This article contains spoilers from the Naruto series.
Summary
- Kishimoto didn't prioritize romance in Naruto, focusing on ninjas instead.
- Sakura's declining popularity led Kishimoto to pair Naruto with Hinata.
- Hinata's unwavering support and popularity made her the ideal choice for Naruto.
When it comes to Shonen series, fans mostly care about flashy battles and exciting plot developments surrounding the said battles. However, no Shonen series can truly be a success with compelling characters and some truly deep bonds between them. Naturally, romance ends up being a part of the vast majority of the shonen series, and that also includes Naruto.
Naruto: Kishimoto Reveals The Real Reason Behind The Creation Of the Akatsuki
The Akatsuki is perhaps the most iconic villain group in all of anime. Kishimoto reveals why he created them in Naruto.
Even though it's not a priority for the author, romance creeps into the plot anyway and, in many cases, the author utilizes by their own admission to keep the fans interested. As far as Naruto and Hinata go, fans know that they form an interesting couple. However, as has been revealed by Kishimoto, there is a special reason or two why they ended up together.
Kishimoto's View Of Romance In The Naruto Series
- Kishimoto Didn't Think Much About Romance
- Naruto And Sakura Could've Ended Up Together
If there's one thing that Kishimoto made clear from the very beginning of the series, it is that the story was not supposed to be focused on romance at all. Naruto is a story about ninjas and that's what Kishimoto wanted it to be. Still, incorporating some sort of romance into the plot would only add depth to the world of Naruto and Kishimoto knew this as well. This is why many characters had their love interests set up in the early parts of Naruto, and they include the protagonist, Naruto Uzumaki as well. When it comes to Naruto, fans know that their love interests were always there. The very first one was Sakura Haruno, Naruto's teammate. From the very beginning, Naruto had a crush on Sakura and wanted to eventually date her. However, Sakura herself had feelings for Sasuke and those feelings never changed in the slightest.
Naruto-kun, I want to stand by your side at all times. — Hinata Hyuga
Meanwhile, Hinata Hyuga had feelings for Naruto Uzumaki, and did what she could to be noticed by him in the early parts of the story, and also later down the line. While it is Hinata who ended up with Naruto Uzumaki at the end of the day, it could easily have been Sakura Haruno, and there are two massive reasons why Kishimoto went with Hinata Hyuga over Sakura.
Why Naruto Ended Up With Hinata And Not Sakura
Sakura's Popularity Was Very Bad Among The Fans According To Kishimoto
It would be disingenuous to say that Hinata and Naruto were always set up to be together. In fact, at the very beginning of the Naruto series, Kishimoto had no idea what to do with the romance subplots and just went along. It needs to be said, however, that Sakura was a big contender for Naruto's partner for a significant portion of the time, and based on Kishimoto's comments, it seems as if he was almost forced to cast her aside for Hinata. In Kishimoto's interview with Kobayashi, he clearly mentions that Sakura's popularity was quite low for a main character. Even girls who read the manga started to hate Sakura. Kishimoto tried desperately to raise her popularity.
Naruto: Kishimoto Reveals His Original Plan For The Protagonist Naruto Uzumaki
Kishimoto had some bizarre plans for Naruto Uzumaki. This is how the Naruto story might have gone.
Tsunade-sama, I've finally caught up to these two! — Sakura Haruno
Kishimoto states that even cover pages with Sakura were paid extra attention. He tried to draw her more beautifully than the others. Specifically on the cover of Volume 66, drawing Naruto and Sasuke didn't take Kishimoto long at all, but when it came to Sakura Haruno, he tried his best to draw her as beautifully as possible. In the end, Kishimoto states that nobody noticed this and her popularity didn't rise despite ten efforts to draw her better. This makes sense since the issues lay in Kishimoto's writing of the character and casting her aside. Meanwhile, Kishimoto stated that Hinata’s popularity just kept on soaring without him even doing anything. Hinata was a side character who barely did anything in the story, but fans seemed to like her. As such, the decision was easy.
Hinata exactly watched Naruto, as he persisted from the beginning, the whole time, Hinata was always the only child who was supporting and cheering for him. Although Naruto was unsuccessful and sometimes things went badly for him, he persisted and tried his best. Hinata understood, and that it was cool that Naruto was determined to never give up. However, Sakura also noticed and recognized that about Naruto along the way. Of course, as Hinata had been watching him since the beginning, I thought that I would feel sorry for Hinata for not being rewarded. – Kishimoto
Based on what Kishimoto has stated about Naruto's relationships, his first idea was to have Sakura end up with Naruto, but since her popularity kept dropping and Hinata was becoming a favorite very fast, he changed his mind. That, when coupled with the fact that Kishimoto felt bad for Hinata eventually led to NaruHina becoming real.
Naruto is available to read on the MangaPlus and the Shonen Jump app. Fans can read the official release and support the author by doing so.
- Release Date
- October 2, 2002
- Network
- Adult Swim
- Creator
- Masashi Kishimoto
- Number of Episodes
- 220
- Streaming Service(s)
- Crunchyroll, Hulu, Netflix, YouTube
