"Boruto: Naruto Next Generations," just aired its first episode, and its opening scene made a lot of fans of the previous series fearful for Naruto.
The episode opened with an older, tattooed, and battle-weary Boruto facing a ninja named Kawaki, with the ruined city of Konoha as the backdrop. The latter said, "I'll send you where I sent the Seventh Hokage," leading fans to believe that Naruto, who bears that title, will perish in the new anime series. Furthermore, that sequence also implied that Sasuke Uchiha is also dead by that time, as Boruto was shown to wield the ninja's sword and headband. The episode then jumped to what is presumed to be the present time for the characters, with Boruto just starting out with his ninja training.
Comic Book said it was unlikely for the ninjas, or at least, for Naruto, to be killed, because doing so would cause fans to riot or drop the series immediately. It proposed that the sequence was intended to make fans immediately become invested in the series — a risky move that seemed to have worked, given the number of people who expressed their anxiety about the ninja's fate. The website theorized that Naruto was sent to an alternate dimension or that Boruto was only made to believe that his father is dead. It may also be possible that the sequence was only a possible future that can still possibly be prevented from happening.
On the other hand, the show could very well kill off the titular character's father as a harsh but effective way of saying their story is now over, and their children will need to ready themselves to take over their parents to serve as protectors. After all, Boruto declared at the beginning of the show that this was his story.
With Naruto's fate shrouded in mystery, fans will have to stay tuned to future episodes of "Boruto: Naruto Next Generations" to see what happens to their favorite ninja.
The "Naruto" series officially ended early this year after more than a decade on television. "Boruto: Naruto Next Generations" stars the children of the characters from the original series.
