'Naruto' Drops One of its Most Gut-Wrenching Moments Yet

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations took fans of Boruto: Naruto the Movie by surprise as it made many changes to how the Otsusuki Clan have invaded the Chunin Exams, but the biggest surprise came at the episode's end.

After featuring a major clash between Naruto, Sasuke, and Momoshiki, the episode comes to an end with a heartbreaking moment between Boruto and Naruto as Boruto realizes that his dad is going to sacrifice himself to save everyone else.

When Momoshiki Otsutsuki ingests many chakra pills and summons a huge destructive jutsu, Naruto and Sasuke team up to save those in the arena. But Naruto asks Sasuke to keep the kids safe right before he summons up far more chakra. Although he's able to summon his full Kurama transformation, he cannot blast away the jutsu because it would kill everyone around.

Instead, Naruto decides to catch it and absorb the impact of the blast. But the saddest moment comes when Boruto finally realizes what's about to happen. In this moment, he feels his dad's chakra as flashes of their past come across Boruto's mind as Boruto sits there speechless as Naruto wraps himself around the large chakra blast.

The village is reacting to this as well, as no one wants to see the Hokage fall, especially Hinata (who's seen running to him frantically) but the episode comes to a close with a heartbreaking moment as Naruto quickly fades in the resulting explosion of chakra and Boruto is left yelling for his dad.

Until the next episode, fans are left wondering the fate of Naruto and are using the series' past of killing major characters to fuel their panic. It would certainly be a tearjerker if this scene was any indication.

For those unfamiliar with Naruto, it has quite a storied history. Originally created by Masashi Kishimoto, the series ran in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump for 700 chapters. The story follows Naruto, a young ninja with a sealed demon within him that wishes to become the leader of his home village. The sequel, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations is set several years after the events of the original Naruto story and featuring the children of many of its key characters such as Naruto and Hinata.

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations recently made TV Tokyo's list of Top 5 Anime in sales and profits, coming third in sales and fifth and profits. The anime has been such a success that the Naruto franchise as a whole stills holds a top spot in many anime profits rankings as well. The series even managed to cross 235 million copies of the manga sold worldwide. Boruto: Naruto Next Generations was even given a major bump of approval as it just took over a more familiar timeslot, airing in the same time and day that its predecessor Naruto: Shippuden once did.