What Is Naruto? The Ninja Manga That Became a Global Anime Landmark, Explained by Marine

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Few franchises did more to bring anime into the global mainstream than Naruto — and its story is still being told today through its sequel, Boruto.

From 1999 Debut to Global Boom

Masashi Kishimoto began serializing Naruto in Weekly Shonen Jump in 1999. The manga follows Naruto Uzumaki, an outcast ninja aiming to become his village's leader, and ran until 2014. The TV anime, which began in 2002, became one of the biggest drivers of anime's international popularity in the 2000s, alongside contemporaries like Bleach and One Piece.

The Story Continues: Boruto

After Naruto concluded, the story continued through Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, following Naruto's son. In February 2025, the series relaunched as "Boruto: Two Blue Vortex," which had reached eight collected volumes by June 2026. As of August 2026 the manga is on a temporary hiatus, with its most recent chapter (36) released July 20, 2026. A new anime adaptation of Two Blue Vortex is in development, expected in late 2026 at the earliest.

What To Know

Naruto's emphasis on chosen-family bonds ("kizuna") between characters who start as outcasts or rivals became a template so widely copied across shonen anime that recognizing it in Naruto specifically helps fans understand where a huge amount of anime's emotional storytelling conventions actually originated.

Naruto's worldwide "ninja boom" in the 2000s happened alongside, and significantly amplified, real interest in Japanese historical ninja culture (Iga and Koga ninja history, actual shuriken and stealth tactics) — it's a clear example of a fictional manga driving genuine curiosity about a specific slice of real Japanese history.

What Fans Are Saying

• "Naruto is the reason so many of us got into anime in the first place."
• "Two Blue Vortex actually being good is such a relief after Boruto's rocky start."
• "Been waiting years for a new Boruto anime, hope late 2026 holds up."

Original Japanese

• 「ナルトがきっかけでアニメを好きになった人、本当に多いですよね」
• 「TWO BLUE VORTEXが評価されているのは嬉しいです」
• 「新しいアニメ、楽しみに待っています」

Easy Japanese

「NARUTO -ナルト-」は、岸本斉史さんが作った忍者のマンガ・アニメです。1999年に始まり、世界中で人気になりました。