“Naruto Running” actually does improve speed.

“Naruto running” comes from the Japanese anime and manga “Naruto” and the following series’, “Naruto Shippuden” and “Boruto”. It’s a series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. It follows the life of Naruto Uzumaki, a young ninja who seeks recognition from his peers and also dreams of becoming the Hokage, the protector, and leader of his village.

In the anime, characters are often seen “Naruto running” in intense battle scenes. This running stance consists of leaning forward with a straight back and keeping the head up to observe surroundings. Then, holding both arms straight out at a 90° angle behind the body. Many Naruto-fans have been curious as to if running like a real-life “ninja” actually improves speed.

The truth is yes, “Naruto”, running is proven to improve speed, but only for a certain amount of time. And in turn, decreases your stamina, increases drag, and risks the possibility of falling forward.

According to animemaru.com, “Although running like a Naruto Ninja, would theoretically, only reduce the air resistance a negligible amount, it would cause your body to exert more energy to run that way and you lose the balancing effect of your arms swinging.” Bending over in that stance would also lead to having a harder time taking in oxygen and damaging your spine. Furthermore, it also enhances the possibility of you falling forward. So the bodily effects aren’t that good, but does it improve speed?

One essential part of running is drag. Drag is a force acting opposing the relative motion of any object moving. Meaning that if you are moving forward, the drag is the air that gets flowed behind. And when running, the drag makes the object in motion move slower. So when you are ‘Naruto running’, you have a harder time moving around than if you were to run regularly.

Thinking about wind resistance, if something as thin as air can pass by it easily, it has lower wind resistance. But if something has a larger volume and takes up more space, it has a larger wind resistance. So in this case, putting your arms behind your back makes you less resistant to wind. So, we can perceive where this theory comes from. 

Dejectedly, running like Naruto does make you go faster, but the effects of running in that position long-term are risky. But if absolutely desired, go ahead and try it, it’s entertaining to do. Just be cautious when doing so.