Naruto (ナルト) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. It tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, a young ninja who seeks to gain recognition from his peers and also dreams of becoming the Hokage, the leader of his village. The story is in two parts, the first set in Naruto's pre-teen years, and the second in his teens. The series is based on two one-shot manga by Kishimoto: Karakuri (1995), which earned Kishimoto an honorable mention in Shueisha's monthly Hop Step Award the following year, and Naruto (1997).
Naruto was serialized in Shueisha's magazine, Weekly ShÅnen Jump from 1999 to 2014, and released in tankÅbon (book) form in 72 volumes. The manga was adapted into an anime television series produced by Pierrot and Aniplex, which broadcast 220 episodes in Japan from 2002 to 2007; the English adaptation of the series aired on Cartoon Network from 2005 to 2009. Naruto: Shippuden, a sequel to the original series, premiered in Japan in 2007, and ended in 2017, after 500 episodes. The English adaptation was broadcast on Disney XD from 2009 to 2011, airing the first 98 episodes, and then switched over to Adult Swim's Toonami programming block in January 2014, starting over from the first episode. The English adaptation is still airing weekly on Adult Swim to this day. Besides the anime series, Pierrot has developed eleven movies and eleven original video animations (OVAs). Other Naruto-related merchandise includes light novels, video games, and trading cards developed by several companies.
Viz Media licensed the manga and anime for North American production and serialized Naruto in their digital Weekly Shonen Jump magazine. The anime series began airing in the United States and Canada in 2005, and in the United Kingdom and Australia in 2006 and 2007, respectively. The films and most OVAs from the series were also released by Viz, with the first film premiering in movie theaters. Viz Media began streaming the two anime series on their streaming service Neon Alley in December 2012. The story of Naruto continues with Naruto's son, Boruto Uzumaki, in Boruto: Naruto Next Generations: Boruto wishes to create his own ninja way instead of following his father's.
Naruto is the fourth best-selling manga series in history, selling 235 million copies worldwide in 35 countries. It has become one of Viz Media's best-selling manga series; their English translations of the volumes have appeared on USA Today and The New York Times bestseller list several times, and the seventh volume won a Quill Award in 2006. Reviewers praised the manga's character development, strong storylines, and well-executed fight scenes, though some felt the fight scenes slowed the story down. Critics noted that the manga, which has a coming-of-age theme, makes use of cultural references from Japanese mythology and Confucianism.
See also: List of Naruto chapters (Part I)
A powerful fox known as the Nine-Tails attacks Konoha, the hidden leaf village in the Land of Fire, one of the Five Great Shinobi Countries in the Ninja World. In response, the leader of Konoha, the Fourth Hokage, seals the fox inside the body of his newborn son, Naruto Uzumaki, making Naruto a host of the beast;[e] this costs Naruto's father his life, and the Third Hokage returns from retirement to become leader of Konoha again. Naruto is often ridiculed by the Konoha villagers for being the host of the Nine-Tails. Because of a decree made by the Third Hokage forbidding anyone to mention these events, Naruto knows nothing about the Nine-Tails until 12 years later, when Mizuki, a renegade ninja, reveals the truth to Naruto. Naruto then defeats Mizuki in combat, earning the respect of his teacher Iruka Umino.[f]
Shortly afterwards, Naruto becomes a ninja and joins with Sasuke Uchiha, against whom he often competes, and Sakura Haruno, on whom he has a crush, to form Team 7, under an experienced sensei, the elite ninja Kakashi Hatake. Like all the ninja teams from every village, Team 7 completes missions requested by the villagers, ranging from doing chores and being bodyguards to performing assassinations.
After several missions, including a major one in the Land of Waves, Kakashi allows Team 7 to take a ninja exam, enabling them to advance to a higher rank and take on more difficult missions, known as Chunin Exams. During the exams, Orochimaru, a wanted criminal, invades Konoha and kills the Third Hokage for revenge. Jiraiya, one of the three legendary ninjas, declines the title of Fifth Hokage and searches with Naruto for Tsunade whom he chooses to become Fifth Hokage instead.
During the search, it is revealed that Orochimaru wishes to train Sasuke because of his powerful genetic heritage, the Sharingan.[g] After Sasuke attempts and fails to kill his older brother Itachi[h] when he showed up in Konoha to kidnap Naruto, he joins Orochimaru, hoping to gain from him the strength needed to kill Itachi. The story takes a turn when Sasuke leaves the Konoha village and when Tsunade finds out, she sends a group of ninja, including Naruto, to retrieve Sasuke, but Naruto is unable to persuade or force him to come back. Naruto and Sakura do not give up on Sasuke: Naruto leaves Konoha to receive training from Jiraiya to prepare himself for the next time he encounters Sasuke, while Sakura becomes Tsunade's apprentice.
See also: List of Naruto chapters (Part II, volumes 28–48) and List of Naruto chapters (Part II, volumes 49–72)
Two and a half years later, Naruto returns from his training with Jiraiya. The Akatsuki starts kidnapping the hosts of the powerful Tailed Beasts. Team 7 and other Leaf ninja fight against them and search for their teammate Sasuke. The Akatsuki succeeds in capturing and extracting seven of the Tailed Beasts, killing all the hosts except Gaara, who is now the Kazekage. Meanwhile, Sasuke betrays Orochimaru and faces Itachi to take revenge. After Itachi dies in battle, Sasuke learns from the Akatsuki founder Tobi that Itachi received an order from Konoha's superiors to destroy his clan to prevent a coup. He accepted it on the condition that he would be allowed to spare Sasuke. Saddened by this revelation, Sasuke joins the Akatsuki to destroy Konoha in revenge. As Konoha ninjas defeat several Akatsuki members, the Akatsuki figurehead leader, Nagato, kills Jiraiya and devastates Konoha, but Naruto defeats and redeems him, earning the village's respect and admiration.
With Nagato's death, Tobi, disguised as Madara Uchiha (one of Konoha's founding fathers), announces that he wants to capture all nine Tailed Beasts to perform an illusion powerful enough to control all humanity and achieve world peace. The leaders of the five ninja villages refuse to help him and instead join forces to confront Tobi and his allies. That decision results in a Fourth Shinobi World War between the combined armies of the Five Great Countries (known as the Allied Shinobi Forces) and Akatsuki's forces of zombie-like ninjas. The Five Kage try to keep Naruto, unaware of the war, in a secret island turtle near Kumogakure (Hidden Cloud Village), but Naruto finds out and escapes from the island with Killer Bee, the host of the Eight-Tails. At that time, Naruto — along with the help of Killer Bee — gains control of his Tailed Beast and the two of them head for the battlefield.
During the conflict, it is revealed that Tobi is Obito Uchiha, a former teammate of Kakashi's who was thought to be dead. The real Madara saved Obito's life, and they have since collaborated. As Sasuke learns the history of Konoha, including the circumstances that led to his clan's downfall, he decides to protect the village and rejoins Naruto and Sakura to thwart Madara and Obito's plans. However, Madara's body ends up possessed by Kaguya Otsutsuki, an ancient princess who intends to subdue all humanity. A reformed Obito sacrifices himself to help Team 7 stop her. Once Kaguya is sealed, Madara dies as well. Sasuke takes advantage of the situation and takes control of all the Tailed Beasts, as he reveals his goal of ending the current village system. Naruto confronts Sasuke to dissuade him from his plan, and after they almost kill each other in a final battle, Sasuke admits defeat and reforms. After the war, Kakashi becomes the Sixth Hokage and pardons Sasuke for his crimes. Years later, Kakashi steps down while Naruto marries Hinata Hyuga and becomes the Seventh Hokage, raising the next generation.
In 1995, Shueisha released Karakuri, a one-shot manga by Masashi Kishimoto that earned an honorable mention in the Hop Step Award in 1996. Kishimoto was unsatisfied with his subsequent drafts for a follow up, and decided to work on another project.[3] The new project was originally going to feature Naruto as a chef, but this version never made it to print. Kishimoto originally wanted to make Naruto a child who could transform into a fox, so he created a one-shot of Naruto for the summer 1997 issue of Akamaru Jump based on the idea.[4][5] Despite the positive feedback it received in a readers' poll, Kishimoto was unhappy with the art and the story, so he rewrote it as a story about ninjas.[6]
The first eight chapters of Naruto were planned before it appeared in Weekly ShÅnen Jump, and these chapters originally devoted many panels of intricate art to illustrating the Konoha village. By the time Naruto debuted, the background art was sparse, instead emphasizing the characters.[6] Though Kishimoto had concerns that chakra (the energy source used by the ninjas in Naruto) made the series too Japanese, he still believed it is an enjoyable read.[7] Kishimoto is a fan of Godzilla, and the tailed beasts mythology was introduced because Kishimoto wanted an excuse to draw monsters.[8] He has said that the central theme in Part I of Naruto is how people accept each other, citing Naruto's development across the series as an example.[9]
For Part II of the manga, Kishimoto tried to keep the panel layouts and the plot easy for the reader to follow, and avoid "overdo[ing] the typical manga style".[10] He considers that his drawing style has changed from "the classic manga look to something a bit more realistic."[10] Because of wishing to end the arc involving Sasuke Uchiha search for his brother, Itachi, in a single volume, Kishimoto decided that volume 43 should include more chapters than regular volumes. As a result, Kishimoto apologized to readers for this since volume 43 was more expensive than regular volumes.[11]
Main article: List of Naruto characters
When he created Naruto, Kishimoto looked to other shÅnen manga as influences for his work and tried to make his characters unique, while basing the story on Japanese culture.[12] The separation of the characters into different teams was intended to give each group a particular flavor. Kishimoto wanted each member to have a high level of aptitude in one skill and be talentless in another.[13] He found it difficult to write about romance, but emphasized it more in Part II of the manga, beginning with volume 28.[9] He introduced villains into the story to have them act as a counterpoint to his characters' moral values and clearly illustrate their differences.[14] As a result of how the younger characters were significantly weaker than the villains, Kishimoto made the ellipsis in order to have them age and become stronger during this time.[15]
Kishimoto made use of the Chinese zodiac tradition, which had a long-standing presence in Japan; the zodiac hand signs originate from this.[7] When Kishimoto was creating the primary setting of the Naruto manga, he concentrated initially on the designs for the village of Konoha. The idea of the setting came to him "pretty spontaneously without much thought," but admits that the scenery became based on his home in the Japanese prefecture of Okayama prefecture. Since the storyline does not specify when it is set, he was able to include modern elements in the series such as convenience stores.[16] He considered including automobiles, planes and simple computers, but excluded projectile weapons and vehicles from the plot.[16][17]
When serialization began, Kishimoto decided the ending would feature a fight between two characters: Naruto and Sasuke,[18] That villain Nagato, also known as Pain, and the arc that was the important according to Kishimoto was the Pain Invasion Arc. This arc paved the way for the ending of Naruto to occur. Having Naruto fight a villain that he could not answer to about war until Naruto has experienced it for himself was the only way to go. And so, Nagato or Pain had Naruto experience having lost his mentor Jiraiya and being unable to forgive an enemy as Naruto always has done in the past. It was a developing point for Naruto as he finally could not answer something he had never experienced, and that was war. Kishimoto knew from then on that he would have to create the Fourth Great Shinobi War so Naruto could experience it and end the series after the end of the war.[15]
These events end with Naruto forgiving Sasuke as he had forgiven Nagato. Kishimoto chose Hinata Hyuga as Naruto's romantic partner from the early stages of the manga, since Hinata had always respected and admired Naruto even before the series' beginning, and Kishimoto felt this meant the two of them could build a relationship. This decision annoyed his wife because she wanted Naruto to marry Sakura Haruno,[19] but Kishimoto viewed Sakura as Naruto's friend and teammate, rather than a future wife. When Hinata first appeared, Kishimoto thought of forming a love triangle among the three characters, but because he decided that fighting was the main focus of the manga, there was little room for romantic plotlines.[20][21] By August 2009, Kishimoto had already planned the series' following chapters and how it would conclude, stating he had yet needed the energy to finish the series.[22] This caused concerns within readers who feared the manga would end shortly after Naruto and Nagato's confrontation. However, Kishimoto clarified shortly afterwards that the length would be bigger.[23]
See also: List of Naruto media
Main article: List of Naruto volumes
Naruto was published in Shueisha's magazine, Weekly ShÅnen Jump from September 21, 1999 (No. 43), to November 10, 2014 (No. 50).[24] The manga was also published in tankÅbon (book) form in Japan and other countries, releasing 72 volumes—27 for Part I, and the rest for Part II. The first 238 chapters are Part I and constitute the first section of the Naruto storyline. Chapters 239 to 244 include a gaiden (side-story) focusing on Kakashi Hatake's background. The remaining chapters (245 to 700) belong to Part II, which continues the story after a two-and-a-half year gap in the internal timeline.[25] The first tankÅbon was released on March 3, 2000.[26] Shueisha have also released several ani-manga tankÅbon, each based on one of the Naruto movies,[27] and has released the series in Japanese for cell-phone download on their website Shueisha Manga Capsule.[28] A miniseries titled Naruto: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring (Naruto−ナルト−外ä¼ãƒ»ä¸ƒä»£ç›®ç«å½±ã¨ç·‹è‰²ã®èŠ±ã¤æœˆ, Naruto Gaiden: Nanadaime Hokage to Akairo no Hanatsuzuki), centered on the main characters' children, began serialization in the Japanese and English editions of Weekly ShÅnen Jump on April 27, 2015, and ended after ten chapters on July 6, 2015.[29][30]
Naruto was scanlated (translated by fans) and available online before a licensed version was released in North America;[31] the rights were acquired by Viz Media, who began serializing Naruto in their anthology comic magazine Shonen Jump, starting with the January 2003 issue.[32] The schedule was accelerated at the end of 2007 to catch up with the Japanese version,[33] and again in early 2009, with 11 volumes (from 34 to 44) appearing in three months, after which it returned to a quarterly schedule.[34] All 27 volumes of Part I were released in a boxed set on November 13, 2007.[35] On May 3, 2011, Viz started selling the manga in an omnibus format with each book containing three volumes.[36]
As of March 31, 2008, the franchise has been licensed in 90 countries, and the manga serialized in 35 countries.[37][38] Carlsen Comics has licensed the series, through its regional divisions, and released the series in German and Danish.[39] The series is also licensed for regional language releases in French and Dutch by Kana,[40] in Polish by Japonica Polonica Fantastica,[41] in Russian by Comix-ART,[42] in Finnish by Sangatsu Manga,[43] in Swedish by Bonnier Carlsen,[44] and Italian by Panini Comics.[45]
Spin-offs
A spin-off comedy manga by Kenji Taira, titled Rock Lee no Seishun Full-Power Ninden (ãƒãƒƒã‚¯ãƒ»ãƒªãƒ¼ã®é’春フルパワーå¿ä¼, Rock Lee & His Ninja Pals) focuses on the character Rock Lee, a character who aspires to be strong as a ninja but has no magical jutsu abilities. It ran in Shueisha's SaikyÅ Jump magazine from December 3, 2010, to July 4, 2014,[46][47] and was made into an anime series, produced by Studio Pierrot, and premiering on TV Tokyo on April 3, 2012.[48] Crunchyroll simulcasted the series' premiere on their website and streamed the following episodes.[49] Taira also wrote Uchiha Sasuke no Sharingan Den (ã†ã¡ã¯ã‚µã‚¹ã‚±ã®å†™è¼ªçœ¼ä¼, Sasuke Uchiha's Sharingan Legend), which released on October 3, 2014, which runs in the same magazine and features Sasuke.[50]
A monthly sequel series titled Boruto: Naruto Next Generations began in the Japanese and English editions of Weekly ShÅnen Jump in early 2016, illustrated by Mikio Ikemoto and written by UkyÅ Kodachi, with supervision by Kishimoto. Ikemoto was Kishimoto's chief assistant during the run of the original Naruto series, and Kodachi was his writing partner for the Boruto: Naruto the Movie film screenplay. The monthly series was preceded by a one-shot written and illustrated by Kishimoto.[51] The staff from Shueisha asked Kishimoto if he would write a sequel to Naruto. However, Kishimoto refused the offer and offered his former assistant Mikio Ikemoto and writer Ukyo Kodachi write Boruto: Naruto Next Generations as the sequel to Naruto.[52]
Part I
Main article: List of Naruto episodes
The Naruto anime, directed by Hayato Date and produced by Studio Pierrot and TV Tokyo, premiered in Japan on October 3, 2002, and concluded on February 8, 2007 after 220 episodes on TV Tokyo.[53][54] The first 135 episodes were adapted from Part I of the manga; the remaining 85 episodes are original and use plot elements that are not in the manga.[55] Tetsuya Nishio was the character designer for Naruto when the manga was adapted into an anime series; Kishimoto had requested that Nishio be given this role.[56][57] Beginning on April 29, 2009, the original Naruto anime began a rerun on Wednesdays and Thursdays (until the fourth week of September 2009 when it changed to only Wednesdays). It was remastered in HD, with new 2D and 3D effects, under the name Naruto: ShÅnen Hen (少年篇, "Youth Version").[58] Episodes from the series have been released on both VHS and DVD, and collected as boxed sets.[59][60][61][62]
Viz licensed the anime series for broadcast and distribution in the Region 1 market.[63] The English adaptation of the anime began airing on September 10, 2005 and concluded on January 31, 2009, with 209 episodes aired on Cartoon Network's Toonami in the United States.[64][65] The episodes were also broadcast on SABC 2 (South Africa),[66] YTV's Bionix (Canada)[67] and Jetix's (United Kingdom)[68] programming blocks, and were released on DVD on March 28, 2006.[69] On August 25, 2017, Starz announced that they would be offering episodes of the series for their Video on Demand service starting September 1, 2017.[70] The first 26 volumes contain four episodes; later DVD volumes have five episodes.[71] Uncut editions were released in DVD box sets, each containing 12–15 episodes, with some variation based on story arcs.[72] In the American broadcast, references to alcohol, Japanese culture, sexual innuendo, and the appearance of blood and death were sometimes edited but remained in the DVD editions.[73] One of the censored scenes was the accidental kiss between Naruto and Sauske, fitting in the long trend of removing content that alludes to homesexual relationships.[74] Other networks cut more material, for example Jetix censored scenes with blood, strong language, and smoking. The series was also licensed to Hulu, Joost, and Crunchyroll, which aired the episodes online with the original Japanese audio tracks and English subtitles.[75][76][77] On June 1, 2017, it was announced that an HD remaster version of the original Naruto television anime series would debut on Japanese TV on June 24, starting with the show's first episode.[78]
Part II
Main article: List of Naruto: Shippuden episodes