Naruto Uzumaki's birthday is October 10th, and this year he was the one handing out the presents! The "NARUTO: What's Next?" panel at New York Comic Con landed on that exact date last Saturday, and by the time it wrapped, every Naruto fan had a new Masashi Kishimoto manga, a crossover anime, a multi-year franchise roadmap and a live-action movie update to chew on.
It was a big week for Naruto in general. The day before, on Friday, October 9th, EZ Mil and Eminem released "MADARA," and Madara's English voice actor, Neil Kaplan, is featured on the track. He gets an interlude right before Eminem's verse.
We've been tracking the live-action movie closely here on AnimeMojo since the worldwide casting call went out this summer, and this was the most Naruto news we've gotten in a LONG time. So we went through the official recap, the trailers and the reports to sort the official news from everything else.
Roughly 3,000 fans packed the room, with Junko Takeuchi and Noriaki Sugiyama, the Japanese voices of Naruto and Sasuke, on stage!
The manga news came at the very end. A surprise teaser rolled with the words "A New NARUTO Manga by Masashi Kishimoto," and the cheers were LOUD.
The official Japanese Project Rasengan page shows the title as Naruto: Shadow Rising. (The English version of that page and the English recap still just call it a new Naruto manga.) Even more exciting is the fact that the page says Kishimoto is DRAWING the whole thing himself!
Kishimoto drew the original Naruto in Weekly Shonen Jump from 1999 to 2014. On Boruto, he took over as writer in 2020, but Mikio Ikemoto has always handled the art.
The teaser opens on the stone faces of the six past Hokage above the Hidden Leaf Village, with a SEVENTH face still being carved. Then it cuts to Naruto holding the Hokage hat, a smiling Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura looking at a baby, before closing on Naruto and Sasuke clashing.
That half-carved seventh face points to a stretch after the Fourth Great Ninja War, before Naruto officially takes the hat. Kotaku goes further, identifying the baby as Sarada, reporting that the series is set between Naruto and Boruto, and saying the first chapter will be published in 2027. None of those details had been officially confirmed yet, and no magazine, release date or setting details have been announced.
The next update is due at the Naruto Jump Super Stage at Jump Festa 2027, which, despite the name, runs this December 19th and 20th at Makuhari Messe in Japan.
The Ninku Crossover And Project Rasengan
Then there's Naruto x Ninku, a four-episode anime that drops Team 7 into the world of Koji Kiriyama's Ninku.
Kakashi can't make the mission, so Naruto gets bumped up to acting leader.
He, Sasuke and Sakura end up lost in another world, where they meet Fūsuke, a boy with a frog-like face.
If Ninku doesn't ring a bell, Kiriyama's manga ran in Weekly Shonen Jump from 1993 to 1995, and Studio Pierrot's 55-episode TV anime aired from 1995 to 1996. It's also a series Kishimoto credits as an inspiration. "Without 'NINKŪ', 'Naruto' wouldn't exist," Kishimoto said in a message shared at the panel, and he calls Fūsuke Naruto's "secret mentor."
Kishimoto and Kiriyama are supervising the story, Pierrot Films is handling the animation, and Noriyuki Abe, who directed the original Ninku anime and served as chief director on Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, is directing.
Fūsuke is voiced by Rica Matsumoto, who played him in the original '90s Ninku anime and movies, and she's also the Japanese voice of Ash Ketchum!
Naruto fans have seen a four-episode count before. In 2023, the anime announced four brand-new episodes for its 20th anniversary, then pulled them about a week before the premiere to improve the quality. ANN says it's unclear whether the two projects are connected, but the official crossover site bills it as the anime's 20th anniversary project, and an image on the page still carries that original September 3rd, 2023 TV Tokyo date. Last December, we reported those long-delayed episodes were expected in 2026.
As of this week, the crossover still has no premiere date or platform.
The crossover and the new manga are both part of Project Rasengan, a new global push for Naruto that also covers a card game and a mobile game. Inven Global reports the roadmap runs from 2027 through 2029, with some slots still unannounced.
Naruto Mobile, the action game that launched in mainland China in 2016, is finally going worldwide, on a date still to be determined.
Bandai's Naruto Card Game launches worldwide in June 2027, with starter decks led by Naruto, Sasuke and Gaara and a first booster called "Enter: Naruto Uzumaki!" per Essential Japan.
Where The Live-Action Movie Stands
Destin Daniel Cretton didn't make the trip to New York, but he sent a message that was read aloud at the panel. "What I've always loved about Naruto is that he's the character who might normally get sidelined as a sidekick," he said, before adding, "We're hard at work and will have more to share soon."
No cast, no release date, no title. Not really much of an update, but now you know!
The worldwide search for Team 7 that kicked off on July 10th still hasn't produced an announced Naruto, Sasuke or Sakura, and Cretton has said the movie won't rush the manga's story.
Reports have attached one name so far: Charles Melton. In an August exclusive, The Hollywood Reporter said the Riverdale star was in talks to play Kakashi Hatake, and TheWrap said he was in final talks. Lionsgate didn't comment at the time (we covered that report here).
That casting still isn't official.
So, what do YOU want Kishimoto's new manga to cover? Are you excited for the live-action film?
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