Originally published in the pages of Weekly Shonen Jump in Japan in 1999, Naruto was created as a manga comic by Masashi Kishimoto. So far, 31 volumes of the manga series have been published in Japan, with a total of 299 chapters written. Viz Media publishes a translated version in the American Shonen Jump magazine, which has become their best-selling manga series.

Even though the anime television series debuted after the manga, it is quickly catching up since one anime episode covers around one and a half manga chapters. The series has also spawned two movies; Naruto the Movie: Yukihime Nipocho and Naruto the Movie 2: Maboroshi no Chiteiiseki. A third movie is currently in production.

The story takes off in the Village Hidden in the Leaves, home to the stealthiest ninja in the land. But twelve years earlier, a fearsome nine-tailed fox terrorized the village before it was subdued and its spirit sealed within the body of a baby boy. Now the boy, Naruto, has grown up to become a hyperactive ninja-in-training who's more interested in pranks than schoolwork...but still determined to become the greatest ninja ever!

Plus Licens represents Viz Media for television and video/DVD rights to Naruto in Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Hungary, Iceland, Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Sweden, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekhistan.