Part of Fortnite's continued success over the past couple of years has been its usage of popular IPs within the game. After incorporating movies, celebrities, and other video game characters, anime has finally come to Fortnite, as the Naruto crossover event has officially begun.
Epic Games teased the Fortnite and Naruto crossover last week, without revealing too much information. A simple tweet showing the Fortnite and Naruto Shippuden logos with Naruto's English-dubbed catchphrase, "Believe it!" and the date November 16, 2021. Not long after though, images from a Japanese magazine began circulating, leaking a wealth of content from the crossover including skins, pickaxes, and back bling. The announcement was met with a strong mix of reactions, with many fans eager to get the skins as soon as they dropped, and others questioning the purpose of the crossover.
Fortnite's official Naruto crossover event has started, bringing some of anime's most recognizable characters and iconography to the highly popular game. Last week's leaked images were accurate, as the entirety of Team 7 is dropping into battle, including the titular Naruto Uzumaki, his rival Sasuke Uchicha, their greatest supporter, Sakura Haruno, and Team 7's sensei, Kakashi Hatake. They are split between two character bundles: the Naruto and Kakashi Bundle includes the two characters with Seventh Hokage and Anbu Black Ops variants respectively; and the Sasuke and Sakura Bundles features both characters along with the Sakura Uchiha skin for the latter character.
The Island is receiving a multitude of Naruto-themed content as well. For starters, for the rest of the Season, players can earn Naruto rewards by finding Kakashi on the Island and tackling a variety of "ninja-themed Quests." Additionally, Fortnite has added Paper Bomb Kunai into the weapon rotation, which can be found normally in Chests and Loot Llamas, as well given to the player from Kakashi. Lastly, players can actually travel to the Hidden Leaf Village, it being fully recreated in Fortnite, where they visit famous locations like the Hokage residence and the Ichiraku Ramen Shop, and upon completing quests, visit other locales like the Final Valley and the Chunin Exam arena.
This latest event from Fortnite will likely satisfy Naruto fans old and new. Naruto Shippuden's continued pervasiveness in popular culture is a testament to Masashi Kishimoto's creativity, his world and characters having stuck with so many people. For non-Naruto fans, but still anime enjoyers, this crossover is a promising sign of potentially more anime crossovers coming to Fortnite in the future. Who knows, before long, Fortnite squads may be comprised of Naruto, and Sasuke, with Dragon Ball's Goku, and One Piece's Luffy.
Fortnite is free-to-play on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Epic Games