Naruto



Naruto is a manga by Masashi Kishimoto with an anime TV series adaptation. Its main character, NarutoUzumaki, is a loud, silly, teenage ninja who constantly searches for acceptance, as well as to become Hokage, who is acknowledged as the leader and strongest of all ninja in the village.

Viz Media published a translated version in the American Shonen Jump, and is currently within a few volumes of the Japanese publication. Naruto has become Viz Media's best-selling manga series.

The anime series, produced by StudioPierrot and Aniplex. Viz also licensed the anime for North American production.? Naruto? debuted in the United States on Cartoon Network's Toonami programming block on September 10, 2005, it was cancelled in early 2009. In 2012 Naruto was added to the Toonami lineup again. This time being aired uncut.

Characters
Naruto has a large and colourful cast of characters, running a gamut of detailed histories and complex personalities, and allowing many of them their fair share in the spotlight; they are also seen to grow and mature with the series, as it spans several years. As fitting for a coming-of-age saga, Naruto's world constantly expands and thickens, and his social relations are no exception – during his introduction he has only his teacher and the village's Hokage for sympathetic figures, but as the story progresses, more and more people become a part of his story.

The students at the Academy, where the story begins, are split up into teams of three after their graduation and become Genin. Each team is assigned an experienced sensei. These core teams form a basis for the characters' interactions later in the series, where characters are chosen for missions for their team's strength and complementary skills; Naruto's Team 7 becomes the social frame where Naruto is acquainted with Sasuke. and Sakura, and their Sensei Kakashi, also called the "copy ninja" for copying thousands of ninja techniques with his Sharingan, forming the core of his world-in-the-making. The other three-man teams of his former classmates form another such layer, as Naruto connects with them to various degrees, learning of their motives, vulnerabilities, and aspirations, often relating them to his own. The groups of three are not limited to the comrades Naruto's age – groups in the story in general come in threes and multiples of three with very few exceptions.

Sensei-student relationships play a significant role in the series; Naruto has a number of mentors with whom he trains and learns, most notably Kakashi Hatake and Jiraiya, and there are often running threads of tradition and tutelage binding together several generations. These role models provide guidance for their students not only in the ninja arts but also in a number of Japanese aesthetics and philosophical ideals. Techniques, ideals, and mentalities noticeably run in families, Naruto often being exposed to the abilities and traditions of generation-old clans in his village when friends from his own age group demonstrate them, or even achieve improvements of their own; it is poignantly noted that Naruto's generation is particularly talented.

Many of the greater lingering mysteries of the series are questions of character motives and identity. The legacy of Naruto's parents, the goals that guide Kabuto, the identity of the mysterious Akatsuki leader – these are only a few of the fundamental unanswered questions of "who" and, by proxy, "why" currently at the core of the series. The story is remarkably character-driven; the theme of causality runs inherently throughout the series as characters reciprocate for their past actions and relationships. In this respect, characters' respective destinies are very much intertwined, and large emphasis is placed on comradeship and 'bonds' between the community or individual.

Naruto
Naruto Uzumaki? (うずまきナルト,? Uzumaki Naruto) is the title character and main protagonist of the series: Naruto. He is a Genin? from the Hidden Leaf Village, a member of Squad 7, and the third and current Jinjuriki? the Nine-Tails.

Sasuke
Sasuke Uchiha? (うちはサスケ,? Uchiha Sasuke) is one of the main characters in the Naruto? series and was originally introduced as a protagonist but later became an antagonist. He was a Genin-level shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village's? Team 7? but later defected from the village becoming a Missing-Ninja, an affiliate of Akatsuki? and is now considered an international criminal. He is also one of the two remaining living Uchiha.

Sakura
Sakura Haruno? (春野サクラ,? Haruno Sakura) is one of the main characters in the series. She is a Genin-level Kunoichi? of the Hidden Leaf Village, a talented Medical-Nin, and a member of Squad 7.