‘Naruto’s Uzumaki Family Tree Explained

The Big Picture

• Naruto, a hot-headed orphan, dreams of becoming Hokage to earn respect and recognition in the village.
• Family plays a crucial role in Naruto’s journey, from his father, Minato, to his mother, Kushina.
• Through bonds with Jiraiya, Hinata, and other, Naruto builds a new family, guiding him to his ultimate goal.

Naruto begins with the titular character seemingly devoid of any and all family. Naruto was a hot-headed orphan left to fend for himself, causing mischief and mayhem as he proudly declared his desire to become the Hokage. However, as the series progresses, Naruto learns more about his family’s bittersweet legacy, filled with major accomplishments and tragedy alike. Fortunately, Naruto’s solitude would not be a permanent curse on the young ninja, as he eventually found friends, earned the respect of the village, and started a family of his own. With news of a live-action Naruto adaptation directed by Destin Daniel Cretton on the horizon, now is the perfect time to learn more about the lineage of the Hidden Leaf Village’s most important ninja.

Naruto Uzumaki

Naruto Uzumaki is the knuckleheaded, resilient, and heroic protagonist of the series. After the Nine-Tails was sealed in him as a baby, the orphaned Naruto was isolated from the rest of the village as most residents feared the tailed beast inside him. However, Naruto was undeterred and constantly sought to cure his loneliness by becoming the Hokage, the leader of Konoha who everyone in the village respects and admires. Naruto follows the hot-blooded ninja in his early days as a shinobi, becoming a member of Team 7 alongside Sakura and Sasuke as they learned from their sensei, Kakashi. Naruto: Shippuden continues following Naruto as he becomes stronger, in order to bring back Sasuke, who defected from Konoha to get revenge on his brother, Itachi. Eventually, Naruto becomes the hero of the village, earning respect and love from his community thanks to his noble sacrifices and his innate ability to form genuine bonds and connections with those he meets. In the sequel series, Naruto has achieved his dream, becoming the Seventh Hokage.

Minato Namikaze

Minato Namikaze, Naruto’s father, was one of the most talented and prodigious ninja in the history of the Hidden Leaf, immortalized in Konoha as the Fourth Hokage. He was known as “Konoha’s Yellow Flash” due to his unmatched speed in combat, using his signature Flying Raijin technique that allowed him to teleport instantaneously to places marked with his seal. Minato became globally renowned and feared during the Third Shinobi World War, demonstrating such deadly skill and abilities that other nations instituted a “flee on sight” rule for their shinobi if Minato was seen on the battlefield.

After helping end the war by almost singlehandedly stopping an invading force of 1,000 enemy ninja, Minato was appointed to be the Fourth Hokage at just 24 years old, making him the youngest leader the village has ever had. Unfortunately, his tenure was also the shortest among Hokage. Shortly after Naruto’s birth, a masked man attacked Kushina and released the Nine-Tailed Fox that was sealed inside her. While fending off the assailant, Minato sacrifices himself in order to save the village and his son, sealing the Nine-Tailed Fox in Naruto moments before passing away. Naruto is also given Kushina’s last name instead of Minato’s in order to disguise his connection to the Fourth Hokage.

Kushina Uzumaki

Kushina Uzumaki was Naruto’s mother and the former Nine-Tails jinchuriki. Though her son took after his dad in terms of physical appearance, Naruto’s brash personality was more reminiscent of Kushina’s. During her time at the academy, Kushina was teased for her bright red hair and, after beating up her bullies, earned the nickname “The Red-Hot Habanero.” Kushina was first brought to Konoha to continue the tradition of an Uzumaki becoming the jinchuriki to the Nine-Tailed Fox, an immeasurably powerful tailed beast that had been kept in the Hidden Leaf for generations. While her early years in the village were isolating, she eventually became a true Hidden Leaf ninja, falling in love with Minato and leading a happy life until tragedy struck.

Moments after giving birth to Naruto, Kushina was attacked by a masked man who used her recent labor as an opportunity to weaken the seal on the Nine-Tails and release the tailed beast. Even though losing a tailed beast typically results in the jinchuriki’s immediate death, Kushina’s resilience kept her alive long enough to protect her son from the Nine-Tails claws, sacrificing herself alongside her husband in order to save their newborn child.

Jiraiya

While not blood-related to Naruto, Jiraiya was an irreplaceable member of the Uzumaki family. He was Minato’s sensei and taught the talented ninja from a young age. Jiraiya was one of the bravest and most noble characters in the series, known as one of the legendary Sannin and was asked to be Hokage multiple times, though he kept refusing. Minato and Kushina chose their son’s name after reading Jiraiya’s first novel, The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi, choosing the name Naruto after the main character. Jiraiya was made Naruto’s godfather, a role he stepped into during the series after he took the young ninja under his tutelage, as he helped connect Naruto to his family after their death. Jiraiya taught Naruto the Rasengan, which was invented by Minato and eventually became Naruto’s signature technique. He also connected Naruto with the toads of Mount Myōboku, giving Naruto some powerful allies and a path to learning the secret Sage Technique.

Mito Uzumaki

Mito Uzumaki was a distant relative of Naruto and Kushina, but was nonetheless strongly connected to the mother and son. She also hailed from the Uzumaki family, who were renowned for their immense chakra reserves, powerful resilience, and specialty in sealing techniques. This combination of traits made her the perfect jinchuriki for the Nine-Tailed Fox, as Mito was the first person to have the tailed beast sealed within them. Mito was married to Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage, and together the two established the tradition of jinchuriki that kept the Nine-Tails from destroying the village.

Nagato Uzumaki

Nagato was a powerful shinobi born in Amegakure, the Village Hidden in the Rain. Nagato is a descendant of the Uzumaki clan, identifiable thanks to his red hair and unnaturally strong life force, even compared to other ninja. Nagato and his friends Yahiko and Konan were orphans in the Hidden Rain Village trained by Jiraiya, who wanted to give the disenfranchised children a chance at survival. They would go on to form the Akatsuki to end the war in the Hidden Rain. After Yahiko’s death, Nagato took over as the leader of the group, which began to include deadly rogue ninja from other villages. Nagato used the Rinnegan, unique eyes that allowed him to control multiple bodies at the same time. Using the moniker of Pain, the Akatsuki pursued the tailed beasts and even staged a devastating attack on Konoha.

Hinata Hyūga

Hinata Hyūga is the former heiress to the famous Hyūga clan who eventually married her childhood crush, Naruto Uzumaki. Even from their early days in the academy, Hinata fostered a deep, almost debilitating, crush on Naruto. Though Naruto was oblivious to her romantic intentions, he was always kind and cared about the shy girl. During the tense and challenging Chūnin Exams, Hinata was badly injured by her cousin Neji. Naruto would later face Neji in a match, beating the more experienced ninja in both their physical battle and the war between their ideals. Hinata would confess her feelings to Naruto during Pain’s assault on Konoha, but it still took some time before the two entered a relationship. It wasn’t until The Last: Naruto the Movie, which took place after the Fourth Shinobi World War, that Naruto would realize his feelings for Hinata, leading to their marriage.

Boruto Uzumaki

Boruto Uzumaki is the elder of Naruto and Hinata’s two children and the protagonist of the sequel series, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations. Having come from a very different background than his father, Boruto has as many contrasting traits with Naruto as he does similar ones. The two are both energetic, loud, and eager, but Boruto starts his journey off with far more confidence and technical ability than his dad. Also, while Naruto always yearned for the position of Hokage, Boruto never shared that fondness due to his feelings of neglect, as Naruto was often away dealing with village matters. Boruto becomes inspired by Sasuke Uchiha’s noble yet discreet protection of Konoha, choosing to follow in his footsteps to become a shadowy protector of the village, rather than its figurehead leader.

Himawari Uzumaki

Himawari Uzumaki is the youngest child of Naruto and Hinata, still young and carefree for many of her appearances. Though she is mostly cheerful and kind, Himawari has also shown a capacity to become more aggressive when provoked into a temper. This leads to some moments that are simultaneously hilarious and terrifying, as Himawari has also awakened the Byakugan, a special eye technique of the Hyūga clan that makes her unexpectedly fierce for her age.

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