1997:
Looking back to 1997, even though "One Piece" has been serialized for a year, but at this time "Weekly Shonen Jump" has not yet come out of the quagmire of the decline in sales brought about by the end of "Dragon Ball", and has maintained for more than 20 years. The dominance of the year was taken away by "Weekly Shonen MAGAZINE" (Kodansha).
Not only the editor-in-chief Kazuhiko Torishima, but also Masashi Kishimoto, who has just graduated from college, is in turmoil. After winning the "Hot Step" award of JUMP with an article "Karakuri" in 1995, he found that he could not find a suitable long-form serialization theme. Originally, he planned to create his favorite swordsman-themed comics. After "The Dweller", I only felt that the mountains stood still; and the magic theme also has "Diablo", at this time Kishimoto can be said to "want to cross the Yellow River ice-filled river, and will climb the Taihang snow-covered mountains".
Masashi Kishimoto, a shy man born in the 70s in Okayama Prefecture, joined the school's baseball team after he was promoted to middle school because he liked Adachi's "Touch" too much when he was a child. Like his contemporaries, he was deeply influenced by Akira Toriyama and Hirohiko Araki. He aspired to be a great manga artist from an early age. When he grew up, he chose the alma mater of Hojo Ji, Kyushu Sangyo University (Department of Fine Arts). The private university is not a heavy study, so Kishimoto has enough free time to exercise his manga level, which lays the foundation for the success of "Naruto" in the future.
"Why don't you try the theme of ninja?" In the end, Kishimoto accepted the editor's suggestion, selected the theme of "ninja", which had hardly been painted before, and tentatively launched a ninja theme in the supplementary issue of JUMP in 1997. After the short story, which was unexpectedly well received, finally, the serialization of "Naruto" officially started in 1999.
1999-2000:
Like many comics, the story chooses a relatively independent and simple event to start with - the mission of the Land of Waves. Konoha Ninja Village's three little devils, Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, and Haruno Sakura, led by a powerful Joinin Kakashi, protect the old man, Dazna, the country of echoes. During the mission, the exiled ninja Momochi, hired by the villain, fought against his companion Shiro.
The ninjas in "Naruto" not only have their own daily life, but the ninja village constitutes the main fighting force and economic source of a country. The leaders of each ninja village are called "shadows", and the leader of the Konoha ninja village is called Naruto. , In addition, each village has various classes such as Shangnin and Chunin.
There are so many powerful beings, but the protagonist of the story, Naruto Uzumaki, is the tail of a crane (Note: Hokkien, originated from the translation of Taiwan's Dongli who introduced Hokage in the early days, meaning the last or the one who is behind) - at the ninja school He failed the graduation exam three times and couldn't even use the simplest avatar technique. His first appearance on the stage turned out to be the technique of seduction (his original erotic ninjutsu)...and because of the nine tails sealed in his body , since childhood was regarded as a monster by everyone and was isolated, without friends. Furthermore, due to the premature death of his parents, he was extremely lack of care and recognition. Most of his memories are gray and lonely. But it is such a yellow-haired boy who declared in the first episode that he would surpass the previous Hokage and inherit the title of Hokage.
If you look at Kishimoto's history, you will find that this young man who likes ramen had very bad grades in high school. The poor grades made him only go to an ordinary university, but this did not shake his childhood ideal - to be a great cartoonist, in fact, he did it through his unremitting efforts. However, Naruto's tragic life experience is not a replica, but because Kishimoto was single at the time of creation.
It is worth mentioning that, in the original setting, Kakashi was a stern jonin. By the way, the name is not Kakashi, but "Eki". Fortunately, at the suggestion of the editor, Kishimoto did not adopt this setting, which is why we see this middle-aged uncle Kakashi with lazy eyes and "lost on the road of life..." today.
Although the story at the beginning is not complicated, the battle drawing skills Kishimoto has accumulated over the years for the dream swordsman comics are fully reflected in Naruto. The use of multi-angle mirroring and the depiction of details make the characters in the comics use ninjutsu to carry out The fast pace of the duel is surprisingly smooth. The unique combat system also makes people's blood boil. The number of "Water Escape • Waterfall Technique", "Secretary • Ice Crystal Magic Mirror", etc., makes the battle of ninjas no longer lurking in the dark. It can also be as gorgeous as the magician fighting skills.
In addition, the bond between Momochi and Shiro also won the tears of the readers. The expression of this bond is used throughout the entire Hokage. In Kishimoto's writing, all the characters are living people. In the known past, even villains had their own beliefs and things they wanted to protect.
2000-2002:
Entering the new century, the second year of Hokage's serialization, with the wonderful battles and unique settings in the mission chapter of the Land of Waves, Hokage defeated many comics in the same period and only lost to "Chess Soul" by a slight disadvantage. It ranked third on the popularity list, and the single-line volume was also released smoothly. This kind of achievement is already very good for a cartoonist who has just debuted. After the fiercely competitive "Weekly Shonen JUMP" stood firm, Kishimoto was finally able to flex his muscles and build a grand ninja world.
After the return of the country of waves, the biennial Chunin exam was held as scheduled, and all the other genin in Konoha Village also appeared, among which the demon from the sand ninja - Gaara was the most prominent. There is a conspiracy behind this Chunin exam. The S-rank betrayal. One of the legendary three ninjas, Orochimaru, joined forces with the Sand Ninja Village who came to take the exam to plan the Konoha destruction operation; and in secret, Orochimaru also Coveted Sasuke's body as a container for his reincarnation.
Today, including many people who don't like Naruto, think that the Chunin Exam is the most attractive part of Naruto. In order to become Chunin, Genin from all over the world need to go through layers of tests - not only strength, but also tests of resourcefulness, courage and other aspects. Whether it's Naruto at the end of the crane defeating Neji Hyuga, the strongest in the same period, or Shikamaru's ingenious shadow imitation technique, every battle in the Chunin Exam is very exciting. I guess I was not the only one who thought about what the Shangnin exam would be like? It is a pity that not only did he not take the shinin exam, but Naruto has not yet become a chunin.
Closer to home, in the middle of the Chunin competition, Orochimaru's plan to destroy Konoha begins. Inside, he and the three generations of Hokage start a life and death duel. Crane's Gaara.
After some hard work, it was Naruto who finally changed Gaara. Naruto and Gaara, Lonely Light and Shadow. Similar to Naruto, Gaara has been used as a tool since birth. Her mother died because of her own birth, and she also engraved the word "love" on Gaara's forehead, always loving herself only for herself. And the living Shura; his father regarded him as a war tool to ensure the status and strength of the country of sand; and the betrayal of his trusted uncle Yashamaru made him no longer trust anyone... Everything, let Gaara became a monster.
However, the characters formed by the two are not the same. Character is destiny, and their destiny will eventually meet. Naruto's psychic sent out Wenta, suppressing the one-tailed Morizuru within Gaara's body. And the first failure in life also made Gaara reflect on the meaning of her life and understand the importance of her companions and the brilliance of humanity. From this moment, Gaara finally became a person, transformed from an extreme monster I came back and repositioned the value of my existence.
As the first Nakagishimoto's favorite shot, the battle between Gaara and Naruto fully embodies the theme of the first part "one person will identify with another person" (Kishimoto language).
In the battle on the other side, the three generations of Hokage finally sacrificed in order to seal Orochimaru, and the Konoha destruction plan ended.
2002-2003:
After the failure of the Konoha destruction plan, the devastated Konoha was in vain, and the first task was to find the next Hokage. For this reason, Jirai also took Naruto to find another Sannin, the medical ninja Tsunade; And Orochimaru, whose hands were sealed by Sandaimu with "Ghost Sealing", also came to find Tsunade and asked her to treat him. The enemy's road is narrow, and Sannin finally broke out into a war...
If you open the title page of Chapter 4, you will find that the concept of Sannin existed from the beginning of creation.
The names of Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Tsunade are all derived from the Japanese folktale "The Story of Erleiya Hero" 30 years ago. Among them, Reiya (Jiraiya) is a ninja who can summon giant toads, and he is the heir of a powerful tribe on Kyushu Island. Erlei also falls in love with Tsunade, a beautiful princess who is good at manipulating slugs. Their opponent in the story is Orochimaru. As the name suggests, he is good at summoning poisonous snakes, and once used poison to poison Erleiya, Tsunade and his wife.
At the same time, the main line of the second part of Hokage - "Xiao" organization also surfaced with the return of Uchiha Itachi. With a handsome face, superb strength, and a kaleidoscope that is even more mysterious than Kakashi - "Amaterasu", "Yue Du"... Uchiha Itachi gathered a lot of popularity as soon as he appeared, and his appearance also revealed The reason for Sasuke's revenge.
The creation of the Uchiha family draws heavily on ancient Japanese traditional mythology. Amaterasu, Tsukuru are gods in Japanese mythology, Susanoo and Izanagi also have their own origins. And what is certain is that "Naruto" borrowed from Fu Jian Yoshihiro's "Youyou White Book" in some aspects. Regarding this point, Kishimoto Yoshihiro talked about in the dialogue with Fu Jian Yoshihiro, the source of the idea of shadow clone In "You You White Book" Suzaku's dark demon dragon formation, and Uchiha Itachi's "Amaterasu" draws on Fei Ying's black flame of the devil in "You You White Book".
At that time, due to the digging of the "Xiao" pit, the enthusiasm of the masses was very high. Speculation about the leader of "Xiao" filled major forums, and the most popular among them was the statement of the four generations of Hokage.
2003-2004:
Because of the hatred of the family, Sasuke, who could not match the darkness in his heart, finally chose to go to Orochimaru to seek strength; and in order to prevent Orochimaru from getting Sasuke, the Konoha side, who lacked combat power after the war, had no choice but to send a few Shimonin—— Shikamaru, Naruto, Neji, Choji, and Inuzuka Ya perform the task of recapturing. During the recapture process, Konoha's ninjas fought fiercely with the five members of the sound ninja who came to pick them up. The performance of several young Konoha ninjas did not disappoint us.
Sasuke is probably the most difficult character to grasp in the entire work. The name Sasuke comes from Sarutobi Sasuke, the head of the Ten Sanada Warriors during the Warring States Period in Japan (which is also the name of the father of the third generation), and incorporates the image of Vegeta in "Dragon Ball", ruthless, and the pursuit of violence, which is enough to see Kishimoto's Sasuke's attention. At the beginning of the creation, Sasuke was positioned as a contrast to Naruto, and later Kishimoto made him more and more evil. You say he's not good? In fact, he just wants to complete his revenge, do you think he is good? His pursuits always cause trouble for others. In general, Kishimoto's evaluation of him is "simple".
In the fierce battle with the five people of sound and ninja, in addition to Naruto, supporting roles such as Shikamaru, Xiao Li, Inuzuka Ya, Dingji, Neji, etc. have also been well portrayed. Xiao Li's gorgeous "Knoba Whirlwind" shines to save the field, making readers full of expectations for this hard-working genius. Unfortunately, I don't know if it was due to the needs of the plot or Kishimoto's lack of skill in the later period. In the first part, these popular supporting characters hardly showed much performance. Is it really as Kishimoto said half-jokingly in an interview, "Little Li ? Xiao Li doesn't need to grow up." The
final stage of the recapture battle - End Valley, where the two founders of Konoha, Senju Hasuma and Uchiha Madara, fought a duel. On the rooftop, Naruto and Sasuke had a conflict. Naruto asked Sasuke to wear a forehead guard. Sasuke laughed at Naruto for not having the ability to hurt my forehead guard. In the battle of the Valley of the End, Naruto tried his best and finally scratched a scar on Sasuke's forehead, but the final result was similar to the betrayal who had been slashed on the forehead. Naruto touched Sasuke's forehead, but Sasuke became a rebel.
In the end, Naruto failed to bring Sasuke back, and the mission failed. Fortunately, no companion died. Naruto followed Jiraiya's journey to practice, and everyone else started their own practice. With infinite curiosity about "Xiao", the first part is over.
2005-2007:
With the end of the first part in the Battle of the End Valley, Naruto also won the first jump in the year of 2005 in the counterattack of the pirates. With such a high popularity, the second Shippuden is naturally highly anticipated. The reader's appetite is getting higher and higher, and even Orochimaru is not as attractive as the last few hazy figures in the first part - the reader wants to see the stronger "Xiao".
So, in the yellow sand that filled the sky, the Scorpion of Red Sand and Deidara appeared. Gaara, who was still a master in the first part, has now become the fifth generation of Kazekage, but was cleaned up by Deidara a few times. And the Scorpion of Akasha - the same birthday as Kishimoto and the same age betrayal is more eye-catching when she appears - the genius puppet master of the sand country, playing Kankuro in the palm of his hand, taking the three-generation style Filmed as an adult puppet... Even in the TV animation version, he also has a puppet with a wheel eye.
The other side of the battle is also very interesting. Apart from the foreign aids sent by Konoha, in the face of the powerful enemy Scorpion, Sand Ninja invited his grandmother, the old-time advisor of Sand Ninja for many years. It is not Naruto who just returned from his studies, but Sakura who has been forgotten for a long time...
Speaking of Sakura, whether it is official JUMP character votes or private discussions, Haruno Sakura is not very popular, even At the beginning of the creation, the editors and assistants agreed that the character of Sakura was "not cute at all" from appearance to personality. Maybe it's because Kishimoto's girlfriend belongs to the type of Haruno Sakura (you can guess who the ex-girlfriend is), but Kishimoto likes this character very much, and the explanation for this is also very interesting: whoever said that female characters in comics must be cute!
In the duel with the scorpion of the red sand, Sakura is no longer the crybaby who only hides behind others. She is a girl who has been passed down by Princess Tsunade. The puppet shell, used the explosive charm to expel the poisonous gas, and sacrificed her life to help the mother-in-law Chiyo to block the last blow of the scorpion... She fully implemented her "courage"
of ninja It has something to do with Kishimoto's inability to describe women. The part of Sakura's confession to Sasuke is that he cooperated with others. When two Japanese female fans asked Kishimoto Sakura what would happen in 2012, the answer they got was "Sakura, um... um, I forgot."
In the next battle, the undead duo Kakuto and Hidan appear. If the red sand scorpion is only tough, then the undead duo has no solution - the unfinished Jiaodu, the undead Feiduan - the Jiao has five hearts, which means that he needs to be killed Five times, and Feiduan, who believed in the evil gods, actually had an immortal body.
Due to the lack of information, Asma Sarutobi, the son of the third generation, unfortunately died under the curse of Hidan. The names of Feiduan and Jiaodu come from the flying chariots and Jiaoyue in shogi. In addition, Asma said when he played chess with Shikamaru that he was a silver general, and Shikamaru was a kuima. The corners and rooks move in the same way as the rooks in chess. They are all rampant types. Obviously, Kishimoto designed them to be brave and reckless. Silver will be the type to charge into battle, and Guima's moves are more flexible. Asma's shogi actually announced the result of the battle: a head-to-head battle with Koto and Hidean was meaningless, and Kima walked flexibly, and he had to rely on Shikamaru's tactics to complete the sniper kill.
"Alas, I originally wanted to be a ninja and make some money...and then marry an ordinary woman who is neither beautiful nor ugly, and have two children, the first is a girl and the second is a boy. Wait for the eldest daughter When I got married and my son could be alone, I retired from the ninja job... After that, I lived a leisurely secluded life playing shogi or Go every day... Then I died of old age earlier than my wife." I believe many people are like the author, Shikamaru fell in love with this classic monologue. Different from the always high-spirited image in the hot-blooded comics, this genius with an IQ of up to 200 has no fighting spirit since his appearance, and is always complaining about trouble, but why do you like him? Not only because he's smart, but he's real enough. We can see our own shadow in him - not dare to risk our lives, but never back down when it comes to the critical moment.
We can vaguely see Kishimoto paying homage to his beloved masters from the battle of the chapter of the Undying Duo. Shikamaru introduced the flying section into the big hole dug in advance, which is similar to his favorite battle in "Hunter" - Little Jackie VS Bomb Mokenslu in the chapter of Greedy Continent. At the last moment of the battle between Shikamaru and Hidean, Asma's phantom appeared behind Shikamaru, and the two of them threw their cigarette butts at the blasting talisman at the same time. Does this approach remind us of Wukong and Wukong during the first battle in Sharu What about the shock wave that Fanheli sent out?
2008:
With the deepening of the plot, Xiao's organization surfaced. Facing an unknown powerful enemy, Jiraiya sneaked into Yuyin Village alone, and started a contest with his former disciple, now Akatsuki's leader Payne, in order to find out Payne's With his true identity, Jiraiya also chose to exchange his death for information; at the same time, Sasuke's strength increased greatly after the experience, swallowed Orochimaru and convened his own action team "Eagle", and his grievance with Itachi has come to an end. It's time, and Itachi deliberately loses to Sasuke because of a secret choice he's kept for years.
This year, Jiraiya and Uchiha Itachi left us one after another.
Although the two characters have very different personalities and have little to do with each other, this arrangement is not unintentional. From the perspective of strength improvement, Jiraiya is Naruto's master; and Itachi's appearance directly prompted Sasuke to go to Orochimaru to find strength. On the other hand, it is precisely because of the protection of Jiraiya and Uchiha Itachi that Naruto Sasuke can grow up smoothly. And death in the same year is a dividing point for growth - it means that you are no longer a kid who needs to be protected, you have to be on your own and face your own future alone.
With Itachi's death, his secret was finally revealed to the world. On the eve of the Uchiha clan's rebellion, in order to protect the village from the war, and did not want the Uchiha clan to be stigmatized, he accepted the task of exterminating the Uchiha clan from the upper management of Konoha, and was alone to bear the identity of the clan, and the only one. The condition is to keep his most beloved younger brother Sasuke. In order for Sasuke to be independent after his death, he chose to hide the truth and let Sasuke grow up in hatred. Such a truth not only shocked Sasuke, but also moved readers.
Just as the existence of the division of the Hinata clan reflects the fatalism of the East, Uchiha Itachi is a typical Greek-style tragic hero - "The protagonist often encounters unforeseen misfortunes, which evolve from misfortune to tragedy, and the conflict of tragedy becomes The conflict between man and destiny". At the age of 8, he was promoted to Chunin, and he joined Anbu at the age of 11. Not only is he a genius, but Itachi also has a vision like Hokage. He is such a near-perfect character. The conflict made him bear the dark side of Konoha alone; in order to protect his beloved younger brother, he was not able to smile until he was dying.
When Kishimoto was designing the bond between Itachi and Sasuke, the prototype was none other than him and his twin brother, Seiji Kishimoto. The two brothers have loved comics since childhood, but Seiji Kishimoto was caught by his brother as an assistant since he was a child. Even now, he often runs to help his brother who is too busy. Although he often has work to do, as long as Qi Kishimoto Shi made a phone call, as long as the progress in his hand was not too urgent, he would put it aside and run to help his brother. Like Sasuke in the work, he lives in the shadow of his elder brother-the prefix when Sacred History is mentioned is still "Kishimoto Masashi's younger brother". His older brother's masterpiece has been serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump for many years, while his own "666 Satan" can still only be serialized in other magazines. This kind of depression can only be experienced by Ken Obata, who hadn't painted "Death Note" yet.
As for many readers who could not accept the death of Uchiha Itachi and Jiraiya, Kishimoto said meaningfully that "Hokage is not a shojo manga...it's a juvenile manga".
2009-2010:
Most of the members of "Xiao" have died, and only eight tails and nine tails are left in the collection of tailed beasts; Miaomushan practice immortality. A war was inevitable. In the end, Payne came to the door first - not only to find Naruto and take away the nine tails, but also to destroy Konoha...
Although Konoha Maru killed a Payne, Naruto used his mouth to persuade him Plots such as Nagato have been criticized, but objectively speaking, in the chapter of Konoha Destruction, Kishimoto has undergone a qualitative change in terms of picture design and rhythm control compared to when he first debuted.
In the early days, the lines of Hokage were slightly messy and redundant, but the later, the lines became more concise and powerful, which can be seen from the protagonist's clothing, and the character structure became more reasonable. The early battle storyboards used a lot of detailed descriptions. By this period, the techniques had become diversified, such as the far and near advancement of the camera, and the switching of multiple perspectives. Kishimoto's strength has always been in large-scale painting, and he has a good grasp of the balance of space and the perspective relationship of characters and backgrounds.
From the point of view of the rhythm, Kishimoto, who likes to watch movies, treats this battle as a movie. First, Payne suddenly attacked Konoha and fell into a riot. The real protagonist, Naruto, didn't appear right away - he was trapped by Danzo. Kakashi "died", Tsunade exhausted his strength... Konoha fell into danger step by step, and Naruto appeared after Payne's Shinra Tianzheng. The rhythm of the whole war is quite tight, and there is a degree of relaxation.
The existence of the character Payne is more of an imagery-the broken Xiaopao is in the shape of a cassock. In fact, this is an arrangement by Masashi Kishimoto. The English word "Pain" represents pain, and Payne is exactly the Suffering ascetic. When Payne floated over Konoha to prepare for the Shen Luo Tianzheng, the fluttering robe, the open arms, and the despising eyes, he considered himself God. This can't help but remind people of the great flood in "Genesis", because human beings are full of atrocities, bad deeds, and God plans to use a great flood to wipe out all the wicked - this is in line with Payne's thinking, he wants to make the world feel pain . And the religious music when Payne appeared, Nagato's analogy with black sticks sticking out of his body also reflects this.
Fortunately, Nagato finally believed in Naruto, the Noah, and resurrected everyone he killed with the technique of reincarnation (Jirai was not resurrected because the corpse sank into the sea and was damaged due to too much water pressure), it turns out Kakashi, who was about to say goodbye, couldn't resist the reader's request to be "resurrected".
2010-2014:
In 2010, the single-line volume of Naruto exceeded 100 million copies.
With the end of the foreshadowing, Naruto also ushered in the final chapter of the Ninja World War. After Payne's death, the mastermind behind "Xiao", the masked man walked to the front desk and launched the fourth ninja war with Yaoshitou. Because of the common strong enemy, the five countries had to fight together and set up a ninja coalition to fight against it. On the side of the Ninja Coalition, apart from the Konoha Twelve Xiaoqiang, Kakashi, Akai and others that we are familiar with, there are also elites from other countries. On the villain's side, the main combat power is the reincarnation of the pharmacist Doufutu, a group of big men who have appeared before.
As early as when he fought against the third generation, Orochimaru used the reincarnation of the dirty earth to summon the first and second Hokage. Although the number of reincarnations from the dirty earth has greatly increased this time, it is a pity that the quality is very poor.
Asma, never cut again, the scorpion of red sand... This series of familiar names should have excited readers, but not only that, Sanjiao Yuhanzo (the title of Sannin is derived from him), Wunin Seven People, Golden Horn The legendary monsters like the Silver Horn brothers have also been resurrected. However, compared to the fact that a ghost shark can run through most of the Hokage, most of these characters only took a cutscene, and some were even subdued in the form of mouth escapes before they even fought.
On January 18, 2014, Kishimoto's father Kenshi Kishimoto passed away. I don't know if it's a coincidence or intentional, but in the next two months, Hokage appeared in two scenes about his father in succession - Chapter 664 The fourth generation saves Naruto, and Chapter 668 The father in Kai's memories. Different from the downplaying of family affection in most comics, in Hokage, whether it is the last words of Naruto's parents before his death, or the persuasion of Akai's father to him, they are very warm.
In the late stage of the Ninja World War, the final mystery of Naruto was also revealed. The masked man turned out to be Uchiha Obito, Uchiha Madara entered the battle, and successive Hokage resurrected and participated in the battle. Not long after Uchiha Madara became a Six Path Immortal, he was hacked again. The ultimate plot - "The mantis catches the cicada, and the oriole is behind." All this is actually the conspiracy of Kaguya Otsutsuki, the mother of the six-path immortal; and the resurrected Kaguya was sealed by Sasuke and Naruto after a few paintings. ...seems to be moving too fast? In general, the out-of-control rhythm, the rough lines, the nonsensical plot... The quality of Naruto entering the Ninja War Chapter began to decline, and was called "unfinished" by fans...
Last words:
When writing this article, Naruto Human and Sasuke are in the final confrontation, and Hokage is still two words away from the end. According to the original idea, there should be a third part, and the third part will describe the story of Naruto becoming Hokage, but unfortunately I can't see it now.
When asked by a reporter the first thing he wanted to do after the end, Kishimoto replied, "It should be to make up for the honeymoon. It's been ten years late." Seeing this sentence, he couldn't help crying. Fifteen years of serialization has accompanied us from teenagers to adults. Although we have various regrets, we are still grateful to Kishimoto for creating such a wonderful "Naruto", which allows us to have a unique ninja dream.
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