10 Naruto characters who ruined everything they touched

No matter the motive or the depth of the scheme, there are some characters in Naruto who have caused lasting consequences throughout the ninja world. From Indra to Danzo, they've all had a role to play in making things far worse.

Thus, here are 10 Naruto characters that ruined everything they touched.

Disclaimer: This article reflects the author's opinions and contains spoilers for all of Naruto.

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Danzo, Indra, and 8 other Naruto characters that broke the world

1) Indra Ōtsutsuki‎

Cain to Asura's Abel, Indra was jealous of his brother and started backstabbing problems that echoed through Naruto. In the story, Asura and Indra were The Six Path Sage's only sons and were given the same question: how should the world be governed?

Asura's answer was through the bonds of friendship and care. Indra's answer was brute strength and singular focus. Asura was chosen as the successor, whereas Indra was judged short-sighted. However, he ignored any criticism, including that the country he "saved" had destroyed itself over the water they were meant to share.

After attacking Asura following Black Zetsu's manipulations, Indra was defeated by a combined effort from Asura, their father, and the villagers. Indra's wrath would birth the Curse of Hatred, a terrible curse where hatred, anger, and pain grants strength.

The curse passed down to the Uchiha Clan and caused untold grief.

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2) Pain/Nagato

Nagato/Pain is a very sad story. A war orphan, Nagato believed in peace, thanks to his friends Yahiko and Konan keeping his head up. The intervention of Legendary Sannin Jiraiya helped them learn how to fight and defend themselves, whilst pushing for peace in the Hidden Rain Village. It fell on deaf ears.

The village leader Hanzo, aided by Danzo Shimura, took Konan hostage. Yahiko killed himself to prevent Nagato from sacrificing him in exchange for Konan. Nagato became Pain, killed Hanzo, and turned Akatsuki into a violent moment, enlisting the aid of Obito Uchiha to see "peace through pain" manifest.

The capture of the tailed beasts, Jiraya's death, the assault on the Hidden Leaf, and all the deaths resulting from it can be laid at Pain's feet. It stopped when Naruto was able to best Pain with Kurama and his allies' help.

In short, breaking the cycle of hate and pain with acts of sheer, genuine kindness stopped Nagato's torment and anguish. It moved him to aid Naruto on more than one occasion, including reviving those he personally killed.

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3) Obito Uchiha

Obito Uchiha was recruited by team Minato, getting friendly with teammates Kakashi and Rin. During the Third Great Ninja War, they had to destroy a bridge to cut off the Hidden Rock village's supply lines. Whilst successful, it cost Obito his left Sharingan eye, and he was thought to be dead.

Sometime later, Hidden Mist Ninja kinapped Rin and forced her to be the holder of the Three Tails, and Kakashi was forced to kill her. Obito took revenge on the ninja and joined the Akatsuki. However, Obito ruined everything: his relationship with his team, the Akatsuki fell apart, he killed Konan, and left a long blood trail until the end of the series.

His redemption came at the cost of his life. He helped save Naruto and Kakashi from death and helped Sasuke out of Kaguya's other dimension. He also upgraded Kakashi's Sharingan to give him Susanoo to help defeat Kaguya.

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4) Orochimaru

Orochimaru (Image via Studio Pierrot)

A maniacal experiment-loving snake and one of the legendary Sannin, Orochimaru sought immortality. This involved cutting people open and harvesting over 60 people, including children, to try infusing them with the First Hokage's cells to create containers for Tailed Beasts. This resulted in his removal from the Hidden Leaf, but not before creating Danzo Shimura's Sharingan imbued arm.

Orochimaru corrupted Sasuke with the Curse Mark, killed and harvested many people to keep alive, and died several times from all this.

While he would eventually redeem himself, aiding Sasuke by raising the Four Hokage, the creation of Mitsuki in Boruto required several mind wipes to reach his own independence.

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5) Kabuto Yakushi

Kabuto Yakushi was Orochimaru's right hand man. His medical background helped him cut a swath through the main cast of Naruto.

After years of serving under Orochimaru, Kabuto decided to make a name for himself by supplying Madara and Obito with resurrected people to wage the Fourth Great Ninja War. He also created his own Sage Mode.

He was caught in a time loop thanks to the efforts of the revived Itachi Uchiha and Sasuke, and his mechanations brought to a close. When he finally broke out, he decided that fighting ceaselessly wasn't for him and opened an orphanage instead. The orphanage still stands as of Boruto.

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6) Sasuke Uchiha

Despite having plenty of avenues to deal with his trauma over the Uchiha Clan massacre in Naruto, Sasuke still pursued revenge against Itachi, thanks to Orochimaru's manipulations. After finally getting his revenge, Sasuke announced he'd make all of The Hidden Leaf pay for the Uchiha Clan massacre.

After failing to capture the Killer Bee, he assaulted the Five Kage Summit seeking revenge on Danzo Shimura, the chief architect of the massacre. En route, he abandoned two of his teams, tried to kill Karin when Danzo held her hostage, and vowed to kill everyone in the Leaf.

When Sasuke ran into the revived Itachi sometime later, he was told by both Itachi and Kabuto that everything he suffered was a lie, engineered so that he'd be the hero in Itachi's case and a sacrifice in Kabuto's.

Infuriated by all the manipulations, plus the prospect of the world being destroyed, Sasuke aided Itachi in sealing Kabuto in a time loop. Itachi's kind words that he'd love Sasuke no matter what shook him to his core.

After finally learning the whole truth, Sasuke aided the Allied Shinobi Forces in turning the tide of the war, helped fight Madara, and was instrumental in sealing Kaguya.

Afterward, he derangedly ranted that he was going to end the Tailed Beasts and Kage to make everything better. It took losing an arm and being repeatedly shown Naruto's recovery from his own trauma to finally get Sasuke to stop.

Stopping released the Curse of Hatred, and he and Sakura got married. While his parenting abilities left a lot to be desired in early Boruto, he did eventually come around often enough to see Sarada and help Sakura out. It helps that he's a good mentor to Naruto's son, Boruto.

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7) Danzo Shimura

Of all the villains, rogues, and backstabbers, Danzo is one of the worst. Throughout Naruto, Danzo:

• Manipulated events in the Hidden Rain village so Hanzo would slaughter the Akatsuki, inadvertantly creating Pain.
• Let Orochimaru slaughtering dozens.
• Was among the chief instigators of anti-Uchiha sentiment (not letting them aid in the defense of the village during Kurama's assault, forcing them into a small section of the village)
• Tried to manipulate Kakashi to join his special task force called Root via spying and attempted assassination of the Third Hokage
• Stole one of Shihui Uchiha's eyes, preventing him from simply putting the Uchiha clan to sleep
• Manipulated Itachi into going through with the massacre to avoid a coup
• Had Sai infiltrate Team 7 in Naruto: Shippuden to kill Sasuke.
• Root members caused the Gozu Tenno/Nue in Boruto to nearly destroy the village..

Despite whatever justifications, most being insincere gibberish, he caused more problems than he solved. Whilst he may have intended to protect the Hidden Leaf, he only had eyes for the Leaf and condemned everyone else.

Sacrificing his life to prevent Shisui's eye falling into Obito's hands was good, but it doesn't balance out a lifetime of wickedness.

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8) Madara Uchiha

Before the events of Naruto, Madara Uchiha and the First Hokage fought endlessly during the Warring States Period. Determined to cease hostilities, the two founded the Hidden Leaf Village as a sign of unity between the Senju and Uchiha clans. As with Indra and Asura, however, they eventually came to blows.

This supposedly saw Madara die. But he clung to life, creating his White Zetsu army; he manipulated the events that led to Obito going to the dark side and started the Infinite Tsukuyomi plan.

When he was revived during the Fourth Great Ninja War, he wreaked havoc amongst the Allied Shinobi forces. He also managed to revive the 10 Tails and activate the Infinite Tsukuyomi.

His ambitious plans fell apart as he was trying to battle team 7 once again, as he was betrayed by his trusted associate the Black Zetsu and used as fuel for his true master, Kaguya Ōtsutsuki.

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9) Kaguya Ōtsutsuki

Kaguya was sent to Earth to harvest its chakra fruit. Instead, she grew close to humanity. An affair with an emperor and being caught in a vicious conflict caused her to escape to the God Tree and consume the fruit.

She stopped the conflict and took control of the ancient nations, changing them all into White Zetsu. When her twin sons were born, she changed. From a Rabbit Goddess to a Demon, wanting to possess all the chakra. It took her twin sons to seal her in the God Tree. She'd only wake up thanks to her Black Zetsu she manifested.

Despite any desire for peace, her methods ensured it was temporary. The costs were death and destruction. It inspired the weaponization of Chakra, the various clans, and the weaponization of the Tailed Beast. When she was revived, she thought only to fight and kill those in her way, so her and Black Zetsu were defeated and finally sealed permanently.

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10) Black Zetsu

Like Satan or Lucifer, Black Zetsu has manipulated all the events of Naruto up until the end of Naruto Shippuden. This character manipulated all of the events shaping the ninja world. Indra turned against Asura, Madara against the First Hokage and generally manipulated everything for the impending rebirth of Kaguya.

This proved fruitful, as as she was indeed revived. All of it's scheming was for naught, however, since Team 7 stopped their plans and sealed them away. It caused mass destruction, devastation, families were torn apart, and in the end, the only silver lining was telling Team 7 that White Zetsu were people trapped in the previous Infinite Tsykuyomi to become soldiers.

This led Sasuke to investiate, discovering more of the Ōtsutsuki clan and allowing the other nations to prepare for their arrival.