Minato Namikaze, The Fourth Hokage

Minato Namikaze (波風ミナト, Namikaze Minato), also known as Konoha's Yellow Flash (木ノ葉の黄色い閃光, Konoha no Kiiroi Senkō; English "Yellow Flash of the Leaf"), was the Fourth Hokage (四代目火影, Yondaime Hokage; Literally meaning "Fourth Fire Shadow"). He was the student of Jiraiya and the teacher of Kakashi Hatake, Obito Uchiha, and Rin. He was also the husband of Kushina Uzumaki and the father of Naruto Uzumaki.



Background

When Minato was in the Ninja Academy, his classmate and future wife Kushina Uzumaki thought he looked "flaky" and even "girly". He nevertheless dreamed of becoming acknowledged by the Konoha villagers by becoming Hokage, which Kushina considered to be an impossible dream. Later, when Kushina was kidnapped by Kumogakure ninja, Minato was the only Konoha ninja to pick up on the fact that she was leaving behind strands of her red hair to mark their path. After rescuing her, Minato explained that he had always admired her hair. No longer seeing him as "flaky", she fell in love with him.

According to those who knew him, Minato was a very talented ninja, having been considered a rare genius that appeared only once a generation. He graduated from the Ninja Academy at the age of ten, and was added to a genin team under the tutelage of Jiraiya. Jiraiya took a special interest in Minato, and accepted him as an apprentice, amongst other things teaching him the Summoning Technique. Jiraiya even believed Minato might be the Child of the Prophecy, someone who would someday save the world.


Konoha's Yellow Flash

In time, Minato was put in charge of a genin team of his own, consisting of Rin, Obito Uchiha, and Kakashi Hatake. During the Third Great Shinobi World War, Minato led his team on a mission into Kusagakure to destroy the Kannabi Bridge. Because Kakashi had recently become a jōnin, Minato gave leadership of the mission to Kakashi while he went to help Konoha's forces on the front lines. After meeting up with the surviving and out-numbered Konoha ninja, Minato used his Flying Thunder God Technique to destroy the opposing Iwagakure ninja. He then returned to his team, just in time to save Kakashi and Rin from another group of Iwa forces; he was too late to save Obito. When Kakashi and Rin recovered from the ordeal, Minato helped them complete the mission.

Fourth Hokage

When the war ended, Minato, not yet thirty years of age, was chosen to become the Fourth Hokage. At some point during his reign he read Jiraiya's first book. He liked the main character's determination, believing he was just like Jiraiya. Since Kushina was pregnant with their son, Minato informed Jiraiya that they planned to name their son "Naruto" in the hopes that he would be just like the main character and, in turn, Jiraiya. Jiraiya warned them that this would make him Naruto's godfather, but they insisted that this was a good thing.

Because Kushina was the jinchūriki of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, special arrangements had to be made for Naruto's birth. Since the seal keeping the Nine-Tails within her would weaken during childbirth, Naruto would secretly be delivered in a remote location outside Konoha. ANBU would guard the area and Minato would maintain the seal while Kushina went into labor. Soon after Naruto was born they were found by Madara Uchiha. Madara killed all of the ANBU and took Naruto hostage, threatening to do the same to him. Minato was able to take Naruto back, but this gave Madara the chance to escape with Kushina. Minato found a safe place to put Naruto and then teleported to Kushina. He arrived in time to stop the Nine-Tails, having been removed from her body, from killing her, and teleported back to Naruto. Minato reunited mother and son and then went to help defend Konoha from the Nine-Tails.

Minato arrived in the early stages of the Nine-Tails' attack. After protecting the village from its massive chakra blast, Minato tried to reach the Third Hokage to inform him of what had happened. He was stopped by Madara, who tried to send him away. Minato escaped but was followed by Madara. When the two began fighting, Minato struggled to hit Madara, Madara being intangible whenever he was not currently attacking. By carefully timing his Flying Thunder God Technique, Minato was able to strike him during one of these rare moments and apply a seal for the Flying Thunder God Technique to him, allowing him to teleport to Madara whenever he wanted. He placed a Contract Seal on Madara to remove the Nine-Tails from his control, forcing Madara to flee.

When Minato returned to the village he found it in ruin. He summoned Gamabunta to distract the Nine-Tails long enough to teleport it away from the village to Naruto and Kushina's location. Kushina restrained it and, dying from the trauma of its removal, volunteered to have it sealed back into her body so that it would die with her. Distraught, Minato suggested instead using the Dead Demon Consuming Seal on the Nine-Tails to weaken it and then seal the rest into Naruto. Kushina objected since this would mean Minato's death and give Naruto a horrible, lonely life. Minato insisted it was for the best since allowing the Nine-Tails to resurrect itself, without a Jinchūriki to contain it, would inevitably cause harm to Konoha and the Fire Country. Also, Minato was convinced that Naruto, the "Child of the Prophecy" Jiraiya had once told him about, would need the Nine-Tails' power to someday defeat Madara. After Minato used the Dead Demon Consuming Seal on it, the Nine-Tails realized their intentions and tried to kill Naruto, but Minato and Kushina used their bodies to shield him.

While Kushina gave a few finals words to Naruto, Minato summoned Gerotora, gave him the key to the seal he would use on Naruto, and sent him to Jiraiya. After Kushina told Naruto how much his parents loved him, Minato sealed the rest of her chakra into Naruto so that she would be able to see him again when he was older, ending her life. He then sealed the Nine-Tails into Naruto. Since the Third Hokage had come to help, Minato used his last moments to request that Konoha think of Naruto as a hero, and not the container of the monster that caused so much death and destruction. Before he died he sealed his own chakra into Naruto so that he could someday see Naruto again too, specifically if ever the seal was about to break so that he could restore it.

Legacy
The Third Hokage did his best to look out for Naruto. He informed the survivors of the Nine-Tails' Attack on Konoha of Minato's last wish, but only those who had been close to Minato were willing to regard Naruto as anything but the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki. Unable to change the minds of the populace, the Third Hokage forbade anyone from speaking of the Nine-Tails, hoping that those too young to remember the Nine-Tails' attack would not hate Naruto as the rest of the village had. He gave Naruto his mother's surname so that his relation to Minato would be kept a secret from Minato's enemies. He otherwise did his best to give Naruto a comfortable life despite Naruto having no parents and being made into an outcast by the rest of the village. Naruto would never be told his parents' identities, and neither would most of Konoha.

With Minato's death, the Third was forced to resume his position as Hokage, a role he filled until his death, never being able to find a replacement of Minato's caliber. Minato himself became regarded as the village's hero and, indeed, one of the greatest ninja Konoha had ever produced, so much so that villagers would regret his death whenever tragedy struck the village. Because Minato was never able to tell anyone what happened during the Nine-Tails' attack, villagers were forced to make their own explanations. Jiraiya recognized that Minato would not have sealed the Nine-Tails into his own son unless he had a good reason and that Minato intended Naruto to gain control of the Nine-Tails, but could never satisfactorily explain why.

Although Naruto had no idea about his relation with Minato most of his life, he appeared to greatly admire the Fourth Hokage, considering him a hero who gave his life for the village, showing anger when Tsunade spoke ill of him and becoming overjoyed whenever Jiraiya or Kakashi mentioned his resemblance with Minato. After learning the truth about his relation to Minato and despite the shock that his own father made him a jinchūriki, Naruto was proud to be the Fourth Hokage's son.

Appearance
Minato's was a fairly tall fair-skinned man who on more than one occasion, Naruto has been said to look strikingly like his father Minato. Like Naruto, Minato had bright blue-eyes and spiky blond hair with the addition of jaw-length bangs framing either side of his face. According to Jiraiya, Minato was considered to be very handsome as many women became infatuated with him. His normal attire was a standard Konoha-nin uniform and a flak jacket with two bands each on both of his sleeves; after becoming Hokage, he also wore a short-sleeve long white coat with red flame edges and the kanji "Fourth Hokage" written vertically down on the back.

Personality

Jiraiya and Tsunade pointed out that, while Naruto physically bears great resemblance to Minato, his personality is almost identical to his mother. While Naruto is boisterous and relatively thick, Minato was calm, collected, and highly perceptive. When faced with an enemy, he could kill in cold blood, and seemed well aware of the terror his reputation inspired in his foes. He appeared to be respectful of those around him; he didn't like freely speaking about others' pasts, and was said to be a very nice person. He deeply cared for and loved his wife and child, becoming very nervous because of Kushina's pain during labor and even shedding tears of joy at his son's birth.

Jiraiya said that Minato was a shrewd person, and was not a man who would do something without reason. He was very knowledgeable of the ninja world, concluding that only Madara Uchiha would have the power or the reason to have the Nine-Tails attack Konoha. Minato was known for his unbeatable determination and unbelievable drive, which he passed onto his son. Apparently in his youth, Minato also had a desire to be acknowledged by everyone in the village and to become a great Hokage, again, a trait passed onto his son. His devotion to the village and his love for his friends inspired all those around him, and, as a result, he became well-liked by the villagers. Minato was nevertheless understanding that Naruto must feel hurt by the fact that his own father had sealed a monster inside him.

Abilities

According to Jiraiya, Minato was one of the most gifted shinobi who ever lived. Anko Mitarashi, in discussion with the Third Hokage about Orochimaru's immense strength and his threat to the village, stated that she wished the Fourth had been alive to face him. During the Third Great Shinobi War, flee-on-sight orders were given to enemy ninjas should they ever see him appear on the battlefield. Minato was also capable of countering the Nine-Tails' attacks to the point Madara himself needed to step in to face him directly. After their battle, Madara commended Minato and stated he was worthy of the title of the Fourth Hokage.

In his youth, Jiraiya taught Minato how to use the Summoning Technique to summon toads. He had large chakra reserves as he was able to summon Gamabunta and was one of the few people that Gamabunta would willingly cooperate with. Like Tobirama Senju, Minato could also detect the presence of people within an area by simply placing his finger on the ground.

Taijutsu

One of Minato's trademark attributes was his immense speed and seemingly instantaneous reflexes. As a testament to his speed, C compared Minato's reflexes to A's when he was using his Lightning Release Armor. Even without using his Flying Thunder God Technique, Minato could out run an explosion, only receiving a shallow shrapnel wound. He could also respond to Madara's space-time jutsu quickly enough to escape it.

Rasengan

Minato spent three years creating the Rasengan, the highest level of shape transformation. The technique does not need hand signs, instead using a concentration of spinning chakra in the form of a sphere in the user's palm, which inflicts immense damage to its target on contact. As its creator, Minato had great mastery over the Rasengan, able to form it with one hand and his standard version being slightly larger than the Rasengan used by other characters. The lack of elaborate preparations needed for the Rasengan gave Minato an advantage over other jutsu users in battle; in his fight with Madara, he is able to form a Rasengan right after throwing a marked kunai at his opponent, allowing him to land a devastating blow at Madara immediately after performing the Flying Thunder God Technique. He had intended to combine the Rasengan with his own nature transformation, but the task was too difficult and he was not able to do so by the time of his death.

Space Time Ninjutsu

Minato was infamous for his unique space-time technique, the Flying Thunder God Technique, which essentially allowed him to teleport to any location with the use of special seals. The jutsu earned him the nickname of Konoha's "Yellow Flash", due of the near untraceable speed at which Minato moved when using this technique. By throwing kunai that had the seal attached to them behind enemy lines, Minato could wipe out an entire platoon in the blink of an eye. Minato could teleport to his special kunai even as it traveled through the air. He was also capable of applying the seal to solid surfaces with his bare hand, allowing him to tag opponents and give himself an easy way to track and reach them. He incorporated this seal formula into Kushina's seal so he could always come to her aid.

For defensive use, Minato was capable of implementing space-time barriers to counter large attacks such as a Nine-Tailed Fox Menacing Ball, sending the blast to a distant area away from the village. He was also able to teleport the Nine-Tails, which required a large amount of his chakra due to the fox's immense size.

Sealing Techniques

Minato was very knowledgeable in fūinjutsu, partially due to Kushina teaching him some of the Uzumaki clan's unique sealing techniques. He knew the full capabilities of the Dead Demon Consuming Seal and was aware that he could not completely seal all of the Nine-Tails' chakra within himself. Minato could also remove an opponent's ability to use the Summoning Technique.

The greatest example of his prowess with fūinjutsu is the seal used on Naruto, placing two Four Symbols Seal to create the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style, which would allow small amounts of the Nine-Tails' chakra to leak out and naturally mix with Naruto's own. Minato also sealed Kushina's and his own chakra within Naruto so that they could see him when he was older and assist him in dealing with the fox demon.

Intelligence

Minato was shown to be very intuitive and clever from a young age. Of the many ninja sent out to save Kushina from her Kumogakure kidnappers, Minato was the only one to notice the trail of hair she was leaving. After seeing a technique once, he could correctly deduce the basic mechanics behind it, such as the strengths and weaknesses of Kakashi's Chidori. During difficult events, he was still capable of maintaining his composure, assessing the situation, and devising appropriate plans of action.

Invasion of Pain Arc

It was not until the Invasion of Pain that he made an actual appearance in the story. When Naruto started to give into the temptation of power from the Nine-Tails, and was about to release the beast, the imprint of himself Minato left behind stopped him. Although he voiced his dislike of seeing the Nine-Tails again, he pointed out that its actions had allowed him to see his son once more. Naruto eventually picked up on what Minato was saying, and was overjoyed to finally find out who his father was. Minato tried to talk with Naruto, but the Nine-Tails kept interrupting the conversation, so Minato transported them to another space that was more quiet. Naruto was outraged at the idea that Minato would seal the Nine-Tails into his own son, which Minato apologized for. Although Naruto punched him in anger, he quickly got over it, believing it was what he should do as the Fourth's son.

Because he had a limited amount of time to talk to Naruto, Minato briefly caught up with him, at the same time indicating that he knew that Pain had killed Jiraiya and was aware of Konoha's destruction as he saw it through Naruto. He expressed his suspicions that Pain was actually being manipulated by someone else due to his childhood psychological traumas, and that it was "the masked man of Akatsuki" who really wished Konoha's destruction. He went onto suggest that, as long as the current ninja system exists, people like Pain, who were ruined by war, will continue to exist. He restored the seal on Naruto's stomach and voiced his confidence in him that he would find a way to stop the vicious cycle of death and destruction before disappearing to the afterlife.

References:

1. Third Databook, page 163
2. Naruto chapter 450, page 15; Council mentioned that Minato was younger than what Kakashi is now (thirty years old) when he became the Hokage
3. Naruto chapter 382, pages 08-11
4. Naruto chapter 503, page 08
5. Naruto chapter 239, pages 16-17
6. Naruto chapter 462, page 04
7. Naruto chapter 501, pages 04-06
8. Naruto chapter 502, pages 16-17
9. Naruto chapter 503, pages 02
10. Naruto chapter 502, pages 07-08
11. Naruto chapter 503, pages 11-12
12. Naruto chapter 503, page 05