High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The episodes of the first season of the anime series Naruto: Shippuden are directed by Hayato Date and produced by Studio Pierrot and TV Tokyo. They are based on Part II of the Naruto manga series by Masashi Kishimoto. Naruto: Shippuden is a continuation of the Naruto manga series by Kishimoto, and continues the same storyline after the passing of two and a half years in the fictional Naruto universe. The episodes began airing on February 15, 2007 on TV Tokyo in Japan, and the first season finished on October 25, 2007. The first season was released on DVD in Japan over eight discs between August 1, 2007 and March 5, 2008. The season was referred to by these DVDs as the chapter of Kazekage Rescue. On January 2, 2009 Viz Media and Crunchyroll began providing subtitled Naruto: Shippuden episodes. Viz stated the English dub would air on October 28, 2009 on Disney XD weekly. A North American DVD release of the Shippuden series English version was released on September 29, 2009.