Naruto to Return With New Shonen Jump Crossover Anime No Fan Could’ve Seen Coming

It’s official, Naruto is now on the works for a return from the classic anime franchise but it’s with a crossover that no fan could have ever seen coming. Naruto fans have been eagerly waiting for the franchise to make its proper return as following the 20th anniversary of the Masashi Kishimoto’s franchise, it was first confirmed that Naruto was in the works on a new anime revival. This has finally been revealed as part of the New York Comic Con 2026 weekend, but it’s a series that no fans could have guessed.

Shueisha had officially revealed that Naruto would be showcasing the first look at Naruto’s brand new anime return during the New York Comic Con 2026 weekend, and it turns out to be a new crossover with a major Shonen Jump classic series, Koji Kiriyama’s Ninku. The two ninja hits are crossing over in a brand new story in a collaboration between both Masashi Kishimoto and Koji Kiriyama, and the first look at this crossover has been revealed with a new trailer. You can check it out below.

New Naruto x Ninku Shonen Jump Anime Crossover Announced

Directed by Noriyuki Abe with chief animation and character designs provided by Tetusuya Nishio, these two staffers not only worked together on the classic Ninku anime series from the 1990s but also have experience with Boruto: Naruto Next Generations and the Naruto anime franchise releases. Both Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto and Ninku creator Koji Kiriyama have worked together to help create the original story for the new Shonen Jump crossover. As Kishimoto stated with a special message during the panel, Ninku was a great inspiration to his work on Naruto.

Naruto x Ninku will be a special anime that taps into the full nostalgia of both projects. Not only is Ninku going to get a proper facelift in order to better fit into the modern era, but Naruto‘s original incarnation of Team 7 will be front and center (though it was revealed during the panel that Kakashi won’t make the jump to this other universe) with this crossover as well. This includes the younger versions of Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke and this seems to be the full incarnation of the revival anime special that had been announced back in 2023 before being hit with an indefinite delay.

What Is Ninku Anyway?

Koji Kiryama’s Ninku first made its debut in the pages of Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in 1993, and ran for two years before returning for an official sequel sometime after. This then led to a successful TV anime series outing with 55 episodes, and a few feature film outings to boot. The series introduced fans to a wild looking new boy named Fusuke who comes from the titular Ninku school that mixes ninjutsu and kung fu. But this is going to be the first new anime release for the franchise in 30 years.

This was the four episode revival series that Naruto had previously revealed to be in the works, but clearly has taken on a shape that no anime fan could have ever seen coming. It’s a dream project for Kishimoto as he’s revealed that Ninku was a big inspiration for his own work, but fans of the franchise might not feel the same way after waiting for so long to see more of what they hoped would be a more proper return from Naruto.

How do you feel about this first look at the Naruto and Ninku crossover? Is it the kind of anime return you had been hoping for? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments!

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