Nine Tailed Demon Fox Shippuden

The nine-tailed demon fox (Kyūbi no Yōko) is the most powerful of the tailed beasts, blood lustful into personality, regarded as an age-old natural disaster as a single swipe of one of its tails can raise tsunamis and flatten mountains. Twelve years before the start of the series, the fox attacked Konohagakure before being stopped by the Fourth Hokage, who gave his life to seal the fox into his son, Naruto Uzumaki.

Throughout the series, after a couple isolated incidents of falling under its influence during heated battles, Naruto tries to gain dominance over the fox and harness its great strength to perform jutsu that would normally be impossible for a ninja of his age. At the same time the fox tries to gain control over Naruto, provoking his rage and thus allowing its violent personality to influence and consume him. As Naruto draws upon more of the fox's power the seal keeping it trapped within him weakens, and in the event the seal is broken the fox will be released. In the Japanese anime, its seiyū is Tesshō Genda, and in the English adaptation the fox is voiced by Paul St. Peter.

Yamato Shippuden

Yamato is introduced during Part II of the series as a temporary replacement for Kakashi Hatake as the leader of Team 7. After Kakashi's return, he stays on the team in an additional leadership position. Though "Yamato" is a codename assigned to him for the purposes of joining Team 7, he prefers it over his real name, Tenzo (Tenzō). Unlike Kakashi, who places his teammates before the mission, Yamato will leave them behind if they become a hindrance, citing that as ninja they should be able to look after themselves.

During his infancy, Yamato was abducted by Orochimaru and experimented upon in an attempt to replicate the First Hokage's unique abilities. Orochimaru was forced to flee Konohagakure before he could complete his testing, and thus never knew that Yamato had successfully obtained the First's Mokuton techniques. When using Mokuton techniques, Yamato can form anything out of wood at will. It also allows him to suppress a tailed beast's influence over its host. This is the primary reason he is assigned to Team 7, as he can stop Naruto Uzumaki if the nine-tailed demon fox within him gets out of control In the Naruto: Shippūden anime, Yamato's seiyū is Rikiya Koyama, and in the English version he is voiced by Troy Baker.

Sai Shippuden

Sai is introduced during Part II of the series as Sasuke Uchiha's replacement in Team 7. Having been a member of The Foundation since he was a child, Sai has been trained to not possess or desire any type of emotion or camaraderie. After spending time with Naruto Uzumaki, however, he begins to crave bonds with other people, which has since become his primary role in the series. Sai's attempts to form bonds involve giving pet names to others; however, he often says what he actually thinks of a person, resulting with him choosing names such as "fatso" and "ugly".

He eventually learns from his mistakes and attempts the opposite approach, for instance, calling Ino Yamanaka "gorgeous". When not making an attempt to bond with others, Sai spends his time painting and drawing, and has produced thousands of works. His artistic talents extend to his choice of attacks in battles: he can infuse chakra with his inking brush to make his drawings come to life. Sai's seiyū is Satoshi Hino in the Naruto: Shippūden anime, and his English voice actor is Benjamin Diskin.

Chiyo Shippuden

Chiyo is an adviser to Sunagakure who is introduced at the start of Part II. She is mistrustful of other ninja villages, making treaties as a formality and quietly strengthening Sunagakure's military might simultaneously. During the various ninja wars, she used her knowledge of poisons to aid Sunagakure, only to have many of her efforts nullified by the work of Tsunade. She is a skilled puppeteer and taught her grandson, Sasori, everything she knew.

When Sasori kidnaps Gaara, the leader of Sunagakure, in Part II, Chiyo joins a group of Konohagakure ninja in rescuing him. With the help of Sakura Haruno, the apprentice of Tsunade, Chiyo is able to kill her grandson. Despite their efforts, Gaara also dies before they can rescue him. Touched by the genuine bond formed between Sunagakure and Konoha, Chiyo gives up her life to revive Gaara, hoping that the relationship of peace might be continued. In the Japanese anime, her seiyū is Ikuko Tani, and in the English version her voice actor is Barbara Goodson.

Iruka Umino Shippuden

Iruka Umino (Umino Iruka) is a Konohagakure ninja and instructor at the Ninja Academy, a school for prospective ninja. Masashi Kishimoto's initial design of Iruka featured "evil" eyes and sharper cheekbones, but this was abandoned in favor of a more relaxed appearance. When Iruka was a child, his parents were killed by the nine-tailed demon fox, which was sealed into Naruto Uzumaki.

He bears no ill will towards Naruto, instead being one of the few people at the start of the series to recognize Naruto as a person and not just a container for the fox. Naruto thinks of Iruka as a father-figure because of this, and Iruka in turn has great faith in Naruto's potential to be a great ninja. In the Japanese anime, his seiyū is Toshihiko Seki, and his English voice actor is Quinton Flynn.

Konohamaru Sarutobi Shippuden

Konohamaru Sarutobi (Sarutobi Konohamaru), named after Konohagakure, is the grandson of the Third Hokage. He strives to replace his grandfather as Hokage so the villagers of Konohagakure will recognize him by name, not as the Hokage's grandson. He looks to Naruto Uzumaki as a mentor in this quest, emulating his work ethic, determination, and signature jutsu such as the Rasengan and a variety of perverted techniques. Konohamaru insists, however, that he will only become Hokage after Naruto has been Hokage first.

Konohamaru's design caused great difficulties for Masashi Kishimoto; he intended for Konohamaru to look like a "punk" smaller than Naruto, yet all of his attempts resulted in a mere recreation of Naruto. He eventually gave Konohamaru small, angry-looking eyes, and was instantly happy with the design. He is voiced in the Japanese anime by Ikue Ōtani, and by Akiko Koike as a stand-in. Colleen O'Shaughnessey is his English voice actor.

Shizune Shippuden

Shizune is a Konohagakure ninja introduced in the series as Tsunade's assistant. She left Konohagakure with Tsunade after the death of her uncle, and over the years, Tsunade taught her medical techniques. Despite her medicinal affinity, many of the attacks she uses in the series are poison-based, including using concealed poisoned needles or emitting toxic gas from her mouth.

Shizune is one of the few characters that Tsunade trusts with absolute certainty, as she identifies details that Tsunade tends to overlook. In Part II of the series, Shizune's concern for details causes her to question Tsunade's judgment, creating interference with Tsunade's plans and temporarily straining the relationship between the two. In the Japanese anime, her seiyū is Keiko Nemoto, and her English voice actor is Megan Hollingshead.

Gaara Shippuden

Gaara is the youngest of the three siblings. He was created by Kishimoto as a foil to Naruto Uzumaki, with a similar background yet a highly divergent personality. When Gaara was born, his father intended to make him a military weapon for Sunagakure by sealing the One-Tailed Shukaku (Ichibi no Shukaku), a powerful and dangerous tailed beast, inside him. Similar to Naruto, Gaara was tormented by his fellow villagers for being the host of a tailed beast.

After one of his few remaining relatives tried to kill him, Gaara developed a sadistic and withdrawn personality, killing others to affirm the value of his existence. His battle with Naruto during the invasion of Konoha changes this mentality; as a result, he becomes more willing to help others as the purpose for his existence, and he succeeds his deceased father as Sunagakure's Kazekage during Part II. Gaara's seiyū in the Japanese anime is Akira Ishida, and his English voice actor is Liam O'Brien.

Kankuro Shippuden

Kankuro (Kankurō) is the second oldest of the three siblings. For the first half of the series, he is frequently at odds with Gaara, though he tends to hold his tongue for fear of being killed. In Part II, once Gaara begins to reveal his dreams and motivations to Kankuro, Kankuro becomes very protective of Gaara; he lashes out at anyone who speaks poorly of Gaara and when Gaara is kidnapped, he readily risks his life to save him.

Kankuro is a talented puppeteer, and has thus far been shown to have three puppets in his arsenal: Karasu (Crow), Kuroari (Black Ant), and Sanshōuo (Salamander). Crow is used for offensive purposes, Black Ant traps opponents in its body to make them easier targets, and Salamander protects Kankuro and his allies from enemy attacks. The puppets are all destroyed by their original creator, Sasori, in Part II. Kankuro is later seen using Sasori's body as his new puppet. In the Japanese anime, his seiyū is Yasuyuki Kase, and his English voice actor is Michael Lindsay.

Temari Shippuden

Temari is the oldest of the three siblings. Unlike her more combat-loving brothers, Temari values peace, as she questions Sunagakure's justifications for going to war with Konohagakure. This trait carries over to Part II, in which she begins acting as a liaison between Sunagakure and Konohagakure to help the two villages work together. Like her brothers, Temari does not appear in the series very often, and when she does appear she is commonly in the company of Shikamaru Nara. When they make their Part II debut together, Naruto Uzumaki asks if they are on a date, though both Shikamaru and Temari state that this is not the case.

In battle, Temari wields a giant iron fan that can create powerful gusts of wind capable of leveling the surrounding landscape. As she is skilled at deducing an opponent's strategies and weaknesses soon after a battle begins, she typically uses her winds to remove parts of the battlefield that might be advantageous to the enemy. Temari's seiyū in the Japanese anime is Romi Paku, and her English voice actor is Tara Platt.

Sand Siblings Shippuden

The Sand Siblings are ninja from the village of Sunagakure and the children of the Fourth Kazekage, the leader of the village. They come to Konohagakure to participate in the biannual ninja exams, and serve as antagonists in the subsequent invasion of Konohagakure. Due to their interactions with Naruto Uzumaki, they later return as allies of Konohagakure, aiding him in his attempts to retrieve Sasuke Uchiha from Orochimaru.

Kishimoto changed their costumes for their return due to the difficulty in drawing their original attire, as well as to symbolize their new friendship with Konohagakure. When all five of the kage's are meeting up they are seen yet again in different outfits.

Danzo Shippuden

Danzo (Danzō) is one of the oldest villagers in Konohagakure. The right half of his body is covered in bandages to hide the arm and Sharingan eye transplanted from the body of Shisui Uchiha. He was once considered for the position of Third Hokage, but that title was given to Hiruzen Sarutobi and he instead became an adviser to Hiruzen. Since then he has been using The Foundation, his own personal black ops team, to secretly further him along the path of becoming Hokage.

Danzo is a war hawk who believes that all of the former Hokage have placed peace above the village's best interests, a belief that leaves him at odds with Tsunade throughout Part II. After Konohagakure is destroyed, Danzo blames Tsunade and the former Hokage's philosophies for the village's destruction, which finally convinces the Fire Country's feudal lord to make him the Acting Sixth Hokage (Rokudaime Hokage). In the Japanese anime he is voiced by Hiroshi Ito.

Minato Namikaze Shippuden

Minato Namikaze (Namikaze Minat), the Fourth Hokage (Yondaime Hokage), is the father of Naruto Uzumaki. Although Naruto and Minato are noted to have a number of similar traits throughout the series, their familial relationship is not revealed until Part II of the series. He was the student of Jiraiya and the teacher of Kakashi Hatake. Minato was a prodigy among ninja, such that enemy villages issued flee-on-sight orders if ever he appeared on a battlefield.

He developed a jutsu that was in essence a teleportation jutsu, allowing him to wipe out whole armies in the blink of an eye, thus earning him the title of "Konoha's Yellow Flash" (Konoha no Kiiroi Senkō). Before the start of the series, he gave his life to seal the nine-tailed demon fox into Naruto's body, saving Konoha from destruction and giving Naruto access to its great strength.[84] His seiyu is Toshiyuki Morikawa.

Hiruzen Sarutobi Shippuden

Hiruzen Sarutobi (Sarutobi Hiruzen), the Third Hokage (Sandaime Hokage), has been the longest-ruling Hokage, having served two separate terms. He is a peace-loving leader, preferring nonviolent discussions to his advisers' more militaristic suggestions. Throughout the series, he acts as a source of wisdom to younger generations and is one of the few characters to treat Naruto Uzumaki as a person and not just the container of the nine-tailed demon fox. In his youth Hiruzen was known as "The Professor" (Purofessā), as he purportedly knew every jutsu in Konohagakure. He was also the teacher of Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Tsunade.

Orochimaru had always been his favorite student, and Hiruzen could never bring himself to recognize Orochimaru's evil qualities. When Orochimaru invades Konoha years later, Hiruzen fights him to repent for never prosecuting Orochimaru as he should have.[85] When he is unable to win, he robs Orochimaru of his ability to use jutsu, bringing an end to the invasion and thus allowing Hiruzen to die happily. In the Japanese anime, his seiyū is Hidekatsu Shibata, and his English voice actor is Steve Kramer.

Hokage Shippuden

The Hokage ("Fire Shadow") is the leader of Konohagakure. Over the course of the series, there have been six Hokage, who are honored by the village by having sculptures of their faces carved into the rock formation overlooking Konohagakure. The First Hokage (Shodai Hokage) was Hashirama Senju (Senju Hashirama), who founded the village along with Madara Uchiha. With his unique Mokuton abilities, he created the trees that act as the foundation for Konohagakure, and his method of rule became a model for all subsequent Hokage. The First was succeeded by his younger brother, Tobirama Senju (Senju Tobirama), who became the Second Hokage (Nidaime Hokage). He in turn was followed by one of his students, who became the Third Hokage.

After a long rule, the Third abdicated in favor of Minato Namikaze, who took the position of Fourth Hokage, but reclaimed his position after the Fourth gave his life to save the village from the nine-tailed demon fox. The Third is the Hokage at the beginning of the series, but he is slain in battle by his former student, Orochimaru, during an invasion of Konohagakure. Another of his students, Tsunade, succeeds him as the Fifth Hokage. Danzo has followed Tsunade becoming the Sixth Hokage after her severe injuries made her comatose while defending the village from Pain.

Might Guy Shippuden

Might Guy (Maito Gai) is the leader of Team Guy, and dedicates most of his time to only one of his students, Rock Lee. Because of Guy's dedication to him, Lee has modeled himself in his master's image, mimicking Guy's distinctive green jumpsuit and shiny bowl haircut. Lee has also adopted many of Guy's mannerisms, including his "My Rules" philosophy, which involves setting tough self-imposed penalties for failure in the belief that the punishment will make him stronger. Series creator Masashi Kishimoto likens Guy's passionate personality to that of a physical education teacher he had in junior high school, but notes that the teacher was not a model for Guy's character.

In battle, Guy specializes in physical attacks, which he constantly tries to teach to Lee. While Lee is forced to concentrate on physical attacks due to his inability to use other types of techniques, Guy deliberately chooses not to use techniques other than physical attacks. When not teaching Lee a new ability, Guy is usually found in competition with his self-proclaimed rival, Kakashi Hatake. Throughout the series, Kakashi has never displayed a particular interest in their rivalry, which only further motivates Guy to defeat Kakashi and his "coolness". In the Japanese anime, his seiyū is Masashi Ebara, and his English voice actor is Skip Stellrecht.

Tenten Shippuden

Tenten is the only female member of Team Guy, and longs to prove that female ninja can be just as skilled as male ninja. Of all the Naruto protagonists, Tenten receives the least amount of screen time, such that her only fight in Part I of the manga is almost entirely skipped; the battle's start and her eventual defeat are the only portions shown. Despite her lack of appearances, series creator Masashi Kishimoto favors her design more than those of any of the other female characters he has created.

In battle, Tenten specializes in weaponry, ranging from projectiles to close-combat weapons and even explosives by the second part of the series. During a fight she uses the hundreds of weapons kept stored in scrolls she carries with her to bombard opponents with pinpoint accuracy. Tenten uses this expertise to help Neji Hyuga train his defensive techniques, and she holds him in high regard since he can always block her attacks. Her Japanese seiyū is Yukari Tamura, and her English voice actor is Danielle Judovits.

Neji Hyuga Shippuden

Neji Hyuga (Hyūga Neji) is a member of Team Guy and a child prodigy of the Hyuga clan. Despite his natural talent, Neji's membership in one of the clan's lower houses leaves him ineligible to learn the clan's most secret techniques. At the start of the series, Neji openly hates the main house because of this, readily attacking its members verbally or physically when given the chance. At this point in the series, Neji believes in a fatalistic philosophy: that one's destiny is inescapable and that a weak person will always be weak. After being defeated in battle by Naruto Uzumaki, a character that has proven his "destiny" wrong by getting stronger, Neji has a change of heart. He abandons the idea of a predetermined fate, and resolves to get strong enough to never lose a battle. He also tries to remedy the estranged relations between himself and the members of the main house, resulting in his training with the leader of the main house at the end of Part I.

Neji displays his title as a prodigy of the Hyuga throughout the series; when first introduced he is highly proficient with the Gentle Fist style of combat, with which he can directly attack an opponent's internal systems. Though never having been trained in the form, Neji has been able to replicate it and its most powerful attacks through simple observation. As the series progresses, Neji refines these abilities into more powerful counterparts, either to increase their potency or to fix an inherent flaw. One such example is his Byakugan, an eye technique that by default grants the owner a near-360-degree field of vision within a fifty meter radius. Neji constantly trains to overcome a small blindspot and to increase the Byakugan's range of sight. In the Japanese anime, his seiyū is Kōichi Tōchika, and when he is featured as a child, he is voiced by Keiko Nemoto. His voice in the English anime is provided by Steve Staley, and Wendee Lee provides his child voice.

Rock Lee Shippuden

Rock Lee (Rokku Rī) is a member of Team Guy and the favorite student of team leader Might Guy. Guy spends much of his free time training with Lee to help him accomplish his dream of becoming a respected ninja by using only taijutsu. Lee has adopted several of Guy's habits because of this, such as his wardrobe and his perseverance. Guy has taught him a number of powerful, even forbidden, techniques. Because some of these techniques, such as the ability to open the eight chakra gates, can pose a severe risk to Lee's body, he is only permitted to use them to protect something or someone dear to him.

In the Japanese anime and manga, he always utilizes honorifics such as "san and "kun". In the English adaptations, he never uses contractions. In the Japanese anime, his seiyū is Yoichi Masukawa, and his voice actor is Brian Donovan in English.

Team Guy Shippuden

Team Guy is a group of Konohagakure ninja led by Might Guy. The members of Team Guy primarily concentrate on physical attacks and weapons. They are a year older than the other members of Konohagakure's teams, as Guy wanted to wait a year before they could take the test to advance in ninja rank and become Chunin. In Part II, Team Guy joins Team 7 in attempting to save Gaara from the criminal organization, Akatsuki.