Boruto Episode 152

Developing One’s Medical Ninjutsu

Just when you thought the Boruto anime was getting back on track with manga content, episode 152 begins an “arc” of one-off “filler” episodes. I was worried this was going to happen after the end of the Mujina Gang arc, and from what I’ve seen it looks like there will be at least four episodes in this group of filler.

And I know there are a lot of people who will hate this episode because it’s filler, but it wasn’t actually a bad episode. Sure, it’s a single episode filler, not a “filler” arc (which actually isn’t filler), but at least it wasn’t something like the Mecha Naruto filler from Shippūden.

This episode actually served a purpose, which was to lay the foundation of medical ninjutsu use in some of the main genin. Up to this point, the only genin able of using medical ninjutsu to any extent was Wasabi. However, some of the genin taking part in this seminar don’t quite make sense.

It’s pretty obvious why Sarada is the member of Team 7 attending the seminar — she’s the daughter of the Leaf’s head medical shinobi. If there’s anyone who should be attending this seminar, it’s her. However, Sarada’s fighting style doesn’t exactly fit with that of a medical ninja.

Though to be fair, neither did Sakura’s or Tsunade’s.

The one who stands out the most, however, is Iwabe. The only chakra nature he can use is Earth style, and he’s basically a berserker who attacks head on. You could argue that he would be able to function sort of like Sakura and Tsunade, but I just don’t see him being the medical shinobi of his team. Denki would be a better choice.

Inojin, Hako, and Dōshu make a lot more sense since their fighting styles allow them to sit back from the action. We all know Inojin uses the Super Beast Scroll jutsu, but in case you forgot, Hako controls puppets and Dōshu specializes in sealing jutsu.

Sakura Uchiha

It’s not that often that I actually get to talk about my favorite female character of the Naruto series: Sakura (Haruno) Uchiha. I get it, Sakura gets a lot of hate, but as I’ve said many times in the past, she’s not actually that bad. I agree she’s useless in the original series, but once you get to Shippūden, she’s actually pretty strong.

Think about it this way: Who in Sakura’s graduating class could defeat her in a fight today? And let’s just replace Neji with Sai to make this easier. The answer is Naruto, Sasuke, Shikamaru, and probably Lee. That means Sakura ranks at number 5 out of 12, which isn’t bad at all considering Naruto and Sasuke are so far above everyone else.

Sai would probably be a close fight, and Shino would too. But I think Sakura would easily win against Ino, Hinata, Tenten, Choji, and Kiba. Sakura’s basically a tank who can defeat any of them in one hit, heal off any damage she takes, and also use four chakra natures.

Also consider that the only medical shinobi stronger than Sakura which we know of is Tsunade. When the only person stronger than her in her field is the granddaughter of the First Hokage, one of the Sannin, and the Fifth Hokage herself, that’s not really something to fault Sakura for.

Her abilities and power aside, I do wish Sakura played a larger role in Boruto. She had her time to shine in the Shin Uchiha arc at the beginning of the anime, but since then she hasn’t really done all that much.

It could be interesting to see her sub in as the leader for Team 15 instead of Hanabi for a mission. This is an all girl team, so Sakura would fit into it in that regard. But I think more importantly, she could really teach the girls of Team 15 some lessons. She could help Wasabi with medical ninjutsu and she could help Namida stop being a crybaby.

Where’s Tonton?

Now we get to the most important question which I had while watching this episode: Where is Tonton?

I guess I should start by explaining who Tonton is for those of you who have only watched Boruto and not the two anime series which came before it. Tonton is Tsunade’s pet pig who is often seen being carried and taken care of by Shizune because Tsunade is too busy.

For all intents and purposes, Tonton is Shizune’s pet pig. But, every time we’ve seen Tsunade or Shizune throughout the Boruto series, Tonton is nowhere to be seen. Tonton may not have been a ninja animal like Akamaru (Kiba’s dog), but she might as well be one, so I doubt she was killed during the war.

But the part which is most disturbing is that Tonton hasn’t been mentioned once throughout Boruto. Maybe she appeared in the 20th anniversary flashback arc (I don’t remember), but other than that, she’s nowhere to be found. And considering she was such an important part of Tsunade and Shizune’s lives that’s pretty suspicious.

I guess you could say that Tonton died of old age. After all, it has been 15 years since the end of the war — which was the last time we saw Tonton. But for those of us who remember Tonton, it’s hard to imagine she could die at all.

All I’m saying is that Sai needs to open an investigation into Tonton’s disappearance. But maybe the reason this hasn’t happened is because the conspiracy goes all the way to the top.

Conclusion

What did you think of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations episode 152? Do you think Iwabe is actually a good candidate for learning medical ninjutsu? Do you somehow still believe Sakura is useless? And what do you think happened to Tonton? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of the next episode is available here.