So you want the reader to be puzzled ?

Kishimoto : Yes ! I want to write speeches to be remembered even If they don't like them. For exemple, Naruto is a ninja, but his outfit doesn't have anything to do with traditional ninjas.

How did you came up with this unique universe ?

Kishimoto : From the start, I was suppose to get far from the traditional ninjas, dressed in black and living in shadows.
This kind of thing has been seen countless time in mangas. I wanted them to be seen. Well, they're supposed to be hidden. But Naruto doesn't do that, he shows up in front of everyone, he gives his name to people ...
Unlike usual ninjas, he likes to be seen and noticed. Then his blond hairs and blue eyes make him seems like a foreigner, not what you would expect from a ninja.

This is kind of surprising, to say the least.

Kishimoto : It's the same for the context. I didn't wanted people to know where the story takes place. The ninjas wears vests with zippers.
In other worlds, I purposely went far, far away from any ninja stereotype. I just gave them sandals to look like the straw shoes of the old times.

I noticed this "international" kind of thing in Naruto. But I never noticed Naruto looked like a foreigner.

Kishimoto : Even with that, the manga bathes in a japanese atmosphere, with past and present. There are electric poles but there are wooden houses like in old times.
At the start, I was drawing a lot of strange things. Like Drinks Vending Machines. But when I put cars in the pilote, my editor told me "They can't have that, it's too convenient."
The firearms that rendered all Shurikens uninteresting were removed too. Little by little, objects that had no place in the story were removed.

When I listen to you, I feel like I'm listening to how foreigners see japan.

Kishimoto : Yes, I had that in mind from the start. In "Far East Of Eden", one of my favorite video game ever, the context seems like what the foreigners see in japan.
I always found that very interesting. I also added a lot of elements from Kabuki. In our everyday life, we don't see that kind of makeup or outfits, but this is a large part of traditional japan.
I wanted to add this spectacular side that gives impact to the picture.

Today Naruto is very very famous in a lot of other countries. Do you think this haves something to do with what you just said ?

Kishimoto : It obviously is one of the reason.

Your character have very simple souding names. Do you think about foreigners too about that ?

Kishimoto : I choose mostly names that are easy to remember, even if it's not an easy thing to parody a traditional ninja's name.
I look for names that sounds like japanese and sounds cool, like "Wasabi" or "Kakashi".

Did you started thinking about non japanese readers at some point ?

Kishimoto : Yes, when my editor told Naruto was strong outside japan. I made the reading easier by making the order of the koma easier to read.
That way of thinking had a very large impact on the series as a whole.

What do you think foreigners like the most in Naruto ?

Kishimoto : The hero is far from being the most clever fella on earth. He's not a genius. He starts from 0 and starts climbing his way.
Everyone can relate to this kind of story, japanese or not.
Other Important fact : Everyone in the world like ninjas.

I would like you to tell me about the bonds in the story. There are a lot of time where you talk about that.
Is there some moment you remember ?

Kishimoto : I'd say Jiraiya's death. With a strange force, let's call that "willpower", he comes back to life to give Naruto the secret of Pain.
I think I really managed to put his determination on paper this time around and the bonds that link his to his student.
But since I draw on the spot, very spontaneously, I rarely pause myself to think "wow, I just rocked."

Since the series started, did you even think "This ! This moment is just awesome ! That's what I wanted to draw."

Kishimoto : I wanted to talk about aknowledgement, the one you give and the one you get. That's what I wanted to say and wanted to do.

In the story, you say it's being aknowledged by others that drives people to act. By the battles, training and such.

Kishimoto : Everyone want to be aknowledged, and me the first. That's what I strived for when I started, and still is. I fight to be aknowldged by my peers.
Because in the past, I wasn't the one of the admired ones. This feeling I know so much, I think I managed to put in on paper.

I don't want to sounds like that, but what kind of aknowledgement did you seeked ?

Kishimoto : In school, nothing went the way I wanted. I sucked in school, I sucked in sports and I had almost no friends.
I had the feeling nobody aknowledged me for who I was.

But if you went to draw manga, you surely had self confidence about that, right ?

Kishimoto : Yes, thanks to mangas, and drawing, I knew I could get aknowledged by people and so could live thanks to mangas.
Even if my editor back then didn't really had faith in me.

So, all thoses years you just wanted to do a manga to be aknowledged ?

Kishimoto : It's very hard to please all the readers, but I had a huge need for aknowledgement.
When I started, nothing I did ever gave me that, so I continued to draw anyway just for the hell of it.

But aknowledgement is a step by step process, right ? You publish a one shot manga, then a series and only then aknowledgement comes.

Kishimoto : When I started, my meetings were in the first floor of the building and then went to the last floor, the floor of the director.
I could felt I was being aknowledged, but when my One Shot went published. I knew it was happening.
But people didn't really liked this one shot, meetings went back to the 1st floor and I strived even more for aknowledgement.
Thoses events made a very vivid impact on me and as such, have a strong impact on Naruto.

Naruto has many masters. Jiraiya, Iruka, Kakashi. Who is the ideal master for you ?

Kishimoto : A protecting master who, instead of yelling at you, explains you want went wrong and how to fix it.
Someone like Kakashi. I wish I had a master like that.

So you didn't get inspiration from someone you know ?

Kishimoto : No, he's just the teacher I never had. Someone who push his student forward instead of yelling him back to square 0.

It's with thoses bonds that you try to explain mutual gratefulness. Can you explain more about that ?

Kishimoto : There's no real bond without gratefulness. Today I'm trying to put friendship, Parents/Children Love and all that.
Since I'm now a father myself, I learned a lot about that.

Between friends and rivals, aknowledgement is done by fighting. But with Parents and Children, Brothers and Sisters, bonds already exists. How you explains bonds varies between types of bonds ?

Kishimoto : Since readers already know what is a family and what are those bonds, I don't have to really write about that.
Friendship can be hard to explain. Like brothers without blood relation, "Brothers of hearts" I call them. In Naruto there is multiple type of bonds.
So what if they are not of the same blood, if the father sees the kid as his son and the kid sees the man as his father, then it's ok.
I did that with Iruka and Naruto, I wanted to intruduce them like father and son. In part 2, this is less obvious.

That's right, Iruka started in the manga as the father Naruto never had.

Kishimoto : Since Naruto hadn't any parents at the start, I wanted him to see Iruka as his father.