Since it was announced, the hour-long special episode of Naruto Shippuden has excited the long-running anime's fans immensely. With Naruto and Sasuke's final battle about to air this week, the epic saga of the optimistic boy who wished to be Hokage seems to be coming to an end.

However, if fan speculations prove to be accurate, there is a pretty good chance that this week's Naruto Shippuden episode would not be the final installment of the series, after all, stated iTech Post. This is due to the fact that over its run, the Naruto franchise was able to create a massive universe with dozens of intertwining storylines.

Thus, while this Thursday's one-hour episode would feature the final battle between the franchise's two most beloved characters, there is still a lot of material and a lot of plot that the anime must cover. After all, the Naruto manga still covered a number of events that happened after Sasuke finally concedes to Naruto.

Take note that some Spoilers would follow.

One thing that definitely deserves to be covered by the Naruto Shippuden anime would be Kakashi's reign as Hokage, according to The Bit Bag. In the manga, this happens after the final battle between the two young ninjas. Considering that Studio Pierrot is very likely to bleed the Naruto franchise for all its worth, there is a good chance that the studio would at least dedicate an episode to Kakashi's reign as Hokage.

After Kakashi's reign comes Naruto's rise as Hokage himself, as well as his family life with Hinata, and his subsequent struggles with his son, Boruto. With Studio Pierrot's pace in mind, there is a good chance that Naruto's emergence as Hokage would be covered in at least two episodes.

These might be speculations right now, but avid fans of the series have alleged that the anime's Japanese air date still includes slots until the middle of October. If this is the case, then it is quite safe to say that Naruto Shippuden would definitely not end this Thursday.