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- A long-running franchise like Naruto has a lot of fan favorites among its main characters. Part of what makes them favorites are those scenes that stay with the audience forever. For the most part, these iconic moments are ones that provide dramatic declarations, moments that turn the story in a whole new direction, or moments that allow the audience to see a character in a whole new light.
Naruto wouldn't have the success that it has without having plenty of iconic moments. Since day one, this series has been dazzling fans with tales of ninja espionage, heroism, and friendship. Whether it's an epic fight, getting a save, a really cool line, or a hilarious joke, Naruto characters all make their mark on the story.
To this day, many fans are still reminiscing and arguing about what happened during the Chunin Exams. While the story now focuses on a new generation, the one of old has plenty of fond memories to look back on. In a world where everyone has something under their sleeves, every main character has had their day to shine.
Updated on October 9, 2022 by Amanda Bruce:
A long-running franchise like Naruto has a lot of fan favorites among its main characters. Part of what makes them favorites are those scenes that stay with the audience forever. For the most part, these iconic moments are ones that provide dramatic declarations, moments that turn the story in a whole new direction, or moments that allow the audience to see a character in a whole new light.
Neji Hyuga - Sacrificing Himself For Hinata
When Neji was first introduced in the series, he’s resentful of his cousin Hinata. There was no love for the main house from him, as he believed he and other branch family members were being sacrificed to keep the main family safe. Over time, he came to understand that’s not entirely true, and he and Hinata became much closer. So close, in fact, that they fought side by side during the war and were instrumental in protecting Naruto.
When Hinata took a blow meant for Naruto, Neji took a blow that would have killed her. He sacrificed himself, sure that she and Naruto had to live to see the war through. It’s a noble and tragic moment for him, and one that showed how far he’d come as a character, willing to sacrifice himself for what he saw as a greater purpose.
Choji Akimichi - Standing Up To Asuma
During the events of the war, several previously dead shinobi were reanimated and forced to fight their allies. One of those shinobi was Asuma Sarutobi, the sensei that made Ino-Shika-Cho a formidable team.
Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji found themselves in what felt like an impossible situation. None of them wanted to fight Asuma, and they nearly couldn’t bring themselves to do it. Choji, as it turned out, was the one strong enough to do so, despite his own grief over the loss of their teacher. He even completely transformed to do it.
Orochimaru - Revealing Himself To Hiruzen
Early in the series, there wasn’t a clear villain. Right up until the Chunin Exams, the series appeared to simply be about Naruto’s growth as a ninja with potential villains simply lurking in the background. When the true purpose of the Suna siblings being included in the exams was revealed, however, so was the real villain for the coming story arc.
Masquerading as the Kage of Suna was Orochimaru. He revealed himself to Hiruzen Sarutobi just as Gaara was losing control of the tailed beast within him. Though Orochimaru had a lot of impressive moments over the course of the series, his reveal, and subsequent attack of the Third Hokage, gave the series direction, a major tragedy, and a compelling villain.
Ino Yamanaka - Linking The Minds Of The Allied Forces
Ino Yamanaka spent a lot of the early days of Naruto’s story being dismissed by fans. She was seen as shallow, Sakura’s frenemy, and a teenage girl who wasn’t actually interested in becoming a shinobi. While she might have been most of those things, she was also incredibly talented, and her talents were often sidelined in the series.
That changed when fans got to see Ino at her full potential. Just after both her father and Shikamaru’s father were killed in an attack during the Fourth Shinobi World War, Ino took over her father’s job, but she did it from the battlefield, and she did it without her father’s equipment. He had been responsible for using the Yamanaka family’s gift to link the minds of all of the soldiers together, so plans could be given instantaneously. The task had been so overwhelming for him that he needed the aid of special machinery and still ended up with serious injuries before he was killed. Ino simply closed her eyes and took over, showing how strong she really was.
Sakura Haruno - Cutting Her Hair
Sakura Haruno, for the most part, has remained on the sidelines for a lot of stories. She was decent support during the early story; and after studying under Lady Tsunade, she became incredibly strong and was a talented medic. Despite that growth, the scene that really marks her growth as a character came early during the Chunin Exams.
During her battle with Ino, Sakura had to sacrifice the very superficial quality that was holding her back professionally and narratively, resulting in her cutting her long hair. A simple gesture, but a strong, symbolic one for Sakura.
Madara Uchiha - Summoning An Asteroid
It's hard to make even the most powerful anime villains appear truly frightening and almighty nowadays. With science fiction having gone off the rails with high-concept stories and new series about heroes who can literally beat people with one punch, it's hard to capture people's imaginations as to what is truly terrifying.
Fortunately for Naruto, they managed to create a moment that really sold Madara Uchiha to the fans as the ultimate bad in the story. It wasn't with the reveal of him as the head of the Akatsuki or his epic fight with Hashirama Senju. It was the moment that he flexed on the ninja army by dropping an asteroid on them.
Shikamaru Nara - Using His Jacket To Extend His Shadow
Despite his own asocial demeanor, Naruto's Shikamaru Nara has impressed the fans plenty throughout his run. This slacker has proven time and again that he's no slouch, and that anyone who thinks otherwise is just setting themselves up for trouble.
The first round of the tournament for the Chunin Exams did a great job of establishing that Shikamaru was a lot smarter than he looked, but it was his fight with Temari where they put up a bright, glowing sign that said "Genius." While Temari seemingly had him on the ropes with her ability to pretty much control the wind, Shikamaru surprised everyone with his long game to use his jacket, high up in the air as a parachute, to extend his shadow possession jutsu.
Rock Lee - Dropping His Weights
For many, Rock Lee's iconic scene is the iconic scene of the series if not, at least, the scene that got a lot of people's attention. Rock Lee already appeared like a pretty tough kid, albeit a really obnoxious one. In any other series, he would've just been an annoying obstacle that the main character would've struggled with but inevitably beat.
However, he changed the game and more when Might Guy allowed him to drop his weights. In a perfect lowering of expectations, no one thought those ankle weights were going to have the impact that they had. But, they broke the ground, people's expectations, and records for the most hype surrounding one character.
Itachi Uchiha - Killing The Uchiha Clan
Itachi Uchiha was the cool, mysterious villain that fans were always going to give a second chance. The man looks straight out of a boy band and wields the power of black flames. He was always going to be popular with anime fans. For him, there are plenty of cool scenes to reflect on.
There's him holding up Sasuke during their reunion, his showings for his advanced sharingan techniques, and, of course, his epic but ultimately tragic fight with Sasuke. However, the scene to define his entire aesthetic was the moment that Sasuke found him hovering over the bodies of their dead parents. When he glared back at Sasuke and challenged him to hate him forever, everyone got chills.
Hinata Hyuga - Fighting Alongside Naruto Against Pain
Hinata doesn't often get enough love in this series, especially from Naruto during the early story and Shippuden. If anything, she was just the fill-in character for a lot of the shy fangirls out there. The series did do a great job of giving her depth with her backstory and rivalry with her cousin Neji.
But she really came into her own as a character and ninja during the Pain Arc when she fought skillfully and harmoniously alongside Naruto against Pain. What really sold this moment was her own defeat acting as a catalyst for Naruto to go all out against Pain.
Kakashi Hatake - Using Chidori For The First Time
Kakashi Hatake was already sold to the fans as a pretty cool yet unconventional teacher. He had a mysterious design and an approach to teaching akin to an even crueler Mr. Miyagi. It's easy for any fan to see Kakashi as a pretty tough and competent guy, but he didn't truly have his moment until he faced Zabuza (though some might argue his showdown with Itachi is just as epic).
Presented with an enemy much tougher than he had anticipated, Kakashi had to utilize an advanced move that he had invented himself. With a bright design and a sound that no fan could forget, Kakashi revealed one of the most legendary jutsu ever seen in the series.
Jiraiya - His Death
Jiraiya has plenty of cool moments throughout the series. He's made people laugh with his "research" and mystified them with his near-endless supply of jutsu, all of which somehow involve toads. And while there are plenty of memorable moments from his time mentoring Naruto Uzumaki, there's no denying that the one scene that every fan can remember from him, with heart-wrenching detail, is his death.
As odd as it may seem coming from one of the edgiest shonen anime out there, not a lot of main characters die in this series. So when they killed Jiraiya of all people and, for some reason, dedicated an entire opening sequence to him, he was immortalized to the fans.
Sasuke Uchiha - Intervenes At The 5 Kage Summit
As the second poster boy for the series, Sasuke has plenty of memorable lines, fights, and actions throughout the story. There was the time he first used sharingan, his dramatic entrance to the Chunin Exams, his first use of Chidori, his epic transformation during his first fight with Naruto at the Valley of the End, and the time he popped Kurama during his first scene back.
Any moment during his rivalry with Itachi could be marked as his very, most iconic, but none could match the pure hype of his actual one. During the 5 Kage Summit, Sasuke decided to casually barge in and challenge some of the strongest ninja around by himself. How could this guy ever feel insecure about his skills?
Naruto Uzumaki - The Swing
As the main character with all the cool moves and catchphrases, Naruto has plenty of iconic moments. There's his first, successful use of shadow clone jutsu, the time he summoned the king toad, all of his nine-tails transformations, the time he screamed his way into passing the written portion of the Chunin Exams, and the cathartic scene after his fight with Pain where he was finally accepted by the Hidden Leaf Village.
Despite all of these great moments, there's one iconic moment that the story, opening sequences, or any flashback wouldn't let fans forget. While it has become a meme at this point, Naruto sitting alone on a swing was a pivotal part of Naruto's backstory. It gave him depth as a shonen protagonist and let him connect with an entire audience that also felt alone and insecure. It might not be the best Naruto scene, but it's certainly his most iconic.