Adult Swim fans usually expect chaos. But when a giant incest baby started floating through space, even the most hardened Rick and Morty viewers paused. It was weird. It was gross. And, surprisingly, it was a massive nod to Naruto.
If you spent any time on the internet after Season 5, Episode 4, "Rickdependence Spray" aired, you saw the fallout. People were confused. They were a little disgusted. Most of all, they were wondering why Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland decided to turn a plot about sentient sperm into a full-blown anime homage. It wasn’t just a one-off joke. It was a calculated, bizarre bridge between Western cynical sci-fi and the high-stakes drama of Shonen Jump.
The Giant Incest Baby and the Naruto Connection
Let’s be real. The "Rick and Morty Naruto" thing—referring to the literal child of Morty and Summer—isn't just a name. They actually named the baby Naruto.
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Why? Because the show loves to deconstruct tropes. In the world of Naruto, the titular character is a "Jinchuriki," a person who holds a literal monster inside them to maintain geopolitical power. In Rick and Morty, Naruto Smith is a biological disaster created by a sequence of terrible decisions and a malfunctioning horse breeding mount. It’s a dark, twisted mirror. While the original Naruto represents hope and the "Will of Fire," the Smith version represents the consequences of Rick’s nihilism and the family’s lack of boundaries.
The baby grows at an exponential rate. It ends up in space. It becomes a literal "deus ex machina" in the season finale.
Honestly, the parody goes deeper than just the name. Think about the way the show handles "power scaling." In anime, characters get exponentially stronger until they’re basically gods. Rick and Morty mocks this by making their Naruto a cosmic entity that can destroy entire civilizations just by existing, yet it’s still just a confused infant. It’s hilarious. It’s also deeply uncomfortable.
Deconstructing the Anime Influence
The creators didn't stop at a name. They’ve been obsessed with anime for years. We’ve seen the Voltron parodies. We’ve seen the Akira references in "Edge of Tomorty: Die Rick Repeat." But naming a recurring, plot-significant character after the Seventh Hokage? That’s a different level of commitment.
Some fans hated it. They thought it was "too much," even for a show that features a planet shaped like a butt. But if you look at the DNA of the show, it makes sense. Both series deal with legacy. Naruto Uzumaki deals with the legacy of the Fourth Hokage and the burden of his clan. Morty Smith deals with the toxic legacy of Rick Sanchez. By naming the baby Naruto, the writers are basically saying, "Yeah, we know this is a story about generational trauma, but we’re going to make it about a giant space baby instead."
It’s a middle finger to traditional storytelling. It’s also a love letter to the medium. You can’t parody something that specifically without actually respecting the source material. The timing of the "Rick and Morty Naruto" reveal happened right as the Rick and Morty anime shorts—directed by Takashi Sano—were gaining massive traction. The brand was moving toward Japan. It was becoming a global crossover.
Why the Fans Are Still Divided
You’ll find two types of people in the r/RickAndMorty subreddit. Group A thinks the Naruto baby is the lowest point of the series. They find the incest plotline "cringe" and unnecessary. Group B thinks it’s a brilliant piece of meta-commentary on how weird anime tropes look when you strip away the flashy animation and "cool" factor.
I’m kinda in the middle.
The episode itself is objectively messy. It’s fast-paced, gross, and chaotic. But the payoff in "Rickmurai Jack"—the Season 5 finale—where Naruto Smith returns to save the day? That was gold. It took a joke everyone hated and turned it into a crucial plot point. That is peak writing. It’s the showrunners telling the audience, "We know you hated this, so now it’s the most important thing in the universe."
It’s a bold move.
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What This Means for Season 7 and Beyond
We haven't seen much of Naruto Smith lately, but the "Rick and Morty Naruto" legacy lives on in the Rick and Morty: The Anime series. This isn't just a parody anymore; it's a full-on genre shift. The anime, produced by Telecom Animation Film, takes the tropes even further.
If you’re looking for the connection, look at the themes of "destiny." In the original Naruto series, destiny is a huge wall the characters have to climb over. In Rick and Morty, Rick is constantly trying to escape his destiny (and his past). The giant baby represents a destiny Morty can’t run away from—a literal tie to his sister and his grandfather’s tech that he can’t ever fully erase.
The Real-World Impact of the Parody
Believe it or not, this actually boosted Naruto streaming numbers on certain platforms when the episode dropped. Crossovers work. Even when they’re "gross-out" parodies, they drive curiosity.
- People who never watched Naruto suddenly Googled "Why is the baby named Naruto?"
- Anime fans who avoided Rick and Morty tuned in to see if the show was actually disrespecting their favorite series.
- It created a massive spike in "Summer and Morty" discourse, which, love it or hate it, kept the show at the center of the cultural conversation.
Actionable Takeaways for Fans and Creators
If you're trying to understand the "Rick and Morty Naruto" phenomenon or why it matters for the future of adult animation, here is how to process it.
Watch "Rickmurai Jack" immediately after "Rickdependence Spray."
If you only watch the sperm episode, you’ll hate the Naruto reference. You have to see the finale to understand that the baby isn't just a gag; he’s a symbol of the family’s chaotic unity. It changes the context entirely.
Explore the Rick and Morty Anime Shorts.
If you want to see the real "Rick and Morty Naruto" energy, watch the "The Great Yokai Battle of Akihabara." It’s a beautiful, high-budget realization of what happens when these two worlds actually collide without the "gross-out" humor of the main series.
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Pay attention to the background details in the Citadel of Ricks.
The writers hide anime references everywhere. There are Ricks that look like characters from Bleach, One Piece, and yes, Naruto. It’s a persistent theme that suggests the multiverse is heavily influenced by Japanese pop culture.
Stop looking for "logic" in the parody.
The point of naming the baby Naruto wasn't to establish a complex lore crossover. It was a joke about how Morty and Summer are terrible at naming things and how Rick's world is so absurd that a giant space baby named after an anime ninja is the most normal thing that happened that week.
The "Rick and Morty Naruto" connection isn't going away. As the show continues to lean into its anime-inspired roots, expect more characters to bridge the gap between Western cynicism and Eastern tropes. Whether you love the space baby or want to launch it into a black hole, you can't deny that it's one of the most daring—and weirdly successful—parodies in modern television history.