How Kishimoto Ruined Naruto's Hokage Dream Explained

This article contains spoilers from the Naruto series.

Key things

• Naruto's dream of becoming Hokage was deeply connected to seeking recognition and filling the void of being ostracized.
• Fans were disappointed with Naruto's portrayal of the Hokage, with his inauguration being barely shown and overshadowed by other characters.
• The way Kishimoto handled Naruto's fulfillment of his dream as Hokage left a lot to be desired by fans.

Masashi Kishimoto Naruto the series is quite easily one of the most successful stories of recent years. After serialization began nearly two decades ago, the story ran for about 15 years and has been highly respected and still loved by fans ever since, nearly a decade after its conclusion. Naruto it has stood the test of time and with each passing year has only gained more recognition from fans.

Naruto was a popular story where the main character, Naruto Uzumaki, had a dream to become the main hero. Right from the start, fans are told that Naruto wanted to become Hokage and prove everyone who didn't believe in him wrong. At the same time, Naruto wanted recognition from the people around him, which brings these two dreams together. While Naruto certainly achieved his dream, the way Kishimoto handled him left a lot to be desired.

Naruto's dream of becoming Hokage

• Naruto Uzumaki set lofty ambitions
• Naruto had finally fulfilled his dream

Naruto's dream is quite complex. On paper, Naruto's dream looks pretty simple. After all, he just wanted to become the Hokage of Konoha and become one of the greatest ninjas to ever live. Naruto tried to prove the doubters wrong and show everyone that even though he was considered a failure, with hard work and undying determination he could surprise everyone and make it all the way to the top. However, this was only a surface dream that Naruto had. In reality, Naruto's dream goes much deeper than just that. The essence of Naruto's dream is to gain recognition from those around him, and this is deeply connected to the fact that Naruto was ostracized as a child. Naruto was an outcast for the vast majority of his life and had no one around to support him, he naturally craved company.

In the beginning of the series, Naruto would do all kinds of antics to get people's attention. This was very clear to the fans, and it was actually one of the things that made the fans quite fond of him. Naruto's thinking also evolved as time went on, and being in love with ninjas, specifically the position of Hokage, Naruto realized that becoming Hokage would make everyone recognize his skills, power and might. at the same time he won everyone's love and support. Basically, Naruto's dream wasn't just to become Hokage for no reason. Naruto wanted the recognition of the people around him, and because he wanted to fill the void in his heart, he had this huge dream in his sights.

It's pretty easy to see that this was an admirable dream that ensured fans would stay seated for the long ride. Naruto Uzumaki took one step at a time to fulfill his dream after defeating Pain, and it can be said that he was quite successful in that regard. Naruto's dream was also fulfilled at the end of the series, but again, the way Kishimoto went about it at the end was definitely not what fans expected and left a lot to be desired in many ways.

The day Naruto became Hokage was a mess

Naruto couldn't even attend his own Hokage inauguration

Before talking about how Naruto eventually became Hokage and fulfilled his dream, there is one part of Naruto's dream that was essentially fulfilled long before the series was even finished. Naruto wanted the recognition of the people around him and his desire to become Hokage was basically related to that. However, this dream of Naruto's was fulfilled long before the end of the series. For the most part, when Naruto defeated Pain and saved Konoha, he had the appreciation of everyone around him, and every single person, from the commoners to the highest of the villages, acknowledged that Naruto was the hero of the Hidden Leaf Village. To Kakashi, Naruto was someone who surpassed even the 4th Hokage. In many ways he fully believed that Naruto had surpassed the legends. Basically, the vast majority of Naruto's dream had already been fulfilled.

However, being Hokage isn't just about gaining recognition from those around them. It is a huge responsibility because everyone then becomes their family and looks to them for protection. From this moment on, to realize the burden he had on his shoulders, Naruto worked incredibly hard throughout the Fourth Great Ninja War. Naruto once again ended up saving the world in this war and he did incredibly well here. However, at the end of it all, Naruto didn't even become Hokage. It was Kakashi who was chosen as the village's sixth Hokage, while Naruto was tasked with gaining more experience and learning more about the ninja world in general.

Basically, by the end of the series, Naruto had already fulfilled his dream. He was the strongest in the world and had the respect of everyone. The world hailed Naruto as a hero and protector and all that was missing was Naruto donning the mantle of Hokage and officially assuming the position. Fans wanted this to happen at the end of the series, but unfortunately it didn't happen the way they wanted it to. In Naruto Chapter 700, fans saw a big time jump where Naruto Uzumaki officially took the position. Unfortunately, readers didn't even get to see him become Hokage in the manga. He was seen at the Five Kage Summit already as Hokage, while Boruto Uzumaki took center stage and basically set up the future of the franchise, the Boruto series. Fans saw Naruto as Hokage, but it was for such a short period of time that it didn't really catch on with readers. Things were even worse in the anime because Naruto didn't even become Hokage and instead simply married Hinata at the end of the series, which is completely ridiculous to begin with.

This means fans got an OVA where Naruto became Hokage. Like the end of the series, this part of the story was a bit bizarre. Instead of being at his own inauguration to take the mantle of Hokage from Kakashi, Naruto was knocked out by his daughter. Instead, Konohamaru used a transformation jutsu to take Naruto's appearance and stand in his place.

As fans have barely seen Naruto as Hokage

Naruto's depiction as the missing Hokage

The biggest problem fans have with Naruto's dream is that while he certainly got the recognition of all the people, he never became Hokage when he deserved it. Naruto became the 7th Hokage in the last few pages of the series and fans didn't even see him affect anything in Naruto's world as Hokage. Of course, Boruto gave fans a glimpse of Naruto as the Hokage, but another problem arises here, and that is Naruto being sidelined for the main characters. On one hand, Kishimoto made him a hero in the nicest of ways, but on the other hand, his dream of becoming Hokage was definitely not handled right and could have been a lot better.

Naruto is available to read on MangaPlus and Shonen Jump. Fans can read the official release and support the author.