Boruto: Two Blue Vortex Chapter 26 Review

Avast, me hearties! Cast thine eyes upon the lusty bounty that washed up upon yonder shores whilst I was mixing my morning grog! Tis the latest Boruto chapter, packed to the hull with unexpected plot twist and adventures for all the lads, lassies, and shipmates to enjoy. Arrrr, kick up yer heels and partake the meat of the chapter that I plucked from its bones for the eating. Feast and be merry!

cough

Excuse me.

I had a little International Talk Like a Pirate Day in my throat. Now that it's out of the way...

Cover

An absolutely stunning Momoshiki cover has been dropped in our laps. Let's first talk about the color choice, not in terms of Momoshiki, but because of something else that dropped in our laps today...

If you're interested in my analysis of the difference between the two Sarada volume covers, you can find it here on Bluesky. What's important in this context is that the colors used on the Momoshiki chapter cover coloring are the same red/pink used here for Sarada, tying them together. It could be their mutual stake in Boruto, Sarada adopting his pink as she accepts his feelings for her, Momoshiki bathed in Boruto's color as the two of them form a pact. It could also hint at a possible dynamic between Sarada and Momoshiki in the future. He has aura to Sarada on the chapter cover as well, his hair and clothes defying gravity. He's also looking down on us, the viewer, as though he's ready to step on us.

More interesting, though, is the chapter title—Those Like-Minded. We get the primary meaning from Boruto and Koji, that to win against their enemy, they must be willing to go to the same extremes, to use their brains in the same way. But this chapter is full of other parallels, too. We have Inojin divulging his feelings for Himawari after the love confession fest at the end of the previous chapter. We have the tension between Boruto and Koji, that they are decidedly not like-minded when it comes to what they're willing to risk to achieve their goals. We have the alignment between the decrepit village elders and the daimyo's chamberlain versus the alignment between Shikamaru and Konohamaru, both on Boruto's side to some extent. We have the Shinju working together to learn more about love... or whatever the hell Mamushi has going on with Eida (more on that later). Lastly, we have Sarada and Sumire with their feelings for Boruto and acknowledging that now might not really be the time to spatter him with confessions... Though it'll probably happen sooner or later.

Whew, that's a lot.

The Blond-Haired, Blue-Eyed Boys of Konoha

Just a normal day for Inojin Yamanaka, making some time to drop off honey with Himawari, make cow eyes at her, then get confronted about his romantic intentions by a talking scientific ninja tool toad.

I just need to take a moment here and imagine this scene from Boruto's perspective: He's chilling in the hideout with Koji while Koji interrogates his former classmate about his feelings for his little sister.

That's... awkward af.

Anyway, romantic intentions confirmed, Inojin poofs into the hideout, which happens to contain a Victorian-style divan, occupied by Koji, and a wingback chair, occupied by Boruto. We get a gut-wrenching contrast between Boruto and Inojin, both the same age, both sons of the Konoha elite, similar hair-colors, similar eye-colors, and Boruto looking like he fought in World War III while Inojin is dressed as though he's on his way home from high school.

Creepy Little Bug

Hidari always seems to be observing Jura's emotions, similar to how Jura is observing love in humans. Our entrance to the Shinju base starts with Hidari noticing their leader crying as he reads what I can only assume to be Jane Eyre or a Colleen Hoover novel. When confronted about his tears, Jura says he was moved by the fictional book he was reading and that these are his emotions. The previous time he cried was because he felt Matsuri's emotions when interacting with Konohamaru, her anger and sadness and the faintest glimpse of love.

Jura tells Hidari that he gained his tears from Matsuri, which confirms that he's learning about love through the experiences of the other Shinju, becoming more human as they form human emotions in pursuit of their targets.

During this conversation, Mamushi is lying wide-legged on the ground, staring at a copy of Ninja Illustrated Swimsuit Model Edition. Apparently, looking at pictures of scantily-clad voluptuous girls has led him to a realization. Let's hear it in his own words:

"I wanna devour her. Not just in the sense of simply consumin' her but for control. I wanna make her superior genetic information mine. I don't give a squat about love or what all. I just feel that we Divine Trees oughta thrive more as a species."

From Matsuri's pursuit of Konohamaru (and Ikemoto's Q&A response about the Shinju), we gained confirmation that their desired targets are linked to feelings had by the internal selves of their human forms. With Bug's background, we know he was enthralled by Eida, but also hated her for the control she had over him, warning Code away from her. Thus, his Shinju's desire is to control her as she once controlled him.

Outwardly, that seems a poetic response to Eida's hold over others, but it gets a lot darker when we consider that he's realized this while looking at pictures of half-naked women and admiring their bodies. His framing for Eida is that she carries superior genetic material (in both the Sidney Sweeny sense and her Senrigan) and he wants to consume her to propagate his own species. This comes very close to justifying lust for eugenic ends, echoing slimy white men like Elon Musk who feel as though it's their responsibility to spread their genetic material throughout the world for some noble ends (rather than a poorly-disguised breeding kink). It's not about love, as Mamushi says, it's about controlling women (particularly one who is both out of your league and denied your desires), their bodies, and using them as a conduit to improving your "species."

Hidari, now is the time to say ick.

I want to note how Mamushi's desire for Eida stands in contrast to Inojin's honey delivery to Himawari. Inojin has saved her and been saved by her, she likes seeing her smile, his romantic inclinations toward her lead to him doing things for her in order to protect her. We're seeing two contrasting modes of male attraction and desire in this chapter, one that admires and appreciates, one that wants to control and consume.

Yamanaka Switchboard Operator, The Next Generation

What better way to decompress for a meeting than taking a telepathic call from an abducted teenager so that a clone of a long-dead shinobi can further stress you out about said meeting?

Shikamaru's tenure as interim Hokage isn't an easy one. Luckily for him, it might be over soon unless Koji can help him!

Still telepathically connected to Koji, Shikamaru enters the meeting room with the two village elders (ew), Sai, Konohamaru, and the daimyo's chamberlain. We learn that Shikamaru unilaterally decided to send Team 7 to the Sand, which has raised suspicions with both the village elders and the daimyo. Talking like a DOGE staffer, the chamberlain starts threatening to cut off funding to the village despite the nation (and world) being under threat from the divine trees for... reasons. Probably, they want to give a big tax cut to Denki's dad or something similar. At any rate, Shikamaru's actions have brought him under suspicion... and they want answers.

Instead of pulling the "I'm a genius" card, Shikamaru goes for the "Uhhh... I have sources... that... I can't tell you about..." card, which is legitimately a baffling choice. This leads the village elders and Mr. Representative to assume that he's working with Boruto and now everyone who has come in contact with our current favorite non-tree'd rogue ninja is subject to investigation.

Oh, but if Shikamaru loses his job, the village is going to be much less ready for Mamushi's attack. So... that's all great.

Trouble in Paradise

Inojin is like, "Uh, you guys know how illegal it is to do what you just did, right?" and Koji is like, "Son, you're literally driving the getaway car for us right now."

Boruto explains away their law-breaking, saying, "Our enemy won't stop at anything, so we too must conform to the enemy's methods. We don't have the luxury of operating within the rules. You gotta always be thinking about what you truly need. Using your brain." Now, last I check in with the Shinju, they were less breaking the rules of Konoha and more reading romance novels and soft-core porn magazines, but perhaps without Eida's ability to spy on them, Boruto is missing that little detail.

Being the rude motherfucker he is, Koji is like, "Speaking of underhanded tactics, did you finish your chat with Momoshiki yet?" as though Inojin isn't standing right there, listening to the two of them. This leads to a spat between the two of them, Koji not liking Boruto's attitude and withholding information from him, Boruto not liking the lengths Koji will go to when achieving their objectives... and the fact that he withholds information from him.

When these two break up, it's going to be phenomenal.

One more detail Koji gives Shikamaru? Mamushi is going to show up in Konoha in a week, and their chances are victory are better if he doesn't get shit-canned before then

She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not

I feel like Sarada's hair has taken on a life of it's own in the arcs, perfectly composed during the first one, wild and free during the second, and now flat in the third.

Back at the house, Eida is grilling the girls about their feelings for Boruto and asking when they'll confess. Sarada isn't sure how to share her feelings because Boruto doesn't need to know them right now and she doesn't want to harm their friendship. Sumire says that it's likely she'll just blurt it out at some point... and probably Sarada will, too. I love this little moment with Sumire pushing Sarada not to fall back into her own habits of denying her feelings. Of course, both of them agree that Boruto's feelings are the most important, and he likely has other things on his mind.*

*aura-farming in front of Inojin.

Eida is like, "Now, girlies... Good chat, but you're totally not captivated by me because you're gushing on about your feelings for someone else in my presence."

On cue, Daemon steps forward and Sarada activates her MS. Of course, the little bastard is strong af and manages to get his hands around both Sarada's and Sumire's necks before they can act.

Thoughts

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!

I repeat... AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

To me, this was a fantastic chapter. The type of chapter I've been waiting for. A little slice of life, political intrigue, kidnapping Inojin, more fantastic allusions to modern-day moral issues. I'd rip out one of my teeth and put it under my pillow if the tooth fairy would bring me chapter 27 tonight in exchange for it.

Some thoughts, in no particular order.

1. Boruto tells Inojin that he'll return him to Konoha. I guess that means Boruto will be going to Konoha as well, at least for a very brief period of time.
2. What deal did Boruto make with Momoshiki and what future did Koji foresee that made this joint decision?
3. What will come of the chamberlain's interrogation of everyone who has been in contact with Boruto?
4. What is the source of the rumors about Boruto and the Shinju? Is it just village gossip or is someone (Kawaki?) spreading them?
5. Does Himawari return Inojin feelings or are we going to see him rejected as a parallel to the Bug/Eida situation?
6. How are Sarada and Sumire going to get out of their bind with Daemon? Is Sarada using a genjutsu? Will Eida demand he let them go because they're her friends? Or because their romantic drama is too juicy for them to die? Is Kawaki going to walk downstairs after taking a long nap and be like, "WTF?"
7. Does Eida know why they're immune to her abilities?
8. Where the heck is Kawaki in all this?

My goodness, this was a fantastic chapter. We're really eating good this month.