How Kishimoto Destroyed Naruto's Hokage Dream Explained

This article contains spoilers from the Naruto series.

Key recommendations

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

by Masashi Kishimoto Naruto the series is quite easily one of the most successful stories in recent years. Having started its serialization almost two decades ago, the story ran for about 15 years, and since then, almost a decade since its conclusion, it has been held in high regard and is still loved by fans. Naruto has stood the test of time and with each passing year has only gained more fan appreciation.

Naruto was a beloved story where the protagonist, Naruto Uzumaki, had the dream of becoming a protagonist. Right from the start, fans are told that Naruto wanted to become Hokage and prove all those who don't believe in him wrong. At the same time, Naruto wanted the recognition of the people around him, which ties these two dreams together. While Naruto definitely got to achieve his dream, the way Kishimoto handled it left a lot to be desired.

Naruto's dream of becoming Hokage

• Naruto Uzumaki has set his ambitions high
• Naruto had finally achieved his dream

Naruto's dream is quite complex. On paper, Naruto's dream seems to be quite simple. After all, he only wanted to become the Hokage of Konoha, and in doing so, become one of the greatest ninja to ever live. Naruto set out 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 reach the peak. However, this was only the surface level dream that Naruto held onto. In reality, Naruto's dream goes much deeper than that. The essence of Naruto's dream is to gain recognition from the people around him, and this is deeply related to the fact that Naruto was ostracized as a child. Being an outcast for the vast majority of his life and having no one around to support him, Naruto naturally craved companionship.

In the beginning of the series, Naruto did all kinds of pranks to get people's attention. This was pretty clear for fans to see and was actually one of the things that made fans like him quite a bit. With time, Naruto's thinking also evolved, and considering that he was in love with ninjas, especially the position of Hokage, Naruto realized that becoming Hokage would make everyone recognize skill, strength and power, and at the same time, won the love and support of everyone. At its core, 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 massive dream in his sights.

It's pretty easy to see that this was an admirable dream and one that would ensure fans stay seated for a long ride. Naruto Uzumaki took one step after another towards fulfilling his dream when he defeated Pain, and it's safe to say that he did quite well in that regard. Naruto's dream was also fulfilled at the end of the series, but once again, the way Kishimoto went about it at the end was definitely not what fans expected and in many ways left a lot to be desired.

The day Naruto became Hokage was a mess

Naruto couldn't even attend his own Hokage inauguration

Before we talk about how Naruto ended up becoming Hokage and fulfilling his dream, there needs to be an understanding of a part of Naruto's dream that was essentially fulfilled long before the series was finished. Naruto wanted the recognition of the people around him, and his desire to become Hokage was essentially about that. However, this dream of Naruto's was fulfilled long before the end of the series. To a great extent, when Naruto defeated Pain and saved Konoha, he had the recognition of all the people around him and every individual from the commoners to the highest of the village recognized that Naruto was a hero of the village. Village Hidden by Leaves. To Kakashi, Naruto was someone who had surpassed even the 4th Hokage. In many ways, he fully believed that Naruto had surpassed the legends. In essence, the vast majority of Naruto's dream was already fulfilled.

However, being Hokage is not simply about gaining the recognition of the people around them. It is a huge responsibility because everyone then becomes their family and looks to them for protection. From this point on, to realize the burden he had on his shoulders, Naruto worked incredibly hard throughout the Fourth Great Ninja War. Once again Naruto got to save the world in this war and he did incredibly well here. However, at the end of it all, Naruto didn't even make it to Hokage. Kakashi was chosen as the sixth Hokage of the village, while Naruto was tasked with gaining more experience and learning more about the ninja world in general.

Essentially, by the end of the Naruto series, he has already achieved his dream. He was the most powerful in the world and had everyone's recognition. The world hailed Naruto as a hero and protector, and all that was left was for Naruto to don the Hokage cape and officially assume the position. Fans wanted this to happen at the end of the series, but unfortunately, it didn't happen the way they wanted. In Naruto chapter 700, fans saw a major time shift where Naruto Uzumaki officially took over. Unfortunately, readers didn't even get to see how he became Hokage in the manga. He was seen in a Five Kage Summit, already as Hokage, while Boruto Uzumaki took the spotlight, essentially setting up the future of the franchise that is the Boruto series. Fans got to see Naruto as Hokage, but it was for such a short period of time that it didn't sit well with readers. In the anime, things were even worse because Naruto didn't even end up becoming Hokage and instead at the end of the series, he just married Hinata, which is absolutely ridiculous to begin with.

That being said, fans were treated to an OVA where Naruto ended up becoming the Hokage. Like the end of the series, this part of the story was also quite bizarre. Instead of being at his own inauguration, where he would have taken the mantle of Hokage from Kakashi, Naruto was eliminated by his daughter. Instead, Konohamaru used a transformation jutsu to take on Naruto's appearance and stand in his place.

How fans barely got to see Naruto as Hokage

Naruto's portrait as Hokage is missing

The biggest problem fans have with Naruto's dream is that while he certainly got recognition from all the people, he was never named Hokage when he deserved it. Naruto was named the 7th Hokage in the final pages of the series, and fans never even saw him affect anything in Naruto's world as Hokage. Of course, Boruto gave fans a glimpse of Naruto as Hokage, but here comes another problem and that is Naruto being left out for the main characters. On one hand, Kishimoto made him a hero in the nicest manners, but on the other hand, his dream of becoming Hokage was definitely not handled properly and could have been a lot better.

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