Masashi Kishimoto is never short on brilliant characters. In fact, the unrivaled backstories of some characters are what makes Naruto as famous as it is. Yet, not even Kishimoto is immune to silly plot mistakes.
Thankfully, he had an editor who could catch such errors before they could reach the public. One such silly idea struck Kishimoto while he was constructing the past Hokage in Naruto.
(This article contains major Naruto spoilers, so proceed with caution.)
The Original Fourth Hokage in Naruto
In an interview with Masashi Kishimoto regarding The Last: Naruto the Movie, the author opened up about some hilarious situations surrounding the series. One such situation was regarding the Hokage Rock, the mountain where the faces of the Hokage were carved with stone.
If you have watched/read Naruto from the very beginning, you must remember there were four Hokage featured on the wall before the addition of Tsunade. The Hokage were Hashirama Senju, Tobiraa Senju, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and Minato Namikaze, the father of Naruto.
Having lived as an orphan his entire life, Naruto had no idea that he was the Fourth Hokage’s son until much later in the series. But did you know that the position of the Fourth Hokage was extremely close to being given away to a dog?
Before coming up with Minato as the 4th Hokage, Minato’s spot on the Hokage Monument was actually taken by a dog.
The author explained that he wanted a Ninken or ninja dog to have the Fourth Hokage’s spot. Ninkens have heightened senses and abilities, and some can even talk, as proved by the Ninkens summoned by Kakashi.
In one episode, the Ninken even helped Kakashi train a troublesome student. Thus, the idea of a dog smart and brave enough to be a Hokage was naturally born in Kishimoto’s head. However, his editor stopped him from implementing the idea by saying the author was thinking of a tangent again.
The Inception of Minato by Masashi Kishimoto
Masashi Kishimoto admitted that by chapter 16 of Naruto, he had decided on the storyline of Obito being a Uchiha and Minato being Naruto’s dad. While the identity of Minato was clear in his head, his being Naruto’s dad or the Fourth Hokage was not.
Thus, Kishimoto had opted for a dog to be the Fourth Hokage before realizing that it could easily be Minato’s spot. This way, the character’s introduction became much smoother. This delay in creating a space for Minato could be why Naruto himself came to know about her father pretty late in the series.
Nonetheless, Minato losing his spot to a Ninken would have been a pretty hilarious scenario had it been implemented. Plus, who does not like the addition of a dog to the Hokage Rock?
You can read Naruto on Viz Media and watch the anime on Crunchyroll.
