Naruto Uzumaki Abilities

As the title character of the series, Naruto appears in every arc, and typically playing a prominent role for the duration of the arc. During Part I, Naruto drives few of the conflicts, as he spends his time improving his ninja abilities and pursuing his own goals while the overarching events occur elsewhere. Following the invasion of Konohagakure, by Orochimaru and Sunagakure, Naruto discovers Akatsuki, a fictional criminal organization that seeks to extract the Nine-Tailed 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 Sasuke attempts to leave Konohagakure that Naruto takes a leading role in the plot, joining a team of ninja dedicated to stopping Sasuke from joining forces with Konoha's enemy Orochimaru. Naruto and Sasuke ultimately have a one-on-one battle, though neither can convince himself to finish off the other. The two go their separate ways, but Naruto does not give up on Sasuke, leaving Konoha together with Jiraiya for two-and-a-half years of training to prepare himself for the next time he meets Sasuke.

Upon his return to Konoha in Part II, Naruto begins to deal more actively with the Akatsuki threat. He first saves Gaara from Akatsuki's clutches, and later proves instrumental in the downfall of Kakuzu. Still, Naruto dedicates himself to find and retrieve Sasuke. Though they eventually find Sasuke's brother, Itachi, after losing Sasuke's trail they return home. After learning that Jiraiya has been killed by the Akatsuki leader, Pain, Naruto trains to the point that, when they finally face off, he defeats all of Pain's six bodies, and convinces the real one to leave Akatsuki. Following a discussion with Pain's superior, Madara Uchiha, about Sasuke's past and role within Akatsuki, Naruto decides to confront Sasuke in battle that may end in both of their deaths if he is not able to save him, and so takes control of the Fox's power to aid him. Upon gaining its powers, Naruto learns that all his comrades are battling Madara's army and goes to join them.

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Naruto Uzumaki Personality

Shortly after Naruto was born, his father, the Fourth Hokage, sealed the dangerous Nine-Tailed Demon Fox within Naruto's body at the cost of his own life, leaving Naruto without a family. As a result of him being the demon fox's host, the villagers of Konoha hold a strong animosity for Naruto. Thus, he never has a source of love or attention during his early childhood. Desiring what he lacks in his early life, Naruto dreams of becoming Hokage, the village's leader, hoping that it will bring him the villagers' recognition and respect. To assist him in gaining this title, Naruto possesses a fierce determination, always confident he can complete a given task with relative ease. Although he does not always complete his tasks, Naruto's efforts prove successful as the series progresses; many characters reach the conclusion that Naruto will someday be an excellent Hokage. Since his childhood, Naruto has commonly made jokes to attract attention. He sometimes goes to the point of transforming into a naked woman to ridicule whoever may be bothering him. This even causes his pupil, Konohamaru Sarutobi, to emulate his techniques and jokes.

Occasionally, Naruto's determination results in those around him adopting some of his traits, such that in Part II his teacher, Kakashi Hatake, notes this to be Naruto's unique power. In the aftermath of fighting Naruto, Gaara discovers that true strength is found in fighting for one's friends, not for oneself. These character metamorphoses serve as the moral for the arcs they take place in, and subsequently become the creed for the particular character's life. After Jiraiya's death, Naruto becomes determined to kill Pain, Jiraiya's murderer. However, he later decides not to kill Pain and that he will break the hatred's cycle as Jiraiya wanted.

Through his ability to change others, Naruto gains the friends he lacks during his childhood. Among the many friendships he forms, none are more prominent in the series than those he has with his two teammates: Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno. With Sasuke, Naruto shares a highly competitive relationship which he likens to brotherhood. Though Sasuke betrays Naruto and the rest of Konoha at the end of Part I, Naruto maintains his attachment to Sasuke, readily lashing out at anyone who speaks poorly of him. Naruto possesses a deep dedication to Sakura, rooted in the crush he has on her for years. Naruto's commitment to Sakura is so strong that he is willing to do anything to make her happy, vowing that someday he will return Sasuke to Konoha for her and Sasuke's sake.

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Naruto Manga

Naruto premiered in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine in 1999. The first 238 chapters are known as Part I, and constitute the first part of the Naruto storyline. Manga chapters 239 to 244 comprise a gaiden series focusing on the background of the character Kakashi Hatake. All subsequent chapters belong to Part II, which continues the storyline in Part I after a two and a half year time gap. Besides the regular Naruto manga, a spin-off series focused in the character of Rock Lee started being published in Shueisha's Super Strong Jump since December 2010.

The Naruto manga is serialized in North America by Viz Media in their manga anthology magazine Shonen Jump, with the first chapter of the English adaptation published in the January 2003 issue. To compensate for the gap between the Japanese and English adaptations of the manga, Viz implemented its "Naruto Nation" campaign, where it released three volumes a month in the last four months of 2007 in order to close said gap.] Cammie Allen, Viz's product manager, commented that, their main reason for the schedule was to catch up to the Japanese release schedule to give their readers a similar experience to that of Japanese readers. A similar campaign was planned for 2009, with eleven volumes from Part II of the series being released between February and April in order to catch up to the Japanese serialization. Starting with the release of volume forty-five in July, Viz will begin releasing Naruto on a quarterly basis.

As of August 2011, 57 tankōbon have been released by Shueisha in Japan, with the first twenty-seven tankōbon containing Part I, and the remaining thirty belonging to Part II. The first tankōbon was released on March 3, 2000. In addition, several tankōbon, each containing ani-manga based one of the Naruto movies, have been released by Shueisha. In Japanese, Shueisha has also released the series for cell-phone download on their website Shueisha Manga Capsule. Viz has released 51 volumes of the English adaptation of the manga with the first being published on October 6, 2009. In addition, Viz Media released all twenty-seven volumes in a boxed set, thus constituting the entirety of the Naruto storyline before Part II on November 13, 2007.

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