Boruto Episode 138

Boruto Episode 138

Hiashi’s Birthday

This week’s episode of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations was about as filler as you can get. On the surface level it’s about the birthday of Hiashi Hyūga, Boruto and Himawari’s grandfather. But it’s actually serving to teach new viewers a watered down version of Hyūga family history.

So why don’t we start off by covering the real history of the Hyūga clan?

The story Kurenai tells Boruto is correct, but it also leaves out a couple of major details. Part of the subjugation of the Hyūga clan branch families had to do with seals which amounted to curse marks. If they got out of line, the head of the main family, Hiashi, could use this seal as a torture device — or even kill them.

When Hyūga branch family members died, this seal would also activate and destroy their eyes. They Hyūga clan is known for their Byakugan, and this was a way to prevent it from being stolen by outsiders. Ao of the Hidden Mist is the only known shinobi outside the Hyūga clan to have a Byakugan.

Hiashi Hyūga's birthday party from the anime series Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
Hiashi Hyūga’s birthday party

With all that in mind, yes, the story Kurenai tells Boruto is technically correct, but it also leaves out some of the atrocities committed by Hiashi. And, that’s only the internal history. The Hyūga clan also hasn’t always been the most accepting of outsiders either, and they were partially to blame for the eradication of the Uchiha clan.

Also, at one point Hinata was disowned by Hiashi, making her younger sister Hanabi next in line to lead the clan. I don’t actually remember if this is still the case, but I’d imagine Hanabi is still going to take over after Hiashi dies rather than Hinata.

Strongest Shinobi of the Leaf

It’s a bit amusing that Hiashi refers to himself, and the Hyūga in general, as the strongest shinobi in the Hidden Leaf Village. But, this isn’t actually the first time we’ve heard this. The Hyūga have always been considered the strongest clan in the Leaf Village.

However, that’s basically a remnant of the beginning of the original Naruto story. Neji was one of the “villains” of the chunin exam arc way back at episode 20 or something like that (we’re 858 episodes in at this point). Back then, to make him seem like a powerful opponent, it was said that the Hyūga were the strongest.

Hanabi Hyūga from the anime series Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
Hanabi Hyūga

The strongest Hyūga currently is probably Hanabi. And I wouldn’t say she’s one of the top shinobi in the village. To list a bunch of people stronger than her we have Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi, Tsunade, Shikamaru, Konohamaru (probably), Guy, Lee, Sai, Yamato, and probably a lot more of the older jonin.

But just counting those I named, Hanabi isn’t even in the top 10. She might be about even with Konohamaru, but he’s not exactly anywhere near the strongest either.

And, in case anyone is thinking Hiashi is actually stronger than Hanabi, it’s possible. However, we don’t actually know how strong he is at this point in his life, and Hanabi has been held up as the Hyūga prodigy since forever. She’s a jonin now, so it makes sense that by this point she would have surpassed her father.

As a final note on the Hyūga not being the strongest, it was also originally claimed that the Byakugan is stronger than the Sharingan. That’s categorically false. That’s something which was stated long before we knew all the things the Sharingan is capable of — it’s not even close.

The Hidden Cloud Village

I don’t really get many chances to bring up the Hidden Cloud Village, but a “shinobi” from there appeared in this week’s episode. This guy doesn’t seem like a real shinobi though, and I don’t remember seeing a headband anywhere on him. He’s more likely just some random mountain bandit.

I’m also not entirely sure he’s actually from the Cloud Village. He definitely could be, but he doesn’t exactly look like someone from there. Everyone from that region of the world has much darker skin, which this guy doesn’t. However, the world is a smaller place in Boruto, so maybe there are people with lighter skin living there now.

Really there are only two reasons to think he might be from there. The first is that he claims to be, and the second is his use of Lightning style. But, neither of those things is a confirmation. Boruto can use the Lightning style too, but he’s not from the Cloud Village.

We also don’t often see people from the Hidden Cloud Village out in the rest of the world. They are friendly with the Leaf, and other major villages, but they still mostly stick to themselves. However, this could theoretically be why this guy has come to challenge Hiashi. He simply doesn’t know any better because he’s never left the Land of Lightning.

Think about it though. What Hidden Cloud shinobi have we seen in Boruto? Darui has made an appearance, probably with one or two escorts, and Choji’s wife is originally a Cloud shinobi too. Also there was one Cloud team in the chunin exams. Meanwhile, we’ve fairly regularly seen shinobi from the other four great nations.

Oh, and Killer B was probably shown at some point.

Conclusion

Normally this is where I’d ask you what you thought of Boruto episode 138, but I do’t think that question really matters this week. It was just a useless filler episode anyway. So instead, what are your thoughts on the preview we got to see of the next episode?

Although it’s still filler, the next episode will be focusing on one of the other Leaf genin teams. And it looks like one of the members is afflicted by some sort of demonic curse. I’m interested to learn what family she’s from and what that jutsu is supposed to be. Could she be from the same clan as Jūgo?

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My review of the next episode is available here.

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