Naruto’s Most Heart Wrenching Moments

The Naruto franchise is preparing to introduce Boruto’s own “Shippuden” with a time skip and the arrival of Boruto: Two Blue Vortex. Focusing on a world that is far less kind toward Boruto Uzumaki, the upcoming season is sure to be fit with action and tragedy if it follows suit with the many arcs that have filled the shonen franchise’s history. To prepare fans for potential new tear-jerking moments, we here at ComicBook.com have taken the opportunity to amass some of the most heart-wrenching scenes from the series.

When it comes to the Boruto anime adaptation, Studio Pierrot had the series go on hiatus following the recent fight between Konoha and the latest incarnation of the Kara Organization. With Jigen dying in the fight against Naruto, Boruto, Sasuke, and Kawaki, the young antagonist Code has been attempting to get revenge for the loss of his mentor. Luckily, fans won’t have to wait too much longer to see the ninja world return to the anime medium as this September will see the release of four new episodes from the original Naruto series. 

The Death of Jiraiya

This one still hurts. Unlike series like Dragon Ball, Naruto is a shonen franchise that won’t often bring its characters back from the grave, permanently anyway. After Jiraiya had taught Naruto had to wield the Rasengan, the “Pervy Sage” made the decision to bring the fight to his former student-turned-villain known as Pain. While Naruto’s teacher was able to put up a good fight, Jiraiya died during the conflict and was never brought back from the dead, even via dark ninjutsu. While Jiraiya’s DNA lived on in the Kara Organization member known as Koji Kashin, Jiraiya’s demise is easily one of the biggest gut punches of the series.

The Sealing of The Nine-Tailed Fox

Naruto lived a life of isolation in the Hidden Leaf Village, as most of the ninja citizens knew that he harbored a monster inside of him. The Seventh Hokage’s parents were forced to place Kurama inside of their son to make sure that Konoha would be safe, but had lost their lives in the process. Luckily, Naruto was able to overcome his loneliness and work his way to becoming the head of the Hidden Leaf.

The Uchiha Farewell

Sasuke Uchiha’s mission throughout a good portion of Naruto has been getting revenge on his older brother Itachi for the murder of their clan. The dark member of Team 7 went to great lengths to get a crack at Itachi, leaving the Hidden Leaf and even spending years with the snake-like ninja known as Orochimaru. Sasuke was ultimately successful in killing his older brother, but would tragically learn that Itachi was actually working in benefit of Konoha and the youngest Uchiha had made a terrible mistake, making the moment all the more tragic.

The Death of Neji

While older characters like Jiraiya and Naruto’s parents passed free from this mortal coil, but the final fight of Naruto: Shippuden threw a bombshell into the series by eliminating Neji. In the fight against Madara Uchiha and Obito, Hinata’s cousin found himself dying during the battle and making amends with Naruto before he passed this mortal coil. Like Jiraiya, Neji would never return to the series but was recently revisited thanks to an anime-only storyline that saw both Boruto and Sasuke traveling to Konoha’s past.

Nine Tails No More

Well what do you know? Boruto: Naruto Next Generations was in fact able to make the list. The Nine-Tailed Fox for quite some time was a major threat to both Naruto and the Hidden Leaf Village, with the shonen hero constantly worried about Kurama taking over his body. Over the year, Naruto and the Nine-Tails were able to strike a peace, and in the Seventh Hokage’s adulthood, Kurama would routinely lend him some extra chakra. While fighting against Jigen, the Nine-Tails gave Naruto his strongest transformation to date, the Baryon Mode, which was instrumental in defeating the Kara Organization but came with a terrible price. The Nine-Tailed Fox died, having a tragic heart-to-heart with Naruto before he did, making for one of the most heart-wrenching moments of the shonen franchise to date.