Boruto Teases Koji’s Secret Motives

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations‘ manga has been exploring its mysterious villainous organization, Kara, in the last few chapters and fans have seen how each of the members seem to have their own motivations separate from the far reaching goals of the organization. One of the most mysterious members has been Kashin Koji, who seems to at times be both an ally and for to Boruto and Kawaki. This mystery gets even more layered in the latest chapter, too.

Chapter 36 of the series sees Kashin Koji still monitoring Kawaki’s growth in the Hidden Leaf Village, but when Jigen arrives to take Kawaki back, it’s teased that Koji just might be working against Jigen in his mission.

It was revealed in a previous chapter that Kashin Koji has been in the Hidden Leaf Village monitoring Kawaki’s life with Naruto and Boruto, and when Delta arrived she pinned Koji as a traitor. So fans have been wondering what he’s truly after ever since. In Chapter 26, he returns to the manga and is still watching over Kawaki. He mentions how it’s been some time since Delta’s attack, and wonders why Jigen hasn’t jumped into action.

He assumes that Jigen has found out about Boruto’s Karma by now, and is wondering what Jigen is really up to. He’s soon taken by surprise as Kawaki’s Karma forcibly activates an Jigen arrives in Naruto’s home. Koji wonders why Jigen ordered Kara on this vessel retrieval mission when he could warp to the location through Karma whenever he wanted, and soon is forced to retreat when Jigen notices Koji is watching from the sidelines.

Koji thought he was keep an eye on Jigen’s movements, but he realizes that Jigen has been keeping tabs on him instead. While this does not outright reveal what side Koji is on, this teases that Koji just might be an ally of some sort in the future. Kara’s still a mysterious organization, even now that its leader has jumped into action already, and the majority of members still have yet to be explored.

It’s not quite clear what they’re after just yet, but it’s at least clear that Koji is not after the same thing Jigen is. There are theories that Koji is tied to a major piece of Naruto past, and while that’s not confirmed by any means these additional layers to his potential motivations paint an interesting picture for fans to break down.

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.