Team Minato

Team Minato
Team Minato (ミナト班, Minato-Han) Kakashi Regiment (カカシ隊, Kakashi-Tai)
Debut
Manga	Naruto Chapter #239
Anime	Naruto Shippūden Episode #119
Movie	Naruto Shippūden the Movie: The Will of Fire
Game	Naruto Shippūden: Ultimate Ninja Heroes 3
OVA	Naruto Shippūden: UNSG anime cutscenes
Appears in	Anime, Manga, Game, Movie
Team Info
Leaders	Minato Namikaze
Members	Kakashi Hatake Rin Nohara Obito Uchiha
Affiliations	Konohagakure
Team Jutsu Student and Teacher: Rasengan (Anime only)

Team Minato was a team that was led by the future Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze with Kakashi Hatake, Obito Uchiha and Rin Nohara being the members of the team.

History

In the Kakashi Gaiden, which was set during the Third Shinobi World War, the team went to Kusagakure to destroy Kannabi Bridge to cut off supplies for Iwagakure ninja. While Minato was away at a different mission, Rin was captured by Iwagakure ninja during the mission. Kakashi and Obito rescued her but Obito was crushed by a cave-in caused by the Iwa-nin Kakkō. Obito gave Kakashi the Sharingan from his left eye and told Rin and Kakashi to flee, before the second cave-in seemingly killed him with both Rin and Kakashi escaping to safety while being left grief-stricken by Obito's death.

In reality, however, Obito managed to survive, having been saved by an elderly Madara Uchiha to whom Obito was grateful. During his time at the Mountain Graveyard, Obito began a very lengthy process of rehabilitation with the single-minded determination of returning home to his village and help his comrades, despite Madara telling Obito that the injuries Obito had sustained in the cave-in would ultimately ensure that Obito would never become a fully-fledged shinobi ever again.

Some time later, under Madara's secret orders, Rin was captured and made the host of the Three-Tails with Kakashi eventually saving her, Minato once again away at another mission. Knowing of her true purpose yet unable to kill herself, Rin, desperate to save Konoha from being destroyed at the hands of the Three-Tails opted to commit suicide which she achieved by impaling herself one of Kakashi's Chidori attack which was originally intended to strike a ninja from the Blood of the Mist.

This ultimately cost Rin her life and she used her last ounce of strength to whisper Kakashi's name before dying seconds later. This left Kakashi devastated and the Blood Mist ninjas annoyed that their scheme had failed while in the background, Obito who had witnessed Rin dying at Kakashi's hand was in a state of disbelief and horror.

While Kakashi passed out a few seconds later due to exhaustion, Obito, unable to cope snapped and in a state where he was consumed by nothing but grief, anger and the strong, almost overwhelming need for revenge, responded by going on a rampage where he brutally and mercilessly slaughtered all the Blood Mist ninja on sight with the events later turning Obito into a disillusioned shell who soon became fanatical on creating a "World of Dreams".

A year later, Minato, now the Hokage for Konoha sacrificed his own life to seal away the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, who was released on Konoha by an Obito who hid his identity under a mask and change of voice. After Minato's death, Kakashi believed for a long time that he was the sole survivor of Team Minato.

The remaining members of Team Minato during the Fourth Shinobi World War.

However, during Fourth Shinobi World War, Kakashi was left stunned when he and everyone else discovered the mysterious "Tobi" was actually Obito in disguise. After being reincarnated by Orochimaru, Minato arrived at the battlefield and soon learned the truth that his former student had been alive the whole time while realising his student's role in the Nine-Tails' Attack on Konoha with Minato regretting what had happened, silently stating that if he'd realised that the masked man was Obito that night, then things would have been different.

When Obito, the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki was defeated, Minato managed to stop Kakashi, who only wanted to take the finishing blow, from killing his other student. The three then talked about the past, their regrets over Rin's death and how everything had turned out. Near the conclusion of the war, Obito sacrificed himself to save Naruto from a killing blow much to everyone's horror and shock. Using his Kamui and some of the Six Paths' power he stole from Madara, Obito's soul returned and temporarily merged itself into Kakashi, letting the jōnin use his powers his powers to help Team 7 defeat Kaguya Ōtsutsuki. Upon the war's conclusion, both Minato and Obito's souls moved on to the Pure Land, officially leaving Kakashi as the team's sole survivor.

Trivia

• The team makes a cameo before their actual introduction in chapter 122 and Naruto episode 72 during a flashback of the Third Hokage, and on the cover of chapter 16.
• Kakashi noted many times that the current team he looks after shares similar dynamics to his childhood group due to the fact that Naruto and Obito both wished to become Hokage while both Kakashi and Naruto had a long-standing rivalry with Obito and Sasuke as well. The resemblance is furthered with a photograph of Team Minato being nearly identical to the photograph of Team 7.