Masashi Kishimoto Is Drawing Naruto Again. Here's Everything We Actually Know.

By Krishna Kumar | Senior Pop Culture & Manga Analyst | ZealPlane Chronicles

Twelve years after the original Naruto manga concluded, Masashi Kishimoto has officially announced a brand-new sequel. It's called Naruto: Shadow Rising, and yes — it's written and illustrated by Kishimoto himself.

The announcement came at the end of the "NARUTO: What's Next?" panel at New York Comic Con on October 10. It was the final reveal of the presentation — the one nobody saw coming.

What Was Actually Announced — And What Wasn't

Let's be precise here, because the internet is already filling up with speculation dressed as fact.

Shadow Rising has two confirmed details: the title, and Kishimoto as the artist. That's it. No synopsis, no serialization magazine, no release date has been announced yet.

What we do have is a teaser PV — which shows sketches teasing Naruto as Hokage, Sakura with a baby, and what appears to be Naruto vs. Sasuke. These are glimpses, not plot confirmations. Kishimoto putting pencil to paper for a teaser and Kishimoto confirming a full story premise are two different things.

Full serialization details will be revealed at the Jump Festa '27 event, which takes place on December 19–20. Until then, the title and the artist are what's real. Everything else is educated guessing.

What "Project Rasengan" Actually Is

The franchise officially launched what it's calling "Project Rasengan" at NYCC — a broader umbrella of new Naruto announcements covering manga, anime, and games.

Shadow Rising is one piece of that. Two other pieces were also announced at the same panel:

NARUTO×NINKŪ: A long-delayed four-episode anime has been confirmed as a crossover with the 90s Jump series Ninku — the series that Kishimoto has cited as a direct influence on Naruto. The crossover is supervised by both Kishimoto and Ninku creator Koji Kiriyama.
Naruto Mobile Global Launch: Naruto Mobile — the competitive action game that launched in mainland China in 2016 — was also confirmed for a worldwide release, with a new teaser trailer shown at the panel.

Shadow Rising got the last slot. Which, in panel terms, is a statement.

Why This Is Different From Boruto

The reasonable question anyone familiar with the franchise's recent history will ask: isn't this just more supervised spinoff work?

No. And the distinction matters.

Boruto was written by Ukyō Kodachi and then Masashi Ikemoto, with Kishimoto in a supervisory role. Shadow Rising is a full-fledged official sequel written and drawn by Kishimoto himself — the same person who created Naruto in 1999, wrote every chapter through 2014, and has largely stepped back from the franchise since.

One fan's reaction online captured the collective response fairly well: "Kishimoto really said 'let me wait 15 years then announce the announcement' and we're all just gonna pretend that's normal."

It's a fair point. The announcement at NYCC was essentially a confirmation that a more complete announcement is coming. But given who's drawing it, even that is significant.

The Timeline Question

Leaf Village Hokage Rock with Naruto Seventh Face Under Construction — Teaser storyboards depict the Seventh Hokage monument under construction, hinting at the Blank Period after the Fourth Great Ninja War.

The teaser imagery — Naruto as Hokage, what appears to be a younger Sarada — suggests the story is set somewhere after the Fourth Great Ninja War and before or during the early Boruto era. That's a period the franchise has touched on in novels and anime filler but never addressed directly in a Kishimoto-drawn manga.

That's speculation based on visual evidence. The official announcement confirms that more details about the story, format, and characters will be shared at Jump Festa 2027 on December 19–20. Anything beyond title and artist is reading tea leaves until then.

What Jump Festa Will Actually Reveal

December 19–20 is when this announcement becomes a proper reveal. Based on the panel structure and the "Project Rasengan" framing, Jump Festa will likely confirm:

The serialization magazine (Weekly Shonen Jump is the obvious candidate but not yet confirmed)
A premiere window or release date
The actual story premise — what Shadow Rising is about and where it fits in the timeline
Possibly a proper chapter preview or first raw panel sketches

Until then, the correct response to any "Shadow Rising confirms X character" headline is healthy skepticism.

The Honest Take

Kishimoto coming back to draw Naruto himself is genuinely significant. Not because of what we know — which is almost nothing beyond the title — but because of what it signals. The original creator returning to pencil his own work, after more than a decade away, is not a routine franchise move.

Whether Shadow Rising delivers something that justifies that return is a question December will start to answer.