Chapter 28 of Boruto: Two Blue Vortex arrived and with it we saw the kickoff for the next big story arc. That story arc involves Mamushi invading Konoha in what looks to be a Pain-like attack. This is something that Masashi Kishimoto and Mikio Ikemoto are doing to escalate the war against the Human God Trees to another level. In the process we got a lot of developments not just for Boruto Uzumaki but also characters like Inojin Yamanaka and Koji Kashin. With that let’s break down the big developments and what could they lead to for the series?
KOJI KASHIN FAST TRACKS INOJIN YAMANAKA’S DEVELOPMENT
The way Kishimoto and Ikemoto kicked off Boruto: Two Blue Vortex Chapter 28 was to have it live up to the chapter title’s name, “New Powers.” That is done through Inojin Yamanaka completing the one-day training to learn the jutsu that Koji Kashin told him to learn. What makes this important is that we learned in the previous chapter that Inojin was meant to create a powerful mind jutsu in a possible future after Himawari Uzumaki was killed. Rather than needing Himawari’s death to be the trigger Koji telling Inojin about the jutsu and the cause to learn it.
This development was yet another case of Kishimoto and Ikemoto using Koji’s abilities as a plot device. Because up to this point the biggest moments Inojin has had was being almost killed by Jura that triggered Himawari’s Nine Tails powers and flirting with Himawari. So this is development of a new powerful Mind Body Transmission Jutsu is big for making Inojin an major character now. We got to see how important the new jutsu is as it created an undetectable line of communication Boruto, Shikamaru, and others could use to talk and plan their next moves in secret.
So for sure this accomplished its job of elevating Inojin’s character as part of the Boruto cast. What it didn’t succeed in was being a payoff that felt earned. That is simply due to the two Boruto mangas doing a poor job of developing Inojin’s character up to this point. At best, Inojin is a supporting character who has largely been in the background with all his development showing his crush on Himawari. Other than that we never saw Inojin training or talked about as a genius-level shinobi. That made this development come across as rushed because the plot required it rather than a natural part of the series’ narrative.
MAMUSHI INVASION TESTING SHIKAMARU’S HOKAGE STATUS
While the jutsu’s development was certainly rushed it did set the stage for Mamushi’s invasion on Konoha to kick off. The jutsu helped Shikamaru communicate with Boruto, Kawaki, Koji, Konohamaru, Himawari, Sarada, Ada, Daemon, Sumere, Chocho, and Shikadai about Mamushi’s invasion. Through this communication Shikamaru was able to get everyone on the same page and let Boruto be the first deployed against Mamushi.
As we begin the latest Konoha Invasion story arc it will be the true test for Shikamaru’s status as the Hokage. We’ve seen Shikamaru’s standing being rocky at best. There are many shown to not believe in Hokage after Naruto’s disappearance. Anytime we have gotten into Konoha’s politics during Boruto: Two Blue Vortex it has been about the challenges Shikamaru is facing.
This invasion by Mamushi could be the final test of Shikamaru’s status as Hokage. Because with the secret actions he is taken he risks being found out and have the Hokage title taken from him. That is if Konoha can survive this new invasion that does have a Pain-like feel to it.
JURA X FACTOR IN MAMUSHI KONOHA INVASION
Speaking of Pain-like invasion, Mamushi is certainly the focal point of this story arc. His ability to split into multiple powerful clones of himself made his invasion of Konoha reminiscent of Pain’s in the past. It is even triggering the entire cast to act as protectors of Konoha much like Naruto’s class and seniors did.
But while Mamushi is the focus of this story arc we can’t forget about Jura. It has most recently been established that Jura has been hanging out in Konoha. But due to how powerful he is Shikamaru just had him monitored rather than kicking him out of the village. If he did that Shikamaru would’ve risked Jura suddenly launching his own attack again.
Knowing that Jura is around for this invasion creates even more problems for the cast. Especially since Boruto was the first one sent out to deal with Mamushi. With Boruto leading the defense against Mamushi there will be the looming threat of Jura acting at any point. That creates a greater sense of tension as the team needs to take out Mamushi as quick as possible so that Jura doesn’t tip the scales to the God Trees side.
BORUTO UZUMAKI FACING HIS FUTURE
With this new Konoha invasion story arc it does feel like we are even closer to the flashforward scene that started the Boruto spinoff. Kishimoto and Ikemoto are certainly invoking the feeling that this could be where we see Konoha’s destruction happen. It’s no surprise since they made sure to keep it vague as to how Konoha was destroyed when Boruto and Kawaki faced off in the flashforward.
Both in this chapter and leading into it we have seen Boruto and Kawaki making moves to get stronger. There have been a lot of hints of them being at the point of the flashforward. It could be that the fight against Mamushi and Jura in this story arc leads Boruto or Kawaki to trigger their long-awaited one-on-one fight.
The reason for this is that this is at least the second Konoha invasion we’ve had in Boruto: Two Blue Vortex. Even with how we are only 28 chapters into this series Kishimoto and Ikemoto have fallen back on this plot yet again. There are only so many times they can tease us with getting to the flashforward period that started this series. If that happens here it would make this arguably the biggest story arc in the history of Boruto.
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