Gaara

Physical Information
Age:
15
Sex: Male
Birthday: 01/19
Bloodtype: AB
Height: 148.1 cm (Pt 1)
Weight: 40.2 kg (Pt 1)

Ninja Information
Registration ID: 56-001
Hidden Village: Sand
Rank: Kazekage
Team: Temari, Kankurou, Baki
 
Gaara, also known as "Gaara of the Desert", is the fifth and current Kazekage of Hidden Sand Village in the Wind Country. He is younger brother to Temari and Kankurou, the son of the Fourth Kazekage, a student of Baki and former host to the one-tailed demon tanuki known as Shukaku. Before Gaara’s birth, a policy change by the feudal lord of the Wind country forced the village to reduce the number of ninja. Gaara’s father the Kazekage decided that quality should exceed quantity. He chose to use an old weapon of war, a bijuu, which had been imbued into two former Sand ninja in the past.

     At his demand, one of Hidden Sand’s elder kunoichi's, a profoundly skilled woman by the name Chiyo sealed this weapon known as Shukaku into the unborn son of the Kazekage’s wife, Karura. Transferring it from the tea kettle it was held in, Gaara was imbued with the Shukaku, making him what many call a "Jinchuuriki", or "power of human sacrifice”. The term originates from the immense abilities that the subject wields, but at the loss of another human’s life. In this case, it was Karura who lost her life as her son was born. Furious about how she was to lose her life for the sake of a weapon, she named her baby in an accursed way. The name "Gaara" itself could be broken down to "A demon that loves only itself", a reflection of his inhuman nature and his status in the village as a weapon and nothing more.

     Gaara grew up isolated, as the Shukaku came with more than just the loss of Karura as a price. Having been bonded so closely to Gaara, his will was ever-present in Gaara’s mind. His murderous nature instilled a violent mean streak in Gaara, further isolating him and shutting him off from the world socially. In addition, the Shukaku’s abilities generated an almost sentient and instinctive shield of sand that automatically protected Gaara from physical harm, even when he was the instigator, something Gaara himself realized when he never got cut and bled. Emotionally and physically shut away from everyone and everything, Gaara had no real friends, even with his immediate family looking down at him scornfully. The only person Gaara had come to be able to trust eventually was his uncle, Yashamaru, who educated him on some of the most basic human emotions that he would otherwise never learn.

     One fateful night, Gaara was attacked from behind by an avalanche of kunai. Even though he was blind to the danger, his shield of sand protected him and wounded the attacker. Upon investigation, he saw the masked assassin was Yashamaru, who said the one who ordered the strike was none other than his father the Kazekage, who had deemed Gaara a failure as a weapon due to his instability. Yashamaru also confided that while he could have refused to carry out the assassination, he chose to take it willingly for Gaara's part in his sister's death. In his last moments, he activated a mass of exploding tags beneath his flak jacket in an attempt to take Gaara with him. Due to the sand shield, Gaara survived. His mind snapped due to the emotional torrent his immature mind was being burdened with. He wailed in agony and directed his sand to his forehead, carving the kanji "ai" or "love" into it, forever marking his body to remind himself of his new approach to life, to love only himself and fight only for himself.

     Not deterred, the Kazekage ordered further assassinations towards Gaara, but every one met in failure. Gaara had learned to finally be the weapon he was intended, but he still retained his mental instabilities. He could never sleep for fear of the Shukaku’s influence on his unconscious mind. Some labeled it as the Shukaku "eating away at his personality". In truth, Shukaku’s personality replaced his, possessing Gaara’s body. Gaara never knew the full truth of the demon inside him. Believing that the blood of his victims that mixed with his sand strengthened him, or how he was possessed by the corrupted spirit of a priest of sand. For all the bravado, Gaara never rebelled against his father, welcoming the challenge of each life-or-death situation he was placed in as a confirmation of his existence.

     Gaara was eventually entered into the Chuunin Exams held by Hidden Leaf village, although with an ulterior motive. He and his siblings passed the first stage, followed by the second without so much as a scratch. It was in this second test where he murdered a trio of rival Hidden Rain Genin for his own amusement and demonstrating his signature Desert Funeral attack, surrounding the victims in sand and crushing their bodies to powder before pain could even register in their brains. The incident was witnessed by Team 8, where Gaara’s mere presence made Akamaru quiver in fear.

     During the third test prelims, Temari and Kankurou both noticed that each violent fight, Gaara began to grow more excited. Finally, Gaara himself stepped into the arena in the penultimate fight, facing Rock Lee. The first half of the fight saw Gaara mostly disappointed as Lee failed to strike him once, until Lee removed the weights on his legs and began to move at superhuman speed, eventually not only kicking Gaara on top of his head but also landing a punch on his face that appeared to crack it, something rarely seen. It turned out to be a layer of sand Gaara used as an outer shell, revealing Gaara’s real face beneath it, now grinning in a psychotically gleeful manner. Gaara began to assault Lee and throw him all over the arena and rip at him with torrents of sand, Lee was forced into using his Omote Renge, requiring several kicks to lift Gaara up to the required height while under immense pain himself. Spinning and crashing back to the ground, Gaara was driven into the floor.

     To Lee’s shock, Gaara cracked apart like a hollow shell. The moment he closed his eyes from the pain, Gaara was able to substitute a sand clone and avoid the impact, which allowed him to go back on the offensive. Enraged, Gaara once again began to violently tear at Lee. With all hope seemingly lost, Lee used his trump card, the Ura Renge. Pummeling Gaara with a series of strikes that were too fast for the eye to see, Lee managed to completely strip every last grain of protective sand from Gaara’s body and drag him around at speeds too high for the sand shield to block. With a final blow, Lee sent Gaara’s unprotected body plummeting down for a final strike. At the last second, Gaara’s gourd itself turned into sand, cushioning the impact. Enraged at being made to feel pain again and not being able to kill Lee, Gaara crushed Lee’s arm and leg, intending to kill him. Luckily for Lee, the fight was stopped when his sensei Gai stepped in to knock away the oncoming sand.

     The concept of Gai stopping the assassination sent Gaara’s mind reeling with confusion, forcing him to recall his past. He took his leave and was later placed against Sasuke in the third round test. Foolishly, Dosu Kinuta decided to challenge Gaara the next night as he sat alone in the moonlight, intending to kill him and take his place as Sasuke’s opponent with the intention of ruining Orochimaru’s plans. For his recklessness, he was killed as Gaara allowed the Shukaku a brief moment of freedom, reducing Dosu to little more than a bloody stain on the rooftop. Later, he would track down the unconscious Lee in his hospital bed with the intention of killing him. He was confronted by Shikamaru and Naruto, where he once again suffered a mental lapse and restated his desires, explaining his name. Naruto soon realized he and Gaara were very much alike. Gai soon arrived and sent Gaara away once again. After that, Gaara sought out Sasuke, not to kill, but to acknowledge him as prey formally and go so far as to state a certain level of similarity between them, all under Kakashi’s protective eye.

     When the match finally came to take place, Gaara was stopped on the way into the stadium by two Grass ninja who asked him to stage a loss in order to help a bet. Gaara crushed them in a bloody shower, and then proceeded onwards, luckily for Shikamaru and Naruto who were also in his way. Telling them he had been sated for the moment, he allowed them to live, seeing as how his next match was also part of a secret mission. Facing off against a "fashionably late" Sasuke, he was struck several times during the match. Enraged, he formed a sand cocoon around himself made of sand that extended out into spines when approached. Inside, Gaara was beginning to transform his body into the Shukaku’s. However, before it was completed, Sasuke pierced the shell and drove a Chidori into Gaara. For the first time ever, Gaara bled, sending his mind reeling and his half-transformed body slashing out at Sasuke from within.

     With the plan forced to begin early, Gaara’s mission began as a joint invasion of Hidden Sound with Sand’s backup started. Still unstable, Kankurou and Temari threw themselves in to help him get to safety until he recovered. Sasuke, under orders, followed him, though Kakashi also managed to throw Sakura, Naruto and Shikamaru into a mission along with Pakkun to follow Sasuke. Shino also decided to follow, seeking the match Kankurou denied him to keep in order with the plan. With his siblings taken out of the picture by Shino and Sasuke, Gaara finally tapped into the Shukaku’s true power and began to transform again, with the right side of his face and his arm grotesquely deforming into a shape reminiscent of the sandy talons that swiped from his shell, drooling and screaming. Screaming out at Sasuke to show himself, Gaara took a second Chidori, tearing his transformed arm off, but he did not give up.

     Sasuke was driven to the point where he had to deny Kakashi’s warning and released the power of the cursed seal for a third Chidori, but Gaara’s rage and determination barred him from stopping. Naruto then entered the fray, picking up from where Sasuke left off, with the incentive of Sakura’s life on the line as Gaara bound her to a tree and threatened to crush her. The two battled, with Gaara falling deeper into the Shukaku’s hold as his body sprouted a tail and the only human parts left of him were his lower legs. Naruto managed to hold Gaara off, calling thousands of clones to aid him and knock the sand off his body. Utterly livid, Gaara finally decided to sacrifice his free will. Creating a gigantic body in the shape of a monstrous tanuki, Gaara emerged from the forehead and put himself to sleep, allowing the Shukaku’s personality to emerge in a suitable body.

     Naruto summoned Gamabunta, who fought Shukaku with some persuasion from his son. Even Gamabunta was outmatched by Shukaku’s drilling blasts of wind that it literally punched out from the gut. Seeking to end things quickly, Naruto and Gamabunta used a combined transformation technique, changing into a replica of the nine-tailed demon fox to try and get close. Naruto was able to wake Gaara up with a punch, dispelling Shukaku’s hold, but then found himself trapped by Gaara and about to share Sakura’s fate. With one last burst of strength, he crudely head butted Gaara, nearly knocking him out and sending both of them plummeting to the ground as Gamabunta’s summoning was also dispelled. They both gasped for air and they lay immobile. Gaara began to feel legitimately threatened for his life when he noticed a determined Naruto beginning to crawl towards him.

     Screaming at how his existence would not end, Naruto told him that it was his friends who gave him the strength and motivation to keep going. Gaara thought back to Yashamaru's words on love and began to see a new path in life. Defeated, Kankurou and Temari retrieved him once more and fled back home, but not without Gaara apologizing first in a shocking display of humanity. However, a worse situation yet had arisen as a few days after the invasion, the Fourth Kazekage’s corpse was discovered, decomposed to lengths that suggested he had been dead months before the Chuunin exam invasion had been planned. It indicated all correspondence with Sound had actually been Orochimaru himself posing as the Kazekage. Hidden Sand was forced into an unconditional surrender with Leaf and became their ally once again.

     Gaara’s changed outlook on life was noticeable in his next appearance, as he had not only switched to a new, less dark outfit but showed none of his previous sociopath urges. The Sand siblings were sent to assist Hidden Leaf retrieve Sasuke from the Sound Four. Gaara himself sought out Lee to help. He greeted Lee and stated he also sought to repay a debt to Naruto. Up against Orochimaru’s strongest bodyguard, Kimimaro, Gaara found several of his tactics useless. The first part of the conflict appeared to end when Gaara trapped him in a Desert Funeral, only for Kimimaro to emerge with superficial injuries. Kimimaro activated his cursed seal, forcing Gaara to use a strategy so powerful it rearranged the terrain, swamping Kimimaro with sand until he was buried under it, where Gaara used his "Desert Imperial Funeral", a gigantic version of Desert Funeral that affected the land for hundreds of feet around them. And yet still, Kimimaro would not by stopped.

     Emerging from his arid prison, Kimimaro stepped out with his cursed seal fully active, now looking like a misshapen dinosaur. He tore out his own spinal column and used it as a whip to ensnare Gaara. Kimimaro then reshaped the strongest bones in his body to become a drilling implement on his left hand. Gaara responded by using his absolute strongest defense, an effigy of the Shukaku no bigger than himself, suggesting his change of heart had allowed him to tame the Shukaku. The shield was constructed from strong minerals that he mixed into his sand and pressurized with his chakra. Kimimaro stabbed deep in, but ultimately lost as the bone shattered. Before he could launch another attack, Gaara created a whirlpool in the sand that dragged him far below the ground, imprisoning him in a suffocating prison. But Kimimaro was not done.

     A huge eruption of bony protrusions littered the area like a freshly sprung forest, forcing Lee and Gaara to take refuge on floating clouds of sand. Gaara admitted he was low on chakra and lucky to be alive, all too soon as Kimimaro emerged from one of the pylons of bone. However, before Kimimaro could strike the fatal stab, his time ran out. The disease that had crippled him for months finally took him. Gaara understood completely, as Kimimaro’s devotion to Orochimaru’s cause was the same kind of faith Naruto had in his friends that caused him to move after total exhaustion. The Sand Siblings then returned to Sand. Over the following years, Gaara spoke with Kankurou about proving himself to their village. He wanted to be respected and seen as something other than a weapon. He sought to become Kazekage and the village advisory council relented, in the hopes of placating and making full use of him. The village soon grew to love and respect Gaara.

     When a threat came in the form of the Akatsuki organization’s Deidara, Gaara himself took him on personally. The fight raged on in the sky as Deidara flew on a clay sculpted bird, with things going in Gaara’s favor most of the way. Deidara even lost an arm, cruelly torn away by Gaara's sand. However, this would play into Deidara's plans. Revealing another clay sculpture charged with a special kind of explosive chakra designated "C3", he sent it to the village below. He knew it had the ability to wipe the village and everyone in it. Gaara was forced to divert all the nearby sand into a huge shield to contain the explosion. However, with his defenses diverted to the village, Deidara revealed that he had managed to include some of his explosive clay with Gaara's sand when he withdrew it to protect his body.

     Deidara forced Gaara to draw this tainted sand close to his body and then he detonated it. The shock knocked Gaara out, allowing Deidara to kidnap him and take him back to the Akatsuki lair, a cave they used to carry out a ritual to remove Shukaku. Team 7 and Chiyo, the kunoichi who originally placed Shukaku in Gaara, gave chase. At the Akatsuki cave base, a mysterious statue rose up from the ground. Over the course of the next three days, Shukaku was ripped from within Gaara's body. Once the ritual ended, Gaara dropped to the floor, utterly and totally dead. Deidara showed no respect for him, mockingly sitting on his corpse as Naruto’s rescue party burst into the cave. For reasons unknown, Deidara scooped up the body and fled the scene. Naruto gave chase and grounded him with the help of Kakashi, forcing him to return Gaara, despite him already being dead. Naruto was furious and sad that the old guard had seen the Jinchuuriki as nothing but weapons, damning their existence without every taking their feelings into consideration.

     Chiyo realized the older generation's past mistakes and sought leave things in the capable hands of the younger generation. She stated she had an ability that could "bring life to the lifeless" by transferring the life-force of the user into someone or something else. However, she was elderly and had already donated a portion of her life to an already-living person, Sakura, to save her. Naruto volunteered to help, providing some of his own chakra to help. As Chiyo's eyes closed for the final time, Gaara’s opened to see not only the rescue party but numerous ninja from his village who had came to help, including a female fan club. Gaara was moved and asked everyone to say a prayer for Chiyo. They returned to Sand and Gaara offered a handshake to the departing Naruto. Although Naruto was embarrassed, Gaara "encouraged" his hand closer with a few gentle grains of sand, revealing he still retained his sand control abilities in some form.

     Gaara is very popular within the series and one of the most well-developed and fleshed out characters, going from a seemingly emotionless, trigger-happy, sadistic murderer to a misunderstood scapegoat who draws sympathy and even parallels Naruto. Over time, he developed into a loving sibling and a hero of his own village, possibly foreshadowing Naruto, the character who he has the deepest relation with, more so than his own blood siblings. His death and resurrection was met with mixed feelings from fans, some claiming that the bold move made with his killing was watered down after he was revived. Debate still continues over his status without the Shukaku, as he is still able to manipulate sand on an unknown level. A noteworthy piece of trivia is his voice actor, Akira Ishida, who normally voices softly-spoken and even feminine characters such as Fish Eye in Sailor Moon and Xellos in Slayers - a contrast to Gaara’s quiet growls and mumbles or guttural roars.


Haruno Sakura

Physical Information
Age:
15
Sex: Female
Birthday: 03/28
Bloodtype: O
Height: 150.1 cm (Pt 1)
Weight: 35.9 kg (Pt 1)

Ninja Information
Registration ID: 012601
Hidden Village: Leaf
Rank: Chuunin
Team: 7 - Uzumaki Naruto, Sai, Hatake Kakashi/Tenzou, Uchiha Sasuke (Former)

Sakura is the third member of Team Seven, the mid-point between the grades of Naruto and Sasuke. Strictly average in all respects, even to the point of having no signature jutsu, Sakura has shown a lot of development over the series. Beginning as nothing more than an admirer of Sasuke and appearing to take her ninja career less seriously than she should, her experiences eventually hardened her to the point of being an effective kunoichi.
     Initially, Sakura had a split personality that usually manifested itself viewable only to the audience and broke the fourth wall, an inverted negative cartoon image of herself with "Inner Sakura" written on her head, which conveyed her true emotions. Sakura's polite and pleasant manners were shown on the outside, where Inner Sakura was what she was really thinking. Sakura has been an emotional point for both Naruto and Sasuke, where Naruto's crush on her has always been ignored due to her own crush on Sasuke forming a typical chain. Sakura also caught the attention of the Genin, Rock Lee, who decided he would protect her life with his own within moments of meeting her.

     Another person Sakura has a common relation with is her on-off friend and rival, Ino. As a child, the other girls in her class teased Sakura because of her large forehead. Ino stood up for her and the two became friends, staying that way for a number of years until they both developed fondness for Sasuke. Both girls also grew their hair specifically upon hearing that Sasuke liked girls with long hair.

     Sakura's first major mission was to the Wave country, where she escorted the bridge-building expert Tazuna. Sakura was not involved in any major fights, but remained as his bodyguard while the other ninja were occupied. She wept while Sasuke appeared to be dead, breaking the rules on how ninja were not to allow their emotions to control them. It was on this mission that her Jounin sensei, Kakashi, held her back from a training exercise that Naruto and Sasuke participated in. Unknown to Sasuke and Naruto, Kakashi told her that while she had the smallest overall total capacity of chakra, she was the most efficient at creating and using it and didn't need the training.

     Kakashi later entered Sakura into the Chuunin Exam. After an encounter with a disguised Orochimaru, it was up to her to ensure the survival of Sasuke, who Orochimaru had branded with his Cursed Seal and Naruto, who had also been afflicted with a seal that disrupted his chakra. With both boys unconscious and being attacked by Orochimaru's sound trio, Kin taunted Sakura about her long hair and how she was useless as a ninja. Kin continued to pull on her hair and Sakura had an immense change of heart.

     Freeing herself from the sound kunoichi's grip by slicing her own hair off, she battled back against all three, desperately trying to defend her team and even going as far as refusing to release a bite on Zaku despite him pounding his fist into her head. Help came from Ino and her team, although the trio were only driven back when Sasuke awoke, first inflicting critical wounds to Zaku's arms after he boasted to hurting Sakura. However, the monstrously violent Sasuke caused Sakura to try and hold him back, eventually calming him enough for the released Cursed Seal to recede.

     The seal was a constant worry on Sakura's mind, almost making her throw in the towel for Sasuke and halting his progress in the exam. Despite her worry, Sasuke continued through the preliminary rounds and was attended to by Kakashi, who suppressed the seal. Sakura herself then found herself in a tough situation. Her own opponent in the preliminaries was none other than Ino. The two proved to be equal against each other until Ino played a trick, cutting off her own hair and using it to tie Sakura down while she used her Shintenshin (mind-body switch) technique to invade Sakura's mind. While the intention was to make Sakura submit through the transfer, Ino didn't know of Sakura's split personality and while it slept, Inner Sakura became the dominant personality, mentally assaulting Ino and forcing her out. The girls took a final blow at each other, both knocking each other unconscious and resulting in a draw.

     Sakura was a spectator in the finals of the exam, watching Sasuke VS Gaara. However, as the combined Sand and Sound invasion commenced, Sakura's efficiency with chakra control allowed her to dispel Kabuto's mass sleeping skill and remain awake. Under orders from Kakashi, she then woke up Naruto and was about to do the same with Shikamaru when she realized he was playing possum to avoid confronting the invaders. The three, accompanied by a small summoned dog, Pakkun, chased after Sasuke and Gaara. It was during this mission that Sakura was mentally crippled by a horrible revelation… she and Pakkun used the same shampoo.

     When Gaara was finally tracked down, he began to transform into a terrible mixture of human being and a Tanuki made of sand, chasing Sasuke in turn. When Naruto appeared, Gaara attacked Sakura, who was looking after Sasuke. He pinned her to a tree with a large blanket of sand that would slowly constrict tighter and tighter. Gaara gave Naruto a time limit before the sand crushed her to death. Luckily, Naruto's determination and desire to protect those who he held dear proved to be the deciding factor, freeing Sakura from the death trap.

     After the exam, team seven went on a brief mission to the Tea Country where they encountered the renegade defector, Aoi Rokusho. Formerly from the Fire Country, Aoi fled, stealing an important item and pinning the blame on another leaf ninja. Sakura's blooming medical skills saved the team and their charge, the boy who was blamed by Aoi, from Aoi's poison. By now, Sakura's position had been cemented as a supporter rather than direct attacker, or a simple damsel in distress. For a long time, this was Sakura's last real mission.

     Sasuke, meanwhile, suffered the last straw and with a heavy loss from his brother and mocking from Aoi, compounded with the last-place loser Naruto now outshining him. Despite Sakura bringing him flowers and tending to him daily, he cast her aside and smacked a plate of sliced apples from her hands, demanding a fight with Naruto on the roof. Sakura watched, looking on as the boys came at each other with techniques intended to cause maximum damage. Throwing herself blindly between them, she was saved at the last moment when Kakashi parried the attacks. Despite the worry, Kakashi comforted her once again. Just in case, Sakura then granted Naruto the "date" he had wanted for a long time, which she used to tell him about Sasuke's Cursed Seal.

     Meanwhile, Sasuke himself was preparing to leave Konoha. As he reached the gates, Sakura stopped him, trying to convince him to stay behind by offering to help in his revenge. However, her begging only caused Sasuke to strengthen his resolve. After Sakura cried her heart out to him, he coldly knocked her out and left her aside. She awoke the next morning and quickly raised the alarm, while Tsunade assembled the team to bring Sasuke back. Before they left, Sakura begged Naruto to return with Sasuke. Naruto promised he would, but when Naruto was carried back from the mission, Sakura realized that the only solution was to increase her own power. Sakura went straight to the Hokage and asked to be taken on as an apprentice. Tsunade was impressed with Sakura's determination and accepted her as a student. Over the next two years, Tsunade trained Sakura and passed down her skills.

     In the time spent under Tsunade's eye, Sakura's skills as a healer improved. When she and Naruto had a rematch with Kakashi for the old bell test he used on them as Genin, Sakura revealed another surprise. She had also learned the secret to Tsunade's inhuman strength, splitting the ground beneath Kakashi. However, no sooner had the reunion happened, the three were issued with a mission to help retrieve Gaara from Akatsuki. After arriving at Suna, Sakura showed her growth by saving Kankurou from Sasori's poison.

     It was here that their consultant Chiyo, a woman who had been heralded as a living legend, noted the similarities between Tsunade and Sakura. The trio and Chiyo set off in search of Gaara and his kidnappers. Along the way, their path was blocked by Itachi, the man to blame for Sasuke's attitude. Itachi put Naruto under a Genjutsu, which Sakura reversed, while Kakashi took Itachi on head to head. A two-sided attack from him and Naruto put Itachi down, only to reveal that it was not Itachi, merely a specially-transformed subordinate of Sasori, one of his partners in Akatsuki. The team, joined by a support group consisting of Gai, Lee, Tenten and Neji, broke into Akatsuki's hiding place and instantly began fighting. However, only Sasori and his partner, Deidara, were present physically. Deidara took off with Gaara while Sasori remained behind to deal with Chiyo and Sakura.

     Sasori and Chiyo were both experts in using puppets as their attacking tools, with Sasori going one step further and hiding himself within the shell of one of his. With help from Chiyo, Sakura smashed open the puppet and revealed Sasori himself. However, this only served to raise the odds as he summoned another – the mutilated and mechanized corpse of the third Kazekage. In addition to the puppet modifications Sasori had made, the Kazekage retained his skills from his life, the ability to manipulate iron sand, which Sasori had mixed with his own lethal poisons. Chiyo responded by calling upon two puppets of her own – the mechanized remains of her own son and his wife – Sasori's parents.

     The third Kazekage proved extremely difficult to neutralize, managing to inflict poisonous wounds as well as use the iron sand to disable the parental puppets. However, Sakura managed to pull off a last-second strike, shattering it to pieces. Sasori's next move was the biggest surprise of all. Pulling off his cloak, he stood on a cable with a spear-tipped end that coiled up into his stomach, with scythe-like claws sprouting from his back and other bodily augmentations – he was a living puppet himself. Chiyo drew her trump card, the White Secret Technique: the Chikamatsu puppet collection, a group of ten puppets controlled by one finger each. Sasori responded with his own, the Red Secret Technique and opened up a panel built into his chest. A hundred strings of chakra flowed out and connected to one puppet each, displaying his own collection of a hundred puppets, which he had used to conquer an entire country.

     Although Chiyo's puppets were still quality over quantity, there was still too much risk and it was up to Sakura. With an item given to her by Chiyo, she managed to thrust at Sasori and trapped him up against a wall, sealing off his chakra. The puppets fell limp and Sasori's body with it. However, Sakura noticed at the last second that Sasori's body was empty – no eyes, hollow and lacking the small cylinder that had his name written on it. Before she could react, another puppet, now with Sasori's face and the missing cylinder, lunged at Chiyo. Sakura threw herself in front and took the fatal stab from the puppet's poisoned sword. Chiyo then quickly injected the last of the antidote into Sakura. Sasori drew back, pulling off the forearm section of the puppet to reveal another blade underneath. As he rushed forward for a second strike, he suddenly stopped as two swords impaled his body and the cylinder, critically injuring the last remaining organic part of Sasori.

     Sasori gloated that not even medical techniques could heal the wound he dealt Sakura. Chiyo remarked that she was not using conventional medical treatment, but a method of life-force transfer that she had originally developed for Sasori that could even breathe life into a puppet. Sasori then realized that his dead parents could have been resurrected and simply muttered "pathetic", mocking the technique and questioning his grandmother's sanity. As the blood drained from his chest, he lost the ability to control his own body and finally dropped to the ground after he lectured Sakura on the advantages of his lack of morality and mortality, as well as leaving her a small hint before he lost consciousness, that he would be meeting with a spy he had placed among Orochimaru's underlings.

     Meanwhile, Naruto and Kakashi had defeated Deidara and secured Gaara, who appeared dead. Chiyo transferred the last of her life-force into him, then told Sakura that she may well go on to surpass Tsunade. Shortly after, Sakura cradled her lifeless body as she passed on. As the leaf ninja left, Sakura brushed a hand over Chiyo's grave and said her final goodbyes.

     No sooner had they got back home, things were already changing as her report on Sasori's spy prompted an investigation. Naruto and Sakura found themselves joined by two new faces – Kakashi's replacement as team leader, the man codenamed Yamato and the irritatingly blunt Sai, also a codename. The three met up with the spy, with Yamato disguising himself as Sasori. As a shock to them all, the spy was none other than Kabuto… however, Orochimaru himself had followed, surprising them both. Kabuto ran to "Sasori", but double-crossed him and slashed through him, revealing Yamato inside; unaware of what Sasori really looked like under the puppet.

     Orochimaru told Kabuto that it was indeed a fake and invited Naruto, Sakura and Sai to step forward too. As Orochimaru's words drove Naruto into a frenzy, Sakura is knocked flat as a defensive outward burst of chakra from a Kyuubi-possessed Naruto and almost sent plummeting off the bridge, struck with a wound that proves difficult to close up. As Orochimaru and Naruto face off, Yamato takes measures to track Orochimaru, Kabuto and apparently, Sai. In the recovery time that follows, Sakura uses her medical skills to heal Naruto after his brutal Kyuubi rampage. Yamato takes the opportunity to address her not so hidden close feelings for Naruto. Sakura is taken aback by Yamato's view of her character. She doesn't get a chance to answer him though as Naruto regains consciousness.

     The team then leaves in pursuit of their quarry. Despite a convincing dummy, the team fails to fall for a hung corpse mimicking Sai and presses further on, where they eventually end up inside one of Orochimaru's temporary bases. The team split up to search for clues, running into Sai's cell and apprehending Kabuto. However, the base is torn apart in a moment and Sakura finds herself staring up a cliff and into the face of Sasuke himself...


Hatake Kakashi

Physical Information
Age:
29
Sex: Male
Birthday: 09/15
Bloodtype: O
Height: 181 cm (Pt 1)
Weight: 67.5 kg (Pt 1)

Ninja Information
Registration ID: 009720
Hidden Village: Leaf
Rank: Jounin
Team: 7 - Uzumaki Naruto, Sai, Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke (Former)
 
Kakashi is one of the series’ more popular characters and it’s easy to see why. With his lazy expression told with a single eye, aloof manner, relaxed voice and minimalist attitude, Kakashi can be relied upon to provide comic relief through his lack of attention. However, when required to be serious, Kakashi quickly switches to the polar opposite, focusing himself on the subject and not missing a single thing.     Many, both inside the ninja village and outside, know his reputation but he has few real friends. The closest he has is Maito Gai, another Jounin team leader. The pair forms a good comedy duo, with Kakashi assuming the role of the straight arrow while Gai’s over-the-top dialogue and actions often earn him a response in the vein of “Did you say something?” from Kakashi. Gai describes Kakashi as hip, cool and trendy but seems to be the main instigator of their rivalry, often making the situation more complicated and unusual than necessary.     Kakashi is the son of Hatake Sakumo; a ninja blessed with extreme skill which earned himself the nickname of Konoha’s White Fang. This was either due to his sharply pointed white hair or the family tanto he carried, which emitted a white chakra when used by a Hatake. Kakashi himself would later possess this. Sakumo’s reputation was comparable with that of The Legendary Three but his attitude proved to be his undoing. Sakumo aborted a mission that cost his village dearly, with the reason for the abortion being the safety of his comrades. Shamed, Sakumo took his own life. Kakashi grew up with a very cold attitude, basing efficiency in carrying out the mission to be the #1 priority.     Kakashi accomplished a lot in the younger years of his life. He was the student of the man who would go on to become the Fourth Hokage, taking over that man’s role as commander of his team. His reputation has been widely increased thanks to an unexpected advantage coming from the first mission he performed as a Jounin. During a war, Kakashi’s objective was to destroy a bridge that aided the enemy Rock ninja forces. In an encounter with them, the team’s medic, Rin, was kidnapped and interrogated by the enemy. Kakashi, seeing her as a hindrance to the team, made the decision to leave her. However, his other companion, Uchiha Obito, refused and rejected his ideals.     “Those who don’t follow the rules and regulations are trash”. Kakashi lived by the motto. “But those who don’t care about their companions are worse than trash!” Obito added to it. Obito set off on his own to rescue Rin, but Kakashi followed him and saved him from an ambush, which cost Kakashi his left eye. Obito felt consumed by doubt and in a vow to protect his friend, his eyes lit up in red and the Sharingan sprouted for the first time with a pair in each eye. His enhanced vision penetrated the enemy’s camouflage and he was able to strike him down.     Catching up to Rin, the pair ran into another enemy, who attempted to kill all three by crushing them with falling rocks. As one was about to strike Kakashi, Obito slung him aside and took the hit instead. Totally crushed on his right side, Obito knew his death was imminent and made the decision to have his left eye removed and implanted into Kakashi by Rin. Kakashi accepted it and sought revenge on the Rock ninja. The battle broke the tanto in half, perhaps symbolic of Kakashi’s heartlessly efficient motto only being half correct. Kakashi then fell back on the perfected version of his first self-created move: Chidori.     The Rock ninja was taken down, but reinforcements soon arrived. Fortunately the kunai Kakashi was carrying was modified to alert their sensei if it was thrown. Blanking out from exhaustion after he attempted Chidori, Kakashi awoke to find all the enemies gone and the team leader with them once more. Rin gazed off into the distance, thinking about the events of the day. Since the loss of Obito, Kakashi took on several of his personality traits. He started to relax the strictness of his punctuality and also made up poor yet amusing excuses for being late. In truth, visiting the grave marker of Obito every day caused his lateness. He also decided that the mission was no longer the #1 priority.     In the coming years, Kakashi would acquire his own nickname – Copy Ninja Kakashi, due to him using the ability of the Sharingan to steal or adapt techniques he saw with it. He would also join the elite ANBU, a squad of masked ninja who worked directly under the Hokage. Kakashi further honed his skills while an ANBU, and earned the respect of many fellow ANBU including "Yamato" and Uzuki Yuugao. It also appears it was during this period when Kakashi and Gai developed their eternal rivalry. At some point during this period he may have also signed his blood oath with his nin-dogs.     His next appearance in the series would come when the Third Hokage put him in charge of the current year’s Team Seven. His first impression of them wasn’t much, especially when Naruto decided to wedge a dusty chalk eraser in the door to come down on Kakashi’s head. The trio would be the first Genin to impress Kakashi enough to pass his bell test. None of the former Genin sent to him in the past had lived up to his standards. For that reason the trio could remain under his guidance and not be sent back to the Academy. Kakashi formed a good relationship with his team, acting as a voice of reason to Naruto, a comfort to Sakura and somewhat of a father figure to Sasuke, although much of his advice was tough love to cool down the fiery boy. Overall, he stressed a hybrid of his previous two mottos – Teamwork, with the strength of the solid team coming together to accomplish the mission.     Their first major mission together was to the Wave Country, where they were escorting the architect, Tazuna. Tazuna’s goal was to build a bridge to improve the economy for the country instead of paying the high prices charged by the shipping magnate, Gato, who had formed a monopoly on the country’s imports and exports. Gato had hired a number of renegade mercenary ninja, including the Demon Brothers, their superior, Momochi Zabuza and his young student and bodyguard, Haku. Kakashi defeated the Demon Brothers effortlessly and later brushed with Zabuza for the first time. Kakashi revealed his Sharingan and baffled Zabuza with it, cornering him. At this point, a disguised Haku rescued Zabuza under the façade of killing him and taking the body for disposal.     Kakashi was unconvinced, but drained from using the Sharingan. The eye was not properly compatible with his own body and use of it sucked out his chakra and left him weak. Despite this, he still managed to set a task for Naruto and Sasuke to compete to enhance their chakra control. When the trio did the task he was nicely surprised that Sakura was already at a decent enough level. A short while later Kakashi learned his hunch was right, as Zabuza returned with Haku to once again sabotage the bridge. Kakashi’s Sharingan was unable to have an effect on the battle as Zabuza had lowered visibility to the point that the required eye contact was not happening.     Naruto and Sasuke had been trapped by Haku, until Naruto’s rage built up to the point that Kakashi was growing worried from the presence of the Kyuubi’s chakra. Feeling the need to finish the fight, he held Zabuza with the aid of a group of summoned dogs, before preparing his finishing move – now bearing a nickname, the Raikiri. However, instead of killing Zabuza, Haku sacrificed himself as a human shield and gladly allowed Kakashi’s hand to penetrate his chest.     Gato turned up to finalize things, just after Kakashi had disabled Zabuza’s arms. Following a change of heart, Zabuza turned on his employer and killed him in front of his own personal band of mercenaries. Kakashi and Naruto helped drive the rest of them off with a massive series of clones, before returning home.     Soon after, Kakashi volunteered Team 7 for the Chuunin exams, to Iruka’s dismay. Kakashi would next appear during the exams after Sasuke’s first fight; using an incantation to suppress the Cursed Seal he had been given. As he finished, Orochimaru appeared behind the scenes. Kakashi threatened him with a Raikiri, but realized that to take on Orochimaru would be suicide. However, he was not satisfied with the attention Sasuke was under and checked on him just in time to see Kabuto attempting an assassination. Kakashi drove him away, but with no time to apprehend him. Perhaps for Sasuke’s own safety, Kakashi personally tutored him over the next month or so, teaching him the Chidori and encouraging the speed to use it.     Kakashi and Sasuke would resurface in the Chuunin Exam finals, “fashionably late”. During the fight with Gaara, Sasuke pulled off the Chidori and became the first person in years to make Gaara bleed. However, the resulting instability on Gaara’s part forced the start of the planned invasion and the stadium in which the fight took place was almost entirely put to sleep. Kakashi, Gai and a few others repelled the sleep and the attacking enemy forces while sending out a small team of Genin to track Sasuke, who was already pursuing Gaara.     The war took its toll on Konoha, but something far worse was about to occur. Kakashi witnessed an attack on Asuma and Kurenai, quickly blocking a critical move by copying it and nullifying it quickly. The perpetrators were Kisame and Konoha’s own Itachi. The two seemed equally matched in skill until Itachi tried a Genjutsu technique. Kakashi attempted to fight it off, but fell prey to something beyond anything he’d ever encountered before, being put through mental torture lasting three days, suffering the imagined pain of being stabbed over and over. Luckily for him, his friend and rival Gai turned up with an ANBU squad, but Kakashi was severely traumatized before they left again.     Ironically, Sasuke had suffered a similar action at Itachi’s hands, before lashing out at Naruto and Sakura. Kakashi stopped both Naruto and Sasuke before they killed each other in a duel, realizing they were using the Rasengan and Chidori with serious intent. Jiraiya and he both blamed each other for teaching their students such dangerous techniques, but Kakashi went on to address Sasuke personally. When Sasuke began to show signs of unruly behavior, including threatening to murder Kakashi’s close ones to show him how he felt, Kakashi revealed everyone close to him was already dead. Despite this, Sasuke still took off. When word of the event reached Kakashi, he disobeyed Tsunade, who had set him another mission and sent his dogs to track Sasuke down. However, by the time Kakashi arrived, he found an unconscious Naruto and no Sasuke. Carrying Naruto back to the village was all he could do.     Roughly 2.5 years after the defection, Naruto returned home and alongside Sakura, met up with Kakashi once more. Kakashi was given the latest in his favorite series of adult novels, before sparring against Sakura and Naruto in a mock of the old bell-test. However, Naruto’s cunning overcame Kakashi when the boy shouted out spoilers to the novel, distracting Kakashi and allowing the youngsters to gain their bells. The peace was sadly short-lived as a message came through from the Wind Country that Akatsuki had struck there, with the request for help.     A surprise awaited him there as he was near instantly attacked by one of the residents of the village, the old lady Chiyo. Mistaking Kakashi for Sakumo, who had killed her own son several years ago, Chiyo apologized due to the heavy resemblance between Kakashi and Sakumo. Taking her with them, the team of Kakashi, Sakura, Naruto and Chiyo set off to trail Gaara. On the way to the neighboring River Country, they encountered an Akatsuki member… none other than Itachi. However, Kakashi noticed something different about him and took a moment to speak of the Mangekyou Sharingan which he had suffered to badly from before. When Kakashi discussed the weaknesses of it, Itachi looked on in shock and uttered “…Impossible…”     The team of four managed to bring Itachi down, with Naruto striking the final blow. However, as Itachi began to die, his shape began to change and the corpse was that of Yuura, an agent of Sasori and a former Hidden Sand ninja. It would later be explained that the Itachi they faced was Yuura possessed and transformed into what was essentially a duplicate of Itachi with all his memories, thought patterns and personality.     Team Seven made it to the rendezvous point outside Akatsuki’s base of operations, a large cave. However, as soon as they entered, the Akatsuki member responsible for abducting Gaara, Deidara, sat with his partner, Sasori in wait. Deidara was sitting on an apparently dead Gaara, but as soon as Naruto charged in, Deidara took off, taking Gaara’s corpse with him. At that point, Sakura and Chiyo stayed behind to deal with Sasori while Naruto and Kakashi pursued the airborne Deidara, flying away with the corpse on a huge animated clay bird. Eventually, Naruto and Kakashi got close to Deidara, but Kakashi told Naruto to hold back. Frustrated, Naruto complied until Kakashi finally pulled his trump card, opening his left eye… with a version of the Mangekyou Sharingan.     Slowly, the space around Deidara’s arm began to compress and was crushed into nothing, severing his right arm, despite Kakashi commenting on his inexperience with it leading to the move being faulty. A few moments later, the Sharingan collapsed back into the usual design, but bought Naruto enough time to reclaim Gaara’s corpse and begin attacking Deidara directly with his clones, until his knuckles bled from punching Deidara. Eventually, Naruto’s rage boiled over and he manifested into the shape of the Kyuubi with bubbling red chakra, sprouting a second tail from his back. Kakashi noticed the change and upon remembering a warning from Jiraiya, used a tag that the sage had prepared in case Naruto went too far to seal up the Kyuubi’s power.     Meanwhile, Deidara watched from a distance, but was found by Neji’s Byakugan. Chased by Gai’s team, he managed to escape to the remains of his clay bird and swallowed a piece of his exploding clay, planning to use his suicidal attack to wipe out both teams. As the disgustingly obese Deidara inflated with the power of the explosion building, Kakashi managed to use up his last reserves to once again manipulate space, containing and suppressing the explosion from the current dimension. Finally, Kakashi was rather embarrassingly carried home from the Sand Village on Gai’s back. The strain of the Mangekyou Sharingan had taken such a toll on him that he was hospitalized and temporarily replaced by another ninja as the team leader. Under Tsunade’s decision, the ANBU member codenamed Yamato took his place on a mission to meet another of Sasori’s subordinates.     Upon their return, Kakashi was informed of the events of the mission, including the increased skill that Sasuke had learned. After greeting Sasuke’s replacement on the team, Sai, Kakashi announced he had been spending all his time in bed thinking about things. His conclusion was that the only solution was to match Sasuke in power, but Naruto would be the only candidate for training. However, if Naruto were able to complete the training, his skill may not only equal Sasuke, but also perhaps even surpass Kakashi’s own…


Hyuuga Hinata

Physical Information
Age:
15
Sex: Female
Birthday: 12/27
Bloodtype: A
Height: 148.3 cm (Pt 1)
Weight: 38.2 kg (Pt 1)

Ninja Information
Registration ID: 012612
Hidden Village: Leaf
Rank: Chuunin
Team: 8 - Yuuhi Kurenai, Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba + Akamaru
Hyuuga Hinata is a member of the main house of the Hyuuga clan, a noble family living in Konoha. Her first appearance in the series marks her as shy, timid and meek, which changes very little throughout. Hinata is assigned to the 3-man team number 8, comprising of herself, Aburame Shino and Inuzuka Kiba, watched by Jounin sensei Yuuhi Kurenai. With her bloodline’s special ability, the Byakugan or White Eye, she can see far off into the distance and through objects, complimenting Kiba’s sense of smell and Shino’s homing abilities.

     Hinata is first introduced gazing at Naruto, making it known she looks at him with admiration but is too shy to say anything. This becomes a running joke later on, where the mere sight of Naruto can cause her to become paralyzed or faint. Hinata was successfully entered into and participated in the Chuunin Exam, proceeding to the preliminaries for the third round. During their time in the forest of death, she and her team had a near miss with Gaara’s team, witnessing the terrifying power he commanded. It was during the preliminaries that she took her time in the spotlight as the random matches pitted her against her cousin, Neji.

     Neji more proficient at using the Byakugan and the Hyuuga-developed fighting style that used it. Before the match began, he noticed her body language and encouraged her to give up, telling her she wasn’t fit to be a ninja. The two engaged in a stunning hand-to-hand battle of the Juuken Ryuu (Gentle Fist) style, channelling chakra into their hands and along the body’s inner chakra pathways, causing internal damage. Despite their impressive fight, Neji was clearly the better fighter. During the battle, Neji expressed his contempt for the main house, due to him being a branch house member and considered inferior despite his skill. He also declared that Hinata’s inferiority was destined and that a loser would always be such, angering Naruto. Hinata was knocked down multiple times, but each time, thanks to Naruto’s encouragement to beat Neji and make him eat his words, she got back up. Her sensei Kurenai was surprised by Hinata's drive, thinking over how she lacked self-worth and how her lack of confidence led her to fail missions in the past.

     The final straw came when Neji decided to put Hinata down for good with a blow that would have certainly been fatal. Before he could strike, most of the sensei jumped in to stop him. Outraged, Neji further taunted Hinata about how she was receiving mercy because of the preferential treatment the main house received. Despite his attack being stopped, Hinata collapsed anyway, coughing up blood and needing medical attention. It was on her blood that Naruto swore to defeat Neji for his attitude on "dropouts".

     Hinata recovered over the following month. Shortly before the start of the third Chuunin test, she went to the Genin training area to think over her past and her self worth. There she met Naruto, who was unsure of himself before his upcoming battle with Neji. Hinata reassured Naruto that even though he made mistakes he never let them get the better of him. He always pushed to make himself better and he inspired her to never give up as well. This heartened Naruto and he let her know that though he thought she was weird before, he now knows he likes someone like her. Hinata was stunned by the news and stared blankly into space where Naruto had once been. She then left to watch the finals of the exam with Kiba. Hinata was still not fully healed and she began coughing again when Neji began to tell Naruto of their family's past. Kabuto, posing as an ANBU member offered to help her. He used his medical techniques to heal her, why he offered this help is unknown.

     It was during this time we learned of the history of the Hyuuga and how the branch house members are branded with the sealing mark on their foreheads. It was the attempted kidnapping of Hinata by a Cloud ninja which lead to the eventual death of Neji's father Hizashi. Hinata's father Hiashi saved her by killing the Cloud ninja, and Cloud sought recompense for their dead ninja by asking for Hiashi's dead body in return. Hizashi chose to volunteer instead, much to his brother's dismay, all to go against the fate of the branch family. Back at the Chuunin Exam, Hinata remained unconscious during the invasion and from this point onwards, became less involved into the story to the point that her appearances were usually watching Naruto while hidden and silently supporting him.

     Hinata enjoyed a much bigger role in the anime-only episodes, where she invented a new jutsu which combined the techniques Neji knew that she lacked, pioneering the Shugo Hakke Rokujyuyonshou, or Guardian Eight Divination Signs, Sixty-Four Palms of the Hand. Often paired up with and put in embarrassing situations with Naruto yet never developing their relationship, it was mostly fanservice for the popular coupling. She briefly returned in the manga, but only for a moment where upon catching sight of Naruto, she performed her signature fainting.

     Hinata’s main role in Naruto so far has been as a quiet supporter for Naruto, already giving him the acknowledgement she craves before the series even begins. Her character is that of a timid and shy wallflower, who goes to almost stalker-like, obsessive lengths to follow him around. She manages to do so without being detected, a testament to her skill in hiding if nothing else. Hinata is immensely popular among fans, cited as being cute. Naruto and Hinata, while defying a lot of logic and being unlikely to happen, is among the most popular fan pairings despite Naruto not showing interest in her, contrasting his stubborn and forward attitude to trying to catch Sakura’s attention and early in the series, thinking of her as creepy and simply raising her status to tolerable later on.


Hyuuga Neji

Physical Information
Age:
16
Sex: Male
Birthday: 07/03
Bloodtype: O
Height: 160.1 cm (Pt 1)
Weight: 46.8 kg (Pt 1)

Ninja Information
Registration ID: 012587
Hidden Village: Leaf
Rank: Jounin
Team: Maito Gai, TenTen, Rock Lee
Hyuuga Neji is hailed as the genius of the Hyuuga clan, and was the top graduate of his class. This young ninja is from the Hyuuga branch family; however he has obtained many of the skills only taught to the main family line. Neji grew up with hatred for the main family of the Hyuuga house. His resentment stemmed from his past, causing him to have a strong destiny complex. Neji became a ninja, and was teamed with TenTen and Rock Lee along with their Jounin sensei Maito Gai. Neji has a longstanding rivalry with Rock Lee, with many words exchanged between the two young men.

     Neji also bears a curse sealing mark, which all branch family members of the Hyuuga house have. This mark allows the Hyuuga main house to control the branch family, when activated the seal causes pain and kills the bearer of the mark by destroying their brain. At the same time, the Byakugan bloodline is also removed from their bodies, which helps keep the family’s bloodline secrets safe.

     Neji’s father, Hizashi, was a twin brother to the heir of the main house, Hiashi. However, the clan stated that since Hizashi was born later than his older brother, he would be placed in the branch family. He and those in the branch family would serve only to protect the main family.

     At the same time, Kumo and Konoha were also at the end of a long war. The two sides were ready to sign a peace treaty between them. However, on the night of the peace treaty, Kumo’s best ninja tried to kidnap Hyuuga Hinata, but was caught and killed by her father Hiashi. The implications of his death would have started another war, unless Kumo was given the body of the one who killed their ninja. The attempted kidnapping of Hinata was overlooked in all of this as the Kumo demanded recompense. Only the body of Hiashi would decided pacify them.

     The elders of the Hyuuga clan did not want to give up the head of the house. It was decided that his twin brother, Hizashi, was to be killed instead. Due to this event, Neji became cynical and began to resent the Hyuuga clan’s system, and that the branch house would always be sacrificing their lives for the main house. This outlook would later be changed after Neji received word of the truth from his uncle.

     However, before discovering the true events and the whole story of his father’s death, Neji’s anger had followed him as he grew in life. Neji eventually entered the Ninja Academy and graduated at age 12. He was then placed on a team with Lee and TenTen under Maito Gai. Over the following year they would take on several missions and Gai would offer his Taijutsu secrets to his students. Only Lee took him up on his offer though. A year after graduating Gai entered his team into the Chuunin Exam. By this point the three Genin worked well together and were eager to prove their skills against the rest of the competition. Before the opening test he would be introduced to Sasuke. Sasuke, was like himself a prodigy of a powerful Konoha bloodline, and he was eager to test his abilities.

     Neji and his team would breeze past the opening test of the Exam and then enter the second test. During this time Lee split off from the group and came to the aid of Sakura and her teammates. Neji and TenTen would go in search for him. When they found an injured Lee being harassed by the Sound Genin, Neji dissuaded them from going further. Before he could say more though he witnessed the newly curse sealed Sasuke rise and defeat them. He would note Sasuke's new ominous chakra and successfully finish out the test with his team.

     In the third round prelims Neji would face his cousin Hinata in a match to decide who moved on in the exams. Neji would use the Juuken style to easily parry Hinata's own Juuken strikes. This "soft fist" damaged the internal organs and cut off the chakra pathways of their target. While both exchanged strikes, only Neji's proved effective. Neji expressed his contempt for the main house, due to their declaring the branch house members inferior. He declared that Hinata’s own inferiority was destined and that a loser would always be such, angering Naruto greatly. Hinata was knocked down multiple times, but each time, thanks to Naruto’s encouragement she got back up. Neji grew frustrated and charged to finish her. If not for the Jounin in attendance stopping him, he would have killed Hinata in the fight. This battle and Neji’s attitude towards his cousin would draw the fury of Naruto who promised to defeat Neji for his attitude on "dropouts".

     Naruto and Neji were then chosen to face off in the next round of the Chuunin exams. In this battle, Neji would use a wide array of Hyuuga main house techniques, surprising his uncle Hiashi. Neji and Naruto would engage in an intense battle, and the two would verbally spar about Neji’s past, revealing the Hyuuga family’s dissention. After Neji uses his Juuken style to close Naruto’s chakra holes, Naruto then released his Kyuubi chakra allowing him to continue in the fight. Neji however held an upper hand by using his Hakke Rokujuuyonshou to ward off many of Naruto’s attacks.

     Neji seemed victorious in his fight with Naruto, however Naruto had Neji fooled by using Kage Bunshin. While the real Naruto hid underground, Neji would knock a fake Naruto out. Neji would become overconfident giving his destiny speech to Naruto once again. In this instance however, the real Naruto surfaced and put the finishing blow on Neji, allowing Naruto to win the fight.

     After the Chuunin exams, Hiashi would help shed some light about the death of Neji’s father. After watching Neji’s performance against Naruto, he was convinced that Neji was ready to hear the real story. It turns out that Hizashi had volunteered himself to be killed in order to protect his brother. The reasoning was that Hiashi’s body would give up the secrets of the Byakugan, however, if the cursed seal on Hizashi was activated, the Byakugan would also be wiped out as well. Hizashi had chosen this path in order to protect his village and his family as well. He desired to finally break free and choose his own path for once. After this, Neji’s attitude and hatred for the main house lessened.

     Neji would join Naruto, Kiba, Chouji and Shikamaru in their mission to retrieve Sasuke from Sound. Neji would square off against Sound Four ninja Kidoumaru. Neji was put at a great disadvantage as Kidoumaru rained in attack after attack from a great distance. Kidoumaru was even able to find the Byakugan’s blind spot, an area just above the upper back. Neji pushed himself to live up to the ideal of what other ninja saw the Hyuuga as, the best of the best, and the greatest clan in Konoha. Neji seemed to be in a precarious predicament, but after realizing that he still had hope and disregarding destiny altogether, he mustered up his strength and was able to defeat Kidoumaru by sacrificing his body to finally take out his opponent. After receiving attack upon attack, Neji was nearly killed, and would have died if not for the aid of medical ninja who arrived shortly later.

     Over the following years Neji would continue to develop his skills. He and his teammates would eventually pass the Chuunin Exam. Neji himself would also be promoted to Jounin. Neji became more streamlined with the Hyuuga look during this period; donning robes instead of his usual jacket. He would also appear to better accept the Hyuuga "destiny," and found inner peace. He returned to his team with Lee, Ten-ten, and Gai, and assist Sakura, Naruto and Kakashi when they tried to save Gaara from the Akatsuki. The team rushed to aid Gaara and was stopped by Hoshigaki Kisame, or rather, Kisame in a host sacrificial body. Though Neji, Lee and TenTen were captured, Gai would defeat the fake Kisame.

     When they eventually located Akatsuki's cave base, they found it sealed off. Neji located the seals with his Byakugan and told his team where they were so they could remove them. When they removed the seals, the team saw a clone of themselves rise from the earth to combat them. The clones were soon defeated and the team left in pursuit of the fleeing Deidara. When they caught up to the Akatsuki member, they prevented his escape from Naruto's wrath. Deidara, really an explosive clone, moved to kill himself and Neji quickly realized that Deidara was about to explode. He yelled for everyone to flee but Kakashi was able to remove the clone before it caused a catastrophic explosion. Soon thereafter Neji and his team returned to Konoha.


Jiraiya

Physical Information
Age:
53
Sex: Male
Birthday: 11/11
Bloodtype: B
Height: 191.2 cm (Pt 1)
Weight: 87.5 kg (Pt 1)

Ninja Information
Registration ID: 002301
Hidden Village: Leaf
Rank: N/A (Kage-Level)
Jiraiya is a remarkable ninja and possibly the closest thing to the Hokage that never was, not only trained by the third Hokage but also the trainer of the man who would eventually go on to become the Fourth, as well as a young boy who dreams of one day being the Hokage himself. Since childhood, he has had an eye for the opposite sex and often had conflicts with one of his team, Tsunade, over her figure. Jiraiya was not a model ninja at all and usually ended up as the fall guy, although his master comparing him to Orochimaru, his other team member, didn’t help much.

     At some point in his youth Jiraiya found Myouboku mountain, the home of the toads. It was here that he signed his blood contract with them and learned their jutsu. The elder sage toad forsaw Jiraiya's coming and would later tell the young man another prophecy. He revealed that Jiraiya would become a pervert without equal and one day take on an apprentice who could bring peace or destroy the world. Which outcome the world faced would be decided by Jiraiya alone. Jiraiya later fought for Konoha in a war with Rain alongside Tsunade and Orochimaru. The three lost in battle to Rain Village leader Hanzou. He let them live in exchange for them taking on the name "Sannin." While returning from the war, the Sannin were met by three Rain orphans. Jiraiya took an interest in them and remained behind for three years to train them. Jiraiya learned one boy, Nagato, held the Rinnegan, a legendary Doujutsu. Jiraiya connected with Nagato and left things in his hands when their training ended.

     Jiraiya returned to Konoha and acted as the trusted village soldier until he discovered Orochimaru’s crimes against his own village. Although the two were comrades, Orochimaru would not listen to Jiraiya and their last meeting as fellow Leaf Shinobi was a battle on the outskirts of the country. Orochimaru escaped, perhaps leaving Jiraiya a wiser man for it. Some time after, possibly because of the Orochimaru incident, Jiraiya parted ways as a ninja with his home village. For his services, he was granted permission and went into seclusion, not viewed as a wanted criminal. Retired from active duty, Jiraiya’s life was rather simple – he became an erotic novelist, often spying with his telescope on bathing women in hot springs for inspiration. Incidentally, Hatake Kakashi is a firm fan of the series, named “Icha Icha” (Come, Come! or Make-Out in the western version). Versions documented so far have been Paradise, Violence and Tactics.

     However, it was later revealed that the real reason Jiraiya left was not to simply become writer – his spying on young women was a mere pastime, with his main objective in spying being on keeping track of Orochimaru. It was from his surveillance that Jiraiya uncovered the existence of the criminal organization, Akatsuki. Over the years, Jiraiya observed them carefully, even after Orochimaru left their ranks. It was one day while doing his other kind of research at a hot spring that Jiraiya met with a young boy and his tutor. After the tutor, Ebisu, offended Jiraiya, there was a brief scuffle which ended with Ebisu floored. The boy, Naruto, then demanded compensation for the fight as Ebisu was to train him and was currently knocked out. Jiraiya then agreed to help him instead, after Naruto bribed him by appealing to his lechery. It was during the training of helping Naruto develop chakra control that Jiraiya noticed the seal on Naruto’s stomach had been given an imbalance, Orochimaru’s work.

     Jiraiya then began to undo Orochimaru’s Five Element Seal with a technique he had invented to directly counter it. Figuring out who Naruto was from the seal, Jiraiya trained Naruto to put the Kyuubi’s dormant chakra to use, helping Naruto understand more about himself. Ebisu, recovered, then begged Jiraiya to come back and help defend against Orochimaru, as they were both considered to be on level pegging with each other as part of “the legendary three”. Jiraiya’s training with Naruto continued as he taught him how to summon animals as aid. Not regular animals, but larger, intelligent ones capable of following spoken orders. Jiraiya was a master of toads, showing Naruto his skill by summoning one as tall as himself before his eyes. Naruto followed Jiraiya’s orders and signed a contract with the toads in blood, then tried out his new move. Naruto only managed to summon a tiny, useless tadpole. The incidents repeated, growing only in miniscule progress. Jiraiya then realized it would take drastic measures to help him learn.

     Jiraiya sent Naruto tumbling off a cliff to a fatal fall. It was through necessity that Naruto reached inside himself, and then embrace the power that Orochimaru tried to deny him. Calling on the Kyuubi’s chakra, Naruto summoned a gigantic toad to break his fall. To Naruto’s surprise, he had called the ruler over all summoned toads, Gamabunta. To Gamabunta’s surprise, Naruto was the one who summoned him and not Jiraiya, as the only other person capable of summoning him, the Fourth Hokage, was long since gone.

     Jiraiya, after fulfilling his promise to Naruto to train him, disappeared again for a while. It was not until Orochimaru’s attack on Konoha that Jiraiya came back out of hiding, crushing one of Orochimaru’s three-headed snakes by summoning a heavy toad over it. With a grand entrance, Jiraiya then helped to clean out the invaders, but had no time to help save his master who was busy with Orochimaru himself. He was too late to help, but was present to pay his respects after the third Hokage sacrificed himself for his village, reminiscing over the time that he, Orochimaru and the third Hokage were on good terms.

     However, Jiraiya was soon given a surprise offer by the council of Leaf – with the Hokage dead, a replacement was needed and Jiraiya was the man in mind. Despite the good intention, Jiraiya declined and admitted that he was the wrong kind of person for the job, but had another candidate as a possible replacement – the other member of the legendary three, Tsunade. When he was told he would be assigned help, he once more declined, but asked to take Naruto with him. Naruto initially refused, wanting to learn the Chidori like Sasuke. Jiraiya convinced him though that on the trip to find Tsunade, he would teach him a move to rival even the Chidori. In an instant, Naruto accepted and packed for the journey. Along the way, Jiraiya also remarked that in a way, Naruto resembled the fourth Hokage.

     The two stopped in small town on the way, where Jiraiya caught the eye of an attractive young woman (or was it the other way around?) and instantly shoved Naruto off to train on his own. However, Jiraiya’s suspicion grew about the girl until he realized she was under some form of hypnosis. Returning to where he left Naruto, he arrived just in time to see two members of Akatsuki meddling with Naruto and Sasuke, who had ran to face Itachi. Dropping the girl in a safe place and blocking one of Hoshigaki Kisame’s lethal sword swipes with a summoned toad, Jiraiya then threatened to take him and Uchiha Itachi out alone. Sasuke told him to hold back and that Itachi was rightfully his. However, Sasuke was still not capable of beating Itachi and took a variety of blows ending in Itachi using his Tsukiyomi hypnosis to mentally torture Sasuke. Naruto ran in headfirst to stop them, forcing Jiraiya to pull his trump card.

     Using an unusual form of summoning, Jiraiya covered the corridor in the material that composed the stomach, mouth and throat of a fire-breathing toad, giving it amazing durability and wrapping around the criminals to hold them and pull Sasuke to safety. As Itachi and Kisame tried to back down, Jiraiya attempted to crush them by making the fleshy walls close in on them. As they approached a dead end, Jiraiya followed them and to his surprise, found a hole at the end. The opening was surrounded by a mysterious black fire, which Jiraiya decided to seal up inside a scroll for safety. Seconds later, he took a boot in the face from Gai, who mistook him for the Akatsuki members threatening the Genin kids.

     Naruto, enraged by the actions of Akatsuki, claimed he would make them pay, but Jiraiya gave him a harsh reality check as they stared down at what remained of Sasuke after the battle. Gai took Sasuke back to the village, but offered Naruto a gift – a jumpsuit like the one he and Lee wore. Jiraiya, once Gai was out of earshot, told Naruto he would forbid him to wear it. Being serious, he then told Naruto what it was they wanted – the Kyuubi inside him, to use it for their own ends. Naruto simply decided that he’ll become stronger to defend himself from them and continued to ask about Tsunade. Jiraiya told him that during the search, he’ll be concentrating more on Naruto’s training. Naruto popped the jumpsuit out again, but Jiraiya refuses to allow him to wear it.

     While in the next town over, the place where Tsunade was rumored to be, Jiraiya also taught Naruto a lesson in vices – that money, women and alcohol are detrimental to the ninja way. And to stop Naruto from becoming greedy, he confiscated his bulging wallet and gave him a smaller amount, plus his luggage including the toad-summoning scroll in case they lose each other. Later, Naruto found Jiraiya sitting in a fancy bar, accompanied by a pair of girls, drunk and with Naruto’s empty wallet on the table. During the following scuffle, Naruto stains the jacket of a passer-by: a former Hidden Rock ninja, who tried to extort the money from Naruto or else. With lightning-fast reflexes, Jiraiya unleashed a swirling maelstrom of chakra from his hand and sent the attacker spiraling away into a water balloon stand.

     As Naruto and Jiraiya left, Jiraiya bought the remainder of the water balloons and gave them to Naruto, telling him that the move he just used will require extremely difficult chakra control. Over the next few days, Jiraiya slowly gave Naruto more hints on how to successfully perform the move, allowing Naruto more time to work on it while he collected information on Tsunade and revealing the origin of it – the Fourth Hokage invented it, took 3 years to finally complete it and broke down the training for it into numerous steps. The complexity of it earned it a spot among the highest ranked techniques. Bit by bit, Jiraiya helped Naruto to learn it, also marking his hand as a focal point.

     Eventually, Jiraiya traced Tsunade to the direction of Tanzaku Castle. However, he arrived to find it in ruins and reports of a giant snake. Later, Jiraiya finally bumped into her in a pub and spits out his purpose, shocking everyone including Naruto with the request for her to be the Fifth Hokage. Tsunade declined firmly, but Jiraiya later tried to talk her into it over a drink, also deducing the snake was present because of Orochimaru and that if she undid what the Third Hokage did to protect his village, she’d be an ally to Orochimaru and an enemy to him.

     A week passed and Jiraiya tried one more time to convince Tsunade to accept the position over a drink. However, Jiraiya fell foul of her when she spiked his drink, waking up on the day that Tsunade planned to meet with Orochimaru with a stinging sensation all over, barely able to hold chopsticks let alone stand or use any moves. Tsunade had already gone ahead and turned on Orochimaru by the time Jiraiya caught up with them, bringing Shizune, Naruto and Ton-Ton with him. Naruto was surprised to see Kabuto alongside Orochimaru, where Jiraiya pointed out Kabuto’s allegiance was on his forehead protector, now bearing the Hidden Sound logo. Jiraiya then told Shizune to keep an eye on Kabuto as he went after Orochimaru directly. The two were equally matched, fighting atop the incapacitated serpents that Orochimaru had summoned that were stuck in a gigantic artificial swamp Jiraiya made, even though he complained that it wasn’t his usual level of capability.

     It wasn’t until Orochimaru noticed Naruto’s use of the Rasengan that Jiraiya slipped up, having fended off Orochimaru’s direct attacks with his unusual body by turning his hair into spiny projections. As Orochimaru hurtled towards Naruto, Jiraiya was caught in a sucker-punch, still groggy from the drug and ending up being ensnared by Orochimaru’s tongue, sent to the ground with immense force. Still working it from his system, he finally got back up as Tsunade escalated the fight by bringing her summoned creature, the slug Katsuyu, forcing Jiraiya to back her up by calling on Gamabunta’s help. Gamabunta, as usual, was shocked to see the other major summoned creatures and joked at a reunion. Jiraiya set him straight that it was a battle against Orochimaru.

     It was in this battle that Gamabunta showed another example of his flexibility and co-operation as he and Jiraiya simultaneously fired a stream of oil and flame respectively, resulting in a massive inferno that engulfed Manda, Orochimaru’s massive anaconda. However, Jiraiya noticed that Manda had escaped and shed his skin, cleverly hiding underground. As Manda popped out, Gamabunta and Jiraiya attacked it, only to find it was a fake-out as only the tail emerged. Manda’s fanged jaws opened up behind them, but Tsunade drove Gamabunta’s tremendous dagger into Manda’s head, pinning the jaws shut. The entire ordeal left Jiraiya with a broken rib and leg.

     Jiraiya was also responsible for easing Tsunade back into Konoha, showing her to those who needed her medical skills. It wasn’t until the fight between Naruto and Sasuke on the roof of the hospital that Jiraiya reappeared, where he and Kakashi scolded each other for teaching the boys such dangerous techniques as Rasengan and Chidori, despite the necessity. Kakashi also hit a sensitive spot with Jiraiya, pointing out their rivalry wasn’t too far from the one with him and Orochimaru.

     A short time later, Jiraiya realized the full gravity of the situation as Naruto returned, being carried by Kakashi after failing to apprehend the rogue Sasuke during his betrayal and defection to Orochimaru. Visiting Naruto’s hospital bed, he assured Naruto that the two were now officially teacher and apprentice for three years, due to his research on Akatsuki and Orochimaru revealing that Orochimaru wouldn’t be able to take over Sasuke until that time had passed. Despite the good news, Jiraiya also brought bad and told Naruto to forget about Sasuke, drawing on his own personal experiences and recalling his own attempt to stop Orochimaru leaving. The two parted on good terms, agreeing that the training will begin officially for Naruto in several months time.

     Before their official training began, Jiraiya gave into Naruto’s whim to find Sasuke; perhaps recognizing his own desires to redeem a colleague, leading Naruto and Sakura on a brief but ultimately failed mission into the outskirts of Orochimaru’s lair. While helping a clan that Orochimaru used and abused, Jiraiya’s weakness for women was exploited multiple times, even with a custom-made trap set just for him when one of the Fuuma clan’s members was hypnotized, dressed as a geisha and made to seduce Jiraiya, then attack. The so-called “Koto Princess” clearly wasn’t enough to stop him and Jiraiya rescued his Genin charges, bringing them and two of the Fuuma members back to their clan. Needless to say, the incident put both Naruto and Jiraiya off venturing back there without further information.

     Soon enough the time came and Naruto and Jiraiya left Konoha behind and officially started on their training journey. During the time that passed, Jiraiya continued his novel series as well as his research into Akatsuki, Orochimaru and now with Naruto by his side, the Kyuubi. Concerned for Naruto’s phenomenon of Kyuubi manifestation, where the Kyuubi appeared around Naruto as a fox-shaped aura of bubbling red chakra, Jiraiya developed a patch that would neutralize it when placed on Naruto. Unfortunately this was not before Naruto went into a four-tailed fox aura form. This deadly berserk Naruto managed to strike Jiraiya causing a large scar to develop on his chest. Not much else is currently known about the training, other than Naruto was able to improve on his Rasengan and endured exercises so tough, most of his clothing was worn through, even requiring him to move the metal plate on his forehead protector onto a new, bandana-like piece of fabric.

     After three years, Naruto and Jiraiya finally returned to the village. Jiraiya returned Naruto to Kakashi's care and as a precaution, he supplied the suppression patch to Kakashi in case Naruto ran wild. He also reminded Naruto that there was a technique in his arsenal he should not use. After Kakashi and the team returned to Konoha from saving Gaara, Jiraiya met with Tsunade and Yamato in Kakashi's hospital room as he recuperated. With Kakashi out of commission due to his usage of the Mangekyou Sharingan, Naruto was turned over to the case of Yamato, the genetic heir to Shodai Hokage's bijuu controlling abilities. Jiraiya warned the group of the danger Naruto posed when he lost control to the fox aura, showing him the large scar he received from Naruto's four-tailed form.

     Jiraiya’s main motivation in life, besides his taste for women and adult affairs, is as a spy for Konoha and to ultimately foil Orochimaru. Disguising a lot of information gathering as peeping tom activity, Jiraiya is a very competent and powerful ninja, noted for being able to efficiently repel Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame. His connections to more than one Hokage and skill with summoning Toads has made him famous as one of The Legendary Three and his name, even when announced in the goofiest of manners, often strikes fear into his enemies.


Kankurou

Physical Information
Age:
17
Sex: Male
Birthday: 05/15
Bloodtype: B
Height: 167 cm (Pt 1)
Weight: 61.2 kg (Pt 1)

Ninja Information
Registration ID: 53-002
Hidden Village: Sand
Rank: Jounin
Team: Gaara, Temari, Baki
Kankurou is the son of Yondaime Kazekage and the younger brother of Temari and the old brother of Gaara. Kankurou graduated from the Ninja Academy at an unknown age and acted as a Genin alongside his siblings. He is known for wearing his kabuki make-up, which he has changed in appearance throughout the years. At some point in his youth he became part of the Suna puppet squad. With this training he inherited several of the puppets made by legendary Suna puppet master Sasori. At some point he bore witness to Gaara going into his full Shukaku mode, which shocked and sickened him. The village leaders began to resent the way their village was being treated by the Wind Country Daimyou. For that reason Suna planned to invade and attack Konoha with Hidden Sound. Little did they know that Sound was using Suna for their own ends, with Orochimaru killing Kankurou's father and then impersonating him to further draw them into war.

     Plans were in place for Gaara to be used in the invasion, so he and his siblings were entered into the Chuunin Exam under their sensei Baki. When they arrived in Konoha other Leaf Genin confronted them about why they were there. Kankurou became annoyed by the little "pest" Konohamaru and threatened him harm, Sasuke soon stepped in and Kankurou back off. He and his siblings then took their leave and went to the first test. The skillfully trained team easily made it past the first portion of the exam. Kankurou made use of his puppet Karasu to impersonate a Chuunin proctor. Though he felt his plan was excellent, Chuunin examiner Morino Ibiki saw through the fake. Even with this, he was not caught cheating enough times to be disqualified.

     His team then moved on to the second test of the exam. Due to Gaara's Shukaku protection they breezed through this portion as well. When they sought out their scroll, Gaara took the forefront and easily killed the Rain ninja who attacked them. When Gaara's bloodlust began to get the better of him, his siblings pleaded for him to stand down. He finally relented and they made it to the test finish in record time. His team then moved on to the preliminary matches for the third test.



     In the prelims Kankurou was placed against Tsurugi Misumi. Misumi quickly moved to attack Kankurou and used his body to snake around Kankurou's locking him in place. Misumi then began to constrict and broke Kankurou's neck. Kankurou revealed that wasn't him though, he was the concealed object "he" was carrying and Karasu was impersonating him. Karasu quickly wrapped its arms around Misumi and Kankurou did some squeezing of his own. The constriction was too much and Misumi was knocked out, allowing Kankurou to enter the third and final test.

     In the third test Kankurou was placed against Aburame Shino. Because their invasion orders were predicated on Gaara participating in his match first, Kankurou panicked when Gaara's match was delayed. This would force him to reveal more of Karasu's secrets before the invasion even began. When asked to come down for his match, Kankurou announced he was forfeiting, which drew the suspicion of both Shino and other Leaf ninja. An angered Temari then jumped in to cut short any talk.

     When the invasion was finally launched, Kankurou and Temari moved to escort the wounded Gaara outside the village to allow him to transform. Shino followed in pursuit to confront Kankurou. Both Shino and Uchiha Sasuke managed to catch up to the trio at the same time. Shino directed Sasuke to continue after Gaara as he wanted to finally have his match with his former opponent Kankurou.

     Kankurou and Shino exchanged attacks, with Kankurou unleashing many of Karasu's hidden weapons including detachable limbs with blades and poison gas. Shino was able to make use of Kankurou's chakra puppet strings for his own purpose, using them to locate the hidden Kankurou and overcome him with his chakra consuming destruction bugs. Though Kankurou fell, Shino did too to Karasu's poison.

     Elsewhere his brother was defeated by Uzumaki Naruto. Temari was able to find Kankurou and Gaara. Kankurou and Temari then fled with their younger brother and they reacted in surprise when he apologized for his behavior. With both Gaara's and Orochimaru's defeat the invasion failed and Suna retreated. In the following weeks Suna would bow to Konoha's terms and once again become their ally. This help would soon be needed when Uchiha Sasuke left Konoha to seek out power under Orochimaru.

     Tsunade dispatched a Genin team led by Shikamaru to retrieve Sasuke and also contacted Suna for help. With the Leaf in trouble with the Four Sounds, Kankurou and his siblings arrived and he moved to assist the injured Kiba and Akamaru against Sakon and Ukon. Kiba warned of their ability to enter the body of others, but Sakon grabbed Kankurou's face before Kankurou could stop him. Showing his penchant for surprise his face crumbled to reveal a new puppet, Kuroari, which acted as a defensive puppet. Kuroari quickly grabbed Sakon with his serated arms and cut Sakon badly, forcing him to retreat into his brother. Then using both Karasu and Kuroari, Kankurou maneuvered the brothers into retreat, right into Kuroari's chest cavity. With a little bit of showmanship he broke apart Karasu and extended poisoned knives which quickly plunged into Kuroari's chest and into the vulnerable Sakon and Ukon, killing them.

     While the Konoha ninja were saved from death they failed to return Sasuke. Kankurou and his siblings then returned to Konoha with the injured ninja and a short while later they took their leave. A shortwhile later in an anime filler arc, Kiba got his chance to pay Suna back, coming to the aid of Kankurou when ninja abducted an academy trainee from their village. During this same time period in the second anime movie, an invasion was launched along the Wind Country's southern shores by an invading power far from the south led by a man named Haido. Both Kankurou and Gaara went up against the invaders with the help of Shikamaru, Naruto and Sakura and defeated them.

     In the following years Kankurou passed the Chuunin Exam and advanced in rank to Jounin. During this time he spoke with his brother about his plans for the future. He was surprised by how changed Gaara was from the dour outlook he held in the past. He understood it was all thanks to Uzumaki Naruto, who had gone through the same pain as Gaara. During this time he also added yet another puppet to his arsenal, Sanshouou, a large salamander. With this new expanded arsenal, he would use summoning scrolls to hold his puppets. When Akatsuki arrived and abducted Gaara, Kankurou went in pursuit. He learned one of the attacking Akatsuki was legendary puppet master Sasori. Unfortunately Kankurou was highly outclassed by the skilled Sasori, who managed to destroy Kankurou's puppets and inject him with his lethal poison. With his strength waning Kankurou made one last maneuver, to tear off a piece of Sasori's mask to allow for later tracking.

     Kankurou was taken back to the hospital and his prognosis was dire. Fortunately Haruno Sakura removed most of the poison and worked out an antidote with puppet master Chiyo. He and Temari then remained behind to guard the village when Naruto and his team began to track down Gaara's abductors. When he was sufficiently recuperated, he and Temari alongside numerous other Sand ninja raced to help Gaara. They arrived in time to see Chiyo bring him back to life. He was greatly relieved and thanked Naruto for saving his brother. He later wished the Leaf ninja goodbye when they left Hidden Sand.


Maito Gai

Physical Information
Age:
29
Sex: Male
Birthday: 01/01
Bloodtype: B
Height: 184 cm (Pt 1)
Weight: 76 kg (Pt 1)

Ninja Information
Registration ID: 010252
Hidden Village: Leaf
Rank: Jounin
Team: Hyuuga Neji, Rock Lee, TenTen
Might Guy is the Jounin sensei of Hyuuga Neji, TenTen and Rock Lee. He is also an old friend and rival of Hatake Kakashi. Guy is one of the most distinguished characters in Naruto, known for his bowl-cut hairdo, prominent eyebrows and his strikingly over-the-top personality which leaves others around him speechless. He refers to himself and Kakashi as "eternal rivals", despite Kakashi’s aloofness to the matter. Often, he will begin a grand speech to Kakashi, who will simply be looking at or listening to something else, causing Guy to become infuriated by Kakashi’s "hip" ignorance.

     Guy appeared first of all during the Chuunin exams after Lee attempted to use a forbidden technique on Sasuke during a simple sparring match. Lee’s bandages were pinned down to a wall with a toy pinwheel, apparently thrown by Nin-Kame (Ninja Turtle), a talking turtle that wore a Leaf forehead protector around his neck. After chewing Lee out, Guy suddenly appeared in a puff of smoke on Nin-Kame's back, striking a bizarre pose and proceeding to deliver a heavy punch to Lee’s face as punishment for his use of a forbidden move. Seconds later, the two embraced in a hug and Guy lectured Lee on the mysteries of being young and ordered a punishment of 500 laps. Team 7, utterly astonished and horrified by the display, stood dumbstruck as Guy explained his rivalry with Kakashi to them.

     Guy had been introduced to Lee several years earlier. As Guy and Kakashi watched over a class of young ninja at the Academy, they discussed a young "hot-blooded loser" with big eyebrows like Guy's own. Guy encouraged the young man to hold on to his passion and ambition. Soon enough Lee was placed under the leadership of Guy. Lee was unable to perform Ninjutsu or Genjutsu, and felt he didn't stand a chance against geniuses like his teammate Neji. Guy explained Lee was a genius of hardwork, because he performed extensive Taijutsu training of his body to become stronger. Watching the young man develop Guy chose to pass on his Taijutsu secrets to Lee, much to the young man's happiness. Guy felt Lee was the only one capable of handling such techniques and helped Lee become deadly in the use of his body alone. Over the following year the team would go on several missions and Guy would enter his team into the Chuunin Exam.

     During the exam, official duties placed him in the central tower of the Forest Of Death. Here he stood as a support for his students and enforcer if needed, as was such the case when having to grab Neji around the neck when Neji almost made a post-match killing strike on Hinata. Prior to that, he warned the Sand siblings about Lee after their confidence in beating Tenten. When it was Lee’s turn to fight Gaara, Guy’s goofiness came through again when stating the obvious, telling Lee that Gaara’s gourd was suspicious. As Lee’s physical strikes were useless against Gaara’s sand, Guy explained that Lee was incapable of using Ninjutsu or Genjutsu, originally also as useless at Taijutsu. Realizing Lee’s limit, he instructed Lee to remove the training weights he had on his legs, which dropped to the ground with incredible force. With Lee’s speed now reaching levels where his movements were a blur, he finally broke through Gaara’s shield

     Although the odds were still against him, Lee and Guy realized the best way to strike was to hit Gaara with attacks that deprived him of his sand shield, then land a critical blow. With a move in mind, Guy silently nodded to give approval to use it. Guy began to pray as Lee kicked Gaara up into the air, then looked again as Lee came down again and cracked Gaara’s skull on the ground. However, at the moment Guy’s eyes closed, Gaara substituted himself and escaped, taking his revenge on an almost incapacitated Lee.

     With only one trick left, Lee recalled Guy’s early training days where along with his Taijutsu skill; Guy burned the art of perseverance into Lee’s mind, reassuring Sakura that "the lotus of Leaf blooms twice". Kakashi recognized his double-entendre, referring to Lee opening the Eight Celestial Gates, a dangerous strategy in itself, then using a high-risk move, the Ura Renge (Reverse Lotus). Kakashi initially considered Lee knowing the move to be overkill, reprimanding Guy for teaching it to him, but guy explained it as being more than just a technique to win a fight, but to protect his very way of life as a ninja.

     As Guy gave running commentary on the move, Lee performed it, only for Gaara to just barely slip out of taking the full impact. Enraged, Gaara crushed Lee’s arm and leg, but Guy broke his grip, since Lee was no longer able to battle. Even though Gaara was declared the winner, Lee stood back up on the most primal of instincts, forcing Guy to finally call him off in tears. However, he was visibly shaken as a medical team arrived; stating Lee might never be a shinobi again after such injuries. Kakashi offered an apology, and Lee was taken away. As Lee recovered in the hospital, Guy would arrive to once again stop Gaara from injuring Lee further. Lee and Guy later came to watch the finals as spectators, with Lee limping on crutches and yet still amazingly in high spirits. Guy observed that Sasuke was as fast as Lee without the weights, but wondered why Sasuke was also using Taijutsu alone, since the strategy failed against Gaara before. As the fight progressed, it became apparent to Guy that Sasuke had increased it to compliment a Ninjutsu skill, the Chidori.

     However, as it struck Gaara, Guy and Kakashi noticed that a Genjutsu was occuring and quickly drove it off themselves as it forced everyone else asleep. An ambush followed and the two found themselves fighting to protect their own lives as well as the sleeping spectators as a combination of Sand and Sound ninja invaded the village. As a Sound ninja was about to sneak attack Naruto, Guy showed his superhuman speed and strength, pinning the enemy against a wall with his fist, then smashing him through it with a second strike. Amusingly, even under such circumstances, Guy was keeping track of how many ninja they defeated. While the Sound ninja were eventually defeated, Guy would next be seen at the funeral of the Third Hokage, mourning.

     Guy next appeared after delivering a strong kick to Hoshigaki Kisame as he and Uchiha Itachi came for Naruto. With Kakashi incapacitated from Itachi’s Genjutsu, Guy explained there was a way of fighting even a Sharingan user. One must avoid eye contact and focus on the movements of the user's feet, something developed fighting Kakashi. While Kisame was eager to fight, Itachi called a retreat, leaving Guy to attend to Kakashi. Guy would later pursue the Akatsuki duo and mistakeningly deliver a powerful kick to Jiraiya, who had just driven Itachi and Kisame off. Guy apologized to the man and carried an injured Sasuke back to Konoha for treatment.

     When Tsunade returned to Konoha she would attend to Lee, still near-crippled from his injuries sustained by Gaara. Guy pleaded with her to examine him, even during her examination of Kakashi. However, the crushing news came that the operation to repair the damage was 50/50, with the results either promoting recovery or killing Lee. After a lot of soul-searching and a heart-to-heart talk with Guy, Lee agreed to take the surgery. It turned out to be a success, although Lee still needed a lot of rehabilitation. After returning from a mission, Guy went to check on Lee and he was overjoyed at the good news. However he soon learned Lee was not there, he had run off without permission to aid in Sasuke’s rescue.

     Even worse, Guy made a startling discovery that Lee may have become intoxicated. After Guy successfully trained Lee in the use of the Reverse Lotus, the team went to a restaurant to celebrate. Mistaking alcohol for water, Lee took a sip and became violently drunk. Thanks to a mistake from Tsunade, Lee had taken her sake bottle instead of his medicine, causing Guy to shudder at the force of a completely drunken Lee. After the mission, Lee’s rehabilitation with Guy continued, despite Guy commenting that he was having difficulty keeping up with Lee’s youth.

     In the 2.5 years that passed (events depicted in the anime only), Guy was the subject of much comedy, firstly being impersonated by a pair of amateur ninjas disguised as him and Lee, attempting to also disguise himself with a handlebar moustache and afro wig to enter a dojo Lee had built for martial arts challenges, while also receiving a challenge of his own from someone seeking revenge for a man he defeated a long time ago.

     Guy would next appear backing up Team Seven as they answered a call for help from Hidden Sand. As he and the rest of his team approached the meeting point, Guy came across Kisame once more, still feeling vengeful for the kick. Guy had no idea who he was, comically raising Kisame’s hopes and then dashing them with completely blatant observations about him instead of his name.

     The entire team had a tough time with him, reaching the point where Guy was left alone to face him and even after attacking Kisame with a nunchaku and disarming him, found himself at a major disadvantage. With no other choice, Guy opened the 6th Celestial Gate and pummeled Kisame with a series of flaming punches, with the visual display resembling a peacock’s tail and earning the move name of Morning Peacock. However, when they examined the corpse, it was merely another man that had been transformed into Kisame. Guy simply concluded that he did not indeed know the man, hilariously.

     The team then set about breaking into one of Akatsuki’s caves, having made it to the rendezvous point. Several tags had been set up at points around the cave, requiring removal to open the seal. As each was removed, a copy of the remover formed to combat them. However, the copies were inferior and Guy eventually won, as did the rest of the team. When the mission was over, Guy slid off his backpack, put it on his front instead and offered an exhausted Kakashi a piggyback ride home. Lee then did the same with Neji, who blatantly refused. After this incident, Guy has not been seen in the storyline.

     Guy is, at heart, a comedy character. He is goofy, excessive and an even more exaggerated version of Lee. The two are a perfect comedy duo, with Guy making an overly enthusiastic statement and Lee taking it literally. Guy also has a ridiculous habit of setting himself unreasonable tasks as self-punishment, but claims the method to his madness is more like self-discipline, which strengthens him. His other major partner is Kakashi, who he holds a mostly one-sided rivalry with, even going as far as to keep a win-loss record of challenges he sets Kakashi, who often comes across as the straight man of the duo, ignoring his most outrageous speeches. Despite his comedy, Guy is among the elite of the series, astoundingly powerful and fast with experience to back him up, even if his battles end up amusing the fans more than amazing them.


Nara Shikamaru

Physical Information
Age:
15
Sex: Male
Birthday: 09/22
Bloodtype: AB
Height: 152.1 cm (Pt 1)
Weight: 42.9 kg (Pt 1)

Ninja Information
Registration ID: 012611
Hidden Village: Leaf
Rank: Chuunin
Team: 10 - Akimichi Chouji, Yamanaka Ino, Sarutobi Asuma (Former), Hatake Kakashi
Nara Shikamaru is a member of Team 10, along with Yamanaka Ino and Akimichi Chouji, watched by Asuma Sarutobi.

     Shikamaru is chronically lazy, refusing to even pick up a pencil to take a test because he found it so boring. He has a catchphrase of sorts, "Mendoukusei" which is frequently translated into English as variants of "This sucks…" or "What a drag!", furthering his frustrations with many situations. Being from the Nara family, he is able to use his shadow in a special manner. The shadow will move across the ground as though another light source were present, even altering shape completely, until it touches the shadow of another person. For around 5 minutes or so, the victim will lose control of most of their body, only able to speak on their own. Otherwise, their every movement will match Shikamaru, allowing him to control them. Shikamaru would rather relax and look at the clouds, than expend any energy doing school work. His general desire is to marry, make a good living and be able to retire, successful and happy with himself and die before his wife.

     Shikamaru was on hand to delay the Sound Trio in the Chuunin exams, stopping Dosu Kinuta from interfering for a brief time. While his technique wasn’t entirely effective, it bought enough time for more help to arrive. Later, in the preliminaries, he used it once again when he was randomly selected against another of the Sound Trio, Kin Tsuchi. Shikamaru captured her with his shadow and drew a shuriken, forcing Kin to do the same. After flinging it, neither had a choice about avoiding it. However, Shikamaru was in the open while Kin was near a wall. As he bended backwards to avoid it, Kin copied the movement and drove her head into the wall behind her, knocking herself out. The sneaky action earned Shikamaru a spot in the finals and the chance at Chuunin promotion.

     Upon reaching the finals, Shikamaru was placed against a kunoichi from the Hidden Sand Village, Temari. Temari was, like him, a keen analyst and had an extremely powerful attack, blasting gusts of cutting wind at him from out of his shadow’s reach. The battle was more of a war of wits than violence, with Shikamaru first using the shadow coming from the stadium’s walls to add to the length his own shadow could stretch, forcing Temari to second-guess her range. Still in control, Temari battered him with more wind, forcing him to retreat. Hiding, Shikamaru took up a kneeling stance. At this point, spectators assumed he was preparing for a jutsu to counterattack. However, his teacher knew better.

     Shikamaru’s laziness hides his true strength, an IQ that reaches over 200 and a way of thinking that places him ahead of someone else, easily allowing him to set up traps. With Temari now confident in her range being safe, he once again extended his shadow, removing his jacket and forehead protector to make a parachute that floated towards Temari, allowing him to lengthen his shadow once more, forcing Temari to once more reassess the situation. However, as she prepared for her own final move, she suddenly found herself bound by his shadow… thinking two steps ahead, Shikamaru had been using his attempts to lengthen his shadow to effectively lure Temari over to a hole in the ground that had been created earlier in the finals. The darkness provided by the tunnel leading into it allowed him to sneak the shadow behind her. With his checkmate in place, Shikamaru then raised his hand… and gave up. Realizing that he was only able to hold Temari with the shadow for a tiny length of time longer, it would be better to cut his losses instead of risk being helpless and close up to her. It was this action that would later see him promoted to Chuunin as someone who would not endanger his charges for the sake of a mission.

     When the invasion occurred, the mass-sleep spell Kabuto had cast was cancelled, but due to his laziness, he feigned sleep to avoid being dragged into combat, much to the annoyance of Sakura. When Kakashi summoned a dog, Pakkun, to assist them in tracking, Shikamaru was "encouraged" to go along by permission to touch his paw-pads. When Shikamaru was not swayed, the dog tried another method and succeeded by biting him. As they chased Gaara and Sasuke, they noticed that they were being tracked. Shikamaru’s intellect once again helped as he gathered a bundle of sticks and used them to leave a red herring by mimicking Pakkun’s paw prints and buying time. Although it didn’t throw them off for long, Shikamaru decided he would buy more time by sacrificing himself, holding the pursuers with his shadows until he was no longer able to bind them. When everything looked bleak, Asuma appeared to save his life.

     The aftermath of the incident saw Shikamaru being promoted to Chuunin, but with a different outlook on Temari, not as a female but as a respected analyst. His leadership would be tested shortly later when an impromptu team was formed to return Sasuke. Arranging a formation based on everyone’s special skills, he managed to follow the Sound Four and outwit their main powerhouse, Jiroubou, by faking the desire to save his own skin and discovering the weak point of the prison he made. Shortly later, he was separated from the group and put into a one-on-one scenario with the illusion specialist, Tayuya.

     Tayuya’s main strength was her flute, which could be used to summon and control a trio of vicious chakra ogres. The ogres were capable of releasing phantasmal parasites from their mouths which ate away at a person, though incorporeal. With no way to overpower the entities, Shikamaru once again out-thought his opponent by setting up a 9-step sequence, much like a Rube-Goldberg mechanism, to capture all three of the ogres with his shadow. Tayuya was astounded, thinking he had figured out what the notes of her melody did. Shikamaru corrected her, saying that he was watching how the movements of her ogres corresponded with her fingers on the flute. With her ogres no longer being an option, Tayuya pushed herself further and fully activated her cursed seal and trapped Shikamaru in a torturous illusion.

     As Shikamaru sat in a state of shock, Tayuya approached him ready to kill him, picking up a weapon. However, Shikamaru had already broken the illusion by dislocating his finger, waiting for her to walk closer because she had previously boasted that the only weapon she needed was her flute. Now she was in range, he began to his lethal variation of his jutsu, trying to make his shadow reach her neck and strangle her. At the same time, she was about to stab him, forcing him to split his efforts between killing her and using his shadow to hold her hand back. Just as his strength wore off, Temari appeared on official orders to assist him, summoning a kamaitachi (a mythical weasel associated with sickles, that cuts using wind and was responsible for one of her jutsu names) to cut down the forest around Tayuya. Her crushed corpse was seen in the rubble, increasing Shikamaru’s admiration for Temari.

     However, after the mission, Shikamaru grieved upon hearing two of his subordinates Chouji and Neji, one a close friend, had been critically wounded. Temari, followed by his father, gave him the words he needed to hear instead of what he wanted to. He made a tearful promise that next time; he’d do a better job.

     One of Shikamaru’s roles in the anime-exclusive episodes was taking his team-mates out on their second mission since the rescue attempt, successfully detaining the Legendary Stupid Brothers long enough for Tsunade to arrive. Since their level of physical strength was not too far below Tsunade’s, it took a combined effort of physical, magical and even mental restraint from the whole team to delay their rampage.

     Shikamaru was shown very early in Part 2 of the manga, now given an official position as a Chuunin Examiner. He was also to meet with Temari, who was eventually given the counterpart of his position in her own village, meaning the two met for official business while arranging the new Chuunin Exam. When Naruto was being "attacked" by Sai, Shikamaru displayed a new offensive skill, allowing him to raise his shadow from the ground as a solid object and use it as a fast-moving piercing tentacle.

     Shikamaru next battled Akatsuki’s team of Hidan and Kakuzu, two people that boasted near-immortality, yet he came to understand the weaknesses of Hidan and exploit them multiple times. However, he could not stop Hidan from using his divine curse to kill his team leader Sarutobi Asuma. Shikamaru began smoking to honor his fallen sensei and planned to not give it up until he was avenged. He also took ownership of Asuma's chakra absorbing knives. These knives allowed Shikamaru to imbue his shadow chakra into a "pin" which could stick into his opponent's shadow and bind them. He used these new skills and other preparations alongside his teammates when they sought revenge again Hidan and Kakuzu. After tracking them down, Shikamaru himself would get his chance, going one on one with the skilled Hidan in a rematch.

     Shikamaru led Hidan away from the others. There he carefully played out his trap, using all the knowledge he gained from Asuma's battle to ensure he didn't share the same fate. Ignoring Hidan's boasts, Shikamaru managed to bind Hidan and cover him in explosive tags. Then using Asuma's lighter and cigarette's he lit one. Shikamaru then imagined the smoke coalescing into Asuma, who congratulated him and passed his Will of Fire on to the young man. Shikamaru coldly stated that Hidan dug his own grave when he killed his sensei. He then flicked the lit cigarette which struck the explosive tags, blowing Hidan to pieces. Shikamaru returned to Konoha and spoke with Kurenai, telling her how Asuma was always there for him, like he would be there for her baby. The pregnant Kurenai thanked him, as she and Asuma were married. Shikamaru would make sure her baby was looked after like Asuma watched over him.

     Shikamaru relates heavily with Chouji, to the point that the two can be considered the best of friends after Shikamaru overlooked Chouji’s weight as a child. While Shikamaru initially dislikes women, mostly thanks to the bossy and bratty attitude that Ino shows and the petty squabbles Sakura gets into (alongside his mother’s temper), he is gradually dropping his prejudices after a word from his father and his mutual respect for Temari. Temari is also paired with him frequently by fans, citing their shared analytical skills and respect, now strengthened by their frequent liaisons on official business. However, the two have rarely shown any intimacy towards each other and are, as far as Kishimoto has drawn, little more than mutual admirers of one another. Shikamaru’s popularity among fans is also immense ranking high in many polls.


Orochimaru

Physical Information
Age:
53
Sex: Male
Birthday: 10/27
Bloodtype: B
Height: 172 cm (Pt 1)
Weight: 57.3 kg (Pt 1)

Ninja Information
Registration ID: 002300
Hidden Village: Sound
Rank: N/A (Kage-Level)
Current: Missing-Nin 
Orochimaru is perhaps the most famous and infamous person to ever inhabit Konoha. Trained by the Third Hokage, referred to by many as the God of Shinobi in his prime, he shares the group recognition with Tsunade and Jiraiya as one of the "Legendary Three" (Sannin). It is possible that he may have even been his tutor’s favourite from the way that Jiraiya was asked to be more like him. However, his legacy would be smeared in blood before he ever surpassed his master.

     Morino Ibiki, the sadistic and iron-gutted sadist confessed that Orochimaru gave him the creeps, something Ibiki was used to doing himself. Ibiki described him as though he was not human, just something evil that had a humanoid shape. With his dead-white skin, prehensile, long tongue and reptilian eyes, it’s easy to understand why even Ibiki would be intimidated. However, unfortunately for many, Orochimaru’s appearance was not the most horrible thing about him. Orochimaru was a perfectionist and showed unequalled devotion to learning and collecting techniques, a trait he almost passed onto his sole student, Mitarashi Anko, teaching her a number of forbidden techniques and passing on his skills related to snakes. He also branded her with something that would become his signature later, a “curse seal”. Appearing as an inky marking on the body of the person he gave it to, they would go into a coma-like state, one that had a 1/10 survival rate. Anko survived, but later realised that the man she hero-worshipped was a manipulator and she was just his guinea pig.

     In his later years, Orochimaru began to realise that no matter how good a ninja was, age and death would always overcome him. Seeing his tutor grow old and no longer shine as he once did, he committed a sin that would forever taint him. Already, his immoral ideals had spooked enough people, probably including the advisory council, into rejecting him for the position of Fourth Hokage. It was then that Orochimaru went to work on something truly nihilistic. Gathering living human subjects for experimentation, Orochimaru plucked victims from Chuunin, Jounin and even the ANBU. One such experiment involved Orochimaru infusing the genes of Shodai Hokage into 60 children. Shodai was unique in his ability to control the tailed demons at his will and also his ability to use Mokuton techniques. Though he would not be around to see it, 59 of the children soon died. One lived and grew up to be known as the elite ANBU "Yamato". Orochimaru's experiments would prove successful, with Yamato able to use Shodai's abilities as his own.

     Eventually, the Third Hokage penetrated his booby-trapped lair and he was caught red-handed in a laboratory lined with the mutilated remains of the abducted hanging from chains on the walls. As he was questioned, he revealed his epiphany. He was working on something that would allow him to cheat death and gradually become a master of all techniques, gaining the knowledge that would grant him a title beyond even his tutor’s – the ultimate being. However, instead of being punished, he took advantage of the compassion that his old teacher was known for and fled with his life. As he fled, Jiraiya took chase. Jiraiya pleaded for him to return, but Orochimaru mocked his feelings and his failure to see the truth of his actions. The two battled and Orochimaru fled for good. Jiraiya would thereafter give up on trying to save Orochimaru.

     Orochimaru’s activities around this point become muddy. It is known for sure that he was a member of the criminal organisation Akatsuki. However, he left at some point due to Uchiha Itachi. Orochimaru, at some time, decided a major factor in his goal to know every technique would be the Sharingan eye, enabling him to copy what he saw. However, Itachi would not give up his eyes so easily and Orochimaru proclaimed that he feared Itachi, presumably after seeing the Mangekyou Sharingan in action and deciding that trying to take Itachi’s eyes would be too risky. Orochimaru left Akatsuki, fully aware of their plans and with bad blood between them.

     It is known that after leaving, Orochimaru completed half his goal: He gained immortality. By using a technique where he caused his soul to forever remain in the mortal world and transferred his mind into the bodies of victims, he could never pass on. Orochimaru proved it true as he took a female’s body and inhabited it for a number of years, although he gradually managed to reshape it to a certain degree to resemble his old one. The corpse of the old Orochimaru was probably disposed of, but a memento of his past remains in the form of his forearm and hand mounted onto a base like a trophy, with the Akatsuki ring he once wore still sitting on the decaying middle finger.

     Orochimaru then decided upon his next plan of action, with both of his next accomplishments being in his old village. Knowing that Itachi left one other of the clan alive, Orochimaru set his sights on Uchiha Sasuke among other skilled ninja. Travelling around the world as a sage offering to help those lost and vulnerable, his real purpose was to collect talented young ninja as either servants or for the “luckiest”, his next body. He managed to sway many to his side, including the allegiance of a Leaf ninja, Yakushi Kabuto, who would become his spy. His other converts included the last of the brutal Kaguya clan, Kimimaro and the orphan Zaku Abumi. Orochimaru’s charisma and skill as a manipulator grew to the extent that he held influence over many clans as their saviour, even allowing him to persuade the Feudal Lord of the Rice Field country to allow him to found and establish a hidden village there for the purpose of training ninja and strengthening the country. Of course, none of Orochimaru’s offers were benevolent, only self-serving. Regardless, the village of Hidden Sound came to be.

     It was the year that Uchiha Sasuke attempted to become a Chuunin that Orochimaru made his move, sneaking into the exam in disguise – initially as the tutor of three Sound Genin participating in the exam, next as a participant from Grass after literally melting the face from his skull and wearing it as a mask. Under the Grass ninja disguise, he first engaged Sasuke in single combat to test him, and then gave him the curse seal. At the same time, he gave his trio of subordinates the command to terminate Sasuke. It was only thanks to Sakura that Sasuke lived long enough to wake up. The order was really to place Sasuke under as much stress as possible, forcing him to rely on the curse seal, as use of it over time would slowly divert Sasuke’s will into serving him. Orochimaru also ran into Anko during his travels, humiliating her by almost allowing her to kill herself and him at the same time while bringing up their past relation. He also later came to mock Kakashi’s efforts in suppressing the seal, telling him Sasuke would remove the barriers himself and come to Orochimaru of his own will.

     Orochimaru’s next move was personal. In the finals of the Chuunin exam, the Kazekage, a guest spectator, suddenly held the Third Hokage hostage and from nowhere, scores of Sound and Sand ninja flooded the stadium. It was revealed they were working co-operatively to wage war on Leaf. However, the Kazekage addressed him by his real name, Sarutobi. Instantly, he recognized his attacker, who tore off the Kazekage’s robes and engaged his former mentor. Pulling the souls of the First and Second Hokage from the afterlife, he fixed them into the bodies of his teenage subordinates, who had been prepared for sacrifice through live burial in ash and dirt, finally using a charm to turn their minds into ferocious killing machines. Though a totally heartless act, Orochimaru did show an instance of emotion through a single question: "Do you know the happiness and sense of accomplishment you gain when you have a chance to hurt the one you called 'master'?"

     However, even though the battle was in Orochimaru’s favour, using his own reptilian sword, the combined Hokage slaves and his personal bodyguards forming a barrier, his defeat came when Sarutobi, knowing he would die, performed a suicidal technique that cost him his soul. Summoning the death god itself, Sarutobi instructed it to rip out and consume the souls of Orochimaru’s slaves, then Orochimaru’s soul. However, he was too close to death, especially with Orochimaru’s sword in his back, to complete the task. Choosing the next best thing and possibly something worse than death for Orochimaru, the death god took away the portions of Orochimaru’s soul that connected to his arms, which fell limp and impotent and rendered him unable to even make a hand seal. The irony of knowing so many techniques and not being able to utilise them hit Orochimaru as Sarutobi died in front of him, seeing not the furious abomination that almost murdered him as he closed his eyes, but the confident student he admired and raised. Orochimaru and his forces were driven away to their village, also cutting off his alliance with Sand as the Kazekage’s corpse was found, alerting Sand that he was not co-operating with Orochimaru and instead, the Kazekage that ordered the strike on Leaf was Orochimaru himself.

     For a while, Orochimaru’s activity was limited. In constant agony from his incapacitated arms, Orochimaru decided to seek out the legendary medical specialist, his former partner, Tsunade. Coincidentally, Jiraiya had also decided to look for her as a replacement for the Third Hokage. It was Orochimaru who got to her first, proposing a deal with her. Knowing her history, he would use his resurrection technique, as he did with the former Hokage brothers, to bring back Tsunade’s younger brother, Nawaki and her lover, Dan, who had both been killed when she was younger. Leaving her a week to decide, Orochimaru was well prepared for her, knowing of her phobia of blood and preying on her sentimentality, saying he could only perform the resurrection if his hands were healed.

     A week passed and at their meeting point, Orochimaru raised his hands to her. However, Kabuto stopped her at the last minute, recognising that Tsunade was about to assassinate Orochimaru instead of healing. The two fled as Tsunade chased them, resulting in Kabuto exploiting her phobia and taking her on in combat, being a medical specialist himself although not quite on her level. Jiraiya arrived to even the odds, slowing Orochimaru down a lot while Naruto took on Kabuto. Orochimaru was stunned by the boy’s capabilities, deciding his #1 priority, even over dealing with Tsunade and Jiraiya, was to kill Naruto before the Akatsuki Organisation abducted him. Tsunade used herself as a human shield, vowing to protect the boy. Orochimaru then decided to hold her to her position and slashed her up with his sword in his mouth, giving her fatal injuries. Tsunade, however, also intended to stick to her word and on that decision, accepted the position of Fifth Hokage, using a technique to heal herself even though it shortened her lifespan. Fighting back, the legendary three pulled out their trump cards, summoning the masters of all animals. Orochimaru’s gigantic anaconda, Manda, held off both Jiraiya’s toad, Gamabunta and Tsunade’s slug, Katsuyu on his own and was about to bite into Gamabunta when Tsunade herself drove Gamabunta’s huge dagger into Manda’s mouth. With nothing to be achieved, Orochimaru once again retreated, taunting that there was still another way to heal his arms and that he was immortal.

     Orochimaru then sent his personal bodyguards, The Sound Four, to sneak into Leaf with an invitation for Sasuke, who had suffered numerous losses. Each member of the group bore a Curse Seal, just like Sasuke and once they engaged him, they told him the seal had a second stage of release that they would help him acquire – IF he left Leaf behind and joined Orochimaru. However, while the temptation occurred, Orochimaru’s arms were now putting him through unbearable torture. Cracked, bleeding and crumbling away, Orochimaru needed a new body and couldn’t wait. Kabuto arranged for a royal rumble among selected prisoners of Orochimaru’s, telling them to fight to the death until one remained. Orochimaru approached the winner and transferred his mind into the entranced ninja, ending his agony at a price – the transfer has a three-year “recharge” period.

     When his bodyguards took too long, he sent out a solitary ninja as reinforcement – stricken by illness and almost crippled, Kimimaro Kaguya, the leader of the Sound Four (which was previously the Sound Five before his sickness). Moving by means he described more or less as mind over matter, Kimimaro held back the forces of Leaf sent to bring Sasuke back long enough for Sasuke to adapt to the seal and run to Orochimaru of his own (if somewhat warped) will. Although his bodyguards all perished in the mission, Orochimaru’s face lit up as his new body, bearing a fully released curse seal and the Sharingan, walked down the halls of his lair. In three years, his ambition would finally be realised…

     In the intervening years Orochimaru would escape the eye of Akatsuki and move bases. He, Kabuto and Sasuke would move every week to a new location, and only stay at that location for three days. Akatsuki member Sasori had utilized a memory block jutsu to place his subordinates in different ninja villages as a means to gather information and provide sabotage. One such memory block had been placed on Kabuto approximately five years earlier in the hopes of finding more information on Orochimaru's body transfer jutsu. Sasori had arranged to meet with Kabuto to gain updated information on Orochimaru. Sasori fell in battle before the meeting but Leaf ninja impersonated his Hiruko puppet form in the hopes of attaining the information meant for him. When Kabuto met the Leaf ninja Yamato and his team of Naruto, Sakura and Sai, he acted as Sasori's faithful servant. When Orochimaru appeared Kabuto jumped to Sasori's side but quickly revealed himself by cutting off Hiruko’s head.

     Orochimaru and Kabuto, who had actually had the memory block removed years earlier by Orochimaru, hoped to actually kill Sasori but now they were pitted against Naruto and the other Leaf ninja. Orochimaru taunted Naruto, comparing his strength with Sasuke’s. In return he received a gigantic slash from Naruto as the boy slipped into a rage enhanced by the Kyuubi’s chakra. Catching him in the face, Orochimaru was thrown back a considerable distance but showed little damage, simply repairing the mask he wore of his old face by swiping a hand across it, but complimented Naruto in a back-handed manner on how his behavior was that of a real Jinchuuriki. On the subject, he then revealed that Yamato was assigned to be Naruto’s new superior for a reason, he was an old experiment of Orochimaru’s to partially clone the First Hokage or at least his powers. Violating the grave of the First Hokage to steal his genetic material, he injected those genes into sixty children to try and reproduce the powers of wood manipulation and control over Bijuu. Yamato was the only one to live and grow up.

     Mentioning Sasuke again, Naruto’s anger grew and three tails of chakra sprouted. Faced with the unimaginable power of the Kyuubi, Orochimaru took an almost scientific approach to the situation, more curious than afraid. Berserk and out of control, Naruto cost Orochimaru his left arm. Standing on a tree, Orochimaru then opened his mouth and a pair of hands pried his jaw apart, pulling their owner free and a second Orochimaru stepped out from his mouth, with his arm restored. Mocking how Naruto was still weaker than Sasuke, a fourth tail began to appear, causing Naruto’s skin to peel away and leaving him a grisly feral fox but still only inducing curiosity and amusement in Orochimaru. Vomiting a huge amount of snakes out of his mouth, each one bearing a blade in their own mouths, Naruto obliterated them with a single claw swipe and dug his claws underground, attempting to catch Orochimaru in his bloody chakra hand.

     Orochimaru tried to halt it with another snake from his sleeve, but the serpent burned up on contact. Spitting out another Orochimaru that extending from the waist out, it attacked Naruto directly. Shockingly, Naruto sliced Orochimaru across the belly, but another swarm of snakes extended from the wounds, mingling and pulling each half back together even though Orochimaru now faced backwards. Snapping his neck and turning his neck 180 degrees, Orochimaru smirked.

     Naruto began to gather blood and chakra together into a huge sphere, directed by his tails. Even Orochimaru finally showed concern as everything coalesced into a perfect ball of highly dense chakra, convinced that such an attack would kill him outright. Swallowing the sphere and blowing up like a balloon, Naruto released it as a huge blast. In desperation, Orochimaru summoned three of his Rashoumon gates. When the blast subsided, nothing remained of the gates and Orochimaru lay half-buried and mangled. As everyone looked on in awe, Orochimaru’s head erupted from the ground on his snakelike neck, extending his sword into Naruto and extending the blade, pushing him far back but unable to cut him. Finally, Orochimaru began to feel fatigued and commenting his body was beginning to reject him. However, before he left, Sai appeared and told him that an official of Konoha, Danzou, had information to share with him.

     Spitting a sword straight into Sai, he mocked Sai’s lack of manners, seeing that Sai was actually an ink clone and invited him to show his true self. Ambushed by Kabuto, Sai was pinned down as Orochimaru inspected an envelope for him from Danzou. After reading the contents, Orochimaru commanded Kabuto to release Sai and bring him along. Aware that they were being followed, Kabuto suspected Sai of being less faithful than he was saying. Orochimaru decided that regardless, a corpse would be needed. Naruto and his team followed behind, but then came upon Sai, hanging limply by his neck from a tree.

     However, the corpse was a decoy, slowing the Leaf team down as they thought they came across their dead comrade. Kabuto then asked if Sai could be used in an experiment, having nothing else to do when not being a spy. Orochimaru told him to do as he pleased. Making it back to his lair, Orochimaru introduced Sasuke to Sai as a fellow turncoat. Sasuke reacted coldly, simply demanding Orochimaru teach him a new technique. Before departing, Orochimaru handed Kabuto the information Sai brought, the real names and other sensitive information of the ANBU members, to make a bingo book of their own.

     While they trained, Sai was found and revealed his true colors, assisting in an ambush on Kabuto. However, Orochimaru confronted the team reunited once more. In a moment of arrogance, he decided to let them live, since they were able to take on Akatsuki and had a common enemy, before pursuing Sai, who had gone after Sasuke. The lair came crashing down and the Leaf team stood face to face with Sasuke, who overpowered them all easily. About to use a devastating move, Orochimaru stopped him suddenly, with Kabuto reasoning that it would mess up their plans and possibly Sasuke’s revenge on Itachi. Under protest, the three retreated, eluding Naruto once more. Another month passed, with Sasuke becoming even more of an excellent ninja, incapacitating around a thousand ninja without killing a single one. Even Orochimaru admitted to himself that Sasuke’s efforts eclipsed his own at that age, but also that Sasuke lacked a certain level of ruthlessness.

     Later, Orochimaru lay in bed with his body finally faltering and Kabuto administered the strongest medicine he had available. Moments later Sasuke pierced the door with a blade of chakra, which extended to stab Orochimaru. Sasuke taunted that there was no more Orochimaru could teach. He then pinned Orochimaru’s arms to the wall and closed in to stab him. Before he could Orochimaru spat something out that landed behind Sasuke… Staring into a leviathan’s face, Sasuke realized it at last. Orochimaru’s countless experiments on his bodies and toying with the regenerative abilities his serpentine form gave him had reduced him from a human into a massive writhing collection of living snakes, capitalized by a gruesome, triple-jawed mockery of Orochimaru’s real face. Demanding his body, Orochimaru attacked Sasuke, who defended himself by shifting into the second stage of his Cursed Seal release and slicing Orochimaru’s body apart.

     Orochimaru could only scream his name in anger, thinking back to his younger days. Standing at the graveside of his parents, he found the molted skin of a white snake. The Third Hokage mentioned they were rare, considered a symbol of good fortune and rebirth and that the discovery of the skin there may be a sign that his parents had been reborn in new bodies. Orochimaru asked when they’d meet again, a question that couldn’t be answered.

     Back in reality, Orochimaru was cut into 3 pieces, but still alive, gloating that the snakes were even capable of poisoning the air. Lunging at Sasuke, everything went black and Sasuke found himself inside what looked like a void with nothing but an organic floor. Soon, a clump rose up from the floor, shaping into Orochimaru’s face, explaining the void was actually something like a dimension inside him where he transferred into the victim. More organic clumps rose and formed into snakes, writhing in and out of Sasuke’s body. Around him, the faces of his former hosts could be seen, trapped in the clumps. Orochimaru had another flashback, from his time in Akatsuki where he tried to take Itachi’s body. Pinned in place by huge nails in Genjutsu, Orochimaru raised his hands but Itachi swiftly sliced off his left hand, saying none of his techniques would make a difference before the Sharingan.

     Then Sasuke used the same nail Genjutsu on Orochimaru, Slowly, Sasuke began to alter the organic clumps, turning them from snakes into eyeless, dragon-like worms and darkening the shade of the clumps. Using the Sharingan, he began to assert control over the dimension, directing the monsters to eat the clump that contained Orochimaru. In disbelief, Orochimaru denied what was happening, claiming his immortality and destiny to understand and control everything. His final words, "I refuse…" were croaked out as everything finally faded to black. Sasuke then walked out of Orochimaru’s quarters, encountering Kabuto. Unsure of whom he was, Kabuto asked. Sasuke used the Sharingan to replay the events to him in an almost Tsukiyomi-like manner. Kabuto worried about his master’s death, but realized the truth, which Sasuke confirmed with the words "I’ve taken over". Orochimaru is no longer truly alive, but might exist as a subconscious thought in Sasuke’s mind.


Rock Lee

Physical Information
Age:
16
Sex: Male
Birthday: 11/27
Bloodtype: A
Height: 162.2 cm (Pt 1)
Weight: 47.5 kg (Pt 1)

Ninja Information
Registration ID: 012561
Hidden Village: Leaf
Rank: Chuunin
Team: Maito Gai, Hyuuga Neji, TenTen
Rock Lee is a determined ninja who seeks to overcome those called "genius" through sheer hard work. Characterized by his green jumpsuit and his admiration for his teacher and mentor Maito Gai, Rock Lee is a character known for his determination and fiery personality. Lee was picked on at the Ninja Academy because of his lack of talent with Ninjutsu and Genjutsu. This forced him to devote his time into honing his Taijutsu skills. His ability to use Taijutsu allowed him to graduate from the Ninja Academy at the age of 12. After graduation Lee was placed on a team with TenTen and Hyuuga Neji under Maito Gai.

     Lee would form a close relationship with his teammates and set his goal to defeat the "genius" Neji in battle. Early on when Lee and Neji sparred, Neji would always be the victor. Neji would attribute their difference in skill with his being a genius and Lee being a hopeless no talent. Lee and his sensei, Gai, shared a very close bond. Gai saw himself in Lee and offered to teach Lee his Taijutsu techniques, which the young man eagerly accepted. Gai taught Lee the idea of a "self-rule" to push oneself beyond their limits. This often took the form of boldly declaring how many of a particular exercise one would do, if that number wasn't met due to exhaustion, they had to do a large number of yet another strenuous exercise.

     Lee began to idolize Gai and changed his hairstyle and clothing to resemble his sensei. He would memorize every lesson, writing them in his notebook. Gai would help him realize his goal as a ninja, to show the world that he could be a great ninja without the ability to use of Ninjutsu or Genjutsu. His Taijutsu would also be helped by Gai teaching him how to open his celestial gates, the valves which regulate the flow of chakra. By opening these gates Lee gained more power, however with each gate opened Lee's life is put at risk. Lee has been able to open five of these gates. Lee was the only one on his team to be able to use the Omote Renge (Initial Lotus) through opening the first gate. Opening the third gate gave him the ability to use Ura Renge, which gave rise to Lee's "Konoha's lotus blooms twice" motto. Kakashi regarded Lee's ability to open five gates with amazement, as Lee was achieving more with his body than mere hard work alone should grant him.

     Over the following year he and his team would take on several missions. Early on Lee faired poorly during the assignments, but with his tutelage under Gai, he learned Gai's Renge techniques and became highly skilled in Taijutsu. This all thanks to his determination to prove himself, which Gai stated made Lee a "genius of hard work." A year after graduating Gai entered his team into the Chuunin Exam. By this point the three Genin worked well together and were eager to prove their skills against the rest of the competition. Before the exam Lee was attempting to enter the test room but he was stopped by two Genin, really two Chuunin examiners. Though it seemed as if he was being pushed around, he revealed his true speed when he stopped Sasuke and one of the examiners from getting into a fight. Lee's team chided him for not playing the part of the dumb Genin and he apologized.

     Lee then took notice of Sasuke's teammate Haruno Sakura. His instant infatuation was unfortunately one-sided, as Sakura was appalled by Lee's "bushy-brows". Lee said his feelings were serious, that he would protect her until he died. She dismissed him though as lame, much to Lee's sadness. After Lee saw Sasuke's display of his speed he was eager to test himself against the "genius" Uchiha. He followed Sasuke's team and challenged him to a fight. He also reiterated his love for Sakura, much to her anger. A jealous Naruto charged wanting to prove himself but Lee easily swept him aside.

      Lee then moved against Sasuke. Lee was able to handle Sasuke with his superior speed. Sasuke’s Sharingan was shown a major flaw. Lee explained that even if Sasuke could see his movements, if his body could not keep up with the superior speed, then there really wasn’t much advantage in seeing the movements. Lee moved to use one of his secret techniques, but he was stopped by Gai's turtle summon and Gai himself. Gai slugged Lee but recognized the youth's fiery passion with a tearful embrace. Lee would return to the exam and his team would breeze past the opening test and then proceed to the next test.

     During this time Lee split off from the group and come to the aid of Sakura and her teammates. Honoring his pledge to always protect her, Lee decided to take on the three Sound Genin by himself. Unfortunately being forced to protect three other injured ninja and also not knowing the abilities of the Sound Genin put him at a disadvantage. Lee knew that he might be forced to use Omote Renge, which Gai had stated required only be used to protect someone precious to him, Sakura was such a person. To that end Lee attempted to go all out and use Omote Renge against Dosu Kinuta.

     Kicking him into the air he prepared to bring him crashing back to the earth. Unfortunately Zaku Abumi quickly moved to nullify the move by injecting an air cushion into the ground. Dosu then used his sound attacks to damage Lee's hearing and equilibrium, making him vulnerable. Thankfully Neji and TenTen had gone in search for him. Various Genin groups converged on the battle to help Sakura's team including Neji and TenTen. Before Neji had to step in to dissuade them, the newly curse sealed Sasuke rose and sent then running. The injured Lee was passed off to TenTen for treatment. Showing her squads more physical approach she violently shook the young man to reawaken him. Lee could not believe he failed where Sasuke succeeded. When Naruto went to greet "bushy-brows" Sakura slugged him for insulting Lee and gave him her deep thanks. Lee's squad then took their leave and obtained their needed scroll, passing on the next portion of the exam.

     In the third test prelims, Lee eagerly watched the other matches, providing commentary and encouragement for his team. As time wore on Lee stated he no longer wanted to fight, which resulted in him finally being selected, much to his satisfaction. He explained it was simple reverse psychology. Lee's opponent was Gaara from Hidden Sand. The two men sized each other up and Lee quickly moved to strike Gaara. His opponent stood his ground though, letting his automatic sand protection deflect all the strikes. Lee soon retreated and looking to his sensei he saw his approval to remove his training weights, which were hidden under his leggings. Lee stated he was told to remove them only to protect someone precious but Gai said it was okay. The on looking crowd expressed confusion over how removal of some weights would change Lee's speed, they soon learned they were heavier than they appeared, crushing the ground when they were dropped.

     Lee then disappeared in the blink of an eye, launching kicks and strikes from every direction. His speed proved too much for the sand and he landed a direct hit on Gaara. As time wore on Lee's technique began to grow less and less effective, forcing Lee to use his special techniques. He attempted his Omote Renge on Gaara, however Gaara's weight was more than Lee expected, forcing him to launch multiple kicks against Gaara to give him the needed height. When he finally reached the apex he winced and wrapped Gaara up, and then brought him spinning back to implant in the floor.

     Gaara remained motionless and to Lee's surprise crumbled, revealing he had replaced himself with a sand replica when Lee winced. Lee was weakened from Renge's side-effects and Gaara went on the offensive. Lee thought back over how Gai believed in him and seeing his sensei look down on him with approval Lee was revitalized. He then began opening celestial gates to meet his way of the ninja, unleashing a torrent of strength and power to everyone's shock. Unfortunately such power comes at great risk to the user’s life. Lee began to move at blinding speed, pummeling Gaara throughout the air. However because of the strain his muscles began to tear. By unleashing his final Ura Renge attack, Lee smashed Gaara into the ground. Unfortunately Gaara's gourd gave way, dampening the impact on the ground. Lee fell to the ground weak and injured. Gaara himself was not quite finished though; raising his arms he grasped Lee's leg and arm with his sand.

     Though Lee tried to hobble away, the sand constricted, crushing his bones. When Gaara moved to crush Lee again, Gai stepped in to protect his precious student. Gaara was declared the victor and everyone was surprised to see Lee rise to continue the fight. Amazingly Lee was standing but he was actually unconsciousness; his drive to protect his way of the ninja made him stand. Medical ninja rushed to check Lee and made a horrifying discovery. His injuries were so severe from the gate usage and sand crushing that he had no chance for a full recovery, ending his ability to be a ninja.

     Lee was thereafter taken to the hospital for recuperation. While sleeping in his hospital bed, Gaara came to finish him off. Creeping into his room he was stopped by Shikamaru and Naruto. When Gaara began to lose it Gai arrived and told them to cut it out, that they could get their chance to fight in the third test. During his time in the hospital Lee would continue his training, though his body would falter him. Even when he was told to rest, Lee would sneak out to do his strenuous exercises. When the third Chuunin test was held Gai and Lee went to watch the matches. Lee reacted in surprise when he found out Naruto had beat Neji, but he sincerely felt happy that Naruto had beat the "genius". Lee would also be surprised when Sasuke revealed he had copied many of Lee's moves, attaining close to his own weighted speed. Lee would then be among those knocked out by Kabuto's Genjutsu when Sand and Sound launched their invasion.

     When the legendary medical ninja Tsunade returned the Leaf village to become Hokage, she examined Lee. She agreed that his time as a ninja was over. There were numerous bone fragments lodged within his spine and only she could perform the surgery which might allow him to continue being a ninja. The procedure was very high risk, with a chance of success of only 50%. And even if successful, Lee would have to go through extensive rehabilitation. Lee spoke with Gai about it and his mentor stated that Lee should undertake the surgery. And if Lee died during the procedure, he would as well, for he had made a self promise to train Lee to become a good ninja. And if that failed, his life was void. Lee decided to pull it all in Tsunade's hands, risking it all to regain his path as a ninja. Lee would see off his comrades when they set out to retrieve Sasuke from Hidden Sound and then head in for his surgery. The surgery was performed and Lee remained in the hospital to recover.

     His drive to help his friends though caused him to act rashly once again. Gathering up his weapons and the "medicine" he thought was left by Tsunade; he snuck out of the hospital and raced north towards his comrades. Using his speed and quickness he managed to catch up to Naruto who was in battle with Hidden Sound member Kimimaro. Lee told Naruto to go on ahead after Sasuke while he alone would face Kimimaro and his strange bone techniques. Coming at Kimimaro from all sides he was unable to get a solid hit on his opponent. Lee then asked for a moment of pause, and ingested the "medicine" left by Tsunade. Unfortunately Lee had grabbed Tsunade's sake bottle rather than his medicine. Back in Konoha the mistake was discovered by Tsunade and Gai. Gai revealed that in the past Lee had drank some of his alcohol, causing him to get into a quick drunken stupor. Gai told Tsunade that Lee is natural Suiken (Drunken Fist) user.

     Lee began to sway and fall, preventing any reliable prediction of attack. Lee and Kimimaro exchanged attacks but his opponent began to get the upper hand once again. Moving to use his Omote Renge he was once again blocked by bones. When Kimimaro moved in for the kill Lee himself was saved by yet another new entry to the battle, Gaara. Gaara stated he and his siblings had been sent by Tsunade to help the Leaf squad retrieve Sasuke. Gaara was emotionless but it was clear he wanted to make up for his past transgressions against Lee. Ever since Gaara had lost to Naruto in battle, he had changed his outlook on life. Protecting Lee, Gaara took the offensive against Kimimaro, unleashing wave after wave of Sand attack. Kimimaro was eventually forced to use his ultimate technique, causing a field of bones to rise from his body. Unfortunately due to his failing health this proved his end. With their opponent defeated Lee and Gaara rested and talked over the nature of loneliness.

     As the years passed Lee and his team eventually passed the Chuunin Exam. Lee himself would don a flak jacket, drawing his appearance even closer to that of his idol Gai. When a request came in from Hidden Sand to help rescue their Kazekage Gaara from Akatsuki, Gai and his team were sent to help. The team raced to Hidden Sand but was stopped by Hoshigaki Kisame. Kisame avoided most of their attacks and got the drop on the team and imprisoned Lee, Neji and TenTen in water prisons. Neji broke them free and Gai managed to eventually defeat their opponent.

     The team then proceeded on to Akatsuki's base. When they removed the seal guarding the cave, they were faced with doppelgangers that emerged from the earth itself. The copies used their same exact weapons and abilities. The team managed to eventually defeat the guardians and assist Naruto and Kakashi, who were chasing Akatsuki member Deidara. Lee's team stopped Deidara escape. Neji soon saw that Deidara planned to blow himself up. Hatake Kakashi had enough time though to send Deidara to another location using his Mangekyou Sharingan. With Deidara stopped, elder Sand kunoichi Chiyo was able to revive Gaara. They returned to Sand, then wished their comrades goodbye. Gai moved to carry the weakened Kakashi on his back on the return trip. Their appearance inspired Lee, who saw it as training. Offering Neji the opportunity to be carried on Lee's back, Neji refused, much to Lee's disappointment. The Leaf ninja then finally set out for Konoha.


Sai

First Manga Appearance: Chapter 281
First Anime Appearance: Shippuuden Episode 1
Name Meaning: Extreme, Genius, Planting, Loan, Rhinoceros, Companion, a weapon, Son, Navel, Smash, Fine
Hidden Village: Leaf Village
Rank: Unknown (Potential Chuunin)
Notable Features: Pale in appearance, insults others, has trouble with his emotions, can bring his paintings alive
Notable Quotes: "Your power... it is weak. Do you even have a penis?"

Personal Stats
Total Ability Unknown
Latent Potential Unknown
Luck Unknown

A young mysterious ninja, Sai became one of Naruto's teammates after the two and a half year time-skip. "Sai" is not actually the ninja's name either, being given that name by ANBU Root leader Danzou.

Click For Quick-Spoilers: Like other members of Root, Sai was an orphan who was taken in and molded to Root's ideals. That of a emotionless, highly trained killing machine. Early in his life he befriended another Root orphan and the two grew close. Sai eventually thought of him as a brother. Sai was a gifted painter and had an art book which featured his growth as a ninja in one half, and his brother in the other. In the following years Sai's brother died due to an illness, and Sai finished shutting himself off emotionally from the word. During this period he was tasked with many highly ranked missions. These included taking out foreign ninja who posed a problem to Konoha. Danzou was greatly impressed by Sai's skills and remarked he was the strongest of his generation.

Eventually Sai was set to be placed on a squad with Naruto by Danzou. Danzou tasked Sai with a secret mission, to align himself with Orochimaru to smooth the takeover of Konoha by the Sannin. The squad's formal goal was to travel to Hidden Grass to meet Sasori's spy which operated in Orochimaru's camp. Before they left Sai sought to test Naruto by using his Choujuu Giga technique. This technique allowed his ink to come to life and form imitations of the creatures which were painted. Naruto moved in close to attack Sai but Sai mocked Naruto, asking if he even had a penis. A joke which he often lobed towards his "brother" years before. Sai then fled and officially joined the team. Sai met Naruto and Sakura and let them know they were now teammates. He told them he was just testing Naruto, and was not impressed. Sai then also took the opportunity to insult Sakura's looks after she suggested he should be nicer to people.

Sai journey with the new Team 7 to meet Sasori's spy. When Orochimaru and Naruto finished their battle, Sai revealed he wanted to join Orochimaru, providing him with the identities of Konoha's ANBU as proof. He returned with the group to their compound and received additional instructions from his superior Danzou. Danzou planned for Sai to join Orochimaru and spy on him and then assassinate Sasuke, to terminate Orochimaru's next vessel. Team 7 caught up with Sai and demanded to know what he planned. Naruto explained how he would never give up on Sasuke and retrieve him. Sai was surprised by the words and saw a bit of his brother in Naruto. He decided to help them rather than kill Sasuke. He helped them search the compound and he found Sasuke first. Sai told Sasuke he planned to save him but Sasuke would have nothing of it, eventually fleeing with Orochimaru. Sai had managed to regain his team's confidence and become a respected comrade. Sai continued on missions with Team 7 and began to express himself with emotions, much to Danzou's ire.


Temari

Physical Information
Age:
18
Sex: Female
Birthday: 08/23
Bloodtype: O
Height: 159.3 cm (Pt 1)
Weight: 44.9 kg (Pt 1)

Ninja Information
Registration ID: 53-004
Hidden Village: Sand
Rank: Jounin
Team: Gaara, Kankurou, Baki 
Temari is the daughter of Yondaime Kazekage and the older sister of Kankurou and Gaara. Temari graduated from the Ninja Academy at the age of 12. At some point she bore witness to Gaara going into his full Shukaku mode, which shocked and sickened her. The village leaders began to resent the way their village was being treated by the Wind Country Daimyou. For that reason Suna planned to invade and attack Konoha with Hidden Sound. Little did they know that Sound was using Suna for their own ends, with Orochimaru killing Temari's father and then impersonating him to further draw them into war.

     Plans were in place for Gaara to be used in the invasion, so she and her team entered into the Chuunin Exam under their sensei Baki. When they arrived in Konoha other Leaf Genin confronted them about why they were there. Temari mocked them for not realizing there was a Chuunin Exam happening. She and her team took their leave and then went to the first test. The skillfully trained team easily made it past the first portion of the exam and then entered the second. Due to Gaara's Shukaku protection they breezed through this portion as well. When they sought out their scroll, Gaara took the forefront and easily killed the Rain ninja who attacked them. When Gaara's bloodlust began to get the better of him Temari pleaded with him to listen to her and calm down. He finally relented and they made it to the test finish in record time.

     In the third test preliminary matches of the Chuunin Exam, Temari was placed against TenTen. Utilizing her wind techniques, Temari was able to totally nullify TenTen's ranged weapon attacks and utterly defeat her. Tossing the unconscious TenTen aside Rock Lee jumped to his teammate's defense. He moved to attack Temari after she insulted TenTen's abilities, but Maito Gai stepped in to stop him from fighting before his time came. She and her siblings each won their preliminary match and they began their month long wait for the third and final test.

     In the third test Temari was placed against Nara Shikamaru. Shikamaru expressed his discontent with having to fight a woman and Temari took it personally. Both ninja were skilled strategists and the match went back and forth as each fighter felt the other out. Temari launched numerous slicing wind gusts and while Shikamaru hid from the shadows attempting to bind her with his shadow. Shikamaru's intellect won out in the end, as he used his shadow to maneuver Temari into position to capture and bind her. Though she thought she was going to lose, Shikamaru gave up because he was almost out of chakra.

     When the invasion was finally launched, Temari and Kankurou moved to escort the wounded Gaara outside the village to allow him to transform. On the way Sasuke gave chase and Temari stayed behind to delay him. She quickly caught back up with Gaara and watched as he rampaged in his Shukaku form. To her surprise though, he was fought evenly by Uzumaki Naruto, who had summoned Gamabunta to help him. Naruto's strong will to protect his friends won out though, and Gaara was defeated. Coming to her exhausted brothers aid, Temari and Kankurou fled. With Gaara's and Orochimaru's defeat the invasion failed and Suna retreated. In the following weeks Suna would bow to Konoha's terms and once again become their ally. This help would soon be needed when Uchiha Sasuke left Konoha to seek out power under Orochimaru.

     Tsunade dispatched a Genin team led by Shikamaru to retrieve Sasuke and also contacted Suna for help. With the Leaf in trouble with the Four Sounds, Temari and her siblings arrived and she chose to assist Shikamaru. She asked for information on her opponent Tayuya and when Shikamaru suggested retreat she said shouldn't be underestimated. Wiping blood on her fan she summoned Kamatari the weasel and scythes which cut down the forest and Tayuya. Shikamaru felt Temari was even scarier than his own mother and she gave an embarrassed grin back, stating she may have overdid it.

     While the Konoha ninja were saved from death, they failed to return Sasuke. The Sand siblings returned to Konoha with the injured ninja from Konoha. At the hospital Shikamaru expressed his fears for his friends and Temari chided him for his frailties. They soon took their leave and Temari told Shikamaru they'd be there if they needed help again. Shikamaru grinned and continued his bemused comments about women. A shortwhile later in an anime filler arc, Shikamaru got his chance to pay Suna back, coming to the aid of Temari when ninja abducted an academy trainee from their village.

     In the following years Temari passed the Chuunin Exam and advanced in rank to Jounin. During this time she began serving as a liaison to Leaf to help plan the Chuunin Exams with fellow examiner Shikamaru. When she learned that her younger brother Gaara had been captured by Akatsuki, she quickly returned home to lend help. She arrived too late and remained behind to guard her village when Naruto and his team began to track down Gaara's abductors. When Kankurou was sufficiently recuperated, she and he alongside numerous other Sand ninja raced to help Gaara. They arrived in time to see Chiyo bring him back to life. She was greatly relieved and later wished the Leaf ninja goodbye when they left Hidden Sand.


TenTen

Physical Information
Age:
16
Sex: Female
Birthday: 03/09
Bloodtype: B
Height: 155.6 cm (Pt 1)
Weight: 43.1 kg (Pt 1)

Ninja Information
Registration ID: 012573
Hidden Village: Leaf
Rank: Chuunin
Team: Maito Gai, Hyuuga Neji, Rock Lee
TenTen is the young weapon master in the series, preferring to attack her opponent from afar with various weapons. She is one of the less expanded upon supporting cast members. TenTen graduated from the Academy at the age of 12 and looked up to Legendary Sannin Tsunade, hoping to one day be as great a kunoichi as her. After graduation TenTen was placed on a team with Rock Lee and Hyuuga Neji under Maito Gai. TenTen would form a close relationship with her teammates, often training extensively with Neji. She would greatly admire Neji and come to strongly believe in his abilities. Over the following year her team would take on several missions. A year after graduating Gai entered his team into the Chuunin Exam. By this point the three Genin worked well together and were eager to prove their skills against the rest of the competition.

     TenTen and her team would breeze past the opening test of the Exam and then enter the second test. During this time Lee split off from the group and came to the aid of Sakura and her teammates. TenTen and Neji would find him injured from a battle with the Sound Genin. The injured Lee was passed off to TenTen for treatment. Showing her squads more physical approach she violently shook the young man to reawaken him. The squad then took their leave and obtained their needed scroll, passing on to the next portion of the exam.

     In the third test preliminaries, TenTen was placed against Sand kunoichi Temari. This opponent proved the worst match for TenTen. TenTen carefully measured out her opponent and began launching weapon after weapon at her target. Temari quickly and easily blew the incoming projectiles away though. TenTen's great accuracy was for nothing, as Temari used her cycling winds technique to launch TenTen into the air and slice her. The injured TenTen then fell through the air and landed back first on Temari's folder fan. Unconscious, TenTen was eliminated from the Chuunin Exam.

     Over the next month she would help Neji prepare for his match with Naruto. She then went to the exam stadium to watch Neji in his fight. Being familiar with Neji's fighting style and abilities, she was able to easily predict how Neji would react in the fight. She complemented Naruto's strength but felt there was no way Neji could lose to Naruto. She was surprised when he eventually did get defeated, and she acknowledged Naruto's strength. She and her team continued to train and she assisted Neji in pushing his abilities even further by focusing on the vision capacity of his Byakugan.

     As the years passed she and her team eventually passed the Chuunin Exam. When a request came in from Suna to help rescue their Kazekage from Akatsuki, Gai and his team were sent to help. The team raced to Hidden Sand and was stopped in a delay maneuver. In the River Country they faced off against Hoshigaki Kisame. Kisame managed to avoid most of their attacks, get the drop on the team and imprison TenTen, Neji and Lee in water prisons. Neji broke them free and Gai managed to eventually defeat their opponent.

     The team then proceeded on to Akatsuki's base. When they removed the seal guarding the cave, they were faced with earthen doppelgangers. The copies used their same exact weapons and abilities. The team managed to eventually defeat the guardians and assist Naruto and Kakashi, who were chasing Akatsuki member Deidara. TenTen's team stopped Deidara escape. Neji soon saw that Deidara planned to blow himself up. Hatake Kakashi had enough time though to send Deidara to another location using his Mangekyou Sharingan. With Deidara stopped, elder Sand kunoichi Chiyo was able to revive Gaara. They returned to Sand, wished their comrades goodbye and returned to Konoha.


Tsunade

Physical Information
Age:
53
Sex: Female
Birthday: 08/02
Bloodtype: B
Height: 163.1 cm (Pt 1)
Weight: 48.9 kg (Pt 1)

Ninja Information
Registration ID: 002302
Hidden Village: Leaf
Rank: Hokage
Tsunade is the granddaughter of the First Hokage. This alone granted her prestige and recognition, but she was also lucky enough to be placed under the tutelage of the God of Shinobi, the Third Hokage. With a high level of skill to start her off, plus the blood she carried, Tsunade had something else to boast about – she was the heir of the First Hokage’s necklace, an item worth enormous amounts of money. Continuing the heritage of it, she passed it to her little brother, Nawaki for his birthday. Nawaki, filled with joy, proclaimed that he would eventually become the Hokage. However, tragedy struck when Tsunade approached the scene of a raid one dark evening. Outside, Orochimaru and Jiraiya sat. Cold-heartedly, Orochimaru advised her that it would probably be better in the long run if Tsunade didn’t see Nawaki’s corpse. The necklace was returned to her.

     Several years later, Tsunade had grown up considerably and become an expert in the medical field, knowing several special Ninjutsu healing techniques as well as a variety of offensive moves, poisons and treatments. It was at a meeting that she proposed to the Third Hokage that the traditional 3-man cell be altered and carry a medic. It was also at this meeting that she met a young man who shared her views, named Dan. The two discussed their points with each other, slowly becoming friends and in time, lovers. Dan revealed his dream was to become Hokage, for the reason of supporting the ideals of a medic on the team. Tsunade presented him with the necklace. Only once more, on a mission, it brought nothing but bad luck. Dan was fatally wounded. Tsunade came to his aid, but too late. Despite her attempt to heal him, Dan died. Tsunade wept looking at the hands she had placed on his bloody chest. The necklace had claimed another victim and Tsunade was scarred deeper than ever.

     Blaming the rejection of the proposal to be the factor in Dan’s death and once again taking back her necklace, Tsunade parted ways with Leaf and wandered, forsaking the ways of the ninja and living a life of gambling, drinking and along the way, acquiring a young apprentice and pet – Dan's young niece Shizune as her aide and a pig with an astounding sense of smell, Tonton. Tsunade abused her powers of bodily manipulation by frequently changing her physical appearance to look like previous ages – sometimes a teenager, a mature lady, or somewhere in between. At 50 years old when she is introduced, she is indistinguishable from a woman 20 years younger than herself. However, the methods she used were not Genjutsu at all – her body physically alters to the condition she chooses to hold it in. By changing how she looks, Tsunade would often loan money from gambling and then use her abilities to make herself harder to track down. Despite this, Tsunade soon gained a reputation, for her desire to gamble was far greater than her success rate while doing so. Often losing huge amounts of money, Tsunade built up the nickname “The legendary sucker”.

     After the crippling attack led by Orochimaru on Leaf, the council approached Jiraiya and asked him to accept the position of Hokage. Jiraiya refused, but offered them a replacement in the form of Tsunade, who he promised to bring back with him. At the same time, the Third Hokage had given a parting shot to Orochimaru by stripping the soul from his arms and left Orochimaru in need of a physician. It was in a village overlooked by Tanzaku Castle that Tsunade met the first of her old team. Orochimaru explained the situation to her, clearly stating that he had killed the Third Hokage and his arms were in their current status because of that. However, Orochimaru left her a cruel offer. If she would restore his arms, he would bring back Nawaki and Dan, which he was unable to do without his arms working. Tsunade demanded to know what he would do after – Orochimaru told her he would finish the job on Leaf. The two agreed that the deal would only go ahead if Orochimaru would leave their home alone. Orochimaru gave her a week to decide; also suggesting she secured two corpses as sacrifices.

     Shortly after, Jiraiya and Naruto caught up with her and Shizune. Jiraiya presented her with the position of Hokage, but Tsunade rejected it outright, even going so far as to insult it. Her words angered Naruto and they stepped outside, where Tsunade claimed she would beat Naruto with just one finger. During the fight, she became distracted as Naruto’s image reflected the visage of Nawaki. Thrown off for a moment, Naruto used the advantage and attempted to use the Rasengan on her. However, Naruto had still not learned it completely and as promised, a single flick was all it took to floor him. It was then that Tsunade made a wager with Naruto – if he could fully perform the Rasengan in a week, she would give him her monstrously expensive necklace, an heirloom of the First Hokage. Despite how cool she appeared during the bet, Tsunade was being tormented inside, with the offers from Orochimaru and Jiraiya, one good and one bad. Like a devil and angel on each shoulder, Tsunade thought it over for a week. On the sixth evening, Jiraiya joined her for a friendly drink. At this point, Tsunade slipped a tasteless drug with no scent into Jiraiya’s cup. A short time later, she set off to the meeting place with Orochimaru…

     Arriving at the rendezvous point with him, Orochimaru stood waiting. As Tsunade reached out to take Orochimaru’s hands, Kabuto attacked her. Orochimaru then uttered that he expected a betrayal… and thanked Kabuto for the warning. Kabuto, being a medic himself, recognised Tsunade was not using any healing technique but a killing one instead. Tsunade then proclaimed that she knew Orochimaru too well and he would not fulfil his promise to stay away from Leaf. Also, bringing back her brother and boyfriend in such a cruel manner only for Orochimaru to then destroy their home would be spitting on their graves. Enraged, Tsunade then chased after the pair, destroying everything in her path with her inhuman strength. In an open field, Kabuto engaged her in combat, taking advantage of her phobia of blood by cutting himself and using a pill to stop clotting. Despite her handicap, Tsunade still fought against him, managing to scramble his nerves briefly but being cut up, on one occasion only surviving a near-fatal slice thanks to her chest padding a blow.


     While Kabuto was laying into Tsunade, he was interrupted by the arrival of Naruto, Jiraiya and Shizune. Jiraiya went for Orochimaru and battled him directly, still drugged and hampered while Naruto set himself on Kabuto. A fierce battle between them forced Naruto to use his trump card – an improvised Rasengan. However, as Kabuto was thrown backwards, he got in a quick move and shredded up Naruto’s internal chakra pathways and heart, disabling the Kyuubi’s tremendous healing power. As Naruto sunk down, Tsunade shook off her fear of blood for a moment and put everything she had into keeping Naruto alive, facing the nightmare of seeing her loved ones die again. However, Naruto weakly managed to reach up and touch her necklace, confirming he won the bet.

     At this point, Naruto’s Rasengan had caught Orochimaru’s eye, who panicked and lunged at him with his sword protruding from his jaws. Tsunade took the hit instead, right through the chest. Again, she suffered horrendous wounds protecting Naruto from Orochimaru, being showered with blood. But still, she would not move – instead doing the opposite, standing tall and stopping her shaking. With renewed determination, she accepted Jiraiya’s offer and claimed her place as Fifth Hokage. Against Shizune’s pleading, Tsunade then used a special technique: with mass amounts of chakra that she had accumulated and stored in the diamond shape on her forehead, she suddenly released it and caused her body to generate all the vital organs she had lost or taken damage to, instantly putting her body back into prime condition, although as Shizune added, the number of times a cell divides is limited, ultimately shortening Tsunade’s lifespan as her tissues grow back. Taking a smear of her own blood, Tsunade then began making hand seals, prompting Kabuto to return to Orochimaru’s side and Jiraiya to prepare himself too.

     The Legendary Three then each summoned their respective assistants, also the rulers over all other summoned animals of their kind – the slug, Katsuyu; the anaconda, Manda and the toad, Gamabunta. Manda proved to be an exceptionally deadly opponent, taking on both Katsuyu and Gamabunta at once as well as evading an incredible blast of fire from Gamabunta and Jiraiya. However, as Manda prepared to take a chunk out of Gamabunta, Tsunade pinned his mouth to the ground with Gamabunta’s dagger and turned on Orochimaru. As he and Kabuto retreated, Tsunade and the rest went back to the place where their first meeting happened. Once again, Naruto’s mouth caused them to step outside and he found himself awaiting the killer finger-flick. Instead, he felt Tsunade’s lips on his forehead and won her respect. With the necklace finally on a suitable owner that survived the curse, Tsunade returned with Naruto and Jiraiya as Hokage, but to trouble.

     One of her first acts was to check on people in the hospital, including Sasuke and Rock Lee. Lee’s case was very sensitive, saying that even with her skills, the operation to correct the damage he received while performing the Reverse Lotus was risky… with a 50% chance of him surviving it. Tsunade’s next act was when she found out another patient had gone AWOL – Uchiha Sasuke. With most of the Jounin and Chuunin unavailable, Tsunade assembled a small group led by Shikamaru and sent them after Sasuke. It was while they were away that she began the operation on Lee, who survived and immediately ran after the other Genin, mistakenly taking Tsunade’s bottle of alcohol with him instead of his medicine. As an additional precaution, Tsunade called in a debt from Sand, enlisting the aid of the Sand Siblings, Gaara, Kankurou and Temari in the mission. Despite their best efforts, Sasuke would not return and in deep sorrow, Tsunade was approached by Sakura, who enrolled as her understudy. For the next two and a half years, Tsunade instructed Sakura on medical techniques as well as passing on the secrets of her amazing physical strength.

     Tsunade’s current challenge lies in a man named Danzou, a powerful and shady man who was the political rival of the Third Hokage. His radical ideals caused friction with Tsunade, especially with the shadowy “Root ANBU” at his disposal and ambitious political agenda. As well as pressure from the council, Tsunade looks to be the most defiant Hokage yet.


Uchiha Itachi

Physical Information
Age:
20
Sex: Male
Birthday: 06/09
Bloodtype: AB
Height: 175.2 cm (Pt 1)
Weight: 57.1 kg (Pt 1)
Bloodline: Sharingan Eye

Ninja Information
Registration ID: 012110
Hidden Village: Leaf
Rank: N/A
Current: Missing-Nin
The young Uchiha Itachi was a skilled prodigy of Leaf Village. He graduated the Ninja Academy at age 7 and passed the Chuunin Exam at age 10. By age 13 Itachi had become a captain in the special ANBU squad. Itachi began to grow dissatisfied with his clan, feeling they were not using their gifts to their fullest extent. To test his potential he murdered his best friend Shisui. Doing so granted him the ability to use the Mangekyou Sharingan, a rare Sharingan form seen only in a few select clan members. To gain this form Itachi believed you had to kill your closest friend.

     After murdering Shisui, Itachi turned against his clan. Itachi felt that Sasuke could also gain the Mangekyou, and felt that murdering the clan would drive Sasuke to his absolute limits, to one day gain the Mangekyou as well.

     After wiping out his clan, Itachi fled Leaf and joined the Akatsuki Organization. Several years after leaving, Itachi returned with fellow member Hoshigaki Kisame. It was during this period it was revealed Akatsuki was seeking to obtain the Kyuubi demon from inside Naruto for their own ends. The two men began to do battle with Hidden Leaf ninja but when they began to be outnumbered, they fled.

     A short time afterwards, Sasuke learned that Itachi had returned to the village. So he took off after Akatsuki's target, Naruto. Itachi and Kisame began to track and follow Naruto and Jiraiya who had left Leaf Village to find the Sannin Tsunade. While Naruto and Jiraiya had stopped to rest at a hotel, Itachi surprised and confronted Naruto. It was then Sasuke finally caught up and faced his brother for the first time in years.

     Itachi easily defended himself against Sasuke and then forced him to relive the moment of his parents murder over and over again. Surprised that Sasuke had still been able to gain much power, Itachi dismissed his little brother’s growth. Jiraiya arrived and upon seeing that the situation was turning more dangerous, Kisame and Itachi decided to flee.

     Over the next few years the duo would continue to help Akatsuki accomplish their goals. When members Deidara and Sasori captured Gaara, Kisame and Itachi volunteered to help delay the ninja who had been trailing them. Itachi once again had the opportunity to fight both Kakashi and Naruto. Itachi revealed some new skills during this battle, including the ability to cast a Genjutsu just by having his target look at his ring finger. Naruto fell victim to the attack but was helped by Sakura and elder Sand ninja Chiyo. The combined skills of Kakashi and Naruto were enough to get the better of Itachi, with Naruto striking him with Odama Rasengan. It was quickly revealed to merely be a sacrificial host body. Itachi himself was miles away acting through the sacrifice in exchange for some small measure of his chakra.

     Their delay plan worked, and the group managed to extract Shukaku from Gaara before they could be stopped. Itachi and the group then took their leave. Itachi would continue to help Akatsuki and await the day when his younger brother would finally be powerful enough to live up to his high standards.


Uchiha Sasuke

 Physical Information
Age:
15Sex: MaleBirthday: 07/23Bloodtype: ABHeight: 153.2 cm (Pt 1)Weight: 43.5 kg (Pt 1)Bloodline: Sharingan EyeNinja InformationRegistration ID: 012606Hidden Village: SoundRank: GeninCurrent: Missing-Nin Sasuke, from the day he was born, was driven by pressure and expectations. Born as a member of the prestigious Uchiha clan, most of his childhood was lived in the shadow of his older brother, Itachi. His father seemed to favor Itachi, although his mother confided to him that she always heard him praising Sasuke out of earshot. Even so, the drive to be as good as or even surpassing Itachi caused Sasuke to grow up as a fine young ninja, admired by all the girls around him for his looks, skills and cool attitude. Sasuke’s happiest moment came when he finally mastered the Goukakyuu, a flame-breathing technique. The Uchiha clan’s symbol, a fan (Uchiha is alternate way of spelling Uchiwa, which means fan) represented fanning flames. Mastery of a fire technique by a child was seen as a rite of passage and progression to adulthood.

     However, soon after, tragedy struck. Sasuke returned home one evening after a day at the academy to find nothing but corpses in the compound of the Uchiha clan. Not a single person was left alive, even the elderly slaughtered. When Sasuke finally plucked up the guts to pull open the door to his own home, his fears were realized as he saw the bodies of his parents on the floor, with a third figure in the background. As the mysterious person advanced forward, Sasuke recognized him – it was his brother, Itachi. Thinking Itachi had done battle with the murderer and slain him, Sasuke rushed forward, yelling about the other murders, when Itachi suddenly cut him. With the coldness of an iceberg, Itachi unleashed a new ability – Mangekyou Sharingan. The Sharingan was a special ability of the eye unique to the Uchiha clan, but Itachi had triggered an even more potent form of it.

     Looking into Itachi’s eyes, Sasuke was shown the events as though they were videotaped, with Itachi mercilessly and indiscriminately butchering the entire clan, ending with his own parents. Sasuke collapsed into a puddle of his own drool, mentally crippled from the shock and unable to take the revelation. Itachi gave him words to live his life by. “Foolish little brother… if you want to kill me, hate me. Detest me. Run, run away and live in an unsightly way.” However, Sasuke wasn’t done yet. Itachi had one more thing to reveal to him, telling him to investigate a scroll hidden away in a place in the Uchiha compound.


     After that, Sasuke grew up with only two things in mind: First and foremost, vengeance against Itachi for the genocide. Secondly, the revival of that clan. Sasuke made no secret of his plans, even when he was introduced to his three-man cell of himself, Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno, led by the Jounin, Kakashi Hatake. His single-minded determination and exclusive drive led him to develop a superiority complex, respecting few and holding himself in an elitist view. Turning down the affections of Sakura and taking enjoyment from calling Naruto “dead last” due to his grades, he even took liberties with how he conducted himself around Kakashi.


     His first major mission was escorting an architect and bridge expert, Tazuna, to his home in the poverty-stricken Wave Country. Sasuke showed exceptional skill when attacked by two Chuunin-level ninja from Hidden Mist village. Later on in the same mission, during an exercise to improve tree climbing, he managed to stay ahead of Naruto for a good length of time. He also stood toe to toe for a while with Haku, an exceptionally dangerous ninja with extreme speed and dexterity. It was during this battle that Sasuke awakened the legacy of his clan, the Sharingan.


     Sasuke’s life would be changed forever when he took part in the Chuunin exam. During the physical test, he faced an unknown opponent that totally overpowered the whole team and finished by leaving Sasuke with an odd marking on his neck and shoulder area. He left, declaring his name to be Orochimaru and that Sasuke would eventually seek him. Sasuke fell into a deadly and painful sleep, barely kept alive by Sakura’s efforts. However, as another 3-man cell closed in on them, Sasuke’s timely awakening brought a frightening revelation; the mark had expanded, covering one side of his body in a black flame pattern and granting him purple aura of power. In a matter of minutes, Sasuke had gone from motionless to an avenger, yanking the arms out of the sockets of one attacker and scaring his teammates off. The power he now had command over even went as far as to make Sakura afraid, begging him to stop.

     In the preliminary exams, the mark proved to carry several strings attached. It wanted to activate and expand several times, forcing him to be aggressive and causing him pain. Sasuke had to rely on innovation to survive, utilizing the Sharingan’s unique copying ability to adapt one of Rock Lee’s own techniques to suit himself. Orochimaru, watching in disguise, looked on with glee. Immediately after, Kakashi escorted Sasuke to a location away from the arena to suppress the mark, or “Cursed Seal”. However, Kakashi could not purge it completely, only allowing enough protection to stop it spreading involuntarily. The barrier was only as good as Sasuke’s own willpower, though. Kakashi took another precaution with Sasuke, personally tutoring him upon witnessing the abilities of Sasuke’s next opponent, Gaara of the Desert.

     Sasuke kept up his rebellious attitude, making a last-second arrival for his match. Gaara enclosed himself in a protective shell, forcing Sasuke to use the move Kakashi had spent a month teaching him – a thrusting strike enveloped in chakra that screeched with a noise like a thousand birds flying when the blow was delivered, giving it the nickname Chidori (Chidori means One Thousand Birds in Japanese). It penetrated the shell and for the first time in his life, Gaara saw his own blood. The shock drove the already unstable Gaara over the edge and his siblings carried him away. Sasuke gave chase as in invasion from the forces of Hidden Sound, backed up by Sand’s soldiers, swarmed in. Sasuke pursued Gaara and dispatched his sister, Temari, but when Gaara recovered, he was more of a monster than Sasuke could handle, forcing Sasuke to release the Cursed Seal in order to keep up with Gaara. Even so, Sasuke still fought a slowly losing battle against the maniacal ninja, who now resembled more of a demon than a boy.

     For the second time, Naruto succeeded where Sasuke had failed, where Naruto first defeated Haku’s death trap and rescued them. The events to come in the following weeks would re-shape Sasuke’s life forever. The criminal organization, Akatsuki, infiltrated Hidden Leaf seeking Naruto. The pair that visited was composed of an ex-Hidden Mist assassin, Kisame Hoshigaki and the ex-Hidden Leaf mass murderer… Itachi Uchiha. When Sasuke caught word of the event, he raced to find Naruto before Akatsuki did. Sasuke burst in on them before they abducted Naruto, with his life’s goal in front of him. Racing at Itachi with a Chidori so intense it peeled the skin from his hand, he was in denial as Itachi simply swatted the killing blow aside and proceeded to beat Sasuke’s will out of him, telling him he still didn’t hate and loathe enough and that he wasn’t willing to take the extra step. As further “encouragement”, Itachi used the technique Tsukiyomi, part of the Mangekyou Sharingan’s abilities, to make Sasuke re-live the murder of their parents at Itachi’s hands over and over in a loop, a nightmare which he couldn’t awake from for what was three days in his mind.

     Sasuke was incapacitated and didn’t recover from the experience, lying comatose in a hospital for a long time. When he finally awoke, he was visited by Sakura and Naruto, shoving Sakura aside and demanding a battle with Naruto. No punches were pulled during the battle and Naruto threw many clones against Sasuke. Sasuke was launched into the air so he unleashed a fireball to wipe many of them out. But as the smoke cleared, Naruto formed Rasengan to strike the falling Sasuke. Sasuke answered with Chidori. Sakura threw herself between them, with Kakashi saving her by redirecting their strikes at a pair of twin water towers. Sasuke smirked at the “entry wound” his Chidori had caused in comparison to the size of Naruto’s, but was left feeling humiliated again when he saw the “exit wound” of the tower was far bigger than the one Chidori made. Kakashi soon warned him about what Chidori was taught to him for. Sasuke yelled back, justifying himself by asking Kakashi how he’d react if Sasuke suddenly murdered people close to him. Kakashi cheerfully replied that everyone close to him was already dead.

     The very same night, Sasuke was visited by Orochimaru’s personal representatives, The Four Sounds. After suffering another humiliating defeat by their leader, Sakon, Sasuke activated his Cursed Seal and attacked. He was knocked back just as fast, as Sakon revealed that he was not unique in receiving the seal, nor was it the limit of the seal’s power. Sasuke was left the option of joining them and siding with Orochimaru, or staying and being weak in Hidden Leaf. With the memory of his loss to Itachi and his inferiority to Naruto fresh in his mind, Sasuke marched under the moonlight to the gate of the village. Sakura blocked his path and tearfully begged him not to leave, spilling her emotions to him and confessing her love. Sasuke, with a smirk, told her she was as annoying as ever and knocked her out, turning his back on her and the village.

     Sakon explained to Sasuke that the seal would eventually grow naturally and grant him stronger power, but there was a way to speed up the process. However, the accelerated growth rate would prove too much for him and kill him, so they would provide a barrier that would merely cause him to fall into a coma for a number of hours. The awakening from it would be like the first time he woke up with the seal activated. Agreeing, Sasuke swallowed the pill Sakon gave him and fell unconscious, where the four placed him inside a casket and sealed it up with a powerful barrier spell. By this time, Sakura had alerted Hidden Leaf of his defection and a rescue party had been organized. With backup from Hidden Sand as a debt repaid, Hidden Sound’s escorts were defeated, but Sasuke had already burst free from the casket, with Naruto following him to the border of the country.

     The two battled fiercely, with Sasuke revealing the final thing that Itachi had told him – the requirement to activating the Mangekyou Sharingan was to kill your closest friend and that he had allowed Naruto to become such a person, now only an ingredient to gaining it. The two exchanged Rasengan and Chidori again, with the outcome being a stalemate. Naruto, realizing Sasuke was attacking with killing intent, attacked with all the force he could muster. Sasuke upped the ante, with the desperation to win resulting in his own Sharingan developing to take Naruto on. A stunning battle between the two resulted in them both digging down deep inside themselves, with Naruto being almost fully possessed by the monstrous fox inside him and Sasuke demonstrating the abilities of his Cursed Seal’s new infection level. The two put all their chips on the table and exchanged enhanced versions of Rasengan and Chidori…

     Sasuke awoke, with Naruto on his back and helpless. However, before he delivered the killing strike, he realized that he was simply obeying Itachi like a puppet. Instead, Sasuke left Naruto and continued on foot to Orochimaru’s location, proclaiming that he would seek power in his own way, spiting Itachi. As Orochimaru predicted, Sasuke came to him for power. However, Sasuke was unaware that Orochimaru was not training him for free, as Orochimaru desired the Sharingan for himself and planned to possess Sasuke’s body. An earlier complication meant that Orochimaru would have to wait around three years before he could possess Sasuke. In all likelihood, Sasuke would sink to any depth to accomplish his goals, even allowing Orochimaru to take over his body once he had killed Itachi.


     Over the following years Sasuke studied under Orochimaru's tutelage, greatly increasing his skill level. He would adopt the elite Sound foot soldier style of dress and also begin to wield a sword. When Orochimaru and Kabuto left their compound to kill Sasori, he chose to remain behind and wait patiently for Orochimaru to return and train him further. The duo returned with Sai, who had been secretly ordered to assassinate Sasuke by ANBU Root leader Danzou. Sai had other ideas though, he was determined to get Sasuke to return to Konoha and rejoin his friends. Sai had been changed by Naruto and he was determined to help his teammate save Sasuke. Sasuke would have none of this though and destroyed the room to get better freedom of movement. He was then to see his second surprise, Naruto and Sakura, who had journeyed to the compound to save him. Sasuke mocked Naruto and stated he didn't kill Naruto before on a whim, but he will do so now for that same reason. A determined Naruto merely acknowledged that to live up to his own dreams, he can't lose to Sasuke again.

     Sasuke goes for a killing blow but Sai moves to stop him. Sasuke then used his new Chidori Nagashi move to stun everyone. As he stares at Naruto we learn he too can now see the Kyuubi Prison. Inside Naruto, the demon offers his surprise at seeing one from the cursed bloodline again. He states he hasn't seen someone like that since Uchiha Madara, but Sasuke doesn't recognize the name. Back in the real world team leader Yamato attempts to imprison Sasuke, but he cuts through the barrier. He moves to finish them all off but Orochimaru arrives and stops him. The Sound trio then take their leave, and Naruto is left having failed to save his friend once again.

     Over the next month, Sasuke’s skill grew to levels where he could eventually engage small armies of ninja in combat and drop them without a fatal move. Orochimaru came to acknowledge that even as a boy, he was nowhere near the level Sasuke was at currently. However, Sasuke grew frustrated as Orochimaru also told him he lacked a certain kind of ruthlessness. Later, as Orochimaru lay in bed, weakened, Sasuke cut down his door and attacked him with a new technique, shaping the energy from Chidori into a long blade. Sasuke announced his intention to demonstrate the ruthlessness he knew by killing Orochimaru, since even the legendary ninja no longer had anything left to teach him. As Sasuke prepared a fatal blow, Orochimaru spat something out behind Sasuke, who turned to see his real opponent.

     Behind him was an amalgam of writhing white serpents, terminating in a giant head resembling Orochimaru’s and topped with messy black hair. The experiments he had performed had made Orochimaru lose his human shape, forcing the need to transfer into Sasuke instantly. Orochimaru’s resilience and resistance to injury forced Sasuke to use the Cursed Seal at level 2, taunting Orochimaru about how worthless he was before an Uchiha and how the only way that a snake like him would ever rise into the sky is in the talons of a bird of prey. With that, he sliced Orochimaru’s body up, seemingly killing him. A moment later, he began to feel dizzy. Orochimaru’s decapitated head gloated at how the poison of the snake was vaporous, then lunged forwards, as if to devour Sasuke. Next, Sasuke found himself in what appeared to be a fleshy landscape where Orochimaru sat inside a clump of tissue, near several others which bore the faces of his previous host bodies.

     Orochimaru informed him that it was the dimension where he transferred himself into his new hosts as the floor began to turn into snakes and swarm around and over Sasuke. However, Orochimaru found himself trapped in a paralyzing Genjutsu as stone stakes drove into and around him. Sasuke retorted that the Sharingan eye would make every technique used against it fail, and then began to turn the dimension against Orochimaru, consuming him and reversing the technique. Kabuto, alerted to the fight, ran to see what had happened. Upon discovering the body of Orochimaru, Sasuke used the Sharingan to display what had happened. Suspecting Orochimaru’s death initially, Kabuto’s fears were denied as Sasuke stated “I’ve taken over”.

     Sasuke then set about gathering key personnel who either served Orochimaru or were his captives - the heir to the Mist’s Seven Swordsmen, Suigetsu, a man with a watery body; Karin, a jailer for Orochimaru with the ability to locate people by detecting their chakra signature; then Juugo, a psychologically unbalanced individual who came to Orochimaru for help but became exploited for his body’s mutative mechanisms, which would eventually be harvested, cultured and custom modified into what was now known as the Cursed Seal. Despite the reactions from his new recruits - Suigetsu’s arrogance, Karin’s affection and Juugo’s murderous instability - he managed to convince them into becoming a unit with a goal in mind, to track down Itachi and finally kill him. Using Karin as a guide, Sasuke tracked him down but eventually separated from his team, running into Akatsuki members Deidara and Tobi.

     Sasuke first lunged at Tobi and delivered what appeared to be a fatal strike. Tobi got up, shaken and scared but unharmed. Deidara toyed with Sasuke, using his lowest level of explosives first but found out that Sasuke's speed was greater than he imagined. Deidara then upped the ante with a huge dragon, with Tobi supporting through landmines. Once again, Sasuke comes out on top by using his second stage of the Cursed Seal's release to take to the air. Although Deidara managed to cause an explosion that tore Sasuke's wing off, Sasuke soon retaliated by using his own sword as a launch pad, shredding the wing from Deidara's dragon and using a shuriken attached to wire to plunge Deidara into his own minefield. Enraged and wounded, Deidara began to lose his confidence. He ascended in air on a clay bird and then spewed out a gigantic version of himself, which burst into thin air; screaming in victory as Sasuke began to be eaten away.

      The new attack actually released countless miniscule explosives that take the body apart on a cellular level. However, his victory was short-lived as he found out the dissolving Sasuke was the result of a Genjutsu illusion. The real Sasuke was holding him in place with a Chidori and seeing his attack through the Sharingan identifying the chakra within. As Sasuke planned to interrogate Deidara, he was suddenly trapped by the real Deidara who emerged out of the bird to pin him. Deidara revealed a previous encounter with Itachi forced him to train in Genjutsu resistance in one eye. Sasuke was then pulled into another trap of Deidara's, which surrounded him with clay. As Sasuke saw his tomb with the Sharingan, Deidara lamented his low chakra and ever-decreasing arsenal. Suddenly, Sasuke ripped out of the clay structure and moved to land another Chidori. In response Deidara made another huge explosion and resulting in both he and Sasuke landing hard on the ground, allowing Deidara to apparently win. However, Sasuke turned out to be alive and well again, explaining his resilience – Deidara's hand seals all revealed his jutsu to be Earth elemental, all weak to lightning; Sasuke's forte. When hit by the electricity from Sasuke's arsenal of Chidori variants, every single bomb became defused.

     Deidara launched one final attack, the most powerful yet seen. Stripping his clothing from his chest, revealed another mouth, sewn shut. Painfully removing the lacing that kept it gagged, Deidara stuffed a huge chunk of his clay into it and vein-like darkened patterns began to spread out over his body. The mouth began to take on a life of its own and light erupted violently from it and Deidara became his own idealized form of art, an explosion that seemed inescapable. Sasuke barely made it out alive, summoning Orochimaru's familiar, Manda, forcing him into submission through Genjutsu and hiding inside his body. When the explosion was over, Suigetsu summoned Manda and Sasuke slid out of his charred hide. Manda, while mostly intact physically, had taken too much damage to go on living and cursed Sasuke with his dying breath.

     Team Snake then rested up for a short time, with more of the usual antics – Suigetsu arguing with Karin, who continued her plans to get an intimate moment with Sasuke, even going as far as using their money for supplies on perfume and plotting to have her way with him as Suigetsu and Juugo slept. During his time resting, Sasuke mused to himself that by counter-absorbing Orochimaru, he'd also gained the resilience that granted Orochimaru his vitality. Their downtime was short-lived, however, as Karin detected the incoming party from the Leaf village. Sasuke chose to ignore them and continue for Itachi. Karin and Juugo also prepared a diversionary tactic to slow Leaf down by scattering some of Sasuke's clothing, which Akamaru was homing in on through smell.

     Sasuke’s pursuit finally lead him to Itachi, where the two engaged in battle after some nostalgic small talk. Sasuke quickly gained the upper hand and dropped Itachi quickly with yet another variant of Chidori. However, Itachi's body appeared to have been another illusion and dispersed into a murder of crows, telling him their fight would conclude on more familiar turf, another compound used by the Uchiha. As Sasuke resumed his chase, he ran into one of Naruto's copies tracking him. Without hesitation, he pierced it with Chidori, commenting that Naruto never gives up.

     By this point, it can be claimed that Sasuke's mastery of Chidori is absolute, now able to be shaped into a sword that can split into multiple blades, shoot a small needle-like projectile, expand it as an offensive and defensive electrical field and be used more times than his original limit of two times per day. His control over the Cursed Seal is also on a level with the seal's original progenitor, Juugo, being able to partially transform himself to the second stage without engaging the full release. His power is easily comparable with Kimimaro as a single stare will intimidate Juugo into abandoning his murderous rages. In addition to these impressive powers, he has the regenerative properties of Orochimaru's experiments, substituting the torn and tattered part of his damaged wing in the fight with Deidara with them. Most disturbing of all, though, is his disregard to his former friend, using a lethal strike on him without a second thought. Orochimaru once claimed Sasuke lacked ruthlessness – the spontaneous Chidori finally proves once and for all Sasuke's training with him is complete, even though he acknowledges that he killed Orochimaru in a weakened state; a true act of ruthlessness indeed.


Uzumaki Naruto

Physical Information
Age:
15
Sex: Male
Birthday: 10/10
Bloodtype: B
Height: 147.5 cm (Pt 1)
Weight: 40.6 kg (Pt 1)

Ninja Information
Registration ID: 012607
Hidden Village: Leaf
Rank: Genin
Team: 7 - Haruno Sakura, Sai, Hatake Kakashi/Tenzou, Uchiha Sasuke (Former)

Uzumaki Naruto was born twelve years before the series start to Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato, the Fourth Hokage. Within moments of having his umbilical cord cut, he was made the vessel for the Kyuubi fox demon attacking Konoha. The Fourth Hokage was able to finally end its destruction when he used the Shiki Fuujin technique to seal the demon within the body of the newborn Naruto. The Fourth lost his life, but he made sure that the Kyuubi would help Naruto while sealed away. Naruto would know neither of his parents, as Kushina was unable to raise her son for some unknown reason.

     The imbuing of the Kyuubi made Naruto a "Jinchuuriki," a person with a tailed demon sealed within his body. As a side effect, Naruto would gain "whisker" marks on his cheeks. The hope of Jinchuuriki creation is for the human and the tailed beast to resonate together, thereby granting the human some measure of the demon's immense power. There were nine demons in total, known by their number of tails. Naruto got the nine-tailed and most powerful of the demons. The seals the Fourth used would ensure the Kyuubi would lend some of its power to Naruto. The seals would allow the Kyuubi chakra to leak back into Naruto's own chakra. This allows Naruto to draw on the chakra of the Kyuubi and still keep the Kyuubi itself imprisoned. The biggest benefits are the way it grants Naruto some measure of the Kyuubi's immense chakra and heals most any wounds he receives. Please see Naruto's entry in the Jinchuuriki Guide for further information.

     Naruto's father hoped the village would look on Naruto as a hero for containing the Kyuubi demon. Unfortunately quite the opposite happened; as Naruto grew the village began to see Naruto as the demon itself. The adults who knew the real story of the Kyuubi looked down on Naruto, and their feelings were passed down to their children who didn't even know he was the Kyuubi vessel. This resulted in Naruto living a lonely life as he was often shunned when seen in public. It is unclear what happened to Naruto's parents, what is known though is that he was an orphan who was raised by the village itself, under the direction of the Third Hokage who resumed his position after the Fourth died in battle. When Naruto was old enough he was given money for living and an apartment to live in. He was also enrolled in the Konoha Ninja Academy. It is unknown at what age he entered the Academy, but he attempted the graduation exam several times before those of his same age group.

     Naruto grew to resent his outcast status in the village, turning to pranks to gain the attention of the other villagers. He would slack off in school, much to the dismay of his teacher Umino Iruka. Naruto would sometimes play hooky with other slackers in his class like Nara Shikamaru, Inuzuka Kiba and Akimichi Chouji. For the most part though, Naruto had no real friends. He would also feel annoyed by his fellow classmate Uchiha Sasuke, who was loved by all and always got the best grades. When Sasuke's clan was wiped out the two young boys shared a moment in their loneliness when Naruto saw Sasuke sitting by the river. As Naruto grew he saw Sasuke as a rival, especially for the affection of Haruno Sakura. Sakura was a fellow classmate of Naruto's who he had a crush on. Unfortunately Sakura found Naruto annoying and instead had eyes like most girls her age on Sasuke.

     Because everyone viewed Naruto negatively, he yearned for respect and admiration, the best way to gain that would be to become the village Hokage. Unfortunately Naruto had trouble mastering even the most basic of Ninjutsu, like the Bunshin technique. When the graduation exam arrived once again, Naruto was asked by his teachers Iruka and Mizuki to do the Bunshin test, unfortunately he managed to make only one pitiful Bunshin. Once again he was held back while those around him graduated. Mizuki had his own plans for Naruto though, confiding that there was another way to graduate. Unfortunately Mizuki was manipulating Naruto for his own ends, to gain access to the scroll of sealing, which held the secrets to many forbidden jutsu. Naruto stole the seal from the Third Hokage's office and managed to learn one of its jutsu, Tajuu Kage Bunshin, a technique which created multiple clones with real substance in exchange for an equal part of the ninja's chakra. The village ninja were sent to track down Naruto but Iruka managed to find him first.

     Iruka couldn't believe Naruto's actions and he was surprised that the normally jutsu challenged Naruto could learn a jutsu from the scroll. He also soon learned that Mizuki was behind Naruto's actions. Mizuki further manipulated Naruto, revealing to him why the village shunned him, that he was the vessel for the Kyuubi Demon. Naruto reacted in fear and anger and fled, both men gave chase and when Mizuki went to kill Naruto with a giant shuriken, Iruka stepped in the way to take the blade for him. Iruka told Naruto he led a lonely life too, losing his parents to the Kyuubi he acted stupid to get attention.

     Naruto fled and they gave chase. Iruka stated he believed in Naruto and Mizuki moved to kill him. Naruto arrived to save him and his emotions boiled. Using his new technique, Naruto created numerous Kage Bunshin which pummeled Mizuki for hurting Iruka. The Third Hokage watched from afar and realized Naruto was developing in interesting ways. Iruka was amazed by his growth and gave him a reward, the headband from his forehead. He congratulated Naruto on graduating from the Academy. Naruto began to cry and hugged Iruka after achieving his first step on the path to Hokage.

     Shortly thereafter Naruto and Iruka would go and have a meal at Naruto's favorite place to eat, Ichiraku Ramen. He would also be introduced to the Third Hokage's rambunctious grandson Konohamaru. Naruto would not be impressed by Konohamaru's bad attitude and hit him for his actions. Konohamaru was shocked and wanted Naruto to be his boss and teach him his secret pervy adult weakening "Sexy Techniques". Naruto would teach Konohamaru and the two boys would become fast friends. With Naruto now a Genin he was placed in a squad under the leadership of a Jounin sensei. Naruto waited with eager anticipation to learn who his teammates were. He rejoiced when Sakura was placed on his team, and felt miserable when Sasuke was too. The group then waited for their sensei, who was late. The sensei eventually arrived, Hatake Kakashi, who appeared to have a rather droll personality, being unimpressed with his new squad.

     Kakashi revealed he had his own test for the Genin; they would have to take two bells from him. If they failed to take them in the allotted time, they would be sent back to the Academy. The Genin began to go after Kakashi and the bells in their own unique way, and all failed, Naruto especially. He was easily caught in Kakashi's traps and then tied up when he attempted to cheat. Kakashi chastised them for not seeing the truth behind things, and that if they fed the tied up Naruto they would fail his test. Knowing that a hungry Naruto did them no good, they fed him. An angry Kakashi then appeared and demanded to know why they went against his wishes, they stated that it was like he said; they were a team and had to act as one, no matter what the consequences. His attitude then did a complete 180 and he congratulated them on being the first Genin to past his test; telling them that those who didn't take care of their comrades were worse than trash. The next day they then began their missions as Team 7.

     Unfortunately the missions of a Genin team typically consist of menial labor. Naruto began to grow frustrated and begged the Third Hokage for a more exciting mission, he then got his wish. Tazuna, a drunken bridge builder from the Wave Country asked to be escorted back to his home. Team 7 set out and Kakashi quickly realized they were being followed. Two missing-nins appeared to kill Kakashi and then moved to kill Tazuna. Sasuke and Sakura moved to protect him and Naruto could only watch on in fear. Kakashi then jumped in to subdue them. He congratulated Sakura and Sasuke and Sasuke asked if the scaredy-cat Naruto was okay. Naruto did not take kindly to being called names and was angry at himself for freezing up like he did. He then took a kunai and stabbed his hand, drawing blood. He made a promise to himself and the others that he would never be afraid and make the same mistake again.

     They continued on their journey and were soon attacked yet again, this time by Momochi Zabuza, a missing-nin who wielded a large head-cleaving sword. Kakashi began to do battle with Zabuza but was soon imprisoned. Zabuza moved to kill Tazuna and Naruto went to flee against the deadly foe, feeling pain from his stabbed hand he reaffirmed his promise to never run away. He then created a large number of clones to subdue Zabuza but they were easily thrown away. Naruto then threw a large windmill shuriken to Sasuke. Moving in unspoken planning they tricked Zabuza with a real windmill shuriken and fake shuriken which was actually Naruto, which forced Zabuza to end his imprisonment of Kakashi. Kakashi and he then did battle and when Kakashi moved in for the kill, a masked boy took Zabuza out. Naruto was angry and confused that a boy his age could be so powerful. The group then escorted Tazuna home.

     Tazuna's grandson Inari had a poor view of heroes. His stepfather was killed by Gatou, Zabuza's employer, for trying to stop him from taking over their country. Naruto reacted harshly to Inari's hopeless outlook. Kakashi explained to Inari that Naruto once felt useless too, but he never gave up and cried about it. With their mission now more dangerous, Kakashi had his students train. Showing them how to focus their chakra, he directed them to climb trees with only their feet. Sakura quickly mastered it while Sasuke and Naruto had problems. The two boys constantly trained in their desire to one-up the other and soon mastered it. While resting Naruto was approached by an unmasked Haku, the mysterious boy from earlier. Haku asked Naruto why he trained so hard and if he had any precious people in his life. He explained it was the desire to help these people which drove one to become stronger. Haku took his leave and he and his boss soon moved to strike Tazuna again.

     Because Naruto was so tired he was left at Tazuna's house, when he awoke he rushed to join his comrades. When Gatou's men moved to kidnap Inari's mother, Naruto returned after he realized what was going on. Appearing at the last instant he saved both Inari and his mother, and Inari was inspired to then do what he could to help. He rushrf out and tried to rally the frightened villagers to finally rise up against Gatou. Back at the bridge Naruto's team began to battle Zabuza and Haku, and Sasuke fight Haku one on one, becoming trapped in his deadly mirror prison. Naruto soon arrived and unfortunately chose to save Sasuke inside the prison rather than destroy it from without. The two men attempted to stop the quickly moving Haku as he passed from mirror to mirror throwing kunai. Sasuke began to get the feel of Haku's movements and in a surprise move, jumped in front of a fallen Naruto when Haku moved in for the kill.

     Sasuke was pierced with needles and Naruto could not grasp why the young man sacrificed himself for the one he always insulted. With emotions raging inside Naruto, the seal holding the Kyuubi back began to weaken, pouring forth from within him. This powerful red chakra turned Naruto feral, growing out his teeth and nails and making his hair go shaggy. With his new found power and speed he quickly captured the moving Haku and laid a powerful strike into his face, knocking him outside the mirror prison, destroying it. Naruto then charged to kill Haku but stopped as the young man's mask fell away, revealing the youth Naruto had spoken with earlier. With his sanity regained Naruto demanded to know why he was helping Zabuza, and Haku explained how he had come from a wiped out bloodline. Naruto could not understand how he could have been twisted by following a precious person so steadfastly. Seeing his usefulness to Zabuza at an end he asked Naruto to kill him. Naruto moved to do so but Haku quickly realized Zabuza was in trouble, he rushed to his aid and sacrificed himself. Zabuza was soon beat by Kakashi and Gatou arrived with mercenaries to finish them off. Zabuza managed to kill Gatou in one last act of redemption, and when the mercenaries moved to kill the rest of them, Inari arrived with help from the villagers, who had finally rallied to his cause. The mercenaries fled and Naruto went back to his team. He then soon discovered that Sasuke wasn't dead after all, Haku felt some measure of compassion and didn't go for the killing blow.

     Looking back at the fallen Haku and Zabuza, it began to snow. Naruto began to cry, explaining how Haku had come from a snowy village and had found a precious person in Zabuza. Team 7 then buried Zabuza and Haku. Naruto promised to be a different type of ninja who didn't bury his emotions. He would use his drive to protect his precious people to get stronger. They finally took their leave from the Wave Country and Tazuna finished his bridge, which he named the Great Naruto Bridge in honor of the young man who helped inspire Inari and in turn them to finally stick up for themselves.

     Team 7 would return to Konoha and undertake even more mundane missions. However it was soon time for the Chuunin Exam. Kakashi had been impressed enough that he chose to enter his team into the exam, an unheard of move for a rookie team. Two other rookie teams were also entered, Teams 8 and 10. Naruto was eager to prove himself and the squad headed to the Academy for the first test. Before they could enter the classroom they saw two older Genin blocking the entrance, really Chuunin Examiners in disguise. They noted that it wasn't actually the real classroom, it was Genjutsu. They also met another team, lead by the previous year's number one rookie Hyuuga Neji. Neji ignored Naruto and instead focused on Sasuke, much to his anger. When Neji's teammate Rock Lee later challenged Sasuke, a jealous moved to attack him first. Lee easily swatted Naruto away and battled Sasuke. Lee's sensei Gai showed up and chastised him. The team then went to take the first test.

     When they made it to the exam room an excited and boastful Naruto yelled his arrival to the other gathered Genin. His fellow rookie Genin tried to quiet him and another elder Genin named Yakushi Kabuto came to warn him to be careful. Kabuto explained how the test worked and provided data on other test takers. Naruto and his team then sat down for the first test. The first test was a written exam demanding the ninja have a wide variety of knowledge and practical experience as a ninja. The point of the test was to make the Genin realize they had to cheat to proceed. Unfortunately Naruto failed to realize this and began to panic. When fellow rookie Genin Hyuuga Hinata offered Naruto the chance to cheat off her, he considered taking her offer. He did not know whether to trust her though. Naruto didn't realize that Hinata had long had a huge crush on him. Naruto reaffirmed himself though, stating that an awesome ninja like him didn't need to cheat.

     With time run out and none of his nine questions answered, Naruto had to rely on answering the final question. Examiner Morino Ibiki offered the remaining Genin a stark choice, if you answer the question correctly you'll proceed, if you do not you can never take the Chuunin test again. Quitting now allowed one to take the test again in the future. Many Genin decided to leave then and Naruto appeared to consider the matter raising his hand. Sakura thought it would be best to have their team withdraw to fight another day but Naruto screamed out that he would never give up. Even if he had to remain a Genin forever he would never back down. To the confusion of the remaining Genin, Ibiki congratulated them on passing the first test. The will to go on and take that leap of faith showed their resolve to be courageous and make it through any hardship which a mission could throw at them. Naruto and his squad then moved to the second test.

     The next test took place over the next week and forced the squad to obtain another scroll from another team. Naruto was eager yet again to prove himself. As the team rushed into the exam area, Naruto excused himself to use the bathroom. In his place a Rain Genin impersonated him to take their scroll. By the time the Rain Genin was driven off, they were under watch by yet another ninja, a Grass ninja who soon separated the real Naruto from his squad with a huge wind gust. Naruto was then attacked by a gigantic snake, which soon swallowed him. Naruto was in a bad spot being slowly digested until he used Tajuu Kage Bunshin to explode the snake's stomach and escape. When he came back to his team, he found Sasuke in a fierce battle with the Grass Genin. When Sasuke reacted in fear to his opponent Naruto struck him for his cowardice. He then moved to fight the Grass ninja.

     When the Grass ninja and his summoned snake moved to get Sasuke, Naruto stopped it as his Kyuubi powers emerged. The Grass ninja quickly realized who Naruto was. Naruto asked Sasuke what kind of scaredy-cat he was. Before he could do more, the Grass ninja struck, putting another seal over his Kyuubi seal, disrupting his ability to access that power. The Grass ninja was revealed to be Orochimaru, a Leaf village missing-nin. He had set his sites on Sasuke and the two did battle. Naruto remained unconscious and Sasuke was soon knocked unconscious too when Orochimaru put his curse seal on him.

     Naruto was taken care of by Sakura and he awoke a short time later to see the outcome of a battle between Sakura and other Leaf Genin against the Sound Genin. The team rested and began to worry about how to gather their needed scroll in the short time remaining. Naruto theorized they could open their scroll, going against the rules, and then fake their needed scroll. Before he could carry out his actions Kabuto arrived to warn them not too. With Kabuto's help they proceeded to the tower to try for another scroll.

     On the way they got caught in the Genjutsu of the Rain Genin who had attacked earlier in the test. They did battle and made use of Naruto's stamina to trick the Rain, knock them out and get their scroll. With the needed scroll they completed the test. At the central tower they met Iruka who congratulated them and talked about what it meant to be a Chuunin. The group then proceeded on and saw that their fellow rookies also made it. The Third Hokage explained the purpose of the test and stated since so many who passed, a preliminary tournament would be held. The Genin would be randomly paired against another, with the winner advancing. Sasuke spoke of how eager he was to test himself. And thinking over the strength shown by Naruto in the last test, he added that he couldn't wait to fight Naruto as well. Their compatriot Kabuto, really Orochimaru's spy, took his leave and he wished them luck.

     Naruto watched the battles and eagerly awaited his turn. It soon came when he was placed against Inuzuka Kiba and his dog Akamaru. Kiba remembered how poor Naruto was in the academy and began to launch his attacks against Naruto. Despite flooring Naruto with a beast mimicking style of Taijutsu that made Naruto bleed from the mouth, Naruto refused to stay down. Kiba then created a cloud of smoke and used the lack of sight along with Akamaru to keep the advantage to himself. However, Naruto once again stole the advantage back and used a combination of Kage Bunshin and Henge to fool Kiba and capture Akamaru. Insulted, Kiba fed Akamaru a pill that turned his fur red and increased his strength. The two then used a combination technique to make them both into feral-looking versions of Kiba that boasted enhanced speed and strength, double-teaming Naruto with a spinning drill attack. Kiba’s confidence only increased after the attack, causing him to taunt that he would be more likely to be Hokage before Naruto.

     However, Naruto’s determination caused him to stand again. Irritated, Kiba and Akamaru proceeded to shred him up even more, throwing more smoke bombs to prevent his escape. However, they halted their assault as Naruto masked himself as one of them. Kiba’s sense of smell proved superior, however, causing him to lash out at the fake. However, the hit figure changed into Akamaru. Instantly, Kiba slammed an even more savage hit into the other, who also slide away and transformed into Akamaru. The first Akamaru then transformed back into Naruto and attacked Kiba, now Akamaru was out of the match entirely thanks to Kiba. Kiba resumed his solo assault against Naruto; seeking revenge for making him hit his own dog. The tide of the match began to turn in his own favor but Naruto repeatedly threatened a new move which he could never complete.

     Kiba would rush in to finish him off before he could start by slipping in for an attack on his blind side. However, Naruto’s nervousness caused him to lose control of his bodily functions inadvertently. Kiba was forced to stagger back due to the flatus, as it revolted his ultra-sensitive nose. Naruto then managed to do his move, a Taijutsu attack using Kage Bunshin. Inspired by Sasuke's own new move, he kicked Kiba into the air and then spun around and kicked him back into the ground. Naruto was victorious to everyone's surpise and he went to watch the remaining matches.

     When Hinata was matched against her cousin Neji, Naruto became angry at his words concerning losers, and their destiny to always remain such. Naruto inspired Hinata to not give up and fight back. Neji won the match but didn't give up on his "loser" talk. An annoyed Naruto gathered Hinata's blood on his fingers and made a promise to Neji, that he would kick his butt in the next test. He would get his chance, as he was paired against Neji in the third test. After the prelims Naruto was eager to train under Kakashi, but his sensei instead had him train under Ebisu, the "elite" ninja who had trained Konohamaru. Naruto didn't care for Ebisu, calling him a closet pervert. Ebisu managed to get through to Naruto and began to teach him how to walk on water. Before they could finish their lesson Ebisu moved to stop a spying pervert at the women's hot springs. The pervert was Jiraiya, Orochimaru's former teammate and one of the three Legendary Sannin.

     Jiraiya was the sensei of the Fourth Hokage, and saw a bit of himself and the Fourth in Naruto. Naruto demanded the pervy sage teach him in Ebisu's place. With the usage of his Sexy Technique, Naruto convinced the experienced ninja to train him. Jiraiya first set about removing the seal Orochimaru had placed on Naruto several weeks before. He then allowed Naruto to sign his toad contract, and be the next ninja to have a summoning contract with the toad family. Jiraiya began to teach Naruto how to draw upon the Kyuubi's chakra whenever needed, rather than just during times of heightened emotion.

     Jiraiya forced Naruto to learn to draw it out by pushing him off a cliff. When Naruto focused he found himself in an internalization of the Kyuubi prison. He met the Kyuubi face to face for the first time and demanded the fox give him chakra as rent. The Kyuubi was angered at his imprisonment but chose to humor Naruto, as Naruto's death would result in his own. From that point on Naruto could draw on the Kyuubi power when he needed a large amount of chakra. This power allowed him to summon the toad boss Gamabunta.


     After summoning Gamabunta, Naruto was taken to the hospital to recuperate. While there he met up with Shikamaru and learned that Gaara had come to finish off Rock Lee, who was also in the hospital. Shikamaru managed to bind Gaara with his shadow and Naruto struck Gaara, demanding to know why he was there. Gaara explained how a monster had been sealed himself him and Naruto quickly realized the two young men were the same. Gaara explained how his own father had overseen the process and then sought to kill him. Gaara's life had mirrored Naruto's own. He realized his existence was acknowledged and he had formed bonds that made him stronger, something Gaara didn't have. Gaara moved to attack but Gai arrived to send him away. Naruto then returned to his home and waited for the third test to start. Unfortunately he was so nervous he could barely sleep the night before test.

     He woke early to go to the Genin training area, where he had been taken the bell test. There Naruto met Hinata, and he explained how worried he was. He may appear strong but he always failed. Hinata told him that's not true. Even if he failed he never gave up, that's what true strength was. Naruto felt revived and thanked her. He then told her that though he once thought she was weird; he actually liked people like her. To the girl who had such a huge crush on him, the words stunned her. Naruto made it to the exam stadium and saw that Sasuke had yet to arrive. Naruto and Neji were up first for their match and Naruto reiterated his promise to make Neji change his views on "losers".

     Naruto formed numerous Kage Bunshin and began to launch an assault against Neji. Unfortunately Neji's superior Taijutsu managed to take out most of the clones. He then moved through the crowd of Naruto's to strike the one not attacking, he acted smug stating he knew the real one wouldn't attack, but that Naruto puffed away, and from among the crowd the real one jumped to strike. Unfortunately Neji used his Kaiten to blow the Narutos away from him, and then launched a Juuken attack against Naruto, closing off his tenketsu, the points in the body which maintained chakra flow.

     Naruto refused to stay down. He told Neji he failed to understand why he acted so high and mighty, so Neji explained to Naruto the Hyuuga history. Naruto said he didn't care for their sad past. He then began to draw on the Kyuubi power using Jiraiya's training. The Kyuubi power soon emerged and encased his body, greatly increasing his speed and power. Naruto then charged, telling Neji that if he didn't believe he could change his family's problems, then Naruto himself would when he became Hokage. The two men locked in combat and the area surrounding them exploded in dust as they exchanged blows.

     When the dust settled two craters marked the ground. Neji climbed out of one and Naruto lay still in the other. Neji limped over and gloated that a loser will always be such. Suddenly the ground beneath him cracked and Naruto rose to uppercut him in the chin, knocking him backwards to the ground. Naruto had left a clone in the crater while he himself had dug underground to surprise Neji. Naruto's belief in himself allowed him to change whatever "perceived" destiny given to him. A motionless Neji soon realized that. With his opponent down, Naruto was declared the victor. The crowd roared in congratulations and an embarrassed Naruto finally got the respect and admiration of Konoha. Naruto would return the waiting area and eagerly wait for Sasuke to show up. When he finally did, Naruto responded to Sasuke's earlier statement before the third test prelims, that he was eager to fight him too.

     He then watched as Sasuke battled Gaara in his match. Naruto and Shikamaru thought over their previous encounter with Gaara and rushed to warn Kakashi that Sasuke was in trouble. Kakashi then revealed that he had trained well with Sasuke, teaching him Chidori. Naruto watched as Sasuke managed to inflict damage on Gaara. Soon Naruto grew tired, a Genjutsu attack was being launched on the stadium, Sand and Sound's invasion of Leaf had begun.

     Naruto was soon awakened by Sakura, and she, Shikamaru and Naruto were ordered to chase Sasuke, who had went in pursuit of Gaara and his siblings. Lead after Sasuke by Kakashi's summoned dog Pakkun, the group realized they were being pursued by Sound ninja. These ninja had been ordered to eliminate Naruto. Shikamaru decided to hang back and stop them while Naruto and Sakura continued on. When they finally caught up to Sasuke they saw him weak from battling a partially Shukaku formed Gaara. Naruto didn't recognize Gaara but the sand encasing his body took the form of the Bijuu inside him. Gaara managed to pin Sakura to a tree with sand. The constriction of which threatened her life. Naruto looked on with determination and Gaara wondered why he didn't flee. Naruto stated he would protect his friends and went to summon Gamabunta; unfortunately he only managed his son Gamakichi.

     Naruto saw Gaara's wild lonely eyes and thought of his own lonely past, but then thought of Iruka and his team, and the new bonds he had formed. Naruto formed Kage Bunshin and jumped to attack but he was swatted away. After attacking again he was still knocked down. Rising to his feet he felt a new drive welling inside him. That even if he lost his life, he would not lose this battle. He charged and managed to lay an explosive note into Gaara. Naruto thought back over his past, and he told Sasuke that he and Gaara were alike, but his precious friends made them different. Thinking back to his talk with Haku, he knew the drive to protect someone special made someone truly strong. Charging his chakra again he used Tajuu Kage Bunshin and the clones launched an all out pummeling assault against Gaara. When they went in for the kill Gaara's full Shukaku power emerged, creating a life-size sand incarnation of the demon.

     Sand soon began to well around Naruto as Gaara planned to crush him, out of chakra he thought back to his training with Jiraiya and tried to summon again, this time it worked and he brought forth Gamabunta. Gaara then made himself sleep and let Shukaku take over. Gamabunta was reluctant to help, but his son Gamakichi spoke highly of Naruto's recent actions so he changed his mind. The two gigantic creatures began to exchange attacks. Gamabunta stated they had to awaken Gaara and that he had to transform into a creature that would allow him to grasp a hold of the demon, thinking of the Kyuubi, Naruto and Gamabunta transformed into the beast and grabbed on to Shukaku. Naruto moved to awaken Gaara but was held back by sand. Naruto felt weak from using so much chakra. Focusing internally he asked the Kyuubi for help and the power welled.

     He charged and was once again held in place by sand, mere inches from Gaara. He struggled and head butted his opponent, awakening him. Shukaku crumbled and Gamabunta took his leave. The two men then fell back to the earth and landed in the trees. Looking intently at the other they launched to strike. Naruto's strength won out and he socked Gaara back to the ground below. As they lay on the ground Gaara watched as the exhausted Naruto began to crawl towards him with just his chin. A frightened Gaara worried that his existence would soon end, he warned him to come no further but Naruto kept on. Naruto then looked at him in tears, saying he understood the pain of being alone but that he would kill him if he hurt the people precious to him. Gaara realized that the drive to protect others made one like Naruto truly strong. Naruto said he had people who finally acknowledged his existence. Sasuke arrived and told Naruto Sakura was okay. Gaara's siblings then arrived and took him in retreat.

     Sakura thanked Sasuke for saving her, but he said it was Naruto, who had shown an unknown strength. Sasuke's growing annoyance at the strength of the supposed loser Naruto began to gnaw at him. In the following days Naruto recuperated and Konoha gathered for the Third Hokage's funeral, who had fall fallen in battle to Orochimaru. There Naruto talked with Iruka about the nature of death and life.

     A few days later Jiraiya arrived and told Naruto they were going in search of Tsunade, one of his former teammates and fellow Legendary Sannin. They could use the time to further train and he would teach Naruto a technique which rivaled Sasuke's Chidori. An excited Naruto jumped at the chance to train under the pervy sage and the two men headed out. At this same time the group Akatsuki came in search of Naruto. They sought the Kyuubi demon within him. Part of the Akatsuki duo was Itachi, Sasuke's brother. Itachi and his partner Hoshigaki Kisame tracked down Naruto to a hotel. Sasuke arrived too looking for Itachi. Naruto had been left alone while Jiraiya had gone off with a woman. Naruto looked on in fear as the men planned to subdue him. When Kisame moved to cut off Naruto's limbs, Jiraiya arrived in the knick of time to save him. He drove the two ninja off and then sent Sasuke back to Konoha's hospital. The two men then continued on their journey.

     They traveled throughout the countryside and then stopped to rest. Naruto demanded to know when he would be trained and Jiraiya revealed the Rasengan, a destructive spiraling sphere of chakra developed by the Fourth Hokage. This highly ranked technique had multiple chakra manipulation steps which Naruto fought to figure out. The two men finally tracked down Tsunade and Jiraiya revealed his secret goal, to offer her the position of Fifth Hokage. Naruto couldn't believe that the position would be offered to drunken women who hid her true age. When she declined the job and stated that anyone who risked their life was a fool Naruto took it personally. Naruto was furious at her talk and demanded they fight. Going outside he charged but she easily cut off his protector and then swatted him away with a flick of a finger to the forehead. He stated that unlike her, it was his dream to be Hokage.

     Forming his incomplete version of Rasengan he charged, and she yet again easily avoided the attack. She chastised Jiraiya for teaching the jutsu to a foolish kid with dreams of becoming Hokage. Naruto was angered by her words and stated he could complete the jutsu in another couple days time. Tsunade stated she would give him the week, and if he completed it she would acknowledge his ability to become Hokage and give him the priceless necklace which belonged to her grandfather the First Hokage. What Naruto didn't know was that at the end of that week, Tsunade was expecting to meet with Orochimaru. For her former teammate had come seeking her healing abilities, to repair his arms which were damaged in battle with the Third. Over the following week Naruto would continue to practice his Rasengan training. Tsunade's attendant Shizune came and spoke with Naruto, telling him Tsunade's bad mood wasn't his fault.

     Tsunade's younger brother and boyfriend shared the same dreams as Naruto and they had died hopelessly in battle in pursuit of those dreams. Naruto continued to practice to exhaustion. The week was finally up and Naruto was unable to totally complete his training. He was eager to show what he had learned though. Jiraiya soon arrived and they learned Tsunade had gone to meet with Orochimaru, in exchange for healing his arms he promised to resurrect her fallen brother and boyfriend. Thinking how much it would let them down, she chose to fight, striking out against Orochimaru and his spy Kabuto. Naruto and the others went to help, coming at the right moment to save Tsunade. It was then that Naruto reacted in surprise to Kabuto's presence.

     Tsunade charged to continue her assault and Naruto was confused about why she was fighting him, Jiraiya pointed out he was a spy and Naruto couldn't believe it. Kabuto insulted Naruto, telling him he was weak and relied on the monster inside him. He was so pitiful that he could easily kill him. Naruto was pissed and charged with Kage Bunshin, they were easily dispersed by Kabuto and Naruto was thrown aside. Orochimaru and Kabuto then summoned a giant snake and Jiraiya attempted and failed. He was weak from an earlier poisoning by Tsunade and only managed to call forth Gamakichi. Naruto then tried to summon Gamabunta but only managed to summon Gamatatsu, Gamakichi's brother. Jiraiya and Orochimaru began to battle and Naruto injured his leg in the melee. Kabuto continued his assault against Tsunade, using her fear of blood against her. When he went to strike her, Naruto moved to intercept the blow, taking the strike right to his forehead protector.

     He quickly formed Rasengan to Tsunade's surprise but Kabuto easily dodged the attack, cutting Naruto's leg muscles in the process. Kabuto then read off his data card on Naruto, stating he was nothing special. That if he wanted to be Hokage he should flee now, because he was about to die. Naruto stated he would not run away, standing wobbly in front of Tsunade he told her to remember the bet. Kabuto would strike him several times, severing his internal organs. Naruto would not stay down though, forming a Bunshin he watched intently as Kabuto charged with a kunai. Naruto stood his ground and lifted his hand, taking the kunai through the palm to grasp Kabuto and hold him in place. He then held his other hand out while the clone formed Rasengan in it and then sent it home, straight into Kabuto's chest. Kabuto was sent spiraling backwards, unfortunately his medical skills allowed him to avoid the brunt of the attack, but he was severely weakened from the blow.

     Tsunade could not believe what he had accomplished in such a short time. Naruto collapsed and his life began to fade, even the Kyuubi inside felt his end drawing near. Tsunade rushed to heal him. Looking up at her weakly he told her the necklace was now his, as he had won their bet. Tsunade looked at him with tears and placed the necklace around his neck. Naruto was soon escorted to safety with Shizune while Jiraiya, Tsunade and Orochimaru began their battle. Orochimaru and Kabuto were soon driven off and the Leaf ninja returned to the city to rest. Tsunade told them she would accept the position as Hokage and Naruto couldn't believe the old and crabby fool could do it. Tsunade grew agitated by his words and demanded he come outside, challenging him to yet another one finger battle Naruto charged. She flicked off his protector, but inside of flicking him away this time, she kissed his forehead, congratulating him on a job well done. She told him to grown into a good man and a good Hokage. The group then headed back to Konoha.

     Naruto was eager for Tsunade to help heal Kakashi and Sasuke, who had both been damaged in battle with Itachi. When Sasuke awoke his feeling of inadequacy had grown huge. After being easily beaten by his brother and seeing Naruto's huge growth he challenged him to a fight. Naruto was eager to prove himself so the two young men headed for the hospital roof. Naruto expressed his excitement, as he was not the talentless ninja he once was. He told Sasuke to put on his headband but he retorted that Naruto could not scratch his forehead. Sasuke then yelled that they were not equals. An angry Naruto charged and Sasuke knocked him aside. Naruto used Tajuu Kage Bunshin and sent numerous clones in attack. Sasuke used his advanced Taijutsu to avoid their attacks, three clones managed to sneak in though and launch him into air for a Naruto Rendan. Sasuke avoided the kick in the air and launched a fireball towards the Naruto's below.

     Most poofed away but two remained, forming Rasengan. Sasuke formed Chidori and the two men rushed towards each other. Sakura yelled for them to stop and Kakashi appeared before the moves could connect, throwing the boys aside into nearby water towers. Sasuke's Chidori opened a large hole while Naruto's made a small one. Kakashi demanded to know what was going on and Sasuke retreated, feeling good about himself. He soon saw though that Naruto's Rasengan had ripped a gigantic hole in the backside of his water tower.

     His growing feelings of inadequacy would drive him into the hands of Orochimaru. Sasuke fled Konoha with Orochimaru's men and Naruto could not believe it. Tsunade had a Genin squad gathered under Shikamaru to go in pursuit. Sakura saw the team off and stated that only Naruto could bring Sasuke back. Naruto made her a promise, that he would return Sasuke no matter what. The team then headed out, with each team member eventually facing off against one of the Sound ninja one on one. Finally an enraged Naruto himself had caught up to Sound ninja Kimimaro who was carrying the casket holding Sasuke. Naruto demanded to know why Orochimaru wanted Sasuke and Kimimaro explained Sasuke was to be the next vessel to hold Orochimaru's spirit. Naruto yelled that he wouldn't let that happened and created a gigantic number of clones.

     The clones launched their attack but Kimimaro's superior Taijutsu and bone usage soon took out the large force. The casket carrying Sasuke soon burst, revealing a long haired Sasuke who had been granted further dark powers by Orochimaru. Naruto yelled for him, asking to know why he was doing this. Sasuke merely laughed and bounded away. Kimimaro moved to strike but Naruto was saved by Rock Lee. Lee told Naruto he could handle Kimimaro, Naruto then went off again in pursuit of Sasuke.

     He caught up to Sasuke at the river which formed the border between the two countries. Two huge statutes marked the spot where two ninja, one the First Hokage, had done battle and ripped the landscape asunder. Naruto demanded to know why he left and Sasuke said he had his own path. Naruto jumped towards Sasuke stating the others had risked their lives for him and how he could disrespect them like that. Naruto knocked Sasuke down and pinned him to the ground. Slamming his fist into Sasuke's face he yelled that Orochimaru only wanted his body. Sasuke stated he didn't care. Naruto then firmly told him that if he didn't come willingly, he'd use force. Sasuke then lifted Naruto off his body and punched him into the water below. Surprised by his power, Naruto quickly moved to attack again. The two men exchanged blows and Sasuke stated his dreams were in the past. Naruto demanded to know if their time as a team meant nothing. Sasuke stated no, he now considered Naruto his closest friend. Unfortunately Naruto did not know that to attain another level of Sharingan, one had to supposedly kill their closest friend. The two men exchanged attacks over the face of the statues, and Sasuke warned that he would kill him. Naruto stated he would have to beat sense into him and formed Rasengan. Sasuke then formed Chidori and charged. The attacks connected and the two young men were thrown backwards. Naruto lay in the water and thought over how Sasuke could be acting this way.

     The two men began exchanging attacks again and Naruto thought back over how he felt they were similar while growing up, both loners. Sasuke would never speak to him though and simply excelled at everything. He grew to see him as a rival and secretly wanted to be like him. When Sasuke stated that he wanted to fight him too, he felt acknowledged by him for the first time. But even now he simply doesn't understand. Sasuke then picked up the motionless Naruto and lifted him high, forming Chidori. Naruto simply looked on, turning feral with Kyuubi power.

     The Chidori struck home, right into Naruto's chest. Looking on Naruto reiterated his promise to stop Sasuke. Sasuke had pierced Naruto's lung and arm making it impossible to move his arm. He moved to choke Naruto but he jerked back, as the Kyuubi power rushed through him. He watched on in shock as the red chakra flowed through Naruto's body and healed the gaping wound. A furious Naruto looked on, stating he would bring him back to Konoha, even if he had to break his bones to do it. Sasuke demanded to know what Naruto was and he responded a friend. Using his new speed and power he swatted Sasuke away, avoiding and deflecting his attacks. Pinning Sasuke to the rock face Sasuke stated Naruto had no bonds growing up, so he didn't know what it was like to lose them. Naruto stated that's true, but when he's around Sasuke it's like he has a brother. Sasuke was one of his first bonds, and he would do everything in his power not to lose it.

     Sasuke then put on his forehead protector, finally acknowledging Naruto's strength for the first time, but he added, Naruto still couldn't scratch his headband. Using his new Sharingan abilities Sasuke managed to take control of the fight and knock Naruto into the water again. As he lay there the Kyuubi spoke out, calling him weak, that Naruto should thank the Fourth for allowing Naruto to access his power. Suddenly a new surge of power flowed through the even more feral Naruto, encasing him in a red fox-like chakra. Sasuke finally understood Naruto's special power and moved to defend himself.

     Naruto came at blinding speed, extending the fox chakra out of his body to attack, allowing him to avoid the Sharingan's predictive capabilities. Using the chakra as a hand he slammed into Sasuke and then threw him into the cliff face. Sasuke then revealed the true extent of his curse seal gift from Orochimaru, turning dark and growing large wings. The two men exchanged attacks and Naruto severely injured his left arm. Looking at the other from opposite sides of the river bank, Sasuke formed a dark Chidori and Naruto a Kyuubi-chakra infused Rasengan. The two men then launched themselves at the other.

     A huge orb of destruction formed as the attacks drew near. Neither man could force themselves to go for the killing blow though. Naruto moved to instead scratch Sasuke's protector, proving Sasuke wrong, while Sasuke himself moved to draw back his fingers into a fist, punching Naruto instead. When the dust settled both men were back to normal and Naruto lay unconscious on the ground with Sasuke over him. Sasuke's forehead protector slipped off and he took one last look at Naruto and then left to join Orochimaru. Kakashi soon arrived, too late to stop the battle.

     Kakashi carried Naruto back to Konoha. Naruto awoke on the way and wished for the safety of his fellow teammates. Naruto rested and recuperated at the hospital. He was glad that his fellow teammates were okay, but afraid to face Sakura. When she came to his room he apologized for failing, and that he wouldn't give up. She stated that was okay, next time they would do it together. Soon Jiraiya arrived and he stated he would take on Naruto as his apprentice. That they had three years until Orochimaru would take over Sasuke. He recommended Naruto give up on Sasuke, as only a fool would keep on trying to get him back. He stated he once chased after Orochimaru for similar reasons and failed. Naruto stated he'd be a fool then, but he'd get stronger and be powerful enough to stop Orochimaru and Akatsuki. After leaving the hospital Naruto met up with Iruka for one more Ichiraku meal. With his stuff in tow, he headed off with Jiraiya. He would travel the world and train, and grow strong enough to stop Akatsuki and bring back Sasuke.


Yakushi Kabuto

 Physical Information
Age:
22
Sex:
Male
Birthday: 02/29
Bloodtype: AB
Height:
176.2 cm (Pt 1)
Weight:
65 kg (Pt 1)
Ninja Information

Registration ID:
012140
Hidden Village:
Sound
Rank: - (Jounin Level)
Team:
Akadou Yoroi (Former), Tsurugi Misumi (Former), Unnamed Jounin Sensei (Former)
Current:
Missing-Nin Yakushi Kabuto loyalties are at the heart of his character. When he first appears in the series he played the part of the trusting experienced confidant. He was then revealed as a spy for Orochimaru, and is his right hand man. Acting as Orochimaru’s spy, Kabuto entered the Chuunin exam seven times, gathering information that would be useful for the Sound village. Each time that he had reached the final rounds, he had opted to drop out, so he could compete again, and gather more data for his master. He was on a Genin team with Akadou Yoroi, and Tsurugi Misumi, who were also spies for Orochimaru.

     Years ago a battle took place at Bell Flower (Kikyou) Pass between Leaf and some unknown persons. In the aftermath a young child of the enemy was found by a Leaf Jounin medical doctor. The doctor adopted the boy and raised him as a son, teaching him medical jutsu. This boy would grow and have an unremarkable career, graduating from the academy at the age of 10 after taking the finals three times and taking on many low-ranking missions.

     Before the first test of his latest Chuunin exams, Kabuto interacts with the Rookie Nine. He somewhat gains the trust of Team 7 and even shows them his information cards about various ninja. When the teams enter the Forest of Death for part 2 of the exams, Kabuto shows up after a near fatal encounter between Team 7 and three Sound ninja. Kabuto shows up just in time to stop Naruto from opening the scroll that they possessed, which would knock their team out disqualifying them from the competition.

     Kabuto hatches a plan, asking them to head towards the Tower at the center of the forest. He surmised that other teams would be in the vicinity, which would allow Naruto and company to steal the scroll they required. While executing the plan, Kabuto and Team 7 are halted by Rain Ninja, who use Genjutsu to try and tire out in order to pilfer the scrolls from the team. In this sequence, Kabuto’s glasses are knocked off, showing his eyes, which took a deep hue of red bloodshot. This combined with Kabuto’s “old blood” comments has led many viewers to speculate he may be harboring some secret ability, although none have been revealed to date.

     Kabuto, like in previous years chose to refrain from entering the combat rounds of the Chuunin exams. Though his teammates entered, Kabuto chose to withdraw much to the surprise of Team 7. Kabuto stated he was wiped out from their battle with the Rain ninja and from his earlier run in with the Sound Genin. After the prelims were over, he met Orochimaru. The two were discussed Orochimaru’s target, Sasuke, and a ploy to kidnap him. Orochimaru implanted the idea and told Kabuto the only way to foil him would be to kill Sasuke which Kabuto appeared to consider. Kabuto would proceed to the hospital, killing the ANBU guarding Sasuke, and also apparently seriously considering killing Sasuke himself, if not for Kakashi’s interference. Kakashi would chastize Kabuto for his arrogance, but he would be in for a surpise. As he moved to take out Kabuto, the young man fell dead, while one of the ANBU corpses rose to flee. One of Kakashi's clones would stop him, only to see the other ANBU corpse jump through the window to escape, revealing himself to be the real Kabuto in disguise. His medical skills and trickery impressed even Kakashi.

     Kabuto would surface again, killing another ANBU before the start of the finals in the Chuunin exams. In this disguise he would make his way into the arena. There he healed an injured Hinata after she collapsed during the Neji-Naruto fight, leading viewers to once again question his motives. Later on, during the Gaara-Sasuke battle, Kabuto activated Nehan Shouja no Jutsu, knocking many people in the stadium unconscious, and signaling the beginning of the Sand and Sound Invasion.

     After the failed invasion, Kabuto and Orochimaru sought out Tsunade, who Orochimaru hoped could fix his injured arms from his battle with Sandaime Hokage. During the fallout of this arc, Tsunade had refused to help Orochimaru. Tsunade with the help Naruto, Jiraiya and Shizune, the four ninja did battle with Kabuto and Orochimaru. Kabuto exposed Tsunade’s hemophobia spraying blood onto her, hindering her performance in battle. Though he fared well in the battle, Naruto’s newly formed move, the Rasengan, caused him great damage at the end of the fight. If not for his medical expertise, Kabuto may have sustained fatal injuries. With the tide of the battle turning, Kabuto and Orochimaru retreated to their lair once more.

     When Orochimaru sent his elite to retrieve Sasuke, Kabuto took a backseat in the arc. He advised his master to quickly switch out of his deteriorating body, and even offered himself as a host. Orochimaru however rejected his offer and elected to take another alternative. Kabuto, then coerced the fatally ill ninja, Kaguya Kimimaro to enter the battle for Sasuke to help Orochimaru obtain his perfect body.

     Several years later Konoha received word that Akatsuki member Sasori had a spy in Orochimaru’s confidence. This spy was revealed as Kabuto, who had last seen Sasori five years before. Posing as Sasori the Leaf ninja went to meet Kabuto. Kabuto arrived and revealed that he had been unable to gather the cellular material from Orochimaru's former body. When Orochimaru then appeared, Kabuto quickly fled to Sasori's side. However he soon revealed that his true allegiance was with Orochimaru, and that the meeting was a ruse for an assassination attempt on Sasori.

     It was also revealed that Orochimaru had removed a memory block put on him by Sasori years ago and that Kabuto came around to Orochimaru's thinking. In his new position he could help Orochimaru with his excellent medical skills and allow his master to make better use of their test subjects. Orochimaru would eventually square off with the newly formed Team 7, with Yamato and Sai instead of Kakashi and Sasuke. Orochimaru would fend off Kyuubi-Naruto, however in the battle, Sakura is badly burned by the Kyuubi chakra after trying to calm Naruto down. Kabuto was bound by Yamato but he chose to heal her anyway. Leading viewers once again to wonder where his loyalties lay and what his true motivations are. Kabuto would then help Orochimaru, Sai and himself escape to their hidden lair. There Kabuto would receive Sai's gift, the real identities of Leaf's ANBU members. With this data he would greatly expand their Bingo book.

     He was then in for more betrayal, as Sai had no plans to really side with Orochimaru. His real goal was to get close to Sasuke and assassinate him, preventing Orochimaru from taking over his body. Kabuto was captured by Sai and bound in wood by Yamato. He soon escaped and would retreat with Orochimaru and Sasuke to yet again. A short time later Orochimaru's body began to falter. As Orochimaru lay in bed Kabuto administered the medicine to ease his pain. When Kabuto left to collect more medicine, Sasuke to his chance to take out Orochimaru. Kabuto returned to see Orochimaru's body transference form cut up and dead on the ground. He questioned whether Sasuke was in control or Orochimaru. Sasuke confirmed Kabuto's fears with the words "I’ve taken over". Orochimaru was no longer truly alive, but could possibly exist as a subconscious thought in Sasuke’s mind.

     Kabuto had found difficulty finding a place for himself now that he was yet again a man without direction. Feeling that he never did surpass Orochimaru, Kabuto looked to Naruto for inspiration. Naruto's persistence allowed him to create his own identity beyond the Kyuubi and Kabuto hoped that by utilizing Orochimaru's strength he could become more powerful than even the original Orochimaru. So Kabuto took some of Orochimaru's tissue and placed it into his body. Unfortunately, the tissue began to spread and quickly take root, transforming his appearance to resemble that of Orochimaru. Kabuto then set out to give Naruto a gift for inspiring him. After tracking down Naruto and his team, Kabuto gave the Leaf ninja the information Sound had gathered on Akatsuki. Kabuto revealed his new gifts and then retreated when Leaf moved to capture him. Kabuto stated he would face Naruto once he was fully in control of Orochimaru's gifts. His first target however, would be the man who killed Orochimaru... Sasuke.

     Kabuto is a very mysterious person. Even though he is a subordinate of Orochimaru, he often defies him, and even shows signs of his own agenda. Who knows what sort of surprises this enigmatic ninja still has up his sleeve. He is a very skilled and clever ninja, as he shows his prowess many times, keeping up with the likes of Kakashi and even the Sannin Tsunade in battle.


Yamanaka Ino

Physical Information
Age:
15
Sex: Female
Birthday: 09/23
Bloodtype: B
Height: 151.2 cm (Pt 1)
Weight: 38.5 kg (Pt 1)

Ninja Information
Registration ID: 012604
Hidden Village: Leaf
Rank: Chuunin
Team: Asuma Sarutobi, Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji
Yamanaka Ino is a member of Team 10, with Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji and sensei Sarutobi Asuma. Ino is a friend and rival of Haruno Sakura, having first befriended her in the ninja academy where kunoichi were trained to use feminine traits to go undercover. Noticing Sakura was being bullied by classmates for her forehead, Ino defended her by scaring the bullies off with "poisonous" flowers. Ino is very deeply versed on flowers, as her parents are florists. As the girls grew older, their affections both turned to the same boy and they declared themselves competitors for the affection of Uchiha Sasuke.

     Ino is introduced to the series as having a bitter and petty squabble with Sakura, jealous at how she was placed on Sasuke’s team. Her personality is viewed as domineering and loud, one of the reasons Shikamaru is reluctant to approach women. However, later, she is the one who leads her team into protecting the lone Sakura from a vicious assault by the Sound Trio; Dosu, Zaku and Kin. Although the combined efforts of her team failed to keep the trio at bay for long, it bought Sasuke enough time to recover and dispatch them after dislocating Zaku’s arms. Noticing Sakura had sliced her hair off to free herself during the handicap struggle, Ino offers to trim her hair and make it look presentable. While taking her aside to do so, she also growls about showing off in front of Sasuke, becoming even more frustrated when Sakura replies that she simply took the initiative.

     Despite their brief display of bonding, fate once again tore at them when the random selection machine pitted them against each other in the Chuunin exam preliminary rounds. The two fought fiercely, reflecting on their changing status. To show their dedication, they both put their forehead protectors on in the traditional manner, going at each other for a second time. Things seemed bleak when Ino taunted Sakura about having no unique moves to use, then used deception as she cut her own long hair off, secretly using her chakra to turn her sliced strands into rope to tie Sakura down to ensure an accurate mark for her signature technique, Shintenshin, which would suppress Sakura’s personality and allow Ino to control her body. However, when Ino wandered into Sakura’s mind, she encountered a repressed version of Sakura’s true emotions, the "Inner Sakura", which forced her out. A double KO ended the battle as both of them collided with simultaneous blows.

     Ino later showed up as a spectator for the exam’s finals. She and Chouji watched on as Shikamaru surprisingly gave up his match. Chouji foresaw the event, but Ino was blindsided by his choice. A short time after Ino was trapped under Kabuto’s mass sleeping spell and was unconscious for most of the Sand and Sound invasion. She also played a small role in giving Chouji some encouragement before the rescue mission that he and Shikamaru were given, mostly on girls and his weight. This would mark her last main appearance in part 1 of the manga.

     The anime-exclusive episodes gave her some more screen time. Ino was on hand with her usual team to apprehend two major criminals, the Legendary Stupid Brothers, stopping them in their tracks with a more potent mind-controlling skill learned from her father. Ino also joined Anko on a mission to investigate rumors of a sea monster, but ended up a damsel in distress for a large part of the mission, coming through at the end to cause the incapacitation of Tsurugi Misumi by tying his own arms around support pillars, which then gave way and crushed him beneath. A particularly humorous episode had Ino posing as a princess, who was courting another person of high status, but had gained weight and required Ino to play her part. Naruto joined the mission, adding to the confusion as a more seductive and flirtatious version of the princess. Eventually, the princess revealed herself, causing her suitor to admit he preferred "big-boned" women.

     Ino reappeared in the second part of the manga, now with an outfit change and new hairstyle. Though brief, her spotlight would return later when it was revealed she had been trained in medical skills, the same as Sakura but most likely to a lesser degree, seeing Sakura’s tutor was one of the best medics in Konoha’s history. However, she was devastated to find that her former team leader, Asuma, had been fatally wounded by Akatsuki’s zealot, Hidan. His last words to her were for her to never give up and lose to Sakura. Ino and her teammates would then set out to hunt down Hidan. The team along with Hatake Kakashi located Hidan and Ino did her part to help combat Hidan's partner Kakuzu while Shikamaru fought Hidan one on one. Shikamaru eventually succeeded in taking out Hidan and soon Kakuzu was brought down, bringing some measure of revenge for her former sensei.

     Undoubtedly, Ino’s greatest tie to any character is Sakura, considered her rival for Sasuke’s affections, despite the fact that revenge is all he lives for. Some people have paired her with Shikamaru and later Chouji upon Shikamaru’s stronger link with Temari. A few even think there may be something between Ino and Sai, though this is most likely due to Sai's strange approach at offering pleasantries, choosing to say the exact opposite of what he really feels. Sadly, like most of the females in the series, Ino suffers a lack of exposure and character development.