This article uses material from the “Minato Namikaze” article on the Narutopedia at FANDOM is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License.
Minato Namikaze is a character from the Naruto anime and manga.
The Fourth Hokage, Minato was Kakashi's teacher, Naruto's father, the hero of the Third Shinobi World War (so feared by the Hidden Rock Village that their entire army was given "flee-on-sight" orders should they encounter him) and vanquisher of the Nine-Tailed Fox. Minato was considered to be the fastest shinobi to have ever lived, and was dubbed the "Yellow Flash of the Leaf". Notably, he was a master of the Flying Thunder God technique, which is a space-time jutsu that allowed him to teleport to any location that he marks with his special seal. He also developed the Rasengan, a spiraling ball of kinetic energy that took him three years to develop and is so devastating that it's able to defeat even S-class foes with a single strike. He later taught it to Jiraiya and Kakashi, the former of whom would eventually teach it to Naruto.
The Fourth died as a side effect of sealing the Nine-Tails into Naruto. The price for the seal was to imprison his own soul along with the Nine-Tails'. The seal has a failsafe; upon reaching 8 tails, Minato appears in Naruto's mind to prevent the total destruction of the seal. When Orochimaru split open the Shinigami Death God's belly, it released his soul from its 16-year confinement and allowed Orochimaru to put it in an Edo Tensei body.
In the AWA fics, Minato is among the many people who was given a second chance to live again at ZeroTopia. Minato is currently residing in Normal Earth along with his wife, Kushina Uzumaki at the Uzumaki Hotel without Naruto's knowledge.
Appearance[]
Minato has frequently been compared with Naruto in terms of physical appearance; both have bright, blue eyes and spiky, blond hair. Minato also had jaw-length bangs framing either side of his face. According to Jiraiya, Minato was considered to be very handsome. His normal attire consisted of a standard Konoha uniform with two bands on both of his sleeves, a green flak jacket, blue forehead protector, and blue sandals. After becoming Hokage, he started wearing a short-sleeved long white haori over his normal attire, closed in the front by a thin, orange rope. The haori was decorated by red flame-like motifs on the edges, with the kanji for "Fourth Hokage" written vertically down the back.
During his time in the Academy, he wore a simple white suit of clothing with green trimmings and a hood. After becoming a full-fledged shinobi, he wore a tracksuit with three stripes on the sleeves, mesh under-armour, a pair of black pants, and sandals.
Personality[]
Despite his physical resemblance to Naruto, Minato was more perceptive and collected than his son as a child; Jiraiya said that Minato was a shrewd person, not one to do something without a reason. He was well aware of the terror his reputation inspired in rival villages and would take advantage of it at times, but even then he would remain respectful to opponents. Minato also wouldn't pry into other people's personal affairs unless he felt it was necessary, and was not the type to hold grudges, only feeling sorry for Tobi (Obito) despite his role in his own and Kushina's deaths. If anything, Minato blames himself for his death for several reasons; he couldn't save Obito from the fate that corrupted him, Konoha from the difficulties that arose after he was gone, and even his own son Naruto from the painful and difficult life he suffered as a jinchūriki orphan.
Naruto is not without any of his father's personality traits: both have indomitable spirits and fierce ambitions that drive them through all their choices in life. Both are of unwavering loyalty to Konoha and their loved ones – friends and family – and that devotion inspires all those around them. Like Naruto, Minato had the tendency to create questionable techniques, although in Minato's case it was complicated names he came up with rather than the actual technique. This was seen when he named the "Scorch Release: Halo Hurricane Jet Black Arrow Style Zero", though afterwards he admitted it didn't sound very good.
After becoming Hokage, Minato started to take more pride in himself, referring to himself as "ore", which is a prideful way of saying "I" or "me", instead of using "watashi", a more formal way of referring to one's self. Still, this did not make him haughty as he still addressed others with the appropriate honorifics.
Abilities[]
Minato was one of the most powerful shinobi in history, such that Kakashi, Jiraiya and the Fourth Raikage considered his abilities to be unmatched by anyone else. During the Third Shinobi World War, flee-on-sight orders were given to enemy shinobi should they ever see him. During the Nine-Tails' attack on Konoha, it was only through Minato's actions that Tobi and the fox were defeated and the village was saved from complete destruction. When the Konoha Crush loomed years later, Minato was believed to be the only one who could have stopped the threat of Orochimaru, and thus his death was deeply regretted.
Physical Prowess and Chakra Reserves[]
Minato was hailed as the fastest shinobi in history. While this recognition was due in large part to his space–time ninjutsu, Minato's natural speed was immense: with only the Body Flicker Technique he could engage an enemy or retrieve an ally before anyone realised what he was doing; he could cover a considerable distance in a short amount of time and perform a technique before an opponent could finish theirs. In the anime, he could appear before sensors could detect his approach and defeat three shinobi with minimal effort. Minato's reflexes allowed him to react to and avoid techniques, such as Kamui and Lightning Straight.
Minato had large chakra reserves, enough to summon Gamabunta and teleport a tailed beast. His chakra control was very refined, evidenced by his creation of the Rasengan and his ability to weave hand seals with only one hand. Minato's fighting style revolved around speed to quickly take down enemies, so he often excluded traditional time-consuming methods such as hand seals.
Ninjutsu[]
Minato was taught by Jiraiya how to summon toads, and was one of the few people to earn the respect and full cooperation of Gamabunta. He demonstrated skill with barrier ninjutsu and could use the Shadow Clone Technique. Minato was also an adept sensor, able to detect chakra signatures from great distances. For closer targets, he could detect everyone within an area by placing his finger on the ground. Minato was also proficient in the nature transformations of Fire, Wind, Lightning, along with Yin and Yang Release.
Rasengan []
After observing the nature of the Tailed Beast Ball, Minato spent three years developing one of his signature techniques — the Rasengan — the highest level of shape transformation. It gives an edge in combat as it requires no hand seals to create and is self-sustaining. While it requires very precise chakra control to use, Minato's mastery allowed him to form it with either hand instantly and vary its size from standard, to Big Ball Rasengan-sized, and even as large as his Tailed Beast Mode. Minato had intended to combine the Rasengan with his own chakra nature, but the task was too difficult to complete before his death.
Space–Time Ninjutsu[]
Minato's other signature ability was the Flying Thunder God Technique, which he gained more of mastery over it than its creator, the Second Hokage. His exploits with this technique gained him the moniker "Konoha's Yellow Flash". Using the technique, he could instantly move to the location of anything marked with his special seal, whether a tool, place, or person that was branded. Minato could bring others with him, though he needed to provide the chakra for their transport. He did not need to accompany targets he teleported, giving him a defensive option to teleport incoming projectiles away.
Shurikenjutsu []
Minato had his own special brand of kunai for combat; triple-prong kunai for better offensive potential. He would throw them at opponents or wield them as melee tools, even in his mouth. Their main use came from the Flying Thunder God seals they were marked with, allowing him to teleport to wherever one of the kunai was thrown. He carried a large number of kunai in the field that he would scatter across a wide area so that he could move around with more options. Although his normal tactics with kunai did not require precision, Minato nevertheless had excellent aim and could coordinate his throws' timing and placement to allow him to perform complex manoeuvrers.
Fūinjutsu[]
Minato learned several fūinjutsu from Jiraiya and Kushina. The most notable of these was the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style he used to seal the Nine-Tails' Yang-half into Naruto, which would allow small amounts of the Nine-Tails' chakra to leak out and naturally mix with Naruto's own. Knowing the seal would slowly weaken over time, Minato created a key that could accelerate or reverse this process. As an extra precaution, he mixed Kushina's and his own chakra into the seal so that, when certain conditions were met, they could help Naruto with his control of the Nine-Tails' power, as well as allow them to see their son after they were dead.[28] Minato was also able to incorporate his Flying Thunder God seal into both Kushina's and Naruto's own seals which allowed him to be able to instantly teleport to their aid.
Minato could also perform the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, which he had enough familiarity with to know it couldn't be used to seal all of the Nine-Tails' chakra. With the Contract Seal, he could remove an opponent's control over any creatures they summoned. He also knew how to transfer a tailed beast from one jinchūriki to another.
Jinchūriki Transformations[]
Main article: Nine-Tails Chakra Mode
Minato became the jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails' Yin-half shortly before his death, though it wasn't until his reincarnation that he could make use of it. Unlike most tailed beasts, the Nine-Tails offered no resistance to cooperating with Minato, granting him immediate access to Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, which impressed all spectators. Minato's form was slightly darker with different markings than Naruto's but otherwise identical in appearance and abilities; he can use chakra arms, enter Tailed Beast Mode, create Tailed Beast Balls, and perform stronger versions of his usual techniques. Minato would later lose access to its power after having his half of the Nine-Tails stolen by Black Zetsu.
Senjutsu []
Minato's large chakra reserves enabled him to learn senjutsu of Mount Myōboku, enhancing his techniques and physical parameters by entering Sage Mode. He could perfectly balance the natural energy with his chakra, displaying only the orange pigmentation around his eyes — the true marking of a Sage. He was skilled enough to enter Sage Mode in a matter of moments. However, by his own admission, Minato's skill in senjutsu was limited. Never using it in battle as it deviated from his quick style of combat, he could not maintain it for long.
Intelligence[]
Minato was a very keen-minded individual, having the highest scores in the history of the Academy. Even at a young age, only he of all the ninja sent to rescue Kushina, noticed the trail she left behind to mark her kidnappers' path. In combat, he could correctly deduce the basic mechanics behind a technique after seeing it only once, and from there plan around its strengths and weaknesses to his or his allies' advantage. With his observational skills he could determine an opponent's plans and motivations based on only limited evidence. After he had finished analysing, Minato would strike quickly and with precision, attacking vulnerabilities at the most opportune moments.
As Hokage, Minato prepared for threats facing Konoha by placing a network of marked locations around the village's outskirts for him to teleport to, including at least two safe houses and likewise passed on his space–time ninjutsu onto the Hokage Guard Platoon.
Trivia[]
- The name "Minato" means "harbour", while his family name "Namikaze" means "waves and wind".
- In Hidden Leaf Village Grand Sports Festival!, Minato suddenly appears in the hallway of the stadium when Naruto is running to the toilets. All of these appearances in this special were only for the comical effect.
- Minato's hobby was reading; Jiraiya's novels were his favourite.
- Minato wished to fight Jiraiya.
- Minato's favourite food was Kushina's homemade cooking.
- Minato completed 847 official missions in total: 122 D-rank, 147 C-rank, 216 B-rank, 323 A-rank, 39 S-rank.
- Minato's favourite phrase was "The fire's shadow illuminates the village".
- Minato is left-handed, but also ambidextrous. This is shown when he summons using his left hand, meaning he signed the contract with his left hand, but has been shown to use wield his Kunai as well as the Rasengan interchangeably with no signs of preference on which hand to use.
- Prior to his battle with Pain, Jiraiya mentioned Minato sealed Kurama within Naruto partially with the intent of having Naruto master a certain technique. Although it was never elaborated what technique it was, it is possible he was referring to the Tailed Beast Ball as only a jinchūriki has access to that technique, not including the Tailed Beasts themselves, and he did base his Rasengan off the Tailed Beast Ball.
Gallery[]
