The world of Naruto is complex and filled with hundreds of colorful characters. Fans bonded with the likes of Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, and Saakura Hurano. However, they also fawned over smaller characters like Rock Lee, Killer B, and Haku.
In a universe filled with clever, powerful ninja, the series does a great job of meshing each unique character into the story about Naruto. Since a Naruto anime has been on screens consistently for 16 years, it's fair to say that it's been very effective.
Fan-favorite characters draw viewers into the complex stories of long-winded battles and political subterfuge, and the world gets more complicated when many of the civilians have abilities and even more complicated when each country has a village that trains the best into elite warriors.
However, favoritism doesn't ensure that a character was good for the series. Some of the most beloved characters did awful things throughout Naruto's long run. They may be fun to watch, but they aren't inherently good for the world. Conversely, sometimes fan blunders are less exciting but fantastic forces for good.
With that said, here are the 13 Character Additions That Saved Naruto (And 12 That Hurt It).
25 Saved: Tsunade
Though at times Naruto had a poor time of showing it, Tsunade was always an absurdly strong ninja with a complex personality. Unlike many women in the show, Tsunade wasn't chasing after any men and very deliberately an individual. She had lost loved ones, had a gambling problem, could be brash and rude, and was a dedicated Hokage.
Naruto could have used more of her and should have spent more time showing her abilities off, but what fans did see was impressive.
She showed fans, for the first time, the possible strength of a ninja with medical powers. Tsunade also was the first female Hokage. Her presence has only ever made Naruto better.
24 Hurt: Kaguya
Not only did Kaguya quite literally try to destroy the entire world, but she is also the reason why humanity has chakra and powers in the first place. Without her, none of the heart-wrenching events of Naruto would have occurred. Though it's a powerful adventure to watch outcast Naruto Uzumaki become a hero, Kaguya's influence made their world a much worse place.
So many children, families, and nations were destroyed by thirst for power and revenge. Effectively, she gave already troubled people grenades when all they should have had were knives. She irreparably hurt the world, and that's without taking into account her plans to devour it.
23 Saved: Itachi Uchiha
Unlike his erratic young brother, Itachi was calculating in his decisions - the good, the bad, and the heartbreaking. There is nothing that can change the fact he destroyed Sasuke's youth, but he did sacrifice everything he loved to protect everyone else.
He refused to pass on before his brother could find solace in getting revenge. Pragmatic, powerful, and tortured, Itachi was a character too heroic to save the clan he loved dearly. Itachi is one of the best complicated anti-heroes that Naruto offers. Though he cannot simply be named a hero, he definitely saved the Naruto world.
22 Hurt: Konan
Konan was a powerful, ideological, creative, and protective ninja who was dedicated to Pain's cause. On the surface, she's immeasurably cool. As a feminine mix of beautiful origami and stoic battle prowess, she's unique and beautiful.
However, looking deeper under the surface, Konan disturbingly lacks individuality.
Her entire life she followed the ideas of her adopted family, Nagato and Yahiko. Though more empathetic and kind, she fulfilled Pain's crueller plans. And once he was gone? She simply moved on to the only man who impressed him: Naruto. While cool and great in concept, Konan heartbreakingly lacks individuality and it hurts Naruto's already poor female track record.
21 Saved: Shikamaru
Though initially just an uninterested rookie, Shikamaru quickly shows his strengths as an impressive tactical genius. His aloof composure makes him a fascinating contender for one of the most powerful characters on the show.
Shikamaru's powers are hardly as flashy as his peers, but he can out-think everyone he encounters. He's a fantastic leader and he keeps a cool head in battle. While most main heroes are passionate and impulsive, he has a uniquely stoic flair in his decisions.
He is a character that also reminds fans that, however, fun, these ninja are dealing with the fatal motions of subterfuge and war. He is a saving force of levity against Naruto's endless optimism.
20 Hurt: Madara
Madara is the culmination of all things wrong with the Uchiha clan. He is a hateful, vengeful, absurdly powerful man who refuses to stay gone. Once, he was inches from creating peace between Konoha and the Uchiha clan. However, his mistrust and doubt prevented that from ever being possible.
He caused chaos and dissent in his first life, floundering between being Hashirama's rival and friend. Later, he's insidious, meddling in not only the lives of his descendants but also just random children of war. Then, of course he tries to destroy the world altogether. Madara hurts everything he touches and has only made the Naruto world worse.
19 Saved: Konohamaru
Naruto follows the wild, unexpected adventures of its title character. However, beyond Naruto's escapades, the ninja back home are going about life as normally as they can. Fans watch the most extreme scenarios, but that isn't what's happening all the time. Konohamaru and his friends are a perfect window into the more normal progression of Konoha.
Fans get to watch him grow, become stronger, and experience a more typical ninja education.
More importantly, he is the hope for the future of Konoha, showing that ninja that can live past a war and have the chance to grow old. Konohamaru showed the normal village ways and let fans see an innocent boy grow into a strong teacher.
18 20 Hurt: Danzo
As a master manipulator and militant leader, Danzo Shimura has ruined many lives in his bids for peace. He lived for subterfuge, trying to warp missions and plans to best service his ideal Konoha. The terrible man also convinced Itachi Uchiha that slaying his entire clan was the only way to avoid civil war, which destroyed his younger brother's mind.
Danzo is, in theory, on the side of good. However, he thinks he is the greatest good and will enact all sorts of destructive plans to get there. Though an integral member of Konoha leadership, Danzo hurt the village in his warped desperation to seize control and help it.
17 Saved: Sai
Some fans don't like Sai very much, but he was a vital member of Team 7 as time went on. Not only did he help stop Danzo in his power-hungry tirade, but Sai was also a better teammate to Naruto and Sakura than Sasuke ever was. While Sasuke motivated Sakura and Naruto, Sai actually learned from his teammates and taught them things, too.
They worked as a unit and played off each other's strengths. This is a far cry from Sasuke and Naruto's competitive work while Sakura waited meekly in the background. He was the lynch pin in stopping an evil man and made Naruto a better ninja. He saved Team 7, and thus saved the show.
16 Hurt: Obito Uchiha
It's nearly tiring how many Uchiha clan members become warped, tortured villains. After the girl he loved most and witnessing the terror of the Third Shinobi War, Obito was manipulated to Madara, who trained him in order to create the world he wanted. In the process, he started the Fourth Shinobi War.
Once a good friend of Kakashi, Obito brought back one of the worst things to ever plague the world of Naruto: Madara Uchiha.
While an interesting character with a complicated arc, Obito's continued existence nearly ruined the world. Luckily he saved the day in the end, but it doesn't fix the irreparable damage that he caused.
15 Saved: Jiraiya
This one can quite literally be attributed to the prophecies of an old toad. Jiraiya was always destined to train the child who would save the world - and he did. Without his unique training, Naruto wouldn't have saved the world, at least as far as the prophecy goes.
The more admirable and powerful part of Jiraiya, though, was his dedication to this destiny. He abandoned loves, friends, and his home to ensure that he was prepared to train this child. A passionate man, Jiraiya lived a full life while keeping the safety of this world as his top priority. As a beloved character, great teacher, and unforgettable hero, Jiraiya saved Naruto in many ways.
14 Hurt: Karin
Karin is an intelligent ninja who spends a lot of time supporting powerful men. Though this sounds pragmatic, it's far more problematic. As another member of the Uzumaki clan, fans wished that was far less hurtful to Naruto than she was.
During the show, Karin worked with Orochimaru in one of his labs, managed one of his hideouts, joined Sasuke, and acted like she was obsessed with him. Even in Boruto, she still works for Orochimaru in one of his hideouts. Instead of being an interesting female mad scientist counterpart to Orochimaru, Karin is annoying and caused the world of Naruto much more pain than necessary.
13 Saved: Hashirama
Though Kaguya technically started it all with her powers, Hashirama was the first step towards a better world. The powers of the ninja created chaos and war. With Konoha, Hashirama dreamed of a better world where these powers could be used to do good, not to cause war.
Though four wars followed his peace treaty with the Uchiha's and his creation of the shinobi, Hashirama was the first one who was willing to change the world.
As the first Hokage and a direct descendent of Kaguya herself, Hashirama did his best for Konoha, even though his leadership couldn't fix all of the wounds so easily.
12 Hurt: Kabuto
Kabuto is not much better than a religious fanatic. His dedication to Orochimaru is not only creepy, but also horribly detrimental. No matter how much the Naruto team thinks they can defeat Orochimaru, it seems that both he and Kabuto are always back together scheming. Even after his end, Orochimaru is still around and kicking. He's an important part of Boruto, after all.
Though annoying, Kabuto hardly does much to the Naruto narrative. He has encyclopedic powers and obtains snake-like powers due to his experiments. His worst quality is his devotion to the mad ninja scientist and how he alone has ensured his continued existence too many times.
11 Saved: Gaara
Gaara somehow manages to be brutally ruthless, but not evil. He was raised and treated as a weapon his entire life, so this is was what he became. Because of this, he is calculated, powerful, effective. His use of his jinchuriki made him a fearsome foe during his youth and made even his family avoid him and wish for his end.
The young sand master may have claimed peoples' lives, but he doens't do it because he's a master - he does it because it's all that he knows. It takes some powerful opponents and brave words to convince Gaara that he can be anything he wants to be. The arc of this cursed child turned leader is one of the greatest that Naruto has to offer.
10 Hurt: Hiruzen
Hiruzen was the honorable Third Hokage of Konoha. He dutifully protected his village for decades and oversaw the chaotic grabs for power from many powerful ninja. Many Konoha ninja looked up to him.
However, Hiruzen wasn't flawless. One of his greatest failures had to do with Naruto Uzumaki, the orphaned son of the Fourth Hokage.
Before his passing, Minato begged Hiruzen take care of Naruto and ensure that everyone treated him as his son, and not as the vessel of a dangerous creature. Instead, Hiruzen puts Naruto up in an apartment alone during his childhood and does nothing to counteract the gossip and rumors that isolate the small boy. He also hides the truth of Naruto's parentage from the boy himself.
9 Saved: Haku
Haku, hands down, is one of the most wholesome ninja Naruto ever encounters - and considering that he's a dangerous acolyte of Zabuza, that's an impressive feat. Instead of being a highly trained ninja student, Haku was an orphan who was attacked by his own father.
The Land of Water, scared of war, ostracized those with special abilities. Zabuza took the homeless boy in and trained him to help him in his goal to end the Mizukage, the leader the troubled nation. Generally kind and loving, Haku followed Zabuza because he loved him and believed in him. This showed Naruto the struggles of other young ninja. Through Haku, Naruto learned that, just because someone was seen as evil by others, this didn't mean that the person was truly bad.
8 Hurt: Sakura
Sakura's flaws are, unfortunately, hardly her fault. Naruto has a bad habit of putting its female characters on the sidelines and not fully-fleshing them out into strong, independent heroes. This became glaringly apparent with the only female of the show's main trio, Sakura.
While fiery, passionate, and headstrong, Sakura often stood in the background while her counterparts, Naruto and Sasuke, took center stage. When she does have time to shine, it's short-lived and/or based on her feelings for a male main character. In the diverse world of Naruto, Sakura remained a lovestruck, codependent ninja who never truly lived up to her potential.
7 Saved: Hinata
In a world full of brash, loud shinobi, Hinata is impressive and unique with her quiet strength. The show struggles to balance out their female characters, delegating them to love interests and support characters, but it does make a bit of an effort with Hinata, who, though shy, becomes quite strong by the end of the series.
While many of Naruto's characters are loud and egotistical, Hinata's quiet nature is a calming force on the battlefield.
Though imperfect, Hinata is a triumph of an uncommon hero: a shy, quiet one. She shines brighter the longer the story goes on. However, it's quite obvious that she would've never grown into such a hero if not for the fact that she was selected as Naruto's main love interest.
6 Hurt: Kakashi
Kakashi is, by all means, a fantastic shinobi and character. However, he is a terrible teacher. Despite his impressive résumé, he makes many poor decisions when it comes to his students. Instead of taking Team 7 home when they realize that the Land of Waters mission is far more dangerous than anticipated, he tells them to continue.
Meanwhile, he also willfully ignores or encourages the rivalry between Naruto and Sasuke, the same kind of rivalry that plagued Obito and his friendship. Also, of course, his students were nearly slain countless times. Though he's a great man, Kakashi is always late, is poorly focused on education, and is a teacher who hurt Team 7 more than helped it.
5 Saved: Pain
Naruto has always been fairly hit or miss with villains. However, this was never the case with Pain. Pain was initially Nagato, an orphan tainted by Madara and torn apart by war. He and his friends, Konan and Yahiko, became students of Jiraiya after the Second Shinobi War. They hoped to become great warriors and bring peace to the world that was ravished by war.
After Yahiko's passing, though, the group was corrupted and chose to achieve this peace by any means necessary. Years passed, and Pain went out of control without a clear goal in sight, only an impossible ideal. His story is heartbreaking and terrible all at once, which gave him one of the strongest villain arcs in all of Naruto.
4 Hurt: Orochimaru
Orochimaru is easily one of the most self-serving villains in Naruto. He is known for siding with whoever suits his needs. In Boruto, he's even on relatively friendly terms with Konoha for the sake of his artificially engineered son, Mitsuke. Though he's a strange, mad scientist, he's also a fan-favorite. Despite all of these facts, Orochimaru, objectively, hurt the world of Naruto irreparably.
He caused the initial Team 7 to break apart by teasing Sasuke with power.
His dealings could have destroyed both Sasuke and Konoha. Many of his creations became threats that extended beyond his control. Though a menace in his own right, he set off countless events that hurt the world more than helped it.
3 Saved: Iruka
Iruka is hardly the most exciting character in Naruto, but he is possibly one of the most important. When the series started, Naruto was at a crossroads: would he be a renegade outcast or a ninja? While the rest of the village shunned Naruto, Iruka desperately wanted to give him a chance.
Moreover, when an enemy tried to turn Naruto on the village, Iruka was there to defend and protect him in a way no one else did. Naruto could have been a very different story if Iruka had not opened up to Naruto and become the closest thing that the young Uzumaki had to a parent. Iruka saved Naruto from a much lonelier life and provided the foundation for the series.
2 Hurt: Sasuke Uchiha
During his youth, Sasuke was a talented ninja with a tragic, debilitating backstory. His betrayal, his thirst for strength, and his vengefulness all made sense. As the show moved into its Shippuden series, though, Sasuke's complex psyche degraded into that of an emotional, angry villain.
Sasuke put Naruto and Sakura in complicated situation - they were forced to fight against an enemy who they had once been close to. In this aspect, his story was fascinating and heartbreaking. However, he almost became cartoonish in his fights for revenge.
By the end of Naruto, he was an irredeemable criminal. Naruto forgiving him and pretending that his sins could be expunge and Sasuke seemingly shrugging off all that he had done truly hurt the story.
1 Saved: Rock Lee
Rock Lee was a quirky minor character in Naruto. Eventually, he became a fan-favorite for his determination, positivity, and eccentric nature. Early on in the show, during the Chunin Exams, he served a vital purpose that saved the main characters of the series.
Naruto started off by showing how surprisingly powerful its lead characters - Sasuke and Naruto - could be. Their mission to the Land of Waters only furthered this. Their actions eventually led them to the Chunin Exams. There, they met Rock Lee, the first person to ever successfully go toe to toe with Sasuke and show that, while Sauke was talented, the young rookie had a long way to go.
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What did you think of these Naruto character additions? Are there any others we missed? Let us know in the comments!
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