The Secrets of Boruto’s Ten Tails Origins

Boruto’s Ten-Tails is an intriguing entity. It created entities far more powerful than they should have been. It somehow obtained Kaiju-sized porcelain veneers, and to an extent, the true history of the Ten Tails is still a mystery.

Now, this is all by design. The author wants you to think, imagine, deliberate, and ruminate. He wants you to use your brain cells—fire those neurons! And that’s what I’m going to do today.

Chapter 17 of Boruto: Two Blue Vortex revealed something quite interesting: that a Ten Tails’ house is still alive. This came in the form of Matsuri stating that, according to the trees, Boruto placed the toad here. She then questioned what she meant by “trees. ” She replied that they’re everywhere, even deep below the ground. By using the trees’ voices to track him, she would be sure to run into him—or perhaps his accomplice.

This is interesting because most deserts are not primarily sand but rather exposed bedrock. So, trees typically would be rooted in the soil beneath the surface, not wholly buried under sand. So, what trees is Matsuri referring to, and why can she hear their voice?

This goes back to what happened to the original Ten Tails and its connection to the one in Boruto. Many people missed this, but Jūra said something significant in Chapter 5: the Shinjus might be one unit biologically speaking, but Matsuri’s emotion seems to be hers alone. They went on to say that, while they are still a single existence known as the Divine Tree, they each still possess independent consciousness.

This is important because it implies that, even though these entities possess individual traits and personalities, they still stem from the same entity, which is why there remains a biological connection. This also remains true for the original Ten Tails as well. As I pointed out in my prior blogs, this one Data Book statement says the Ten Tails is nothing but a fragment of the God Tree that gave birth to the universe. This implies that every Ten Tails seedling is connected to the original God Tree, which, in turn, makes them connected biologically speaking.

So, it isn’t far-fetched to assume that Matsuri, a fragment of a Divine Tree, can communicate with pieces of another Divine Tree.

Now, with that said, how does this connect to the original Ten Tails? Many people forget this, but the Ten Tails in Naruto still have roots spreading across the entire planet. This first happened when Kaguya came to the Earth and cultivated her Divine Tree. As stated by A in Chapter 46, the Divine Tree is planted in the ground, and its roots grow deeply, reaching across every corner of the planet—just like mold in your bathroom! That is how it sucks the chakra from every living thing on the Earth.

We also saw this happen in the anime, and it was later confirmed that it drains energy from places such as Mount Myōboku. So, it isn’t too wild to assume that the roots also reach the Land of Wind, which Matsuri utilizes to locate Boruto.

Of course, if we are paying attention, there’s one problem with this theory: Matsuri didn’t say that the roots told her where Boruto was. She specifically said the trees. So, how does this make sense?

Well, that’s where a thing called root sprouts comes in. Root sprouts often grow from adventitious buds found on a tree’s extensive root system. Moreover, adventitious buds form a plant organ in an unusual place. So, root sprouts are clones of a parent plant and can be found significantly from the parent plant. They can also grow from the roots of a tree that has fallen or been cut down, such as the Divine Tree itself.

This part is really, really important because we’ve always wondered why Kaguya was surrounded by multiple Divine Trees in that one panel or why Momoshiki’s planet had multiple Divine Trees planted at the same time. This led us to assume that Momoshiki had multiple Ten-Tails in his possession or that he simply reused the same Ten Tails repeatedly on the same planet.

In truth, the root system of the Divine Tree sprouted copies of itself across the entire planet, and it then grew to perform a similar function as the original Divine Tree. This would also explain why Momoshiki could sprout a Divine Tree in one of his dimensions in Chapter 5, which he then attributed to the chakra stolen from the Eight-Tails.

This means that a plant organ of the Ten Tails can mimic the function of the actual Ten Tails—likely to a much smaller extent. Simply feeding a potent chakra to this root sprout, which Momoshiki did with the Eight-Tails’ chakra, can help it grow quickly into a fully formed Divine Tree.

The next most important question would be: why would Momoshiki feed the Ten Tails’ chakra to this Divine Tree instead of just consuming it himself? The most likely answer to this is that the root sprout can absorb genetic information and energy from the planet it is planted on, yielding more benefits than simply consuming the chakra of the Ten Tails. This is also why Momoshiki didn’t consume the chakra he took from Kurama until it was completely necessary. He was likely planning on using it to create more Divine Trees using the root sprouts he collected.

It also explains why we never saw Momoshiki with an actual Ten Tails, despite the opening scene depicting him consuming a chakra fruit. Even in his fight back in chapter 7 of the Boruto manga, the God Tree never reverted to the Ten Tails despite being cut in half, nor did Momoshiki try to summon it for assistance when he needed it. So, the most likely case is that this God Tree isn’t an actual Ten Tails but a root sprout Momoshiki grew using the chakra of the Ten Tails. As he stated in the novels, this also implies that the root sprouts can become a Divine Tree without needing to consume an Otsutsuki, likely because they stem from a God Tree that has already undergone that process.

So, the “trees” Matsuri refers to in chapter 17 are likely multiple root sprouts that spawned from the roots of the Ten Tails that cover the entire planet. Even though the Ten-Tails were sealed inside Madara at the time, including the God Tree itself, the roots of the God Tree remained active for some reason. When the Infinite Tsukuyomi was cast, the roots spread across the entire planet and wrapped around everyone. This implies that the root of the Ten Tails is still functional while being severed from its “head.”

This is even more blatantly implied when everyone remains connected to the root of the Ten Tails, which also remains alive even after Kaguya and the body of the Ten Tails are sealed away in another dimension. Naruto and Sasuke had to stop the Infinite Tsukuyomi Jutsu itself for the roots to release everyone from the vines that encased them.

Going back to the root sprouts, there is actually an instance of this existing on the planet in Naruto. Back in chapter 512, Obito brought Kabuto to his underground facility, where he revealed the husk of the Ten Tails (known as the Gedo Statue), which was sitting on what appears to be a mini–Divine Tree. This, of course, is the very same location Team 7 visited in Boruto episode 52, where they encountered the evolved White Zetsu. You can see that the buds the Gedo Statue was sitting on are now closed. It has the same markings on the walls around it and the exact structure of the stand in front of it. Also, the markings on the wall that lead to the tree’s root are the same, along with what’s below the tree. So, it is clear that this is indeed the exact location where Madara stored the army of White Zetsus, produced by what Mitsuki described as a “bud.”

By the way, they also foreshadowed this in the Boruto anime with Victor’s fake Divine Tree. He was able to create it by using a sample of the real Divine Tree from the remnants of the war, which he then combined with Hashirama cells and implanted into individuals to essentially grow the Divine Tree using their chakra as fuel—similar to how Momoshiki used the chakra of the Eight-Tails to grow the root sprout back in his dimension.

With that said, I’ve substantiated why root sprouts are canon to the Ten Tails to some extent. But what about the voices Matsuri heard? Is it that every root sprout has a separate consciousness, similar to the Ten Tails?

Well, not necessarily. According to current scientific understanding, trees don’t have consciousness in the same way that animals and humans do, as they lack a central nervous system and a brain. However, they can sense and respond to their environment, exhibiting behaviors some scientists interpret as a form of plant intelligence or awareness—though not necessarily conscious in the human sense. Plants instead use electrical signals to communicate with themselves, which some researchers see as a possible mechanism for information processing.

This likely means that the voices Matsuri refers to in chapter 17 aren’t meant to be taken literally. The trees aren’t using vocabulary to divulge information to Matsuri; instead, they send electrical signals, which Matsuri interprets into words since she can understand them.

By the way, this also gives us an idea of what this location is exactly. They seem surrounded by roots, which they seemingly use to sustain or produce Thorn Soul Bulbs. I say this because, in chapter 17, Jura retreated because he couldn’t let Hidari’s Thorn Soul Bulb rot. Yet, they had Shinki’s bulb connected to these roots, waiting to be transformed. This implies that Jura could have connected Hidari to the roots, which would have sustained him, or chosen to resurrect him using a combination of whatever that box is along with said roots. By the way, these are the same roots he already used to heal himself when his body was partially destroyed by Boruto’s Rasengan and likely what he was trying to escape when Rasengan Uzuhiko hit him.

So, the root seemed to possess some sort of healing factor, which can then be applied to the Shinju. But why? Well, that is likely because this is a root sprout of the Divine Tree, which absorbs energy from the planet and then uses that to heal the Shinju.

This then brings us to what Koji said in Chapter 13: it would be ideal to dispose of the Ten Tails’ root and branch before it evolves into the Shinju. This implies that the Shinju didn’t create the root sprout. Granted, we assume that Koji refers to the root sprout and not the phrase “root and branch,” which is used to express the thorough or radical nature of a process or operation.

It could be a double entendre, which is a word or phrase that is open to two interpretations. This is similar to the idiom “blue-eyed boy” Momoshiki uses with Boruto, which implies that Boruto’s eyes will take everything from him. This phrase references Boruto’s literal blue eyes and his naivety, which led to the outcomes of his decisions. Thus, Boruto takes responsibility for the position he forced Kawaki into.

Though we are off-topic here, the point is that Koji referred to the root and branch of the Ten Tails, so he is likely aware of the root sprouts.

Now, there is more evidence to support why Matsuri would be able to connect to these Divine Trees in the way that she does. You see, Jura, stated to be the incarnation of the Ten-Tails itself, would have an obsession with consuming Naruto over everyone else since Naruto has the most profound connection to the Tailed Beasts.

He’s the one who tackled the hatred in Kurama and the Tailed Beasts at large. He fought for them, protected them, and later granted them freedom. This also goes back to why the Tailed Beasts can converse and connect no matter where they are. It’s not just that they came from the same Ten-Tails, but more so because everyone is a part of the hive mind.

I mean by this: every juvenile Ten Tails shaped to planets across the universe came from one main body—God Tree, the one that produces them, as stated in the Data Book. So, Jura’s connection to Naruto stems from the connection Naruto has to his fellow Bijuu, which is a reference to the nine Bijuu that are derived from the original Ten Tails.

The crazy part is that the entire concept is inspired by Norse mythology, specifically the World Tree, known as Yggdrasil. You see, the tree itself resides in the center of the cosmos and connects to each of the nine realms, similar to how the Ten-Tails or the God Tree is connected to the nine Bijuu.

I did mention this before in a prior article, but what I found most interesting in my research was the three main entities that resided below the roots of the World Tree. One of them, known as Nidhogg, is a great serpent who lived in the spring called Hvergelmir, along with other serpents. Then you have the Well of the Wise, known as Mímir. By the way, this well is said to contain wisdom and intelligence, which is why Odin sacrificed one of his eyes to take a drink.

Lastly, we also have the Well of Urd, where the Norse equivalent of the Fates, called the Norns, lived. These beings were responsible for using the water from their well to repair any damage to the World Tree.

Now, that said, what does all of this remind you of? Naturally, the first thing that should come to mind would be the Great Animal Sages. The serpent called Nidhogg refers to the Great Snake Sage. Mímir and the Well of Wisdom refer to the Great Toad Sage. And then we have the Norns, which refer to the Slugs due to their shared healing capabilities.

So, Kishimoto didn’t just take the bare concept of the World Tree itself; he also incorporated the surrounding aspects of the myth as well. Thus, everything within Naruto’s universe spawns from one massive God Tree that lies at the center of the cosmos, and all subsequent God Trees are just fragments of it, as stated in the Data Book.

Now, with that said, there’s one issue with everything I just said. It was recently revealed that the universe was created by an Otsutsuki God using the power of Omnipotence. However, it was later revealed that this was a mistranslation. He didn’t create the universe itself, just the current world.

This reminds me of the Celestials from Marvel Comics, who created planets and planted their embryos within the core to absorb the energy over time. Once those embryos hatch, the planet and all life on it come to an end, similar to the God Tree.

With that said, I could be wrong. It could be the case that Matsuri is just using some form of root system deep below the Earth’s surface, and she calls them trees instead of roots for some reason. It could also be the case that she can do it because of Moegi’s ability to use Wood Release, as stated in the character profile.

So, it’s not really due to any connection to the Ten Tails, but rather her being a Divine Tree or just her sensory abilities. Of course, these options are way less exciting than I said before, but you know—it is what it is.

If it is, though, if you have multiple spouts growing beneath the Earth’s surface, what exactly is happening to the planet itself? Will it eventually look similar to the Earth Momoshiki devoured, or does Koji also have a plan for that?