For all its action, adventure, and humor, Naruto is a fairly dark manga that explores war, death, betrayal, manipulation, and many other heavy topics.
From the beginning to its end, Naruto is littered with dark moments that tackle subjects like the pain and suffering of war and the hardships that must be confronted after a war ends. Series creator Masashi Kishimoto cleverly explores these darker themes by tightly integrating them into the story via character backgrounds and motivations. Nevertheless, all things considered, some moments are darker and more disturbing than others.
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10 Naruto’s Birth
This first disturbing situation is fundamental to Naruto’s story, establishing the prejudice and discrimination that jinchuriki endure. The jinchuriki are humans chosen to serve as hosts of parts of the Ten-Tailed Beast, a violent, massive monster that terrorized the world in ancient times. Like Naruto, the ninja world’s other jinchuriki were often chosen as children and had no say in the decision to make them the host. The problem is that becoming a jinchuriki is not a reward. Instead, it’s a curse. As the literal embodiment of the monster that caused so much pain and suffering, the jinchuriki are hated. This exposes the widespread prejudice and discrimination, towards children, which is a basic and accepted tradition in the ninja world.
9 Itachi’s Torture of Sasuke
Fans of Naruto know how Itachi’s slaughter of the Uchihas made Sasuke determined to become the strongest ninja possible, inevitably leading him down a tragic path in life. So, considering Sasuke’s sensitivity to the situation, it is incredibly disturbing when Itachi, in Naruto #147, activates Tsukuyomi and forces Sasuke to relive the death of their parents and their clan. Naturally, forcing him to relive his most traumatic experience should tell finds that despite his good intentions, Itachi was ruthless in still carrying out his plan.
Related: Naruto: Itachi’s Original Design Makes The Anti-Hero Much More Sinister
8 Kakashi Kills Rin
Manipulation is the name of the game in Naruto, and one of the most shocking examples of this was Madera’s manipulation of Obito. Sensing Obito’s ambivalence to his plan to transform the world. Madara played on both Obito’s feelings for Rin and Rin’s responsibilities as a ninja. By making Rin a jinchuriki that would be released upon her return to Konoha, Madara guessed that she would sacrifice herself before she would allow that to happen. In Naruto #604 Madara also facilitated the arrival of Obito just in time to see Kakashi punch a hole in Rin’s chest, not knowing that it was Rin who actually jumped in front of Kakashi’s punch to sacrifice herself for her community. As a result, Obito gave up his dream of returning to Konoha and from then onward became a willing assistant to Madara’s plans.
7 The Real Reason Itachi Slaughtered the Uchiha Clan
For most of his life, Sasuke believed that his brother went rogue and killed his entire family because he was evil. However, in Naruto #397 after Itachi’s death, Obito disguised as Tobi informed him of the real reason behind Itachi’s actions in Naruto, namely the age-old prejudice against the Uchihas and the machinations of Danzo who forced Itachi to kill his own family. At that moment, Sasuke realized that he had wasted nearly all his life, since his family’s death, wrongfully hating and hunting his brother, as well as foregoing his friendships. In addition, it also instantly repurposed his built-up hate and turned it towards the elimination of Konoha Village despite the fact that would mean the destruction of his former friends there.
6 Madara’s Betrayal of Hashirama
In a story where betrayals are commonplace, perhaps the most disturbing was Madara’s betrayal in Naruto #621 of the goal he shared with Hashirama. Both had fought one another multiple times but rather than increase in intensity, the conflicts developed a shared disgust with war and the useless pain it causes. Ultimately, after they became the leaders of their clans they decided to put away their differences and join together as one. It was this agreement that lead to the founding of Konoha Village. Unfortunately, Hashirama’s popularity with the villages rubbed Madara the wrong way until ultimately he chose to renew the violence and distrust between the families.
Related: Naruto’s Biggest Mystery: Who Killed the Series’ Strongest Ninja
5 Orichimaru’s Experiments
While once a former top-level member of Konoha’s elite, Orochimaru’s turn to the “dark side” is one of the darkest moments in Naruto’s past. However, even more disturbing than his choice to abandon his life as a Konoha ninja and, in essence, become a terrorist, is his kidnapping of hundreds of children and experimentation on them to achieve immortality. Not only does this illustrate how harsh it was to be a child in the ninja world, a trend that continues throughout the saga and into the next generation, but also a particularly frightening moment when considering some of the results of Orochimaru’s experiments, and the effects It’s had on the minds of those under his command. Indeed, while Sasuke was not physically kidnapped, he was manipulated and groomed to be sacrificed for Orochimaru’s glory. Using children in this capacity regardless of the goal is a dirty, dirty business.
4 Sasuke Mortally Wounds Karin
In Naruto #480, after being outmaneuvered and outmatched by a Sasuke bent on vengeance, Danzo grabs hold of Karin and threatens to kill her if Sasuke does not stand down. Without hesitation, Sasuke moved forward and strikes Danzo through Karin, seriously injuring Karin while commenting that by getting captured she became useless to him. While this would have been a dark scene regardless of the connections between Karin and Sasuke, it was made even more by the fact that Karin not only loved Sasuke but was one of his trusted subordinates on the Taka team, who consistently demonstrated her massive and unconditional support for her leader. Outside the fact that he killed one of his top team members because he was so intent on killing Danzo was the fact that he actually seemed to enjoy the double kill.
3 Jiraiya’s Death By Pain’s Hand
Pain, whose original name is Nagato, was one of three orphans found by Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Tsunade. Rather than abandon them to their circumstances, Jiraiya took them under his wing and taught them the ways of the ninja. They would go on to become competent ninjas in their own right. However, due to the machinations of Madara Uchiha who transplanted his Rinnegan into Nagato as a baby, and Obito – Madara’s discipline, Nagato was influenced, corrupted, and made to believe that violence was the key to bringing about the peace he had always dreamed of achieving. Jiraiya was sent to spy on the plans of Pain’s organization, the Akatsuki, but was discovered by Pain and attacked. The darkness of the moment captures how times had changed. Jiraiya could have easily killed Nagato all those years ago but chose not to. As a result, the student he nurtured ends up killing him with little remorse.
2 Sasuke’s Attempted Murder of Sakura
Sasuke and Sakura’s relationship in Naruto is one of the most complex in the story. Despite Sasuke’s continued disdain, Sakura’s love for him not only never dimmed but only grew stronger. More than a few times Sakura did all that she could to put Sasuke in the best place to survive and succeed. However, In Naruto #483, despite her unmatched feeling for him, Sasuke still doubted her feelings and orders her to prove it by killing Karin. Amazingly, she agrees to do it but when she slightly hesitates, Sasuke moves in for the kill and is only stopped by the intervention of his former teacher Kakashi. Considering all the history between Sasuke and Sakura, and her feelings for him, that he’d summarily kill her is darker than dark.
1 Naruto vs. Sasuke
The darkest moment of the saga came when Naruto faces off against Sasuke one last time. Not only was it the fact that the childhood friends who had grown so close during their early years were now fighting each other so viciously, but it was also disturbing based on Naruto’s lifelong belief and support for Sasuke, a person he believed was not that much different from himself. While under different circumstances, their friendship, and the powers that they possessed could have been the combination to finally bring peace to the ninja nation, instead they were being used to tear each other apart
In a saga built on tragedy, violence, and manipulation, it is no wonder that Naruto is filled with dark moments. However, it’s ultimately those dark events that make all the moments of levity and hope so much more powerful. Naruto’s darkest moments are ultimately part of what makes it such a groundbreaking piece of shonen.
