Out of every Naruto character, the one who is loved by almost every Naruto fan is Minato Namikaze, the fourth Hokage of Konoha and Naruto’s father. Although he doesn’t have much screen time in the series, he still manages to make his presence felt through the actions of Naruto as a protagonist and Kakashi, who was his student.
Minato is considered to be one of the strongest shinobis and Hokages that Konoha has ever produced. He was feared among other villages, and as legend goes, if a Shinobi from another village saw Minato, they were asked to flee the scene as soon as possible. He is also known for his sacrifice that led to Konoha being safe from Kurama’s attack in the past.
Despite being such an important character in Masashi Kishimoto’s series, the mangaka once revealed that he initially did not plan for Minato to be a fourth Hokage or Naruto’s dad. He had a different plot in his mind, but his editor asked him to include Minato in the role, and thus, fans got the Yellow Flash in Naruto.
Masashi Kishimoto Didn’t Plan For Minato Namikaze
A 2015 Fuji TV interview of Kishimoto with Japanese comedian Kobayashi was translated and shared by KirinNOTKarin98 for Naruto Fandom. During the interview, Kishimoto uncovered some major secrets about Naruto as a manga. One of those secrets revolved around Naruto’s father, Minato, and how he was not planned initially.
The summary pointed out:
Speaking of Minato, even though his identity was confirmed by this point, to begin with Kishimoto hadn’t thought of creating a fourth Hokage or him being Naruto’s dad. Kishimoto knew that he would have to introduce what had happened to his dad somewhere in the story, but didn’t know how to do it.
Kishimoto revealed that although he had planned the character, he did not know which role he would give him and how he would become important to the story.
He knew that he had to create Naruto’s father and give him a backstory, but he never imagined that Minato would be the one who would fulfill this role in the narrative.
Masashi Kishimoto’s Original Plan For The Fourth Hokage
During the interview, Masashi Kishimoto also revealed that before introducing Minato as the fourth Hokage, he had a totally different plan for the role. He actually wanted a dog to take the title of fourth Hokage in the series, specifically from the Inuzuka clan. These dogs are called ninken, and they are the fighting companions of the Inuzuka clan members.
The summary revealed:
Before coming up with Minato as the 4th Hokage, Minato’s spot on the Hokage Monument was actually taken by a dog. He explains that at the time he actually wanted to try out that a ‘ninken’ (ninja dog) like those owned by the Inuzuka had been the Hokage at one point. But his editor told him he was thinking off on a tangent again, so instead of that just make him the main character’s dad instead.
While it would have been interesting to see a dog as a Hokage, it would have unnecessarily prolonged the narrative. Also, it would have reduced Minato’s role in Naruto, which would have impacted his fan following.
But Kishimoto did the right thing by following his editor’s advice and assigning Minato the role of Naruto’s father and the fourth Hokage. He became one of the reasons why Naruto became the best Hokage ever and also a great shinobi.
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