‘Naruto’ Confirms Rock Lee Is Actually Bald

The end of an era has come for Naruto. Sure, the franchise itself is alive and well, but that one of its characters hasn’t been totally upfront with fans about themselves.

So, it’s about time fans had an open conversation about Rock Lee and his big secret. You know, since the character is bald — or well — balding at the very least.

If you have kept up with Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, you may be a bit confused about this note. After all, Rock Lee has a full head of hair in the anime. Still, Masashi Kishimoto has talked about Lee’s balding, and the show has made clever nods to the ninja’s hairdo.

For those who didn’t know, Kishimoto confirmed Lee is balding in the behind-the-scenes book for Boruto: Naruto the Movie.

“Rock Lee is balding. He is wearing a wig,” the book explains. Then, when it asks how Lee’s comrades feel about the situation, Kishimoto said there are only a few who know the truth.

“I’m pretty sure the only ones who know are Team Gai and Metal,” the creator explained.

As for the anime, fans can find instances of Lee messing with his wig. For those who’ve seen the anime’s ‘Chunin Exam’ arc, you can see shots of Lee’s wig blowing up in the wind to reveal his balding head. At one point, Lee needed to hold on to his wig to keep an attack from snatching it, but the shot would be easy to miss if you didn’t know what you were looking for.

Of course, being bald doesn’t diminish anything about Lee’s power. Not only is the hero one of the main characters of the Naruto franchise, but his taijutsu skills are unparalleled. His youthful energy is has fiery these days as it was a decade ago, and his bald status now ranks him alongside hairless greats like One-Punch Man and Nappa.

For those unfamiliar with Naruto, it has quite a storied history. Originally created by Masashi Kishimoto, the series ran in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump for 700 chapters. The story follows Naruto, a young ninja with a sealed demon within him that wishes to become the leader of his home village. The sequel, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations is set several years after the events of the original Naruto story and featuring the children of many of its key characters such as Naruto and Hinata.

Did you see this Rock Lee twist coming? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics, k-pop, and anime!