Naruto: First Official Data Book ( NARUTO―ナルト―キャラクターオフィシャルデータBOOK, Naruto Hiden: Rin no Sho Kyarakutā Ofisharu Dēta Book ?, lit.Bench one-shot (October 2010, published in Weekly Shōnen Jump).Naruto (November 1999 – ongoing, serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump).Karakuri (April 1998 – May 1998, serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump).Naruto pilot (1997, published in Akamaru Jump Summer (1997) and Naruto: The Official Fanbook (2002)).Karakuri one-shot (1996, Hop Step Award winner, published in Hop Step Award Selection 18 ('95~'96) (1996), Akamaru Jump Winter (1997), and Naruto: The Official Premium Fanbook (2009)).For instance, he utilized an airbrush for one illustration for a Weekly Shōnen Jump cover, but decided not to use it for future drawings largely due to the cleanup required. These steps are followed when he is drawing the actual manga and making the color illustrations that commonly adorn the cover of tankōbon, the cover of Weekly Shōnen Jump, or other media, but the toolkit he utilizes occasionally changes. When drawing the characters, Kishimoto follows a five-step process that he consistently follows: concept and rough sketch, drafting, inking, shading, and coloring.
He has also cited Yoshihiro Togashi as one of his favorite manga authors, while the manga Sasuke by Sanpei Shirato, a series which Kishimoto likes, inspired Kishimoto in the development of the character Sasuke Uchiha. When redesigning three characters for the series, Kishimoto cites The Matrix, one of his favorite movies, as an inspiration for such outfits. Kishimoto cites Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball series as one of his influences, noting that Goku, the protagonist of Dragon Ball, was a key factor when creating Naruto Uzumaki due to his energetic and mischievous personality. When Kishimoto was originally creating the Naruto series, he looked to other shōnen manga for influences while attempting to make his characters as unique as possible. Realizing both had their own style regarding the designs, Kishimoto decided to draw manga while crafting his own images. This made him analyze the artwork of Akira 's original author, Katsuhiro Otomo, as well as Akira Toriyama, another artist he admired. While as a child, Kishimoto enjoyed reading manga, he was inspired to write one after seeing a promotional image for the film Akira. In 2010, Kishimoto also produced a one-shot baseball manga, Bench ( ベンチ, Benchi ?), as part of Jump's "Top of the Super Legend" project, a series of six one-shot manga by famed Weekly Shōnen Jump artists, also including Sorachi Hideaki, Konomi Takeshi, Usuta Kyosuke, Akimoto Osamu, and Akira Toriyama. In 2009, Kishimoto designed an extra costume for the video game character Lars Alexandersson for Tekken 6, and in 2010 this character appeared in Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 as part of a special cross-promotion. The seventh volume of Viz's release became the first manga to ever win a Quill Award when it claimed the award for "Best Graphic Novel" in 2006. The Naruto manga series has become one of Viz Media's top properties, accounting for nearly 10% of all manga sales in 2006. Naruto is still ongoing, with more than 52 volumes and just over 50 released in English, and has sold over 100 million copies in Japan and over 95 million copies were sold in the US followed by over 93 million copies worldwide (outside Japan and United States) as of volume 36, also being adapted into two successful anime series. In 1999, a serialized version of Naruto began publication in Weekly Shōnen Jump and quickly became a hit. In 1998, Kishimoto premiered as a Weekly Shōnen Jump artist with a serialized version of Karakuri in Weekly Shōnen Jump, but it proved unpopular and was canceled soon after.
This was followed in 1997 by a pilot version of Naruto ( NARUTO-ナルト- ?), published in Akamaru Jump Summer. This earned him the Weekly Shōnen Jump's monthly "Hop Step Award" in 1996, granted to promising new manga artists. Kishimoto's first work as a manga artist was Karakuri ( カラクリ ?), which he submitted to Shueisha in 1995.