WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Chapter 66 of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, “Do-or-Die,” by Masashi Kishimoto, Mikio Ikemoto, Mari Morimoto and Snir Aharon, now available in English from Viz Media.
Uchiha Madara was one of the deadliest villains in the Naruto days, pushing the would-be Hokage and his colleagues to the limit. So much so, fans still revere Madara for how he decimated the ninja alliance instigated by Konoha. Now, Chapter 66 of the Boruto manga has revealed its own twisted take on the warlord -- but this one's more scientific than shinobi.
Madara pulled Obito's strings in that previous era, rescuing the young boy from near-death and playing him like a fiddle. Although Kaguya was the one who secretly corrupted Madara, the warrior did manage to enact is his own plan to corrupt Obito and make him a pawn in a larger game. He lied about so many things which turned him against the Hidden Leaf, while empowering Obito's eyes and body to ensure the teen would grow into a WMD.
The icing on the cake came when Madara arranged for enemies to implant a Tailed Beast in Rin and for Kakashi to kill her in the Third Shinobi World War to save the Hidden Leaf. He set it up so Obito would see his best friend killing his crush, which awakened Obito's Mangekyō Sharingan and shaped him into the new Madara for the next few years. Obito would then masquerade as Tobi and use the Akatsuki to build to the Kaguya War, proving Madara to be a genius as he withered away in the shadows. These events led to him being reborn, all without forcing his descendant to do anything -- every decision made was Obito's choice, after all.
This strategy appeared in Boruto Chapter 66 when the truth behind Kawaki's Karma mark was revealed. He accessed it in Chapter 65, but fans were curious what would happen when Amado implanted it. It turns out the moment he rebuilt an arm and gave it to Kawaki -- replacing the one Naruto had loaned the boy -- the mark was already engineered into the limb. Even though Amado spoke of the offer, he actually never needed to work on the kid again. Admittedly this robbed Kawaki of agency in accepting the mark, but Amado created the avenue where the boy would make the choice to harness its power for himself.
All he needed was motivation, which Amado knew would happen once Kawaki went after Code and Eida. He predicted either Boruto or Naruto would join the fight to save Kawaki and once the depowered teen saw Code battering the Konoha-nin, Kawaki would officially summon the weapon inside.
Amado in Boruto truly came off like Madara in Naruto, as this was quite dangerous. It led to Momoshiki possessing Boruto once more, Shikamaru being taken hostage and Naruto getting beaten badly in the field. But like Madara said back in the day, collateral damage and casualties are worth it if it creates a better tomorrow.
Madara wanted to remake the shinobi world using Obito as a terrorist, while Amado wants to do so with Kawaki being a more heroic version of Isshiki. But as usual, there's a price to pay for this power, and it may be Kawaki's soul as he was left trying to kill Boruto to stop Momoshiki's rebirth in full, ignoring Naruto's pleas to be human. It felt like when an adult Kakashi begged Obito to turn back to the light, only to be spurned because vulnerable puppets like Kawaki and Obito didn't mind using darkness to save the day.
