[OOC] Profile Meme
[Character name] Namikaze Minato
[Canon] Naruto
[Point taken from canon] After he seals the nine-tailed fox within Naruto
[Age] Unknown (approximate age: 26)
[Gender] Male
[Sexual Orientation] Heterosexual (had a wife and kid); but who knows in the future? >.>
[Eye Color] Blue
[Hair Color] Blond
[Height] 5 feet 10 1/2 inches
[Background]
Not much is known about Namikaze Minato even though he's famous.
His mother, his father, his friends; they're all non-entities. His very existence before he entered the Ninja academy is obscured and even afterward it is unclear.
What is known is that he was a genius that appeared only once a generation. He proved this from an early age, graduating from the Ninja Academy at the age of 10 and becoming apprentice to the Sennin Jiraiya shortly after. Minato absorbed Jiraiya's teachings at a rapid pace, mastering the Toad Summoning Technique and achieving what his master couldn't: control over Gamabunta, the boss toad.
It's assumed that he was on a genin team under Jiraiya, but what became of his teammates is unknown, and only one tattered photograph is left to show that it was real. It's speculated that being a prodigy, Minato became a jounin around the age of 15 or 16 and then took an apprentice of his own, the future Sharingan Kakashi, 5 year old son of the White Fang.
And until Kakashi became 12, it was just Minato and him as a two man team. Then Rin and Uchiha Obito came along, giving Minato a full set of underlings (two genin and one chuunin), and Team Minato was born. Somewhere along the way, though, war erupted and Minato had his hands full training his team and being a frontline defense for Konoha.
He debuted into infamy with his original creation, The Flying Thunder God Technique, which allowed him to traverse space (perhaps even time) in the blink of an eye by use of a seal, literally a Yellow Flash of death to his enemies. He gained his famous moniker then, and a flee upon sight order was issued by all his enemies, but it was useless to run because he always caught up to them anyhow.
Then the fateful mission came upon him and things changed. At the age of 13 Kakashi was made jounin and Team Minato became Team Kakashi plus Minato. His students left on a mission of their own - to destroy a bridge, a key strategic landmark of the Iwa-nin - while he left for the frontlines once again, and using his Hiraishin no Jutsu, he slaughtered the 50 enemy nin that were pinning his comrades down.
Even though Minato's battle was over, his students' mission was still underway and in its death throes as the team came together for one precious moment - teamwork, finally, at its best - and then fell apart. By the time Kakashi had thrown the three-pronged kunai Minato had given him, it was too late to save Obito who was left under mounds of unforgiving rock, dead for Rin and Kakashi's sake. But a part of him lived on in the Sharingan of Kakashi's left eye.
His student's sacrifice wasn't in vain, however, because the mission's success ended the war and in the following months, Minato somehow became Hokage. He almost didn't, because Sandaime was still hoping to make Orochimaru his successor, until even Sarutobi's love for him could not blind him to the Snake-Sannin's crimes. So, in truth, Minato was a replacement, but the people loved him nevertheless.
Unfortunately, his reign was devastatingly short, because less than a year later Konoha was attacked by the nine-tailed bijuu and Minato gave his life for Konoha by sealing the Kyuubi into his son with a jutsu of his own creation - he dared to summon the God of Death. He died hoping that his son would be known as a hero, and perhaps it is fortunate that he wasn't around to see his beloved village hate his son so deeply.
As for the mother of his child, Uzumaki Kushina, she, too, became obscured just like his family and friends. No one knows if she was Minato's wife or lover, and her fate is still unknown.
But Namikaze Minato became a legend.
[Personality]
Namikaze Minato is a warm, vibrant man. He’s not afraid to express himself as brightly as he looks, but in general he’s calm and reserved because he feels no need to announce himself to others. He’s confident and steadfast in his beliefs and convictions, but he’s not foolishly stubborn about getting his way, because he knows he’s only a man, and men are imperfect and prone to mistakes.
That’s why even though he knows it’s important to follow the rules, he knows that real life doesn’t always go according to the book. Adapt, cope with the situation and survive. The most important thing is teamwork! is what he used to say to his genin team when there was still three of them.
Minato, for all his natural born genius is a hard worker. Everything he does he does with the intention of doing his best and succeeding. Therefore, if you ask him how he does all the remarkable things he’s known for, he’ll say it was through hard work, determination, and an unceasing drive to succeed.
That’s what let him graduate the Ninja Academy at the age 10, master Jiraiya’s techniques and become a jounin by the age of 15, take an apprentice of his own at the age of 16, and become a war hero and Hokage at the age of 26.
But despite his achievements, Minato is not arrogant. He’s humble and always mindful of the fact that he’s as great as he is because people helped him, and that there is undoubtedly someone better, stronger than him somewhere. But Minato is also the type of man to place more importance on the person you are than the things you accomplish.
It’s why he respects Jiriaya so much, even though the Sennin himself is less than confident. And it’s why he names his only son Naruto after the hero of his master’s first book, because Minato hopes to pass on the dreams of his teacher. Because as hopeless as the dream of world-wide peace may seem, Minato also carries the stirrings of those ephemeral dreams - a day when the churning, festering hate around men’s hearts is penetrated and they can all unite without hating and killing and war.
Minato knows more than he wants to about those. Because it goes without saying that if he’s a brilliant shinobi, he’s a brilliant killer. He’s a man of many layers; he can be kind, patient, and understanding, but he can also be cruel, merciless, and such an efficient, cold killer that it’s unnerving to see a man so bright looking at you through hard, sharp eyes and a stony expression.
He won’t coddle his students or let them makes excuses - “Obito, if you don't control your mouth, your mind will also become weak.” - and he won’t ever suffer pride to save their egos when their lives are at stake - “Kakashi. Don’t ever use that justu.”
But Minato loves them nonetheless and they love him, too, even though three fourths of the team will never admit it. He’s stern because he cares, and when he doesn’t shed tears the day Obito dies, that also is because he cares - he doesn’t want to add to Kakashi’s guilt.
His students are vulnerable children despite being children of war, and he wants to protect them, even years later when one is dead, the other gone, and the last an ANBU. So Minato apologizes every so often even though it’s not his fault that he wasn’t there, but lessening the burden on his surviving students is well worth the weight of guilt.
It’s that self-sacrificing, noble quality of his that pulls people to him; his charisma is almost a supernatural force, and you can’t help but gaze at him and think he’s unshakeable. It’s why the people of Konoha are so happy that he became Hokage, and it’s why his greatest service in office is his last.
He faces the Kyuubi with no “what ifs” or “buts,” signing away his life and even his son’s because it’s his duty and he’s so damn noble that he can’t let it be anyone else’s child that is damned, even if he’s so, so sorry and Naruto, I love you.
[Abilities]
As the apprentice of Jiraiya, Minato knows almost all his master’s mundane (elemental) jutsu and has mastered the Toad Summoning Technique. It’s unknown if he ever even began learning how to master sage chakra, but it’s largely irrelevant because Minato is strong enough on his own, having created his own signature moves.
His seal-less creation, Rasengan, a literal swirling sphere of compacted chakra, took him four years to accomplish. And even then, this incredible technique is unfinished because he wasn’t able to - or, perhaps, he simply didn’t live long enough to - combine his elemental affinity with it.
His most famous technique is his Flying Thunder God Technique, a seal dependent jutsu that allows him to seemingly teleport from one location to another in an instant. It’s what gained him the moniker, Konoha’s Yellow Flash.
But his most important technique - and the most obscure - is the Dead Demon Consuming Seal. He summoned the God of Death and sealed away the Kyuubi into his son and paid the price with his life. Because of this mind-boggling accomplishment - he used that jutsu along with several other highly advanced sealing techniques - it's assumed that Minato has a mastery of seals.
The remarkable techniques alone are hardly what make him such a formidable shinobi. He's trained himself rigorously in taijutsu, ninjustu and genjutsu. He takes special care to use any technique he knows to its full potential; being able to do it isn't enough, it has to be efficient. That's why even his normal Shunshin no jutsu (body flicker) is far above par; no leaves, no trace to be tracked, and completely incapable of being copied.
And it goes without saying that merely knowing and being able to execute the techniques is not enough. Minato has a brilliant battle-tactical mind, and is able to strategically use each technique appropriately. Not only that, his team is effective because of his direction and advice; when he speaks, people listen.