On Sunday, August 25, the manga artist Masashi Kishimoto and his successor Mikio Ikemoto could hardly contain their emotion on stage at the Grand Rex in Paris as the 2,500-strong audience erupted in applause and cheers. Understandably so: The public had come to pay tribute not only to the creator of their childhood hero but also to his creation, one of the world's most famous fictional ninjas and one of the French public's favorite manga characters for over 20 years, the mischievous Naruto. However, fans won't be able to relive the unique moment because no photos or videos were allowed.

Welcomed with the attention befitting star authors and under the extremely close guard of a select group of Japanese publishers, the two mangakas made a two-day visit to Paris to mark the publication in France of the latest installment in the great ninja saga begun in 1999, Boruto: Two Blue Vortex, a series in which the hero is no longer the famous blond ninja but his son Boruto.

If Kishimoto had a tear in his eye, it was a tear of joy. He realized very early in his career that, to survive in the highly competitive cultural industry, he had to foster a kind of "inner stability," as he told Le Monde during an interview earlier on Sunday morning in Le Bon Marché's prestigious private salons, where the two authors were holding a signing session. For him, it's impossible to be dazzled by success or discouraged when popularity wanes because "it becomes difficult to draw under pressure," adding, "Being in the same arena as the great authors when I started out was difficult."

In fact, it took Kishimoto more than three years of unsuccessful attempts before he managed to be published in the prestigious pre-publication magazine Weekly Shonen Jump, the same magazine that saw the birth of Dragon Ball (a major inspiration for the young Kishimoto) and One Piece, his competitor launched two years earlier. This experience is directly reflected in his hero, an aspiring ninja ostracized from his village who strives to become the city's highest dignitary and hopes, in becoming famous, to finally be loved by everyone else. "While drawing Naruto, I realized how important perseverance is, and I made it a [central] theme of my work."

Their visit was a major event. And with good reason: Kishimoto's last trip abroad dates back to the autumn of 2015, when he met his New York fans, a year after concluding his series. Since then, his former assistant Ikemoto now has the future of this universe in his hands, while Kishimoto has become a mere spectator and "first reader" of the world he invented. "For Boruto, I wrote the story up to the third volume. I partially laid down [the plot] and a few clues. But since then, it's Mr. Ikemoto who [has been thinking of and drawing] everything. At the moment, I'm only doing a few checks, as if I were a big boss!" he told Le Monde with a laugh. "I didn't think it would go on for this long, but Mr. Ikemoto has taken up a lot of ideas, developing them, adding characters..."

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