'Naruto' Finally Pits Boruto Against Orochimaru

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations has been flirting with the connections between the past (Naruto, Naruto: Shippuden) and present (Boruto) all along, with the series giving longtime fans some great new context for heroes and villains they thought they knew. Case in point is the latest episode of Boruto, "The Other Side of the Moon", which finally gave Naruto fans the long-awaited first encounter between Boruto and Orochimaru!

Episode 73 picked up with Boruto and Sarada sneaking off to Orochimaru's lab, while Naruto and the other Shinobi leaders of Hidden Leaf set out to both retrieve their wayward genin, and capture Mitsuki, so they can officially identify where his loyalties lie. Lucky for Bourto and Sarada, they get to their destination first, which leads Boruto to make a shocking discovery, and have a somewhat unnerving encounter with the mad scientist Orochimaru.

Boruto discovers that Orochimaru has an entire room full of Mitsuki clones cooking, finally learning his friend's true origin as a synthetic being created by Orochimaru. Needless to say, that revelation rocks Boruto pretty hard, leaving him in a perfectly vulnerable state for Orochimaru to wrap his coils around...

At Naruto fans know, Orochimaru is as much of an intellectual threat as he is a physical one, and in their first meeting, Boruto got to know just how convoluted and twisted it can get trying to talk to the Shinobi serpent. Orochimaru quickly gets into Boruto's head, making him question whether he ever truly knew Mitsuki at all. If that wasn't enough, Orochimaru also revealed a secret that now has Boruto in a serious panic: Mitsuki's life is in more danger than the young shinobi even realizes. According to Orochimaru:

"There's no need to worry. If anyone gets wind of what he is, the curse mark that I implanted inside of him will automatically activate, and he will self-destruct. So there's no need to worry that the secrets of my research will be revealed."

In that moment, Boruto truly learns why Orochimaru is the heinous villain that so many shinobi revile and fear. His cold calculating view of his creations makes Boruto question what kind of "parent" he is, while coming to realize just what kind of dilemma Mitsuki is facing. At the end of the episode, Orochimaru points Boruto and Sarada toward the White Snake Sage of Ryuchi Cave, who can interpret the hidden message of the snake Mitsuki sent to contact Boruto. Orochimaru observes that Boruto is just like "Naruto of old," while quite possibly sending Boruto and Sarada into a trap...

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