New Boruto Stills Tease a Long-Awaited Moment

The Boruto: Naruto Next Generations anime has finally jumped back into the manga storyline for the “Mujina Bandits Arc”, which also happens to introduce Boruto to a potentially pivotal ally in his future career as a shinobi: Tento Makoda, the son of the wealthy Fire Daimyo, Ikkyū Madoka. Fans who have read the Boruto manga already know that what starts as a comedic odd-coupling between Boruto and Tento eventually becomes a meaningful life-or-death partnership. Well, that’s exactly the kind of character arc the Boruto anime is now hinting at, with a newly-released still image, which manga fans know all too well:

The scene depicted here shows a key moment from the manga (chapter 13 specifically) where Tento – who has been presented as something of a spoiled rich kid brat up until this point, shows just how much his has in the way of guts.

When the Mujina Bandits take Tento hostage, their leader, Shojoji, taunts the wealthy young heir for ever dreaming of becoming a ninja. The Bandits toss Tento aside in a holding room, unaware that the young heir had been training with Boruto in shuriken throwing, and still had one on his person. But instead of Tento trying to use the shuriken to escape, he has another play: he puts the bladed weapon to his neck, and threatens to unravel the Mujina Gang’s plan by taking away their only leverage: Tento’s life.

In fact, in the scene depicted above, Tento delivers a badass speech while attempting to slice his own neck with a ninja star: “Don’t you dare underestimate me!!… I may not be strong like a ninja, but if I do this, I can be helpful to my dad!!!”

Shojoji manages to use his impressive physicality to stop Tento in time, and nearly used Corpse Doppelganger jutsu to kill Tento and take his form. Boruto swoops in for the last-second save, which led to a major final showdown between Boruto, Tento and the Mujina Gang, where the two boys have to come together in true teamwork.

If some Naruto fans were worried that the Boruto anime wouldn’t get into subject matter that dark – you were wrong. It seems that notions like child suicide won’t be off limits – which has us really excited for what the anime version of Shojoji will be!

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations is airing new anime episodes every week on Hulu and Funimation. You can read chapters of the manga HERE.