Naruto Fans Weigh In On Boruto's Biggest Advantage Over His Father
"Naruto" became an anime phenomenon nearly 20 years ago. Since the original series aired, telling the story of the young ninja, Naruto, the franchise has seen multiple anime series, numerous films, and a large variety of video games. While "Naruto" is considered a classic anime now, it's still part of a modern franchise. Very few franchises see the type of success that lasts for decades, but the orange-clad ninja has endured the test of time.
After so much success, the franchise decided to bring in the next generation by focusing on Naruto's children. The current anime still ongoing is "Boruto: Naruto Next Generations." More often than not, shifting focus to the beloved main character's children or grandchildren never really goes well. Fans don't often want to see future generations; they want to see the characters that they fell in love with. "Boruto" is a special case. While the series started off slow, putting many new and old fans off, the series took off once the characters were developed and the story got going.
Comparing Boruto to his father was inevitable. Not only is Naruto a recognizable name, but a beloved character who many fans grew up with. One thing that most fans do agree on, though, is that Boruto has a number of advantages over his father that have propelled him forward and made him stand out on his own.
For starters, Boruto actually has parents
Masashi Kishimoto, the creator of "Naruto," weighed in on the differences between father and son in a Shonen Jump Interview. "Naruto moves without thinking, and he's kind of unrefined. He's like a classic rascal," Kishimoto elaborated. "As for Boruto, well, I wouldn't say he's lazy–he's more refined than that. It's more that he knows all the shortcuts. He's crafty. He's more mature in knowing how the world works. And Boruto is the more sarcastic of the two. Naruto is more straightforward–he yells what he's feeling."
In a Reddit thread discussing the biggest differences between Boruto and his father, the first comment was the most obvious and may have spelled out the reason for Kishimoto's comparisons. U/Longjumping-Bag4265 simply said, "He's got parents."
Although this seemed like a joke answer, it makes sense as to why Boruto's personality developed differently from his father's. Naruto was an orphan who was mistreated by his village and never taken seriously. The negative impact that has on a child is unparalleled. Many commenters agreed with this blunt answer.
U/jimmrad000 elaborated on this idea. "A lot of their differences are caused by Boruto having Naruto and Hinata there," they wrote. "Mainly Boruto feeling neglected cuz of his dad being there, but not really being there."
While Boruto had issues with his father, his parents were there for him. With Naruto and Hinata around, Boruto had advantages that his father never had, which made all the difference.
One user listed their differences beautifully
U/Ensaru4 took the liberty of spelling out Naruto and Boruto's comparisons into their own hands. They listed, "Naruto was an orphan and a clown. Naruto was hated by the village. Naruto had to scrape by to survive. Naruto was bad at jutsu and had to work his ass off. Naruto was also a coward at first. Naruto was always under the threat of giving in to hatred." Just as illustrated, Naruto had many disadvantages early on in his life. The fact that he managed to achieve what he always wanted to do through his determination is nothing short of a miracle.
On the other hand, u/Ensaru4 pointed out, "Boruto has parents. Boruto is not hated by the village. Boruto is the son of the Hokage and lives under that pressure. He also has friends. Boruto is naturally gifted at jutsu and doesn't have to work as hard. He also doesn't need to learn jutsu. Boruto is not a coward and he's altruistic to a fault. Boruto is under the threat of a parasitic alien that's threatening to ruin his bonds and life with people. Boruto is not as strong-willed as Naruto. He had to learn that."
With all of this taken into consideration, it paints a clear picture that Naruto started out with many disadvantages. He wasn't gifted or strong, and he had no support group. What Naruto did have was the determination to change his life. He had the gall to go after what he wanted.
Boruto is more or less the exact opposite of his father. He has a support system, natural talent, and doesn't understand the drive his father possesses. Boruto does live in his father's shadow, though, so he has a different sort of pressure to deal with.
Boruto's upbringing changed a lot for him
In addition to the obvious comparisons, Boruto's situation allowed him to develop and excel differently than Naruto. U/Spritti33 mentioned Boruto's intelligence as a differentiating factor. "He seems to be a lot smarter than his dad...like...some kind of 'natural genius,'" they wrote. The user also pointed out that Naruto really struggled with book smarts and exams, while Boruto never struggled with such things. That's likely in part due to having an environment where he was encouraged to do his best and had all the resources he needed at his disposal.
U/DrewdieDabs1 has a similar outlook. "He's not very clumsy like his dad was, and he seems to be way more advanced, smarter, tactical, and just all around more impressive than Naruto was at that age," they said. "Boruto shows very promising skills pretty early on in the show. Another thing, he's not interested in becoming Hokage. He doesn't rely on a tailed beast, he has his own special thing, the Jougan, and Karma. His Rasengan is his own style and completely different."
Perhaps most importantly, Boruto doesn't want to be like his father. He doesn't want to be stuck in Naruto's shadow forever, so he tries to distance himself. Manga artist Mikio Ikemoto, who has been working on "Naruto" since the beginning, even confirmed this in an interview with Anime News Network. "He looks like Naruto did when he was young, but because he's determined to get out of his father's shadow, he dresses differently, and so on," he said. He also insisted that while Boruto attempts to pull away from his father, he has very little of his mother in him, as that's fallen more to his sister. So while he differs from his father in many ways, some of that is forced by Boruto.