Naruto's titular protagonist starts as an orphan who doesn't know anything about his parents, without any family to speak of. He gains acknowledgment and familial bonds from other characters, but still feels a sense of emptiness from not understanding his own lineage. Thankfully, not only does Naruto eventually learn about and meet his birth parents, Kushina Uzumaki and Minato Namikaze, but he even marries Hinata Hyuga and starts a family of his own.
Hints and flashbacks about Naruto's parents are woven throughout the later parts of Naruto, but there are still some details about them fans might not be aware of. When it comes to Naruto's present-day family, which consists of Hinata, Boruto and Himawari, there are early design decisions and sources of inspiration for their personalities or relationships with others that not everyone knows.
10 Naruto Should Have Been Born Without Complications
Kushina and Minato are aware of the risks involved with giving birth to Naruto before doing so. Being the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, there's a chance that childbirth could break Kushina's seal. Because of this, they took exhaustive measures to prevent this from happening.
If everything went as originally planned, Naruto would have been born without complications. It's only because Tobi takes Naruto hostage, forcing Minato to prioritize his newborn son's safety over Kushina's, that Tobi extracts Kurama. This leaves Minato and Kushina no choice but to seal the Nine-Tails inside their newborn son.
9 Minato Asks The Village To See Naruto As A Hero
After Naruto is born and his parents sacrifice themselves to seal the Nine-Tails inside him, the Leaf Village treats Naruto like the same monster he harbors. It's understandable given how much the Leaf suffered, but unfair to a young Naruto who's hated for something he didn't do.
Because of how badly he's treated and how ostracized Naruto is, it's easy to forget that Minato actually asks the people of the Hidden Leaf to view Naruto as a hero. Despite this being a wish from the highly respected and renowned Fourth Hokage, only a few villagers oblige, while the rest view Naruto with nothing but malice.
8 Kishimoto Originally Forgot To Give Naruto's Kids The Byakugan
Originally, Kishimoto planned for both Boruto and Himawari to have the Byakugan from birth, but forgot to add this detail. Himawari awakens to her Byakugan later on, and the Byakugan was changed in-universe from something that's present from birth to something that can be awakened later.
This is also why Himawari's Byakugan isn't always activated, rather than it being because of her status as both a Hyuga and an Uzumaki. Because of Kishimoto's error, Boruto awakens a completely different type of dojutsu, allowing for more creativity than both children possessing the Byakugan.
7 Boruto's Mentor-Student Relationship With Sasuke Is Based On Dragon Ball
Disillusioned with his father, feeling like Naruto is unable to properly balance his work and home responsibilities to give his family the attention they deserve, Boruto turns to Sasuke as a mentor figure instead. Masashi Kishimoto took inspiration from another incredibly popular shonen series, Dragon Ball, when forming this mentor-student relationship.
In Dragon Ball, Piccolo starts out as Goku's antagonist but later trains his son, Son Gohan. This mirrors Naruto and Sasuke's relationship of being enemies at one point, with Sasuke later agreeing to mentor Naruto's son, Boruto.
6 Early Versions Of Boruto Are Depicted Differently
Initial releases of the first volume of the Boruto: Next Generations manga in Japan included an official art card, depicting Boruto, Sarada and Mitsuki differently. Boruto's eyes resemble the Byakugan, which he was originally intended to have before Kishimoto forgot to include it.
The chakra cloak that Boruto has in earlier illustrations also resembles the Nine-Tails Chakra mode. Since Kurama is gone and the Uzumaki family no longer has connections to the Jinchuriki, this version of Boruto isn't canonically possible and thus a treat to see illustrated by Kishimoto himself.
5 Himawari Takes After Minato And Kushina
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In terms of her appearance, it's clear that Himawari takes after both her parents. Her hair resembles Hinata's while she has her father's blue eyes and facial markings. Adorably, Himawari also picked up Naruto's habit of referring to other people with nicknames.When it comes to Himawari's personality, though, she's much more like her grandparents.
Himawari is typically sweet and understanding, much like her grandfather, Minato. Neither of them hold grudges and both are polite and respectful. When Himawari becomes angered, though, she has an explosive temper only matched by her grandmother, Kushina.
4 Hinata Has An Even Bigger Appetite Than Naruto
Despite being shy and soft-spoken, Hinata has all sorts of surprising facets to her personality. She stands up to Pain despite knowing she can't beat him, and bravely declares her love for Naruto after a lifetime of being too afraid to do so. In Boruto, it's revealed Hinata also has Naruto beat in one shocking aspect: her appetite.
Naruto's always been passionate about ramen, and this passion only grows after it becomes one of the main ways he bonds with Iruka. However, it's revealed that Hinata actually holds the record for eating the most ramen in one sitting, though, with her record impressively sitting at forty-six bowls.
3 Naruto Is Acknowledged By Hinata Before Anyone Else
When talking about Naruto's life and his search for acknowledgment, it's typically Iruka who's credited with first acknowledging Naruto and seeing him as more than a monster. While he's the first to actively make an impact on Naruto's life, it's actually Hinata who acknowledges Naruto before anyone else.
The only difference is that, because of Hinata's low self-esteem, she's unable to properly show Naruto how much he means to her until much later on. Masashi Kishimoto himself states that one of the reasons Hinata and Naruto were always meant to be together is the fact that she's the first person to acknowledge him.
2 Naruto's Orange Hokage Title Is A Nod To Both His Parents
Naruto's personal title as the Seventh Hokage is the Orange Hokage, and at first glance this doesn't hold a deeper meaning. After all, he's always been known as the hyperactive, knucklehead ninja in an iconic orange jumpsuit, so it makes sense to keep that color as part of his title.
In actuality, though, Naruto's Orange Hokage title is a clever nod to both of his parents. Minato was known as the Yellow Flash while Kushina was the Red Hot-Blooded Habanero, so Naruto's title of Orange Hokage is a nod to the fact that combining red and yellow makes orange.
1 Kushina's Eyes And Hair Are Different In Her First Appearance
In Kushina Uzumaki's initial appearance in the Naruto anime, both her hair and eyes are depicted as being slightly off-color. This is corrected in all future appearances, though one particular Naruto video game uses both the correct and incorrect versions of Kushina in different depictions of this scene.
This detail is hard to notice, since Kushina's hair and eyes are only a different shade of the same color, instead of being a different color entirely. In her first appearance, Kushina's hair is a darker plum color instead of being the fiery-red hair she's known for, and her eyes are blue-violet instead of just violet.
