WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Boruto: Naruto Next Generations #45, by Masashi Kishimoto, Mikio Ikemoto and Ukyo Kodachi, available in English from Viz Media.
The Boruto franchise has blown the lid off Kashin Koji, revealing him to be a spy within Kara's ranks who is looking to bring down the terrorist leader Jigen. There's another big surprise, though, when it is also revealed Kara's science chief, Amado, was actually working with him against Jigen.
Amado defected to Konoha with key intel in the last chapter and that set up Koji to finally oppose his boss for some mysterious reason. While Boruto #45 doesn't reveal fully why Koji turned on Jigen, it does show the renegade assassin as someone much more powerful than we, or Jigen, ever imagined.
Koji's identity has been kept secret, to the point that we suspect he's actually Jiraiya, Naruto's former mentor who died fighting the Akatsuki leader, Pain. The fact he could sneak through Konoha's chakra barriers and he didn't kill any of Konoha's soldiers in battle hinted as much; plus, he just kept watch over the fleeing Kawaki rather than retrieve him for Jigen, which shows he wants him and Konoha protected. When Koji concocted the plan to strike against Jigen as the villain recuperated from a Sasuke brawl, Amado left him with the best of wishes as this was the ideal window of opportunity.
And so, in this chapter, he proves to be a man of his word when he meets Jigen in his leadership chamber. The boss's energy levels are still low, asking Koji to sit opposite so he can grill him. Jigen is upset Koji didn't grab Kawaki, but Koji tells him he knows Jigen could have teleported and grabbed the kid anytime. It was all a test and according to Jigen, Koji failed, which showed where his loyalty stood. Jigen also confesses he knows Koji brought down the Kara airship which freed Kawaki early on and he just wants to know why. He's a forgiving leader but he needs a reason.
After all, Jigen brokered a deal with his inner-circle to feed of the Ten-Tails' chakra fruit when the time was right, but in a flash, Koji ends the conversation by flinging ninja stars at the boss. Jigen can't believe Koji's upset and ready to murder him, and he teleports away which leaves Koji's stars to hit an empty chair. However, the tyrant teleports behind Koji and the rogue's impaled by chakra rods. It's actually similar to when Pain stuck the same rods in Jiraiya except here, Koji's body disappears in a cloud as it's a shadow clone. The real Koji emerges from the shadows and preps for combat, which is big because it means he's evaded Jigen's vision. Only powerful ninjas could do that because Jigen has the sight of all space and time. Also, conjuring a clone that authentic is something only legendary ninjas like Jiraiya, Minato and other village leaders are capable of.
It's tough to trick Jigen like this because, as Isshiki's vessel, he has Ōtsutsuki blood in him. It shows Koji's much more dangerous than first assumed, and ready to cut loose, reminding his ex-boss that he never wanted the mystical fruit; he was engineered just to kill Jigen. This ending suggests he is really a Jiraiya clone Amado created secretly from the last war, or that maybe he's a genetic mixture of other Hokages, kept as a protector and allowed to infiltrate new versions of the Akatsuki. That said, whoever greenlit this is a mystery, but one that's clearly been in the works for a while. We also want to know who Koji's other allies are. If Amado worked with a team and also, why was Konoha kept out the loop? Having such a freedom fighter as a wildcard freshens up the franchise, and Jigen knows he's in a lot of trouble now.
