Naruto "We Can End This Now, It's Not Too Late"

About

Naruto "We Can End This Now, It's Not Too Late" or Naruto Extends His Hand refers to a series of memes using a photoshopped panel from chapter 653 of the Naruto manga in which Naruto offers his hand to Obito Uchiha, asking him to join the Shinobi Alliance. The photoshops, which feature Naruto saying, "We can end this now… it's not too late," replace Obito with another character and show Naruto extending his hand to them. They were popularized on Twitter and Reddit in March 2023.

Origin

In October 2013, chapter 653 of the Naruto manga premiered in Weekly Shōnen Jump #49.^[1] On page 21, Naruto offers his hand to Obito, offering him a place in the Shinobi Alliance (shown below).

The panel was first photoshopped for a meme and posted to Tumblr^[2] by aaaaninja on October 30th, 2013, edited to show Naruto asking Obito to spit out his chewing gum, garnering over 230 notes in 10 years. On March 9th, 2023, Twitter^[3] user @R14S5 posted a photoshop of the page editing Naruto to say, " We can end this now… its not too late Eren," and replacing Obito with Eren Yeager from Attack on Titan, writing, "The greatest ending in manga history," garnering over 51,000 likes and 4,700 retweets in two weeks (shown below).

Spread

The meme spread over the following days. On March 12th, 2023, Redditor TheSoundboarder posted a version of the meme to /r/okbuddybaka^[4] showing Naruto extending his hand to Adolf Hitler, garnering over 9,700 upvotes in a week (shown below).

On March 18th, Redditor Monkey_D-Thanos posted a version to /r/ChainsawMan^[7] replacing Obito with Makima from Chainsaw Man, garnering over 9,500 upvotes in two days (shown below).

On March 19th, Redditor Monkey_D-Thanos posted a version to /r/dankruto^[5] where Naruto extends his hand to Vladimir Putin, garnering over 2,300 upvotes in a day (shown below, left). That day, Redditor titan19kill posted a version featuring Akainu from One Piece to /r/OnePiece,^[6] garnering over 5,000 upvotes in a day (shown below, right).

That day, a Redditor asked about the meme on /r/OutOfTheLoop.^[8] Another user suggested that the meme plays with the concept of the protagonist giving a villain a second chance at redemption, writing, "Typically, the main character will fight a villain, and just as they're about to kill them, the hero will give them a second chance to join the good guys and fight for justice and all that, like any kids show. That's what's depicted in the quote 'We can end this now… It's not too late.'"

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References