Summary
Quick Links
Masashi Kishimoto, the creatorof theNarutoseries, has created a brilliant story the likes of which has hardly ever been seen in the history of manga. Along with creating some of the most compelling plotlines, Kishimoto also created absolutely brilliant characters to drive these stories forward.
Over the years, Kishimoto has created some absolutely incredible characters, with some even more popular than the main characters themselves, to a certain extent. Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage of Konoha, is one such character. The winner of the global popularity poll, Minato is a very complex character that Kishimoto Alway intended to be special, however, his initial plans for this character were far different from what fans got in the end.
While it is safe to say that a lot that Kishimoto wrote about Minato Namikaze was changed later down the line, some elements were actually decided by Kishimoto around the time he first started writingNaruto. For instance, the existence of Naruto’s father in the story was confirmed by Kishimoto very early on, around chapter 16 of the story. In one of his interviews, Kishimoto confirmed that he had decided that Naruto’s father was going to be Kakashi’s mentor very early on.
I believe you can find the answer to the problems and answer what Jiraiya sensei and I couldn’t, Naruto. — Minato
Obito was also seen on the team, and Kishimoto hadalso decided that he’d be an Uchiha, and one could also extrapolate that he’d already intended for Obito to give him the Sharingan right from the beginning. Coming back to the point, by chapter 16, Kishimoto had solidified the idea that Minato would be Kakashi’s mentor and Naruto’s dad. Even by appearance, it is quite easy to tell that Kishimoto had already decided upon this very early on. However, the name Minato itself wasn’t decided upon at this point. At the same time, Kishimoto had also not decided to make this character the Fourth Hokage at the time, which is where the interesting twist in the story comes from.
Minato Might Just Have Been Another Jonin
Although fans knew early on that the Fourth Hokage was the savior of the village, Kishimoto didn’t always have this idea. In fact, even though Minato had already decided to be the sensei of Kakashi and Naruto’s dad, Kishimoto didn’t plan on making him the Fourth Hokage at first, which might come as a shock to many. Of course, by the time of the Konoha Crush arc, things were taking shape in a more refined manner, and by this point, Kishimoto likely had a good idea of which way he wanted to go with Minato’s character.
You will draw it even if you die! — Kishimoto’s Editors on drawing the Chunin Exams
Early on, Kishimoto had no idea how to introduce the story behind Naruto’s dad. Even though he knew fans would be curious to know what happened to Naruto’s dad and how he died, Kishimoto struggled to come up with a compelling story around it.
But, eventually,he made Minato the Fourth Hokageand connected it to the character who he had already planned to be the sensei of Kakashi and Naruto’s father. This solved two issues very easily and effectively as well. While this is how things shaped up to be eventually, Kishimoto’s early ideas for Minato were, simply put, rather bizarre.
Minato Was Supposed To Be A Dog In Kishimoto’s Early Ideas
Kishimoto had some bizarre ideas for early Naruto, and based on what’s been revealed to the fans so far, his idea of the Fourth Hokage was one of them. Before he had decidedto make Minato the Fourth Hokage, Kishimoto originally intended for a dog to have a spot on the Hokage Monument. To say that Kishimoto was obsessed with making animal ninjas and having them feature in the story would be an understatement.
He wanted his main character to be somewhat similar, and even Konoha was originally supposed to have animalistic elements. As far as the Fourth Hokage goes, Kishimoto originally wanted him to be a ninja dog, similar to those of the Inuzuka clan.
However, before this idea was put into practice, his editor decided to stop him, telling him that he was drifting too far from what was expected of him. Eventually, it was the editor ofNarutowho decided that the Fourth Hokage should be Naruto’s dad. Thus, Kishimoto finally connected the two andthe character of Minato Namikazewas born.
Naruto is available to read on theMangaPlusand the Shonen Jump app. Fans can read the official release and support the author by doing so.
