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Naruto: Tropes Ato K
There are so many tropes in Naruto that we had to split its trope page. The second half: Naruto: Tropes L to Z. Tropes about the anime, merchandising and video games: Naruto: Anime And Others.

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

Here be spoilers. Anything that has not been aired on the free versionnote  of Crunchyroll should be spoiler-tagged.

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    A 
  • Action Girl: Any competent female ninja, by definition, though there are issues with whether and to what degree any of them qualify for competence (see under "Faux Action Girl").
  • Action Mom:
    • 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 Action Mom).
    • Kushina Uzumaki. She restrained the Nine-Tails 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 Fox forcibly dragged out of her body. And she was dying from having a spiritual behemoth ripped out of her the entire time.
  • Aesop Amnesia: 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.
  • All Love Is Unrequited: 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 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 (and a few years after the above line was written, the anime went ahead and did away even with that precious little bit of restraint). Suprisingly enough, the 3rd official databook tones it down more than a notch: Of the myriad one-sided crushes in the series, only Sakura's and Karin's feelings for Sasuke are explicitly called as such.
  • All of the Other Reindeer: 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 Bratty Half-Pint to Heroic Determinator.
  • All There in the Manual: 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.
  • Alliterative Family: The Hyuga. Hiashi, Hinata, and Hanabi. Also Hiashi's brother Hizashi.
  • Always Second Best: Sasuke wanted to surpass his brother so he could gain full acceptance from his family, but always fell short. When he saw that Naruto was growing at a faster rate, he started to worry he'd become the weaker of the two.
    • Lee always came second to Neji, despite his incredible dedication and strength.
    • Madara refused Hashirama's call to peace, but his own clan chose to accept it against his objections. When the first Hokage was named Madara wanted the position, but Hashirama was chosen. He finally defected and tried to kill Hashirama, and failed. His (alleged) desire to create a world where nobody would be trapped in such a position was the driving force behind most of the manga.
  • Anchored Ship: For most of its run, the story stayed true to an All Love Is Unrequited setup, with the pining ones stuck for years in various shades of limbo between acceptance and rejection due to reasons that were at best implicit and at worst intractable. Possible requited feelings were teased here and there, but were never played to the point where a Relationship Upgrade or Ship Sinking could be declared with any certainty, and the plot would quickly, elegantly and invariably pull away shortly after and leave the still-dangling arc up in the air, sometimes for years, before revisiting it. Even as all of this still holds true, at some point the author clearly became more aware of the raging Ship-to-Ship Combat regarding the main character's final love interest, or at least became more willing to capitalize on it; as the plot progressed, both candidate girls were increasingly pushed as serious options, so much so that the later teases would each send vibes to the extent of "yes, this is happening and anything else you might have expected is a Red Herring", even as it would contradict the previous supposedly-bona-fide tease, to much fan disorientation. At this point it is very obvious that Kishimoto is taking particular delight in trolling his Shipping fandom, and whichever 'option' he ultimately settles on is really anyone's guess.
  • Anguished Declaration of Love: From practically everyone to practically everyone else, especially in Shippuuden. Usually with less than stellar results.
  • Animal Motifs: It's a veritable zoo in there!
  • Armor-Piercing Question:
    • 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 did you all forsake yourselves?". This has a particular impact on the Tsuchikage, who had been most dismissive of him.
  • Army of The Ages: The Fourth Ninja War arc 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.
  • Art Attacker: Something of a theme: puppets, Konan's origami, Deidara's clay, Sai's paintings, etc. What is "true art" is even discussed several times.
  • Art Evolution: 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. There have been complaints on Haku's even more bishie look and, apparently, makeup.
  • Artistic License - Physics: Kakashi can shout clearly while in Zabuza's Water Prison Jutsu.
  • Ascended Extra: Shikamaru. The rest of the Konoha 11 also often receive central roles in filler arcs.
  • Ass Shove: The "1,000 Years of Death" technique.
  • Assimilation Backfire: When Orochimaru tried to steal Sasuke's body, Sasuke reversed the process and absorbed him instead.
    • Also, there's always the threat that the Tailed Beasts can take control of their hosts and go on a rampage. But a strong enough host can instead summon their power at will, and an even better host can make friends with their beast.
  • Assimilation Plot: 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 Take Over the World.
  • Asshole Victim: The Fourth Kazekage (Gaara's dad).
  • Asskicking Equals Authority: 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.
  • Author Appeal: Kishimoto seems to have a thing for eyes. He also likes drawing toes, which is why almost everyone has opened shoes.
  • Authority Equals Asskicking: Justified in-story for the Kages (see Asskicking Equals Authority above).
    • Pain, who we are led to believe is Akatsuki's leader, had never lost a battle before fighting Naruto. Later the situation is kind of complicated by The Reveal that even though Pain was the acting leader, he was taking orders from The Man Behind the Man, who is also very powerful (but not nearly as powerful as Pain).
  • Awesome Yet Practical: 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 Konan blowing up half of the Big Bad's body.
  • Awful Truth:
    • The reason why the villagers hate Naruto is that he's the can of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox which killed many of them and destroyed a good part of the Leaf Village.
    • Sasuke was far happier when he thought his brother killed his entire family out of his own volition, as some twisted form of target practice. Then he finds out this massacre was carried out under direct village orders. He doesn't take it well.
    • Inverted with Neji, who finds out that the truth is far less awful than he thought; his father Hizashi willingly gave himself up in place of Hiashi. Hiashi just 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).

    B 
  • Back from the Dead:
    • Gaara, by getting a Life Energy transfer.
    • All of Konoha, due to Naruto talking some sense into Pain.
    • The entire premise of Edo Tensei. In Part I, the 1st and 2nd Hokages. In the final arc, almost every major bad guy, a few good guys (including Asuma and Tsunade's fiancé, Dan), some of the previous Kages and Jinchûrukis, and pretty much every relatively famous ninja Kabuto could think of.
    • Apparently, no matter what you do to him, Orochimaru simply refuses to permanently die.
  • Back-to-Back Badasses:
    • Kakashi and Gai during Orochimaru's invasion, and then again during the Fourth Ninja World War.
    • Neji and Hinata during the Fourth Ninja World War, which carries significant meaning in light of the Main House and Branch House's bitter grudge being finally put to rest.
  • The Bad Guy Wins: The end of Part I: Sasuke goes to Orochimaru willingly, just as the latter had planned.
  • Badass Family: In a World of Badass, every family is a Badass Family. 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 and his mother was a jinchuriki.
  • Bag of Holding: Just where do they store all those kunai and shuriken, anyway? Some characters such as Naruto wear pouches on their legs, but those things can't hold nearly as many shuriken as they throw.
  • Balance of Power: The distribution of the Tailed Beasts among the earliest villages helped stabilize the region. One of the main reasons the 4th Hokage couldn't simply let the Nine-Tails escape was that its presence would disrupt that balance and potentially start a new war.
  • Battle Couple: Minato and Kushina.
  • Battle in the Center of the Mind: Naruto vs. his dark side (or something to that general effect) at the Waterfall of Truth, and later Naruto vs Kyuubi.
  • Batman Gambit: Nothing is more satisfying than watching a character screwing their opponent(s) over in a way that in retrospect they should have totally seen coming. Naruto lives by this, but many other characters get their share, including villains.
  • Bears Are Bad News: Sasuke saved Karin from an attacking bear during the Chuunin Exams.
  • Best Before Decade: In an early episode/chapter, Naruto finds himself running for the toilet constantly throughout the entire episode, usually leading to comical hijinks. At the end of the episode, his teacher discovers that the milk he drank that morning had expired a long time ago.
  • Big Bad: Orochimaru for Part 1; and in Part 2 Akatsuki, with their leader Tobi/Obito Uchiha as the true Big Bad.
  • Big Bad Duumvirate: Kabuto and Tobi during the Ninja World War arc. After Kabuto's defeat, this changes to Madara and Tobi.
  • Big Bad Ensemble: Following the Time Skip, 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. As of the Ninja World War arc, it seems that Tobi has established himself as the true Big Bad.
  • Big Badass Battle Sequence: The Invasion of Pain and the Invasion of Konoha.
  • Big Damn Heroes:
    • Played straight as much as you can expect given the genre (Naruto for Iruka, Sakura and Naruto for Sasuke, The Sand siblings for Team Shikamaru, etc.).
    • 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 saves the day anyway, because that's what he does.
  • Big Eater: 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 Rule of Funny, Refuge in Audacity and Negative Continuity in one of the Omakes where a huge ramen eating contest takes place and Hinata wins, of all people.
  • Big Fancy House: 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.
  • Big "Shut Up!": 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" which are shaped like canine mouths◊. How the hell does that happen?
  • Black Eyes of Evil: Anyone summoned by Edo Tensei gets these, as does Naruto's "Dark Side" at the waterfall of truth.
  • Blocking Stops All Damage: A common problem cited is in the Gaara vs. Rock Lee fight, Gaara manages to continue fighting when his gourd intercepts the damage from the final blow. He had already taken a large amount of hits at high speed and the physics behind the second last hit would have made it much stronger than the last. When the round ends he doesn't even limp or show any type of injury afterwards.
  • Blood Magic:
    • Summoning techniques require a tribute of blood to call forth a creature with which you have a contract; most shinobi bite their thumb to obtain it.
    • Hidan's curse. Hidan licks the blood of his opponent off his scythe, turning himself into a living voodoo doll for his enemy.
  • Blood Oath:
    • As early as the first arc, when Naruto stabs his hand, bleeds and vows to not be saved again (namely by Sasuke).
    • An interesting variation appears later, during the Chunin Exam arc: Naruto swears to defeat Neji not on his own blood, but on Hinata's, during the Chunin exam preliminary battles for the final test.
  • Body Horror: 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 CHEST OF A RESURRECTED CORPSE! Kishimoto Masashi, you are a sick, sick man. No cookie. No cookie!
  • Bond Breaker: Due to Sasuke and Itachi's reunion in part one. After No-Holds-Barred Beatdown meets Mind Rape courtesy of Itachi, Sasuke snaps. He becomes obsessed with revenge while unleashing his frustration and anger upon Naruto (because of the latter's progress). Meanwhile Sakura cannot do anything but witness this, and Kakashi's good words don't have the time to sink in. Sasuke leaves Konoha soon after, rejecting Sakura's Anguished Declaration of Love, before defeating Naruto in an epic duel.
  • The Book Cipher: Jiraiya uses his books for this. Played for laughs due to type of content his books hold.
  • Boring, but Practical: Kunai and Shuriken. They're the most basic ninja tool, but they have a place in the highest level battles.
    • Karin's abilities aren't flashy, but instant healing and chakra sensory can be invaluable on an offensive focused team.
  • Boring Immortal Hero: Sasuke Retrieval Arc, where all five bad guys (not counting Sasuke) died, but all five good guys survived (including two that really looked like they were dying).
    • Justified in that the medics arrived in time. Neji also still had his Curse Mark, so one could guess he had not died.
  • Brainwashing for the Greater Good: One of the foundations of Root. Also the officially stated motivation behind the Big Bad's master plan - placing the entire population of the world under an illusion where there is no more war, pain or negative feelings.
  • Brawler Lock: During their Chunin exam fight, Sakura and Ino end up briefly doing this, along with cross counters, and Punch parries.
  • Break Them By Talking: An antagonist will give this a shot more often than not. Sometimes the target shrugs it off; other times, it starts sinking in, and another character will have to break them out of it.
    • Part-1 Neji delivers one so effective to Hinata that by the end she's in hysterics and on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Later he tries to do the same to Naruto, who needs something like three flashbacks, six Theme Music Power Ups and a "World of Cardboard" Speech to break out of it.
    • Pain almost completely breaks Naruto with one of these; it ends up being overridden with an Unstoppable Rage when Pain crosses the line and, in order to prove a point, kills yet another person close to Naruto right in front of him (or at least, he pretends to).
    • Attempted by The Kyuubi before his Heel Face Turn every once in a while whenever it felt like there's something to be gained by messing Naruto up.
    • Obito's overwhelming power and nihilistic worldview make his alarmingly effective. When he gets started on Kakashi, Naruto ends up having to snap him out of it; when he later gets started on Naruto, the effect doesn't go away until Hinata slaps him in the face.
  • Broken Aesop:
    • Screw Destiny! Even someone with no grand legacy, ominous prophecies or hax genetics can defeat a genius through hard work!- Such was Naruto's assertion when he faced off against wunderkind Neji. Come Part 2 this is turned completely on its head: We find out that Naruto's dad was one of the strongest ninjas ever; That Naruto is probably ultimately descended from the greatest ninja ever, and his conflict with Sasuke is a part of a cycle that has been repeated through the ages; And that Naruto is the "Child of Prophecy".
    • Revenge. While Naruto goes through great pain to avoid the temptations of revenge, Shikamaru exacts it with no consequence whatsoever.
    • Hard work pays off? Hard Work Hardly Works: Rock Lee is a joke and despite Naruto's supposed lack of talent he becomes one of the strongest ninja in the world at the age of 15 by virtue of The Gift.
    • Early on, the story emphasized that the new generation surpasses the old and that this is inevitable. However, characters like the third Raikage, Madara and Hashirama put this to shame.
    • If nobody is born bad or anything, then why does the Uchiha clan have a genetic disposition towards turning evil built in their brains?
  • Bullying a Dragon: Bullying someone who as an überpowerful and bloodthirsty monster sealed inside him/her is obviously a bad idea. And yet, Jinchuriki are usually reviled and excluded from the community. This is especially dangerous if the host doesn't fully control their beast... which is true in the overwhelming majority of cases. Consequently, at least three Jinchuriki left their village and became wanderers, and one of them became a murderous sociopath who would kill someone just for looking at him the wrong way.

    C 
  • Cain and Abel: Sasuke's backstory involving his inexplicably Ax Crazy 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.
  • Call Back: 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 Yahiko, Konan and Nagato. Yahiko's solution was to throw himself on Nagato's kunai, solving the immediate problem, but ultimately causing a much greater one.
    • Several with Zabuza and Haku. They involve the former's sword, and them being revived and Haku using himself as a human shield for Zabuza to take advantage of against Kakashi.
    • Very subtle, but during the Chunin Exams, Kakashi and Sasuke appear for Sasuke's battle at the last possible second in a cloud of smoke, with Kakashi remarking "Sorry we're late." Over one hundred episodes later, in Shippuden Episode 86, "Shikamaru's Genius," Naruto and the rest of Team Kakashi come to the rescue of Kakashi, Choji and Ino, and after the smoky mist clears, Naruto uses the exact same phrase to Kakashi Sensei.
    • During Naruto's fight with Neji in the Chunin Exams, Neji asks why Naruto is trying to defy his destiny. He replies "'Cause people called me a failure." During the Fourth Ninja War when Neji is hit with a fatal blow while protecting Naruto and Hinata, Naruto asks why he did that. Neji replies "Because people called me a genius.
  • Calling the Old Man Out:
    • Naruto punches his father when he meets him in the mindscape, angry about having the fox sealed in him.
    • Inverted later when 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.
    • Itachi even managed to do this to his father in a flashback despite being completely and totally respectful, threatening to quit an important mission to go to Sauske's academy entrance ceremony when his father decided to skip it to go on Itachi's mission with him. Fugaku was not happy.
  • Canon Immigrant:
    • Raiga's twin swords from the Curry of Life filler arc have been included in canon since they appeared in chapter 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.
  • Can't Catch Up: Remember when Sakura was so impressive now because she Took a Level in Badass? Remember when Rock Lee could hand anyone of the Konoha 11 their behinds in a fight? Remember when the Byakugan was hyped as something on equal footing with the Sharingan? Characters affected rarely become completely useless or irrelevant, though.
  • Cartesian Karma: Sasuke's fall and betrayal of Konoha has continually been a plot point, with the eponymous character constantly hoping for his return. Obstructing this is not only the fact that he's now an internationally wanted criminal, but also had a central antagonist absorbed into his body at one point, and he had gone nearly blind. He seems to be getting better, at least in the seeing department.
  • Cast From Lifespan: 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. Kabuto seems to be aware that a lot of techniques work like this, and makes a point of bragging that Summoning: Impure World Resurrection has no such drawbacks or trade-offs. Except, as always, Itachi begs to differ.
  • Cerebus Syndrome: 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 comic relief is gone.
  • Character Shilling: Everyone lines up to say how perfect Itachi is - even Naruto and Sasuke, who have very good reasons to dislike him, or the First Hokage, who says that Itachi is a better shinobi than him even though they've never met.
  • Character Title: Naruto
  • Chase Fight: Deva Path vs the Nine-Tails.
  • The Chooser of The One: Jiraiya was told by the Toad Sage that he would train the Child of Prophecy.
  • Chekhov's Boomerang:
    • "Icha Icha Tactics" is used as a silly gag during the first few episodes of Shippuden. 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.
  • Chekhov's Gun:
    • 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.
    • At one point, Itachi makes Naruto swallow a crow. Metaphorically, in genjutsu-scape, however that is supposed to work. 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.
    • 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)?
  • Chekhov's Gunman: 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 Mind Control powers.
  • Chekhov's Skill:
    • The Rasengan. Learnt pre-Time Skip, and then much, much later on, 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.
    • Summoning: Impure World Resurrection. Introduced by Orochimaru during his invasion of Konoha in the Chunnin Exam Finals pre-Time Skip, 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.
  • Child Soldiers: 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.
    • Far more chilling is the revelation that during the Warring Clans Era, children as young as seven were sent into battle only to be mercilessly slaughtered. So many died, it lowered the average life expectancy to around 30.
  • Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Kabuto and Sasuke are only loyal to Orochimaru and the Uchiha clan, respectively.
  • Cigar Fuse Lighting: How Shikamaru sets off a huge array of explosive tags during his fight with Hidan.
  • The Clan: Plenty, though the most high-profile are Hyuuga and Uchiha.
  • Combat by Champion: This seems to be what Tobi has planned for Sasuke and Naruto. Subverted because it seems to be scheduled for after the war.
  • Condemned Contestant: The winner of the kill-all in Orochimaru's jail would get the honor of becoming Orochimaru's body.
  • Conservation of Ninjutsu: It goes without saying. 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 primary reason why it is a forbidden technique.
  • Convection Schmonvection: 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 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 its presented heat it can be extinguished with no ill effects. Averted once in a blue moon, but it's the exception, etc.
    • Exasperatingly, the only important characters that have been hurt at all by fire jutsu on-screen are Sasuke and Itachi.
  • Convenient Terminal Illness: Inverted for Itachi: it's because he wanted to die at the hands of Sasuke that he took numerous drugs to stay alive.
  • The Corrupter: Orochimaru and Obito. Danzo is more of a mild example; he probably holds the series record for people screwed over by listening to him, but he is much less of a Card-Carrying Villain, and believes he is just helping people stop being Naive and see things from the point of view necessary to do what they have to do.
  • Cosmic Play Thing: Deconstructed, given the consequences, should the plaything snap, are shown. Namely, Naruto, Gaara, Sasuke, Nagato, and Obito. The former endured, the latters all snapped as a result.
  • Crapsack World: During the Warring Clas Era, the average life expectancy of a shinobi or even civilian was around 30, due primarily to the number of Child Soldiers killed. Most adults were so embittered they could not even fathom the idea of peace that did not come from utterly destroying their enemy.
    • And it's mentioned that the world was in an even worse state before the Sage of Six Paths introduced chakra and kicked off the Warring Clans Era.
    • Crap Saccharine World: The current era is hardly better. While it generally has an optimistic outlook and the bad guys often fall to The Power of Friendship, many of the problems from the old world are still around. The peace between villages is shaky at the best of times, they still use Child Soldiers who still have a startlingly high mortality rate (unless they're from Konoha). What the villains lack in raw power compared to the previous era's Big Bad Madara they make up for by being much much more villainous. For a few random examples: Hidan killed everyone in his home village because he was bored. Orochimaru and Kabuto are capable of binding the spirits of the dead and forcing them to fight against their loved ones, often for little or no real reason. Pain was willing to kill everyone in Konoha out of revenge for the previous generation's screw-ups. If anything, the problems are even more visible under the current era.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: 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.
    • Guy and Lee are Large Hams who are even considered weirdos in-universe but are Taijutsu prodigies.
    • Shikamaru acts like a total demotivated slob and is a brilliant strategist with an IQ of over 200.
    • The 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".
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: Happens quite often.
  • Cut Apart: 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.
  • Cycle of Revenge: 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.

    D 
  • Dangerous Forbidden Technique: 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.
  • Darkest Hour: Chapter 437 and following. 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...
  • Deadly Graduation: It's why the mist used to be known as "The Bloody Mist". Also used as the punchline of initiation training at Root, at least during Danzo's reign.
  • Deadly Training Area: Training Ground 44, also known as The Forest of Death. The name sort of says it all.
  • Deadly Upgrade: Continued use of the Mangekyou Sharingan quickly renders the user blind, although there's a way around this particular limitation in the form of taking the 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.
  • Death Is Cheap: A main character has to go to great lengths to actually get killed without promptly "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. And then Kabuto will just resurrect them anyway.
  • Defeat Means Friendship: This is one of Naruto's techniques, which he's used successfully on a wide array of nasty people (including Eleventy Zillion interchangeable Filler Villains). 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.
  • Designated Girl Fight: The Chunin Exams suspiciously pair most of the girls against each other. Later, Tayuya gets defeated by Temari. Averted more often as the series progresses, and indeed inverted as far as Sakura and Karin are concerned: Instead of a designated fight, Sakura and Karin have a climactic meeting where Sakura saves Karin's life and Karin becomes sympathetic to the Hidden Leaf Village.
  • 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 Talking reality. Akin to a World of Ham and a World of Badass, 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. Taken to ridiculous extremes with Rock Lee, whose attitude in this regard often seems like more of a self-aware lampooning on the series' part than anything else.
  • Deus ex Machina:
    • Sasuke's "Great Snake Escape". Following his fight with Deidara, Sasuke - completely exhausted and out of chakra - summons, mind-controls and teleports a gigantic snake. He does this in the time it took for an explosion that would completely level a city to reach him. After the explosion had already started. A few feet from him.
    • Chapter 449: After spending the last thirty chapters wreaking havoc, Pain pulls a case of Redemption Equals Death and a device that was only shown to be able to repair corpses to bring back everyone that he had killed since entering the village.
    • During his assault on the Kage Summit, Sasuke nearly died from chakra exhaustion, having been spamming the crap out of high level techs with his new Mangekyo Sharingan. And then, out of nowhere, Zetsu, who had previously shown up to alert the Kages to Sasuke's presence and gotten killed for his efforts, reveals that he managed to use a time release jutsu in the split second before the Raikage snapped his neck that sucks all the chakra out of everyone in the room and gives to Sasuke.
    • Itachi's forbidden dojutsu Izanami completely sways the tide of a major battle with a few panels' notice without ever having been mentioned before.
  • The Devil Is a Loser: Madara Uchiha - The Dreaded, Shrouded in Myth, The Man Behind the Man... spent the last few years of his life squatting in a cave, depending on Zetsu for life support, obsessing over the misery his own shortcomings brought upon him and concluding the entire world was to blame. Obito's not too impressed with him when they first meet, and Zetsu appears to consider his creator a loser despite doing his bidding; White Zetsu points out to Obito behind Madara's back that the Moon's Eye plan is mostly based on Madara's own Wangst, not a desire for peace.
  • Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: 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.
    • The Sage Of Six Paths singlehandedly defeating the Juubi and sealing it into himself.
  • Die or Fly: Jiraiya employs this by throwing Naruto off a cliff so he can tap into the Nine-Tails' chakra and master the summoning jutsu.
  • Disappears into Light: One way of getting rid of an otherwise unkillable foe resurrected with the Impure World jutsu is to put their spirit at rest.
  • Distracted by the Sexy: The 3rd Hokage, Ebisu (although it requires about a hundred clones for it to work) and Jiraiya's reactions to Naruto's Sexy Jutsu.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?: Pain's plan is obviously a metaphor for something very familiar from Real Life politics.
  • The Dog Was the Mastermind: Tobi first appears in the story a silly, plucky comic relief. Then half-way through the plot progression he suddenly and without warning goes "mwa ha ha; now it is time for me to crush all my enemies", introduces himself as a dreaded all-powerful character who should have died a long time ago, and proceeds to act as the Big Bad from that point forward.
  • Dramatic Wind: Almost always accompanied by leaves, referencing the village the main characters are from.
  • Dressing as the Enemy: When Juugo and Suigetsu try to leave the samurai base undetected. Not as effective as they'd have liked it to have been, and Juugo admits it.
  • Dwindling Party: Played with in the Sasuke retrieval arc. Only two (or three if you count Naruto in) out of five characters seemed to die, and they got cured later.
  • Dynamic Entry: Trope Namer (albeit indirectly).

    E 
  • Easy Amnesia: Shippuden #271, which functioned as a tie in for the "Road to Ninja" movie. Sakura has a nasty fall and loses her memory. After a good time is had by all trying to cure her, she finally recovers at the end of the episode. But there's a twist! This isn't the Sakura we all know and love; she's from an Alternate Universe! Then she disappears in a flash of light, presumably going back to her own universe. This leaves Ino wondering where the heck her Sakura is.
  • Easy Evangelism: Naruto can convert almost anybody to his way of thinking with minimal argument, 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 "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).
    • Justified, to some extent; many of Naruto's opponents, such as Gaara, initially view the compassion that forms the core of Naruto's world view as weakness. By defeating them, he demonstrates that he is not held back by his views, which makes them more likely to listen to him.
  • Eldritch Abomination: The Tailed Beasts. Especially Kurama the kyuubi.
    • There's also the Gedou Mazou / Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, which can contain Tailed Beasts, steal souls, etcetera.
    • Later on it's revealed that both are parts of the Jubi. It was so powerful it could only be sealed; the statue contains its body while the Beasts are all fragments of its chakra. The Jubi's power is so immense, it can't be sensed by humans because its beyond their ability to comprehend.
    • Kisame's sword, Samehada, which seems to be some sort of Eldritch Abomination on a stick.
    • Ten-tail's mature form is even more of one than the Tailed Beasts!
  • Elemental Baggage: 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.
  • Elemental Powers: Most ninja are capable of using techniques that manipulate earth, fire, water, air, and 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.
  • Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: Fire beats Wind, which beats Lightning, which beats Earth(?!), which beats Water(?!!), which beats Fire. Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kanto anymore. (Illustration.)
  • Emotion Suppression: Part of Danzo, and therefore the Root, credo. It completely goes against the manga's credentials, so this trope is naturally deconstructed.
    • Kakashi highly attempted it as a teen, but Obito talked him out of it.
  • Empathic Weapon: Kisame's Samehada is one of these, along with being a Shape Shifter Weapon and a Living Weapon.
    • 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.
  • Enemy Within: The Nine-Tails Fox is this for most part of the story.
  • Enemy Without: Used as a gimmick for one of Naruto's many training sessions.
  • Epiphanic Prison: Izanami, which forces its victim to accept reality rather than trying to escape it.
  • Everybody's Dead, Sasuke: The aftermath of the slaughtering of the Uchiha clan.
  • Evil Eye: The Sharingan and then later the Mangenkyou Sharingan. They grant the following abilities...
  • Evil Counterpart: 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 Sound Five.
  • The Evils of Free Will: A major evil plan in the works appears to be based on this.
  • Executive Meddling:
    • Kishimoto's early concept (and the series pilot) live in a completely different continuity from the series as we know it today. Originally,
      • While still involving jutsu, Naruto took place in an Urban Fantasy setting, including modern fashion and technology, and there was no trace of a "hidden village" to speak of. The pilot featured a gun, a motorcycle and a murder investigation by the regular, Muggle police.
      • Naruto (the character) was actually a reincarnation of the nine-tailed fox, rather than having had the fox sealed in him (throughout the pilot chapter, a cover story is perpetuated where Naruto is the fox's son). Also, the beast was sealed away not by the 4th Hokage, but by "9 powerful men", of which only one survived - a grumpy old man of high standing which Naruto refers to as "chief", and is obviously a precursor of the third Hokage.
      • The cast was very different. Most of the important characters from the pilot never appear again. Of the familiar characters from the series proper, the pilot and early concept art jointly feature Ichiraku from the Ramen shop; the above-mentioned character very similar to the 3rd Hokage; Kakashi (without his lazy eye); Iruka (without his ponytail or scar); Hinata (wearing a modern dress and wristwatch); Ibiki and Anko. It is not known which other characters were planned originally, but it is explicitly known that many were not. In the first databook interview, the author relates how he felt the story "wasn't going anywhere", so he went to his editor for help and was advised to introduce a rival for Naruto - which ultimately led to the introduction of Sasuke, Sakura and most of the rookies.
    • If it wasn't for a mandate by his publisher, the author would have never shown Suigetsu or Juugo fighting on-screen.
    • There are rumors that Hidan originally had a more complicated set of abilities planned, but editors thought it would be a better idea to cut that fight short and get to Sasuke earlier; and that Tsunade and Pain were supposed to have a more serious fight, but it was scrapped so Naruto's arrival could be the last chapter of the year.
  • Explaining Your Power to the Enemy: It's a Necessary Weasel which tends to fade as story goes on. The explaining has got to be done at some point, and doing it in any other way than mid-battle commentary would obviously be much less exciting. Rarely this is ever-so-slightly justified by the gloating character feeling they have their prey at their mercy and obviously cannot lose now, which is a true feat of Genre Blindness. Naruto plays with it much more often than in most shônen series, though... as long as somehow the explaining gets done.
    • Sometimes characters end up explaining the enemy's power to the enemy: this variation occurs when Sasuke fights Danzo. After a few minutes of fighting, he gives Expo Speak about the weaknessess of his opponent's technique, the reality warping Izanagi. Danzo replies with "So you figured it out", to which Sasuke, in turn, responds that, yes, now that Danzo has confirmed that his guess was correct, he HAS figured it out.
    • Characters explain the enemy's power to each other while they're on the sidelines and not even fighting: this one happens repeatedly during the subsidiary fights of the Chunin exam.
    • The most extreme must be Konan explaining to herself in thoughts how she intends to get rid of Tobi while doing it.
    • Notable aversions:
      • Kakashi lied to Zabuza about how the Sharingan works.
      • During the battle between Rock Lee and Gaara, Naruto asks Gaara's brother Kankuro if the sand armor has any weaknesses. Kankuro refuses to admit that it does, but thinks to himself that it's an Awesome, but Impractical technique, so Gaara must have a hard time if he resorts to it.
      • 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 these two cases, one character had to actually die for the others to figure it out.
    • Justified with the 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.
  • Eye Colour Change: There is at least two instances of eyes changing colour when some power is activated:
    • The Sharingan grants Awesomeness by Analysis and turns the eyes red.
    • Similarly, Naruto's eyes also turn red when he's tapping into the Kyubi'chakra, consciously or unconsciously.
    • Averted with the Byakugan.
  • Eye Scream: 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 Gory Discretion Shot!
  • Eyes Are Mental / Eyes Never Lie: The look in Naruto's eyes is enough for 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 Naruto tells her that she's stronger than she thinks she is, and it's "all in her eyes".

    F - G 
  • Face Heel Turn: A major character does this about halfway into the manga. You probably know who.
  • Faceless Goons: 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.
  • Fallen Hero: Itachi, Tobi, Nagato. Maybe Orochimaru and Madara depending on how you look at it.
  • Famous Last Words: "Tremble! Be afraid! Recoil in despair! Cower in awe, and cry your heart out! Because my art... IS AN EXPLOSION!!!" Deidara though he comes back later as an Edo Tensei zombie.
    • "Sorry Sasuke, there won't be a next time." Itachi Uchiha
    • "I guess... I'm not so terrible after all." Kisame Hoshigaki
    • "Because...I was called a genius.": Neji Hyuuga. Not his last thoughts, though. Also a Call Back.
  • Fanservice: All over the place. The Sexy and Harem Jutsu (often Lampshaded and Played for Laughs), the various Stripperiffic outfits, Tsunade's overly-large breasts which serve no plot purpose whatever, everything about the 5th Mizukage in general, poor Hinata who is shoved into bunny outfits and qipaos and cleavage-revealing outfits whenever an opportunity arises for her to act out-of-character, all the myriad pretty boys and their myriad Shirtless Scenes...
  • Fantastic Nuke: 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.
  • Fate Worse Than Death: 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 (and pointless) Heroic Sacrifice made by Sarutobi to stop Orochimaru.
    • Sarutobi did slow down Orochimaru's plans, however, so it wasn't completely pointless (he sealed away the guy's arms).
  • Faux Action Girl: Most of the plot's Fighting Series aspect has been dealt with in full-length, fair and square one-on-one confrontations and statements of hype, which established an "asskicking pyramid" of sorts. In the framework of that setup, the series heroines' performance had been almost uniformly miserable; despite varying amounts of hype as competent fighters, a girl did not get to outright defeat a guy alone even once. At some point the author was made aware of this and started trying to round it out; the plot became much more chaotic, with the calculated machinations of the Big Bad giving way to an all-out war, and the above setup was largely abandoned in favor of ongoing chaotic skirmishes - in which the girls have performed much more impressively.
    Still, in many senses the damage has already been done. At this point it would take real narrative effort to make the real powerhouses, who are consequently the plot movers and shakers, not nigh uniformly male; or to do something substantive with Kurenai- the only female Jonin- who is conspicuously the weakest Jonin, suffers from a total lack of combat feats and at some point became pregnant and was sent to Stay in the Kitchen; or to have Sakura- supposedly the third most important character in the series, said to be prodigiously talented, codified as Naruto's and Sasuke's equal- defy her Chickification and Aesop Amnesia, return to her short-lived high point during early part II and actually catch up to her two teammates' endless stream of impossibly powerful upgrades. That last one is a particularly sad case, and the two quotes below just tell the whole story:
    (Jump festa interview 2010)
    Kishimoto Masashi: "Honestly, from the standpoint of showing a female-like disposition, [Sakura] hasn't been much of a heroine. You could even say that Hinata's more of a heroine than her. But since, as we know, Sakura is a heroine deep inside, she'll show that side of hers from now on."
    (Jump festa interview 2012)
    Kishimoto Masashi: “Next year [2013] I’ll write about Kakashi first, then about Sasuke and then about Naruto."
    Sakura's Voice Actor: "What about Sakura?!"
    Kishimoto Masashi: "Sakura, well... well, she slipped my mind."
  • Fighting Series
  • First Name Basis: A weird example. Everyone in the series is addressed by first name or (rarely) by first & last name, never by last name alone. Even respectful honorifics are attached to the first name and not the family name, which would be the more normal practice elsewhere. This extends to the point where most of the characters with known surnames come from either the Hidden Leaf or the Hidden Mist, and it's plausible that the other villages as a rule don't even use surnames (heck, even several characters from the Leaf and Mist don't have known family names). This peculiar form of address might have originated from the warring clans era practice of not telling strangers one's surname, in case they were from an opposing shinobi clan.
  • Flash Back: We do not have a "Spammed Trope" 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. Sometimes, a character has multiple flasbacks to an event which happenned in the same episode.
  • Flash Step: 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).
  • Flipping Helpless: As a part of their preparations for the Fourth Shinobi World War, the Allied Shinobi Forces send Naruto and Killer Bee to hiding on an island in the Land of Lightning. In reality, this island is a gigantic turtle. When Kabuto attacks the island, he uses the fact that it's a living creature to his advantage by flipping the turtle upside down with the combined effort of Manda II (a genetically altered giant snake summon) and Deidara (who Kabuto brought Back from the Dead with his Impure World Reincarnation technique).
  • Florence Nightingale Effect: It is learned via flashback that Yahiko and Konan established themselves as a couple when she was bandaging his wounds.
    • A soldier that Sakura treats writes her a love letter.
  • Foot Focus: Tons. Nearly every character wears open-toed sandals without socks as part of their ninja attire, including all of the prominent Kohona-native characters, and closeups of their exposed toes happen almost Once per Episode. Author Appeal is at fault- Kishimoto has a penchant for drawing toes. You would think it unwise to leave the toes uncovered when your enemy is flinging razor-sharp shuriken and kunai at you, and quite possibly planting caltrops (spikes) on the ground for an unhappy landing, but no- the characters are just immune to severe foot injuries.
    • Rarely, someone will have boots or wear fully-covering shoes (like Gato), and the movies will disobey this precedent, such as the Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow, which made it a necessity for Naruto and company to wear closed-toe snow shoes or risk frostbite. Naturally, when characters enter a house of any sort, the sandals come off and it leads to an abundance of bare feet, more intently focused on if it's a girl, such as Sakura, Hinata, Tsunade, or Shizune- which can be viewed as Fanservice to the right crowd. Unfortunately, it can also be abused to the point of no return, resulting in massive Fan Disservice.
  • Foreshadowing: Early on, a silhouette of Minato can be seen fighting the Kyuubi, in a flashback (at least in the anime, can't recall exactly how it happened). The silhouette looks just similar enough to Naruto to be able to tell. Because it's his father.
  • Forgotten Phlebotinum: Chapter 598: Tobi's about to be rasenganed in the face. He can't go intangible (and the concept of dodging seems to have eluded him). That shiny new Rinnegan he took so much effort to acquire has no less than two separate techniques that could have prevented Naruto's attack, but he instead opts to take a hit to the face.
  • Four is Death:
    • 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 Controlled to begin with.
    • 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 Super-Powered Evil Side 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.
    • The climactic conflict which will decide the fate of the shinobi way of life? The Fourth Shinobi World War. And while we're at it, the Fourth Division of the Allied Forces is utterly wiped out by Madara Uchiha using a Colony Drop - it's not completely dead, but has so far suffered the most casualties.
  • Freudian Excuse: Many characters. It doesn't help that There Are No Therapists. Notably, losing one's parents is the Start of Darkness of several Villains and Jerk Asses.
  • Friendly Enemy: Taken to extremes in 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.
  • From Bad to Worse: Kishimoto just LOVES this trope:
    • 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 Idiot Hero poster child in an orange jumpsuit, who tries to summon a giant toad and gets a minuscule toadling instead. And it actually got worse from there.
    • Sasuke's life in general.
      • 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 that 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 Zero Approval Gambit to at least save his little brother.
    • Pain's invasion arc is largely this until Minato's intervention.
  • Gambit Pileup: 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 conceived by people who have long since passed away, to the point where for a long while, the most we could say for sure was that the bad guys were taking orders from some guy in a trippy mask. Things seem to be clearing up now, with the reveal of Obito's true identity.
  • Generation Xerox: 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 Generation Xerox drama since day 1, changing who he will grow into a clone of (Kakashi, Orochimaru, Itachi, Madara) more often than he changes his clothes. In some instances, this is justified — Rock Lee intentionally models himself after Gai; the Nara, Yamanaka and Akimichi clans apparently have a tradition of working together.
  • Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Meek Hinata slaps Naruto in the face when Obito's Despair Gambit starts getting to him.
  • God: The Juubi is revealed to be the creator of chakra, the world and the progenator of all living things in the world of Naruto.
  • God of Evil/God Is Evil: The Juubi.
  • The Golden Rule: Other characters open up to the protagonist - trust him and help him - because they realize that he is doing the same for them.
  • Good Is Dumb: Averted. You get good guys all the way through the intelligence meter from Naruto to Shikamaru.
  • Gory Discretion Shot: When Zabuza tries to attack Sakura and Tazuna, but ends up being blocked by Kakashi.
    • When Itachi puts Sasuke under a genjutsu where his left eye is pulled out.
    • When Pain stabs Hinata.
    • Kisame's death was censored with a cloud of blood. Think about that one for a second.
  • Grand Theft Me: The Yamanaka's clan combat strategy. Orochimaru uses this trope to stay young. He also planned to use it to get the Sharingan.
  • Gratuitous English: "Dynamic Entry"!
  • Grave Robbing: A required for anyone using the technique Edo Tensei.
    • A minor example when Suigetsu takes Kubikiri Houcho from Zabuza's grave, where it had been his headstone.
  • Gray Rain of Depression: During the Third Hokage's funeral, when Sasuke defeated Naruto at the Final Valley, and when Asuma and Itachi die.
  • Green-Eyed Monster: Sasuke became this toward Naruto at the end of Part 1. First he was jealous of Itachi's interest in Naruto, and then he was jealous of how much faster Naruto was growing in comparison. This ultimately led to Sasuke's betrayal of Konoha.
  • Groundhog Day Loop: The effect of the forbidden Genjutsu Izanami, which forces the affected to experience the same event over and over again, until it is sealed off in the affected's mind, disabling him completely.
  • Ground Punch: Whenever Kakuzu punches the ground, he's really sending strings of himself underground (he's made of strings) to pop out as spikes wherever he wishes.

     H - K 
  • Hair Colors
  • Hammered into the Ground: At one point, Pain got slammed into the ground by a berserk Four-Tailed Naruto.
  • Hard Work Hardly Works: A particularly egregious example, which is especially galling given that one of the major themes of Part 1 was that things like natural talent can't take the place of hard work. The best of the best have every powerup handed to them on a silver platter while leaving everyone who isn't similarly blessed behind in the dust. What small successes minor characters have when compared to where they would be if they didn't work hard are meaningless compared to the arbitrary powerups Naruto and Sasuke and Tobi, etc., receive with no real or noticeable effort.
    • It should be noted that there is a noticeable comparison between Naruto and Sasuke in regards to this trope. Throughout both Parts I and II, for Naruto to gain any type of strength he actually had to go out and train first. While the Nine-Tails power was technically handed to him, he had to actively work to make any use of it. The payoff for him is just world breakingly ridiculous. Sasuke on the other hand is a more straight example, as all the hard training he put himself through in Part I and II resulted in practically nothing and all of his power ups came in the form of Sharingan upgrades. The latest required the least amount of work possible as it just required him implanting his brothers eyes into his own head.
  • Heel Face Brainwashing: We learn that this was Itachi's plan for dealing with Sasuke just as we see it fail in a very convoluted way.
  • Heel Face Turn: Several early villains, which you may see coming. Also several later villains which you definitely do not see coming.
  • Hero Killer: Orochimaru was this in Part I. Even the strongest good guys like the 3rd Hokage, Kakashi or Jiraiya feared him and didn't feel able to fight him on par. He demonstrates it by triggering crippling fear in several opponents and killing the 3rd Hokage.
    • Akatsuki globally becomes this in part two. It is expressely ordered to deal with them only in teams and are shown to be a formidable threat. Going alone (or even as a trio) to fight any of them is repeatdly stated to be at least reckless, at worst suicidal. They manage to incapacitate Kankuro, (temporarily) kill Gaara and two major Mentors. Itachi Uchiha particularly stands out, given he's the one the protagonists know better. Pain does it simply through being "Akatsuki's leader".
  • Hero of Another Story: Arguably applies to all the other ninja teams, but especially Shikamaru and his.
  • Heroes Fight Barehanded: The titular hero heavely relies on Taijutsu, contrasting Sasuke who prefers to use a lightning-enchanted katana. On a similar note we have Tsunade versus Orochimaru (Uses the Kusanagi sword) and the Raikage compared to his brother Kirabi.
  • Heroes Want Redheads: Minato and Kushina.
  • Heroic RROD:
    • Kakashi will 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 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.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: There's bound to be several given the military-centered (and True Companions) nature of the Naruto verse.
  • Heroic Self-Deprecation: Epidemic. The heroes spend so much time tearing themselves down (openly or not) that their enemies hardly need to bother.
  • He's Back: Happens several times to Naruto, but also to Shikamaru after Asuma's death. Deconstructed with Sasuke after his first "fight" against Itachi.
  • Hidden Depths: Plenty of characters, but especially Naruto himself. Due to this, he's subject to many an Alternate Character Interpretation, especially in Fan Fiction.
  • Hidden Purpose Test: 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 Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right, 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...
  • Highly Visible Ninja: The titular character wears BRIGHT ORANGE, and is quite possibly the first character to use ninjutsu as a bully pulpit - almost Bond Villain Stupidity in reverse. This is eventually Retconned in an attempt to make sense of it. Thankfully averted with most ninja and enemy Faceless Goons. 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.
  • Holding Back the Phlebotinum: After Madara's most powerful jutsu is interrupted by an outside force, he decides not to use it again because it would be insulting to the jutsu to need it twice in one fight.
  • Hope Spot: Used extensively to great effect. The harshest is probably when Naruto manages to be impressive for several chapters against Pain, only to be quickly neutralised when his opponent regains his most useful ability. Then the arc goes full on Darkest Hour mode. And it wasn't especially light until then.
  • Hospitality for Heroes: 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.
  • Hufflepuff House: The ninja villages besides Leaf, Sand, and Sound. This begins to change late in the manga.
  • Hypnotic Eyes : 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 bloodlust which leads Sasuke and Sakura to have a vision of their own gruesome and supposedly imminent death.
  • I Am Your Opponent
  • I Cannot Self-Terminate: Anyone revived through Edo Tensei.
  • I Gave My Word: "I don't go back on my word... That's my ninja way!" - Naruto's trademark 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.
  • I Have the High Ground: The most memorable example is Itachi atop a pillar after the destruction of the Uchiha clan, but it happens to several characters quite often.
  • I Just Want to Be You: This is how Naruto and Sasuke's relationship works in its core. At least for Naruto, who acknowledges it. We don't really know how Sasuke feels in this regard, though there are tiny hints it could be the case.
    • Also seems to be the case in the early rivalry between Rock Lee and Neji.
  • If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him: 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" (“It” in regard to the first book Jiraiya ever wrote in which he named the main character “Naruto”).
  • If You're So Evil, Eat This Kitten: Sasuke tells Sakura that if she wants to join him, she'll have to kill Karin. He tries to kill her anyway the second her back is turned.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: 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, Danzo, Karin, Tsunade...
  • Inferiority Superiority Complex: Naruto and Sasuke towards each other. Sasuke's got bad enough that it became a major contributor to his Face Heel Turn.
  • Informed Ability:
    • 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 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.
  • Innocuously Important Episode: For the longest time the Kakashi Gaiden was considered to be a sort of Breather Episode, serving the purpose of filling in some of Kakashi's backstory to bridge the gap between the pre- and post-timeskip series. Then we finally found out it was actually introducing and setting up the backstory of one of the series' 2 joint Big Bads!
  • Internal Reveal: It was long suspected and eventually revealed that Naruto's father was the Fourth Hokage. Naruto himself didn't discover it until a Journey to the Center of the Mind nearly 80 chapters after it was revealed to the audience in a conversation between Tsunade and Jiraiya. Used again about 50 chapters later when Naruto meets his mother in much the same fashion.
  • Invisible Parents: Perhaps most notably, Sakura and Lee's (assuming he even has parents), but many parents (such as Hinata and Neji's mothers) are also absent.
    • Tenten's as well - her lack of a revealed family name leads many to wonder if she's an orphan. We also don't know the status of Shino's mother, though this is somewhat subverted by Kiba's father - who was driven away by his wife at some point in the past, so he's just not in the picture in general.
    • Sakura's are finally introduced in an anime Filler episode and are presumably canon. Choji and Ino's mother's were also introduced in the anime (the former's in the padding for a main arc, the latter's in another Filler episode).
  • Ironic Echo: 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 Karin and Sasuke. Just to twist the knife, the past and present-day panel are drawn side by side.
  • Just Between You and Me: Played straight at least once, but also subverted memorably when Pain explained his plan to Jiraiya then proceeded to actually kill him.
  • Ki Attacks: Everyone in Naruto can use chakra for a variety of effects, like Elemental Powers, Charles Atlas Superpower, walking on walls and water and illusion casting among others.
  • Killed Off for Real: A number of characters, both in the main plot and the backstory. Among the few that haven't come back in any form, the most notable is Jiraiya. There are minor character casualties however, and when the Shinobi World War Arc starts, the stakes rise exponentially. Individual deaths are listed in the Character Sheets.
  • Kryptonite Is Everywhere: 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.
  • Kung-Fu Wizard: Ninjas in the Naruto universe are essentially this, rather than classic ninjas.

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