Iruka Umino

The Academy teacher who was the first to acknowledge Naruto.

Iruka Umino is a Konohagakure chunin in Naruto who teaches at the Ninja Academy, the school for would-be ninja, and becomes a father figure to Naruto Uzumaki.

Quick Facts

Rank: Chunin
Post: Ninja Academy instructor
Japanese voice: Toshihiko Seki

Facts from the source article.

Background

Kishimoto's first design gave Iruka sharp cheekbones and "evil" eyes, which he dropped for a more relaxed look. Iruka's parents were killed by Kurama, the Nine-Tailed Fox, whose Yang half was later sealed inside Naruto and whose Yin half went into Minato Namikaze.

He is awkward around Naruto at first, but when Iruka's friend Mizuki targets Naruto for death, Iruka becomes the first person to acknowledge the boy, and the two save each other from Mizuki. The Third Hokage picked Iruka as Naruto's teacher deliberately because their backgrounds were so alike, and Iruka has great faith in Naruto's potential.

During the Fourth Great Ninja War the Allied Shinobi Forces send him to keep Naruto from leaving the island where he and Killer Bee are being hidden; Naruto leaves anyway after realising he has been deceived, but Iruka slips a good-luck note into his headband. In the final episode of Naruto: Shippuden, Naruto asks Iruka to stand in as his father at his wedding, and in Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Iruka is headmaster of the Academy. Toshihiko Seki voices him in Japanese; Quinton Flynn voices him in English for Naruto and Naruto Shippuden, with Kyle McCarley taking over at the end of Shippuden and in Boruto.