Top 10 Biblical Principles in Naruto

Let’s face it. Christianity is a worldwide religion. There are explanations of biblical themes and gospel truth in all cultures, especially pop culture. One of the most popular pieces of media is Anime (a Japanese word from the English word "animation") and modeled after the epic Japanese art style in “manga,” pronounced MAN-GAH, which are comic books. While there are many different styles of anime and manga, the most popular series usually focus on tragic stories, ninjas, monsters, and over-the-top action sequences. One of the most popular anime in the entire world is Naruto.

Created by Masashi Kishimoto, the manga and anime tells the story of a twelve-year-old orphan named Naruto Uzumaki. He’s a young ninja who desperately seeks attention from his peers, even dreaming of being his village’s leader (the Hokage). The only issue isn’t due to lack of skill, foolishness, or even his lineage. It’s because he’s an outcast due to an event that happened when he was born. His village was attacked by a gigantic and immensely powerful nine-tailed fox, destroying the village. The fox was magically sealed inside Naruto as an infant. Ever since he’s been an outcast. The town blames him for the attack twelve years ago.

That’s where we find Naruto. His story was initially published in a weekly magazine called Weekly Shonen Jump from 1999-2014 and is now collected in 72 volumes of a graphic novel form of manga called tankobon. The story was adapted into an anime and broadcast to Japanese audiences and later to American audiences, coming to the West in 2005 with an English dub. Seven hundred twenty episodes later, Naruto (and the sequel series Naruto: Shippuden) tell the complete story. The anime is translated and dubbed into over ten languages, while the manga is one of the best manga series of all time having 250 million copies in worldwide circulation in 47 countries. It’s currently listed as fourth by webuybooks.com, behind such mammoths as One Piece (480 million) and Dragon Ball (250-300 million), coming in with over $11 billion in revenue since its creation, placing it as the fourth highest-grossing anime of all time.

So where in this franchise are the biblical principles? They’re all over the place. Many of the themes and references utilized in Naruto are based on Confucianism, but they are not strictly Confucian in nature. Here are the top ten biblical principles shown in the Naruto and Naruto: Shippuden anime and manga.

Early on in his life, Naruto is the outcast. Everyone ignores him. Even as a child, he’s ignored by other kids. Their parents often will tell them, “Just ignore him. Don’t pay attention to him.” It’s a lesson each kid took to heart, and even took as permission to bully the child. Despite this, he never gives up on himself. It’s only after he’s encouraged by his sensei Iruka that Naruto can connect with other people. This outcast persona follows him into his teen years, but over time, Naruto’s positive attitude, determination, and skill can change people’s minds. It’s their love that softens his heart as well and prevents him from going down the expected – much darker – path.

We see this principle in scripture. Whether it’s Paul’s writing in Romans 12:18, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all,” or Jesus Himself in John 13:34, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I loved you, you are to love one another,” we are told from the start – love others. It’s from the beginning of God’s love that we can love others. It’s out of this love for others that we are to serve one another. Galatians 5:13 puts it like this: “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve another.” By loving his neighbor and serving his community, Naruto fills his promise to be the best.

Much like the story of David, everyone counted Naruto out from the beginning. After all, what was a scrawny little punk with a monster inside of him going to do? How could he become hokage? This was even more pronounced in the show when Naruto and the school kids of his age are enrolled in the Academy in his village. At the end of their training, they must take a final exam to see if they’re able to rank up and truly help the village. These exams are the Chunin Exams, which ends in a tournament of each student sparring another. No one thought Naruto would make it. One of the leading explanations comes from Neji who brands Naruto as a failure for life. It’s only when Naruto beats Neji that he clues everyone else into what he believed in the entire time – he is capable.

We see this time and time again in scripture. Chiefly in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans for you…” But we also have this in the story of David as told in 1 Samuel 17. No one expected the youngest child of Jesse, a shepherd, and weakling like David to slay Goliath. But he did. God saw David, who was empowered with the wisdom and physicality given to him by God, give Goliath the stone thrown forehead tap, knocking him out. Then in true anime fashion, David uses the monster’s sword and decapitates him! David’s brothers, soldiers, and even his king could defy his destiny. Only God can defy our destiny, as He’s the one who wrote our story in His book, as told to us in Psalm 139.

One of the key dynamics of the entire show is that between Naruto and Sasuke Uchiha. These two are polar opposites. When we first meet Sasuke in the second episode, we see a mention that he is the “strong-silent type,” completely opposed to the loud and obnoxious Naruto. We learn later that Sasuke is filled with a revenge-fueled hatred for his older brother, Itachi Uchiha, who murdered the entire Uchiha clan but left Sasuke alive. This causes Sasuke to eventually leave the village, seek out more power, and eventually fight his older brother, but not before fighting Naruto in a battle to come back to the village. While Naruto doesn’t succeed, he never gives up on Sasuke. Ever. This eventually pays off when Sasuke returns to the village and marries the woman who’s loved him since childhood.

Jesus loves us the way Naruto loves Sasuke, unconditionally.        

Jesus told us in John 15, “There is no greater love than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends,” and the beloved disciple John aims it back on Jesus by saying, “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.” When Jesus calls His disciples friends, then proceeds to lay down His life for them (and the entire world), it’s upon His resurrection that He shows His divinity. And through this divinity, we know more than just Jesus as Jesus. We become to know Him as the “good shepherd” (John 10), who would leave the 99 sheep for the one who is lost. Jesus never gives up on us, and we in change, ought to never give up on our friends. To put it another way, Jesus loves us the way Naruto loves Sasuke, unconditionally.

One of my personal favorite things about Naruto is the nine-tailed beast trapped within him. Growing up, my anger often got me in trouble. I’m not talking about the minor troubles, but I’m talking a gigantic blow up. Struggling with ADHD as a child was no easy task. It often felt like I had a beast trapped in me. Naruto describes this perfectly.

The nine-tailed beast is named Kurama. In the sequel series, Naruto: Shippuden, we learn a lot about the tailed beasts, including their origin, their names, and why they are so important. As Naruto gains more control over his power through various ninjitsu, it becomes evident that he needs to control the inner-tailed beast. Here’s the problem: the tailed beast isn’t something to be controlled. It’s a someone to be friends with. Naruto learns this during one of the best arcs in all of fiction – The Fourth Great Ninja War. In this arc, the villain – a masked ninja – seeks to control the entire world under an illusion. To do this, he must gain the power of the ten-tailed beast, whose power is so immense it was split up and divided into nine different tailed beasts. Naruto learns this, is affirmed to be the key to peace among the beasts, and when faced with the masked villain and challenged, he simply replies, “I just learned a bunch of really complicated names really quick.” Probably not the most epic line to fight to on the surface, but it showed the compassion and authentic nature of Naruto to treat those around him with the same love he has for himself.

Loving someone equally to ourselves is a key command from our Triune God. When Jesus answers the Pharisee about the greatest commandment in Matthew 22, he goes back to Deuteronomy 6 and Leviticus 19. He gives him a simple answer: love God with everything you have and love your neighbor to the same level as you do yourself. In Greek, the word used for love in this verse is ?γαπ?σει? (Agapēseis), coming from the root of agape love. This isn’t just the romantic love or the friendly love or even the love for a fictional character. This is the love that God has for us. It’s unconditional love without reservation. It’s the same word for love (agape) for loving God and loving your neighbor. When referencing the Torah in Deuteronomy 6, Moses used the Hebrew word ????????????? (w?·’ā·ha?·t), a command to love (aheb, ?????). It’s the same word in Leviticus 19. Love is love, no matter the language or culture. Love is love.

But it’s more than just loving ourselves for who we are, but it’s loving everyone for who they are too, tails and all. The entire show revolves around Naruto showing that love for others, no matter what. He was given the worst deal of life, but instead of lashing out in hatred and revenge, he accepts his lot in life and seeks to make the world around him better. To place a fictional scenario in our heads, I think Jesus and Naruto probably would have gotten along. Perhaps they would have strolled on the water together?

What do you want to do with your life? Naruto wants to be Hokage. He wants to be the leader of his village and protect everyone. He desires to become the most powerful shinobi (ninja) in the village and protect the same people who shunned him. He did this very thing on multiple occasion before becoming Hokage as an adult. But a key scene that illustrates this point the most takes place during the Chunin Exam arc. It’s the finals, and Naruto must face Neji, a shinobi who can render a person useless with just a few strikes. On paper, he’s no match for Neji, but in Naruto’s heart, he must beat him. There’s no “if” he must. Neji, on the other hand, considers Naruto to be someone of no consequence. He even tells him harshly that he’ll never be Hokage. He's not going to amount to anything, according to Neji. But what does Naruto do? He defeats him using the one tool he does better than anyone, shadow clones. He overwhelmed Neji with more of himself, despite Neji not wanting anything to do with Naruto. He was persistent, kept believing in himself and his dream. He did this on multiple occasions, which has earned the character his catch phrase, “Believe it!” (“だってばよ!”)

Within our Christian walk, we experience doubt. A lot. Whether it’s the doubt in our beliefs or the doubt of God’s plan for our lives. Jeremiah 29:11 is a cliché verse for this very reason. It speaks of God’s plan to Israel amid their complete turmoil. We see another verse regarding God’s plan for us in Psalm 139, where David notes about God’s story and where we fit in it. “Your eyes saw my unformed body,” verse 16 begins. “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” God is over everything and always has been and always will be. He will provide for us, just as Jesus noted in Matthew 6:25-34. All we need to do is stay focused on following Him by keeping His commandments, mainly loving God and loving others. Then, all things will be added to us according to His will. (Romans 8:28).

The story of Naruto Uzumaki is definitely one for the ages, but if it wasn’t for the conflict between the two Uchiha brothers, there’d be no series. Out of the 488 characters in the story, this dynamic is one many people can relate to. Many people have difficult siblings, but not everyone has a sibling who murders their entire family.

In a story much like Judas, Itachi is depicted early on as the ultimate rouge shinobi. He turned his back on not just his village, but his family as well, murdering each person saving only one – his little brother Sasuke. This causes Sasuke to grow up fueled by a revenge-focused grief. His only goal is to avenge his family. It’s when they finally fight in Naruto: Shippuden that the truth of what happens finally comes out, and it’s not until much later during the “Fourth Great Ninja War” arc that he finally says to his brother, “You don't ever have to forgive me. And no matter what you do from here on out, know this… I will love you always.”

The story of the two brothers isn’t one about sibling rivalry but one of forgiveness. It didn’t happen overnight either. The forgiveness and reconciliation between Itachi and Sasuke took decades. Like many moments of pain in our lives, it can take time to forgive someone or something that invades your space of peace to cause it harm, i.e., “trespasses.” Jesus mentions the concept of forgiveness many times, as do the prophets. It’s the basic tenet of the Christian faith. We committed wrongs against God’s law within our lives, and it’s through the actions of Jesus that we are forgiven by the Father and can commune with Him through the actions of the Holy Spirit. It’s this level of forgiveness that Paul writes about in Ephesians 4:32, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (Emphasis mine). It’s also stated in the way Jesus taught us to pray in Matthew 6:12, “Forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors.” It’s a personal decision that does not require reconciliation. It doesn’t have to happen overnight, but it can happen to your life’s worst offenders, if you choose it.

The aptly named character Pain (real name of Nagato) is the center of one of the craziest arcs in all of the Naruto storyline. Taking place in Naruto: Shippuden, Pain is the leader of the red cloud cloak wearing Akatsuki. This gang is made up of the most dangerous and most wanted criminals in the Naruto universe, and it is one of the most profitable merchandises for the Naruto universe. Their symbol is one of the most recognizable symbols in all anime culture.

The leader of this gang, when we first meet them, is one with purple eyes and a deep voice. In the English dub, he’s given his signature deep villain voice by Troy Barker.?He’s muddled with interference, and the only thing that we can tell is that he desires to collect the tailed beasts, placing their spirits into a statue as the ten-tailed beast. But as the season continues, Naruto’s Master Jiraiya (we’ll get to him further on in the list) goes on a solo covert mission to the Village Hidden in the Rain to see who is really at the head of the Akatsuki clan. This leads Pain to fully show himself as the Six Paths of Pain. They defeat him at the cost of one of their own. Pain then is advised to attack the Leaf Village by his advisor – a masked shinobi with only one eye. During his attack, he completely destroys the village, leaving only a crater in his wake. Naruto comes to defend the village afterwards after hearing word while in training. In the ensuing battle, Naruto is pinned down on the ground. Pain takes a moment to talk to him, answering Naruto’s question of why he is doing all of this. “What I want is to create peace and bring about justice,” Pain says. This infuriates Naruto whose anger is fueled by revenge and seeking peace to the Shinobi world. Pain continues:

“Oh, I see. That is noble of you. That would be justice. However, what about my family? My friends? My village? They suffer the same face as this village at the hands of you Hidden Leaf ninja. How is it fair to let only you people preach about peace and justice? Once the land of fire and the Hidden Leaf had grown too big. To protect their national interests, they forced feudal clans to wage war against each other and profited from it. Otherwise, the people of the villages would have starved. As it happened, our little nation and its villages became the battlefield where the great nations waged their war. Each time they did, our nation was ravaged and made to waste. After many such battles, the great nations stabilized but our small nation suffered, and it barely recovered. You and I are both seeking the very same thing. We both want to achieve the peace that Jiraya Sensi envisioned. You and I are the same. We are both motivated by our desire for peace and justice. The justice that I have delivered against the Leaf Village is no different from what you are trying to do to me. Everyone feels the same pain in losing something dear. You and I have both experienced that pain. You strive for your justice, and I strive for mine. We’re both just ordinary men who have been driven to seek vengeance in the name of justice. And if one comes to call vengeance “justice,” such justice will only breed further vengeance and trigger a vicious cycle of hatred.”

When asked for his answer, Naruto gives the only reply his heart could at this moment, “I don’t know.”

This cycle of hatred is easy to see everywhere we look. It’s in every form of entertainment. The cycle of revenge and the stories based off it become riveting entertainment. This cycle is also found all throughout the Biblical text. Since the fall of mankind in Genesis 3 this cycle is put forward. Given how the family would speak and tell stories of how the way things are, it would only be natural to think that God destroying your grandparents and everyone you ever knew in a flood would fuel stories of revenge and injustice towards God. This is even one of the key themes of the book of Job, who’s asked by his wife in Job 2, “Do you still maintain your integrity (meaning innocence)? Curse God and die!” He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God and not trouble?” (Job 2:9-10 NIV). It could even be argued that in Genesis 3 that God took revenge on those who sinned against Him, thus starting the first cycle of hatred. Although such discussions are beyond the scope of this writing.

To end the cycle of hatred, one must forgive. This is another key element that we walked about in #5. This is what makes peace so difficult. But that’s the thing about God. He offers forgiveness and reconciliation. In Ezekiel 18:31-32, He explains at the end of the story of the generations, “Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, people of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord, repent and live!” God takes no pleasure in the death of anyone, but yet, He desires for all of us to reconcile through His Son Jesus Christ, who He sent just for that purpose – complete intimacy with the holiest of the holy. The cycle of hatred doesn’t stand a chance to that kind of reconciliation.

If there’s one thing that Naruto and I have in common, we want to take on all of the world’s problems by ourselves. In the shows, it does often lead to foolish decisions only making things worse and eventually, forcing others to intercede anyway. This leads to a lot of people’s frustrations with Naruto. This starts to fall away when in the first part of the show, Naruto is placed on Team 7 with his crush (one-sided), Sakura Haruno, and her crush (one-sided until later), Sasuke Uchiha. Naruto and Sasuke are immediate rivals, and Sakura is happy to just be near Sasuke. Their team leader, Kakashi Hatake, gives them a test where they must grab the bells from Kakashi before they eat lunch. The team ultimately fails due to acting individually, including Naruto attempting to eat before everyone else. He’s tied to a post by Kakashi and gives the other two a chance to try the bell test again. He tells Sasuke and Sakura to eat up but Naruto is forced to watch since he tried to eat before it was time. Furthermore, Sakura and Sasuke must not help Naruto or they both fail the test and will stop being shinobi. After listening to Naruto’s stomach growl, Sasuke decides to offer his food. He states that if they’re going to try again, it’s better to do it as a team. Sakura follows suit, and immediately Kakashi appears scolding them for not following orders. The three unite as a team, and Kakashi tells them they passed. “In the ninja world, those who break the rules are scum, that's true, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum," he says. The friends are astounded.

Few things are as encouraging to friendship than that line. It works not just in the ninja world and in our world, but also within the ancient world. King Solomon, the traditional author of the book Ecclesiastes writes in chapter 4 verse 12, “Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” We see also lots of friendship mentality proverbs such as, “As iron sharpens iron, one man sharpens another,” “A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother,” and “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.” Without friends, Jesus would not have disciples, and we would not know of Jesus, as the popular series The Chosen shows us. Friends are essential to life, and we are a communal species. We need others to survive.

When was the last time you were proven wrong? For all of Naruto and the first few seasons of Naruto: Shippuden, everyone is proven wrong about Naruto Uzumaki. He consistently proves that his determination, hard work, and friends work in his favor. But what about when Naruto is proven wrong?

This happens a lot. Since we join his life at the age of 12, Naruto’s foolishness continues to lead him wrong. But one time in particular, his snap judgment was proven wrong, and because of this, he got to learn from one of the best shinobi to ever live. It’s Master Jiraiya, and when we first meet him, Naruto meets him in the weirdest of places – a sauna. His teacher at the time (who was teaching Naruto how to walk on water using Chakra), noticed Master Jiraiya watching the women bathe in the sauna. He called it “Research,” which he used to write his romance novels. But despite being the “Toad Sage,” Naruto gave him another nickname as he was in the habit of doing. He called him, “Pervy Sage.” Master Jiraiya was put in charge of Naruto’s training, and even led him on missions to find another fan favorite, Lady Tsunade. We’d come to learn that Lady Tsunade, Master Jiraiya, and the Naruto big bad, Orochimaru were a team called “Legendary Sannin.” Naruto would come to learn many things from Jiraiya, including where his name came from and his deceased father during Naruto: Shippuden.

The rock of the church itself, Peter, the oldest disciple had his own misgivings and prejudices. Not just about being quick to anger or Jesus being God Himself, but instead, about Gentiles and all things not kosher. We see this story in Acts 10:9-47. It’s about noon in Joppa (modern day: Joffa on the southern tip of Tel Aviv-Yafo). Peter is staying with a friend and he goes up to the roof to pray. He starts to get hungry, and he gets a vision of animals they were not allowed to eat coming down on a blanket followed by a voice saying, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.” The first time, he said, “Surely not! I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.” The second time, he says the same thing, but this time he gets a response. “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean." The vision happened three times in a row, followed by prophecy concerning the messengers who were coming from a Roman Centurion who desired to be baptized in Caesarea (still a modern-day town in Israel, a 62 km walk along the Mediterranean Sea). Had it not been for this vision, by Peter, but as well as the conversion of the Pharisee Saul and others, Christianity would have stayed a Jewish sect. Instead, God made His direction clear. The Gospel, the pure offer of reconciliation and peace through Jesus Christ is for everyone, regardless of where they come from.

The most captivating notion of Naruto Uzumaki is his faith in himself. Coming from nothing, he decides that he’s not only going to protect the city who shunned him, but he later resolves to bring peace to the entire shinobi world. He desires to end the cycle of hatred forever. These are noble causes. It’s a cause so noble that after the Pain arc is over, it forces the nine-tailed beast inside Naruto to take notice. Inside Naruto, the beast restarts the conversation when he realizes that his life is either trapped inside Naruto or at the will of the show’s big bad – Madara Uchiha. This causes Naruto a bit of pause but after gaining control of the nine-tail’s will, he has to become friends. It’s his faith in not giving up, no matter what, and treating everyone with love and respect that changes the beast’s mind. Then Naruto finally gets to learn more about the tailed beast, the culture he comes from, and even his name, Kurama. He then learns of the other tailed beasts and their names. It’s with their power that Naruto becomes an incredible shinobi, rallying people behind him. He really could bring peace to the world.

This is the mentality behind Jesus. Well, minus the tailed beast and chakra. There are many miracles of Jesus, but His purpose wasn’t just a miracle man. He wasn’t sent to our plane of existence to be a healer, nor was He sent here to battle against the Roman forces. But let’s really face it. Someone who could make the death come back to life just by speaking a few words would be too powerful for the Roman Empire to kill. With the angels at His behest, He could have taken over the entire world at once. If the destruction of the world in Genesis was any indication, Jesus (who is God but not The Father), could say one word and make everyone fall in line and follow Him. However, that wouldn’t be love. As love welcomes goodness and free will, Jesus can only do what He is supposed to – accept the charges of all who have sinned, who sin, and who will sin by dying on a tree – accomplishing the purpose of conquering death itself, just like Adam and Eve, who did not know death until the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Jesus’s actions, and our belief in Him as God, causes us to change on the inside, allowing us to have a “new heart.” We then train it to follow not the old ways of how we used to act, but to control ourselves to following the way of the Lord God, by loving each other to the same level as we love ourselves and loving our Triune God with all of our spirits, all of our minds, and all of our bodies. It’s all about love. Without that faith in love, there’s no end to the cycle of hate.

That’s the key to understanding Naruto from a Biblical perspective. Without faith in love, there’s no end to the hate. There’s no peace. There’s nothing but selfish ambition, revenge, and pain. And while these things might seem impossible without any extra jitsu or any extra powers, it becomes possible with God, who is more powerful than any shinobi, any villain, and any level of evil. Jesus is the reason why we can commune with God through the Holy Spirit, and it’s because of the Holy Spirit that we can experience His fruitfulness and miracles within our lives.