Throughout his hit anime and manga series, Naruto is many things. He’s an expert martial artist, a rambunctious knucklehead, and a god-tier motivational speaker. A funny fan theory though points out that Naruto is even capable of changing the way a character is designed, adding bone surgeon to the list of things that describe Naruto.
The theory revolves around two distinct cases. In the first one, Naruto is battling Neji during the Chunin Exams. The second occurs during Naruto and Sasuke’s final battle at the Valley of the End. In either case, Neji and Sasuke are on the receiving end of one of Naruto’s signature uppercuts. These vicious uppercuts are decisive blows in both battles, granting Naruto the win against Neji, and the upper hand against Sasuke.
Decisive is not the only way to describe these punches, though. A Naruto fan account, naruto__story, on Instagram hilariously points out the effects that Naruto’s uppercuts had on Sasuke and Neji. A “before” still of both characters reveals that their faces start with sharp, pointed chins. Commence the uppercuts, and the “after” shows both characters’ chins as flat and blocky. Their flattened chins don’t change going forward, either. A quick search of all the other characters reveals that the bottom parts of their faces all stay relatively pointy, even as they age, making these subtle redesigns unique to Sasuke and Neji.
Remember, the power of bone-restructuring punches is only a Naruto fan theory, but Sasuke once said, “When two shinobi are powerful enough, they can read each other’s thoughts through an exchange of fists“, and he learned firsthand that this is true. Given that one of Naruto’s goals in the series was to change Sasuke and bring him back to the light, it makes sense that Naruto was able to instill his will through a nasty uppercut, one that literally changed Sasuke physically, as well as emotionally. He now wears that flat, new chin as a constant reminder of what Naruto stands for and is capable of. The same can be said for Neji.
This funny theory states that Naruto is a bone surgeon in his own special way. And since not one, but two characters have been subtlety redesigned after being hit with a Naruto uppercut, the theory must be true. Special thanks to naruto__story for pointing out this tiny detail, and hopefully now Naruto fans can have a laugh whenever they look at Sasuke and Neji.
