D3 Publisher of America had a playable version of the upcoming DS RPG, Naruto: Path of the Ninja. Based on the Naruto franchise, which is the most popular show in America in the 8-14 male market, Path of the Ninja is an amalgam of the story from the original Naruto RPG for the GBA and the improvements seen in the Japanese-only RPGs for the DS.

With six playable characters, Path of the Ninja spans the first three seasons of Naruto, all the way up to the Chuunin exams. Players need no previous knowledge of Naruto to play, as the story starts from the very beginning. The game features a combat system oriented around positioning, offering each character an offensive, neutral, and defensive position as they attack and use over ninety jutsus found in the game. Some of these jutsus, which function much like spells in other games, have the player doing minigames on the touch screen, which can range from simple rubbing of the screen to drawing runes, similar to Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow.

Naruto: Path of the Ninja is currently slated for release in October.