A new Naruto prequel manga has been announced for 2027 with original creator Masashi Kishimoto making a return to the creative chair. Kishimoto originally wrote the full run of Naruto’s manga, including its anime-adapted Naruto Shippuden story material. However, this new manga will take place between the events of the end of Naruto and the Boruto sequel manga.



The new Naruto manga will officially be titled Naruto: Shadow Rising and roughly takes place a decade before the events of Boruto. Judging by the teaser image, Sarada has already been born, though she appears to still be a baby at this stage which puts it roughly ten or eleven years before Boruto. While Kishimoto served a creative overseer role on Boruto, he did not personally write it as those duties fell on Japanese mangaka Mikio Ikemoto.

Kishimoto will personally be involved in Naruto: Shadow Rising, which is a huge cause of celebration for fans. More importantly, it seems to tease yet another clash between Naruto and Sasuke, despite the pair meeting eye-to-eye at the end of the original manga and later becoming close comrades in Boruto. Whatever caused these knuckleheads to fight again is a core part of Shadow Rising’s mystery, though we hope the story can come up with a less contrived reason.

Nonetheless, Kishimoto’s involvement in the Naruto franchise again means we’ll probably get better writing than Boruto. As it stands, Boruto remains a very divisive manga and anime with fans criticising its pacing, bizarre character writing, uneven action, and writing that never reached the highs of Naruto’s biggest and best story chapters.

In related news, Shonen Jump officially announced a new One Piece animated movie will release next year, covering the canon manga events of God Valley. Another One Piece movie, simply titled BAAD, will release in 2029, though it’s unknown what it will cover.