'Naruto' Reveals Its New Villains' True Origins

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations' latest "Mitsuki Arc" is shaping up to be even more intriguing than fans ever suspected, and in the latest episode, "Everyone's Motives", we finally started to get some deeper insight into who the true villains of this story arc are, and what their motivation is. As it stands, this arc could have major implications for the future of the Naruto saga.

In the latest episode of Boruto we catch up to Mitsuki, who is traveling in the company of his newfound allies Kokuyou and Sekiei, to the border of the Land of Earth, where the pair of villains hope to bring Mitsuki to meet their master, "Lord Ku." We also meet two more of Ku's underlings, including the female Kirara, a fourth mysterious attendant in the vein of Kokuyou and Sekiei, and a scientist. The latter assures Lork Ku that, despite a few setbacks, 'everything will work out' once 'Orochimaru's experiment arrives.' Apparently Lord Ku has awaited this moment for quite some time, and several other key scenes of the episode help indicate why!

Kokuyou, Sekiei, Kirara, and the their fourth "brother" all seem to be artificial humanoids - more advanced designs of the mask-faced Earth monsters that Kokuyou and Sekiei use as their enforcers. In one of the more telling scenes of the episode, the stoic and ruthless Kokuyou sees one of their accompanying monsters start to break down as it reaches the end of its lifespan; in Kokuyou's view, it's better for the monsters to "die here now, instead of having you struggle disgracefully at living," and he destroys the monster with a fatal blow.

When Mitsuki is perplexed by this ruthless display, the childlike Sekiei explains that their species, the "Akuta," have a much more limited lifespan than humans, and that there is one thing that will allow them to "live just like humans..." and it is Mitsuki!

What becomes clear in the very appropriately-titled "Everyone's Motives" is that Lord Ku wants his Akuta to reach the next level of cloning / artificial human creation, with a stabilized lifespan. The only Sannin to have (literally) cracked that code seems to be Orochimaru, whose experiments with Mitsuki and his brethren seems to be more of a game-changing development than anyone could've guessed.

For Mitsuki, it's now a bit clearer why he left Hidden Leaf and joined Kokuyou and Sekiei. Mitsuki was going through his own existential crisis after learning his true origin - and the chance to interact with artificial beings just like himself would be too intriguing for him to pass up. How he'll react to whatever Lord Ku has planned will be interesting - can a clone find it in his heart to destroy other clones? We shall see.

Catch Boruto streaming weekly on Crunchroll and Hulu - and the English Dub Saturdays on Toonami.