Headscratchers / Boruto

• While it's understandable that banning the use of the kote from the Chunin Exam finals (The ninja is supposed to be on display after all, not any particular tool), likening it to doping (with all the stigma that implies) leaves some heads scratching. The power it confers is no greater than that of Akimichi Clan soldier and food pills, which Naruto and Sasuke were seen popping in their Chunin Exam finals, just before their matches. For that matter, if Chouchou or Wasabi had made the finals, it would have broken the Aesop of the ills of "instant, effortless power" to smithereens were either to have been permitted the use of her personal schtick (Akimichi Clan Special Food Pills and Cat Cloak Scroll Seals, respectively), and Boruto would have been the first to call this double standard out.
  • The main issue with the above comparison is that they're not the same, the Akimichi Clan's Special Food Pills are designed to enhance the clan's chakra and techniques, and are known to cause a huge strain on the user's body (even after eating just the first pill Chouji said how his body was hurting too much) as such, training is required to get used to their effects. Wasabi's Cat Cloak Seals would be comparable to Sai's and Inojin's Beast Scroll Techniques in that they require to be prepared beforehand with the user's own chakra. One better argument against the ban of the Kote Ninja Tool is that it could be considered as a tool, like a kunai or a puppet or a dog, but even then there's the fact that it gives a ridiculous advantage to the user, making it the equivalent of a gun in the Naruto universe.
  • A very big issue that people overlook is the fact that Boruto "concealed" the Kote during the exams, which renders all of his evaluation as biased. Remember, you don't become a Chunin by "passing" the exam. You become a Chunin if your performance is considered exceptional enough, e.g despite the fact Shikamaru surrendered during the exam, he was still made a Chunin due to his obvious skill that he showed. All of Boruto's skill was coming from the Kote, but the judges and the audience think he was doing it all by himself. That's akin to say, if Jiraya summoned a toad to fight for Naruto during the exam with the Summoning Jutsu, yet made it look like Naruto did himself. So, how can Naruto a be good ninja if something else is casting his jutsu? That's why it's called cheating. And at the end of the day, it is a controlled exam and not a real mission where the rules don't apply. It's simply not good practice.
    • But they are being tested as ninjas, not as gladiators. In fact, during his first Chuunin exam we see in the series, Naruto was declined because he "Showed too much of his power" in his fight with Neji while Shikamaru was more conservative; and ninjas should be secretive. In fact in the same test, Kankuro was commended because all the time he was hidden in his own backpack, and had a puppet to act as him, replicating the "Hide your assets" trick that was Boruto with the Kote. If anything, Kote is illegal only because New Technology Is Evil!
    • As I recall it was more that Naruto did not demonstrate the judgment expected of a chunin squad leader, not simply that he used too much power (heck, Shikamaru was almost out of chakra by the end of his match, he certainly didn't hold back power). As for Boruto, the Kote was not "his" asset, he did nothing to earn it, did not train with it, did not need to master it, etc. On the other hand Kankuro worked extensively with his puppets, they were part of his fighting style and used his chakra. And if New Technology Is Evil was being applied, then we wouldn't have gotten that later chapter of Naruto showing he had no issue with the tool being used outside the exams.
• Why doesn't Sasuke get a new arm? Nothing is restricting him from doing so, either by using the Rinnegan during fights, or by transplanting Hashirama cells into a new arm? Sasuke might've been repenting now, but there's Otsutsuki to fight. Sasuke should be mature enough to realize the safety of the village, or rather world, matter more than his personal feelings (or, if he must justify it to himself, that refusing to get a new arm to fight a threat to everyone is selfish, and he can best atone for what he did by fighting for what is right at his best now).
  • He may genuinely believe that the constant reminder of his past mistakes (namely the lost arm) is necessary to keep him from repeating those mistakes and becoming a danger to Konoha himself. Alternatively, perhaps once a few months had passed since losing the arm, it became impossible to effectively give him another one. Replacement body parts in the series tend to be presented as problem free, plug in and use, etc. but typically the new body part gets added soon after losing the original, so it's possible that the passage of enough time could interfere.
• Why can't Naruto just leave a shadow clone at work to come home to his family? He's by and far away the strongest ninja alive (with the exception of Sasuke) and all information that clone processes will be transmitted back to him as soon as it pops, meaning it isn't any less legitimate than if the "real" Naruto was there.
  • It's shown that shadow clones disappear when Naruto falls asleep, it wouldn't be practical to leave a shadow clone on the Hokage's office and risking it to vanish if Naruto happens to doze off when he's away at home (which it's shown to happen rather frequently to him due to overwork), he would then require to produce another clone and send it to the office with the extra time it will take to get there. With this in mind it makes more sense to send a shadow clone to attend his home in most cases (that said, Himawari's birthday was definitely not one of them).
    • But, if he used his Shadow Clones, he wouldn't be overworked. The burden would be split with hundreds, thousands if needed, of Naruto's, each as capable as the Original. And, if one pops, the rest all get his knowledge. Naruto could easily make a clone, then pop it, to tell the other clones he's getting ready for bed, with them then cleaning up for the day, before popping themselves in a controlled fashion.
    • Actually, remember that not just experience gathered by the clones is passed to the original, also fatigue. It has been shown since the Hidan and Kakuzu arc that using shadow clones for intense activities, like training, carries a great toll for Naruto, hence why Kakashi said that only Naruto with his Uzumaki life-force and Kurama's chakra was the one who could do it. Naruto even passed out more than once after popping all shadow clones in a controlled fashion due being hit with the stamina drain of all of his clones at once. With this in mind, using shadow clones could very well make the situation worse. And actually was revealed that Naruto does use shadow clones for multi-tasking at work, he just uses a limited number of clones like 5 or 6, and it does impact his performance.
• Team 15 got a new member to replace Sumire, Tsubaki. She is a Samurai unlike the rest of her team members who are Shinobi. So will she be allowed to partake in a future Chunin exam given that it's mandatory to participate in groups of 3, despite having a different rank from Ninja?
  • One of the factors depends on how long the student exchange program last. Also, in my opinion, since it is an experimental implementation of including samurai in a three man cell for a shinobi village, they might allow it, with some amendment to the rules that allow samurai like Tsubaki to participate equally like a shinobi while not hindering her specialty in swordsmanship. Rather than Chunin, which represents middle ninja, samurai will be addressed differently in title, maybe churai (middle samurai) for example.

• With the addition of Deepa in the anime, all the Kara Roman Numerals from 1-7 are accounted for, and then 9 for Kawaki. Who is and where is # VIII? Being saved for another anime only arc?

• If the Ten Tails Seed needs to be fed an Ōtsutsuki Clan member to mature into a Divine Tree and produce Chakra Fruit, how was the Divine Tree already present and producing Chakra Fruit on the future Ninja World without Kaguya sacrificing herself to it like she was supposed to? Did she feed one half of Isshiki's body to it after bisecting him, or is the Ninja World's chakra somehow potent enough to cause the Ten Tails Seed to mature without consuming an Ōtsutsuki Clan member?
  • It's probably the former, Momoshiki when he was possesing Boruto revealed his intention to feed Isshiki's data from Kawaki's body to the Ten Tails, mentioning that it should still produce a respectable sized fruit. So it doesn't need an entire Otsutsuki.