Manga

Naruto premiered in Shueisha’s Weekly Sh?nen Jump magazine in 1999. Manga chapters 239 to 244 comprise a gaiden series focusing on the background of the character Kakashi Hatake. All subsequent chapters belong to Part II, which continues the storyline in Part I after a two and a half year time gap. The English adaptation of the Naruto manga is licensed by Viz and serialized in Viz’s version of Shonen Jump. Cammie Allen, Viz’s product manager, commented that, their main reason for the schedule was to catch up to the Japanese release schedule to give their readers a similar experience to that of Japanese readers. Starting with the release of volume forty-five in July, Viz will begin releasing Naruto on a quarterly basis.

As of May 2008, 42 tank?bon have been released by Shueisha in Japan, with the first twenty-seven tank?bon containing Part I, and the remaining fifteen belonging to Part II. The first tank?bon was released on March 3, 2000, with the forty-fourth released on November 4, 2008. In Japanese, Shueisha has also released the series for cell-phone download on their website Shueisha Manga Capsule. In addition, Viz Media released all twenty-seven volumes in a boxed set, thus constituting the entirety of the Naruto storyline before Part II on November 13, 2007.