Naruto is a young shinobi with an incorrigible knack for mischief. He’s got a wild sense of humor, but Naruto is completely serious about his mission to be the world’s greatest ninja!
Author/artist
Masashi Kishimoto was born in 1974 in rural Okayama Prefecture, Japan. Like many kids, he was first inspired to become a manga artist in elementary school when he read
Dragon Ball. After spending time in art college, he won the Hop Step Award for new manga artists with his story
Karakuri. After considering various genres for his next project, Kishimoto decided on a story steeped in traditional Japanese culture.
His first version of Naruto, drawn in 1997, was a one-shot story about fox spirits; his final version, which debuted in
Weekly Shonen Jump in 1999, quickly became the most popular ninja manga in the world. The series would also spawn multiple anime series, movies, novels, video games and more.
Having concluded the series in late 2014, Masashi Kishimoto kept himself busy penning continuing adventures in the
Naruto world, including the manga
Naruto: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring and the story for
Boruto: Naruto the Movie, both of which focus on the title character’s son, Boruto.