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Title:
Naruto

Series Titles:
Naruto (1999)

Creator:
Masashi Kishimoto

Publisher: 
VIZ Media

Length:
Naruto - 51+ volumes (48 available in English - ongoing)

Other Info: 
The Naruto manga series was released in the West a fair while before the anime, and is being serialised in the US edition of Shonen Jump magazine.  So far 48 volumes have been released in America, whilst 51 are available in Japan.  The US release, from VIZ Media, is printed in the 'tankouban' size of most recent manga, and are printed from right to left.

At chapter 245 (volume 28), the story skips forward three years to focus on the now older characters facing even tougher challenges.  Most of the characters are redesigned to reflect the time difference, not only looking older but often having new costumes and skills.  Although the series is continuous in Japan, many fans refer to the first 238 chapters as 'pre time skip' Naruto or simply Part 1, and the chapters

Naruto Uzumaki

after this 'time skip' Naruto or Part 2.  The second part of the story forms the basis for the anime series Naruto Shippuden.

Sandwiched between 'pre time skip' Naruto and 'time skip' Naruto (volumes 27 & 28) is an six chapter short story called Kakashi Gaiden.  This story goes into the past to tell the story of how Naruto's teacher Kakashi Hakate obtained the power of the Sharingan Eye.
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Availability:
All available volumes of the manga can be easily found in most comic and sci-fi shops, whilst bookshops generally stock a few volumes and can order the rest in.  The series is also heavily stocked by libraries in the UK, with even small regional libraries having a few volumes.  Hiring them from the library is free, and although hire periods vary you can generally borrow several books at once for up to three weeks at a time.  Check with your local library for details on their rules.  The best way to order books in either bookshops or libraries is to provide their ISBN number - international cataloguing codes given to all new books on publishing.  The ISBN 10 codes for the first three volumes of Naruto are as follows:

Vol 1:  1-56931-900-6
Vol 2:  1-59116-178-9
Vol 3:  1-59116-187-8

Good places to pick it up all of the manga without generally having to order volumes in include Travelling Man and Forbidden Planet, and online shops like Amazon and Anime On Line.
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