5 Best Modern Anime Directly Inspired by Naruto, Ranked

Naruto‘s fingerprints are all over several modern shonen anime – underdogs chasing a Hokage-sized dream, masked rivals, and squads that scream found family. Some newer series lean on that formula so hard you can spot the DNA test results without squinting. Below are five anime that carry Kishimoto’s structural blueprint into new worlds, from magic-less knights to alien-repelling border guards.

This isn’t about copy-pasting ninjas; it’s about creators who grew up on Konoha and built their own villages. Ranked by how deeply that inspiration runs, here’s where each one lands – and why the resemblance is more tribute than theft.

5 My Hero Academia Swaps Ninjas for Heroes but Keeps the Heart

My Hero Academia | Credits: Studio Bones

Izuku Midoriya from My Hero Academia is quirkless in a world where everyone else was born powerful – go rewatch Naruto‘s academy days if that doesn’t ring a bell. Kohei Horikoshi came up during Naruto and One Piece‘s golden run, and the structure shows it: a determined nobody, a hard-won power passed by a mentor, and a rival who starts as an antagonist. It’s dressed in superhero spandex instead of headbands, but the emotional engine is pure Big Three shonen. The manga ended in 2024, and the anime closed its final season last December. It closes the list for shared DNA, not a confirmed nod.

4 Black Clover: The Underdog Wizard Who Wears Naruto‘s Blueprint

Black Clover | Credits: Studio Pierrot

Asta is loud, orphaned, laughed at, and refuses to quit – sound familiar? Yuki Tabata never hid his love for the Big Three, and Black Clover wears it proudly: a nobody chasing the top title, Wizard King instead of Hokage, a cooler rival-turned-friend in Yuno standing in for Sasuke, and a ragtag squad that becomes his real family. Even the power-nobody-believes-in beat lands the same gut-punch Kishimoto’s series perfected. The manga wrapped this May, and Season 2 returns in October. It ranks fourth because the resemblance runs through nearly every beat, even if Tabata’s confirmed influences skew toward other shonen greats.

3 Demon Slayer: Koyoharu Gotoge Named Naruto a Top Influence

Demon Slayer | Credits: Ufotable

Tanjiro’s journey to save his demon sister owes more to Kishimoto’s series than most fans realize. In a 2016 interview, creator Koyoharu Gotoge named Naruto, alongside JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and Bleach, as one of the top three manga that shaped Demon Slayer, and said Bleach‘s Soul Society military, the Gotei 13, came up constantly in planning meetings too. It’s less about one copied trope and more about growing up on the same Shonen Jump diet that produced Naruto’s tone. With the Infinity Castle film dominating box offices, that lineage paid off. It ranks third for a broad influence, not one trope.

2 Marriagetoxin: The Naruto Clan That Sparked Its Entire Premise

Marriagetoxin | Credits: Bones Film

Gero comes from a centuries-old family of assassins who fight with poison, and the premise traces back to a specific place: creator Joumyaku said he was inspired by the bug-controlling clan from Kishimoto’s series, the Aburame family (via Manga Passion). He wondered what marriage-hunting would look like for a clan whose family business gets passed down for generations, then swapped bugs for poison since readers might not warm to bug-wielding leads. Pair that with marriage swindler Mei Kinosaki, and you get equal parts action and rom-com chaos. It ranks second for a direct, specific quote about the exact narrative hook, not a vague vibe.

1 Jujutsu Kaisen: The Sealed-Demon Trope That Naruto Made Iconic

Jujutsu Kaisen | Credits: MAPPA

In Jujutsu Kaisen, Itadori swallows a cursed finger and becomes host to Sukuna, a demon locked inside him that the world fears and distrusts – and Gege Akutami has flat-out confirmed the blueprint here is Naruto and Kurama. At a 2024 exhibition Q&A, Akutami said the Itadori-Sukuna dynamic, and even Yuta and Rika’s bond, were modeled directly on Naruto housing the Nine-Tails (via X). It’s not a vague vibe; it’s a stated creative decision, and Akutami has cited Orochimaru as inspiration for the villain Kenjaku’s technique too. It ranks first because no other entry has this level of direct, on-record confirmation from its own creator.

What are your thoughts on these anime titles drawing inspiration from Kishimoto’s coveted series? We’d love to know your thoughts in the comments below.