I've gotten a couple PMs on this asking me about this lost Reunion scene thing, so I figured I should clarify. Naruto is actually an ancient Florin manuscriptt written about 400 years ago. Kishimoto loved the book as a child, his father read it him and his twin brother. So, Kishi, after becoming a mangaka, wanted to adapt it for publication. (much like Monkey Punch and Lupin the 3rd being based on Arsene Lupin.)
And for the most part he's stayed true to the original text, with few abridgements here and there. But upon getting to part 2, the original Florin text from 400 years ago began ignoring the secondary cast more. Kishimoto himself a solid writer, wanted to remedy this situation by writing original scenes between the characters, but his editor said that he was presenting a manga form of a classic novel, and while it was okay to trim stuff, AADDING material was certainley taboo. They reached a compromise, and put in a footnote where anyone interested could write in and get a copy of the great romantic character developing scene. I'm reproducing it here for everyone's conveniance.
! From the Desk of MASASHI KISHIMOTO
! Dear Reader,
! Thank you for sending in, and, no, this is not the reunion scene, because of a certain roadblock named Kermit Shog.
! As soon as bound books were ready, I got a call from my lawyer, Yoshi – (you may not remember, but Yoshi's the one I called from Kyoto go down in the blizzard and buy Naruto from the used-book dealer). Anyway, he usually begins with Talmudic humor, wisdom jokes, only this time he just says "Kishi, I think you better get down here," and before I'm even allowed to say a 'why?' he adds, "Right away if you can."
! Panicked, I zoom down, wondering who could have died, did I flunk my tax audit, what? His secretary lets me into his office and Yoshi says, "This is Mr. Shog, Kishi."
! And there he is, sitting in the corner, hands on his briefcase, looking exactly like an oily version of Peter Lorre. I really expected him to say, "Give me the Falcon, you must, or I'll be forced to keeel you."
! "Mr. Shog is a lawyer," Yoshi goes on. And this next was said underlined: "He represents the Naruto estate."
! Who knew? Who could have dreamed such a thing existed, an estate of a man dead at least a million years that no one ever heard of over here anyway? "Perhaps you will give me the Falcon now," Mr. Shog said. That's not true. What he said was, "Perhaps you will like a few words with your client alone now," and Yoshi nodded and out he went, and once he was gone I said, "Yoshi, my God, I never figured --" and he said, "Did Jump?" * and I said, "Not that they ever mentioned" and he said, "Ooch," the grunting sound lawyers make when they know they've backed a loser. "What does he want?" I said. "A meeting with Mr. Toriyama," Yoshi answered.
! Now, Kenichi Toriyama is a pretty busy fella, but it's amazing when you're confronted with a potential multibillion-dollar lawsuit how fast you can wedge in a meeting. We trooped over.
! All the Jump Brass was there, I'm there, Yoshi; Mr. Shog, who would sweat in an igloo he's so swarthy, is streaming. Jump's lawyer started things: "We're terribly terribly sorry, Mr. Shog. It's an unforgivable oversight, and please accept our sincerest apologies." Mr. Shog said, "That's a beginning, since all you did was defame and ridicule the greatest modern master of Florinese prose who also happened to be for many years a friend of my family." Then the business head of Jump said, "All right, how much do you want?"
! Biiiig mistake. "Money?" Mr. Shog cried. "You think this is petty blackmail that brings us together? Resurrection is the issue, sir. Naruto must be undefiled. You will publish the original version." And now a look at me. "In the unabridged form."
! I said, "I'm done with it, I swear. True, there's just the reunion scene business we printed up, but there's not liable to be a rush on that, so it's all past as far as I'm concerned." But Mr. Shog wasn't done with me: "You, who dared to defame a master's characters are now going to put your words in their mouths? Nossir. No, I say." "It's just a little thing," I tried; "a couple pages only."
! Then Mr. Toriyama started talking softly. "Kishi, I think we might skip sending out the reunion scene just now, don't you think?" I made a nod. Then he turned to Mr. Shog. "We'll print the unabridged. You're a man who is interested in immortality for his client, and there aren't as many of you around in publishing as there used to be. You're a gentleman, sir." "Thank you," from Mr. Shog; "I like to think I am, at least on occasion." For the first time, he smiled. We all smiled. Very buddy-buddy now. Then, an addendum from Mr. Shog: "Oh, Yes. Your first printing of the unabridged will be 100,000 copies."
! So far, there are thirteen lawsuits, only eleven involving me directly. Yoshi promises nothing will come to court and that eventually Harcourt will publish the unabridged. But legal maneuvering takes time. The copyright on Naruto runs out in early '08, and all of you who wrote in are having your names put alphabetically on computer, so whichever happens first, the settlement or the year, you'll get your copy of the emotional reunion scene.
! signature Kishi
So, there you have it. The asinine plot twists and lack of character development are not Kishi's fault. His hands are clearly tied! Perhaps when he does his own original series eventually we'll get to see all the good stuff.