Shippuden is the longest era in Naruto and the one with the most characters in it. CardSpicy indexes 68 Naruto characters across every line we cover, and 59 of them appear in Shippuden — almost every era on this site feeds into this one.
It is also the point where the story stops being one village’s story. The Akatsuki move from a background threat to the organising force of the plot, the other hidden villages become places rather than names, and the tailed beasts and the Otsutsuki arrive. All ten Akatsuki characters in our index belong here.
Two things make the era worth its own page in 2026. The third Mythos set is an Akatsuki set with a fixed release date, and the collectible line has moved its own story into Shippuden as well.
What counts as Shippuden
Shippuden is the story that begins after the two-and-a-half-year time skip and runs to the end of Naruto. In card terms it is not a product: no manufacturer has shipped a box labelled Shippuden across the whole line, and nothing printed on a Naruto card reads that way. It is a stretch of story, and we group characters by it because that is the grouping the cards respect.
As on every page in this section, the era does not change what protection a card needs. Every Naruto card is printed at the standard 63 × 88 mm.
The 59 Shippuden characters
These are the Shippuden characters in our index, grouped by the affiliation we tag on each tile of the Naruto card index. A character can belong to more than one era, so this list overlaps the Part 1 and Boruto lists rather than replacing them.
- Leaf — Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, Kakashi Hatake, Sai, Yamato, Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, Ino Yamanaka, Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuga, Neji Hyuga, Rock Lee, Might Guy, Tenten, Asuma Sarutobi, Konohamaru Sarutobi, Shizune, Jiraiya, Tsunade, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Hashirama Senju, Tobirama Senju, Minato Namikaze, Kushina Uzumaki, Danzo Shimura, Shisui Uchiha.
- Akatsuki — Itachi Uchiha, Pain, Konan, Deidara, Sasori, Hidan, Kakuzu, Zetsu, Madara Uchiha, Obito Uchiha.
- Sand — Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, Rasa.
- Mist — Kisame Hoshigaki, Mei Terumi.
- Cloud — Killer B, Fourth Raikage A, Darui.
- Stone — Onoki, Kurotsuchi.
- Sound — Orochimaru, Kabuto Yakushi, Suigetsu Hozuki, Karin, Jugo.
- Tailed beasts — Kurama, Gyuki, Shukaku.
- Otsutsuki — Kaguya Otsutsuki, Hagoromo Otsutsuki.
Akatsuki is a Shippuden story
All ten Akatsuki characters in our index first appear, or come into their own, in Shippuden. That matters for cards because the group is built to be collected as a set: the members share a visual language, they are printed together in the same tiers, and a collector who wants one usually wants the rest.
The pattern shows up three times over, in three products from two different publishers. In the collectible line, Akatsuki members sit high in the rarity ladder. In the Mythos gallery, they carry their own keyword. In Bandai’s unreleased game, Akatsuki Organization appears in the affiliation list printed on the cards themselves. Different boxes, different companies, the same group chosen as a spine.
Mythos Set 3 is an Akatsuki set
The third Naruto Mythos set is called Akatsuki and moves the game into Shippuden. It has two dates: a pre-release on 7 November 2026 and a worldwide release on 13 November 2026. It is the first Mythos set to launch in the United States and Europe on the same day, which matters if you are in North America — it is the first time a new Naruto set can be bought at the same moment as everywhere else.
Beside the regular booster box, the set ships a Special Pack: four packs with two promotional cards and an oversized card in it. Which cards sit in the top tiers is not published yet, and we leave that blank rather than filling it in.
The collectible line moves here too
The collectible line has pushed its own story forward as well. KAYOU’s Jin Chapter Series 4, due in North America on 16 October 2026, takes the KAYOU narrative into the Shippuden period for the first time, which is covered in the Series 4 guide.
The two lines are not the same product and never have been. Mythos is a playable game with a published card list; the collectible line is not playable and has never published one. The Naruto card list records the one that has, and says so.
Frequently asked questions
Which Naruto characters are Shippuden characters?
Our index has 59, including the Leaf leads — Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno and Kakashi Hatake — the ten Akatsuki characters we list (Itachi Uchiha, Pain, Konan, Deidara, Sasori, Hidan, Kakuzu, Zetsu, Madara Uchiha and Obito Uchiha), the other village leaders and their seconds, and the tailed beasts and Otsutsuki characters.
What is Mythos Set 3?
Mythos Set 3 is the third set of the Naruto Mythos trading card game, named Akatsuki, and it moves the game into the Shippuden era. It has a pre-release on 7 November 2026 and a worldwide release on 13 November 2026, the first Mythos set to launch in the United States and Europe on the same day.
When does Mythos Set 3 come out?
The pre-release is 7 November 2026 and the worldwide release is 13 November 2026. We use the publisher’s date rather than a retailer’s shipping window, because the two do not always match.
Which era has the most Naruto characters?
Shippuden. 59 of the 68 characters in our index appear in it, against 38 in Part 1 and 13 in the Boruto era. The counts overlap, because a character who spans two eras is counted in both.
Do Shippuden cards need different protection?
No. Every Naruto card, whatever era the character comes from, is printed at 63 × 88 mm, the same as Pokémon, One Piece, Gundam and Dragon Ball cards, so one standard-size sleeve and holder set covers them all.
Sources
Sources and further reading
- Manufacturer card galleries — for the per-card records, keyword lists and printed affiliation used on this page.
- Set announcements from the publisher — for the Set 3 name, the two release dates and the Special Pack contents.
- KAYOU — Naruto collectible card product listings, for the series name and the North American on-sale date.
- The United States distributor announcement — for the same-day launch in the United States and Europe.
This page is a collector’s index, not a price guide, and it quotes no values. Character counts come from our own index and change as the index grows. Card names, characters and series are the property of their respective rights holders, and this page is independent of them.