Did You Miss Naruto’s Look At One Of Its Characters’ Younger Self?

There are enough characters in the Naruto universe to make any one confused, and it only gets worse when favorites get de-aged. Over the years, Naruto had various arcs and fillers which explored its leads’ childhoods, but plenty of fans seemed to miss one character’s adorable youth.

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And, no – it isn’t Gai or Rock Lee.

If you stuck around for Naruto Shippuden’s endings, then you got to see an Ichiraku Ramen worker as an adorable toddler. The anime’s 34th ending was centered around the heralded ramen shop as it showed various ninjas eating at the stand over the years. During one scene, fans can see Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki eating together as the latter inhales her food. After a moment, the pregnant ninja has to stand up when Naruto gives her a kick, but the moment allows for Ayame to step in.

Yes, Naruto took the time to explore a bit of the waitress’ past, and it looks too cute.

The brief look into Ayame’s past ends as the girl hugs Kushina close to feel Naruto kick. The girl is seen wearing her usual head scarf, and she looks thrilled to have so much attention put upon her.

If you are not familiar with Ayame, then it may because you do not recognize the name; Any Naruto fans who has seen Ichiraku Ramen will have a soft spot for the girl after all. Ayame is the daughter of Teuchi, the owner of the restaurant. Ayame is one of the first villagers in Konoha to accept Naruto when others shunned him for hosting the Nine-Tailed Fox. Ayame may not be a lead in the anime, but she had a huge impact on Naruto during his Academy days. And, now, fans can rest assured knowing the waitress was the cute child fans all assumed she’d be.

You can check out Viz Media’s synopsis of Naruto below:

“Naruto is a young shinobi with an incorrigible knack for mischief. He’s got a wild sense of humor, but Naruto is completely serious about his mission to be the world’s greatest ninja!”

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Author/artist Masashi Kishimoto was born in 1974 in rural Okayama Prefecture, Japan. Like many kids, he was first inspired to become a manga artist in elementary school when he read Dragon Ball. After spending time in art college, he won the Hop Step Award for new manga artists with his story Karakuri. After considering various genres for his next project, Kishimoto decided on a story steeped in traditional Japanese culture.

His first version of Naruto, drawn in 1997, was a one-shot story about fox spirits; his final version, which debuted in Weekly Shonen Jump in 1999, quickly became the most popular ninja manga in the world. The series would also spawn multiple anime series, movies, novels, video games and more.