In a surprising turn of events, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Blazing is gearing up for a return almost six years after it officially shut down.
According to X user Kensei_Fr, a small group of independent developers have spent the past few months working to revive Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Blazing. The development team has successfully recreated primary sections of the gacha game, including the user interface and several unit assets.
Progress videos shared on social media platforms revealed a functioning application, with users now able to boot up the game, navigate the main selection menu, choose characters and launch the story mode. The X user added that if development continues at the same rate without any hitches, the unofficial version of Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Blazing will soon be available for users to check out.
The project’s official X account clarified that they had no affiliation to Bandai Namco, adding that they are not seeking monetization opportunities. The team also didn’t establish a specific release window for the title.
Unofficial Naruto Blazing Project Returns With Positive Update
Bandai Namco had permanently shut down the servers for Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Blazing on Feb. 9, 2021. Since then, it has been impossible to play the game even if users installed the APK file due to missing server-side code that ran the match engine.
However, in 2023, a team of fans initiated this revival project to host the game on a private server by extracting almost all in-game audio files, sprite sheets, character animations and even graphics for ultimate moves. While the project was temporarily put on hold, it has now resumed active development.
Naruto Blazing’s revival comes at a time when no similar gacha games from the franchise are available for international audiences. Tencent’s official Naruto Mobile remains highly popular thanks to its frequent animated releases and unit upgrades, but the game is region-locked to China, making it impossible for overseas users to access it.
This makes the latest update surrounding Naruto Blazing even more exciting for fans. However, the project risks copyright issues since Bandai Namco has not officially authorized this revival. Fan projects based on anime and manga IPs have also faced similar legal issues in the past — the shelving of Berserk’s fan animation project by Studio Eclypse after receiving a public warning from Hakusensha and Studio Gaga being a prime example.
Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Blazing Was Popular for Its Gameplay
Originally launched in 2016, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Blazing quickly amassed a strong player base, securing 10 million downloads by April 2017 and exceeding 15 million downloads in 2018.
The game’s success was driven by its unique turn-based tactical gameplay, which required players to strategically position units within circular ranges to trigger collaborative team attacks. Players managed a team of three active ninjas, utilized elemental affinities to exploit enemy weaknesses, and activated special combos and ninjutsu moves to take down their opponents.
However, later updates shifted focus toward player-vs-player battles and introduced exclusive units that caused significant power creep, resulting in player dissatisfaction and the eventual server shutdown.
Many in the fandom currently view the unofficial revival as a temporary alternative until Bandai Namco announces new franchise installments, with attention turning to 2027 following reports from TV Tokyo indicating that new video game and animation projects are planned for the franchise’s 25th anniversary.
