The Ninjas in Naruto were not only inspired by real ninjas who lived during the Japanese Civil War in the 1460s to 1600s; interestingly, Masashi Kishimoto also got his inspirations from various modern figures. From movie stars to musicians, here’s a list of them.

5. Gaara - Keanu Reeves

In Art Collection: Uzumaki (UZUMAKI, Kishimoto Masashi Gashu: Uzumaki) released in 2004, Kishimoto claimed that he gave Gaara a new attire design due to his old one was not easy to draw repeatedly, and he wanted to portray Gaara’s relationship with Naruto which was getting better.

The long jacket design was inspired by the movie 'The Matrix' starring Keanu Reeves; and became one of Kishimoto’s favorite design. That explains he only changed Gaara’s hairstyle since then until Boruto.

4. Mifune - Toshiro Mifune

The origin of the master swordsman and samurai leader of the Land of Iron is not far from his expertise. The name Mifune is taken from the famous actor Toshiro Mifune who often plays samurai characters in 170 different Japanese classic movies. His iconic role was the nameless samurai, who introduces himself as 'Sanjuro'.

His sword, Kurosawa, derived from the name of an acclaimed Japanese movie director who worked several times with Toshiro Mifune, Akira Kurosawa.

3. Raikage Pertama - Jimi Hendrix

Not much is known about the First Raikage (except for him being called 'A' like his three successor Raikage). But certainly, he bears a striking resemblance to the great musician and Rock guitarist from the '60s, James Marshall Hendrix.

2. Sabu - Saburo Kitajima

Speaking of musicians, there’s another ninja from Naruto whose background was inspired by another musician -- even in the anime he also ‘works' as a singer. He is Sabu, a weird ninja who carries a giant ax while riding a giant raccoon named Ponta, who once commented Killer B’s singing.

His appearance and name were based on an Enka singer, Japanese traditional music, Saburo Kitajima. Even the name of the giant raccoon is also the same as the name Kitajima used when he was a comedian.

1. Rock Lee - Bruce Lee

Lastly, and supposedly the most glaring that you might have known about it already, is the correlation between Rock Lee and the actor and martial artist Bruce Lee. Uniquely, Kishimoto doesn’t just change his first name to 'Rock'!

In the Japanese tongue, the pronunciation of the word 'Bruce' is ‘bu-ru-su’ - which is similar to the genre 'Blues'. So, as a wordplay, Kishimoto named this taijutsu master character with 'Rock', like the genre as well, so he became Rock Lee.

Mind-blowing, right? Aside from this, there are also other characters in Naruto who clearly took their names from other popular movies or even anime - which will be discussed by the writer next time. Hopefully, this Naruto discussion can make you feel entertained. Wait for other articles from Dunia Games!

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