At a sold-out "NARUTO: What's Next?" stage at New York Comic Con on October 10, the previously teased Naruto 20th-anniversary project was formally titled NARUTO x NINKŪ (NARUTO-ナルト-×NINKU-忍空-).

According to Animation World Network, roughly 3,000 fans filled the Javits Center's Empire Stage, where Japanese voices of Naruto and Sasuke, Junko Takeuchi and Noriaki Sugiyama, appeared alongside Pierrot Films executive producer Yoshihiro Tominaga.

The reveal's emotional core is Kishimoto's admission that NINKŪ is not a casual pick but the founding influence of Naruto itself. Per Animation World Network, Kishimoto's message read to the crowd stated, "Without NINKŪ, NARUTO would not exist. Simply put, Fūsuke is Naruto's secret mentor."

Toy People News quotes him calling the crossover a dream come true, saying he created Naruto because he wanted to see what happened next in NINKŪ.

The four-episode anime tells a completely original story supervised in its entirety by both Kishimoto and NINKŪ creator Koji Kiriyama.

Per Animation World Network and Indian Broadcasting World, Kakashi sends Team 7 — Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura — on a mission with Naruto as acting leader, and the trio becomes lost in another world where the frog-faced Fūsuke appears, leading them to join forces with the Ninku Corps.

A teaser trailer debuted at the panel, and the casting is a nostalgia play.

Toy People News reports Rica Matsumoto reprises Fūsuke roughly 30 years after the original NINKŪ TV anime, with the original voice cast also returning, while Indian Broadcasting World adds that Junko Takeuchi, Noriaki Sugiyama and Chie Nakamura are back and FLOW's 'GO!!!' returns as theme.

Indian Broadcasting World notes Noriyuki Abe, who directed the 1995 NINKŪ anime, directs, with Tetsuya Nishio on character designs.

For fans who never read Koji Kiriyama's series, Toy People News describes NINKŪ as a Weekly Shonen Jump manga serialized from 1993 to 1995 in nine volumes, with a 12-volume sequel, NINKŪ Second Stage: Stories of the Etonin, running from 2005.

Ninku is depicted as a martial art combining ninjutsu and karate, billed as the most powerful fighting style in history, and the franchise already inspired a TV anime and film, with the TV adaptation marking its 30th anniversary last year.

Indian Broadcasting World reports the crossover was announced under the banner Project Rasengan, alongside new Kishimoto manga material and upcoming game initiatives.

No premiere date has been announced for NARUTO x NINKŪ, and per Toy People News, the official team says further details will be revealed at a later date — leaving fans watching Jump Festa 2027 for the next wave of announcements.