A powerful fox known as the Nine-Tailsattacks Konoha, the hidden leaf village in the Land of Fire, one of the Five Great Shinobi Countries in the Ninja World. In response, the leader of Konoha, theFourth Hokage, seals the fox inside the body of his newborn son, Naruto Uzumaki, making Naruto a host of the beast;[d] this costs Naruto's father his life, and the Third Hokage returns from retirement to become leader of Konoha again. As a child, Naruto is shunned by the Konoha community, who regard Naruto as if he were the Nine-Tails. Because of a decree made by the Third Hokage forbidding anyone to mention these events, Naruto knows nothing about the Nine-Tails until twelve years later, when Mizuki, a renegade ninja, reveals the truth to Naruto. Naruto then defeats Mizuki in combat, earning the respect of his teacher Iruka Umino.[e]
Shortly afterwards, Naruto becomes a ninja and joins with Sasuke Uchiha, whom he often competes against, andSakura Haruno, whom he has a crush on, to form Team 7, under an experienced sensei, the elite ninjaKakashi Hatake. Like all the ninja teams from every village, Team 7 completes missions requested by the villagers, ranging from doing chores and being bodyguards to performing assassinations.
After several missions, including a major one in the Land of Waves, Kakashi allows Team 7 to take a ninja exam, enabling them to advance to a higher rank and take on more difficult missions. During the exams,Orochimaru, a wanted criminal, invades Konoha and kills the Third Hokage for revenge. Jiraiya, one of the three legendary ninjas, declines the title of Fifth Hokage and searches with Naruto for Tsunade whom he chooses to become Fifth Hokage instead.
During the search, it is revealed that Orochimaru wishes to train Sasuke because of his powerful genetic heritage, the Sharingan.[f] Sasuke wants to kill his older brother, Itachi, who destroyed their clan and joined a criminal organization called Akatsuki, but Itachi defeats and humiliates him. Sasuke joins Orochimaru, hoping to gain from him the strength needed to kill Itachi. After Tsunade returns to the village he sends a group of ninja, including Naruto, to retrieve Sasuke, but Naruto is unable to persuade or force him to come back. Naruto and Sakura do not give up on Sasuke: Naruto leaves Konoha to receive training from Jiraiya to prepare himself for the next time he encounters Sasuke, while Sakura becomes Tsunade's apprentice.
