to celebrate Narutos canonical birthday, the official website of Shonen Jump has released a video celebrating Naruto Uzumaki’s special day, and it also highlighted the one character who is possibly his best friend. Naruto has many characters that one might consider his close friend, but one stands above the rest.
Shonen Jump dedicated an animated manga video with music by ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION to The protagonist and Shikamaru Nara, his friend since he was young and the person who still supports him even in the current timeline of Boruto: Two Blue Vortex. It was pretty surprising that Shun Jump made Shikamaru the focus of the video, which means they confirm just how important he is to Naruto and why he can be considered Naruto’s true best friend.
Shikamaru is crowned as Naruto’s number one
The video was animated quite smoothly and well, showing two perspectives of the boys who grew up together. With Naruto getting the red color scheme and Shikamaru green, it showed different moments of their lives, such as Naruto’s battle with Sasuke, Shikamaru leading the Sasuke retrieval mission, and their reactions to failing the mission. The biggest parallel the video draws between the two, however, is how they lost their respective mentors and, as a result, were forced to grow up. The loss of Asuma and Jiraiya also brought them together and made them closer friends.
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Although there can be arguments about which Sasuke, Sakura, Gaara or many other characters can be considered as Naruto’s closest friend, Shikamaru is an undeniable part of his life. During the war, Shikamaru decided he would continue to live so that he could be side by side with Naruto and assist him when he became Hokage, and that is exactly what he did. Naruto wouldn’t be as successful as a Hokage without Shikamaru’s wise counsel, and the two balance each other. In fact, Shikamaru is standing in as temporary Hokage since Naruto was eliminated from the story by Kawaki.
It’s heartwarming to see Shonen Jump celebrate one of Narutos best characters, and even more so on the special day of the protagonist. He was important in the first part of the franchise, and he is even more important now, and just as he helped Naruto On many occasions, he now does this for his son and the world as a whole.