Naruto in Fortnite

Overview

Naruto in Fortnite refers to the addition of Naruto Uzumaki and three other Naruto characters to the battle royale video game Fortnite as player skins, which released in mid-November 2021. The addition of the characters to the game spawned memes and viral reactions on social media, particularly jokes about them being killed by characters from other franchises and videos of Sasuke Uchiha performing various Fortnite dances.

Background

On November 10th, 2021, Epic Games^[1] announced an upcoming collaboration that would add characters and items from the Naruto Shippuden manga and anime series to its battle royal video game Fortnite. On November 16th, 2021, the update was officially released^[2] (trailer shown below).

The collaboration added Naruto Shippuden characters Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno and Kakashi Hatake as available player skins, as well as a number of other cosmetic items, Kakashi Hatake NPC and a custom Hidden Leaf Village map.^[3]

Online Reactions

Immediately following the November 10th, 2021, announcement, users on social media posted memes reacting to the news. For example, within 15 minutes of the announcements, Twitter^[4] users @SLOplays and @kujikawaii made a joke about Naruto characters using guns that gained over 1,800 retweets and 15,800 likes in one week. Later on the same day, Twitter^[5] user @kujikawaii posted a sketch about the Tomato Town Massacre meme that gained over 1,800 retweets and 6,000 likes in the same period (shown below, right).

Later, following the release of the update on November 16th, 2021, users on social media posted made multiple viral posts about the collaboration, including jokes about Naruto characters using guns, them being defeated by characters from other franchises and videos of Sasuke Uchiha performing Fortnite dances (due to this being particularly out of character for him).

For example, on that day, Twitter user @Xill_kah posted a screenshot of a player using the Ariana Grande skin opposing a player using the Sasuke Uchiha skin, writing, "The Uchiha bloodline ends here." The post received over 27,800 retweets and 161,700 likes in two days (shown below, left). An image of Rick from Rick and Morty carrying Kakashi Hatake, posted by Twitter user @KazuCrash_ on the same day, gained over 20,500 retweets and 153,600 likes in the same period (shown below, right).

Memes referencing the collaboration maintained prominence on social media, particularly Twitter and TikTok, in the following days.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References