Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Volume 2 Reread

"Welcome back to our Boruto 10th anniversary reread!

I must admit, the volume 1 review was much more dense than I intended it to be. I hope (and expect) that combat-heavy volumes such as this one will be a little less weighty, both for your sanity as well as for my own.

Let's get into it!

Chapter 2: Stupid Old Man!!

This is the first chapter title and cover that have stood out to me as worthy of note. The cover features Naruto prominently centered in his Hokage cape with Boruto in the background behind him. One hand in his pocket, Naruto's prosthetic hand is raised, featuring a large Rasengan that dwarfs the tiny one Boruto has formed in the background. At first glance, it almost appears as though Naruto's Rasengan and Boruto's are one and the same. The ease with which Naruto holds his Rasengan makes its appearance look effortless compared to Boruto's posture and stance.

This cover is emblematic of Naruto's dynamic with his son when the story begins, the most powerful shinobi in the village standing in the center of everything, not looking over his shoulder to see his child trying to impress him in the background. As we'll soon learn, the title echoes the same sentiment, not only referring to the way Boruto addresses his father, but to Naruto's shortcomings as a parent as well.

The chapter opens with Naruto looking nervously out the window, tapping his finger. However, the moment Shikamaru knocks on the door, Naruto is back behind his desk, pretending he'd been working on his computer the entire time. Shikamaru has come to tell Naruto that Boruto's team is moving onto the next round of the Chunin Exam. Naruto responds with disinterest, telling Shikamaru, "You came here just to tell me that?" Ever his advisor, Shikamaru states that it's important before shutting the door. The moment Naruto is alone in his office, he jumps up and celebrates his son's success.

What's notable about this scene is that we see the exact same behavioral pattern played out a few pages later when Naruto comes to Boruto's room to congratulate him on passing the second round. Boruto is pensively looking at the scientific ninja tool on his wrist when Naruto knocks on the door and quickly sits up. Naruto awkwardly congratulates his son on winning the second round, to which Boruto responds, "You came up here just to say that?" mirroring Naruto's response to Shikamaru. Naruto fumbles for words, then repurposes Shikamaru's, telling Boruto that it's important. After acknowledging his son, Naruto leaves. Once Boruto is alone, he grabs his heart and begins crying before falling back on his bed and kicking his feet.

What these back-to-back scenes suggest is that Boruto's behavior and outward demeanor of apathy were learned from his father. Scribbled in my notes for this chapter is something about generational presentations of masculinity, how fathers pass down the loss of emotions to their sons due to the societal expectation of men to be stoic—though I don't think that's truly what's going on in the dynamic between Naruto and Boruto.

Naruto's issues with fatherhood are threefold: first, as Boruto rightfully called out, he struggles with being a parent due to never having experienced a childhood with a family. Even once he discovered a found family with adult role models, such as Iruka and Kakashi, they supported his dream to one day be Hokage rather than preparing him to be a father.

Second, for Naruto, the role of Hokage has been more difficult for Naruto than he anticipated. The position has developed beyond what it was when he declared his intent to be Hokage, and the shinobi system lacks the financial support it once had from the daimyo (as mentioned in the light novels). To compensate, he maintains a facade that covers his true nature so that others will take him seriously, which extends to how he presents himself to his son.

Third, and most importantly, in his desire to treat the village as family, he also treats his son as though he's another villager rather than someone special to him. This plays out in the Hokage office scene with Shikamaru in which he pretends to be disinterested in his son's win. In trying to love everyone, he fails to show Boruto that he holds a special place in his heart as his child.

The scene transitions to Naruto approaching Sasuke while the decoders work on the scroll he retrieved from Kaguya's castle. What follows is a master class in writing an awkward interaction through visual story telling. Naruto walks in and inquires about the scroll and Sasuke immediately decides to leave before Naruto calls his name.

In the panel above, we see Naruto looking towards the light, his shadow cast behind him while Sasuke faces away, walking into the shadows. This, in addition to their contrasting capes, reminds us of the roles they have played in the past and continue to play in the present as the Hokage who remains in the village and his equal who works in the shadows. When Naruto says Sasuke's name, his head is looking up, facing the light, while Sasuke's chin and eyes are directed downward. The subtext of this conversation is that Sasuke knows his friend and rival's son has cheated to form a Rasengan, and is choosing not to say anything.

The awkwardness continues when Naruto tells Sasuke that he's heard that he's training Boruto, not from Boruto himself but from Konohamaru. Naruto continues looking up when he repeats Sasuke's words from earlier back to him, "Maybe you're right... The soul of a shinobi remains the same." In a reversed panel, Sasuke is staring forward as though he's seeing directly what's in front of him instead of Naruto who is always looking upwards, still affirming that he believes what he said to be true.

There's some great subtext going on in this scene, Naruto speaking hopefully of his son walking a path similar to the one he walked as a shinobi, honoring tradition, while Sasuke is thinking of his own path, one of a shinobi who gave into the darkness and had to be pulled back to the light, that even after a fall from grace, redemption is possible.

Boruto returns home from the second round of the Chunin Exam, greeted enthusiastically by Himawari and his mother who asks if he's hurt (a nice contrast with Hinata's concern the last time he leaves his home in the final arc of NNG). With the weight of having cheated on his shoulders, he downplays his win and retreats upstairs without supper. (Again, there's a great bit of symbolism here where he tosses his headband off first, then lies on his bed, looking at the scientific ninja tool still on his arm).

In the previous reread post, I mentioned the ways in which Ikemoto's action art style has changed since NNG, but in the first few arcs of Boruto, we also see that his characters were much more expressive earlier on. I think it's possible for us to hold two truths in our heads at the same time: Yes, TBV Boruto shouldn't be nearly as expressive as NNG Boruto, but the less emotion his face reflects, the harder it is to add those visual, non-verbal components to the story.

In this case, throughout Boruto's conversation with Naruto, we can see his inner struggle: surprise, confusion, anger, guilt. It's all there as he craves his father's attention while pushing him away at the same time, both because he's cheating and because he's been hurt by Naruto in the past.

The final round of the Chunin Exam involves one-vs-one battles. Boruto is up first against Yurui, a Cloud shinobi. Their bout begins with armed combat until Yurui reveals his gum technique, filling the arena with exploding bubbles. Boruto looks up at his father seated with all the other Kage and reaches for a shuriken in his pouch before remembering the feeling of Naruto praising him. At that moment, he decides to use the scientific ninja tool instead to deploy a curving shuriken that sails right beneath his opponent's nose and pops the bubble in his mouth, causing an explosion that knocks him out.

As in round 2, Boruto theoretically had the skills to perform a similar feat using the lessons that Sasuke had been teaching him, but he opted to use the scientific ninja tool instead of trusting his own abilities. While the discourse surrounding the exam often focuses on his cheating, we also should recognize that Boruto doubts his abilities. He doesn't trust himself and his training enough to win, prioritizing impressing his father over believing in himself.

In the semifinal round, Boruto is facing off against Shikadai, Shikamaru's predicted battle between their sons coming to pass. Naruto is seated with his family, watching as Boruto and his shadow clones evade the Nara family's shadow possession technique. Despite trying, Boruto is eventually caught in the radius of a massive shadow. As Shikamaru ribs Naruto over his son's victory, Boruto manages to move his hand just enough to deploy his scientific ninja tool, a torrent of uncontrolled miniaturized scrolls falling to the ground and activating. Naruto immediately senses what happened as over two dozen clones appear around Shikadai, far more than Boruto's limit of four. Because Boruto is the Hokage's son, everyone is prepared to accept it as a win (and Dr. Katasuke and his assistant celebrate seeing their tool used), but Naruto immediately jumps into the arena. Boruto raises his fist, prepared to receive the fist bump he'd avoided earlier, but Naruto instead grabs his hand and pulls back his sleeve, revealing the scientific ninja tool he used to cheat to the entire audience.

Sasuke, on his way to tell Naruto that they need to cancel the exam due to what's in Kaguya's scroll, doesn't arrive soon enough to save Boruto from humiliation. Meanwhile, Kinshiki and Momoshiki are also speeding their way, ready to claim Kurama's chakra.

Chapter 5: Momoshiki and Kinshiki

As Boruto's cheating is revealed, we see the reaction of the crowd in real time: the shocked disbelief of his teammates, his mother's sadness, his sister's confusion, Shikadai's shock, the other Kage reacting to the disgrace he's brought to the Hokage.

As Naruto said before when Dr. Katasuke appealed to have the scientific ninja tool used in the Chunin Exam, he declares that the purpose of the exams is to nurture young shinobi. I think this gets to the fundamental flaw in Naruto's parenting in the first arc of the series: he expected the shinobi system to do his son's nurturing (as it did for him) rather than accepting that role as a father. I think it's notable that in both his bouts during the third round of the exams, Boruto was defeated by honed techniques, Yurui's gum jutsu and the Nara clan's shadow jutsu. From Boruto's own mouth, we know that he learned several different chakra natures on his own as well as teaching himself Shadow Clone jutsu, meaning that Naruto hadn't taken the time to do that nurturing himself, relying on the sharing of information through the academy, sensei, and masters, assuming his son would benefit from the same structure that he experienced.

In front of the crowd full of villagers and friends, Naruto declares that Boruto is disqualified, then follows up by removing his headband, telling Boruto and everyone else that he's not fit to be a ninja. There's a part of me that wonders if he would have been less harsh, or delivered the consequences privately, had it been a genin other than his own son who'd been caught cheating. To Naruto, Boruto has dishonored the shinobi of the Leaf Village, his own family, and, by extension, Naruto, not only in front of the Kage but also in a battle against his friend's son.

While Naruto sees fit to deliver his punishment in public, he tells Boruto that he'll lecture him later, leading to a fitting outburst from Boruto. He slaps Naruto's hand away, much harder than he'd slapped either Hinata's or Sarada's touch away in the first chapter, yelling, "Later?! You'll lecture me later?! You sure you got the time, Dad?! Cuz if you'd lectured me earlier, I... wouldn't be in this situation now, eh!!"

Boruto's words can be read two different ways. If Naruto had taken time to acknowledge him earlier, he wouldn't have felt the need to cheat to get his attention. I think that's the more accurate reading, though with the use of the word lecture, I think it's also possible that Boruto is saying that if he had spent more time with him leading up to the Chunin Exams, he would have noticed the device sooner, lectured him sooner, and neither of them would be in the situation of having his cheating revealed publicly during the exam.

Thankfully for all involved, interruptions abound to save them both from having to talk ir out in front of an entire arena of people. The first distraction is Dr. Katasuke, showing up to capitalize on Boruto's use of the scientific ninja tool as a marketing opportunity, and then by the appearance of Kinshiki.

What follows in the first part of this battle is Boruto, as well as readers, seeing parents' love and protection of their children. In an era of peace, the offspring of shinobi honed by battle haven't seen their parents in action or the lengths they'll go to keep them safe. As the battle begins, we can clearly see that Naruto's primary priority is the well-being of his son. Time and again, we see him positioning himself in front of Boruto as Momoshiki and Kinshiki attack.

This same pattern plays out with other children as well. As Gaara uses his sand to hold up the arena's crumbling roof, Shinki joins his side, ready t0 jump into action. Gaara tells him to help evacuate people instead, saying, "Don't misjudge the enemy's battle strength. You're no match for him." Pain and disappointment are written on Shinki's usually stoic face, a moment of surprising characterization that plays out again in TBV when Gaara tries to protect the young shinobi, asking them to flee the Shinju Matsuri and abandon him. In his desire to save his father, Shinki once again overestimates his own abilities and pays for it when he gets bitten by a Claw Grime, thus creating a Shinju made from his own chakra who goes on to kill Yodo, his teammate. In the previous volume review, I mentioned that Shinki is a character meant to mirror Kawaki, another adopted Kage's son who looks up to his father in a way that diminishes the rest of the world around him. The main difference we see in this scene is that early Shinki is willing to heed Gaara's command to stand down while Kawaki (and later Shinki) decide that they need to defy the old generation's will for the sake of their safety.

Sasuke also joins the battle in fashionably late style, showing up just in time to rescue his daughter from getting crushed by the falling ceiling. He continues to fight (and deliver snappy lines) while holding her on his shoulder, the only arm he has wholly dedicated to keeping her out of harm's way.

After delivering a brutal kick to Naruto, Momoshiki approaches, walking past Boruto lying on the ground. Yet again, we see Boruto turn to the scientific ninja tool for assistance rather than relying on his own abilities, releasing a volley of attacks meant to protect his father, all of which Momoshiki absorbs.

Until my current reread of this chapter, I didn't think about how heavily the events that happen during the first Otsutsuki battle and the Delta fight mirror one another. In both fights, Boruto is unaware of his father's full power and tries to help rather than trusting Naruto, leading to near-calamity. The other thing that's of note is how much Delta's techniques mirror Momoshiki's, specifically the ability to absorb and return jutsu—something that Isshiki couldn't do. This gives us an early hint of how deep Amado's Otsutsuki knowledge runs as he was able to take a technique used by other Otsutsuki who hadn't yet arrived on the planet and integrate into the clone of his daughter through scientific ninja technology, further blurring the line between the powers of technology, aliens, and gods.

When one of Boruto's attacks singes Momoshiki's veil, the alien turns his attention to him before Naruto returns to save him. For a moment, Shikamaru manages to catch both Momoshiki and Kinshiki, allowing Naruto and Sasuke to regroup with their children. This public display of power serves as a reminder of Shikamaru's abilities—able to assist the two strongest shinobi in the village, and is likely the reason why he was picked to be the Eighth Hokage.

Of course, Shikamaru's ability to hold them is short-lived as Momoshiki absorbs his jutsu, too. With their kids behind them, Naruto and Sasuke exchange intel about the Otsutsuki threat and their goal—to turn Kurama's chakra inside of Naruto into chakra pills. Momoshiki calls the pills remarkable for how instantly and effortlessly they can be used to gain power. Cue Boruto staring reflectively at the scientific ninja tool strapped to his wrist. However, I find the next panel particularly interesting in the context of the story. Naruto calls the Otsutsuki out for being cowards who need to rely on a cheat to gain power. This goes back to our earlier discussion about Boruto's self-doubt. He relied on the scientific ninja tool, too afraid to lose. He, too, was a coward.

Momoshiki gobbles down a handful of chakra fruit pills, turning all the jutsu he'd absorbed into one giant orb, ready to destroy everything around him. With their fathers protecting them, Boruto creates a shadow clone to stand in front of Sarada and protect her as well, taking responsibility for having put her in danger.

When the air clears after Momoshiki's attack, we see that Naruto not only protected the children with Kurama's chakra, but he deployed shadow clones to protect the individuals still in the arena as well, a visual symbol for the way in which he conceptualizes the entire village as a family while also keeping his own son closest. This is the first time in Boruto's life that he's seen his father's true power and his responsibility to use it to protect everyone.

Momoshiki's next attack penetrates Naruto's shield enough to destroy Boruto's shadow clone, forcing Naruto to realize how dangerous the situation truly is. Outside the stadium, we see Hinata with Himawari, expressing concern for Naruto, thinking of his safety while he's occupied maintaining the safety of everyone else.

As Momoshiki prepares yet another massive attack, Naruto instructs Sasuke to take care of the kids, allowing him to tell Kurama it's time to go all out.

Chapter 6: Buffoon

In the opening pages, Momoshiki calls Naruto an inferior being twice: first for putting up resistance (or enduring—as shinobi do), then for using his body as a shield to protect the children behind him as well as the entire village. This statement feels linked to Jura's assertion that love is a weakness for humans before his perspective evolves to observe that it's also a source of great strength. Maybe Jura's perception came from the Ten Tails's association with Otsutsuki, or perhaps there is a deeper link between the two species beyond gardener and seed.

Kurama and Naruto begin to form a biju bomb before the fox's mouth closes, sealing it inside. When Boruto asks Sasuke why he didn't release the blast, Sasuke tells him that Naruto could have easily destroyed Momoshiki's pending attack, but it would have taken out the surrounding area and everyone in it.

Bathed in his father's warm glow, a representation of his power, his protection, and his love, Boruto recalls Sasuke's words about studying the loser who Naruto used to be to become the Kage he is today as his father is blasted away right before his son's eyes, our first example of the ongoing theme of sacrifice in the series.

Boruto wakes up in a hospital bed, attended to by his teammates who tell him they're only safe because Naruto protected them. Only now does Boruto think of his mother and sister, running to Hinata's side as Sakura heals her. Boruto learns that his mother was injured trying to fight the Otsutsuki as they took his father. Leaving his sister by his mother's side, Boruto rushes out of the hospital, thinking of Momoshiki absorbing the scientific ninja-powered jutsu he deployed and using them against Naruto. He trips, sees the scientific ninja tool still strapped to his wrist, and throws it.

We've discussed Naruto's foibles as a parent extensively in this reread, but as Boruto walks into the empty Hokage's office, we now see his father's perspective. All the former Hokage, including Naruto's own father who wasn't there when he was a child, look down at him from the wall, the inheritor of their will and responsibility. The weight of Naruto's position is piled throughout the room: stacks of paper, boxes of scrolls, energy shots and instant ramen cups piled in front of the computer. Once more, Boruto remembers the smashed cake while seeing for himself the amount of work and responsibility his father has.

In a series of amazingly simple panels that say so much, Boruto picks up Naruto's tattered jacket, looking at it while thinking about the moment before his father was blasted away. As viewers, we're supposed to be seeing the contrast between where Naruto began, the work he put in displayed on his worn jacket, and what he eventually achieved—the ability to protect everyone. Boruto slips on his father's jacket and stares at his reflection in the mirror, declaring himself to be lame—the same adjective he'd used for the jacket earlier when he threw it out the window.

"You've got that right," Sasuke says, always supportive before laying out to Boruto how far he's fallen.

"Your fraud was exposed. You were scorned. Even stripped of your headband, and you can't call yourself a shinobi anymore. And you lost your father on top of that. Such similar circumstances to Naruto's long ago, except you still have your mother and sister."

One of the features of Boruto is that the main character's fall from grace begins the story. He cheated. He was forced to watch jutsu he deployed against Momoshiki get turned against his father, hurting both his parents. He was disgraced in the most public way possible, in front of everyone from foreign leaders to regular villagers. From this transgression, he receives two important things, both facilitated by Sasuke—appreciation for his family and his shinobi way. Even when his identity is taken from him at the end of NNG, these are the things that he carries with him, and as long as he has them, he won't have lost everything.

After Sasuke reveals that Naruto is still alive and they're going to rescue him, Boruto asks, "Why are you bothering with me so much?" More than once, Kawaki asks a similar question of Naruto throughout the series, as seen below in the panel before Kawaki asks Naruto if he'll start training him.

An underlying theme in the differences between Boruto and Kawaki is how they perceive their value, and a factor in that is how the adults around them frame their value. In the first arc, when Boruto asks Sasuke why he's bothering with him, Sasuke responds, "You're my number one student, aren't you?" He goes on to affirm Boruto's worth, telling him that he's "a strong shinobi" and "the real you," as opposed to the version who relied on the scientific ninja tool, can possibly surpass Naruto one day. Sasuke even reframes his cheating in a way that makes it a strength, telling him he's a bigger buffoon than Naruto "in that you hate losing." His master's words imbue Boruto with strength that helps him endure.

When it comes to Kawaki, the answers he receives are often about Naruto more than about himself. Naruto tells him that he thinks Kawaki is like him, that if Konoha isn't a place where Kawaki can feel at home, he's failed as Hokage. When Kawaki asks a similar question about his acceptance to Sarada, she tells him that treating everyone like family is just what Naruto does. This contrasts sharply with how much value Sasuke gives to Boruto at the beginning of the story, not unlike the way Iruka speaks up for his student in the first chapter of Naruto. Kawaki isn't offered that same value in the story, either by his past or by the adults who try to help him.

All of the other Kage show up in the Hokage's Office, declaring that they're ready to join in the rescue effort. In a moment that's reminiscent of the recently-ended Mamushi fight, Sasuke says that he can only take a limited number of people with his Rinnegan, and Shikamaru determines that "this is the best crew." Note that the crew includes a twelve-year-old genin.

As they're about to leave, Sakura brings Hinata up to the roof to see her son, accompanied by Sarada and Mitsuki. When he puts on his borrowed headband, Hinata flashes back to young Naruto, seeing her husband's will living on in their son. After having been the one who tried to save Naruto from being taken away by the Otsutsuki, she tells him, "I leave your father in your hands, Boruto!"

Chapter 7: Collision...!!

Finally, we arrive at a chapter that's mostly fighting, so I can hopefully keep my promise at the start of this post that it'll be shorter than the previous one.

Naruto is being held captive in another dimension, strapped to a God Tree preparing to bloom as Momoshiki sucks Kurama's chakra from his abdomen. (Puzzlingly, his jacket is now open, implying that one of the Otsutsuki took the time to unzip it for... easier chakra extraction?) When Momoshiki expresses frustration that the process of draining Naruto's immense chakra is taking too long, Naruto cockily responds, "Sorry about that. You see, we ninja don't like to make things easy!" This statement is emblematic of the perseverance and endurance demonstrated throughout the series. His words are proven even more correct half a second later when the Raikage and Mizukage arrive, swords swinging.

Boruto and Sasuke free Naruto as the other Kage take on the Otsutsuki threat, leading to the exchange that's so desperately been needed. Naruto immediately notices his son's outfit, his jacket and Sasuke's headband. "A lot happened... in short, he's become a ninja," Sasuke says before leaving father and son alone.

What I like so much about the resolution of their conflict is that both come to understand the other. Naruto tries to apologize for his earlier absence and is about to promise to change when Boruto, who has now seen how hard his father works, excuses him. "Things are fine the way they are," he says before asking Naruto to tell him about his past when he has free time instead of lecturing him. As we never actually see Naruto telling Boruto about his younger years in the series, this feels very much like a vestige of the manga's movie origins, but it also resolves the earlier issues in the story of Naruto always telling his son what a shinobi should be instead of connecting with him.

The battle between the Kage and the Otsutsuki is a demonstration of teamwork and guts, the two qualities Naruto said were important for young shinobi to have, such as the Mizukage allowing himself to be injured by Kinshiki so that the Tsuchikage can attack.

Once Kinshiki is immobilized, the fight turns to Momoshiki with Boruto reminding his father that they can't use ninjutsu against him due to his ability to absorb and redeploy jutsu (Sasuke observes that this is like a scientific ninja tool, giving us yet another technology-god-alien connection).

Once he's cornered, Momoshiki turns his Byakugan to Boruto, telling him, "It seems you're burdened with a rather interesting fate. What a pity, fox, that you possess so much power yet not the jutsu to pass it down to the next generation." With the benefit of knowing what happens in TBV, readers are aware that Naruto does manage to pass Kurama down to the next generation when he manifests in Hima after dying instead of Boruto. It's possible that Momoshiki's prediction is incorrect because he's only taking one child into account, but we also know from later events that Momoshiki's visions are fallible and not destined to come true.

"Let me show you how my clan does it," Momoshiki says, then reaches out his hand to Kinshiki. In the light novel, it's established that Kinshiki is Momo's childhood protector, an older Otsutsuki in a subservient pair role. With his Rinnegan, Momoshiki turns Kinshiki into an Edible Chakra Creation, a miniaturized chakra fruit that grants him a massive power up when he devours it.

As the chapter and volume end, I once again find myself benefiting from a reread in the manga's physical format. In previous reads, I failed to put together the fact that Momoshiki's fused form gains karma-like patterns similar to Jigen's and Boruto's post-death design. While Momoshiki himself is not a vessel, he takes on a vessel's appearance once he consumes the data of another being and integrates it into his own body

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