Here’s How the New Boruto Episode Revisited Jiraiya

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations will be launching a special time travel arc in celebration of the franchise’s 20th Anniversary, and not only will it involve Boruto meeting his father as a young child, but there’s a hope that he will come across other important characters of that generation as well. This seems to be the case as the latest few episodes of the series have seen Boruto interested about his father’s past. Episode 127 of the series sees Boruto try to learn more about the person who taught his father how to be a shinobi, and revisits Jiraiya’s impact on the series as a whole.

As Boruto and Sarada try to seek out Icha Icha Tactics, in the hopes that Jiraiya’s writings will help them get more wisdom on what made this mysteriously powerful ninja tick, they learn just how much Jiraiya was involved with setting their peaceful lives in motion long ago.

Throughout the episode, Boruto learns a little more about Jiraiya from the older characters. First he learns from his mother that Jiraiya played a critical role as Naruto’s teacher and father figure, second he learns from Kiba and Shino about how Jiraiya was a member of the Three Legendary Sannin along Tsunade and Orochimaru (who also trained both Boruto’s father and grandfather), but all the while each of them was trying to keep the true erotic nature of Jiraiya’s books a secret.

Boruto goes to Sasuke to learn more, and it’s here Sasuke really highlights just how close Naruto and Jiraiya were. He mentioned how Naruto gave everything he had to learn from Jiraiya in order to save his friends from danger, and this formed a much stronger bond than just simply a student and teacher. He taught Naruto about his Ninja Way, after all. Putting it rather bluntly, Sasuke tells Boruto that their relationship is nowhere near as close.

But as the episode comes to a close, Boruto never quite gets to read Icha Icha Tactics for himself. He finds that his father actually kept a few copies of it hidden in his study, but Hinata stepped in before Boruto could read them. So while the anime definitely revisited just how strong of an impact Jiraiya had on the series, it was always sure to highlight just how pervy he was too.

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.