History Naruto / TropesAtoK

* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Literally. The only two named, currently living characters who have mutual feelings for each other are a pair of one hundred year old frogs. This is in stark contrast to the [[http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/lyrics/farmer.htm Farmer-in-the-dell]] shenanigans going on at the unrequited front across the generations; you can just ''tell'' the author had to restrain himself from giving Tsunade a crush on Orochimaru (sadly and hilariously enough, a few years after the above line was written, the anime went ahead and [[AdaptationExpansion did away with that precious little bit of restraint]]). Suprisingly enough, the official databook [[http://www.forums.endless-naruto.com/naruto-manga/naruto-databook-3-summary-5838/index2.html#post253327 tones it down more than a notch]].

* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Literally. The only two named, currently living characters who have mutual feelings for each other are a pair of one hundred year old frogs. This is in stark contrast to the [[http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/lyrics/farmer.htm Farmer-in-the-dell]] shenanigans going on at the unrequited front across the generations (you can just ''tell'' the author had to restrain himself from giving Tsunade a crush on Orochimaru). Suprisingly enough, the official databook [[http://www.forums.endless-naruto.com/naruto-manga/naruto-databook-3-summary-5838/index2.html#post253327 tones it down more than a notch]].

* BechdelTest: Passed when Sakura remembers her training with Tsunade.

* FauxActionGirl: Hoo, boy, this is an ''[[UnfortunateImplications issue]]''. To date, a girl has yet to beat a guy at one of those full-length, fair and square one-on-one confrontations the series' "asskicking pyramid" scene thrives on. The girls' record of gaining the upper hand against the guys in chance confrontations, fights cut short, two-on-one fights and such is slightly better, but not by much. Kishimoto has been made aware of this and tried to round it out in the last parts of the story. [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment We'll let you appreciate if he succeeding or not]].

* HardWorkHardlyWorks: Ridiculously hard-training Rock Lee is introduced as powerful enough to defeat nearly anyone of his peers, but loses ground gradually as the story introduces more hax abilities and SuperpowerfulGenetics. By the later stages of the story he just CantCatchUp to Naruto or Sasuke, and the most you could say about him is that he's far from where he would be ''without'' hard work. Then later you gradually realize this holds true for ''everyone else'', not just Lee, so suddenly he's not looking that bad any more. Averted with Gai, who consistently gets to demonstrate how he is still on par with Kakashi.

* FauxActionGirl: Hoo, boy, this is an ''[[UnfortunateImplications issue]]''. To date, a girl has yet to beat a guy at one of those full-length, fair and square one-on-one confrontations the series' "asskicking pyramid" scene thrives on. The girls' record of gaining the upper hand against the guys in chance confrontations, fights cut short, two-on-one fights and such is slightly better, but not by much. Kishimoto has been made aware of this and tried to cop out with it in the last parts of the story. [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment We'll let you appreciate if he succeeding or not]].

** Naruto seriously, honestly, loves Sakura that way. Except the databook says he doesn't. Except his crush for her has been a side-plot for as long as anyone can remember, and he ''has'' asked her on a date on multiple occasions. Except this was obviously just a running gag PlayedForLaughs. Except later it was stated several times that Naruto does love her and isn't making a move mainly due to backwards HonorBeforeReason considerations. Except when Sakura actually tells Naruto she wants it to happen, he blows her off for reasons he doesn't outright state, thus leaving his intentions to be conveniently interpreted by {{shipper}}s in whichever way strikes their fancy.

* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Literally. Almost all living people, excluding the dead ones, have one-sided loves on others. Sakura with Sasuke, Lee with Sakura, Hinata with Naruto, and seemingly Naruto with Sakura though that one isn't 100% clear.

** Naruto seriously, honestly, loves Sakura that way. Except the databook says he doesn't. Except his crush developed love on her has been a side-plot for as long as anyone can remember, and he ''has'' asked her on a date on multiple occasions. Except this was obviously just a running gag PlayedForLaughs. Except later it was confirmed by both Sai and Naruto it's becoming serious, and their relationship's not happening mainly due to backwards HonorBeforeReason considerations. Naruto has been putting her feelings before his and though he still loves her, it wanted Sakura to not be lying which is why he rejected her confession.

* DeusExMachina: Seems to be what the forbidden dojutsu [[spoiler:Izanami]] is about.

** Naruto seriously, honestly, loves Sakura that way. Except the databook says he doesn't. Except his crush developed love on her has been a side-plot for as long as anyone can remember, and he ''has'' asked her on a date on multiple occasions. Except this was obviously just a running gag PlayedForLaughs. Except later it was confirmed by both Sai and Naruto it's becoming serious, and their relationship's not happening mainly due to backwards HonorBeforeReason considerations. Naruto has been putting her feelings before his and though he still loves her, it wanted Sakura to not be lying which is why he rejected her confession. It was staed in the anime that he hasn't given up on her yet.

** Hinata's LoveConfession. Naruto clearly heard it, it was part of what set off his UnstoppableRage- yet after everything's over, and Hinata is shown clearly safe, they are never shown speaking (or having spoken) of it. And when they finally have some meaningful interaction [[spoiler:in the 4th ninja war]], it isn't brought up. We might get a resolution in the end, but there is no guarantee.

* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Literally. The only two named, currently living characters who have mutual feelings for each other are a pair of one hundred year old frogs. This is in stark contrast to the [[http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/lyrics/farmer.htm Farmer-in-the-dell]] shenanigans going on at the unrequited front across the generations (you can just ''tell'' the author had to restrain himself from giving Tsunade a crush on Orochimaru). Suprisingly enough, the official databook [[http://www.forums.endless-naruto.com/naruto-manga/naruto-databook-3-summary-5838/index2.html#post253327 tones it down more than a notch]].

** Naruto seriously, honestly, likes Sakura that way. Except the databook says he doesn't. Except his crush on her has been a side-plot for as long as anyone can remember, and he ''has'' asked her on a date on multiple occasions. Except this was obviously just a running gag PlayedForLaughs. Except later there are hints it's becoming serious, and their relationship's not happening mainly due to backwards HonorBeforeReason considerations. Except Naruto flat-out states this is not the case and doesn't seem that hyped about it at all. Except he may have just ''given up'' on them being together rather than lost interest in the relationship. Except he's passed up a perfectly good chance to at least give it a try. Except that could've been because he was convinced that Sakura would be settling for him, since she still loves Sasuke more than anything. Except she claims otherwise. Except she's lying. Except she might change her mind in the future. Someday, the great gods of plot may decree that Naruto is premitted to, heaven forbid, date Sakura and see whether it works out. Until then...

* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: The most common cause of death or serious injury for pretty much everyone, from fodder-nin up to main characters is a good old piece of steel through the chest. Justified in that most of the higher level jutsus end up countering each other, leaving the chakra-depleted opponents to resort on the good old stabbing until one falls over. Some examples: the 3rd Hokage, Sakura, Orochimaru, Madara Uchiha, [spoiler:Danzo, Karin, Tsunade]], etc.

* HypnoticEyes : The Sharingan and anyone using Genjutsu. Subverted with Orochimaru's snake eyes which ''aren't'' hypnotic, despite what Sasuke primarily thought and the traditional association of snakes with hypnotism. It's Orochimaru's [[AxCrazy bloodlust]] which leads Sasuke and Sakura to have a vision of their own gruesome and supposedly imminent death.

* HypnoticEyes : The Sharingan and anyone using Genjutsu. Subverted with Orochimaru's snake eyes which ''aren't'' hypnotic, despite what Sasuke primarily thought and the traditional association of snakes with hypnotism. It's Orochimaru's [[AxCrazy bloodlust]]

* GraveRobbing: A required for anyone using the technique [[OurZombiesAreDifferent Edo Tensei]].for the same purpose.

** [[The BigGuy Kiba and Choji]] / [[TheBrute Jirobo]]

** Lots of pretty boys with ShirtlessScenes too (Sasuke, [[BareYourMidriff Sai]], Naruto, Hidan, Pain...).

* TheEvilsOfFreeWill: A major evil plan in the works appears to be based on this.

** When Kakashi gives team 7 the bell test, he challenges them on what they would do if one of them were captured and they were told to kill their other teammate to save the hostage. Several hundred chapters later, that exact situation plays out for [[spoiler:Yahiko, Konan and Nagato]]. [[spoiler:Yahiko]]'s solution was [[spoiler:to throw himself on Nagato's kunai]], solving the immediate problem, but ultimately causing [[spoiler:[[FreakOut a much greater one]]]].

** When Kakashi gives team 7 the bell test, he challenges them on what they would do if one of them were captured and they were told to kill their other teammate to save the hostage. Several hundred chapters later, that exact situation plays out for [[spoiler:Yahiko, Konan and Nagato]]. [[spoiler:Yahiko]]'s solution was [[spoiler:to throw himself on Nagato's kunai]], solving the immediate problem, but ultimately causing [[spoiler:FreakOut a much greater one]].

* BreakThemWithWords: Commonly used by antagonists. The most memorable are the ones delivered by Neji and Pain. Pain's even ''worked'', which given [[{{Determinator}} Naruto's disposition]] is really saying something.

* BigDamnHeroes: Played straight as much as you can expect given [[{{Shonen}} the genre]] (Naruto for Iruka, Sakura and Naruto for Sasuke, The Sand siblings for Team Shikamaru, etc.).
** [[ZigZaggingTrope Zigzagged]] with Naruto's return to Konoha when Pain attacks. When Naruto arrives Pain has already destroyed the village and got the intel he was looking for. He was ''leaving'' and pretty much nobody needed to be saved anymore or ''could'' be saved anymore. Then Naruto goes ahead and [[LogicBomb saves the day anyway]], because [[TheHero that's what he does]].

There are [[TropeOverdosed so many tropes]] in ''{{Naruto}}'' that we had to split its trope page. The second half is here. Tropes about the anime, merchandising and video games goes there.

Please add character tropes directly to said character entry on one of ''Naruto'''s numerous [[Characters/Naruto characters sheets]], unless it is a key plot point or a remarkable recurring trope (e.g. on this page: ArtAttacker).
This is to keep these pages from inflating artificially.

''Here be spoilers. Anything that has not been aired on the free version[[hottip:*:one week after the paid version]] of [[http://www.crunchyroll.com/library/Naruto_Shippuden Crunchyroll]] should be spoiler-tagged.''
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[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:A]]
* AbortedArc: Dosu's storyline [[WildCard after his betrayal]] of Orochimaru got a [[DroppedABridgeOnHim brutal end]].
** Invoked when it looked like the author was setting up a TyrantTakesTheHelm plot with [[spoiler:Danzo]], but it got unceremoniously cut short [[spoiler:by Sasuke's magic stretching electric sword]].
** Hinata's LoveConfession. Naruto clearly heard it, it was part of what set off his UnstoppableRage- yet after everything's over, and Hinata is shown clearly safe, they are never shown speaking (or having spoken) of it. And when they finally have some meaningful interaction [[spoiler:in the 4th ninja war]], it isn't brought up. We might get a resolution in the end, but there is no guarantee.
* ActionGirl: Most of them tend to devolve into {{Faux Action Girl}}s, if they don't start out that way to begin with. Still, every once in a while...
** Temari has a really excellent win to loss record. Her only real loss is an Anime-only fight obviously created just to subject her to TheWorfEffect. She's won every other one-on-one fight she's been in. Pity that she's been OutOfFocus for ages.
** Chiyo, [[NeverMessWithGranny at age 73]], fought off a majorly powerful villain (with a bit of help from [[TookALevelInBadass Sakura]], but she did most of the work).
** The Fifth Mizukage, Mei Terumi, was there when Sasuke decided it would be a great idea to barge in uninvited into a major diplomatic event attended by some of the most powerful ninjas in the world. Though he's no pushover, when her turn to confront him came she bashed his face in with no difficulty.
** [[spoiler: Kushina Uzumaki]] was one, if only because in the ''Naruto'' universe DeathByOriginStory Equals Asskicking.
** Konan [[LetsGetDangerous put up a surprisingly good showing]] in her last fight. She had a very good strategy and even forced her opponent to resort to a DangerousForbiddenTechnique. [[spoiler:Pity that in this series horrible, debilitating self-damage is only a setback if you're Rock Lee.]]
** Sakura, Hinata and Tsunade seem to [[ZigZaggingTrope ZigZag]] between this and FauxActionGirl.
* ActionMom: Tsume Inuzuka has remained an active kunoichi and mother of two teenagers while managing her clan, all after her husband left (Kiba suspects it's ''because'' she was such an ActionMom).
** [[spoiler: Kushina Uzumaki]]. She [[spoiler:restrained the Kyuubi with chakra chains, then used her own body to stop its claw from striking Naruto, not an hour after she gave birth and had the Kyuubi forcibly dragged out of her body. And she was dying the entire time]].
* AesopAmnesia: Naruto averts this to the nth degree. He seems to keep a mental list of the aesops he has so far learned and refers to them constantly for guidance and clarification as to what he should do next.
* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Literally. The only two named, currently living characters who have mutual feelings for each other are a pair of one hundred year old frogs. This is in stark contrast to the [[http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/lyrics/farmer.htm Farmer-in-the-dell]] shenanigans going on at the unrequited front across the generations (you can just ''tell'' the author had to restrain himself from giving Tsunade a crush on Orochimaru). Suprisingly enough, the official databook [[http://www.forums.endless-naruto.com/naruto-manga/naruto-databook-3-summary-5838/index2.html#post253327 tones it down more than a notch]].
* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Villagers toward the tailed beast hosts. Inverted, or perhaps reinforced, in one of the most recent chapters: through flashbacks from a minor character who'd previously adhered to this trope in a big way, it turns out the Konoha villagers have actually been paying attention to Naruto's development from BrattyHalfPint to Heroic {{Determinator}}.
* AllThereInTheManual: The databooks hold a lot of information never revealed in the anime or manga, like the backstories of Akatsuki members Hidan and Kakuzu and how the former's immortality technique works. Their hosts (and their Tailed-Beasts) who were killed offscreen and only appeared on the splash page for chapter 420. got named and pictured in art book month before being properly named and shown in the manga. The real names and ordinals of the current Mizukage, Tsuchikage, and Raikage were revealed in the fanbook.
* AlliterativeFamily: The Hyuga. Hiashi, Hinata, and Hanabi. Also Hiashi's brother Hizashi.
* AnchoredShip: To MindScrew levels.
** Naruto seriously, honestly, likes Sakura that way. Except the databook says he doesn't. Except his crush on her has been a side-plot for as long as anyone can remember, and he ''has'' asked her on a date on multiple occasions. Except this was obviously just a running gag PlayedForLaughs. Except later there are hints it's becoming serious, and their relationship's not happening mainly due to backwards HonorBeforeReason considerations. Except Naruto flat-out states this is not the case and doesn't seem that hyped about it at all. Except he may have just ''given up'' on them being together rather than lost interest in the relationship. Except he's passed up a perfectly good chance to at least give it a try. Except that could've been because he was convinced that Sakura would be settling for him, since she still loves Sasuke more than anything. Except she claims otherwise. Except she's lying. Except she might change her mind in the future. Someday, the great gods of plot may decree that Naruto is premitted to, heaven forbid, date Sakura and see whether it works out. Until then...
** Meanwhile, Hinata has confessed her undying love for him and nearly died for his sake in the process. The proper response to this is either a LoveEpiphany or a LetsJustBeFriends speech, but Naruto's apparently not in the mood for either, so he just never bothers to give it another thought. There's plenty of InternetBackdraft to go around regarding the simple question of ''why''.
** In part one, Rock Lee saw Sakura and fell in LoveAtFirstSight. Almost immediately, he was proclaiming his love to her and going to extreme lengths to catch her attention. He was so in love with her, in fact, that he jumped at the chance to prove that he was being serious about being willing to risk his life for hers. And in part two...there's nothing. They've barely spoken or interacted, and when they have, there are no real signs that he's as hopelessly devoted to her as he used to be. So...did he get over her? Did he just give up? Is he still pining for her? Unfortunately, it's unlikely that this plot point will be picked up again. However, while the main series seems to have forgotten about this ship, the spin-off ''RockLeesSpringtimeOfYouth'' shows that [[DoggedNiceGuy Lee's still trying and failing to win her over.]]
* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: From practically everyone to practically everyone else, especially in Shippuuden. Usually with less than stellar results. Dare to confess your love in this series and you'll get knocked out, ignored, accused of making it up or told "''Sorry, can't, too much angst, I'll protect you though''". It's '''[[AllLoveIsUnrequited never]]''' "''Huh, you know, this could actually work''".
* AnimalMotifs: It's a veritable zoo in there!
** [[GenerationXerox Jiraiya and Naruto -> Toads ; Tsunade and Sakura -> Slugs ; Sasuke and Orochimaru -> Snakes]]. Much later: Sasuke -> Hawks - [[NewPowersAsThePlotDemands New Animal Motifs As The Plot Demands]].
** Neji -> Birds.
** Team 10 - Ino, Shikamaru and Choji -> Boars, Deer and Butterflies respectively. It plays off of a high-ranking combination in the card game Hanafuda.
** Inuzuka clan -> Dogs - "''inu''" meaning "dog" ; Aburame clan -> Bugs
** Third Hokage -> Monkeys.
** Akatsuki - Itachi -> Crows ; [[MeaningfulName Sasori]] -> Scorpion ; Konan -> origami-style Butterflies ; Kisame... Well, no arrow there. [[PettingZooPeople Shark]].
** Iruka -> [[MeaningfulName Dolphins]]. He even has ''sonar'' as his trademark ability.
** Itachi has another one, given is first name means "weasel"
** Temari -> [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamaitachi Weasels]]
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Pain asks Naruto: "Well, what's ''your'' solution?". Naruto loses all his enthusiasm to fight because he doesn't know the answer.
** Gaara asks the council of Kages when they all threw themselves away, having a particular impact on the Tsuchikage, who had been most dismissive of him.
* ArmyOfTheAges: The Fourth Ninja War arc [[spoiler:features heavy use of a resurrection jutsu that brings back a wide range of ninja that had been previously killed. Even past villains the protagonists had faced]].
* ArtAttacker: Something of a theme: puppets, Konan's origami, Deidara's clay, Sai's paintings, etc. What is "true art" is even discussed several times.
* ArtEvolution: Could be {{Justified}} as puberty and aging for most characters, but the artwork in both manga and anime has changed quite a lot since the early chapters. It's become apparent in the newest chapters. Ten year old characters look different than before. [[spoiler:There have been complaints on Haku's even more bishie look and, apparently, makeup]].
* AscendedExtra: Shikamaru. The rest of the Konoha 11 also often receive central roles in filler arcs.
* AssShove: The "1,000 Years of Death" technique.
* AssimilationPlot: A major villain claims to be collecting the tailed beasts in order to use the Moon as a conduit to cast a happy-happy-unity genjutsu on everyone and TakeOverTheWorld.
* AssholeVictim: The Fourth Kazekage (Gaara's dad).
* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: The principle is that the head of a ninja village (the Kage) is its strongest fighter. It is shown several times that reality is a bit more complicated than that.
* AuthorAppeal: Kishimoto seems to have a thing for eyes.
** He also likes drawing toes, which is why almost everyone has opened shoes.
* AwesomeYetPractical: The exploding tags that everybody carries. They're high yield explosives that can be attached to any surface, meaning they can be used both as projectiles and land mines, and are apparently so easy to obtain that most ninja carry several dozen of them at a time. They also have the best showing of any ninja tool in the series, being responsible for Naruto defeating Gaara's Half-Complete Ichibi form, Shikamaru defeating Hidan, Hanzou permanently maiming Nagato, and [[spoiler:Konan blowing up half of the BigBad's body.]]
* AwfulTruth: The reason [[FirstEpisodeSpoiler why the villagers hate Naruto]] is that he's [[SealedInsideAPersonShapedCan the can]] of [[EldritchAbomination the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox]] which killed many of them and destroyed a good part of the Leaf Village.
** Sasuke was far happier thinking his brother killed his entire family because he thought the clan limited his growth in power. Let that sink in for a second.
** Inverted with Neji, who finds out that the truth is far less awful than he thought; Hiashi just [[PoorCommunicationKills kept it from him]] until he thought Neji was ready to hear it and wouldn't blow it off as more lies and manipulation (which he nearly did anyway).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:B]]
* BackFromTheDead: In Part I, the two previous Hokages, by one of Orochimaru's forbidden jutsus. In Part II, Gaara, by getting his tailed-beast ripped out and then getting a soul-transfer; All of Konoha, care of Naruto talking some sense into Pain. Later, [[spoiler: almost every major bad guy, a few good guys (including Asuma and Tsunade's fiancé, Dan), some of the previous Kage and Jinchûruki, and pretty much every relatively famous ninja Kabuto could think of]].
* BackToBackBadasses: Kakashi and Gai during Orochimaru's invasion, and then again during the [[spoiler:Fourth Ninja World War]].
** [[spoiler:Neji and Hinata]] during the [[spoiler:Fourth Ninja World War]].
* TheBadGuyWins: The end of Part I.
* BadassFamily: In a WorldOfBadass, every family is a BadassFamily. The only family introduced that is not badass is Inari, Tsunami, Kaiza and Tazuna the bridge builder from the Wave Country arc, and even they are merely not badass by the standards of this particular universe; in a normal world, they would definitely stand out. You'd think Naruto would be exempt from this by virtue of being an orphan and you would be wrong: his father was hokage [[spoiler: and his mother was a jinchuuriki]].
* BalanceOfPower: The distribution of bijuu among the earliest villages helped stabilize the region. One of the main reasons the 4th Hokage couldn't simply let the Kyuubi escape was that its presence would disrupt that balance and potentially start a new war.
* BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind: [[spoiler: Naruto vs. his dark side (or something to that general effect) at the Waterfall of Truth]], and later [[spoiler: Naruto vs the Kyuubi]].
** JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind: Arguably, each times Naruto goes and talk to (or let himself be possessed by) the Kyuubi, it's this trope.
* BatmanGambit: Nothing is more satisfying than watching a character screwing their opponent(s) over in a way that ''in retrospect'' [[MagicAIsMagicA they should have totally seen coming]]. Naruto lives by this, but many other characters get their share, including villains.
* BechdelTest: Passed when Sakura remembers her training with Tsunade.
* BigBadEnsemble: Following the TimeSkip, the series featured multiple antagonists of conflicting agendas who were competing to be the main villain. Over time a few major players have been removed from the fray, and several seem more interested in their own personal vendetta than in scheming against one another.
* BigBadassBattleSequence: The Invasion of Pain and the Invasion of Konoha.
* BigDamnHeroes: Played straight as much as you can expect given [[{{Shonen}} the genre]] (Naruto for Iruka, Sakura and Naruto for Sasuke, The Sand siblings for Team Shikamaru, etc.).
** [[ZigZaggingTrope Zigzagged]] with Naruto's return to Konoha when Pain attacks. When Naruto arrives Pain has already destroyed the village and got the intel he was looking for. He was ''leaving'' and pretty much nobody needed to be saved anymore or ''could'' be saved anymore. Then Naruto goes ahead and [[LogicBomb saves the day anyway]], because [[TheHero that's what he does]].
* BigDamnHeroes: Played straight as much as you can expect given [[{{Shonen}} the genre]] (Naruto for Iruka, Sakura and Naruto for Sasuke, The Sand siblings for Team Shikamaru, etc.).
** [[ZigZaggingTrope Zigzagged]] with Naruto's return to Konoha when Pain attacks. When Naruto arrives Pain has already destroyed the village and got the intel he was looking for. He was ''leaving'' and pretty much nobody needed to be saved anymore or ''could'' be saved anymore. Then Naruto goes ahead and [[LogicBomb saves the day anyway]], because [[TheHero that's what he does]].
* BigEater: Somewhat of a running gag. Naruto can eat several bowls of ramen for dinner without gaining weight. Anko often eats dozens of sticks of dumplings for lunch- and several days' worth of calories. Chouji and his whole clan are like this, as they use the extra body mass for their fighting style. Tsunade boasts a huge appetite when she wakes up from her coma. Obviously a case of RuleOfFunny, RefugeInAudacity and NegativeContinuity in one of the {{Omake}}s where a huge ramen eating contest takes place and ''[[ShrinkingViolet Hinata]]'' wins, of all people.
* BigFancyHouse: The Uchiha extended-family compound stands out particularly for its size, being the size of a small village. The Hyuuga's place is pretty impressive as well, looking more like a palacial estate than a housing complex.
* BigShutUp: Naruto says this to Chiyo when the latter tells him to calm down following Gaara's death.
* {{Bizarrchitecture}}: The Land of Iron is located around the "Three Wolves"; three "mountains" [[http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/naruto/images/c/c2/LandofIron.jpg which are shaped like canine mouths]]. How the hell does ''that'' happen?
* BlackEyesOfEvil: Anyone summoned by Edo Tensei gets these. Also [[spoiler:Evil!Naruto]].
* BloodMagic: Summoning techniques ; Hidan's curse.
* BloodOath: An interesting variation. Naruto swears to defeat Neji on Hinata's blood during the Chunin exam preliminary battles for the final test.
* BodyHorror: All right, let's make this clear. EYES do not belong on your ARMS. A MOUTH does not belong on your PALM or your CHEST. BUGS do not belong inside your BLOODSTREAM. BONES should be on the INSIDE of the body. SIAMESE TWINS do not belong inside EACH OTHER. FACES DO NOT GO ON THE BICEP! OR THE [[spoiler:CHEST OF A RESURRECTED CORPSE]]! Kishimoto Masashi, you are a sick, sick man. No cookie. No cookie!
* BondBreaker: Sasuke and Itachi's reunion un part I. After NoHoldsBarredBeatdown meets MindRape courtesy of Itachi, Sasuke snaps. He becomes obsessed with revenge while reporting his frustration upon [[TheHero Naruto]] (because of the latter progress). Meanwhile [[TheHeart Sakura]] cannot do much but witness this, and [[{{Mentor}} Kakashi]]'s good words don't have the time to sink in. Sasuke leaves the Leaf soon after, rejecting Sakura's AnguishedDeclarationOfLove, before defeating Naruto in an epic duel.
* BoringButPractical: Kunai and Shuriken. They're the most basic ninja tool, but they have a place in the highest level battles.
* BoringImmortalHero: Sasuke Retrieval Arc, where all five bad guys (not counting Sasuke) died, but all five good guys survived (including two that [[DisneyDeath really looked like they were dying]]).
* BrainwashingForTheGreaterGood: One of the foundations of Root. Also [[spoiler:Tobi]]'s officially stated goal.
* BreakThemWithWords: Commonly used by antagonists. The most memorable are the ones delivered by Neji and Pain. Pain's even ''worked'', which given [[{{Determinator}} Naruto's disposition]] is really saying something.
** The Kyuubi also does this to Naruto when it feels like there's something to be gained by messing him up.
* BrokenAesop: ScrewDestiny! Even someone with no grand legacy, ominous prophecies or hax genetics can defeat a genius through hard work!- AnAesop so true and inspiring that if you put down this manga you may even start believing in it again.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:C]]
* CainAndAbel: Sasuke's backstory involving his inexplicably AxCrazy brother Itachi. It turns out there's a bit more of a story to this. This theme goes all the way back to the first ninja clan in history; it had two brothers which went on to found two ninja clans whose bitter, bloody rivalry still influences the plot to the present day.
* CallBack: Quite a few. Some of them going back to the very beginning of the manga
** When Kakashi gives team 7 the bell test, he challenges them on what they would do if one of them were captured and they were told to kill their other teammate to save the hostage. Several hundred chapters later, that exact situation plays out for [[spoiler:Yahiko, Konan and Nagato]]. [[spoiler:Yahiko]]'s solution was [[spoiler:to throw himself on Nagato's kunai]], solving the immediate problem, but ultimately causing [[spoiler:FreakOut a much greater one]].
** Several with Zabuza and Haku. They involve the former's sword, and [[spoiler:them being revived and Haku using himself as a human shield for Zabuza to take advantage of against Kakashi]].
* CallingTheOldManOut: Naruto punches his father when he meets him in the mindscape, angry about having the fox sealed in him.
** {{Inverted}} later when [[spoiler:Gaara's father calls ''himself'' out. Instead of raging at his father, Gaara calmly declares that he's surpassed/defied everything the former Kazekage expected of him... And then the 4th Kazekage reveals that Gaara's mother and his uncle Yashamaru always did truly love him, while admitting that he himself doesn't deserve to be Gaara's father]].
* CanonImmigrant: [[FillerVillain Raiga]]'s twin swords from the ''Curry of Life'' filler arc have been included in canon since they appeared in chapter [[spoiler:523]]. Raiga was a former member of the Seven Swordsman of The Mist (according to filler), and they are seen being wielded by another former member in the manga.
** Gari of the Hidden Stone Village, Chukichi of the Hidden Mist Village, Pakura of the Hidden Sand Village and Toroi of the Hidden Cloud Village were all originally from the sixth Naruto movie.
* CantCatchUp: Remember when Sakura was so impressive now because she TookALevelInBadass? Remember when Rock Lee could hand anyone of the Konoha 11 their behinds in a fight? Remember when the Hyuga clan was called "the strongest clan in Konoha" and the Byakugan was hyped as something on equal footing with the Sharingan?
* CastFromLifespan: Commonly enough. The really powerful techniques have shades of this more often than not, and several characters end up dropping dead just from the sheer toll their techniques are taking on them. Naruto has to deal with the Kyubi's chakra having this effect, but he gets something of an equalizer in that his clan is ''really'' long lived. [[spoiler:One of the few techniques that avert this is Summoning: Impure World Resurrection.]]
* CerebusSyndrome: [[ZigZaggingTrope Zigzags]]. Part I goes back and forth between Naruto's borderline {{sitcom}} interactions with his classmates and ominous angst (like Sasuke's "death" and anything ''at all'' having to do with Orochimaru). The very beginning of Part II has it completely settling in- from that point on, barring {{filler}}, the episodic ComicRelief is gone.
* CharacterTitle: ''{{Characters/Naruto}}''
* TheChooserOfTheOne: Jiraiya.
* Chekhov's Boomerang: "''Icha Icha Tactics''" is used as a silly gag during the first few episodes of Shippuuden. Then again as a serious plot device a hundred chapters later.
** Jiraiya's first book features a story with a character named Naruto who has a tough battle against a rogue ninja. At first Naruto thinks the story is dedicated to him. Turns out the story is much more complicated than that.
** If it starts looking like the Sharingan has been implanted in every possible way and every possible person towards any possible goal, that's a sure sign yet more sharingan shenanigans are afoot.
** Orochimaru's experiment that ended up giving Yamato his powers. Turns out Yamato was not the only one to survive the procedure.
* ChekhovsGun: The Uchiha shrine. It turns out the origin of the Tailed Beasts is down in the shrine, and is also tied to the origins of the Moon.
** In chapter 403, Itachi makes Naruto swallow a crow. Metaphorically, in genjutsu-scape, however that is supposed to work. [[spoiler:Naruto spits it back out in chapter 549, ''two years'' of real life running time later. It was a contingency plan for when Naruto would confront Sasuke; it ended up being triggered by completely different conditions even Itachi didn't foresee.]]
* ChekhovsGunman: Shisui Uchiha was introduced as a skilled member of the clan to show how even more impressive Itachi was in comparison. Later it's revealed that Danzo has Shisui's right arm and eye, and the latter has MindControl powers.
* ChekhovsLecture: Kakashi's pre time skip lecture to Sasuke about revenge. Guess what becomes one of the major themes of the entire manga (and not just Sasuke)?
* ChekhovsSkill: The Rasengan. Learnt pre-TimeSkip, and then much, much later on, [[spoiler:when Killerbee thought it was hopeless to use the Tailed Beast Bomb, the Rasengan turned out to be the answer: it was based from the Tailed Beast bomb. Release chakra, compress to sphere (rotate if it's Rasengan), and release]].
** [[spoiler: [[BackFromTheDead Summoning: Impure World Resurrection.]] Introduced by Orochimaru during his invasion of Konoha in the Chunnin Exam Finals pre-TimeSkip, this jutsu plays a pivotal role in the World War arc]].
** A smaller-scale example: right after Shikamaru is promoted to Chunin, there is a scene that reveals Choji believes the last bite in a meal is sacred. A few episodes later, Shikamaru recruits Choji into the Sasuke Retrieval Squad by eating a bag of potato chips and leaving only one left, causing Choji to run outside and eat it.
* ChildSoldiers: The main cast of teenagers became ninja in their early teens. Most of the characters became ninja at early ages; Kakashi became one at ''five''.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Kabuto and Sasuke are only loyal to Orochimaru and the Uchiha clan, respectively.
* CigarFuseLighting: How Shikamaru sets off a huge array of explosive tags during his fight with Hidan.
* TheClan: Plenty, though the most high-profile are Hyuuga and Uchiha.
* CombatByChampion: This seem to be what [[spoiler:Tobi]] as planned for Sasuke and Naruto. Subverted because it seems to be scheduled for the end of the war, not instead of it.
* CondemnedContestant: The winner of the kill-all in Orochimaru's jail would get the ''honor'' of becoming Orochimaru's body.
* ConservationOfNinjutsu: It goes without saying.
** [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] with the Shadow Clone technique: the user's existing chakra is split evenly between all clones, so the more clones you make, the less chakra and stamina you and the clones have each. This is the primarily reason why it is a forbidden technique.
* ConvectionSchmonvection: In theory, Fire-element jutsu should be among the most powerful attacks in the world. In practice, they are ''useless'', as even a fireball so hot it makes the bedrock glow red will simply ''not burn'' a human being for no discernable reason. The worst offender is probably the jutsu 'Amaterasu', which is supposedly ''[[SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale as hot as the sun]]'' and therefore should kill everyone within a ten mile radius. Instead, it only seems to be dangerous if you touch it, and despite [[InformedAbility its presented heat]] it can be extinguished with no ill effects. Averted once in a blue moon, but it's the exception, etc.
* ConvenientTerminalIllness: Inverted for Itachi: it's ''because'' he wanted to die at the hands of Sasuke that he took numerous drugs to stay alive.
* CosmicPlayThing: Deconstructed, given the consequences, should the plaything snap, are shown. Namely, Naruto, Gaara, Sasuke, and Nagato. The former endured, the latters all snapped as a result.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: A staple of the series. Kakashi reads ''Makeout Paradise'' while fighting his prospective students, is perpetually late, often acts scatterbrained and is one of the most powerful ninja in the world. Killer Bee raps and rhymes non-stop (even during battle) and is on equal footing with Sasuke's team Hebi. Gai and Lee are {{Large Ham}}s to the nth and Taijutsu prodigies. Shikamaru acts like a total demotivated slob and is a brilliant strategist with an IQ of over 200. Tobi... Let's not go there. The [[CharacterDevelopment progression of Naruto's character]] is so much this trope incarnate that Part I and Part II could have easily been called "Volume I: Crouching Moron" and "Volume II: Hidden Badass".
* CurbStompBattle: Happens quite often.
* CutApart: Sasuke learns that Itachi and Kisame are searching for Naruto in a nearby town, so he dashes off to warn him. He knows that he is traveling with Jiraiya, so he asks every hotel owner he comes across whether they have seen a blonde kid with a tall white-haired man until he finally gets a positive response. He goes up to the room and knocks on the door. The scene cuts to Naruto inside his room hearing the knock while meditating. The scene switches back and forth a couple more times, with Sasuke knocking with increasing urgency until Naruto gets fed up and stands to answer the door. Finally, the door opens for Sasuke revealing . . . a completely unrelated blonde child and white-haired old man. Immediately after, Naruto opens the door to reveal Itachi.
* CycleOfRevenge: Naruto's been made aware of this concept in the Pain arc, and from there on is very big on stopping both his own personal cycle of revenge and the greater cycles of revenge making the ninja world miserable. He faces a lot of opposition - from those who believe in a more pragmatic approach and from total nuts who want this state of affairs to ''escalate'' so they can prove ''their'' side of the conflict was right all along.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:D]]
* DangerousForbiddenTechnique: Several jutsus are classified as forbidden, either for great risk to the user or being inherently evil. It just so happens that characters very often come up with ways to get around the drawbacks or just find themselves in a desperate enough situation to use one, so we actually get to see plenty of these.
* DarkestHour: Chapter 437 and following. [[spoiler:Konoha has been reduced to rubble. Nearly every mentor and father figure Naruto has ever had is dead. Naruto lies, defeated, impaled to the ground by a dozen metal rods, as the seemingly-invincible villain responsible for all this lectures him on the futility of his false ideals. Hinata tries to stop Pain from taking Naruto away, declaring her love for him, and is seemingly killed, prompting Naruto to slip further into his 9-tailed fox transformation than ever before. Naruto goes all the way to 8 tails, and the tattoo on Yamato's hand that tells him how many tails Naruto is releasing starts to turn to 9...]]
* DeadlyTrainingArea: Training Ground 44, also known as The Forest of Death. The name sort of says it all.
* DeadlyUpgrade: Continued use of the Mangekyou Sharingan ''quickly'' renders the user blind, although there's a way around this particular limitation in the form of [[HumanResources taking the]] [[EyeScream eyes]] of another Mangekyo Sharingan user. It's highly suggested that it works only between siblings, though. If you don't have one, you're pretty much doomed.
* DeathIsCheap: A main character has to go to ''great'' lengths to actually get killed without promptly [[DisneyDeath "coming back to life"]]. If a character has been completely milked for drama and is thus expendable, they just might have a chance to pull it off. [[spoiler:And then Kabuto will just resurrect them anyway.]]
* DefeatMeansFriendship: This is one of Naruto's techniques, which he's used successfully on a wide array of nasty people (including EleventyZillion interchangeable {{Filler Villain}}s). ''Inverted'' with Sasuke; when Naruto seems to catch up to him and even surpass him in some aspects, it does ''not'' in any capacity equal friendship at all.
* DesignatedGirlFight: The Chunin Exams suspiciously pair most of the girls against each other. Later, Tayuya gets defeated by Temari. [[AvertedTrope Averted]] more often as the series progresses, and indeed [[InvertedTrope inverted]] as far as Sakura and [[spoiler:Karin]] are concerned.
* {{Determinator}}: If there could be only one trope on this page, this would be it. Naruto's defining characteristic; he pulls through no matter how bleak things seem and has a habit of {{Trash Talk}}ing ''reality''. Akin to a WorldOfHam and a WorldOfBadass, Naruto's is a World Of Determination - people will stand up while unconscious, will themselves momentarily back to life after their larnyx has been crushed and throw themselves in the face of insurmountable odds just to prove a point.
** Right behind Naruto is Rock Lee. For an unexplained reason, he's incapable of controlling his chakra, limiting his possible fields of expertise to taijutsu alone. To make up for lack of diversity, [[TrainingFromHell he exercises at nearly every possible opportunity]], [[BeyondTheImpossible carries weights that collapse floors when dropped]], and never refuses to give up.
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Naruto punches out the Shukaku, a malevolent being on a completely different scale of power that threatened the village. Then when that doesn't work he headbutts its host.
** The First Hokage, and later the Fourth, defeating the Kyuubi.
** [[spoiler: The Sage Of Six Paths singlehandedly defeating the [[UltimateEvil Juubi]] and sealing it into himself]].
* DieOrFly: Jiraiya employs this by throwing Naruto off a cliff so he can tap into the Nine-Tails' chakra and master the summoning jutsu.
* DisappearsIntoLight: [[spoiler: One way of getting rid of an otherwise unkillable foe resurrected with the Impure World jutsu is to put their spirit at rest]].
* DistractedByTheSexy: The 3rd Hokage, Ebisu (although it requires about a hundred clones for it to work) and Jiraiya's reactions to Naruto's Sexy Jutsu.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Pain's plan is obviously a metaphor for something very familiar from RealLife politics.
* TheDogWasTheMastermind: The BigBad of Part II shows up a lot before [[TheReveal they show their true colors]].
* DramaticWind: Almost always accompanied by leaves, referencing the village the main characters are from.
* DressingAsTheEnemy: When [[spoiler:Juugo and Suigetsu]] try to leave the [[spoiler:samurai]] base undetected. Not as effective as they'd have liked it to have been, and [[spoiler:Juugo]] admits it.
* DwindlingParty: Played with in the Sasuke retrieval arc. Only two (or three if you count Naruto in) out of five characters [[DisneyDeath seemed]] to die, and they got cured later.
* DynamicEntry: TropeNamer (albeit indirectly).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:E]]
* EasyEvangelism: Naruto can convert ''almost'' anybody to his way of thinking with minimal argument, [[DefeatMeansFriendship provided he has had the chance to beat the hell out of them first]] (the fandom often makes tongue-in-cheek reference to this ability as "[[FanNickname Talk no Jutsu]]"). Some don't even need the beatdown (Inari, Tsunade or Sai). This extends to homicidal maniacs who have been driven insane by having monsters sealed inside of them and remorseless sociopaths who have killed hundreds of people as children. Conversely, he fails when he's not able to defeat them (Sasuke, Orochimaru), or not allowed to fight them (the 4th Raikage).
** Gone to its ridiculous extreme with Tsunade. Tsunade ends up [[CurbStompBattle curb stomping him]] and beating him thoroughly and yet, in the end, he still somehow managed to convert her.
* EldritchAbomination: The Tailed Beasts. Especially [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel Kyuubi]].
** There's also the Gedou Mazou / Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, the thing that Pain summoned to seal the tailed beasts. [[spoiler: It can move and easily stole people souls]].
** Later on, the [[spoiler:Juubi, a ten-tailed entity that was all the tailed beasts fused together, with one huge eye that had both the Rinnegan and a triple Sharingan. It was stated to be a direct threat to the world as a whole. It couldn't be defeated, only sealed]].
** Kisame's sword, Samehada, which seems to be some sort of Eldritch Abomination on a stick.
* ElementalBaggage: Water based jutsus require an existing source of water to use, but sufficient levels of skill allow users to bypass this restriction.
** Gaara got around the limitations of his sand-manipulation abilities by carrying around a giant gourd full of sand.
* ElementalPowers: Most ninja are capable of using techniques that manipulate [[DishingOutDirt earth]], [[PlayingWithFire fire]], [[MakingASplash water]], [[BlowYouAway air]], and [[ShockAndAwe lightning]]; however, everyone has a special affinity that makes it easier to manipulate their element, allowing them to use techniques of strength and complexity beyond that of other ninja without that particular affinity. A few even have an inborn affinity with two or more elements, allowing them to combine them in techniques that other ninja cannot even begin to replicate.
* ElementalRockPaperScissors: Fire beats Wind, which beats Lightning, which beats Earth(?!), which beats Water(?!!), which beats Fire. [[Film/TheWizardOfOz Toto, I've a feeling we're not in]] [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue Kanto]] [[Film/TheWizardOfOz anymore]]. ([[http://sractheninja.deviantart.com/art/Naruto-Sasuke-Fails-At-Pokemon-59684795 Illustration.]])
* EmotionSuppression: Part of Danzo, and therefore the Root, credo. It completely goes against the manga's credentials, so this trope is naturally deconstructed.
* EmpathicWeapon: Kisame's Samehada is one of these, along with being a ShapeShifterWeapon and a LivingWeapon.
** The Gedou Mazou has shades of this. It's hinted that it needs to synchronize with a powerful person in a deep state of hatred/anger to actually do anything.
* EnemyWithout: Used as a gimmick for one of Naruto's many training sessions.
* [[EverybodysDeadDave Everybody's Dead, Sasuke]]: The aftermath of the slaughtering of the Uchiha clan.
* EverythingsCoolerWithLava: [[AllThereInTheManual The Four-Tails hosts is able to use lava]].
** The 5th Mizukage pulls [[http://kaiafa.deviantart.com/art/Mei-Terumi-Yoton-Gif-203312081?q=favby%3Abrandonhanns%2F45210890&qo=21 this]] outta her sleeve.
* EverythingsWorseWithBears: Sasuke saved [[spoiler:Karin]] from an attacking bear during the [[TournamentArc Chuunin Exams]].
* EvilCounterpart: Gaara in Part I (what he could ''have been''), Pain in Part II (what he could ''become'') for Naruto. Deva Path's silhouette even looks like a grown up Naruto. Gaara's no longer evil, but he's only becoming more of an uncanny foil for Naruto. They're both despised as jinchuuriki as well as the son of the fourth kage of their respective villages and the third Jinchuriki of their respective tailed beasts.
** Invoked by Naruto towards Sasuke: "''I could have been the one wanting to destroy Konoha and extermninate its inhabitants. You could have been the one protecting it.''"
** Karin (what she ''was'') and/or Konan (what she ''could have become'') can count for Sakura in Part II.
** Team Shikamaru in the Sasuke Retrieval Arc (Chouji, Kiba, Naruto, Neji, Shikamaru) had to fight the [[PsychoRangers Sound Five]].
* ExecutiveMeddling: ''Sasuke'' was created because Kishimoto was told to have a rival character.
** If it wasn't for a mandate by his publisher, the author would have never shown Suigetsu or Juugo fighting on-screen.
** Characters like Hidan and Tsunade got the short end in their most recent fights because the editors wanted to speed those arcs along.
* TheEvilsOfFreeWill: A major evil plan in the works appears to be based on this.
* ExplainingYourPowerToTheEnemy: It's a NecessaryWeasel which tends to fade as story goes on. The explaining has ''got'' to be done at some point, and [[RuleOfCool doing it in any other way than mid-battle commentary would obviously be much less exciting]]. Sometimes characters end up explaining the enemy's power to the enemy, or explaining the enemy's power to each other while they're on the sidelines and not even fighting- as long as somehow the explaining ''gets done''. The most extreme must be, in an extreme case of AsYouKnow, Konan explaining ''to herself'' in thoughts how she intends to get rid of [[spoiler:Tobi]] while doing it.
** Rarely this is ever-so-slightly justified by the gloating character feeling they have their prey at their mercy and ''obviously'' [[WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong cannot lose now]], which is a true feat of GenreBlindness.
** Notable [[AvertedTrope aversions]]: Kakashi lied to Zabuza about how the Sharingan works; neither Pain nor Hidan explained how their power works at any point, and it was up to the protagonists to figure it out. It should be noted that in the cases of Hidan and Pain, one character had to acutally ''die'' for the others to figure it out.
** Somewhat [[InvertedTrope inverted]] by the Sasuke vs. Deidara fight. It was not so much Deidara explaining his own powers than Sasuke [[TalkingIsAFreeAction spending half a chapter]] to explain how he found Deidara's weakness. That, or it was Tobi [[{{Foreshadowing}} calmly and composedly explaining]] Deidara's techniques once he was far from the scene.
** {{Justified}} with the [[spoiler: Edo Tensei zombies summoned by Kabuto]]. Many of them ''want'' to be defeated, and since they can't move their bodies according to their own free will they try to help their enemies in any way they can - usually by giving information about their techniques.
* EyeScream: Several plot points involve characters who want to, or actually try to, steal eyes that grant special powers, like the Sharingan or Byakugan. Thank goodness for the GoryDiscretionShot!
* EyesAreMental / EyesNeverLie: The look in Naruto's eyes is enough for [[spoiler:Hinata to recognize that he is really himself and not a Zetsu Clone]], something which a unit full of sensor-types failed to do. A few panels later [[spoiler:Naruto tells her that she's stronger than she thinks she is, and it's "all in her eyes"]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:F - G]]
* FaceHeelTurn: A major character does this about halfway into the manga. [[LateArrivalSpoiler You probably know who]].
* FacelessGoons: Comes in at least two flavors - the Sound ninjas from Orochimaru's first invasion and the samurai from the Land of Iron. ANBU probably count as well, but they have various masks.
* FanService: The Sexy and Harem Jutsu, though these are often {{Lampshaded}} and PlayedForLaughs.
** Some of the student's outfits: Ino pre- and post-TimeSkip, Temari's second outfit...
** Tsunade's gigantic boobs.
** The 5th Mizukage Mei Terumi is pretty much [[MsFanservice Fanservice incarnate]].
** Oddly enough ''[[InnocentFanserviceGirl Hinata]]''. We swear!
** Lots of pretty boys with ShirtlessScenes too (Sasuke, [[BareYourMidriff Sai]], Naruto, Hidan, Pain...).
* FantasticNuke: A lot of the actual and potential weapons introduced qualify.
* {{Fartillery}}: How Naruto gains the upper hand in his fight against Kiba during the Chunin exams.
* FateWorseThanDeath: [[spoiler:The first four Hokage. Minato sacrificed his life ''and'' his afterlife to seal the Kyuubi into Naruto. Hashirama, Tobirama, and Sarutobi are likewise imprisoned for eternity within the belly of Death due to a desperate HeroicSacrifice made by Sarutobi to stop Orochimaru.]]
* FauxActionGirl: Hoo, boy, this is an ''[[UnfortunateImplications issue]]''. To date, a girl has yet to beat a guy at one of those full-length, fair and square one-on-one confrontations the series' "asskicking pyramid" scene thrives on. The girls' record of gaining the upper hand against the guys in chance confrontations, fights cut short, two-on-one fights and such is slightly better, but not by much. Kishimoto has been made aware of this and tried to cop out with it in the last parts of the story. [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment We'll let you appreciate if he succeeding or not]].
** Sakura is supposed to be the third most important character in the series and is set up as Naruto's and Sasuke's equal, but she just CantCatchUp. The first stages of her CharacterDevelopment seemed headed to avert this fate, as she gradually went from being a [[SmittenTeenageGirl Smitten]] [[TheLoad liability]] to [[TiredOfRunning standing her ground]] to [[TookALevelInBadass Taking a Level in Badass]] during the timeskip and being an ExtraordinarilyEmpoweredGirl. Then Naruto and Sasuke started getting [[NewPowersAsThePlotDemands impossibly]] [[TimeToUnlockMoreTruePotential powerful]] [[InstantExpert upgrades]] by the bucketload and Sakura, OvershadowedByAwesome as she was, became further subjected to re-{{Chickification}}. Now she [[AesopAmnesia once again]] believes the best she can do is have faith in the guys to work it all out somehow. Confirmed by WordOfGod (Jump Festa interview 2010):
--->"Honestly, from the standpoint of showing a female-like disposition, she hasn't been much of a heroine. You could even say that Hinata's more of a heroine than her. But since, [[InformedAbility as we know]], Sakura is a heroine deep inside, she'll show that side of hers from now on."
** Tsunade is a milder example. Similarly to Sakura, she was set up as an equal to Jiraiya and Orochimaru, but has yet to demonstrate anything that can put her on par with Jiraiya, and fans are divided on whether she'd be equal with Orochimaru. To be fair to her, the similarity does end there- Tsunade has had plenty of chances to demonstrate that she's a very capable ninja. Probably what fans remember most unfavorably of her is how during Pain's invasion where she really got a major chance to protect the village and show what she's made of, she exhausted herself ''[[BoringButPractical mer]][[WhatMeasureIsANonBadass ely]]'' saving countless lives in her capacity as TheMedic. They ought to cut her some slack- that was ExecutiveMeddling trying to speed up the arc.
** As of the start of the series Kurenai is a newly minted Jounin, which means she's supposed to be one of the village's most elite ninja. Yeah, well. According to the databook she has the lowest stat total of all Jounin, and her sole fight in the manga consisted of getting quickly defeated by Itachi, the super genjutsu prodigy, when [[WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer she tried to use a genjutsu on him]]. Then she got very conveniently pregnant, so we can pretty much expect her to StayInTheKitchen for the rest of the series. (There will probably not be a "Kurenai's kid has grown up and she is [[TrainingMontage getting back in shape]]" arc.) The manga doesn't even bother to justify this by putting some emphasis on her lack of experience- and even if it did, it sure is mighty convenient that the only jounin with issues about how powerful she is is exactly the only girl.
** Ino was described in-universe as the most skilled Kunoichi of her class. For a long while she didn't even get into fights to get [[CurbStompBattle curb ctomped]]; she ''couldn't'', due to CripplingOverspecialization by way of WeaksauceWeakness. She knows ''one'' good jutsu, and if the enemy dodges it she passes out. The few situations where her jutsu could have been useful just never came up, when they sort of did it invariably failed (even against ''Sakura''), and in one late filler arc she was bordering on TheLoad. She did get a repreive in the [[spoiler:fourth ninja world war, where she got to use her jutsu to neutralize a revived international criminal who was about to steamroll two entire divisions of allied shinobi. Later she held back a zombified Asuma via hand-to-hand combat, using Choji's body as a proxy]].
** Arguably {{exaggerated}} with Tenten. In Part I, the Third Hokage referred to her as one of the best kunoichi the village has ever produced. He has ''got'' to be kidding, or otherwise, the narration has been holding back some vital happenings from us. Her one method of attack is a [[TheWorfBarrage rain of Kunai that has about the same rate of success as fire jutsu]]. She has had four canon fights in the manga-- one of which was getting [[CurbStompBattle curb stomped]] by Temari off-panel, another was [[FearfulSymmetry defeating her own clone]] off-panel, the third was throwing Kunai at [[spoiler:Zetsu clones]] which we are left to assume worked, because the results were off-panel and the fourth has her presumably [[spoiler:Using a fan which controls the five elements to kill two of Kakuzu's masks]], which we cannot be completely sure of because it happened- [[OverlyLongGag you guessed it]]- [[OffscreenMomentOfAwesome off-panel]].
** It's [[ZigZaggingTrope hard to say]] what the deal with Hinata is. For most of the manga she was never outright hyped as strong, but she ''has'' been codified as someone you'd expect to grow powerful -- a heiress to a powerful clan, disowned for her weakness, who is determined to prove herself and is a member of a new, prodigiously talented generation. [[UnderdogsAlwaysWin You can see from a mile away where this is supposed to be going]]. [[SubvertedTrope Emphasis on "supposed"]]. On the first two occasions she fights an opponent in the manga, all she manages to do is to [[CurbStompBattle lose horribly]] and inspire motivation. She finally puts a dent in this trend during the [[spoiler:Fourth ninja world war, where we get to see her going BackToBackBadasses with one of the guys who previously curbstomped her, and one-upping him by catching an attack he didn't see coming. And now Naruto flat-out says he believes she is strong, so if she also screws up her ''next'' big fight, she will be landing square in FauxActionGirl territory]].
* FauxSymbolism: The four faces on Kakuzu's back correspond to the four living creatures from the book of Revelation. [[WordOfDante They have been traditionally associated with the Four Evangelists, but this is not in Scripture]].
* FightingSeries
* FiveManBand vs PsychoRangers: In the Sasuke retrieval mission arc
** [[TheHero Shikamaru]] / [[BigBad Kimi]][[SixthRanger maro]]
** [[TheLancer Naruto]] / [[TheDragon Sakon & Ukon]]
** [[TheSmartGuy Neji]] / [[EvilGenius Kidomaru]]
** [[The BigGuy Kiba and Choji]] / [[TheBrute Jirobo]]
** [[SixthRanger RockLee]] / [[DarkChick Tayuya]]
* FlashBack: We do not have a SpammedTrope page; perhaps we should. Protagonists, antagonists, and bystanders alike will go into flashback after flashback, explaining their tragic back-stories, lives, and motives. Any and all emotional scenes that were reasonably short in the manga will be severely lengthened by montages of flashbacks. Entire episodes will consist two characters talking while they exchange flashbacks. In some pathological cases, the audience gets treated to a Flashback within a flashback. [[Film/{{Inception}} We have to go deeper!]]
* FlashStep: A standard technique used by many ninjas, often with character-specific appropriate special effects. Tobi's warping abilities can be used to this effect (though they function differently).
* FlorenceNightingaleEffect: It is learned via flashback that [[spoiler: Yahiko and Konan established themselves as a couple]] when she was bandaging his wounds.
** A soldier that Sakura treats writes her a love letter.
* FourIsDeath:
** The 4th Hokage had the shortest time in office of any known Kage, sacrificing his soul to the Shinigami for all eternity in order to defeat the Kyuubi.
** The 4th Kazekage reigned during arguably the worst period in his village's history, facing severe economic strain during the disarmament after the last war. His attempt to create a weapon to boost his village's strength killed his wife and brother-in-law while turning his son into a homicidal maniac.
** The 4th Mizukage presided during the period when his village held the nickname "''the Bloody Mist''" and was known for his willingness to quickly eliminate subordinates he deemed a threat to the village, whether they were loyal or not. To top it off, he did this all because he was {{Mind Control}}led to begin with.
** Not only that, the 4th Raikage is speculated by many fans to be the next one to bite the dust. ([[spoiler: even though he's only lost an arm for now]])
** Training Ground 44 has 44 gates. Its nickname is "The Forest of Death".
** Of the Eight Celestial Gates, the fourth gate is the first with directly detrimental side effects.
** Orochimaru's elite bodyguards were the Sound Four.
** When utilizing the Kyuubi's chakra shroud, Naruto's SuperPoweredEvilSide assumes control and causes a horrific transformation when the chakra shroud reaches four tails.
** Kakuzu's ''Four Hearts Jutsu'', which enables him to prolong his life by adding four hearts in addition to his own.
* FreudianExcuse: Many characters. It doesn't help that ThereAreNoTherapists. Notably, losing one's parents is the StartOfDarkness of several {{Villain}}s and {{Jerk Ass}}es.
* FriendlyEnemy: Taken to extremes in [[spoiler:the Fourth Shinobi World War arc. Various characters summoned via Edo Tensei will ''verbally'' do their best to lose to former friends, students, and family (though they cannot prevent their bodies from attacking) by shouting warnings about their techniques and any surprise moves they make.]]
* GambitPileup: At any given point in the story things seem pretty straightforward - we think we know who the bad guys are and what they want. Invariably, we turn out to be wrong; inconspicuous chains of events are revealed to have been mere byproducts of several colliding machinations and secret motives, usually directly opposing each other, also usually [[ThanatosGambit conceived by people who have long since passed away]]. About the most we can say for sure right now is that the bad guys are taking orders from some guy in a trippy mask.
* GenerationXerox: One of the themes of ''Naruto'' is the recurrence of certain characters, traits, and patterns across the generations. Most of the Konoha 11 (as well as Gaara and to a lesser extent Kankuro) are the spitting image of their fathers, and tend to group together in the same way their parents did. Team 7's relations and characteristics are a dead ringer for those of the Legendary Sannin. As a matter of fact, the relationship between Naruto and his friend/rival Sasuke works as a Generation Xerox on three separate levels across multiple generations. Sasuke himself has been through GenerationXerox drama since day 1, changing who he will grow into a clone of (Kakashi, Orochimaru, Itachi, Madara) more often [[LimitedWardrobe than he changes his clothes]]. In some instances, this is [[JustifiedTrope justified]] -- Rock Lee intentionally models himself after Gai; the Nara, Yamanaka and Akimichi clans apparently have a tradition of working together.
* GenericEvilOrganizationSquad: The Akatsuki.
* TheGoldenRule: Other characters open up to the protagonist - trust him and help him - because they realize that he is doing the same for them.
* GoodIsDumb: Averted. You get good guys all the way through the intelligence meter from [[IdiotHero Naruto]] to [[BrilliantButLazy Shikamaru]].
* GoryDiscretionShot: When Zabuza tries to attack Sakura and Tazuna, but ends up being blocked by Kakashi.
** When Itachi pulled out Sasuke's left eye, [[spoiler: although it was an illusion]].
** Employed when Pain stabs Hinata.
** [[spoiler: Kisame]]'s death was censored with a cloud of blood. Think about that one for a second.
* GrandTheftMe: The Yamanaka's clan combat strategy. Orochimaru uses this trope to stay young. He also planned to use it to get the Sharingan.
* GratuitousEnglish: "''DynamicEntry''"!
* GraveRobbing: A required for anyone using the technique [[OurZombiesAreDifferent Edo Tensei]].for the same purpose.
* GrayRainOfDepression: During the Third Hokage's funeral, when Sasuke defeated Naruto at the Final Valley, and when Asuma and Itachi die.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: H - K]]
* HairColors
* HardWorkHardlyWorks: Ridiculously hard-training Rock Lee is introduced as powerful enough to defeat nearly anyone of his peers, but loses ground gradually as the story introduces more hax abilities and SuperpowerfulGenetics. By the later stages of the story he just CantCatchUp to Naruto or Sasuke, and the most you could say about him is that he's far from where he would be ''without'' hard work. Then later you gradually realize this holds true for ''everyone else'', not just Lee, so suddenly he's not looking that bad any more. Averted with Gai, who consistently gets to demonstrate how he is still on par with Kakashi.
* HesBack: Happens several times to Naruto, but also to Shikamaru after Asuma's death. Deconstructed with Sasuke after his first "[[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown fight]]" against Itachi.
* HeelFaceTurn: Several early villains, which you may see coming. Also several ''later'' villains which you definitely do ''not'' see coming.
* HeroKiller: Many. ''Many''. The villains here know their stuff. And then [[AGodAmI Pain]] came along.
* HeroesWantRedheads: [[spoiler:Minato and Kushina]].
* HeroicRROD: Kakashi can need to rest for extended periods of time if he overuses his Sharingan.
** Chouji during the Sasuke Retrieval Arc after taking his super magic butterfly pill.
** Tsunade after saving all the villagers from [[spoiler:Pain's Shinra Tensei]].
** The opening of the chakra gates is said to be extremely dangerous and exhausting. Lee was affected (though his most serious injuries were from Gaara) but Might Guy seems largely immune to this.
* HeroicSacrifice: There's bound to be several given the military-centered nature of the Naruto verse.
* HiddenDepths: Plenty of characters, but especially Naruto himself. Due to this, he's subject to many an AlternateCharacterInterpretation, especially in FanFiction.
* HiddenPurposeTest: One of the selling points of the first few arcs of the series. Tests where they tell you not to feed a teammate, and to pass you need to say ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight, tests where the final question is accepting the risk of taking on the final question, tests where the final question is ''not'' accepting the risk of taking on the final question, tests where the first part of the test is figuring out that it takes place on another floor and the classroom you're about to enter is a decoy classroom, tests where they tell you not to cheat and the idea is that you can only pass if you cheat without getting caught...
* HighlyVisibleNinja: The titular character wears BRIGHT ORANGE, and is quite possibly the first character to use ninjutsu as a bully pulpit - almost BondVillainStupidity in reverse. This is eventually [[{{Retcon}} Retconned]] in an attempt to make sense of it. Thankfully averted with most ninja and enemy FacelessGoons. Evidently the ninjas here aren't quite traditional ninjas, Orange-Wearing Earth-Rending Nuke-Throwing Toad-Summoning Gender-Bending shenanigans. Plus they can use a "Transformation technique" at any time to be as sneaky as they want to.
* HospitalityForHeroes: Naruto often gets this treatment from the guy who runs his favorite ramen shop. After he saves the whole town, in addition to finally being respected by everyone else, the owner (who already respected him, and knew him to be a Shonen Hero Big Eater) goes above and beyond them by giving Naruto a free buffet.
* HufflepuffHouse: The ninja villages besides Leaf, Sand, and Sound. This begins to change late in the manga.
* HypnoticEyes : The Sharingan and anyone using Genjutsu. Subverted with Orochimaru's snake eyes which ''aren't'' hypnotic, despite what Sasuke primarily thought and the traditional association of snakes with hypnotism. It's Orochimaru's [[AxCrazy bloodlust]]
* IAmYourOpponent
* ICannotSelfTerminate: Anyone revived through Edo Tensei.
* IGaveMyWord: "''I don't go back on my word... That's my ninja way!''" - Naruto's trademark [[WorldOfCardboardSpeech World of Cardboard Slogan]] from the early days of the series. Hinata also says it word-for-word to drive it home how similar they are.
* IHaveTheHighGround
* IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim: More or less the core reason why Naruto didn't kill Nagato. The explicit saying is actually rather "If I kill you, I(t) won't be Naruto anymore".
* IfYoureSoEvilEatThisKitten: [[spoiler:Sasuke]] tells Sakura that if she wants to join him, she'll have to kill [[spoiler:Karin]]. He tries to kill her ''anyway'' the second [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder her back is turned]].
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: The most common cause of death or serious injury for pretty much everyone, from fodder-nin up to main characters is a good old piece of steel through the chest. Justified in that most of the higher level jutsus end up countering each other, leaving the chakra-depleted opponents to resort on the good old stabbing until one falls over. Some examples: the 3rd Hokage, Sakura, Orochimaru, Madara Uchiha, [spoiler:Danzo, Karin, Tsunade]], etc.
* InformedAbility: The ANBU are the top of the elite and are a force to be reckoned with. Which is why they seem to do nothing but die ''[[RedShirt en masse]]''.
** Kakashi is supposed to have trained Sakura in genjutsu, but she is actually never seen performing one or breaking a high level one.
* InternalReveal: It was long suspected and eventually revealed that Naruto's father was the Fourth Hokage. Naruto himself didn't discover it until a JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind nearly 80 chapters after it was revealed to the audience in a conversation between Tsunade and Jiraiya. Used again about 50 chapters later when [[spoiler: Naruto meets his mother in much the same fashion]].
* InvisibleParents: Perhaps most notably, Sakura and Lee's (assuming he even has parents), but many parents (such as Hinata and Neji's mothers, etc.) are also absent.
* IronicEcho: Over and over. If someone taunts someone else, their opponent is almost bound to repeat the same taunt to them later in the fight when the tables have turned. In a non-opponent example, Naruto quoting Sasuke's, "''Hey kid, you aren't hurt are ya, you scaredy cat!''" back at him while holding off Orochimaru's giant snake.
** Can also be used for tragic flavour, like the ''"See you"'' between [[spoiler:Karin]] and Sasuke. Just to twist the knife, the past and present-day panel are drawn [[TwoScenesOneDialogue side by side]].
* ItGotWorse: Gaara’s sympathy flashbacks (both the anime and the manga ; this is the anime’s description). He unintentionally injures a group of kids and the one person who seems to actually care about him, tries to give medicine to said injured kids, is told “Go away you Freak!”, and has the door slammed in his face, inadvertently kills a man, is attacked while he is finally having a good cry by some assassin who turns out to be the same person who pretended to care about him (not to mention who is his blood relative, but in Narutoworld, that doesn’t seem to matter a whole lot…), is told, using his last breath, that his mother never cared about him and “I hate you… I’ve always hated you” by the ''same person''. ''All in the same day!''
** Sasuke had 3 or 4 different battles all on the same day (two with the same guy) during the invasion of Konoha. He'd used up pretty much all of his energy, and was fighting a Cursed Seal threatening to take him over. His friends came looking for him only to find him nearly unconscious, with this psychotic half-transformed Jinchuriki about to deliver the fatal blow. Sakura tries to defend him, only to be caught by a giant hand of sand, knocked half unconscious, and pinned to a tree. The only guy left to defend them is a spiky-haired IdiotHero poster child in an orange jumpsuit, who tries to summon a giant toad and gets a minuscule toadling instead. Yep, and it actually got worse from there.
** One fine day, a 7-year old Sasuke is returning home, only to find the streets filled with slain members of his clan. When he reaches home, he finds his parents have been killed too. Turns out the entire clan was killed by none other than his much-admired elder brother Itachi. Itachi puts Sasuke under a genjutsu, and plays the massacre scenes in his mind over and over again. Itachi abandons Sasuke, and tells him to develop enough hatred for his brother, and eventually kill him. Having spent the next 8 years or so doing exactly as his brother told, when Sasuke eventually meets Itachi and tries to kill him, he gets pwned immediately. Itachi rubs it in further saying he is not interested in Sasuke anymore, but had come there to capture Naruto.
** After Sasuke ''finally'' kills his brother four years later, he finds out his brother was actually a ''good guy'' who, seeing no other way to make something good of a hopeless situation, resorted to a ZeroApprovalGambit.
** Pain's invasion arc is largely this until [[spoiler:Minato's intervention]].
* JustBetweenYouAndMe: Played straight at least once, but also subverted memorably when Pain explained his plan to Jiraiya then proceeded to ''actually kill him''.
* KilledOffForReal: Usually varies between this and BoringImmortalHero.
* KryptoniteIsEverywhere: The Sharingan is quite powerful, but most of the people fighting characters who have it know at least one counter-measure.
** Once Sasuke learns how to cast genjutsu on people, all his major opponents are able to resist it in one way or another.
* KungFuWizard: Ninjas in the Naruto universe are essentially this, rather than classic ninjas.
[[/folder]]

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