Everything Fans Know About Masashi Kishimoto's New Naruto Sequel Manga Explained

Published Oct 14, 2026, 5:30 PM EDT

After many of Shōnen Jump's most popular modern series recently concluded, their endings were received with a mixed reception. While I personally did not mind how My Hero Academia and Jujutsu Kaisen wrapped up, those series made me appreciate how Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto manga ending has aged like a fine wine. Still, the series' huge cast and widely unexplored world is chock-full of narrative potential that Boruto has failed to satisfy for many.

The ongoing Boruto: Two Blue Vortex manga continues to explore the adventures of Naruto and Sasuke's children as they battle against genetically altered cyborgs and planet-eating aliens. Its story and artwork are being led by Mikio Ikemoto, and the current storyline takes place around 20 years after the Fourth Shinobi War's conclusion. Thankfully, Kishimoto's upcoming Naruto: Shadow Rising manga will take place sometime in the years between those stories.

Trailer Teases New Naruto Story During Blank Period

It had been teased that the Naruto franchise would be making a return with an announcement at New York Comic Con 2026. Some expected the news of Boruto's anime return; instead, a new Naruto anime crossover was announced. But the biggest surprise caught almost everyone off guard: Masashi Kishimoto was coming out of semi-retirement to write and draw a new manga centered on Naruto. The shocking announcement came with a teaser containing sketches of what readers can hope to see in the new series, clues to when it takes place, and what Naruto: Shadow Rising might be about.

The difference between Ikemoto's Boruto art and Kishimoto's work on Naruto becomes obvious when admiring the concept art in the new manga teaser. Images featured in the announcement included the sixth Hokage, Hatake Kakashi, on Konoha's iconic Hokage Rock, with construction seemingly beginning on the face of a seventh Hokage. This means the new Naruto manga will be taking place near the end of Kakashi's tenure as Hokage and before Naruto becomes the seventh, likely a few years after The Last: Naruto the Movie.

Kishimoto's dynamic artwork adds layers of depth and detail that readers who grew up reading Naruto have missed dearly. The creator's official return to the Naruto series has already produced glorious new art, and the Naruto: Shadow Rising teaser gifted excited fans with even more to salivate over. The image showing Sakura swooning over the newly born Sarada means that Boruto's birth has already happened or is about to, which also means the new series will take place after Naruto and Hinata are already married.

Both Naruto and Sasuke are so powerful at the end of the original series it would be tough to present anything that could challenge them and create needed narrative tension. The last image that the surprising announcement included was arguably its best, with an image of an adult Sasuke and Naruto clashing with attacks from their only remaining hands. While the artwork is incredible and reminiscent of the two's previous battles, it will be disappointing if the tension between Naruto and Sasuke is again the central conflict in the new story. Hopefully, Kishimoto will prove me wrong.

Naruto's New Manga Release Date

The current release date of Kishimoto's new Naruto: Shadow Rising manga is currently unknown. Its announcement trailer ended by tantalizing more information to come at Jump Festa 2027, which will be taking place December 19 and 20, 2026. So the wait for more information is only a couple of months away, but not everyone is aware that the creator released a newer Naruto manga only a few years ago that was exquisite.

Those who haven't indulged in the franchise since the Naruto anime and manga concluded are in for a special treat. After the latest worldwide Naruto popularity poll crowned the Fourth Hokage Minato as the world's favorite character of the franchise, Kishimoto wrote and drew a stunning one-shot manga called Naruto: The Whorl Within the Spiral that was released in July 2023. The 55-page one-shot manga came out around six months after Minato earned his own side-story, so there is hope for a 2027 release date for Naruto: Shadow Rising.

If you haven’t read the Minato one-shot that focused on the younger years of Naruto's parents, my review saw it as proof that the franchise still has a lot of great stories it can tell. It can help make the wait for the new content more bearable. It’s also unclear in what format Naruto: Shadow Rising will be released, like if its chapters will be released weekly, monthly, or in the form of another large one-shot. But with more information coming in December, Naruto fans should have a lot to look forward to for 2027.