Masashi Kishimoto
For the ninth "Naruto" film, "", Kishimoto was responsible for both the story planning and characters' designs. To promote the film, Kishimoto worked in "Motion Comic Naruto" a DVD that shows scenes from the manga in 3D that was given to the first 1.5 million people who went to the cinema. Regarding "Naruto"s publication Kishimoto told Tetsuya Nishio in July 2012 that the series would take over a year and a half to end. However, Kishimoto admitted that it now appears that the manga will continue beyond that timeframe. In April 2012, it was announced that Kishimoto would publish a one-shot version of his long-postponed mafia manga, "Mario", in "Jump Square", based on the rough, 160-page manuscript he began working on before "Naruto" became serialized.
Lars Alexandersson
Lars' inclusion in "Naruto Shipuuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2" was initially conceived of by CyberConnect2 CEO Hiroshi Matsuyama. In 2009, Matsuyama read in a "Weekly Shōnen Jump" magazine that Lars' third costume had been designed by Kishimoto and thought he should be included in "Ultimate Ninja Storm 2". As a result, Matsuyama approached "Tekken 6" producer Suguru Sasaki and his team and asked them to include Lars in the game using Kishimoto's outfit. Once this was approved, the "Tekken" staff started assisting CyberConnect2 to adjust Lars' moves to fit the other characters in the "Naruto" game. When the work was concluded, Matsuyama was surprised at how well Lars fitted in with the game's cast.