‘Boruto’ Preview Teases A New Gang War

The latest episode of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations took a darker tone than fans had expected to see in a run of the mill mission without any large ninja battles, but perhaps that was an indication of the kind of direction the series is heading in.

This is even doubly prescient when looking at the preview for Episode 45 of the series, which teases a potential full-on gang war.

At the end of Episode 44, Konohamaru learns the bank bomber was actually lead to that point by a mysterious person who told him of the bank’s hours of operations, and how to sneak in when no one is around. This incident is most likely linked to the mysterious Byakuya Gang, teased in the preview.

The Byakuya Gang is an anonymous group of people who are suddenly posing a major threat to the Hidden Leaf Village if they ever decide to act. Not much is known about them in the preview, but they could pose a serious threat given how easily one of the their members freeze the new Team 7 in their tracks.

There’s a wonder if these figures will be the new major villain, or if they’ll be resolved within the next few episodes before the series begins its full adaptatation of Boruto: Naruto the Movie. But it’ll be fun to flesh out more of Team 7’s brand new ninja adventures.

The core of that arc follows Boruto as he goes through a dilemma during the Chuunin Exams when he’s caught cheating, and his father is kidnapped by a new set of ninja baddies from the Kaguya clan. This new arc has been hotly anticipated, but it has raised many questionsfor fans of the series as Boruto has proven to have already learned the same kind of lessons he learns in the movie and the manga run.

For those unfamiliar with Boruto’s predecessor Naruto, it has quite a storied history. Originally created by Masashi Kishimoto, the series ran in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump for 700 chapters. The story follows Naruto, a young ninja with a sealed demon within him that wishes to become the leader of his home village. The sequel, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations is set several years after the events of the original Naruto story and featuring the children of many of its key characters such as Naruto and Hinata.