Boruto Episode 154

Boruto Episode 154

Himawari’s Ninja Trial Session

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations episode 154 follows Himawari as she decides what she wants to do as a career — even though she’s like eight years old. And what you may not have thought about before is that anyone who decides to become a shinobi is basically a child soldier conscripted into their nation’s military.

After all, the average academy graduation age is 12 years old. And once you’ve graduated, your a member of the military and will be sent out on potentially dangerous missions. So for Himawari to be unsure about wanting to become a shinobi is completely justifiable.

But, Himawari is also a legitimate child of the Hyuuga clan, which means she’s expected to become a shinobi. Her choosing not to be a shinobi would be like a member of the Inuzuka clan marrying a cat girl instead of a dog girl.

Oh, wait. That’s exactly what Kiba did.

Himawari, Ehou, and Yuina starting their trial session from the anime series Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
Himawari, Ehou, and Yuina starting their trial session

So, to find out if being a shinobi is the right path for her, Himawari takes part in an academy trial session at the recommendation of her aunt, Hanabi (the best Hyuuga). This trial session is basically just a condensed version of the academy courses and serves to give the children a taste of what attending the academy will be like.

However, you may have also noticed that, including Himawari, there were only three children who showed up to take part in the trial session. So is the profession of shinobi dying off? That’s something I’ll touch on again later on.

Yuina Itomaki and Ehou Norimaki

We already know that Himawari’s “specialty” is that she has the Byakugan and is able to use the gentle fist technique, just like the other members of the Hyuuga clan (except Boruto). Well, Boruto can use the gentle fist technique somewhat, he just generally doesn’t.

But Himawari isn’t really who I want to talk about right now, because we have two new characters to discuss instead. And before anyone says that Yuina Itomaki and Ehou Norimaki are just filler characters, what if they aren’t? What if we’ve just been introduced to Himawari’s future team members?

Sure, their names make them seem like they’re probably filler characters. Itomaki is basically a roll of yarn and Norimaki is a seaweed roll, so you can see they have the roll theme in common. I agree that makes them seem like filler characters, but the fact that they were the only other participants in the trial session makes me think otherwise.

Himawari, Ehou, and Yuina searching for a lost cat from the anime series Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
Himawari, Ehou, and Yuina searching for a lost cat

Wouldn’t there have been more characters if these two weren’t important? Yes, we still would have focused on Yuina and Ehou because they were paired up with Himawari, and we probably wouldn’t have gotten the names of any of the other characters, but they still would have been visible in the background.

And, if you think the fact that there weren’t any other students is also an indication that these are just filler characters, allow me to point your attention to Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon. As far as I can remember, we never actually meet any other shinobi from their graduating class — we only know those three, just like right now we only know Himawari, Yuina, and Ehou.

Unfortunately, we don’t know too much about Ehou and Yuina though. We know Ehou is generally well-rounded, and Yuina is good at tracking, but they don’t seem to have any signature abilities.

But again, we didn’t actually find out Moegi and Udon’s signature jutsu until the Boruto series. Moegi can somehow use Wood Release, and Udon has his snot jutsu.

Is There A Need For Shinobi?

As I mentioned earlier, is there really a need for shinobi anymore? This has been brought up countless times throughout the Boruto series, often by antagonist lamenting how the age of the shinobi is over. And honestly, I kind of agree with them — there isn’t much of a place for shinobi in the current world.

Of course, you will always need some shinobi to fight against the bad guys who crop up, such as the Kara. But generally speaking there isn’t really all that much for shinobi to do right now. And to prove this point, let’s take a look at some of the former shinobi who now work regular jobs.

Where are all the original Naruto series genin now?

Himawari celebrating the completion of the mission from the anime series Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
Himawari celebrating the completion of the mission

Naruto is the Hokage, so while that technically means he’s still a shinobi, he’s really a politician at this point — he doesn’t go on missions. Sakura is the head medical “ninja” in the country, so she’s a doctor, not an actual shinobi. And Sasuke is the only remaining member of the original Team 7 who’s a real shinobi still.

The Ino-Shika-Cho trio isn’t any better. Shikamaru is Naruto’s assistant, so he’s no longer an active shinobi. Ino runs a flower shop, so the same goes for her. And as far as I can tell, Choji is just unemployed. He could still be going out on missions, but from what we’ve seen of him during filler episodes, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Neji died a shinobi instead of living to see himself become a civilian. Tenten is now the proud owner of a ninja tool shop which doesn’t get any customers because nobody wants to be a shinobi anymore. And Rock Lee is potentially still an active shinobi. We know he’s a facilitator of the chunin exams, so he’s still involved somewhat, but I think he basically just trains all day.

Shino is a teacher at the academy, so not an active shinobi. Kiba is the head (I think) of the police force, so that’s kind of shinobi-like. And Hinata is a stay at home mom, so not a shinobi.

And lastly we have Sai, who isn’t one of the original genin, but is important enough for me to mention. He’s basically the head of the Leaf Village’s version of the FBI, so he’s somewhere in between Kiba and Sasuke on the shinobi scale.

Conclusion

I think it’s pretty clear that Himawari is going to end up being a shinobi. And I also think Ehou and Yuina may end up being her teammates when the time comes. But as I’ve just illustrated, there isn’t really much of a need for shinobi; otherwise everyone from Naruto’s generation wouldn’t have retired from that profession.

Remember, it’s not like those characters had to transition from shinobi to civilian life in order for the Leaf Village to prosper. There are plenty of people their age who were simply never shinobi to begin with who could have filled those roles.

But what do you think? Are shinobi still necessary? And will Himawari become one? Or will she choose a different profession, such as working at the postal service? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of the next episode is available here.

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