In March 2023,Narutofans were happy with the announcement of a special four-episode series to celebrate the 20th anniversary of theNarutoanime. Unfortunately, the series was postponed and little information about it has surfaced since then.
AsNarutocelebrated its 25th anniversary (of the manga) in September 2024, fans started to expect that a new release date would finally be announced. What exactly do we know about the special anniversary series?
What Are The Four New Episodes About?
While the synopsis for the four special episodes hasn’t been announced, thepromotional poster for this “20th anniversary series” suggests that they will take place whenNarutowas still a kid(that means, duringNaruto, and notNaruto Shippuden).
However, these episodes will not necessarily be chronological. They could be separate stories taking place at different times. It would be nice, for example, to have one episode set duringNaruto,another one set duringShippuden, the third onein-betweenBorutoandNaruto,and the last one duringBoruto(or the third one set duringBorutoand the fourth inBoruto: Two Blue Vortex). That would be a great way to celebrate the franchise as a whole, but we will still learn what Pierrot has in mind for the series.
When Will The Special Series Be Out?
The episodes were first scheduled for June 04, 2025, but ended up delayed indefinitely, bakc in August 2023. So far,there has been no official announcement of a new release window, but rumors suggested an “early 2025 release”. However, we are already in March and no new information has surfaced.
These rumors were based onTV Tokyo’s financial reports, which seemingly suggested that a newNarutoseries would be released in the 2024-2025 Japanese fiscal year (from April 2024 to March 2025). These reports also mentioned efforts to expand the franchise worldwide, which could be related to international distribution of the special series, but could also be related to licensingNarutoandShippudento more streaming platforms and other marketing campaigns (like theNarutox Burger King collab that happened in France, Brazil and other countries).
Where Will It Be Available Internationally?
In 2023, the only service to confirm that it had acquired streaming rights to the series was ADN, a French streaming platform. However, it is likely that licensing negotiations have taken place over the years — in the US, VIZ usually licensesNarutocontent and sells streaming rights to companies like Crunchyroll and Netflix.
Naruto’s special anniversary series, consisting of four new episodes, has no official release date yet, but fans expect it to debut in 2025.
Why Was The Series Postponed?
When the series was postponed, the official social media profile forNaruto/Borutoanime shared a note in which they alleged that they decided to postpone the series in order to “increase the animation’s quality”.
While this may indeed be a legitimate reason to do it, many fans pointed out that Pierrot was juggling too many projects at once (Naruto, BleachandBlack Clover) and decided to put all its focus onBleach: A Thousand-Year Blood War. So, to work onBleach, Pierrot allegedly putNarutoandBlack Cloverprojects aside. Recent rumors suggest that this may indeed be true — the final season ofBleach TYWBwasallegedly postponed so that Pierrot could focus onNaruto.
And What About Boruto’s Hiatus?
Borutofinished broadcasting its first part on June 19, 2025, andno news regarding Part 2 has been released yet. Back then, the series was too close to the manga, which went through a three-month hiatus later that year, and returned asBoruto: Two Blue Vortex, following a time-skip. Pierrot may announce news aboutBorutoafter the special series airs in Japan.
NarutoandNaruto Shippudenare available to stream on several streaming services, including Crunchyroll,Netflixand Hulu.
Naruto
A popular shonen anime based on Masashi Kishimoto’s manga, Naruto follows its eponymous shinobi’s journey as he goes from his town’s outsider to its hero.
