Masashi Kishimoto Returns With New Naruto Shadow Rising Manga Highlighting Blank Period

In an exciting announcement for the Naruto fanbase, author Masashi Kishimoto is returning to write and illustrate an original manga titled Naruto: Shadow Rising, scheduled to debut in 2027.

The manga is a major part of Project Rasengan, a special 25th anniversary initiative unveiled on Oct. 10, 2026, during the Naruto panel at New York Comic Con.

The upcoming manga marks the first time Kishimoto will be involved directly in writing and illustrating the main serialized part of the story in over 12 years. The author had previously worked on a special Minato one-shot following the character’s victory in the manga’s global popularity poll.

New Naruto Manga To Focus On Blank Period:

A teaser for Naruto: Shadow Rising manga was revealed alongside the announcement, with production sketches depicting protagonist Naruto Uzumaki at roughly 21 years of age alongside the initial carving of his likeness into the Hokage Rock monument.

The preview video also features Sakura Haruno holding an infant Sarada Uchiha and teases a clash between Naruto and Sasuke Uchiha as the Hidden Leaf Village contends with the post-war activity.

Based on all this, Naruto: Shadow Rising‘s story is expected to take place during the franchise’s Blank Period approximately 10 years prior to the sequel era (since Sarada is around 11/12 at the start of Boruto), set amid the peacetime governance of Kakashi Hatake as the Sixth Hokage.

Further details regarding the manga will be revealed at Jump Festa later this year.

In addition to the new Naruto manga, Shueisha unveiled Naruto x Ninku, a four-episode crossover anime miniseries directed by Noriyuki Abe with character designs by Tetsuya Nishio and co-supervision by Kishimoto and Ninku creator Koji Kiriyama.

The crossover was revealed to be the delayed 20th-anniversary anime episodes originally scheduled for broadcast in September 2023.

The original Naruto manga was published in Weekly Shonen Jump from 1999 to 2014, spanning 700 chapters across 72 tankobon volumes. The series has over 250 million copies in circulation worldwide across more than 40 territories.

Meanwhile, development is also moving forward on the Hollywood live-action feature adaptation produced by Lionsgate and Arad Productions, with director and writer Destin Daniel Cretton confirming that global open casting searches for the roles of Team 7 remain ongoing.