Minato Namikaze, the fourth Hokage and late father of the original protagonistNaruto, has wonthe worldwide popularity poll NARUTOP99, earning him the chance to get his own one-shot chapter. The full results of the poll and the 99 winners are also now availableon the official website.
NARUTOP99 was the first-ever Naruto popularity poll to be hosted worldwide, and fans around the globe were able to vote once a day for their favorite character from the iconic series between June 22, 2025 and June 28, 2025. There were over 450 characters to choose from, so it was no easy feat for Minato to have achieved immense global popularity against such fierce competition.
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The original author, Masashi Kishimoto, will be writing the one-shot chapter himself. In his commemorative statement following the announcement, Kishimoto said that he was quite shocked to see that Minato was on top for all regions as well as Sakura’s worldwide appeal (currently in 3rd place overall, behind Minato and Itachi).
He also revealed that Minato’s story chapter might be a bit longer than he had initially thought, but that’s because he wanted to come up with a plot that would blow the fans' expectations away no matter what.
In addition, the chapter was teased to include the secret story behind Minato’s jutsu (ninja technique). This could only refer to the Flying Thunder God technique that earned him the title of “Konoha’s Yellow Flash”. It was an incredibly powerful technique that allowed Minato to move instantly to any place marked with his special seal, and a technique that contributed greatly to the Fourth Great Ninja War against Madara Uchiha.
Come to think of it, we never figured out the origin of this technique (since no one else in the manga used it except him). If it weren’t for this poll, we might have never known about it or about the true perception of the global anime community around some of the characters not featured much in mainstream discussions such as Shisui (Itachi’s Friend) and Sakura (who is always perceived as weaker and more useless than the main duo of Naruto and Sasuke).
