Naruto Fans’ Entire Life Has Been A Lie, Masashi Kishimoto Admitted Sasuke Wasn’t Exactly An Original Inspiration

Masashi Kishimoto, the proud creator of Narutois a master at creating characters and their stories. Complex characters like Madara, Itachi, and Sasuke are proof of that. But even geniuses need inspiration, and so does Kishimoto.

In an interview with the legendary author of Yu Yu Hakusho And Hunter x Hunter, Kishimoto posed his heart about all the things that inspired him to create Naruto.

Masashi Kishimoto Talks Inspiration Behind Sasuke

In 2009, Masashi Kishimoto conducted an interview with Yoshihiro Togashi, the author of Yu Yu Hakushoto commemorate the 10th anniversary of Naruto. In this interview, Kishimoto was seen severely fanboying over Togashi’s works. In the same discussion, the Naruto author revealed how Yu Yu Hakusho inspired him to create his own characters.

Kishimoto admitted that he was a big fan of Yu Yu Hakusho and especially the character of Hiei. Not only did he love Hiei as a reader, but he also took him as an inspiration when he started creating Naruto.

At first I couldn’t create a “cool” character, I didn’t know where to start so I studied one of my favorite characters: Hiei, and I managed to create Sasuke, the Sharingan as well as some of his other techniques were inspired by him.

Hiei is a detached character who often likes to preserve his personal space, which makes him seem elusive and distant. He also has a cynical and misanthropic view of the world, which is somewhat similar to Sasuke’s. He also downplays the importance of friendship. After Sasuke lost his family and clan, he too began to despise teamwork and broke free from Team 7.

Hiei also quarrels with his teammate Kuwabara due to their different personalities. In Naruto, Sasuke also has a difference of opinion with Naruto that temporarily alienates him from the protagonist.

Additionally, Hiei’s evil eye served as inspiration for Sasuke’s Sharingan. Hiei’s third eye grants him abilities like telepathy, telekinesis, and others, while Sasuke’s Sharingan allows him to read his enemies’ movements in advance.

How Yoshihiro Togashi’s works influenced Naruto

Masashi Kishimoto has always admired Yu Yu Hakusho And Hunter X Hunter, and used them to learn how to create better manga. He liked the different expressions of the characters in scenes where they witness the true power of their enemies. Kishimoto studied the delicate expressions of the characters when they are surprised or in a dangerous situation. In fact, even a popular manga Naruto jutsu was inspired by Yu Yu Hakusho.

Naruto’s Kagebushin no Jutsu is heavily inspired by Suzaku’s technique from Yu Yu Hakusho. The idea of ​​having actual afterimages was very innovative, I was excited and wondered “how are they going to beat this guy?”

Suzaku, an antagonist of Yu Yu Hakushopossesses the ability Prism of Seven which allows him to multiply by two at a time while charging his enemy. This inspired the clone technique in Naruto, one of the first jutsus encountered in the series.

You can read Naruto on Viz Media and watch the anime on Crunchyroll.