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Naruto Uzumaki is undeniably one of the strongest main characters of any anime. He reached the top spot as Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village thanks to his hard work and determination. He went from someone who could barely form clones to becoming the protector of the village. In short, Naruto has come a long way.
But with all his strength and skills, did Naruto kill anyone? And if so, who does Naruto kill?
Naruto is one of the kindest MCs out there, and he prefers to talk things out, but he does use violence when necessary. Surprisingly, he has, canonically at least, only killed one person so far: Yura of the Sand Village. We think that Naruto put the nail in Yura’s coffin, but many fans still doubt that fact. We’ll tell you why in just a minute.
Apart from Yura, Naruto killed a few characters during the filler arcs, but those don’t count because they aren’t part of the canon story.
How many people did Naruto Kill?
Naruto technically has only killed one person. And his first canon kill has a lot of controversy surrounding it. Many fans believe that he didn’t actually kill Yura. However, there’s no doubt that the great Shinobi played a massive role in the deaths of many characters—even if he didn’t deal the final blow.
A great example of this would be the Hidden Mist Village Shinobi, Raiga, who Naruto almost killed. In that battle, Naruto’s Rasengan was incredibly powerful. It launched Raiga off a cliff, and in the end, Raiga killed himself as he knew he would die anyway.
Raiga’s daughter blamed Naruto for her father’s death and vowed vengeance, but Naruto isn’t exactly to blame here, is he? It’s up to the fans to decide. As you can see, trying to decide how many kills Naruto has is a bit tricky. But we still stand by our count of one kill as the definitive number.
Unless, of course, you count the filler arcs. Naruto has killed countless main villains and supporting characters in filler episodes, but they aren’t canon.
Who did Naruto kill?
Naruto is famous for inspiring even the worse villains to have a change of heart.
For that reason, many fans believe that Naruto is not a killer and has never killed anyone. However, there is one person that Naruto did kill, and that is Yura… but his death holds a bit of controversy.
The situation was questionable, considering the fact that Yura wasn’t acting on his own. Pain used his Jutsu on him to shapeshift his body into a very accurate-looking clone of Itachi Uchiha.
So, many fans believe that by the time Naruto killed him using his Rasengan, Yura was already dead. Therefore, all Naruto did was remove Pain’s Jutsu from Yura’s body, returning him to his original state.
If you believe this, then Naruto never really landed the finishing blow on Yura. But nothing has been said canonically about this. So, in our opinion, Naruto’s kill count is 1.
Naruto got extremely close to killing people numerous times, but someone else almost always deals the final blow. Let’s take a look at the fights where Naruto almost killed his foe.
Did Naruto Kill Haku?
The Haku and Zabuza arc is filled with emotional scenes and battles that keep you on the edge of your seat. Naruto’s fight against Haku is quite intense, as Haku wields far greater power than both Naruto and Sasuke combined.
The tables turn when Naruto thinks that Haku killed Sasuke, awakening his nine-tails chakra, which provides him with unimaginable strength. The young Shinobi then manages to defeat Haku, but even then, Naruto isn’t the one who kills him.
When Haku saw that Zabuza’s life was in danger, he selflessly threw himself in front of Kakashi’s lightning-cutter attack. In the end, it was Kakashi Hatake who killed him and not Naruto. What’s more, even when Haku asks Naruto to kill him, the protagonist still argues against the idea, believing that it’s not the Shinobi way to mindlessly kill anyone.
Did Naruto kill Kakazu?
Asuma’s death left quite a scar on the hearts of everyone, especially the Team 10 Shinobis. But they didn’t sit still and do nothing about it. Team 10 decides to take revenge on Kakuzu and Hidan under the supervision of Kakashi, and Team 7 joins them with Captain Yamato.
Naruto and the others arrived just in time to save team 10 from Kakuzu’s powerful attack. To protect everyone, Naruto demonstrates the strength of his new attack, Rasen Shuriken, which deals incredible damage to Kakazu.
The attack was so powerful that initially, it looked like it ended Kakuzu’s life and that Naruto had finally killed someone. However, we later learn that it was Kakashi who actually killed Kakazu using his famous lightning Jutsu, Chidori.
Undoubtedly, Naruto’s Rasen Shuriken dealt significant damage to the Shinobi, weakening him considerably, but it was still not enough to end his life. Hence, this can be counted as a time when Naruto got extremely close to killing his opponent, but somebody else took the kill.
Did Naruto Kill Pain?
Pain, real name Nagato, is one of the major villains of the series. An entire arc was dedicated to him. His attack on the Hidden Leaf Village showed fans true hopelessness as he even managed to kill the Legendary Sanin, Jiraiya. One of his terrifying Jutsu is the six paths of Pain. This Jutsu allows him to generate six more Pains apart from the real one.
Naruto Uzumaki’s arrival completely shifted the battle as he defeated all six of the Pains. However, killing those Pains can’t really be considered as they were not the real Pain. They were like mirror images guided by Pain’s chakra in their body. What’s more, Naruto didn’t kill the real Pain either.
The future Hokage uses “Talk-no-Justu” on Nagato and hears his side of the story. The villain’s traumatic past left an impact on Naruto, as he too could relate to it. Both of them were Jiraya’s pupils, the legendary Shinobi who deeply cared for peace.
Naruto’s infamous “Talk-no-Jutsu” was successful and Nagato decided to make things right by resurrecting all the people he killed and those who died with him.
Naruto took a significant step to end the cycle of hatred by not killing Nagato, who had already suffered a lot. The damage dealt by Pain could not be altered, but Naruto allowed him to make a difference which reduced the pain in Nagato’s aching heart.
The Pain vs. Naruto fight made many fans realize that killing is not the only path to peace. Although Naruto held more than enough power to take Pain down, it would have resulted in more problems arising.
Did Naruto Kill Fuka?
Yes, Naruto did kill Fuka, but fans don’t count this kill as canon because she’s a character from a filler arc. She appears in the Twelve Guardian Ninja Filler arc, where she’s part of the grave robbers responsible for digging the graves of the dead Guardian Ninjas.
She plans on destroying Konoha with the other robbers and comes face-to-face with Naruto Uzumaki. In their first fight, Fuka tries to kiss Naruto to suck out all his chakra, but she quickly backs off, realizing the presence of an evil Chakra.
After a few days, she again has to fight Naruto when her team decides to destroy the Village. As the two go head-to-head, Fuka unleashed her full power, including the ability to switch bodies, giving Naruto an extremely tough time.
However, the Shinobi managed to detect her weakness—her hair. Naruto uses his Rasengan to put an end to the fight by targeting her hair, destroying her soul, and ultimately killing her.
This is one of the rare times Naruto actually killed someone, but as it’s not canon, we can’t add it to his kill count.
Why did Naruto kill only one person?
Canonically speaking, Naruto only landed the final blow on Yura and no one else, though many fans doubt that as well. In other cases, Naruto would badly damage his opponents but never land the killing blow.
Why was Naruto against landing the death blow?
Firstly, the young Shinobi has always been a kind person who prefers to save the lives of even the worst villains. Most of the time, he finds a way to get through to them with his words, changing them for the better.
However, there have been times when Naruto intended to kill, like in the case of Kakazu. In this battle, he thought he had dealt the fatal blow. In the end, it was Kakashi who killed Kakazu, but the villain probably would’ve died from Naruto’s attack even if Kakashi hadn’t finished him off.
So, Naruto sometimes avoids killing out of compassion—and sometimes someone else just beats him to the punch. That sounds about right to us, considering how complex of a character Naruto is. He’s changed quite a lot throughout the series. He’s always been a good-hearted boy, but with the Nine-Tails inside of him, we never truly know what he’s capable of!
Jack
Jack is an avid anime enthusiast with a passion for all things Japanese culture. He spends his days watching the latest series, reading manga, and discussing the merits of his favorite characters with his friends. When he's not writing (or debating) about manga and anime, Jack can be found playing video games or practicing Ju-Jitsu. Despite his nerdy interests, Jack is confident and outgoing. He's always eager to share his enthusiasm with others.