Anime giants rarely stay quiet for long once they hit global scale. At New York Comic Con last weekend, the Naruto franchise proved the point again on the birthday of its lead character.
VIZ Media and Studio Pierrot packed a stage with roughly 3,000 fans for the “NARUTO: What’s Next?” panel. Voice actors Junko Takeuchi and Noriaki Sugiyama joined Pierrot Films executive producer Yoshihiro Tominaga. The group dropped a multi-year slate under the new banner PROJECT RASENGAN.
The biggest cheer came last. A super teaser PV of manga storyboards ended with the words “A new ‘Naruto’ manga drawn by Masashi Kishimoto.” The title has been reported as Naruto Shadow Rising. More details will arrive at the Jump Festa 2027 Naruto Super Stage on December 19 and 20.
Kishimoto created the original series that ran in Weekly Shonen Jump from 1999 to 2014. He later took story duties on the Boruto sequel. This marks his most direct return to drawing a new Naruto title since the main run closed.
The teaser shows the six past Hokage faces on the mountain, then a seventh under construction. It cuts to Naruto holding a Hokage hat, Kakashi smiling, Sasuke standing firm, and Sakura gazing at a baby. It closes on Naruto and Sasuke clashing.
Publication details, release window, and canonicity remain unannounced. Fans have already filled the gap. Many read the images as a bridge between The Last: Naruto the Movie and the Boruto era. Theories center on Naruto’s rise to Seventh Hokage and the birth of the next generation. Nothing is confirmed.
PROJECT RASENGAN itself frames the bigger picture. Organizers called it a mid-to-long-term global roadmap spanning manga, anime, cards, games, and more through 2029. A key visual of Naruto firing a Rasengan against franchise imagery drew loud cheers. Four projects were highlighted on the roadmap visual. Several boxes stayed blank, promising later reveals.
One confirmed piece is the four-episode crossover NARUTO × NINKŪ. Kishimoto and NINKŪ creator Koji Kiriyama fully supervise the original story. Noriyuki Abe directs. Tetsuya Nishio handles character design and chief animation direction at Studio Pierrot. Abe previously directed the 1990s NINKŪ anime. Nishio worked on both series.
The plot sends young Team 7 on a mission. Kakashi stays behind, so Naruto leads. The trio slips into the NINKŪ world and meets frog-faced Fūsuke. Kishimoto has long credited NINKŪ as the spark for his own series. “Without NINKŪ, NARUTO would not exist,” he said in comments read at the panel.
“Simply put, Fūsuke is Naruto’s secret mentor.” He called Kiriyama a personal mentor as well and thanked him for making the dream real. Kiriyama expressed thrill at the worlds intertwining.
This limited series fulfills the long-delayed 20th-anniversary episodes first teased years earlier. No air date has been set. Opening and ending themes come from FLOW, with anniversary versions of “GO!!!” and “Viva★Rock.”
Bandai’s NARUTO Card Game locks in a simultaneous worldwide launch for June 2027. Three starter decks focus on Naruto, Sasuke, and Gaara. The first booster set, “Here Comes Naruto Uzumaki!,” follows. Demo events begin in stores in early 2027. A Pierrot-animated trailer debuted at the panel.
The formerly China-only Naruto Mobile competitive action game also heads global. It launched on the mainland in 2016. Further details land at Jump Festa. A release window stays open.
A message from live-action film director Destin Daniel Cretton closed the stage. He spoke of the honor of adapting Kishimoto’s world and the careful approach to the characters. Casting searches for Team 7 began earlier. No new production dates emerged.
The vacuum around Shadow Rising has already fueled heavy speculation online. Viewers pause the teaser on the unfinished Hokage face and the baby in Sakura’s arms. Some argue it stays fully canon. Others wonder if it sits outside the main timeline. The lack of serialization news only sharpens the debate.
Boruto: Two Blue Vortex continues monthly. The franchise has never truly paused. PROJECT RASENGAN simply organizes the next wave under one name. Jump Festa will fill more boxes. Until then, the 60-second teaser keeps the speculation engine running at full speed.
Fans who grew up with the original series now watch the creator step back in. The room erupted for a reason. A new chapter, still mostly blank, just opened.
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