Boruto Revives Favorite Naruto Gag About Kakashi

There are a few long running gags that have made the jump from the original Naruto series all the way to its sequel series of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations. Gai’s ridiculous martial arts moves, Boruto making the same mistakes as his father while training, or, in this case, the face behind the mask of Kakashi Hatake. The Hidden Leaf Village teacher has long kept a mask over his face and the running joke of hiding said face continued recently with Boruto’s 109th episode of the series.

Reddit User LeonKevlar pointed out the specific moment where Kakashi brings down his mask during his trip to a hot spring, only for it to be hidden by some sake being poured into a glass:

from discussion BORUTO: NARUTO NEXT GENERATIONS Episode 109 – Links and Discussion.

While the mask has been over Kakashi’s face for nearly 99.99% of the time during his appearances in both the anime and manga series, this isn’t to say we’ve never seen him without it. Specifically, in the Naruto Shippuden series with episode 469, we see Kakashi without his mask in a flashback. First, it shows him without it in a bathroom scene explaining voice work and then we see him looking on fondly to his young ninja in Team 7.

Kakashi has had a long history in Naruto, acting as both a teacher and combatant in numerous “sagas” of the series. While being portrayed a lot as a comical character, mostly when he’s a teacher, he can become super serious when its necessary to throw down with the enemies of Konoha. Currently, in the Boruto anime, Kakashi finds himself journeying to hot springs locales with long time friend and rival, Gai, and the younger ninja Mirai, as they attempt to finally take a much needed vacation.

What do you think of this long-running gag in the Naruto and Boruto series? Do you think its time for Kakashi to ditch the mask entirely? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and ninja.

Originally created by Misashi Kishimoto for Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump in 1999, Naruto follows a young ninja, with a sealed demon within him, that wishes to become the leader of his home village. The series ran for 700 chapters overall, and was adapted into an anime series by Studio Pierrot and Aniplex that ran from 2002 to 2017. The series was popular enough to warrant a sequel, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations which is set several years after the events of the original Naruto story and features the children of many of its key characters such as Naruto and Hinata.