After the original run of Naruto ended, their world’s story didn’t. Instead, the kids of Konoha grew up and became the leaders of their village in their own specialties. More than that, though, they also got married and had kids. Those kids followed in their parents’ footsteps and became powerful ninja in their own right.
Now, everyone’s favorite fox-demon Hokage has his own troubles with his title character son, Boruto. Especially because one might argue that Naruto isn’t a very good dad in the first place. He’s often absent, ignores his son’s feelings, and even skips out on huge events like his daughter’s birthday.
Considering Naruto’s bad dad tendencies, here are 10 Parents In The Land Of Fire Better Than Naruto.
Kurenai
The easiest good parent to identify is Kurenai. This lovely ninja once led Team 8 with her whole heart, just like she loved her partner, Asuma. During their fight against the Akatsuki, Asuma lost his life while battling alongside his team. Months later, Kurenai gave birth to their daughter, Mirai.
Kurenai was a wonderful single mom to Mirai, but also let people help her when she struggled. Shikamaru became a fantastic babysitter whenever she was needed elsewhere.
In a world full of neglectful, or often lost, ninja parents, Kurenai went above and beyond to be there for her daughter while still being a ninja she could look up to.
Sakura
While Sakura isn’t everyone’s favorite character, she did a good job raising Sarada into a brilliant young ninja. Sasuke left them on their own for years, and her daughter still is a well-rounded, kind, ambitious young woman. She even wants to be Hokage. Even Sasuke’s abandonment didn’t start bothering Sarada until she was a teen. Sakura did her best to make sure she felt loved enough, whether that meant telling her how much Sasuke loved her or sharing her own affections.
She may blow up their house in a single punch (which she definitely shouldn’t have done) but overall, she’s a good mom. Sarada is lucky to share her empathy and passion.
Shikamaru
Of all the young ninja in the Konoha 11, Shikamaru was the most prepared to be a parent. He helped babysit Mirai from when she was an infant. Happens when you’re easily the most responsible young ninja in the village.
Luckily for his son, Shikadai, Shikamaru’s indifferent attitude doesn’t apply to his parenting. While he thinks most everything else is a pain, he takes caring for his child seriously. Well, most of the time (discipline isn’t his strong suit). When Shikadai and Mirai were young, he trained both of them personally. Shikamaru taught them responsibility, strength, and tactical knowledge. It’s no surprise that his son took after him and became a brilliant young tactician.
Sasuke
Let’s start with a disclaimer. Sasuke has a lot of flaws as a parent. He abandoned his daughter for twelve years, to the point she didn’t know what he looked like and doubted her heritage.
However, once Sasuke finally shows up, he works a lot harder to get his act together for Sarada. He spends more time with her, he listens to her, and he believes in her. For a man who came from a family that liked to hurt people to “make them stronger,” that’s an impressive amount of vulnerability.
Could Sasuke be better? Yes. But in a confusing ninja world where he spent most of his young life suffering, he’s trying his best for her. That’s more than can be said for the often-flaky Naruto.
Hinata
As the other half to Naruto, the only reason her kids are in any way well-rounded is that she picks up the slack. It’s more like Hinata deals with three children whenever Naruto is around, but more often is raising their kids on her own. Her kindness and attentiveness have kept her kids afloat and they are absolutely devoted to her.
Their relationship isn’t perfect, and she can’t stop Boruto from feeling all the frustration and pain he does, but she supports him and tries to give him as little or as much space as he needs. In a world full of ninja training their kids in different arts and rules and clan heritage, it’s nice to have a more classic mom who just does all she can to make her children feel loved.
Rock Lee
Whether Rock Lee has a wife or not doesn’t matter. This dad is the most attentive parent to his son, Metal Lee. Even though his kid isn’t nearly as boisterous as he was, he is devoted to giving his all with his son. That could be cheering him on during graduation or getting up early every day to train with him.
Much like Might Guy was for Rock, Rock strives to be everything Metal needs.
Rock Lee also did a great job being patient with his son’s stage fright and anxiety. He could have pushed him too hard, but instead, he just believed in his son and waited for him to find his own way.
Choji
It’s easy to make fun of Choji for his eating habits and odd styles of ninjutsu. His entire character was always kind of goofy, no matter how strong he could be. For a long time, only Shikamaru took the guy seriously.
However, as an adult, Choji’s goofiness has made him a wonderful father. He’s open-hearted and kind to his only daughter, Chocho. He tries to let her figure out things on her own but is ready to give a pep talk when she needs one. And, like his father before him, he instills respect and pride for their unique clan styles in her (even if it’s harder for Cho than it was for him). As a laid back dad who’s still always there for his little girl, Choji gets top marks.
Ino/Sai
Okay, maybe it’s cheating to have two-in-one here, but it’s because that Ino and Sai work best as a team. Of all the ninja in Konoha, Ino and Sai take on every parenting struggle with Inojin. A lot of other parents in town tackle different aspects of their kids, having different learning moments with them. Ever since they had their son, Sai, Ino, and Inojin have been a threesome that supports each other at all times. They’re very tightly knit. Even when Inojin and Sai go off for an eating competition, Ino is right there to support them.
When Inojin is struggling, they also both offer different solutions to him to try to support their son. Honestly, this little family is probably the most well-functioning of the lot and deserve credit for it.
Temari
Where Shikamaru took training very seriously, discipline and consistency wasn’t his forte. Luckily, his wife Temari stepped up and filled in those gaps. She stopped working as a ninja to care for Shikadai at home and she also covered groundings and drilling in those responsible ideals he passed on. She may take it too far (depriving her family of food or physical “lessons”) but she at least means well. We think. Ninja culture is strange for us.
However, she didn’t abandon her shinobi skills, often using them to aid the village and help her son train for tests. They aren’t a perfect family, but Temari still deeply loves her son and is always there for him.
Orochimaru
Yes, this sounds like heresy, but there’s some truth to it. As a person, Orochimaru is a self-centered, manipulative man hell-bent on gaining as much power as he can. At the end of the day, Naruto wins there by good intentions alone.
But as a day to day father? He’s superior. He sends Mitsuke to Konoha to get a better education. Also, he comes to his parent-teacher meetings. The guy has a vested interest in his child’s growth as a person and ninja. Over time, Mitsuke likely will only find more and more unsavory things about his father and fans already know Orochimaru had questionable plans for the clones he made.
And still, the guy treated Mitsuke with more attentive love and respect than Naruto has treated his own children. Yikes.
