Shibai Otsutsuki’s Divine Manipulation: The Theory Behind Boruto’s Jougan Awakening

Boruto: Two Blue Vortex Chapter 13 was crazy, and it has now led to some crazy but yet understandable theories. We’ll be breaking down the craziest theory of them all, and it obviously involves Shibai and Boruto, but most importantly, this theory involves the awakening of Boruto’s Jougan. This theory mainly stems from something quite interesting that we learned about Jura and Jura’s comments on Boruto being alive. The way Jura comments on Boruto still being alive at the current moment, he calls it a divine intervention, as if some godly figure was intervening in Boruto’s current timeline to allow Boruto to live. This text is quite interesting when added to what we learn from Kashin Koji, who mentions that Jura kills Boruto in almost every future. So, this only solidifies what Jura was saying, as if Boruto, in this current moment, was supposed to be sniped a second time by Jura and then ended up dying. However, through some events in this current timeline, which have been changed for different reasons, we have a Boruto still alive and a Jura who had to return to the Shinju dimension. It is almost as if Boruto’s fate is being manipulated so that he is allowed to live.

From a probability perspective, we see that Boruto has dodged some key events that would eventually lead to the planet being destroyed. We had an event where, as Kashin Koji stated, it was more likely for Naruto to lose to Isshiki in Baryon Mode. But somehow, Naruto ended up surviving with an Isshiki who didn’t have the option to have Kawaki as his vessel. Although the probability was high that Naruto would pass during that fight, somehow, Naruto made it through. The same thing could be said for another bad outcome that was supposed to happen, like the one Kashin Koji points out, where Kawaki ended up killing Boruto and Sarada in most futures. But somehow, Boruto and Sarada escaped that future. There are multiple different futures and probable outcomes that Boruto and his story were supposed to take. Still, somehow, the most unlikely scenario is where we have a Boruto who finds a way to survive and prevent the worst future from taking place. Somebody has to manipulate Boruto’s destiny to achieve a certain goal, and the only person comes to mind for this task is Shibai Otsutsuki.

First, we do see some key similarities and aspects between Boruto and Shibai Otsutsuki that are quite similar. Many people mention how similar Boruto’s horns are to Shibai Otsutsuki. When you check Momoshiki, whether fused or unfused, Boruto’s horns don’t resemble his. However, when you check Shibai Otsutsuki’s horns, you see they are similar. Another aspect about Shibai Otsutsuki, or an Otsutsuki that has eaten countless fruits and then turned into a god, is that they appear to have the Jougan. In that panel of Isshiki, first explaining the Otsutsuki will, you would see an Otsutsuki god with multiple Jougan. If you also check Shibai, some people agree that one of Shibai’s eyes is the Jougan.

So now you have two aspects of Boruto and Shibai Otsutsuki that are quite similar: the horns and the Jougan. Many people would then ask, “Okay, why would Shibai Otsutsuki manipulate Boruto’s destiny or future? Is there something that he is trying to achieve?” The most popular explanation is that Shibai Otsutsuki is trying to create a new vessel, which is Boruto. Boruto is being guided to be the perfect vessel for Shibai Otsutsuki, so everything we have seen take place is to lead Boruto towards becoming Shibai Otsutsuki’s new vessel for this realm. It is almost like Aizen and Ichigo. We had an Aizen who manipulated Ichigo’s environment to make him so strong that he could eventually take him on. We’ve already seen these types of scenarios explored in various stories. In the Naruto series, we also had a Black Zetsu that manipulated everything, leading towards Kaguya being once again revived.

The question that must be answered to make this theory make sense is: What is Shibai Otsutsuki trying to achieve? If he ascended to a new dimension, what is the purpose of his worrying about this dimension? The only thing I could think about is that by Shibai Otsutsuki ascending to a new dimension, a new plane of existence, he had to discard his body, which means that he lost the ability to interact with the current world as we see it. You need to have a body to be a normal entity in this world. However, Shibai, ascending to a new dimension, disregarded one factor required to operate in this world. So Shibai Otsutsuki may be trying to use Boruto as some anchor or vessel to allow him to manage not only that new plane of existence but also the current plane that he can no longer tap into due to not having a body. In theory, Shibai Otsutsuki is using Boruto as an anchor or a way for him to control both planes of existence simultaneously.

This is quite interesting, and this theory does have some validity. It is quite understandable and would enrich the plot, making it interesting. In this type of scenario, we have a god manipulating the current circumstances to lead to an outcome that he desires. At the same time, readers only find out later in the story that this could work in Boruto. I don’t know how it would clash with the theme of destiny, as we can see that it is quite involved in Boruto’s character with Jura, who keeps telling Boruto that he can’t run from his destiny. Will something happen in this plot if this theory is true, where Boruto can go against it or prove that one can or cannot define his destiny? This is going to be the path that Ikemoto and Kishimoto will have to take if they want to address this point while still keeping the idea of Shibai Otsutsuki manipulating Boruto’s destiny true.

There are still points to be made against this theory. First, talking about the good points: The similarities between Boruto and Shibai Otsutsuki, like the Jougan and the horns, make a lot of sense. If this theory is true, we would have the future that Boruto is currently making as a means for him to eventually awaken the Jougan and be one of the reasons why Boruto and Shibai Otsutsuki can become anchors or why Boruto could become a vessel for Shibai Otsutsuki. But why is the Jougan considered to be such a broken Dojutsu? We are seeing everybody believe that the Jougan will be crucial, with us not getting much information based on what we have seen regarding the Jougan.

We haven’t seen it used extensively in manga, but in anime, we have seen a few instances where Boruto has been able to use the Jougan. What makes a lot of people believe that it is so broken? This is my opinion: The first thing we must discuss is the current state of the abilities we see in the Boruto series. We got the foreshadowing necessary in Chapter 75 of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, where we had a model introduce the concept of Shinjutsu. Ever since that chapter, we have slowly started to see Shinjutsu abilities devolve to us, like Eida’s omnipotence, Daemon’s reflective ability, Code using the claw marks against the Ten-Tails, and Kawaki using Isshiki’s abilities and Shinjutsu. We have started to see the ramping of these abilities that come from gods, known as Shinjutsu, more and more.

With the current path that the story is taking, if Boruto continues advancing and the Jougan becomes Boruto’s main Dojutsu, we can already start to see why it is likely to have these broken abilities and divine miracles. Pinpointing exactly what the Jougan may be is still hard to do, but based on everything we are currently seeing, we have already started to see a key ability that the Jougan may have. You can see this by observing every instance Boruto uses the Jougan.

I plan to write future blogs about this, so I’ll keep it light for this article. When we saw Boruto use the Jougan for the first time in the anime, you would see that it was against Momoshiki if we did not count the first time-skip scene. Boruto used the Jougan in an almost Sharingan-like manner, where he could dodge Momoshiki’s abilities. That was the only time we saw Boruto use it like a Sharingan. Then we saw Boruto use the Jougan against New Way. In this application, the Jougan didn’t act like a Sharingan but like a Byakugan, pinpointing exactly where Boruto should hit New Way to revert him to his normal form. Boruto was able to do so. Another example is the fight against Urashiki. Boruto’s Jougan did not act as a Sharingan or a Byakugan but showed Boruto exactly where Urashiki would pop up, almost like he could see a few seconds into the future.

Boruto uses the Jougan each time to showcase a different ability. How is it possible that we’ve seen multiple variations of the Jougan? My personal opinion is that the Jougan isn’t a Dojutsu that has a single application. Rather, the Jougan may be a Dojutsu that analyzes people’s weaknesses and gives you the strength and power necessary to beat them. In the instance of Momoshiki, Boruto did not need all that crazy stuff where he had to see the future; he needed to counter the moves Momoshiki was going to use. He used it in a Sharingan-like manner. Versus New Way, he didn’t need it in a Sharingan manner; he needed to pinpoint New Way’s weakness. Thus, it applied like a Byakugan. Versus Urashiki, Boruto was required to see exactly where Urashiki would pop up to defeat him.

The way Urashiki describes the Jougan is that it is troublesome, allows you to know exactly your opponent’s weakness, and provides you with the power necessary to defeat them. This is a crazy ability and would mean that Boruto’s Shinjutsu, or Jougan, operates in a way that analyzes his opponent’s weakness and thus provides him with the abilities necessary to defeat them. This would be a crazy Shinjutsu and make a lot of sense, given the already broken skills we have seen in the Boruto exhibit with the Jougan.

However, there are other aspects, such as when Momoshiki talks about Urashiki using omnipotence to affect human memories of key events. Momoshiki asks Boruto if he thinks this is the first time omnipotence has been cast on Earth. So, with these few things in mind, you can already have a good theory. However, the negative sides of this theory are the lack of proof and a real motive for Shibai Otsutsuki to manipulate Boruto’s destiny. Due to our lack of a strong understanding of what Shibai is trying to achieve, we can’t generate a real motive for Shibai Otsutsuki to manipulate Boruto’s destiny. Also, the divine intervention that Jura talks about, at least in this chapter and not in the context of the theory, most plausibly refers to Kashin Koji. Kashin Koji is the one with the ability to see the future, and it is because of that ability, we see changes happen in this future where Boruto was supposed to die but ends up surviving.

Boruto doesn’t end up dying because Kashin Koji is technically manipulating Boruto’s destiny by letting him know key events that will happen in the future. But in the present, that is a divine intervention, and we know that Shinjutsu involves divine miracles. This divine intervention could be Kashin Koji or double foreshadowing, not only for Kashin Koji, as we figure out in Chapter 14 of Boruto: Two Blue Vortex, but for another god-like Shibai Otsutsuki doing so.

So, this makes this a very interesting conversation to have. Is a god manipulating Boruto’s circumstances and leading towards him awakening the Jougan so that he can use Boruto as a vessel? This theory is quite interesting and with how it would play off with the themes of the Boruto series, especially Boruto’s character and his attempt to defy destiny and the futures that Kashin Koji has seen, leading to a future where the worst possible outcome doesn’t take place, and his family is restored. This is the path Boruto is taking. Will this happen or not? We will see in the future.