Naruto x Ninku resurfaces at New York Comic Con as the anime centerpiece of Project Rasengan
The four-episode crossover between Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto and Koji Kiriyama's Ninku, shelved in 2023 to improve its quality, is back with its Pierrot staff and cast, leading a slate that also includes a new Kishimoto manga, Naruto: Shadow Rising.
Before there was Naruto, there was Ninku. Masashi Kishimoto has said he created his ninja epic because he wanted to see where Koji Kiriyama's 1990s martial-arts manga could go, and he has called its hero Fusuke a kind of hidden mentor to Naruto Uzumaki. Now the two are finally meeting on screen: NARUTO×NINKU, a four-episode crossover anime, was presented on October 10 as the headline anime of PROJECT RASENGAN, the multi-year Naruto roadmap VIZ Media unveiled at New York Comic Con's "NARUTO: What's Next?" panel.
A project that already slipped once
The crossover is not brand new. It was planned to mark the 20th anniversary of the Naruto TV anime and was set to run for four straight weeks from September 2023, before being postponed that August so the production quality could be raised. No new broadcast date or platform was given at the panel.
The story, per the official special site, starts with Kakashi handing Team 7 a mission and leaving Naruto as acting leader while he deals with something else. Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura are then pulled into another world, where they run into Fusuke, the frog-faced boy at the heart of Ninku. The two creators are overseeing the new story side by side.
Familiar voices on both sides
Studio Pierrot, which made both original TV series, is producing. Noriyuki Abe, the Bleach director, is in charge, and Tetsuya Nishio, the original Naruto character designer, returns to that role. Masaya Honda is writing the series composition, with music by Yasuharu Takanashi, -yaiba- and Yusuke Honma. FLOW performs both theme songs: a 20th anniversary version of "GO!!!" opens each episode, and "Viva★Rock" closes it.
The Team 7 actors are back, with Junko Takeuchi as Naruto, Noriaki Sugiyama as Sasuke, Chie Nakamura as Sakura and Kazuhiko Inoue as Kakashi. Representing Ninku are Rica Matsumoto as Fusuke, Mitsuaki Madono as Aicho, Jurota Kosugi as Toji, Megumi Hayashibara as Rihoko and Katsumi Suzuki as Hiroyuki.
The two series behind it
Ninku ran in Weekly Shonen Jump from 1993 to 1995, and Pierrot adapted it into a 55-episode TV anime that aired from January 1995 to February 1996. A sequel, Ninku: Second Stage - Etonin-hen, later appeared in Ultra Jump.
Naruto followed in the same magazine from September 1999 to November 2014, closing with its 72nd volume in February 2015. The first anime ran 220 episodes from October 2002 and was followed by Naruto Shippuden, which added another 500 through March 2017.
The rest of the roadmap
The crossover was one of several announcements. Kishimoto is drawing a new manga, Naruto: Shadow Rising, teased with a short video; more about it is promised on Jump Festa 2027's NARUTO Jump Super Stage, held December 19 and 20. A NARUTO CARD GAME is set for a simultaneous worldwide launch in June 2027, and a mobile game is also on the way globally. VIZ Media has said further projects will be added to the roadmap later.
