Naruto to Officially Return With Brand-New Manga From Original Creator – Watch First Look Trailer

Naruto‘s creator is officially returning to the series with a brand new manga, and the first look has been revealed at what to expect. Naruto has kicked off a new wave of projects that are being lined up for the next three years at least. Taking the stage during the New York Comic Con 2026 weekend, the franchise detailed a lot of the new projects now in the works during a special panel. But there’s one big surprise that fans certainly never expected to see happen. Kishimoto’s going back to the story for more.

It has been officially announced that Masashi Kishimoto is now working on a brand new Naruto manga series. Dubbed “Shadow Rising,” this new Naruto series teases that it will explore a piece of the canon that had only been hinted at before. Because while Boruto: Naruto Next Generations is an official sequel set even further in the timeline, this new series teases what happens before Naruto is officially crowned as the Seventh Hokage. Check out the first look teaser trailer below.

New Naruto Shadow Rising Manga Announced

Naruto Shadow Rising (which has yet to be confirmed as the official name of the series) revealed its first look teaser trailer at the very end of the New York Comic Con 2026 panel, and it was there that it was confirmed that fans will be getting much more infromation about the new series during Jump Festa 2027 later this December. But while very little concrete information has been revealed about the series thus far, it’s plenty exciting already as Kishimoto is making a proper return to the franchise. Especially since he’s been around it for so long.

Kishimoto returned to Naruto for a special one-shot story for Minato Namikaze as part of the franchise’s 20th anniversary some time ago, and has been helping out with the story for the Boruto: Naruto Next Generations sequel series. But with this interquel, the creator is going back in full to the franchise. It does raise a lot of questions about whether or not it will overshadow the ongoing sequel manga series (which is now celebrating its own 10th anniversary), but there are still many questions such as how long this new series will ultimately run for.

Naruto Confirms Return With New Shonen Jump Anime Crossover

This isn’t all that is in the works for the Naruto franchise, however, as there’s a new revival anime now in production. First revealed to be in the works back in 2023 before its indefinite delay, it was confirmed during the New York Comic Con 2026 panel that this revival is actually going to be a crossover with a surprise Shonen Jump classic franchise, Koji Kiriyama’s Ninku. A series that hasn’t had an anime in 30 years, and is making a proper return with this new four episode special crossover.

A release date or window has yet to be announced for Naruto x Ninku as of the time of this announcement, but the trailer above teases the classic Team 7 line up ending up in a whole new universe. Naruto has planned out new projects through to at least 2029 (including a new live-action movie now in the works), so we’ll see much more of it all soon enough. What are you hoping to see in Naruto‘s official manga return? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments!

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