Naruto was born as the son of the FourthHokage, Minato Namikaze, and the Nine-Tails' second jinchūriki,Kushina Uzumaki. Naruto's parents had named him after the main character of Jiraiya's first book, making the Sannin his godfather.[4]
Prior to Naruto's birth, his parents knew that the seal that kept the Nine-Tails within Kushina would be in danger of breaking during childbirth. To prevent that threat Kushina was taken a short distance outside of the village to give birth in secret, with Biwako Sarutobi and Taji as her midwives, a fewANBU as security, and with Minato keeping the seal in place. Immediately after Kushina gave birth, Madara Uchihaappeared and took Naruto hostage, demanding Minato to step away from Kushina or he would kill the newborn child. Madara then used a clever diversion that forced Minato to transport the baby to a safer location, allowing him to escape with Kushina. By the time Minato could intervene, Madara had already succeeded in releasing the Nine-Tails.
Fortunately, Kushina (who survived the extraction thanks to her strong vitality) was saved by Minato and brought to Naruto, leaving the weakened mother to care for the sleeping Naruto while Minato went to combat Madara. To save the village, Minato sacrificed his life to seal the Nine-Tails within Naruto, believing that his son would someday have need of the demon's power to defeat Madara's threat once and for all.[5] Suddenly orphaned, Naruto was left to grow up knowing nothing of his parents, receiving only his mother's last name since the Third Hokage felt that it was best that nobody knew that he was related to the Fourth Hokage.
Before Minato died, he asked that the villagers of Konoha view Naruto as a hero who had helped defeat the Nine-Tails. However, only a few of the villagers honored his request, while most instead resented him for containing the monster that had destroyed their home. In light of this, the Third Hokage decreed that nobody should ever speak of the truth about Naruto, hoping that their children would not resent him as they did. The children, however, followed their parents' lead, despite not knowing why. Apart from the Third Hokage,Iruka Umino was the only one who acted as a surrogate family to the young Naruto.
