Naruto is a mischievous young boy who, due to the "stigma" of having the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox sealed within him, is shunned by the adults of Village Hidden in the Leaves, since he is the "vessel" of the demon who had killed so many people in the village twelve years ago. Before he was aware of this fact, Naruto was simply a young orphan, living alone in his house, eating his "cup ramen" (instant cup noodles), and basically getting attention to himself by being a brat. He would pull pranks, and vandalize monuments and statues. He even made fun of his ninja apprenticeship classes, inventing "stupid ninja skills" as "Sexy no Jutsu", where instead of transforming his appearance to look like his teacher, he turns in to a naked, blonde girl!

Naruto is not without "serious ninja skills", however. His specialty is the "Kage Bunhsin no Jutsu", learned from a forbidden secret scroll he was tricked into stealing. In contrast to the normal "Bunshin" (clone illusions) done by ordinary ninjas, the "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" produces multiple "Shadow Clones" of the user, with actual physical bodies. In short, Naruto can create real duplicates of himself (or anything else) and each of the duplicates can physically affect his enemies just like the real thing!

Naruto believes that the only way the people of the village will accept him and acknowledge him as a citizen of the village is to train hard and become the village's next "Hokage" (the highest-level ninja and leader of all ninjas in the village). This is ultimate goal, and he is determined to achieve it no matter what.

Naruto may be a hyperactive knucklehead, but few people have as much sheer guts and willpower, and it can produce a number of surprising results, such as when he first invoked the Shadow Clone technique. Having the much-talked-about Sasuke as a teammate also fuels his fire, since it stirs intense rivalry in both of them, spurring each to push harder.

He doesn't really know it (Kakashi does, though), but Naruto has even more chakra potential than Sasuke. The reason is that the spirit of that infamous nine-tailed fox is still within him, and the dark side of that secret emerges when Naruto is pushed over the mental edge. As he realizes just how big of a problem the demon within him can be, he gains another reason to become stronger: so he can keep the vengeful demon in check.

Hinatais a member of Team 8 who suffers from a lack of self-confidence throughout the series. She is always reluctant to speak her mind or to do something that might antagonize another character, causing her difficulties whenever she is on a mission. This results in her effective expulsion from her clan; although she is the eldest daughter of the Hyuga clan's leader and the heiress to the clan, Hinata's inability to stand up for herself caused her father to disown her at a young age, leaving her in the care of her teacher, Kurenai Yuhi. Series creator Masashi Kishimoto had not originally intended to have Hinata be a ninja, but intended for her to be a regular member of the Hyuga clan. Soon after her introduction, Hinata begins training to become stronger, both to overcome her own weaknesses and to prove her worth to her father. Her efforts begin to prove successful towards the end of Part I, as her father takes a greater interest in her training.

Though Hinata's training has in large part been to prove herself, she also trains to try and win the attention of series protagonist Naruto Uzumaki. Inspired by Naruto's confidence and determination, Hinata becomes infatuated with Naruto, to the extent that she immediately blushes or faints upon seeing him; however, as the series progresses, she goes out of her way to help him. While Hinata has yet to openly admit her feelings for him, most characters (except for Naruto, who only considers her blushing "weird") are aware of her feelings. In the anime, Hinata's attempts to impress Naruto result in her creation of a new ability capable of instantly blocking or attacking anything in her extended field of vision. Her seiyū in the Japanese anime is Nana Mizuki, and her English voice actor is Stephanie Sheh.

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