Naruto is an ongoing Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto with an anime adaptation. The main character, Naruto Uzumaki, is a loud, hyperactive, unpredictable, adolescent ninja who constantly searches for recognition and aspires to become a Hokage, the ninja in his village that is acknowledged as the leader and the strongest of all. Kishimoto first authored a one-shot of Naruto in the August 1997 issue of Akamaru Jump. The plot differed substantially in that Naruto was the son of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox instead of being the container, and the story was placed in a more modern setting.
This early version of Naruto already had the ability to transform into a sexy young woman – but when he did so, a fox tail sprouted. Kishimoto then rewrote the story to its current form, which was first published by Shueisha in 1999 in the 43rd issue of Japan's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine. As of volume 36, the manga has sold over 71 million copies in Japan.The series is licensed for a translated English-language release by Viz Media. Serialized in Viz's Shonen Jump magazine, Naruto has become the company's best-selling manga series. As of April 2, 2008, the first 28 volumes of the series are available in English-language. The first of two anime series, produced by Studio Pierrot and Aniplex, premiered across Japan on the terrestrial TV Tokyo network and the anime satellite television network Animax on October 3, 2002, and is still being aired. Viz also licensed the anime for Norh American production.
The first series lasted nine seasons, while Naruto: Shippūden began its first on February 15, 2007. The Naruto anime debuted in the United States on Cartoon Network's Toonami programming block on September 10, 2005, and in Canada on YTV's Bionix on September 16, 2005. Naruto began showing in the United Kingdom on Jetix on July 22, 2006. It began showing on Toasted TV on January 12, 2007, in Australia, which features the Manga Entertainment TV version and the German-language dub opening, although it could be watched on Cartoon Network in 2006
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The early years of Sasuke's childhood were spent living in the shadow of his older brother, Itachi Uchiha, who had proven time and again that he was a genius in the ninja arts. Because of Itachi's successes, most of the members of the Uchiha clan looked to Itachi as the clan's future, the biggest proponent of this idea being Sasuke's father, Fugaku Uchiha. Due to this focusing on Itachi, Sasuke did what he could to prove himself to his family, though no amount of training could help him in surpassing the milestones set in place by his brother. Itachi, aware of Sasuke's struggle for recognition, tried to shift some of their father's attention to Sasuke, even offering to train Sasuke in various fields of ninja abilities. Although Itachi succeeded in getting Fugaku to spend more time with Sasuke, much of that time was still dedicated to Itachi, and all the while Itachi never lived up to his promises of training Sasuke.
As time went by, Itachi's standing in the clan began to falter as his trustworthiness was constantly called into question. At this time, Itachi also began to create a more competitive relationship with Sasuke, challenging Sasuke to surpass him. Because of Itachi's changing personality, Fugaku began to take a more active interest in Sasuke's development, teaching him the Great Fireball Technique in less time than Itachi had taken to learn it, which also gave Sasuke proper membership into the clan. Most prominently, Fugaku encouraged Sasuke to not follow in Itachi's footsteps, the former prodigy of the clan having lost his father's confidence.
Soon after receiving the attention from his father that he had so yearned for, Sasuke returned home late one evening to his horror to find all the members of his clan dead. After finding Itachi standing over the bodies of their parents, indicating he was the one responsible for the clans' murders, Itachi informed Sasuke that he wasn't worth killing. As he left, Itachi repeated his encouragement to Sasuke to hate, to hold grudges, and to train his evil to become strong enough one day to surpass him, and disappeared into the night. From that day forth, Sasuke lived as an orphan, longing for the parents that had been taken from him and allowing his brother's words to fester. Soon after the clan's annihilation, Sasuke's only goal in life became to gain power through any means necessary in order to kill Itachi and avenge the clan.
PersonalityAt the start of the series, Sasuke's desire to get stronger is the dominating factor in his interactions with others and takes precedence over all else. As such he is initially unconcerned with the concepts of socializing, be it with his teammates or the many girls in his age group vying for his affection. Likewise, Sasuke is not interested in working with Naruto nor Sakura for the good of the mission, believing himself to be much more talented and that working with them will only make him weaker. Soon after the three set out on missions together, however, Sasuke begins to discover that these perceptions are inaccurate; Sakura is a valuable source of information, and Naruto is an effective ally and incentive to get stronger. As a result of these revelations, Sasuke begins to value his teammates more than he did during their first meeting. While he tries to deny this, his willingness to risk his life to help them even if it could mean never getting a chance to kill Itachi slowly begins to manifest, although this is partly influenced by Sasuke's belief that if he cannot fight in [this] battle, he will never be strong enough to face Itachi. In Shonen Jump's June 2006 edition, Masashi Kishimoto (in Kakashi's voice) remarks that while Sasuke is a genius, he is a little dull to teach because he can learn techniques easily compared to the less predictable Naruto.
During the second phase of the Chunin Exams, Orochimaru notices this change in Sasuke's ideals, witnessing first hand of Sasuke valuing of his teammates' safety over his own. Having need for Sasuke's craving for revenge, Orochimaru brands Sasuke with the Cursed Seal of Heaven to give him a taste of the power he can have and steer him back towards the more "favorable" path of vengeance. Although Kakashi does what he can to weaken the cursed seal, discourage its usage, and give Sasuke other means of getting stronger, Sasuke comes to realize the potential the seal allows him. To test his newfound power, Sasuke begins to seek out strong opponents that he can fight, believing each victory he obtains to be an indicator of his growth. As time goes by, however, Sasuke becomes dissatisfied with the progress he is making in getting stronger, largely a result of his quick defeat by Itachi during their brief encounter. All the while, Naruto, someone he finds to be of lesser skill, continues to surpass him in ability, creating a sense of envy within Sasuke.
Sasuke in Part II
Ultimately, Sasuke decides to abandon Konoha in order to seek out Orochimaru and gain power. Naruto, sent to stop Sasuke from escaping the country, eventually catches up with him and pleads for him to return. Sasuke, believing Naruto to be his closest friend, decides instead to use the last bit of advice Itachi ever gave him: in order to gain the Mangekyo Sharingan, the highest power of the Uchiha clan, one's best friend must be killed. No longer valuing his teammates over his own self-betterment, Sasuke tries to kill Naruto and meets him in battle. Naruto, unwilling to let Sasuke go, fights with equal earnest, now willing to break Sasuke's body to bring him home. As the battle concludes, Sasuke attacks Naruto with his Chidori while Naruto uses his Rasengan. Rather than connect with the attack, Naruto scratches Sasuke's headband (in reference to Sasuke's claim that he couldn't scratch his forehead). As Naruto lies unconscious, Sasuke considers killing him, though upon realizing that that is what Itachi would want, decides to spare Naruto to find power in his own way. He goes to Orochimaru, ready to do whatever is necessary to gain the power he desires.
In Part II, Sasuke sees little change from his personality and mindset at the end of Part I, still craving power above all else. His lust for strength is such that, during his reunion with Naruto and Sakura, he claims to be willing to give his body to Orochimaru if it means killing Itachi. Sasuke has at least changed to a point that he no longer cares for his former teammates' well-beings, being more than willing to kill them since neither is of any use to him. His relationship with Orochimaru shows a similar lack of loyalty, as during their time together he applies no honorifics to Orochimaru's name, is somewhat rude to him, and does not express his allegiance with Otogakure by wearing a Sound headband. Of the loyalties Sasuke has, the only one he displays is that of the Uchiha clan, the symbol of which he wears on his back collar. Despite this lack of allegiances to those close to him, Sasuke seems to be unable to bring himself to needlessly harm those he has never met before, and makes it a point to prevent their deaths when possible.
AbilitiesWhile not on the same level as Itachi in terms of talent, Sasuke is established as a natural genius at the series' start, excelling at all that he does and finding little difficulty in more challenging tasks. This is most immediately evident through his proficiency with the Uchiha clan's fire-based techniques, as well as a number of other weapon-dependent attacks. Of the abilities the Uchiha bloodline has allowed him, Sasuke has found most frequent use in the Sharingan, which first develops during Team 7's mission in the Land of Waves and eventually reaches completion during his battle with Naruto at the end of Part I. While his ability with the Sharingan is fairly ordinary during the first half of the series, Sasuke is able to develop a number of more novel uses for it in Part II. During his encounter with Naruto, Sasuke is able to use his Sharingan to enter Naruto's subconscious where he proceeds to suppress the demon fox residing within Naruto. In this instance, the demon fox compares Sasuke's eyes and chakra to that of Madara Uchiha, which it claims is even more sinister than its own. When Orochimaru later tries to take over his body, Sasuke is able to use his Sharingan to fight the process and turn it against Orochimaru. His Sharingan-based genjutsu abilities have also increased over the timeskip, allowing him to easily hypnotize opponents.
Sasuke is able to put the Sharingan to good use in Part I after his brief encounter with Rock Lee. Although their fight is ended soon after its start and Sasuke is unable to see much of Lee's arsenal, what he is able to copy with his Sharingan is utilized for the duration of the Chunin Exams. His newfound taijutsu abilities are first seen in the form of Peregrine Falcon Drop (Hayabusa Otoshi?), which consists of wrapping himself around an airborne opponent to ensure they are unable to save themselves upon impact with the ground. A derivative of this jutsu is seen again as the Lion Combo (Shishi Rendan?, English TV "Lion's Barrage", Ultamate Ninja "Barrage of Lions"), and after kicking an opponent into the air Sasuke delivers a series of blows to them, eventually culminating in a debilitating kick to the chest.
Sasuke in cursed seal level 2 form
Orochimaru's influence has also added a number of abilities to Sasuke's arsenal, as first seen with his cursed seal. After recovering from the initial application of the seal, Sasuke finds himself endowed with increased speed and strength, as well as less merciful tendencies when the seal is active. In addition, when his chakra reserves are low, Sasuke can use the seal to momentarily give him a boost of chakra. Wanting more of this power, Sasuke abandons Konoha to seek out Orochimaru and forcefully advances his cursed seal to level 2. While in the level 2 form, Sasuke is able to compete with a demon fox-fueled Naruto, and is even given a brief ability to fly when using the wings that grow from his back. In Part II, Sasuke is even able to advance only parts of his body to their second level state, and the curse seal itself becomes less tiring for him to use. In addition to the cursed seal, he gains the snake summoning contract, which is located on his left arm. With it, Sasuke can summon giant snakes to use as shields and to aid him in battle or call forth smaller snakes from his sleeves to immobilize targets. After absorbing Orochimaru, Sasuke is able to heal at a faster rate, an attribute allowed to him by one of the modifications made to Orochimaru's body.
To encourage Sasuke not to use the cursed seal, Kakashi teaches him how to use the Chidori, made more effective when combined with his Sharingan and the speed he has copied from Rock Lee. With this combination Sasuke can punch through the strongest obstacles with relative ease, as well as severely damage any opponent. In Part I Sasuke is limited to using the attack only twice a day, with a third usage after the initial activation of his cursed seal. Once drawing upon more of the cursed seal's power however, Sasuke is able to use the ability much more frequently. Over the timeskip, Sasuke puts great deals of development into the Chidori's ability to manipulate lightning-based chakra. When first seen in Part II he is able to use Chidori Current (千鳥流し, Chidori Nagashi?, lit. One Thousand Birds Current) to emit electricity from all over his body as a shield that stuns those it comes into contact with. If need be, Sasuke can channel this force into his new chokuto, increasing the damage the blade does to opponents. He can even concentrate this chakra into highly condensed needle-like forms, which he can throw in volleys with pinpoint accuracy. Sasuke has also taken to using form manipulation on the Chidori itself to create an extendable blade form, although he is only able to extend it to 5 meters in length. This blade is also capable of splitting into multiple additional blades upon contact with an enemy, drastically increasing the number of wounds it can inflict.
Plot overviewSasuke and his quest to kill Itachi are recurring themes in the overall plot, and as such much of the story is built upon and shaped by his actions that will make this task easier. After first meeting Orochimaru, Sasuke attempts to continue to get stronger while in Konoha, though he believes that he is slow in accomplishing this task in comparison to his peers. When Itachi arrives in Konoha to kidnap Naruto, Sasuke tries to use what he has learned to kill his brother, though Itachi is able to defeat him with little effort and taunts his inability to get stronger. This, coupled with Naruto's rapid increase in strength (further enhanced by his learning the Rasengan, a jutsu stronger than the Chidori), convinces Sasuke to abandon Konoha and seek out Orochimaru as a way to get stronger. While Naruto, Shikamaru, Kiba, Neji, and Choji mobilize to stop Sasuke, he is still able to escape after narrowly defeating Naruto. Because of this, many of the people he leaves behind in Konoha resolve to bring him back, creating a number of future attempts to accomplish this task.
In Part II, one such effort proves successful in at least finding Sasuke, though Sasuke's rapid increase in strength allows him to quickly defeat Naruto, Sakura, and the newer members of Team 7. While he attempts to kill his former comrades, Sasuke is persuaded to spare them in case they can defeat more members of Akatsuki, an organization which Itachi belongs to, and therefore make him easier to kill. Soon afterwards Sasuke turns against Orochimaru, feeling that he can learn nothing else from him and that Orochimaru is unworthy of having his body. Although Orochimaru attempts to take his body by force, Sasuke is able to turn the process against him, later reporting to have simply retained control of his body. With Orochimaru gone, Sasuke recruits Suigetsu Hozuki, Karin, and Jugo, former subordinates and experimental subjects of Orochimaru, to help him in finding and ultimately killing Itachi. Naming their group "Snake", they set out to find Itachi.
Sasuke eventually finds Itachi, and Sasuke displays how much stronger he has gotten. Itachi agrees to have their final battle elsewhere. Sasuke takes Snake with him to the meeting place, though leaves them behind once he reaches his destination. Sasuke and Itachi meet again, and Sasuke prepares to kill his brother at long last.
Unlike her teammates, Sakura's childhood was devoid of any actual tragedy, only being bullied in her early years at the Academy, where her sensitivity about her large forehead caused her classmates to tease her. Ino Yamanaka befriended her and gave her a ribbon that could accent her face and show others that her forehead didn't bother her. With Ino's friendship, Sakura came to develop her own identity and self-confidence. As Sakura's confidence in herself grew, she developed a crush on Sasuke, who Ino also had a crush on.
When Sakura found out about this, she ended their friendship so that the two could properly compete for Sasuke's affection or even his friendship, beginning a bitter rivalry between the two best of friends. The two maintain this rivalry until the end of their match in the Chunin Exams, after which they begin to rekindle their friendship. Nevertheless, the two maintain a competitive relationship and constantly attempt to outdo the other at nearly everything.
PersonalityAt the series' start, one of Sakura's notable characteristics is her infatuation with Sasuke Uchiha. Initially this consists of following him everywhere in an attempt to help him and valuing his opinion and abilities above all others. Once Sasuke begins to be put in more dangerous situations, Sakura's display of her emotions shifts to concern for his well-being. She grows more worried when Sasuke achieved the Curse Seal form. Sakura also worries about the seal's potential to draw him away from Konoha. In time, her fears are realized and Sasuke abandons the village to seek out Orochimaru. Before he leaves Sakura attempts to stop him at the village exit, expressing her love for him and begging him to stay. She was so desperate that she was even willing to go with him on his journey. Sasuke, however, only gives her a "thank you" before knocking her out.
Although it is unknown if her feelings for Sasuke are romantic or platonic, Sakura still wishes for Sasuke's return to Konoha. As such, during their reunion after the timeskip, she willingly attacks Sasuke to make this task easier and to protect others from his attacks. Despite this new mentality in regard to Sasuke, Sakura still worries about his well-being. Regardless of her conflicting approaches to Sasuke, Sakura is still unwilling to let anyone speak ill of him and will readily beat up anyone who does.
Sakura's opinion of Naruto is also one of her earliest personality traits. In Naruto's case, however, Sakura initially sees him to be a talentless idiot whose goal in life is to annoy her endlessly. While she continues to call him an "idiot" from time to time, Sakura abandons many of her convictions about Naruto as the two spend more time together. During each of his battles Naruto proves able to use numerous complicated jutsu in many ingenious ways, causing Sakura to value him as a teammate more with each passing mission. She even begins to find herself envious of Naruto's rapid progression but it also encourages her to do better as well. When Sasuke left Konoha, Sakura, unable to join the retrieval team, asked for Naruto to bring him back, believing Naruto to be the only person capable of getting through to Sasuke. Naruto promised that he will bring Sasuke back and made it his "promise of a lifetime". It is with this that Sakura realized Naruto's true feelings for her as she cried when he is left in the hospital after his failed attempt in retrieving Sasuke. While Naruto still maintains that he will bring Sasuke back someday, Sakura resolves that next time they will bring him home to Konoha together.
In Part II
Sakura begins to learn of the various hardships in Naruto's life, particularly that he is the container of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox and that Akatsuki seeks to capture him because of it. Furthermore, should Akatsuki succeed in capturing Naruto and remove the demon fox from his body, Naruto will die. Because of these revelations, Sakura has acquired a worrying mentality for Naruto, and cries over the various difficulties he faces. To help him in overcoming these obstacles, Sakura has become very protective of him and she wishes to prevent him from being captured by the Akatsuki. Upon finding that the medical abilities she has learned over the timeskip are ineffective in overcoming the demon fox, Sakura tries to see if there are other things she can learn to be of more use to Naruto. Sakura is generally more accepting of Naruto's personality traits and is much more capable of working well with him, as Kakashi commented. She was also observed by Sai, who commented on the close relationship between Naruto and herself and how gentle she can be with him at times. However, she draws the line at his growing perversion, although she can be just as perverted at times.
Independent of her feelings for her teammates, Sakura's holding of herself sees a change during Part I. While she does not realize it at the time, Sakura's initial role is guarding Team 7's object of interest while Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi fight off any hostile forces. It is not until the second phase of the Chunin Exams that Sakura realizes how unfavorable this role is, as she is the sole protector of her defeated teammates during an attack by the Sound Genin. Although she attempts to fend them off with a series of preset traps, her efforts prove futile against the Genin team and Kin Tsuchi is able to grab Sakura by the hair and immobilize her. As Kin condescends her for putting more effort into her appearance than her ninja abilities, Sakura becomes distraught that people are always fighting for her because she can't fight for herself. Deciding to change this, Sakura cuts her hair with a kunai to free herself from Kin's grasp and does all in her power to battle the Sound Genin, buying enough time for reinforcements to arrive. This new resolve remains constant throughout the rest of the series, as Sakura readily comes to the aid of a teammate in need of protecting.
Within Sakura resides an "Inner Sakura," a manifestation of her inner emotions that, aside from comic relief, serves as a representation of Sakura's actual opinion on things when she outwardly displays something opposite. Inner Sakura's appearances are typically marked by an exclamation of "Shānnarō". The phrase has no literal meaning, but is usually translated as "hell yeah," "hell no," or "damn it" depending on the situation. VIZ replaced the phrase with "Cha!" in the English anime, similar to what they did with Naruto's "dattebayo" to "Believe it!." Inner Sakura's appearances are fairly infrequent, her last appearance being Sakura's fight during the Chunin Exams (where it is implied that Inner Sakura may be similar to a separate entity in Sakura's mind). Inner Sakura briefly resurfaces later on during one of the anime's filler arcs, in which she fears that she is less observant than even Naruto is, and again at the start of Part II. This large gap between appearances is likely due to Sakura becoming more comfortable with herself, and no longer having what she says contrast how she actually feels.
AbilitiesAt the start of the series Sakura has few defining abilities, the only notable trait being her extraordinary intelligence. Having honed the art of memory and taking tests during her time in the Academy, Sakura can answer questions others in her age group cannot. This is most immediately apparent during the written portion of the Chunin Exams, where Sakura is the only Genin capable of answering the test's questions without cheating. Aside from this, Sakura's talents are initially lackluster, her overall skill and stamina being below average. As such she acts as the final defense for Team 7's objective, fending off any opponents that get past Naruto, Sasuke, or Kakashi. Soon after one of Team 7's first missions, however, Sakura discovers that she has excellent control over her chakra, allowing her to use jutsu to their maximum efficiency. This also makes her naturally attuned to using genjutsu, though she is never actually seen using such an ability.
Sakura's chakra control is put to little use in Part I, due primarily to nobody training her in how to use it in battle. The only contribution it makes is during Konoha's invasion, where her chakra control allows her to become one of the few Genin able to repel the genjutsu that befalls the area and makes everyone fall asleep. After Sasuke leaves Konoha and Naruto proves unsuccessful in bringing him back, Sakura becomes Tsunade's apprentice and begins to receive training that will put her chakra control to use. While the things she learns are seen in practice during the anime's filler arcs, they do not begin to play a big role until Part II.
With Tsunade's training, Sakura becomes an excellent combat medic-nin. Her medical abilities have thus far allowed her to heal the fatal injuries of others with relatively little effort and, as seen in the anime, reconstruct dead bodies. Her skills are greater than that of many experienced medic-nin, as she is able to cure, with little effort, injuries others would deem a lost cause. This is first seen when she uses Poison Extraction Technique (毒抜きの術, Dokunuki no Jutsu?) to utilize chakra to pull some poison from Kankuro's body without doing bodily harm to him, and then proceeds to make an antidote for the poison that no others have managed to create. In her training Sakura has also learned to pick up on an enemy's movements in a short period of time, as good medics need to be able to avoid damage and survive a battle if they are to fulfill their purpose.
In battle, Sakura can rely on the strength taught to her by Tsunade. By building up and releasing her chakra with precise timing, Sakura can easily decimate most obstacles and turn them to rubble. Over time and through repeated use, Sakura has become able to use this strength instinctively and does not need to put any effort into using it. Creating this strength is an impossible task to do without precise chakra control, as noted by Kakashi. Sakura gathers as much chakra as she can in her fist and releases in when she makes contact with a foe. Sakura wears gloves where the chakra is concetrated and released, to avoid damaging her hands. This strength, coupled with her medical expertise, her quick temper, and her natural beauty has caused many to see Sakura as another Tsunade, and even capable of eventually surpassing Tsunade herself.
source:
http://captainaruto.blogspot.com/2007/12/sakura-haruno.html