the same bandits that got destroyed by 12 year olds were able to impersonate the Daimyo’s most trusted servant and kidnap his son, with the entire shinobi world being extremely lucky they just wanted money otherwise the Daimyo would probably be dead by now.
a new group that I affectionately refer to as the “Akatsuki Lite” has been formed that was able to raise, in their own words, enough money to buy an entire country for a “vessel” of some sort. said vessel has now been lost by these idiots, and I don’t think I need to explain why something so expensive being let loose is going to end up killing a bunch of people.
i’m also 99% sure that this “vessel” is Kawaki, because the Akatsuki Lite members have similar tattoos & stuff but he wasn’t present at the meeting. Kawaki is the gentleman that, according to the first chapter, will destroy the Leaf village in about 3 years (because that’s what’s trendy these days) and will “send Boruto to the place he sent the Hokage.” it also looks as though Boruto is the only person that can stop him because 100 Healings Sakura, Eight Gates Lee, and fucking Sasuke (?????) are all just absent for whatever reason or possibly dead/in the same place as Naruto.
and from Sasuke’s own words, we know that “the crisis in this world” still isn’t over.
all of this has happened in 16 chapters or arguably 6 considering how about 10 of those chapters were just retelling events from the movie.
this isn’t even some alien nonsense that these guys understandably can’t control. these are ninja, participants of the shinobi system causing chaos in whatever way they can, on a way larger scale than some petty bandit, pretty much restarting the “Cycle of Hatred” Naruto swore he’d end by making some important friends. this is the Naruto world on the same bullshit they said wouldn’t happen ever again.
none of this even addresses what’s been going on in the Boruto anime because I honestly don’t watch it, but considering how they apparently had a 7/8 year old also try to destroy the village (yeah that was a thing for a while) I doubt things are any better over there.
all I’m trying to say is Boruto’s dad flopped and lied to Nagato and all of the other people he promised world peace to.
Because they’re brainwashed into believing they should sacrifice everything for the village, including their own children. Hashirama said it himself.
Honestly I find this disgusting. Like how can fans believe Konoha is right when they see 12-years old kill, get killed and exposed to emotional and physical trauma? I just get sick seeing a 7-years old Tobirama with a sword bigger than him,12-years old Team 8 killing during the Chuunin Exam, the Sannin get thrown into the battlefield at 6, 13-years old Rin get killed, 16-years old Sasuke facing death more than once and escaping with heavy injuries. It’s just so disgusting, yet everyone act like it’s okay. The villages ask for total obediance, for people to suppress their emotions and kill their own friends and family for it because nothing, absolutely nothing should be more important than loyalty toward the village.
The shinobi world is an extremely violent and dangerous place, and it needs to be changed, yet those who try to get called “crazy”, “evil” and “in darkness”. Especially the whole child soldiers thing. It should be abolished altogether, yet nothing happens. Hell, the age to enroll the Academy is 5. They train both physically and mentally since they’re toddlers to become assassins without even being asked their opinion. How is it right? How can Konoha act like a victim when one of those child soldiers turns out crazy like Orochimaru? I won’t even talk about Jinchuurikis, nukenins being killed for running away, clans being massacred for being too “dangerous” and orphans raising themselves like stray dogs.
But well, pros think that our only complaint about the ending are ships -_-
I can see both sides. On the one hand, just because your parent had a rough childhood does not mean that their failures in parenting don’t hurt. You also can’t expect children to understand the past if they are not TOLD about the past (and there doesn’t seem to be much evidence that the Bort generation is told much of anything about their own parents history–Boruto knows nothing about Hyuuga branch slavery, Sarada doesn’t recognize Team Taka, etc).
Naruto is not a competent Hokage. He is overwhelmed by paperwork in a way that previous Hokages were not shown to be, despite having as many or more people to delegate to, and being younger and more vibrant to start with. He is also hypocritical with regard to how he uses his clones. He doesn’t make significant changes with regard to the shinobi system, in particular the fundamental unjust basis of it, which is “military and police work based on ability to pay”. The daimyo and his son feature prominently in the Bort manga and it’s made completely obvious that the ninja world economy and government is some kind of bizarre feudalist/capitalist hybrid, the literal worst of both worlds if you’re a have-not. Nor has anyone apparently learned any lessons from their recent history. The whole Sumire plotline for example–what the fuck were the Sixth and Seventh Hokages thinking with regard to Root that they let that situation happen?
On the other hand, Boruto’s predicament just can’t be as compelling and attractive to the reader as Naruto’s, and the reader is comparing them as stories. Moreover, what makes Boruto annoying to me personally is how much the narrative keeps giving him unearned rewards of people’s adoration. The whole “Boruto is Mitsuki’s sun!!!” trope is annoying as fuck to me, especially in light of the entire thing being shown to be Snakebert brainwashing Mitsuki into becoming obsessed with Boruto, so when next gen fans act like this is sweet and wholesome instead of creepy af, that annoys the hell out of me.
Mitsuki is not a sweet healthy boy with an appropriate crush; Mitsuki is a massively traumatized child who has been literally drugged and brainwashed into an obsession with the son of an extremely important man. Brrrr. Heebie jeebes. Y i k e s. But the franchise itself is so eager to recreate the S///NS “dynamic” for the $$$$ and is treating it like ship teasing and agah;dslfkjs it’s gross okay.
And it’s not just Mitsuki; Bort gets all kind of “barely adolescent male power fantasy” shit that only makes sense when you realize it’s meant to appeal directly to 12 year old boys. Like a lot of people shit on Hinata for the way she blesses Boruto going off into deadly danger even though he just failed the chuunin exam for cheating and there are certainly many experienced adult ninja available (including Hinata herself!!!), but you need to understand Hinata isn’t a three dimensional character anymore; she’s purely “Boruto’s mom” in this power fantasy where the 12 year old boy gets told “oh yes, sweetheart, I, your mother, think of you as equal to an adult male–no, BETTER than the average adult male, a HERO among males, TOTALLY ready and able to go and SAVE THE WORLD while I stay here!”
To me, THAT is the annoying shit.
The problem isn’t that silly adolescent power fantasies shouldn’t exist. I have no problem with Dragon Ball type franchises where there’s no societal depth and everything is pure escapism about power rankings and people’s hair turning colours even though it isn’t their final form yet.
But original Naruto teased us with so much more than that. But either they didn’t have any intention of following through or they chickened out.
I liked Naruto because he was a boy who wanted to become Hokage to get validation, and then he was a boy who wanted to become Hokage to DO things with that power to help others.
Boruto wants to be like Sasuke, because…? He’s a “real” ninja? He’s cool? He fight real good?
That’s annoying, and off-putting. All style, no substance.
Fool me once, I’ll fuck off to fanfiction land before I ever let you fool me again, Naruto franchise.
Cheloneuniverse 