i have posted this question and my reasoning for it on several other forums and would like to here your opinions.

most will immediately bring up the fact that in the early chapters of the manga they clearly tell you he is dead. however, the people who bring this up tend to over look several things.

first the means of his death is a self-sacrificing jutsu known as the repear death seal this info is given to you by the 3rd hokage during his battle with orichamaru which was used to seal the nine-tails in a newborn(naruto).

second and this is more important is that the 3rd definition of the reaper death seal is that by offering up ones life one can summon the reaper who then extracts and consume the soul. now then he proceeds to tell that one not only do they they both share the same fate but they continue on fighting each other for all eternity in the bell of the reaper.

now then since both the user and the victim share the same fate doesn't that mean that naruto not only has the nine-tails sealed in him but the 4th hokage as well? if so where in naruto is the 4th hokage?

Isnt it that he seals the victim into something while the person that actually does it gets taken by the reaper? So doesnt that mean that the 4th is dead with the reaper?

________________
"Practice makes perfect, but nobody's perfect, so why practice?

It's an interesting point, but then you can make the claim where the heck is the Sandaime in Orochimaru's arms?

4th Hokage is not alive in my opinion, but i wouldn't put it against the author to bring back the 4th Hokage from a resurrection jutsu like Orochimaru used (i believe that the 3rd box was meant to pop out the Yondaime, which Sandaime made sure didn't come out)

well after the few last chapters I don't think yondaime is alive...it's a shame thought

I agree with jho about the box thingie since Sarutobi said something like "the one in the 3rd box is far too strong" and it was said that yondaime was the strongest Hokage...

on the other hand you never know what kishi will come up with

________________

Orochimaru will claim a overwhelming victory if the jutsu to resurrect the fourth work out well, but thanks to sandaime he still death, for me he isnt inside of naruto, the resemblance betwen then is just because the fourth is his father or like my thinking that is his brother

I say that he's dead. The 3rd clearly died from using the jutsu, and he's dead. The 4th, whether he is in Naruto's body or not doesn't matter to the question. Either way there, he's dead.

I think that the 4th is alive....in each babies smile, each blooming flower, and in the laugh of young lovers in the springtime....

________________
Life is tough......but it's tougher if you're stupid.

nah, yondaime aka Minato is dead. as other people had said in earlier threads, the jutsu that the third used... he's dead too. but the guy Pain is very similiar looking to naruto... minus the piercings and the red and black rimmed eyes. naruto hair style! anyway, even more surprising is the fact that yondaime is naruto's father... (not really a surprise! there was overall speculations!!) but the question that really gets to me is the questions of lack of mother and of yondaime's relatives! of course naruto's family has to be dead on BOTH side of family or is it?

________________
LAMBCHOPSIL is my Lock Idol...

MANICK is First runner up! Idol...

STEALTH is The Dark Horse...

KAIOH is Full of Surprises...

die just die!!!

lol

personnally i think it would be far too cliche to have him hanging around...
although if he was then it would likely be that his sanity or personality has been completely reworked after his entanglement with the shinigami (being eaten over and over has got to have some major psychological effects)

the summoning jutsu he used kills as stated above
also said above was that he was most likely in the third of the coffins

however that said he was a master of summoning - using a summons almost no one else even had heard about from the sounds of it. this means that he may possibly be the one summoning that extra special extractor those wierdos keep using... or am i the only one who thinks the akatsuki statue and the shinigami summon are somehow related?

________________
No Quarter Asked, No Quarter Given
Loser's the Dead, Winner's still Breathin'

- - - - -

Please help enlarge my stalker collection - Ladies send in your pictures now ^_-

The 4th Hokage alive?! Nevar! D:

Unless the author dies and a fanatic takes over. >_>

I don't think people understand the Reaper Death Seal jutsu well enough to even bother speculating whether the Yondaime is alive or not.

My thoughts on the jutsu itself are that it is a cost and effect jutsu. The cost is the users soul. The effect depends on the users desire. The Yondaime used it to seal the Kyuubi(a creature made up only of Chakra), into a container, Naruto, his son. The price being his soul. Personally, I think it was a mistake on Kishimoto-Sensei's part to even bring out a third coffin, unless he intended to have it be the Yondaime's body with another person's soul.

I may have rambled a bit. But, the short answer is: No, I do not think the Yondaime is alive in any form. If for any reason Kishimoto-Sensei does bring the Yondaime back... He'd better have a damn good explanation.

________________

We have no information about Minato´s relatives. Pain (sometime written as Pein) could be a longlost relative no one knows about. (he has the looks)
What about Kushina (Naruto´s mother)?. She was a "female ninja of the former Whirlpool country" (Naruto ch. 367 pg.11). But we have no information about what happened to her. Minato (The father of her son) SEALED the nine tailed Kyuubi inside her son and died!
Making her son the hated kyuubi Jinchuuriki

What was that if not a terrible betrayal of her trust?

So is Minato actually dead? The Sandaime IS dead after using this same jutsu, so it is a given that Minato´s body is dead.
Were is Minato´s soul? Residing inside the Shinigami´s stomace as the Sandaime´s soul is or residing behind Kyuubi´s bars inside Naruto, always trying to fight the nine tails?

Back to Kushina... According to Tsunade the Godaime "Naruto´s personality and ninjutsu-style is exactly like Uzumaki Kushina´s" (Naruto ch.367 pg.12)
So knowing what we all know about dear Naruto´s personality and ninjutsu-style what were Kushina´s reaction to Minato´s "betrayal" and Naruto´s Jinchuuriki-hood
Anybody ?

________________
----------------------------------------
This is Gutti. He was born 04.05.2005 at my house and we are all his slaves...

OK.... this a good post but is orochimaru even can tranfers his soul or switch bodys, move a soul of someone that is not alive is more easy, i think, and if he is alive and is in some place out there, maybe he forgot who he was, but really really he got to be death... ( Or got to be a great great goog good and large explanation about what happen this last twelve years)

@Fafnisbane2
I'm actually more with the theory she died by the birth.If not maybe we get to see her sometime.About Pain it's nothing more then a theory, he does somehow look like Naruto or Minato but the long lost brother or something would be a stupid option and he looks too young for any other role...but you know,we'll see

________________