
Viz Media began streaming the anime series on their streaming service Neon Alley in December 2012 on 99 episodes, and ended in March 2016, after 338 episodes. The English dub was broadcast on Disney XD from 2009 to 2011, airing the first 98 episodes, and then switched over to Adult Swim's Toonami programming block in January 2014, starting over from the first episode. Naruto: Shippuden, a sequel to the original series, premiered in 2007, and ended in 2017, after 500 episodes. The manga was adapted into an anime television series produced by Pierrot and Aniplex, which broadcast 220 episodes from 2002 to 2007 the English dub of the series aired on Cartoon Network and YTV from 2005 to 2009. Naruto was serialized in Shueisha's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1999 to 2014, with its chapters collected in 72 tankōbon volumes. The series is based on two one-shot manga by Kishimoto: Karakuri (1995), which earned Kishimoto an honorable mention in Shueisha's monthly Hop Step Award the following year, and Naruto (1997). The story is told in two parts-the first set in Naruto's pre-teen years, and the second in his teens. It tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, a young ninja who seeks recognition from his peers and dreams of becoming the Hokage, the leader of his village. Having concluded the series in late 2014, Masashi Kishimoto kept himself busy penning continuing adventures in the Naruto world, including the manga Naruto: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring and the story for Boruto: Naruto the Movie, both of which focus on the title character’s son, Boruto.Naruto is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto.

The series would also spawn multiple anime series, movies, novels, video games and more. His first version of Naruto, drawn in 1997, was a one-shot story about fox spirits his final version, which debuted in Weekly Shonen Jump in 1999, quickly became the most popular ninja manga in the world. After considering various genres for his next project, Kishimoto decided on a story steeped in traditional Japanese culture. After spending time in art college, he won the Hop Step Award for new manga artists with his story Karakuri. Like many kids, he was first inspired to become a manga artist in elementary school when he read Dragon Ball. Author/artist Masashi Kishimoto was born in 1974 in rural Okayama Prefecture, Japan.
