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Minato Namikaze
Minato Namikaze (波風ミナト, Namikaze Minato) was the Fourth Hokage (四代目火影, Yondaime Hokage, Literally meaning: Fourth Fire Shadow) of Konohagakure. He was famous in life for his speed, leading to the moniker of Konoha's Yellow Flash (木ノ葉の黄色い閃光, Konoha no Kiiroi Senkō, English TV: Yellow Flash of the Leaf). He died during the Nine-Tails' attack on Konoha, sacrificing his life to seal a part of the Nine-Tails into his newborn son, Naruto Uzumaki.
Appearance[]
Minato has frequently been compared with Naruto in terms of physical appearance; both have bright, blue eyes and spiky, blond hair. Minato also had jaw-length bangs framing either side of his face. According to Jiraiya, Minato was considered to be very handsome. His normal attire consisted of a standard Konoha uniform with two bands on both of his sleeves, a green flak jacket, blue forehead protector, and blue sandals. After becoming Hokage, he started wearing a short-sleeved long white haori over his normal attire, closed in the front by a thin, orange rope. The haori was decorated by red flame-like motifs on the edges, with the kanji for "Fourth Hokage" (四代目火影, Yondaime Hokage) written vertically down the back.
During his time in the Academy, he wore a simple white suit of clothing with green trimmings and a hood. After becoming a full-fledged shinobi, he wore a tracksuit with three stripes on the sleeves, mesh under-armour, a pair of black pants, and sandals.
Personality[]
Despite his physical resemblance to Naruto, Minato was more perceptive and collected than his son; Jiraiya said that Minato was a shrewd person, not one to do something without a reason. He was well aware of the terror his reputation inspired in rival villages and would take advantage of it at times, but even then he would remain respectful to opponents and wouldn't pry in their personal affairs if he could help it. He was not the type to hold grudges, only feeling sorry for Tobi (Obito Uchiha) despite his role in his own and Kushina's deaths. If anything, Minato blames himself for his death, both because he couldn't save Guardian Obito from the fate that corrupted him or Konoha from the difficulties that arose after he was gone.
Abilities[]
inato was one of the most powerful shinobi who ever lived, noted by Jiraiya to have a calibre that has yet to be met by anyone else. During the Third Shinobi World War, flee-on-sight orders were given to enemy shinobi should they ever see him. He could also fight both A and Killer B together on multiple occasions, and was still praised highly by the duo years later. When Ōnoki learned he had became Hokage, he immediately accepted Konohagakure's peace proposal due to Minato's killing of 1000 Iwagakure shinobi in one battle. During the Nine-Tails' attack on Konoha, it was only through Minato's actions that Tobi was defeated, the attack ended and the village saved from complete destruction. When the Konoha Crush loomed years later, Minato was believed to be the only one who could have stopped the threat of Orochimaru, and for that his death was deeply regretted. Minato was know to halt the invasion of the Yamata no Orochi on Konohatropolis before Susanoo Uzumaki transforms it into eight Biometals.
Background[]
- Main article: Shinto Christian Mythology
Early Life[]
Minato entered Konoha's Academy with the dream of earning the villagers' respect and recognition by becoming Hokage. When Kushina Uzumaki moved to Konoha, she was placed in the same class as Minato. Minato was immediately drawn to her bright red hair, finding it beautiful. Minato was a natural prodigy as a ninja, the likes of which appears only once in a generation. When he was added to a genin team under the leadership of Jiraiya, Jiraiya took a special interest in Minato and took him on as his apprentice, teaching him many of his own signature abilities. In time, Minato's exceptional skills led Jiraiya to believe he might be the Child of the Prophecy, someone who would someday save the world. Years later, after they graduated and became ninja, Kushina was kidnapped by Kumogakure forces and the Islamic Shinobi of Iraq and Shinto Empire forces. Konoha mobilised its ninja to retrieve her, but only Minato noticed the strands of red hair Kushina left behind to mark their path. Minato, acting alone, rescued her from her captors. On their way back to Konoha, Minato confessed his admiration for her hair, causing Kushina – who had previously believed Minato "unreliable" and even "girly" – to fall in love with him.
Careers[]
Yellow Flash[]
Minato and Kushina were a couple from the time that he rescued her, and with his love, Kushina was able to keep the Nine-Tails sealed within her at bay. They eventually married. From observing a Tailed Beast Ball, Minato began a three year process of creating the Rasengan, the height of shape transformation. He would spend the rest of his life trying to combine it with his own nature.
After proving himself an accomplished and responsible ninja, Minato was placed in charge of his own team, consisting of Rin Nohara, Obito Uchiha, and Kakashi Hatake. In the anime, the Third Hokage gave Minato the special task of helping Kakashi overcome the bitterness caused by his father's death and remind him of the human element of being a ninja. Minato gave his team a bell test upon its formation in order to teach them the value of teamwork. Although they passed the test, Kakashi would remain a staunch advocate of prioritising the mission over the team, causing conflict with Obito. Minato did his best to keep the two on good terms.
When Konoha became involved in the Third Shinobi World War, Minato's obligations became split between training his students and helping with the war effort. During a mission into Kusagakure to destroy the Kannabi Bridge, Minato transferred leadership of the mission to Kakashi – who had recently become a jōnin – while he headed to the front lines. He met up with the surviving and out-numbered Konoha ninja and single-handedly wiped out the opposing Iwagakure forces. In the anime, his victory in this battle against a thousand ninja convinced the Third Tsuchikage to accept a peace treaty. When he rendezvoused with his team afterwards he found Kakashi and Rin and surrounded by Iwa-nin, Obito having already been lost. He rescued them, helped them complete their original mission once they recovered, and returned to Konoha with them to mourn Obito. Minato's competing obligations would later repeat the tragedy of Obito's death: while he was away on another mission, Rin was kidnapped by Kirigakure and died during Kakashi's attempt to retrieve her. Minato encountered A of Kumogakure a number of times during the war. During their first meeting, Minato and A compared their speed, with Minato proving the faster. He received orders to retreat before their competition could resolve, but he lingered to compliment A and his brother, B, a jinchūriki like Kushina; he encouraged A to take care of B and remember he was a person. A pursued Minato, so Minato moved against B, threatening to kill him if A didn't let him and his team go. Minato was confident he and A would someday meet as Kage.
Fourth Hokage[]
For his performance during the War, Minato was chosen over Orochimaru to become Fourth Hokage.[20] He taught the Flying Thunder God Technique to the Hokage Guard Platoon to better aid them in their duties of serving the Hokage at any given time. In the anime, he also tried to help Kakashi, now an Anbu, emerge from the darkness he'd fallen into after Obito and Rin's deaths. During the gradual transfer of responsibilities from the Third Hokage to him, the Third advised Minato to restore Kakashi's value of life by tasking him with protecting Kushina during her pregnancy. As a jinchūriki, the strain of childbirth would weaken the seal keeping the Nine-Tails sealed into Kushina. For that reason special precautions had to be taken: the child would secretly be delivered in a remote location outside of the village, with barriers around the area and several Anbu guards as extra protection. Minato was not greatly worried about the birth, and in fact gave Kakashi the day off in gratitude for his good work. He and Kushina had already decided on a name for their son, "Naruto", after the main character of Jiraiya's first book, hoping that their Naruto would be just as determined as the character (and thus its author). Jiraiya tried to convince them to make a different choice since that would make him Naruto's godfather, but they insisted that this was a good thing.
Naruto was born on the night of October 10. Only moments after the birth Minato began making preparations to restore the Nine-Tails' weakened seal, but he was interrupted by the arrival of a masked man, who, unbeknownst to Minato, was actually Obito, who had survived the battle at Kannabi Bridge and began using a mask to hide his identity. o longer caring about their past relationship due to his newly acquired nihilism over Rin's death, Obito killed the Anbu guards and midwives and took the newborn Naruto hostage, threatening to kill him if Minato didn't back away from Kushina. Minato immediately took Naruto back from him, yet discovered explosive tags had been planted on Naruto. Minato was forced to teleport away to keep Naruto from harm, allowing Obito to escape with Kushina. He found a safe place for Naruto and teleported to Kushina in time to save her from being killed by the Nine-Tails extracted from her body by Obito He reunited mother and son before heading out to protect the village. Minato returned to the village in the early stages of the Invasion of Konohatropolis caused by the new Eight Tails and the Nine-Tails' attack on Konoha, arriving in time to teleport away a Tailed Beast Ball before it destroyed the Hokage Monument. He attempted to reach the Third Hokage so that he could inform him of what happened, but was interrupted by Obito, who tried to warp him away. Minato reacted in time to escape, but Obito pursued him. Because Obito knew that childbirth weakened the seal on a female jinchūriki, he could control the Nine Tails with his Sharingan and had a desire to destroy the village, Minato came to the hypothesis that Obito was none other than Madara Uchiha — which was a guise Obito intended to perpetuate the entire time. Since Obito was controlling the Nine-Tails' actions, defeating him was of prime importance in order to save Konoha. Minato initially struggled to successfully strike him but, after several failed attacks, he finally hit him with a Rasengan and branded him with a Flying Thunder God seal, allowing him to teleport to Obito whenever he wanted. He then used a Contract Seal on Obito to release the Nine-Tails from his control, forcing him to flee.
Death[]
No longer being controlled, the Nine-Tails began retreating from the village, though it continued to attack the Konoha ninja that pursued it. As it prepared another Tailed Beast Ball, Minato once again arrived in time to stop it, this time by dropping Gamabunta on top of it just like the Eight Headed Serpent being on top smacked by Gamabunta before Susanoo Uzumaki transforms it into eight Biometals. He had Gamabunta keep it restrained while he gathered the chakra needed to transport the Nine-Tails to Naruto and Kushina's location, the farthest from the village he could get. Kushina restrained it and erected a barrier so that it couldn't escape while they decided what to do. Already dying from the Nine-Tails' removal, Kushina offered to have it sealed back into her so it would die with her. Minato rejected this, believing the Nine-Tails' power would be needed in the future if and when Obito struck again. Remembering Jiraiya's words about the "Child of the Prophecy", Minato decided that Naruto was that child and that he would someday save the world. To prepare Naruto for this, Minato would make Naruto the Nine-Tails' new jinchūriki so he could make use of its strength. Because the Nine-Tails' chakra was too immense to seal into an infant, Minato used the Dead Demon Consuming Seal to cut its chakra in half, sealing the Yin half in himself. Realising what they were planning, the Nine-Tails tried to kill Naruto, but Minato and Kushina used themselves as shields. With his last ounce of strength, Minato summoned Gerotora, gave him the key to the seal he would use on Naruto, and sent him to Jiraiya. Meanwhile, Kushina told Naruto how much his parents loved him, which Minato seconded. He sealed the Nine-Tails' Yang half into Naruto, weaving Kushina's chakra into the seal so that she could someday assist Naruto with learning to control the Nine-Tails. He mingled in some of his own chakra, too, programming it to activate if ever the seal was about to break so that he could restore it. Seeing the Third Hokage nearby, Minato communicated to him a final request for the villagers of Konoha: to think of Naruto as a hero and not the container of the monster that caused so much death and destruction. With that, his soul was consumed by the Shinigami, ending Minato's life.