In episode 168 of the Naruto: Shippuden anime series titled “The Fourth Hokage”; Naruto finds out about his dad Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village, inside his inner world and also recognizes that the Fourth Hokage, Minato is his father.
When does Naruto find out about his dad?
From the beginning of the story, we see that, Naruto Uzumaki, the main protagonist of the Naruto: Shippuden series is completely unaware of the truth that Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village, was his father.
At the time of his birth, his parents sacrifice their life to seal a part of the Nine-Tailed beast into the newborn baby, Naruto. Therefore, Naruto grows up knowing that he is an orphan boy from his birth.
Surprisingly, the truth about his father, Minato Namikaze is unveiled to Naruto in episode 168 of the Naruto: Shippuden series when Naruto fights Pain phase is going on.
Therefore, this episode is one of the most astounding & emotive parts of the story. In the previous episode, Pain, one of the chief antagonists of Naruto Universe becomes aggressive to kill Hinata, Naruto’s beloved in front of Naruto.
| Character | Relationship to Naruto |
|---|---|
| Minato Namikaze | Father |
| Kushina Uzumaki | Mother |
| Naruto Uzumaki | Self |
| Boruto Uzumaki | Son |
| Himawari Uzumaki | Daughter |
| Fugaku Uchiha | Father-in-law (through Naruto’s marriage to Sasuke’s sister, Sakura) |
| Mikoto Uchiha | Mother-in-law (through Naruto’s marriage to Sasuke’s sister, Sakura) |
| Sasuke Uchiha | Brother-in-law (through Naruto’s marriage to Sasuke’s sister, Sakura) |
Seeing the sight, Naruto becomes furious and has decided to remove the seal of the Nine-Tailed beast & take full control of him. As he proceeds to do so, the Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze appears in front of him. This surprise is not ended here as it continues in the next episode of 168.
In the “The Fourth Hokage” episode, Naruto gets shocked to see the Fourth Hokage in front of him and he becomes surprised to see that the person knows his name correctly.
The Fourth Hokage confesses to Naruto that he is the father of Naruto and also expresses that he has embedded his psyche into the seal in the event that Naruto developed eight of the nine tails and expects that if Naruto does something like this someday, he could be present to stop him.
Minato is happy to get the opportunity of seeing his son, Naruto. On the other side, Naruto also gets shocked and emotional to know that the Fourth Hokage is his father and breaks down in tears.
Naruto then punches his father in the guts and asks him why he would seal the demon fox inside his own infant son.
Being reviled due to his jinchuriki status, Naruto alleges his father about all the suffering & troubles he has to face for it and how the village Konoha was devastated by the Akatsuki because of that reason.
Minato calmly replies to Naruto that, he believes in Naruto’s ability to control the power of the Nine-tailed fox and that’s why he had sealed only half of the beast inside Naruto.
Minato also discloses that, sixteen years before, a masked man in Akatsuki robes whom Minato had fought had influenced the devil fox to attack the village Konoha.
He states to Naruto that he also observes the fight between Naruto & Pain and therefore, believes that Pain is also being manipulated by the same masked man and that’s why he also gets violent to destroy Konoha.
Minato tells that he acknowledged the death of Jiraiya and he also comforts his son that no one could find the answer to Pain’s question on how to obtain peace except Naruto.
Minato again restores the seal back on Naruto and warns him to not open the seal again as his father will not be there to restore it & therefore, disappears as his chakra lessens.
Meanwhile, Team Guy comes back to the village and notices the outcome of Pain’s assaults by an injured Gamabunta and saves Hinata.
Pain remains shocked to see Naruto in his eight-tailed form and realizes that the Planetary Devastation is unable to contain the Nine-Tailed beast. Suddenly; Naruto repossesses his sense and alters from the Nine-Tailed beast to his original self, while in Sage Mode which makes Pain wonder.
As Naruto gets ready to defeat Pain, he observes the devastation around him. Naruto gets down from the crumbling structure that Pain has made and orders Pain that he wants to talk to real Pain, but is overlooked. The two then fight each other with different norms & forms.
While Pain throws a rod at Naruto, Naruto applies Senjutsu to find out the real Pain by touching the rod. He hits a Rasenshuriken at the Deva Path Pain, but he escapes it. Right after that, Naruto attacks further at Pain using the Rasengan.
According to the episode climax, when fans expected that, Naruto would embrace his father after their first meeting, he unexpectedly punches him in the gut which surprises all witnessing his positivity.
This episode is evidence of Naruto’s suppressed frustration over the years that he never understands why he is destined to be the way he is. Naruto is already roaming in a stage of frustration as his best friend has been killed in front of him and his village has been ruined ruthlessly.
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Who is Naruto’s Dad?
In the Naruto: Shippuden series, the story begins that Naruto as an orphan boy whose parents had died at the time of his birth. Therefore, it is a big surprise to Naruto, who is his father, which is disclosed to him in episode 168.
Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf village and also known as the yellow Flash of the Leaf is the father of Naruto Uzumaki and the husband of Kushina Uzumaki.
Minato has the same pattern of hair & blue eyes resemble with his son Naruto & grandson Boruto.
As a Hokage of the village, Minato was a very humble, respectful & collected person who had the strong willing power to protect the villagers from the Third Great Ninja War and also sacrificed his life to save Konoha and his inborn child Naruto from the Nine-Tailed devil Fox.
He also took proper care of Kushina and also was passionate to defend her from the Hidden Clouds Ninjas.
Therefore, the death of Kushina put him guilty that he could not protect Obito from sleaze. Even he felt responsible for the suffering of a painful & difficult life faced by Naruto of being a member of jinchuriki clan.
Minato was one of the strongest shinobi who had the power to detect enemy Chakra far from the distance. Being skilled by Jiraiya to summon toads, Minato was able to convert environmental elements of fire, wind & lightning.
Minato possessed a special & exclusive brand of Kunai which he utilized as a weapon against his opponents. He also gained knowledge of several fuinjutsu from Jiraiya and Kushina.
To seal half of the Nine-Tailed beast into his son Naruto, Minato used the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style. Knowing that the lock would gradually be weakened as time will grow, so he made a key to hasten or reverse the method.
Minato had the capability of massive speed and acute reflexes that helped him to catch his son Naruto mid-fall and protect him from being wounded by Tobi.
For his Body Flicker Technique, Minato can easily reach the place at an appropriate time to defend against the attack of enemies.
Therefore, he was considered to be the fastest shinobi who had huge Chakra reserves and is utterly able to summon the massive Toad Boss Gamabunta and also the Tailed beast & their violence.
Minato was proficient in controlling Chakra perfectly which is found at the time of his creation of the Rasengan. He spent three years in his life learning the skill of Rasengan which was a ball of chakra.
This skill has very specific Chakra control on which Minato was quite competent & proficient too.
Who told Naruto about his father?
Since birth, Naruto has entirely lived in the dark about the identity of his parents and he, therefore, has been brought up as an orphan boy without knowing the hidden truth that no one told Naruto to save his life from the enemies of Minato, Naruto’s father.
Therefore, the question, of who told Naruto about his father, is such a controversial matter & quite a surprising period of the series. As we see, Hiruzen, the Third Hokage of the village has strictly ordered to keep secret the actual identity of Naruto.
On another side, while learning the techniques from Kakashi, he states to Naruto that it is a hard & most challenging Ninjutsu that proves quite difficult even to the Fourth Hokage. To him, Naruto is the only person who can beat the Fourth Hokage.
Therefore, it is clear that Kakashi knows the ultimate truth that Minato is the father of Naruto.
In episode 168 of Naruto: Shippuden, Naruto ultimately comes across the truth that Minato is his father and he is a member of jinchuriki group.
The time when Naruto furiously attacks Pain and decides to take out the Nine-Tailed beast that was sealed inside of him, the Fourth Hokage appears there & stops him to do so.
This is the turning point of the story where the Fourth Hokage Minato confesses his real identity to his son Naruto.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How does Naruto know Minato is his father?
During the battle between Naruto & Pain, Naruto gets annoyed seeing that the village was entirely destroyed, some of his friends & trainers were murdered and Hinata, his beloved almost died because of his attack of Pain. Naruto then assumes the way to remove the Nine-Tailed beast sealed inside of him. At that point, the Fourth Hokage Minato appears in front of him to stop naruto to take such action. Therefore, episode 168 contains the thrilling moment where Naruto finally knows the truth that he is the son of Minato, the Fourth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf village.
2. Which episode does Naruto tell Kakashi about his dad?
Kakashi knows all the truth that Naruto is the son of the Fourth Hokage Minato in episodes 198 & 199 in the Naruto: Shippuden anime series.
3. Why did no one tell Naruto who his father was?
The identity of Naruto’s parents was firmly kept a secret from Naruto in the Naruto: Shippuden series. Hiruzen, the Third Hokage of the Hidden Leaf village concealed the truth from Naruto in order to save his life from the enemies of his father, Minato, the Fourth Hokage of the village.
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