Legacy

After Minato died, the Third Hokage reported to the villagers Minato's last request that Naruto be regarded as a hero. Very few were able to separate their hatred of the Nine-Tails from Naruto, prompting the Third to forbid anyone from speaking of the Nine-Tails, hoping that the younger generation would not blindly hate Naruto as the rest of the villagers did. He also concealed Naruto's relation to Minato in order to keep him safe from his father's enemies, and otherwise did his best to give Naruto a comfortable life. For years Naruto did not know his parents' identities, and neither did most of Konoha.

Even when he was not aware of his relation to Minato, Naruto still greatly admired the Fourth Hokage, considering him a hero who gave his life for the village and becoming overjoyed whenever their similarities were remarked upon. Before Naruto left Konoha to begin his training with Jiraiya, he looked at the Fourth Hokage's face on the Hokage Rock and asked him to look after him.[82] After learning that Minato was his father, Naruto took pride in it and felt it was his responsibility to makes his parents' sacrifices worth it.

With Minato's death, the Third was forced to resume his position as Hokage, a role he filled until his death, never being able to find a replacement of Minato's calibre. Minato himself became regarded as the village's hero,[80] and, indeed, one of the greatest ninja Konoha had ever produced, so much so that villagers would regret his death whenever tragedy struck the village. Because Minato was never able to tell anyone what happened during the Nine-Tails' attack, villagers came to their own conclusions and the Uchiha were suspected of the act, creating ill-will that would culminate in the Uchiha Clan Downfall. Jiraiya recognised that Minato would not have sealed the Nine-Tails into his own son unless he had a good reason and that Minato intended Naruto to gain control of the Nine-Tails, but he could never conclude why.

After the end of the Fourth Shinobi World War, his student, Kakashi Hatake, became the Sixth Hokage, and his son, Naruto, became the Seventh Hokage. Several years after the war, Minato had two grandchildren, who both inherited his prodigious talent.