Naruto Creator Reveals How Sakura Became His Biggest Regret

Naruto is now celebrating the 20th anniversary of its original TV anime adaptation, and the creator behind the franchise revealed how Sakura Haruno’s role in it all became his biggest regret in looking back in the series. Naruto might still be continuing through this day with an official sequel series (that has since released its own sequel), but it’s also been a great time for fans of the original incarnation of the series as creator Masashi Kishimoto has been opening up about what has gone into the story in the past. And looking back, the creator also revealed what he wishes he could have done differently. 

Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto and Boruto: Naruto Next Generations writer and artist Mikio Ikemoto have been appearing in France with special appearances together with fans, and have been sharing all kinds of insights behind it all coming together. In looking back on how the series had gone, Kishimoto previously revealed that Sakura was actually one of his biggest regrets for how she played into the story. In a new event attended by La Nouvelle Republique, Kishimoto explained more of his regrets about Sakura. 

Naruto Creator’s Big Regret for Sakura

Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto previously revealed that Sakura was his one big regret because he never got to reveal more about her parents or home life as explored by the other members of Team 7 (and many of the other characters in the franchise). But with this new event, Kishimoto elaborated on this to reveal that his regret is also around how he wrote Sakura as a character entirely. Looking back on her run in the story, Kishimoto stated, “She’s a character that I didn’t know how to develop as she would have deserved…But it was difficult for me to understand the heart of a young woman, so I didn’t dwell on it.”

In putting this side by side with Ikemoto’s current work with Boruto: Naruto Next Generations and Boruto: Two Blue Vortex, Kishimoto complemented how these sequels have fleshed out Sarada as a main member of the cast by comparison, “Something that Mikio Ikemoto achieved with Sarada, the main female character in Boruto. She’s the character that I also find the most successful graphically.” So Kishimoto is happy to see that while Sakura wasn’t as fleshed out as he wanted in the original, at least her daughter is going all out in the sequel. 

Naruto Creator On Its International Success

But in writing the characters or the increase of popularity through the manga and anime’s run, Kishimoto revealed that he didn’t really change how he approached the manga despite how big of a deal it became outside of Japan, “We do not change our way of doing things according to international success,” Kishimoto began. “Personally, I had heard a little about the success of Naruto outside the borders of Japan but I never measured its extent.” So it’s not like the creator was altering things on the fly just because it was successful. 

As Naruto celebrates its major milestones, the creator has been fairly open about the franchise and it’s clear that he’s still very much involved. Not only with the newest chapters of Boruto: Two Blue Vortex, but also still has an interest in continuing further with the original incarnation with perhaps more one-shot stories and more for those characters who still have avenues to explore. Perhaps this will also open up more room for more time to shine for Sakura in the future as well.

HT – La Nouvelle Republique