- Toji Fushiguro Guide - July 5, 2022
- Toru Hagakure Guide - July 4, 2022
- Death Note Funko Pop Guide: The Only Guide You Will Ever Need - June 22, 2022
Naruto is a series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. Naruto as a manga was produced in 1999 in the Weekly Shonen Jump manga, and the manga continued until November 2014. Moreover, later on, the series got an anime adaption produced by Studio Pierrot and Aniplex, released on 3 October 2002.
Naruto as a series ended on 8 February 2007. The anime series consisted of two parts, later released on 15 February 2007 and continued until 23 March 2017.
In the early 2000s, the anime and manga industry wasn’t as popular as now. So the series released during the time had to be really intriguing to pique a person’s interest. Luckily for Naruto, it was a series that fans really liked. Naruto is a series set in the non-technological era where the nations fought against each other to gain power. Naruto, the series’ main protagonist, lived in this cruel and unpredictable world.
The fans really loved watching the journey of the young 12-year-old boy trying to reach his goal. However, this wasn’t the only thing fans loved about the series. Naruto was a long ongoing story, so Masashi Kishimoto planned it carefully.
Masashi Kishimoto carefully crafted the setting of the world around the main character. Furthermore, Masashi Kishimoto’s planning bore fruit as the series sold over 250 million copies. Moreover, Naruto was also ranked very high as a series on MAL, being 278th with a rating of 8.2 out of 10.
The series had some fascinating things that made it stand out. What fascinated the fans about the series was its large cast of loveable characters. There are many unique characters in the Naruto series. Moreover, as the series has such a massive fan base, it feels like each character has its own fandom. Each character gets his time in the spotlight, and Menma is no exception.
Menma even though is a side character and has no vital role in the story. Still, he is a very likable character and shouldn’t be overlooked. Moreover, Menma is a highly complex character shown for a short time in the series. So to understand who he is, let us see his story in the series.
Naruto’s Alternative Realities: The Two Menma
Road to Ninja Version
Menma Uzumaki is a very talented shinobi and is also a fast learner. He became a chunin at an early age with little to no help from his parents. Moreover, Menma has a very energetic personality, similar to her mother, Kushina Uzumaki.
However, Menma has excellent analytical skills as he was able to quickly assess situations to make his safe retreat or attack. Furthermore, he is very confident in his abilities and doesn’t hesitate to use any means necessary to win a fight.
Filler Arc: Tenten’s Tsukuyomi Dream Version
Menma is a very mysterious and composed character, unlike his counterpart Naruto. Menma takes more of his personality from Minato, and he has a more focused and calm attitude, unlike Naruto. Moreover, Menma only talks when he feels it’s necessary rather than having a more idiotic and talkative approach.
Furthermore, Menma has a sharp wit, carefully planning each move and carrying his plan to victory. He is also a very genius person, as shown when he graduated at the top of his class. Menma also likes to keep a distance from people, even his parents, as shown when he told Sakura and Hinata to leave him alone.
Menma deeply cares about his village and friends as he expressed his desire to help Tenten when he saw a sudden shift in personality.
Abilities And Powers
Menma is an incredibly capable shinobi as he can effortlessly defeat other Jinchurikis, as shown when he defeated Yugito Nii. Moreover, Menma has also been declared an S rank criminal. He single-handedly defeated many formidable shinobi of the leaf village and some other villages.
He has remarkable stamina and tremendous vitality. Furthermore, Menma was also able to use the powers of the Sharingan when Tobi took over him.
Jinchuriki Powers (Road To Ninja)
Menma is the Jinchuriki of the Black Nine-Tailed Fox. So Menma has vast reserves of chakra of the Nine-Tailed Fox. Moreover, as there is no seal to restrain the Nine-Tailed Fox, Menma can easily access all of its power. Menma can also control the Nine-Tailed Fox, similar to how an animal is summoned.
Furthermore, as Menma also has too much hatred in him, which makes him bond with the black Nine-Tailed Fox, he can easily use its chakra and create living entities known as the Nine masked beasts. Menma can also sense negative energy by using Nine Tails power, as shown when he felt the hatred inside Naruto’s Nine-Tailed Fox.Â
Ninjutsu (Road To Ninja)
As Menma is the alternate version of Naruto, he has essentially the same abilities as Naruto. He can use a more robust version of Rasengan, which he calls the Spiralling Rasengan or Great Spiralling Rasengan. However, unlike Naruto, he is more skilled as he doesn’t need any shadow clones to perform these Jutsu.
Moreover, he is also quite formidable even when Naruto uses his sage mode power. Menma used a mysterious technique that covered him in a dark aura, which increased his strength and helped him counter a sage mode punch from Naruto. Menma can also fly freely in the sky, which is an ability that not many characters in the series possess.Â
Taijutsu (Road To Ninja)
Menma is an impressive taijutsu user. He displayed his skills while fighting Naruto’s shadow clones. Menma remained calm and easily dodged all their attacks and counterattacked in return. Menma effortlessly overpowered Hanzo salamanders with his Nine-Tails avatar and came victorious in the battle.
Nine Masked Entities (Road To Ninja)
Some of the Nine masked entities that Menma possesses include:
- Seiryu:Â It is a dragon that resembles a seahorse. Moreover, he is one of the Nine masked beasts Menma creates to attack the village.
- Byakko:Â (Road to Ninja): He is also known as the white tiger. He is a lean and slender tiger and is one of the entities that Menma created.
- Shinigami: A priest that resembles a skeleton and carries a scythe. A swing of this scythe unleashes sickle-like energy waves that drain their chakra targets once they have passed through them. The waves can bypass the barriers set up by Hokuto Sennin and Nanto Sennin and emerges from the ring bearing the kanji 三 (san, “three”).
Jinchuriki Powers (Filler Arc: Tenten’s Tsukuyomi Dream)
Menma, similar to Naruto, is also the Jinchuriki of Kurama, the Nine-Tailed Fox. Thus Menma, too, has extensive reserves of chakra. Furthermore, Menma made a strong relationship with the Nine-Tailed Fox and can easily access all of Kurama’s chakra during battle.
He can also use the Nine-Tailed chakra mode, which makes an avatar of the Nine-Tailed Fox around him, significantly increasing his range of attacks.
Physical Prowess And Chakra (Filler Arc: Tenten’s Tsukuyomi Dream)
As Menma is a descendant of the Uzumaki clan, he has a significant healing factor and large reserves of chakra. Moreover, he is swift and decisive as he stops Tenten’s giant Axe with a Kunai and a single arm.
The Tale Of The Two Menma
Menma Uzumaki (Movie: Road To Ninja)
Menma Uzumaki is a tall, fair-skinned man. When Menma was introduced, he wore a white kitsune mask on his face to keep his identity hidden. Later on, when Menma’s mask is broken, he is shown to be identical in looks to Naruto. However, Menma has black shaggy style hair similar to his universe’s Minato.Â
Moreover, Menma has more pronounced whiskers on his face, unlike Naruto. Menma also has dark circles around his eyes, and there is no Eight Trigrams Seal Mark on his abdomen.
Menma Uzumaki is the son of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki. Menma is the Naruto of the alternate reality where his parents didn’t die due to the Nine-Tailed attack. Moreover, the Nine-Tailed Fox was easily extracted from Kushina and sealed inside Menma without any problem. Menma then lived his life like an ordinary boy in the village. Firstly, he joined the ninja academy, effortlessly passed the exam, and became a genin.
Furthermore, being the son of Kushina and Minato, Menma showed exceptional skills as a shinobi and did every mission with ease. Menma quickly became a chunin and became his team’s leader, just below his captain. Unfortunately, nobody knew that Menma was starting to drift into darkness. With each passing day, Menma grew distant and distant.Â
After becoming a jonin, Menma suddenly disappeared from the village, and nobody knew where he went. After Menma left the village, Sakura Haruno and Naruto Uzumaki from the real world were transported to this alternate world due to Tobi.
Naruto Uzumaki then started to live as Menma sharing the joy and pain with Menma’s family. On the other hand, Sakura lived alone without any parents or relatives. Even though Sakura was a hero, she felt alone, just like Naruto did back in their world.
After some time had passed, Menma, a mysterious masked man, attacked the village with his Nine masked beasts. He mainly targeted the Hokage’s mansion with his Great Spiraling Rasangen, where Tsunade worked. Menma also shows that he can create living entities and then creates Nine-strong entities to attack the village. Menma attacked the Hidden Leaf Village as Tobi manipulated him so that the “Eye” of the Moon plan could be made a reality.Â
Menma then searched for the Red Moon Scroll, probably hidden in the Hokage office. However, Menma’s plan failed as Naruto saved Tsunade and then went to fight Menma. However, Menma overpowered Naruto with his unique form of Rasengan and went away. After agreeing to make the “Eye” of the Moon plan come true, Menma searched for Jinchurikis other than himself.
Moreover, Menma came across Yugito Nii during his search, the two Tails Jinchuriki of his world. Menma then fought her and captured her effortlessly. Naruto then searched for Menma to take revenge for the chaos he caused in the village and catch him.
Unfortunately, Menma was much more vital as he could control and use the full power of his Nine-Tails. However, Naruto still went ahead and fought against Menma. Menma showed the difference in their strength and quickly overwhelmed Naruto. Then Menma, with his summoned Nine Tails, was about to kill Naruto just when the Akatsuki entered.Â
The Akatsuki bought Sakura Haruno with them, saving Naruto from Menma’s grasp. Naruto’s Nine-Tails mocked him for being overpowered by a fake. However, Naruto’s Nine-Tails decided to help Naruto as he didn’t want to be captured by Tobi. After that, Naruto and Menma fought on par with each other. The fight didn’t last long as Naruto defeated Menma just like Minato defeated Tobi. Menma then happily went back to his family.
Menma Namikaze (Filler Arc: Tenten’s Tsukuyomi Dream)
Kaguya Otsusuki got resurrected, and she cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi on the whole world. Tenten, too, became a victim of the Tsukuyomi and went into a long dream. After being transported into the alternate world, Tenten went to stop Madara Uchiha, not knowing that she was dreaming.Â
However, she couldn’t find Madara Uchiha, so she went back to the village. However, Tenten acted rudely towards everyone, which Menma noticed and got really bothered by. After some time had passed, the higher-ups of the village declared Tenten a traitor as they said she leaked information to the Amagakure.Â
Menma took her side as he had been Tailing her the whole day. He told the higher-ups that she was framed and freed Tenten from being imprisoned. Unfortunately, Hanzo the Salamander attacked the Hidden leaf village due to the leaked information. Menma bravely fought against Hanzo, and with Tenten’s help, he defeated him and his Salamanders.
Menma later confronted Tenten that she was acting different and understood that she was not the Tenten he knew. Menma still treated her like a friend. Tenten felt really happy due to Menma’s consolation and accepted her fate to live in the Tsukuyomi world.
Characters Related To Menma
To understand Menma Uzumaki’s significance in the series, let us see which characters are closely related to him that he had an impact on.
Naruto Uzumaki (Road To Ninja)
Menma met Naruto as he was transported to the alternate world where Menma lived. Even though Menma and Naruto share the same looks and abilities, their thoughts are nothing alike. Menma is a serious person and isn’t as optimistic as Naruto. Moreover, when Menma was introduced, he was shown as being evil, which Naruto never became.Â
Menma and Naruto have clashing personalities, making them face each other many times during the movie. Furthermore, Menma was the antagonist of the story, and however, he still taught many things to Naruto.Â
Naruto realized how important a family is while living with Menma Uzumaki’s family. Moreover, Menma also made Naruto realize how important are the relations he had made over time with people. If not for them, Naruto could’ve turned out like Menma.
Minato Namikaze (Road To Ninja)
Minato Namikaze is the father of Naruto and, in the alternate world, was the father of Menma Uzumaki. He is also the fourth Hokage, and he loved his village deeply. Minato took his responsibility as Hokage seriously as he wore the Hokage Haori.
Menma deeply cared for him, being his son, and he would carefully listen to him, as any father deserves to. Moreover, Menma became a very capable shinobi to make Minato proud.
Kushina Uzumaki (Road To Ninja)
Being her son, Menma dearly loved her and wanted to protect her at all costs. Even after going rogue and becoming a villain, he did not lose sight of Kushina. This fact was obvious when after attacking the village, Menma didn’t hurt Kushina and left from there.
Moreover, Menma wanted Kushina’s affection, so he trained and became a capable shinobi which made Kushina really proud. After getting defeated, Menma realized the wrong path he had taken and left his evil side. Menma’s hair changed back to blonde, and he gladly went home with his mother, Kushina.
Hinata Hyuga (Road To Ninja)
Hinata Hyuga is a kind and shy woman who really loves Naruto Uzumaki from the bottom of her heart. However, the Hinata that loves Menma is very different from the real world of the Naruto series.
Even though she loves Menma, she cannot express it to him as he leaves the village. However, Menma also cares deeply for her and loves her. This is shown by Naruto in the real shinobi world.
Tobi (Road To Ninja)
He is the one pulling the strings from behind in the story. He trapped Naruto and Sakura in this alternate reality and then hid away. Tobi is a member of the Akatsuki, and similar to each member, he wears a long black cloak with red clouds made on it.
Menma agrees with Tobi to perform the Eye of the Moon plan; moreover, Menma shows extraordinary abilities as shinobi to Tobi. Furthermore, Menma then becomes the top villain as Tobi puts great trust in his abilities.
Sakura Haruno (Filler Arc: Tenten Tsukuyomi Dream)
Sakura Haruno has a very energetic personality and tries to get close to Menma. However, Menma doesn’t find Sakura appealing, and he keeps her at arm’s length.
Moreover, Menma finds Sakura very annoying and always teaches her to be less dependent on him and become stronger. Furthermore, Menma teaches Sakura to think carefully during a fight as Sakura doesn’t have good analytical skills.
Tenten (Filler Arc: Tenten Tsukuyomi Dream)
When Tenten was transported to this alternate world, she was baffled, and Menma came to help her. He thought about what Tenten was going through and told her that she was in an alternate reality. Moreover, this made Tenten realize that she was stuck in a dream world. However, there was no escape even though Menma helped her a lot.
My Thoughts On Menma
Filler Arc: Tenten’s Tsukukyomi Dream Version
Menma is undoubtedly a very unique character. He is strong, brave, and doesn’t back down from a challenge. Furthermore, his sharp analytical skills and calm personality make him a likable character. Moreover, he effortlessly finishes his tasks and completes each mission successfully. All these qualities about him make him a very loveable character for me.Â
However, he keeps himself distant from his friends and family and never jokes about anything. This is a very unlikeable part of his personality.
Road To Ninja Version
Menma was a very mysterious character in the series and was undoubtedly a very cool counterpart of Naruto. He had a similar personality of being childish; however, he wasn’t as cheerful as Naruto. Moreover, he had a lot of hatred inside himself, which I really wanted to know why.
This made him a fascinating character as seeing someone like Naruto being a villain was very new. I really like Menma as he has a lot to offer as a character. However, he became evil and left all his friends and family. Moreover, the lack of care he showed for them is not something I liked about him.
Trivial And Fun Facts About Menma
Menma’s Name’s Origin
Menma is the name of the Japanese condiment consisting of fermented bamboo. Moreover, it is also found in Ramen, a dish sold in Japan. This name is also parallel to where the name Naruto originated.
Menma’s (Road to Ninja) Attacks Resemble Pain’s Assault On Konoha
When Menma attacked the hidden leaf village with his Great Spiraling Ring, his attack resembled Pain’s attack to inflict damage to the Hidden leaf Village. He used the Nine masked beasts to attack the village, similar to what Pain did using the Six paths of Pain.
Filler Arc: Tenten’s Tsukuyomi Dream Version
Menma really performed well for the fans, just as they wanted. Seeing the alternate version of Naruto, known as Menma, be really serious and intelligent was just a treat to the eyes. For the first time, fans saw how Naruto would’ve acted if he wasn’t an idiot and sought out things like an intellectual.
Furthermore, seeing how skilled Menma was really made the fans have higher expectations for Naruto. This gave the series an intriguing situation it needed. Moreover, the story of Menma really opened a new world for the fans as they experienced completely new scenarios from before. Menma was a loveable character and gave the series the popularity it needed.
FAQs
Question: Is Menma Uzumaki Naruto’s older brother?
Answer: No, Menma Uzumaki is not Naruto’s Older brother. However, he represents how a wiser Naruto or perhaps an older twin brother would look if there were to be one. He has an opposite personality to Naruto. Unlike Naruto, he doesn’t like to play pranks on people and spends his precious time training hard.Â
Question: What kind of Rasengan does Menma (Road to Ninja) use?
Answer: As Menma is Naruto Uzumaki from an alternate world thus, he also uses the same techniques as Naruto. Therefore, Menma can also use Rasengan. However, it looks really different from Naruto’s normal Rasengan. The Rasengan that Menma creates has a dark purple color orb surrounded by a series of white rings of chakra that orbit around the sphere.
Question: How old and tall is Menma?
Answer: As Menma is the counterpart of Naruto, so he is the same age as Naruto, who is 16 years by the second part of the series. Moreover, he is above 160 cm tall, a good height for an average shinobi in the Naruto series.
Menma Character Guide: Final thoughts
Naruto was a very long series, so it was crucial to add some new ideas to keep its fans engaged. Menma was undoubtedly an excellent decision. As fans always thought about what a counterpart of the original character would be like. So for Naruto, Menma was a perfect choice.
Watching Naruto live his life along with his parents was a very fulfilling desire for the fans. Menma really showcased how Naruto’s life could’ve turned out. Menma as a character should really be appreciated more.