Naruto

Naruto is a Japanese manga and anime franchise created by Masashi Kishimoto, serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump from 1999 to 2014, following Naruto Uzumaki, a young ninja who hosts a powerful fox spirit sealed within him at birth and who dreams of becoming his village's leader, the Hokage, despite being shunned by many of its residents. Its 72 collected manga volumes have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide, and the story was adapted into two anime television series, Naruto and its sequel Naruto: Shippuden, together running to more than 700 episodes, alongside numerous theatrical films and video games, and a manga sequel, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, continuing the story through Naruto's own son. The series is widely credited with helping sustain global interest in shonen anime and manga through the 2000s and 2010s, and its themes of found family, perseverance and overcoming prejudice, together with its large ensemble cast of ninja clans and villages, have made it one of the most influential action manga franchises of its generation.