Along with the ninja training and fight for peace, Naruto is an anime often noted for its silly moments, led by characters with a great sense of humor. The main character himself, Naruto Uzumaki, grew up as the class clown, but luckily he's not the only ninja who knows how to crack a joke.
Like Naruto, some of his friends and allies have also learned the art of fun and humor. Though humor may not be as hardcore as ninjutsu, it is still an acquired skill that not all ninjas can master.
Updated on January 1st, 2021 by Josh Davison: Naruto is a downright funny series in many ways. There are a lot of entertaining characters that leave you laughing whenever they show up. Not every series can make that claim, and it's hard to balance humor with drama. However, Naruto is often very skilled at maintaining that balance. There are several characters who were comical at first glance but go on to make pivotal decisions and even gaining victory in intense battles later on.
15 Hidan: "I'll never die. Even if you destroy my body, and I'm left with nothing but my head…I'll escape somehow. And when I do, I'll find you and bite your throat out!"
Despite killing the beloved Asuma Sarutobi and causing general misery and mayhem across the Leaf Village, Hidan of the Akatsuki was actually a pretty funny character. He had an aloofness, sarcasm, and general apathy that can only come with immortality.
The above quote sounds fairly vicious and nasty, but it's pretty funny given the context. Shikamaru Nara, the student of Asuma, had managed to eviscerate Hidan and leave him in a hole in the ground. Shikamaru was just about to bury when Hidan, now only a head, screamed the above quote in the hopes of intimidating Shikamaru. It didn't work.
14 Konohamaru: "The only thing more important than wearing the right underwear to the doctor is wearing the right underwear into battle!"
Konohamaru Sarutobi was Naruto's number one fan as a young child, and he even learned the Rasengan jutsu from Naruto. He also learned the Sexy Jutsu from Naruto, which inevitably led to plenty of humor and awkwardness over the course of the series.
However, the above quote actually came from the spinoff, Rock Lee and His Ninja Pals. This was intended to be a comedic and chibi-styled companion to the main Naruto Shippuden series. It was a cute series of shorts, and this quote was easily one of the highlights.
13 Tobi: "Oh my, looks like you had a close call, Deidara. You okay? I guess not."
Tobi was a hapless assistant to the Akatsuki who was made into a full member after the group kept losing members. Of course, he was later to be Obito Uchiha and an agent of the deceased Madara Uchiha intended to push the Akatsuki into the direction that Madara intended.
However, the audience first met Tobi as an assistant to Deidara. After Deidara lost his second arm to Kakashi, he met up with Tobi and Zetsu. That's when Tobi delivered the above line, all the funnier considering that Deidara was disarmed in the most literal manner possible. Tobi was overall a fairly slapstick character and a good bit of comic relief until he started getting serious and got closer to revealing his true identity.
12 Suigetsu: "Alright, let's go conquer this world!"
Suigetsu was a member of Sasuke's renegade group consisting of himself, Suigetsu, Karin, and Jugo. Of the quartet, Suigetsu was the self-styled comedian. He had plenty of sarcastic lines and made every effort he could to get under Karin's skin.
The above line was especially funny coming from Suigetsu, as the audience got the distinct impression that he probably wasn't a true believer in Sasuke's dream. It was even funnier in the moment, as he made a decisive gesture with a spoon he was using at the time.
11 Shikamaru: "Laziness is the mother of all bad habits. But ultimately, she is a mother and we should respect her."
Shikamaru is easily the smartest shinobi of his generation. Unfortunately for everyone else, he was also the laziest. Shikamaru felt everything was a waste of effort and, above all else, a drag. However, over time, he proved himself to be a devoted and skilled shinobi, ultimately becoming Naruto's right-hand man when he became Hokage during the Boruto series.
The above quote is a good summation of Shikamaru's personality and philosophy. Laziness is a bad habit, but it's hard not to indulge it every once in a while.
10 Kiba: "I've got news for ya: I'm gonna be Hokage."
Not much was known about Kiba's character until the Chunin Exams, where he fought against Naruto for the first time. There, we learned that he has not only a dog but also jokes.
As a cocky young ninja who underestimated his opponent, Kiba ran his mouth to declare his superiority over Naruto before the match even began. And after hearing that Naruto's dream was to someday become Hokage, Kiba laughed at him, saying he'd become Hokage instead. The funny thing is that Kiba not only lost that fight but also never became Hokage - Naruto did.
9 Sakura: "I love you, Naruto."
Once upon a time, Sakura was madly in love with her teammate, Sasuke. She was so infatuated with him that she despised anyone who got in the way of their love, such as Naruto and Ino. Even when Sasuke abandoned her and their village, Sakura still remained hopeful that the love of her life would one day come back to her.
Several years later, Sakura, out of nowhere, told Naruto that she loved him, not Sasuke. She did this in order to convince Naruto to stop chasing after Sasuke but to be honest, no one was ever buying that lie. There was not a chance that Sakura would ever have a change of heart when it came to her love for Sasuke. The lie was so bad that it was funny.
8 Kushina: "By the way, does it really hurt??"
Kushina was the beautiful red-haired mother of Naruto, and like her son, she could be a little hot-headed at times but also had a natural knack for making others laugh.
As the jinchuriki of the Nine-Tailed Fox and a member of the Uzumaki clan, Kushina was always seen as a strong female ninja who could handle anything, including her Hokage husband, Minato. However, her greatest fear was revealed while she was pregnant with Naruto. With the most terrified look on her face, she asked Sasuke's mother if giving birth hurt. It was as if Kushina had never endured scarier or more painful things during life-or-death missions as a ninja.
7 Naruto: "My hobby is eating different kinds of ramen and comparing them."
Naruto may be known for his dream of becoming Hokage and his unconventional knucklehead ninja ways, but he's also just a guy who loves his ramen. And his love for ramen is something he's certainly not afraid to share with the world, in detail. The quote above is preceded by the lengthy description "I like instant ramen in a cup, and I really like the ramen Iruka Sensei got me at the Ichiraku Noodle Shop. But I hate the three minutes you have to wait after you pour the water in the ramen cup."
During Naruto's introduction to Team Seven at the beginning of the series, he talked about his likes, dislikes, and hobbies - all of which revolved around ramen. Though he did also briefly mention his goal of becoming Hokage, his severe ramen obsession was the biggest takeaway from that introduction.
6 Kakashi: "Things I like and things I hate... I don't feel like telling you that. My dreams for the future... Never really thought about it. As for my hobbies... I have lots of hobbies."
The leader of Team Seven, Kakashi, started out as a mystery to his students due to his mask and refusal to share any personal details about himself. The most Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura knew about their teacher was that he had a habit of being late and reading sketchy adult novels.
At the same time Naruto gave his ramen introduction to Team Seven, Kakashi introduced himself in the vaguest way possible. He didn't feel like telling them about his likes or dislikes, he supposedly never thought about his dreams, and he had a lot of unspecified hobbies. While Team Seven only learned about ramen from Naruto's introduction, they learned absolutely nothing from Kakashi's.
5 Rock Lee: "Okay, if I can catch all twenty of those leaves before they hit the ground, then Sakura will fall in love with me. But if I cannot, then she will never return my feelings!"
From the moment his character was first introduced, Lee has always carried a bit of comedy with him in his unique appearance and overly dramatic passion for training. What he lacks in ninjutsu and genjutsu, he makes up for in taijutsu and humor.
Even in the midst of the Chunin Exams, Lee took it upon himself to get in some extra training whenever an opportunity arose. Since he was in the Forest of Death, surrounded by trees, he made it a challenge to collect every single falling leaf before they touched the ground, and he used his hopeless crush on Sakura as motivation.
4 Might Guy: "Run into the setting sun. Run and suffer. But don't mess up your hair!"
Just as Lee made a memorable and hilarious first impression, his teacher, Guy, made an extremely flashy entrance that left Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and the audience in shock.
After Lee's first fight with Sasuke, Guy stepped in to scold his student for starting a fight and almost using a forbidden technique. As punishment, Guy not only smacked Lee in the face but also had a heartwarming moment with him against a sunset backdrop. He ended the scolding by inspiring Lee to run into the sunset for more training and discipline without messing up his hair!
3 Sai: Calling Sakura "Ugly" And Ino "Beautiful"
As a young shinobi who was raised as part of the Anbu, Sai was forced and trained to be emotionless for the sake of his assassin duties. But despite his dark childhood, his initial attempts at building friendships after joining Team Seven were genuine and also humorous at times.
To try and help Sai, Sakura suggested for him to use personal traits as a way to create nicknames for his friends. Sai responded by calling Sakura "ugly." However, after he was punched in the face for being too brutally honest, he learned to do the opposite by calling Ino "pretty," despite what he really thought about her.
2 Killer Bee: "I am peeking at you. See you're not quite through, but in all your crew, your brain cells are few."
Aside from being the jinchuriki of the Eight-Tails, Killer Bee was best known for his habit of rapping and rhyming. Even while battling the most dangerous enemies, he sure knew how to throw in some humor with his rhymes.
For example, when Sasuke and Taka were attempting to secure the Eight-Tails for the Akatsuki, Bee casually came up with some witty taunts as if it were a rap battle. To the members of Taka, he rapped, "I am peeking at you. See you're not quite through, but in all your crew, your brain cells are few." He was so inspired that he even stopped in the middle of his fight with Sasuke to write his new rhymes down in his little notebook.
1 Jiraiya: "I'm not a little pervert... I'm a BIG one."
Jiraiya was an elite ninja who was trained by the Third Hokage and later trained both the Fourth and Seventh Hokages. His one true weakness, however, was his very dirty mind and the perverted tendencies that came with it.
While he was supposed to be helping Naruto with his training, he was instead very distracted by beautiful women. When Naruto called him out for being a "lousy little pervert," Jiraiya responded by saying he wasn't a little pervert, but rather, a big one. At that point, Jiraiya must have just accepted his tendencies and learned to embrace them or at least tolerate them.