Naruto: Characters With The Saddest Backstories

Naruto is full of characters whose lives have been rife with misfortune. Sometimes it drives them to heroism; other times, to villainy.

For more than a decade, Naruto has been one of the most popular anime and manga series in the world, and although the story concluded several years ago, it is still incredibly popular. Naruto is set in a world dominated by ninjas who can use a myriad of techniques and abilities. Fans love the series for its action-packed story about friendship and unwavering determination, and it helps that many of the characters are well written.

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Like most stories, Naruto features characters from all walks of life. Many of them had relatively cheerful pasts, but not every character is that lucky. Whether they are heroes or villains, anyone can have a sad backstory. When it comes to Naruto, these characters have pasts that are quite heartbreaking.

Updated September 14, 2023, by George Voutiritsas: Naruto still holds a place in many hearts. In fact, the love for the series is the main reason why most people pay attention to the sequel series. The original story was great, and the action was entertaining, but the characters are what really drove the story.

For most of its history, the ninja world has been plagued by a seemingly never-ending cycle of conflict and hatred, and it produced a number of characters with sad and tragic backstories. If asked, most Naruto fans can name a character who they believe has the saddest backstory, and many fans would give the same names. But as always, there are other characters whose pasts deserve to be mentioned as well.

20 Kisame

Before joining the Akatsuki, Kisame was loyal to the Mist Village. He became one of the village’s famed Seven Ninja Swordsmen, and he wielded Samehada, the sentient greatsword. Kisame was incredibly loyal to his village, and he would kill his own comrades to make sure other nations could not extract secrets from them.

This loyalty was engraved into him by Fuguki, his superior and mentor. Kisame ended up killing Fuguki when he discovered that he had been selling secrets to the enemy. This destroyed Kisame’s world view. He believed that he had no place in a world of lies, and this allowed Obito to trick him into joining the Akatsuki.

19 Karin

Karin is a member of the Uzumaki Clan, which means that she possesses an especially strong life-force. Her life-force offers impressive healing capabilities, to the point that she can rapidly heal herself. She can also heal others if they bite her. She inherited this healing ability from her mother.

Karin and her mother were allowed to take refuge in the Hidden Grass Village, but her mother needed to heal the village’s injured ninja. One day, the village suffered many casualties, and her mother died because she healed too many at once. Karin was then forced to replace her mother, and she spent years as the Grass Village’s healer.

18 Anko

Anko was the proctor of the second stage of the Chunin Exams. When she was a genin, she was part of a squad led by Orochimaru. The two were quite close, to the point that Orochimaru shared some of his signature techniques with her. He even discussed immortality with her.

That being said, he still used her as a test subject. Anko was one of the ten individuals who first received Orochimaru’s curse mark, and she was the only subject who survived. She refused to continue following him, and instead of killing her, Orochimaru altered her memories to make her think that he abandoned her for being too weak.

17 Sasori

Sasori was the first member of the Akatsuki to be defeated. His death was poetic, because it involved the first puppets he ever created. When Sasori was a child, his parents died while fighting Kakashi’s father, and he ended up in his grandmother’s care.

The loneliness got to Sasori, so his grandmother taught him puppetry in hopes that it would cheer him up. It worked at first, and he used his natural talent to create a pair of puppets that resembled his parents. He eventually discarded them because they could not give him proper affection. As a result, Sasori became obsessed with human puppets.

16 Konan

Konan was Pain’s partner and Jiraiya’s former student, making her one of the Akatsuki’s strongest members. Like Yahiko and Nagato, she was born in the Hidden Rain Village, and like them, she was left an orphan after her family was killed during the Second Great Ninja War.

She was forced to fend for herself until she met her friends, and the trio became inseparable. They went through a lot together, and she ended up falling in love with Yahiko. When the original Akatsuki became too powerful, Hanzo kidnapped her in order to set a trap. As a captive, she was forced to watch Yahiko sacrifice himself to save her.

15 Hinata

Hinata is one of Naruto’s more prominent side characters because of her relationship with Naruto. When she was born, she was the de facto heiress of the Hyuga Clan, but she lost that title because her father deemed her to be too weak. He even forced her to fight her younger sister for it.

When she was 3, Hinata was kidnapped by the Cloud Village’s Head Ninja during a fake peace treaty negotiation. The plan was to take her Byakugan, an act that would have killed her. Her father saved her, and her uncle sacrificed himself to appease the Cloud Village, which wanted her father dead.

14 Yamato

Wood Release was the signature technique of the 1st Hokage, and a lot of people tried to replicate it. Orochimaru kidnapped several children and injected them with some of the 1st Hokage’s DNA. Yamato was one of those children. He was held in a massive test tube, and he was fully aware of his surroundings. Yamato watched as all the other children died from the experiments.

When Orochimaru left the Leaf Village, he left Yamato behind because he thought all the children had died. Yamato was left in a room in complete darkness until he broke free. Danzo found him soon after and turned him into a Root operative.

13 Kimimaro

The Kaguya Clan was renowned for their savagery in battle and a very small number of them inherited the Shikotsumyaku-an extremely powerful and rare kekkei genkai. When he was a child, Kimimaro was the only member of the clan who possessed this bone-manipulating ability.

The head of the clan feared Kimimaro’s strength and locked him in a cell. He would only be released whenever the clan wanted him to fight. Kimimaro witnessed his entire clan get wiped out when they attacked the Mist Village. Shortly after, he met Orochimaru, who took him in as a potential future vessel.

12 Sai

Sai joined Team 7 during the Tenchi Bridge Reconnaissance Mission arc. At the time, he was a member of Root-a special Anbu subdivision under Danzo’s control. Sai’s parents died when he was very young, which is why Danzo recruited him. While training, he was conditioned to have no personality or friends. He wasn’t even allowed to have a name.

That being said, he made one connection, a fellow Root member named Shin, who became an older brother to him. Danzo forced them to fight to the death in order to eliminate their remaining emotions. Shin spared Sai from killing him, and he was forced to suppress his feelings in order to keep living.

11 Kabuto

Kabuto was a talented medical ninja. He was more skilled than most Anbu, making him one of the strongest ninjas outside of the Leaf Village. When he was a child, his city was destroyed by a battle, and he was left with amnesia. He was found by Nono Yakushi, a Jonin and former Root member who ran the Leaf’s orphanage.

When Danzo threatened to pull the orphanage’s funding, Kabuto volunteered his services. He then spent many years as a spy. While on a mission in the Stone Village, Kabuto was forced to attack and kill his adoptive mother while she was on an undercover mission of her own. She did not recognize him, despite raising him for three years and giving Kabuto his name.

10 Haku

Haku was a kind-hearted ninja who was trained by Zabuza, which explains why he possessed ANBU-level skill when he was just 15 years old. He came from a small village in the Land of Water, and the people there hated individuals who could use Kekkei Genkai.

A Kekkei Genkai is a unique DNA trait that allows certain clans and individuals to use special abilities. Haku and his mother could use one such ability called Ice Release. His mother kept her ability from her husband, but when he found out, he gathered a mob to kill them both. Haku’s mother perished, but he was able to kill his father and the mob. He was left an orphan, and it was Zabuza who rescued him from the streets.

9 Neji Hyuga

Neji sacrificed himself to save Naruto during the 4th Great Ninja War, an act that places him among the bravest characters in the series. He was born into the Hyūga clan’s branch family, which meant that he was meant to serve the main house, no matter how strong he became.

Like other members of the branch house, he was branded with a cursed seal when he was a child. This was meant to seal his Byakugan when he died, to ensure enemies could not learn its secrets. It was also used to discipline branch members who stepped out of line or who posed a threat. Until he met Naruto, Neji believed that he was destined to live a life of servitude.

8 Tsunade

She may have become the 5th Hokage, but Tsunade’s backstory proves that she is one of Naruto’s unluckiest characters. Her younger brother told her that he wished to become Hokage like their grandfather — a dream she approved of. Tragically, he died the next day while fighting in the 2nd Great Ninja War.

Tsunade was devastated by Nawaki’s death, and she pleaded with the 3rd Hokage to include a medical ninja in every squad. Dan Katō agreed with her, and the two eventually fell in love. Dan admitted that he wanted to be Hokage, and shortly after, he was fatally wounded in battle. Tsunade managed to heal his wounds, but he succumbed to severe blood loss, dying in her arms.

7 Kakashi Hatake

The argument can be made that Kakashi became one of the weakest Kage in the series, especially since he no longer possessed a Sharingan. That Sharingan was given to him by Obito, who had been crushed by a boulder while saving him. This occurred during the 3rd Ninja War when the enemy captured Rin, their squad member.

Kakashi vowed to protect Rin, but he could not keep that promise. The Mist Village kidnapped Rin and turned her into a weapon, so Rin impaled herself on Kakashi’s Chidori to protect the Leaf Village. Prior to this, Kakashi had dealt with his own Father’s death. His father was vilified for valuing his friends’ lives ahead of the mission, and he took his own life because he could not live with the shame.

6 Itachi Uchiha

The Uchiha Clan is one of the strongest clans in Naruto, and Itachi is one of the most powerful ninjas that the clan has ever produced. His skill with the Sharingan made him a true prodigy, but the Leaf Village labeled him a criminal because he massacred his entire clan.

However, Itachi only did this because he wanted to stop the Leaf Village from being destroyed through civil war, and the 3rd Hokage and the other elders were the only other people who knew. Itachi killed his clansmen, the woman he loved, and his parents, but he could not bring himself to kill his little brother, who hated him for years.

5 Sasuke Uchiha

Sasuke is Itachi’s little brother. As one might imagine, his backstory is just as sad. As a child, he saw his entire clan get wiped out, and was almost inconsolable when he saw Itachi standing over their parents’ bodies. When he learned the truth, he grew to hate the Leaf for what they did to his brother.

Most of Sasuke’s childhood and adolescence were spent seeking vengeance for his family, and that desire took him down a dark path. Sasuke may have learned to use a variety of powerful jutsus, but the trauma of the Uchiha massacre will always be there.

4 Obito Uchiha

Naruto fans agree that certain villains should have remained evil, including Obito Uchiha, who simply wanted to be reunited with the woman he loved. Most of the ninja world thought Obito died when he saved Kakashi, but he was rescued by Madara, who was very old at the time.

Obito loved Rin, and when he learned that she and Kakashi were being attacked, he left Madara’s hideout and rushed to help them. He got there at the exact moment Rin impaled herself, and the act sent him into a murderous rage. The image of Obito weeping as he holds Rin’s body is still chilling to this day.

3 Gaara

Gaara is the Sand Village’s beloved 5th Kazekage, but when he was younger, most of the village feared him because he was the Jinchūriki of the One-Tails. The Tailed Beast was sealed within him when he was still in his mother’s womb, which caused him to be born prematurely.

Gaara’s first few years were spent in isolation, where he was trained by his father and cared for by his uncle. He tried to connect with other children and villagers, but they were all terrified of him. His father deemed that he could not control his power, so he ordered his uncle to assassinate him. Yashamaru was the only person who loved Gaara, and the attempt on his life left him scarred and heartbroken.

2 Nagato

Nagato lived on the outskirts of the Rain Village with his parents, and their home was turned into a battlefield during the 2nd Ninja War. He watched as Leaf Ninja killed his parents, and he killed those ninjas with his Rinnegan. After burying his parents, he wandered around looking for food and shelter.

He eventually met Konan and Yahiko, and they became close friends. They met Jiraiya during the war, who trained them to use ninjutsu. It was then that Yahiko created the original Akatsuki, but the Rain Village’s leader feared the group’s rising influence. Konan was kidnapped, and Yahiko stabbed himself with Nagato’s kunai to save her. This was the moment when Nagato became Pain.

1 Naruto Uzumaki

The argument can be made that Naruto has a number of clear weaknesses, but no one can deny that he had a sad upbringing. His parents died on the night he was born during the Nine-Tails’ rampage, making him an orphan from the beginning of his life.

Naruto’s father managed to seal the fox within him before he died, which made Naruto’s life even harder. As the Nine-Tails’ Jinchūriki, he was essentially ostracized by the rest of the Leaf Village, to the point that parents would not let their children near him. He grew up alone, believing that no one cared or even acknowledged him.

Fuente: successacademy.edu.vn
Categorías: Anime