The Naruto anime shows the ups and downs that come with living in a world of ninja. On one hand, it can be fun to walk on water, control fire, or trick people with doppelgangers. On the other hand, ninja life also can be pretty brutal when it comes to war, grief, and making impossible decisions.

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As a result of all the war and conflict that comes with being a ninja, many characters of the series have dealt with tragic backstories that helped define who they were, whether they liked it or not. While some characters were born into unfortunate circumstances, others were forced into tough situations somewhere along the way. That is the unfortunate reality of being a ninja.

Updated On November 6, 2020 By Amanda Bruce: The Naruto franchise seriously lends itself to tragic backstories. Tragedy leads to incredible motivation and storylines for the characters. These particular characters have even more tragic backstories than most of the large cast of characters that populate Naruto's story. Because of this, we've collected some additional characters with some pretty brutal origins.

15 Hinata

hinata blushing from naruto

Hinata was one of the sweetest and most softspoken characters of the original series. Her shy demeanor hid a pretty dark childhood.

As a Hyuga, Hinata was raised to be a fierce fighter, but Hinata's heart wasn't really in it. When she wasn't willing to hurt her little sister in a fight, her father effectively cast her out, not caring about her, because he didn't think she'd ever be fit to lead their family. Hinata struggled to master basic shinobi skills without someone who believed in her for a long time.

14 Obito

Obito In Naruto

Obito, who eventually became known as the Akatsuki member Tobi, didn't have the worst childhood, but he did have some pretty horrible formative experiences. Those experiences were largely the result of him being teamed up with Kakashi as a young shinobi.

Kakashi and Obito didn't see eye-to-eye on how to be a team player. When Obito ended up crushed by a rock while on a mission, he gave Kakashi one of his eyes, and encouraged him to keep going to help their other teammate. Obito was eventually saved from the pinned rock, but after his lengthy healing process, witnessed Kakashi kill their teammate Rin. It was tragedy piled on tragedy for him.

13 Konohamaru

Konohamaru And Naruto

Konohamaru was such a fun character in the original series that fans might not have really put much thought into his family life. He didn't have the greatest luck.

Both of Konohamaru's parents were gone, and presumably, he was being raised by his grandfather. Unfortunately, his grandfather was killed by Orochimaru while Konohamaru was deemed too young to help defend the village. While still in training, he then lost his uncle in a battle with Akatsuki members. By the time he was old enough to pass his Chunin Exams, Konohamaru had already lost everyone he cared about. It's no wonder that he looked up to Naruto.

12 Anko

anko chunin exams naruto

When she was first introduced, plenty of fans thought Anko was going to be a much larger part of Naruto's story. She was, after all, a major player in a lot of filler episodes regarding the search for Orochimaru.

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Over the course of her appearances in the anime, it was revealed that Anko hadn't just been one of Orochimaru's students, but his best pupil. She survived and withstood his cursed seal, but that's not all. Anko spent her formative years being experimented on by Orochimaru and the darkness she experienced fueled her hatred of him by the time she proctored Naruto's Chunin Exams.

11 Kimimaro

Kimimaro Using His Bone Kekkei Genkai Against Lee

Kimimaro might have been a villain, but that doesn't mean he didn't experience his share of tragedy. His rise to villainy wasn't  pursuit of power, but simply falling in with the wrong person.

Kimimaro, much like Naruto, was feared by people around him as a result of his power. He wasn't completely abandoned, however. Instead, Kimimaro was locked in a cage for much of his childhood. Orochimaru was the first person who exhibited faith in him, making Kimimaro a loyal servant.

10 Tsunade

When Naruto and Jiraiya first set out to search for Tsunade, she seemed to care more about gambling that becoming the Fifth Hokage of the village she had fled. However, it's due to incidents from the Second Shinobi War that she gained a more pessimistic view regarding the ninja world.

In the Second Shinobi War, Tsunade lost her younger brother Nawaki, and lover, Dan, who both had dreamed of someday becoming Hokage and changing the world for the better. Tsunade felt especially responsible for Dan's death in her inability to heal his fatal wound, leading to her severe fear of blood.

9 Haku

Haku in Naruto.

In the Land of Water, anyone who possessed kekkei genkai were feared and hated. Haku unknowingly revealed his kekkei genkai to his family, which prompted his father to turn on both him and his mother. In the end, Haku was forced to kill his own father, who had already killed his mother.

This left Haku as an orphan on the streets. He was eventually picked up by Zabuza, though he was raised to be a weapon with little emotion. Still, Haku remained loyal to the assassin who embraced his kekkei genkai powers.

8 Neji

The Hyuga Clan has a family tradition in which certain members are born with the duty to protect the main house. Neji and his father were amongst the clan members who were expected to do this, and their foreheads were branded with an awful seal to make it official.

After Neji's father died to protect Hinata's father, Neji felt it was unfair to live or die without a choice. Because of this, he held a grudge against Hinata until Naruto convinced him otherwise.

7 Naruto

The life of an orphan child is never easy, but Naruto's childhood came with the added twist of the Nine-Tailed Fox sealed inside of him. Despite his direct involvement in saving Konohagakure from the rampaging fox, Naruto was ironically hated by the entire village for that reason.

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For the longest time, the villagers misunderstood Naruto and the Nine-Tails, seeing them both as an evil threat. This was so far from the truth, but Naruto had to suffer the pain of loneliness because no one cared to set the record straight.

6 Sai

Sai plans his attack in Naruto: Shippuden

When Sai was first introduced as a new member of Team Seven, it was apparent to Naruto and Sakura that he had a difficult time with his social skills and emotions. This was because Sai grew up in the Anbu as a part of Root.

Under Danzo's guidance and training, Sai learned to have no emotion or personality for the sake of fulfilling assassinations without hesitation. To finish his Root training, he was expected to kill his close friend, who instead died by illness to spare the last bit of Sai's emotions.

5 Gaara

naruto gaara

As a jinchuriki, Gaara grew up under similar circumstances to Naruto. He was not an orphan, though his mother died shortly after his birth and his father tried on multiple occasions to kill him.

However, the most tragic part of Gaara's backstory involves his uncle, Yashamaru. After his mother's death, Gaara was left under the care of Yashamaru who showed him love and affection when no one else would. Unfortunately, there came a point when even Yashamaru turned on Gaara, leaving him void of any love in his childhood.

4 Kakashi

Kakashi Hatake Jonin

Kakashi's infamous bell exercise might have been passed down from generation to generation, but he modified it to reflect a lesson he learned as a young shinobi.

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After seeing his father commit suicide for failing a mission to save his comrades, Kakashi came to be a stickler for the rules. This changed when the deaths of his closest friends, Obito and Rin, reminded him to prioritize the lives of his allies over everything else.

3 Nagato

Nagato Uzumaki's Rinnegan in Naruto

As Pain, Nagato was one of the most destructive enemies that Naruto encountered throughout the series. While he sought peace with the formation of the Akatsuki, his intentions and beliefs were founded upon his experience as an orphan.

During the Second Shinobi War, Nagato's parents were killed in front of his eyes by enemy ninjas. Shortly after, he met fellow orphans, Konan and Yahiko, who helped him form the Akatsuki. Nagato didn't reach his lowest point until Yahiko's life was taken in the next Shinobi War.

2 Sasuke

Initially, Sasuke knew what it was like to have a caring family and always looked up to his brother, Itachi. At the same time, he was unaware of the dark side of his own clan.

When Itachi murdered the rest of the Uchiha Clan, Sasuke was understandably hit with shock, grief, and anger. It was that very event that caused Sasuke to pursue the dark path of revenge.

1 Itachi

Itachi crying after slaughtering clan and leaving Sasuke in Naruto.

Perhaps the only person who had it worse than Sasuke was his older brother, Itachi. Itachi was initially painted as a villain to the village and murderer of his own clan, but as it would turn out, he didn't really have any other option.

Torn between his beloved village and family, Itachi secretly assisted the village in eliminating his own clan who had been plotting a coup. Given the severity of the situation, this was the only way he believed he could at least spare the life of his little brother.

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