5 Point Discussions – Boruto: Naruto Next Generations 72: “Mitsuki’s Will”

In the middle of the night, two Chuunin are attacked and left in critical condition. At the same time, a certain young ninja has vanished without a trace. Remember, if you like this article and 5 Point Discussions, please share it on Facebook or Twitter! It really helps. And if you’ve got any comments or questions, please hit me up @SageShinigami.

1. The first half of “Mitsuki’s Will” drives home one thing: Boruto has been a garbage friend to Mitsuki. Despite what he’s saying here, he really doesn’t know Mitsuki at all.  He’s never met Mitsuki’s parents, or even asked if he could. He’s never been to his apartment, or even knows where he lives. Boruto’s been the textbook definition of a “work friend”, or a close acquaintance: someone who seems cool with you, but doesn’t actually care about or interact with you outside of the setting you met in. After Mitsuki fails to show up at their meeting place, Boruto and Sarada try to track him down, only to find nothing more than an empty apartment…one Boruto had to ask Sarada to lead the way towards. No wonder last episode Mitsuki wondered if he and Boruto were actually friends or if it was just genetic programming.

2. No wonder the Otsutsuki Clan was able to wreck Konoha–this village has the same security as Stalag 13 from Hogan’s Heroes: you can just crawl around in tunnels (or vents) without your captors ever actually realizing anything. I get that Boruto and Sarada are easily the two most talented genin in their class, but after realizing something’s gone wrong in Konoha they decide to infiltrate Naruto’s office–which is supposedly packed with jonin. They even trail them through the air vents to a secluded area where the two Chuunin who got injured at the start of the episode are.
There’s really no way out of this. They make a big deal out of this incident being unprecedented, they talk about how the whole village seems like it’s on high alert. Even if you assume Naruto and the others wanted Team 7 to know, it seems like there are so many better ways they could have been told, instead of them taking advantage of Konoha’s Top Flight Security.

3. Surprisingly, Naruto allowing Orochimaru’s son into the school is something most of the higher ups in the village weren’t aware of until this episode. After getting Ino to take a glimpse into the unconscious Chuunins memories, they see a glimpse of what happened at the start of the episode. While they miss the two first assailants, they see Mitsuki arrive and use a ninjutsu before willingly going with the enemy.
Naturally, Naruto tries to throw off the idea that someone in Konoha would ever be a traitor, but Tsunade is far less certain. And to be fair, the Sound Village betraying the Leaf is what kicked off much of the larger story in the original series so she has a point. Also, we’ve been wondering all this time why the son of the man who killed the Third Hokage could attend school with everyone else. Well, turns out the answer is pretty practical: Orochimaru has data to help them fight the Otsutsuki Clan. Very pragmatic, even if they were risking something like this scenario happening.
Although, it seems unlikely Mitsuki attacked those Chuunin at all. We never actually see him do it–he shows up after two other guys attack them, then as they’re losing consciousness they see him go along with them. More likely this was his attempt to save them.

4. One (1) single arc after Boruto was de-ninja’d for cheating in the Chuunin exams, Boruto’s already trying to do something to get the entire village to hate him again. After learning about what happened to Mitsuki, Boruto decides to go after him–even though thanks to the “heightened danger” the town is considering anyone who leaves to be a traitor.
Initially, Sarada objects to Boruto refusing to even consider Mitsuki being a traitor, but she quickly changes her mind after he asks what kind of Hokage she wants to be: someone who’s just a powerful ninja, or a person who believes in its citizens. On the one hand, I thought it was a pretty sick burn. On the other, hopefully this doesn’t turn into a “thing” where Boruto has to do Sarada’s thinking for her. As entertaining as it is for Boruto to decide Sarada’s going to be Hokage even if he has to carry her to reach that point, she’s far too talented and gifted for this to be her character for the remainder of the series.
The other half of this is they’re pretty unabashed in how they want Boruto to be the next Sasuke, only in a “good” way. He keeps ignoring the rules even when they’re supposed to have grave consequences. Eventually that should have consequences for him, but for now if no one else is going to learn the truth about his friend, it seems like he probably should as a sort of “the least you can do” kinda thing.

5. Next Episode: Boruto and Sarada set off to find Orochimaru, to learn the truth about Mitsuki. But are they prepared for what they might find?
Hopefully, their meeting with Orochimaru has the kind of Earth-shattering importance the last Team 7’s first meeting had. For better or worse, their team was never the same after that happened, and while I doubt they’ll go as far here–I would love to see some defining character development arise for one of them by the end of this arc.
Boruto: Naruto Next Generations is available for streaming on Crunchyroll and Hulu.