Naruto: The Whorl Within the Spiral Marks the Series' Best Release in Ages

By Megan Peters

If you grew up loving Naruto, then you still have lots of questions about its history. Much of Naruto's world was laid out by artist Masashi Kishimoto back in the day, but there is still plenty in the franchise that stands unsolved. This week, Kishimoto made a rare move as he left his peaceful retirement to drop a one-shot manga dedicated to Minato Namikaze. And after reading the update, fans (including myself) are in awe of what stands as the series' best release in years.

As you can see here, Naruto: The Whorl Within the Spiral is live at last, and it puts Namikaze Minato at the center of things. Kishimoto made the 55-page special for fans after the global fandom voted Minato as the manga's focus. For months, Kishimoto has kept his head down at work, and the result speaks for itself.

This new Naruto one-shot is strong from the get-go, and it reminds fans why Kishimoto ruled the shonen manga scene for more than a decade. From his paneling to his artwork and pacing, Naruto is pitch-perfect here. This special one-shot gives us some valuable info about the Hidden Leaf's history while cozying up Minato to his future wife. Page after page, Kishimoto does not wrong with this one shot, so you can understand why fans are obsessed.

You can see a slew of the fandom's reactions below as Naruto fans are now pouring over Kishimoto's comeback. There are plenty of easter eggs to explore in Naruto: The Whorl Within the Spiral for those who know where to look. So if you have not checked out the hot release, you better head over to Manga Plus right now!

If you are not familiar with Naruto period, well – you can always brush up on the legendary series. Naruto is available to stream both on Hulu and Crunchyroll. As for its manga, you can read Kishimoto's series through the Shonen Jump app or Manga Plus. For more details, you can read the official synopsis of Naruto below:

"Twelve years ago the Village Hidden in the Leaves was attacked by a fearsome threat. A nine-tailed fox spirit claimed the life of the village leader, the Hokage, and many others. Today, the village is at peace and a troublemaking kid named Naruto is struggling to graduate from Ninja Academy. His goal may be to become the next Hokage, but his true destiny will be much more complicated. The adventure begins now!"

What do you think about this new Naruto manga? Do you love this Kishimoto update? Let us know what you think in the comments below as well as on Twitter and Instagram. You can also hit me up @MeganPetersCB to share your take!

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