Naruto (NARUTO—ナルト— NARUTO?) is an ongoing Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. The plot tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, an adolescent ninja who constantly searches for recognition and dreams to become the Hokage, the ninja in his village who is acknowledged as the leader and the strongest of all. The series is based on a one-shot comic by Kishimoto that was published in the August 1997 issue of
Akamaru Jump.
The manga was first published by Shueisha in 1999 in the 43rd issue of Japan's
Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine. Currently, the manga is still being serialized; fifty-nine
tankōbon volumes have been released so far. The manga was later adapted into an anime, which was produced by
Studio Pierrot and
Aniplex. It premiered across Japan on the
terrestrial TV Tokyo network and the anime
satellite television network
Animax on October 3, 2002. The first series lasted 220 episodes, while
Naruto: Shippuden,
a sequel to the original series, has been airing since February 15,
2007. In addition to the anime series, Studio Pierrot has developed
eight movies for the series and several original video animations (OVAs). Other types of merchandise include
light novels, video games and trading cards developed by several companies.
Viz Media has licensed the manga and anime for North American production. Viz has been publishing the series in their
Shonen Jump
magazine, and as well as the individual volumes. The anime series began
airing in the United States and Canada in 2005, and later in the United
Kingdom and Australia in 2006 and 2007, respectively. The films, as
well as most OVAs from the series, have also been released by Viz, with
the first film premiering in cinemas. The first DVD volume of
Naruto: Shippuden was released by Viz in North America on September 29, 2009, and it started broadcast on
Disney XD
in October of the same year. Viz Media will begin streaming both series
on their upcoming streaming service Neon Alley this fall.
Naruto is one of the best selling manga of all time having sold more than 113 million copies in Japan. Serialized in Viz's
Shonen Jump magazine,
Naruto has become one of the company's best-selling manga series. The English adaptation of the series has also appeared in the
USA Today Booklist several times and volume 7 won the
Quil Award
in 2006. Reviewers from the series have praised the balance between
fighting and comedy scenes, as well as the characters' personalities,
but have criticized it for using standard
shōnen plot elements.
Plot
Twelve years before the start of the series, a powerful creature
known as the Nine-tailed Demon Fox attacked the ninja village Konoha,
killing many people. In response, the leader of Konoha– the
Fourth Hokage– sacrificed his life to seal the demon inside the newborn
Naruto Uzumaki.
Konoha, however, regarded Naruto as if he were the demon fox itself and
mistreated him throughout most of his childhood. A decree made by the
current Kage, the
Third Hokage,
forbade anyone mention the attack of the demon fox to anyone else. This
included Naruto, who was not aware of the demon inside of him. Years
later, Naruto is tricked by the renegade ninja Mizuki into stealing a
forbidden scroll that would teach him a secret ninja technique, but he
is stopped by his teacher,
Iruka Umino.
When Iruka almost dies while protecting Naruto from Mizuki, who also
reveals that he is the container of the Nine-Tailed Fox, Naruto uses the
Jutsu he learned from the scroll that creates multiple clones of himself,
Shadow Clone Technique, to defeat Mizuki.
Naruto is assigned alongside
Sasuke Uchiha, whom he often competes against, and
Sakura Haruno to form a four person team named Team 7 under an experienced and severe
sensei named
Kakashi Hatake.
Like all the ninja teams from every village, Team 7 is charged with
completing missions requested by villagers, such as doing chores or
being bodyguards. After several missions, most notably their mission to
Wave Country as Tazuna the bridge builder's guards, Kakashi allows Team 7
to participate in a ninja exam in which they can advance to a higher
rank, and thus, take part in more difficult missions. During the exams,
Orochimaru,
a criminal at the top of Konoha's most wanted list, attacks Konoha and
kills the Third Hokage in an act of revenge. This forces one of the
three legendary ninja,
Jiraiya to search for his former teammate
Tsunade,
who has been nominated to become the Fifth Hokage. During the search,
it is revealed that Orochimaru desires to acquire Sasuke due to his
powerful genetic heritage, the
Sharingan. Believing Orochimaru will be able to give him the strength needed to kill his brother
Itachi,
who destroyed his clan, Sasuke eventually joins him after a humiliating
defeat at his brother's hands. Tsunade sends a group of ninja including
Naruto to make Sasuke return to Konoha, but Naruto is unable to defeat
him and bring him back to the village. Naruto does not give up on
Sasuke, however, and he leaves Konoha to train for two-and-a-half years
under Jiraiya's tutelage in order to prepare himself for the next time
he encounters Sasuke.
After the training period, a criminal organization called
Akatsuki
attempts to capture the nine powerful tailed beasts that are sealed
within people—including the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox sealed inside of
Naruto. Several ninjas from Konoha, including Team 7, fight against the
Akatsuki members and search for their teammate Sasuke. Although they
manage to revive
Gaara,
the host of the One-Tailed beast and Kazekage (Leader of the Sand
Village), Akatsuki is successful in capturing the other seven of the
creatures (and thus killing the hosts). In the meantime, Sasuke betrays
Orochimaru and faces Itachi to take revenge. After Itachi dies in
battle, Sasuke is told by the Akatsuki founder and leader
Tobi
that Itachi was ordered by Konoha's leadership to destroy his clan.
Saddened with this revelation, Sasuke joins forces with Akatsuki to kill
Konoha's superiors who orchestrated the Uchihas' elimination.
Meanwhile, as several Akatsuki members are defeated by the Konoha ninjas, their figurehead leader,
Pain,
invades the village to capture Naruto. However, Naruto defeats him and
convinces him to abandon the Akatsuki. With Pain's eventual death,
Tobi—disguised as one of Konoha's founding fathers
Madara Uchiha—announces
that he wants to obtain all nine of the tailed beasts in order to
perform an illusion powerful enough to control all of humanity. The
leaders of the five ninja villages refuse to aid him, and instead, join
forces to confront him and his allies. This results into a fourth ninja
world war between the unified armies of the Five Great Countries collectively known as the "Ninja Alliance Army" and Akatsuki's forces.
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