< Naruto

Naruto/Tropes A to K


There are 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 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 version[1] of Crunchyroll should be spoiler-tagged.

A

  • Action Girl: Most of them tend to devolve into Faux Action Girls, 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 The Worf Effect. She's won every other one-on-one fight she's been in. Pity that she's been Out of Focus for ages.
    • Chiyo, at age 73, fought off a majorly powerful villain (with a bit of help from 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.
    • Kushina Uzumaki was one, if only because in the Naruto universe Death by Origin Story Equals Asskicking.
    • Konan 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 Dangerous Forbidden Technique. Pity that in this series horrible, debilitating self-damage is only a setback if you're Rock Lee.
    • Sakura, Ino, Hinata, Tenten, and Tsunade seem to ZigZag between this and Faux Action Girl, though the latter is easily the most capable Action Girl due to being the oldest, strongest, and wisest.
    • Karin gets a bit of this too.
  • 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 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.
  • 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 official databook tones it down more than a notch.
  • 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.
  • Anchored Ship: To Mind Screw levels.
    • Naruto seriously, honestly, loves 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 Played for Laughs. Except later it was stated several times that Naruto does love her and isn't making a move mainly due to backwards Honor Before Reason 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 shippers in whichever way strikes their fancy.
    • 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 Love Epiphany or a Let's Just Be Friends 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 Internet Backdraft to go around regarding the simple question of why.
    • In part one, Rock Lee saw Sakura and fell in Love At First Sight. 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 Rock Lee's Springtime of Youth shows that Lee's still trying and failing to win her over.
  • Anguished Declaration of Love: 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 never "Huh, you know, this could actually work".
  • 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 they all threw themselves away, having 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: 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. There have been complaints on Haku's even more bishie look and, apparently, makeup.
  • You Fail Physics Forever: 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 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, Akatsuki's leader, had never lost a battle before fighting Naruto. Subverted, given he isn't the true leader.
    • Tobi is also one of the most powerful shinobi known.
  • 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.
      • Played with, in that the Kyuubi was actually being controlled by Tobi, thus the latter was really the cause of all those deaths, but the Kyuubi was the physical entity that attacked Konoha.
    • 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 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: 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.
    • There are also cases unrelated to it in Part II:
      • Gaara, by getting a Life Energy transfer.
      • All of Konoha, due to Naruto talking some sense into Pain.
  • 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.
  • The Bad Guy Wins: The end of Part I.
  • 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 jinchuuriki.
  • Balance of Power: 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.
  • 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 the 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.
  • 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.However, the series' true big bad is Tobi
  • 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 [dead link] . How the hell does that happen?
  • Black Eyes of Evil: Anyone summoned by Edo Tensei gets these. Also Evil!Naruto.
  • Blood Magic: Summoning techniques ; Hidan's curse.
  • 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 happens later. 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.
  • Boring but Practical: Kunai and Shuriken. They're the most basic ninja tool, but they have a place in the highest level battles.
  • 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 Tobi's officially stated goal.
  • Break Them by Talking: Commonly used by antagonists. The most memorable are the ones delivered by Neji and Pain. Pain's even worked, which given 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.
  • Broken Aesop: Screw Destiny! Even someone with no grand legacy, ominous prophecies or hax genetics can defeat a genius through hard work!- An Aesop so true and inspiring that if you put down this manga you may even start believing in it again.


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.
  • 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.
  • 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 Hyuga clan was called "the strongest clan in Konoha" and the Byakugan was hyped as something on equal footing with the Sharingan?
  • 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. One of the few techniques that avert this is Summoning: Impure World Resurrection.
  • 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 Title: Naruto
  • The Chooser of the One: 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.
  • 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.
  • 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 the 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 primarily 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.
  • 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.
  • Cosmic Plaything: 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.
  • 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. Gai and Lee are Large Hams 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 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 their are rumors that Danzo's Root does this. The rumors are true, well at least when Danzo was alive.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Deus Ex Machina: A type 3 is what the forbidden dojutsu Izanami is about.
  • 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: The Big Bad of Part II shows up a lot before they show their true colors.
  • 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 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).
  • Eldritch Abomination: The Tailed Beasts. Especially Kyuubi.
    • There's also the Gedou Mazou / Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, the thing that Pain summoned to seal the tailed beasts. It can move and easily stole people souls.
    • Later on, the 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.
  • 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 Shapeshifter 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 Without: Used as a gimmick for one of Naruto's many training sessions.
  • Everybody's Dead, Sasuke: The aftermath of the slaughtering of the Uchiha clan.
  • Lava Adds Awesome: The Four-Tails hosts is able to use lava.
    • The 5th Mizukage pulls this outta her sleeve.
  • Everything's Worse with Bears: Sasuke saved Karin from an attacking bear during the Chuunin Exams.
  • 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: 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.
  • 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 Expospeak 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, in a Beyond the Impossible case of As You Know, 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 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.
  • Fan Service: The Sexy and Harem Jutsu, though these are often Lampshaded and Played for Laughs.
    • Some of the student's outfits: Ino pre- and post-Time Skip, Temari's second outfit...
    • Tsunade's gigantic boobs.
    • The 5th Mizukage Mei Terumi is pretty much Fanservice incarnate.
    • Oddly enough Hinata. We swear!
    • Lots of pretty boys with Shirtless Scene too (Sasuke, Sai, Naruto, Hidan, Pain...).
  • 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 Heroic Sacrifice made by Sarutobi to stop Orochimaru.
  • Faux Action Girl: Hoo, boy, this is an 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. We'll let you appreciate if he is succeeding or not.

"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, 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 merely saving countless lives in her capacity as The Medic. They ought to cut her some slack- that was Executive Meddling trying to speed up the arc. And she did redeem herself in her fight with Madara, showing her Action Girl chops once again.
    • 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 she tried to use a genjutsu on him. Then she got very conveniently pregnant, so we can pretty much expect her to Stay in the Kitchen for the rest of the series. (There will probably not be a "Kurenai's kid has grown up and she is 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 curb stomped; she couldn't, due to Crippling Overspecialization by way of Weaksauce Weakness. 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 The Load. She did get a reprieve in the 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 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 curb stomped by Temari off-panel, another was defeating her own clone off-panel, the third was throwing Kunai at Zetsu clones which we are left to assume worked, because the results were off-panel and the fourth has her presumably 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- you guessed it- off-panel. She may very well be the most competent Action Girl out of all kunoichi, yet the story never shows us her achievements!
    • It's 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. You can see from a mile away where this is supposed to be going. Emphasis on "supposed". On the first two occasions she fights an opponent in the manga, all she manages to do is to lose horribly and inspire motivation. She finally puts a dent in this trend during the Fourth ninja world war, where we get to see her going Back-to-Back Badasses 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 Faux Action Girl territory.
      • Fortunately, Hinata has proven herself quite the Action Girl as of late. No wonder Kishimoto called her "more of a heroine than Sakura."
  • Fighting Series
  • Five-Man Band vs Psycho Rangers: In the Sasuke retrieval mission arc
  • 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. Entire episodes will consist of two characters talking while they exchange flashbacks. In some pathological cases, the audience gets treated to a Flashback within a flashback.We have to go deeper!
  • 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).
  • 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 Fan Service to the right crowd. Unfortunately, it can also be abused to the point of no return, resulting in massive Fan Disservice.
  • 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.
    • Not only that, the 4th Raikage is speculated by many fans to be the next one to bite the dust. ( 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 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.
    • When Itachi revealed a fourth secret ability of the Mangekyo Sharingan, Izanami, it was after he died and got brought back to life. It Makes Sense in Context- the first time you see the jutsu, it's fourth on the list of Mangekyo Sharingan abilities introduced- and it gets used for the first time by a technically dead man.
  • 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.
  • 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. 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.
  • 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.
  • 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 pulled out Sasuke's left eye, although it was an illusion.
    • Employed 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.
  • Gray Rain of Depression: During the Third Hokage's funeral, when Sasuke defeated Naruto at the Final Valley, and when Asuma and Itachi die.
  • 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.


H - K

  • Hair Colors
  • Hard Work Hardly Works: Ridiculously hard-training Rock Lee is introduced as powerful enough to defeat nearly any one of his peers, but loses ground gradually as the story introduces more hax abilities and Superpowerful Genetics. While Lee achieved the Chuunin rank during the Time Skip, Neji again surpassed him by becoming a Jounin. The most you could say about him is that he's far from where he would be without hard work. Then later you 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.
  • 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.
  • Heel Face Brainwashing: Itachi's plan for dealing with Sasuke. The plan is ruined when Itachi gets revived as a zombie and ends up brainwashing himself back into Face territory.
  • Heel Face Turn: Several early villains, which you may see coming. Also several later villains which you definitely do not see coming.
    • Sasuke agrees to one on grounds his brother will shed light on his and his clan's Dark and Troubled Past- though with the manga obnoxiously ping-ponging between major battles, it's gonna be a while before this gets off the ground.
  • Hero-Killer: Many. Many. The villains here know their stuff. And then Pain came along.
  • 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 nature of the Naruto verse.
  • 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.
  • 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 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.
  • I Have the High Ground
  • 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, etc.
  • 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.
  • 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, etc.) are also absent.
  • 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.
  • It Got Worse: 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. 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 Zero-Approval Gambit.
    • Pain's invasion arc is largely this until Minato's intervention.
  • 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.
  • Killed Off for Real: Usually varies between this and Boring Immortal Hero.
  • 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.
  1. ↑ one week after the paid version
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