Boruto: Naruto Next Generations 1×229 Review – “Breach of Orders”

Boruto anime episode 229, ‘Breach of Orders’, showed Kawaki’s resolve to complete his latest mission. It also featured a plot that felt too close to what’s currently occurring around the world.

With Shikadai, Chocho, and Kawaki being selected to escort Mozuku to the Land of Calm Seas, ‘Breach of Orders’ opened by showing that the current mission was more dangerous than anticipated. Turns out, Mozuku’s not carrying around a valuable piece of art. He’s actually carrying a cure meant to help the people of his land fight an epidemic.

‘Breach of Orders’ had Mozuku reveal the true reason behind his journey and his explanation touched on how greedy people had no qualms about making money from the suffering of others. Mozuku shared that when a severe illness hit his land, his teacher had developed a cure. However, the Feudal Lord decided to make the cure available at very expensive rates to earn a profit and strengthen his hold on the land.

Not agreeing with the Feudal Lord’s methods, Mozuku’s teacher decided to make a new cure that was cheaper and faster. But when the Feudal Lord heard of such a cure, he banned the cure’s production. Mozuku’s teacher enlisted seven apprentices (including Mozuku) to travel to different lands and work with his peers to produce the new cure and then bring it back to the Land of Calm Seas. 

The Feudal Lord heard of the apprentices coming back with the cure and decided to have them killed by hiring ninjas named Kurobane and Jujumaru. I felt for Mozuku when he realized that he was the only apprentice still alive. He’s been through a lot of emotional stress.

Mozuku’s story felt similar to what we have been experiencing in the real world. We all know of how certain pharmaceutical companies refuse to make medicine available to the public at affordable rates. There are also arguments about how certain vaccine production protocols should be shared with other countries to help end the pandemic instead of holding on to information because companies want to make money.

I get that storylines featuring illnesses and greedy rulers aren’t new, but seeing one playout in an anime during the current times we are in just hit differently.

‘Breach of Orders’ also gave Kawaki some character development. One of the reasons Naruto wanted him to go on missions with other ninjas was because he wanted Kawaki to make friends and develop a support group he could rely on when in trouble. I liked how Chocho offered Kawaki her lunch because he didn’t bring anything to eat. Chocho sharing her food with someone is a big deal. I liked how Kawaki appreciated her gesture. He also paid it forward by offering food to Mozuku because he didn’t have money to buy some for himself.

Another moment of growth occurred during Shikadai, Chocho, and Kawaki’s fight with Jujumaru. Kawaki’s got a lot to learn when it came to teamwork. Due to his childhood, he’s been trained to only look out for himself. He was quite surprised by how Chocho trusted Shikadai with her life.

Shikadai asking Chocho to break Jujumaru’s Tree Blood Barrier Jutsu was a reckless tactic, but her trust in Shikadai paid off. It was important for Kawaki to realize that there were going to be situations he won’t be able to handle alone. It’s only through working together that Shikadai, Chocho, and Kawaki were able to defeat Jujumaru.

Also, can we talk about Jujumaru’s Tree Blood Barrier Jutsu? It’s definitely a very formidable secret jutsu to go up against, especially if a person’s unaware of how it worked. Trying to destroy the barrier would lead to the blood from the barrier falling on the person. And soon as a few drops of blood fell on someone, they would be under Jujumaru’s control. Shikadai had to knock Mozuku out because Jujumaru came very close to making a possessed Mozuku kill himself.

Even though I enjoyed the action sequence, I would have liked to get some more information about how Jujumaru’s jutsu worked. Is Jujumaru able to only control one person at a time? Can a single drop of blood cause a person to fall under Jujumaru’s control? Is there some kind of Genjutsu involved in his technique?

‘Breach of Orders’ ended with Kawaki deciding to go after Kurobane to retrieve the cure he stole from Mozuku and the rest of the apprentices. I liked seeing the resolve Kawaki demonstrated. He had been very carefree about completing his previous missions and becoming a Genin-level ninja.

However, having spent time with Mozuku, Kawaki understood the importance of Mozuku’s mission and he made up his mind to do everything in his power to help Mozuku deliver the cure to his people.

With Shikdai having to take Chocho back to the village because she got severely injured (I still think her getting injured made no sense, but oh well), I highly doubt Kawaki and Mozuku will be able to handle Kurobane as a duo. Mozuku knows a bit of medical ninjutsu, but not enough to be of any help during an actual battle. They will need backup. And with Boruto, Salad, and Mitsuki noticing Jujumaru and Kurobane running away somewhere during the earlier moments of the episode, I wouldn’t mind Team 7 arriving to lend Kawaki a hand once Shikadai tells Naruto what happened.

The episode didn’t clearly show what Kurobane’s capable of. From what I could tell, he had a jutsu he liked used when torturing people. Once he’s done, the person being tortured died and their body appeared as if it had been drained of blood. He’s also got an ocular jutsu which he used to track Mozuku and knows how to summon mist.

Also, with the Feudal Lord involved, I wonder if Naruto will play a role in ensuring the people of the Land of Calm Seas got the treatment they required because even if Mozuku had brought the cure back, the Feudal Lord could have put him in prison. I wouldn’t be against the people rising up against the Feudal Lord and taking matters into their own hands.

While I still think Kawaki shouldn’t be allowed to leave the village, I have to say that I’m enjoying the current arc. Will he still be given the rank of Genin after helping Mozuku even though he refused to follow Shikadai’s orders to return to Konoha? We will find out soon enough.

What did you think of ‘Breach of Orders’?

Let us know.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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