WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Episode 173, "The Secret Behind the Underground Room," now streaming on Crunchyroll.
The Boruto anime, just like the Naruto series, is filled with dark turns and sinister betrayals as Kara looks to destabilize the ninja alliance once more and endanger the great nations like Konoha. Victor was recently revealed to be an agent of the terrorist cell, working with Deepa to run scientific experiments for Jigen -- all to ensure they have the upper hand when the time comes to face the likes of Naruto and Sasuke.
However, in Episode 173, there's a crucial, not to mention shocking, backstab that could actually give Naruto's village a very powerful ally in the battle to come.
In the final act, Konohamaru and Mugino discover Victor has been growing a smaller version of the God Tree. This is the same tree that sucks people's life essence, transferring chakra into a rich fruit that can make people immortal and evolve them, which is what Kaguya's people moved from planet to planet for. But as Victor and his assistant take a secret elevator when the tree's roots start attacking the people in the lab, he makes a shocking decision to leave the shady Doctor behind.
This Doctor helped Victor with the DNA, and he's known for experimenting with Hashirama's genetics, so we assumed Victor would want him alive rather than just deem him expendable. The experiment hasn't even reached that far so it can't be considered a success, which is why it's so weird Victor wouldn't allow him on the lift. Instead, the Doctor is absorbed into the roots where his chakra is presumably being sucked out. It's not a smart move at all. If they need to go back to the drawing board to fix errors and produce another tree, he'd be needed.
What makes it an even more awful choice is that if the Konoha ninja rescue the Doctor, they'll have a lot of intel to mine. He could spill the beans on the Kara research, the Hashirama Cell and the soldiers he made in Iwagakure for Onoki years ago. He's an expert on cloning, a la Orochimaru, and Kabuto, so he should have been kept close to Kara's chest. To make things worse, just like Amado in the manga, this Doctor can help Konoha plan for other villains by improving their strategy, and more so, their tech.
Konoha is placing a heavy focus on scientific tools and medical projects, which is what Victor's lab was about, so if the Doctor survives this tree, he could be brought in to help with that.
Naruto is ushering in an era of progress, so whether it be chakra gauntlets with weapons, healing experiments, or anything to improve soldiers in the field, he can make a huge impact. The Doctor might even recalibrate his Fabrications from Iwagakure so that synthetic soldiers can be sent off to war rather than humans. Naruto has no problem offering scientists redemption and this doc's too big a genius to leave in enemy hands.
