Naruto’s Creator Really Didn’t Want to Do the Chunin Exams Arc

It has been years since Naruto made his big debut, and since his arrival, the Hidden Leaf hero has become a legend in anime. From his early days the Academy to his latest gig as Hokage, we have been through it all with Naruto. We even got to witness his wild take on the Chunin Exams once upon a time, but as it turns out, the creator of Naruto wasn’t all that excited to do the arc.

In fact, it turns out Masashi Kishimoto was all but forced into the tournament arc. During an interview with Kobayashi, the creator confirmed his original pacing for Naruto was meant to be slower, but his editor had him pick up the pace with the Chunin Exam arc.

According to the resurfaced chat, Kishimoto never meant to focus on Naruto’s class in any major way. He wanted to focus on ninjateams from the start with each group having four members. However, after discussing this plan with his editor, Kishimoto was told “there wouldn’t be time for such a slow-paced development.” Shonen Jump expects brisk storytelling, so Kishimoto needed to bring all his fighters together at once no matter their village.

Of course, this is how Kishimoto’s editor came up with the tournament angle. The creator told his editor it would kill him to do a tournament arc, but Kishimoto’s editor told him “to do it even if it kills him.” Ultimately, that is how the Chunin Exam arc was forced into begin, and Kishimoto says he often wishes he could have stuck to his original plan.

Of course, Naruto fans now have trouble imagining the series without the Chunin Exam arc. The tournament did establish all of the Konoha 11 along with many of the Hidden Leaf’s teachers. With the Sound and Sand Villages involved, the arc was a massive one, and it did level up Naruto significantly. His fights with Neji and Gaara are now considered legendary within the anime fandom. But if Kishimoto had gotten it his way, the whole exam arc would have never happened.

If you are not familiar with Naruto’s earliest arcs, you can always brush up on the manga. Viz Media publishes the Naruto manga in English, so you can find it in stores or digitally through the Shonen Jump app. As for the Naruto anime, you can find the hit show everywhere from Hulu to Crunchyroll. Currently, the franchise is living on with Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, but both its anime and manga are on a hiatus at the moment. 

Did you enjoy Naruto’s first big tournament? Or did the Chunin Exam bore you? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB.