Naruto: New Minato One-Shot Manga Explained!

The celebration for the 20th Anniversary of the Naruto anime has been crazy, with popularity polls, concerts, and more!

However, what fans were looking forward to the most was the one-shot on the winner of the character popularity poll.

Minato Namikaze won the poll, and the One-Shot is here! Let’s take a look!

The one-shot can be read on Manga Plus.

Minato and Kushina’s Relationship:

The one-shot manga, titled Naruto: The Whorl within the Spiral primarily focuses on the relationship between Minato and Kushina.

Out of Minato’s character arc, this was the least explored part. Fans were happy to see this, especially with the cute moments the couple shared throughout the nearly 60-page one-shot.

We see how hard it is for the two to meet due to Kushina being a Jhinchuriki, and Minato being super busy as an elite shinobi.

However, the two meet every morning and practice together, which is kind of like their bonding time.

Minato’s Training To Create The Rasengan:

We also get a more in-depth look into how Minato created the Rasengan!

In the manga, he is seen training with Jiraiya, and the two discuss how to make the jutsu stable.

Jiraiya talks about the old theory of visualizing kneading chakra in the direction of the whorl of one’s hair.

Jiraiya also reveals that he always whorls his chakra in a clockwise direction.

When Minato asks for the direction his head swirls in, we get a funny moment where it does in both!

The manga also features a tear-jerking scene, where Jiraiya breaks the iconic ice-pop for himself and Jiraiya.

Minato then realizes that he needs to knead his chakra in both directions equally, allowing him to create a stable version!

He then calls it the “Ice Pop-inspired nimbus Jiraiya twin whorl sphere”.

Minato and Kushina’s Seal Training, Kurama’s Aggressiveness:

Kushina was watching what Minato was doing from afar, and it is then revealed that the Rasengan was inspired by the tailed-beast bomb!

The manga also sheds light on how hard it was to control a complete Kurama, with Kushina being unable to go across a barrier without risking a seal break.

We also see the Uzumaki Tower, where the surviving Uzumakis live. While we don’t know why neither of them helped Naruto.

But hey, we’re here to enjoy, right?

Kushina also named the attack Rasengan.

Towards the end of the manga, Kushina loses control over Kurama since she’s out of the barrier.

While Minato is severely injured, he manages to use the Tetragram seal to save Kushina.

Final Thoughts:

In a statement, Kishimoto said, “While trying to make a story that would match the expectations of his fans, I ended up with more pages than I had originally anticipated,”.

And, he has delivered. The art was great, the story gave important insight into Minato’s life, making him a much better character overall.