Naruto, the story of an orphaned boy's rise to Hokage. This widely famous Shonen aired for almost fifteen years, and the next chapter of the story continues with his son Boruto. Though Boruto: Naruto Next Generations is currently airing, there is still a hole that leaves fans longing for the moments Naruto and Naruto Shippuden left us.
Looking back at fan art is a fun way to stir up nostalgia and with the vast amount of characters from the series, there is no shortage of it. Let's reminisce and go through some great pieces that remind us of how great the series was.
10 Gara
Gara is a Shinobi of The Village HIdeen by Sand and eventually becomes the Fith Kazekage. Before that though, he was widely feared in the village. He was born into being the Jinchuriki of the One-Tailed Beast Shukaku, so everyone viewed him as a monster. Gara grew up to hate everything form the complete isolation and his emotionless blank stare in this picture by fisher903 is an accurate representation of that. The sand coming out of the gourd to take on a claw like form of Shukaku looks great, and the crack running along Gara's cheek showing a break in his shield of sand is a nice touch.
9 Kurama's Ashura Mode
Kurama is the Tailed Beast that is inside Naruto. For a large portion of the series, Naruto and Kurama do not get along, causing Naruto to lose control if he ever used to much of Kurama's power or let his emotions overcome him. Later on Kurama allows him to use more of his power in order to defeat Madara. This allows Naruto to obtain the Nine-Tails Chakra mode. He takes it even further through the use of shadow clones combining three Kurama avatars into a single form with three faces and six arms. This is called Kurama's Ashura mode, and is the peak of Naruto and Kurama's team work. This picture from Kortrex is a flawless re-creation of one of the most exciting scenes in the series.
8 Sai
Sai was an Anbu member from Root before joining team seven as the replacement for Sasuke Uchia. Sai has a very interesting Ninjutsu that involves art. Using Chakra infused ink, he uses Super Beast Imitating Drawing and can have any of his drawings spring forth from the scroll once his ink brush is removed. This creation by fisher903 captures the essence of Sai's Ninjutsu.
The Asian style artwork of the beasts around him is incredibly detailed and resembles Sai's style of drawing in the series. This is not an easy re-creation as it involves anime type drawing and old style artistic drawings, and the combination of the two make it all the more impressive.
7 Hidan
Hidan is a member of the Akatsuki and is involved in a very dramatic arc where he defeats Asuna. Hidan is a powerful ninja obtaining immortality after extensive experimenting with various Jashin religious techniques. Along with the inability to die, once Hidan consumes the blood of his opponent, he becomes like a living Voodoo doll to them, and his appearance changes to black skin and white bone-like markings all over him. This profile view of his appearance both before and after the link by fisher903 is another great entry. The detail down the the fearful facial expressions is so fitting of the mad man that Hidan was.
6 Sakura and Sasuke
The relationship between Sakura and Sasuke is that of a sad one sided love story, for most of the series at least. Eventually Sasuke comes around the the two get married, but Sasuke's first true love was his revenge. Here KhalilXPirates beautifully captures two emotionally facial expressions. On the left is Sakura with a face full of rage yet a sad tearful expression at the same time.
On the right is Sasuke with his Rinnegan gazing back over his shoulder with an evil smirk across his face. This can be looked at as a symbolic picture of the two representing Saukar's frustration with Sasuke, but at least they end up together in the end.
5 Naruto
If Naruto Shippuden brings back nostalgia, seeing pictures of a young Naruto really makes you wonder how it's been over for so long already. Naruto grew up an outcast in the village. Being the only orphan in his class just added to him standing out in the ways he didn't want to. So he acted out and got noticed for being a trouble maker, constantly painting on the stone Hokage monuments. This image by xong is a classic young Naruto with his expression of anger and the subtle traits of the Nine-Tails coming out with the markings on his face, his teeth becoming fang like, and his fingers resembling claws.
4 Kabuto
Kabuto was the right hand man of Orochimaru. He is a talented spy and infiltrated konoha and gets information on the students participating in the Chunin exams. He continues aiding Orochimaru in his hunt for Sasuke, but eventually branches off on his own. In his quest for the perfect being he infuses himself with the remains of Orochimaru's body. This causes is appearance to change and become very snake-like. Kabuto plays a major role in the Fourth Great Shinobi War with his Reincarnation Jutsu. This picture created by Kasukii portrays Kabuto's decent into madness.
3 Obito
One of the most tragic characters in Naruto is Obito. Thought to be dead by Kakashi, he plays one of the main villain roles at the end of the series. Obito sacrificed himself to save Kakashi and Rin. He was then saved and trained by Madara. Inheriting Madara's disillusioned view of the world and witnessing the death of Rin at the hands of Kakasjhi drove him down the path of evil.
Once having similar aspirations like Naruto, the sad story of Obito is captured perfectly in this scene by Kortrex.
2 Sasuke and Itachi
Sasuke is one of the last surviving members of the Uchia clan after his brother Itachi killed almost everyone of them. Sasuke's only goal in life is to kill his brother and avenge his family. It becomes clear later on that the Uchia clan was in the wrong and Itachi was working for the village and took the blame, leaving the village becoming a rouge ninja. As if seeing your brother die once isn't enough, these two have to part ways twice thanks to the Reanimation Jutsu. The second departure is a bit more wholesome than the first and SilverCore94 brings us that heartfelt moment in their rendition of this scene.
1 The Akatsuki
The Akatsuki is a group of rouge ninjas working together under the leadership of Nagato, though it was Obito and Madara who were pulling the strings behind the scenes. The original idea of the Akatsuki was by Black Zetsu in order to revive its mother. There were ten members each being exceptionally powerful and were the underlying antagonists in Naruto Shippuden. Bringing about the Fourth Great Shinobi War, the Akatsuki was a powerful and influential group. This picture by mick347 has them standing together, a scene that didn't happen too often in the series.