Naufahu Māpilitoa was the only child and son of Luseane ʻI-fanga-Hihifo and the great chief Fīnau Fisi. Fīnau Fisi was the younger brother and chief adviser to the most feared and powerful man in all of Tonga in the late 18th and early 19th century, the infamous Vava'u King or Tu’i Vava’u Finau ʻUlukalala II also known as Fangupō and Finau ʻUlukalala-‘i-Feletoa. Naufahu Māpilitoa was a mighty warrior of Vava'u and was renowned for his independent disposition particularly his uncompromising and unrepentant opposition to the rule of his uncle and Vava’u King Finau ʻUlukalala II whom he hated due to the King's cruel treatment of the common people. In 1807, Tu’i Vava’u Finau ʻUlukalala II was in the early stage of rebuilding and stabilizing Vava’u politically and socially after the bloody civil war between his forces and those of opposing Vava’u chiefs which ended when he unwillingly accepted a compromise with demands that favored the opposition. In that bloody civil war, Naufahu Mapilitoa opposed, broke away and fought bravely against his father and the King ’s forces to great effect in Feletoa and Mataika. At the fort Fatungakoa in Feletoa, it was Naufahu and the warrior Pupunu who threw the double spears that killed the King's giant chief warrior Siulua. In the mound of Fekitetele in Mataika it was Naufahu and the warrior Fanafonua who slew his own father's twin Fijian chief warriors Koloiuluipuaka and Koloiloaloa fighting with his famous war clubs Pasivulangi and Pasitaukei.