Gameplay:

Naruto is a multi-player, duel-based game, in which players take alternating turns putting cards into play and attacking using Ninja cards combined with Jutsu, Mission, or Client cards. The goal of the game is to either earn ten battle rewards before the other player or force the other player to run out of cards. In cases where both players meet the conditions to win, the win is deferred to the current attacking player. Players each use a deck consisting of exactly forty cards. Of those forty cards, no more than twenty-five can be Ninja cards and no more than three cards of the same name can be used in a single deck.

Card Design:

A Naruto card is divided into two halves. The upper half is the art half of the card and illustrates its subject. The upper-left and upper-right corners identify the card type and chakra type, respectively. The lower half gives the name of the card and describes its effects and statistics. On the bottom of every card lies the copyright information, card number, set logo, and a number of white, yellow or red dots (or lack thereof) determining rarity.

Ninja cards are identified by a grey background. To the left of the card name is the ninja's village of origin. To the right are the card's Entrance cost and Hand cost, identified by a shuriken and an image of three cards, respectively, both of which are numbered. Below the card name is the card's basic statistics, giving the ninja's home village, rank, and gender. It may also have certain special effects or statuses such as "Mental Power" or "Growth". Beneath that is the card's effect text, which clarifies what a ninja does aside from attacking and defending. In the bottom-right corner are the combat numbers and the combat attribute, the former of which determines the card's overall power. The number printed on the bottom is the card's healthy combat number while the one printed on the side is its injured combat number (which comes into effect after the card is defeated by another). In most cases, the injured number is lower than the healthy one. The combat attribute is used in determining the effect of other cards used on it.

Mission cards are designed in basically the same manner as Ninja cards, but have a deep sea green background.

Jutsu cards have various symbols beneath the name of the card. These symbols are the card's "Jutsu cost," and must be paid for using the upper-right hand symbols of cards in the player's chakra (voluntary discard) area in order to gain their effects in combat.

Client cards are similar to Ninja cards, but have two symbols in the upper-right corner and have no combat stats (they cannot be used in ninja battles).