Naruto: Who Won The Third Great Ninja War?

Naruto is one of the most popular shonen manga series worldwide and, beyond a compelling story, it also features a great, well-built universe. One of the strongest points of the franchise is that it does not take the existence of powerful warriors manipulating chakra lightly: Naruto is very serious in showing how human nature would weaponize these powers to create war.

In fact, the origins of ninjutsu are already a weaponization of chakra, since Hagoromo Otsutsuki first aimed to distribute chakra as a way to forge connections between people and create a new, peaceful world through it. That ideology was the core of Ninshu, the religion that would eventually be distorted by the creation of ninjutsu by Indra Otsutsuki, Hagoromo’s eldest son. But centuries following Indra’s “misuse” of chakra, nations would emerge, and they would go to war to defend their geopolitical interests. These are known as the Great Shinobi Wars.

How Many Great Ninja Wars Have There Been?

In Naruto, there are five Great Shinobi Countries, the five largest nations in the world, which are led by Feudal Lords (Daimyo). They function similarly to economic powers, but there are apparently far fewer countries in Naruto than in our real world. Each nation, the Lands of Lightning, Water, Earth, Fire, and Wind, naturally has its own history and background. Since Konohagakure, Naruto’s village, is located in the Fire Nation, we know a bit more about it compared to others, but Kishimoto created a large world with a vast sociopolitical lore.

As happens in the real world, these nations have often fought each other in wars. While some conflicts may involve two of them, there were a few times when all or most of the five nations were dragged into war. These are known as the Great Shinobi World Wars, or the Great Ninja Wars, and there were four of them in the series’ history (or, at the very least, four were recorded in-universe). Interestingly, Konoha was involved in all of them.

How Did the Third Ninja War Start?

As with previous wars, the Third Shinobi War was driven by competition for territory, resources, and power (as has happened with most wars in the real world as well). After the Second War, there was a shortage of resources, which reduced the power of villages and, consequently, of nations. Conflict began along the borders, but soon escalated and spread among the nations.

While the war broke out only ten years before the start of the main story, the series rarely delves into it. The main source of information is arguably the Kakashi Chronicles (Kakashi Gaiden), because the conflict escalated in such a way that children, including Kakashi and his teammates, were dragged into the war while training as genin, novice ninjas.

Who Won the Third Ninja War?

Image via Pierrot.

The Third Great Ninja War lasted for a few years, ending only a year or two before Naruto Uzumaki was born. Hiruzen Sarutobi led the village as the Third Hokage in the Second and Third World Wars and, despite Konoha having favorable outcomes during the Third War, he decided to turn to diplomacy to reach a ceasefire and reconcile with the other nations.

Therefore, technically, no one won the war. All the countries involved agreed to an armistice. Nonetheless, Konoha is generally considered the winner of the war because of its strong standing and its dominant position afterward. The results of the war played a key role in Minato Namikaze’s appointment as the Fourth Hokage.

Aftermath of the Third Shinobi World War

In Konoha, besides Minato becoming the new Hokage following the war, the entirety of Team Minato gained attention during the war and its surviving members were key to what came later. Unfortunately, Rin Nohara died during the war, after being forced to become the jinchuriki of the Three Tails. Kakashi Hatake, on the other hand, obtained the Sharingan from a seemingly dying Obito Uchiha and awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan following the death of his teammates.

Also, while the nations reached peace through diplomacy, it was a fragile one. As is common after wars, economic and population declines became key problems. Given the number of deaths and other casualities, the war also made room for many “villain” organizations. For example, it was due to the war that Nagato became the leader of the Akatsuki. While the Akatsuki had existed for some time, Nagato was the one who reshaped the organization into the version seen during the main story.

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Obito, as we know, didn’t die during the war, although Konoha mourned his death. He was saved by Madara Uchiha, and, following Madara’s death, he swore to follow his ideal of creating a “better world,” hiding as Tobi until he eventually started the Fourth Shinobi World War, which is a major event in the main story.

The Downfall of the Uchiha Clan

Unfortunately, for the Uchiha clan, the Third World War was a major disaster. Fugaku Uchiha, who made huge contributions during the conflict, didn’t get the recognition he deserved, and didn’t even have his name considered for the next Hokage. This sparked conflict between the clan and village officials (even more conflict, given that there was always some conflict between the Uchihas and officials). Fugaku then turned to training his sons, Itachi and Sasuke, who showed great potential (especially Itachi).

The conflict between the clan and villages led to Fugaku planning a coup d’état. However, at the same time, Danzo Shimura was manipulating Itachi against the clan. Following the suicide of Shisui Uchiha, and also believing it was the only way to protect Sasuke, Itachi sought out Obito, posing as Madara, for help and proceeded with the Uchiha Massacre, killing all the members of the clan, except his younger brother.

Will a Fifth World War Take Place in Boruto?

For now, there is no clear evidence that a Fifth Shinobi World War could take place in Boruto: Two-Blue Vortex, but the story is building toward escalating conflict, foreshadowing a major war. However, this war is unlikely to be between nations. Instead, it is more likely to involve a unified alliance of hidden villages to defeat either the Shinju Clones or the Otsutsuki clan.

Jura has already threatened many villages, which leads to the belief that they will join forces to defeat him. However, with the introduction of Omnipotence, a shinjutsu technique which grants the user the power to rewrite reality (more accurately, it rewrites the perception of reality), an Otsutsuki could use this ability to spark conflict between villages and nations.

What’s Next in Boruto: Two-Blue Vortex?

Boruto: Two-Blue Vortex, the sequel of the story, has introduced a terrifying new threat: the Shinju Clones. They are born from Divine Trees (also known as God Trees), but they are powerful, sentient beings. As far as we know, the goal of the leader of the Shinju Clones, Jura, is to consume all Otsutsuki clan members, and his first target is Boruto “Otsutsuki”, which is what Boruto is called by some after Momoshiki implanted his Kama/Karma on him and Eida/Ada’s Omnipotence altered people memories about him.

Jura’s actual target is Naruto Uzumaki, because he believes Naruto will satisfy his thirst for knowledge, but since Naruto has disappeared, he first wants to consume Boruto for being an Otsutsuki and Himawari for being the new jinchuriki of the Nine Tails.

The story also focuses on the downfall of Kawaki and his grudge with Boruto, who he believes will eventually be controlled by Momoshiki because of Kama, which is not a far-fetched theory. Finally, the new series also makes it clear that the true enemies, and likely final villains, of the story should be the Otsutsuki clan and their parasitic way of gathering power at the expense of the lives of everyone else.

Naruto: Shippuden

Release Date

2007 – 2017-00-00

Network

TV Tokyo

Directors

Masaaki Kumagai, Naoki Horiuchi, Kazunori Mizuno, Yuki Kinoshita, Kazuya Iwata, Hiroyoshi Kishikawa, Yusuke Onoda, Hisashi Ishii, Yoshihiro Sugai, Shu Watanabe, Akitaro Daichi, Takuma Suzuki, Kiyoshi Murayama, Tsuneo Tominaga, Kunitoshi Okajima, Kenichi Nishida, Hideki Takayama, Masaharu Watanabe, Akira Shimizu, Ayataka Tanemura, Hiroaki Nishimura, Atsushi Nakagawa, Kentaro Fujita, Masayuki Matsumoto

Writers

Yasuyuki Suzuki, Shin Yoshida, Junki Takegami, Katsuhiko Chiba, Yuka Miyata, Satoru Nishizono, Kento Shimoyama, Daisuke Watanabe, Hideto Tanaka, Masaya Honda

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  Junko Takeuchi

  Naruto Uzumaki (voice)

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  Noriaki Sugiyama

  Sasuke Uchiha (voice)