This article contains spoilers from Naruto and Boruto.
Summary
- Kishimoto provided a rough draft for Boruto initially.
- Kishimoto’s involvement in Boruto is minimal now.
- Kishimoto fears Boruto may become repetitive over time.
The Boruto series is the sequel to Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto, which is quite easily one of the most popular stories out there, and most influential ones as well. Naruto enjoyed quite a phenomenal run from 1999-2014, and it is certainly one that fans still cherish. Even though the series is almost a decade old, fans still love it the same to this day, if not more than before.
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At the same time, it is also quite clear that Boruto itself has not managed to hit quite the same heights as Naruto, despite having enjoyed a run of almost 10 years now. There are many things about the Boruto series that concern the fans, and at the same time, based on Kishimoto’s own words, there are things that concern him as well. Of course, the fact that Boruto has continued serialization for so long means that it has, at the very least, stood the test of time, but issues still plague this series to this day and keep it from being what Naruto used to be.
Kishimoto’s Involvement In Boruto
- Kishimoto Did A Rough Draft For Boruto
- His Involvement Is Minimal Nowadays
Masashi Kishimoto has always been influential when it comes to the Boruto series. Fans need to keep in mind that Kishimoto himself approved the Boruto series and he most definitely wanted to see it continue, for his own reasons. Kishimoto was the one who came up with the idea of doing the Boruto series in the first place.
The era of shinobi is over. But, I’m still a shinobi. — Boruto Uzumaki
He set the basis for it with Boruto: Naruto the movie, and eventually a manga adaptation for this story was announced. With it, fans also got an anime not too long after, and with that, the series ended up becoming what it is today. It is safe to say that Kishimoto wrote a massive part of the plot himself. He was heavily involved in the Boruto series at first and the entire debacle with Momoshiki was all Kishimoto’s work, which is why it is considered by many to be the best part of the story. But, as the manga continued, fans had many questions about what Kishimoto’s influence over the story truly was. Last year, Kishimoto and Ikemoto gave fans an answer to this question:
What I mean is that things don’t always go as planned. Small changes have often been made right from the beginning. But little by little, the story develops in a direction that’s different from Kishimoto-sensei’s outline. Various factors can explain this. But the biggest reason is that I needed to create for myself a new outcome for the shonen part and a concept for the seinen part. Once that was decided, Ada and Demon were born. Kashin Koji’s role was renewed, and Amado’s escape to Konoha followed. Moreover, Code should’ve died a long time ago. To be honest, an even more important character’s life was also spared. Even if the initial idea is to make the manga even more engaging, we are far removed from what was originally planned. Currently, I’m in the situation of developing the story on my own. So I think the biggest challenge in the production of Boruto—including for Kishimoto-sensei who gives me his approval—is to continue to handle successive unforeseen changes.
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As is quite clear from Ikemoto’s words, the Boruto series has changed a lot. Initially, whatever idea Kishimoto had for it isn’t the same as what the story is today. Now, that’s not to say that the story has strayed from Kishimoto’s vision. After all, it is clearly said that every decision is approved by Kishimoto himself. However, he is clearly not the one writing or giving ideas anymore.
Kishimoto’s Big Boruto Concern
Masashi Kishimoto Believes Boruto Could Be Repetitive
Masashi Kishimoto, the author of the Naruto series, has his own concerns for Boruto. He’s crafted a brilliant world in Naruto, and all that has now been entrusted to Ikemoto, someone he truly believes in. But, at the same time, Kishimoto knows that the journey for Ikemoto and Boruto is not going to be an easy one at all.
In fact, Ikemoto has addressed this himself in the past. Here is what he had to say:
SJ: What are the concerns when starting a new manga series after concluding one that was a huge hit?
Kishimoto Sensei: For Boruto, because of everything that’s already been done with Naruto, you can’t help but have some things that will be repeated. So I worry about the story being too similar. And with Naruto and Sasuke becoming so strong and the battles getting bigger and bigger, now you have kids fighting so the scale is gonna feel smaller. I don’t want it to feel lacking, so the focus needs to be on expressing things differently or coming up with new ideas. Those issues concern me.
Clearly, Kishimoto fears the story being repetitive, which means that he always wanted to introduce new concepts to the Boruto world to make sure that things felt fresh. This is probably why the concept of Scientific Ninja Technology was introduced in the Naruto world. More than that, fans also got to see Otsutsuki being focused on a lot more, which is, once again, likely due to Kishimoto himself wanting the series to take a fresh approach.
Interestingly enough, Kishimoto also mentions Naruto and Sasuke being extremely strong, which, for him, was a big issue. According to Kishimoto, the scale of the battles that Naruto and Sasuke fight wouldn’t allow the story to be what it is set out to be, which is why he wanted to figure out a solution, in one way or another.
The solution, as fans know, was to incapacitate both Naruto and Sasuke forever. This is, generally speaking, the world decision that Kishimoto and Ikemoto have made in Boruto so far, and it is one that drove countless fans away from the story. It is also a sign that the authors couldn’t find any interesting ways to incorporate the two in the story in meaningful ways and decided to knock them from their pedestal for the growth of future generations.
Come, Otsutsuki, I’ll show you true resolve. — Naruto Uzumaki
For icons to be treated this way was, undoubtedly, sad. Kishimoto’s fears might’ve been right, but the way he went about dealing with them was certainly very questionable. To this day, fans hope that both Naruto and Sasuke are restored to their former glory. But, with the way the Boruto manga is going currently, it seems that they will have to wait longer before either of them comes back and plays a big role.
Naruto is available to read on the MangaPlus and the Shonen Jump app. Fans can read the official release and support the author by doing so.
