Announced at the end of The Last -Naruto the Movie- with Bolt image on Saturday

The Last -Naruto the Movie- opened in Japan on Saturday and ended with an announcement that a new Naruto project will "open" next August. The Japanese term for "open" (kōkai) is usually used for movies in theaters. The announcement featured Bolt in a colored manga image, along with character sketches.

The Last -Naruto the Movie- is part of the larger "Naruto Shin Jidai Kaimaku Project" (Naruto's New Era Opening Project) marking the 15th anniversary of the original manga. The Naruto manga by Masashi Kishimoto ended in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine on November 10 after 15 years of serialization. A new mini-series by Kishimoto with "a newly budding Konoha story" will launch next spring. An art exhibition and a stage play will also debut next spring.

Kishimoto had said in an interview last month that he will still have other work left to do in the Naruto franchise until next summer, so he will not begin preparing his next non-Naruto title in earnest until after that.