This article contains spoilers from the Naruto series.
Summary
- Kishimoto’s initial plans for Naruto involved a story based on 4-man shinobi teams exploring different countries.
- Editors at Jump forced Kishimoto to draw the Chunin Exams arc, despite his reluctance, which led to major changes in the story.
- Kishimoto’s original vision for Shikamaru to win the Chunin Exams was altered by editors, showing how author’s ideas can be overridden.
When it comes to popular manga such as Naruto, few would assume that the authors aren’t given as much freedom as they desire, and this is largely due to the legendary status they hold. Masashi Kishimoto, the author of Naruto, is one such legendary figure.
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Although he has that status now, in his early days as a writer, Kishimoto wasn’t given much room to implement his own ideas properly. From switching the entire plot of Naruto, to coming up with some characters, all the way to drawing entire arcs, the Editors at Jump definitely made Kishimoto change a lot of things. In fact, Kishimoto himself confirmed long ago that one of the most popular arcs in Naruto, the Chunin Exams, was not in his plans and that he was forced to draw it.
Kishimoto’s Initial Plans Of The Beginning Of Naruto
- Kishimoto Wanted A Story Based On 4 Man Teams
- The Idea Was To Go To Different Countries On Missions
Based on Kishimoto’s interview with Kobayashi, fans know now that initially, he didn’t intend for there to be multiple powerful Shinobi teams in Konohagakure. Naruto’s classmates most likely didn’t even exist in the initial draft. Kishimoto wanted there to be a 4-man team from Konoha which went to different villages and met other 4-man teams there.
In the Shinobi world, those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends are even worse than scum. — Obito Uchiha
The leaders of the teams would be Kakashi’s own rivals, while Naruto would forge friendships and rivalries based on this story path. Unfortunately for Kishimoto, he was told by his editor that this development would be too slow-paced. Instead, Kishimoto was given the idea to draw a tournament arc. Even though Kishimoto went with a completely different approach later on, he still regrets to this day not drawing his own story that he came up with initially. Naturally, his own idea must hold special meaning to him.
How The Editors Force Kishimoto To Draw Chunin Exams
Kishimoto Didn’t Want To Draw The Chunin Exams
After Kishimoto’s own idea for travel across villages was rejected, the idea that his editor gave him was simple: to draw a tournament-style arc. Kishimoto’s initial response was not positive at all. He believed it would be too taxing and that he’d die. To this, the editor replied with:
You will draw it even if you die! — Editors to Masashi Kishimoto
One thing led to another and Kishimoto eventually came up with the Chunin Exams arc of Naruto. His initial plans for the Naruto series didn’t include the Chunin Exams arc, and that’s certainly very shocking for the fans to know.
The Chunin Exams arc posed multiple problems for Kishimoto, such as coming up with various new characters. He turned to his editors for help and together, their ideas led to the creation of characters like Gai and Lee.
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Originally, Kishimoto had intended for Might Gai to be from a different village and a rival to Kakashi, with Lee likely being a rival to Naruto. Unfortunately, he was forced to integrate them into Konoha.
Kishimoto’s Original Chunin Exams Winner
Although Kishimoto was reluctant to draw the Chunin Exams, he clearly mentioned himself that it was because of the Chunin Exams that the story picked up in popularity. He also started enjoying the story himself at this point. However, this is where the editors interfered again and asked him to introduce a villain named Orochimaru, who would go on to interfere with the exams and prevent them from being concluded. This was a massive disappointment for Kishimoto, as he had originally intended for Shikamaru to win the Chunin Exams. That said, he wasn’t too sure how to go about it, since Shikamaru was weaker than others.
His idea was to push the idea of Shikamaru having an IQ of over 200 and that being the reason for him outsmarting the others. This would’ve made for an interesting plot had Kishimoto been allowed to pull it off. But as fans know, the editors eventually got their way and the rest is history. In many ways, Kishimoto’s true vision with the Naruto story was never realized and that’s something that many fans don’t even realize to this day.
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.
