Kishimoto reveals his favorite character in the story

This article contains spoilers from the Naruto series.

Key points

• Kishimoto's favorite Naruto characters are Naruto and Sasuke due to his intricate treatment and affection for them.
• Sasuke was Kishimoto's favorite for a time due to the special attention and care he put into the character.
• Sakura fell behind as Kishimoto's least favorite main character, lacking as much attention and development as Naruto and Sasuke.

Kishimoto, the writer of Narutohe worked incredibly hard on his Naruto series over the years. It's safe to say that Kishimoto's work continues Naruto was spectacular from start to finish, and while one might have reservations about the ending it chose to pursue, it's safe to say that this manga was nothing short of a masterpiece that has continued to inspire people from all over the world and, also other authors currently working at Jump.

These characters have become legendary in their own right, and the intricate way Kishimoto handled them shows how much he loved them. That said, not all characters were loved equally by Kishimoto, as is the case with all authors. He definitely had his favorite and he's already revealed it to fans.

Kishimoto's love for Naruto and Sasuke

• Kishimoto paid special attention to Naruto and Sasuke
• Secondary characters were often overlooked by Kishimoto

Of all the characters in the Naruto series, Kishimoto had an affinity for two in particular, and the way he treats these two characters in the story makes it pretty easy to guess who they are. Of course, when talking about Kishimoto's favorites, Naruto and Sasuke come to mind. These are two of the most beloved characters in the story, and this shows that Kishimoto handled them with the utmost care. Naruto, being one of Kishimoto's favorites, shouldn't surprise any fan. After all, he is the protagonist of the series and must be interesting, as well as bring surprising ideals for fans to love him. Kishimoto, in many ways, may have also made Naruto a reflection of himself, meaning he absolutely adores the character no matter what fans think.

But, to make this story more interesting, Kishimoto also created Sasuke, who is Naruto's rival and, in many ways, his opposite. Kishimoto has previously described Naruto and Sasuke as Yin and Yang, progressing together and must always be in balance. These two characters are adored by Kishimoto to the max, and in the case of Sasuke, fans know that the way Kishimoto treated him was such that, in many cases in the story, it almost seemed like he had a prejudice against him. Based on Kishimoto's comments, it seems like this bias might not be a misconception among fans after all. As stated by Kishimoto at the beginning of the Naruto series, Sasuke required him to pay special attention to the character, which may have even made him his favorite at one point.

Why Kishimoto preferred Sasuke at the beginning of Naruto

At the beginning of the Naruto series, Kishimoto seemed to have a lot of work to do. Not only did he have to develop complex plots, but he had to create the main characters of his series. Creating the main characters is a very important step that can make or break a series, and for Kishimoto this was very important, just like any other mangaka. Kishimoto designed Sasuke very carefully and redefined him in many ways over the years. This includes changes to his personality, right down to his character design. In many ways, Kishimoto had to pay attention to the character of Sasuke, and this is one of the main reasons why Sasuke at one point ended up becoming his favorite. Here's what Kishimoto has to say about the character of Sasuke.

Kishimoto: This is the first image of Sasuke. Not much has changed so far. The only big difference is that he lost that thing around his neck. It's the same for all the characters, the more you draw them, the more you add more and more lines. Add accessories and things like that. And with a main character you get really excited and keep adding things. Next I asked myself, “Can I really have a character with that many jokes in a weekly series?”

So I reduced the amount of lines and made Sasuke's image closer to Naruto's.

In my opinion, Sasuke's face and movements are the most difficult to draw. And if I'm not careful, his face ends up looking too adult. I've never had a child character with eyes like that in any of my manga, so it's very difficult to draw.

He is the character I have to pay the most attention to and, perhaps for this reason, he is my favorite character. – Kishimoto

As is clear from his comments, Kishimoto absolutely adores Sasuke and given the way he has treated this character over the years, it's safe to say that Sasuke continues to be one of his favorites until the end. Of course, Kishimoto might have changed his opinion since then, but it can be said that Sasuke was always among his favorites until the end.

How Kishimoto failed Sakura

While Naruto and Sasuke remained his favorites, Sakura was left behind

While the likes of Naruto and Sasuke were loved by Kishimoto until the end, one of the main characters certainly was none other than Sakura. In fact, Kishimoto has openly admitted that he is incapable of writing great female characters, although in some cases he has written decent female characters, at least when he tried. Kishimoto's main problem with Sakura is that he simply gave up on her in favor of other characters, like Naruto and Sasuke. When Kishimoto decided to focus on Sakura, he made sure that she shined beautifully. In the early parts of the Chunin Exams, Sakura was a pleasure to watch.

These are Sakura's first sketches. I still feel like I did when I first drew them, SHE'S NOT PRETTY!! In general, I have a hard time drawing girls and always worry that they aren't cute enough. When I passed these sketches to all the assistants, they all agreed and said “A girl who is not cute.” – Kishimoto

Likewise, in the first part of Naruto Shippudenwhere Sakura was at the center of things in the battle against Sasori, it was a real pleasure to watch. If Kishimoto had paid more attention to her, she would have been a much better character today and would have been equivocally loved all over the world. Unfortunately, that never happened and Kishimoto skipped over this character quite a bit. Of the three main characters, Sakura is definitely Kishimoto's least favorite, although that doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't like her. For Kishimoto, the love certainly is there, it's just not as great as his love for Naruto and certainly not for Sasuke.

As for the other main characters, Kakashi is there, but he's certainly not one of Kishimoto's favorites. Even the likes of Itachi and Minato, among others, like Kurama, are out there with Kishimoto's beloved characters, but again they absolutely do not compare to Naruto and certainly not to Sasuke.

Naruto is available to read on MangaPlus and the Shonen Jump app. Fans can read the official statement and support the author in this way.