Boruto Reveals the Power Behind Black Mist Jutsu

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations continues its pivotal Kara arc by picking up the cliffhanger that saw Boruto, his Team 7 comrades (Sarada, Mitsuki) and Kara's defector "vessel" Kawaki facing the major danger of Kara enforcer Boro. Like the other members of Kara, Boro has strange cybernetic agumentations and ven stranger justsu techniques, which make him one of the most formidable foes the young Chunin have faced. Boro most debilitating and strange attack has been the Black Mist jutsu he unleashed, which seems to sap the strength of his opponents, and cannot be thwarted by Bourto and Kawaki's power Karma seals. Well, Boruto chapter 41 finally reveals what Boro's Black Mist Justu is all about!

Warning - Boruto Spoilers Follow!

Team 7 can't seem to mount any real counter attack against Boro - that is until Mitsuki comes up with a smart and cunning strategy. Using one of his snakes, Mitsuki gets a small dose of the black mist contained in the serpent's body, so that Team 7 can analyze it. Sarada uses her Sharingan to discern that the Black Mist is actually distributing a virus, rather than manipulating or sapping chakra. That virus is produced through Scientific Ninja Tools that Boro has embedded in his body, and it's also why neither Boruto or Kawaki can absorb the mist using their respective Karma seals: it's revealed that Karma can only absorb chakra-based jutsu, not physical matter like a virus.

Once Team 7 knows this, they move on to the second phase of their plan: counteracting the virus. Mitsuki proves to be as cunning as Orochimaru himself: suspecting that the Black Mist was a virus, Mitsuki also had a snake secure a sample of Boro's blood - blood that is rich in the virus antibodies. Team 7 uses that same of antibodies to synthesize antidotes for them all. Boro doesn't suspect he's been countered when the next battle begins, and Team 7 ends up beating him down - complete with the combined Rasengan attack from Boruto and Kawaki. Unfortunately, like Kara member Delta, Boro's regenerative powers are so strong that even with half his body and entire head blown off, he's able to survive.

If nothing else, this battle continues to showcase how Kara's members are a horrific fusion of old and new world shinobi power. Their jutsu and chakra is rooted in the Otsutsuki Clan, but their bodies are enhanced with Scientific Ninja Tools that let them do things we've never seen. With Naruto and Sasuke both having fallen before that power, what chance do Boruto and Team 7 have?

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.