Naruto, Vol. 6

{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0{\fonttbl{\f0\fswiss\fprq2\fcharset0 Arial;}{\f1\fnil\fcharset0 Arial;}} {\colortbl ;\red0\green0\blue0;} \viewkind4\uc1\pard\lang1033\f0\fs20 Naruto is a ninja-in-training with a need for attention, a knack for mischief, and sealed within him, a strange, formidable power. His antics amuse his instructor Kakashi and irritate his teammates, intense Sasuke and witty Sakura, but Naruto is serious about becoming the greatest ninja in the village of Konohagakure! \par \cf1 \par Through Naruto's pluck and a healthy dose of luck, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura passed the written portion of their Journeyman Ninja Selection Exams...but that was only the beginning. They're now in the thick of the exam's second portion, held in the aptly named Forest of Death, and instructor Mitarashi Anko has promised to cut the number of advancing teams by half! Each team is turned against the others, using stealth and cunning to purloin the scrolls they need to pass the test while trying to survive the forest's many perils. And if that's not enough, there's a mysterious imposter among the students who has it in for Sasuke!\cf0\lang2057\f1\fs18 \par }

Author/artist Masashi Kishimoto was born in 1974 in rural Okayama Prefecture, Japan. After spending time in art college, he won the Hop Step Award for new manga artists with his manga Karakuri ("Mechanism"). Kishimoto decided to base his next story on traditional Japanese culture. His first version of Naruto, drawn in 1997, was a one-shot story about fox spirits; his final version, which debuted in Weekly Shonen Jump in 1999, quickly became the most popular ninja manga in Japan.