The two giants in the manga industry, Masashi Kishimoto, the creator of Naruto, and Eiichiro Oda, the creator of One Piece have been at the top of the game for more than two decades because of their epic masterpieces. Both One Piece and Naruto, as many might know, are part of “The Big Three”, the biggest anime series in the world, thus bringing the same status to their creators.
However, many believe that because of them being at the top, both Kishimoto and Oda have some kind of rivalry going on. As both series were released almost at a similar time, fans thought that they had a competitive streak going on as to who would be the best mangaka in history.
But that is not the case. Oda-san and Kishimoto have been friends for a long time and have admired each other’s work since the beginning. Their friendship is also reflected by the fact that Kishimoto admitted to changing the name of Naruto because of Sanji from One Piece.
Eiichiro Oda Was Going to Name Sanji as Naruto
Right before Naruto was set for publication, Oda had planned to bring Sanji as a new character to his series. Yet Sanji’s original name was not going to be Sanji. Oda, on the other hand, preferred the name Naruto for the character because of his swirling eyebrows that looked exactly like Naruto ricecake in a ramen dish.
Oda (2015): Sanji's name was originally Naruto. But when the Naruto manga started, I knew it was going to be a long-running series, so I quickly changed his name. Do you see Sanji's eyebrows swirling? (Naruto is the white and pink *swirling* toppings on Japanese noodles.)
— sandman (@sandman_AP) July 30, 2023
However, Oda changed the name of the character to avoid creating a conflict with Kishimoto’s new manga because he realized that audiences might become confused if he created a character named Naruto at the same time a manga named Naruto came out.
Oda also stated that the name was changed due to the introduction of Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto manga, which appeared two years after Oda’s One Piece series and coincided with the introduction of Sanji in the series. More than confusion, it would have created a conflict between fans and the series, which would have not been good for both.
Masashi Kishimoto Would Have Changed Naruto’s Name
According to a video posted by Crunchyroll, if Oda san had stayed with his decision of naming Sanji as Naruto, Kishimoto would have changed Naruto’s name to avoid conflict with the character and the mangaka. He would have named him on something else associated with ramen like Menma.
However, the name Menma also made the cut to the series as Kishimoto decided to name another character from an alternative universe in the ninth Naruto film Menma, who also happened to be an Uzumaki. But he was an antagonist in the movie. This marked the beginning of a healthy competition that helped both artists advance throughout the remainder of their careers.
This also shows the amount of respect Kishimoto had for Oda san as he was ready to change the name of his main character to avoid confusion with Oda’s secondary character. The level of friendship between Kishimoto and Oda has been seen in a lot of instances, and this is one of them.
