Who Did Naruto Kill and Why Did He Do It?

Naruto Uzumaki was ridiculed as a child but he would grow up to become his village’s protector, the Hokage, and one of the most powerful shinobi in the franchise. Naruto has fought many battles during the course of the show so it’s logical to assume he killed at least one character and this article is going to explore who did Naruto kill?

Naruto has only killed one character in the canon, although he has killed several antagonists in the non-canon fillers and the movies. Yūra, a jōnin, is Naruto’s only canon victim, although some speculate that Yūra had already been dead at the time and that Naruto just killed a corpse.

Naruto, as the protagonist, was an unlikely character to commit a murder, due to an unwritten rule that shinobi protagonists don’t actually kill. This only applies to the canon, though. In the rest of this article, we are going to explain the circumstances of Yūra’s death, as well as give you some additional answers involving Pain, Kakuzu, and White Zetsu.

Yūra’s death in Naruto

Yūra was the adviser to the Fifth Kazekage and a spy for the Alba Organization. Yūra was a jōnin originally from the Sunagakure, who was a member of the council for four years. After Gaara’s appointment as Fifth Kazekage, he became one of his most trusted advisors. Before becoming a councilor he was made a spy by Sasori through a device implanted in his brain, which causes him numerous head pains.

Shortly before Sasori and Deidara arrive at the Sunagakure, he goes to the gates of the village and, after killing the guardians, opens the main gate allowing Sasori and Deidara to enter the village and kidnap the Kazekage.

He is later transformed by Pain into a replica of Itachi Uchiha controlled by Uchiha himself and used to waste time for Team 7 of Kakashi Hatake and the old Chiyo, who were coming to Pain’s hideout to save the Kazekage. Now, in order to become a replica of Itachi, Yūra had to be sacrificed for the Shapeshifting Technique.

During the fight with Team 7 and Chiyo, he was killed by Naruto’s Big Ball Rasengan; his body was revealed later, which confirmed his death at the hands of Naruto. Now, whether Naruto actually killed Yūra is a matter of debate. In the most literal sense, he absolutely did, which was confirmed via his body. But, people speculate that Yūra had already been dead, as he was used as a living sacrifice by Pain for the Shapeshifting Technique.

The Technique requires a living offer so Yūra would have to have died for the Technique to be successful, and since it was, fans speculate that Naruto was actually fighting a living corpse and that the “killing” wasn’t actually one, meaning that Naruto just drained the energy out of a corpse.

Now, this wasn’t confirmed officially and is just a theory, so Yūra remains as Naruto’s only official canon kill.

Did Naruto kill Pain?

Nagato Pain was the leader of Akatsuki and he was considered one of its most powerful members. Naruto’s battle with Pain was one of the pivotal moments in the whole series and was actually the first fight in which Pain suffered defeat. It was stretched from episodes 163 to 175 of the anime series, which is a big stretch for just one fight.

Pain invaded Konohagakure and destroyed the village. Naruto had recently learned Sage Mode powers and showed Pain a taste of his own medicine. Nagato had placed chakra receivers in the Six Paths of Pain, however, Naruto defeated all of them. After killing the last Path of Pain, Pain fought with Naruto personally, but he was unsuccessful in bringing Naruto down.

Pain then narrated his whole story to Naruto about his orphan times and his close association with Yahiko. He also told Naruto how he and his friends were set out to make a difference in the world. Naruto was successful in convincing Pain that he could play a better part in making the world a better place. Naruto wanted to fulfill Jiraya’s dream of a peaceful world. 

Pain also recalled Yahiko’s dream and mission of making the world a better place to live. He could relate Naruto’s dream to be the same as Yahkio’s mission so he entrusted Naruto with the responsibility of making the world a better place where Shinobi can live together in peace. 

To achieve this dream, Pain depleted his chakra by reviving all the souls he had killed, and Nagato, in the process, became frail and died. So no, Naruto did not kill Pain in the end.

Does Naruto kill Kakuzu?

No, Naruto does not actually kill Kakuzu in episode 89 of the Shippuden anime, “The Price of Power”. Naruto did defeat Kakuzu, but it was Kakashi who ultimately jumped into the large impact crater created by the fight and killed Kakuzu using his Chidori. So no, Kakuzu is not on Naruto’s kill list, which is in accordance with what we have said so far.

Does Naruto kill a White Zetsu?

As far as the White Zetsu are concerned, Naruto actually does kill them in the series, but you have to know that the White Zetsu Army was composed of living weapons and not actual human beings, so killing them is basically like destroying an object, and not actually taking a life. This is why they don’t count in this scenario.