Iruka Umino

Iruka stands at an ordinary height and build. His dark hair, black in the manga and brown in the anime, is gathered into a ponytail, and a scar he has carried since childhood crosses the bridge of his nose above his dark eyes. He wears Konoha's standard uniform, forehead protector, flak jacket, and sandals, with his sleeves turned up a short way. As a boy he wore plain clothes over mesh armour.

His look barely changed in the years after the Fourth Shinobi World War, aside from an Uzumaki clan armband on his left arm and the newer flak jacket seen in The Last. Further on, age brought faint creases at his mouth, and he set aside the forehead protector and shinobi gear for a simple grey zipped shirt.

Warm and tender by nature, Iruka watches over his pupils closely, yet he is no soft touch; he can turn stern and raise his voice when a class needs reining in. Losing his parents so young never soured him, and he showed no resentment toward Naruto despite the boy carrying the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox that took them. That kindness made Iruka one of the few adults the young Naruto respected, and often the only one who could get through to him. Naruto looks to him as a mentor, while Iruka regards Naruto as a younger brother, the two sharing ramen at Ichiraku whenever a mission ends.

His refusal to pass Naruto at first came from care rather than spite, a push to make the boy work harder and reach his potential; many credit that compassion with keeping Naruto from the isolated path Gaara walked. Iruka also holds a deep sense of duty and self-sacrifice, once taking a shuriken in the back to shield Naruto from Mizuki. He treasures the village's children as its future and cherishes the Will of Fire and the memory of the Third Hokage, who lifted him out of his own darkest years.

Iruka's parents died defending Konoha during the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox's attack, a dozen years before Naruto's story begins, and he was pulled from the battlefield still calling out for them. Left without anyone to notice him, he turned to pranks for attention and spent time at the memorial bearing his parents' names, where the Third Hokage would console him and become a lifelong mentor. In the anime, an injury on a mission led by Kakashi Hatake pushed him to leave field work and teach instead, passing the Will of Fire to the next generation. As a chūnin and Academy instructor he grew into a well-rounded shinobi, competent with barrier ninjutsu, the Fire, Water, and Yin natures, and, in the anime, genjutsu and a sonar-like sensing skill.

His bond with Naruto crystallised at the Academy. After Naruto failed the clone test and Mizuki tricked him into stealing the Scroll of Seals, Iruka tracked the boy down, took a barrage of kunai, and shielded him from Mizuki's fūma shuriken. Learning he was the Nine-Tails jinchūriki, Naruto fled, but Iruka insisted he had never hated him and saw him only as a fellow leaf shinobi. Moved by the boy's resolve, Iruka let him graduate and handed over his own forehead protector. He went on to worry over Team 7 at the Chūnin Exams, guide his students to shelter during the Konoha Crush, and later face Mizuki again.

When Jiraiya died, Iruka sought Naruto out and reminded him he now carried the Sannin's legacy. During Pain's assault he refused to reveal Naruto's location and was nearly killed before Kakashi intervened. In the war, Iruka helped guard Naruto on a secret island, then, unable to stop him leaving, slipped a letter reading "Come back alive" into the forehead protector and entrusted Killer B to watch over him. Afterward he stood in as Naruto's father at his wedding, overcome with pride. In the years that followed he rose to headmaster of the Academy, still watching Naruto climb toward the office of Hokage and shepherding new generations of students.