Naruto Meets My Hero Academia In A Stunning Action Series Everyone Should Read
Published Jul 19, 2026, 11:00 PM EDT
An experienced Editor representing Canada via ScreenRant's Team Anime, J.R. has been reading manga since the first printing of Shonen Jump in North America. This passion drove him to write about anime, manga, and manhwa since 2022, having recently served as Lead Anime Editor for ComicBook.com.
His favorite moments in media coverage include reviewing the series premieres of Zom 100 and Bleach: TYBW Part 2 back-to-back and briefly meeting Junji Ito at a VIZ gallery event in 2023.
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Following wave after wave of cancellation and long-running series making their long-awaited conclusions, Weekly Shonen Jump is now in an interesting place as the world's leading manga publication. Beyond holdovers like One Piece and Hunter x Hunter, its other serials are from no earlier than a 2020 debut. It effectively means a new era, but in a magazine so thoroughly supported by series following formulas that Shonen Jump has perfected, many of its newest hits bear classic DNA. Such is the case of Shinobi Undercover, a ninja-themed action-comedy manga starring an ace shinobi with acute social anxiety given the ironic assignment of working undercover at a high school.
The series features the third collaboration of writer Ippon Takegushi and illustrator Santa Mitarashi following Shonen Jump's short-lived Candy Flurry and Jump GIGA one-shot Ore dake ga Shiranai Koto! Shinobi Undercover features more of Mitarashi's visual polish which, combined with Takegushi's knack for creating engaging characters who are flawed yet sincere, atop the building blocks set by two prominent Shonen Jump predecessors. In a series about ninjas boasting dangerous abilities like Kekkai and superhuman abilities, it's actually a pretty great read for those craving the emotional beats and visual beauty of My Hero Academia and Naruto.
Shonen Jump's Action Comedy Series Is Naruto Meets My Hero Academia
Outright labeling a series focusing on shinobi as a Naruto successor, or its action-packed school setting as reminiscent of My Hero Academia, fails to dig a bit deeper to see what Shinobi Undercover has to offer. Its protagonist, Yodaka, is an utterly incredible ninja despite seemingly not coming from a prominent ninja family, thus meaning he has no Kekkai, or particularly unique ninja abilities. Instead of shoehorning him into an underdog role, though, Yodaka is a prodigious fighter, boasts keen senses, and knows the Six Arts of Capture to level the playing field. Instead of being grounded by being powerless or unrefined like Deku or Naruto, Yodaka's fatal flaws are psychosocial.
Yodaka's paralyzing social anxiety has limited him many times in the past, with his duties as a ninja often working well as a distraction. He's prone to overthinking, with occasional glimpses into his head in which he has to imagine himself putting aside his various concerns in order to focus on the tasks at hand, with potentially disastrous results. But in his initial mission, to protect Aoi Mukai, and later to become her boyfriend, Yodaka and his loyal teammates of Squad 9 fend off deadly assailants in spectacular fashion thanks to Mitarashi's gorgeous paneling. Yet it doesn't lose sight of the very human characters at its core.
There are plenty of moments that feel like they bear shades of Naruto and My Hero Academia. Shinobi Undercover's most recent long arc was the Infiltration Mission Arc in which they set out to rescue Kasasagi, a fellow ninja, Squad 9 shining individually and as a unit in a cluster of chapters strongly resembling My Hero Academia's Hideout Raid Arc more so than Naruto's Sasuke Retrieval Mission, with Naruto's similarities showing on a more fundamental level instead. But with Shinobi Undercover hardly showing signs of ending, it now faces an opportunity to set itself apart from Shonen Jump predecessors.
Shinobi Undercover Has A Shot At Outshining Key Influences In One Key Way
As the plot develops, Yodaka's mission transforms from simply being an undercover bodyguard to Aoi, to becoming her boyfriend to fend off unwanted advances and keep threats away. Despite many shonen action manga shying away intentionally from romance, Shinobi Undercover faces this earnestly, rather than seeing it as a gimmick. Aoi is a perfectly suitable "first love" for Yodaka, who is developing genuine feelings of affection toward her, from her charming clumsiness, to her unflinching moral compass and saccharine sweetness. But, as typical in a shonen manga, Yodaka's good-naturedness earns him the admiration of other competing love interests.
One of the most compelling so far is Kasasagi, who has seen the true Yodaka on the field and admires his kindness just like Aoi does, but is tragically all too aware of his situation with Aoi, and is effectively stuck on the sidelines. However, as other shonen romance tropes begin to emerge, such as a culture festival and a beauty pageant, other female characters, namely fellow Squad 9 member Hibari, soon find themselves vying for Yodaka's attention, his well-intentioned (if dense) compliments about her personality buoying her in moments of weakness. Whether the romance is going to land well is another matter, but the romantic intentionality of Shinobi Undercover is currently outdoing both My Hero Academia and Naruto.
This quality is something that absolutely must never be underestimated in Shonen Jump series. One of its most beloved recent hits, Blue Box, just finished its run with a perfectly satisfying, consistently strong coming-of-age romance between its two leads, with other supporting characters finding love and kinship as they become young adults. Shinobi Undercover doesn't necessarily need to go quite as far as Blue Box does, but its particular use of human connection empowers even otherwise-generic Power of Friendship tropes found within its run so far. Now, 90 chapters in and with its romantic entanglements growing more complicated, it'll be interesting to see where Shinobi Undercover goes next.
Cast Mayumi Tanaka, Junko Takeuchi, Masako Nozawa, Masakazu Morita, Daiki Yamashita, Natsuki Hanae, Junya Enoki, Megumi Han, Kazuyuki Okitsu, Mamoru Miyano, Nozomu Sasaki, Gakuto Kajiwara, Yûsuke Kobayashi, Ayumu Murase, Sumire Morohoshi, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka, Kensho Ono, Ryôtarô Okiayu
Created by Takashi Isono, Kazuhiko Torishima
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