< Naruto

Naruto/Tropes L to Z


There are so many tropes in Naruto that we had to split its trope page. The first half is here. Tropes about the anime and other media go 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: Not So Stoic). 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.

L - N

  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Once. In the Death Forest after the fight against the Sound Genins, Shikamaru and Choji comment how Naruto is too much an Idiot Hero to be a good Shonen manga main protagonist.
  • Limited Wardrobe: Most characters have one outfit for before or after the timeskip, but may wear casual clothes while off-duty. By contrast, the Sand Siblings change outfits in each of their major appearances.
  • Line-of-Sight Name: It's hard to tell whether this is played straight, or subverted, or averted, or what.
    • Naruto's namesake, a character from Jiraiya's novel, is a Watsonian example from our perspective and a Doylist example from the story within a story perspective, as Jiraiya thought up the name while eating a bowl of ramen and Naruto is a type of ramen topping. The titular Naruto, in turn, was named after said character by his dad, which is not a Line-of-Sight Name at all.
    • Sasuke was a straight-up Doylist example. Naming a ninja "Uchiha Sasuke" is akin to naming a nurse Fanny Nightingale (you may have heard of Sarutobi Sasuke). Then we find out that in-universe he's named after the Third Hokage's father, whose name actually was Sarutobi Sasuke.
  • Living MacGuffin: The Jinchurikis.
    • Sasuke provides an even better example given the number of people who are after him throughout the story.
  • Living Weapon: The Jinchuuriki are Type 1. Yes, even Naruto. In fact, especially Naruto. He is the only one who had a specific target, Uchiha Madara.
  • Loads and Loads of Characters: which leads to...
    • Cast Herd: The huge cast is conveniently organized in teams of 3 or 4 members, while antagonists are almost always organized by pairs (Zabuza/Haku, Orochimaru/Kabuto, and of course Akatsuki members), the sole exceptions being the Sound Five and arguably Konan and Pain.
    • Geodesic Cast: The team 7's structure "Two males that are of contrasting personality, one female" group, repeated again and again. As the manga progresses it seems to slowly drift away from this gimmick.
      • Justified for Team 7. It's explicitly stated Sasuke and Naruto were both assigned to Team 7 because Sasuke was first-ranked in their Academy class and Naruto was last, and it's tradition to put first and last on the same team to balance out its capabilities.
  • Local Hangout: Ichiraku's ramen bar.
  • Loophole Abuse: By way of Lampshade Hanging. The Stinger of the Chunin exam second stage's Hidden Purpose Test is that the evil mind games and intricate manipulations surrounding the exam were played up so much, you could theoretically pass the test without writing down a single word. Which Naruto does.
  • Losing Your Head: Twice. First, we have Hidan, who, being immortal, yells curses at his beheader until such a time his head can be reattached. Then there's Kisame (actually a Zetsu clone), who compliments his opponents on their victory as his head is flying through the air.
  • Love Hurts: Realizing for the first time what Naruto went through because of her does not make Sakura very happy. She, in turn, had more than her fair share of this courtesy of Sasuke.
  • Luke, I Am Your Father: The reveal of Naruto's incredibly surprising parentage.
  • Mandatory Unretirement: There are a few cases.
    • Third homage had to leave retirement when the first died.
    • Nonō was forced by Danzo to become a spy again.
  • Magic by Any Other Name: Sex-change, fireballs, summoning toads! Oh jutsu, is there anything you can't do?
  • Manly Tears: Quite often, and from the first chapter on. Mostly exaggerated and Played for Laughs with Lee and Might Guy.
  • Master Apprentice Chain:
    • The First & Second Hokage > The Third Hokage > Jiraiya > The Fourth Hokage > Kakashi > Naruto (provides the page's picture)
    • The Third Hokage > Orochimaru & Tsunade > Sasuke & Sakura
    • > The Third Hokage > Jiraiya > Konan, Nagato, and Yahiko
  • Me's a Crowd: The various Clone Jutsu: Shadow, Water, Lightning, etc. Also seen to a smaller scale with Replacement and Substitution Jutsu. Then you have Zetsu, whose white half can be cultivated like a plant. The Big Bad grows one hundred thousand copies of him to fight in the fourth ninja world war.
  • Meaningful Funeral: The 3rd Hokage's funeral.
  • Meaningful Name: Naruto's surname, Uzumaki, means "spiral" - fitting considering Naruto's fondness for spirals (see: Rasengan).
  • Mentor Occupational Hazard: Quite frequent (the 3rd Hokage, Jiraiya, Asuma, and Chiyo can count as well), though Kakashi and Tsunade have averted this so far. Of notice is that two of the mentors died by the hand of a former student turned evil.
  • The Messiah: Naruto, complete with Messianic Archetype. It has been said that his best power isn't his near limitless chakra, his Super-Powered Evil Side, or his growing mastery of the Fourth Hokage's techniques -- it's his Talk no Jutsu simple-minded charisma.
  • Meteor Move
  • Mind Rape: Most of genjutsu techniques boil down to this, with Tsukuyomi being the most extreme.
  • Mundane Utility: In canon, Naruto jumps into a creek with shadow clones to force some fish to the surface, which Sasuke catches with kunai and cooks with his fire jutsu. Jiraiya also used a fire jutsu in a flashback to cook a giant fish.
    • One of the hallmarks of Naruto Filler is the characters turning their fantastic ninja powers to boring everyday tasks, the titular character using his absurdly powerful Rasengan jutsu to mix noodles, for example. Even lampshaded by Naruto in that instance.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Sasuke claims one of the most epic instances of this in the series, but a honorary mention goes to Sakura when she realizes what the promise she got out of Naruto did to him.
    • Kakashi blames himself for Obito’s death, insisting that if they had gone together to save their teammate in the first place, that would not have happened.
  • Nakama: The Konoha 11.
  • Never a Self-Made Woman: Tsunade has light shades of this, since one easily forgotten reason of why she got picked up to be 5th Hokage is that she's respectively the grand-daughter and grand-niece of the 1st and 2nd Hokages. It's by no way THE one reason, but it's there, somewhere at the bottom.
    • Konan was introduced as having been mainly defined by her loyalty to Yahiko and Nagato, and eventually, Naruto. Subverted when she eventually gets a chance to show just how powerful she is - come to think of it, she too could have destroyed Konoha all by herself.
  • New Powers as the Plot Demands: Lampshaded once by the Big Bad.
    • Justified for the most part with the series. Information about an enemy's jutsu is often the key to winning battles, so it makes sense that most ninja save their most useful techniques for especially difficult battles. If you go around spamming your best attack at everyone, it won't be long at all until someone comes up with a way to beat it. Example: probably the biggest reason that Jiraiya dies fighting Pain and Naruto beats Pain is that Jiraiya didn't have a slug by his ear telling him about all of Pain's jutsus.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The Uchiha clan holds the world record in this. Remember when they felt things weren't going their way so they had this brilliant idea to sway things in their favor?... Remember how that went? Mm hm. Remember Sasuke's great triumphant moment of revenge? Remember how that one turned out? Mm hm. Remember the part where we find out what Itachi was all about and what he was trying to achieve? See how that one turned out? Mm hm. Nice job, Uchiha clan.'
    • Lampshaded by Itachi himself, about himself. He tells Sasuke that it was his fault Sasuke became the criminal he is today.
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Pain seems to go out of his way to induce rage and despair in Naruto, presumably to Teach Him Anger Pain. You can imagine how well that eventually went for him.
  • Ninja: Just about everyone.
  • Ninja Log: Used in a surprising number of variations, including several that explode.
  • Nobody Poops: Averted in the sports festival OVA as well as the actual show. Naruto is the usual offender.
  • Nonhumans Lack Attributes: Usually played straight (e.g. Kakashi's dogs). Averted with a certain armadillo. Squick.
    • Also averted for Akamaru in the comical spin-off Rock Lee's Springtime of Youth.
  • The Nose Bleed: The inevitable result of Naruto's Sexy Jutsu.
    • Though completely averted in OVA instances when Naruto attempts it on Sasuke. The latter just pauses, blinking, completely unaffected before punching him out and walking away as though none of the above just occurred.
  • Not a Date / She Is Not My Girlfriend: Shikamaru and Temari. Asuma and Kurenai.
  • Not Even Human: How many people in the manga view jinchuuriki. This way of thinking is a personal berserk button for Naruto.
  • Not Just a Tournament: The Chunin Exam arc features a single-elimination tournament as the final stage of the exam. Initially, the idea is that the contestants will fight each other and that the judges determine who should be promoted based on the performance. However, it is soon explained that that function is more of an in-universe Excuse Plot to showcase competition between villages. Said competition affects incoming business for each village.
  • Not Quite Dead: A number of characters have pulled this off at some point or the other, but the runaway award winner is Orochimaru.
  • Not So Different: Naruto has had many foils throughout the series, and often he finds out that he's more like them than he thought:
    • Gaara is what Naruto would have become if Iruka hadn't acknowledged him. They share the traumatic isolation of being host to tailed beasts. This is made all the more poignant by the fact that we are introduced to Gaara as a completely Ax Crazy monster hungry for blood and only find out that he and Naruto are Not So Different after several Establishing Character Moments of Gaara's that involved plenty of murder. What's more, they were both entrusted to the care of someone whose loved ones they'd inadvertently killed. Where their paths diverged, and for us the story begins, is Iruka being better than Yashamaru at getting over one's shit. ( Recently revealed that Yashamaru was kind of forced into his jerk ass moment by Gaara's dad. Makes it arguable that they turned out differently because Naruto had an awesome father who died and Gaara had a terrible one who stuck around. Sort of.)
    • The astute viewer would have suspected as much about Hinata to begin with, but just in case they don't, Lee outright points out that her borderline-suicidal determination seems oddly familiar to him from somewhere. In moments of great despair she often resorts to Naruto's trademark World of Cardboard Speech.
    • Naruto realizes at some point that his own anger from Konoha's hatred towards him means he could've been the threat to Konoha and Sasuke the one defending it. The panel shows Naruto using chidori and Sasuke using Rasengan to drive it home.
    • At one point, Naruto finds out that one of the villains actually used to be very similar to him before he became a Fallen Hero.
    • Gaara is doubly interesting in that he also serves as a foil for Sasuke. Sasuke is what Gaara would have become if Naruto hadn't been able to reach his heart, as Gaara states during the attack on the Gokage Summit
    • Abused and done to death in fillers. Remember that guy who showed up for three episodes, initially was hostile to Naruto but then both of them found out that "He is... the same as me..." or "He has... the same eyes as me"? Yeah, that guy?
  • Not So Stoic: It's something of a theme that no one can truly kill or completely overcome their own emotions and pretty much everyone who tries to play The Stoic with some level of development lets loose at some point.
  • Nothing Is the Same Anymore: End of Part I. Seems to be the case after a certain Wham! Episode in Part II, but the lasting effect on the plot turns out to be less drastic than expected.


O - P

  • Oblivious Mockery: Having heard that Jugo went to Orochimaru voluntarily, Suigetsu comments that only someone completely nuts would throw himself into Orochimaru's arms. Right next to Sasuke, who threw himself into Orochimaru's arms for the sake of his revenge.
    • Actually played with, considering he planned to kill Orochimaru all along, but he did still go to Orochimaru willingly.
  • Oddly Small Organization: There are some clans of whom we've never seen more than a nuclear family (Nara, Inuzuka, Aburame and Akimichi for a while). And to date, Sakura is the one and only member of the Haruno family we've ever got to see. Either these families are just that small and Sakura's parents are really plot irrelevant, or there's more of a story there that we'll get to see eventually. It should be noted that not every family is a large, internally organized "Clan" like Hyuga or Uchiha, and some may even be civilian families rather than ninja clans.
    • The Akatsuki. Its size is never clearly stated. It's defined as a ten-members group, incredibly small for an organization aiming at world domination, although Sasori had several underlings working for him in the Sand village and their leader turned out to have had a whole village under his control.
  • Official Couple:There's Asuma and Kurenai, Minato and Kushina, Tsunade and Dan, Hayate and Yuugao, and Konan and Yahiko.
  • Offscreen Moment of Awesome: We don't see most of the fights between the Tailed Beasts hosts and Akatsuki (except in some Filler episodes).
    • Tenten is constantly a victim of this.
  • Oh Crap: Sure to happen whenever some invincible villain turns out to be Not So Invincible After All or some ultimate technique turns out to be Not So Ultimate After All. Also a common response to nightmarish genjutsu before you realize you've been caught in one.
    • A rather humorous example is Shikamaru during the final round of the Chunnin exams. He had no interest in fighting the match, and was about to give up, when Naruto pushed him into the field, and he was promptly jeered by the audience because he is not Sasuke. His face had Oh Crap written all over it.
  • One-Winged Angel: Anyone using Curse mark level 2, Juugo, and anyone with a tailed beast.
  • Only a Flesh Wound: "Oh, my god! That was my arm! They ripped off my arm! AARGH!" - A quote not uttered by anyone at any point in the series, though logic dictates it should have been, on at least five separate occasions. On two separate occasions, a villain had this done to them, and instead of the battle being over right there and then, they just kept fighting to eventually win. This is especially jarring given how much Orochimaru was both furious and terrified at the loss of his arms (Which, granted, were sealed, not just cut off, but still...).
    • Taken Up to Eleven when the Raikage casually chops off his burning arm. His subordinates cared more about the fact than he did.
  • The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Gaara used this before his Heel Face Turn by saying Sasuke was 'his prey'.
    • Itachi Uchiha basically says that the only one allowed to defeat him is his younger brother, the same Sasuke. But he has his reasons for saying that.
    • Also, Naruto and Sasuke, mutually and multiple times.
    • When Jiraiya is about to take on Itachi and Kisame at the inn, Sasuke insists that the only one who was going to kill Itachi was him. Well, needless to say, that fight didn’t exactly end his favor. Nor did any future attempts.
  • Our Zombies Are Different: Type "V" for the characters brought back with the forbidden technique Edo Tensei.
  • Out of Focus: Most of anyone in this series who has just played some significant part in the plot and is not part of Team 7 or a top-tier villain goes straight to the Offstage Waiting Room. In fact, more often than not when the focus shifts to any of the secondary characters, it's because something bad is about to happen to them.
  • Overshadowed by Awesome: Too many characters to tell, but Tsunade and above all Sakura (who is supposed to be the third protagonist) are badly affected by this trope, despite being Extraordinarily Empowered Girls.
    • Obito admits this outright to Minato was he admits that Kakashi is an amazing shinobi, and he is a washout from the Uchiha clan.
  • Parental Abandonment: Orphans abound due to the life of a ninja just not being very conductive to one's life expectancy. Kyuubi killed numerous ones in its rampage -- the ones which weren't killed in the previous Ninja Wars, that is. Some would-be-plot-relevant parents may have managed to escape this fate by virtue of their invisibility.
  • Person of Mass Destruction: Most prominently Tailed Beast hosts, but it's a valid option to any protagonist or villain so inclined provided they have a sufficiently high Power Level. (cue Vegeta breaking his scanner).
  • Playing with Fire: Any character who uses fire techniques. Not that any of them could really help anyone win a fight.
  • Please Don't Leave Me: Sakura to Sasuke before he leaves the Leaf, in an absolutely heartbreaking scene. Naruto’s entire fight with Sasuke at the Valley of the End consists of this, eventually turning into “I’ll break every bone in your body and drag you all the way if that’s what it takes!” “I won’t let you be taken by someone like Orochimaru!” Subverted by Naruto when all he wants to do is talk with Sasuke, even going so far as to tell Sasuke that they will die together if they fight each other, then allows him freely on his way once he’s finished.
  • Plot Armor:
    • Sasuke is a major offender, often relying on New Powers as the Plot Demands to make him As Strong As He Needs To Be. His most iconic one may be when, after it had already been established that he was out of chakra, he had continued use of his Sharingan, summoned a giant snake, hypnotized it, jumped in its mouth and teleported it and himself out of harm's way all to avoid a massive 10-kilometer-radius explosion. After said explosion had already gone off. A few feet from him. (Illustration.)
    • Hinata somehow manages to survive being stabbed point blank in the neck, getting caught in the blast radius of a Wave Motion Gun and laying there alone, bleeding and unconscious, for several minutes while two Persons of Mass Destruction summon gravity blasts and giant chakra balls all over the smoking crater.
    • Every named character in the ninja alliance thing. They're fighting an army of invincible zombies, who in life were some of the strongest ninjas to ever live. Not one single named character has lost their life. Just a bunch of Red Shirts. Especially egregious is {{[spoiler| Madara's refusal to even try to kill the Kages.}}
  • The Plot Reaper: Happens to Orochimaru, in an extremely rare case where it's a villain who falls victim of this trope.
    • Jiraya and Asuma provide more classical examples.
  • Plot Tumor: Of all people, ’’Tobi’’’ is behind everything. EVERYTHING. …Everything except all the shit Kabuto has run around causing.
    • Similarly, Danzo is responsible for almost everything wrong the Leaf has ever done. Hell, he’s even responsible for Kabuto’s Face Heel Turn that made him loyal to Orochimaru.
  • Police Are Useless: While the governments do have safety nets to deal with rogue ninjas, these are incredibly inadequate. The people in charge of taking out rogue ninjas are Nameless Faceless Mooks that get slaughtered by anything stronger than a stiff breeze while said rogues are, almost without exception, THE strongest ninjas in the world.
  • Power Makes Your Hair Grow: The level 2 of the cursed seal. Averted for Juugo, even though he's the source of it. Inverted with Jiraiya's hari jizo attack, where your hair growing makes for power. Moreover, it is the Jutsu’s power
  • The Power of Friendship: ...is apparently a distant second behind the power of a sufficiently well-seated superiority complex. Is nonetheless strong enough to end ancient grievances, unite the Ninja Villages against a common foe, and remind an Eldritch Abomination about his better nature.
  • The Power of Hate: …will cause a cycle of revenge throughout the ages. Sasuke also lives by it.
  • The Power of Love: ...is apparently a distant second behind the power to repel things with gravity. Gets the job done anyway, more often than not.
  • Power Perversion Potential: The fandom has taken use to many of the characters' powers. However, a rare in-universe example comes from Jiraya, who invented a jutsu that let him turn invisible...specifically to peep on women bathing. When the third hokage found out about this, he asked Jiraya to teach him the technique. A second in-universe example comes from Naruto's transformation Jutsu, where he (or Konohamaru) transform into a beautiful and naked woman and causes a massive nosebleed. (He called it the "Sexy Jutsu")
    • Fandom examples have included....Naruto's insane stamina, being make dozens of clones of himself, plus has the Sexy Jutsu. All the Hyuugas have the Byakugan, a special eye which allows to see through things. Then there's Orochimaru's tongue, Jiraiya's Prehensile Hair, Deidara's mouths on his palms (and chest), the Eight-Tailed-Beast tentacles, Karin's strange way of healing people, an alternate interpretation of why the Fourth Hokage is called the Yellow 'Flash'...
  • Powers as Programs
  • Protagonist-Centered Morality: How moral is pursuing Revenge? That depends on who you are. If you're Sasuke, it's a corruption to stay away from and Kakashi will give you an extensive lecture to make sure you get that. If you're Shikamaru, it's a rite of passage that will get you closure. No one is actually bothered by this because Sasuke is batshit insane and wants to exact revenge on an entire village full of innocent people, while Shikamaru just went after the guy who killed his Father Figure; but it's still sort of disconcerting that rather than acknowledge this, the manga just keeps on spouting the "revenge=bad" message.
    • Naruto's obsession with redeeming a traitor and would-be mass murderer just because they happened to have an abrasive Worthy Opponent dynamic (which the audience is repeatedly told was friendship) is treated, at worst, as idealistic to a fault. When bad guys are loyal to villains who showed them kindness, it's tragic and destructive (Haku, Zaku, Kimimaro). To be fair, there are exceptions where it is portrayed as a redeeming characteristic for a villain, such as with Kisame.
    • Pein brings this up to Naruto as a Hannibal Lecture. There goes our Determinator's will to fight… Even a frog had to try to boost his morale back up.
  • Protagonist Journey to Villain: Sasuke's takes a so big share of the story that for a while he effectively serves as the main character.
  • Psycho Rangers: The Sound Five (see Evil Counterpart).
  • A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: A healthy portion of high-profile villains have a backstory to this extent, although Pain kind of stands out.
  • Punny Name:
    • UZUMAKI Naruto= "Spiralling whirlpool" (plus "naruto" is a ramen topping)
    • HARUNO Sakura= "Cherry blossoms of spring"
    • HATAKE Kakashi= "Farmer's scarecrow"
    • UMINO Iruka= "Sea dolphin"
    • HYUUGA Hinata= Hyuuga and Hinata can be written with the same Kanji. Hyuuga means towards the sun, while Hinata means sunny place. And so on...


R

  • Random Power Ranking: Uses S, A, B, C and D ranks for the missions, though they serve a purpose: higher ranking (and therefore more dangerous) missions are more dangerous, therefore more expensive as they would require more or better ninja, so there's an incentive for customers to leave out details and get a lower ranking. The letters are based on the Japanese school grading system (S is for "Shin", meaning "Perfect"), and there's also an E rank for the most basic jutsu. Of course, just about every "C" mission shown turns out to be an "A" or above mission.
  • Rank Up: Almost all of the Konoha 11 ninja are promoted in between the Time Skip. Gaara takes this further by going from Genin to the Kazekage.
    • Naruto himself averts this, being now possibly the most powerful ninja in the village but having one of the lowest ranks. Funnily, Sasuke is in the same situation, being a missing-nin.
  • Reality Ensues: Naruto's panic attack.
  • Reality Is Unrealistic: One of the chapters featured a character stating that octopuses eat sharks. Many found this statement to be idiotic, but there's actually quite a bit of truth to it.
  • Reality Warper: Later in the manga we find out about a technique which breaks the boundaries between reality and illusion.
  • Redemption Equals Death: Sometimes, but redemption is equally likely to earn life.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Most obviously Naruto and Sasuke, but that can be said for almost all the males duos of the story. For Naruto and Sasuke especially, seen Tiger Versus Dragon below.
  • Refuge in Audacity: So you attack under a flag of truce in order to break into a compound of one of the most powerful clans in an enemy village and kidnap the 3-year old daughter of the clan head in order to steal her eyes, but her father thwarts the attempt by killing the kidnapper CAUGHT IN THE ACT. What do you do? Pretend the kidnapping attempt never happened and accuse her father of murder, and demand that he be put to death and have his body delivered to you (which would also give you access to the eyes you wanted), and if they don't comply, you'll resume the war. International politics, Cloud village style.
  • Redshirt Army: The ANBU (how ironic, given they're supposed to be Elite Mooks), the Samurais and the Zetsu clones.
  • Red String of Fate: Someone's hair gets used as this. It Makes Sense in Context.
  • Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Giant bastard Orochimaru has a ton of snake motifs. Also, Four-Tails has scaly appendages on its tails.
  • Rescue Romance: It turns out this is how Naruto's parents met.
  • The Rest Shall Pass: During the Sasuke retrieval arc; every time one of Orochimaru's Sound Four arrives to stop them, one of them stays behind to fight while they tell the rest to keep going.
  • Retcon: While Gaara was a SIMILAR character to Naruto thanks to the monsters sealed within them, Shukaku was openly stated to be a completely different manner of being to the Kyuubi (an incarnation of sand, living spirit of a Sunagakure priest stored in a kettle), let alone them both being members of a "series" of tailed beasts.
      • In terms of being stored in a kettle, apparently that did happen. However, it was removed to be placed inside a shinobi. As for the priest bit, that does seem to have been forgotten.
    • Going further back, in the first chapter (not just the pilot, which was in a different continuity and had this as its premise, but also the first chapter of the actual series), it's treated as if Naruto was the nine-tailed fox in human form, rather than simply having it sealed inside him. The Hokage worries that he might regain his old form, and Naruto gets a brief Heroic BSOD on being told that he's literally the nine-tailed fox. In current continuity, where Jinchuuriki are a major cultural institution, it's impossible to imagine anyone making that mistake. Note, though, that it was Mizuki telling him he was literally said beast- anything that guy ever said should be taken with a grain of salt.
    • In the 3rd Hokage flashback, he seems to be a kid when he's appointed Hokage, and the First is still alive. Many chapters later, Danzo's flashback gives a completely different version of Sarutobi's nomination, be his age or the circumstances.
      • Tobi mentions that Konoha was founded about 200 years ago. If Hashirama (who essentially was said to have founded the village) and Tobirama were alive back then, how were they alive to appoint Sarutobi the Third Hokage when Sarutobi was only 68 years old when he died? Unless they were about 132 years old when he was born and by failed Continuity about 140 (when Sarutobi remembered being appointed at a very young age) or 160 (when Danzou remembered Sarutobi being appointed only by Tobirama when he was in around his mid-twenties), when he was named Hokage, they wouldn’t have been alive. But wait. Various types of immortality techniques are always on the prowl. But did they even use any? If not, how were they still alive?
    • Also, Uzumaki Mito was the first Jinchuuriki host for the Kyuubi. Being married to Hashirama, she’d be about as old as him. If he was around some 200 years ago, she probably was as well, but around the time of her death, even if she lived for some 100 years, being an Uzumaki (as they are said to have long life expectancies), Kushina was a child when she was decided upon as the next Jinchuuriki host. If Mito was about 20 during the founding of the village, she died when it was 80 years old (It was 80, and she was 20 at its birth. She would have been 100 years old). Kushina was about ten years old at this time (so Kushina was born when it was 70 years old, and now at age ten it is 80 years old), and about fifteen years later from Mito’s death (Kushina having been ten years old then, now is 25), Naruto was born. The village is now 95 years old. Naruto is sixteen when Kushina explains all this to him. Now the village is 111 years old. So now we’ve got our present timeline happening when Konoha is 111 years old’. So much for being 200 years old.

The simplified breakdown of the Retconned timeline:

Mito’s Timeline: Twenty years old, village founded. Lived to 100; the village is 80.

Kushina’s Timeline: Born when Konoha was 70 years old. Ten years old when the village is 80. Gives birth and died at about age 25, so fifteen years after the village was 80 years old. It’s now 95.

Naruto’s Timeline: Born when the village is 95 years old. Kushina tells this story to him sixteen years after his birth. The village is 111 years old when Naruto is sixteen.

General Timeline: Village founded 200 years ago. Uzumaki Mito married founder of village, Hashirama, and they seemed about the same general age. Hashirama was likely about 20 years old when he founded Konoha. If Mito was also 20 at that time, and died at about 100, the village had only been around for 80 years. So, the village being 80 years old here, Kushina was brought in at (this is a guesstimate here) age ten as the second Jinchuuriki host. About, we’ll say fifteen years later, Naruto was born. Now the village is 95 years old at the time of Naruto’s birth. Naruto is sixteen when Kushina informs him of all this, so now, presently, the village is actually only 111 years old. That or when Tobi said it was about 200 years old, he was telling the truth, and we’ve been in one huge flashback ever since, making Naruto actually 89 years old.

The moral of the story? The idea that Konoha is about 200 years old has been Retconned miserably, along with any character’s timeline that is not of Naruto’s age group (Even Kakashi’s timeline is off, as mentioned below).

    • Kakashi Gaiden happened 13 years ago by the end of Part One. Apparently, the Kyuubi also attacked Konoha 13 years ago by the end of Part One. If they happened in the same year, Kakashi shouldn’t have looked about sixteen years old during the flashback of Tobi unleashing the Kyuubi on the village. He still would have been about 13 years old if they actually happened in the same year. However, the manga shows him to look a few years older when Tobi attacked, also being part of the ANBU. …But both events were claimed to have happened in the same year – 13 years ago from the end of Part One. But he looks older and taller… …But both events happened… …Forget it. Kishimoto hasn’t slept properly since 1999.
  • Right Makes Might: Surprisingly, averted pretty nicely. Rock Lee is very right and loses his two big fights. Naruto relies on determination, being Made of Iron and the element of surprise to come through. The last time the infamous "Aagh so much is at stake, I must win" flashback montage is invoked is in the fight against Neji, way before the end of the second arc of the story.
  • Roof Hopping
  • Rousing Speech: By Gaara of all people.
  • Rule of Symbolism: The Uchihas and Shinto mythology. The three arcanes of the Mangekyou Sharingan are named after the 3 greatest gods of the japanese mythology, who are also siblings: Tsukuyomi (God of Moon -> Genjutsu), and Amaterasu (Goddess of the Sun -> black flames), Susanoo (God of Storms and a hero -> something akin to giant summoning). The last figh between Orochimaru and Itachi is a remake of the one between Yamata no Orochi and the god Susanoo. Itachi uses his Susanoo attack to defeat Orochimaru who turned himself in a gigantic 8-headed, 8-tailed White Snake.
    • Orochimaru and his White Snake theme ; white snakes are said to bring fortune and rebirth.
    • The Fourth Hokage, references the "Susanoo vs. the Yamato-no-Orochi" myth. His name is Minato Namikaze ("harbor", "wind and waves": Susanoo is the god of the sea and storms), his signature technique is the Flying Thunder God, and he beat out Orochimaru for the title of Hokage. Overlaps with Meaningful Name. And knowing that his wife, Kushina Uzumaki, harkens back Susanoo's own consort Kushinada-hime, might also count, but we're probably pushing it.
    • Pain and Buddhist beliefs. It turns out his bodies' names are a Meaningful Theme Naming. They invoke the Buddhism's Six Paths of Rebirth.
      • The statue that Akatsuki uses is called "Gedo Mazo". "Gedo" means "outer path", referencing the term in Buddhism for a false path to enlightenment (as opposed to the inner path, which is the correct one). Konan reveals that Nagato himself is another "path" of Pain called the "Outer Realm" and can also revive the recently deceased. This is fitting, given that Pain is what Naruto could have become if he had chosen a false path to enlightenment.
  • Rummage Sale Reject
  • Running Gagged: Inner Sakura. She only appeared in Part 1 when Sakura would hide her feelings more often, and when Part 2 came around she only appeared once as a Call Back. The last time it appeared in Part 1, it was used to foil Ino's attempt at Grand Theft Me, and it was implied that Inner Sakura was an alternate personality.


S

  • Sadistic Choice: Invoked when Kakashi is giving Team 7 their Secret Test of Character. He asks Sakura what she would do if he threatened to kill Sasuke unless she kills Naruto. Much later we find out this actually happened to a major villain and was part of his Start of Darkness.
    • When confronted with one of these, Naruto's knee-jerk reaction is to try and Take a Third Option. Itachi even calls him out on it, telling him that he's naive and sometimes the choice must be made, but Naruto tells him to shove it.
  • Sarutobi Sasuke: Sasuke Uchiha and the family of the 3rd Hokage (Hiruzen, Asuma and Konohamaru Sarutobi) take part of their names from him. Incidentally, Sarutobi Sasuke is the name of 3rd hokage's father, who Sasuke is actually named after.
  • Say My Name: In their first fight on the hospital roof:

Sasuke: Narutoooooooo!!!!!!!!
Naruto: Sasukeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!

  • School Saved My Life: Naruto averts it by learning everything through being a main character and training. Sakura plays it straight.
  • Schizo-Tech: When the plot calls for it, suddenly there's a fridge. And walkie-talkies, security cameras, video game consoles, cell phones, full-color movie theaters, and so on. Towards the beginning of the Fourth ninja war, the five feudal lords communicate using video conferencing ; just a few months back, the Suna village had to send a messenger bird asking Konoha for help when their Kazekage was abducted. Modern Weaponry is pretty much nowhere to be seen, which is obviously a Necessary Weasel (To quote Word of God: "If we allowed that, this story would not be about Ninjas."). One of Pain's bodies had rocket launchers due to the Rule of Cool, but that's about it.
  • Sci Fi Fantasy Writers Have No Sense Of Scale: The black flames of Amaterasu being "as hot as the sun", which ought to be ever-so-slightly more volatile than portrayed.
    • A character busting out 600 billion exploding tags; even with a jutsu that spawned 1000 of them per second, you would have to constantly be on it without food, drink or sleep for over 19 years to have that many. See the Trivia page for more information.
  • Sealed Evil in a Can: With urns, people, sake jugs, kettles, even the Moon(!)... All the ninja masters seem to think that if you like it, you should seal an evil in it.
    • Sealed Inside a Person-Shaped Can: Applies to the Tailed-Beasts. There's also at least two instances in fillers. Kurenai's eyes are said to be red because some part of one of her student's powers was sealed into them. Also with the forbidden jutsu in the six-tails arc.
  • Self-Duplication: There are various Ninjutsu that can do this, but the Shadow Clone Technique is the most iconic one, not the least due to the protagonist tending to utterly spam it as part of his pre-Time Skip combat strategy.
  • Sempai-Kohai: Kakashi is Yamato's sempai in Part II. Sakura also sees Shizune as her sempai.
    • Tobi calls Deidara "sempai".
    • Nagatoconsiders himself Naruto's sempaï.
  • Ship Sinking: Some scenes seem on first glance to be this (rejected confessions and attempted mutual kills come to mind), but if you've been following the series long enough you know the author's favorite sport is audience expectations ping-pong, and you should take these with more than a few grains of salt.
  • Shoo Out the Clowns: The first few episodes were punctuated by several silly Running Gags, including Gender Bending-induced Nose Bleeds and gastrointenstinal malfunction. These stopped getting used very quickly, and haven't shown up in years (save for one guest appearance at the beginning of Part II as a humorous callback to the early days of the series). Fillers, however, have taken those one-off gags from nearly a decade ago and are still running with them whenever some Padding is called for - making for a rather weird intra-franchise example of Never Live It Down.
  • Shout-Out: Plenty.
    • The Hokage Mountain evokes Mt. Rushmore.
    • The Third Hokage summoning Monkey King Enma and wieding a magic staff refer to Journey to the West.
    • "Ino Shika Cho" is a reference to a high-ranking hand in the card game Hanafuda.
    • The Valley of the End is similar to the Argonath.
    • The anime has used Star Wars stock sounds, such as the lightsaber humming and TIE Fighter laser sounds.
    • In the High School AU OVA, Naruto uses "attack yo-yos" to beat up on a gangster. A technique used by "mutts..." Sakura even says "Haven't I seen this before?" It's worth noting that in all the urban fantasy and slice of life Jump series Shonen Jump itself exists. Therefore, it's quite reasonable that she would have read Yu-Gi-Oh in said AU.
    • Kabutomaru wears a black hood with white eye-like markings similar to fellow snake-themed baddie Medusa.
    • The arrival at and the look of the island where Killer Bee and Naruto meet is reminiscent of the island from King Kong. The giant gorilla that the team meets is called "King Chan", it doesn't get more obvious than that.
    • Kushina's red hair and grey eyes may be a homage to Anne Shirley of Anne of Green Gables fame who also has the same eye and hair color. The books are part of the school curiculum and quite popular in Japan.
    • The Sage of six paths and the form Naruto Takes after absorbing all of the Kyuubi's chakra is definitely similar looking to the oni warriors of Onimusha fame, Soki in particular
    • When Naruto fails at turning into the Kyuubi after taming it, he actually transforms into the chibi-kyuubi design from the pilot, which was originally supposed to be his true form.
    • The real names of the Kyuubi and the Four Tails: Kurama and SonGoku.
    • The four tailed Beast references Dragon Ball. Its design is partially based off of the Oozaru, the host's name is Roshi and its number of tails is the same as Goku's favorite Dragonball. Its horns are also apparently modelled after the diadem worn by Sun Wukong from Journey to the West, who is himself one of the original inspirations for Goku. And the four tailed beast's proper name is SON GOKU!!!!!!
  • Shoot the Dog: One of the major themes of Part II is Naruto trying to avoid this at all costs, even when it seems like the path to the closest thing to a happy ending he can get.
  • Shoot the Hostage: Happens once. When it does, you are likely not very happy with the person who does it.
  • Shut UP, Hannibal: Standard answer to a lecturing antagonist. It sometimes works though, and then consequences are memorable and not pretty.
  • Skeleton Government: So, each one of the 5 Great Countries have 1 Daimyo and 1 Kage... and that's pretty much of it. No ministers, no (more) police... Some councils have been featured, but their roles, powers and composition are very vague.
  • Skyscraper City: The Hidden Rain Village [dead link] is an odd example. The architecture and giant pipes everywhere make it seem like the buildings are "unfinished"; this, and the perpetually gloomy sky, give the impression of a huge shantytown rather than a prosperous city.
  • Slap Yourself Awake: A common way to snap out of illusions is to injure yourself.
  • Slave Brand: The Hyuuga clan's branch family mark.
  • Smash the Symbol: Itachi throws a kunai into a Uchiha clan symbol.
  • Smitten Teenage Girl: Sakura, Ino and Hinata at the beginning of the series, though they eventually all grow out of that phase. Later, Karin, who is almost too late to realize her crush is not a very good person.
  • The Smurfette Principle: Most teams have a single token female member if they have any at all. Also applies to the Akatsuki. Inverted with a three-man team of Cloud ninja that has two female ninja and one male ninja. Averted for the 5 Kages: there are two female ones, Tsunade and the 5th Mizukage.
  • Snap to the Side: A variation, as this tends to happen more in response to a sneak attack then Teleport Spam.
  • Sneezing
  • Social Services Does Not Exist: There's the unanswered question of who looked after the more troubled and often orphaned members of the cast, especially Naruto and Sasuke.
  • Sorting Algorithm of Evil: In Part I it's subverted with sneering, malicious intent. There's a great deal of setup regarding various ninja power rankings and you expect the enemies to line up neatly. Then the first "big" villain Naruto and his friends encounter is so powerful, they nearly exhaust themselves pulling out every possible trick they can think of just to get the guy to release a single technique. They do not grow powerful enough to have defeated him for a very long while. Then an arc and a half into the lush exposition-laden first stages of the story, the Part I Big Bad shows up and starts wreaking havoc on the plot for a rather long while without anyone at all being able to stand up to him.
  • The Spartan Way: The things young ninja have to do and endure in order to advance in rank are pretty hellish, even more so for some of the villages other than the main characters'. The Village Hidden in the Mist, for example, was known as "Bloody Mist" for its brutal "graduation exam". To become a ninja there, you had to kill a fellow student in a duel. Zabuza, the series' first major enemy, was infamous for having killed all of the students in this "exam", and he wasn't even in it.
  • Spell My Name with an "S": Might Guy, whose name has a number of other unofficial romanizations that fans like to use.
    • Also Pein vs. Pain vs. Paine in the early chapters after he was first named.
    • In what has to be the most bizarre application of this trope ever, there has been some controversy over whether the Raikage's name is A or E. It's actually "A" versus the literally romanized version of the Japanese pronounciation of the English letter "A", which is something like "E/Ei" (all of which are pretty much pronounced the same). It's just that since it's only written down many think it's supposed to be "E".
    • There's also "Killer Bee"/"Killer B"/"Kiraabii"; "C"/"Shii"; and "J"/"Jay"/"Jei" from the same village.
  • Spiritual Successor: The main character of Ninku, Fuusuke, is a wind ninja who wears orange and uses a move similar to the rasengan. It's set in a universe where ninja are highly militarised and wear flak jackets, there are supernatural entities who can posses humans and bestow great but dangerous powers; it deals with themes of war and hate, often with interpersonal stories where even the villains may have faced tragedy. Sounds familiar? The convergence is especially confusing, given Naruto's Pilot had little to nothing in common with it.
  • Spot the Imposter: Two different characters (a Rain Genin and the not yet introduced Orochimaru) use ninjutsu to disguise themselves as Naruto in the Forest of Death arc.
  • Spy Catsuit: The female teachers and even some of the males.
  • Standard Evil Organization Squad: The Akatsuki.
  • Start of Darkness: We get to see it for nearly every villain. It usually means they're going to die soon and the author is going for an Alas, Poor Villain reaction.
  • Start X to Stop X: One villain's grand plan is to get people to see first-hand the horrors of fantastic nuclear warfare and make war much less likely by virtue of mutually assured destruction. He flat out states that his plan is a stop-gap measure, and will not work to secure world peace beyond the lifetimes of the people who saw it in action. He expects them to resume fighting and nuke each other once they've forgotten how terrible it is.
  • Stock Ninja Weaponry: Used extensively. Kunai and Shuriken are used as the default weapon for many Ninjas, the ANBU use Ninjato, Sasuke has his Fuuma Shuriken and Gai can use Nunchaku in battle. Resurrected Hanzo used a Kusarigama, and so did Tobi.
  • Summon Magic: The Summoning contracts.
  • Super-Powered Evil Side: Several characters have one such as Naruto and Jugo. Even Sakura has one (though it's mostly Played for Laughs).
  • Super Reflexes: One of the powers the Sharingan grants is super reflexes due to move prediction. It can read any movement the enemy makes, even those at high speeds, so the user can avoid an attack. This isn't an exact science. Rock Lee rightfully said that even if you can see an attack, if you can't move fast enough to react, it's useless. Tsunade and Sakura's style also revolves around having super reflexes and move prediction to make up for their lack of speed.
  • Supernatural Martial Arts: Every single jutsu.
  • Superpowerful Genetics: A big plot point is special powers that run through family genes. Countries go through a lot of trouble to protect theirs and get their hands on their enemies' abilities.


T

  • Take a Third Option: The whole point of the series. Since the beginning, Naruto has faced people urging him to follow the "ninja way", basically saying "Give up X or be a failure". X being human feelings (Zabuza), the will to fight (Kabuto, Pain), Sasuke (Jiraiya, Itachi, Pain, Sasuke himself), etc. Being a trickster possessing the "wisdom of the fools", Naruto always dismisses that dilemma saying "I won't give up X and I won't be a failure". Which leads him doing some things (namely, not killing Nagato and never ever giving up saving Sasuke) which are highly controversial in the Fandom.
      • Specifically, during his conversation with Sasuke after the latter has just killed Danzou, Sasuke asks him, "What do you want to do Naruto? Die by my hands and become another victim of my revenge, or kill me and become a Hero?". Naruto, of course, has a third option: "If we fight, we both will die".
      • Even with his love life. Receive a love confession? Only wimps either accept or reject it. Naruto resorts to the third option of forgetting it, and later, with a different confession, resorts to the fourth option of saying, "You're lying. You don't even mean it".
    • The participants in the first round of the Chunnin exam are given a test which is supposedly too difficult for their level. The participants are therefore faced with the option of either failing the test or getting caught trying to cheat. It is later revealed that the true purpose of the test was to test their ability to cheat without getting caught. However, both Naruto and Sakura pass the test without cheating. Naruto turns in his paper completely blank, while Sakura answers all the difficult questions anyway.
  • Taking the Bullet: Iruka started it in chapter 1 and many a hero (and villain!) have followed suit.
  • Talk to the Fist: The Raikage tries to do this to a major villain only to have him dodge it casually and keep talking like nothing happened.
  • Talking Is a Free Action: Common enough to make you wonder if Talk You To Death no Jutsu is part of the ninja academy curriculum.
    • If you don't get a whole dramatic scene as part of an important character's death, you can tell the next few seconds probably involve a log appearing or a clone going *poof*.
    • Lee manages to have a brief exchange with Sasuke while the two are flying through the air in Lee's Dancing Leaf Shadow jutsu. ** In one of the confrontations between Naruto and Sasuke, they manage to have some sort of telepathic conversation just before their attacks collide. Or maybe it's all in Naruto's head.
  • Talking the Monster to Death: Used by Naruto to beat Nagato. This is also the only way to defeat Edo Tensei zombies (other than removing their soul).
  • Tears of Joy
  • Teen Genius: Very common.
  • Thanatos Gambit: The 4th Hokage's death is really a tour de force of this, which is to be expected since it kick-starts the plot. This guy accomplished more by dying than most of the characters we've seen have accomplished while alive.
  • That's No Moon: Played straight to the highest, most absurd degree. The Moon itself turns out to be No Moon. Yes, really.
  • There Are No Therapists: Sweet Ninja Jesus, the number of problems in this series that could have been solved by a therapist is staggering.
  • There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Konan uses six-hundred billions of explosive tags in an attempt to kill Tobi. He lives, but only because he has the ability to resurrect himself.
  • Those Two Guys: Two pairs: Kotetsu and Izumo, Genma and Raido.
  • Throwing the Fight: Gaara refused to take a dive in his match with Sasuke and proceeded to kill the two Kusagakure Shinobis who threatened him to do so.
  • Tickle Torture: Jiraiya uses this as an interrogation technique on some Hidden Rain ninjas.
  • Tiger Versus Dragon: Naruto and Sasuke respectively in Part I. Doubles as Fridge Brilliance when you realize that Sasuke's clan is known for their fire techniques and Naruto's color is orange.
    • Also used as a picture to open one of the Gaara Vs Lee chapters, with Lee as the Dragon and Gaara as the Tiger.
  • Time Skip: Naruto Shippuuden/Part II.
  • To Be a Master: It takes a certain kind of skill, but Naruto won't stop until he becomes Hokage, and if all goes well he will be writing a brand new chapter in the history of the Ninja world.
  • Tongue Suicide: Tsunami, who volunteered to be taken hostage by Gato's men, she informed them that if they lay a hair on her son, then she'll bite her own tongue.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Name a character that was alive at the end of the Sasuke Retrieval arc. Any character. Odds are they took a level during the time skip. Naruto stands out in particular due to doing this multiple times, and recently it was revealed that Kabuto was putting his time offscreen to good use as well.
  • Tournament Arc: The Chuunin examination arc.
  • Trail of Bread Crumbs: An important female character relates to Naruto how she did this with her own hair when she was kidnapped once.
  • Training the Peaceful Villagers: Land of Waves Arc.
  • Trash Talk: Commonly used by antagonists, but the revived Madara Uchiha probably takes the cake.
  • Traumatic Superpower Awakening: Bloodline powers tend to come out this way: Firstly with Haku when his father tried to kill him, then the various forms of the Sharingan.
  • Triang Relations: Several Type 3 and Type 5s.
  • Try Not to Die: Before the second task of the Chunin exam, which takes place in a Deadly Training Area:

Anko Mitarashi: "Just don't die!"

U - Z

  • Ultimate Evil: The Juubi.
  • Unrequited Love Switcheroo: Invoked and Subverted in a love confession by a female character. The previously pining party doesn't believe her. Word of God confirmed that the confession was fabricated out of desperate, well-meaning manipulation (It Makes Sense in Context).
  • Unstoppable Rage: A surefire catalyst of Naruto drawing on Kyuubi's power, much to the former's chagrin and medical detriment. Cue earnest attempts to not go on Unstoppable Rages anymore, which promptly all goes to hell in a handbasket during the next Wham! Episode. Naruto then realizes that he can't avoid this, and decides to control the power instead.
    • Sasuke's rampage at the Kages Summit is very much like this.
    • The fourth Raikage on any matter pertaining to his brother, Bee.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Everything with Sasuke from the latter half of part 1 to now could've been avoided if that one guy (Aoba Yamashiro) had been more careful with announcing Itachi's return.
    • Danzo is a major offender of this trope, seeing as five people have fallen to darkness because of his actions. Those people are Itachi, Sasuke, Konan, Nagato, and Kabuto. One of the major reasons he's such a polarizing character.
  • Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Nefarious, heartless villains the world over.
  • Utopia Justifies the Means: Big Bads who aren't Orochimaru tend to delude themselves this way. Happened in the second movie too.
  • Vein-O-Vision: Chakra lines are similar to this.
  • Vicious Cycle: The only reason there's any conflict in the plot at all is because of some old grudges between dead people. Of course, the same can be said about many similar situations in the real world.
  • Viewers Are Goldfish: Given the abundance of flashbacks.
  • Vomit Indiscretion Shot: This happens to Naruto when he sees if he can make the tailed beast bomb work by sticking his fingers down his throat. It Makes Sense in Context.
  • Walking on Water: Precise chakra control can result in this ninja technique.
  • War Arc: The Konoha Invasion arc by Orochimaru and the Fourth Shinobi World War arc.
  • The War to End All Wars: Two major villains actively work in triggering it.
  • Warrior Therapist: Neji perfectly fitted this trope before his Heel Face Turn. Gaara was like this exclusively towards Sasuke. Interestingly, they still have this dynamic the next time they meet, except, well, some things have changes around. Naruto has his moments, too.
  • Wave Motion Gun: A standard visual cue for "impossibly epic attack imminent".
  • Weapon Tombstone: Zabuza's Executioner's Blade. Years later Sasuke and Suiegetsu went back to retrieve it.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: Danzo; a lot of villains think of themselves as this, but their conceits are all patently ridiculous save for a specific one who successfully managed to fix things when Naruto convinced him he's gone too far.
  • Wham! Episode: One point in favor of this series is that very little falls in the realm of Like You Would Really Do It. Expect to go "What, Seriously? SERIOUSLY?!" a lot.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Sasuke gets one from Sakura when he's ready to give Team 7's scroll to the not-yet-revealed-Orochimaru. It works.
    • Naruto tries to reason Sasuke through their fight at the Valley of the End. It doesn't work.
    • Shikamaru's dad lectures him about his tentation to leave the shinobi life after the Sasuke retrieval arc.
    • Danzou slams Sasuke on his chaotic lashing out of blind revenge and rejection of the will and cause of the person he's avenging.
    • Some of Naruto's classmates berate him for his over-idealistic approach to the situation with Sasuke.
    • Naruto chews out Sakura for a shallow confession rather angrily.
    • Ino, Shikamaru, Asuma and Choza are all furious with Choji when he refuses to attack Asuma, who's been resurrected and forced to fight his former students.
  • When All You Have Is a Hammer: Generally, this applies to most of the clan ninja, who rely exclusively on clan techniques and basic skills. Ino seems to be the sole exception by branching out to medical ninjitsu.
    • Naruto had a phase of this with his Kage Bunshin and Rasengan, but he seems to have grown out of it (this probably hangs on fans' minds because this is the point he was at when the plot of the anime took a 80-episode Filler break, so we got to see these milked for much, much more than they were worth).
  • Willfully Weak: Inevitably. This is shonen after all.
  • Women in Refrigerators: Invoked a few times in a toned-down version where the women at least survive to maybe be important to the plot in a real way another day.
  • The Worf Barrage: Fire-elements techniques look powerful. In practice, what they do is create a Smoke Shield for enemies to slowly and dramatically step out of without a single burn on them. Averted once with Asuma's cloud of exploding smoke.
    • Anything attempted by Rock Lee is automatically this. Lampshaded in the Denser and Wackier spinoff Rock Lee's Springtime of Youth, where Lee's initial lotus fails against some random fodder Mook, to which he comments "I guess there's no helping it... That move never even worked once in the actual story." (and an outraged Tenten shouts, "Then why did you use it?!")
  • The Worf Effect: Affected Orochimaru in Part II, and clumsily justified.
    • Lee was also hyped to be extremely strong (by worfing Sasuke) and actually never won a real fight (except against his doppelganger in the Rescue Gaara Arc) because he fought people even stronger, even if he fell with honors.
    • Cycling trope concerning Sasuke.
    • Averted for Jiraiya
    • This is the entire point of the Anbu's existence. Almost every time they appear, they end up being killed by someone, regardless of the killer's rank. Makes you wonder why the Anbu actually exist in the first place.
  • Worf Had the Flu: Sasuke acknowledges that he defeated Orochimaru only because the latter was terminally ill.
    • A majorly powerful villain has to confront Naruto when he's just used a very exhausting technique, is without his backup and cannot kill Naruto if he wants his plan to work. When he loses you can't help but wonder how the fight would have looked liked if it weren't for all those factors.
    • Danzo loses a major battle which he began having just used one of his major abilities that needed to recharge. He gets it back at the end but, unable to decide how to use it in time and taken by surprise by one of his opponent's decisions, it doesn't do him any good.
  • World Domination: The stated goal of the Akatsuki organization.
  • World Half Full: The ninja world is a horrible place to live. Ninja are supposed to be emotionless tools to be used and discarded as the village they live in sees fit, especially Jinchuuriki, who have demons put inside them largely without their consent, and are treated even worse than other ninjas. In less than 100 years, 3 now 4 massive wars have been waged, creating grudges and massive distrust between nations, which is continually perpetuated. Child Soldiers are the norm, and are taught that if they want to live in this world they have to kill. The current ninja system of blood and hatred is responsible for the birth of people like Pain and Sasuke, who were driven mad by the death that occured around them. Luckily though, this series has Naruto, who, when he first began to comprehend the horror of everyday ninja life, basically says "Suck it!" and decides to do it his way, and fix this shitty way of life. Considering where this series falls on the Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism, he'll probably succeed.
  • World of Badass
  • World of Cardboard Speech: Naruto vs. Gaara, Tsunade vs. Orochimaru
  • X-Ray Vision: Anyone with the Byakugan Bloodline Limit.
  • Xanatos Gambit / Gambit Roulette: Subverted as far as we can see. So much for Itachi's brilliant plan.
  • You Are Already Dead: Some ninja abilities are engineered to lead up to this. If a character starts a Tempting Fate speech about how their opponent is screwed that didn't involve this trope in the first place, chances are 50/50 that they'll start coughing blood mid-sentence followed by their opponent explaining to them that three minutes ago they were hit with poison or chakra eating insects or Pressure Point strikes or what-have-you.
  • You Are Not Alone: Gaara and Naruto in particular have only come as far as they have because they have those supporting them. This became especially true for Naruto when his parents left a portion of themselves in his seal for the sole purpose of helping him against the Kyuubi when he needs it most.
  • You Know the One: That Man, whose use of That Jutsu during That Day played a key role during That Incident.
  • Your Mind Makes It Real: Inverted with with the jutsu Izanami. Yeah, really.
  1. ↑ one week after the paid version
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