So in Boruto we're hearing a lot about how it's the "End of Shinobi". In the movie technology was introduced that could effectively replace them(as Kote let anyone use any jutsu with no training) and Kawaki said the age of Shinobi was over in the flash-forward.
Now, just for a second, I want you to imagine I said Samurai instead of Shinobi. Sound sorta familiar? That's because it is. In real life Japan in the late 1800s, Emperor Meji decided to modernise and centralise Japan's military to be more like the West. Up until his reforms, each Daimyo had their own small armies led by Samurai. But with the increasing availability of guns after Japan re-opened to the West, highly skilled troops like Samurai were no longer needed. You could just give peasants guns to do the trick. Some Samurai rose up against the Emperor to try and oppose this(the Satsuma Rebellion - portrayed fairly anachronistically in The Last Samurai) but in the end they lost and the title of Samurai was abolished, with Japan adopting a centralised Western-style military.
So how does this relate to Boruto? Well if we think of the Kote in Boruto as being guns, weapons that let untrained men go toe-to-toe with lifelong soldiers(ninja in this case), then maybe Kawaki is an agent/relative/general/whatever of the Fire Daimyo, trying to establish a centralised military for the Fire Nation and get rid of the now superfluous Shinobi. He'll try to end the age of Shinobi just like the age of Samurai was ended in Japan. Kawaki would want to do this for the same reasons Emperor Meji did in real life - no longer would these semi-independent vassals(Daimyos IRL - the Hokage in Naruto) get their own autonomous armies, instead the Daimyo would have an army loyal only to him.
What d'you think?
Now, just for a second, I want you to imagine I said Samurai instead of Shinobi. Sound sorta familiar? That's because it is. In real life Japan in the late 1800s, Emperor Meji decided to modernise and centralise Japan's military to be more like the West. Up until his reforms, each Daimyo had their own small armies led by Samurai. But with the increasing availability of guns after Japan re-opened to the West, highly skilled troops like Samurai were no longer needed. You could just give peasants guns to do the trick. Some Samurai rose up against the Emperor to try and oppose this(the Satsuma Rebellion - portrayed fairly anachronistically in The Last Samurai) but in the end they lost and the title of Samurai was abolished, with Japan adopting a centralised Western-style military.
So how does this relate to Boruto? Well if we think of the Kote in Boruto as being guns, weapons that let untrained men go toe-to-toe with lifelong soldiers(ninja in this case), then maybe Kawaki is an agent/relative/general/whatever of the Fire Daimyo, trying to establish a centralised military for the Fire Nation and get rid of the now superfluous Shinobi. He'll try to end the age of Shinobi just like the age of Samurai was ended in Japan. Kawaki would want to do this for the same reasons Emperor Meji did in real life - no longer would these semi-independent vassals(Daimyos IRL - the Hokage in Naruto) get their own autonomous armies, instead the Daimyo would have an army loyal only to him.
What d'you think?
