Naruto: The Whorl Within the Spirial

by Masashi Kishimoto

The story of Namikaze Minato (Fourth Hokage), the winner of the world-wide popularity poll project--NARUTOP99! Just how exactly did Minato, the father of Naruto, develop a certain jutsu...?

Genres: Manga, Comics, Fiction, Fantasy

51 pages, Paperback

Published July 16, 2023

About the author

Masashi Kishimoto (岸本斉史 Kishimoto Masashi) is a Japanese manga artist, well known for creating the manga series Naruto. His younger twin brother, Seishi Kishimoto, is also a manga artist and creator of the manga series O-Parts Hunter (666 Satan) and Blazer Drive. Two of his former assistants, Osamu Kajisa (Tattoo Hearts) and Yuuichi Itakura (Hand's), have also gone on to moderate success following their work on Naruto.

Kishimoto's first work as a manga artist was Karakuri (カラクリ?), which he submitted to Shueisha in 1995. This earned him the Weekly Shōnen Jump's monthly "Hop Step Award" in 1996, granted to promising new manga artists. This was followed in 1997 by a pilot version of Naruto (NARUTO－ナルト－), published in Akamaru Jump Summer. In 1998, Kishimoto premiered as a Weekly Shōnen Jump artist with a serialized version of Karakuri in Weekly Shōnen Jump, but it proved unpopular and was canceled soon after. In 1999, a serialized version of Naruto began publication in Weekly Shōnen Jump and quickly became a hit.

Reviews

[َ]

so minato created the rasengan to protect kushina ☹️

[Alexa (Alexa Loves Books)]

I am obviously a bit biased as Minato Namikaze is one of my favorite anime characters, but this was excellent and had me screaming very bloody loudly internally the entire time I read it.

[Jere González]

es re lindo que viva el amor

[lipa✮⋆˙]

i LOVED this but i might be a bit biased because minato is one of my fav characters, just wished we got more info on his childhood, family, etc. Apart from that i'm grateful we got this one-shot manga with minato and kushina 🥲🫶

[Dalt]

I don’t care if I’m biased this was amazing 😩😮‍💨

[Bibabutzemann]

Literally such a perfect one shot. Thank you Kishimoto for making it about Minato AND Kushina bc the one cannot be without the other - I love them sm.

[Rosenblue(vintage & retro manga & classic literature deserve more love on GR)]

This is a one-shot spin-off story of the main Naruto series.
This story is mostly about Kushina's feelings of becoming the next Jinchuriki and her longing for Minato.
The second half of story covers Minato and Kushina naming the Rasengan that Minato created for Kushina.
The story was a bit rushed and there was some awkward dialogue between Mito and Kushina but the ending was quite heartwarming.
I hope to see a mini animated episodes of this story.

[Ivy]

Namikaze Minato has been my favorite male character ever since the episode where he met with grown-up Naruto. I was waiting for him to have his series because of the mystery of his origins, but it seems that will not be possible. I am still glad that he got the spot to have his spin-off one-shot story. Let's just say I have some expectations. I am a bit biased when I say the story is rushed. Although we know now the reason for Rasengan's creation is because of Minato's undying love for Kushina, I thought there would be a prequel from Minato's childhood beside the couple's encounters. Anyway, it is still a relevant book.

[Scott Campbell]

I’m pretty bias on this because Naruto is one of my favorite mangas, even if I didn’t finish it completely. I was very unaware that Naruto’s mom had the kyuubi inside her but learning the origin to the rasengan was amazing. I also think Minato is one of the coolest characters between the different medias that Naruto can be found in.

[Ai]

It would've been so nice if we got more of canon Minato Kushina content but alas. Nevertheless, this manga is nice for a glimpse of MinaKushi dynamics showing a bit of Kushina's kekkei genkai and Minato's aptitude for long jutsu names that we witnessed during the 4th Shinobi War when he was reanimated. I enjoyed it, would've given a higher rating if it was longer.

[Laurene Allibert]

IT WAS FIRE !!! You go Yellow Flash !
Far batter than Boruto in my opinion. Minato is definitely one of my best characters alongside Kakashi and Tobirama. It was a great story even though it was really short.
They should continue to show us the old beasts of Konoha.

[Абрахам Хосебр]

Сфера морозива Джирайї, що надихає і подвійного закруту волосся!
Прочитав через ностальгію онлі.
Кішімото все ще чудовий художник і сценарист.
Колись я таки прочитаю цю епопею повністю, а поки цей спін-оф ван-шот.

[Ben Nealis]

A shockingly good one shot that has action, lore and pulls on your heartstrings. I am finally beginning the story of Naruto and thought this the best place to start, I believe I was right as despite years being uninterested in the series I am ready to give it a chance.

[Sajan]

The butterfly symbolism, the spiral symbolism, the rasengan being passed down to their son turning out to be a symbol of his parent's undying love, Minato's face aligning with the Hokages 🥹 - this quite literally means everything to me.

[Bianca Synaí]

¡Qué bonito regreso de Naruto! Ojalá nos dieran más historias así de bonitas.💛❤️🧡

[nush 𐔌՞ ܸ.ˬ.ܸ՞𐦯]

as if i needed more reasons to re-watch Naruto AGAIN. but this stirred up a lot so back to it we gooo 🏃‍♀️

[aylén ✧.*]

asbjskds 😭💕🤧❤️💙✨

[Caleb Shaw]

I wish there were more. This was such a cool window into Minato’s life before becoming Hokage!

[Ind24]

I just wanted more. Like a longer story. That’s all.
Uh fourth Hokage for the win. Forever.

[Bradley]

A perfect nostalgia piece. Minato and Kushina in their youth, an angry Kurama, and the birth of a dual ice cream whorl. :)

[Carli]

who would've thought the rasengan was formerly named 'the ice pop-inspired nimbus jiraiya twin whorl sphere' lol
also this warmed my heart in so many ways I love minato and kushina smmm

[George]

He deserved this.

[Leandro]

Fue divertido ver a los padres de Naruto en sus tiempos de jóvenes.
No aporta mucho a la historia, pero me gusta.

[rondoravioli]

This one-shot was just okay. While it was nice to see more of Minato and Kushina, as well as Jiraiya, it wasn't all that remarkable and I don't see myself reading it again.

[m.・゜゜・・゜゜・．]

obsessed w kushina and minato. finest shinobi couple since hashirama and mito. thank god for the bad bitch x silly genius guy trope

[Ariadna]

Minato y Kushina, y el origen del Rasengan.

[laura]

Minato solo creó el rasengan para proteger a Kushina, los amo☹️

[Mar]

I know I'm super biased because I love Minato and Kushina, but I enjoyed this so much ♡

[Va]

Viva el amor 🥰

[giselle zapata]

ill make a jutsu so u can keep yourself safe during the war but you're not nerdy enough to understand