When a professional volleyball team decides to channel its inner shinobi, the internet takes notice. Brazil’s volleyball team has gone viral after recreating one of the most recognizable poses in anime history: the squad formation from Naruto’s Sasuke Retrieval Arc.
Brazil’s Volleyball Team Just Broke the Internet With This Naruto Recreation
The original pose comes from one of the most beloved arcs in the entire Naruto series. The Sasuke Retrieval Arc follows Naruto, Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba, Neji, and Rock Lee as they chase down Sasuke after he abandons the Hidden Leaf Village. The group formation shot, with characters stacked in a layered overhead angle, became one of the most iconic images in the franchise and has been recreated by fans countless times over the years.
Brazil’s volleyball team matched the energy perfectly. The players nailed the same layered formation, with one member front and center delivering a crisp salute that mirrors Naruto’s position in the original. The commitment to the bit is what sent it viral — this wasn’t a lazy approximation. They actually studied the pose and delivered.
Brazil has one of the most decorated volleyball programs in the world, with the men’s team having won three Olympic gold medals. But for a moment on Tuesday, they weren’t athletes. They were genin on a mission.
The reaction from the anime community has been overwhelmingly positive. Fans have been flooding the comments comparing both images frame by frame, with many calling the recreation nearly perfect. Posts like this are a reminder of just how deeply Naruto is embedded in global pop culture, more than two decades after the manga first launched.
The Sasuke Retrieval Arc remains one of the most emotionally charged storylines in the series, and seeing it honored like this by a world-class sports team is exactly the kind of crossover moment the internet was built for.
The post continues to gain traction on X as of writing, amassing over 550k views and 50k likes.
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