One of the main specialties of Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto was that every character had a background story that helped the audience connect with them on the ground level, which ultimately became the reason for the success of the story. Not only the good characters, the antagonists also had a feel about them that made them special.
Antagonists like Madara and Obito may have done some of the most ruthless things in the series, but they still became characters who were greatly appreciated by the fanbase. The antagonists of Naruto are probably the most popular villains in the entire anime history and have developed a huge following of their own.
However, this was not the initial plan of Kishimoto. He originally neither wanted Madara nor Kaguya to be the final villain of the series. Instead, he wanted two other characters who didn’t even have a screen presence to be the final antagonists of the series as Kishimoto never planned to take the series so far ahead.
Masashi Kishimoto Did Not Know Where to End Naruto
In an interview with Anime Recorder, Naruto anime director Hayato Date talked about how he understood the importance and the greatness of Masashi Kishimoto’s work, and just like him, other staff members also appreciated his creation. However, Kishimoto himself was confused about where to end the story of Naruto.
Date stated:
“Yes, all the staff love the original work. I’ve personally had many moments where I felt the greatness of the original. From Kishimoto-sensei’s POV, I think he also wrestled with the question of ‘where to end the serialization’ as the popularity of the work increased.”
According to Date, Kishimoto did not have an idea about where to end the series because of the increasing fame and popularity of the series. He had to plan his work accordingly because the fans wanted more which got Kishimoto confused. He also explained the original final villains of Naruto.
Masashi Kishimoto’s Original Choice for Naruto’s Final Villains
While talking about the problems Kishimoto faced at the end of the series, Date also revealed that Kishimoto did not plan on having Madara of Kaguya as his final villain. Instead, he wanted Zabuza’s twin brothers to be the final foe of the series. This would have changed the story drastically.
He stated:
“I remember hearing him say something like, ‘The final enemies are the twin brothers of Zabuza’ at one point. Despite that, he continued the serialization without wavering, and I’m truly impressed by how he crafted the entire storyline.”
However, Kishimoto still decided to continue the serialization of the manga and developed more and more interesting characters over time which led to the immense popularity of Naruto. Date claimed that after the serialization was complete, he was truly impressed by how Kishimoto was able to craft the entire storyline.
Kishimoto’s unwavering determination to keep the series going led to the development of one of the best anime worlds in history and gave the fans some great characters to look forward to, that not only impressed the fans, but also inspired many other manga creators.
You can watch Naruto on Hulu.
