Top 10 Naruto Characters with the Saddest Backstories or Childhoods

Gaara's life was full of pain and suffering. He was hated by his father from the day he was born! His siblings never cared about him until he grew older. Sasuke's story is only sad because of the massacre of his clan. Sasuke pushed his fans and everyone who loved him away, while Gaara just wanted to be loved. Gaara always dreamed of being friends with Naruto, and both of them were hated. Sasuke's loneliness was his own fault, while Gaara had no choice.

Additionally, Gaara didn't have fangirls or admirers chasing him like Sasuke did. While Sasuke was taken in and cared for, Gaara's own village wanted him dead.

Itachi's backstory is way sadder than Sasuke's.

He was forced to massacre his own clan, including young children, while carrying the emotional burden of protecting his village and manipulating his younger brother, Sasuke, to drive him toward strength. All the while, he had to hide the truth and endure immense personal suffering.

He also had to watch Shisui kill himself and was forced to kill Izumi. Sasuke, on the other hand, made his own life worse. His life was only bad because of Itachi. Otherwise, he was taken in easily and would have been normal if he hadn't complained so much and pushed everyone away.

Gaara actually had a reason to suffer.

Naruto's story is sadder than Sasuke's by a mile. Naruto was all alone, and people viewed him as a monster. Sasuke, on the other hand, was spoiled with love and praise. Naruto just wanted friends, but Sasuke pushed people away for no reason. Sasuke brought the pain upon himself.

Naruto was born like Gaara, with a dangerous creature hidden inside his body, his parents gone, leaving him alone, sad, and scared. Everyone hates him, scared that the demon fox will take over his body and attack the village again.

He then becomes the class clown in order to get rid of the pain and hopes to achieve his dream of being the 5th Hokage.

During the Second Shinobi War, Nagato's parents were killed in front of his eyes by enemy ninjas when he was five years old. Nagato was beaten by a few of these ninjas just because he was half Uzumaki and half Senju. He escaped because of his parents' sacrifice.

He nearly starved before banding together with two other orphans, Yahiko and Konan. The group supported each other and tried to survive. They spent a few years under Jiraiya's care, but Jiraiya left as soon as he felt he'd taught them enough ninjutsu to defend themselves.

After that, the three orphans formed the Akatsuki as a peacekeeping organization, but it wouldn't be long before Yahiko would pass away during battle, and Nagato would be severely wounded. This prompted him to start believing that the only way to achieve peace is through violence.

No one ever comes close to making me cry rivers of tears like Obito Uchiha. The Uchiha bloodline is cursed with extreme emotions, which lead them to act irrationally. Obito lost literally everything. He was truly alone - an orphan - and even his body was severely damaged. He was trained and brainwashed by the manipulative Madara at a young age, and the only person who was important to him was taken away all at once.

He lost his moral compass and had no reason to continue living. Even if he returned to the village, Madara would have ensured his death. Poor Obito could never catch a break! His life truly sucks. I hated Madara for what he did! Obito deserved a chance in life, and Madara destroyed it.

I've always believed that Kakashi's backstory is one of the saddest. He knew his father, but then his father committed suicide. It's worse to have known someone and then lose them, than never to have known them at all. You experience their love and then lose it. Obito "died," leaving him with the responsibility of Rin. It wasn't his fault that he killed Rin! Do you think he wanted to kill her? That's absurd! Kakashi was left with the guilt of having failed Obito. Then, to make things worse, his sensei died from the Nine-Tails attack. He lived a lonely life until Team 7 came along.

Kakashi's father killed Sasori's parents in front of him without cause, during the war. Sasori felt great pain from their deaths and even held a grudge against himself because of it.

Sasori escaped from Kakashi's father but ran away with nowhere to go. He soon found his grandma, who took care of him, and he eventually made puppets of his parents to make it feel like they were still alive. Sasori even chose to let himself die at the hands of his grandma and Sakura.

He grew up in a sad and lonely environment. After the death of his parents, he became heartbroken and sad. His grandma took care of him and loved him, but she never gave him the real attention or affection that Sasori wanted.

Sasori was broken after seeing other kids with their families, and all he wanted was for someone to give him the same care that he once had in the past.

I like how the list is, and I think Sasuke should be third. Now, I'm not saying what happened to him and his clan wasn't bad. It's how he was after that which leads me to think he should be third on the list.

Sasuke had admirers and people who wanted to take him in. This kid was a stranger brought to the Leaf Village, and they accepted him right away. While almost everyone wanted to get close to him, he pushed them all away and allowed himself to continue being hurt.

He didn't have to work to earn those people's trust like Naruto did. He had a family who loved him, unlike Gaara, who was going to be killed by his uncle, who was ordered by his father to do so. So even though Sasuke lost everything he had with the Uchiha Clan, he had the chance to start a new life with people who cared for him, something that Naruto and Gaara always wanted.

I do like Sasuke a bit. He is cool, and his desire for revenge on his brother seems reasonable. He would've been second if he hadn't allowed himself to continue to be hurt. He still could've planned his revenge while trying to make the best of his life, but no, he just wanted to continue feeling the pain he felt.

Honestly, I'm surprised no one has thought about him yet. He sees his brothers and family members die all the time. Then when he finally finds someone to talk to (Hashirama), the two families pull them apart just because of the last name.

Then his only brother left gives him his eyes because he was going to die anyway... so underrated.

He lost three brothers in his childhood. The last brother, whom he loved deeply, was also killed. He truly wished for peace, but his life was ruined by Black Zetsu and Kaguya.

Itachi's story was worse, but I still felt bad for Shisui. The ANBU were always after him for no reason, and he constantly tried to prove that not all Uchiha were evil.

He was alone after his only friend died, but then he met Itachi and took him under his wing.

Danzo was always against Shisui from the start and never trusted him. Itachi and Shisui mainly relied on each other, but Danzo stole one of Shisui's eyes. Shisui gave his remaining eye to Itachi before he died.

Danzo and the village were always against him and Itachi for being Uchiha.

Shisui's idolized friend died before he met Itachi, and Shisui blamed himself for it. He awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan at only six or seven years old!

Him killing himself made me cry…

Haku and Gaara were kind of similar if you think about it. Both of them had a terrible father who tried to kill them. Their fathers did it because they saw their sons as freaks.

Their own villages hated them for being different. Gaara was neglected and used as a weapon, while Haku's village wanted him dead. Despite Zabuza secretly loving Haku, he still treated him as a tool.

Both of them had mothers who died early, but their childhoods were only similar up to a point. Haku, despite going crazy and killing his father, didn't let it change him. He remained a sweet, gentle, and innocent boy.

Poor Gaara, on the other hand, couldn't take the suffering and became a killing machine.

Kabuto's backstory is actually so sad! When he was thanking his mother constantly, it broke my heart. The fact that the mother doesn't recognize who he was is upsetting because she was the one to give him an identity. To have that taken away again is painful. He has no idea who he is, no identity, nothing. He was alone from the very beginning. All he ever wanted was to find himself, to know who he truly is.

Danzo literally ruined his life by trying to dispose of Kabuto and the mother. How tragic that must have been.

Okay, let's just take a moment to appreciate how Hinata's backstory, in people's minds, is considered sadder than Rock Lee's. It's things like this that make me lose hope in humanity.

People ranked Sakura as number 20, which I respect, but the reasoning was that she was only bullied. Well, that was Hinata too. I guess the only reason they included Hinata being bullied is to make the Naruto and Hinata ship seem somewhat logical. But if she was going to inherit the 3rd most powerful family in the Leaf Village, and she was being bullied, her dad would have stepped in and wrecked them.

Hinata's whole character is based around her wanting to gain Naruto's attention. Meanwhile, Rock Lee's backstory literally makes me cry every time. And yet, Hinata is ranked higher for sadness. Guys, we can do better at being smart.

Obviously, the Hashirama/Madara story was only like 5-6 episodes, but I found them to be far more compelling than Naruto/Sasuke.

Naruto and Sasuke's only real bond was both growing up as orphans and being forced onto a team together, where Sasuke was mostly just annoyed by Naruto.

Hashirama and Madara became friends and bonded over a shared dream of protecting their brothers so children wouldn't be forced to die as child soldiers. What they had was a more genuine friendship and, at one point, a shared dream. The friendship fell apart because they were born into clans that were bitter enemies, rather than one making their life mission to be an avenger.

I love Naruto a lot, but his bonds with anyone besides Shikamaru (that's a student) felt real and true.

I'm surprised Yahiko wasn't on this list.

Konan's parents died when she was really young, and she, along with Nagato and Yahiko, became war orphans searching for food and a place to stay. When they first met the three Legendary Sannin, Orochimaru asked if he could kill them, and Tsunade was acting harshly toward them.

When she was young, Konan's family was killed during the Second Great Shinobi World War, and she was left to fend for herself.

Some time later, Yahiko found her, and the two worked together to survive. Not long after that, Konan went for a walk and found a young, dying Nagato and his dog, Chibi. She and Yahiko probably saved their lives…

Neji's family and friends sacrificed themselves just to protect the weak, useless Hinata and her family. Neji was more powerful than Hinata and her entire family combined, yet everyone looked down upon him. Neji was even used as a slave to serve Hinata's family because he didn't want to listen to them. Hinata was just a weak brat, while Neji endured real pain.

Neji might not have suffered much when he was young, but when he was older, he watched his family die because they had to protect Hinata's family.

I love Kimimaro so much, but his life was so sad! His clan members were bloodthirsty for war and fighting, but Kimimaro wasn't. Because he was different, his clan locked him inside a cage and only let him out during battles.

They treated him like a weapon to be used and then hidden away. They fed him just enough to keep him alive, and he was completely isolated without any friends. He shivered from the cold winds at night, but he tried to keep himself together.

Orochimaru treated him as a pawn, but Kimimaro thought he cared about him. He stayed loyal to Orochimaru despite how he was treated. He and Jugo were such good friends, but sadly, they didn't get much screentime together.

It broke me to hear Orochimaru tell Kimimaro to his face, while he was dying, that he no longer needed him and had no use for him. If Kimimaro had met Zabuza and Haku when he was a child, he would have been more cared for and would have had a friend.

Her lover and younger brother died, scarring her so much that she developed a deep fear of blood and became depressed.

I felt so bad for her. Orochimaru killed her younger brother and her beloved, and it changed her.

Her life is so sad, and nobody even notices? I knew she wasn't going to be in the top tens, but she should. She's so misunderstood, honestly. Her brother dies, Dan dies, Jiraiya dies, and Hashirama as well. They were really close when she was young, so I had to put her on the list.

She lived most of her life thinking that she was cursed.

Of course, her backstory is nothing compared to Gaara, Naruto, Sasuke, and Itachi, but she really had a sad childhood. Do you know what it feels like to have a father that always looks down on you? A father that hates your existence, to the point that it doesn't matter to him if you are dead or alive. Not just a father, but a whole clan that looks down on you. And where is Hinata's mother? She is either dead, which is unfortunate for Hinata, or she doesn't care if her little daughter is treated poorly, which is even worse.

Do you know what it feels like to live every day of your life with a sibling that wants to kill you? Not a blessed life, I guess.

His father was the joke of the village, and nobody respected him. He trained his hardest and kept pushing himself past normal limits to become a respectable shinobi. He saw his father die for something he truly loved and cared for, and he was willing to do the same when he fought Madara.

He is the most relatable character and has realistic motivation for all the losers.