Naruto is a Japanese manga series written by Masashi Kishimoto with an anime TV series adaptation by Studio Pierrot. Fans love Naruto anime for its detailed storyline and amazingly written naruto characters with heartwarming backstories.
Naruto is one of the most popular anime series of all time. In addition, Naruto manga has sold 220 million copies in print, 130 in Japan and 75 overseas, making it the third best selling manga series in history.
Naruto Franchise is also referred to as The Big Three, along with One Piece and Bleach, the title given to the most popular running anime series during their golden age.
Naruto is based on an interesting theme of ninjas having Chakra as their energy source, which helps them to perform a different type of Jutsu.
Naruto’s name is based on the main character, Naruto Uzumaki, who struggles to seek recognition from his peers.
There are a lot of characters in Naruto, making it hard to choose the best ones and rank them, but Last Stop Anime has curated the list of 20 best characters in Naruto for its readers.
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Best Naruto Characters Ranked (2023)
Best Characters In Naruto Ranked By Likability
1. Itachi Uchiha
Without any doubt, he holds the first position among the best naruto characters. Even being the secondary character, Itachi Uchiha has his own separate fan base, loving and protecting him from the haters as he is also a character who can be misunderstood very easily.
Itachi is one of the strongest characters you will find in Naruto. Calm, collective and wise. He doesn’t just have the most powerful eyes; he also has an outstanding brain.
All in all, a perfect human being. He became a chunin at 10 and Anbu captain at 11.
Itachi Uchiha is extremely loving and caring, especially towards his younger brother Sasuke and his village, Konoha Village.
He has been fighting for both throughout the entire naruto series, selflessly as a rogue ninja and a part of Akatsuki.
2. Naruto Uzumaki
Naruto Uzumaki is the title character or the main character of the Naruto anime series. He was a jinchuriki of a nine-tailed demon fox since his childhood.
Due to the possession of the tailed beast, people never treated him right, and he was left alone. After the death of his master Jiraiya, talking to his father Minato and listening to Nagato’s tragic story, Naruto grew to understand the destructive cycle of hatred, and he vowed to break it to bring true peace to the world.
Naruto Uzumaki was not someone extraordinary, but he was a man true to his goals. He accomplished his aim to be acknowledged by everyone and become the village’s Hokage.
Naruto’s personality is quite cheerful and very supportive. His willpower is his biggest strength, and his strength overcomes many weaknesses.
Later on, as the naruto series progresses, he becomes the strongest shinobi and the hero of the entire world. He gets married to Hinata and becomes the Seventh Hokage.
3. Sasuke uchiha
Sasuke Uchiha, one of the main characters, was a happy child. After his clan was eradicated completely by his brother Itachi, he became cold and uninterested in anything.
His aim was only to defeat and kill Itachi. But he was a good man. He had saved his comrades and people in between. After he left his village and progressed, his actions became increasingly demanding and irrational, leading him to brand as an international criminal.
Sasuke has always been a favourite character, but in Naruto Shippuden, his fan following decreased. It again increases at the end when he truly becomes a wise man.
Anyways, he felt like a real character. People could understand and relate to his emotions and actions very well.
4. Kakashi hatake
Kakashi Hatake is the Sensei of team 7, from which Naruto and Sasuke belong. He is also known as a copy ninja as he can do any Jutsu by copying with the hand sign in no time except for kekkei genkai. Another name for him is the Kakashi of the Sharingan, as he possesses it in one eye.
Kakashi is a calm, independent, self-confident and a very talented ninja. Kakashi became chunin at 6, jonin at 12 and Anbu at 13.
He, without even having an Uchiha blood, could use the Sharingan and upgrade it to mangekyu, which is not even common in the Uchiha clan. He is a man polished with power, strengths and brain.
Kakashi exhibits leadership qualities, but he never wants to be one. Later in the story, after the second shinobi war, he became the sixth Hokage of the hidden leaf village.
5. Minato Namikaze
Minato is the fourth Hokage and Naruto’s father. Due to his flying thunder god technique, he is known by the name of Yellow Flash in the Naruto universe.
He is one of the most powerful naruto characters and important characters too. He has the calibre to finish a whole ARMY in a war, all by himself.
Minto becomes the Hokage at a very young age. He was a perfect choice as he was very strong, wise, calm and collected.
He died really soon while protecting his village from the nine-tailed demon fox. Though he sealed a part of the nine-tailed fox in his newly born child Naruto, he made sure to seal him properly and already made arrangements so that the nine tails couldn’t overtake him.
His brilliance is really amazing. Also, a heartthrob of a girl’s heart.
6. Madara uchiha
Madara is one of the main antagonists in the naruto series. He is a very popular character not just in the naruto fandom but also among other anime fans. He is a legendary leader of the Uchiha Clan.
His wise words, strength and amazing personality made him very famous. Madara values only power and is quite possessed by it. He loves fighting and only finds Hashirama worthy of it.
He can even postpone his plans if it means he got to fight with him. Madara has a manipulative nature. He used Obito for his own goals of infinite Tsukuyomi.
He has quite a heavy aura. During the fourth shinobi world war, everyone was scared to even by his bored standing figure. Madara is very arrogant and sometimes reckless as well.
Hashirama believed that he was still kind somewhere deep inside despite his ruthless behaviour.
7. Pain
Nagato is behind the concept of pain. He secretly created six paths of pain that he could control with his main body. Nagato was a very sweet, sensitive and emotional type of person, crying over anything.
However, after the death of his dearest friend Yahiko, he made Akatsuki and redirected his goals. He aimed to end the vicious cycle of hatred by world domination and complete control over the power system.
Nagato possesses Rinnegan in his eyes, which was once possessed by the sage of six paths, a god-like figure in the world of shinobi.
He was too strong to be defeated in the battle. In the last moment, his heart changed as Naruto gave him hopes regarding reforms of the shinobi world.
He decided in Naruto’s answer for peace and entrusted his dreams and went to rest in peace.
8. Obito Uchiha
Obito Uchiha is a guy who can do anything for love and friendship. He protected his friend Kakashi in the third shinobi war and started the fourth one because of his love for Rin to create an ideal world where there is no pain, and no one would lose anyone close to them.
Like Naruto, Obito was a very sweet, kind, fun and lovely guy who wanted to be acknowledged and gain the title of Hokage. He always believed in teamwork.
But that was all before Rin’s death. After that, he believed in Madara’s ideology and worked on them. He became ruthless, heartless and emotionless.
Obito is the biggest reveal in Naruto ever. Nobody knew him except his name, which is sometimes heard from Kakashi.
He always remained behind the mask as the character Tobi who is completely different from him. Obito’s character development is on another level.
Though he became a villain, he still is understood by fans. He felt guilty about his actions and even considered him unworthy of meeting Rin in the afterlife.
Later in the war, he also came to his senses and gave up his life helping and protecting everyone.
9. Jiraiya
Jiraiya is one of the legendary sannin of the hidden leaf village after the second shinobi world war. He is a hermit and a pervert as well. He finds himself incapable of becoming a Hokage.
Jiraiya is a light-hearted man. He is so kind that he always says his parents were never killed, so he can never understand Orochimaru.
Jiraiya is a kind-hearted man and a good teacher who taught many powerful characters, including Nagato, Yahiko and Konan. He is also a taught Naruto and was more like a family to him.
Jiraiya is a personality who can do anything for his village. He had threatened both Tsunade and Orochimaru over it. He was a keen observer and capable of making strategies in the middle of the fights.
Jiraiya felt responsible for an organisation like Akatsuki as its leader was his student. To undo his mistake, he fought with him head-on but couldn’t make it as it was “Pain”.
10. Hashirama Senju
Hashirama Senju is the very first Hokage of the hidden leaf village. Along with his friend and rival, Madara Uchiha, he founded Konoha village. He has been referred to as the “God of Shinobi” because of his unmatched ninjutsu powers.
Hashirama is very humble, polite, understanding, and nice despite his powers. He wanted to achieve peace for the shinobi world.
His legacy, ideology and vision for the world, known as the will of fire, are still in continuity to shape the village and the entire shinobi world.
Hashirama wasn’t some kind of serious person like his friend Madara and his brother Tobirama. He is a very excitable man. Hashirama loves meeting new people, friendly competitions and gambling.
He had a habit of going into depression for a few seconds, even over small things. I don’t know how he does it, but he can also change his expression from laughing to sulking in seconds.
His personality is quite chill. He is among the highly respected naruto characters and is respected by everybody in the shinobi world.
11. Orochimaru
Orochimaru is one of the three legendary sannin of the hidden leaf village. He is a very selfish kind of human. His goal is to master every technique in the shinobi world, which is obviously possible by immortality.
Orochimaru is a very creepy creature and very twisted in terms of personality. He doesn’t have to do anything with anyone except his own experiments.
But he uses unethical methods, and that too on humans. He doesn’t care about anyone and was one of the bad guys. He wanted a Sharingan, so he trapped Sasuke, trained him, and made him powerful so that he could take his body.
Sasuke is also the only person he started to look up to, who he thought was like him and chose a different path than him, becoming interested in his development.
Even during the shinobi war, he had no intentions to go in, but he did because of Sasuke. Not only that, he treated Tsunade and other Kage before going to the battlefield.
Moreover, he started respecting Naruto when he saw his willpower and memories with Jiraya.
I think that many factors contributed to him for what he was; that’s why he sought and looked up to other people’s upbringing and developments.
But yes, still unforgivable. In the end, it was also shown that he congratulated Naruto and Hinata on their wedding.
Now, he is under the eye of Hokage Naruto and continues his experiments but in a human manner.
Overall, Orochimaru is not only a great shinobi but a great scientist too. It was his human nature which got corrupted but is under control now.
12. Gaara
Since he was born, Gaara was the jinchuriki of the one-tailed beast, Shukaku. Gaara’s appearance and aura are very intimidating, especially when first shown in manga/anime.
He looks so cool and is the favourite character of many Naruto fans. Gaara is from the sand village who uses and controls sand by his Chakra and never even got a scratch from any fight until his fight with lee. He is a great character written by Kishimoto.
Like Naruto, Gaara was really very sweet, kind, innocent and helping child, but everyone in the village feared him and didn’t treat him right. He has always been left alone.
Gaara lost the light that one day when the only person who cared about him said that he didn’t and tried to kill him on the order of the village head, Gaara’s father.
Then he became the beast everybody thought he was. He became emotionless, selfish and very strong.
After fighting with Naruto, Gaara became wiser. He started to improve his relationships and make friends and never gave up on people.
Further, he became the Kazekage of the sand to protect everyone and was respected by everyone.
Later in the naruto anime and Naruto Shippuden, he helped Naruto and supported him in every way possible.
13. Shikamaru Nara
Shikamaru is a very relatable character. He is very lazy. Everything is a drag to him. He tries to avoid any conspiracy as he can. But despite these characteristics, he is incredibly powerful from his brain.
The way he analyzes and thinks way ahead of his opponents is unbelievable, increasing his chances of winning. Not forgetting to mention that he was the only genin to be promoted to chunin among every other who took the exam.
Even in Chunin exams, he backed out of the fight (which he had already won, btw) because Shikamaru didn’t want to fight anymore. He is also a man loved by everyone.
Shikamaru Nara may describe as a coward or lazy, but he is always present for his friends. He did find the situation troublesome, but he never backed off from it.
Shikamaru’s intellectual, smart, observing, problem-solving, and a great leader. What’s more about him is that he is not like other characters in the series.
He became best friends with Choji as he found value in who he was rather than his weight. Shikamaru never despised Naruto. He even questioned the behaviour of the villagers towards him.
Shikamaru saw the potential of Naruto and made his aim to support Naruto and became his personal advisor in the journey of Hokage.
14. Mighty Guy
Might Guy is the sensei of team 8, of which Neji and Rock lee are a part. He is a taijutsu user and really funny, so the fans took him lightly until he fought with Madara.
Madara, the legend, declared him the strongest shinobi to exist. Not only that, he has been acknowledged by Itachi Uchiha as well.
Guy is highly energetic, competitive, and a nice man. He gave a very tough fight to Kisame, forcing the latter to go beyond his limits.
Apart from that, he is a very funny guy and a rival of Kakashi in every smallest game possible. He considers Kakashi, his best friend. Guy is highly supportive and loving.
He supported Lee unconditionally and in every way possible during the toughest time of his shinobi career.
15. Killer Bee
Killer Bee is the jinchuriki of eight tails. He loves rapping and does it all the time. Bee would be found writing rhymes even in the middle of the fights, which could be quite annoying for the other person.
He is intelligent enough to outsmart Sasuke Uchiha. Unlike any other jinchuriki, he was able to befriend his tailed beast and sharpen its power.
Killer Bee was also treated with hatred like Naruto, but he never once had anything like that towards those people. He always remains happy by himself.
Bee is a kind, compassionate animal lover and a supportive friend. He likes to be free and doesn’t work on strategies created by other people.
He is the one who taught Naruto to how to become friends with nine tails and use his power to his best. Bee was very simple and had a dream to be the world’s greatest rapper.
16. Rock Lee
Rock Lee is the guy loved by everyone. You will not be able to find any haters of this boy.
He is a member of Team Guy. Unlike other shinobi, he doesn’t have inborn capabilities to perform Ninjutsu or Genjutsu. But that didn’t limit him. He went through very hard and strong training to master Taijutsu.
Lee is one of the best naruto characters Kishimoto wrote. He is a very strong, hard-working, passionate, pure, innocent, energetic, and nice person.
Lee is a very motivating and inspiring character. He showed that anyone could fulfil their dreams no matter what. His fight with Gaara during Chunin exams is one of the best fights in the entire series and the whole anime world.
17. Tobirama Senju
Tobirama Senju is the second Hokage and the brother of Hashirama. He is known for his hatred of the Uchiha Clan among the fans. He surely was in dispute with them, but he was also right.
Despite that, he is a very responsible person. He strongly believed in the will of fire and developed Konoha to its best.
He created most of the Jutsus known to us in naruto, like Shadow Clone Jutsu, Reanimation Jutsu and even the flying thunder god technique used by the fourth Hokage Minato.
Tobirama appears to be very calm and composed, never getting riled up over anything.
He is a serious man who spoke bluntly, never sugar-coated facts which come off rude and insensitive. He was too strong to bring a quake with even a lift of his finger. The only person he listens to is his brother Hashirama.
18. Tsunade Senju
Tsunade is the Fifth Hokage, one of the legendary sannin and the granddaughter of the First Hokage. She is also the world’s strongest kunoichi and its greatest medical-nin.
Tsunade gambles a lot, and it was the 1st Hokage who taught and spoiled her. After losing her love and younger brother, she gave up on the shinobi trait.
She came back for Naruto, who proved his worth.
Tsunade is a strong, independent and fierce woman. Although it’s right that she finds it difficult to do the paperwork, she always knew what needs to be done.
I personally liked the way she treated Danzo. At that moment, Konoha needed someone like her.
During the fourth shinobi war, she proved to be one of the bold and strongest female characters. She broke Madara’s Susano with her punch which he was so proud of as no one could beak it.
19. Neji Hyuga
Neji is a cousin to Hinata. He is one of the great characters. He is from the branch family of the Hyuga clan. No matter how hard he tries or how skilled he may be, he is supposed to be served in Hyuga’s main house, which convinces him that his fate is predetermined.
Neji was a very kind childhood. But he lost his personality after his father died. He became very serious, cold and more mature than his age.
Neji is very skilled in becoming the strongest shinobi since his childhood. He is also the strongest genin during his times, self-teaching the advanced techniques of the Hyuga clan, which were forbidden. He is the child who surpassed every Hyuga to ever exist.
After his fight with Naruto, he realizes his fate is what he chooses to be and grows stronger for his family and friends.
And later on, he sacrificed his life to protect the same person who taught him the freedom of one’s choice of fate, Naruto.
20. Hinata Hyuga
Hinata is a very important character in Naruto. She is a shinobi, but she didn’t want to be one.
Hinata loves Naruto a lot and becomes very shy around him and is the only character who has always supported him since his childhood.
Hinata being hard-working and brave, jumps right in the middle of Pain and Naruto to protect him even though she knows it is like suicide. So how the hell can we not like her?
Hinata is quite a wifey material. She is so beautiful, sweet, understanding and forgiving. She is everything a boy wants, so she is very popular among all the fanboys.
It was one of the best sugary moments when later on, after the fourth Shinobi world war, Naruto realized her love and married her.
