Boruto’s Mysterious Tailed Beast and the Potential of Ice Release Shinjutsu

The Origins of Boruto’s Ice Release Shinjutsu Ability

Ever since this tailed beast first appeared in Boruto’s fourth opening, it has remained one of the biggest mysteries in the entire franchise. Not only does it indicate that a new-tailed beast will be created, but also that Boruto himself is somehow involved. This might seem like a stretch at first, but it does make sense. The mechanic by which Boruto could create such an entity actually stems from Momoshiki Ōtsutsuki.

This all goes back to Chapter 8, where Momoshiki displayed the ability to create various animals using his nature-based elements. The first example was multiple dogs purely made from wood release, followed by a giant bird made from fire release, and then a monkey formed with a combination of fire and earth release. The natural element of these animals is very significant in this case because the beast shown in Opening Four is made from multiple components, including earth and ice release.

This means that if Boruto goes on to create this entity, he must also possess the ability to use both of these natural elements, which, luckily for him, he might be able to do. This again goes back to Momoshiki’s ability to use multiple nature transformations, even the more obscure ones, such as ice release. This was shown in the novels when he was able to form an absolute-zero blizzard in his fight against Naruto and Sasuke, which wasn’t included in the movie or anime for some reason. Nonetheless, it is an ability he possesses, which means Boruto will likely have it at some point in the series.

Of course, this stems from the fact that Boruto possesses Momoshiki’s Karma seal, which has now transformed his genetic data into that of Momoshiki. Boruto is 82% Momoshiki and 18% Boruto Ōtsutsuki, as Chapter 67 of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations explains. This means that, just as Kawaki later manifests Isshiki’s abilities to the point where he doesn’t even need to activate the Karma seal to access them, the same would also apply to Boruto.

As I explained in my article about Momoshiki’s return, even though he can manifest the Borushiki state, thus outputting more power than Boruto could, the body itself wasn’t entirely Ōtsutsuki. This means he still couldn’t access his Ōtsutsuki abilities, so whenever Momoshiki appears on screen, he’s always using Boruto’s abilities instead of his own. However, Momoshiki possesses Boruto’s body post-Boruto, becoming a complete Ōtsutsuki, as seen in Chapter 79. The issue is that Boruto suppressed him after he freed Kawaki, so he didn’t get a chance to prove whether he could use his powers.

While Boruto likely didn’t use any of Momoshiki’s abilities in his fight against Kawaki because he was reluctant to use Momoshiki’s powers (as opposed to Kawaki, who fully embraced Isshiki), all this might change in Two Blue Vortex, since it does seem as if Boruto is having issues controlling his Karma seal. This is likely why he doesn’t use it, so Momoshiki might have a stronger hold over Boruto’s body at this point, especially since their thoughts began to merge before the time skip.

Now, I’m not going to go over that again. I want to focus on Boruto Uzumaki, his elemental beast, and other applications of ice release. By the way, some of you requested this article. You wanted to know how Boruto would apply this ability if he does receive it because I mentioned it in my prior articles. Of course, I also wanted to cover this because I’ve always thought that variety is a good thing. Characters should have different movesets and shouldn’t share abilities to the extent we’ve seen so far.

A prime example of this would be Boruto, Sarada, and Mitsuki, all using a variant of Chidori, whether purple, white, yellow, or blue. There’s nothing wrong with it per se, but for me (which is redundant), I’d rather that not be the case. This is why I’m a fan of Boruto gaining the ability to use ice release. It would set him apart from everyone else since there aren’t many ice users running around in the Naruto universe. That’s why I’m a fan of Boruto gaining this specific ability.

With that said, one of the most broken applications of ice release we’ve seen so far would be Haku’s crystal ice mirrors. This ability debuted in Chapter 24 of Naruto’s original manga, and at that point, there weren’t many Kekkei Genkai in the Naruto universe, especially when it came to nature transformation. The gist of this ability is that Haku can form several large mirrors out of ice that surround the intended target. By entering one of these mirrors, Haku’s reflection will appear in all of them.

The crazy part of this ability is that it allows Haku to travel between the mirrors at near-instantaneous speeds, somewhere between light speed and actual instantaneous movement. That is why it seems he’s in all the mirrors simultaneously—he’s moving between them at such an insane speed. This allows him to overwhelm his targets with attacks moving at similar speeds, making it impossible for them to dodge.

I know some have argued that this doesn’t make sense because if Haku was moving at light speed, how could kid Naruto react and grab him? Well, that’s because he isn’t always moving at light speed through his mirrors—he can do so. It’s also established that it takes a lot of chakra to perform the technique, so he can’t maintain it indefinitely. Naruto dodging or reacting to Haku later in the fight isn’t a contradiction to the light-speed statement.

This is important to note because this movement is a feature of the ability itself since Haku can’t approach anywhere near these speeds outside of this environment. This ability would be much more vital in the hands of someone like Boruto or Momoshiki. A Nine-Tails-amped kid, Naruto, isn’t breaking out of one of these mirrors just by flexing his chakra—that’s impossible. Neither would Boruto run low on chakra as quickly as Haku did.

That said, this jutsu could be helpful to Boruto, depending on who he’s fighting and how it’s used. To use combined nature transformation, a ninja must simultaneously create and release two chakra natures to incorporate them into a new one. While ninjas can learn to transform their chakra nature and even transform it into different natures consecutively, they can’t transform two simultaneously, regardless of talent or effort. Only those who possess the genetic ability of those with Kekkei Genkai have a chakra system capable of double nature transformation. This won’t be a problem for Boruto since he has Momoshiki.

Even so, because the ability itself would still be composed of chakra, someone who can absorb ninjutsu could negate it. A good counter to this is how one forms the ability itself. Since you can control natural elements using their chakra-based counterparts, as shown by Hashirama controlling and enhancing already existing plant life or Kakashi’s mud wall, Boruto could use the natural moisture in the air to form his ice release instead.

This was shown by a character named Kahyō in the Kakashi Hiden novels. She could also release ice, but only through the moisture in the air. It’s similar to how Sasuke used ice release by quickly cooling his water release with wind release, as seen in the novels. The main difference is that Kahyō doesn’t need to create her water—she can take it from the air itself, similar to how Katara from The Last Airbender could bend the moisture from the air and use it to form large droplets of water.

This, by nature, would make whatever Boruto creates using his ice release a natural element instead of being chakra-based. Similar to how Boruto couldn’t absorb Code’s claw marks since they consisted of physical material, which the Karma can’t absorb, the same would likely apply to this type of ice transformation. However, Kawaki would still be able to shrink it as long as he’s able to perceive it. So, once again, it all comes down to who Boruto is fighting and how he’s using the ability.

By the way, Kahyō from the novels is way more overpowered than I initially gave her credit for. Not only is she able to create ice release from the air itself, but she’s also able to freeze people to death instantly. It’s almost like she can cool the water in someone’s body to the point where it’s frozen. She can do this by touching them or remotely, as seen in the novels. She could also easily take out ninjas like Kakashi, who, by the way, is stated to be stronger than the version of himself that fought Obito and Madara. She did this by simply planting an ice particle on him, which she could remotely activate, thus preventing him from molding chakra.

It wasn’t explained how she could do this with an ice particle, but one would assume it created some blockage in his chakra network by entering his system, and it never goes away until she removes it. So, you can see how broken this ability is.

By the way, I almost forgot, but Haku could also freeze the water particles in the air to create a shield around himself and Zabuza in Part One. So, even if you argue that the novels aren’t canon to the manga, you can use this as an example.

This means Boruto could similarly use this ability, especially since he has a natural affinity for water and wind release, so he doesn’t necessarily need Momoshiki to use the ability this way. Sasuke said he taught Boruto everything he knew, including using ice release without having the Kekkei Genkai. Even so, it would be more interesting if Momoshiki were involved, as that would give us the ice monsters seen in Boruto’s Opening Four.

What would the explanation be for why the entity has that tail? It does look like multiple tails wrapped together, or it could just be one large tail—who knows? The first thing that comes to mind is a tailed beast because my brain is infected with Naruto’s lore. The portion of Kurama’s chakra could influence this, which Boruto should possess, similar to Himawari, which I covered in another article. It could simply be that this is a beast with a tail, just like other tailed beasts that aren’t technically tailed beasts—if you get what I mean. But the concept is excellent, so let me know your thoughts below.

You can read the article here if you want to explain why Boruto doesn’t have a multiverse. As we dive deeper into Boruto’s abilities, it’s clear that his connection to Momoshiki and the mysterious powers of Karma are pivotal in shaping the story of Boruto: Two Blue Vortex. In the latest chapter 14, we see glimpses of Boruto’s evolving powers, which may hint at the eventual mastery of Ice Release and its deeper ties to the Otsutsuki clan.