Sagaspedia
Easter eggs
Hidden details in every movie and series: 95 in total. Tap a poster to see its eggs. Titles you haven't marked as seen stay locked so nothing gets spoiled.
- Referencenod to comics or other movies
- Cameoa familiar face shows up
- Setupplanted now, pays off later
- Behind the scenesproduction trivia
- ReferenceA real prank in disguise
In the bell test in ep. 4, Kakashi drops Naruto with "One Thousand Years of Death." The move is kancho, a common schoolyard prank in Japan. The US dub cut the shot that shows where his fingers land.
source ↗ - ReferenceThe bridge is named after a whirlpool
At the end of the arc, Tazuna's bridge is named the Great Naruto Bridge. Japan has a real one, the Ōnaruto Bridge, opened in 1985 over the Naruto Strait. The whirlpools in that strait inspired the hero's name.
source ↗ - SetupA Sharingan outside the Uchiha clan
Against Zabuza, Kakashi lifts his headband to reveal a Sharingan, the eye of Sasuke's clan. He isn't an Uchiha, and the show doesn't say why. Kishimoto had the answer planned by chapter 16 of the manga; it comes back much later.
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- ReferenceRock Lee has a movie star's name
The taijutsu-only ninja has been compared from the start to Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, in look and fighting spirit. Kishimoto meant him to stand for human weakness and said Lee was the character he enjoyed drawing most.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesThe kanji on Gaara's forehead
The red mark on Gaara's forehead is the kanji for "love" (愛). Kishimoto added it with the character's arc in mind. His name changed too: the first pick, Kotarou Fuuma, was vetoed by his editor.
source ↗ - ReferenceJiraiya came out of kabuki
The hermit who shows up while Naruto trains for the finals comes from a Japanese folktale popular in kabuki, "Jiraiya Gōketsu Monogatari," where the hero Jiraiya uses toad magic. The villain of that same story is named Orochimaru.
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- Behind the scenesTanuki versus fox
When Gaara turns into Shukaku to fight Naruto and Gamabunta, the beast has a tanuki's face. Kishimoto picked that animal on purpose as a contrast to Naruto's fox.
source ↗ - CameoTwo Hokage climb out of coffins
On the rooftop, Orochimaru pulls the First and Second Hokage out of coffins to fight the Third, who was their student. It's the series' first look at the technique that raises the dead, and both come back later.
source ↗ - SetupThe price of the Third's seal
To stop Orochimaru, the Third Hokage gives his life for a seal that summons the god of death. He can't take his student's whole soul, only his arms, which are left useless. That detail matters in the arcs to come.
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- ReferenceToad, slug and snake
At the end of the arc, Gamabunta, the slug Katsuyu and the snake Manda square off. In the folktale "Jiraiya Gōketsu Monogatari," a young woman named Tsunade learns slug magic, marries Jiraiya, and together they beat the snake sorcerer Orochimaru.
source ↗ - ReferenceThe candy in ep. 83
In ep. 83, as Jiraiya and Naruto walk through a fair, a candy seller has three shapes on display: a toad, a slug and a snake. They're the animals of the three Sannin, shortly before the trio meets again.
source ↗ - SetupWhy Itachi came to the Leaf
Itachi debuts here alongside Kisame, saying he's come for Naruto. Watch how he treats Sasuke at the inn. The visit has another purpose, and that only becomes clear much later.
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- ReferenceLee fights Kimimaro drunk
Back from surgery, Rock Lee joins the fight against Kimimaro and swallows what he thinks is medicine: it's sake. Drunk, he switches to the Drunken Fist, the kung fu style Hong Kong cinema made famous.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesEp. 133 has an author
The Valley of the End fight in ep. 133 was directed, storyboarded and animated by Atsushi Wakabayashi, with Norio Matsumoto among the key animators. He said he worked out the two boys' emotions first and let the action follow.
source ↗ - SetupThe Valley of the End statues
The fight happens between two giant ninja statues facing each other. They mark an old battle between the Leaf's founder and a rival. The valley hosts that rivalry again later.
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- ReferenceEp. 3 echoes ep. 1
In the rematch with Kakashi, Naruto floods the screen with shadow clones in a shot that nearly copies the first episode of the original series. It shows how much he's grown in two and a half years.
source ↗ - Reference"Art is an explosion"
Deidara's catchphrase is a famous line from Japanese artist Taro Okamoto, who said it in a TV commercial. Okamoto was known for avant-garde art, and Deidara makes clay sculptures that explode.
source ↗ - SetupSasori's spy
Before he dies, Sasori reveals he has a spy planted with Orochimaru and a meeting set up with him. That meeting kicks off the next arc.
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- SetupSai's unfinished book
Sai carries a picture book with a blank last page. The team learns the story is about him and a brother. Hold on to that, because Sai's brother shows up later.
source ↗ - SetupWood Style, a dead man's jutsu
Yamato uses Wood Style, which belonged to the First Hokage and no one else. How an ANBU captain has that power is a question the series answers bit by bit.
source ↗ - ReferenceYamato dressed as Sasori
To make the meeting at Tenchi Bridge, Yamato disguises himself as Sasori inside the look of the Hiruko puppet. The spy who shows up is Kabuto, the same one from the Chūnin Exams.
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- ReferenceKakashi could already do the Rasengan
While Naruto trains his new move, Kakashi reveals he can do the Rasengan too. He tried to add his own chakra nature to it and failed, which is exactly what Naruto goes after.
source ↗ - SetupWho the shogi king is
Asuma has been playing shogi with Shikamaru since Part I. Before he dies, he finally tells him who the "king" a Leaf ninja must protect is. The answer gets a face down the line.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesHidan can't die
Immortal, Hidan survives even being beheaded. Shikamaru's answer is to bury him in pieces in a pit in the Nara clan's forest, and there he stays.
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- ReferenceZabuza's sword returns
To join Sasuke's team, Suigetsu insists on retrieving the Kubikiribōchō, Zabuza's huge blade, still planted at his grave since the Land of Waves.
source ↗ - ReferenceJūgo and Kimimaro
Jūgo, the third recruit, only agrees to follow Sasuke once he learns Kimimaro is dead. The friend he looked up to is the one Rock Lee and Gaara fought in the Sasuke Recovery Mission.
source ↗ - SetupHebi, a name with an expiration date
Sasuke names the team Hebi, "snake," an obvious nod to Orochimaru. The name doesn't last to the end of the series.
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- Behind the scenesA side manga became an arc
These two episodes adapt Kakashi Gaiden, the short story Kishimoto published between the manga's two parts. He came up with Obito early, just to explain why Kakashi had a Sharingan.
source ↗ - ReferenceThe line from the bell test
"Those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum." Kakashi told Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura that during the bell test. Here you learn who said it to him first.
source ↗ - SetupKakashi's blond teacher
The leader of Kakashi, Obito and Rin's team is Minato, who would become the Fourth Hokage. Notice his hair, his eyes and his manner. The show has a lot more to say about this man.
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- ReferenceThe tower after the blast
In Deidara's final explosion against Sasuke, the cloud that rises echoes the Tower of the Sun, the best-known sculpture by Taro Okamoto, the artist who inspired the character.
source ↗ - ReferenceThe end of Manda
To escape the blast, Sasuke summons Manda, the giant snake that fought Gamabunta and Katsuyu in Search for Tsunade, and uses it as a shield. Manda doesn't survive.
source ↗ - SetupTobi changes his voice
Tobi spends the arc clowning around next to Deidara. At the end, alone, he turns serious and introduces himself as Madara Uchiha. That story still has many twists.
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- ReferenceThe title is the folktale's
"The Tale of Jiraiya the Gallant" is basically a translation of "Jiraiya Gōketsu Monogatari," the Japanese folktale Kishimoto drew Jiraiya, Tsunade and Orochimaru from.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesNaruto came from a book
Jiraiya's first book has a hero named Naruto. This arc shows that's where our Naruto's name came from. In 2010, Shueisha actually published the book, "Tales of a Gutsy Ninja."
source ↗ - SetupThe message on the toad's back
Before he sinks, Jiraiya writes a code on Fukasaku's back. What it says and how Naruto cracks it is left for the next arc.
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- ReferenceSusanoo versus the serpent
Itachi seals Orochimaru with the Totsuka sword of his Susanoo. In Shinto myth, the god Susanoo slays the eight-headed serpent Yamata no Orochi and finds a sword inside it.
source ↗ - ReferenceThree gods in Itachi's eyes
Tsukuyomi, Amaterasu and Susanoo are the three noble children of the god Izanagi in Japanese myth: moon, sun and storm. Itachi uses all three in this fight.
source ↗ - ReferenceThe forehead poke
When Sasuke was little, Itachi turned him down with a poke to the forehead and a "maybe next time." At the end of the fight, he does it one last time.
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- ReferenceThe Six Paths are Buddhist
Pain's bodies are named after Buddhism's six realms of rebirth: Deva, Asura, Human, Animal, Preta and Naraka. Nagato's Rinnegan also takes its name from the cycle of rebirth, samsara.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesPiercings that hurt himself
The piercings on every Pain body are how Nagato controls them. Kishimoto said they're also a metaphor for how he inflicts pain on himself.
source ↗ - SetupWhat Minato tells Naruto
In ep. 168, the Fourth Hokage appears inside Naruto and reveals who he is. He also says a masked man was behind the Nine-Tailed Fox attack. That clue drives much of what comes next.
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- ReferenceIzanagi is named after a creator god
Danzo survives lethal blows with Izanagi, which burns a Sharingan each time. In Japanese myth, Izanagi is the god who created the islands of Japan and the father of Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi and Susanoo.
source ↗ - SetupThe eye Danzo hides
At the Five Kage Summit, Ao of the Mist notices that Danzo's covered eye is Shisui Uchiha's Sharingan. That eye and its owner come back into the story.
source ↗ - SetupDoes Kisame lose his head?
The Raikage and Killer Bee behead Kisame mid-arc. Be suspicious: the scene doesn't tell the whole story, and the next stretch of the war shows what happened.
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- ReferenceRasengan versus Chidori again
In the arc's first episode, Naruto and Sasuke clash Rasengan against Chidori, just like at the Valley of the End, and meet again inside a mental space to talk.
source ↗ - ReferenceKisame was in the sword
Remember Kisame's beheading? That body was someone else's. The real Kisame hid inside Samehada and slipped in as an infiltrator when Killer Bee took the sword.
source ↗ - ReferenceThe Konoha Crush jutsu
At the end of the arc, Kabuto revives Itachi, Sasori, Deidara, Kakuzu and Nagato with the same technique Orochimaru used to bring back the First and Second Hokage.
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- ReferenceKing Kong on the island
In ep. 243, Naruto lands on the turtle island where King, a giant gorilla, lives. The wild island and the huge ape are a nod to King Kong and Skull Island.
source ↗ - SetupThe masked man of that night
In eps. 247 to 249, the show finally depicts the night the Fox attacked the Leaf. Minato fights a masked man controlling the beast. Who was behind the mask is saved for later.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesKisame chooses the sharks
Captured by Guy, Kisame refuses to give up what he knows and lets his own sharks devour him. It's one of the few villain deaths the series handles with respect.
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- ReferenceZabuza and Haku again
Kakashi faces Zabuza and Haku again, revived by Kabuto. It's the same pair from the series' first arc, now bound to a jutsu they can't control.
source ↗ - ReferenceThe brother from Sai's book
In Kankuro's unit, Sai recognizes his brother Shin among the revived, the same brother from the picture book he carried on the Tenchi Bridge mission.
source ↗ - ReferenceIno-Shika-Cho against their sensei
Team Asuma faces Asuma himself, revived. They beat him with the Ino-Shika-Cho formation, and he praises how far they've come before he's sealed.
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- ReferenceThe crow Itachi left
When Itachi met Naruto before his fight with Sasuke, he left him a crow carrying Shisui's Sharingan. In ep. 298, the crow wakes up and frees Itachi from Kabuto's control.
source ↗ - ReferenceThe sand was his mother's
Revived, the Fourth Kazekage learns that the sand that guards Gaara on its own is the will of Karura, his mother. The father who tried to kill his son makes peace before he's sealed.
source ↗ - SetupTwo Madaras?
In the arc's last episode, the show reveals that Kabuto has revived the real Madara Uchiha. So who is the masked man who's been using that name? The answer comes in the next arc.
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- ReferenceTwo broken masks
The masked man's mask cracks and falls in ep. 343 in a shot that closely mirrors Haku's mask, broken by Naruto in the Land of Waves.
source ↗ - ReferenceIzanami, the goddess who closes the loop
Itachi traps Kabuto in Izanami, a loop that only ends when the victim accepts who they are. In myth, Izanami is the goddess who created the world alongside Izanagi.
source ↗ - ReferenceForehead to forehead
Before he goes in ep. 339, Itachi rests his forehead against Sasuke's and says he'll always love him. It's the final version of the forehead poke he used when his brother was a kid.
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- ReferenceStones on the river
In ep. 367, Hashirama and Madara meet as kids skipping stones on a river. That place and that friendship explain the Valley of the End statues where Naruto and Sasuke fought.
source ↗ - CameoAll four Hokage together
Orochimaru revives the First, Second, Third and Fourth Hokage. He'd already brought back the first two during Konoha Crush; now the Third, who beat him that day, returns on his side.
source ↗ - SetupNeji's death echoes
Neji dies in ep. 364 protecting Naruto and Hinata. His death echoes in a tribute much later in the saga.
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- Reference"My first friend"
In ep. 388, Gaara remembers that Naruto was his first friend, ever since their fight during Konoha Crush. Gaara is the one holding the line when the war looks lost.
source ↗ - ReferenceObito wanted to be Hokage
In his talk with Obito, Naruto speaks about his dream of becoming Hokage. It was young Obito's dream too in Kakashi Chronicles, and that's what cracks his armor.
source ↗ - SetupThe legend of the Divine Tree
In ep. 381, Obito makes the Divine Tree sprout and the show tells the legend of Kaguya Ōtsutsuki. That name carries huge weight later in the saga.
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- ReferenceGuy's eight gates
Guy opens the eighth gate against Madara, the same chakra gates Rock Lee opened against Gaara in the Chūnin Exams. The arc also shows Duy, Guy's father, who taught him the technique.
source ↗ - SetupIndra and Ashura
In ep. 421, the Sage of Six Paths tells Naruto that he and Sasuke are reincarnations of his two sons, Ashura and Indra. The brothers' full story is saved for the next arc.
source ↗ - ReferenceKonohamaru learns the Rasengan
Eps. 422 and 423 flash back to Naruto teaching the Rasengan to Konohamaru, the kid who's been tagging along since the series' first episode.
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- Behind the scenesAdapted from two novels
This arc adapts Itachi Shinden, two novels published in Japan in 2015, after the manga ended. That's why it has scenes that never appear in the manga.
source ↗ - CameoIzumi, the childhood friend
Izumi Uchiha, the girl who grows close to Itachi as a kid, is a character created for the novels. She doesn't appear in the original manga.
source ↗ - ReferenceBefore Kisame there was Jūzō
Itachi's first Akatsuki partner wasn't Kisame but Jūzō Biwa, another of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. Kisame only comes in after Jūzō dies in battle.
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- Behind the scenesKakashi's face, at last
In ep. 469, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura try once more to see Kakashi's face, like in ep. 101 of the original series. This time it actually shows on screen, twice. Kishimoto had already revealed it at an exhibition in 2015.
source ↗ - ReferenceThe valley loses its statues
Naruto and Sasuke's last fight returns to the Valley of the End, where they fought in the Sasuke Recovery Mission. The final clash destroys the statues of Hashirama and Madara.
source ↗ - ReferenceThe Seal of Reconciliation
Both end the fight missing an arm and join their remaining hands in the Seal of Reconciliation, the gesture ninja learn at the Academy to close a sparring match.
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- Behind the scenesThe scarf came from real life
Hinata knits a red scarf to confess to Naruto. Kishimoto took the idea from something his wife actually did for him, which got a laugh from the staff.
source ↗ - ReferenceToneri descends from the Sage's brother
The villain Toneri Ōtsutsuki descends from Hamura, the brother of the Sage of Six Paths the show featured in the fight against Kaguya.
source ↗ - SetupStay through the credits
The credits show Naruto and Hinata's wedding. After them, a final scene introduces the couple's two kids, Boruto and Himawari, who come back later.
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- SetupThe scene that opens ep. 1
The first episode opens on an older Boruto in a ruined Leaf Village, facing a young man named Kawaki. The scene comes from chapter 1 of the manga and goes unexplained for a long time.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesBoruto's name honors Neji
The name Boruto was meant as a tribute to Neji Hyuga, Hinata's cousin, who died in the war protecting the boy's parents.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesThe Byakugan that got left out
Kishimoto planned to give Boruto his mother's Byakugan but forgot, and gave him a different eye power instead, the Jōgan, which sees people's chakra in its own way.
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- Behind the scenesA 2015 Kishimoto manga
These episodes adapt "Naruto Gaiden: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring," the ten-chapter story Kishimoto published in 2015 after Naruto ended.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesSarada's glasses
Kishimoto gave Sarada glasses to make her more approachable and, at the same time, hide her resemblance to Sasuke. The idea was a female version of her father.
source ↗ - ReferenceThe other one with glasses
Sarada suspects her mother is Karin, Sasuke's former Team Taka partner, because they wear similar glasses. That doubt drives the whole arc.
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- Behind the scenesKishimoto wrote the script
Kishimoto wrote the screenplay and designed the characters. For Naruto and Boruto's relationship, he drew on his own relationship with his sons.
source ↗ - ReferenceThe Rock and Spider-Man
Kishimoto said the film pays tribute to two American movies he likes: The Rock (1996) and Spider-Man (2002).
source ↗ - Behind the scenesThe band behind a Shippuden opening
The theme song, "Diver," is by KANA-BOON, the same band behind "Silhouette," one of the Naruto Shippuden openings.
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- SetupThe boy from ep. 1
The mysterious prisoner in this arc is Kawaki, the same name as the young man Boruto faces in the very first episode's opening scene. Seeing them meet changes the weight of that scene.
source ↗ - ReferenceTwo similar marks
Kawaki has a mark on his hand very much like the Karma Momoshiki left on Boruto's. The two marks are connected, and that pulls the rest of the story along.
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- ReferenceNaruto and Kurama as one
Against Isshiki, Naruto and Kurama fuse their chakra into a new form, Baryon Mode. That power comes at a steep price for both of them.
source ↗ - ReferenceKawaki in the Hokage's house
Naruto brings Kawaki home to live with his family. The kid who grew up with no one gets a home and an adoptive father, much like what Naruto wanted as a child.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesKishimoto returns to writing
In November 2020, after 51 chapters by Ukyō Kodachi, Kishimoto took over writing the Boruto manga. The last stretch of this fight already came from him.
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- Behind the scenes"Farewell," the last episode
Ep. 293, "Farewell," aired on March 26, 2023 and closed the anime's first part, almost six years after its April 2017 premiere.
source ↗ - SetupThe ep. 1 scene is still open
The anime ends without reaching the Boruto-versus-Kawaki showdown from the first episode's opening. The story continues in the manga Boruto: Two Blue Vortex.
source ↗ - Behind the scenesAn arc written by Kishimoto
Code and the rest of this arc come from the stretch of the manga Kishimoto wrote himself after taking over in 2020, with Mikio Ikemoto on art.
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