NARUTO Meets NINKŪ at Last — the Crossover Kishimoto Has Wanted for 30 Years

Source: NARUTO × NINKŪ-忍空- 完全新作アニメ制作決定! — collabo-cafe.com

Okay, this one genuinely made me stop scrolling. At the NARUTO: What's Next? special stage at New York Comic Con 2026, a completely new anime was announced: NARUTO × NINKŪ-忍空-. That's right — the two franchises are finally colliding.

Why this is the deal

Masashi Kishimoto has always said Ninkū was the reason NARUTO exists. In his own words from the stage: "If it weren't for Ninkū, NARUTO wouldn't exist... which means Fuusuke is Naruto's shadow master." So this isn't a random mashup — it's the original author finally writing the sequel he's been dreaming about for nearly three decades.

• Full 4-episode all-new cross-over story (airing/streaming date still TBA)
• Both original authors — Kishimoto and Kojo Kiriya (Ninkū) — supervising every single episode
• Director Nobuyuki Abe (who helmed Ninkū and Boruto) and character designer Tetsuya Nishio returning

The setup

Young Team 7 (Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura) takes on a mission — and gets lost into a parallel world, where they run into a frog-faced boy named Fusuke. It's the youth-era Seventh Group teaming up with the Ninkū crew.

The voice cast went full sentimental too. Rica Matsumoto (Fusuke) called the reunion with the original cast "deeply emotional," and Junko Takahi (Naruto) said getting to go on a mission with Sasuke as an ally again was "the height of emotion." Sasuke's Kiyoshi Sugiya called it Kishimoto's "dream project" finally realized.

A teaser trailer and collab visual are out now, with more details promised at Jump Festa 2027 in December.

Two worlds that shaped an entire generation of shōnen manga, finally sharing a page. I don't know about you, but I'm ready. — Halies