Novel Adaptation Differences

This page lists the differences that occurred during the transition from novel to anime and manga.

Shikamaru Hiden: A Cloud Drifting in Silent Darkness

 * In the novel, Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno are among those sent as reinforcements to the Land of Silence: Sakura treats Temari's injury and Naruto stays behind after Shikamaru returns to Konoha to assist the country's recovery. In the anime, they were not sent.
 * The entirety of Chapter 4 was not adapted in the anime, which contained the following:
 * Kakashi Hatake gives Shikamaru Nara time off after the completion of the mission. A week later, he gives Shikamaru another assignment, which he turns down due to his date with Temari.
 * The story ends with a flashforward a few years later to Shikamaru and Temari with their newborn son, deciding what to name him.

Konoha Hiden: The Perfect Day for a Wedding

 * Previously in the Shikamaru Hiden novel, Shikamaru and Temari had begun dating. In the anime, the events of Konoha Hiden take place shortly after; Shikamaru and Temari had yet to go on their first date.

Itachi Shinden: Book of Bright Light/Book of Dark Night

 * Both novels were very loosely adapted in the anime, major events that were excluded are the following:
 * Itachi Uchiha completing the Chūnin Exams without teammates.
 * Itachi's mission to assassinate Mukai Kohinata.
 * Gozu and Mezu, who aided Itachi in monitoring the Uchiha clan.
 * In the novels, Tenma Izumo and his friends Hagiri and Katsura had bullied Itachi because they had accused the Uchiha clan for being involved with Nine-Tailed Demon Fox's Attack. In the anime, Itachi had not met Tenma until joining Team 2 and the other bullies were replaced with Dokan, who instead challenged Itachi for defending other students.
 * In the novels, Danzō Shimura took Shisui's eye with the assistance of Sugaru. In the anime, after a short scuffle, Danzō used Izanagi and then took Shisui's eye.
 * In the anime, Fugaku Uchiha's motivations to conspire a coup d'état are further explored, revealing he had partially deciphered the stone tablet with his Mangekyō Sharingan. This did not happen in the novels.
 * In the novels, Izumi Uchiha is killed by Itachi's Tsukuyomi. In the anime however, Izumi is killed by the masked man.
 * In the novel, the masked man was helping Yashiro Uchiha to lead the voices of pro-coup faction in influencing Fugaku. This was omited in the anime.
 * In the anime, Danzō's role in focusing Konoha's hate on the Uchiha clan and Naruto Uzumaki for the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox's Attack was omitted.

Sasuke Shinden: Book of Sunrise

 * In the novel, Amuda was sent to Konohagakure by Chino with a group of human bombs but was captured. Amuda did not appear in the anime.
 * In the novel, Chino, Nowaki and Amuda are freed from their imprisonment by Kakashi in exchange for rooting out injustices that they were once victims of. Chino's first act was freeing the slaves from the Coliseum. In the anime, the pair is freed by the Fifth Mizukage, but it is Sasuke Uchiha who raids the Coliseum.
 * In the novel, the slaves from the Coliseum were taken in by Konoha after they had been freed. In the anime, they were instead taken in by Kumogakure.

Konoha Shinden: Steam Ninja Scrolls

 * The events of the novel begin in Naruto chapter 700 and during Naruto Gaiden: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring. In the anime, Konoha Shinden takes place at a later time.
 * In the novel, Mirai Sarutobi, Kakashi and Might Guy meet Tatsumi at their last inn stop. In the anime, they meet her at their third stop.

Naruto Shinden: Parent and Child Day

 * The entirety of Chapter 2 and the Interludes were not adapted in the anime, which contained the following:
 * Hinata and Hanabi Hyūga spending the holiday with Hiashi Hyūga.
 * Shino Aburame's activities during the festival. While they were mostly cut, Shino's possession of the Kurama doll was retained in the anime.
 * In the novel, Sasuke had returned to Konoha to discover the wreckage of his house after locating the address from Sakura's note, assuming it is a genjutsu. Sarada Uchiha would run into her father shortly after and tells him about Parent and Child Day. In the anime however, this is cut and it is Boruto Uzumaki who informs Sasuke of the holiday.

Sasuke Retsuden: The Uchiha Descendants and the Heavenly Stardust/Kakashi Retsuden: The Sixth Hokage and the Failure Boy
While the Sasuke Retsuden novel is the primary focus of the anime adaptation, Kakashi Retsuden coincides with the arc's events.


 * In the novel, a prisoner tries to convince Sasuke to escape the Astronomy Research Institute with him, to which the latter refuses. The prisoner would then attempt an escape later in the evening only to be killed by Menō. In the anime, the prisoner slips past the guards when Sasuke is attacked by other prisoners. Shortly after, he is caught and mauled to death by Menō.
 * In the novel, during his encounter with Menō, Sasuke forms a blade of ice to injure it. In the anime, Sasuke summons a kunai from a scroll to attack it instead.
 * In Kakashi Retsuden, Nanara overheard plans during his dinner that soldiers would be sent to Nagare Village. Manari explains to him that the Land of Redaku will invade other countries for their resources, however, the Prime Minister dismisses Nanara for being too young for the discussion. In the anime, the Prime Minister summoned Nanara and was the one to explain their plans for an invasion.
 * In the novel, Sasuke fled from Menō after having been poisoned by it. In the anime, instead of Sasuke fleeing, Sakura stopped Menō’s attack by showing it her cloth pass.
 * In the novel, after he regained consciousness and learns Sakura had saved him, Sasuke asked about Sarada's whereabouts. This was cut in the anime.
 * In the novel, Sasuke hides when Gigi visits the infirmary until the latter began flirting with Sakura, revealing their marriage. In the anime, Sasuke instead discovered Gigi eavesdropping.
 * In the novel, in the library, Sasuke discreetly informed Sakura of Penjira's gambling habits as an opportunity to gain access to the observatory's archives. This was not shown in the anime, as well as Sakura playing Hoshinarabe against Penjira.
 * In the anime, Sasuke is confronted by Menō after exiting from a passage behind the observatory, which has its control overridden by the latter. However in the novel, this does not happened until after Zansūru enacts his plan.
 * In the novel, Sakura is assisted by Penjira, Ganno and the other prisoners in fending off the dragons. This does not happen in the anime.
 * In the novel, Jiji reveals to Sasuke and Sakura that he was a former Suna-nin who had been hired by the Prime Minister to train a private army. In the anime, Jiji said he was a formerly a missing-nin from Suna who took refuge in the Land of Redaku.
 * In the novel, after Jiji had released his reincarnation ninjutsu, a dragon slashed his throat as revenge for having revived it before its soul departed. In the anime, the dragon charged towards Sakura, to which Jiji threw himself in front of her to save her life. His torso was bitten instead.
 * In the novel, after Sasuke and Sakura had returned to Konoha from their mission, Sarada offers to make them dinner with the skills she learned from staying with Iruka Umino. Shikamaru shortly visits their residence to update them on the polar particle analysis and Naruro's condition. However, this is cut in the anime and Naruto's illness had been cured.

Anime novelisations
These are novelisations of arcs from the anime released after their airings.


 * In the novel Those Who Illuminate the Night of Shinobi! Sumire's mother's name is revealed to be Hakobe Shigaraki.
 * In novelisation of the School Trip Arc, Buntan Kurosuki and Sarada meet a day earlier than what happened in the anime. Buntan picked up the handkerchief that fell from Sarada and noted that she was from the Uchiha clan.
 * In addition, before their fight, the girls talked a lot about Madara Uchiha, Obito Uchiha, and Yagura Karatachi.
 * After the battle, Buntan talked about Sasuke's technique called Kirin.
 * It was mentioned that Buntan's mother died before the beginning of this arc.

Sasuke Retsuden: The Uchiha Descendants and the Heavenly Stardust

 * The novel begins with an explanation of the Astronomy Research Institute's history to Sasuke being a prisoner of the institute. A fellow prisoner would then ask him if he is a shinobi. The manga however, begins with Sasuke asking citizens of the Land of Redaku regarding when the Sage of the Six Paths had visited the country during his time. It is there he would meet the same prisoner, who was among those that had escaped the institute. Using his ninjutsu to stop them outside the prison is what motivates the prisoner to later ask Sasuke to help him escape.
 * In the novel, after failing to ask for Sasuke's assistance in escaping, the prisoner makes an attempt to escape on his own. Menō would catch and maul him to death. The attack was not shown in the manga.
 * In the novel, after losing a game of Chinchirorin to Sasuke, Penjira accompanied him outside their cell to be his lookout, but eventually returns to his cell out of fear of being caught. In the manga, Penjira does not leave the cell.
 * In the novel, after failed attempts to put Menō into a genjutsu, Sasuke resorted to using his Rinnegan instead to place a genjutsu. In the manga, Sasuke used only his Sharingan in each attempt.
 * In the novel, during his second encounter with Menō, Sasuke escapes by slashing the floorboard underneath. Realising he had been poisoned during the fight, Sasuke tried to refresh himself using Water Release. Neither happened in the manga; Sasuke's escape from Menō was not made clear in the manga.

Konoha Shinden: Steam Ninja Scrolls

 * In the novel, Kakashi had a conversation with Naruto about taking a vacation. In the manga, Kakashi has this conversation with Shikamaru.
 * As with the earlier anime adaptation, the timeframe is at later point than in the novel, as Team 15 are already genin.

Trivia

 * While Shikamaru Shinden: A Cloud Dancing in Forlorn Falling Petals was not adapted in the anime, Ōnoki had died before the timeframe that the novel takes place in.