Kishimoto's New Naruto Manga Just Gave Fans The Redesign Everybody Wanted

Published Oct 13, 2026, 8:30 PM EDT An experienced Editor representing Canada via ScreenRant's Team Anime, J.R. has been reading manga since the first printing of Shonen Jump in North America. This passion drove him to write about anime, manga, and manhwa since 2022, having recently served as Lead Anime Editor for ComicBook.com. His favorite moments in media coverage include reviewing the series premieres of Zom 100 and Bleach: TYBW Part 2 back-to-back and briefly meeting Junji Ito at a VIZ gallery event in 2023. Plenty of reveals from 2026's New York Comic Con event had fans already excited, but for Naruto fans, their favorite franchise felt like it just took an unexpected leap forward. Despite long-held assumptions that it'd never happen, creator Masashi Kishimoto has a new manga coming with Naruto: Shadow Rising, and the best part is, it covers the famous Blank Period. While this inevitably means, at least, a limited series depicting Naruto Uzumaki's young adulthood barring confirmation of a longer serialization, it also means the original artist will be fully behind each page of his new project, rather than as a supervisor. For Naruto himself, it'll be possibly the biggest visual upgrade he's had in years. This comes despite years of illustrated and animated Boruto content in which Naruto has featured to a certain degree. But fans generally agree that Naruto himself didn't get the most flattering look, with greater attention to detail being clearly dedicated to the new generation of shinobi. Naruto: Shadow Rising doesn't appear to face this issue, though, as Kishimoto's signature cinematic style and expressive renditions will once again grace the page beyond illustrations such as the Naruto Hiden novel series. Now, that same refinement will show in Kishimoto's style well beyond the years of his first worldwide hit, as he's already debuted early glimpses of his iconic protagonist's Blank Period design. Naruto's Shadow Rising Redesign Is A (Mostly) Welcome Sight Most strongly resembling Kishimoto's designs from The Last: Naruto the Movie, the titular hero's return in Naruto: Shadow Rising appears to recapture the future Seventh Hokage's character more accurately. His glimpses so far are limited entirely to the first in-progress trailer, but already, Kishimoto brings back a rugged aura to Naruto just ahead of being locked in combat with Sasuke. Even the panel showing Naruto with the Hokage hat shows the beloved design from The Last in more detail once more, with his whiskers feeling more natural with their prominence this time around. Naruto's redesign for this era, it seems, is less about radical change, and more about authentically capturing his personality and temperament, from hotheaded to affable and even joyful. This isn't to say the redesign is checking every single box, as it appears, at least for now, that Naruto will continue to bear the cropped hairstyle rather than the shaggier hair of a new-gen Minato Namikaze. This isn't precisely the end of the world, as it's still ultimately Naruto drawn by the master, but there seems to be little chance of this iteration making an appearance. For something to change in this regard, Kishimoto would have to give Naruto multiple designs as he goes into different portions of the Blank Period, much like Ikemoto has with a briefly shaggy-haired Boruto in Two Blue Vortex flashbacks. But for the most part, this is the Blank Period Naruto everybody could have reasonably hoped for. Kishimoto's Return Will Usher In A New Era Of Naruto Art Fans already know extremely well how cinematic Kishimoto's style is, both in the angling of any given frame and in how his kinetic action feels like it has real weight. Having spent years not having a regular manga project following the conclusion of Samurai 8 in 2020, and beyond limited works like the recent Minato one-shot, it's sometimes forgotten just how beloved Kishimoto's art style is. One should also always consider his renditions of his shinobi as depicted in limited illustrations like in the Naruto Hiden novel series, showing deeply emotive character portraits as a potent indicator that the mangaka is talented at designing young adult characters. Even the one major shot of Naruto and Sasuke fighting should be a strong indicator that the weighty, impactful blows either from close combat taijutsu or from powerful ninjutsu will soon be felt on the page. With Naruto: Shadow Rising comes the new challenge of visually depicting the prowess of Naruto's stars in their prime, but Kishimoto seems more than ready to tackle such an undertaking with vigor and aplomb. First Film Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow Latest Film Boruto: Naruto the Movie First TV Show Naruto Latest TV Show Boruto: Naruto Next Generations First Episode Air Date October 3, 2002 Cast Junko Takeuchi, Maile Flanagan, Noriaki Sugiyama, Chie Nakamura, Kazuhiko Inoue, Nana Mizuki, Hideo Ishikawa, Yûko Sanpei Naruto is a franchise spawned from the manga series penned by Masashi Kishimoto that began in 1999. Generating several tv series, games, movies, and more, Naruto follows the exploits of a young outcast ninja harboring the spirit of a demon fox who seeks to become the Hokage, the leader of his ninja village, to break the stigma against him. Upon the conclusion of the initial series, Naruto expanded into Boruto, following many series protagonists' children and returning faces. Naruto: Shadow Rising Franchise Naruto Author Masashi Kishimoto Artist Masashi Kishimoto Genre Action, Adventire, Fantasy Publisher Shueisha/Viz Media A new Naruto manga by Masashi Kishimoto announced at the 2026 New York Comic-Con, with more details expected to arrive at Jump Festa in 2027.