Naruto's New Four-Episode Anime Has Officially Been Announced!
Published on October 12, 2026
Naruto is finally moving forward with the four-episode anime project that we have been waiting for, pretty much years at this point to hear more about. It's been a long time coming, but we're finally getting some major updates!
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It was originally announced back in December 2022 as part of the franchise's 20th-anniversary celebration, the project has remained a mystery for years. Now, we finally have more concrete details about what's in store, and it's looking to be an interesting project and not a small one at that.
NARUTO × NINKŪ Officially Announced
Good news is finally here! During the "What's Next?" panel at New York Comic Con, the studio announced that the project, which is joint by Masashi Kishimoto and Koji Kiriyama, has officially been announced and is a collaboration limited series titled NARUTO × NINKŪ. We don't know if this is the official name, but it's the promotional one for now. This four-part series is being handled by Pierrot Films, which is a sub-studio of Studio Pierrot.
The Plot Is Interesting
This one isn't your standard episode, and will instead be more of a filler or crossover, meaning these 4 episodes will be entirely non-canon.
Team 8 receive a mission from Kakashi, but since he cant join them Naruto is given the team leader role, and as many of us can picture his face, he is entirely excited about this. Along the way they accidentally wander into another world, the world setting of Ninku where they meet Fusuke who looks like a frog faced boy.
The plot follow them as their get through many challenges in this new world as these two groups form an alliance.
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Naruto Wouldn't Exist without Ninku
The original story is entirely supervised by both Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto and Ninku creator Koji Kiriyama. Why this is such a big deal for the Naruto franchiseis because Kishimoto has long said Ninku was a major influence on Naruto and even noting that without it, Naruto wouldn’t exist and calling Fusuke Naruto’s “secret mentor”.
It will also be directed by Noriyuki Abe who worked on the original Ninku anime and Boruto series, with character designs by Tetsuya Nishio. but as of the date of this publication no exact date has been announced yet.
A Promising Future Ahead
It's great to see collabs like this between major studios. I think small projects like this can go a long way to promote each film, especially if you do one with a powerhouse such as Naruto. We've been waiting years at this point for these four episodes and going off the trailer, i see this is going to be something special. The art direction feels modern with that old school twist, or it might just be my nostalgia for young naruto kicking in. But overall things are looking promising and I for one can't wait till we get to see team 7 back together again, and hopefully not for the last time.
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