Indeed the first thoughts in everyone’s head as to why Naruto is entitled what it is, is because it follows in most detail the story of a boy who is ultimately chasing his goals and what he deems as his destiny, ascend the ninja ranks and become Hokage. With many themes revolving around the main character Uzumaki Naruto, it is easy to lose the meaning of the name in the multiple extended stories involving many other characters such as the highly popular Hatake Kakashi, Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, Nara Shikamaru, amongst many others. Many characters receive a massive amount of focus, some even close to the level of Naruto himself. But when presenting this new view on why the name circulates another meaning that ties most of the major stories within the main one together, it’s easy to see why Uzumaki Naruto has his hand in a little bit of everything regarding the progression of his own anime.
Naruto has often been labeled by both his peers and his superiors as a dropout and a loser for as long as he can remember. His less than stellar performance academically as well as his childish and immature behavior can arguably been seen as results of the hardships he faced in childhood bearing the burden of being the container for the Kyuubi and how he was treated by others because of it. He was ostracized, and he fought silently through the shadows of doubt to eventually succeed in acquiring acknowledgement by those he now considers friends as well as graduating the ninja academy.
However, this did not end the admonishment or the looking down upon. It rather opened a gate of new reasons that people seemed to have to make fun of Naruto and come to expect nothing but failure from him despite his victory over loneliness. Not once however did Naruto give up, and throughout his story he opened the eyes of many people who were doubtful and discourteous toward him through his actions, or more accurately his “way of the ninja”. This is Naruto’s influence, the ability to relate and help others to realize their own path through adversity with the help of someone who has battled through and won his struggle with adversity, regardless of whether or not it is the same for those who have received his facilitation.
It is a reoccurring theme throughout the series that so many people have had their life or views on life changed in someway by Naruto, this seems to connect people to each other by a common point and really bring depth to why the anime is titled what it is. Naruto has established connections with quite a few other main characters through similarity, encouragement, spirit, and even jealousy and anger (though in this article I will only discuss whom i see as the six characters effected the strongest by Naruto’s influence). Regardless of what the source is however, it would result undeniably in a significant change of attitude and an increase in respect toward the once deemed “useless dropout”. These instances should serve as considerable reminders of the inaccuracies of being overly judgmental and the faults in assuming ones social status and demeanor without taking the true nature of their personality and resolve in their entirety into thought. In short and simple terms (and clichéd terms as well), to assume prematurely indeed make an “ass” out of “you” and “me”.
Subject #1: Hatake Kakashi
Since the formation of team 7, Kakashi has been enabled to experience first hand Naruto’s mannerisms and character as his sensei. Being in a position not only of personal judgment but professional judgment as well, Kakashi often found it difficult to have faith in the growth of Naruto into ninjahood despite part of his job being to help in the enabling of such capabilities. Naruto during these days found himself in constant competition with his teammate Sasuke, as well as vying for the affections of his female teammate Sakura. His behavior during the actions of both would often show his lack of focus on other tasks and situations that required full attention, to this Kakashi would often scold Naruto and lecture him until he got his point across.
However as the training went on, despite the initial hopelessness found in Naruto, Kakashi began to make note of slight yet significant progress from the littlest of tasks such as making it to the top of the tree during their concentrated chakra training to more advanced feats such as the kage bunshin/demon wind shuriken double team tactic Naruto thought of to free Kakashi from Zabuza’s water prison. Kakashi recognizes and even exclaims that Naruto has shown the most amount of growth out of the three of them. Genuinely impressed by his initial thoughts being proved wrong by Naruto himself, Kakashi remains yet doubtful in whether or not Naruto is destined for the greatness that the young genin believes he is. But in the act of taking the first steps toward proving just how capable of a ninja he can be, Naruto succeeds here during the wave country arc.
Moving on to the chuunin tests, Kakashi is further impressed by Naruto’s victory over Kiba in the tournament part of the exam. Throughout the match he portrayed what probably is his most definitive features in his stamina and unyielding determination. Constantly getting pounded on by Kiba he would always stand back up and take more punishment until the right opportunity came along. In between he threw in some rather clever strategies such as using a henge no jutsu to assume the appearance of Kiba to confuse his eyes as to which clone of himself was Akamaru and which was Naruto. However, knowing that Kiba’s nose couldn’t be fooled upon being punched due to his scent being different than Akamaru’s, he once again used the transformation technique this time to change into Akamaru in dog form to confuse Kiba once again. Kakashi voiced his praise and opinion on the technique and watched on until the end of the match.
Later on in the tournament, after Gai saves Lee from Gaara it is hinted through the looks and perspectives while Gai is explaining his connection with Lee that Kakashi may even view Naruto as the closest person to him in terms of the kind of relationship Gai and Lee share. Though Kakashi chooses to personally train Sasuke over Naruto for the second part of the tournament, Kakashi has gained a new respect for his supposed “dropout” student and in future arcs begins to further trust in his ability and appreciate his resolve.
Subject #2: Momochi Zabuza
Though this particular section will be short, I thought it was important to include because of the incredible influence Naruto has on Zabuza. From the beginning of the bridge builder mission for team 7, Zabuza has embedded the image of an elite jonin in the heads of all 3 of the genin, which included an emotionless demon like killer. His sadistic and self-centered image is only enforced when he verbally tosses away his subordinate Haku upon sacrificing himself in Zabuza’s place when Kakashi attacks with the Raikiri. Having established some kind of understanding of Haku before and during their battle, Naruto deems his cold words unfathomable due to the close relationship Zabuza and Haku shared in the past, but more importantly the manor in which Haku felt toward Zabuza for taking him off the streets and giving him a purpose in life.
Naruto lashes out emotionally, tears in his eyes and anguish in his heart for Haku’s sake and sways Zabuza, the demon like cold-hearted killer of the mist to tears himself with a persuasive and moving speech. Zabuza, virtually defeated by Kakashi fulfills his own wishes to dispose of the person who hired him and disrespected Haku’s corpse and upon his own impending demise due to multiple wounds from Gatou’s (Zabuza’s former employer) men his last wish was to be placed beside Haku in hopes that he would meet him again in the afterlife so they can live peacefully together.
The influence Naruto has on Zabuza with his words alone is proof of his morality, his sense of compassion, and one of the largest leaps in his level of maturity in the entire series. His nature can produce thought-provoking and poignant outward expressions through words and actions, and can reach out to many people if given the right motivation and the right circumstances.
Subject #3: Gaara
One of the most obvious characters influenced heavily by Naruto is Gaara of the desert. Naruto is of no consequence to Gaara during the initial phases of the sand village’s mission to destroy Konoha, which is shrouded under the guise of the 3 sand genin taking part in the chuunin exam. In fact it is Sasuke who has more of an effect on Gaara at first, and soon after Gaara begins to forsake his mission in exchange for the increasingly overwhelming desire to kill Sasuke during their tournament match.
Soon after Gaara’s ultimate defense is pierced by the chidori, the plan takes form and Konoha is soon in a state of emergency bringing the chuunin exam to a pre-mature end. Gaara is spent from the overexertion of his chakra and injured from the chidori and is escorted away from the village by Temari and Kankuro to recover. Sasuke chases after and Kakashi orders the 4 man cell of his tracking dog Pakkun, Sakura, Shikamaru, and Naruto to chase down Sasuke and back him up. Eventually Sasuke is defeated by Gaara who is losing control of him self and begins to give into the one-tailed Shukaku beast that was sealed within him much like how Naruto had the Kyuubi sealed within him. Naruto’s initial motivation to fight Gaara comes from the need to protect Sakura who has been trapped by a large chunk of sand controlled by chakra and to avenge Sasuke’s defeat. Aware of Gaara’s power he quickly assumes a serious state of mind and begins to cycle through strategies for matching up against the significantly deformed sand user.
It isn’t until Gaara begins to reflect back on his childhood that Naruto truly begins to understand the pain and incentive that drives Gaara to commit the acts he has been committing and living the way he has been living. Gaara’s childhood includes such horrors as the same isolation from his own village that Naruto suffered through when they all found out that he was the container for the Kyuubi, contempt and fear on the part of his father so strong that he ordered the death of his son, and the carrying out of the mission not only by order but by free will of Gaara’s uncle who cherished his sister too much to open his heart and feelings to Gaara.
Naruto peered deep into Gaara’s eyes as he began to reflect on his own past and understood all too well the pain and difficulties Gaara suffered during his childhood because of how similar they were to his own. Overcome with sympathy, Naruto realizes that he was fortunate enough to eventually find people in his life that he could call friends in Iruka, Sakura, Sasuke, and Kakashi and defeat the cold nature of loneliness and isolation, but on the flipside Gaara even at the current time was still battling through the stage that Naruto dreaded most. Gaara had every reason to have turned out the way he did in the eyes of Naruto, and he understood that Gaara was trying to justify his own existence through means of killing others and loving only himself. Because Gaara failed to find salvation, Naruto began to fight even more excitedly to show how much strength is possible to have because of love for others and the need to protect them, as opposed to Gaara’s belief that true strength comes only from self-love.
The conclusion of the intense and heartrending battle ended in Naruto once again persevering through incredible amounts of physical and mental torment. Gaara completely perplexed as to how Naruto gained so much strength since he didn’t fight for himself stayed on the ground and tried to make sense of it. Gaara went over the amazing determination and power Naruto showed constantly through their battle, and the difference between their sources of motivation and slowly came to believe that his way of thinking was flawed. Still not comprehending completely the concept of love and protecting others (even though he has heard these words plenty of times), he gave in for the future potential to find the meaning himself so he could understand fully. Since that day he would never forget the name Uzuamki Naruto, and recognized him as a possible source of light in his darkness filled life.
Naruto once again shows his compassion here to show Gaara another way of living. Constantly repeating how much he and Gaara were the same, he saw his victory as a way to once again defeat the demons of adversity that he had to endure not so long ago in his life, only this time it was in the form of sympathy for another who was facing the same kind of adversity. The success of Naruto’s influence enables Gaara to later formulate enough of an understanding of the concept of love and protection to change his ways and not only make amends with his siblings but to risk his life to aid the Konoha shinobi as well during the rescue Sasuke arc.
Subject #4: Hyuga Neji
The genius of the Hyuga clan and the person revered as the strongest genin in Konoha was Naruto’s opponent during the second part of the chuunin exam tournament. A believer in predestined fate and the inability to change ones fate, Neji looks down on Naruto as a failure and a dropout and makes it known during their tournament match. His views of this subject are most likely due to the Hyuga’s methods of protecting their bloodline limit the byukugan using the branch family (of which Neji and his father were apart of) to protect the head family (of which Hinata and Hiashi). It is with the use of a seal technique that places a brand on the branch family member’s head, which controls them by the fear of certain death that can be induced through the seal by the head family. Angered about his father’s death as well as the way fate has dealt him the card of a slave to the head family, he has trained feverishly to grow his own strength to even surpass members of the head family in an implicit desire to alter his own destiny, but still maintaining the mind-set that it may all be in futility.
He repeats that Naruto’s destiny to lose to him was decided when his name was drawn as his opponent in the tournament. Clearly the more skilled out of the two, Neji fends off all of Naruto’s attempted attacks and eventually connects with his Hakke Rokujuu Yonshou cutting off Naruto’s chakra flow and badly injuring him. Fueled by arrogance and confidence in his destiny, Neji considers the match over until Naruto begins to once again tap into the power of the kyuubi. Amazed by the amounts of chakra exerted by Naruto, the other members of the Konoha rookies look on in awe, as does Neji. A giant clash ensues between the red chakra of the kyuubi and the immense flow from Neji’s Kaiten.
Repeating that it can’t be sure if anything is impossible unless you try, Naruto vows to defeat Neji and show him that people have control over their own destiny, rather then being bound by an unchangeable fate. The clash results in a major blow for both genin, but using the kage bunshin technique Naruto deceives Neji long enough to place the final blow and win the match. Naruto looks down to defeated opponent and exclaims that Neji truly is a genius, which is why that it is a shame that he thinks the way he does about destiny. Naruto asks that Neji forsake his close-minded way of thinking and realize that from their match it is indeed possible to change one’s path to their own destiny. Soon after, the truth is revealed to Neji by his uncle, Hyuga Hiashi about his father’s death. Sitting in the medical ward his feelings of hatred begin to slowly dissipate though not completely yet and he begins to understand that the power of the seal may no longer be a threat to him (this is more like a metaphor for basking in a feeling of elation or in other words a caged bird being freed).
It isn’t until the rescue Sasuke arc that the events of the tournament strongly begin to show within Neji. Fighting Kidoumaru he verbalizes his faith in Naruto’s ability to save Sasuke and bring him back in defense of Kidoumaru’s belittling of the rescue force. Neji assures himself as well as his opponent that Naruto can save Sasuke from the darkness he is in, because he too was saved by the darkness thanks to Naruto. The darkness in Neji’s case referring to the narrow-mindedness of his views on life he once had, and thanks to Naruto he has a clear view of what people are capable of as well as his new personal goals.
Neji goes all out and brings the intense battle to an end after fighting off severe injuries with the amazing will power he received as a result of Naruto’s words. He viewed Naruto’s words praising him as a genius as representative of the overall way he has been viewed by everyone, and uses the expectations that everyone has of him as a somewhat egocentric yet at the same time honest and powerful motivator to succeed in what he does and grow even stronger. It was when he reflected on this he made sure to finish his opponent off even if it were to be at the expense of his own life, this way he could preserve his honor and allow Naruto the time he needed to help their ally.
Subject #5: Uchiha Sasuke
Since the beginning of the formation of team 7, Sasuke’s overall attitude toward Naruto has been condescending. With small moments of what seemed to be mutual respect or peace between the two, from Naruto’s point of view their relationship was more like a rivalry. Though the feeling is not shared at first because of Sasuke’s reasoning and Naruto’s reasoning for competing with one another throughout the majority of the series not being mutual. A true rivalry can only be recognized as such if both people are taking part to achieve the same goal, which is where we can understand why Sasuke looks at Naruto as insignificant in any way toward achieving his goal to kill Itachi.
Naruto however constantly sought to engage himself in competition with Sasuke to prove that he was stronger or better than him. It isn’t until Naruto begins exploiting the same amount of determination and skill that other’s influenced by him have seen throughout the chuunin exam arc that Sasuke even begins to acknowledge Naruto as a potentially worthy ninja. He often stood in awe of Naruto’s unexpected feats such as those during the forest of death when he held off Orochimaru’s snake to protect Sasuke, and more so during his fight with Gaara after the hidden sand’s secret plot had been revealed.
However, Sasuke’s real growing interest in Naruto stemmed from the return of his brother, Itachi to Konoha. Part of an organization called Akatsuki, Itachi and his companion Kisame made it their business to abduct Naruto to take possession of the nine-tails. Upon being pushed aside and verbally disparaged by his brother during a brief clash during Naruto and Jiraiya’s mission to seek out Tsunade, Sasuke becomes badly wounded and mentally inept at the thought of how weak he was compared to his brother even despite all of his training. Realizing he needed more power, for the first time Sasuke was truly bothered by Naruto when he reflected on how much he (Naruto) grew in power and understood that Itachi was interested only in the kyuubi and thought nothing of his little brother’s attempt to fulfill his mission for revenge. Sasuke calls Naruto out and for the first time fights him with the goal of besting him in mind. Needing confirmation himself, he doesn’t hold back and even risks killing Naruto before Kakashi interferes.
Sasuke began to see Naruto as a giant thorn in his side and his goals as his problems only seemed to amplify because of him. He was enraged by feelings of jealousy and inferiority, when he would normally think nothing of Naruto’s presence and continue to believe in his own abilities. While the effect that Naruto’s progression and growth had on Sasuke instilled only negative feelings and emotions, without a doubt Sasuke acknowledged Naruto as a force worthy of praise. This, was also bluntly stated during their big fight at the climax of the rescue Sasuke arc. They both stated and recognized each other as true equals, as a sign of respect was shown toward Naruto by Sasuke when he adorned his head with the symbol of the konoha. Sasuke had gained respect, hatred, and detachment from Naruto, the very same person he deemed as no consequence to his being and his goal at the beginning.
Subject #6: Haruno Sakura
Needless to say, one of the themes between the 3 members of team 7 is a classic case of “Boy likes girl, girl likes other boy, first boy hates other boy”. Naruto has always pursued the attention and affection of Sakura in futility, because Sakura is constantly trying to pursue the attention and affection of Sasuke also in futility. Because of her blinding and unhealthy infatuation with Sasuke, she often disregarded Naruto and almost always took Sasuke’s side against him, without ever thinking about what’s wrong but rather that Naruto is always wrong (which I suppose a good portion of the time, is the case…but I digress).
Even though his affections and actions for Sakura throughout the series yield no mutual return, he continues to do what he can to please Sakura and to protect her. His feelings for her drive him the way Sakura’s feelings for Sasuke drive her, however it is Sakura who eventually realizes the childishness of her way of thinking and begins to appreciate the kind of friend she has in Naruto, who will still continue to think of the best for her, despite knowing and understanding that she would never feel for him the way he does for her.
In Sakura’s case, the point of realization of what a strong effect Naruto’s behavior and achievements have on her piles onto her all at once, almost instantly. Overwhelmed completely upon her awareness of how much put together and stable Naruto was in his goals and reasoning, she was crushed under the truth of being a burden for so long due to her lack of talent or mature fortitude. She repeats to herself in her head how much Naruto has always understood her eventhough she thought otherwise initially upon Naruto’s promise to bring Sasuke back during the rescue Sasuke arc. She sees his willpower to keep his word and knows well that amongst his reasons for participating in the mission, wanting to heal Sakura’s broken heart through the only means he knew would, was one of them.
Not only was she overcome with emotion, but by determination to stop being the one to always watch from behind. She no longer wanted to be perceived as a burden and took it upon herself to commit to becoming Tsunade’s apprentice. She worked hard and feverishly to one day be in a position to be able to help Naruto the way he has always helped her and a way to be strong enough to try and bring Sasuke back herself. It is in this time that Sakura truly blossoms into the phases of maturity, and begins to collect herself and stabilize her own resolve and her own way of the ninja.
These influence Naruto has had on others goes both ways and also serves as sources that allowed for Naruto to grow and mature so much himself. Entwining with the lives of others to the extent that he has allow for the name of Naruto to echo it’s meaning and significance throughout the series whether it be for his own sake or for the sake of others.
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