA, only to be prevented in each attempt by his fellow Genin and his own mistakes.

In Naruto:Ultimate Ninja 2 and Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 3, a variant called Green Beast of Konoha Naruto (that in one episode he fantasized about being) is playable. He is given his own variations of Rock Lee and Might Guy’s trademark techniques named after himself.

In the Clash of Ninja series of video games, Naruto is playable in various stages of the demon fox’s manifestation, all characterized by red chakra emitting from his body. Masashi Kishimoto liked the presentation of these forms so much that he imitated one of them for the cover of Naruto manga volume 26.

In the Naruto Card Game most of Naruto’s Ninja Cards are very similarly designed. Many of them focus on his being initially weak in stats, only getting stronger after being injured. His abilities focus on this, either making him stronger based on cards in hand or Battle Rewards won by the opponent. He also has had cards pairing him with characters he’s aligned with in the series, such as Jiraiya, Iruka, and Konohamaru, as well as cards involving being in play with Sasuke and/or Sakura.

Character reception

Naruto has ranked within the Top 5 characters in every official Shonen Jump popularity polls, making first place twice and he was in the top two in the first five polls. However, in the sixth poll two years ago, Naruto has lost his Top two status, below the characters Deidara, Kakashi Hatake and Sasuke Uchiha. There has not been another official poll since the poll of 2005.

In an interview, Maile Flanagan, the voice actress for Naruto in the English anime, states that while she had no idea what Naruto was at first, she was thrilled to be chosen for the role of Naruto, who is currently her favorite character in the series. She compares herself to Naruto during the interview, stating that, as a child, she was also hyperactive, and she always tries to do her best, among other similarities between the two. She also states that she is confident she can change her voice to fit Naruto’s age after the timeskip in the series.

Several popular websites for manga and anime, videogames, and other subjects highly praise Naruto, often calling him one of the most memorable anime and manga characters in history. IGN comments on Naruto developing from the lonely rebel during the series’ beginning. Gamespot claims that Naruto Uzumaki living the ideal teenage life, as he is a ninja and eats all he likes, but, on the other hand, he is parentless and is shunned by the other villagers. Anime News Network, however, comments that sometimes (especially in the Chunin Exams) Naruto’s fights are not as good as others fought by the Konoha 11.

All the information of this page was taken from wikipedia and written by Naruto fans. All this content is available for reuse under the terms of the GFDL. For more information see Wikimedia Foundation Sharing Policy.

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