Boruto has been through a lot ever since he was promoted from the Ninja Academy, but it pales in comparison to Naruto. It is no secret that the older Uzumaki went through some intense trauma as a child, and it got even worse once he joined Team 7. Things began to look up for the ninja when he was introduced to his mentor Jiraiya, but fans know a tragic fate befell the Sannin. Now, readers of Boruto are thinking the ninja will make a comeback in the sequel, and that sounds good to us so long as the manga doesn’t do one thing…
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And what might that be? Well, it comes down to resurrection. If Jiraiya is not physically revived, fans such as myself will be happy. If the Sannin really does get revived, that will feel a bit cheap given the circumstances of his death.
For anyone who needs a bit more context, we can break it down. Boruto: Naruto Next Generations started teasing fans about Jiraiya awhile back. The introduction of Kashin Koji raised brows from the start given his similar features to Jiraiya. This whole doubled when it was discovered the Kara member could summon Toads and enter the Leaf Village due to his chakra nature being registered with the hidden city.
The latest chapter of Boruto convinced fans of their theory about Jiraiya and Kashin when it was confirmed the latter was somehow created. The man wasn’t born like Naruto or Boruto. Given the insane ninja tech out there, it is possible that Jiraiya was used to create Kashin, but they are not one and the same.
This puts an intriguing twist on Jiraiya’s comeback, and most importantly, it does not cheapen the sacrifice he made when fighting Pain so long ago. Jiraiya dying was difficult for fans to process, and it still ranks as one of the saddest moments in the anime. But even though fans miss Jiraiya, it would feel cheesy to bring him back to life. Naruto pulled that trick one too many times as is, and Jiraiya deserves to rest in peace as originally intended. But if Boruto needs his own sage to study under, Kashin could do the trick if he shared the same DNA as Jiraiya did.
Where do you land on this debate over Jiraiya? Should the character stay in the past or…? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!
