Naruto was so good at connecting the past to the present , bringing everything all together . When I first watched , I thought that Itachi was just a villain who had no real story behind him , being Hokage was just a title for the strongest ninja in the village , and believing in your friends and teammates was just common knowledge . But in the end , all those things came full circle and each had it ' s own part in creating this masterpiece . I know now looking back that there were so many little things that Kishi added that made the story that much better . Even the subtle things like Naruto playing a prank on Kakashi on their first meeting , Iruka buying Naruto ramen , everything was symbolic in it ' s own way .