Kurenai Yuhi

Kurenai Yuhi (夕日紅, Yuhi Kurenai) is the Konoha Jonin in charge of Team 8, which consists of Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame and Hinata Hyuga.

Background

Kurenai's team specializes in tracking. Relatively little is known about her, other than the fact that she graduated from the Academy at the age of 9, took the Chunin Exam and became a Chunin at the age of 13, and that she only became a Jonin recently. The anime expands on her background slightly, explaining that she had come to the village at a young age with a natural talent for genjutsu. She is the surrogate mother and sensei of Hinata Hyuga.

[edit] Personality

While she has a close bond with all of her students, she seems to especially favor Hinata. Kurenai knows how Hinata is viewed by her father, even though she is technically the heiress of the clan since she is the oldest child. She is also somewhat aware of her student's tremendous infatuation with Naruto Uzumaki. When Hinata tries to offer Naruto some medicine after his fight with Kiba, Naruto is hesitant to take it (most likely because of the abuse he suffered in his childhood). Kurenai convinces him to take it. Her personality is unyielding, honest, and simple. She also says she is a "big sister type."

Hints throughout the series also suggest that she has a romantic relationship with fellow Jonin Asuma Sarutobi, though neither will admit to anything. The two tend to be seen together often, so they clearly enjoy each other's company, and Kurenai blushed on one occasion when Kakashi Hatake more directly suggested a connection between the two. Late in the manga there is a flashback of Asuma buying her flowers and lying to Ino about it while blushing. Shikamaru tells her specially about Asuma's death, and she breaks sobbing at the news. In the manga series the romantic relationship is proven by the fact that Kurenai wears a wedding ring on her left hand and is pregnant with Asuma's child.

[edit] Part I

[edit] Chunin Exams

During the Chunin Exam, Kurenai watches her pupils from the sidelines. After Shino's battle, she comments on how it suddenly got cold in the room, in reference to his rather unmerciful defeat of Zaku Abumi. During Kiba's fight with Naruto, she thinks to herself (and to Kakashi) that Naruto can't possibly beat Kiba, only to be surprised over and over as Naruto takes everything Kiba throws at him. During Hinata's fight with Neji Hyuga, she remembers the terrible relationship Hinata has with her father. She also notes the stark contrast between the current Hinata, who refused to give up, and the former Hinata, who would give up easily. When Neji is sent into a blind rage by a comment of Hinata's, she helps stop him along with every other Konoha Jonin present, except for Asuma.

[edit] Sand and Sound Invasion

Kurenai was seen in the scenes involving the invasion of Sunagakure and Otogakure, when she was with fellow Jonin, and when she was at the Third Hokage's funeral.

[edit] Return of Itachi

When peace was restored among the villages, Kurenai and Asuma were seen at a dumpling shop by Kakashi Hatake. When Kakashi commented them on this, noting how friendly they are to each other, implying some form of romance, Kurenai blushes and protests at this, saying that it was Anko that wanted the dumplings. Asuma changes the subject quickly by asking Kakashi why he's there, and notes that Kakashi doesn't like sweets.

Afterwards, Kurenai and Asuma discover the Akatsuki members, Itachi Uchiha, and Kisame Hoshigaki, and had a brief battle with the duo. Despite Kurenai's natural genjutsu skills, her Demonic Illusion: Tree Bind Death was easily reversed by Itachi's Sharingan, causing the latter to mock her for her inexperience with genjutsu compared to his Sharingan. Before they could be finished off, Kakashi arrives to save them, only to be caught in Itachi's Tsukuyomi, and then be saved by Might Guy.

[edit] Appearance in Filler

She has a short appearance during the Mizuki Strikes Back arc, in which she and Asuma attempt to interrogate Mizuki. Kurenai doesn't have any significant roles until a much later arc, which covers a small incident in her past with an extremely talented genjutsu user. The girl, named Yakumo, is the heir to the Kurama clan, which specializes in genjutsu. She has a kekkei genkai ability that enhances her genjutsu to an almost ridiculous extreme, allowing her to literally kill people with genjutsu. Kurenai sealed Yakumo's kekkei genkai in a ceremony similar to Kakashi's sealing of Sasuke's cursed seal, but it didn't. After Yakumo resurfaces and causes lightning to strike the Hokage mansion (an illusion, but one so powerful that everyone in the village is convinced it happened), Kurenai requests to be separated from her team to deal with Yakumo.

In a flashback, the Third Hokage describes both Yakumo and Kurenai as "untrained genjutsu users", noting their inherent talents in genjutsu. Yakumo, having physical difficulties training as a ninja, was put under the care of Kurenai. She had hoped to be like Rock Lee; she wanted to become a ninja despite her apparent handicap. Kurenai, unlike Guy, discouraged this attitude because of the kekkei genkai ability she would be forced to lean on.

On her way to visit Yakumo, Naruto confronts Kurenai about her involvement with Yakumo. To evade further interrogation by Naruto, she uses Demonic Illusion: Tree Bind Death, leaving him incapacitated until Sakura, Guy, and Team 8 arrive. As she approaches the Yakumo's cabin, she becomes trapped in a rebel's genjutsu, revealing afterwards that she had trapped her attacker in her own genjutsu. She discovers that these attackers are in fact Kurama clan members intent on kidnapping Yakumo. Seeing that her opponents are also genjutsu users, Kurenai notes that "there's no way [she] can lose." From this point, she and the opposing ninja basically fight with nothing but Demonic Illusion: Tree Bind Death, using variations on the standard theme of the jutsu. Kurenai ends up successful until the final encounter, where she is caught off guard and cut by shuriken. The blood reveals her presence to the enemy, who is the temporary leader of the Kurama clan, Unkai, allowing him to defeat her.

Kurenai is saved by the arrival of her team, along with Naruto and Guy. Later, when explaining to Team 8 the reasons for her departure, she claims that the village "doesn't need any genjutsu users other than herself." This is her supposed reason for sealing Yakumo's abilities, but Shino recognizes that she was lying. Yakumo, on the other hand, believes Kurenai did so in order to eventually wipe out the Kurama clan. She traps her former sensei, Naruto, Sakura, and Team 8 in a genjutsu-created replica of the village which appears to have been ravaged by war. Unkai is also in the illusion. Concerned by the powers Yakumo has, and her continually degrading mental state as a result of being unable to control them, he frees Naruto from the illusion so he can kill Yakumo. Everyone else is freed, as well, except for Kurenai. Yakumo keeps her trapped in the illusion in the hopes of getting revenge and answers about her past. Naruto and the others head back to the mountain villa and Naruto re-enters Yakumo's genjutsu world to help Kurenai. Yakumo learns that a monster named Idou that lived within her subconscious mind was the one who killed her parents. With Kurenai's help, she overcomes the monster in her heart and frees Kurenai from her genjutsu. With her final mission from the Third completed, Kurenai re-assigns herself as the Jonin leader of Team 8.

[edit] Part II

[edit] Hidan and Kakuzu

As Asuma and his squad leaves to hunt for Hidan and Kakuzu, Kurenai looks on from her apartment, giving a curious yet uncertain gaze. She seems to notice something but when she looks to the window, the team has already left. While the battle is happening, she notices one of the flowers has fallen off its stem, and senses something wrong with Asuma, and later she is seen gazing out at the rain with a fearful expression. When Asuma was killed, Kurenai broke down in tears when she learns of Asuma's death. She was the one who put flowers on Asuma's grave during the funeral. During a conversation with Shikamaru after the defeat of Hidan, it is revealed that she is pregnant. Shikamaru promises to protect the baby once it's born.

[edit] Post Hunt for Uchiha

Shikamaru ,who wants to decode Jiraiya's message, turns to Naruto for help. To make Naruto realize that they need to decode Jiraiya's message, he takes him to visit a pregnant Kurenai in the hospital and talks to Naruto about how depressed he was when Asuma died. He then says that Kurenai's child will be his apprentice. This cheers up Naruto and they go to decode the message, though not without Kurenai remarking that she wishes Shikamaru would stop visiting her.

[edit] Abilities

As a natural genjutsu user, most of her techniques revolve around genjutsu. The one technique she is seen using the most, is the Demonic Illusion: Tree Bind Death technique. Kurenai can sneak up on an opponent and grow a tree around them to keep still. Once immobilized, Kurenai can appear from the tree to kill her target as she pleases, and is capable of using this jutsu multiple times in a row.

[edit] Trivia

• "Yuhi" means "evening sun".
• "Kurenai" means "crimson".
• Kurenai's red lipstick is, in a way, a pun on her own name. The kanji for "Kurenai" can also be read as "beni" which is a word used for red makeup used traditionally in Japan to color the lips red.
• Kurenai likes shochu, vodka, salted octopus, and taking a glass of wine at night or dinner. She dislikes cake.

Facts about Kurenai YuhiRDF feed

Age	27 -28 Part II: 30 +
Birthdate	June 11 +
Blood type	AB +
Gender	Female +
Height	169.1 cm (1.691 m, 5.548 ft, 66.575 in) +
Weight	54.4 kg (119.931 lb) +

Shino Aburame

Shino Aburame (油女シノ, Aburame Shino) is a ninja from Konohagakure.

Background

Shino Aburame is a Chunin from Naruto's graduating year (originally from Kurenai Yuhi's Genin Team 8 along with Hinata Hyuga and Kiba Inuzuka). As a part of Aburame clan tradition, Shino was infused at birth with a special breed of insects that feed on chakra. In return, the insects attack and do other tasks as he commands.

[edit] Personality

Shino Aburame is a cool, collected, and solitary Chunin who is quite mysterious. He is portrayed as being somewhere between being merely stoic and matter-of-fact, rarely ever smiling or showing emotion at all; rather than thank his teammates for congratulating him on his victory in the preliminaries, he tells them that he expects them to do the same (both Kiba and Hinata lose their matches). He also has a tendency of holding grudges and being rather intimidating, such as seen when Naruto fails to recognize him in Part II, but easily recognizes Kiba and Hinata, despite him wearing clothing that covers much of his body.

Behind his reserved demeanor, though, Shino places a lot of value on his friends and teamwork. While he can often be stern with Kiba over his impulsiveness, Kiba holds his abilities in high regard. Shino gets along well with Hinata, appearing extremely concerned as she goes into cardiac arrest after her match, and believing that she has the potential to become strong.

Shino is extremely intelligent and consistently makes shrewd judgments and pinpoint reasoning which confirm his excellent analytical and observational skills. Like Shikamaru Nara, Shino prevails in battles by systematically staying steps ahead of the enemy. He cares very much for bugs, and can control them in exchange for his chakra.

Shino's favorite food is vegetable salad, and his least favorites are tofu balls and strong-smelling foods. His hobby is observing bugs, and his favorite phrase is "Trump card" ("Ace in the hole" in the English version). He speaks in a curious fashion, as noted by both Naruto and Kiba: a rudimentary explanation of his syntax is that he will ask a question before explaining a point, whereas most people will leave the question unspoken. Also, he tends to restate facts in a more technically correct fashion.

[edit] Abilities

In battle, Shino is able to take great use of his intelligence, being able to use his analytical and observational skills to make shrewd judgments with pinpoint reasoning. Like Shikamaru Nara, Shino prevails in battles by systematically staying steps ahead of the enemy. Because of this, Shino is fairly confident in his abilities and that he will win a battle, and tends to try to communicate this to an opponent for their own well-being. Still, Shino enjoys fighting and dislikes being denied a chance to battle a skilled opponent, as seen when he goes out of his way during the invasion of Konoha to fight Kankuro after he forfeited to avoid revealing his puppets' secrets.

As a member of the Aburame clan, Shino was infused at birth with a special breed of insects that feed on chakra. In return, the insects attack and do other tasks as he commands. Shino has found a number of uses for these bugs, and as such has devised a number of jutsu that utilize them for varying purposes. The first of these jutsu that is seen is his Bug Clone Technique (蟲分身の術, Mushi Bunshin no Jutsu), which uses the bugs to create a copy of himself that is able to reform once struck. The anime expands upon the bugs' uses with a number of defensive techniques, such as using Bug Wall Technique (蟲壁の術, Mushi Kabe no Jutsu) to create a protective wall of insects to shield himself or his allies. Bug Jar Technique (蟲瓶の術, Mushi Kame no Jutsu) serves a similar purpose by having bugs fly around him at high speeds to act as a shield from incoming attacks. Should he run short on insects, Shino can use Bug Gathering Technique (蟲寄せの術, Mushi Yose no Jutsu) to create a web-like array of chakra that lures nearby bugs to him. His bugs, as well as his fighting style, have allowed him to progress to the rank of Chunin over the timeskip.

[edit] Part I

[edit] Chunin Exams

In the first part of the Chunin Exams, Shino uses his insects to read the answers on other people's tests. During the second part, his knowledge of insects allows his team to take another team's scroll with little effort; when leeches attack another team (from the Rain Village in the anime, from the Leaf Village in the manga), they stumble into a net trap.

During the preliminaries of the Chunin Exam, Shino is matched against Zaku Abumi, whom he defeats by plugging up the air tubes in his arms with bugs, rendering them useless. (In the manga, Zaku's right forearm is blown off completely when he tries to use the air tubes; in the anime they are merely riddled with holes.) He appears very confident in his abilities, and demonstrates his strategic thinking in this battle. During most of the fight, he simply recommends that Zaku forfeit for his own good, a recommendation that turned out to be genuine, as well as a distraction tactic.

During the third stage, he was set up to fight Kankuro, who forfeits the battle in order to keep the abilities of his puppet, Karasu, a secret. When the Sand and Sound ninja begin their attack on Konoha, Shino overhears Might Guy and Kakashi telling Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno and Shikamaru Nara to find Sasuke Uchiha. Shino decides to help by following Sasuke. He catches up just as Sasuke is about to battle Kankuro. He then challenges Kankuro in Sasuke's place, claiming that Kankuro is his opponent, allowing Sasuke to continue chasing a fleeing Gaara and Temari. During the fight, Kankuro manages to poison Shino with some gas from Karasu. Shino, however, had placed a female insect on Kankuro beforehand, allowing his insects to track down Kankuro and drain his chakra. Shortly after Kankuro is defeated, Shino loses consciousness as well, regretting that he wasn't able to follow Sasuke. His father, Shibi Aburame, later arrives and uses his bugs to draw out the poison from Shino's body.

Shino was the only male of the Rookie Nine left out of the mission to retrieve Sasuke Uchiha, having neither been recruited by Shikamaru nor having gone after the group like Rock Lee, having been on a mission with his father at the time. Shino felt some bitterness and guilt over the matter, and felt a strong obligation to help with the attempt to find Sasuke, he strongly believed that if he was helping Shikamaru, the mission would have succeeded.

[edit] Anime Filler Arcs

In the anime, he and Kiba help Hinata to train herself and develop her Protection of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms ability.

Shortly after Naruto's confrontation with Mizuki, and a subsequent lack of any information on Orochimaru's whereabouts, Shino leads Team 8 and Naruto to find the Bikochu, a rare insect with legendary tracking abilities. During this arc, he demonstrates his intelligence and cunning in battle, as well as his hobby of observing and collecting bugs. He also explains a former rivalry between his clan and another insect clan from Hidden Rock that uses bees, the Kamizuru clan.

This arc shows how well their team works together and how much they care for each other. It also shows that he is good friends with both Kiba and Hinata, despite him being so mysterious. Although he and Naruto don't get along at first, they do become good friends. During the last confrontation between the Kamizuru clan and Hinata, he explained and understood every step that Hinata took to change herself. In addition, he believed in her, allowing her to fight the bee-users alone while Naruto attempted to intervene. Despite this, Naruto flatulates on the Bikochuu, causing it to follow his scent, and rendering it useless.

Shino also appears in the Land of the Sea arc, this time being paired with Naruto and Ino under the command of Anko. They are ordered to find out what is terrorizing the country and defeat it if possible. Here, they meet two old enemies from the Chunin exams, both of whom were working for Orochimaru. He and Naruto get along a lot better in this arc. He's shown having more confidence in Naruto, and worries about him when Naruto is separated from the group, but knows that Naruto will be fine. He engages Yoroi Akado in battle during the group's raid on the laboratory, and fights him alone so that Naruto and Ino will be able to reach Amachi. His battle resumes outside, during the battle over the ship carrying the payment, and he defeats Yoroi with Ino's help.

Shino is sent on another mission with Naruto alone to Motoyoshi Village, where Shino was to be a stand-in for a man named Fuuta. The goal of the mission was to not laugh during a funeral. Fuuta would lose his inheritance otherwise, and the ever serious Shino was sent as the perfect weapon for this task. However, due to sabotage (being drugged with a poison that causes one to faux-laugh), Shino had to sit out - leaving Naruto to attend the funeral in his place. Shino, unable to play his original role, learns that the man the funeral is for isn't actually dead, and conspires with him to get everyone at the funeral to laugh, posing as the old man and using bug clones to take the form of the man's children when they were young. The man had staged the funeral to get his family to laugh once again. At the end of the mission, Shino threatens Naruto to keep him quiet about his discovery of Shino's sense of humor though he never actually mentions what he would do if Naruto blabbed.

Shino has a supporting role in the Kurama clan arc, as while Kiba complains about Kurenai leaving the team, Shino suggests that it was her decision to do so. He also correctly guesses that Kurenai was lying when she said that she sealed Yakumo's abilities out of jealousy, noting that while her hands were trembling when talking about her past, they stopped when she gave her reason. His bugs prove useful against the genjutsu techniques used by the Kurama clan members and Yakumo, as according to him, insects' simpler nervous systems are harder to manipulate. He uses this knowledge to see through the genjutsu. Shino sends his bugs into the room where Yakumo is holding Kurenai in order to save his sensei, only to see them come back. He reunites with Kurenai after the Idou's defeat.

[edit] Part II

[edit] Sai and Sasuke Arc

Shino in Part II.

Shino reappears when Naruto leaves to recruit someone to replace Kakashi for their mission to meet with Orochimaru's spy. Naruto at first fails to recognize Shino, only remembering him from his "annoying way of talking". When Naruto immediately recognized Kiba and Hinata, Shino took to sulking with his back turned, apparently hurt that Naruto didn't remember him. Neither Shino nor his teammates are able to help Naruto, as their team had already accepted a mission, and he is still bitter about not being recognized. In an anime omake segment, Shino gets upset when Hinata and Kiba do not pay attention to him when they talk about their development over time, seeing that he has developed a better personality to the outside world and not so gathered up to himself.

[edit] Hunt for Uchiha Arc

When Kakashi needed to build a squad for the hunt for Itachi Uchiha, he assembled Team Kurenai, and thus Shino along with his team joined the 8-Man Squad. When the squad encountered Tobi, and after several failed formations, Shino prepared to use his clan's secret techniques on the Akatsuki member, appreciating the opportunity to make up for not having been available to retrieve Sasuke. By using the Bug Globe, Shino managed to completely trap Tobi, only to have him escape with a seemingly impossible space/time jutsu.

[edit] Quotes

• "Ace in the Hole."
• "I'll handle him"
• "I hate explaining the same thing twice"
• "Even if it's been a while, you should remember your comrades' faces. Why? Because otherwise you will hurt their feelings when they call out to you."
• " I was told to fetch you."

[edit] Other Media

• Shino Aburame is a Playable characters in the video game series Naruto "Clash of Ninja Revolution", "Ninja Council 3", " and "Ultimate Ninja". He appears only in 4 out of 7 games. He also appears in the new japanese game Naruto Shippuden Gekito Ninja Taisen EX 2.

[edit] Trivia

• "Shino" is the given name of the samurai Inuzuka of Hakkenden, a novel about a dog samurai. Aburame means "Oil woman" and the complete name "Aburame Shino" bears a close resemblance to the Japanese word for cockroach, aburamushi.
• Unlike most of the other characters in the four central teams, the sole exception being Tenten of Team Guy, Shino's backstory has never been divulged. In fact, other than brief appearances in flashbacks focused on other characters, Shino has yet to appear in his own flashback from before the start of the series.

Facts about Shino AburameRDF feed

Age	12 -13 Part II: 15 +
Birthdate	January 23 +
Blood type	AB +
Gender	Male +
Height	161.1 cm (1.611 m, 5.285 ft, 63.425 in) +
Weight	48.5 kg (106.924 lb) +

Hinata Hyuga

Hinata Hyuga (日向ヒナタ, Hyūga Hinata) is a member of the Hyuga Clan. She is on Team 8 with Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame, under the leadership of Kurenai Yuhi.

Background

As a child, on her third birthday, she met her cousin, Neji; while she was somewhat shy in his presence, he told his father that he found her cute. Not long afterward, the Land of Lightning's head ninja tried to kidnap her, but her father killed him to save her. The Land of Lightning demanded compensation for this, and Hizashi agreed to die in Hiashi's place.

At the start of the story, she is a shy girl, who is the heiress of the Hyuga Clan. She is one of the rare female characters who didn't have a crush on Sasuke Uchiha, but instead focuses her attention on the totally oblivious Naruto.

Her father saw her as weaker than her sister, Hanabi Hyuga, and when she was assigned to Kurenai Yuhi, told her that he was unconcerned that she might die on a mission, saying that her sister was more valuable than she was. Although she trained harder than her teammates, she gave up and thought herself as useless, leading to many failures on missions. Later on in Part1, she is able to prove herself to Naruto and the rest of her team by training with water and developing new skills.

[edit] Personality

Hinata is generally soft-spoken and polite, applying appropriate name suffixes to most people. She is notably kind, being unwilling to watch people get hurt in front of her, a trait that Neji considers a flaw. Hinata is able to understand people easily, and is one of the few people who understands how painful Naruto's childhood was. She generally thinks carefully before acting, allowing her to easily survive dangerous situations.

Hinata has a long standing admiration for Naruto, and is the only rookie girl without a crush on Sasuke. Despite this, Naruto has always been oblivious to her attention, and due to her timidness, he finds it hard to be with her at times, but still claims that he likes Hinata. Hinata gets along well with her teammates. Kiba's actions toward her are often motivated by concern for her, as seen when he urges her to forfeit if she is matched against Neji. Shino often indicates that he believes in Hinata, and makes a point of telling it to others when they doubt or worry about her. Hinata is also the closest to Team 8's sensei, Kurenai Yuhi, who is especially invested in Hinata's growth as a ninja and as a person. Kurenai noted that Hinata had changed in her battle with Neji. After Hinata was knocked down for the last time, Kurenai, despite appearing sad over how much Hinata suffered, silently congratulated her student for changing herself. After this and for the rest of Part I, she begins strengthening herself as a ninja and as a person, and impresses Naruto at the very same time, speaking her mind more and training much harder than usual. In Part II, she evolves to the rank of Chunnin, indicating how hard she has been training. She also stutters less when she speaks, showing how much more confidence she has gained in herself. Despite this, her feelings for Naruto have blossomed over the timeskip, as she is unable to bring herself to greet him when he returns, and passes out after nine seconds when he goes to greet her. Despite this, her confidence and strength have caused Naruto to view the true side of her, and he now views her in a higher regard.

[edit] Part I

[edit] Chunin Exams

When the Chunin Exams came, she entered with her teammates in an attempt to change herself. During the first test, when Naruto was struggling to complete the written exam, she offered to let him cheat off her test. However, after seeing the penalty for cheating on a student just behind them, he refused so she wouldn't get in trouble, and because he was too proud to cheat. His inspiring speech at the end of the first test gave her the confidence to not give up, so Ibiki passed everyone in the group who didn't refuse to take the tenth question.

In the second part of the exam, during the Forest of Death, she, Shino Aburame, and Kiba Inuzuka, her teammates, quickly managed to get their scroll, becoming one of the first Genin Teams to do so in that exam. When Kiba and Akamaru smelled a second target, they witnessed the Sand Siblings, Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari 'fight' (or kill) a Rain Genin team. The slaughter that Gaara created made them hide behind the bush, hoping not to be caught and killed.

Then in the preliminaries, she witnessed the battle between her teammate Kiba and her crush Naruto, and was divided on who to cheer. Ultimately, she cheered Naruto on and gave Naruto some of her homemade healing cream to heal his wounds after the fight, while at the same time giving some to her teammate Kiba, who warned her to forfeit if she was matched against Gaara or Neji.

In the eighth round, she had to face her much stronger cousin, Neji Hyuga in combat. She almost broke down and gave up after Neji berated her on being a failure who could never change. This made Naruto angry, and he cheered Hinata on, giving her the strength to fight her cousin. Despite being outmatched and being rendered unable to send chakra into Neji's system, she continued to fight against Neji. He was surprised when she refused to give up, refused to stay down, and became enraged when, for the first time, she was able to see through him, to see that he was fighting his destiny. He charged at her, but the Jonin Kurenai Yuhi, Kakashi Hatake, Neji's sensei Might Guy, and Hayate Gekko restrained him before he could land a blow that would have killed her. When Hinata was taken away to the emergency room, Naruto dipped his fingers in her blood and vowed to defeat Neji.

[edit] After Chunin Exams

In the first round of the finals, Naruto was set to fight against Neji. He was rattled and nervous the day of the fight, and began to doubt himself. He went to one of his old training areas, and ran into Hinata. When he began to doubt himself, she told him that he never gave up, which was something she admired, and that she had become more confident after he cheered for her. This gave Naruto the strength and drive to go face Neji, and as he left, he told Hinata she was "A dark, timid girl...but you know, I think I like people like you." She was speechless and watched him go before leaving to watch the match with Kiba.

After that, she managed to watch half way through Naruto's battle with her cousin. Shortly after Naruto managed to get up after nearly being defeated, she began coughing up blood and had to be excused. Naruto's anger over Neji's cruel treatment of her and his awe over her determination (along with Lee's) motivated him to continue, and he ultimately defeated Neji and helped to change his worldview.

In the filler arcs, Hinata receives more screentime than many other members of the Konoha 11. As a result of training ever since Tsunade's return to the village, she discovers a technique known as Protection of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms, and manages to save Naruto and the rest of Team 8 by using it against hostile bug users. In the filler episode, Naruto came across a naked Hinata training in a waterfall at night. Naruto being oblivious, didn't realize that it was her and talked to Kiba about it the next day, embarrassing her greatly. In the Bounty Hunter Arc, she accompanied Naruto and Kiba to catch a thief, but because someone else caught him (albeit with their help), the mission was considered a failure.

As a result of these two failures, Hinata, Naruto and Kiba were threatened with being returned to the academy if they did not succeed in finding hidden treasure. The group initially had difficulty working together, due to friction between Naruto and Kiba, and Hinata worrying about them. A group of ninjas who could permanently transform into copies of others ambushed and kidnapped them. Their kidnappers left them to die in a cave-in, but Hinata saved them with her Protection of the Eight Trigrams jutsu. She was unable to pursue the impostors into town becuase of an earlier leg injury, so Naruto and Kiba did so. Hinata later returned, and mistakenly attacked Naruto after he absent-mindedly put down the chest, which had distinguished him from the impostor.

In the Land of Vegetables Arc, she managed to singlehandedly defeat a powerful ninja, although she nearly sacrificed her life in doing so. This is one of her greater achievements, even earning Naruto's praises, as he was unable to defeat the same ninja. In the Cursed Haunted Castle arc, she helped her teammates navigate the halls of a strange castle, which was actually a summoned chameleon in disguise, to save a daimyo's wife. Over this time, it was shown that she has a much better relationship with her father, who after her near-success in the Bikochu mission, encouraged her to do her best. Neji also got along well with her, sparring with her and caring about her well-being.

When Naruto left to train with Jiraiya at the end of the series, she watched him leave, despite being unable to bring herself to say goodbye to him herself. As he left, she vowed to become stronger and work as hard as he did.

[edit] Part II

Hinata in Part II.

In Part II, she has attained the rank of Chunin and is still part of Team 8. When Naruto greets her, she passes out, overcome by the prospect of seeing him for the first time in almost three years. When she comes to, just as she began to focus Naruto came to her and asked, very vaguely, to come with him on his mission. Hinata interpreted the order incorrectly, and promptly passes out again. After this, Kiba jokingly teases her saying that Naruto was behind her, surprising and upsetting her.

[edit] Hunt for Uchiha

After Team 10 dealt with Hidan and Kakuzu, Kakashi assembled Team Kurenai to join Team Yamato, to form the 8-Man Squad. Hinata, much to her joy, is teamed up with Naruto and Yamato to find Itachi Uchiha. With her Byakugan, she is able to spot that one third of Kabuto has been taken over by Orochimaru's remains. Later when the Squad regroups, they come across Tobi, who appears to be blocking their path to Sasuke. During the battle that followed, Hinata took the role of stationary scout using her Byakugan to follow Tobi's chakra signal. When Tobi and Zetsu leave for the location of Sasuke's fight with Itachi, Hinata is asked by Kakashi about what she saw; she said she saw black flames. Kakashi recognized it as the Amaterasu flames, and he started leading the group to the hideout. Unfortunately, her team arrived too late due to Zetsu and Tobi's superhumanly fast movement. Tobi had already taken Sasuke away, leaving no trace for the team to track.

[edit] Abilities

As a member of the Hyuga clan, Hinata possesses the Byakugan, which gives her a near 360° field of vision, albeit a blind spot around the back of her neck. During the Chunin Exams, she displays the ability to focus the Byakugan's sight, increasing the distance that her eyes can see. She also specializes in the Gentle Fist fighting style, which allows her to damage her opponent's chakra circulatory system and inner organs directly with even a slight tap. Despite all these abilities, her father at least initially believes her to be too weak to lead the clan.

After her fight with Neji, Hinata takes her quest to get stronger to new levels. She used training that consists of manipulating water to sprout in an orb around her. This training manifests itself during the Bikochu filler arc in the form of Protection of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms (守護八卦六十四掌, Shugohakke Rokujūyon Shō), a combination of the Hyuga clan's most powerful techniques, the Eight Trigrams Palms Heavenly Spin, and the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms. With it Hinata emits streams of chakra from her palms to create extremely sharp blades that she can use to hit any target in her field of vision. Due to the speed at which these blades move, the amount of control she has over them, her natural flexibility as well as her ability to manipulate their size, Hinata can use this to technique to attack and defend simultaneously. Over the timeskip she rises to the rank of Chunin, indicating that her training has been effective in making her stronger.

[edit] Quotes

• " I want to be strong. "
• " I want to change myself, into. . . into something better. "
• " Defend yourself! My brother! "
• " Naruto, d-do your best. "
• " When I watch you, I feel strong, like I can do anything, that even I am worth something "
• " No-No way! That's so sudden! "
• " When you cheered me on, Naruto, I felt like somehow I became stronger than before ...[and] I started to like myself just a little bit more. "
• " Do you think I changed...maybe a little? "
• " It has been two and half years since I Saw Naruto, What should I say, I'm not ready to see him yet."
• " We have to help Naruto to look for that bug, without it he won't find Sasuke. "
• " Poor Naruto he's trying his best to look for Sasuke."
• " Naruto-kun!!!"
• " I...I...I........."
• " I just...I just wanted to see if i could change......."
• " Naruto-kun...did..did I...did I change?"

[edit] Trivia

• Hinata is very popular in Naruto fandom, frequently making in into top 10 favorite characters (she was placed 5th in the first Naruto manga anniversary poll, 3rd in the second and third polls, and 4th in the fifth poll).
• Despite Hinata's lack of panel time compared to some of the other Konoha Eleven, NaruHina is one of the most popular pairings in the Naruto fandom.
• Despite fan pairings of Neji and Hinata they are not genetically cousins. Because their fathers are identical twins, genetically they are half brother and half sister.
• Much to Hinata's dismay, one of Kiba's favorite pastimes is to tease her about her affection towards Naruto (Saying he's behind her and such)
• Hinata portays the ideal Yamato Nadeshiko.
• Creator Masashi Kishimoto had originally intended for Hinata to be a regular member of the Hyuuga clan, but instead decided to make her a ninja.

Kiba Inuzuka

Kiba Inuzuka犬塚キバ (Inuzuka Kiba) is a supporting character in Naruto. He is part of Team 8. He and his nin-dog Akamaru fight together as a team.

Personality

Kiba is often short-tempered and impulsive, in stark contrast to his teammates Shino and Hinata, and can be prone to making mistakes when he is agitated in battle. He deeply cares for Akamaru, and is willing to do whatever is necessary to protect him. And despite his rather gruff attitude, many of Kiba's actions reveal that he's very close to his older sister, Hana Inuzuka, and remains fiercely loyal to the Inuzuka clan.

Kiba often argues with Shino over what course of action the group should take, particularly when Shino advises caution. Kiba often sees himself as the group leader, and becomes offended at any of Shino's actions that he perceives as challenging his leadership. It seems as if there was a contest for the leadership of Team 8 during the Chunin Exams because Kiba says Hinata voted for him. Despite his disagreements with Shino, he considers Shino a friend, and respects his fighting capabilities. Kiba gets along well with Hinata, but tends to worry about her, urging her to be strong before the second phase of the exam, and forfeit rather than face a dangerous opponent.

Kiba apparently loves to tease Hinata about her affections for Naruto. These teasing usually manifest themselves in tricking her that Naruto is near or just mentioning her reactions to him to other people, much to her embarrassment.

[edit] Part in the Story

[edit] Chunin Exam Arc

Although he appears before the Chunin Exams, it is where we first really know who he is. The Chunin Exams are where he takes his test with his teammates Shino Aburame and Hinata Hyuga. He uses Akamaru to find the answers during the first part of the test.

During the second phase of the exam, while Team 8 easily takes an Earth scroll from a rival team, Kiba wishes to acquire yet another to narrow the competition, despite Shino and Hinata's reservations. In investigating a confrontation between two teams, they witness Gaara killing three Rain Genin, and Akamaru is traumatized by the sight.

Kiba is matched against Naruto in the seventh match of the preliminaries. Kiba thinks that he will easily win, since Naruto was the worst student at the academy. Naruto then gets very annoyed at Kiba. While Kiba initially has an advantage due to his superior speed and strengthening Akamaru with a soldier pill, Naruto tricks him into knocking Akamaru unconscious, then after farting in Kiba's face(renderering his sense of smell useless ( and in a way paralyzing him), defeats him with the first use of Naruto Uzumaki Barrage. Kiba regains consciousness on the stretcher, and urges Hinata to forfeit if she is matched against Gaara or Neji Hyuga.

A month later, at the finals, Kiba watches the match between Naruto and Neji with Hinata. After Kabuto heals Hinata when she begins coughing up blood, he renders Kiba unconscious (after Kiba starts to remember him), leaving him unable to assist Konoha's ninja in the invasion.

[edit] Sasuke Retrieval Arc

In the Sasuke Retrieval Arc, he is the only one on his team to assist the recovery effort, with Shino out on a mission and with Hinata not being recruited for an unknown reason. After Naruto seized the container holding Sasuke, a letter bomb (set by Akamaru) explodes and knocks Kiba, and Sakon and Ukon into a gorge. Kiba and Akamaru bravely fought against Sakon and Ukon, but despite using their Double Wolf Fang against the brothers, are ultimately outmatched. Kiba retreats with Akamaru, and both were eventually assisted by Kankuro, who trapped the brothers in Kuroari before impaling them with Karasu. Although Kiba was badly wounded,but unlike Choji and Neji, his wounds were not life-threatening ( just some deep lacerations), and he was able to move slowly but surely for a while when Akamaru was wiped out(every tendon in his 4 limbs were ruptured).

[edit] Filler Arcs

Kiba commonly works with Naruto and Hinata in the filler arcs, often when Shino is absent. At one point, due to failing the Bikochu and Bounty Hunter missions, they are given a mission to test their teamwork, and told they will return to the academy if they fail. In the course of the mission, Kiba realizes that he and Naruto argue too much, and they put aside their differences to stop some ninja who have taken on their identities. Naruto, Kiba and Hinata succeed in their next mission together in the Cursed Haunted Castle arc.

Kiba's relationship with Akamaru is highlighted in the Kiba's Long Day arc. After Akamaru is infected with a biological weapon that causes him to go berserk, Kiba believes that Naruto is trying to find and kill Akamaru, and attempts to take Akamaru out of Konoha. Kiba eventually stops resisting when he learns Naruto and Hana's true intentions, but is paralyzed by the prospect that their plan may still require them to kill Akamaru. He eventually regains his senses and appeals to Akamaru, causing Akamaru to regain enough of his true self to avoid killing Kiba, and allow him to administer the antidote.

[edit] Part II

Kiba in Part II

When Naruto returns to Konoha after the rescuing of Gaara, Kiba appears riding on a much larger Akamaru, but says he didn't notice Akamaru's growth, due to spending so much time with him. When Naruto asks Kiba to go on a mission with him Kiba has to turn him down due to a mission he was already assigned.

After Naruto left, Kiba teased Hinata to make her believe Naruto was behind her. Realizing he tricked her, he received a scolding from her and Shino.

[edit] Fire Temple Filler Arc

Later on Naruto and Team Kakashi were assigned a new mission, returning with Sora a fill in for Sai due to the latter's injuries. The team disbanded, leaving Naruto and Sora stuck together. Sora went somewhere and Naruto then found him in the park arguing with Akamaru. When Kiba saw this squabble, he angrily confronted Sora. Shikamaru and Choji saw them, and when Sora called Choji "Fatty" inciting him to join the fight. After a failed attempt by Naruto to calm the combatants, Lee joined into the fight, resulting in admonishment and dismissal from Asuma.

[edit] Hunt for Uchiha

Later, Kakashi forms the 8-Man Squad, which Team Kurenai became a part of in the hunt for Itachi Uchiha. When the mission got sidetracked due to them being close to Sasuke's trail, Kiba manages to pick up on Sasuke's scent when even the ninja hounds are unable to, impressing Kakashi and allowing the eight-man squad to continue pursuing Sasuke. On the way however, they encountered Tobi of Akatsuki and preceded to do battle with him. They fight him, but can't land a single blow. The mission ends in failure when Tobi and Zetsu collect Sasuke before the 8-Man Squad manages to get there.

[edit] Other Media

• Kiba Inuzuka is a playable character in the video game series "Naruto: Clash of Ninja." He appears only in 4 out of 7 games.
• Kiba Inuzuka appears in Naruto: Rise of a Ninja for the Xbox 360 as Naruto's opponent in the Chunin Exams as well as a playable character in VS mode.

[edit] Quotes

• "One hit is all it will take."
• "Let's do it, Akamaru!"
• "Alright, Akamaru!"
• "Tunneling Fang!"
• "I think you and I just won the lottery Akamaru!"
• "I think I can trust this guy to take my back."
• "I can't use my combination attacks without Akamaru!"
• "Why do you always pass out when you see Naruto?!"
• "Why everytime I see Naruto, he always have new jutsu off of his sleeve?!" Thinking.
• "Let's kick some butt today Akamaru!"
• "woof woof!"

Facts about Kiba InuzukaRDF feed

Age	12 -13 Part II: 15 +
Birthdate	July 7 +
Blood type	B +
Gender	Male +
Height	152.5 cm (1.525 m, 5.003 ft, 60.039 in) +
Weight	44.7 kg (98.547 lb) +