Theory by Drifting on 23/08/2023
The blue and red pill is a concept that originated from the matrix films. Basically the idea is that the blue pill represents being ignorant for the sake of staying comfortable, accepting lies, to stay blind. The red pill represents opening your eyes, seeing certain truths, and seeking answers even if it means being defiant.
My explanations were for the sake of simplicity, but it goes much deeper. For the sake of this post, I’m going to explain my thoughts in relation to how Kishimoto possibly took inspiration from the films and these pills for Boruto and Kawaki’s journeys.
Blue Pilled: Boruto and anyone who grew up and was groomed into the ninja system are all blue pilled. Basically the system has been around for many generations, and the way of the ninja has been around for ages. Even WE as the viewers are used to the ninja way. It’s not necessarily bad, but blue pilled people in the Naruverse will stay true to the traditions they grew up with because it works for them, it’s comfortable, and they know nothing else. Even implementing tech, while it seems they are straying from the tradition, they literally have tech to enhance ninjutsu before having things like security cameras invented lol. Which is the reason why Kara members slipped past their defenses so many times. Even though the system has evolved and certain beliefs have changed due to times of peace and the previous war, the tradition and values are still embedded into the ninja world. The whole “abandoning your comrades makes you worse than scum” philosophy is a great example. Ninja would leave their brethren behind for the sake of the mission, but now atleast at the leaf village, the entire reason why it’s so hard to take care of Boruto’s situation is because of this philosophy everyone follows due to Kakashi and then Naruto’s influence. But due to the ninja way, the only solution anyone could think of is sacrificing themselves as a last resort if Boruto already falls under influence of Momoshiki’s will. They wait till he becomes an enemy to the village, nation, world and THEN sacrifices themselves for those they care about. The Will of Fire. Again it’s not necessarily bad, it’s just the reality.
Red Pilled: The individuals who are red pilled are the ones who are directly and indirectly defiant to the ninja system and ninja way. The best examples are actually the Uchiha, but more importantly Obito, Sasuke, and Madara. It might not be too much of a coincidence that their eyes are red. The system failed them, and as a result they opened their eyes to the flaws and tried to end it or change it all together. We know their stories, so there’s no need to explain too far, I mainly wanted to dive deep into the Boruto era. The Kara members are all obviously redpilled either directly or indirectly being actively defiant to the ninja way and system. Whether it’s using tech to absorb ninjutsu, bypassing the sensory system, forsaking their bodies and ninja training for the sake of power, or even just downright disrespecting old traditions and branching to new methods. All kara members have done these things one way or another. Their philosophies aren’t exactly as complex as the uchiha in the past, but they all directly derive their way of living from the creator Jigen/Isshiki. Part of the otsutsuki philosophy is simply to evolve and to evolve is the opposite of tradition. For the kara members, it’s mainly their actions that reflect their standing, but they do fall under the category. In fact, Kara’s entire existence threatens the shinobi system. Kodachi in his author notes explained that the rise of tech and the explosiveness of progression was due to Kara’s influence. They would have agents inserted in all the lands, take the latest tech, evolve it and then resell it, or leak the information so that other villages could expand on these technologies. In fact that’s exactly what happened with Katatsuke in the chunin exams blatantly. If progression explodes too fast there wouldn’t be a need for ninja, which was also another debate that’s been stressed in Boruto.
Boruto and Kawaki’s relevance Boruto is blue pilled and Kawaki is red pilled. Boruto believes strongly in the ninja way and is still being taught the ninja way by Sasuke progressively. This leads him to follow the same traditions as his ancestors, even though he cheated in the chunin exams, it wasn’t because of a new state of awareness, it was because he wanted to impress his father. He uses tech and accepts tech, but not in defiance, but to improve what is already established. The biggest problem with Boruto being blue pilled is accepting certain truths. When asked how they would deal with Code, his answer was simply to train. Kawaki being red pilled defied this, explaining that no amount of training the traditional way would have enough impact to give decent results. And this is what I was sorta building up to with this post. Kawaki has been showing properties of being red pilled this entire time. He actively tells us hard truths and realities, trying to open our eyes but no one listens.
Even though it sucks, he is right, if no one deals with Boruto, the world will end. Training traditionally won’t work against gods, unless of course you have an otsutsuki body or decent tech mods, Naruto throwing his life away won’t solve anything especially in his weekend state. This causes Kawaki to have to take extreme measures. This is a good way to go into why being redpilled has issues too. You can get so deep in your own rabbit hole that you start losing yourself. Instead of just simply having awareness and finding multiple solutions, you dive into the deep end and start feeling your way is the only way. The past uchiha had these problems which led to them having to be stopped. Because diving so far into your own rabbit hole you start to lose yourself, become blinded by your own agenda, closing your mind to more possible solutions, basically you’re adopting similar habits that you’d have as a blue pill person. This is why it’s not really black and white, it’s more so a debate. And Boruto will have this debate with Kawaki.
Kawaki is the “secret chosen one” or the dark child of prophecy. The importance of Kawaki being redpilled stems from the Matrix movies. The main character who is the “chosen one” chooses the red pill. Kawaki is in the process of breaking things, breaking the system, breaking traditions, breaking everything. I always thought that Boruto teaching Kawaki what it really means to be a ninja would help and Boruto would win the debate. But in actuality, Kawaki might win this debate. Well the truth is I think they’ll reach a somewhat middle ground, but Kawaki will be the definitive winner. Boruto will end up coming to accept that what Kawaki has been saying all along, all the flaws he’s been finding in shinobi isn’t entirely wrong, in fact the meaning of shinobi should change, therefore changing the system. I doubt Kawaki will end this thinking he needs to become a shinobi, that’s not what’s gonna happen. If anything, he and Boruto will decide that things truly does need to change. The child of prophecy who brings great destruction to this world is Kawaki, because he will bring great destruction to the ninja world as we know it. Rebirthing something new all together. Now with that being said, is Boruto going to convert to a red pill? I think so. It’s something Naruto and any past Hokage couldn’t do BECAUSE they were hokage. Turns out Boruto doing his own thing is what might save the world and bring about something closer to actual true peace.(edited)
What are some of the flaws I keep bringing up?
Well going off what Kawaki has been against, maybe we can find some changes he might strive to make.
Kawaki said “ninja die early” so this could be referring to the whole soldier mentality. It’s interesting because Hashirama and madara created the village for the very purpose of avoiding this. I think a way things would possibly change, would be letting anyone become a protector. As in, even civilians with no ninja training whatsoever should be able to also decide to fight for themselves. Fight for their own families rather than it solely being the job of ninja. This might be what the story is building up to. We can still have ninja, but everyone has the option to join the fight. The story has already been building up the inclusion of civilians helping out in areas ninja can’t completely specialize in. For example scientists like Amado and katatsuke. This can expand to the Hokage as well, the hokage might have to be a position open to anyone who is qualified in good decision making rather than the strongest ninja. I think Kawaki wants the world to be able to protect themselves without completely relying on the powers of ninja and he might demonstrate this by straight up destroying things. Kawaki himself was a civilian with no ninja training whats so ever, to him it was survival of the fittest in kara, no ninja this or ninja that, so seeing the whole ninja ideology and civilians expecting ninja to die for THEM might be what pisses him off and why he sealed naruto away. He expects everyone to be able to defend themselves most likely. Makes sense cause kara abducted actual children and those children had to fend for themselves one way or another, so why can’t civilians do the same? So in conclusion. I believe Kawaki will win and finally break the shinobi system we all feel so acquainted with.
What do you think?
