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The identity of Naruto's first friend has always been a topic of debate amongst fans of the anime and manga. Naruto Uzumaki is the protagonist of the famous anime and manga series created by Masashi Kishimoto. He is one of the most cheerful characters in the anime world, whose optimism and determination paved the way for his dream of becoming the Hokage.
There is one such person who can be given the title of being his first friend and fans can see his introduction in episode 314 of Naruto: Shippuden, which is available for streaming on Crunchyroll.
Naruto's first friend turns out to be a filler character
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Despite achieving his dream, Naruto did not always have it easy. He was orphaned and cast out by the villagers who viewed him as dangerous and despicable because of the nine tails that were sealed inside of him. Being lonely and desperate for attention and care, he got into all sorts of trouble and mischief.
However, he encounters one person who can see past all his trouble-making and understands him. This turns out to be his first friend, Yota, a young child from an unknown traveling clan with mysterious weather manipulation abilities. He was reincarnated by Orochimaru as one of his test subjects and sent to Konoha under his command.
Upon his arrival at the leaf village, Yota meets Choji, Shikamaru, and Ino, who befriend him and decide to hide him from the adults of the village as there was tension brewing between the nations. They provided him shelter in a treehouse and fed him regularly, during the course of this time, Yota became friends with Kiba, his dog Akamaru, and Sakura.
One day Yota sees the protagonist sitting in the park all alone and whistling to himself. Curious about this, Yota asks him to teach him the art of whistling, eventually becoming friends in the process. It has to be noted that even though Naruto encounters his comrades from the village in the past, they never took a liking to him like Yota did.
This is also evident when Yota is captured by the Anbu Corps one day while playing hide and seek with the protagonist, who hatches a plan to save Yota. This led to the scene where he stops the Anbu Corps from approaching Yota in the interrogation room. He tries to protect Yota and states that he was his first real friend.
Yota was the first person to truly care for the boy and make him smile. Unfortunately, Yota almost dies after saving Naruto from drowning in the river and decides to leave Konoha to protect him. Yota removes all the memories of himself from the friends he made and goes on to live out the rest of his life on his own. However, he is eventually captured by Kabuto, a medical ninja who is Orochimaru's spy and right-hand man.
However, Yota is only introduced in the anime as a filler character and not in the manga. In Kishimoto's original manga, the protagonist has no friends during his childhood, and the first person to offer him kindness and friendship was Shikamaru, who later turns into one of his closest accomplices.
