Naruto: The Tests of the Ninja by Masashi Kishimoto

Published by Viz, Naruto is a graphic novel released under their Shonen Jump monthly manga anthology. Created by Masashi Kishimoto, this shonen manga title is a exciting adventure story about a ninja-in-training named Naruto Uzumaki.

In the village of Konohagakure, the best ninja in the world are known to live there. However, one day, a powerful nine-tailed fox demon attacked the village. Although this demon was very powerful, the ninja united to defeat this demon. The demon was sealed within the body of a newborn child named Naruto. Although the ninja were able to rid the demon of their village, the ninja champion Hokage lost his life protecting the village.

Twelve years later, Naruto, the boy in which the demon was sealed in, is now a ninja-in-training at the Ninja Academy with the dream of becoming the next Hokage. However, he has led a lonely life because the village people treat him coldly and ignore him due to the secret of his birth. Unknowing of his past and what lies beneath him, Naruto acts very mischievous and plays pranks in order to gain the attention of others. Finally, after 12 years he finds out why he is isolated from the rest of the village and learns of the strong power that he possesses.

The first volume of Naruto is packed with action and comedy. The story is very interesting and will appeal to fans of titles such as Dragon Ball. The character designs are very unique and distinctive. Also, many readers will appreciate the detailed fight scenes, which have the ability to draw in the reader into the story. The only aspect of Viz's version of Naruto is the dialogue in the story. Some of the sentences tend to be very long and are quite "wordy." Although this sometimes affects the "flow" of the story at times, one can still appreciate the basic idea of the story though the illustrations.

Naruto is a very imaginable and fun adventure story that many will find enjoyable. It possesses all the qualities of what makes manga appealing to fans such as featuring a variety of genres all in one. Naruto has already been transformed into a television anime series by Studio Pierrot which is being broadcasted in Japan on TV Tokyo. Despite some minor setbacks in the domestic manga version, Naruto has enough story power and illustration appeal to make it successful among manga readers in the domestic market.

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