Naruto Uzumaki - Creation and Conception

Creation and Conception

In the creation of Naruto, Kishimoto incorporated traits he felt made an ideal hero: a straightforward way of thinking, a mischievous side, and attributes possessed by Goku from the Dragon Ball franchise. Aiming to keep Naruto "simple and stupid", Kishimoto avoided modeling Naruto after anyone in particular, instead conceiving him as naïve with a dark side induced by his harsh past. Despite this, he is always optimistic, a trait Kishimoto says makes him unique. Naruto's personality is, by and large, childish; the creator tries to convey this trait in his illustrations. On the manga cover of volume 10, for example, Naruto is depicted mimicking a turtle as a child might do. Naruto was Kishimoto's first published manga, and he focused on how Naruto's facial expressions would appear in difficult situations, trying make them consistent.

During the series' publication, Kishimoto got married and had children which influenced Naruto's character. This resulted in Naruto shortly meeting his parents and learning of their sacrifices to help him control the Fox inside him so that he could protect the world in their place. As a result, Naruto appreciated more his life and learned how his parents loved him, something the author wanted the character to feel based on his own experience as a father.

Naruto's wardrobe is based on clothing that Kishimoto wore when he was younger. According to Kishimoto, a pre-existing design would not have made Naruto unique, whereas something original would have made him too distinctive. Because Naruto is associated with spirals in terms of objects he uses, the designer incorporated swirl patterns into the costume. Initial illustrations depicted Naruto in boots, but Kishimoto replaced these with sandals, because he enjoys drawing toes. The goggles that Naruto used to wear were replaced with a hitai-ite, or shinobi headband, because they were too time-consuming to draw. One of the most difficult design choices was the color palette of Naruto's outfit. The orange in his costume makes Naruto "pop" and the blue parts are often used as complements. Kishimoto apologized to the anime staff for Naruto's design, considering it too difficult to translate to animation.

Kishimoto was satisfied that he gave his character blond hair and blue eyes, something rarely seen in Japanese. Therefore Naruto, along with the immense popularity the series has gained, comes naturally to the readers and international audiences with blond hair and blue eyes. Moreover, the editor of the American magazine Shonen Jump implied that these traits may have made the characters more appealing to Western audiences. Kishimoto most identifies with Naruto of all of the series' characters. When asked why Naruto's favorite food is ramen instead of kitsune udon, Kishimoto said that he personally liked eating ramen. In the Naruto: Clash of Ninja video game series, Naruto is playable in various stages of the Demon Fox's manifestation, characterized by a red-colored chakra. Kishimoto took inspiration from the games' presentation of these forms, imitating one of them for the manga cover of volume 26. When designing Naruto for his Part II appearance, Kishimoto drew Naruto's forehead-protector wider to make his eyebrows easier to draw, something that had bothered him in his previous design. He also noted that Naruto's pants made the character look too childish. To remedy this, Kishimoto designed Naruto's pants to roll up, giving him a more mature appearance.

In the original Japanese versions of Naruto, Naruto often ends his sentences with the addendum "-ttebayo" (which achieves an effect similar to ending a sentence with "you know?" in English). Kishimoto wanted to give Naruto a childlike catchphrase, and "dattebayo" came to mind; the creator believed that the phrase complements Naruto's character, and serves as a verbal tic that portrays him in a brat-ish manner. Throughout the first episodes of the English dub version, "dattebayo" and "-ttebayo" were replaced with the phrase "Believe it!", both to mirror the effect and to match the character's lip movements.