I can see your argument but I think it is pretty clear that that is meant to be Momoshiki. There are differences between the living Momoshiki and ghost Momoshiki but I think the transformations he experienced before his death explain the changes. We've only seen a couple of ghost characters on Naruto. The closest examples would be Obito and Hagoromo. If you go back over the old chapters you'll notice that both Hagoromo and Obito dissipate in the same way as Momoshiki (being blown away like a puff of smoke before they move onto the other side). Hagoromo has a long conversation with Naruto and Sasuke and Obito has a long conversation with Kakashi before they both finally move on. I don't think he has suddenly acquired to power to stop time ... he is just leaving a final gift to the kid who defeated him. Hagormo left Naruto and Sasuke the Sun and Moon Seals while Obito transferred his Sharingan to Karachi as final gifts in the same way.
I gathered some panels to prove the points but I'm having trouble with the picture editor I use at the moment so you'll just have to trust me when I say I don't think there is anything particularly new in what Momoshiki does. It's kind of like Star Wars with the Force Ghosts. I think there is a deeper explanation but that'll take some time to put together and ties in with the Vajra stuff above. I don't know anything for certain so you might be right but I think there is a more elegant explanation that ties everything together quite nicely. I am not a Buddhist, so I'm having to look a lot of this stuff up from scratch but I've read enough to think that Buddhism provides the answers to how this part of the series fits together. I'll try and put together a better explanation when I get the time.
, Obito's soul looks like it is made of chakra or something like that (a bit like Dan's ghost mode, or Edo tensei release), Obito's soul didn't gain abilities other than being able to go into Kakashi's body and connect to his spirit.We didn't see him disappearing from this world.
-I think this is the latest scan of Hagoromo disappearing in the manga:
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It's not exactly like in Momo's case, Hagoromo has been summoned 1000 years after his death by Hashirama touching Madara, he reached his summon time limit when we saw a chakra-like thing escaping from his "body", not smoke.
-It has similarities with how Momo's soul (or the new guy) disappeared
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and
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, but Momo's soul disappearing looks a bit like smoke unlike in the other ghost cases we saw, that can be the new artist's view, nothing is sure now given that we saw many characters disappearing in strange ways in this manga.
Obito's and Hagoromo's souls (and even Dan's when he looked after Tsunade after the Edo tensei release) were talking to, and giving power to Kakashi, Naruto and Sasuke (and Tsunade) via their minds, and in the "mind dimension" time doesn't matter, as Hagoromo said.It wasn't via the physical world, but Momo's soul is directly interacting with Boruto in this world while Sasuke and Naruto are stopped, it isn't in Boruto's mind.Nothing is 100% sure, you, all the base, and even my Naruto fan friend may be right, but I'll defend my thoughts.
He wanted to leave a final gift to Boruto?So he knows he is going to die.That guy can read fates, and he said that he can't read his own fate, so he thinks he has a fate.Momoshiki can't say that, he is dead and knows it, he has no fate, he could have said "I wasn't able to read my own fate but I can clearly read yours" but he can't say that he is unable to see his own fate given that he knows he has no fate.
I like the idea of the existence of an Ootsutsuki king implied by the fact that Kaguya was a princess.
I also like the idea that the actions of Kaguya and Momoshiki were ordered by this king who is a fruit addict.
-Kaguya came to Earth, ate the fruit, became crazy, stayed on Earth, and feared someone.
-Momo came to his planet, ate the little fruit, didn't become crazy and immediately left to try to collect another fruit.
The Ootsutsuki king would send members of his family collect fruits to planets where they previously planted a shinju.In that scenario, another Ootsutsuki wave will come to Earth to collect the fruit.
This king and his army would have access to many fruits of big and small planets, that is someone Kaguya can fear.
And that can be interesting for Orochimaru, he doesn't care about Juubi, I was shocked and I was forced to ask myself the question why he doesn't care about the ultimate chakra source of this planet that gives access to amazing jutsus?I found 2 answers, Orochimaru learned about something way stronger than the Earth fruit, or Kishimoto decided to kill Orochimaru's ambitions.I hope it's the first answer.
There are lots of clues that make me think that Orochimaru was studying Ootsutsuki descendants in his labs, Kimimaro Kaguya with his bones techniques and his 2 points on his forehead, the curse mark transformation has similarities with Momoshiki's final transformation in the anime, one of the sound 4 awaken a third eye in curse mode, many awaken horns in curse mode, Sasuke is a descendant of Kaguya, he studied Hashirama's cells, a descendant of Kaguya...
I believe the Star which refers to Venus/Morning Star/Evening Star to be the home world of the Ootsutsuki alien race. That's why Toneri's clan included that symbol in their clan symbol. The importance of all three symbols now make sense.
Sun: Source of the clan's power (Hinted in The Last movie).
Moon: The objective of the clan, protecting the Gedo Mazou.
Star/Venus: The home world of the clan, the symbol acts as an remembrance of the clan's origins.
I believe the Star which refers to Venus/Morning Star/Evening Star to be the home world of the Ootsutsuki alien race. That's why Toneri's clan included that symbol in their clan symbol. The importance of all three symbols now make sense.
Sun: Source of the clan's power (Hinted in The Last movie).
Moon: The objective of the clan, protecting the Gedo Mazou.
Star/Venus: The home world of the clan, the symbol acts as an remembrance of the clan's origins.
Sorry for the delay in posting. A short break turned into a long one and then I got distracted some more. Part of me is glad that I didn't respond sooner since the latest chapter provided some new material that kind of ties in with what I wanted to write about ... how death works in the narutoverse. This is more a collection of ideas than a fully fledged theory... we are still pretty early in the Boruto run ... but I think it might provide a framework for explaining where the manga might be headed. As always, beware of potential spoilers in case any of these ideas actually pan out...
Ghost in the Shell
I'll start with some music which will hopefully make sense by the end of this theory. It gives me something to listen to as I write:
So what happens when you snuff it in Naruto. We've seen lots of characters die only to come back to life or visit loved ones from beyond the grave. The answer depends largely on how the character in question has lived. Character's like Kakashi's dad move on to a kind of purgatory where they must grapple with their regrets until they can find some kind of release. Other characters simply move on to a kind of heaven which would probably best be termed the Western Paradise. The Western Paradise is a concept of heaven popular in various Japanese and East Asian religions and cultural traditions. It is a place where you are supposed to get reborn after a virtuous life. There are various novels dedicated to the idea of a western paradise and many of the traditions associated with it have been inserted into Naruto. Big chunks of Naruto are lifted directly from some of these stories. Take for instance Enma the Monkey King (Sarutobi's familiar) who can transform into a staff that can expand and contract at will. This character is modelled on Sun Wukong the Monkey King who caries a staff that can expand or contract ... you get the idea... taken from the novel Journey to the West.
Monkey King Emma
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Monkey King Sun Wukong
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Expanding / Contracting Staff - Kongou Form of Enma
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In Journey to the West the Monkey must protect a tree that bears fruit every 3000 years that can grant the gift of immortality ... I don't think I need to spell out the similarities to the god tree in Naruto... then again maybe I do.
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So the Western Paradise is were most souls travel to in the Narutoverse. This is further emphasised by one of the most prolific jutsus used in Naruto... Impure World Resurrection. You see the Western Paradise is also known as the Pure World in various beliefs including Pure World Buddhism. Impure World Resurrection is the forced resurrection of those whose souls have moved to the Pure World... i.e. they are returned from the Pure World to the Impure World ... the one we are living in. This can be done either by one who has mastered the Six Paths or through blood sacrifice. At the end of Naruto the Sage of Six Paths is able to shepherd all the souls of the deceased back to the Pure World ... :
Pure Land
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Not all souls get to go to heaven in Naruto however. Some of them get stuck in a cycle of death and rebirth. These are souls that have not been able to transcend the mortal plane. Indra and Asura are two such figures who were stuck reincarnating into new bodies as they waged their war through the generations. I imagine that Naruto and Sasuke are the last incarnations of Indra and Asura because through resolving their differences they should now be able to move on along with their father but it may be that Hagoromo has some unfinished business with his mother's soul.
Indra and Asura Reincarnating
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Indra and Asura generations
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The cycle of death and rebirth is known as the Samsara. The Samsara is the Six Paths in Naruto. Each Path of Pain is named after one of the realms of the Samsara:
Six Realms of the Samsara
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Six Paths of Pain
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The Samsara is the source of all conventional Jutsus using chakra in Naruto.
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But there are abilities that go beyond the Samsara ... this is where I explain the song choice at the start. When we see a soul moving on to the Pure World / Heaven it is shown as a body turning to smoke. This ties in with another concept of heaven known as Nirvana (the band at the start). The term Nirvana translates loosely as a candle being blown out. As a religious concept it emphasises transcending mortal existence. In the anglo world we use similar terms - you'll notice I use the term "snuffing out" at the start ... that is an English term describing death... you "snuff out" candles and death is like the flame going out. When characters are shown dissipating into smoke that is them moving on to the next realm be it reincarnation in the Samsara because they never learned their lessons or reincarnation into the Western Paradise / Heaven because they did.
Nirvana Previous Kages
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Nirvana Momoshiki
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Nirvana Obito
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Nirvana Hagoromo
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Nirvana might be more than an endgame for characters in Naruto. There are only six realms in the Samsara but there have been a couple of mentions of a Seventh Path and Outer Path techniques. When Pain resurrects all of those he killed in Konoha he was said to use the Seventh Path and the technique is described as Gedo Rinne Tensei no Jutsu:
7th Path
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Outer Path aka Gedo
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I think that we are headed into a battle between good outer path techniques and bad outer path techniques. Towards the end of the Fourth Shinobi World War Naruto was resurrected and was able to use an as yet unexplained technique to bring a character back to life. I think that this technique was an outer path technique since it achieved the same result as Pain's resurrection of Konoha. Essentially I think that Samsara techniques can bend the rules of nature but Outer Path techniques can break them. The Rinnegan is literally the Samsara Eye - Rinne is Japanese for Samsara and gan is eye. I think that the Outer Path may end up equating to the Seventh Path because when Naruto brings back Might Guy during the Fourth Shinobi War he literally relights the fire in Guy's heart:
Fire going out
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Relight my fire
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Which brings me to the bad outer path powers... there is one big example of an Outer Path Power that ties in with the latest developments in Boruto. The new evil organisation that have taken over after Akatsuki are known as Kara which translates as Husk or Shell. The Demonic Statue of the Outer Path aka the Gedo Mazou is described as an empty Shell:
Gedo Mazou
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The thing about the Gedo Mazou is that it we still haven't been shown what it is the empty shell of. I've written about this before but I think that the Gedo Mazou is the Empty shell of the Sage of Six Paths. There are a couple of reasons for this: The nine eyes correspond to the nine bijou that were expelled from the Sage shortly before his death; the beard of the sage matches the beard of the Gedo Mazou; despite being used to resurrect Kaguya the statue is actually male; the bijou have the same beard and they are aspects of Hagoromo...
Matching beards:
Gedo Mazou (beard cut short)
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Eight Tails (Short Beard)
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Nine Tails Long Beard emphasising he is the closest to Hagoromo
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Sage of the Six Paths Long Beard
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What's more is that I don't think that Hagoromo is the only Ootsutsuki to have been turned into an empty shell. Hamura was turned into an empty shell as well - during Naruto the Last I think we saw a Gedo version of Hamura being used to fight Kurama
Hamura
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Hamura Shell?
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I'm hoping that this new phase of Naruto will finally bring Orochimaru back to the fore. A lot of this theory has been based on the premise that Oro looks like an Ootsutsuki. I think there is a chance he could have been responsible for pretty much everything that has gone wrong in the Narutoverse potentially going back to Kaguya. Behind the scenes something with snakes has been manipulating all the evil doers in the Narutoverse. Orochimaru is the one who has been attempting to find a vessel... an empty shell so to speak... worthy or more to the point capable of containing his essence (or ghost). The point was made again in this most recent chapter that Oro changes his appearance slightly as he moves from shell to shell and vessel to vessel:
Changing faces
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Souls Trapped in Orochimaru's dimension
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Changing faces more regularly since Sasuke got away
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Oro has been transmigrating from body to body in a dark version of how Indra and Asura were reincarnating generation after generation except where the vessels of Indra and Asura had their own free will, Orochimaru's vessels are subsumed to his will if not consumed entirely. I think there is strong reason to think that perhaps Orochimaru was behind the death of the Sage of Six Paths without the Sage necessarily knowing Oro was the one responsible. Notice how the same snakes that emanate out of Mitsuki also emanate out of the Gedo Mazou:
Gedo Snakes
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Mitsuki Snakes
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We’ve seen six members of this new organisation called Kara but they have seven symbols. It may be the there is a seventh member and that he is the one attacking Konoha at the start of Boruto.
7 Symbols
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Kara
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Both the guy attacking Konoha and Naruto have one of these markings
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and Boruto has at least one more
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These makings could well be part of Boruto's Uzumaki heritage. The Diamond that is the first stage seems to expand in the same way that the Hyakugou (also a diamond) expands and spreads markings over the body.
Princess Tsunade (daughter of Mito Uzumaki)
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The Snakes that infest the Gedo Mazou seem to be the evil version of another Uzumaki power that have also been linked to the outer Path - the Uzumaki Adamantine Chains. These are the chains that Kushina used to restrain Kurama and that Karin used to smash Spiral Zetsu during the Fourth Shinobi War.
Karin adamantine Chains:
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Orochimaru seems to know a lot about these Chains. What is interesting is that these chains can supposedly repel any other technique but perhaps that should read as any technique that belongs to one of the Six Paths / Samsara:
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Getting back to the Shell theme, two of the Symbols on Kara’s wall also look like conch shells
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Finally I think it is worth pointing out that the symbol that represents the Hyuuga clan and sometimes the land of fire itself can also be interpreted as a conch shell... bear with me ... here is the Hyuuga symbol
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...and here is the flag of Travancore in India representing a Shankha (a conch shell sacred to sects in Hinduism and Buddhism) ... just turn it upside down
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So where does this leave us? Well I don't really know. There are a lot of potential connections between the old and new chapters but nothing yet concrete. My thoughts are that the markings are some kind of power scale like tomoe were for the Sharingan. Boruto starts with the diamond and has already been shown with two more of the markings activating as he develops his skills during battle kinda like the sharingan. This new Kara outfit look like they have three diamonds on their cloaks which could tie in with the third tier of the markings. The Seven pointed star could well be a next stage eye technique and my current thinking is that it could be some kind of Nirvana Eye (Gedogan / Nehangan?) with powers above and beyond the Samsara eye (Rinnegan). Just as we've seen good and bad 7th / Outer Path techniques used before, Blue Markings (as seen on Boruto) seem to correspond to good and red (as seen on the guy attacking Konoha) to bad . At some point the Ootsutsuki tie into everything given that Momoshiki was the one to activate Boruto's marking. That's pretty much everything I've got for now ... some or all of it could be wrong but it's early days.
Sorry for the delay in posting. A short break turned into a long one and then I got distracted some more. Part of me is glad that I didn't respond sooner since the latest chapter provided some new material that kind of ties in with what I wanted to write about ... how death works in the narutoverse. This is more a collection of ideas than a fully fledged theory... we are still pretty early in the Boruto run ... but I think it might provide a framework for explaining where the manga might be headed. As always, beware of potential spoilers in case any of these ideas actually pan out...
Ghost in the Shell
I'll start with some music which will hopefully make sense by the end of this theory. It gives me something to listen to as I write:
So what happens when you snuff it in Naruto. We've seen lots of characters die only to come back to life or visit loved ones from beyond the grave. The answer depends largely on how the character in question has lived. Character's like Kakashi's dad move on to a kind of purgatory where they must grapple with their regrets until they can find some kind of release. Other characters simply move on to a kind of heaven which would probably best be termed the Western Paradise. The Western Paradise is a concept of heaven popular in various Japanese and East Asian religions and cultural traditions. It is a place where you are supposed to get reborn after a virtuous life. There are various novels dedicated to the idea of a western paradise and many of the traditions associated with it have been inserted into Naruto. Big chunks of Naruto are lifted directly from some of these stories. Take for instance Enma the Monkey King (Sarutobi's familiar) who can transform into a staff that can expand and contract at will. This character is modelled on Sun Wukonk the Monkey King who caries a staff that can expand or contract ... you get the idea... taken from the novel Journey to the West.
Monkey King Emma
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Monkey King Sun Wukong
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Expanding / Contracting Staff - Kongou Form of Enma
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In Journey to the West the Monkey must protect a tree that bears fruit every 3000 years that can grant the gift of immortality ... I don't think I need to spell out the similarities to the god tree in Naruto... then again maybe I do.
You must be registered for see images
So the Western Paradise is were most souls travel to in the Narutoverse. This is further emphasised by one of the most prolific jutsus used in Naruto... Impure World Resurrection. You see the Western Paradise is also known as the Pure World in various beliefs including Pure World Buddhism. Impure World Resurrection is the forced resurrection of those whose souls have moved to the Pure World... i.e. they are returned from the Pure World to the Impure World ... the one we are living in. This can be done either by one who has mastered the Six Paths or through blood sacrifice. At the end of Naruto the Sage of Six Paths is able to shepherd all the souls of the deceased back to the Pure World ... :
Pure Land
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
Not all souls get to go to heaven in Naruto however. Some of them get stuck in a cycle of death and rebirth. These are souls that have not been able to transcend the mortal plane. Indra and Asura are two such figures who were stuck reincarnating into new bodies as they waged their war through the generations. I imagine that Naruto and Sasuke are the last incarnations of Indra and Asura because through resolving their differences they should now be able to move on along with their father but it may be that Hagoromo has some unfinished business with his mother's soul.
Indra and Asura Reincarnating
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Indra and Asura generations
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The cycle of death and rebirth is known as the Samsara. The Samsara is the Six Paths in Naruto. Each Path of Pain is named after one of the realms of the Samsara:
Six Realms of the Samsara
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Six Paths of Pain
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The Samsara is the source of all conventional Jutsus using chakra in Naruto.
You must be registered for see images
But there are abilities that go beyond the Samsara ... this is where I explain the song choice at the start. When we see a soul moving on to the Pure World / Heaven it is shown as a body turning to smoke. This ties in with another concept of heaven known as Nirvana (the band at the start). The term Nirvana translates loosely as a candle being blown out. As a religious concept it emphasises transcending mortal existence. In the anglo world we use similar terms - you'll notice I use the term "snuffing out" at the start ... that is an English term describing death... you "snuff out" candles and death is like the flame going out. When characters are shown dissipating into smoke that is them moving on to the next realm be it reincarnation in the Samsara because they never learned their lessons or reincarnation into the Western Paradise / Heaven because they did.
Nirvana Previous Kages
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Nirvana Momoshiki
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Nirvana Obito
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Nirvana Hagoromo
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Nirvana might be more than an endgame for characters in Naruto. There are only six realms in the Samsara but there have been a couple of mentions of a Seventh Path and Outer Path techniques. When Pain resurrects all of those he killed in Konoha he was said to use the Seventh Path and the technique is described as Gedo Rinne Tensei no Jutsu:
7th Path
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Outer Path aka Gedo
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
I think that we are headed into a battle between good outer path techniques and bad outer path techniques. Towards the end of the Fourth Shinobi World War Naruto was resurrected and was able to use an as yet unexplained technique to bring a character back to life. I think that this technique was an outer path technique since it achieved the same result as Pain's resurrection of Konoha. Essentially I think that Samsara techniques can bend the rules of nature but Outer Path techniques can break them. The Rinnegan is literally the Samsara Eye - Rinne is Japanese for Samsara and gan is eye. I think that the Outer Path may end up equating to the Seventh Path because when Naruto brings back Might Guy during the Fourth Shinobi War he literally relights the fire in Guy's heart:
Fire going out
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Relight my fire
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
Which brings me to the bad outer path powers... there is one big example of an Outer Path Power that ties in with the latest developments in Boruto. The new evil organisation that have taken over after Akatsuki are known as Kara which translates as Husk or Shell. The Demonic Statue of the Outer Path aka the Gedo Mazou is described as an empty Shell:
Gedo Mazou
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The thing about the Gedo Mazou is that it we still haven't been shown what it is the empty shell of. I've written about this before but I think that the Gedo Mazou is the Empty shell of the Sage of Six Paths. There are a couple of reasons for this: The nine eyes correspond to the nine bijou that were expelled from the Sage shortly before his death; the beard of the sage matches the beard of the Gedo Mazou; despite being used to resurrect Kaguya the statue is actually male; the bijou have the same beard and they are aspects of Hagoromo...
Matching beards:
Gedo Mazou (beard cut short)
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Eight Tails (Short Beard)
You must be registered for see images
Nine Tails Long Beard emphasising he is the closest to Hagoromo
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Sage of the Six Paths Long Beard
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What's more is that I don't think that Hagoromo is the only Ootsutsuki to have been turned into an empty shell. Hamura was turned into an empty shell as well - during Naruto the Last I think we saw a Gedo version of Hamura being used to fight Kurama
Hamura
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Hamura Shell?
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I'm hoping that this new phase of Naruto will finally bring Orochimaru back to the fore. A lot of this theory has been based on the premise that Pro looks like an Ootsutsuki. I think there is a chance he could have been responsible for pretty much everything that has gone wrong in the Narutoverse potentially going back to Kaguya. Behind the scenes something with snakes has been manipulating all the evil doers in the Narutoverse. Orochimaru is the one who has been attempting to find a vessel... an empty shell so to speak... worthy or more to the point capable of containing his essence (or ghost). The point was made again in this most recent chapter that Oro changes his appearance slightly as he moves from shell to shell and vessel to vessel:
Changing faces
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You must be registered for see images
Souls Trapped in Orochimaru's dimension
You must be registered for see images
Changing faces more regularly since Sasuke got away
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Oro has been transmigrating from body to body in a dark version of how Indra and Asura were reincarnating generation after generation except where the vessels of Indra and Asura had their own free will, Orochimaru's vessels are subsumed to his will if not consumed entirely. I think there is strong reason to think that perhaps Orochimaru was behind the death of the Sage of Six Paths without the Sage necessarily knowing Oro was the one responsible. Notice how the same snakes that emanate out of Mitsuki also emanate out of the Gedo Mazou:
Gedo Snakes
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Mitsuki Snakes
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We’ve seen six members of this new organisation called Kara but they have seven symbols. It may be the there is a seventh member and that he is the one attacking Konoha at the start of Boruto.
7 Symbols
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Kara
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Both the guy attacking Konoha and Naruto have one of these markings
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
and Boruto has at least one more
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
These makings could well be part of Boruto's Uzumaki heritage. The Diamond that is the first stage seems to expand in the same way that the Hyakugou (also a diamond) expands and spreads markings over the body.
Princess Tsunade (daughter of Mito Uzumaki)
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The Snakes that infest the Gedo Mazou seem to be the evil version of another Uzumaki power that have also been linked to the outer Path - the Uzumaki Adamantine Chains. These are the chains that Kushina used to restrain Kurama and that Karin used to smash Spiral Zetsu during the Fourth Shinobi War.
Karin adamantine Chains:
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Orochimaru seems to know a lot about these Chains. What is interesting is that these chains can supposedly repel any other technique but perhaps that should read as any technique that belongs to one of the Six Paths / Samsara:
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
Getting back to the Shell theme, two of the Symbols on Kara’s wall also look like conch shells
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
You must be registered for see images
Finally I think it is worth pointing out that the symbol that represents the Hyuuga clan and sometimes the land of fire itself can also be interpreted as a conch shell... bear with me ... here is the Hyuuga symbol
You must be registered for see images
...and here is the flag of Travancore in India representing a Shankha (a conch shell sacred to sects in Hinduism and Buddhism) ... just turn it upside down
You must be registered for see images
So where does this leave us? Well I don't really know. There are a lot of potential connections between the old and new chapters but nothing yet concrete. My thoughts are that the markings are some kind of power scale like tomoe were for the Sharingan. Boruto starts with the diamond and has already been shown with two more of the markings activating as he develops his skills during battle kinda like the sharingan. This new Kara outfit look like they have three diamonds on their cloaks which could tie in with the third tier of the markings. The Seven pointed star could well be a next stage eye technique and my current thinking is that it could be some kind of Nirvana Eye (Nehangan?) with powers above and beyond the Samsara eye (Rinnegan). Just as we've seen good and bad 7th / Outer Path techniques used before, Blue Markings (as seen on Boruto) seem to correspond to good and red (as seen on the guy attacking Konoha) to bad . At some point the Ootsutsuki tie into everything given that Momoshiki was the one to activate Boruto's marking. That's pretty much everything I've got for now ... some or all of it could be wrong but it's early days.
Sorry for the delay in posting. A short break turned into a long one and then I got distracted some more. Part of me is glad that I didn't respond sooner since the latest chapter provided some new material that kind of ties in with what I wanted to write about ... how death works in the narutoverse. This is more a collection of ideas than a fully fledged theory... we are still pretty early in the Boruto run ... but I think it might provide a framework for explaining where the manga might be headed. As always, beware of potential spoilers in case any of these ideas actually pan out...
Ghost in the Shell
I'll start with some music which will hopefully make sense by the end of this theory. It gives me something to listen to as I write:
So what happens when you snuff it in Naruto. We've seen lots of characters die only to come back to life or visit loved ones from beyond the grave. The answer depends largely on how the character in question has lived. Character's like Kakashi's dad move on to a kind of purgatory where they must grapple with their regrets until they can find some kind of release. Other characters simply move on to a kind of heaven which would probably best be termed the Western Paradise. The Western Paradise is a concept of heaven popular in various Japanese and East Asian religions and cultural traditions. It is a place where you are supposed to get reborn after a virtuous life. There are various novels dedicated to the idea of a western paradise and many of the traditions associated with it have been inserted into Naruto. Big chunks of Naruto are lifted directly from some of these stories. Take for instance Enma the Monkey King (Sarutobi's familiar) who can transform into a staff that can expand and contract at will. This character is modelled on Sun Wukong the Monkey King who caries a staff that can expand or contract ... you get the idea... taken from the novel Journey to the West.
Monkey King Emma
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Monkey King Sun Wukong
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Expanding / Contracting Staff - Kongou Form of Enma
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In Journey to the West the Monkey must protect a tree that bears fruit every 3000 years that can grant the gift of immortality ... I don't think I need to spell out the similarities to the god tree in Naruto... then again maybe I do.
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So the Western Paradise is were most souls travel to in the Narutoverse. This is further emphasised by one of the most prolific jutsus used in Naruto... Impure World Resurrection. You see the Western Paradise is also known as the Pure World in various beliefs including Pure World Buddhism. Impure World Resurrection is the forced resurrection of those whose souls have moved to the Pure World... i.e. they are returned from the Pure World to the Impure World ... the one we are living in. This can be done either by one who has mastered the Six Paths or through blood sacrifice. At the end of Naruto the Sage of Six Paths is able to shepherd all the souls of the deceased back to the Pure World ... :
Pure Land
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Not all souls get to go to heaven in Naruto however. Some of them get stuck in a cycle of death and rebirth. These are souls that have not been able to transcend the mortal plane. Indra and Asura are two such figures who were stuck reincarnating into new bodies as they waged their war through the generations. I imagine that Naruto and Sasuke are the last incarnations of Indra and Asura because through resolving their differences they should now be able to move on along with their father but it may be that Hagoromo has some unfinished business with his mother's soul.
Indra and Asura Reincarnating
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Indra and Asura generations
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The cycle of death and rebirth is known as the Samsara. The Samsara is the Six Paths in Naruto. Each Path of Pain is named after one of the realms of the Samsara:
Six Realms of the Samsara
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Six Paths of Pain
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The Samsara is the source of all conventional Jutsus using chakra in Naruto.
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But there are abilities that go beyond the Samsara ... this is where I explain the song choice at the start. When we see a soul moving on to the Pure World / Heaven it is shown as a body turning to smoke. This ties in with another concept of heaven known as Nirvana (the band at the start). The term Nirvana translates loosely as a candle being blown out. As a religious concept it emphasises transcending mortal existence. In the anglo world we use similar terms - you'll notice I use the term "snuffing out" at the start ... that is an English term describing death... you "snuff out" candles and death is like the flame going out. When characters are shown dissipating into smoke that is them moving on to the next realm be it reincarnation in the Samsara because they never learned their lessons or reincarnation into the Western Paradise / Heaven because they did.
Nirvana Previous Kages
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Nirvana Momoshiki
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Nirvana Obito
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Nirvana Hagoromo
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Nirvana might be more than an endgame for characters in Naruto. There are only six realms in the Samsara but there have been a couple of mentions of a Seventh Path and Outer Path techniques. When Pain resurrects all of those he killed in Konoha he was said to use the Seventh Path and the technique is described as Gedo Rinne Tensei no Jutsu:
7th Path
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Outer Path aka Gedo
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I think that we are headed into a battle between good outer path techniques and bad outer path techniques. Towards the end of the Fourth Shinobi World War Naruto was resurrected and was able to use an as yet unexplained technique to bring a character back to life. I think that this technique was an outer path technique since it achieved the same result as Pain's resurrection of Konoha. Essentially I think that Samsara techniques can bend the rules of nature but Outer Path techniques can break them. The Rinnegan is literally the Samsara Eye - Rinne is Japanese for Samsara and gan is eye. I think that the Outer Path may end up equating to the Seventh Path because when Naruto brings back Might Guy during the Fourth Shinobi War he literally relights the fire in Guy's heart:
Fire going out
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Relight my fire
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Which brings me to the bad outer path powers... there is one big example of an Outer Path Power that ties in with the latest developments in Boruto. The new evil organisation that have taken over after Akatsuki are known as Kara which translates as Husk or Shell. The Demonic Statue of the Outer Path aka the Gedo Mazou is described as an empty Shell:
Gedo Mazou
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The thing about the Gedo Mazou is that it we still haven't been shown what it is the empty shell of. I've written about this before but I think that the Gedo Mazou is the Empty shell of the Sage of Six Paths. There are a couple of reasons for this: The nine eyes correspond to the nine bijou that were expelled from the Sage shortly before his death; the beard of the sage matches the beard of the Gedo Mazou; despite being used to resurrect Kaguya the statue is actually male; the bijou have the same beard and they are aspects of Hagoromo...
Matching beards:
Gedo Mazou (beard cut short)
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Eight Tails (Short Beard)
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Nine Tails Long Beard emphasising he is the closest to Hagoromo
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Sage of the Six Paths Long Beard
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What's more is that I don't think that Hagoromo is the only Ootsutsuki to have been turned into an empty shell. Hamura was turned into an empty shell as well - during Naruto the Last I think we saw a Gedo version of Hamura being used to fight Kurama
Hamura
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Hamura Shell?
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I'm hoping that this new phase of Naruto will finally bring Orochimaru back to the fore. A lot of this theory has been based on the premise that Oro looks like an Ootsutsuki. I think there is a chance he could have been responsible for pretty much everything that has gone wrong in the Narutoverse potentially going back to Kaguya. Behind the scenes something with snakes has been manipulating all the evil doers in the Narutoverse. Orochimaru is the one who has been attempting to find a vessel... an empty shell so to speak... worthy or more to the point capable of containing his essence (or ghost). The point was made again in this most recent chapter that Oro changes his appearance slightly as he moves from shell to shell and vessel to vessel:
Changing faces
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Souls Trapped in Orochimaru's dimension
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Changing faces more regularly since Sasuke got away
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Oro has been transmigrating from body to body in a dark version of how Indra and Asura were reincarnating generation after generation except where the vessels of Indra and Asura had their own free will, Orochimaru's vessels are subsumed to his will if not consumed entirely. I think there is strong reason to think that perhaps Orochimaru was behind the death of the Sage of Six Paths without the Sage necessarily knowing Oro was the one responsible. Notice how the same snakes that emanate out of Mitsuki also emanate out of the Gedo Mazou:
Gedo Snakes
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Mitsuki Snakes
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We’ve seen six members of this new organisation called Kara but they have seven symbols. It may be the there is a seventh member and that he is the one attacking Konoha at the start of Boruto.
7 Symbols
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Kara
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Both the guy attacking Konoha and Naruto have one of these markings
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and Boruto has at least one more
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These makings could well be part of Boruto's Uzumaki heritage. The Diamond that is the first stage seems to expand in the same way that the Hyakugou (also a diamond) expands and spreads markings over the body.
Princess Tsunade (daughter of Mito Uzumaki)
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The Snakes that infest the Gedo Mazou seem to be the evil version of another Uzumaki power that have also been linked to the outer Path - the Uzumaki Adamantine Chains. These are the chains that Kushina used to restrain Kurama and that Karin used to smash Spiral Zetsu during the Fourth Shinobi War.
Karin adamantine Chains:
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Orochimaru seems to know a lot about these Chains. What is interesting is that these chains can supposedly repel any other technique but perhaps that should read as any technique that belongs to one of the Six Paths / Samsara:
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Getting back to the Shell theme, two of the Symbols on Kara’s wall also look like conch shells
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Finally I think it is worth pointing out that the symbol that represents the Hyuuga clan and sometimes the land of fire itself can also be interpreted as a conch shell... bear with me ... here is the Hyuuga symbol
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...and here is the flag of Travancore in India representing a Shankha (a conch shell sacred to sects in Hinduism and Buddhism) ... just turn it upside down
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So where does this leave us? Well I don't really know. There are a lot of potential connections between the old and new chapters but nothing yet concrete. My thoughts are that the markings are some kind of power scale like tomoe were for the Sharingan. Boruto starts with the diamond and has already been shown with two more of the markings activating as he develops his skills during battle kinda like the sharingan. This new Kara outfit look like they have three diamonds on their cloaks which could tie in with the third tier of the markings. The Seven pointed star could well be a next stage eye technique and my current thinking is that it could be some kind of Nirvana Eye (Gedogan / Nehangan?) with powers above and beyond the Samsara eye (Rinnegan). Just as we've seen good and bad 7th / Outer Path techniques used before, Blue Markings (as seen on Boruto) seem to correspond to good and red (as seen on the guy attacking Konoha) to bad . At some point the Ootsutsuki tie into everything given that Momoshiki was the one to activate Boruto's marking. That's pretty much everything I've got for now ... some or all of it could be wrong but it's early days.
I think the 7 seals are just one seal. The diamond seal expands and grows into different parts, which probably unlock /w training. Boruto's hand unlocked the first drawin, but if you look at the pictures.
These are all I could find:
Palm -
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Chest -
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Outside Hand -
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Shoulder -
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One of the new villains also has the same seal as Boruto/Kawaki on his chin
It looks like it's just one thing that expands. All different parts of a whole
I think the 7 seals are just one seal. The diamond seal expands and grows into different parts, which probably unlock /w training. Boruto's hand unlocked the first drawin, but if you look at the pictures.
These are all I could find:
Palm -
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Chest -
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Outside Hand -
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Shoulder -
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One of the new villains also has the same seal as Boruto/Kawaki on his chin
It looks like it's just one thing that expands. All different parts of a whole
Nice break down. I thought there might be more markings on the pair but I wasn't sure. the thing we got last chapter is that they appear one at a time. Boruto only obtained the first marking during his fight, not all seven at once. I imagine that the seven pointed star is the ultimate marking because it has seven points and there are seven markings. I think it would make sense if there was some kind of progression. The 'surprise' would be that the seventh marking is a dojutsu. Boruto already has an eye with undefined powers. The other thing about Boruto's eye is the shaded sclera ... the normally white background to the eye. Only Edo have the shaded background which was why I was looking at maybe Boruto's eye being the key to breaking the boundaries between life and death and how that could tie in with Gedo powers. All my ideas are only half formed though ... there still has to be a time skip before Boruto gets the full set of markings which means we can expect this to be drawn out over quite some time.
It would be cool if this new organisation were some kind of Uzumaki Legacy. Shells would fit in well with the Land of Whirlpools - combining the theme of the sea and spirals.
Nice break down. I thought there might be more markings on the pair but I wasn't sure. the thing we got last chapter is that they appear one at a time. Boruto only obtained the first marking during his fight, not all seven at once. I imagine that the seven pointed star is the ultimate marking because it has seven points and there are seven markings. I think it would make sense if there was some kind of progression. The 'surprise' would be that the seventh marking is a dojutsu. Boruto already has an eye with undefined powers. The other thing about Boruto's eye is the shaded sclera ... the normally white background to the eye. Only Edo have the shaded background which was why I was looking at maybe Boruto's eye being the key to breaking the boundaries between life and death and how that could tie in with Gedo powers. All my ideas are only half formed though ... there still has to be a time skip before Boruto gets the full set of markings which means we can expect this to be drawn out over quite some time.
It would be cool if this new organisation were some kind of Uzumaki Legacy. Shells would fit in well with the Land of Whirlpools - combining the theme of the sea and spirals.
Curse marks also give the black shaded eyes. So it could also be a curse seal from Orochimaru. The seal creates a snake eye mark on both Boruto and Kawaki. The seals are clearly connected to Orochimaru.
Sorry for the bump. But I am interested how the theory of the demon would fit in Boruto. I believe Kawaki might be connected to all of this, I am not quite sure. Hope you can answer, Rabbit Teth.
Not sure if the series is over or not. It seems to be on a hiatus atm. Still check in every once in a while but I miss the days of weekly chapters. They need some new talent injected into the series. I find it bizarre that WSJ can't copy the business model of Marvel or DC and cultivate new writers / artists while maintaining a character. There is a lot of room to grow these characters and I thought they got off to a pretty good start with Boruto before they got bogged down. I think they have a plan... they're just not executing particularly well and people are losing interest while they get their act together. It'd be a shame if they don't manage to revive it.
I'll update the Nirvana theory if they ever release new chapters... (the techniques of Kara seem to correspond to paths to Nirvana).
Not sure if the series is over or not. It seems to be on a hiatus atm. Still check in every once in a while but I miss the days of weekly chapters. They need some new talent injected into the series. I find it bizarre that WSJ can't copy the business model of Marvel or DC and cultivate new writers / artists while maintaining a character. There is a lot of room to grow these characters and I thought they got off to a pretty good start with Boruto before they got bogged down. I think they have a plan... they're just not executing particularly well and people are losing interest while they get their act together. It'd be a shame if they don't manage to revive it.
I'll update the Nirvana theory if they ever release new chapters... (the techniques of Kara seem to correspond to paths to Nirvana).
Boruto manga is ongoing monthly. It will stay that way and it's not on hiatus. Here's the Boruto's artist's opinion on the current progress of the manga from an interview.
"Ikemoto"
Boruto is serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump, but is a special case, appearing only once a month. A weekly series is usually 19 pages per chapter, so monthly would be four times that, or about 76 pages. However, Boruto is 45 to 47 pages, only 60 percent of that. Still, it takes me about a week to produce the thumbnails, about 20 days to draw the final pages and then the rest of the time is spent on coloring and other task... So I end up using pretty much a whole month. It's not something I asked for, and I have no idea whose decision it was, but I sure am glad Boruto is monthly...
Boruto manga is ongoing monthly. It will stay that way and it's not on hiatus. Here's the Boruto's artist's opinion on the current progress of the manga from an interview.
I'm an idiot. I just read the announcement that they weren't updating the manga any more on this site. Suddenly discovered there are a couple more chapters for me to read (last one I read was the one with the new big frog?). I'll put together a proper update as soon as I get the time.
I'm an idiot. I just read the announcement that they weren't updating the manga any more on this site. Suddenly discovered there are a couple more chapters for me to read (last one I read was the one with the new big frog?). I'll put together a proper update as soon as I get the time.
NB won't be hosting the Boruto chapters anymore so you will have to read them elsewhere. A lot of Boruto content has been released. You should catch up on another manga site.
Anyways, Sam. I saw the movie online and I don't think they said they were retainers of Kaguya's will, but that they were going to finish what she started. They did not speak of her in any
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high regard and it sounded more like they were in competition for power. I'll add the picture in as a spoiler I guess.
