New Naruto: Minato manga panels leak ahead of its official release

Naruto: Minato manga is set to officially release on Tuesday, July 18, 2023. However, before the manga’s release worldwide, the manga panels for the same have gotten leaked online as they give fans a preview of what they can expect from the upcoming one-shot manga.

Following Minato Namikaze’s win in the NARUTOP99 Worldwide Character Popularity Poll, the Fourth Hokage is set to receive a one-shot manga, created by the series mangaka Masashi Kishimoto. Up till now, the manga has only revealed the manga’s base plot, which states that the story will be based on the protagonist’s jutsu.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers from the Naruto: Minato one-shot manga.

Naruto: Minato manga spoilers show Team Jiraiya going up against two Tailed Beasts

🔥🔥 Preview of a few pages of the One Shot on the character Minato Namikaze. The One Shot is called “Naruto Gaiden – Whirlwind in the Vortex”. 🔥🔥

By Masashi Kishimoto. pic.twitter.com/vgZL0MJ5h0

— Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections (@NinjaStormCo) July 12, 2023

As per the spoilers for Naruto: Minato manga, Team Jiraiya is set to go up against Four Tailed Beast Son Goku and Five Tailed Beast Kokuo. Considering that the panel that has been leaked for the same are colored panels, it is to be expected that this happens at the start of the one-shot manga. Fans might probably get to see Team Jiraiya work together for the first time as they fight the Tailed Beasts and Shinobi from Village Hidden in the Rocks.

Given that the team members have been shown for only the second time in the series, it is to be expected that fans will finally get to learn something about them.

Kushina Uzumaki as seen in the anime (Image via Studio Pierrot)

There is also set to be a hospital scene, similar to that of Sasuke and Sakura‘s in Naruto. While the manga’s protagonist seems injured from a battle, the Jinchuriki can be seen meeting him and hugging him, upon being glad that he was okay.

The leaked manga panels also showed scenes focusing on Kushina Uzumaki. She is seemingly set to lose control over the Nine Tailed Beast. Thus, the beast tries to take over her. That’s when the Fourth Hokage will come to her aide and help her seal the beast back inside her body.

Kishimoto bringing Real Shounen back
Minato manga Peak Fiction pic.twitter.com/JNLkVUVek2

— Storm (@KingStormTop1) July 12, 2023

The leaked manga panels also show Minato Namikaze using his Rasengan against Kurama. However, it is yet not confirmed if Kurama will actually come out of Kushina, or if the fight is just a projection of how Minato hopes to seal the beast back inside the Jinchuriki.

Upon seeing Masashi Kishimoto‘s illustrations again, fans were convinced that he was better at drawing than Mikio Ikemoto. Ikemoto is the person Kishimoto picked to create Naruto’s sequel series, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations. That said, fans have almost always been disappointed by Ikemoto’s art as they are often lackluster.

Manga panel from Boruto manga (Image via Shueisha)

The worst part about the situation is how Boruto is a monthly manga, yet happens to have poor art compared to the majority of manga series that appear in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump. Due to this, after seeing Masashi Kishimoto’s work in the new Minato manga, fans want him to work on the Boruto manga as well.

While this seems improbable for now, there remains a possibility that after the response to the new one-shot manga, mangaka Masashi Kishimoto could get convinced to work on the Boruto manga alongside his former Chief Assistant.