Essential Manga: What is Naruto?

The attention-seeking Naruto harbors sadness in his soul.

At just 12 years old, he has been raised in a village that rejects and resents him. He doesn't know why and everyone is legally prohibited from telling him. He's had to watch other children receiving care and love, while he stays on the outskirts, an orphan.

This is the deep feeling behind his wild pranks, which are designed solely to force people to notice him. But his school-teacher is in the habit of punishing the whole class for Naruto's misdemeanors; and that leaves him with no friends at all.

He just wants people to like him, that's all. That and become the best ninja in the entire world, of course. Then the villagers would have to love and respect him!

Yet the big secret lingers and there are adults ready to take advantage of Naruto's ignorance and vulnerability. On the day of the school graduation, this ticking time-bomb is set to erupt. The consequences will change Naruto and the entire village forever.

Konohagakure is no ordinary village. It is the home of elite ninjas hidden deep within a vast forest. It is from here that the greatest military forces emerge to defend their country.

This is where Naruto was raised, training from early childhood to join their ranks. Along with his classmates, he is tutored in jutsu, techniques that can manipulate mental or bodily energies into wondrous skills. If only he could calm down long enough to learn them.

The village also carries an horrific history. A terrible beast, known as the nine-tail fox, once crashed through its streets bent upon the destruction of all. Many people died in the defense of Konohagakure, including one of its most iconic heroes, Minato Namikaze the Fourth Hokage.

The massacre is never mentioned now, but it's within living memory. It all happened just twelve years ago; and Minato was killed containing the creature into the body of a newborn baby.

That infant was Naruto; and he is the only one who doesn't know it. This is the reason that the villagers hate him, as they secretly blame him for the deeds of the nine-tail fox. It was also the struggle which killed his parents.

Now it's all about to come out into the open. How will the young Naruto cope? And what will his rage and shock do to the seal keeping the beast inside? 

No more spoilers. You will have to read the manga or watch the anime to find out!

Industry figures are hard to come by, but Naruto could well be the best-selling manga of all time.

In October 2011, Shonen Jump announced that 113 million copies of the Naruto manga series had sold in Japan alone. Considering that it has been released world-wide, the global sum must be much, much more.

It is unknown precisely how many have been bought in the USA and Europe. However, the distributor appears to be happy.

In 2010, Viz Media's Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Gonzalo Ferreyra, was interviewed by ICv2. He singled Naruto out, stating, 'Quite frankly the continued strength of Naruto, now that it’s up in the forties, is pretty astonishing to me--the fact that the attrition on that series is relatively low and the numbers continue to be phenomenal after the several dozen volumes that are out there.'

It appears that Naruto is going to be popular for a long time yet!