Naruto (NARUTO—ナルト— NARUTO)
is an ongoing Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi
Kishimoto. The plot tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, an adolescent
ninja who constantly searches for recognition and dreams to become the
Hokage, the ninja in his village who is acknowledged as the leader and
the strongest of all. The series is based on a one-shot comic by
Kishimoto that was published in the August 1997 issue of Akamaru Jump.
Plot
Twelve
years before the start of the series, a powerful creature known as the
Nine-tailed Demon Fox attacked the ninja village Konoha, killing many
people. In response, the leader of Konoha– the Fourth Hokage– sacrificed
his life to seal the demon inside the newborn Naruto Uzumaki. Konoha,
however, regarded Naruto as if he were the demon fox itself and
mistreated him throughout most of his childhood. A decree made by the
current Kage, the Third Hokage, forbade anyone mention the attack of the
demon fox to anyone else. This included Naruto, who was not aware of
the demon inside of him. Years later, Naruto is tricked by the renegade
ninja Mizuki into stealing a forbidden scroll that would teach him a
secret ninja technique, but he is stopped by his teacher, Iruka Umino.
When Iruka almost dies while protecting Naruto from Mizuki, who also
reveals that he is the container of the Nine-Tailed Fox, Naruto uses the
Jutsu he learned from the scroll that creates multiple clones of
himself, Shadow Clone Technique, to defeat Mizuki. Naruto is assigned
alongside Sasuke Uchiha, whom he often competes against, and Sakura
Haruno to form a four person team named Team 7 under an experienced and
severe sensei named Kakashi Hatake. Like all the ninja teams from every
village, Team 7 is charged with completing missions requested by
villagers, such as doing chores or being bodyguards. After several
missions, most notably their mission to Wave Country as Tazuna the
bridge builder's guards, Kakashi allows Team 7 to participate in a ninja
exam in which they can advance to a higher rank, and thus, take part in
more difficult missions. During the exams, Orochimaru, a criminal at
the top of Konoha's most wanted list, attacks Konoha and kills the Third
Hokage in an act of revenge. This forces one of the three legendary
ninja, Jiraiya to search for his former teammate Tsunade, who has been
nominated to become the Fifth Hokage. During the search, it is revealed
that Orochimaru desires to acquire Sasuke due to his powerful genetic
heritage, the Sharingan. Believing Orochimaru will be able to give him
the strength needed to kill his brother Itachi, who destroyed his clan,
Sasuke eventually joins him after a humiliating defeat at his brother's
hands. Tsunade sends a group of ninja including Naruto to make Sasuke
return to Konoha, but Naruto is unable to defeat him and bring him back
to the village. Naruto does not give up on Sasuke, however, and he
leaves Konoha to train for two-and-a-half years under Jiraiya's tutelage
in order to prepare himself for the next time he encounters Sasuke.
After the training period, a criminal organization called Akatsuki
attempts to capture the nine powerful tailed beasts that are sealed
within people—including the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox sealed inside of
Naruto. Several ninjas from Konoha, including Team 7, fight against the
Akatsuki members and search for their teammate Sasuke. Although they
manage to revive Gaara, the host of the One-Tailed beast and Kazekage
(Leader of the Sand Village), Akatsuki is successful in capturing the
other seven of the creatures (and thus killing the hosts). In the
meantime, Sasuke betrays Orochimaru and faces Itachi to take revenge.
After Itachi dies in battle, Sasuke is told by the Akatsuki founder and
leader Tobi that Itachi was ordered by Konoha's leadership to destroy
his clan. Saddened with this revelation, Sasuke joins forces with
Akatsuki to kill Konoha's superiors who orchestrated the Uchihas'
elimination. Meanwhile, as several Akatsuki members are defeated by the
Konoha ninjas, their figurehead leader, Pain, invades the village to
capture Naruto. However, Naruto defeats him and convinces him to abandon
the Akatsuki. With Pain's eventual death, Tobi—disguised as one of
Konoha's founding fathers Madara Uchiha—announces that he wants to
obtain all nine of the tailed beasts in order to perform an illusion
powerful enough to control all of humanity. The leaders of the five
ninja villages refuse to aid him, and instead, join forces to confront
him and his allies. This results into a fourth ninja world war between
the unified armies of the Five Great Countries collectively known as the
"Ninja Alliance Army" and Akatsuki's forces.
