--After "NARUTO" was completed, you said, "I want to draw a Science Fiction story for my next manga series. " How did you come to work on this manga?

Kishimoto: Originally, I always wanted to draw a Samurai manga. The first manga I submitted to Shueisha was a Samurai manga, but the plan was not accepted, so this time I wanted to take revenge.

The content is completely different from what I was doing back then, but I decided to combine the worlds of Samurai and Science Fiction because I like both genres. I felt sympathy for the Samurai who showed their actions rather than their words, and I wanted people to see and feel them in the form of a manga. I wanted people to see and feel them in my manga. I was too old to separate "science fiction" and "samurai" into two separate genres, so I decided to mix the two together.

When I finished "NARUTO," which I had been working on for 15 years, I felt that I had finally finished it. I felt released, that I had completed this project.

However, even though I felt that I had " completed" the work, there was still a part of me that felt bothered because deep down I knew that it was "not a perfect work." When "Naruto" was coming to the end, I finally understood "how to draw manga," and I was thinking about making the next work based on my reflections.

--When did you start thinking about a new manga?

Kishimoto: The full-fledged idea came about two years after the "Naruto" serialization ended.

I couldn't start immediately because I was tired after 15 years of serialization and honestly didn't have the energy to think or draw manga at all (laughs).

Even so, I gradually began to feel the desire to create manga again. After a period of recharging, during which I enjoyed my daily life with my children and family, I am now ready to take on this new project.

--Mr. Kishimoto, you are concentrating on the original story for this work. Has your desire to draw faded?

　Kishimoto: I love drawing pictures, and that's why I became a manga artist. I love drawing so much that I couldn't meet the deadline for a weekly serialization with pictures that I was too obsessed with (laughs).

Such a case occurred with "Naruto," and if I were to draw it, I would cause trouble for those around me. There is also a serialization at a monthly pace instead of a weekly pace, but I think that is also difficult, and I think I can barely make it at a quarterly pace of about four times a year.

It does not mean that I have lost the desire to draw manga.

Okubo-kun(Mr. Okubo), who is doing the manga drawings this time, is really good at drawing and has a good sense of style. He was my assistant when I was working on "Naruto," and I watched his drawings improve rapidly.One day, when I saw Okubo-kun's drawings, which had "gentleness" and "warmth," I honestly thought I had "lost" in my heart, although I did not want to admit it (laugh).

Although there was a part of me that was very jealous of his drawings, "I want to show his drawings (talent) to the world someday" and "I would be willing to become an original author if it was for him".

　In fact, we had been talking about "working together someday" since the "Naruto" serialization.

No matter what kind of pictures he draws, they have a "warmth" to them, so the " Samurai" elements of the current work, such as the scenes of slashing sword fights and the science fiction mechanical elements, the drawings don't seem too brutal.

I draw the names because I have a worldview that I want to convey, but when I think about how to make the work sparkle the most, I think it is best for people to read it with Okubo's drawings rather than my own.