Minato Namikaze

According to those who knew him, Minato was a very talented ninja, having been considered a genius that appeared once a generation. He graduated from the Ninja Academy at the age of ten, and was added to a Genin team under the tutelage of Jiraiya. Jiraiya took a special interest in Minato, and accepted him as an apprentice, amongst other things teaching him the Summoning Technique.

In later years, Minato was put in charge of a Genin team of his own, consisting of Kakashi Hatake, Rin and Obito Uchiha.
Konoha's Yellow Flash
Minato with his students: Rin, Obito Uchiha, and Kakashi Hatake.

During Kakashi Gaiden, set during the Third Great Shinobi World War, Minato led his team on a mission into Kusagakure. Due to Kakashi recently being promoted to Jōnin, Minato gave leadership of the mission to Kakashi while he went to help Konoha's forces on the front lines. Before leaving, he gave Kakashi a special kunai as a congratulatory present, outfitted with the seal used for his Flying Thunder God Technique.

While helping his fellow Konoha ninja, he used the Flying Thunder God Technique to destroy all the opposing Iwagakure ninja in an instant. He returned to Kakashi in time to save him and Rin from another group of the foes, but could not save Obito after giving Kakashi his Sharingan. When Kakashi and Rin recovered from the ordeal, Minato helped them to complete the task of destroying the Kannabi Bridge.
Fourth Hokage

Some time after the war ended, Hiruzen Sarutobi chose Minato, who was not even thirty years of age, to lead Konoha as the Fourth Hokage.[2] During Minato's reign, he had a relationship with Kushina Uzumaki, who would later become pregnant with his son.
Minato and Kushina.

After reading Jiraiya's book, where the main character was named Naruto, Minato said that the protagonist was just like Jiraiya. It was then that Minato revealed that he and Kushina wanted to raise their child to be a shinobi like the one in the book, and for that reason they decided to name him "Naruto" after the main character. Jiraiya pointed out that it would make him Naruto's godfather and asked if they were sure that they would want that. Minato stated Jiraiya was a good example for them all and that he could not think of a finer shinobi than him.[3]

Soon after Naruto was born, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox attacked Konohagakure. Minato rushed to the village's help, where he and Gamabunta faced off against the Nine-Tails, but the beast's power could not be matched. Having recognized that the Nine-Tails was being controlled by Madara Uchiha, and seeing that he predicted his every move, Minato decided to defeat the demon and give Konoha the means to combat Madara if he should ever attack the village again.[4] He used the Dead Demon Consuming Seal to seal the Nine-Tails into Naruto's body, hoping that his son would someday be able to use its power. When Minato sealed the Nine-Tails within Naruto, he split its chakra in two, the Yin and Yang. Minato sealed the Yang half within Naruto with the Eight Trigrams Sealing Style, and sealed the Yin half with the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, thus making it inaccessible to Naruto.[5] The act cost Minato his life, and he died as the village's greatest hero.