Naruto Creator Celebrates 20th Anniversary with New Sketch

Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto continues to be one of the most popular franchises to ever come out of [...]

By Nick Valdez

Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto continues to be one of the most popular franchises to ever come out of the pages of Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine, and there's no sign of stopping in sight as the series celebrates its 20th Anniversary with the help of its major sequel series, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations. Although Kishimoto has largely moved onto his newest work, Samurai 8: The Tale of Hachimaru, the creator still shows love to his breakout hit from time to time.

As part of the celebration commemorating the monumental anniversary, Masashi Kishimoto has shared a new sketch for Naruto's 20th Anniversary that fans will be able to get on new merchandise during the upcoming NARUTO to BORUTO THE LIVE event in Japan.

This new sketch sees the younger Naruto brandishing a bold number 20 on his fist, and fans will soon be able to purchase special goods bearing this image during the special event in Japan Taking place on October 5-6 at the Makuhari Messe Event Hall in Chiba Prefecture in Japan, NARUTO to BORUTO THE LIVE is a special 20th Anniversary celebration will feature live performances from famous bands who've contributed to the series' opening things over the years like KANA-BOON.

There will also be a special live-episode reading featuring Junko Takeuchi (Naruto Uzumaki), Nana Mizuki (Hinata Uzumaki), Yuko Sanpei (Boruto Uzumaki), Noriaki Sugiyama (Sasuke Uchiha), Shie Nakamura (Sakura Uchiha), Kokoro Kikuchi (Sarada Uchiha), Ryuichi Kijima (Mitsuki), and Kensho Ono (Shikadai Nara). Fans were previously treated to a special illustration for the event from the character designer for the anime series, Tetsuya Nishio, too.

Viz Media will also be celebrating the franchise's monumental anniversary in their own way, but details are currently scarce at the moment. But fans will be getting more information at New York Comic Con about Viz Media's plans.

Originally created by Masashi Kishimoto for Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump in 1999, Naruto follows a young ninja, with a sealed demon within him, that wishes to become the leader of his home village. The series ran for 700 chapters overall, and was adapted into an anime series by Studio Pierrot and Aniplex that ran from 2002 to 2017. The series was popular enough to warrant a sequel, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations which is set several years after the events of the original Naruto story and features the children of many of its key characters such as Naruto and Hinata.

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