This was Sasuke’s original design in Naruto
The process of developing the visual style of Naruto characters went through several stages before reaching the final result fans know today. Among the many characters that underwent adjustments during the manga’s production, Sasuke Uchiha was one of the ones that changed the least. Still, the character went through a small but significant design alteration.
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In a comment made by Masashi Kishimoto, the creator of the series, it was revealed that Sasuke’s original design included an extra accessory: a necklace. According to Kishimoto, this was the main change made to the character’s look before his official debut in the series.
“This is the first image of Sasuke. It hasn’t changed much up to this point. The only big difference is that he lost that thing around his neck. […] After that, I kept thinking, ‘Can I draw this character with all that detail so many times?’ So I ended up reducing and simplifying Sasuke to make him more like Naruto,” the author explained.
The decision to remove the necklace came from the practical need of having to draw the character repeatedly in various scenes. Since movement and wind would affect the necklace’s position, keeping the accessory would have become a constant challenge during production.
As a result, Sasuke ended up with a cleaner and more functional design, which made it easier to draw him in the panels and visually brought him closer to Naruto, reflecting the balance between the two main characters.
You can watch Naruto on Crunchyroll.
