Boruto Episode 176

Blockade the A-Un Gate!

In this week’s almost-filler Boruto: Naruto Next Generations episode 176, Naruto has to decide whether to follow the United States’ lead and close its borders or not. Spoiler: He chose not to. But, the fact that this was even considered is pretty interesting because it shows just how in the dark the Hidden Leaf leadership is.

Naruto sends emissaries out to the other great nations to warn them that they may have traitors in their midst. However, what the and his inner circle seem to be forgetting is that they’ve already had classified information leaks in the past.

The Land of Stone is already confirmed to have harbored a member of Kara’s Outers. As was explained again in this episode, the lead scientist who was working on the homunculi in the Hidden Stone Village was also working with Kara. And again, this lends credibility to my theory that Kara wants to manufacture an Ōtsutsuki clan member.

But as I mentioned, the Land of Fire has its own Outer member as well. Remember Katasuke from the Scientific Ninja Tools Research Division? After the Momoshiki arc, it was found that he had been leaking tech to an unknown client outside of the Hidden Leaf Village.

Now, at the time, he was cleared of all wrongdoing. And I believe it was stated that they believed his mind was being controlled by someone. However, regardless of whether or not he’s a true Outer, that’s the source of their leaks.

In this episode, it was revealed that Kara also knows about what happened to Momoshiki. They know that the five Kage fought against him, and presumably that Boruto was the one to defeat him. How would they know this? Well, you may recall that Katasuke was actually present at that battle (and made things worse).

Long-Range Communication

Katasuke obviously being the source of the leaks aside, the middle portion of this episode was effectively filler. I don’t think the fact that Denki is dabbling in long-range communication is going to be important later. And if it does come up later, it will probably be in an anime-only capacity.

Even so, it’s interesting to consider the technology that’s both present and not present in the Boruto world. We’ve seen high-tech computers and other technology in labs throughout multiple different countries — and even short-range TV broadcasting. But at the same time, they don’t have long-range communication devices.

Shinobi teams utilize short-range transponders, but when they’re out in the field, they have no immediate connection back to their village. Additionally, this means that when the heads of villages want to communicate, they need to send emissaries to do so.

This lack of long-range communication doesn’t really cause many problems that we as viewers see. To us, the world of Boruto is fairly small because the vast majority of travel time is skipped. In reality, it can take weeks for even shinobi to travel between different nations.

We should also ask why there are no forms of long-range communication in this world. From an in-universe perspective, it doesn’t really make sense considering all the other technology available. They say that war leads to innovation, and since communication would make missions easier, hidden villages should prioritize it.

But from an out-of-universe perspective, I kind of get why this is the case. I think the series would lose a bit of its charm if everyone could instantly communicate over vast distances. There’s something “romantic” about sending a messenger rather than making a phone call.

Jigen’s Plan

Shifting our focus back over to Kara, I want to discuss Kara’s goals again now that we have a bit more information. A week or two ago, I questioned what purpose Kara would have for attempting to recreate the Divine Tree. I’m certain they’re manufacturing an Ōtsutsuki clan member, but the Divine Tree isn’t needed for that.

The Ōtsutsuki clan uses the Divine Tree to power themselves up, but it’s not something that’s directly related to them. However, we now know that the Divine Tree isn’t actually a part of Kara’s plan — at least based on what Jigen stated. And from what we know, Jigen is the leader of Kara.

It’s possible that Jigen isn’t the leader of Kara though, and I do want to mention that. He has the Roman numeral IV (four) tattooed on his face, so it’s entirely possible that he’s not the leader. He may just lead a group of Outers and that’s the role we’ve seen him in.

I’m fairly sure that Deepa (with the Roman numeral VII) is an anime-only member of Kara. So based on that, I’m going to assume there are six others including Jigen. I bring this up mainly to show that we shouldn’t take Deepa’s knowledge of what Victor was doing with the Divine Tree to mean that the rest of Kara knew.

After all, when reporting to Jigen, Victor — who apparently survived — throws Deepa under the bus and says the whole Divine Tree thing was his idea. This obviously isn’t the case. Deepa didn’t have any real interest in it. Victor’s the one who wanted to use it to gain immortality.

Why does all of this matter? Two reasons. First, it means that I was correct in questioning what use Kara had for the Divine Tree. Second, it showed that Victor’s quest for immortality is putting him in competition with the main Kara organization. I don’t think Victor is going to survive for too much longer.

Conclusion

What do you think of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations episode 176? Do you think Katasuke is the source of the leaks coming out of the Hidden Leaf Village? Should long-range communication be included in Boruto? And how many episodes do you give Victor before he’s eliminated by Kara? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of the next episode is available here.