With the start of the Boruto: Two Blue Vortex manga, the series has switched its focus from the Otsutsuki and the cyborgs to Shinju. While Shinju essentially means God Trees, the sentient ones in the series are quite different from them. So, who are the Shinju in Boruto?
Shinju are sentient God Trees formed after the Claw Grimes bit non-Otsutsuki. In doing so, the evolved God Trees not only derived the powers of the Ten-Tails but also the appearances and chakra signatures of those that were absorbed by their respective Claw Grimes.
Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers from the Boruto: Two Blue Vortex manga.
The Shinju group and its members, explained
The Boruto: Two Blue Vortex manga has revealed four members from the Shinju group till now. They are namely, Jura, Hidari, Matsuri, and Mamushi. While Jura is the group's leader, the manga has yet to reveal who he is based on, i.e., whom the Claw Grime bit to create him.
As for the other members, Hidari is based on Sasuke Uchiha, Matsuri is based on Moegi Kazamatsuri, and Mamushi is based on Bug. Besides the four Shinju members, the manga has also suggested the addition of a new God Tree. However, fans will have to wait until the character is revealed in future chapters.
The Shinju's collective goal in Boruto
The Shinju in Boruto collectively wish to devour Boruto. This is because as a God Tree, it was in their instinctual drive to want to absorb an Otsutsuki to reach their final form.
However, after Code mistakenly gave them self-awareness through his chakra, the Shinju were instinctually overflowing with curiosity and thirst for knowledge. Therefore, they wanted to devour their individual targets to learn more about themselves and their identities.
The Shinju's individual goals
As seen in the manga series, the Shinju were quite clueless about what they were supposed to do with their overflowing curiosity for their own identity. That's when the group's leader suggested to his members that they focus on devouring their targets.
Jura himself wasn't sure why but he instinctually desired to devour Naruto Uzumaki. While it was odd as a God Tree to devour someone who wasn't an Otsutsuki, given their different evolution, Jura believed that following their instinctual drive would have some benefit to their evolution.
With that established, Jura asked each of the Shinju members to bend their ears toward their inner voice and identify their personal targets. After adhering to Jura's advice, Matsuri decided that her personal target was Konohamaru Sarutobi. After being able to feel his deep sadness and rage, Matsuri believed that she was instinctually drawn towards him.
As for Mamushi, for some reason, he was able to envision Eida who was looking at them through her Senrigan. Upon realizing what was happening, the Shinju decided to make Eida her target. Lastly, Hidari decided that his personal target was Sarada Uchiha.
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