Boruto: Two Blue Vortex Chapter 31 Review
Shut Up
Cover
An absolutely stunning cover. I'm brimming over with things to say, but we first have to start with the Japanese cover text omitted from the English chapter: Beautiful flowers attract insects.
Friends, I am screaming.
I talked a lot about the imagery of flowers in association with Matsuri's design as a Shinju, petals designed to attract pollinators, botanical fertilization and reproduction as it related to her romantic feelings for Konohamaru as a life form that's part tree. Here, the same language is reproduced in relation to Eida being a beautiful flower and the swarm of Mamushi the insects drawn toward her—but to what purpose? Fertilization, of course! Cross pollination! The mixing of sperm-cell bearing pollen grains attached to insects onto the pistil of flowers, the transfer of (plant) sperm to (plant) ovules.
I love how explicit the cover text makes Mamushi's draw towards Eida as a dire to reproduce and Shikamaru's little honeypot plan to lure Mamushi to his death using her. Prepare yourself for a text box about honeypots.
Sorry for that interlude and the extremely kinky talk by horticultural standards. Let's get back to the visuals on the cover.
This is one of the most unique covers we've seen from Ikemoto in the run of Boruto: Two Blue Vortex (TBV). Eida looks different than on her previous covers, all of which contained a good dose of her Omnipotence-induced charm allure. Here, she's less of a glamorous idol, her hands held pensively at her chin, serious eyes staring at the viewer as though she's asking them to save her.
And Eida is indeed in need of saving. The cover frames her as the object of his arc, putting her in our view similar to how Shikamaru plans to lure Mamushi to his doom by using her as bait. But we also see that she's trapped in the plot, the tile of the series cut out over her body like prison bars, no letters wide enough to allow her escape. While Eida owned her previous covers, we see her here as subject to someone else's ownership, a captured object for either Mamushi or Shikamaru's use.
Shut Up is a banger chapter title, and not just because it's what we've been wanting to scream at Kobu this entire arc. There's numerous examples of people shutting up in this chapter, Inojin literally telling Koji to shut up while he tries to save Kobu, the Mamushi arguing with each other, Sai cutting off his line of questioning to do what needs to be done, Koji cutting off Inojin's concerns by redirecting him to his friends, Sarada brushing off Delta's concerns about her vision, Kobu finally getting out of the way so that Shikamaru can manage the battle. There's also the dual meaning here with Eida's situation, that she's shut up in a situation that she can't get out of and not given a say in whether or not she wants to be put in danger to lure Mamushi into an ambush.
One more word about the cover, but I haven't noted before what a divine font choice the series has made for its chapter titles, the way the numbers and letters seem to be glitching before our eyes, horizontal lines of static interrupting the story itself as though we're all reading a computer error.
Resolve of the Son, Resolve of the Father
The chapter opens where we last left off, Inojin in Kobu's body facing down a swarm of Mamushi. Koji via the toad Philbert like a devil on his shoulder urges Inojin to abandon Kobu's body, allow the Shinju threat to finish what they'd (ahem, Kojij) started. But if Koji is a devil, it's Inojin's inner self who is an angel—or a shinobi, deciding to save the problematic politician, even if it costs him his own life.
We see a shinobi's will on display a few pages later when we return to Sai interrogating Shikamaru as to what Inojin has gotten himself into. Instead of asking the question I've been asking (why get Sumire and Amado involved in the op rather than letting Sai in on it), the head of ANBU has more of a father's heart, asking first if his son is safe before taking up his professional role, questioning Shikamaru's source of information and... kinda sorta threatening the acting Hokage.
Shikamaru whips out his aura-based Uno reverse card, telling Sai, "But we are shinobi first and foremost, before we are parents. Especially during an emergency. The safety of the village and all its citizens is our priority."
My brain did a huge record scratch in this moment as I flashed back to the events of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations (NNG) and Naruto's struggle with this state of affairs. After Boruto's (temporary) death, Naruto couldn't rally himself to respond to Code's attack and take him out with Kawaki, his attention (rightfully so) fixated on his dead child while Shikamaru screamed at him to get his ass off the ground and protect the village. I think what I'm trying to articulate here is that this is a very Shikamaru perspective, not necessarily a Naruto perspective. Naruto struggled deeply with the possibility that he might have to kill his son, and never truly came to accept it. He was always trying to find a way out, a path forward that was full of hope, instead of looking at the situation straight and facing it.
What we see here with Sai is a father who does face it, who closes his pained eyes, accepts that what he's hearing is true, and asks what he needs to do... as a shinobi. It's the third time we're seeing this kind of resolve in the Mamushi arc. Flashback to chapter 28 and Shikadai's moment of telling his father, "...I'm willing to put aside my personal feelings about Boruto and risk my life as a shinobi to carry out any order given by the Hokage." For the secondary characters in the Boruto narrative, this arc is very much about what it means to be a shinobi, the resolve necessary to stand up against the Shinju threat despite their own feelings, which once again leads us back to the flashforward scene, Kawaki declaring the end of the age of shinobi while Boruto holds onto his principles, making me wonder if the themes in this arc are part of what leads to the village's future destruction.
It's All in the Eyes
Y'all remember way back when Shikamaru was about to divulge all of Mamushi's abilities to the assembled members of the op only to be interrupted by his early attack? The scene transitions to Eida huddled on the couch next to Daemon, lamenting the break in Inojin's transmission jutsu. When her little brother asks why she doesn't use her Senrigan if she wants to know what's going on, Eida flashes back to the moment when she was watching the Shinju declare their targets, and Mamushi focused in on her, stating that he could tell she was watching. From this, she has surmised that another one of his abilities is gathering intel by looking into other people's eyes (or into the eyes of the people who are looking at him). If she looks for him, he'll be able to know where she is.
This was record scratch number two for me in this chapter because if Mamushi can surmise intel from the eyes of others, in a one-on-one encounter with Daemon, he'll probably be able to see all of the gremlin child's weaknesses and parameters affecting his reflection ability. Same with Eida. Same with Sarada. Same with Koji. Meeting one of them face-to-face will give him the advantage of quite literally seeing through them. This might explain why he's been walking up to random people and asking them where Eida is, hoping to be able to see the truth of her location in their eyes.
Mob Mentality
Speaking of people with exceptional eyes, we flip scenes to the dynamic duo of Laser Irises and Bleeding Tear Ducts, Delta and Sarada observing the ever-growing swarm of Mamushi strolling down main street. In previous posts discussing Mamushi's shrinking intellectual capacity in relation to his number, I've compared him to a mob before, an army of brain-dead trolls getting stupider as more of them are in the same group chat. We finally see that plot point in play here as two Mamushi's, both with the same goals, same desires, same shared single brain cell, turn on each other, their mutual frustration boiling over into Shinju-on-Shinju violence, threatening all the civilians around them.
There's something in this moment reminiscent of Kawaki's desire to make a shadow clone to beat the shit out of it, Naruto telling him that he tried it and it doesn't work. Here, we see Mamushi experiencing that same self-loathing when stuck with himself, using his human name—Bug—as an insult aimed at himself. Ikemoto issues some sharp commentary about the type of violence that stems from self-hatred, the attempt to lash out at one's self harming all those around him... Which seems rather Kawaki-coded, doesn't it? This also reminds me of the oft-repeated rule-of-thumb on Bluesky, that if we abandon all fascists and white supremacists and misogynists with themselves in isolated internet spaces, they're going to end up turning on each other because they're a cohort of intolerable schmucks who couldn't stand the sound of their own miserable voices.
At any rate, one dumbass Mamushi kills another by taking off the top of his head, then another smacks the back of his head, chastising him before lighting the original offender up like a marshmallow around a camp fire. The chaos grows and spreads into a stampede of humans trying to run away from the mob and tripping over each other as they flee.
Similar to the original Claw Grime invasion, Sarada jumps into (flies into?) action just when it looks like a civilian is going to get squished like a bug (haha). Activating her MS like the shiny new ability it is, she floats high over head amid spinning spheres, lifting all of the Mamushi in her line of sight off the ground—and not a single person exclaims, "What's that genin doing in the air?" (Actually, it occurs to me now that all of the flying shinobi never made it past genin.) I also want to note here that while Sarada is looking at all the Mamushi, none of them make direct eye contact with her—fascinating in the context of Eida's prediction of their additional abilities.
Pest exterminator extraordinaire Sarada sucks all the Shinju she can see against one of her spinning spheres, leaving her assistant Delta to do clean up duty, kicking and zapping and enucleating the eyes of the rest of the Mamushi in their sector—and it's a pure delight to see her back in action since her encounter with Naruto... if we're not considering the few seconds during which she faced off against Code before flashing Eida and falling in love.
Sarada blasts her accumulated Mamushi to bits with her MS spinning, but there's a cost, her aching head, bleeding eyes, blurry vision, and stoic Uchiha-like assistance that she's fine, leaving us to wonder what kind of shape she'll be in for the rest of the arc.
Enter: Hero
Inojin has valiantly managed to keep Kobu's middle-aged body alive against the swarm of Mamushi, but it seems their luck has run out. Koji reads the writing on the wall and literally snaps Inojin out of it before he can get himself killed. Some masterful manipulation on Koji's part as he tells the young shinobi that Kobu is done for, redirecting him by telling him to restart the Mind Transformation Transmission for the safety of "our" friends.
Kobu wakes up on the roof top, surrounded by six Mamushi with twelve teeth among them. Still thinking of the chamberlain's life, Inojin immediately directs Shikamaru (and his dad) to the roof to stop the attack. What they can't stop, however, is the roaring flames surrounding the politician's robes from Mamushi's attack... But there's one person in Konoha who is prepare to deal with this exact situation. Say his name altogether now...
BORUTO.
Yes, our titular flying hero swoops in from above, slashing off the heads of the assembled Mamushi before absorbing the flames surrounding Kobu with his sword hand—stylish, no?
Charred but alive, Kobu relents in his present attempts to interrogate Shikamaru, allowing him to manage the battle against the Shinju invasion, but delivering a strict warning before Sai drags him off to the hospital: he's not done with his investigation and when it's through, there's going to be no hiding from the consequences. Anyone want to elect this guy to congress to handle the Epstein files?
Interestingly enough, his threats are aimed at Shikamaru and the village, not at the aura-farming outlaw standing beside him. Perhaps this is an oversight, as there's no speculation about how he ended up on the roof of Hokage Tower in the first place, though we're free to wildly theorize that Sumire's additions to Boruto's sword involve some sort of visual cloaking device in the meantime. (I think he actually does look over his shoulder at Boruto, but he might be too shocked to first be attacked by Mamushi, then find himself on his ass next to a Hokage killer to mention his presence.)
Philbert sproings off of Kobu as he's led away, leading to a witty exchange between Boruto and a toad as to whether Koji knew that he was going to fly in and save the day. "You might not consider this an answer," Koji says via Philbert. "But in my personal opinion, that man needs to die."
I'm delighted by this response because it opens up the possibility that in saving Kobu, doing the right thing, Inojin and Boruto have inadvertently caused a worse future outcome based on Koji's prescience, providing us with the opportunity for a politically-charged arc between Mamushi's attack and Sarada's inevitable confrontation with Hidari.
Back to the Battle
Freed from his spontaneous work meeting (err, interrogation), Shikamaru can get back to his role of General, managing the battle against Mamushi, Unfortunately, in his absence, the Shinju's numbers have grown and spread, nearing 200 despite Sarada and Delta's girl-power killing spree. Shikadai is quick to highlight the dire situation Team 10 is in, he and ChoCho running low on chakra as they battle the enemy, though I'm assuming Kurama-laden Himawari is still fresh as a daisy... or sunflower.
Shikamaru: Don't worry all, I have a plan.
Kawaki, reminding everyone that he, too, is in this manga: What, bitch?
Shikamaru: Our last resort, the Eida honeypot formation?
Eida: EXCUSE YOU?
Daemon: By all means, let's lure them all to me so I can take them out.
Eida: Uh, guys... Don't I have a say in this?
Everyone: NO!
So, Shikamaru's plan is to use Mamushi's numbers against him, hoping his intellect is diminished to the point that he'll forget to leave one of his body behind, all of the empty-headed bugs thirsting for a taste of Eida's flower (ew?) rushing to her direction where they can get picked off.
By who?
Well, ChoCho and Shikadai are flagging, but Himawari is a possibility. Boruto's always up for battle and Kawaki's just getting started. Sarada's eyes are already in bad shape, but she's not going to let a few bloody tears keep her away from protecting Eida. Delta's ready, too. And Amado and Sumire still haven't contributed to this op... and now they have Sai on their side (potential pun intended).
Conclusions and Questions
Next chapter is a volume ender, which are almost always fantastic cliffhangers, but I don't think we're getting out of this battle without another volume's worth of content.
- Are we going to finally get some backstory on Daemon and Eida when he's trying to protect his sister?
- Are we going to get more insight into Bug's previous dynamic with Eida and she she's his target?
- Is Mamushi's ability to use people's eyes to gather intel going to be used against Daemon?
- Is Kobu going to recognize that Boruto was there?
- How grounded is Inojin going to be when Sai finally gets to talk to him?
- Is Eida going to become Treeida?
- Is Himawari going to die trying to protect the other two members of Team 10?
- Is Sarada going to keep trying to fake it until she makes it? (Errr, using her MS until she goes blind?)
- Is saving Kobu going to cost Shikamaru his Hokage's seat and lead to an unraveling of shinobi power in Konoha, leading to the flashforward scene?
- Are we ever going to get an explainer on why the soles of Boruto's shoes are so clean?
- Am I going to ever sound less creepy when writing about plant reproduction?
Stay tuned for these answers and more in the next chapter of Boruto: Two Blue Vortex.