Naruto

Naruto (ナルト) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. It tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, an adolescent ninja who searches for recognition and dreams of becoming the Hokage, the leader of his village. The story is in two parts, the first set in Naruto's preteen years, and the second in his teens. The series is based on two one-shot manga by Kishimoto: Karakuri (1995), which earned Kishimoto an honorable mention in Shueisha's monthly Hop Step Award the following year, and Naruto (1997).
PLOT:
A powerful fox known as the Nine-Tails attacks Konoha, the hidden leaf village in the Land of Fire, one of the Five Great Shinobi Countries in the Ninja World. In response, the leader of Konoha, the Fourth Hokage, seals the fox inside the body of his newborn son, Naruto Uzumaki, making Naruto a host of the beast;[d] this costs Naruto's father his life, and the Third Hokage returns from retirement to become leader of Konoha again. As a child, Naruto is shunned by the Konoha community, who regard Naruto as if he were the Nine-Tails. Because of a decree made by the Third Hokage forbidding anyone to mention these events, Naruto knows nothing about the Nine-Tails until twelve years later, when Mizuki, a renegade ninja, reveals the truth to Naruto. Naruto then defeats Mizuki in combat, earning the respect of his teacher Iruka Umino.[e]

Shortly afterwards, Naruto becomes a ninja and joins with Sasuke Uchiha, against whom he often competes, and Sakura Haruno, on whom he has a crush, to form Team 7, under an experienced sensei, the elite ninja Kakashi Hatake. Like all the ninja teams from every village, Team 7 completes missions requested by the villagers, ranging from doing chores and being bodyguards to performing assassinations.

After several missions, including a major one in the Land of Waves, Kakashi allows Team 7 to take a ninja exam, enabling them to advance to a higher rank and take on more difficult missions. During the exams, Orochimaru, a wanted criminal, invades Konoha and kills the Third Hokage for revenge. Jiraiya, one of the three legendary ninjas, declines the title of Fifth Hokage and searches with Naruto for Tsunade whom he chooses to become Fifth Hokage instead.

During the search, it is revealed that Orochimaru wishes to train Sasuke because of his powerful genetic heritage, the Sharingan.[f] Sasuke wants to kill his older brother, Itachi, who destroyed their clan and joined a criminal organization called Akatsuki, but Itachi defeats and humiliates him. Sasuke joins Orochimaru, hoping to gain from him the strength needed to kill Itachi. When Tsunade finds out, she sends a group of ninja, including Naruto, to retrieve Sasuke, but Naruto is unable to persuade or force him to come back. Naruto and Sakura do not give up on Sasuke: Naruto leaves Konoha to receive training from Jiraiya to prepare himself for the next time he encounters Sasuke, while Sakura becomes Tsunade's apprentice.

Part II

Two and a half years later, Naruto returns from his training with Jiraiya. The Akatsuki starts kidnapping the hosts of the powerful Tailed Beasts. Team 7 (and other ninja) fight against them and search for their teammate Sasuke. The Akatsuki succeeds in capturing and extracting seven of the Tailed Beasts, killing all the hosts except Gaara (the host of the One-Tail) who is resurrected by a fellow Elder of the sand village, (of which he belongs) at the cost of her life. Meanwhile, Sasuke betrays Orochimaru and faces Itachi to take revenge. After Itachi dies in battle, Sasuke learns from the Akatsuki founder Tobi that Itachi received an order from Konoha's superiors to destroy his clan to prevent a coup d'état. He accepted it on the condition that he would be allowed to leave Sasuke alive. Saddened by this revelation, Sasuke joins the Akatsuki to kill Konoha's superiors and destroy Konoha in revenge. As Konoha ninjas defeat several Akatsuki members, the Akatsuki figurehead leader, Nagato, kills Jiraiya and devastates Konoha, but Naruto defeats and redeems him, earning the village's respect and admiration.

With Nagato's eventual death, Tobi, disguised as Madara Uchiha (one of Konoha's founding fathers), announces that he wants to get all nine Tailed Beasts to perform an illusion powerful enough to control all humanity, to create world peace. The leaders of the five ninja villages refuse to help him and instead join forces to confront Tobi and his allies. That decision results in a fourth great ninja war between the combined armies of the Five Great Countries (known as the Allied Shinobi Forces) and Akatsuki's forces of zombie-like ninjas. The Five Kage tries to keep Naruto, unaware of the war, in a secret island turtle near Kumogakure (Hidden Cloud Village), but Naruto finds out and escapes from the island with Killer Bee, the host of the Eight-Tails, and the two of them head for the battlefield.

During the conflict, it is revealed that Tobi is Obito Uchiha, a former teammate of Kakashi's who was thought to be dead. The real Madara saved Tobi's life, and they have since collaborated. As Sasuke learns the history of Konoha, including the circumstances that led to his clan's downfall, he decides to protect the village and rejoins Naruto and Sakura to thwart Madara's and Obito's plans. However, Madara's body ends up possessed by Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, an ancient princess who intends to subdue all humanity. A reformed Obito sacrifices himself to help Team 7 stop her. Once Kaguya is sealed, Madara dies as well. Sasuke takes advantage of the situation and takes control of all the Tailed Beasts, as he reveals his goal of ending the current village system. Naruto confronts Sasuke to dissuade him from his plan, and after they almost kill each other in a final battle, Sasuke admits defeat and reforms. After the war, Kakashi becomes the Sixth Hokage and pardons Sasuke for his crimes. Years later, Kakashi steps down while Naruto marries Hinata Hyuga and becomes the Seventh Hokage, raising the next generation.