Kishimoto Reveals How He Came Up With The Side Cast

Masashi Kishimoto is one of the greatest mangaka in recent history. Being the author of Naruto, which is widely known to be one of the most popular manga series of all time, he is loved far and wide. Not only has he inspired millions of people from all over the world, but he has also inspired countless authors, many of whom are currently working in Jump. Kishimoto’s story became as successful as it was due to having compelling main characters. The likes of Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, were the soul of the Naruto series. But, Naruto’s story could succeed without a compelling cost of Side characters.

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Kishimoto certainly had some of the most incredible side characters, and although quite a lot of them were underutilized, at the end of the day, what fans can say for sure is that the characters themselves were incredibly interesting and had tremendous potential. That said, Kishimoto’s journey of coming up with them wasn’t easy for him at all.

Naruto’s Wonderful Cast And Their Potential

• Naruto introduced fans to a lot of brilliant characters
• Chunin Exams was especially great in this regard

Naruto’s sidecast was always known to be absolutely wonderful. Right from the get-go, fans were introduced to quite a few exciting students in Naruto’s class, and the Chunin Exams took things to the next level. The very first arc of Naruto focused on the Land of Waves, and here, fans got to see a bunch of minor side characters, such as Inari, among others. But, as the ninjas returned from their mission, the Chunin Exams began and this is where Kishimoto took things to the next level. Kishimoto presented ninjas such as Team Guy, which consisted of the likes of Rock Lee, Neji, and Ten Ten, and at the same time, fans also got to see other skilled ninjas such as Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino.

Of course, the likes of Hinata, Kiba, and Shino were always there as well, and the story even went far and beyond by introducing ninjas from other villages. Gaara was certainly one character that stood out quite a lot, but his siblings, Temari and Kankuro were not any less interesting characters. And all this is to say that Kishimoto’s side cast was absolutely staggering, at least in the early parts of Naruto, when he was still giving attention to the characters that he truly wanted to shine. These characters only went on to get more exciting as the story continued.

Although Naruto and Sasuke were always at the center of things, in the first part of Naruto, the side characters continued to grow on fans. For instance, when the Sasuke Retrieval arc began, the team that set out to win Sasuke back was incredibly exciting to watch. Fans got dynamic fights using characters other than Naruto, and this truly went on to show how strong a side cast the Naruto Series truly has.

How Kishimoto Came Up With Naruto’s Cast

The Publishers Had A Big Hand In The Creation Of Naruto’s Side Cast

When one thinks of how Kishimoto came up with the side characters, they like to assume that he already had these plants drafted from the beginning and that he eventually went on to bring these plans to life during the Chunin Exams. However, the truth is Kishimoto never had any of this plant right from the get-go. When it comes to writing, Kishimoto might have had some major decisions planned out right from the get-go, but in the grand scheme of things, he is the kind of writer who likes to sow seeds, and then observe the plant carefully, and take things from there.

Kishimoto has always liked to change plans based on how the story is going, and that is exactly what he did with the side cast of Naruto as well. Initially, these characters were not supposed to be from Konoha. Instead, they were likely to be spread from all over the ninja world.

In many ways, this would have been better, as it would have served for much broader worldbuilding, and at the same time, would have let fans explore the other villages in the Naruto world more than they got to seeing the original story.

Kishimoto’s original idea was to have four-man cells spread all across the Naruto world and the side characters would be distributed fairly as well. These four-man cells would be led by powerful ninjas, who were supposed to be Kakashi’s rivals. Naruto and his team would go on various missions and travel across the ninja world, coming across these four-man teams at different points in time. It would also expose fans to Kakashi’s rivals, and give him the required screen time as well. Kishimoto’s ideas were certainly brilliant. However, his editors did not approve of this idea.

According to the editor, it sounded like something that was too slow paced and he would not have the time to depict such a thing in the very early parts of the story, especially when Naruto wasn’t as popular at the time. Instead, the editors proposed doing a tournament-style Arc. Kishimoto vehemently argued against that, saying that this would be too taxing for him, but at the end of the day, he went ahead with the idea anyway. It is safe to say that Kishimoto was forced to do the Chunin Exams the way he did, but, it certainly did turn out brilliantly. That said, Kishimoto still believes that he wanted to do his idea more.

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Naturally, to come up with an exciting side cast in a short period of time was very difficult. And this is why he turned to his editors next. Kishimoto’s editors were helpful and aided him in things such as designing the characters, along with much else. Essentially, the Chunin Exams arc of Naruto was born here, and it certainly turned out to be phenomenal. In fact, this was the arc of Naruto that made fans fall in love with the series and clearly, Kishimoto’s editors knew what they were doing when they suggested this arc.

When speaking of the side characters, the individual that Kishimoto had originally intended to be from a different village was none other than Might Guy. As fans know, Guy and Kakashi were known to be rivals. Kishimoto wanted them to be rivals from different villages. But, upon discussing things with the editors, it was decided that it makes more sense for Kakashi to have a rival from within the village instead of outside.

Would Kishimoto’s Original Idea Have Been Better?

Kishimoto’s Idea Would’ve Given Naruto A Broader World To Explore

It is hard to say whether Kishimoto’s initial idea would’ve been better in the grand scheme of things, or not. One thing that can be sad for sure is that Kishimoto’s idea would have allowed for better world building, and a more diverse cast in the Naruto world. It would also have forced the series to not abandon its side characters, as it did in the second half of the story. The vast majority of the Naruto series takes place in Konoha, and the other villages are not given as much importance as they deserve. This is a criticism of the Naruto series that has stayed to date, and it is clear that this fault does not come from Kishimoto at all, but from his editors.

On the flip side, the strategy of conducting a tournament style arc at the beginning phases of Naruto is what led to its popularity skyrocketing, and Kishimoto himself admits that he fell in love with writing the story at this part.

Naruto is available to read on the MangaPlus and the Shonen Jump app. Fans can read the official release and support the author by doing so.

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Naruto

Creator

Masashi Kishimoto

Number of Episodes

220

Streaming Service(s)

Netflix
, Crunchyroll
, Amazon Prime Video
, Peacock
, The Roku Channel
, Amazon Freevee
, Hulu
, Hoopla
, Pluto TV
, Tubi