Deconstructing the Flashforward & Boruto's sword theory
TL;DR at the bottom for the lazy!
The story has been around for ~10 years already and the famous now flashforward scene still bugs me, and I'm sure most of you too. I am wondering where the story is going from the start to finish.
I wanted to dissect the dialogue and the scope of the scene - to share some of my theories and summarize what we know so far.
Boruto's opening word's and Kawaki's part:
"The age of shinobi is over"
I can see 2 main things here to address: consequences and the motive
What even is "the age of shinobi"? I think it is fair to say that it is a period of time where humans adopted a system that used the ability to manipulate chakra as a weapon. So, people possessing chakra were able to achieve their goals through force.
Aforementioned ability and the essence of chakra itself had been distributed by Hagoromo, which was further known as Ninshū - a fundament that Ninjutsu stemmed from. Ninshū; however, used chakra to understand and connect with people.
So, Ninshū is diplomacy, Ninjutsu is an act of aggression. There are countless parallels here that illuminate the dichotomy between: good and evil, compassion and greed - list goes on and on. Yes, this is fairly obvious, but it helps build up my point.
This leads me to:
1. Kawaki is trying to bring back Ninshū
Seeing how everything went downhil from the moment shinobi started using chakra as a weapon and understanding that it brought the wrath of Ten-Tails and Otsutsuki to the planet - Kawaki plans to erase all chakra from Earth, and anyone that tries to resist likely gets obliterated or sent to Daikokuten. Then, he could be either housing the entire chakra himself, and then redistribute it only to the people that he deems "responsible enough", or get rid of all of it.
It would be extremely hard to enforce everyone to follow the Ninshū way as you can probably imagine. There is one person that could make it a reality, quite literally. Let me introduce you to: Aida. There are still issues here, namely
a. Aida is unable to control her power, but she could learn to use it better later on.
b. She might be dead by that point, and that is in fact my suspicion.
Those are pretty hard to ignore, which makes this situation a little complicated.
2. Kawaki is simply erasing chakra
He might have understood that chakra itself has a signature that alerts both Otsutsuki and Ten-Tails, so erasing all of it - solves the problem.
As people are unable to contain their greed, aggression, selfishness - they would do anything to obtain their egoistical aspirations. This perfectly fits a character like Kawaki - his own father sold him to Jigen for financial gain. (greed> ninjutsu parallel)
That renders Kawaki a vigilante that dictates the world order because mankind cannot bear this responsibility, and he knows this perfectly well.
3. Unrelated to chakra, but rather: the essence of the shinobi world
I am considering that Kawaki is simply getting rid of the villages, the system, not chakra. I am struggling to understand; however, why that would be important. Otsutsuki and Ten-tails + Shinju are all common enemies in this entire mess. Attacking the villages seems sudden, out of place.
What could have possibly happened between the start of TBV > Flashforward scene that gets him heated this much about the rest of the world. His motive is fairly clear - eradication of Otsutsuki and Shinju threat.
Is there a possibility that all the villages are somehow involved in the Otsutsuki/Ten-Tails existence?
Can it be that Amado also has something to do with this? That is the only thing that, for me, rises Kawaki's cortisol levels that high.
Boruto
"I didn't think you'd go this far, Kawaki"
This line tells me that Boruto knows that whatever Kawaki is aiming for is "right", or perhaps, a "lesser evil".
Boruto being Boruto - believes that there is another way, a classic protagonist, a hero willing to sacrifice everything, even himself.
This bugs me; however, because why would Kawaki not listen to Boruto? Let's assume Boruto truly has a path to salvage this mess. Why is Kawaki's cortisol level still high?
a. Boruto figured out how to do it too late; basically, he was in the process of "finding out" while Kawaki went mental.
b. He does not trust Boruto, which I find highly unlikely.
c. Something extremely devastating happened that made Kawaki not want the world to come back to it's initial state.
This possibility points straight to Amado. Amado is already tightly involved with Kawaki. Amado's hidden agenda must have been so insane that it drove Kawaki to pure insanity. I suspect that it must be something related to emotions that would trigger his childhood trauma, or something to that degree. He found out something about Amado's involvement in the entire Shinobi system.
d. Boruto is the root of all the issues
e. Amado turning Kawaki into a God.
It is possible that Amado figured out a way to transplant/transfer all shinjutsu from the cyborgs to Kawaki - ultimately rendering him a God. This backfired because he was able to see the future and learn something about Boruto, the shinobi world, nature of chakra etc. Then, he goes ballistic. It is possible that Boruto also acquired shinjutsu. Imagine what kind of a battle that would be.
Kawaki
"I'll send you where I sent the Seventh Hokage, Boruto"
We've learnt this already. Sealing of Naruto in Daikokuten. I am interested in how you guys think this plot line is going to eventually conclude.
Boruto might be the cause of all the issues; not intentionally, but rather through fate. He cannot be killed and sealing him in Daikokuten might be the only option that also stops something else - in Kawaki's eyes.
Boruto
"Was this the only possible outcome?"
I personally think this is a foreshadowing of Ten Directions and the essence of time and fate playing a huge role in the series.
But, this also goes along with a point that I had made about Boruto "understanding that whatever Kawaki is doing is right, or a lesser evil".
This is also further supported by Kawaki's affirmative response.
Boruto
"Even so; I'm still a shinobi"
This is, again, a classic hero/protagonist saying "I can save it all, trust me bro". Boruto simply enduring being a shinobi - following Sasuke's wisdom: "the soul of a shinobi never changes."
However, the fact that Boruto keeps acknowledging Kawaki's ambition is very chilling to me. This gets me hopeful for a very extreme, dark-theme consequence that is ahead of us.
On top of that;
Kawaki:
a. We understand virtually his entire appearance except the purple scarf.
I thought that, perhaps, this scarf was a gift from either Sumire or Himawari. One of them died and that could have been a reason that pushed Kawaki over the edge - somewhere along the way.
we've learnt so far how Boruto:
a. got his scar
b. we can understand virtually his entire appearance, except: the special eye he opens
This leads me to a theory that I was considering regarding his weapon.
We know Boruto wields Sasuke's sword and just recently - we've learnt that the sword had been upgraded/amplified with a special material. So special that it is not known "in the current world/timeline". I think it would defeat the purpose if the weapon could have been simply shrunken by Kawaki's Kokugan, therefore I concluded that the weapon has to be alive. Now, that does not mean that it can talk, or that it is literally a person. It can be something as simple as a chakra fused material mixed with Mokuton (wood release).
In conclusion; I think the story is aiming for a dichotomy between ninjutsu and ninshū. Exploring the greed, systematic selfishness of the mankind that ultimately drives it to the grand, inevitable demise. How ironic would it be if Shinju turned out to be the "good side" in this entire dynamic.
Beings responsible for creating life and the universe; their fascination with love cannot be coincidental. They gained intelligence and their instinct tells them to figure love out. Humans are more chaotic, while it is true that we also love, we can be extremely selfish and unwilling to understand each other - a lesson that Hagoromo tried to teach us. With great power comes great responsibility - a simple concept that apparently is incomprehensible for the mankind.
The story is walking a very dark path and I would not be mad if it had a "sad/bad" ending. It is extremely fitting for this kind of trope. I know a lot of you are going to be doubtful because of lack of meaningful consequences so far - that's fair. Apologies for the yappathon and thanks to anyone that read through all this nonsense.
TL;DR:
- Kawaki’s Motive: "The age of shinobi is over" isn't just about destroying villages - Kawaki is acting as a brutal vigilante trying to erase chakra entirely (or forcibly revert to peaceful Ninshū). He knows chakra acts as a beacon for the Otsutsuki and ignites human greed, he likely gets triggered into this extreme choice by a massive betrayal from Amado.
- Boruto’s Stance: Boruto’s dialogue ("I didn't think you'd go this far, Kawaki?" and "Even so, I'm still a shinobi") implies he actually agrees with Kawaki's diagnosis of the world's problems, but rejects his extreme "lesser evil" solution to preserve the shinobi soul and perhaps figured out his own solution.
- The Living Sword Theory: Boruto's newly upgraded sword is infused with a mysterious, unknown material - likely connected to Mokuton (Wood Release). Because it's alive, Kawaki won't be able to shrink it with Sukunahikona.
- The Big Picture: The series is moving toward a dark climax exploring the failure of humanity to responsibly handle power. Ironically, the Shinju trying to understand "love" might end up acting as the good guys. I’m honestly hoping for a dark, tragic ending.
