The latest arc of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations may not have featured the titular ninja, but it still had a lot of revelations and lasting ramifications for the series as a whole. While the “Konoha Shinden” arc followed Kakashi, Gai, and Mirai as they seemingly attempted to visit a series of hot springs, it was revealed that the mission actually was Kakashi’s attempt to find a cure for Gai’s permenantly injured leg. While unsuccessful, this act certainly showed the bond between Kakashi and Gai and unfortunately, showed viewers that Gai’s leg will most likely never heal.
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So how did Gai originally injure his leg? During the final episodes of Naruto: Shippuden, Madara Uchiha threatened the world with his growing influence and power. As the ninjas of Konoha attempted to take down Madara and his forces, “Gai Sensei” deemed it necessary to pull on one of his most powerful abilities: the unleashing of all “8 gates”. By accessing this hidden power, Gai grants almost god-like strength and speed, but unfortunately it came with a heavy price.
During Gai’s battle with Madara, his unleashing of the gates was a death sentence, with many believing that this was Gai essentially committing suicide. While he managed to survive, the bowl cut haired teacher permanently injured his leg and has been confined to a wheelchair ever since. As we saw in a recent episode of Boruto however, this hasn’t stopped Gai from attempting to perform airborne combat moves as he launches himself at opponents from his chair.
During the most recent arc, the old pair of ninjas in Kakashi and Gai were seemingly just trying to relax after spending so many years fighting, and while this may have been true for the latter, it seems the one eyed ninja had other plans. Kakashi attempted to discover any hot spring that could heal Gai to the man he was, but Gai is now satisfied with his fate, acknowledging his happiness in giving his leg in order to protect the village of Konoha.
What did you think of the actual reason for the mission behind “Konoha Shinden”? Would you have rather seen Gai completely healed at the end of this arc? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics and anime.
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.
