The Boruto manga has come to a crucial moment: even after an incredible new power-up, Naruto’s death is still on the horizon, and who better to end his story with a Baryon Mode bang than his original creator, Masashi Kishimoto? But the mangaka's return to the franchise leads to a different issue -- did Kishimoto jump on the series purely because of Naruto’s predetermined death? And if that’s the case, then did he ditch his newest series, Samurai 8: The Tale of Hachimaru, to save the suffering franchise?
According to some statistics, Boruto has not been doing as well as Shonen Jump probably would have hoped, and with the support of a filler-heavy anime, it’s no surprise that the fanbase could be slowly treading off. Kishimoto’s announcement to return as the writer has been received with mixed emotions, and with his return headlining the death of his beloved creation, fans can only hope that he will reignite the story, even if the character has reached his endpoint... Or has he?
As of Chapter #52 of the manga, Naruto has just revealed his strongest form yet, Baryon Mode, but at the cost of his own life. It’s sad to say that Naruto’s nindo is coming to an end in typical Hokage fashion, but Kishimoto might be saving an ace-up-his-sleeve. Baryon Mode came out of nowhere and doesn't follow any established lore from the expansive Naruto universe. It’s safe to say that maybe Naruto’s physical life is over, but not his spiritual one.
There have already been examples of past shinobi embedding their chakra in seals to preserve their spiritual life, like Minato with the Ten-Tails Seal and The Sage of Six Paths. Kishimoto might resort to another iteration of this, but maybe it will only be Naruto being preserved while Kurama suffers the ultimate price and gets reincarnated somewhere else in the world, or completely eradicated. No matter the tactics, with Kishimoto back at the helm, it’s hard to believe that we’ve seen the end of Naruto in the Boruto series alltogether.
When Boruto: Naruto The Movie was released in 2015, fans were on board for the continued development of Naruto and Sasuke. Unfortunately, fans were not convinced by Boruto’s persona -- feeling like he was just an annoying side character. That stigma has stayed with the image of Boruto ever since for some. Naruto’s death knell may have brought back some unhappy fans, but how will Kishimoto steer the story to keep the attention of those the franchise lost?
Fans of Samurai 8 were left with an unsatisfying ending when the manga was halted at only about 50 percent of its story complete. When it comes to numbers though, Boruto simply has the bigger potential, which may have contributed to Shonen Jump deciding to end Samurai 8 early -- allowing Kishimoto to devote more of his time to help reinvigorate interest from past fans in Boruto. Kishimoto is responsible for both series, but the decision to end Samurai 8 without concluding the story correctly appears to have been out of his hands. In any case, with Boruto as his main focus again, it'll be interesting to see what the future holds for the series at such a pivotal point.
There is the possibility that Naruto bypasses his death completely and somehow develops yet another new form that will make him more powerful than ever before. If that were to happen, it would maybe seem like a desperate move, and devoted fans will catch on to the weak authenticity of such a storyline fast. And if Sasuke was to sacrifice himself to save Naruto, his final moments would have to be as equally as devastating as Naruto’s.
Disregarding a current storyline often happens when a new lead writer comes onboard a series; creating some elaborate way to shift everything. Since he is now only a writer, Kishimoto can focus more on the literary aspect of the series and devise a way to amplify the strong characteristics of Boruto. Hopefully, it is not just a remake of Naruto, but at this point, any improvement would be welcomed.
