New 'Boruto' Art Proves Naruto, Sasuke Still Define Team Goals

The Naruto saga has always been built on the foundation of the fundamental friendship between Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha — and that hasn't changed, even as the franchise has evolved into the current era of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations. Few images from Boruto capture the core essence of "Adult Naruto and Sasuke's" bond than this new piece from Naruto artist, Tetsuya Nishio, which is gaining notice over on Reddit.

Earlier this summer, the Boruto anime's "Vs. Momoshiki Arc" finale gave fans all the reason in the world to love the Naruto/Sasuke friendship again. Naruto and Sasuke teamed up to battle Momoshiki Otsutsuki, displaying a crazy combination of dual attacks: an exciting mix of classic ninja attacks, and some chakra-infused fusion attacks, in what was deemed to be one of the greatest fight sequences in all of the Naruto saga.

We also recently presented the breakdown on why Boruto is quickly becoming the greatest chapter of Naruto, and one of our main arguments was that this series also doubles as the "Adult Naruto Saga," which has proven to be as intriguing as the story of this new generation of Hidden Leaf genin. Seeing what kind of adult leaders and fathers that Naruto and Sasuke have grown into (respectively) is an awesome treat for longtime fans; seeing how the two friends (sometimes rivals) now relate to one another is also intriguing; and it definitely is a highlight of the series to see how much both Naruto and Sasuke's powers have grown in adulthood. If you're a detail-oriented fan: note Sasuke's smile in the art, as fighting alongside Naruto is pretty much the only time we see Sasuke ever smile. That's real #FriendshipGoals, for sure.

Of the two heroes, fans seem to embrace Sasuke's evolution into the Shadow Shinobi of Hidden Leaf a lot more than Boruto's depiction of Hokage Naruto. Even with his stoic demeanor, Sasuke has shown himself to be a great father, a loving husband (sex joke), and even a great mentor to the likes of Boruto. That's not to short Naruto, who has taken the duties of the Hokage and protection of Hidden Leaf very seriously, and has even stepped up his dad game in a big way, correcting the mistakes he's made with his family, recently.

How do you feel about the continuing stories of Adult Naruto and Sasuke? Let us know your views in the comments!

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations recently even made TV Tokyo's list of Top 5 Anime in sales and profits, coming third in sales and fifth and profits. The anime has been such a success that the Naruto franchise as a whole stills holds a top spot in many anime profits rankings as well.

Catch new episodes of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations streaming weekly (in a new timeslot) on Hulu, Crunchyroll and Funimation.