Boruto’s Strongest Shinju Revealed – Is the New Shinju in Boruto: Two Blue Vortex Kakashi?

Chapter 13 of Boruto: Two Blue Vortex introduced many exciting concepts and revealed several things, including the existence of new Shinju entities—and by entities, I mean more than one. You see, along with the Shinki Shinju that was shown in one of Koji’s visions, there is another Shinju that was seen, too, in the latter portions of the chapter. I believe that this Shinju is a clone of Kakashi. For this to make sense, you must first understand a few things.

For one, the panel that showed what we’re assuming to be the Shinki Shinju was a vision of a possible reality, meaning it doesn’t technically exist yet. It may never get created since the future isn’t definitive. Boruto could forge a path where Shinki never gets devoured, but that’s enough about that possible future. Even so, some have argued that the last panels of chapter 13 depicted his creation. This stems from Matsuri taking what appears to be another thorn soul bulb from the roots or vines that were used to create Hidari. She then placed it on the black cube, saying she wanted to see what would emerge. Now, we didn’t get to see the bulb itself turn into another Shinju, but based on Jura saying, “What to name you?”, it does imply that something was formed, which everyone assumes to be the Shinki Shinju.

Now, this is an apparent misdirection, or what you would call a red herring. The fact that the new Shinju wasn’t shown on the panel proves that it isn’t the Shinki Shinju. This makes perfect sense since Shinju was already shown on a panel in Koji’s visions, meaning there’s no reason to keep his character a mystery by not showing him in the latter portions of the chapter. From a writing perspective, it doesn’t make sense since you’d only do that in cases where you want to surprise the viewers with a later reveal. It wouldn’t work in this case since the Shinki Shinju was revealed in one of the future possibilities, so the Shinju created off-panel has to be someone else for the mystery to work. This is why it’s a red herring.

Now, with that said, why is the Shinju Kakashi? It all goes back to what Ikemoto noted in a past interview. The question was whether any Naruto characters have yet to appear in “Boruto” that he would love to design in their older form. He then replied that it would be a spoiler, but you have to wonder why he doesn’t Kakashi-sensei get more screen time, even though he’s such a popular character. “What a mystery. Not that I can say anything about it now.” This implies that Kakashi would be relevant to the plot later in the Boruto manga because that’s what Ikemoto controls.

Interestingly, this statement came out just a few months before Kishimoto returned to the manga, and Kodachi was no longer involved with the project. Though it was recently revealed that the person actively writing Boruto is Ikemoto himself, Kishimoto is his supervisor who reviews his work before it’s published. They run ideas by each other. Kishimoto initially gave Ikemoto the outline in 2016, but the story is far removed from the original draft, as stated by Kishimoto himself. So, the entire saga with Ada and Daemon, Code still being alive, Kashin Koji’s renewed significance to the plot, and possibly even the existence of the Shinju are indeed new additions to the story. Ikemoto’s plan of adding Kakashi to the mainline story could also play out, specifically as a new Shinju.

Some of you may have a problem with this since Kakashi hasn’t been present in the story for some time, so it would be weird to see him show up as a Shinju. While I understand where you are coming from, I think it can work—especially given that the other Shinju, such as Matsuri and the Shinki, stem from characters who barely have any presence in the manga whatsoever. Given the ties established between Kakashi and these characters in the anime adaptation, I think his being brought back into the story after being rescued using the thorn soul bulb does make sense. This should also explain why we didn’t see him in the future Koji with the Shinki Shinju.

That said, this isn’t the most exciting part of the theory. What I’m most curious about is his unique ability. As you can see in Chapter 5 of Boruto: Two Blue Vortex, it was revealed that the Shinju have an even deeper connection with the person they copied, in that these new entities seem to possess an innate goal or instinct to consume the person closest to that individual. Jura believes this is a side effect of them evolving differently, thus changing their instinctual drive, and that they should give in to it, which should, in time, reveal their targets.

This led to the female Shinju named Matsuri revealing that she had the urge to consume Konohamaru, a childhood friend of Moegi, the person she had copied. The Boruto Shinju also revealed that he desires to consume Eida, the person Bug had the most profound connection with due to the effects of her charm ability. Similarly, the Sasuke Shinju, known as Hidari, revealed that he desires to consume Sarada Uchiha, the daughter of the person he cloned. This connection goes a bit further since Shinju also possesses at least one ability from the person they copied. So, Matsuri has Earth Release, which stems from Moegi, and Hidari has Chidori, which stems from Sasuke. The Boruto Uzumaki Shinju doesn’t have any unique ability, which makes sense since Boruto himself didn’t have any, and Jura seems to have the ability to use Bijuu bombs, which also makes sense since he is the embodiment of the Ten-Tails itself (explained in another blog, which you can check out after this one).

That aside, the Kakashi Shinju must also possess a unique ability stemming from Kakashi, which, in all likelihood, would have to be Chidori, Earth Release, or Purple Lightning. This makes perfect sense since the Shinju seems to copy the ability the person used a lot at one point in time, which would have to be the Chidori, Purple Lightning, or Earth Release in this case. The issue with this is that Hidari already uses Chidori, which is pretty much a variant of Purple Lightning, and Matsuri is already using Earth Release. They’re going to repeat the same abilities on another villain.

This is where “anime science” comes in. The Kakashi Shinju may be able to use Obito’s Kamui. There’s a reason for that. This goes back to when Kakashi gained Obito’s Mangekyo Sharingan in the battle versus Kaguya. Initially, Obito died and was reduced to ashes after being impaled by Kaguya’s Ash Bones. We then see that he was transported to another dimension or plane of existence where he met his childhood friend, who died over 20 years ago. We all thought this was the end for Obito, but he said he had to help Kakashi one last time. He then used his Mangekyo ability, which allowed him to travel across dimensions to leave the plane of the dead and reenter the plane of the living in the form of pure chakra. This chakra entered Kakashi’s body, allowing Obito to manifest within his psyche. Obito then said he would give him one last gift, but it had a fixed time limit, so he should use it wisely. That is when we see Kakashi, a regular ninja a few moments before, brandishing both of Obito’s Mangekyo Sharingan.

When this initially happened, many people said it didn’t make sense, as if we didn’t just see Hagoromo come back from the dead and pass his chakra to Naruto and Sasuke, who later went on to awaken different abilities due to that chakra. This implies that one can awaken someone else’s ability through a connection to that person’s chakra, as shown again by Madara awakening Hagoromo’s Rinnegan by combining the chakras of Asura and Indra. Using that same logic, one could argue that if Kakashi still has traces of Obito’s chakra within his body, the Shinju might be able to manifest Kamui.

He doesn’t necessarily need to manifest the Mangekyo Sharingan, just the ability to use Kamui. This makes perfect sense since space-time jutsu doesn’t require Dojutsu, as seen with Code and Kinshiki. That was just the case for Obito. We even have examples of precognition being used by characters such as Kashin Koji without the assistance of a Dojutsu, meaning there aren’t any mechanical limitations within the universe itself. So, whether the Shinju has the Sharingan or not isn’t relevant—he needs the ability.

By the way, this was also foreshadowed in Boruto episode 106, where we see Kakashi going crazy, and the animators knocked Obito’s Mangekyo Sharingan design in Kakashi’s left eye. Now, this could be the animators just having some fun, but it could also be them hinting at what’s to come, which they’ve done on multiple occasions.

There is another way in which this could happen. We’ve already established that one could gain the ability to use a Sharingan and its abilities just by having that person’s Chakra, which doesn’t require a genetic component such as DNA. So, what if all those years of having Obito’s eye altered Kakashi’s chakra to some degree? This stems from what Minato did to Kurama and Naruto. He separated the Nine-Tails by splitting its chakra in half using the Reaper Death Seal, then sealed one half inside Naruto himself. Interestingly, Minato created the seal to have the chakra of the Nine-Tails slowly seep out over time, which then merged with Naruto’s chakra, thus making him stronger. Naruto didn’t gain any additional abilities from this process, but one could argue that his stamina and healing factor are beyond what they would have been without that chakra.

Using the logic of chakras combining over time, meaning that Naruto’s chakra is now part-Kurama, one could argue that Kakashi’s chakra is now also part-Obito. This makes sense since Dojutsu contains power and chakra, which streams into the body once the Dojutsu is activated. This was confirmed by Obito himself when he said the chakra from Madara’s Rinnegan was too much for him to handle, and Sasuke said that he could feel the power flowing into him after implanting Itachi’s eyes. Since Kakashi had Obito’s eye implanted in his body for over 20 years while being active the entire time, it makes sense if Obito’s Mangekyo fused with his over time as the Nine-Tails did with Naruto. That data, which represents Obito’s Sharingan and his abilities, should still exist within Kakashi’s body. That is why it would make sense if his Shinju possesses Kamui, or at least a version of the technique.

Now, this depends on how the Shinju copy abilities. It could also be that it doesn’t need Obito’s chakra or DNA. The abilities stem from the memory of the person being devoured instead. In this case, the Shinju would be able to gain the ability to use Kamui by simply tapping into Kakashi’s experience using the technique, which he still possesses despite losing the Sharingan. This would make sense since jutsus are technically a collection of memories and experiences aside from those tied directly to a genetic component. Even then, those abilities still require experience to awaken and actively use. So, the Shinju may be able to copy abilities from memories and experiences, thus copying Sasuke’s Chidori, which he learned.

It could also be both. In this case, Kakashi should possess a portion of Obito’s chakra that is now a part of his own, along with the memories of using Kamui. That should be enough. But of course, we’ll see.

Let me know your thoughts on the theory in the comments below. Do you think the new Shinju is Kakashi? Or it’s Obito? Who knows. For some reason, I believe the Shinju shown off-panel is also the Shinki Shinju. Why would Ikemoto show the Shinki Shinju in the future using the prediction ability, or whatever it’s called—prescience? Why would he not show him in the last panel when he already showed him in a prior panel? So, the mystery is already gone, and I don’t see why it would be the Shinki Shinju. But of course, I could be wrong. Maybe it is, and Ikemoto is just having fun. Who knows?\

As we delve deeper into the Shinju entities’ mysteries, the Latest Chapter of Boruto Two Blue Vortex unveils more about Jura’s hidden motivations and Mitsuki’s evolving powers. This chapter adds crucial insights into the evolving storyline, further fueling speculation about the true identity of the newly created Shinju. You can check out our detailed analysis of Chapter 14 of Boruto Manga Online For Free.

For more theories, character analysis, and breakdowns of the latest manga developments, visit our Boruto Two Blue Vortex Manga Blog.