Throughout Boruto, the show has been littered with new characters. Fans can meet fresh faces like the Fourth Mizukage’s son, but also the Fifth Mizukage herself, Mei. The nostalgia for Naruto in Boruto is endless, layering new stories on old favorites, keeping a lot of original characters around as well. Boruto and his friends may eat burgers now instead of ramen, but they can’t take the classic Konoha out of the village. Most of the time Boruto combines the new with the old well, but it’s truly impressive how many old characters they fit in. Naruto did run for 700 episodes, after all.
While a fair amount of the cameos and inserts have been appreciated by fans, some are a little less enjoyable. Of course, losing the integrity of a character can ruin any appearance. And worse? Some important characters, more important than some of the others brought back, haven’t been seen at all around Konoha. In a world full of memorable characters, some of the abandoned ones are sorely missed, and some that were included would be better off leaving.
Updated on May 10th, 2022 by Amanda Bruce: The world of Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto seems to constantly be expanding with the Boruto series continuing to create complex villains and new approaches to the shinobi life. As the story changes to include more science and less of the “magic” of the original series, characters need to reflect those changes as well. There are hundreds of characters in the Naruto canon, and it’s definitely time to let some of them go and allow others to shine.
Naruto Characters Abandoned By Boruto
The Great Toad Sages
During Naruto’s training with Jiraiya, the Great Toad Sages were invaluable aspects of his teachings. After all, not only are they his summoning creatures but they also taught him a lot about jutsu and prophecy. From the moment Naruto summoned Bunta to save him from falling on jagged rocks, fans were enrapt. They were great comic relief that also showed the scale of shinobi abilities.
While fans are now deep into the Boruto story, the Great Toads are nowhere to be found. Jiraiya is gone, but Naruto isn’t. These fantastic, talking, cultured creatures deserve better. It would be neat for Boruto to get some toad consultation himself.
Choza Akimichi
For all the characters Boruto squeezes in, characters from Naruto that would now be grandparents aren’t some of them. While Shikaku and Inoichi had a building collapse on them in the Fourth Shinobi War, the third member of Ino-Shika-Cho, Choza, survived. The father of Choji and, in Boruto, the grandfather of Chocho, has not made a single appearance in the new series.
Though fans only got a little bit of interaction between Choza and Choji in Naruto, it would be fascinating to see a battle-hungry grandfather interact with his star-obsessed granddaughter. With Chocho’s one-note character development, it could add some serious depth to her. Instead, he’s been abandoned.
Team Oboro
With Amegakure’s notoriety for assassination missions, Team Oboro was criminally under-used. These three genin joined the Konoha Chunin Exams to cause trouble, faced off against Team 7, and lost.
Later, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura ran into the trio while protecting a runner from the Land of Tea. Team Oboro had orders to slow him down and even end his life, if necessary. Without Naruto’s Rasengan ingenuity, they would have succeeded.
Since Pain takes over The Village Hidden In The Rain with the Akatsuki, it would make sense if they came back in later episodes or even in Boruto to try to take revenge. However, fans never see them again.
Isaribi
After leaving Konoha, Orochimaru went to the Land of Sea and, with Amachi, took and experimented on people. When Orochimaru left, Amachi continued his work. At the time Naruto and friends discover him, his current experiment was Isaribi, a young girl he’d been using to try to create the perfect underwater ninja.
Once defeated, the Konoha ninja take her back to have a better, brighter childhood. However, grown-up Isaribi is missing. She’d be a perfect orphanage caretaker, but no, that’s Kabuto. She also would be an interesting person for Mitsuki to interact with, but also no. By Boruto, poor Isaribi is completely abandoned.
It has to be noted, however, that characters like Isaribi are part of the filler arcs of the anime. Her character isn’t part of the canon manga, making it harder for the writers to circle back to characters like her, but it’s not impossible.
Idate Morino
Not only was Idate Morino abandoned in Boruto, but he was abandoned by Naruto, too. Team 7 meets the young, headstrong runner during their Land of Tea mission, having to protect him from assassins. At the end, Idate has a sort of reconciliation with his Konoha ninja brother and forms a bond with Naruto. Though he sails away, the scene makes it seem like he’ll be back when he’s grown stronger.
Idate is never seen again. An adult version of him, faster than ever, would be a fun addition to the Boruto universe. He could be a ninja messenger, carrying important, secret documents at high speeds. Idate deserves better than disappearing completely.
Tsume Inuzuki
With all of Boruto‘s love to show off the previous generations, it cheats the Konoha 11’s parents. Many of them aren’t just off-screen, their existence is completely ignored. One great example is the feisty Tsume Inuzuki, Kiba’s mother. With her own dog companion, she is a fierce shinobi.
By Boruto, though, she’s nowhere to be seen. It could be fun to watch Kiba interact with her, see her chastise him for raising so many dogs and not kids. Her integration doesn’t need to be huge, but if Boruto wants to add so many past generations, why shouldn’t the grandparents era be around, too?
Yugao Uzuki
Whenever Naruto dealt with the Anbu, the Konoha secret service, fans often saw Yugao Uzuki, a conflicted young woman. After all, the Anbu are supposed to abandon emotions for duty. However, Yugao still had deep feelings for the boyfriend she abandoned for her job, Hayate. When he loses his life during the Konoha Crush, she has to face these raging emotions and later fight his resurrected body in the Fourth Shinobi War.
With the Anbu seemingly disbanded by Boruto, many of those faces (or lack thereof) have completely disappeared. Considering Anbu went through even more painful training than most, Yugao could have been a complex window into the after-effects of war.
Kitsuchi
The Tsuchikage, Onoki, may have not wanted to give up his post, but he had many good options, including his own son and granddaughter. Once Onoki finally passes on, his granddaughter Kurotsuchi takes up the mantle of Kage and leads her village into a new era.
While it’s a great feat for Kurotsuchi, her father, Kitsuchi, has completely disappeared. As a very level-headed and experienced jonin, he would have been a perfect, more-seasoned option. However, the show has ignored him in favor of the younger, prettier Kurotsuchi.
With so many relatively young Kage in Boruto, it would have been nice to have an older, wiser ninja in the group.
Hidan
Without a doubt, the Akatsuki were one of the greatest threats the Naruto universe ever faced. Between their culling of jinchuriki, Pain’s assault, and Obito’s work with Madara, they nearly destroyed the world. While they had a lot of powerful ninjas running their organization, though, only one of them is, technically, alive by Boruto: Hidan.
Shikamaru left Hidan in pieces in a pit under a bunch of rubble in the Nara family forest, screaming, but no one officially confirmed his passing. Actually, several accounts assumed him alive since his abilities make him functionally immortal.
With all the trouble Naruto and friends caused him, he could have been an interesting early big bad for Boruto that could have allowed the show to explore Nara family dynamics, the new Ino-Shika-Cho generation as they learned what Shikamaru did to the villain that killed his sensei, and could have made for an interesting link to the past.
Baki
A jonin of Sunagakure, Baki helps escort the three Kazekage children to the Chunin Exams. Also, he helps them cause havoc when the Konoha Crush begins. In the future, once Gaara becomes Kazekage, Baki is still an important member of the village who helps them out on missions.
With a mysterious air about him, he did care a lot about the village. If Naruto hadn’t abandoned him, he probably would still be by Gaara’s side in Boruto. Instead, he doesn’t show up past the blank period. His story is never explored.
Yoshino Nara
As one of the few housewives in Naruto, it’s a real shame that the show completely abandons Yoshino. Initially, her strong will and fierce look on motherhood added levity to the lazy Nara men. Naruto didn’t feature her often, but she made them all the more interesting.
In Boruto, not all the parents are ninja anymore, but Shikamaru and Temari are still shinobi. Temari does less work than she did before, but she still helps in times of danger and trains genin. Having Yoshino around to help care for Shikadai or any of the other kids would have made the family a little more complex. Alas, Fans never see her again.
Sakura’s Parents
Of the original Team 7, Sakura was the only one with living parents. Despite that, her parents seem just as absent as the others. They only appear in a single episode, episode 271 of Naruto Shippuden, and in the Road To Ninja: Naruto The Movie. In it, Sakura expresses how important her parents are to her and how she appreciates them. However, that’s hard to believe when fans have literally never seen her interact with them before.
Boruto is no different. As far as fans know, they’ve disappeared. Though it would make sense for her parents to help a near-single mother Sakura with Sarada, they remain absent from her life.
Ebisu
When fans first met Ebisu, he was a jonin acting as Konohamaru’s tutor. He acts very seriously, a no-nonsense kind of ninja. However, Naruto was able to steal Konohamaru by using his lewd jutsu tactics on Ebisu. From that moment on, Naruto called him the secret perv, despite how helpful and wise he could be.
Boruto has no Ebisu in sight. While many surviving jonin or chunin from Naruto have at least made a passing cameo, Ebisu is nowhere to be found. With Naruto now as Hokage, maybe it’s just safe to assume he went into eternal hiding to avoid embarrassment.
The Other Tailed Beasts
A huge part of Naruto used to be the Tailed Beasts. Not only was Naruto hosting the Nine-Tailed Fox, but he met quite a few other jinchuriki in his travels. Furthermore, the Akatsuki went on a warpath to destroy jinchuriki so that they could control them. The beasts could be fearsome and dangerous, but with their hosts they could become powerful forces for good.
In the world of Boruto, though, all talk of the beasts have disappeared other than Kurama’s big role in Naruto’s story. This is baffling considering the others are now free. It would be fascinating to know how they’ve evolved. They also all have chakra tied to Naruto, so it’s not impossible to find them. Hopefully, they don’t always stay abandoned.
Naruto Characters In Boruto That Need To Go
Anko
While it’s impressive for an anime to give plus-sized representation, it doesn’t do it very well. Anko, former student of Orochimaru before his betrayal, is now a teacher at Ninja Academy and has gained quite a few pounds.
If Anko’s weight wasn’t played off as an endless joke, this would be fine. However, it makes long-time fans wish the once-complex Anko had more important things to do. Boruto has tried really hard to bring back a lot of characters, but it’s not satisfying when they are given such a bad rep. This version of Anko, under-appreciated and unnecessary, needs to go.
Yamato
In some cases, where Kishimoto accidentally makes a character with too much potential and doesn’t know what to do with them, he puts them away and avoids them. However, in other cases, he adds them in, but keeps them bland to avoid detracting from his main characters. One of the best examples of this is Yamato, the Orochimaru experiment turned Anbu turned Jonin.
While Kakashi was indisposed, Yamato took over Team 7. Though, even when he came back, Yamato stayed and helped out. Given Wood Release abilities, Hashirama DNA, and other enhancements, he’s incredibly strong. Unfortunately that doesn’t make him well-used or interesting. Still around in Boruto, being boring, it’s probably better if he goes already.
Homura And Koharu
In Konoha, there is a council of elders that help keep the village running smoothly. They assist in appointing Hokages, getting things done, and keeping the peace. Since Hiruzen was the Third Hokage, Homura and Koharu have been helming that council.
By the time of Boruto, the already elderly pair have aged at least another two decades. While fierce people, they already were quite elderly back in the day. Fans shouldn’t wish they’d kick the bucket, but the pair definitely deserves to retire by now. Their final years should be spent enjoying their village, not bickering with its difficult leadership. Maybe even get a vacation home, far away from Boruto’s troubles.
Mei Terumi
In Naruto, Mei was the beautiful Fifth Mizukage, the person that took over once the bloodthirsty Fourth Mizukage was gone. Her powers of hot spit are quite unique, considering she can emit boiling water, lava, and more. Throughout her tenure, she’s been an impressive ninja.
However, by Boruto, writers have reduced her to an old lady talking over tea. While no one is expecting her to spew lava at every moment, her shine and confidence seem to be dulled and washed away. If a shadow of the old Mei could return, she’d be a welcome part of Boruto. As she is now though? She might as well go to give space for more interesting characters.
Onoki
Though Onoki technically is gone, he never should have shown up in Boruto in the first place. His weird situation with his artificial humans is very different from Orochimaru and Mitsuki. Furthermore, watching him fall from grace is disappointing. Sure, he redeemed himself before he passed on, but the way he treated the artificial beings he created was a little messed up.
Onoki should have just stayed the weird, proud old Tsuchikage fans met in Naruto. His arc could have been given to someone more logical (say Kabuto, the Orochimaru copycat himself) and work much better in the narrative. Instead, fans got quite an odd send-off for a now morally conflicting man.
Karin
Karin, obsessive and intelligent, is one of the oddest characters on Naruto. While fans could understand Sakura’s love for Sasuke because of their history, Karin adored him even though she only knew his as a monstrous, bloodthirsty villain. Ultimately, when Naruto turned Sasuke towards Konoha again, Karin was left alone in one of Orochimaru’s bases.
However, Karin apparently helped Sakura give birth to Sarada and decided to keep the umbilical cord. When Sarada was questioning her heritage, this helped make things all the more confusing for her. Karin may be interesting, but keeping an umbilical cord verifies she’s still a little creepy and she should stick to her science labs.
Shino
In concept, Shino has always been cool and powerful. His personality fits, as he’s very composed, calculating, and has quite the “too cool for school” vibe. Ironically, he becomes a teacher. However, as Shino’s use of insects became more powerful, Kishimoto started using him less and less.
As a teacher now, he basically has a given strength limit, since he can’t do much beyond what his students should know. Once, Shino was bizarre and fascinating. Now, he’s watered down so much that it would just be better to get rid of him entirely.
Akamaru
Now, of course Akamaru is a sweet, formidable good boy. If fans could have him forever, great. He and Kiba are a great pair that persists through every series. However, by Boruto, Akamaru is a very old dog. If a fan does the math, he’ll be approaching 30.
While Naruto dogs may be different than normal dogs, Akamaru still looks very lethargic and elderly. Though no one wants him to go, it might be time for the beloved doggo to get some peace. After all, he had a ninja career longer than some human shinobi. This good boy deserves a good, long rest.
Kabuto
Of all the Naruto villains, Kabuto is one of the most hated. A mix of a second in command suck-up and a twisted, selfish scientist, he’s all of the worst. He has few to no redeeming qualities. Though he doesn’t deserve redemption, because of Konoha’s bizarre judicial policies (spoilers, there really are none), he ends up running the orphanage.
By Boruto, his personality is muted, kind, and caring. While that’s not his original personality at all, it also makes for a bland character that doesn’t match with the Kabuto fans know. Not only should he never be trusted with molding children when he spent a good chunk of his life experimenting on them, but also, he should have been properly imprisoned long ago.
Naruto
While Naruto does need to go, the explanation is complex. Between him and Sasuke, they take a lot of weight out of battles when these two overpowered ninja can always step in. The story clearly plans to off him at some point, so the writers should do it and explore the chaos his loss would cause.
Yes, Naruto has been the protagonist for so long and fans care a lot about him. However, Boruto is now the main character and he needs the spotlight to himself. Otherwise, the new generation will always be in Naruto’s shadow.
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