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Viz Media announced a collaboration with Studio Pierrot to remaster select Naruto episodes in 4K resolution. The first batch of remastered episodes focuses on key fights from the Chunin Exams, including the Rock Lee vs. Gaara battle which is widely considered the greatest fight in the original series. The remastered episodes will be available on Crunchyroll in late 2026.
October 2026 marks the 24th anniversary of the original Naruto anime's debut on TV Tokyo. The series, which premiered on October 3rd 2002, ran for 220 episodes before transitioning to Naruto: Shippuden. Fan communities worldwide held rewatch events and the Chunin Exams arc trended globally on social media throughout the anniversary month.
A major anime publication's 2026 reader poll ranked the Valley of the End battle from Naruto's original run as the third greatest anime fight sequence ever produced, behind only Demon Slayer's Rengoku vs. Akaza and Dragon Ball Z's Goku vs. Frieza final exchange. The fight, which aired in 2004, continues to be referenced as the gold standard for emotionally charged combat storytelling.
Episode 65 of Naruto — featuring Rock Lee vs. Gaara in the Chunin Exams — continues to circulate virally on social media, regularly introducing new viewers to the series. Analytics data suggests the episode is the single most-clipped Naruto moment on short-form video platforms, often cited as the entry point that hooks first-time viewers into watching the full series.
⚠️ News summaries are written by the SkipTheFiller team for informational purposes only. For official announcements, check studio and publisher channels directly.