-> Character Bios

Team Asume

Shikamaru Nara

Shikamaru Nara is in Team 10, which is Asume Saruboti's team, along with Ino Yamanaka and Choji Akimichi. Nara can use shadow Jutsu with a limit of about five minutes. He's a good team leader and really intelligent, but everything is annoying to him! Shikamaru Nara is a lazy genius. He finds many things in life to be annoying and is usually foul mouthed.

But, deep down, he is a kind person. Not only this, but he is a genius with an IQ of 200+. He is a brilliant strategist as well as a level-headed thinker. He also enjoys the game "Shougi", which is basically like chess. Though he lacks motivation, this allows him to think clearly without becoming overly excited. These qualities were recognized by others for they could see he was a great leader, worthy of becoming a chunin. That is why he was the only one of Naruto's class mates to become a chunin on his first try. One of his favourite sayings is 'What A Drag' in the english dubbed version, or 'Troublesome' in the Japanese.

Ino Yamanaka

Ino is a Genin also in the same team as Shikamaru. Ino likes Sasuke, which is the main reason why she is Sakura's enemy. Before both Sakura and Ino liked Sasuke, they were best friends. Ino helped her become more confident and believe in herself when they were younger because they once were best friends, this made it interesting for them to have to fight each other in the preliminary matches of the Chunin Tournament. Ino's favorite move is the Mind Transfer.

Although she comes accross as being quite arogant, everyone knows she likes Sakura deep down and vise versa, thet're not going to let a boy get in there way, are they??

Choji Akimichi

Choji Akimichi is a rather large kid who has the unique ability to increase any of his body parts ten times their original size. Who is also part of the team of Shikamaru and Ino.

Along with his ability to increase his size, he also has another attack called Meat Tank which allows him to roll toward his opponents at high speeds with his increased body. Even though most of his attacks center around his weight, he is quite sensitive about his weight and will pulverize anyone who dares mock him.

Wind Village Team

Gaara of the Desert

Gaara is about 12 years old and enjoys killing people that stand in his way. Long ago, when he was around the age of six, his father, the Kazekage, sent assassins to kill off Gaara because he believed Gaara was becoming too dangerous (after killing a man that passed him in the street). But the attempt failed, and later ninja's were sent...who were all killed by Gaara. Yashamaru says that he is Gaara's mother's brother. He also tells us, as he is dying, that Gaara's father, the Kazekage ordered him to kill Gaara. Yashamaru admits that he could have turned down the mission but chose to do it. Yashamaru had "adopted" Gaara due to his obligation to his sister, but could never get over the fact that Gaara's birth resulted in the sister's death.

Gaara's father was killed by Orochimaru, who took his body and posed as him during the tournament. They find his body after the tournament, and find out about Orochimaru's plot. Garra has two older siblings, his brother Kankuro and sister Temari, who are with him in the chunin exam. Gaara's gourd is made of sand and the blood of the victims, which he says gives him power. In battle, he takes out sand and uses it to kill off his enemies by means of the techniques called Desert Coffin and Desert Funeral. The gourd itself is also made out of sand, as is his armor. He has a sleep spell that gives the demon Shukaku the ability to manifest. He doesn't sleep because if he does Shukaku will take control.

Temari

Temari is the oldest child and only daughter of the Fourth Kazekage, as well as being teammate and older sister to Gaara and Kankuro. She carries a giant iron fan on her back, which she uses as a powerful ninja tool to cut her opponents apart or force them back. She specializes in long-range combat, and has demonstrated herself to be fairly intelligent and a keen analyst, almost of the same caliber as Shikamaru Nara.

Temari is generally caring, if crude, toward her siblings and cohorts, but has a tendency to be quite cruel to her opponents in battle. She is more demonstrative with her feelings than Kankuro when dealing with Gaara, and is somewhat less afraid of him. Shikamaru, after witnessing her fighting style secondhand, stated that she is more terrifying than his own mother.

Kankuro

Kankuro's unique ability is that he can control puppets by channeling his chakara into the strings of the puppet. He has three puppets he uses: Karasu, Kuroari, and Sanshouo.

Kankuro is a proud fighter, though he doesn't take battles seriously and is pretty cocky. If you insult his ability to fight, he will die trying to kill you. He is the oldest son of the Fourth Kazekage and the brother of Gaara and Temari. In his first appearance, he carries a large marionette wrapped in bandages on his back called Karasu. In combat, Kankuro tends to use Karasu in combination with a technique similar to a Body Replacement Technique; he first lures his opponents into getting close to Karasu (disguised as himself), then unveils himself from the bandages to finish his opponent off. His puppets are also equipped with various traps and numerous concealed weapons, such as hidden poison-coated blades, poison gas, and projectile launchers. In addition, the heads and limbs of his puppets can be disengaged from their respective bodies and used as projectiles themselves.

Team Gai

Rock Lee

Rock Lee is an awsome fighter from the Village hidden in the Leaves, he has a somewhat weird relationship with his Senei Gai, although this may seem a bit strange, they share their uniqueness; both only really being able to use Taijutsu, this hasnt stopped them though and they are experts at opening their inner gates. Gai sensei is a big inspiration to Lee with this problem, he was the only one there for Lee and the one that cared the most.

No matter who the opponent, Lee always shows respect and never attempts to demean them. As an academy student, he was teased for his inability, leading him to spend all his time and concentration on taijutsu under the guidance of his sensei, Might Guy. Through practice, he has become so overcompensatingly strong in the taijutsu discipline that he was allowed to graduate the ninja academy with his teammate and rival Neji Hyuga. Neji originally claimed that Lee was not really a ninja since he can't use genjutsu or ninjutsu, saying that just because Lee is the first student who graduated from the academy with only taijutsu doesn't mean that he is amazing, just unusual.

Tenten

Originally a Genin level ninja who graduated the academy a year before Naruto did and now a Chunin, Tenten is also a student of Might Guy together with Rock Lee and Neji Hyuga. Not much is known about her techniques, other than that they involve the mastery of weaponry. Tenten is an expert in the use of melee and throwing armaments and summons special melee weapons from scrolls when needed, sometimes in vast quantities. She also uses strings to control and guide the direction of her weapons. However, this technique is useless against opponents who use wind attacks, as seen in her short and arguably pointless attacks against Temari. Tenten has also proven herself very capable of throwing many weapons at her opponent and using them for ranged attacks. Might Guy stated that she never misses with her weapons. In fact, in a senbon needle-throwing practice exercise, she hit the bull's-eye 100 out of 100 times.

Tenten feels very strongly about both her teammates, especially idolizing Neji, and could be seen staring with pride at Lee during his training with Guy at one occasion. She is often seen sparring with Neji, training with her weapons while Neji deflects them with his Eight Trigram Palms Heavenly Spin.

Neji Hyuga

A Genin at the start of the series, Neji Hyuga was the no.1 rookie of his Ninja Academy graduating class. He is also considered to be the strongest and most talented of all the Konoha Genin who attended the Chunin exam during the first part of the series, and is the first of them to become a Jonin. Neji has been praised as a natural genius of the Hyuga clan, but can never lead it because he's a branch house member. He is perhaps the most skilled Gentle Fist user in the series, despite this fact. Though the most powerful techniques of this style are normally kept within the main house, Neji learned them through simple observation.

When Neji uses his Byakugan he is assumed to have a 360� vision of his surroundings. As such, he usually compares the 8 birds to how much he can really see. Before he meets Naruto, he always sees 7 birds with his Byakugan, but when he turns around, there is an 8th bird. The symbolism lies in that there is still something Neji can't see. During a fight in episode 117, he sees 8 birds using his byakugan. He finally can see what Naruto was talking about when it came to changing fate and the like.

Team Kurenai

Kiba Inuzuka

Kiba Inuzuka is a member of the Inuzuka clan who have a strong connection with dogs, as youcan tell by his small canine companion Akamaru. He is is a loud and head-strong Chunin member of Kurenai Yuhi's Team 8, although he has a very soft and caring side that he shows to his friends. Akamaru and himself are even able to communicate with each other, allowing Kiba to gain information from Akamaru's heightened senses of smell and hearing.

The two also perform many jutsu together, such as Beast Human Clone so that they both look like a beastlike Kiba. Afterward they can use Double Piercing Fang to spin towards the opponent at high speed, causing great damage on impact. By gathering chakra to his nose, Kiba can also increase his own sense of smell a thousand-fold.

Hinata Hyuga

Hinata is the oldest daughter and heiress to the Hyuga clan. Along with Shino Aburame and Kiba Inuzuka, she is part of Kurenai Yuhi's Team 8. As a member of the Hyuga clan, she possesses the Byakugan, which gives her an almost 360? field of vision, and 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.

In the beginning, Hinata lacks self-confidence and gives up easily. Though she stayed at the training grounds longer than anyone else and worked hard to improve her skills, she would give up when faced with any real competition. In an attempt to change herself, Hinata entered the Chunin exam, where she finally finds the will to never give up. She finds inspiration in Naruto, her academy student crush, whose constant determination and confidence she admires. Hinata's strong affections for Naruto seem to be a rather glaring exception, as no other introduced girl of around Naruto's age has displayed anything of the sort for him.

Shino Aburame

Shino Aburame is a cool, collected, and solitary Chunin from Naruto's graduating year who is quite mysterious and always wears sunglasses. He is portrayed as being somewhere between being merely stoic and matter-of-fact, rarely ever smiling or showing emotion at all. Behind his reserved demeanor, though, Shino places a lot of value on his friends and teamwork.

He also has a tendency of holding grudges, such as seen when Naruto fails to recognize him in Part II, but easily recognizes Kiba and Hinata. To be fair, Shino's style of clothing makes recognizing him somewhat difficult. 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.

Sound Village Team

Zaku Abumi

Zaku Abumi was a Genin level ninja from the Hidden Sound Village. He was part of the team that took the Chunin exam at the Hidden Leaf Village in order to assassinate Sasuke Uchiha. Like many Sound ninja, he has been physically altered with unnatural enhancements that enhance his abilities; in his case, he was fitted with hollow air tubes that extend through his arms and open through his hands, allowing him to propel a combination of air pressure and sound in various ratios, controlled by his chakra.

Unlike his partners, a glance into his past and how Orochimaru recruited him was given, making him a far more dramatic character. The anime shows that he was an orphan living on the streets who hustled by stealing for a living, and was almost always beaten for it. Orochimaru had told him he had potential and liked the strength in his eyes. He refuses to give up, even at the cost of his own life.

Kin Tsuchi

Kin Tsuchi is also Genin-level ninja from the Hidden Sound Village. She takes part in the Chunin exam under orders from Orochimaru to kill Sasuke Uchiha. In the process her body gets taken over by Ino Yamanaka's mind-swapping technique, and she has to be knocked out by her own teammates. She uses a combination of bells, strings, and needles to confuse her enemies. In the anime, the bells caused genjutsu through sound waves, further confusing and disorientating her opponent.

In the third stage preliminaries she is matched against Shikamaru Nara, who defeats her through his Shadow Imitation Technique by contracting his shadow and minimizing it under the string attached to a needle she threw; she didn't notice that a string at that height wouldn't be able to cast a shadow. Shikamaru used his jutsu to bring her head into the wall while he was a different distance away. In the process, Kin received a concussion. Kin is later betrayed and murdered by Orochimaru in order to be one of the sacrifices needed to summon the First and Second Hokages from their graves with his Summoning: Impure World Resurrection.

Dosu Kinuta

Dosu is one of the three Genin from the Hidden Sound Village who entered the Chunin exam. Out of all of them, he is the strongest being the only one to get through the third part of the Chunin exam. They did not do this to become Chunin, but rather as part of a mission from Orochimaru to assassinate Sasuke Uchiha. Dosu was equipped with a special speaker tied to his wrist which served to amplify sound waves and dramatically strengthen his sound-based attacks.

Dosu wounded both Rock Lee and Kabuto Yakushi during the first and second exams by directing his sound into their inner ears. Both later recovered for their fights. In the preliminary examination, Dosu easily defeated Choji Akimichi. Dosu was largely a jealous person, attempting to kill Sasuke after realizing that Orochimaru's intentions were not as he had told them. Similarly, his attacking of Kabuto was a result of not being notified of Kabuto's affiliation. He seems to be loyal to Zaku and vice versa. After Zaku is maimed in the battle with Shino Aburame, Dosu says he will avenge him. Dosu and Zaku really didn't bother to help or sympathize with Kin after her possession by Ino and her defeat by Shikamaru. They even attacked her once!!