Naruto’s goal from his youth was to become the next Hokage, and his ambition reflected his mysterious ancestry, as well as the desire for attention and approval from a village that hated him. Let’s take a look at Naruto’s life and how the complicated path he went through helped mold him into the Seventh Hokage.
Naruto Uzumaki was the son of Kushina Uzumaki and Minato Namikaze, the latter known as “The Yellow Lightning of Konoha” and the Fourth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village, while Kushina was the host of the nine-tailed fox, but unfortunately during the childbirth she was captured and the Nine-Tails was released from her body, something that caused serious havoc in the village (via CBR).
In the chaos that followed this, both of Naruto’s parents died, with Minato sacrificing his life and soul to seal half of the nine tails in Naruto, something that left the boy orphaned and without the privileges he would receive from his parents. In this way his birth was kept secret from the public and he was given his mother’s maiden name to continue the deception that he was not the son of the Fourth Hokage.
But eventually all this became public and the village learned that Naruto had within him the destructive Nine-Tails, which made everyone look down on them, treating him like a plague or a demon, so he managed to survive on what little he had. It gave him something similar to a village welfare system.
The hardest part of the matter is that Naruto did not know who his parents were or why the villagers rejected him, this because Hiruzen Sarutobi forbade anyone to mention the creature in an attempt that children of Naruto’s age did not. They would hate the way their parents did, but this idea fell through as they rejected it anyway.
So being rejected by his people, Naruto began to resort to practical jokes to get people’s attention, and as he grew older he developed the desire to become the next Hokage of his village considering that it was the greatest recognition he could get. Obviously many scoffed at that dream, although the simple attention it received for this seemed satisfying to the young man who longed to be considered by others.
This wish also included a resentment towards Hiruzen Sarutobi as he again assumed the role of Hokage after the death of Naruto’s father, and the young man blamed him for not putting a stop to the treatment he received from others and for not intervening when he had problems to survive with little help from the government. Still Naruto respected the old man and despite all resentment he became a kind of older brother to Konohamaru.
So all the harsh treatment Naruto received from the villagers only made him more tolerant and compassionate towards others, as even some of those who looked down on him later were his friends, and with all of this he was more determined to become the Hokage. , finally achieving his goal at the end of the series.
Naruto became a righteous and powerful leader with a perspective on life that was shaped by his complicated childhood and adolescence, although this position also meant that he was not as much with his family as he would have liked.