Minato Namikaze (Namikaze Minato), the Fourth Hokage (Yondaime Hokage), is the father of Naruto Uzumaki and spouse to Kushina Uzumaki. Although Naruto and Minato are noted to have a number of similar traits throughout the series, their familial relationship is not revealed until Part II of the series. He was the student of Jiraiya and the teacher of Kakashi Hatake. Minato was a prodigy among ninja, such that enemy villages issued flee-on-sight orders if ever he appeared on a battlefield. He developed a jutsu that was in essence a teleportation jutsu, allowing him to wipe out whole armies in the blink of an eye, thus earning him the title of "Konoha's Yellow Flash" (Konoha no Kiiroi SenkÅ). Before the start of the series, he gave his life to seal the nine-tailed demon fox into Naruto's body, saving Konoha from destruction and giving Naruto access to its great strength. It is later revealed during Naruto's battle with Pain that he is Naruto's biological father and that he never told anyone, hoping it would help Naruto. Kishimoto has expressed desire to make a spin-off series with Minato as the protagonist, but much younger. His seiyu is Toshiyuki Morikawa and his English voice actor is Tony Oliver.
