Rabbit Teth
Member
Continuation from the thread
Time for one last Naruto Theory? Naruto is technically finished for the moment but personally I doubt whether it will stay dead for too long. Kishi still has a lot of loose ends to wrap up … and well … Orochimaru is still kicking about the place. In order for any of this theory to actually come true there will have to be further Naruto stories but I’m still confident enough that Kishi has plans for his characters.
I’ll start with some general thoughts about the future of the franchise and why I think there’s life still left in it. Following up, I wanted to take a look at some of the more obscure symbolism hidden within Naruto. To end, I’ll look at how the Boruto Movie ties in with the central premise of this thread… namely that Orochimaru is the prime suspect for everything that has ever gone wrong in the Narutoverse… the Demon.
Knock on Wood
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Time for one last Naruto Theory? Naruto is technically finished for the moment but personally I doubt whether it will stay dead for too long. Kishi still has a lot of loose ends to wrap up … and well … Orochimaru is still kicking about the place. In order for any of this theory to actually come true there will have to be further Naruto stories but I’m still confident enough that Kishi has plans for his characters.
I’ll start with some general thoughts about the future of the franchise and why I think there’s life still left in it. Following up, I wanted to take a look at some of the more obscure symbolism hidden within Naruto. To end, I’ll look at how the Boruto Movie ties in with the central premise of this thread… namely that Orochimaru is the prime suspect for everything that has ever gone wrong in the Narutoverse… the Demon.
Knock on Wood
Spoiler warning* while I haven’t seen the Boruto Movie I have read the translated novelisation of the movie. If you are at all worried about spoilers then don’t read any of this. Some of the material I’m going to discuss also concerns work from Kishi’s twin brother Seishi. If you haven’t read 666 Satan and ever plan on reading it then don’t read this first either. I think that material relevant to 666 Satan is equally relevant to Naruto and I’ll try and show how. I don’t know if there are any huge revelations here but I think the connections and patterns are actually pretty interesting so I thought I’d write about them. Lets start with the money though … it makes the world go round and however much us fans love the series it needs to make money to create the opportunity to tell new stories (should Kishi or anybody else want to).
Money Tree
Tree Circles
New Shoots
Money Tree
If you’ve gotten to read or see Kishi’s interviews in the run up to the release of Boruto: Naruto the Movie then you will have heard that Kishi intends Boruto: Naruto the Movie to be the concluding chapter in Naruto’s story. While I think it is usually best to take people at face value, I have learned over the years not to trust anything Kishi says during promotional tours for his series. It’s not that Kishi lies outright… though that may be the nub of it… it’s that he wants his fans to get the best experience possible from his work and that involves raising expectations by toying with fan’s hopes and fears for the series. The purpose this serves has a practical function…. it helps persuade fans to part with their cash (again and again) to go and see each new conclusion in the expectation that there won’t be some new twist or development further down the line. The more money a movie makes the more freedom there is to develop new projects and to maintain production standards. New movies are not cheap to produce or to release and there are tremendous gambles being made on each new installment.
Even if Kishi is telling the truth when he says that Boruto: Naruto the Movie is the conclusion to his series, he would not be the first writer to announce the finale of his series before later backtracking on his statements and going on to write more. Arthur Conan Doyle had Sherlock Holmes thrown off a cliff (the Reichenbach Falls) when he grew bored of writing his stories before resurrecting his creation for more and more tales - Sherlock is still going strong by the way – just with a new set of writers.
The (non) Death of Sherlock Holmes
Despite having concluded in WSJ quite some time ago, Naruto as a Franchise is probably stronger than ever. There are still new video games being produced. Recently, the film rights for a live-action version were snapped up by Avi Arad (one of the key men behind bringing us the Marvel Universe to the big screen). We will inevitably get more Naruto in the years to come whether Kishi is actively involved or not. Star Wars has been given new life by George Lucas handing over his creation to Disney and JJ Abrams. I hope Kishi does continue to write Naruto but even if he didn’t then I expect there are plenty of talented mangaka dying to get their hands on the character and that there are plenty of entertainment companies who’d be willing to pay good money for the rights to produce and market new Naruto material. The Boruto Movie has already made more money than Naruto: The Last. So long as fans are willing to part with their cash to support the franchise, there will be new material being made to entertain them – it’s just the way it is until there isn’t enough interest left in a franchise.
I expect the New Era Project will be more than just a Gaiden run and a movie. Had the project been a failure then I might have believed Kishi’s statements but the box office receipts and general fan reception tell me that there is an appetite for more and what the audience wants the audience usually gets. Despite what Kishi says in interviews I think we can expect more in the future. Moreover I think Kishi has been planting story threads that are far from finished which I’ll get into shortly.
On the off chance that Avi Arad & Son and Lionsgate read any forums about their new franchise - please learn from M Night Shyamalan’s mistakes… (and get in touch if you want any fan input).
Even if Kishi is telling the truth when he says that Boruto: Naruto the Movie is the conclusion to his series, he would not be the first writer to announce the finale of his series before later backtracking on his statements and going on to write more. Arthur Conan Doyle had Sherlock Holmes thrown off a cliff (the Reichenbach Falls) when he grew bored of writing his stories before resurrecting his creation for more and more tales - Sherlock is still going strong by the way – just with a new set of writers.
The (non) Death of Sherlock Holmes
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I expect the New Era Project will be more than just a Gaiden run and a movie. Had the project been a failure then I might have believed Kishi’s statements but the box office receipts and general fan reception tell me that there is an appetite for more and what the audience wants the audience usually gets. Despite what Kishi says in interviews I think we can expect more in the future. Moreover I think Kishi has been planting story threads that are far from finished which I’ll get into shortly.
On the off chance that Avi Arad & Son and Lionsgate read any forums about their new franchise - please learn from M Night Shyamalan’s mistakes… (and get in touch if you want any fan input).
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Symbolism in Naruto… you’d think the subject had been mined to death already but I wanted to go into some detail about how certain symbols connect with each other both in real life and in the manga in less than obvious ways. In particular I wanted to look at the symbols of the Ootsutsuki Clan and the derivative symbols of their descendants. You may consider symbolism to be unimportant or simple window dressing but I think real world symbolism inspired a lot of the story and frames certain themes that could be important moving forward.
I won’t talk about every symbol in Naruto since there are too many to keep track of and I’ve already talked about many of them in earlier posts. Instead I’m going to focus on the symbols that appear in Naruto which are important to Kabbalah and Sacred Geometry. In particular I want to focus on circles.
Kabbalah is not a mainstream religion. It is principally related to Judaism and Christianity though it is much more focused on symbolism. It is unclear whether Kishi is a follower of Kabbalah or whether he simply appreciates the symbolism of the religion. Kishi uses a lot of symbols that are very important to Kabbalah. These symbols are also important to other religions as well. We can tell that Kabbalah has had a strong influence on Kishi because it also had a big impact on the work of Kishi’s Twin (Seishi Kishimoto) in his manga 666 Satan where the connections to Kabbalah were made very explicit. Where the same symbols have different meanings in multiple religions all at once, Kishi tends to incorporate elements of the meaning from each religion side by side.
666 Satan – Kaballah and the Sephirot
A key theme in Kabbalah is the Tree of Life. The 10 circles that make up the Sephirot (above) are aligned in such a way that they form the rough shape of a Tree. The Symbol of the Sephirot is not included in Naruto but many symbols from Kabbalah that are derived from the Sephirot do appear.
Lets start with the Rinnegan. The Rinnegan is made of multiple concentric circles. Within Naruto the Rinnegan grants the power to use every technique at the same time and as well as “creation of all things”. The equivalent symbol of the Rinnegan in Kabbalah is used to describe the Ein Sof (the “Infinite” = essentially all of creation) it is a variation *on the sephirot in that it combines the 10 circles of the Tree of Life into one overlapping set of circles.
Rinnegan
Ein Sof
It is not just the Rinnegan Eye’s concentric circles that form a symbol of Kabbalah but the shape of the eye itself. Occasionally the eye is framed in a pointed oval shape known as a Vesica Piscis (a “Fish Bladder” I don’t know what a fish bladder looks like but I’m guessing its sort of oval shaped). This is a shape that is often used in religious art and religious architecture. It is made from two overlapping circles like these:
In Christian Art this shape is often used as an Aureola – a sort of heavenly cloud of light that surrounds figures (such as Christ) in depictions of miracles.
… or as a fish symbol used to represent Christ known as the Icthys (greek for fish)
In Naruto the same shape is used to frame the Rinnegan
…and it could also be considered the basis of the Uchiha Fan Symbol
The Vesica Piscis tends to be interpreted as the meeting of heaven and earth in one person but it is also the first in a series of patterns used in Kabbalah which layers circles on top of each other to form ever more complex designs. These designs are used as diagrams to convey lessons.
If you lay more circles on top of each other then you get ascending symbols found within Kabbalah and Sacred Geometry… the Seed of Life and the Flower of Life:
Taken a stage further and you will find the Tree of Life symbol from Kabbalah
You might recognise the Seed of Life in the design of Sasuke’s EMS. The Petals that are superimposed over the top of Sasuke’s normal MS are taken directly from the Seed of Life Design:
(combine the two eyes)
This Seed of Life design might also have been the inspiration for Hinata’s most powerful technique. Hinata’s twin lions are based on the Imperial Chinese Guardian Lions:
Hinata’s Twin Lions
Imperial Chinese Guardian Lions
You may not be able to make out too much detail on the above picture but the guardian lions represent power and nurture. One Male lion is usually shown standing on a ball representing supremacy over the world (they are imperial lions after all) while the accompanying lion is usually shown with a cub representing nurture. If you look closely at the ball under the male lion's foot you’ll notice the Seed of Life design usually adorns the ball.
Male Lion’s Ball
The symbol is not part of some global conspiracy. Kishi probably knew about the symbol from Kabbalah and then found out about other places that it appeared. The Symbol appeared in ancient Egypt and the doodlings of Leonardo Da Vinci as well. Kishi has a very magpie approach to storytelling.
Da Vinci
Temple of Osiris
The image of the Seed of Life is emphasized in Naruto: The Last. In order to destroy the Tenseigan only heirs to Kaguya are able to break the seal. Hinata needs to use her Twin Lion technique supercharged with Naruto’s Chakra to crack apart the superweapon. Blink and you’ll miss it but the design on the Tenseigan is actually the Seed of Life design:
Hinata and Naruto combining power
Seed of Life / Tenseigan
The underlying design of Sasuke’s EMS is also a variation on the Flower of Life Design known as Metatron’s Cube. Metatron is a character in 666 Satan (Kishi’s twin’s manga) who is taken directly from Kabbalah. In Kabbalah Metatron is God’s most senior angel:
Metatron 666 Satan
Metatron’s Cube
Sasuke’s MS
The general shape of Sasuke’s MS can be seen in the inner and outer star / flower design – the only difference being that Kishi uses the Vesica Piscis design to join the circles rather than the straight lines of Metatron’s cube. Sasuke’s MS is essentially formed of the same component parts as each of the Seed, Flower and Tree of Life designs that are so important to Kabbalah and other mystic groups.
This Hexagram (six-pointed star) symbol is one of those symbols that has lots of different meanings in lots of different religions. Kishi goes out of his way to emphasize a lot of these diverse meanings in the character who is marked with it. In Hinduism for example this symbol is associated with Anahata / the “Heart Chakra”.
Anahata
In Kabballah, Anahata tends to be associated with Tiferet (one of the ten Sephirot circles). It is primarily associated with Love and Balance. This is probably why Madara is able to identify Sasuke’s type of MS based solely on the fluidity of his movements:
… but also why Kishi emphasizes that the source of power for the Uchiha is their overabundance of love:
The link with Metatron and Metatron’s cube might also explain some of the abilities ascribed to Sasuke’s Sharingan. Metatron is the “Recording Angel” in Kabbalah (the one who records everything for God), while the Sharingan has the ability to record everything it sees:
Metatron’s Cube meanwhile is called a “cube” because of how the arrangement of these circles can be used to draw a perfect cube. This is given special meaning in “Sacred Geometry” because it allows the depiction of a 3 dimensional object (a cube) using simple 2 dimensional shapes (circles). The main ability of Sasuke’s new Rinnesharingan is the ability to move between dimensions … an ability seen used in Boruto: Naruto the Movie for the first time but which was also used in the Naruto Gaiden Manga:
The Cube … (with dots connected)
I think that the six-pointed star of Sasuke’s eye also corresponds to the six dimensions of Kaguya, to the Sage of Six Paths and to the Six Paths of Pain. In the real life Samsara the Six Realms share the same names as the Six Paths of Pain.
6 Realms of the Samsara
Kaguya 6 Dimensions
Sage of Six Paths
6 Paths of Pain
One last set of Tree of Life symbolism concerns the Bijuu who are all modeled on a symbol for the Tree of Life. The tails of the Bijuu and the Juubi follow the same pattern as the Menorah (a seven candle lamp) and thae Hanukiah (a nine candle lamp) which are both important to Judaism. The Menorah is widely associated with the Tree of Life. Kishi seems to have modeled the Tailed beasts tails on the branches of the traditional menorah:
Menorah
Juubi
Kyuubi Jinchuuriki
In terms of an overarching theme, I think that Kishi is borrowing building blocks from a variety of real world religions and uniting them by reference to their symbols. In terms of the importance to plot, these designs show how the Tree of Life (personified in the Manga by the Shinju) has been dispersed amongst the Shinobi, many if not all of whom are Kaguya’s descendants to a greeter or lesser degree.
I won’t talk about every symbol in Naruto since there are too many to keep track of and I’ve already talked about many of them in earlier posts. Instead I’m going to focus on the symbols that appear in Naruto which are important to Kabbalah and Sacred Geometry. In particular I want to focus on circles.
Kabbalah is not a mainstream religion. It is principally related to Judaism and Christianity though it is much more focused on symbolism. It is unclear whether Kishi is a follower of Kabbalah or whether he simply appreciates the symbolism of the religion. Kishi uses a lot of symbols that are very important to Kabbalah. These symbols are also important to other religions as well. We can tell that Kabbalah has had a strong influence on Kishi because it also had a big impact on the work of Kishi’s Twin (Seishi Kishimoto) in his manga 666 Satan where the connections to Kabbalah were made very explicit. Where the same symbols have different meanings in multiple religions all at once, Kishi tends to incorporate elements of the meaning from each religion side by side.
666 Satan – Kaballah and the Sephirot
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Lets start with the Rinnegan. The Rinnegan is made of multiple concentric circles. Within Naruto the Rinnegan grants the power to use every technique at the same time and as well as “creation of all things”. The equivalent symbol of the Rinnegan in Kabbalah is used to describe the Ein Sof (the “Infinite” = essentially all of creation) it is a variation *on the sephirot in that it combines the 10 circles of the Tree of Life into one overlapping set of circles.
Rinnegan
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It is not just the Rinnegan Eye’s concentric circles that form a symbol of Kabbalah but the shape of the eye itself. Occasionally the eye is framed in a pointed oval shape known as a Vesica Piscis (a “Fish Bladder” I don’t know what a fish bladder looks like but I’m guessing its sort of oval shaped). This is a shape that is often used in religious art and religious architecture. It is made from two overlapping circles like these:
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If you lay more circles on top of each other then you get ascending symbols found within Kabbalah and Sacred Geometry… the Seed of Life and the Flower of Life:
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(combine the two eyes)
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Hinata’s Twin Lions
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Male Lion’s Ball
eg 1
eg 2
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eg 2
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Da Vinci
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Hinata and Naruto combining power
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Metatron 666 Satan
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This Hexagram (six-pointed star) symbol is one of those symbols that has lots of different meanings in lots of different religions. Kishi goes out of his way to emphasize a lot of these diverse meanings in the character who is marked with it. In Hinduism for example this symbol is associated with Anahata / the “Heart Chakra”.
Anahata
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6 Realms of the Samsara
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Menorah
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In the Boruto Movie, the villains seek to collect together the remains of the Shinju in order to create a drug that can turn them into gods. The villains of Boruto: Naruto the Movie have destroyed the Shinju from their dimension and turned their world into a hell as a result. They come to Naruto’s dimension to acquire the power of the Shinju of that dimension and can only do so by reducing ninja into pills that they can consume. Naruto and Sasuke are not the only heirs to Kaguya, they are just the two primary heirs. The point is that the Tree of Life is no longer a tree in the Narutoverse it is the blood of shinobi in its totality. Some ninja like Hashirama inherited so much of the Shinju’s power that they can manipulate trees but all those who have any capacity to wield chakra could essentially be considered heirs to the Shinju.
Where does this lead the story? In the Narutoverse the Shinju is due to create a new fruit every thousand years. Just because there is no Tree left in the Narutoverse does not mean that there is no longer going to be a new fruit of the Shinju. I think the Fruit of the Shinju will be a person. In particular I think the new fruit of the Shinju will be “the Blue Eyed Boy” that is going to “play with the Bijuu”… the destined child. In the manga thus far it would seem that Naruto is that “Child of Destiny” but during the Boruto Movie and it’s novella the point is emphasized several times how Boruto’s Eyes are even bluer than his father’s. Boruto does not just have Blue Eyes… he looks like a fruit as well (at least he has a stem).*
Fruit of the Shinju
Child of Destiny – Blue Eyed Boy
Boruto
Typical Cartoon Fruit with Stem
The Theme of the Fruit of the Shinju and the Child of Destiny seems (to me at least) to be being progressed but not concluded in Boruto: Naruto the Movie. I think the prophecy has a way to go yet and that Kishi will not be done with the story until the prophecy has come to fruition (excuse the puns). Kishi did not need to establish that a new fruit grows every thousand years. I think the only reason why he did so was to bring the story full circle.
So far I’ve covered the circles of the Ootsutsuki and their importance but that still leaves the other main component of their techniques… the Tomoe. I think that these might be a legacy of whoever was responsible for turning Kaguya from the Rabbit Goddess into the Rabbit Demon. Hagoromo remembers his mother had once been good and cannot explain what turned her evil.
Something must’ve happened but we still don’t know what
I think that the Tomoe are rooted in Evil. Not everyone who has Tomoe are evil but the Tomoe are the source of their raw power (including the Ootsutsuki, the Bijuu, the Uchiha and the Snakes). The Shinju represents not just the Tree of Life but the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (discussed previously). I think that the circles represent Good and that the Tomoe represent Evil. Hagoromo, the epitome of Good, has Circles but no Tomoe in his eyes. Orochimaru and his snakes have Tomoe but no circles.
Snake Tomoe
Orochimaru’s Cursed Seal on Sasuke (666)
Orochimaru’s Cursed Seal aka The Devil’s Fruit
Orochimaru’s Robes
Is there any evidence of a connection between Orochimaru and Momoshiki and Kinshiki Ootsutsuki, the villains of the Boruto film? The short answer is not a lot but there is some. In an earlier theory I speculated on the inspirations for the character of Orochimaru. The real life figure who I thought best fit with Orochimaru and the interlocking historical themes found in Naruto was a man called Qin Shi Huang. In particular I drew parallels between Qin Shi Huang’s search for immortality through his consumption of a mercury ore known as Cinnabar. In Boruto: Naruto the Movie the goal of Momoshiki and Kinshiki is to reduce all the heirs of the Shinju to pills called Cinnabar Panacea. I don’t know what the odds are of this being a coincidence but Cinnabar does not exactly just crop up in many stories.
Earlier Thread
Orochimaru’s experiments in Naruto Gaiden are a storyline that is developed but again not concluded. It has never been entirely clear what the purpose of Orochimaru’s experiments has been. In the past it seemed as though Orochimaru was just randomly selecting ninja to serve as guinea pigs for his experiments. The more we learn about the subjects of those experiments however the more connections there are being made between Orochimaru’s victims and the lineage of the Ootsutsuki Clan. I think Kishi’s choice of Momoshiki’s human design raises more questions about Orochimaru’s previous first choice for his future vessel Kimimaro. You will notice how Kimimaro, Momoshiki and Kaguya all have the same haircut.*
Orochimaru’s Experiments
Kimimaro
Momoshiki
Kaguya
It would seem from Naruto Gaiden that Orochimaru already knows how Momoshiki and Kinshiki want to attain immortality, in part because he is already doing much the same thing with those he identifies as being descendants of the Ootsutsuki.
Aging Backwards
After Momoshiki consumes some refined Cinnabar he undergoes a transformation that looks a lot like a Cursed Seal Transformation.
Momoshiki 2nd state
In particular his transformation resembles that of Kidōmaru:
There is no direct link established between Momoshiki / Kinshiki and Orochimaru but there are hints of a bigger evil that Kaguya built her army of white Zetsu in order to fight. This looming threat was also raised during the prequel Naruto Gaiden Chapters:
In the Movie and the novelization of the movie it is suggested that Kinshiki and Momoshiki are the bigger evil but it is never actually confirmed. Sasuke finds a scroll that he thinks will explain the bigger threat but he is unable to decipher that scroll. Naruto sends the scroll to be decrypted but Momoshiki and Kinshiki attack before Sasuke’s and the decryption team’s investigation can be completed. It is taken for granted that the scroll warns of Kinshiki and Momoshiki after they attack during the Chuunin exams. In the epilogue of the novelization it is mentioned that investigations would carry on into the identities of Konoha’s assailants – suggesting to me at least that there is more to find out about this bigger threat that Kaguya was supposed to be so frightened of.
While Kinshiki and Momoshiki are basically filler adversaries for the purpose of the film I think it is pretty clear that they were never on a par with Kaguya. Kaguya was at least a Princess within the Kaguya Clan. There is no suggestion that Momoshiki was the king of the clan. At best Momoshiki and Kinshiki were disgruntled junior members that had ended up in another dimension and who, having mined all they could out of the Shinju in their dimension, then move on to Naruto’s dimension in search of more Cinnabar. If they had been the bigger threat then I would have expected a lot more backstory and at least a couple of flashbacks. I think those will come later when the true threat is revealed. I’m also intrigued to find out if there is a different Shinju in each dimension since there are at least six more than the normal one.
Like Kaguya, Kinshiki and Momoshiki are both based on old Japanese folklore. They are rooted in subverted idealisations of perfect sons. Kinshiki is based Kintarō while Momoshiki is based on a character called Momotarō. Momoshiki and Kinshiki are both adaptations of traditional Japanese stories about perfect young sons. When Japanese parents raise their children they use the fictional characters of Momotarō and Kintarō to show their kids what they should aspire to be like.
Momotarō was a sort of prototype Superman from what I can make out. He is a boy who fell from heaven in a giant peach and is taken in by an elderly couple (who accordingly name him “peach boy” … Momotarō). When he grows up he is said to have gone to an island to fight demons to save his village. Momoshiki, unlike Momotarō, is a villain. Kishi has his own take on how kids should grow up and used the old legend as a contrast to his own character of Boruto to show that kids can do bad things but can learn from their mistakes (Boruto cheats in the Chuunin Exams and has to make amends by helping fight the movie’s villains who are examples of where cheating gets you). You may recognise the origin of Momoshiki’s horns in Momotaro’s funny hat (I’m not sure what the bunny ears on his head are but I’ll go with hat for the time being). Momoshi's summons during the film are representations of Momotarō's animal companions on his adventures … a dog, a monkey and a pheasant (though Momoshiki also has Snakes that Momotarō did not ...hmm):
Momotarō
Momoshiki
Momoshiki Pheasant
Momoshiki Snakes?
Kintarō is the “Golden Boy” of Japanese legend (Kin means gold as in Kin and Gin of the Gold and Silver brothers). He was a boy born of superhuman strength who grew up to be a warrior for Minamoto no Yorimitsu. Japanese parents give their sons Kintarō dolls in the hopes that they will become brave and strong like the child of legend. Kinshiki wields the same weapon as Kintarō at various points (a giant axe / hatchet)
Kintarō Doll
The suffix in Momoshiki and Kinshiki’s names is the same as the shiki of Shiki Fujin… The Dead Demon Seal. It’s unclear how or whether Momoshiki and Kinshiki are related to the Dead Demon seal but there would appear to be some kind of connection. The Dead Demon shares many of the features of the Ootsutsuki … pale skin, horns, fingernails, forehead markings, white robes etc and he like Momshiki also seems to have the cursed seal.
Ootsutsuki collective
Dead Demon
Which leads me to a new idea. What if the Cursed Seal is actually a way of activating Ootsutuki heritage. When normal people are infected by the Cursed Seal it simply kills them. When those with Ootsutsuki blood are afflicted their Ootsutsuki traits become exagerated and they grow horns, their skin changes colour and they take on the general appearance of a Demon. Only 10% of people hit with Orochimaru’s Cursed Seal actually survive – normal people just die:
Ootsutsuki Descendants?
Finally, if you’ve read the spoilers about the Boruto Movie then you’ll have heard the biggest revelation from the movie is that Orochimaru had a kid and that that kid is Boruto’s team mate… Mitsuki. There are major questions asked about how exactly the two are related which are never answered. We don’t know whether Orochimaru is Mitsuki’s father or mother, both or even his Dr. Frankenstein.
Gender Neutral / Asexual … or just plain creepy?
Mitsuki also makes a point of telling his teammates that even though Sarada’s dad is a member of the famous Uchiha Clan and Boruto’s father is the Seventh Hokage, his “parent” is stronger than both of theirs. Mitsuki is not portrayed as a boastful character and he does not say it as a joke. I think there is a decent chance we’ll get to see that fight. Orochimaru won’t win but he might get the consolation prize of being the true Final Villain of the series.
Where does this lead the story? In the Narutoverse the Shinju is due to create a new fruit every thousand years. Just because there is no Tree left in the Narutoverse does not mean that there is no longer going to be a new fruit of the Shinju. I think the Fruit of the Shinju will be a person. In particular I think the new fruit of the Shinju will be “the Blue Eyed Boy” that is going to “play with the Bijuu”… the destined child. In the manga thus far it would seem that Naruto is that “Child of Destiny” but during the Boruto Movie and it’s novella the point is emphasized several times how Boruto’s Eyes are even bluer than his father’s. Boruto does not just have Blue Eyes… he looks like a fruit as well (at least he has a stem).*
Fruit of the Shinju
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So far I’ve covered the circles of the Ootsutsuki and their importance but that still leaves the other main component of their techniques… the Tomoe. I think that these might be a legacy of whoever was responsible for turning Kaguya from the Rabbit Goddess into the Rabbit Demon. Hagoromo remembers his mother had once been good and cannot explain what turned her evil.
Something must’ve happened but we still don’t know what
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Snake Tomoe
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Earlier Thread
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Orochimaru’s Experiments
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Aging Backwards
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Momoshiki 2nd state
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While Kinshiki and Momoshiki are basically filler adversaries for the purpose of the film I think it is pretty clear that they were never on a par with Kaguya. Kaguya was at least a Princess within the Kaguya Clan. There is no suggestion that Momoshiki was the king of the clan. At best Momoshiki and Kinshiki were disgruntled junior members that had ended up in another dimension and who, having mined all they could out of the Shinju in their dimension, then move on to Naruto’s dimension in search of more Cinnabar. If they had been the bigger threat then I would have expected a lot more backstory and at least a couple of flashbacks. I think those will come later when the true threat is revealed. I’m also intrigued to find out if there is a different Shinju in each dimension since there are at least six more than the normal one.
Like Kaguya, Kinshiki and Momoshiki are both based on old Japanese folklore. They are rooted in subverted idealisations of perfect sons. Kinshiki is based Kintarō while Momoshiki is based on a character called Momotarō. Momoshiki and Kinshiki are both adaptations of traditional Japanese stories about perfect young sons. When Japanese parents raise their children they use the fictional characters of Momotarō and Kintarō to show their kids what they should aspire to be like.
Momotarō was a sort of prototype Superman from what I can make out. He is a boy who fell from heaven in a giant peach and is taken in by an elderly couple (who accordingly name him “peach boy” … Momotarō). When he grows up he is said to have gone to an island to fight demons to save his village. Momoshiki, unlike Momotarō, is a villain. Kishi has his own take on how kids should grow up and used the old legend as a contrast to his own character of Boruto to show that kids can do bad things but can learn from their mistakes (Boruto cheats in the Chuunin Exams and has to make amends by helping fight the movie’s villains who are examples of where cheating gets you). You may recognise the origin of Momoshiki’s horns in Momotaro’s funny hat (I’m not sure what the bunny ears on his head are but I’ll go with hat for the time being). Momoshi's summons during the film are representations of Momotarō's animal companions on his adventures … a dog, a monkey and a pheasant (though Momoshiki also has Snakes that Momotarō did not ...hmm):
Momotarō
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Kintarō Doll
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Ootsutsuki collective
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Gender Neutral / Asexual … or just plain creepy?
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