On July 24, 2009, Viz Media announced that the series would be released on the iTunes Store. The English dub of Naruto: Shippuden made its US premiere on Disney XD on October 28, 2009.
Later on January 15, Viz began providing subtitled versions of the latest Naruto: Shippuden episodes a week after they first aired in Japan, with a new episode being added to the Naruto website each subsequent Thursday. On January 2, 2009, Viz Media and Crunchyroll provided eight uncut English subtitled Naruto: Shippuden episodes on the official Naruto website. It began broadcasting on Februon TV Tokyo, and concluded on March 23, 2017. The series is directed by Hayato Date, and produced by Pierrot and TV Tokyo. It is set two and a half years after Part I in the Naruto universe, following the ninja teenager Naruto Uzumaki and his allies. Naruto: Shippuden is an anime series mainly adapted from Part II of Masashi Kishimoto's original manga series, with exactly 500 episodes. The cover of the first DVD compilation released by Pierrot and Aniplex.
