Inspiration Behind Naruto Uzumaki!

Naruto Uzumaki is the Protagonist of the Naruto series, created by the famous mangaka, Masashi Kishimoto. He was once a young Genin from Konohagakure, who aspired to become the strongest shinobi of all time, and become the Hokage of his own village. After years of journey, Naruto Uzumaki was able to accomplish this dream of his, and along the way he became one of the most popular manga characters ever.

Naruto has made an impact all over the world, and even now, it continues to be one of the biggest anime and manga series of all time. Naruto Uzumaki in particular is one character who the fans absolutely adore. Kishimoto had to think of a unique way to create the hero of his story. Of course, he used the idea that is very common in the world of Shounen Manga. However, despite that, the idea Kishimoto used for creating Naruto’s personal was unique.

In a past interview, he explained that creating Naruto Uzumaki, as a character, and the lead of the series was very hard, and he went on to explain that ultimately, the concept of Naruto just came out of him.

“When Naruto was born, it was more like he somehow came out, rather than my creating him from some inspiration,” he said. “The only image I had in mind was a character who was a naughty boy. I was a poor student, but unlike Naruto, I was the type of poor student who gave up easily and pondered things that weren’t worth pondering. I wanted Naruto to be different. He was created based on my self-image of my own childhood, but different from how I really was.”

So, a part of Naruto Uzumaki who we know today is based off of the creator of the series Masashi Kishimoto. However, his personality is original. Naruto ended up becoming a character who would never give up, nor lose hope even in the most dire situations. I think at some level, that is a huge reason as to why the fans fell in love with Naruto. Further, Masashi Kishimoto also drew inspiration from the work of other famous mangaka before him, like Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball), Hiroyuki Okiura (Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade), Koji Kiriyama (Ninku), and Masamune Shiro (Ghost in the Shell).

So that’s basically how we got the Naruto series, and the character Naruto Uzumaki. Undoubtedly, Kishimoto created one of the best ever characters in Naruto.