Boruto: Naruto Next Generation

Boruto[a] is a Japanese manga series written by Ukyō Kodachi and Masashi Kishimoto, and illustrated by Mikio Ikemoto. It initially began monthly serialization under the title Boruto: Naruto Next Generations,[b] with Kodachi as writer and Kishimoto as editorial supervisor in Shueisha’s shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump in May 2016, and was transferred to Shueisha’s monthly magazine V Jump in July 2019. In November 2020, Kodachi stepped down, with Kishimoto taking over as writer. In April 2023, the series concluded the first part of the story and, following a brief hiatus, continued in August of the same year with a second part titled Boruto: Two Blue Vortex
Kodachi compares the story of Boruto to the Cold War, where a world at peace is threatened by a resumption of its prior chaos. Ikemoto’s illustrations for the series are much more realistic than what was used in Naruto, and in fact he is regularly reminded by Kishimoto to make characters’ mouths and eyes bigger in order to better align the two series. Ikemoto hopes to conclude the story of Boruto within 30 volumes.[4] Until his institution as the sole writer of the series, Kishimoto, though he had no direct role in the manga’s creation, nevertheless oversaw each chapter as it was being worked on. When asked if he was worried that new characters in Boruto would come off as clones of their parents, Kishimoto admitted it was a concern. He labelled Shikadai as essentially a clone of his father, while Chōchō is more a combination of her parents; he believes that both characters serve archetypal roles that are common to manga series. On June 1, 2023, it was announced the first part of the manga had concluded with Volume 20. In V Jump, Part II of the manga was announced, titled Boruto: Two Blue Vortex, to begin publishing in V Jump.