Ascension in Boruto

Theory by Drifting on 04-17-2025

Shibai Otsutsuki’s ascension and Jura’s philosophical outlook inspired this theory. Just wanna say I am no expert on Buddhism so correct me if I’m wrong here.

Let’s start with Shibai. As we know, Shibai ascended into goodhood by consuming who knows how many chakra fruits in the universe. As of right now, he is the most extreme example of a character’s thirst for power we know of in Boruto. Other examples being other Otsutsuki, Kara members with their technology, and lastly the most minor is Boruto’s stunt at the Chunin exams. What’s been bothering me is the fact that Shibai is allowed to ascend in this way. In Buddhism as far as I know, you aren’t not allowed to be freed from suffering and the cycle of reincarnation by acting on your greed. Shibai went so far as to genocide probably trillions in order to do so and he is allowed to leave his body, his suffering and his reincarnations(Through karma). How is he able to attain this by force? Or rather WHY does the story allow this? There’s something missing here.

It could be that Shibai is a twist, he is actually Kishimoto’s way of having a character ascend in the wrong way, basically like an Anti Buddha kinda of character. Characters have been constantly punished for going down this path and Shibai should be no different, so I believe this is probably kishimoto’s approach for his character which I don’t mind. Madara was actually going down a similar path as well with his quest for power and how he was “approaching Hagoromo’s power” but in his own twisted way. My point is Shibai’s path should be wrong and the story has told us it is wrong so we should get the consequences he suffered later down the line. Atleast I hope.

Now Jura. This is a character that has been openly confronting love as a disease that affects evolution negatively. Of course he’s generalizing love to the extreme, but my point is he isn’t entirely wrong at the same time. Disease isn’t the right word, but if you replace it with “suffering” well that starts to relate and connect back to Buddhism and breaking free from suffering and the cycle of reincarnation. Every character directly relates to what Jura is talking about because the theme of Boruto is love and attachments and how these affect character decisions in the story right or wrong. Some characters lean into the unhealthy part of love and that is obsession. You can argue love tying into Naruto Shippuden with hatred being the main theme as well, but Boruto seems to have a focus on how obsessive or toxic someone can become to the point they are suffering. Not every character is leaning on the toxic side of love though with Sarada actually suppressing her feelings and on a journey to realizing them.

Examples of the ones leaning towards obsession or negative behavior are Amado, Eida, Mitsuki, Code, and possibly Sumire. Kawaki however is the biggest example of this as the deuteragonist. The funny part about Kawaki is the number on his face. It’s a 9 which you can say he was probably the 9th person Amado modified, you can also relate it to the 9 tails too which is a reference to Naruto and Kawaki’s parallel with Naruto. But the 9 actually has an additional meaning also relating to Buddhism. Ima put it as simply as I possibly can. There is a concept called “The 12 links of dependent origination” . Think of it as 12 steps that are looped and are repeated over and over again. These steps can either lead to reincarnation or a guideline to break the reincarnation cycle and achieve nirvana or enlightenment. My main point with bringing this up is the 9th step is meant to be long avoided and it’s attachment that leads to craving and obsession. This defines Kawaki’s entire character and I believe this was 100% done on purpose. Feel free to look it up yourself. But you can see why I feel Shibai ascending in the way that he did was probably a twist on Kishimoto’s part.

So where am I going with all this? If Shibai is the ultimate example of giving into his cravings and thirst for power ascending by force, there has to be another way that directly contrasts Shibai but also allows someone to achieve enlightenment in a more natural way. Jura wasn’t entirely wrong because he wants to overcome love and also resist his cravings constantly. Jura is actually on a healthy path in many ways. However, just like Shibai, there’s a twist. He misunderstands love, he sees it as a whole as a flaw towards intelligence and evolution. He and Matsuri has not been taught the healthy side of love, the part of love that can strengthen and empower you. The love Naruto represented. Which is why he wants to devour Naruto poetically. Jura is trying to also force this evolution by straight up eliminating love by force. Eliminating the problem, like a machine would. If Jura does evolve it will be yet another twist done by Kishimoto.

The missing element is to overcome the suffering that love brings. Jura sees overcoming as devouring the one he loves, but to truly overcome yourself, you have to be able to understand your feelings as a whole, positive and negative and come to accept them. To truly drop the weight from your body and your conscience is to accept the outcome, accept the good and the bad and overcome the feelings directly instead of giving in or avoiding them all together. And this is finally where we are leading to what I’ve built up to. The Jougan.

The Jougan translates to “The Pure Eye.” This can be interpreted in so many ways. But what if “The Pure Eye” is referencing cleansing your body of suffering and achieving enlightenment? Kind of like what Shibai did but instead by force it awakens more organically. I suspect Boruto will go through suffering and that suffering will be caused by love for sure. But it’s how he overcomes that suffering is when he will finally unlock the Jougan. Boruto must not give in to his cravings like Shibai which Momoshiki represents, but he also can’t avoid it like Jura and even Kawaki. Now I’m not saying Boruto will be completely enlightened, life is a process after all, but his mindset would be changed, he would be a different man possibly and ready to confront Kawaki and HIS suffering.

Now this logic applies to everyone who is suffering. Those who can overcome their suffering I believe is what their story is leading towards. Mitsuki is actually on the path to this right now because of Boruto’s words towards him, to find his own sun. You could say Boruto is purifying Mitsuki in a way. However if you believe Shibai actually had Jougan then well this theory falls apart. If you believe when Urashiki had knowledge on the Jougan means other Otsutsuki achieved it by force I guess it still can kinda fall apart. But We’ll just have to see how this turns out. Here’s my most up to date Jougan theory.