Here’s Why Naruto’s Eyes Change – His Fox Eyes Revealed

In the Naruto universe, there are a lot of characters with powerful and unique jutsu; one of the most notable abilities is called Dojutsu. This refers to the visual powers and unique type of eyes that often transform into stronger versions and evolve alongside the character’s abilities. Most of the unique eyes originate from a clan named Otsutsuki, but some are found in special circumstances that we are going to explore further in this article. So, let’s see why Naruto’s eyes change.

Why do Naruto’s eyes change?

Unlike most of the other characters we have seen so far in the Naruto universe, Naruto’s eyes are not genetically passed on. His eyes and how they change are the direct result of his immense powers. We have seen his eyes change over time and evolve from one stage to another.

Initial form

The first example of this was during „The Land of the Wave“ arc, where, in a state of rage, Naruto’s eyes changed color from blue to red. Alongside that, a thin cloak forms around him, his voice is growlier, and he grows long, sharp nails. His fighting style also changes while in this form, mostly because of his uncontrolled emotions. Kurama could take over him easily.  

Sage Mode

This next change of form requires a lot of chakra control and balance. Sage mode brings a lot of power to the user if it’s mastered properly, and the side effects it brings are quite interesting. There are a lot of dangers when learning this method; for example, you can turn into an animal if you can’t control the flow of natural energy. Not even Jiraya fully mastered the sage mode, and we could see that in his fight against Pain when he entered Sage Mode. We could see traces of frog-like features all over his face.

Nine-Tails Chakra Mode

Leading up to the Fourth Shinobi World War, Naruto trained alongside Killer B to gain control over the Nine-Tails beast sealed inside of him. This is where another evolution happened, when he finally mastered control over Kurama his eyes turned an orange color. The transparent cloak that once surrounded him became fully visible and created a shape around his own clothes.

Kurama form

Things took a turn after Naruto built a rapport with Kurama. After years of functioning like enemies, they finally found a way to understand each other. After learning Nine-Tails’ real name, Kurama, he could access a more powerful version of the Nine-Tails chakra mode. This form is similar to the last one we mentioned, except for different markings and a bigger coat for Naruto to wear. While in this form, Naruto’s eyes are orange in color.

So far, we’ve mentioned different forms in Naruto’s evolution over the seasons. What we can gather is that there are a couple of different factors that influence eye color and shape change. In Naruto’s case, this is not genetically imposed like in Sasuke’s case, where the Uchiha clan has a specific type of visual power that is activated by a certain trigger and is passed on through generations.

Naruto was given an immense burden carrying a Tailed beast within him, and the result of that is a type of chakra mixing that happens when Naruto’s chakra comes into contact with Kurama’s. We can definitely say that another reason for his eyes changing color is the lack of control he initially had over Kurama. Later on, his eyes turned orange, but this was also in combination with him learning Sage Mode.

Some fans even say that his eyes turned red initially because of the anger he felt at certain moments. Others say that it’s Kurama’s chakra spilling into his own, in other words, Kurama’s influence over Naruto. What we can definitely say is that it’s most likely all of those factors combined together to create the result that we’ve seen so far.

Naruto’s Blue Fox eyes explained

Now that we’ve established some of the variations of Naruto’s form and, with them, the different eye colors that we’ve seen so far, we are going to look at one case that is confusing most of the fans. In his battle against Kakuzu, Naruto was shown with his natural blue eyes but with a slit across them. It was never really explained why that is, but there are some theories.

The first one is that a small amount of Kurama’s chakra fell into Naruto’s reserve, and this is what the result of that looked like. Another theory is that he lost control at that moment and let Kurama take over; the fight that they were having was long and exhausting. Maybe a moment where his concentration was lost.

Sakura and Sai even commented on his state upon his arrival on this battlefield. Sai said that he hadn’t fully recovered his energy and that he was not at the top of his game. Another reason for this happening and what’s most likely the case – it was mistakenly colored that way. It was pointed out how this never happened up until then, even in the manga his eyes were never slit without changing into the red color.

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