“Naruto” could have been completely different had mangaka Masashi Kishimoto succeeded in his first pitch for the manga series. Retelling the story: While details about Kishimoto’s original vision for “Naruto” first circulated nearly a decade ago, they were reshared and widely circulated this week, revealing to new fans of the series that the franchise was not originally about ninjas. It was about ramen: Kishimoto, 48, told Fuji TV’s Kendo Kobayashi in a past interview that “Naruto” was originally inspired by the ramen restaurant he used to go to in college.