Kishimoto, the author of Naruto, is one of the most successful mangaka to have ever lived. During the serialization of the Naruto series, he was certainly one of the leading mangaka in Jump and, along with him, the other two were Oda, who is the author of One Piece, and Kubo, the author of Bleach. Ever since those days, it was clear that neither Kubo nor Bleach was ever in the same league as the former two and, the vast majority of popularity was enjoyed by Naruto and One Piece.

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Kishimoto has often talked about his own series in comparison to One Piece and, at one point, in one of his interviews, he also revealed the key difference between his Naruto series and Oda's pirating adventure that centers around Luffy.

The Premise For Kishimoto's Naruto Series

The Naruto series is certainly one of the most incredible works of manga ever written. The story follows the journey of Naruto Uzumaki, a young orphan boy who lives in the world of ninja where he is ostracized by all those around him. His antics, however, often attract quite a lot of attention to him. Naruto also has lofty ambitions and he wants to become the Hokage and surpass all the previous Hokage that came before him. In doing so, Naruto would become the greatest ninja in his own village.

Naruto's beginning to his journey is certainly tumultuous. He isn't particularly talented at anything, however, he isn't so terrible that he absolutely cannot make it either. Naruto goes from being one of the worst students in his class to working incredibly hard and achieving his goals through hard work, earning the respect of those who would sneer at him as well. That is pretty much the basis for the Naruto series. The entire story is about Naruto trying to get others to acknowledge him and, in doing so, becoming the savior of the world.

Naruto also has a very kind heart, so much so that he understands the pain of those around him better than anyone. Naruto reaches out with a helping hand to those who need it and even to those who once abandoned hope. This makes the Naruto series quite interesting and adds an incredible layer of depth to the characters involved. Clearly, Naruto is a masterpiece written by Kishimoto and while it certainly does have its own flaws, it can be widely considered to be one of the most popular mangas of all time that has inspired millions and also led to the birth of countless other incredible stories as well.

Oda's One Piece – The Greatest Manga Series To Date

Monkey D Luffy from One Piece episode 1034

When Naruto was being serialized, the most popular manga around at the time was One Piece and not much has changed in that regard even over a decade later. One Piece is written by Oda, a masterful writer who many hold to be the greatest fiction writer as well. Oda's One Piece follows the journey of Luffy, a young boy who sets out to the sea in the Great Age of Piracy in order to become the King of the Pirates. Luffy aims to find the One Piece, which is the treasure left behind by the pirate Gol D. Roger. This task is quite difficult for anyone to accomplish, let alone a young boy sailing to the sea in a tiny dinghy. At the beginning of his journey, Luffy doesn't even have an established crew. However, with time, he finds powerful and reliable allies whom he would risk his life for and who would do the same for him.

Luffy's story begins when Shanks, a very powerful pirate, risks his own life for him and saves him from imminent death. Shanks entrusts his trusty straw hat to Luffy and asks him to meet him when he becomes a Great Pirate and return this hat to him. Luffy idolizes Shanks and sets out to sea to become a pirate greater than him. Luffy's journey eventually leads him to the Grand Line, which is a massive stretch of the ocean where anything that one can imagine, exists. This forms a key aspect of Oda's One Piece, as he often lets his imagination run wild with all kinds of islands, creatures, laws, and even races.

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The worldbuilding in One Piece is second to none and that is also one of its biggest strengths. With an incredible cast of characters, some very intimidating villains, amazing worldbuilding, mind-blowing foreshadowing, and many real-world issues being tackled in the story, one can see why One Piece is believed to be the greatest manga to have ever existed.

How Naruto Differs From One Piece According To Kishimoto

There are quite a lot of differences between One Piece and Naruto and that is evident from the approach they take in their stories from chapter 1. The author of the Naruto series, Kishimoto himself has weighed in on this in 2013 as well, in his interview in Jump Versus, which was published on March 22nd, 2013. Kishimoto basically described One Piece to be a lighthearted story and mentioned that when he saw that, he decided that Naruto should go the opposite way. Kishimoto also went on to say that he tried his best to make Naruto a more serious battle by killing quite a lot of characters. This is because Oda has mentioned in the past that he doesn't like killing characters and the reason for that is the fact that he always wants to throw big parties at the end of his arcs.

Kishimoto mentions that if he had not done that and strayed away from the path that One Piece was taking, his story would not have been popular enough. Simply put, Kishimoto realized that what One Piece was doing was very good and, had he done the same, he would simply just be another one of the lot. Instead, Kishimoto decided to make his story different and started killing off his characters more often. This can be both a flaw as well as a blessing for the story. In One Piece, characters don't die often, however, that is not to say that characters that need to be killed off don't end up being killed off. In One Piece, only the characters that move the plot greatly end up dying.

In fact, the story has seen quite a lot of major characters die that have completely shaken the world and flipped it upside down. One Piece is anything but a lighthearted story, however. The darkness of the story far surpasses that of Naruto and while it might seem like a fun pirating adventure on the surface, the many things that it tackles absolutely boggles the mind.

In Naruto, on the other hand, characters die often, however, those deaths are, sometimes, not as significant. That said, Naruto certainly does have quite a lot of character deaths which often leave the fans grieving for their favorites. Curiously enough, Naruto also brings back quite a lot of its characters, as seen during the 4th Great Ninja War. Oda has previously mentioned that he absolutely despises bringing back characters from the dead and that if the author wants to bring them back, then he should not have killed them in the first place. This is something that quite a lot of Naruto fans agree with as not every fan was on board with the whole reanimation system in Naruto.

Regardless, both approaches work very well for their own stories. Narutosees the death of quite a lot of ninjas which reduces the fans to tears often and leaves them hopeless at times, while One Piece sees only significant characters who shake the world die so that the plot would move forward in the most effective manner.