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Naruto Shippuden
After this failed attempt to retrieve Sasuke, Naruto learns that circumstances have granted him a 3-year window to prepare himself for when the time comes to face Orochimaru (who has switched bodies prematurely and now has to wait 3 years before executing his original plan of transferring into Sasuke) and defend himself against additional kidnap attempts from the shady organisation Akatsuki (who, according to Jiraiya's information sources and for reasons unknown, halt their plans to attempt capturing Naruto for three years). Naruto takes this opportunity for intensive training under Jiraiya, as does Sakura under Tsunade. As Jiraiya was the Fourth's sensei, this places Naruto in a very good position to actually fulfill his dream to become Hokage or at least a ninja of great renown, as most legendary ninjas and hokages are closely tied to one another through student-teacher relations (though she does not tell him this, Tsunade is already certain he will grow up to become Hokage).

When Naruto returns to the village two and a half years later he finds out, much to his chagrin, that he is the only one of his former-Genin social circle (known as the "Rookie 9") who is still a Genin. During his absence, the rest have become Chūnin (and Hyūga Neji even made Jōnin).

In this new arc of the story, dubbed Naruto II, we see the growth of all of the characters, including Naruto. Naruto shows physical growth, sports a new outfit, and appears to not only have increased in strength and techniques, but intelligence as well (the pervertedness of his Sensei also seems to have slightly rubbed off on him). He has little time, however, to wander the village and greet all his old friends, as the Hokage sends him, Sakura and Kakashi on yet another rescue mission, this time to retrieve the helpless Gaara (who, to Naruto's utter awe, has become the fifth Kazekage during his absence) from the hands of Akatsuki, who plan to extract the sealed demon from him for purposes yet unknown. Jiraiya's information sources indicate that Akatsuki has been growing impatient with their lack of success capturing Naruto, and thus this clash with Akatsuki seems to have been inevitable.

Naruto, along with Sakura, Kakashi, Team Gai, and Chiyo, go on a mission to rescue the recently-captured Gaara from the Akatsuki. They are first confronted by Itachi and Kisame, who turn out to be body substitutes by means of Shoten no Jutsu (Shapeshifting Technique), and defeat them. Upon arrival at the grotto where Gaara is being held, the group figures out that a barrier jutsu seals off the entrance. To facilitate entry, Team Gai goes to remove four seals scattered in the area; doing so creates clones of them which copy their every movement. Meanwhile, Naruto and Kakashi decide to confront Deidara while Chiyo and Sakura face Sasori. Both pairs defeat the Akatsuki members, and Gai and company defeat their clones, with help from Neji.

Upon retrieving Gaara from Deidara's clay bird, Naruto undergoes the second-stage Kyūbi transformation, which he used against Sasuke. Because Kakashi knew how to contain Naruto's further transformation using a special seal he received from Jiraiya, it has been implied that Jiraiya also witnessed Naruto's transformation during the last three years.

History
Little is known about Naruto's birth or parentage, and it is very probable that he has no living relatives at all. What is known, however, is that around the time his mother was about to give birth to him, the Nine-tails Demon Fox, or Kyūbi no Yōko, attacked his village, Konohagakure (Hidden Leaf) and the Yondaime Hokage (Fourth Hokage) decided to seal the demon away with a forbidden technique inside him, sacrificing his life in the process. Yondaime's wish was for Naruto to be remembered as a hero by the people of the village.

Things, unfortunately for him, definitely did not turn out that way. The people of the village needed something to blame and channel their bitterness and loss onto, and he was the perfect candidate. The adults of the village, without known exceptions, knew him and treated him as nothing more than the demon fox that has attacked the village; As a result he grew up alone and isolated. It is implied in the manga that he went through very difficult emotional times and often shed many tears, but kept reprimanding himself for doing so and telling himself nothing would be achieved by crying. Eventually he developed into the loudmouth, hyperactive prankster he was at the start of the manga, though as the Third Hokage (Sandaime) observed (and even Naruto himself, in a moment of rare enlightenment, once admitted this), it is only an act to cover up for his deep insecurity in a desperate plight for recognition.

By chance or fate, Umino Iruka, who had felt much of the same desperation as Naruto in his younger years, was Naruto's teacher, and he was the first person to recognize Naruto as a human being and ninja, and not just as a stupid screwup or the Nine-Tails. Naruto, at one point, says that when he is with Iruka, he often wonders whether that is what being with a father is like.

Ninja academy
Up to his academy graduation, Naruto has precious little of the acknowledgement and empathy he seeks. His sensei, Umino Iruka, and to a lesser extent the Third Hokage, are the only positive influence on him in that respect (though Hyūga Hinata thinks very highly of him as well she never actually gathers the courage to address him). He neglects his academy studies so much that he repeatedly fails to graduate (though the Bunshin no Jutsu, the one he is worst at, being the final test every year doesn't help much). That is until he is manipulated to steal the scroll of seals (a scroll belonging to the village containing forbidden techniques) by Mizuki. During the short conflict between Mizuki and Iruka, Naruto acquires his signature technique, Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, by learning it from the scroll. When he demonstrates usage of this technique, Iruka passes him and congratulates him on graduating.

While labeled as dumb at the academy, Naruto shows surprising talent in unexpected areas and often comes up with inventive solutions and strategies. Later in the series, Naruto manages to learn the Rasengan, a technique that took the fourth Hokage three years to develop, in just a month (he takes a couple of days for the first step, three weeks for the second, and one week for the third). An example of Naruto's inventiveness is shown here -- he lacks the chakra control required to execute the technique using only one hand, but he settles for an inferior delivery method which is slower and requires another hand (either by occupying his other one or using a kage bunshin). While not on par with the original, Naruto's version is still very effective.

Later in the manga, Naruto is seen to be able to use Rasengan with only one hand (though this might be a misinterpretation due to the graphic limitations of manga). Early in the Naruto II arc while out to rescue Gaara, Naruto uses a new version of Rasengan called Odama Rasengan- essentially two combined Rasengan spheres from him and a clone requiring only one hand of each, again suggesting that he is now capable of executing Rasengan as originally intended.

Personality and characteristics
Naruto is very determined and has very strong values that he never once fails to act by, even in hopeless situations. His dream is to become Hokage, as it is the epitome of his ambitions to have the village acknowledge him and live for the sake of protecting his important people.

Naruto has a knack for inspiring people to realise their potentials and resolve to work harder or change their ways for the better; his determination and resolve often earn him sympathy from other characters. One early example of this is Konohamaru, the grandson of the third Hokage, who was inspired by Naruto to stop trying to find shortcuts to becoming Hokage, as there are no shortcuts and the only way is paved with plenty of hard work. Another is Inari, whom Naruto helped by making him see that anyone can make a difference and by confronting him about his refusal to come to terms with his painful past (as Naruto's past was similarly tragic). Both of them have gotten very attached to Naruto and have taken to calling him Onii-chan (big brother).

Though he is naturally impetuous, hyperactive and tends to rush into combat without thinking, Naruto is capable of devising some quite clever plans by creative usage of his jutsu. He has more than once upstaged what looked like a superior opponent by exploiting the element of surprise an unconventional usage of a technique entails; Kakashi even dubs him the "number one ninja in surprising people". Another main driving force behind his otherwise average Taijutsu and Ninjutsu abilities is the huge power and chakra reserves of the Kyūbi. Kyūbi is by no stretch of the imagination a particularly pleasant character, but nevertheless does everything in his power to help Naruto - lending chakra as requested, healing Naruto with his extreme healing ability and so forth - if only for the fact that Naruto's death would apparently mean the Kyūbi's death as well.

There are downsides to the huge chakra load that is Kyūbi; like most of the biggest weapons, it can't be lifted, let alone wielded, with ease. Naruto is a relatively small container that cannot quite handle the whole of Kyūbi's chakra, which might account for Naruto's inability to control and focus chakra consistently for jutsu during his days at the academy. Even later, when Naruto learns to better control his chakra, any technique relying on Kyūbi's chakra to work properly runs a chance of failing, as it takes great conviction or control on Naruto's part to draw Kyūbi's chakra effectively. However, Naruto's Chakra and Kyūbi's chakra are slowly fusing and are expected to eventually become one, which is bound to drastically change this status-quo.

Piczo