For anime fans, one of the best aspects of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations is that the series continues the stories of the characters they already know from Naruto and Naruto Shippuden. Not only do fans get a glimpse into the lives of Naruto and his friends as adults, but they also get to see just how their children have turned out so far.
Of course, Boruto has also become popular with a new generation of anime fans thanks to premiering a few years after Naruto’s height of popularity. Boruto Uzumaki has become a hero in his own right, though with similar abilities and a similar look, it’s hard not to compare him to his better known father.
Like Naruto before him, Boruto is the subject of a manga, anime, and movie.
Along with his friends, Boruto is several chapters into training to become an elite shinobi. They might not all have the bodies of ninjas audiences have come to expect from action movies, but the power the shinobi in Boruto’s universe hold inside makes their bodies well-oiled machines.
With a lineage that includes the legendary Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyuga, there are quite a few defining traits Boruto inherited from his family. There are others that he’s picked up along the way during his story.
We’ve gathered them together to bring you 25 Crazy Facts About Boruto’s Body to remind you of just how powerful this shinobi in training is, and what’s he gone through to get to his level.
He Was Supposed To Have The Byakugan
As a lot of fans noticed how much Boruto picked up from his own parents, there were plenty who expected him to inherit his mother’s Byakugan.
The Hyuga clan is known for the ability to see chakra points and detect the life force of everything around them. Those who master their Byakugan can quite literally see everything when it’s activated.
Hinata Hyuga spent a lot of her formative years training with it.
Though Kishimoto drew artwork for Boruto with the trademark white eyes of the Byakugan, it never made it into the manga.
Why? According to an interview with Kishimoto in 2014, he “forgot.”
He Has The Jogan
Kishimoto forgetting to draw Boruto with the Byakugan opened the door for a new ability for the character. Instead of the Hyuga clan ability, Boruto ended up with one eye that could do very similar things as a set of Byakugan eyes.
Called the Jogan or “pure eye” by the animators of the television series, Boruto’s special eye combines the ability of his mother’s to see the flow of chakra with his father’s ability to sense negative emotions, making a unique skill set.
When his Jogan first awakened in the anime and manga, Boruto didn’t have much control over it, but if flashforwards are anything to go by, it won’t take long to master.
He Can See Through Dimensional Barriers
Brotuo’s Jogan doesn’t just allow him to see chakra; it also allows him to see even further beyond what the normal eye can.
When it’s active, he can see into other dimensions.
The first time fans saw this ability in action was when Boruto and his friends discovered Sumire was the one controlling the animal Nue. Nue actually came from another dimension that Sumire was able to access.
Because of his eye, Boruto could see where his dimension ended and Nue’s began, allowing him to travel through a rift to get there.
The ability will surely come in handy for Boruto in the future since other extra-dimensional threats exist in his world.
He Might Seal The Fox
One of the reasons why Boruto’s father has so much power is because he has the nine-tailed fox Kurama sealed inside of him.
Some fans postulate that one day, it might be Boruto’s turn.
An old piece of artwork for the manga depicts Team Konohamaru in action, and Boruto’s drawing in particular caused some theory making.
In the drawing, not only does Boruto have the tell-tale eyes of the Byakugan, which fans know was scrapped, but he’s also outlined in a flame-like chakra.
That particular look is the same chakra that would surround Naruto when he was channeling the chakra of the fox instead of his own.
He Is More Agile Than The Average Ninja
We’ve seen over the course of the franchise that a shinobi can achieve great physical feats. They can fall from great heights, survive longer underwater without air, and more.
Boruto seems to have an edge on everyone (except for maybe his own father) when it comes to acrobatics, though.
When the audience of the anime first met Naruto, he was busy climbing rocks and defacing a great monument. The same is true of Boruto. Boruto, while still in training at the Academy, has already mastered the ability to use his chakra to allow him to walk up the side of a cliff face.
He also happens to regularly climb and ride on top of trains.
Masashi Kishimoto Designed Him
Manga writer and artist Masashi Kishimoto is best known these days for creating Naruto. His character designs from the original manga series went on to be used for the anime, movies, and video games that followed.
Kishimoto might not be the man doing the day-to-day work on Boruto’s series, but he designed the title character as well.
Kishimoto initially designed the character in 2013, as he was working on an ending for his Naruto story. He wanted to depict Naruto’s children.
His design served as the inspiration for Boruto in the new manga, movie, and anime series, though new writers and artists do the serial work.
Kishimoto remains involved as a producer and editor.
He Takes After Hinata
There’s a great resemblance between Boruto and Naruto. Most notably, Boruto inherited his father’s yellow spiky hair and whiskers.
While these features stand out, Naruto isn’t the only parent to contribute to his look.
When Kishimoto drew Boruto, he made sure that there was some influence from his mother.
Boruto doesn’t have the same face-shape as Naruto. Instead, that comes from Hinata. Also from Hinata are his cheeks and the shape of his eyes.
It’s just enough of a design difference to show the character isn’t going to be exactly the same as dear old dad.
He Transformed Into A Fuma Shuriken
Fans have witnessed plenty of shadow clones and substitution jutsus over the course of the Naruto franchise. More rare is a shinobi actually becoming the weapon they want to use. Boruto does it, though.
In just episode nine of the animated series, Boruto and Sarada Uchiha find themselves taking on an actor possessed by a dark force.
Over the course of the fight, the duo need a way to distract him so they can get the upper hand.
Boruto ends up transforming himself into a fuma shuriken so he can be used as a weapon against the actor. (Their dads used a similar ruse in episode nine of the original series.)
A Sarada Uchiha Duplicate
Just like shadow clones and substitution jutsus, many shinobi can transform into one another. Of course, usually their friends and family can see through the transformation, which gives them an edge over the enemy.
During their Academy exams, Boruto and Sarada proved that they had what it takes to pull off a perfect swap, even if most of the time they can’t even stand to be around one another.
In order to confuse Kakashi during a portion of the exam, the duo swapped places.
Kakashi knew their attacks, so Boruto transforming his body into Sarada (and vice versa) gave them the element of surprise.
His Design Could Still Change
Designed as roughly 16 years old for an epic fight scene that the story will build to, Boruto’s teenage look might not be set in stone.
The fight sequence between Boruto and Kawaki that opens his story was meant to show readers that the future of the Hidden Leaf Village, and a legacy character like Naruto, is in danger.
It certainly did that, and fans think they know what Boruto will look like then.
According to artist Mikio Ikemoto, though, with the years it takes to get to that point, there’s still time for the team to make some changes - if they want to.
Women Provide His Voice
Like his father before him, all of Boruto’s voice actors are women.
Women were chosen to voice Boruto for his first brief appearances as a toddler and in The Last: Naruto The Movie. Beyond that, Boruto has two women who have carried his character through his movie and television series.
Japanese actress Yuko Sanpei was selected to voice Boruto in Japan. She was a fan of the Naruto franchise before getting the role, but loves it even more now.
For the English dub, Amanda C. Miller landed her first lead voice role as Boruto.
He Can Drown From Depleted Chakra
Chakra allows shinobi to access their specialized jutsus. Larger chakra reserves mean better stamina. It isn’t just ninja skills that suffer when chakra is depleted though.
Early in the anime, before the mystery of Nue siphoning chakra is revealed, Boruto’s teacher Shino was one of those influenced by the experience.
Believing himself a horrible teacher, the dark influence made him want to destroy Boruto in a “final lesson.”
Boruto and his friends Shikadai and Mitsuki were attacked by Shino, using up much of their chakra to defend themselves.
Following the fight, Boruto dove into a river to save Mitsuki, but his chakra was so low that he couldn’t even swim.
He Uses A Chakra Blade
Not every shinobi likes to use weapons that they put their own chakra into. Chakra is a precious substance for shinobi, and many prefer to use their own specialized skills instead.
In Naruto’s younger years, the sensei Asuma Sarutobi used chakra blades. After losing his life, Asuma’s blades were taken care of by his student Shikamaru, who then passed them onto Asuma’s daughter.
We haven’t seen Boruto utilize these kinds of blades in the anime yet, but he does have them in the manga.
He actually has a scientifically updated one where his blade is made from pure chakra with the push of a button. It sounds an awful lot like a lightsaber.
His Kama Absorbs Ninjutsu
Following a fight with a villain named Momoshiki, Boruto winds up with a mysterious mark on his palm. Called a kama, it looks like a black diamond and it has some pretty interesting properties.
We haven’t seen a lot of it in action in the anime just yet, but it has appeared more often in the manga.
Once activated, the mark actually allows Boruto to absorb the attacks thrown at him by another shinobi. It’s not unlike a prosthetic arm that Naruto tests out in the series.
He can even absorb another shinobi’s chakra with it.
The Kama Connects Him To Kawaki
The mysterious Kawaki has only recently appeared in the flesh. Up until now, fans only new him as the person in the flashforward who led off the series.
Like Boruto, though, Kawaki has his own kama on his palm.
When the two characters meet for the first time, Kawaki believes Boruto is an enemy and lashes out. He has, after all, been unconscious in a box, so it’s an easy mistake to make.
Before Kawaki attacks, though, Boruto knows it’s coming.
The why and how isn’t entirely clear, but before Kawaki wakes at their first meeting, Boruto’s kama pains him. The two have some sort of connection.
He Inherited Large Chakra Reserves
For those familiar with the original Naruto series, they’ll remember that one of the hallmarks of a villain’s fight with the title character was surprise that a teenager could last so long.
Not only did Naruto have the chakra of Kurama, but he had incredibly large chakra reserves of his own. His son inherited this trait.
In addition to mastering complex skills usually too difficult for someone his age, Boruto can outlast most opponents. He can fight as long as shinobi who have been training longer than he’s been alive.
During a fight with Shino, despite deleting most of his chakra, he was still able to form a group of shadow clones.
His Affinity For Lightning Made A New Rasengan
A shinobi’s affinity for different nature types of chakra can make him more likely to find success with specific ninjutsu. Boruto’s affinity for Lightning Release is so strong that he taps into it without trying.
Boruto learned one of his father’s signature moves with the help of Konohamaru.
The rasengan is essentially a ball of chakra thrown at someone. Boruto learned the technique even faster than his father, and he accidentally put his own spin on it.
His body tapped into the Lightning Release abilities to infuse his rasengan with that chakra. As a result, his rasengan vanishes after thrown, only to reappear on contact with an enemy.
It’s a technique that many Hokages couldn’t master.
He Utilizes Three Chakra Types
Many shinobi begin their training with an affinity for one of two types of the nature chakras (lightning, fire, water, earth, air, etc.). Boruto has shown an affinity for three of the basic nature types so far.
Lightning has certainly aided him in his ninjutsu, but Boruto also has a good command over Water Release and Wind Release.
His affinity for Wind Release isn’t surprising since both of his parents were proficient in it as teens. More surprising is Water Release.
Neither of his parents had a particular affinity for Water Release as kids.
Naruto developed it later when he had access to the Sage of Six Paths’ power and all the tailed beasts.
He Has Super Speed
He might not be a comic book speedster like Quicksilver or the Flash, but Boruto can certainly move faster than the average person can see.
Boruto has figured out how to use his Wind Release to increase his own speed, not just his weapons.
He utilizes the natural ability of the wind chakra to push himself forward. The result is that he can move faster than even some of the fastest ninjas.
Boruto gets his shadow clones to propel him forward in a move called the Boruto Stream.
In addition to using it on himself, Boruto has also used it on Sarada Uchiha when teaming up in fights.
A Water Prison Held Him
The Academy took their first field trip to the Land of Water while Boruto was a student. Not everyone there was happy with visitors from the Hidden Leaf Village. Though Boruto made a new friend in Kagura, they found themselves targeted.
Kagura used to train under Shizuna, but Shizuna didn’t like the regime in charge.
The teacher faced a lot of repercussions for his actions, but his dissatisfaction came to a head when Boruto’s class visited.
When Shizuna confronted Boruto and Kagura, the forumer used Water Release to trap them. We don’t know how Boruto would have made it out of the trap if Shizuna hadn’t released them to taunt them.
