Masashi Kishimoto
Following the conclusion of "Naruto", Kishimoto became involved in the "Start of a New Era Project" commemorating the manga's conclusion and 15th anniversary. On the last page of the final chapter, "Weekly Shonen Jump" announced that a spin-off miniseries, also authored by Kishimoto, would be released in 2015. The series, "", ran from April to July 2015. Beyond this, Kishimoto was also heavily involved with two canonical movies, "" and "", as he personally supervised both movies, and illustrated several light novels. When asked by Boruto Uzumaki's voice actress Yūko Sanpei to continue making "Naruto" movies, Kishimoto stated that he was taking a break and could not physically do so.
Sasuke Uchiha
Manga artist Masashi Kishimoto did not include Sasuke Uchiha in his original concept for the "Naruto" series, a story revolving around the character Naruto Uzumaki. Discussing the series' future, his editor advised him to add a rival character for the protagonist Naruto and he created Sasuke. The character's first name came from Sanpei Shirato's manga "Sasuke" and Sarutobi Sasuke, a fictional ninja character in Japanese children's stories. To introduce Sasuke, Kishimoto wrote a chapter that was set before the formation of his ninja squad, Team 7. The idea was scrapped and Sasuke was introduced with Team 7, retaining the same traits and rivalry with Naruto.