Boruto Ends Time-Travel Arc with Touching Jiraiya Tribute

When it was first announced that Boruto: Naruto Next Generations would be featuring a special time [...]

By Nick Valdez

When it was first announced that Boruto: Naruto Next Generations would be featuring a special time travel arc in celebrating of the Naruto franchise's 20th Anniversary, fans were delighted at the thought of several of the fan-favorites of the series' past making a return in some form. This was most exciting for the potential return of Jiraiya, who was teased before the arc officially began as making a comeback. But now that the time travel arc has come to an end with the latest episode of the series, it was time to say goodbye to Jiraiya once more.

Episode 136 of the series had Boruto and Sasuke returning to the present after an emotional parting with the young Naruto and Jiraiya, and after returning to his own time, the episode featured an even more emotional send off for Jiraiya and Boruto and his father visit Jiraiya's grave.

Jiraiya was at the core of the time travel arc, and more so than the return of young Naruto, the time travel arc was focused on emphasizing just how much of an impact Jiraiya had on Naruto as a boy. When Boruto returns to his time in Episode 136 of the series, he searches for his father and finds Naruto standing in front of Jiraiya's grave. Naruto notes how Jiraiya would be lonely if he didn't visit once in a while.

His father then asks him what he thought of Jiraiya now that he met him, and Boruto spoke bluntly. Mentioning that Jiraiya was pervy, sloppy, and kind of ridiculous, Boruto couldn't help but admire just how cool Jiraiya was. Naruto agreed, and it's here that Jiraiya's impact on the Uzumakis has come full circle as he now has influenced three generations of ninja.

Originally created by Masashi 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.

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