'Naruto' Reveals New Orochimaru Villains

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations episode 72 picks up from the cliffhanger of the previous episode, which saw Bortuo's close comrade Mitsuki sneak out of Hidden Leaf village, while seemingly thrashing two guards on his way.

Well, the opening of episode 72 "Mitsuki's Will" reveals that what went down at the gate of Hidden Leaf was more complicated than Mitsuki simply taking out two guards: the young chunin had help - in the form of some new villain characters!

As you can see above, these mysterious new villains bare more than a striking resemblance to Orochimaru, which suggests that they could be more of his clone projects - i.e., brothers to Mitsuki and Log. That would make a lot of sense, as it would provide reasonable explanation for why Mitsuki felt compelled to leave Hidden Leaf, after finding a mysterious note in his room. Old man Onoki gave Mitsuki a lot to think about, in regards to the path of his destiny, and realizing the will and desire to be his own man. For someone as altruistic and empathetic as Mitsuki, it could be the case that he wants to join his "brothers" in order to set them free of control, and that he knocked out the two guards in order to keep his brothers and their pet monster from killing them.

This is exactly the sort of character arc that Naruto has been known for - and one that starts out framing a character in a bad light, only to have the Hokage and Shinobi learn that they must have more trust in friends, and perspective on life that's more complex than black and white shades of good and evil. For Boruto, it would give him the chance to finally really get to know Mitsuki, and have to realize that his "close friend" has a much deeper and more important destiny than he ever imagined. And yet, in the end, Boruto's unshakable faith in his friends would once again be rewarded.

This Mitsuki arc is unique to the anime, so it's going to be interesting to see how the fallout for Mitsuki and Orochimaru effects some of the upcoming big arcs that have already unfolded in the manga.

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations recently even 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.

Catch new episodes of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations streaming weekly (in a new timeslot) on Hulu, Crunchyroll and Funimation.