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Minato Namikaze is a character from Naruto, and Naruto Shippuden, and is the fourth Hokage. Although he doesn’t play a prominent role in Naruto apart from that of a deceased hero, he becomes a much more active character in Naruto Shippuden. Please remember that this page will contain spoilers for Naruto Shippuden, so be careful before you read it.
Minato, also known as the Yellow Flash of the Leaf, was famous throughout the ninja world for his incredible speed as he could move from place to place with the blink of an eye. He was a prodigy and one that many thought would save the world, but quickly met his demise when defending Konoha from an attack by the Nine Tailed Fox.
Apart from being known as the Fourth Hokage and the Yellow Flash of the Leaf, a little known fact about Minato, that the people of the Leaf village know, is that he is the father of Naruto Uzumaki, the protagonist of the show. The viewers also had no idea until Naruto fought Pain and Minato had to interfere to stop Naruto from giving into the Nine-tails.
| Name | Minato Namikaze |
| First Appearance in Anime | Naruto Episode 1: Enter: Naruto Uzumaki |
| Birthdate | January 25 |
| Sex | Male |
| Status | Deceased |
| Team | Team Jiraiya, Team Minato |
| Clan | Namikaze |
| Village | Konohagakure - The Village Hidden in the Leaves |
Not much is revealed about Minato’s childhood in either Naruto or Naruto Shippuden, but his life didn’t begin until he graduated from the academy. Minato joined the academy with dreams of becoming the Hokage one day and there, he met Kushina, a Jinchuriki, who was being bullied for her bright red hair. She would always stand up for herself, so Minato never interfered.
He was later added to a team under the leadership of Jiraiya, one of the three legendary sannin. He quickly reacted to Minato’s potential, which was that of a once in a generation genius. He was taught many jutsu by Jiraiya and would lead to Jiraiya believing that he is the child of the prophecy and would save the world.
After Minato graduates and obtained the title of a ninja, Kushina got kidnapped by a few ninjas. He tracked her down by following the red strands of hair she dropped and saved her from all the shinobi by single handedly taking all of them on. Kushina then falls in love with him and they get into a relationship, eventually marrying.
Minato then invents and masters Rasengan, an S class jutsu, by simply observing a tailed beast ball. He then gets assigned to a team which included Rin Nohara, Obito Uchiha and Kakashi Hatake and mentored them well. That was especially the case for Kakashi Hatake who was also seen as a prodigy just like Minato. Minato was then called for service during the third Ninja war, making it so that he couldn't give as much attention to his students. While Minato contributed greatly in war, he lost two students, Obito and Rin, along the way.
After witnessing how incredible his contributions in war were, he was appointed the as next Hokage. Shortly after that his wife became pregnant with little Naruto, whose name he took from Jiraiya’s book. However, due to the Nine-tailed fox inside her, Kushina would be the weakest during her childbirth, which would break the Nine-Tail’s seal. A mysterious figure who claimed to be Madara Uchiha takes this opportunity to strike them at the time and uses the sharingan to attack the Leaf Village. It forced Minato to take action and he then has a showdown against this mysterious person, defeating all of them in the process. Minato then teleports to the Nine-tailed fox and sacrifices himself in order to seal the Fox in his newborn son. Kushina joins him, leaving Naruto orphaned and the two entrust Naruto to the Third Hokage, and Minato passes away.
Minato was someone many high ranked shinobi including Kakashi looked up to. He was known as one of the strongest in history, wiping down armies single handedly and forcing peace treaties. During the war shinobi were given a flee on sight order in case they encountered Minato and he was praised widely for his abilities as a ninja.
He had a lot of abilities, including Rasengan, Space-time Ninjutsu, sealing jutsu and Shuriken jutsu. In addition to all these he also knows many of Ninjutsus that Jiraiya uses, which means that his arsenal is a lot larger than what is shown in the anime.
Minato is known for his incredible speed and that is mainly due to his jutsu which would let him teleport. However, he also has incredible natural speed and was capable of dodging enemy attacks without even using his jutsu. He is also incredibly precise while throwing kunais, which is another physical prowess that he possesses.
Minato has a lot of special abilities that made him unique from the rest of the cast of Naruto. They helped him gain reputation and made him feared across the continent and made him one of the strongest shinobi of all time. They are as follows:
“Don't be afraid of death, be afraid of the unlived life.”
“Even if I live, I would never be able to substitute you. There are things that need to be told to him by his mother, even if you have briefest moments to do so. This isn't just for you, it's for Naruto.”
“I have died many a death in love, and yet, had I not loved I would never have lived at all.”
(To Naruto) “Well because I am the one who named you, after all you are my son.”
“Turning your back on your village is as bad as abandoning a child. You should understand that, you saw your country fall apart, you know the pain of growing up without a home of your own, and you know that we are family of shinobi!.”
No. Minato’s parents are not revealed in the series. Tsunade has also been single after the incident with her previous boyfriend. She also claims that she never had a child, which concludes that Minato is not Tsunade’s son.
Minato is stronger than Naruto at certain phases in their lives. However, if you were to compare their peaks, Naruto is definitely much stronger than Minato. Naruto, in addition to freely controlling Kurama’s chakra, also had the powers of the sage Asura since he was a reincarnation of it. While Minato had more skills over the course of his life, Naruto’s peak is undoubtedly stronger than Minato’s peak.
Minato’s Kunai are called the Flying Thunder God Kunai or the Flying Raijin Kunai. These Kunai help him teleport more precisely and make them one of his strongest weapons. He always carries a bunch around.
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