About

A Chunin instructor at the Hidden Leaf Village Ninja Academy and the mentor of Naruto Uzumaki and his peers. His students affectionately call him Iruka-sensei. The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, described him as a man of character who possesses a kind nature and the strength to suppress his own pain and smile. While he punishes students who go too far with their pranks by making them stay after school, he is fundamentally a good-natured person who treats them to Ichiraku Ramen and offers sincere advice, knowing when to be firm and when to be supportive. On the day Naruto was born, the Nine-Tails took the lives of many villagers. Because the hated Nine-Tails was sealed within him, Naruto was shunned by the villagers as a Jinchuriki, despite being blameless. Iruka also shares a deep and painful history with the Nine-Tails, yet he is the educator who saw Naruto Uzumaki as a human being and guided him. To Naruto, he is like an older brother or a father figure—the first real bond he formed before being assigned to Team 7, and a person who greatly influenced the formation of Naruto's character. He speaks politely with Kakashi Hatake, the Jonin in charge of Team 7, though Kakashi is actually four years his senior. In addition to his Academy duties, he also works at the Hidden Leaf Mission Desk, explaining missions to his former students who have become Genin and receiving their reports.