The Minato Namikaze one-shot manga, written due to him winning the Naruto Narutop99 character poll, is now online. We knew it would appear in Weekly Shonen Jump issue 33 in Japan on July 18, 2023. Viz Media also confirmed a simultaneous worldwide release at Anime Expo 2023. Now “Naruto: The Whorl within the Spiral” is online at MangaPlus.
This is a prequel manga from Masashi Kishimoto starring Naruto’s dad, Minato. However, it isn’t just about him. His mother Kushina Uzumaki also plays a major part. The story begins with Minato fighting alongside people like Jiraya as they fight one of the tailed beasts (biju). From there, we see Kushina’s perspective, as it shows how Minato practices sealing jutsu with her, she constantly has two “keepers” with her, and she relishes the chances to spend time with him due to being “contained” inside the barrier and away from lots of other people. From there, we also get to see Minato’s relationships with other characters, and how he trained with Jiraya just as Naruto does later in the story.
The story is available in six languages on MangaPlus. People can read it in English, French, Indonesian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Thai.
This isn’t the only Narutop99 celebratory item, as new Naruto SH Figuarts figures based on characters are coming too. So far, only a Naruto one was teased at Anime Expo 2023.
The Naruto and Boruto anime can be found on Crunchyroll, while Viz Media handles the manga localizations. The Minato one-shot manga is available online worldwide now.
