Exploring the Power-Scaling in Boruto: Does it make sense?  

It’s no secret that some die-hard Naruto fans hate Boruto. A huge reason for this, apart from the fact that it can never measure to the original, is the power-scaling. 

Apart from the fact that it takes a good deal of mental gymnastics to fathom the troubling power structure in Boruto, the cycle of increased power-scaling has thrown the series and its fandom into chaos. At the same time, the Boruto power-scaling isn’t entirely illogical.  

The phenomenon of wack power-scaling is something Shonen oftens suffers from; look what happened to Dragon Ball. Let’s go through some of the primary issues with the power-scaling in Boruto, and check whether we should’ve seen this coming. 

1. Too Much, Too Soon: Boruto Throws Non-Otsutsuki Characters Off the Power Cliff

Boruto, Kawaki, and a few select characters have now gained so much power potential that they’ve begun overshadowing everyone else. The worst part is that while this kind of power-cliffing isn’t new to Naruto fans, it’s happened much too soon in the Boruto series. 

It wasn’t until Naruto Shippuden that we knew that Naruto and Sasuke would be the only two people in the universe to be able to defeat a monster like Kaguya. It was revealed that Naruto and Sasuke were reincarnations of Asura and Indra; they attained God status – but at the very end. 

In Boruto, things that should have taken their time have been rushed to an extent that the series itself might need to end soon. Since the very beginning, it was already made pretty clear that Boruto and Kawaki would be the only two to defeat the endgame villain – possibly Shibai Otsutsuki. 

Boruto and Kawaki have already reached God status what with Momoshiki and Isshiki’s powers within them. This would’ve been suited for a Boruto Shippuden. 

The manga’s power-scaling has begun to negatively impact a lot of characters, especially the newly introduced ones. If new characters aren’t overpowered (read: Ada/Eida and Daemon) or at least as strong as the current major characters, their entire purpose is pointless. 

This is true especially for enemies and rivals, because with the way our protagonist is shaping up, even the most powerful opponents are going to be fodderized. Thankfully, we have Kawaki, who is on the same level as Boruto. 

The bad part about this is by the time we reach the post-time-skip war that we’ve all been waiting for, anyone who is not Boruto or Kawaki are essentially going to be redundant. This could mean even Ada and Daemon lose the hype they currently have.  

In the previous arc, we had a good distribution of power and battles where everyone had a chance to shine, including Koji, Gaaru, Boro, and the rest. But can you imagine these guys in the Code’s Assault arc and the arcs that come after? I can’t really see how they’d be involved in the upcoming storyline if they don’t receive some kind of upgrade. 

All the fights and power boosts possible have already been introduced in the series, leaving no time for the development of other characters or plotlines. 

Characters would need an insane power boost to remain relevant. The only way they could bypass this is if they have strong emotional ties that would potentially become more important to the story and MCs than who wins or loses. 

But the context of power is everything in Boruto. Boruto and Kawaki will be invincible soon, if they’re the ones to defeat Shibai Otsutsuki is the most powerful being in the entire universe of Naruto and Boruto.

My main source of worry is Mitsuki and Sarada. They’re main characters and right now they’re nowhere near in strength as the alien-gods that Boruto and Kawaki have become. 

2. No Pain, All Gain: Where is the growth in Boruto?

Naruto has been about growth and the painful journey of a ninja. While Boruto follows the same template as Naruto, it skips the growth and development aspect entirely.

Boruto was already a shinobi god at 13. He mastered even the toughest techniques in minutes. He doesn’t seem to have to work much for anything, be it ninjutsu or Otsutsuki powers. 

Even compared to him, Kawaki had to spend more time training to master his alien powers. Boruto could already channel Momoshiki’s powers without doing anything. Why? Isshiki said that he has a rare compatibility to be Momoshiki’s vessel. Seems like protagonist privilege to me. 

Boruto got Rasengan so easily compared to Naruto that the impact and power of the Rasengan itself was defeated. If the creators would have spent more time on growing Boruto’s skills gradually, the power he has now would have some meaning. Right now, it’s like Boruto doesn’t even deserve the power he has. 

Boruto got Jougan, possibly the most powerful dojutsu, by doing absolutely nothing. Naruto fans will remember how intense the whole Sharingan and Mangekyo Sharingan journey was for Sasuke. 

In general, the new generation in Boruto gets powers easily that everyone before them had to struggle for. This brings me to my next point.

3. Power-Creeping in Boruto Tips Power Structure of Franchise

The new characters and powers in Boruto completely trivialize the characters and powers introduced earlier in the series. This makes power-scaling seem completely pointless. 

Yes, it has been established that the new generation must surpass the old, but there’s a certain way of doing it!

Boruto and Kawaki, even Himawari, were able to react to Delta and Naruto in Six Paths Sage Mode. Delta could easily keep up with Naruto. 

The Gokage could go toe to toe with Kinshiki. Sasuke and Gaara couldn’t take down Urashiki but Boruto and Shinki, two genin, could keep pace with an Otsutsuki with 2 Rinnegan.

The title of Kage itself doesn’t hold any meaning, because right off the bat, Boruto was already a Kage-level threat. 

Due to the whole sci-fi and robotics aspect, the pure power of chakras and Jutsu became corrupted. The cyborg siblings, aka Ada and Daemon, not to mention, Code, are now stronger than Jigen, who Naruto and Sasuke had to really go to their limits to beat. 

I’m not even going to get into how badly Naruto and Sasuke were nerfed. Apart from the obvious taking away of Naruto’s Nine Tails and Sasuke’s Rinnegan, Naruto and Sasuke never even use the rest of their abilities. All they seem to do now is taijutsu. 

All in all, the older characters are much weaker than they are supposed to be. 

4. Is the Boruto power-scaling illogical? Should we have seen this coming? 

All issues aside, the broken power-scaling of the Boruto characters isn’t entirely illogical in context of the series itself. 

For example, the fact that Boruto is souped-up right now has its basis in power mechanics established well in the beginning. Him being 100% Otsutsuki makes sense because the whole Karma system was properly introduced. It didn’t exactly come out of nowhere. 

The fact that they were able to make it so Momoshiki can’t reincarnate anymore seems fair too, if not a little convenient. 

The precedent of Boruto’s insane and seemingly bizarre power-scaling was set during Naruto Shippuden’s War arc. 

This arc is infamous for ruining the Naruto power-scale, what with Kakashi and his Kamui, a weakened Madara destroying everyone and everything, and Hashirama basically forcing everyone else to either power up or die. Strategic fights were out, hurling meteors was in. 

As for the everything being too rushed, I think we should’ve gotten the hint when the Naruto series got rid of its hand signs. Things that take time were eventually cut out of the series. We can never go back to basic Jutsu and chakra control. 

If they show the new generation doing the same old training as the previous ones, fans might get bored. This is why the kids jump power levels, being able to use Jutsu that took the previous generations years to master. 

This is also why Boruto is portrayed to be a prodigy – if he were just an ordinary kid, they’d have to show the whole slow process of how Boruto learns to fight as a shinobi and make use of the powerful skills passed down his bloodline. This is why he masters the Rasengan so quickly. 

People complain that we didn’t get a proper Training arc to see Boruto and Kawaki reach the levels they’ve reached. They seem to have had no journey at all. 

Sure, it was too fast, but I think if they’d have shown Boruto going through basic shinobi training, fans would’ve complained. It would be a repetition of what Naruto and Sasuke went through – and nothing can compare to that.  

It is also for this reason that Naruto and Sasuke were nerfed. We needed Naruto to lose Kurama and Sasuke his Rinnegan because this gives the younger generation a chance to step up. Let’s be real, with a little boost, Sasuka and Naruto in Baryon Mode can defeat Momoshiki and Isshiki together.

Boruto’s problem lies in its narrative and storytelling. But the current imbalance in power structure could definitely do with a fix in its power-scaling. 

6. About Boruto: Naruto Next Generations

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations is written and illustrated by Mikio Ikemoto, and supervised by Masashi Kishimoto. It came into serialization in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump in June 2016.

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations is the series that follows the exploits of Naruto’s son, Boruto, during his academy days and further on.

The series follows the character development of Boruto and the looming evil that challenges the fate of him and his loved ones.