Released in September 1999, Naruto managed to capture the attention of all manga lovers with the story about Ninjas and a boy named Naruto who worked hard to gain respect from his peers while trying to become Hokage, the leader of his village. Seeing its popularity, in 2022, the manga was given an anime adaptation. Years later, the sequel of the story continues to be a fan-favorite.
There’s something fishy about Naruto’s name
Only hardcore fans will know that Naruto was never supposed to be a story about Ninjas. In reality, author Masashi Kishimoto had initially planned a storyline about a boy named Naruto who was an apprentice of a ramen chef.
As per reports, the name ‘Naruto’ is derived from narutomaki, a type of fish cake that is found in some ramen recipes.
Even though the author could not stick to this original idea, he was able to bring certain elements into the new storyline. For instance, anime and manga fans would be aware of Naruto’s love for ramen. To add to this, the ramen shop in the story is similar to a restaurant that the author visited regularly while he was a college student.
How did the new story come into being?
When Kishimoto told his editor about the chef story it instantly received a rejection. This prompted him to search for a different angle and he ultimately landed on the idea of introducing ninjas.
However, in reality, Kishimoto does not like ninjas. He was fascinated by the stories of Japanese folklore and legends which seemed to fit perfectly with the idea of ninjas.
Naruto is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year
In July 2023, it was confirmed that four new episodes of Naruto will be released as part of the 20th celebration.
At first, September 3 was confirmed as the release date. However, Studio Pierrot, who is handling the production, decided to delay the release as they wanted to “improve the quality” of the work.
As of now, no new date has been announced.
