Boruto -Naruto Next Generations- – 55

Watching each team prepare for the upcoming exams was interesting, especially because they had their own separate ways of going about it. However, troublesome times are upon us.

The Scientific Ninja Tool

Very little training was shown between Boruto and Sasuke. As far as I could tell, there were only shuriken exercises, so I thought it was pretty lacklustre. However, we did get to see some kind of inner conflict from Boruto, regarding his questionable practices. When he whips out a shuriken enhanced by the scientific tool, to complete the task that Sasuke sets him, a troubled look flashes across his face. Borutos mental struggle against the scientific tool reminds me of the ringbearers curse in Lord of the Rings – an irresistible dependency thats incredibly hard to overcome. Though he staves off temptation on one occasion, he eventually caves in at the end of the episode, re-equipping it prior to the Chuunin Exams. Does cheating pay off? Well, were about to find out. And that really encapsulates a modern mentality – a lack of dedicated attention span that Im all too familiar with. Instead of racking my brains in an effort to come up with a solution, I find myself defaulting to searching Google whenever any problem comes up. Is it convenient? For sure. Nevertheless, theres not much personal gain, if were talking about building up abilities and skills that can only be accrued through hard work.

Steering away from fully exploring his talents, Boruto is currently employing the Scientific Tool as a crutch, where he cannot be bothered to put in the required effort. Although I consider them to be the future of ninjutsu, theres definitely an upper limit for the strength of jutsu it can deploy – otherwise everyone would be firing off replicated bijuu bombs. In my opinion, Boruto first needs to establish a solid baseline, that can potentially be further augmented by the scientific tool.

Disturbance from Another Dimension

Killer B was minding his own business, you know, going along to pay ol Naruto a visit. Then suddenly, these white alien creatures come out of nowhere, and randomly beat the Eight Tails out of him. This time, its Momoshikis turn to show off, absorbing a full power Bijuu Bomb at point blank, before reflecting it back into Bs face. I didnt see a body at the end of that, but I really hope that B survived the ordeal, because it doesn’t look optimistic. Anyway, looks like the Ototsuki are really bad news, no matter the angle. Seeing how they easily defeated a Jinchuriki, and the skills they put on show, Im not even sure if ninja-kind can prevail against these three aliens. That said, at least they wont be caught off guard. Shukaku informed Gaara of something being amiss, and Im sure that the Kyubi would have done the same for Naruto. Plus, Naruto has held this suspicion for quite a while – that Kaguya had been making preparations to deal with an external threat.

Does this give them enough time to prepare useful countermeasures? Hard to say. But with the Chunin exams about to start, all the kages should soon be gathered in the nearby vicinity to help mount a potential defensive.

Concluding Thoughts

While the original movie didnt have much time to flesh out the Chunin Examination, Im really glad that the TV series is taking its time to go over this content. Vague plot-holes are being filled in with cool explanations. New characters are added here and there, without going too fast or slow, which means that the pacing has been pretty perfect. With help from the movies, the standard of animation has been really high. And you know what, this arc has been a complete blast so far!

There are three things Im particularly excited about.

1. How the exam pans out – specifically rivalries that will develop between each Hidden Village. Imagine Gaaras son fighting against Kagura that would be super entertaining!

2. Naruto & Co’s response to this unknown threat, and whether any altercations might develop from here on out. Imagine the Kages and Sasuke fighting together against these alien invaders!

3. Considering the Ototsuki’s lack of success when searching for Kaguyas scrolls, with their various discoveries instantly disintegrating, it seems like Sasuke acquired something really important.

Obviously, Im looking forwards to seeing how these developments will be covered over the next few episodes. But for now, thats about all I have to say. As always, thanks for reading my post, and hope to see you again next week!

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