Naruto’s creator was very eager to work on Tekken 6’s character redesign 

Tekken series director Katsuhiro Harada recently gave some insight into the Tekken 6 x Naruto crossover, and what it was like to work with Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto.  

Over the years, Tekken has received some surprise guest appearances- who can forget The Walking Dead’s Negan and Street Fighter’s Akuma in Tekken 7? Its fighters have also popped up in other franchises, such as Kazuya Mishima battling it out in both Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Street Fighter X Tekken, as well as successive Yoshimitsu characters in Soulcalibur. 

One of the more obscure crossovers is Tekken and Naruto. When Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 was released in 2010, players were surprised to find Tekken’s Swedish fighter Lars Alexandersson in the playable cast. To make him feel more at home amongst the numerous variants of Naruto and Sasuke, Lars was given a makeover by none other than Naruto series creator Masashi Kishimoto. The same costume had previously been released as an extra outfit in Tekken 6 as a collaboration between Kishimoto and Tekken director Katsuhiro Harada. Now, years after both games were released, Harada looks back fondly on the collaboration while providing more context. 

In the above post on social media site X, Harada recalls his astonishment at Masashi Kishimoto’s eagerness to create a costume design for Tekken 6. He remembers how Kishimoto quickly sent him a fax of a rough draft for Lars’ outfit when they hadn’t even discussed a contract yet. The final outfit sees Lars trading his trademark military suit for a red kimono, white obi, and gold armor pieces with lion motifs. He retains his curved, spiky hair, although it is tied in a topknot towards the back of his head. Due to Lars’ penchant for fast, lightning-based attacks in Tekken, he was given the lightning chakra affinity like Naruto characters Kakashi and Sasuke. The costume design illustrations also explain that Lars has a stylized “46” on his back – referencing the international dialing code for Sweden. 

Harada doesn’t go into whether or not Lars’ Naruto-inspired look will be made available for purchase in Tekken 8’s Tekken Shop, but he does seem willing to work with Masashi Kishimoto again. Kishimoto seems to be busy writing for Boruto and working other Naruto projects, but maybe we will see another Tekken x Naruto crossover one day.