I don't like that, every time he has a group of three, the good or nice person has lighter hair. (Girls are obviously excluded, because any time there's a trio, the girl just doesn't count the way the two boys do, as we've seen many times.) Jeraiya, Minato, Naruto, Yahiko. Even Kakashi, who could almost break that rule, doesn't *really* because he's still a good guy in total, and the dark-haired kid still dies to make the light haired kid's character development better.

For a while, when Pain was introduced, I thought it was cool that Yahiko--the cheerful, light-colored one--would become badass Pain. But no, not really. The bad/crazy person is still the one with the long dark hair.

Someone should make a large chart assigning a numerical code to each of the named characters that balances their level of importance to the plot with their level of evilness. I'm willing to bet that the more important your character is and the darker your hair, the more likely you are to be evil.