Anime-Manga Differences

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

Censorship
<!-- *During the bell test, Kakashi casts a Genjutsu spell on Sakura. Sakura sees one of the most horrible things imaginable to her, a gravely injured Sasuke. This fake Sasuke featured more severe wounds, including a missing left arm, twisted legs and more kunai.
 * In the manga, when Mizuki throws multiple kunai at Iruka, Iruka pulls a kunai out of his chest. In the anime, none of the kunai hit his chest and he pulls a kunai out of his right leg.
 * In the manga, Ebisu fixes his glasses with the middle finger. In the anime, he uses his index finger as well.
 * In the manga, during the bell test at the Third Training Ground, Sasuke unleashes a barrage of shuriken and kunai that directly impact Kakashi in the face causing blood to spray out from a front angle. In the anime, he is pushed aside quickly and only the scene of him viewed from behind is left.
 * In the manga, Kaiza has his arms chopped off. In the anime, they are instead only broken and burned.
 * In the anime, Kakashi simply drove his Lightning Cutter onto Haku's chest. However, in the manga, Kakashi's hand went right through his body.
 * In the manga, when Gatō arrives and sees Haku's corpse, he is seen kicking him across the face. However in the anime, the kick is not seen, only showing Naruto's look of shock.
 * In the manga, Zabuza decapitates Gatō to kill him, while in the anime, Zabuza cuts him multiple times and Gatō falls off the bridge.
 * In the manga, when Anko Mitarashi threw a kunai at Naruto and cut his cheek, she licks the blood directly from Naruto's cheek. In the anime, she touches it with her fingers.
 * In the manga, during the preliminary rounds of the Chūnin Exam, Zaku Abumi's right arm is blown off when Shino Aburame uses his bugs to block Zaku's airtubes. In the anime, both arms remain attached while only his skin breaks on his arms.
 * The design of the Hyūga Main Family's Juinjutsu is different in the manga and anime. In the manga, it was a variation of a manji, a Buddhist symbol, but due to its similarity to the swastika, it was altered into a X in the anime.
 * In the manga, when Kakashi defends Sakura against two Oto-nin, he stabs kunai into their heads. In the anime, he simply slashes away with kunai.
 * In the manga, after Asuma rescues Shikamaru from a group of Oto-nin, he slashes them and punches (using his Chakra Enhanced Trench Knives as knuckle dusters when doing so) them, leaving their bloody corpses to the floor and he flicks his cigarette into a pool of their blood. In the anime, the brutal assault was censored by Asuma punching them, kicking them and throwing them at each other without any blood or him smoking a cigarette.
 * In the manga, when Hiruzen Sarutobi raids Orochimaru's lair, there are corpses strung to the walls. In the anime, these corpses are replaced with shelves containing jars.
 * In the manga, when Gaara presses Sakura up against a tree, blood trickles out of her mouth. In the anime, this is removed.
 * In the manga, when young Gaara attempted to cut himself in a flashback, he aimed for his wrist, at the vein. In the anime, he aimed only at the back of his hand.
 * In the manga, when Naruto prevents Kabuto Yakushi from attacking Tsunade, Kabuto's kunai goes through Naruto's hand. In the anime, it gets caught between Naruto's fingers.
 * In the manga, especially in Part I, Naruto and Kiba "flip the bird" several times, in the English adaptation of the manga and in the anime they only close their fist and look angry.
 * In the manga, when Shikamaru Nara gets caught in Tayuya's genjutsu, he sees his skin and flesh melt off his bones. In the anime, the entire arm melts away.
 * In the manga, while Kimimaro's fighting Gaara, Kimimaro's bones came out of his fingertips by dividing his skin on his fingertips. In the anime, his bones just emerged from his fingertips.
 * In the manga, Konohamaru Sarutobi has a sexy jutsu with Sasuke and Sai. In the English version of the manga only the silhouette of the two is visible, in the anime this is taken out.
 * In the manga, Shikamaru is briefly seen smoking after Asuma's death. In the English adaptation of the manga and in the anime, he doesn't smoke, he only carries Asuma's lighter with him; although at a certain moment, visiting Asuma's grave, he leaves a lit cigarette.
 * Passing out from seeing the Sasuke in the previous entry, Sakura lay unconscious on the ground. The manga played up the more intense and comical spaz attack by showing Sakura with wide blank eye and seizure-like foam at the mouth.
 * In the original manga, the First Hokage is the ninja who utilizes the Kokuangyou technique. In the anime this was changed to have the Second Hokage initiate the technique.
 * As Naruto walks through the festival city he stops by a mask shop and purchases a mask. Various masks in the background represent past Japanese manga, anime and tv series "in-jokes" included by Kishimoto. These include masks of Kamen Rider and Chaozu from the Dragonball series. The anime changed many of these to generic masks.
 * During Jiraiya and Naruto's search for Tsunade, Jiraiya enters a gambling parlor. While Naruto mills around he finds a coin on the ground. Wondering how the slot machine works he decides to insert his coin. We then see Naruto has amazing luck, as he wins back an large amount of money. In the anime this was changed to have Naruto win a lot of money in a lottery instead.
 * A minor edit concerning the location of the small shinobi animals, Gamatatsu, Gamakichi and TonTon are all in the thick of the action when the giant snakes begin to attack.
 * Related to the previous entry, TonTon was among the injured fallen in the manga. In the anime, the three shinobi animals moved away to safety early on.
 * When Naruto moves to protect Tsunade, Kabuto charges with a kunai. In the manga the kunai pierces straight through Naruto's palm. In the anime the angle of the kunai was moved to connect more between Naruto's fingers.
 * Kidoumaru did his best to take down Neji, this was especially apparent in the original manga, where his first arrow ripped a massive hole through Neji's shoulder. The anime greatly reduced the size of the hole. While this may serve as a content edit, it also made it more feasible for Neji to live through such an attack.
 * Kimimaro's encasement within Gaara's sand and his subsequent crushing are accompanied by a significant amount of more blood in the manga.
 * One of the stranger edits in the series, during the battle at the Valley of the End, Naruto makes a last second save in mid-air by creating Bunshins which grab on to one of the statue's fingers by forming a human chain. A more extreme and honestly unbelievable version of this chain was used in episode 133.
 * When Sasuke pierces through Naruto's shoulder with Chidori, we see his arm and hand with no obstruction. In the anime, they lessened the violent nature of the strike by whiting out the arm and hand with Chidori's electrical light.
 * After bringing Naruto back from the Valley of the End, Kakashi goes to the fallen ninja monument to talk with Obito. This brief scene was taken out to be used in a later episode. This chapter and the next were greatly rearranged and split up over the course of 80+ episodes of filler. This filler was used to allow the manga to get further ahead.
 * Another content edit, when Team Kakashi decided to rest at a Hot Springs, the women bathing had towels and other objects added to block their nudity
 * When Yamoto told Naruto about what happened when Jiraya peeked into tsunade,bathing nudedly,Naruto got the picture of almost all the females of the sereies staring angrily at Naruto,While wearing bath robes.This was only seen in Anime.
 * When Sai switches allegiances, the anime had him subdue Kabuto in an alternate fashion. This was probably changed because Kabuto's hands were left free in the manga, making escape seem possible. -->

Other

 * In the manga, Naruto sneaks into the Hokage Residence to steal the Scroll of Seals and is caught by Hiruzen Sarutobi, but escapes by using Sexy Technique. In the anime, Hiruzen simply sends out the ninja after Naruto, and is exposed to the Sexy Technique when he refuses to accept Naruto's ninja registration photo.
 * In the manga, before battling Zabuza for the first time, Naruto throws two shuriken into the bushes, one of them nearly hitting a snow white rabbit. In anime, this was two kunai instead.
 * In the manga after Kakashi's first encounter with Zabuza, Team 7 attempts to look at his face while he is sleeping. In the anime, this event is simply skipped.
 * In the manga, Chidori surrounds the user's hand in lightning. In the anime, it creates lightning in the palm of the user's hand.
 * In the manga, during the second phase of the Chūnin Exam, Team 8 gets their second scroll from a Konoha team. In the anime, it was changed to a team from Amegakure.
 * In the manga, Jiraiya starts Naruto's training at the Konoha Hot Springs. In the anime, he tries to escape from training by attempting to elude him through a series of antics, eventually he trains him nearby a river.
 * In the manga, Hiashi Hyūga tells Neji the details behind his father's death himself. In the anime, he hands him a scroll written by his father.
 * During the Third Hokage's fight with Orochimaru he rams Monkey King: Enma, who has transformed into an adamantine staff, into the Sword of Kusanagi, and his Enma is shown partially reversing the transformation. In the anime, this is removed.
 * In the manga, immediately after ramming his adamantine staff into the Sword of Kusanagi, Hiruzen Sarutobi places exploding tags on the left leg of Hashirama Senju and the right leg of Tobirama Senju, they are later shown healing while standing. In the anime, the tags are placed on the left leg of Hashirama Senju and the right arm of Tobirama Senju, they are shown healing while lying face down.
 * In the manga, Hashirama Senju uses the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique. In the anime, Tobirama Senju performs it.
 * In the manga, when Naruto and Gamabunta do the Combination Transformation they transform into a giant fox with a single tail. In the anime, they transform into the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox.
 * In the manga, when Jiraiya uses Rasengan on Gantetsu, he also steals his wallet, while in the anime, he is given it out of respect.
 * In the manga, when Sakon and Ukon are torn apart and regenerate, the dark tissue leaks out of their body and forms new arms and legs. In the anime, the arms and legs are formed out of their organs.
 * In the manga, when Naruto returns from his training with Jiraiya, the person he first re-encounters is Kakashi. In the anime, he first meets Sakura and Konohamaru. Also, Naruto meets Shikamaru and Temari on the streets in the manga, while in the anime he meets them while inside Tsunade's office.
 * In the manga, Yurika told Tsunade herself about Gaara's kidnapping, while in the anime, she handed her the message to read it.
 * In the manga, Hiruko was a normal puppet, in the anime, he was a Human Puppet.
 * In the manga, none of Chiyo's puppets in White Secret Technique: Ten Puppet Collection of Chikamatsu were destroyed, however in the anime, at least four were shown being heavily damaged.
 * During Naruto's training to add his elemental chakra to the Rasengan, Kakashi takes him to Ichiraku Ramen Bar. In the manga, Ayame is away on a trip and Nishi and Matsu work as her replacements. In the anime, she has just returned from a trip and has converted the Ramen Bar into a Tsukemen bar.
 * In the manga, Utakata, the jinchūriki of the Six-Tailed Slug, has already been captured by the time of Akatsuki and Taka's alliance, while in the anime he was captured afterward.
 * In the manga, Tobi blocks Suigetsu sword with his right arm. In the anime, he blocks it with his left arm.
 * In the manga, when decoding Jiraiya's message, Shiho shows the correct way to write 'ta' and the way that Jiraiya did, and in the anime Shikamaru does it. In the anime, they also confirm it by comparing the 'ta' with a book containing Jiraiya's writing in it.
 * In the manga, Pain's Giant Rhino summon first appeared in during the invasion of Konoha. In the anime, he summoned it during the fight with Jiraiya.
 * In the manga, Ino's first thought about Katsuyu was that the slug was part of the enemy during Pain's invasion. In the anime, this incident happened earlier during the Three-Tails Arc, when four divisions of Katsuyu appeared in time to help the sealing team by giving them an extra supply of chakra. Ino and Hinata, who did not recognize her, were initially alarmed but Sakura explained who she was to them.
 * In the manga, when Naruto uses Wind Release: Rasenshuriken against the Six Paths of Pain, the focus is on him. In the anime, the focus changes to Sakura and Kō Hyūga, who describes to her the appearance of the technique Naruto is about to use, which Sakura recognizes.
 * In the manga, Human Path throws Animal Path away from the Rasenshuriken blast after grabbing hold of the back of her cloak collar. In the anime, it is by the front of her cloak collar.
 * In the manga, Naruto teaches Konohamaru the Rasengan before the timeskip. In the anime, he teaches it after the timeskip.

Animation Errors and Changes

 * In the manga, up until the second part of the Chūnin Exams, Neji's hair tie was higher up, right at the base of his head. In the anime, it was much lower.
 * In episode 80, when the lower portion of Pain's face is shown, he does not have his two lip piercings.
 * In the manga, the triangle on Hidan's Jashin amulet points up, while in the anime, it points down.
 * In the manga, Konan's eyes are shown to be a light grayish-blue with golden hints, and her eyelashes are shown to be a diagonal line at the bottom corner of her eyes. In the anime, her eyes are depicted as a deep shade of amber, and her eyelashes are shown to be three distinctive lines.
 * In the manga, Yahiko's eyes are blue, but in the anime, they are brown.
 * In the manga, a young Gamabunta is shown to not have had a scar on his left eye when sitting next to Jiraiya. In the anime, he has a scar.
 * In the manga, the Preta Path of pain has six piercings below its mouth. In the anime, it only has five.
 * In the anime, the Naraka path's original body, while still alive, is shown outside, while in the manga, he was in the sewers.
 * In the anime, the Asura Path's original body, while still alive, is shown wearing a rice hat, while in the manga, his bare forehead and crown of the head are shown.
 * In the anime, the Sannin's actions during the Second Great Shinobi World War are incorrectly stated to have occurred during the Third Great Shinobi World War.
 * In the anime, Hanzō's eyes are not alike as the ones drawn in the manga.
 * In the manga Kushina's hair is shown to fall down almost to her ankles. In the anime, Kushina's hair falls to her waist.
 * In the end of episode 132, when all Six Paths of Pain are shown, all have clean and whole cloaks. In the beginning of the next episode, the cloaks of Animal Path, Preta Path and Human Path are still bloody and ragged after Jiraiya's swords.
 * In the manga, members of the Uchiha clan are shown to have strange facial markings. In the anime only one of the members retains part of their distinct facial markings.
 * In the manga, the color of Killer Bee's tattoo's are black. In the anime, their color is blue.
 * After Asura Path dodges Kakashi's Lightning Cutter, Deva Path can be seen with no piercings on his nose.
 * In the manga, when the Naraka Path asks Ebisu about Naruto's whereabouts, there are flashbacks from various points of the series, showing how people in Konoha came to care about Naruto. In the anime, the only flashbacks are about things relating to Ebisu, Naruto and Konohamaru.
 * In the anime, when Hinata opened her eyes and saw Neji, his headband was white. In the next scene, it was black.