'Naruto' Teases Boruto’s Dark Future

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations just dropped its exciting new episode (no. 64), entitled "Rescue Naruto!", and it packed quite a bit of action and drama into one episode, with room leftover for a terrible new villain fusion and, on the lower frequencies, an ominous foreshadow that could lead to a major future twist in the series!

The big foreshadow comes in the form of a major (and very brief) prophecy, which is revealed by new villain, Momoshiki Otsutsuki. After Boruto, Sasuke and the Five Kages successfully free Naruto, the ninja squad is fully ready to throw down with the Otsutsukis. Brute enforcer Kinshiki is quickly subdued, leaving Momoshiki alone and surrounded. Before revealing a powerful (and cannibalistic) transformation, Momoshiki takes a second pause and use the Byakugan to observe Boruto, once he realizes the young ninja is actually Naruto's son.

Check out Momoshiki's ominous proclamation, below:

"Is that your child, Fox? I see! It seems you're [Boruto] burdened with a rather interesting fate... What a pity, Fox... That you possess so much power, yet not the means to pass it down to the next generation... "

This goes back to Toneri Otsutsuki's previous proclamation to Boruto, when the Otsutsuki henchman first discovered Boruto manifesting the Jougan eye. After Boruto helped defeat Nue and seal the gate it opened to another dimension, Toneri observed that while Boruto's Jougan wouldn't return again for some time, the power of the shinobi had grown so great that it would surpass the power of the Otsutsuki Clan - and that Boruto would one day stand as the most powerful shinobi of all, with unlimited potential.

While that sounds good on the surface, Boruto's dystopian opening sequence revealed that Naruto's son will go through some dark times and hard lessons on his way to becoming the legendary shinobi we meet. The fact that Momoshiki characterizes Boruto's path as "burdened with a rather interesting fate" speaks to the fact that the young ninja is destined to walk the same kind of hard, bloody, path to greatness as his father did. Hopefully, it's a shorter path, though...

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. The series 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.