Kishimoto Reveals Why Naruto Never Became A Jonin

Naruto Uzumaki is one of the most influential characters in all manga, and fans have come to love him for being a symbol of guts, hard work, and a will to never give up. Naruto set a lofty ambition for himself right at the beginning of the series, but, much to the surprise of everyone, ended up accomplishing it by the end.

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It is safe to say that Naruto Uzumaki was absolutely incredible throughout the Naruto story and that he lived by his ninja way, never going back on his word even once. While Naruto certainly did go on to accomplish his dream, he did it in quite a surprising manner. Essentially, Naruto went on to jump ranks, and he went straight from being a Genin, all the way to being Hokage without ever becoming a Chunin or a Jonin. Now, Kishimoto, Naruto’s mangaka, has revealed the answer to why that was the case.

Naruto’s Journey From Genin To Hokage

• Naruto Graduated From The Academy After Multiple Failures
• Naruto Never Got The Chance To Become A Genin

During Naruto’s Academy days, it was immediately clear that he lacked any real talent for becoming a ninja. This was clear to even the people who considered Naruto dear to them, such as Iruka. This is one of the reasons why he failed the Academy exams and was not allowed to become a ninja, at least at first. However, Naruto’s innate talent shone much later, and it became clear at this point that he too had it in him to become a very powerful ninja. Naruto successfully ended up becoming a Genin and was assigned to Team 7. From this point onwards, he could easily have climbed the ranks and become a Chunin or even a Jonin.

After all, Naruto did possess tremendous strength and, with time, the maturity required for attaining these positions as well. In the Chunin Exams, it is safe to say that Naruto was one of the most impressive ninjas. Even though Shikamaru was the only one who ended up becoming a Chunin, Naruto was far superior to him in terms of displaying true strength and grit as a ninja. The only thing Shikamaru had over him was maturity, and leadership, which is why he was the only Chunin at the end of exams. It must also be noted that initially, Kishimoto wanted to finish the Chunin Exams and aimed to make Shikamaru the winner, even though he had no idea how he would go on to pull that off.

Regardless, while Shikamaru gained the position of Chunin, Naruto, along with all the others, ended up failing. Following this event, things were pretty chaotic in Konoha. Sasuke ended up leaving the village, and Naruto followed in an attempt to stop him. Given that he failed, he knew that he had to grow stronger, and that is where the timeskip that lasted over 2 years kickstarted. Naruto returned to the village after over 2 years, and by this point, the vast majority of his friends had already attained high ranks. Most of Konoha 11 had already become Chunin, and Neji had actually climbed the ranks to become a Jonin, which was quite impressive, to say the least. His friends from other villages, such as Gaara, had actually already become Kage.

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As for Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha, fans know that their case was quite different. Sasuke was not officially branded as a rogue ninja at this point, but fans knew that he was not a part of Konoha anymore, which meant that he could not be registered as a high-level ninja. Meanwhile, Naruto was busy training with Jiraiya, and could not take part in any exams. Even after returning to Konoha, it was clear that he did not have any opportunities to actually take part in the Chunin Exams, which is why he never actually got the rank of a Chunin.

And, of course, if Naruto never made it to the rank of Chunin, there was absolutely no way that he was going to become a Jonin. This, naturally, put many fans in a state of doubt as to how he would go on to become the Hokage, since that would mean skipping quite a few steps. Kishimoto had his own reasoning for that.

Why Naruto Never Became A Jonin

Kishimoto Finally Gives Fans An Answer

As is clear in the story, Naruto never truly had a chance to become a Jonin. He couldn’t participate in the Chunin Exams arc, and there was absolutely no way that he would have had the chance to participate in the Jonin Exams. Similarly, after returning from the timeskip, the battle against the Akatsuki started heating up, and in no time, the Fourth Great Ninja War started. Following the war, Naruto was already a hero and the savior of the world, and ranks such as Jonin and Chunin meant quite little to him. Even though the anime tried to show its own thing, where Naruto was essentially made to take many exams before he became a Kage, the canon manga does not include any such things. Naruto canonically went from being a Genin to Hokage, and Kishimoto explained why that was the case.

Q: Speaking of Naruto, his dream of being Hokage came true, but when did he take the exam to become a jounin?

Kishimoto: Naruto didn’t become a jounin. He became Hokage as a genin. Sasuke is not a jounin or Chunin either, but rather, since he left the village, he is a nukenin. That’s enough for them (laughs). But I thought that having him suddenly go from genin to Hokage would be amusing and Naruto-like.

As is clear from Kishimoto’s words, Naruto simply went from being a Genin to Hokage because that fits his personality. It was amusing to Kishimoto, and that is reason enough for him to put this in his story. While this might sound like a ridiculous reason, it also makes quite a lot of sense, because Naruto is not the kind of person who would go on to successfully crack exams that might even have to study quite a bit for. At the same time, it would make absolutely no sense for Naruto to take part in any exams where he would have to battle, given that he was essentially a god-like figure at the end of the story.

As such, Naruto being awarded the position of the Hokage of the village was the least they could do after he saved them on multiple occasions. It would also be fitting for his personality to directly reach the top by skipping quite a few steps. It can be said that, at the end of the day, it was a perfect decision by Kishimoto to make Naruto directly Hokage, and not waste his time taking part in many of their exams, although the exams themselves could have been quite interesting, to say the least.

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

Release Date

October 3, 2002

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