A new piece of Naruto fan art gives a whole new meaning to the phrase hidden leaf.
The fan art, created by Tiktok-user staceyaveri, doesn’t take the form of a painting, illustration or animation. Instead, the untraditional artwork is an incredibly detailed leaf carving that depicts Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke in their younger years, running toward the future with Kakashi watching over them. The artist’s TikTok account is overflowing with other similarly impressive leaf carvings of more characters from the classic anime franchise, including Itachi, Kisame, Minato, Madara and Jiraiya.
Naruto Inspires Artists
It has been 20 years since the first episode of the Naruto anime debuted and five years since the conclusion of Naruto Shippuden. Yet, the series remains wildly popular, and as staceyaveri’s leaf carving illustrates, it continues to inspire works of fan-made content. For example, popular cosplayer Izanamitan posted pictures of a fiery Madara cosplay and artist Chien Chih Kang reimagined the titular shinobi in the classical Japanese art style Ukiyo-e earlier this year.
Moreover, fans aren’t the only ones still producing artwork for the franchise. Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto recently released a series of illustrations to celebrate the anime’s 20th anniversary. They highlight several iconic moments like the fight between Orochimaru and the Third Hokage and the battle between Sasuke and Itachi. Pierrot, the studio behind both Naruto and Naruto Shippuden, also dropped a promotional video for the special occasion. It features reanimated versions of high points from the anime.
Many companies continue to leverage the popularity of the ninja-focused franchise in order to turn a profit, making and releasing new Naruto collectibles and merchandise on a regular basis. Notably, luxury goods manufacturer Montblanc currently sells a line of expensive goods inspired by the series, including a Naruto-and-Jiraiya-themed tote bag for $1,370 and a black-and-orange Smartwatch for $1,570. Like Kishimoto’s illustrations, the collection was specifically created to celebrate Naruto’s 20th anniversary; the website reads, “Celebrating 20 years of the award-winning anime, this bold and expressive collection from Montblanc brings the storytelling of Naruto to life across stylish writing instruments, leather goods and smartwatches.”
Similarly, furniture company Secretlab recently launched its TITAN Evo 2022 line of computer chairs, and two of the chairs draw inspiration from Naruto. One showcases the Akatsuki organization’s iconic red cloud, and the other features Kurama’s binding seal.
While Naruto won’t be available on Netflix after Oct. 31, fans can find the anime on both Crunchyroll and Hulu.
Source: TikTok
