Masashi Kishimoto, the creator of Naruto, has never been shy of killing off characters in his series. In fact, where other mangaka shy away from killing off their characters, Kishimoto often does it because Naruto is much darker than some other stories out there.
Over time, we've had to deal with lots of deaths in Naruto with nearly all of them being painful, to say the least. Although there are more than just 10 shocking deaths in this series, we've tried to pick the 10 most startling ones that we've seen to date. Here are the 10 most shocking deaths that we've seen in Naruto.
Updated on September 4th, 2020 by Josh Davison: Despite the series being over, Naruto continues to be one of the most popular and widely discussed anime in the world. Some of this is thanks to the continuation through Boruto, but Naruto keeps getting a bulk of the attention regardless of what's going on in Boruto right now. One of the things that made Naruto a compelling anime is the fact that characters could and, frequently, would die. Characters that were well-rounded and fully established would get wiped out in oftentimes grisly fashions. With that in mind, five more entries have been added to the list to spotlight more shocking deaths from Naruto.
15 Shikaku Nara And Inoichi Yamanaka
Shikaku and Inoichi were of the generation of shinobi that came before Naruto's, and they had become renowned for their teamwork as two-thirds of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio of that generation. However, their position in the series didn't make them bulletproof.
Their deaths still came as a bit of a shock. They were helping coordinate the Allied Shinobi Forces in the Fourth Great Ninja War until the Ten-Tailed Beast realized where they were communicating plans from. The Ten-Tails launched an attack at their headquarters, and Shikaku and Inoichi both knew they didn't have time to make a getaway. So, they sent out final orders, said farewell to their children, and accepted their fates.
14 Zabuza Momochi (Resurrected)
Zabuza Momochi was the first main antagonist of Naruto and died at the end of the "Land of Waves" arc. However, both Zabuza and his protege, Haku, were resurrected by Kabuto's Edo Tensei jutsu. Neither Zabuza nor Haku were in control of their actions at this point, and they made it known to their foes, Kakashi and Might Guy, that they were at peace and wanted to return.
This, along with Zabuza's genuine concern and respect for Kakashi, Naruto, and the rest of Team 7, is what made Zabuza's second death shocking. One would think that he would have a grudge against Team 7 over the circumstances of his own demise, but he instead showed concern for them and even happiness in learning that Naruto was living a good life.
13 Shishui Uchiha
Shisui Uchiha died years before the events of Naruto. He was close friends with Itachi Uchiha, and he was one of the few Uchiha completely against the planned coup against Konoha. He had one of his Sharingan Eyes stolen by Danzo, who later pushed for Itachi to wipe out the Uchiha.
In the end, Shishui couldn't handle what was becoming of the Uchiha Clan. He gave his Mangekyo Sharingan to Itachi, and Shishui took his own life. In this case, it's more the manner of Shisui's death than the actual occurrence that made it so shocking. It was tragic and downright heartbreaking.
12 Kimmimaro Kaguya
Kimmimaro Kaguya was one of Orochimaru's most powerful followers at the time, and he was the head of the Sound Five. When Sasuke fled Konoha to learn from Orochimaru, Kimmimaro helped ensure that Sasuke would be able to make his journey without being taken back home. This lead to Kimmimaro facing down Rock Lee and Gaara of the Sand.
Kimmimaro's Kekkei Genkai made him an immensely powerful foe, and the audience learns of Kimmimaro's tragic backstory, including his fatal congenital disease. Despite that, it looked like he was going to kill Gaara and Rock Lee until that disease killed Kimmimaro right before he could land the killing blow.
11 Gaara Of The Sand
Gaara's death came at the beginning of Naruto: Shippuden after he was kidnapped by Deidara and Sasori of the Akatsuki. They extracted the One-Tailed Shukaku from Gaara, and the process killed him.
This was shocking, as so much had gone into showing Gaara's reform. Plus, he was the Kazekage of the Hidden Sand Village now, and he was a fan-favorite. Of course, the audience knows now that the death didn't last. Chiyo, another shinobi from the Sand Village, gave her life to heal Gaara and bring him back from the dead.
10 Kakashi Hatake
One of the most popular characters in the entire Naruto series, Kakashi Hatake was met with the cruel fate of death during the Pain arc. With Deva Path showing up in search of Naruto, it was up to Kakashi to stop him, and he nearly pulled it off. However, Kakashi fell short and ended up paying with his life.
Thankfully for the fans, he was reanimated towards the end of the arc when Nagato Uzumaki used the Rinne Rebirth technique, otherwise, he would've been a lot higher up the list.
9 Haku
One of the first few characters to die in Naruto, Haku fought against Team 7 during the battle of Tazuna's Bridge. While fighting against Naruto, he foresaw the danger that Kakashi posed to Zabuza, his benefactor.
Throwing his body in harm's way, Haku died a premature death despite being only a child, shocking most of the fans and giving them a taste of what Naruto was all about at the same time. Although Haku was reanimated in the series, later on, he faced the same fate of getting pierced by Kakashi's Raikiri.
8 Konan
After having left the Akatsuki for good, nobody expected Konan to appear in the story for quite some time. However, Obito saw to it that Konan was disposed of right away. The two engaged in a fight in which Konan emerged victorious and successfully managed to kill Obito, only for him to use Izanagi and take her by surprise.
Not only did Obito surprise Konan but the entire fandom as well. Konan ended up dying in an excruciatingly painful manner while Obito proceeded to take Nagato's Rinnegan and use it for his own good.
7 Hiruzen Sarutobi
The death of the Third Hokage of Konoha remains to be one of the most shocking ones we've seen in the series. This is largely because nobody expected the Chunin Exams to turn into a mess where Orochimaru fought against the Third. With a powerful barrier erected by the Sound Four, it was either do or die or Hiruzen Sarutobi.
He ended up dying, but he took away Orochimaru's arms with him in the process. The death of Hiruzen Sarutobi marked the end of an era for Konoha and left the village reeling as they lacked a proper leader until quite some time.
6 Asuma Sarutobi
One of Konohagakure's elite Jonin, Asuma Sarutobi met his demise during the Hidan and Kakuzu arc of Naruto Shippuden. With Team 10 stepping into action after a long time, hardly anyone could've seen Asuma's death coming. The entire fandom was taken by surprise when Hidan actually managed to kill him as not only was he the leader of Team 10 but also the son of the former Hokage.
Asuma's death was crucial to the development of his students, however. Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino pulled through and saw to it that their teacher was avenged by the end of the arc, thanks to help from Kakashi Hatake and Naruto Uzumaki.
5 Madara Uchiha
Madara Uchiha was one of the main antagonists of Naruto who ended up dying in the Fourth Great Ninja War. Although being an antagonist means you'll die most of the time, Madara's death was shocking in every way.
Right when the Uchiha was at the peak of his powers, Zetsu struck and turned him into a vessel for Kaguya Otsutsuki. With Kaguya's defeat, Madara Uchiha was released from her grasp and he went on to die alongside the other reanimated shinobi from his era, such as his war buddy Hashirama Senju.
4 Obito Uchiha
Just like Madara, Obito's death was rather strange. After having a change of heart, thanks to Naruto Uzumaki, Obito could fight right until the end and help Kakashi build a new era after the war. Surprisingly, he wasn't given the opportunity as he ended up dying at the hands of Kaguya Otsutsuki towards the end of the Ninja War.
To Obito, the act of shielding Naruto with his body was like an act of redemption. However, as fans, we were left with a bitter taste in our mouths. Truly, Kishimoto left all of us shocked with the sudden death of Obito Uchiha.
3 Itachi Uchiha
Yes, everyone knew right from the beginning that Itachi Uchiha had to die. He was the detestable elder brother of Sasuke who murdered their entire clan. With that being said, Itachi's death came as shock to the fans as Sasuke had well and truly lost the battle.
With the revelation of how Itachi actually intended for this to happen, his death got an even bigger meaning, and to date, it leaves the fans shaking when it is mentioned.
2 Neji Hyuga
Neji's death is unarguably one of the most shocking ones we've seen in the series to date. The Hyuga prodigy ended up dying in the Fourth Great Ninja War while trying to shield Hinata Hyuga from the Ten-Tails' attack.
Never in a million years did any fan see this coming, but at the end of the day, Neji lay dead in a pool of blood. Needless to say, this was probably the most forced death we've seen in the series as the reason behind it was to strengthen the bond of Naruto and Hinata.
1 Jiraiya
As expected, Jiraiya's death is the most surprising death that we've seen in Naruto. Hints about his death were dropped right from when he left Konoha on a dangerous mission but nobody believed that Kishimoto would actually have the gall to kill off Jiraiya.
Well, as it turns out, he did. Jiraiya met his end at the hands of his student, Nagato Uzumaki. His death left visible scars on Naruto Uzumaki. However, he learned from it and made sure to do what Jiraiya would've wanted him to do.