Naruto is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. It tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, a young, socially isolated ninja who seeks recognition from his peers and dreams of becoming the Hokage, the leader of his village. The story is told in two parts: the first is set in Naruto's pre-teen years (volumes 1–27), and the second in his teens (volumes 28–72). 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 manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from September 1999 to November 2014, with its 700 chapters collected in 72 volumes. Viz Media licensed the manga for North American production and serialized Naruto in their digital Weekly Shonen Jump magazine. The manga was adapted into two anime television series by Pierrot and Aniplex, which ran from October 2002 to March 2017 on TV Tokyo. Pierrot also produced 11 animated films and 12 original video animations (OVAs). The franchise additionally includes light novels, video games, and trading cards. The story continues in Boruto, where Naruto's son Boruto Uzumaki creates his own ninja path as opposed to following his father's.
Naruto is one of the best-selling manga series of all time, having sold over million copies in 46 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 Timess bestseller list several times, and the seventh volume won a Quill Award in 2006. Naruto has been praised for its character development, storylines, and action sequences, though some felt the latter slowed the story down. Critics noted that the manga, which contains coming-of-age themes, often incorporates cultural references to Japanese mythology and Confucianism.
Plot Part I
A demonic nine-tailed fox called Kurama attacks Konoha, the Village Hidden in the Leaves in the Land of Fire, one of the Five Great Shinobi Countries in the Ninja World. In response, the leader of the Leaf, Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze, sacrifices his life by splitting the fox in half and sealing the fox inside himself and in the body of his newborn son, Naruto Uzumaki, respectively, making him a host of the beast. The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, returns from retirement to become the leader of the Leaf again. Naruto is often scorned by Konoha's villagers for being the host of the Nine-Tails. Due to a decree by the Third Hokage forbidding any mention of these events, Naruto learns nothing about the Nine-Tails until 12 years later, when Mizuki, a renegade ninja, reveals the truth to him. Naruto defeats Mizuki in combat, earning the respect of his teacher, Iruka Umino.
Shortly afterward, Naruto becomes a ninja and joins with Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno to form Team 7, under an experienced , 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.
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 the Chunin Exams. During the exams, Orochimaru, a wanted criminal, invades Konoha. The Third Hokage subsequently sacrifices his life to disable Orochimaru from permanently performing jutsus using his hands. Jiraiya, one of the three legendary Sannin, declines the title of Fifth Hokage and searches with Naruto for Tsunade, whom he chooses to become Fifth Hokage instead. Tsunade is also a member of the Sannin.
During the search, it is revealed that Orochimaru wishes to train Sasuke because of his powerful genetic heritage, the Sharingan. After Sasuke attempts and fails to kill his older brother Itachi, who had shown 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 village: Tsunade 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.
Part II
Two and a half years later, Naruto returns from his training with Jiraiya, just as the Akatsuki start kidnapping the hosts of the powerful Tailed Beasts. Team Kakashi and other Leaf ninja fight against them and search for their teammate Sasuke. The Akatsuki succeeds in capturing and extracting, subsequently killing, seven of the nine Tailed Beasts. Gaara, who previously had the One-Tails, survived after a Sand ninja sacrifices their life for Gaara. Meanwhile, Sasuke betrays and kills Orochimaru and faces Itachi to take revenge. After Itachi dies in battle due to an unknown illness, Sasuke learns from the Akatsuki founder Tobi that Itachi had been ordered by Konoha's superiors to destroy his clan to prevent a coup; he accepted, on the condition that Sasuke would be spared. Devastated 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 cast 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 his faction and allies. That decision results in a Fourth Shinobi World War between the combined armies of the Five Great Countries which totaled up to 80,000 shinobis. It was known as the Allied Shinobi Forces. The Akatsuki's forces consisted of Reanimated shinobi and 100,000 White Zetsu clones. The Five Kage try to conceal the breakout of the war to Naruto by keeping him in a secret island turtle near Kumogakure, or the Village Hidden in the Clouds, 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 the Allies to 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, Orochimaru, and Kabuto for their crimes. Years later, Kakashi steps down while Naruto marries Hinata Hyuga and becomes the Seventh Hokage, raising the next generation.
Production Development
In 1995, Shueisha published Karakuri, a one-shot manga by Masashi Kishimoto, which received an honorable mention in the 1996 Hop Step Award. Dissatisfied with subsequent draft proposals, Kishimoto began developing a new project. An early concept featured Naruto as a chef, but this version was never published. Kishimoto then developed a one-shot for the summer 1997 issue of Akamaru Jump, based on an idea of a boy who could transform into a fox. Despite positive reader feedback, Kishimoto revised the concept into a ninja-themed story due to dissatisfaction with the art and narrative.
The first eight chapters were planned prior to serialization in Weekly Shōnen Jump. Initial drafts featured detailed illustrations of Konoha village, but by the debut, the art emphasized characters over backgrounds. Although Kishimoto was concerned that the use of chakra might make the series overly Japanese, he believed it remained engaging. Inspired by Godzilla, Kishimoto incorporated the tailed beasts mythology to include monster designs. The central theme of Part I is mutual acceptance, exemplified through Naruto's character development.
In Part II, Kishimoto simplified panel layouts and plot structures to enhance readability and avoid excessive stylistic conventions. His artistic style shifted from a classic manga aesthetic toward greater realism. To conclude the Sasuke Uchiha arc within one volume, volume 43 contained additional chapters, leading Kishimoto to apologize for the higher cost.
Characters
Kishimoto drew inspiration from other manga while developing characters, aiming for distinctiveness within a Japanese cultural framework. Characters were organized into teams to highlight specialized skills and complementary weaknesses. While romance was challenging to write, it received greater emphasis in Part II, starting with volume 28. Villains were introduced to contrast moral values and highlight ideological conflicts. An ellipsis was used to allow younger characters to age and develop strength, as they were initially outmatched by antagonists.
Setting
Kishimoto incorporated the Chinese zodiac tradition, which has a significant history in Japan; the hand signs used in the series derive from this. The design of Konoha was conceived spontaneously, drawing from the scenery of Kishimoto's hometown in Okayama. The unspecified time period allowed the inclusion of modern elements such as convenience stores, though projectile weapons and vehicles were excluded.
Conclusion Kishimoto's childhood proximity to Hiroshima and his grandfather's wartime accounts influenced his portrayal of conflict. He believed that war results from accumulated historical tensions and aimed to depict a nuanced background for the manga's final arc. Unlike his grandfather's stories, Kishimoto intended the Fourth Great Ninja War to convey a sense of hope. The narrative arc involving Nagato established thematic foundations for the ending, particularly through Naruto's forgiveness, which paralleled his eventual reconciliation with Sasuke.
The series' conclusion was delayed due to unspecified issues. Upon the release of volume 66, Kishimoto noted he had reached a long-awaited narrative moment. From the outset, Kishimoto planned to conclude with a battle between Naruto and Sasuke, though he initially considered their backgrounds asymmetrical—Naruto not having experienced war directly, unlike Sasuke, whose family was killed to prevent civil war.
Kishimoto selected Hinata Hyuga as Naruto's romantic partner early in the series, citing her consistent admiration and respect for him as a foundation for a believable relationship. Although romantic subplots were initially considered, significant development was reserved for the 2014 film The Last: Naruto the Movie, for which Kishimoto collaborated with screenwriter Maruo Kyozuka. Naruto's relationship with his son, Boruto, was further explored in the 2015 film Boruto: Naruto the Movie, concluding Naruto's character arc as an adult; this was briefly depicted in the manga's finale. Studio: Pierrot.
Themes