Masashi Kishimoto is returning to the world of Naruto with a new manga titled Naruto Shadow Rising. The project will tell another story involving the shinobi of Konohagakure, also known as the Village Hidden in the Leaves.
The project was announced during the NARUTO: What's Next? panel at New York Comic Con. More information is expected in December at Jump Festa in Tokyo, a major annual event where publishers often share manga and anime news.
For now, little is known about the new manga. The title could point to a growing threat, a conflict unfolding in secret, or a new generation of shinobi dealing with the consequences of past events. There has been no confirmation of where the story fits within the larger Naruto timeline, which characters will be involved, or when serialization might begin.
The original Naruto manga began serialization in 1999 and brought its main story to a close in 2014. Its final collected volume was released in 2015. The full series spans 72 volumes and follows Naruto Uzumaki, an isolated young ninja who dreams of becoming Hokage and gaining the respect of his village.
As the series progressed, Naruto grew from a coming-of-age adventure into a much larger story about friendship, inherited conflict, sacrifice, political power, and the lasting damage caused by revenge. Its relatable characters and inventive ninja techniques helped the manga find readers well beyond its original audience.
The series went on to become the basis of a large international media franchise, including several anime adaptations, animated films, novels, video games, stage productions, merchandise, and spin-off stories. With more than 250 million copies in circulation worldwide, Naruto is still one of the best-selling manga series ever published.
Kishimoto has returned to the franchise before through several one-shot manga and the single-volume sequel Naruto: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring. Set after the events of the original series, the manga follows Sarada Uchiha as she struggles with her relationship with her parents and searches for the truth about her family.
He has also worked on Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, which follows the children of several central characters from the original series. Boruto moves the story into a more technologically advanced period and looks at how the shinobi world adapts to an era of relative peace.
Naruto Shadow Rising stands out because it brings Kishimoto back to the fictional world he has spent more than two decades building. Fans will need to wait until the Jump Festa presentation to find out whether the project will be a one-shot, a limited story, or the start of a longer manga series.
