Naoki Tsuji was a Japanese manga artist born in Kyoto Prefecture in 1935. Before achieving success in manga, he moved to Tokyo in 1955 and worked as a kamishibai (paper theater) artist and an illustrator. His career as a manga creator began in the early 1960s, with his first serialized work appearing in a shonen magazine in 1963. Tsuji was also involved in the founding of the animation studio Tatsunoko Production.

Tsuji is best known as the illustrator for the manga Tiger Mask, which was written by Ikki Kajiwara. The manga was first published in Kodansha's Bokura Magazine in 1968 before moving to Weekly Shonen Magazine, where it ran until 1971. This manga series, which follows the story of a professional wrestler who fights for good while supporting an orphanage, became the foundation for a major media franchise. His role was specifically that of the artist, bringing the story and characters created by Kajiwara to life.

The Tiger Mask manga was quickly adapted into a long-running anime television series produced by Toei Animation, which aired 105 episodes from October 1969 to September 1971. Tsuji is credited as the original creator for this anime adaptation. He is also credited as the original creator for several anime films released during this period, including the compilation film Tiger Mask from 1970, the film Tiger Mask: Fuku Men League Sen from 1970, and the film Tiger Mask: Kuroi Majin from 1971. A sequel anime series, Tiger Mask II, aired from 1981 to 1982, for which Tsuji is credited with the original character design.

Beyond the Tiger Mask franchise, other manga works by Tsuji that were adapted into anime include Zero-sen Hayato, which was serialized in 1963 and received an anime adaptation in 1964, and Bakuhatsu Gorō, which was adapted into the anime Bakuhatsu Gorō in 1970. Tsuji's artistic identity was rooted in the shonen genre, focusing on action-oriented stories for young boys. His work on Tiger Mask in particular became highly influential, contributing to the popularization of professional wrestling as a theme in Japanese manga and anime.

In his later years, Tsuji filed a lawsuit against Tokyo Sports for serializing an unauthorized sequel to Tiger Mask titled Tiger Mask the Star. He is also known to have been the model for the character Hebopi in Mikiya Mochizuki's manga Wild 7. Naoki Tsuji passed away in 1997 at the age of 62.