Naruto is an orphan who, as a newborn, had the dangerous fox-like entity known as Kurama the Nine-Tails sealed within his body by the Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze, the leader of Konoha's ninja force, at the cost of his own life. Because he became the host of the Nine Tails, Naruto was isolated by most of Konoha's residents during his early childhood. Since then, Naruto has commonly made jokes and played pranks to attract attention. Desiring what he lacked in early life, Naruto dreams of becoming a Hokage himself with the hope that it will bring him the villagers' recognition and respect. In an attempt to become a ninja, Naruto is horrified to learn of his Jinchuriki nature, but finds acceptance from his teacher Iruka Umino, whom he views as a father. After learning the powerful Shadow Clone Jutsu, an ability to create physical copies of the user, Naruto becomes a ninja. He joins a ninja group under the leadership of Kakashi Hatake, where Naruto gains the friends he lacked during his childhood in his classmates who also joined the established Team 7: Sasuke Uchiha, with whom he has a rivalry with since they first met at the ninja academy, and Sakura Haruno.
While going through an exam to increase his ninja rank, Naruto meets the legendary ninja Jiraiya and learns how to summon toads to aid him in battle and to control part of the Nine Tails's chakra energy. The exams are interrupted as a result of the invasion of Konohagakure by the criminal Orochimaru and the ninja of Sunagakure, with Naruto defeating the sand village's One Tail Jinchuriki Gaara and convincing him of a better way to live. Shortly afterward, Naruto discovers the Akatsuki, a criminal organization that seeks to extract the Nine-Tails from his body. Though Jiraiya drives them off during this first meeting, learning its member Itachi is both Sasuke's brother and the man who killed their family, the Akatsuki still plan to kidnap Naruto. While accompanying Jiraiya to find a new leader for the village, Naruto also learns the Rasengan, a sphere of chakra for offensive purposes. When Sasuke leaves the village to join Orochimaru's forces to obtain the power to kill Itachi, Naruto becomes part of a rescue team to retrieve him. Naruto and Sasuke ultimately have a one-on-one battle, though neither can convince himself to finish off the other. The two go their separate ways, but Naruto does not give up on Sasuke, leaving Konoha with Jiraiya to prepare himself for his next encounter with Sasuke and the Akatsuki.
After his two and a half years of training, Naruto returns to Konoha as begins to deal more actively with the Akatsuki threat by first saving Gaara from their clutches. To fight them, Naruto trains with Kakashi to infuse the Rasengan with his own wind-element chakra, creating the Rasen-Shuriken attack that proves instrumental in the downfall of the Akatsuki member Kakuzu. Despite being targeted by the Akatsuki, Naruto dedicates himself to finding and retrieving Sasuke as he eventually deposes of Orochimaru and starts acting on his vengeance-driven whims. Over time, though resisting the urge to use the creature's power, the Nine Tails's influence over him expands to the point where he begins to lose his rationality as more chakra manifests in the form of tails to the point the Tailed Beast can take control of his body.
After learning that Jiraiya has been killed by the Akatsuki leader, Pain, Naruto prepares for a future encounter by learning toad-style Senjutsu, a power-enhancing ability involving the gathering of natural energy. When they finally face off, Naruto defeats Pain and convinces him to quit Akatsuki. At that time, Naruto learns that the Fourth Hokage was his father who sealed the Fox so that Naruto could use it to defeat the Akatsuki founder Tobi who was behind the Fox's attack on Konohagakure.
When Naruto discovers Sasuke's past role within the Akatsuki, his friend learning that Itachi acted in the village's interests, he decides to confront Sasuke in battle which could end in both their deaths should Naruto be unable to save him. As a result, he prepares himself for the upcoming fights by becoming a student under the Jinchiriki of Gyuki the Eight Tails, Killer Bee, to take full control of Kurama's powers. He succeeds with help from his late mother, Kushina Uzumaki, who placed a chakra imprint of herself within the seal. When Naruto learns that all his comrades are battling Tobi's army to protect him, he takes Killer Bee to join the battle, eventually cooperating with Kurama while obtaining fragmented chakra the captive tailed beasts as he engages Tobi before learning of his identity as Obito Uchiha, a student under his father alongside Kakashi. Across the battle, Naruto joins forces with the ninja army to defeat Obito. He later faces Obito's mentor, Madara Uchiha, and briefly loses Kurama's Yang half until a reformed Obito transfers Kurama's Yin half into him along with fragments of Shukaku and Gyuki. In his subconscious, Naruto meets the first ninja, the Sage of Six Paths, who grants him enhanced Senjutsu that allows him to heal most fatal injuries in order face Madara with the powers of all nine tailed beasts at his disposal. He later faces the force behind Madara's actions: Kaguya Ōtsutsuki. Though Naruto manages to seal Kaguya with Sasuke's help, he ends up forced to fight his friend when he reveals his true reason for helping him. Naruto convinces Sasuke to reconcile so that they can undo the Infinite Tsukiyomi, losing his right arm from their final battle before later gaining a new limb created from Hashirama's cells. Many years later, Naruto is married to Hinata Hyuga with two children, Bolt and Himawari, and becomes the Seventh Hokage after Kakashi steps down, last seen attending a Kage summit held in the Hidden Leaf.
