Personality Rewrite - 2nd Cycle

[runningonramen]

Naruto is a ninja belonging Konoha village. He can be very obnoxious and loud, but his skills back up his strengths.  Over the course of the series, he goes from someone who's skills are weak and shaky to a powerful piller of strength and someone people really begin to admire. At first, the people of the village show no respect or regard for him because he also happens to be the nine-tailed fox's jinchuriki. They believe he is dangerous, or may in fact be the demon fox himself. In retaliation to the attitudes Naruto grew up with alone, he had a tendency to lash out, pranking people, causing destruction and mayhem - basically doing anything he could to get someone to notice him. It tended to work, especially with his teacher Umino Iruka. Iruka was the first villager to express anything positive towards Naruto, something he was so grateful for that he put himself in harm's way to save his life without much hesitation. It was this relationship that saved him from a life of complete misery, and remains to this day the most important one to Naruto. He carries Iruka in his heart at all times, showing the utmost respect for anything he has to say. If it were not for Iruka, Naruto would have never been able to change the minds of his classmates, the shinobi and ultimately the village. As Naruto continues to train, his determination to befriend everyone as well as his skill, his devotion and his will of fire demonstrate to the village that he is more than just the fox's container and in fact is a valuable member of Konoha. The villagers have completely changed the way they view him and in fact celebrate the fact he belongs to their village. 

 

Aside from Iruka, there are many others Naruto carries with him, however the most influential adult figure to him would be Jiraiya. Jiraiya was his godfather, although that wasn't something Naruto was made aware of. Naruto is very enthusiastic and finds himself admiring his skills, even though his methods and habits are less than inspiring. Over their time together, Naruto developed a genuine affection and love for him, viewing him as a father figure. Initially, Jiraiya is resistant. He doesn't want to be a father-like figure to Naruto, he finds him to be a bratty little kid, but through spending time together he becomes impressed with the way in which he handles himself, as well as Naruto's determination and strength. One overt gesture of affection, is that he shares popsicles with Naruto from time to time, as well as purchasing him new clothes when his clothes have become worn and too small. Not only does he come to trust Naruto with his hopes and ambitions, but he also firmly believes Naruto is destined for something greater and entrusts him with the key to Kurama's seal, and the study of Senjutsu with the frogs up on Mount Myobuku. The message, his final words encoded, were also entrusted to Naruto, meant only for him based on an obscure one time conversation they had about his book writing and his manner of writing a '4' like a '9', because it is Naruto he is thinking of as he dies.  Naruto in turn respects Jiraiya's dream for peace and the end of hatred and he accepts that to be his new goal once he's gone. This love for him leads to anger and hatred towards Pain who took him away, feelings of depression and disbelief - strong feelings which he has never felt before. He remarks at one point that he finally has come to understand what Sasuke was saying that he had no idea what this kind of loss felt like. The loss is so strong that he almost loses himself, but his friend Shikamaru brings him back by reminding him that it's Jiraiya's legacy that's left behind and that is him. He needs to pick up and carry on with Jiraiya's dreams and Naruto takes those words to heart. Since that time, he thinks often about hatred and tries to make decisions to find some way to resolve it, in Jiraiya's honour.

 

This becomes no more evident then in his relationship with Konohamaru. When he met him, he was twelve, young and immature. He taught Konohamaru to do his sexy jutsu, and encouraged  bad behaviour, the same kind of pranking attention-seeking behaviour. Konohamaru thought he was completely bulletproof, no one would touch him and everyone would tolerate whatever he would do because he was the precious grandson to the Hokage, but Naruto never treated him that way. Naruto doesn't like when people make assumptions and he's always treated Konohamaru like his own person. If anyone was to be his little brother, it would be him.They share a certain solidarity in that regard and Naruto is always happy to spend time with his best rival. Konohamaru shares the same dream, and initially he swears that he will beat Naruto, but through working together and learning techniques from him, he declares himself to be his successor instead. Naruto takes time at some point to teach Konohamaru his favourite technique, the Rasengan. When he returned from his trip with Jiraiya, he met Konohamaru with an easy smile. He feels a great deal of pride over how well Konohamaru is doing and when he learns he's done the Rasengan, he promises to teach him something new the next time they meet. When he thinks of people that he needs to pass things onto, it's Konohamaru he considers.

 

Outside the village, among the four other shinobi nations, he was not seen as an individual as much, but still as the jinchiruki of the kyuubi and in fact the shinobi alliance waged a war to protect him and Killer Bee. It is not until he breaks free from their imprisonment to join the war, his performance lifts their spirits and completely turns the tide of the battle. His determination, skill and assistance is admired, beyond those he already had befriended such as the Kazekage, Gaara.  People come to realize that utilizing the firepower at their disposal was much better than trying to protect someone that didn't want to leave their friends alone on the battlefield. Were it not for Naruto's determination and prioritization of friendship, he wouldn't be on the battlefield saving as many people as he can. People around the five great shinobi nations had never liked the jinchuriki, but Naruto and Killer Bee are out to change that impression by proving their loyalty and utility to their home. This same friendship and kindness has always been offered to his adversaries, with mixed results, however his charisma has a tendency to make people change their minds and accept his hand, even Obito Uchiha. 

 

Since he was a small child, he has always looked up to the position of Hokage. The Fourth Hokage was always his favourite and he longed to be like him, someone important in the village, to make the villagers acknowledge his existence. This has always been his end goal and drive. Over time, he comes to understand that not only is the Hokage very important, and powerful, but protecting the village must be paramount to him. Naruto's attitude towards the job changes subtly, but even though the people never cared for him until the end, he wanted to protect them. He has a fierce loyalty to his home and a great spirit they call the 'will of fire'. Because of this shift, becoming Hokage actually takes a back seat to protecting Konoha, the case being made that when he encounters Sasuke and realize that should they fight all out together they would both die, he is willing to make the sacrifice and give up his dream, just to protect his home. Naruto would still say that being Hokage is his dream, but it seems more that he embodies the spirit of being Hokage beyond just desiring the job. This demonstrates part of the shift of maturity from childhood to adulthood.

 

In many ways, Naruto doesn't see himself as someone special. He does have Kurama sealed inside him, however he mainly shows allegiance to Konoha as a ninja of the village. When he was a child, he hated the part of him that cried at the loneliness and thus chose to bury that child deep within himself. He continued to bury the pain under a smiling, or mischievous mask. He never acknowledged that this sorrow, anguish and yes, even hatred towards the villagers is what propelled him forward on his quest to become noticed, at least, not until he sat by the waterfall of truth. His darker half appeared and reminded him of all that pain, how much it hurt to have people ignore him, and how he really felt about the issue. Grudgingly he has to admit that this part of him does exist. For all the love and devotion he has towards Konoha, people treated him terribly and he held a deep resentment towards them for that. He has now accepted that although he might want to deny it, those feelings are there and they are a part of who he is. He has always been full of bravado and self-confidence, something that Hinata has always admired about him, and he has turned any insecurities into determination to do better. He is proud of his progress, and he accepts and carries a great deal of burdens with tenacity and seriousness. 

 

With everything, there has never been anyone more influential on Naruto than Sasuke. Like Naruto, Sasuke didn't have a family as they died when he was very young. Naruto admired the way people fawned over him, the way he was hailed as the genius of the class. He always wished he could go over and say hello, but he never found the courage to do so. Looking back on it, he finds himself filled with some regret, because he feels a little responsible for what happened to Sasuke. He never really understood the darkness lurking within him, not until it was too late. Even when they fought at the Valley of the End, Naruto didn't understand what Sasuke meant by loss, hatred and revenge, and his appeals were ignored. After this battle, Naruto felt like a complete failure. He'd promised Sakura that he would bring Sasuke home, and yet he didn't manage to do it. He reaffirmed this promise, that he would not rest until he was back with them, where he belonged. His peers felt the same way, at first, but as time went on and Sasuke gained notoriety as someone who was evil and high-class threat, their confidence in him diminished. Naruto has never wavered in his quest. It has been on his mind day in and day out. He doesn't care what Sasuke has done, he feels he needs to come home, face the consequences and be with them again. At this point, their positions have changed where Naruto is heralded as the hero and Sasuke the villain. He also feels as though he is the only person who can take on Sasuke, who can bring him back from this horrible path and in fact, he's taken responsibility for him and his hatred. Naruto would not hesitate to kill Sasuke in an all out fight between them, however the choice isn't his, he's left it to Sasuke, trusting that Sasuke will come around and make the choice to come home where he belongs.