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.
Masashi Kishimoto
In August 2015, Kishimoto announced that he already has finalized what he wants to do for his next manga series. A sci-fi manga, the series will feature a unique protagonist, with Kishimoto having already completed the character designs. Kishimoto also plans for the work to surpass "Naruto" in quality, and plans to release the series monthly via the digital magazine "Shonen Jump Plus" due to the taxing effort required for a weekly series. Kishimoto has not yet finalized when he plans to officially announce the series, as he wants to spend time with his family. On December 19, 2015, it was announced that Kishimoto would supervise the monthly series beginning in Spring 2016. The new spinoff will be illustrated by Kishimoto's chief assistant on "Naruto", Mikio Ikemoto, and written by his writing partner for "", Ukyo Kodachi. It was preceded by a "Naruto: The Path Lit by the Full Moon" one-shot written and illustrated by Kishimoto.