Naruto Creator Masashi Kishimoto Isn’t Ruling Out More Character One-Shots

It turns out that Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto has more ideas for character specific one-shot manga releases and could have more on the way. Naruto recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of its original anime adaptation with a special worldwide popularity poll that saw fans voting for their favorite character. The winner of that popularity poll would then get a full one-shot manga story from Kishimoto himself, and that was eventually revealed to be Naruto Uzumaki’s father, Minato Namikaze. It resulted in a special one-shot revealing more of Minato and Kushina’s shared past before Naruto was born, and was a welcome return to the series from the creator. 

Naruto: The Whorl Within the Spiral was Kishimoto’s first proper return to the Naruto manga in a long time, and thus fans have been secretly hoping ever since that another return could potentially be possible someday. Speaking during a fan event (as spotted by @howlxithree on X), Kishimoto revealed that he would like to do more one-shots but is just taking the time to think about the kinds of stories he’d want to write. Even going as far as teasing that an Itachi Uchiha story could be on the table. 

More Naruto One-Shot Stories? 

“Yes, I would like to do others, but I am taking the time to think about it,” Kishimoto stated. “In fact, I based myself on a ranking of characters made among readers. Minato was the first. The second is Itachi…I say it half jokingly, but you never know” With how Minato’s one-shot helped to expand what fans know about the character (along with revealing how the Rasengan jutsu got its name), a new one-shot from Kishimoto would do quite well as there are still many characters from the original franchise fans would hope to see more of in such an expanded way. 

For now, Kishimoto is working together with writer and artist Mikio Ikemoto on the current franchise manga release, Boruto: Two Blue Vortex. Taking place three years after the events of the first sequel, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, this series has kicked off a new phase of the franchise with a new form of the Divine Tree, more potential timelines to explore, god like abilities, and much more only briefly teased during the initial run of the Naruto series. You can find the latest chapters with Viz Media’s digital Shonen Jump library or Shueisha’s MangaPlus service.