--What do you mean by "difficult to understand the worldview"?

Kishimoto: If the worldview is difficult to understand, it means that you are not conveying what you want to say to the reader.Writers believe that "to create is to communicate," but there is the dilemma of depicting something that "cannot be interpreted."
If I were a newcomer to Weekly Shonen Jump, I would not have chosen a SF work because it would have been immediately be dismissed if it did not gain popularity.

The reason why I took on the challenge of the SF genre is because I felt that if it was a work by the author of "NARUTO," people would be patient enough to read it. As an author, this is something I shouldn't do (laughs). At the moment, I am anxious to see if my works will be accepted.

I think the reason "Naruto" was accepted by readers is because they sympathized with the fact that the main character is not a perfect one.

As we move on to the latter half of the story, the main character grows closer to perfection, but as a story, it starts from a place where the main character's upbringing and environment are difficult.

I myself want people who are limited in many things to read the manga, rather than those who are blessed, and I want them to feel that they don't have to be perfect.

--Is "not being perfect" the theme of your latest manga?

Kishimoto: Related to the samurai in this manga, I would like to depict "wabi-sabi" or "things that are not finished are beautiful".

　I have been drawing "Naruto" all by myself, but manga has always been created under a deadline with little time to work on names, drafts, meetings, concepts... and so on.

I believe that more and more manga will be created with a work division between the original story and the drawing, as I have done this time. In order to make a good work, I think it is not a bad idea to divide the work between those who concentrate on the pictures and those who concentrate on the story.

However, there will always be a gap in what is being expressed.

If you do everything alone, you can draw what you want to convey, and you can create a "perfect" work. Still, there are bound to be new discoveries through collaboration, so I think it is important to weigh the positives and negatives.

　I want to depict the thought that "perfect is not necessarily good," and since I myself am seeking perfection in this work, there is certainly a contradiction.

However, because "Naruto" was not perfect, I was motivated to draw the next work based on my reflection, so in that sense, I have a theory of "aiming for perfection, but not being perfect."

--In that sense, your theory of "aiming for perfection, but not being perfect" is strong. Is there an example?

When I look at rough drawings by other manga artists, I sometimes feel that they are better than the finished drawings (laughs).　

As for myself, my child was born during the serialization of "Naruto" and my father passed away, both of which had an impact on my work.When I was drawing the scene where Minato, Naruto's father, is separated from Naruto again, my own father passed away, and the lines I wrote were directed to my own father.

In the course of the series, there is a theme at the beginning, but what I want to convey changes due to changes in my personal life.
So my way of thinking includes "It doesn't have to be perfect," and "What is perfection?" at the same time.

Even in the case of "Love ," I try to express not only "I love you" and "I like you," but also "I hate you" and try to depict both sides of the story.

If someone kills someone you love, you would naturally feel hatred.But if someone you don't know is killed, it is hard to feel hatred. Therefore, I try to convey the two sides of the story, the negative and the positive, and strive for "perfection" in total.

--What were some of the challenges of working on a science fiction story compared to "NARUTO"?

　Kishimoto: Thankfully, "Naruto" was a worldwide hit, and this is the second manga in the series, so I would be lying if I said I don't feel pressure, but I try not to think about it too much.

I don't want to draw manga suffering at my age, so I want to do what I want to do and enjoy drawing manga. If I draw manga in pain, the readers will also suffer, and if I have fun, they will also feel that I am having fun.

Source : ORICON NEWS