Naruto‘s creator is no stranger to hiding easter eggs. During the main series’ run, fans were on lookout for hidden treasures with every new chapter, and the anime only made them doubly interested. And thanks to one keen-eyed fan, netizens have finally spotted an easter egg which has gone unnoticed for well over a decade.
Recently, a user named GrantForet hit up their fellow fans on Reddit. It was there a photo was posted which easily pointed out a reference to the Sannin ninja long, long before they ever made an appearance in the show.
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As you can see below, the Naruto easter egg is super easy to miss. It is found in a quick shot which shows a street vendor selling food. The portly man is carrying a box of sweets to tell, but the skewers attached to his headband feature some uniquely shaped goods.
I just realized. They teased the three Sannin before Tsunade was even debuted, and the other treats looks like a slowbro, Mickey Mouse, and they have the Uzumaki clans crest. The stuff you realize when rewatching a series😅 from r/Naruto
From left to right, you can make out the shapes as the three Sannin’ summons. There is a slug followed by a toad and then a snake. As fans will know, Tsunade was gifted with the slug summoning scroll while Jiraiya took on the toads and Orochimaru charmed snakes. So if that isn’t obvious enough, there are few things that could be more blatant.
According to the fan, the easter egg was found in a Naruto episode which took place before Tsunade was introduced. Sure, Jiraiya might have been known, but fans did not yet understand how the Toad Sage was connected to her or even Orochimaru. This little headband goes ahead and connects the trio, but it seems no one ever noticed the sweet treat until now.
Did you ever catch this little easter egg before…? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!
Originally created by Masashi Kishimoto for Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump in 1999, Naruto follows a young ninja, with a sealed demon within him, that wishes to become the leader of his home village. The series ran for 700 chapters overall, and was adapted into an anime series by Studio Pierrot and Aniplex that ran from 2002 to 2017. The series was popular enough to warrant a sequel, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations which is set several years after the events of the original Naruto story and features the children of many of its key characters such as Naruto and Hinata.
