Yamato is a member of the ANBU, and a Konohagakure ninja of the same rank as Kakashi Hatake. He appears during the second part of the anime. In addition, he was the temporary leader of Team 7. His real name is unknown. Among the characters introduced in Shippuden, Yamato is certainly one of the most interesting ones, which is why we are writing this article for you. Namely, in it, we are going to tell you whether Yamato died during the Naruto storyline and what actually happened to him.
Yamato did not die in Naruto. He was in a very difficult situation near the end of the Fourth Great War, when his body was used to power up the Zetsu Army, with him eventually ending up inside Tobi’s body. Still, after Madara activated the Infinite Tsukuyomi, he was freed and discarded by Tobi, but he survived. In Boruto, he is seen following Orochimaru, with whom he has a deep and personal connection.
The remainder of this article will give you a detailed overview of Yamato’s fate on the pages of the Naruto manga, as well as its two-part anime adaptation, titled Naruto and Naruto: Shippuden (although Yamato was present only in the second one). You already know what happened and how it happened, so we are just going to bring you the details so you know the whole context. Be careful, though, as the article is going to contain a lot of spoilers so if you don’t know all the details, be careful how you approach the text.
What happened to Yamato in Naruto?
Shortly after his birth, Yamato was kidnapped by Orochimaru to be used in his experiments. Orochimaru implanted the DNA of the First Hokage in Yamato and 59 other children in hopes that he could replicate the Shodai Hokage’s abilities to use Wood Release and control Tailed Beasts. Orochimaru fled Konohagakure after all the other children died and his experiment was discovered.
However, Yamato was the only survivor and resigned himself to his abilities to manipulate and grow wood out of his body. When he was six years old, he successfully completed the ninja academy. In the same year, he also participated in the Chunin selection test and passed it successfully.
Years later, Tsunade gives Yamato the assignment to go to Tenchi Bridge with Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sai in order to apprehend the spy working for Orochimaru that Sasori has sent. He greets Tsunade and Jiraiya in Kakashi’s hospital room before they depart. He hears from Jiraiya and Kakashi about Naruto’s Kyuubi transformations.
On the journey to the bridge, tensions are high among Naruto, Sakura, and Sai. Yamato criticizes the team’s cooperation and offers them the alternative of being imprisoned in a wooden cage for a day or spending the night at a hot spring inn. He persuades the trio to stay at the inn with his eerie visage. The four do one more training session while traveling to strengthen their teamwork and offer Yamato a better picture of their capabilities. Yamato was asked by Kakashi to assist him with Naruto’s training after this operation was a success, and he eventually agreed.
When word reaches Konoha that Sasuke killed Orochimaru, Team Kakashi and Team Kurenai are dispatched to apprehend Sasuke. They divided up so they could search a wider region. He stays with Naruto to stop the Nine-Tails’ chakra from exploding. They come upon Kabuto during their hunt, who offers them a book with details about Akatsuki.
A struggle breaks out when one of Naruto’s shadow clones discovers Sasuke and tries to follow him but Tobi blocks their path. Zetsu enters the scene and announces that Sasuke defeated Itachi, breaking up the fight. Tobi then vanishes. The group moves toward the black flames they see on the horizon. When they arrive, Yamato digs a rift in the ground and leaves the others to continue. Everyone goes back to the village when the others are unable to locate Sasuke.
After that, Sai, Anko Mitarashi, and Yamato are tasked with looking for Kabuto Yakushi. The Nine-Tails’ chakra has exploded from Naruto, and the number “six” appears on his hand just as they locate him, indicating that he already possesses six tails. But a short while later, Yamato is startled to see the “eight.” Yamato assumes that when the “Nine” shows up, everything is over.
The Fourth Hokage, however, prevented Naruto from breaking the last seal on the Ninth Tail in his unconscious. Yamato heads back to Konoha right away. Yamato utilizes his jutsu to build numerous rows of houses at simultaneously while rebuilding Konoha, which was totally destroyed by Pain.
Naruto wants to meet the Raikage after coming across some Kumo-Nin and Danzou deciding that Sasuke should be slain. Kakashi determines that he and Yamato will join Naruto after speaking with him for a little while. To copy all the information about Sasuke from the Kumo-Nin, who are staying in the Konoha library, Yamato travels there.
He drops some of his spy seeds in front of the door, and one of the Kumo-Nins steps on one of them as they leave the library. Soon after, the three Kumo-Nin who are traveling to the Raikage are pursued by Kakashi, Yamato, and Naruto. Naruto falls to his knees and begs him to spare Sasuke when they finally meet.
The Raikage, however, declines. The three Konoha-Nin settle into a room in a nearby town following their fruitless encounter with the Raikage. Tobi surprises everyone by appearing out of nowhere and asking to speak with Naruto to learn how he persuaded Nagato to betray Akatsuki. Naturo swings the Rasengan at Tobi right away, but Yamato blocks him. To separate the two, Yamato first builds a wooden lattice wall in front of Naruto, and then he ties Tobi with his Wood Release: Jubaku no Jutsu.
Tobi, who, according to him, isn’t looking for a fight and only wanted information from Naruto, allows himself to be seduced by him and ends up telling him a story about Sasuke and Itachi as well as the real-life events surrounding Rikudou Sennin and his direct descendants, the Senju and the Uchiha clan.
The following day, Lee, Kiba, and Sai join Sakura at Naruto’s location for a conversation; shortly after their departure, Naruto passes out. Yamato stays with Naruto so that he can be taken back to Konoha once he has recovered, while Kakashi follows Sakura and the others. Under false pretenses, Naruto is taken to an island in the Blitz kingdom because he is not supposed to learn about the impending conflict with Akatsuki.
One of the shinobi who travels with him to the island is Yamato. While there, Naruto learns how to control the chakra of the Kyuubi with a little assistance from Killer B. Yamato Naruto never leaves his side so that if the Kyuubi gets out of control, he can immediately put it down. A brief struggle between Maito Gai and Kisame Hoshigaki, who was thought to be dead, occurs just as Naruto has succeeded in controlling the Kyuubi’s chakra. Maito prevails, and Kisame is captured.
The next step is Aoba Yamashiro questioning Kisame. After successfully relaying the positions of Naruto and Killer B to Akatsuki, Kisame kills himself in order to preserve crucial information. Later, Kabuto Yakushi makes his appearance on the island and manages to abduct Yamato before transporting him to Akatsuki’s stronghold while immobilizing him with a unique poison. He eventually imprisons Yamato in the Hashirama clone statue, which is claimed to strengthen the Zetsu army.
Although it would’ve made sense for them to kill Yamato after he had fulfilled his task, they kept him alive and hung him neat the clone of Hashirama for future use. At a later point in time, his body was locked inside Tobi’s, who seemingly used Yamato’s altered DNA to give power to his own Wood Release. When Madara activated the Infinite Tsukuyomi, Yamato was finally freed from Tobi’s body and left in an unconscious state, because Tobi had no additional use for him. He was not killed, though, and was seen confronting Tobi later on, witnessing the latter crumble.
During the Blank Period, he was assigned to spy on Orochimaru, but that is a completely different story for us to tell.
