With such an expansive world of ninja, Naruto is filled with a variety of characters who have left strong impressions on the fandom. Some characters are loved for their bright personalities or mysterious tragic pasts. Meanwhile, other characters are hated for their irrational behavior or lack of character development. There are even certain characters, like Naruto and Sasuke, who seem to have the fandom divided between love and hate.
But there are some characters out there that we as a fandom can all agree to love or hate. Here are the characters every fan loves alongside some who get a little too much hate.
Updated August 15th, 2020 by Josh Davison: In the time since the publication of this article, we've given even more thought to the idea of which Naruto characters the wider world of the fandom have come together to praise and loathe across the series, especially with the additional story brought to the Naruto Ninja World by Boruto. There are many new characters in Boruto that attracted fan ire and fan obsession, especially given how Boruto has drawn controversy since it kicked off. As such, we added in more entries to take a look at the most loved and hated characters of Boruto.
14 Hated: Boruto
In some kind of grand and tragic irony, Boruto is among the most frequently complained-about characters across the Naruto fandom. While some do praise how complex Boruto feels in the protagonist role compared to his famed father, most fans find Boruto Uzumaki frustrating and annoying.
As the story goes on, this may be rectified as we see how Boruto's story changes and develops, as it feels like there is a very long way to go still for Boruto's saga. However, poor Boruto, for now, ranks at the top of many fans' most hated list in his own show.
13 Loved: Momoshiki Ōtsutsuki
Momoshiki has become many fans' favorite villain since he appeared in Boruto and helped usher in more background to Kaguya, Naruto: Shippuden's final big bad that seemingly came out of nowhere at the end of the series (despite distant relation to Sound Ninja Kimmimaro Kaguya).
Momoshiki has brought a new level of danger and fear to the world of Boruto. It no longer seems that Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura are powerful enough to defeat any shinobi that gets in their way. Boruto doesn't start back from zero with threats like Mizuki, the Demon Brothers, and Haku like Naruto--we are still dealing with enemies on par with Kaguya, Madara, and Obito.
12 Hated: Anko Mitarashi
Anko Mitarashi was a character often beloved in Naruto despite not being featured all that frequently in Naruto, Naruto: Shippuden, or Boruto. However, Boruto has featured some changes to the character's aesthetic that are complained about across the fandom all too often. The nature of these complains is often problematic, and if there's one troublingly common thread between them, it's that they don't tend to stem from a place of maturity or merit.
11 Loved: Sarada Uchiha
While many lamented her perpetually angsty father and severely over-hated mother in Naruto and Naruto: Shippuden, Sarada Uchiha is one of the most beloved characters in Boruto.
One of the main reasons for this is almost certainly how Sarada's personality cuts against the grain of Sasuke and Sakura's characters. She's not like her parents, and she keeps the legacy of the Sharingan going, seeing as every other Sharingan-wielder outside of Sasuke and the Ōtsutsuki is either dead or no longer have it like Kakashi.
10 Hated: Kabuto
Kabuto started out as the highly intelligent spy and right-hand man of Orochimaru, but something about him was always a little off. As it would turn out, Kabuto intended on becoming the "perfect" ninja, whatever that might have entailed. But in the end, he just became a worse version of his buddy, Orochimaru.
By infusing parts of Orochimaru within his own body, Kabuto transformed into a more snake-like fiend with sharp eyes that very much resembled Orochimaru's. While he did become arguably stronger than his fellow snake ninja, many fans were not impressed by Kabuto's inability to be his own person until after Itachi's genjutsu knocked some sense into him.
9 Loved: Neji
Initially, Neji came off as an arrogant genius who had beef with Hinata and his clan. He nearly dealt a fatal blow to his own cousin during the Chunin Exams, but after meeting Naruto, he changed for the better and became a fan favorite.
When Neji told Naruto that he was born with the purpose of protecting and dying for Hinata, Naruto opened his eyes to the possibility of him forging his own path as opposed to accepting his tragic fate for what it was. In the end, Neji had one of the most heartbreaking deaths in anime, dying while protecting both Naruto and Hinata--a fate he chose rather than accepted.
8 Hated: Iruka
Iruka was Naruto's favorite academy teacher who also served as the orphan's father-figure, often treating him to his favorite ramen shop. If it weren't for Iruka, Naruto quite possibly could have fallen into the darkness when no one else was there to show him love and compassion.
But despite Iruka's important role at the very beginning of the anime, his character was quickly tossed aside for the rest of the series. For someone who seemed so crucial to Naruto's growth, Iruka didn't contribute much as a shinobi aside from teaching at the academy.
7 Loved: Kakashi
Everyone loves a cool, confident, and mysterious ninja, and that's exactly who Kakashi was. Right off the bat, he was an incredibly talented shinobi and teacher with a lot of dark secrets hiding behind that mask of his.
When Kakashi first stressed the importance of prioritizing the lives of one's allies over the success of a mission, it was apparent that he, too, had personally faced the tragic consequence of doing the opposite. As Kakashi learned from the deaths of his closest friends, Obito and Rin, he swore to never let any more of his comrades die--an admirable vow to live by.
6 Hated: Konohamaru
Before he became a respectable teacher in the anime's spin-off, Boruto, Konohamaru was the biggest Naruto fanboy ever. While everyone else stayed away from the Nine-Tailed Fox kid, Konohamaru would always follow Naruto, pretending to be a stealthy ninja with his cheap camouflage disguises.
Whenever he saw Naruto with a special jutsu, such as his Sexy Jutsu and Rasengan, Konohamaru would just copy him and learn the same techniques out of envy. He was the Naruto mini-me that no one asked for. Rather than cute, it was actually pretty annoying.
5 Loved: Lee
Naruto might have been the underdog who was deemed a failure in his days at the ninja academy, but Rock Lee perhaps had he biggest disadvantage in his ninja training due to his lack of any kind of ninjutsu or genjutsu. He could only use taijutsu, hand-to-hand combat, but that would be what made him special.
While many young ninjas were born in clans with special traits like Sasuke's Sharingan or secret jutsu like Shikamaru's Shadow Technique, Lee had only his strong work ethic and a supportive teacher in Might Guy. As someone who still became a "splendid ninja" with taijutsu alone, Lee proved to everyone that hard work pays off.
4 Hated: Sakura
Whether it's due to her unhealthy obsession with Sasuke or how she tended to hold her teammates back, Sakura never had the largest fanbase out there. She did get a lot stronger after training with Tsunade, but that newfound strength didn't make up for her Sasuke agenda.
She was so hung up on Sasuke that she practically allowed it to dictate how she functioned as a character. All of her actions and decisions were based on how Sasuke made her feel. When she was in love with him, she became a ninja to get closer to him, begged him to stay when he left the village and trained for the sake of bringing him home. When she decided she "hated" him, she made it her personal mission to kill him, though she failed at that too.
3 Loved: Jiraiya
In addition to being one of the funniest characters of the series, Jiraiya also won the hearts of fans with both his humor and role as Naruto's mentor. He called himself a big pervert, but even more than that, he was a pretty good guy at heart.
As the former teacher of Minato, Naruto's father, Jiraiya built a special connection with Naruto in the absence of his father. He taught Naruto how to use Rasengan, a jutsu originally created by Minato, and guided him down the right path to saving the ninja world. His death was a painful one like Neji's, but he left a legacy behind for Naruto to carry on.
2 Hated: Obito
Obito was one of the main villains behind the Akatsuki with a lot of hatred brewing within him, but believe it or not, he was not always a hateful or hated man. In fact, he was once beloved and regarded as a hero.
After teaching Kakashi to prioritize his allies over his missions, Obito was smashed and presumably killed by a boulder. He was supposed to have died as a hero who saved his best friend. But as it would turn out, Obito actually survived the boulder incident and threw away all his love and heroism under Madara's evil influence.
1 Loved: Itachi
As the one person Sasuke wanted to kill since the beginning of the series, Itachi was immediately painted as the cold-blooded villain who slaughtered his own clan. He was dark and mysterious, and yet, he still managed to touch our hearts when the whole truth came out about his motives.
Because of the rising tension between the Uchiha Clan and the village, Itachi attempted to settle the matter peacefully, but when that didn't work, he chose to side with the village by killing his own clan. That was the only way Itachi could spare the life of his little brother, Sasuke, whom he could never bring himself to kill.