Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Episode 284

Becoming the Messenger

In Boruto Episode 284, Sasuke makes his way into Zansul’s secret cellar. But, he couldn’t do this alone (for some reason). I’d assume that Sasuke would be able to sneak in when Zansul isn’t in his office. However, that’s not what Sasuke does. That would be too easy.

Instead, Sakura helps him by distracting Zansul. A messenger from the Prime Minister of the country is coming to deliver a message to Zansul. So, Sakura intercepts him and uses the transformation jutsu to become him. Sasuke then also uses the transformation jutsu and becomes the messenger’s staff.

During her meeting with Zansul in his office, Sakura rolls the staff toward the cellar door. While Zansul isn’t paying attention, Sasuke un-transforms and unlocks the door. I’ll discuss how exactly he does that in the next section. But, for now, I want to focus on the absurdity of this whole plan.

As I already mentioned, Sasuke could have snuck into the cellar when Zansul wasn’t present. Like, Sakura could have distracted him elsewhere in the observatory. There was no reason for Sasuke to try sneaking in while Zansul was in the room. Also, he could have transformed into anything else.

Why did he transform into the messenger’s staff? Sakura had to carry a second staff for when Zansul noticed the first one went missing. He could have transformed into something else that wouldn’t have been as noticeable. Though, there does seem to be a limit on how small of an object one can transform into.

For example, I don’t think Sasuke could become a piece of paper that’s dropped and slides under the door. But, he could become a coat that Sakura puts down near the door. Or, better yet, he could become Zansul while Zansul’s out of his office.

The Secret in the Cellar

Moving back over to how Sasuke actually got into the cellar, I thought this was cool. First, he used his chakra to make a mold of the internal structure of the lock. I don’t really understand how he was able to use chakra like this, but I’ll allow it.

Once he had the mold, he used Earth style to make a key out of the wall. And yes, Sasuke can use Earth style. He can actually use Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Lightning, and Yin release. It’s just that we usually only see him use Fire, Lightning, and Yin.

In the cellar, Sasuke finds some odd things. There are a lot of live chickens, a lot of fossils, and a mysterious altar. Now, when I saw all the fossils, it seemed to confirm a theory of mine. Back in my review of Episode 282, I said it wouldn’t surprise me if Zansul was reviving fossils.

And, considering Meno’s existence, it does seem like that’s what’s going on here. But, what about all the chickens? What do they have to do with reviving dinosaurs from fossils? One possibility is that these chickens are what Zansul feeds to the dinosaurs he revives.

The other possibility is that the chickens themselves are the dinosaurs. Technically speaking, chickens are already dinosaurs — all birds are. But, what I mean is that Zansul is bioengineering these chickens into dinosaur-dinosaurs. You know, like what we see with Meno.

What’s interesting is that by the end of the episode, it seems both of these possibilities are true. They don’t appear to be mutually exclusive. Zansul is trying to turn chickens into large dinosaurs. But, this also doesn’t seem to be how he created Meno. So, it’s still possible that Meno was revived from a fossil.

Manufacturing Dragon Beasts

So, here’s my current theory regarding what Zansul’s up to. He can revive dinosaurs from fossils as evidenced by Meno. However, dinosaur fossils are pretty rare. And I’m assuming it’s not easy to revive them. But, Zansul wants an entire army of dinosaurs.

Obviously, he’s not going to have an army of them by reviving them from fossils one at a time. So, he turns to chickens. If he can reverse engineer the chickens into Meno-like dinosaurs, he can mass produce them. And once he does that, he can sell them to the Prime Minister.

But, let’s take a closer look at how Zansul turns chickens into dinosaurs. Or, at least, how he’s attempting to do it. The first transformation we see didn’t exactly work. But, it actually looks closer to how dinosaurs of that size probably looked in real life. You know, with feathers.

The weird thing is that it wasn’t Zansul who was turning the chickens into dinosaurs. Someone else is there with him doing the work. And it looks like all they’re doing is using a transformation jutsu. But, I have to assume that isn’t the case.

Using the transformation jutsu to turn chickens into dinosaurs should be easy. This is especially true if you already have a living dinosaur to look at and copy. But, the problem is that they’d transform back into chickens once the jutsu user’s chakra runs out. So, that’s not viable for an entire army.

This means whoever’s transforming the chickens is likely using a unique jutsu. And that’s the reason it’s not Zansul doing it. He can’t use that particular jutsu. So, who is this mystery person? My guess is that it’s Jiji, Sasuke’s cellmate with blonde hair. He seemed to have a lot of knowledge about Meno.

Conclusion

What do you think of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Episode 284? Do you think Sasuke and Sakura’s plan was a good one? How do you think Zansul created Meno? And who do you think is creating the chicken dinosaurs? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of Episode 285 is available now.