Exploring the Mysteries of Boruto’s Vanishing Rasengan

The Vanishing Rasengan is one of Boruto’s most underrated jutsu. The ability to go completely undetected gives it a unique advantage, which comes in handy against enemies who would have otherwise been able to negate it. This is due to a change in chakra nature that occurred when Boruto combined it with his lightning nature element, as explained in the anime. But is that the case? You see, there is another element to this ability that hasn’t been revealed yet, and it has something to do with Boruto’s strongly inheriting the powers of the Otsutsuki. Now, this might seem like a stretch, and you can tell me if it is, but at least hear me out first to understand what I’m about to say entirely.

Let’s start with the fact that it was never stated that Boruto’s Vanishing Rasengan resulted from Boruto infusing it with lightning-nature chakra, at least not in the movie or manga. Instead, the exact verbiage is that the Rasengan adds a sudden change in chakra nature or that Boruto unconsciously transformed its nature, creating a new jutsu. The lightning addition came from the anime adaptation, which isn’t a problem for what I’m about to say since both can be true simultaneously. Along with the fact that the concept I’m about to mention wasn’t introduced yet, which is the Otsutsuki’s ability to erase their chakra signature.

Aside from becoming invisible, there’s so much more to this ability; it’s almost as if it blinks out of existence itself. This was shown when Boruto used the ability to attack Momoshiki in Chapter 10 of “Boruto: Two Blue Vortex.” Momoshiki initially sensed the ability and turned around to absorb it. Still, once it became invisible, he just disengaged, assuming the ability fizzled out, which led to him getting slapped by the ability when it reappeared. No one would argue that this is perfectly logical since he couldn’t see it, but when you consider that he has a heightened sensory ability, he should have been able to sense the attack coming, even if he couldn’t see it. Characters have done this multiple times in “Naruto,” even Momoshiki himself. This is shown in Chapter 5 of “Boruto Manga” when Momoshiki first attacked the chunin exams. Naruto tried to attack him from behind, but Momoshiki could dodge him without his Byakugans being active. That’s because, just like Naruto, who can fight while having his eyes closed, as seen in the battle versus Pain, Momoshiki also possesses heightened sensory abilities, thus being able to dodge attacks without seeing them. Now, even putting heightened sensory skills aside, he also possesses multiple Rinnegan looking in that direction along with his own Byakugans, even though they weren’t active. So, at least taking Rinnegan into account, he should have still been able to see the chakra form of the attack, even if the attack itself wasn’t visible on the light spectrum. This would be similar to how Pain could see not a charging chakra in her feet back in “Shippuden.” That’s because Rinnegan can see the chakra, even when it is not visible to the naked eye, similar to the Byakugan.

Yet, Momoshiki couldn’t see Boruto’s Vanishing Rasengan for some reason. Even Sasuke himself couldn’t see the jutsu with his Rinnegan once it disappeared. He already confirmed this by saying that he thought it was a failure at first, but it wasn’t. He only noticed it after seeing the damage it caused to the tree on the other side. Mind you, this is the same Rinnegan who could see Madara’s limbo clones on another plane of existence. So, Rasengan simply becoming invisible while existing in the same dimension should be a piece of cake in comparison, but it wasn’t. Then, he also has the fact that he couldn’t see or sense it when Momoshiki used it against him in Chapter 54 of “Boruto: Naruto Next Generations,” even though he had his Sharingan active. This is the same Sharingan that can perceive the flow of one’s chakra, which, similar to jutsu like Vanishing Rasengan, is invisible to the naked eye. To me, this implies that this Rasengan isn’t just becoming invisible; the chakra nature of the technique is also being erased. That is the only way to explain why the Dojutsu, known for seeing invisible chakra, can’t see it. That’s the only way to explain why they can’t sense it, even though they should still be able to, even if it’s invisible.

Now, one would argue, or some would argue, that this can’t be the case based on the timeline of when the ability was introduced, but that’s not necessarily true. The ability itself was introduced in Chapter 61 when Inojin mentioned that the only way for someone to enter the village undetected would be by erasing their chakra signature. This is due to the sensor net surrounding the town, which detects enemies when they enter and people when they leave. Now, Kawaki heard about this, of course, and somehow found out that he also possessed the ability to do so and used it to escape the village undetected. What’s important to note here is that Eida (Ada), who saw this happen with her Rasengan, informs Code of this and later states that it’s a trick that naturally comes to all Otsutsuki, but Kawaki shouldn’t be aware of it yet. How he became aware of it is entirely irrelevant since it could just be that he tried doing it, and it just worked for some reason, or Jigen possesses a similar ability. Either way, the important bit is that this ability comes naturally to all Otsutsuki, including Boruto.

Now, not referring to Boruto becoming 100% Otsutsuki due to Momoshiki’s Karma, Boruto Uzumaki had this ability before becoming his vessel. I’m referring to the fact that he’s a direct descendant of a pure Otsutsuki, that being Kaguya. This takes us back to Chapter 10 of “Boruto: Two Blue Vortex,” where Momoshiki states that Boruto carries the Byakugan blood, or in the anime, where he states that he strongly inherited the powers of the Otsutsuki. This is important to note since the context of these two scenes is different. In the manga, Momoshiki questions why Boruto can sense him, which he deduces is due to the Byakugan blood flowing within his body. This makes sense since all Otsutsuki have the innate power to use a Byakugan despite the other dojutsu that may stem from them, as this means that the Byakugan is, in a sense, the root dojutsu of one carrying the Otsutsuki gene. Momoshiki can sense this within Boruto’s body since he inherited that gene from his mother, Hinata, who’s a member of the Hyuga Clan, thus being a descendant of Hamura Otsutsuki. Although Boruto doesn’t possess the Byakugan, he still possesses the gene that allows him to sense or see Momoshiki while in this form.

So, even before getting the power to erase one’s chakra signature, we can see that Boruto is already being amplified by his latent Otsutsuki gene. The anime interpretation went a different route in some sense, but it’s more or less the same thing. You see, in this case, Momoshiki says Boruto strongly inherited the powers of the Otsutsuki in response to Boruto using his Jougan! which we know stems from the Otsutsuki since Urashiki identified it when he first saw it in the Sand Village. This means that it isn’t some new eye Boruto created; it’s an already existing dojutsu that Otsutsuki are familiar with, and if Momoshiki says Boruto strongly inherited the powers of the Otsutsuki in response to seeing it, that means that it stems from the Otsutsuki themselves. Now, I know some of you will say that it doesn’t make sense since Naruto and Hinata didn’t possess this ability even though they also descended from Kaguya. Still, the critical difference here is that they only possessed one-half of the genetic strand. This was hinted at in Chapter 10 when Kurama mentioned that Himawari having those two bloodlines is likely why she has a higher affinity to his chakra, which is also likely why he resurrected inside her body. This makes perfect sense since Kaguya merged with the Ten-Tails, which was then used to create Karma and the other twelve beasts. So Himawari awakening Kaguya’s chakra by combining the bloodline of her two sons would explain why she resonates with Kurama’s chakra since his chakra is partly Kaguya’s. The same would apply to Boruto in that he also awakened Kaguya’s chakra and was also in more power from the Otsutsuki gene.

Now, I’m not going to go in-depth on this. Still, I needed to bring it up again because, similar to how it explains Boruto’s latent potential and his having the Jougan, it also explains how he was able to use the ability to erase chakra signatures. By the way, It also confirmed in “Two Blue Vortex” that Boruto has now learned how to actively use the ability, which means that it is likely something all Otsutsuki possess, as stated by Eida. Now, of course, the application, in this case, is a bit different since Boruto isn’t using it to erase his overall chakra nature but more so applying the technique to one of his jutsu unconsciously, as stated by Sasuke, which technically means that it could be used to other methods as well, not just his Rasengan.

But that said, there is one issue, which is Delta. Despite overpowered Dojutsu like the Rinnegan and the Sharingan not being able to see it, Delta was, for some reason. This is shown in Chapter 32 when Boruto hurls his Vanishing Rasengan toward Delta. She initially saw the technique become invisible as it approached her. Still, unlike Momoshiki and Sasuke, Delta could know the method as clearly as day using the eye of her drone. This, at first, seemed crazy since it implies that, at least when it comes to perceptive ability, Delta’s eye, which seems to work in tandem with her drone, was a cut above the rest, even the Rinnegan. Fast forward a few years later, we find out that just like Ada (Eida) and Daemon, Delta was implanted with the cells of Shibai Otsutsuki, as stated by Kashin Koji in Chapter 13 of “Boruto.” And though she didn’t awaken one of his ninjutsu-based abilities, the cells did amplify her existing abilities and strength, so it could technically explain why her Dojutsu could see the technique while others could not. This also confirms that the Jutsu is still within the same space or plane of existence when it becomes invisible, so it’s not going between dimensions or switching places, similar to limbo; it’s just invisible, so that further backs up my point that they should still be able to sense it.

By the way, some people will argue that Momoshiki is just arrogant, and that’s why he didn’t check for his ability when it disappeared. Still, the issue with this is that Momoshiki did sense the ability initially and turned around, which shows that, while Momoshiki is arrogant, he isn’t pretentious enough to allow an ability to hit him, regardless of who’s wielding it. So, similar to how he was being cocky when threatening the Hokage but still sensed and reacted to Boruto’s ability, he should have still sensed it coming. Then you have Sasuke, who cannot feel the attack coming despite being fully on guard, versus Momoshiki, which means that arrogance has nothing to do with it.

Now, everything I just said could be off the mark. Maybe the ability magically becomes invisible and undetectable because of lightning release for some reason. However, given the evidence I provided in this article, erasing chakras’ nature is also possible. Will that be the case? Maybe not, but it’s a possibility. But, that said, that’s it for the blog. As we delve deeper into Boruto’s unique jutsu, like the Vanishing Rasengan, Chapter 14 of Boruto: Two Blue Vortex sheds more light on his abilities and the growing Otsutsuki influence on his power. Be sure to explore the latest chapter to uncover the thrilling developments. If you want to dive into the full series or catch up on previous chapters, head to our Boruto Two Blue Vortex home page for all the updates and reviews.