Naruto fans are no strangers to death in the manga series. There's nearly too many deaths and tragedies to count over the course of Naruto and Naruto: Shippuden. While readers are keeping up with Naruto and his family in Kishimoto and Kodachi's Boruto: Naruto Next Generations series, fans are worrying that the death of Naruto is inevitable. But some fans may not know that Naruto was already killed in the original manga; luckily, he came back to the world of the living to reach his goal of becoming the greatest Hokage.
Naruto has fielded several close-calls when it comes to death. He's fought his long term rival, Sasuke Uchiha, multiple times, faces off against the villainous Orochimaru, protects his village against the invasion of Pain and Kohan, and rallies the shinobi against Madara and Obito Uchiha. Naruto even faces off against the tailed beasts, chakra monsters of immense power, ultimately coming to blows with the maker of chakra itself, Kaguya Otsutsuki, in Naruto #678-699.
Before readers can make sense of Naruto's death, they must first understand his relationship to his literal inner demon, the Nine-Tailed Beast called Kurama. Sealed inside him as an infant, the fox demon gives Naruto plenty of spunky, tricky, and playful characteristics; it also gives him insane amounts of additional power boosts, something that makes Naruto a target. Steal the fox demon, inherit its powers. Naruto survives several attempts of enemies wanting to steal Kurama from him, leading to his manga death, as this next villain not only wants the Nine-Tailed Fox, but all ten of the tailed beasts to enact his plan.
The arc of The Fourth Shinobi War, in Naruto #640-677, sees Obito Uchiha effectively kill Naruto, by separating Naruto from Kurama. But is it really Obito who lands the fateful blow? Obito plots with Madara Uchiha for the ultimate takeover of the Naruto universe, setting into motion all events that lead up to the Shinobi War arc. Obito appears to be the villain of the story, until it's revealed that Madara was simply using Obito for his own gain. Through a series of complicated chakra manipulations, a dying and reformed Obito is forced to use his powers of resurrection to revive the big-bad, Madara Uchiha, into a physical body.
Through Obito's powers, Madara returns to the battle and sets his target on Naruto. After being mortally injured by the separation of Kurama, it's Obito's change of heart that ironically prevents Naruto's slip into death. Shown to be dying, in Naruto #662-663, Sakura admits that Naruto won't survive without his chakra connection to Kurama, as her medical ninjitsu has no affect on healing him. Naruto #666 shows Obito take back Kurama from Madara and transfer the Nine-Tailed beast back into Naruto, saving Naruto from the brink of death.
At the close of the Naruto: Shippuden manga, seen in Naruto #698, Naruto and his long time rival, Sasuke Uchiha, engage in a final battle. The two both almost kill one another and end the fight when they literally can't fight each other any longer. The two accept their mutual defeat, but both lose an arm from the violent exchange. Technically, this one counts as it could be viewed as the death of Naruto's rivalry with Sasuke. Following this fight, the two are seen as life long friends, continuing their friendship into the newer Boruto series, as they deal with the new struggle of raising families and fighting off bad guys. Boruto fans may worry that Naruto will meet his end soon. But, perhaps Naruto and his Nine-Tailed friend will find another way to escape death's horizon as they did in the manga.