Kishimoto designed Gaara as a foil to the series' titular character, Naruto Uzumaki, as the two were born through similar circumstances, but develop vastly different personalities as they deal with their troubled upbringing.
Kishimoto originally planned to introduce Kakashi in the manga to the series' titular character, Naruto Uzumaki, early on, but pushed back this meeting so that Naruto's teammates could be better developed.
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Kakashi Hatake is introduced as the leader in charge of Team 7, a new ninja team team including Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno.
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In the story, Kakashi is the leader and teacher of Team 7, consisting of the series' primary characters, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Naruto Uzumaki.
Naruto Uzumaki, Kakashi Hatake, Sakura Haruno, and Rock Lee are assigned to protect the prince of the Land of the Moon, Michiru, during his world trip; other escorts had been hired, but quit due to being treated poorly.
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It has a picture of Naruto Uzumaki on it, and when spun it lights up, imitating the appearance of a Rasengan.
The movie stars Naruto Uzumaki, Shikamaru Nara, and Sakura Haruno as they deliver a lost pet ferret (that Naruto unwittingly confuses for a cat, as he had never seen a ferret before) to its village.
Incidentally, shortly afterwards CyberConnect2 started developing the Naruto: Ultimate Ninja games although Sadamoto recalls he was unaware of such fact.
Feeling that his outstanding abilities, that caused others to call him a "genius", are more special than theirs, he is initially unwilling to cooperate with Sakura Haruno and Naruto Uzumaki, but later starts seeing them as useful.
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While he was initially cold and singularly driven by his revenge, he becomes more empathetic through his relationships with other characters, notably Naruto Uzumaki, whom he comes to consider as a rival.
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After speaking with his editor about the future of the series, he was advised to create a rival character for the series' protagonist, Naruto Uzumaki, resulting in Sasuke's creation.
In this film, he aids Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno in fighting against Haido, a utopian idealist seeking to rule the world with a power called Gelel.