Board Thread:Naruto Discussions/@comment-1018594-20160409062530/@comment-734582-20160816073820

NeedleJizo wrote: Kishimoto claims he had the ending thought out from the start of the manga As far as i'm aware, this referred to the final battle in the Valley of the End, with the statues forming the seal. He also imagined this to be the end when he wrote the first battle.

As to everything else, there are clear cases that he had plans (e.g. Obito and Rin can be seen in one of Hiruzen's memories as he dies) and clear cases that he had no plans (e.g. Kakashi's team picture lacks Minato). His style can probably be described as "has a vague idea of where he's going but he'll fill in the details when he gets there". Other cases, e.g. Itachi's heel-face-turn and Minato and Kushina's sacrifice wasn't written until Kishi became a father and he decided to place more emphasis on the family thing.