Naruto Creator Breaks Silence on New Minato Manga Release

Naruto has returned to the pages of Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine with a new one-shot manga story in celebration of the anime’s milestone 20th Anniversary, and the series creator behind it all has broken their silence on coming back to the magazine after all these years! As part of the celebration for Naruto‘s 20th Anniversary, fans around the world gathered to vote for their favorite character in the series overall. Naruto Uzumaki’s father, Minato Namikaze, won the vote and was rewarded with a special new manga celebrating the character and highlighting his life with a special new story. 

Fans had been waiting all this time to see this new story highlighting a part of Minato’s past before Naruto was born, and that even includes the series creator behind it all. Masashi Kishimoto has returned to the pages of Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine with his first new one-shot in quite some time, and shared a special comment with the magazine along with the release of Naruto: The Whorl Within the Spiral stating as such about his return (as translated by Viz Media), “It was fun to create a one-shot for the first time in forever. Until the next time.” 

What Is Naruto’s New Minato Manga? 

Naruto: The Whorl Within the Spiral is a special 55 page long one-shot manga story highlighting more of Minato and Kushina’s relationship before they ended up together (and having Naruto as seen in the main series). Revealing the origins of the Rasengan technique, more of their romantic connection, and more, this new one-shot story was a welcome return to the franchise for Naruto fans after such a long time. Thankfully this won’t be the end of all of Naruto‘s big celebrations, however. 

Naruto’s 20th Anniversary celebration will continue with a big return from the original Naruto anime for special new episodes later this Fall. Scheduled to release this September, this new Naruto anime will be four episodes long but has yet to reveal any details about what to expect in terms of the plot, returning characters, or staff for the big anniversary comeback. You can currently catch up with Naruto‘s anime with Crunchyroll and Hulu. 

What did you think of Naruto‘s new one-shot manga story? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animation and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!