Boruto Episode 123

Boruto Episode 123

Urashiki Returns

Let me start off by saying that this week’s episode of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations wasn’t exactly the best. With that said, there was actually one piece of information in this episode which I found extremely useful. But more on that towards the end of today’s review.

It’s been 12 weeks since my last Boruto episode review. I think these reviews are going to be weekly once again for two reasons: I want to write more about Boruto and it seems like we’re back to important content. Or, at least the current arc we have right now ties into some of the major events earlier on in the series.

Urashiki Ōtsutsuki is back — and if you don’t remember, he was the ally of Momoshiki and Kinshiki from the chunin exam arc. The Ōtsutsuki clan is a pretty big deal in the Naruto franchise, so we can assume this won’t be just another filler arc.

As for what Urashiki is after, he seems to be hunting down the tailed beasts, which was the original goal of Momoshiki and Kinshiki. And if you don’t know why he wants those, then I guess just go watch all of Naruto: Shippuden. I’m not going to explain the history of the world right now.

Shinki’s Mission

So the first tailed beast on Urashiki’s list is Shukaku, the One-Tail. This is the tailed beast which was formerly sealed inside Gaara, the fifth Kazekage. In order to protect Shukaku from Urashiki, Gaara sends Shinki and Boruto on a mission to escort Shukaku to the Hidden Leaf Village.

Obviously, along the way Boruto and Shinki argue about all sorts of things, mainly which is more important: their mission or their friends. Shinki believes the mission comes first, while Boruto believes the opposite. This is an age-old argument in the franchise which dates back to Kakashi and Obito.

However, the way in which Shinki and Boruto argue about this topic isn’t exactly the same as it was with their predecessors. For one, Boruto believes Shinki’s point of view is valid — it’s just not the one for him. Likewise, Shinki does believe his comrades are important, but he thinks they would want him to finish the mission at all costs.

Shinki of the Hidden Sand Village from the anime series Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
Shinki of the Hidden Sand Village

And then we have Shukaku, who doesn’t really care about the argument at all. Shukaku just wants to be entertained, and he finds Boruto more entertaining than Shinki. Boruto is more likely to do something unexpected, and he’s the son of Naruto, whom Shukaku is fond of.

So while Boruto and Shukaku are looking for action, Shinki just wants to complete the mission assigned to him. He doesn’t want to let down his father who personally gave him the mission, and he doesn’t want to let down his uncle who sacrificed himself to buy time for them to escape.

Also I just want to point out that I don’t think Kankuro is really dead. There’s no way that a character who has been around as long as Kankuro would be killed so suddenly.

Boruto, Shikadai, & Temari

After Kankuro attempts to fight against Urashiki’s puppets, one escapes from the final blast. It then takes a tag team of Boruto, Shikadai, and Temari to take it down. But, watching this fight it seems clear that Kankuro should have had no trouble to begin with.

Temari is definitely strong, as are Boruto and Shikadai for their age, but the fight against the puppets was the perfect situation for Kankuro to shine. After all, he’s a puppet master. And not just any puppet master, he’s probably the single strongest puppet master alive.

Anyway, Boruto, Shikadai, and Temari are able to take down the final puppet without actually working together. Shukaku points out that they are in fact working together, but what he attributes to teamwork was actually just Boruto not being a complete idiot — it had nothing to do with teamwork.

However, during the fight Temari gets injured and we see Shikadai pick up her fan to finish off the puppet. He uses one of her high-level Wind jutsu to rip the puppet out from under the sand and then Boruto hits it with a Rasengan to the face.

think we’ve seen Shikadai use Wind nature jutsu before, but not to this extent. It was already confirmed that he could use it, which makes sense considering who his mother is, but apparently he’s pretty good at it too. Maybe he’ll use his Wind style more than Shikamaru used his Fire and Earth styles.

Chakra Affinities

The very end of the episode, when Urashiki actually shows up, is the important part. In this scene, he uses his chakra fishing rod to steal the chakra of both Temari and Shikadai. This alone isn’t anything out of the ordinary for him, but you’ll notice that the chakra is shown to be two different colors.

I’ll have to go back and check if this was the case for the other times Urashiki used this ability, but the fact that the chakra appears like this is important. You see, there’s a concept called chakra affinity, which basically explains how certain people can master certain jutsu at a faster rate.

Most characters don’t have their affinities confirmed — only Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi, and Boruto have so far. But, we also know that each chakra nature has a color associated with it. So the chakra orbs we see in the picture below represent Yin (black) and Wind (green) chakra.

Urashiki Ōtsutsuki stealing Shikadai's and Temari's chakra from the anime series Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
Urashiki Ōtsutsuki stealing Shikadai’s and Temari’s chakra

This could be confirming the chakra natures both Shikadai and Temari have affinities for. We know that Temari can only use Wind style, so it would make sense for her affinity to be for Wind nature. But what’s interesting is that Shikadai’s chakra is the color for Yin nature.

Since he knows both Yin and Wind style jutsu, we can assume that his chakra color is implying Yin is what he has an affinity for. This is big because it would be the first time that a non-elemental basic chakra type was confirmed as someone’s affinity.

But, I’m not going to go too in-depth with this today. Later this week I have an article coming out which will discuss the chakra natures of all the main Boruto characters.

Conclusion

Are you glad that my weekly Boruto: Naruto Next Generations episode reviews are coming back? Do you think Kankuro is really dead? And, do you think the color of the chakra Urashiki extracts actually indicates affinity? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button ❤ down below and follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama. I tweet out every time a new post goes live, so it’s the best way to stay up to date. There’s also an official Discord server for anyone interested in discussing anime with members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank HeavyROMAN for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can be a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of the next episode is available here.

Leave a Comment