Naruto (manga)

Naruto (written in Japanese) is a manga (Japanese comic) made by Masashi Kishimoto (Japanese man). It was also made into an anime (Japanese animated series). The main character is called Naruto Uzumaki. He is a very loud ninja who wants to become "Hokage". The Hokage is the strongest ninja and the leader of Naruto's village, called Konoha (meaning "leaf" in Japanese).

The manga was first published in 1999 in a Japanese magazine called Shonen Jump. It was also translated into English. The anime was on TV for the first time on October 3, 2002. In the United States, it started on September 10, 2005.

Growth and popularity

Naruto is a long manga. The story is not finished yet. It is currently one of the most popular manga and anime.^[source?] Since it began, a lot of Naruto fansites (websites made by people who like it a lot) were made with detailed information, guides and forums about the show. There is also a Naruto card game.

Anime

The anime was released after the manga, but it quickly caught up because an anime episode is likely to be around 2 to 3 manga chapters. To stop the anime from catching up with the manga, "filler" episodes are created. Filler episodes are not part of the manga storyline. They are just there to make people wait until there are enough manga chapters to make new episodes based on the manga. For example, in Naruto, after episode 135, the anime was catching up with the manga. They made "filler" episodes that ended in early 2007.

The anime usually remains true to the manga but some scenes were changed to make it less violent. Some scenes that were added to anime that were not in the manga.

There are also four Naruto movies: Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow, Naruto the movie 2:The Great Clash! The Phantom Ruins in the Depths of the Earth and Naruto the Movie 3: The Animal Riot of Crescent Moon Island, Naruto: Shippūden the Movie 4

Plot

Twelve years before the rest of the series, a giant nine-tailed fox attacked Konoha (Naruto's village). To save the village, the fourth Hokage (deceased) (leader of Konoha) sealed the fox's spirit inside a baby named Uzumaki Naruto. The Fourth Hokage had to die, but he was thought of as a hero in the village. He wanted people to think that Naruto was a hero, too. Sadly, most people thought of Naruto as the nine-tailed fox and hated him.

The people that knew that Naruto was the demon but they could not tell anyone, but it did not stop them from being mean with Naruto. The people's children did not know about his secret, but they still hated Naruto because their parents hated him. Because of their bad behavior towards him, Naruto was very sad. As he grew up, he would make the first friends and then continue to make even more. Together, they would go on great adventures and fight the evils of their land.

Characters

Naruto Uzumaki

Naruto Uzumaki is the main character of this story. He is Ninja. And he can use many ninjitsu, including a shadow clone jitsu which he excels at. He lives in Kohona Village in fire country. His grandfather is king of this country.

Sasuke Uchiha

Sasuke Uchiha is the rival of Naruto Uzumaki. And he is one of Naruto's classmates. He lives in fire country. He is from the Uchiha clan and possesses the sharingan, an ocular ninjitsu that can see through genjitsu, or copy moves from taijitsu or ninijitsu .

Sakura Haruno

Sakura Haruno is the heroin of this story. And she is one of Naruto's classmates. She has a crush on Sasuke Uchiha, but (in the earlier episodes) feels Naruto is immature and clumsy She lives in Kohona Village.

Kakashi Hatake

Kakashi Hatake is the Naruto's teacher. And he is very brilliant Ninja, who also possesses the sharingan, even though he is not of the Uchiha clan . He lives in Kohona Village.

Supporting characters

Team 8 (Team Kurenai)

• Shino Aburame

• Hinata Hyuga

• Kiba Inuzuka

• Akamaru

Team 10 (Team Asuma)

• Choji Akimichi

• Shikamaru Nara

• Ino Yamanaka

Team Guy

• Neji Hyuga

• Rock Lee

• Tenten

Akatsuki

• Obito Uchicha

• Itachi Uchiha

• Hidan

• Sasori

• Deidara

• Nagato

• Konan

• Kisame Hoshikagi

• Kakuzu

• Zetsu

• Yahiko

• Orochimaru

Other

• Hokage

• Tsunade

• Gaara

• Kankuro

• Temari

• Jiraiya

• Yamato

• Sai

• Killer B

Comics

There are Naruto's comics from vol.1 to vol.63.

Other websites

• VIZ Media's Naruto site (USA).
• Naruto Collectible card game site (USA).
• Shonen Jump's Naruto page (USA).
• Cartoon Network's Naruto page (USA).
• YTV's Naruto page (Canada).
• Manga Entertainment's Naruto microsite (UK)
• Naruto Planet (Italian)