Be it Gaara or Obito, for character development and design, Naruto takes the cake. Written by Masashi Kishimoto, the manga series is among the Big 3 of Shonen along with One Piece and Bleach. What makes it different from most Shonen series is the familiarity and reliability of the audience with the protagonist. 

Team 7 in Naruto | Studio Pierrot

From Zabuza to Gaara, the author changed his character designs in the initial stages of the drafting process for his manga. However, it wasn’t Madara or Obito, but Haku’s character design that was changed completely. The ice release Shinobi appears as a bear in the author’s original designs, as he reveals in an interview.  

Haku’s original design in Naruto manga was quite incoherent

Haku of the Ice Release or Haku, appears in the Land of the Waves arc in Part 1 of Naruto. He is a 15-year-old boy who is a protégé of one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist Zabuza Momochi. Besides that, he has mastery over wind, water, and ice release as a part of his kekkei-genkai.

Haku as he appears in the Shippuden series | Credit: Studio Pierrot

However, his original design differs completely from how it turns out in the series. In an interview that was later published in the Fourth Databook, Masashi Kishimoto revealed the backstory of creating Haku’s character design. He quotes:

At the beginning, he had a bear next to him, but we discussed about the fact that it was better if I turned it into a human, and so Haku was born. Yahagi-san named him Zabuza.

Although the initial designs of Zabuza and Haku were drawn by Masashi Kishimoto, it is a lesser-known fact that his chief assistant Ikemoto ended up designing these characters later in the series, as the author later revealed in an interview with Weekly Shonen Jump.

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A user named @Bonamize shared the early design of Haku and Zabuza where the former appears as the swordsman’s sidekick on Twitter.

2) Naruto’s summon was first supposed to be a fat dragon who could spit fire. That would have been awesome. 3) Early design of what I assume to be Zabuza. Haku was the bear/sidekick, I guess. Ikemoto ended up designing the Haku and the Zabuza we got in the manga/anime iirc. pic.twitter.com/P8DAdGOFWq— Bonamize (@bonamize) August 7, 2020

Besides that, Haku is one of the popular characters from the series apart from being a great yet underrated villain.

Haku is one of the greatest yet underappreciated villains in Naruto

Apart from being Zabuza’s protégé, Haku is excellent with his kekkei-genkai, as seen during his battle with Sasuke and Naruto. While there are several questions centering on his gender ambiguity, his skills highlight his potential as one of the strongest shinobi.

Haku as he appears in his reanimated form in the Naruto Shippuden series | Credit: Studio Pierrot

Haku is also one of the very few characters along with his mentor Zabuza, Hayate Gekko, and others from Part 1, who appears in his reanimated form in the Shippuden series. Moreover, he is stronger even in his reanimated form as he performs his Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals jutsu.

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Apart from his ice release, his Demonic Ice Crystal jutsu and Silent Killing make him a villain worthy of being placed in the category of the strongest and greatest shinobi. Despite being a user of the water, ice, and air release kekkei-genkai, the author doesn’t utilize his abilities thoroughly in the series.

Although, Haku’s abilities were undervalued, his stint in the series is crucial in Naruto’s character development.

Naruto is available for streaming on Crunchyroll

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