"Y'all defending a brat" - Boruto fandom at war over infamous Naruto scene

Modified Sep 12, 2024 10:30 GMT

Boruto fans still discuss the infamous Naruto scene (Image via Shueisha and Studio Pierrot).

Boruto is a series that has been divisive to a lot of people, and one major issue has been the characterization of Naruto, especially when it comes to his role as a father throughout the sequel. In that regard, there was a recent debate on X regarding a rather infamous scene when the series was starting out, focusing on Himawari's birthday.

In this scene, it is revealed that Naruto had sent a Shadow Clone of his to attend his daughter's birthday, much to Boruto's annoyance. While it is true that the vast majority called the new protagonist "a brat" because of his reaction, especially because it was against the main character everyone loves, nowadays more people agree that he was in the right and that Naruto's characterization here wasn't the best.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for the series.

Boruto fans still debate the infamous Naruto moment during Himawari's birthday

Expand Tweet

There was a recent discussion on X about the infamous Himawari birthday scene in the sequel, where it is revealed that Naruto was actually a Shadow Clone of his, disappearing with the cake falling on the floor, and the real one was still working at his office as Hokage.

It was a heartbreaking moment for both the protagonist of the new series, Himawari, and even the entirety of the fandom, with a lot of people now saying that the Seventh Hokage was in the wrong.

Fans have claimed that this moment was a major mistake when it came to Naruto's characterization because he was someone who longed for a family his entire life and is now not taking care of his loved ones.

Furthermore, when considering the high levels of chakra at his disposal, he could have a few Shadow Clones working at his office while the real body is at home with his family.

There are a lot of fans who claim that this moment could even be considered character assassination for Naruto, which makes some sense when taking into account the protagonist author Masashi Kishimoto had crafted.

All in all, it was a scene that did more harm than good for the Seventh Hokage and one that soured people's perception of the sequel.

Reactions online

Expand Tweet

Some fans still claim that Boruto was in the wrong by wanting to spend more time with his father, although it is worth pointing out that it is perfectly normal for someone who is still a kid.

Furthermore, a lot of people tend to forget that Naruto had promised his family that he was going to attend Himawari's birthday, making the Shadow Clone incident even more hurtful to his son.

This scene had such a degree of ramifications that fans dropped the series a little bit after this and even downright claimed that this sequel shouldn't have existed to begin with. It is difficult to disregard that this moment missed the characterization of Naruto as a person.

"Naruto is my favorite character in all of anime but that being said I have to agree. I’ll never understand why he didn’t at least have his shadow clone working in his office and the real him go to the house. I really don’t like how they wrote Naruto in Boruto in terms of a father," someone said.

"literally character assassination they made my goat into a literal dead beat father," another person said.

"This is like the worst post ending moment for naruto's character," someone else said.

All in all, it was a decision that Masashi Kishimoto and the rest of the Boruto creative team have tried to solve. However, this moment has hurt the sequel to this very day.

Related articles

Edited by Prem Deshpande