“Boruto: Two Blue Vortex” Manga Issue 14 Review: Duty

Boruto Two Blue Vortex manga issue 14, titled ‘Duty’, offered some answers to certain questions while continuing to increase the threat level of the villainous team.

It’s been a while since I have talked about Boruto Two Blue Vortex. It’s not because I didn’t find the chapter enjoyable, it’s just that there wasn’t a lot for me to talk about due to their action-heavy nature. Anyway, the latest installment made me get back to writing about it.

With Jura deciding to fall back after acquiring Hidari’s Thorn Soul Blub, Boruto Two Blue Vortex manga chapter 14 focused on Boruto being interrogated by Konohamaru and Ibiki. Of course, our young hero was wearing the chakra-nullifying handcuffs that Amado created. Apparently, the cuffs were strong enough to withstand brute physical force.

Most of the interrogation scene played out as expected, with Boruto sharing information about Jura and his minions while withholding information about Kashin Koji’s involvement. A thing that surprised me was Boruto revealing that Naruto and Hinata were safe and sound. Even though Konohamaru and the rest were hesitant to believe Boruto without proof of life, I do feel that his speaking the truth sowed a seed of doubt that might help certain characters fight the effects of Omnipotence down the line.

Talking about Omnipotence, I liked how ‘Duty’ showed Shikamaru struggling with the incredible memory-altering power of the Shinjutsu in real time. He knew he trusted Boruto, but the specifics were beginning to blur for him. As mentioned throughout the narrative, Omnipotence is an ever-present power. People needed to continue mentally fighting it to prevent their memories from being changed. Shikamaru’s struggle served as an example of Sasuke’s mental fortitude to keep trusting Boruto over the past three years even though Omnipotence was trying to change Sasuke’s memories 24/7.

With Boruto withholding information about Naruto and Hinata’s whereabouts, Ibiki decided to step in to physically attack Boruto. Now, I get that Ibiki’s nowhere near Boruto’s power level. However, I do feel that certain fans need to realize that the characters in Naruto/Boruto utilized chakra for offense and defense purposes. If you took away their chakra, you were basically dealing with “normal” humans. That’s why, to me, it made sense for Ibiki to make Boruto bleed (by bashing his face) because Boruto was unable to mold chakra to enhance his durability because of the handcuffs.

Due to the village Elders wanting Boruto executed on the spot, Shikamaru had to act fast to save him. The fact that Ino refused to help Shikamaru came as a surprise to me. I understood that aiding Shikamaru meant breaking a bunch of protocols of Konoha’s Sensory Unit that Ino was in charge of. However, considering what Ino and Shikamaru have been through over the decades as teammates, I thought Ino would continue trusting one of her best friends. I mean, I would trust someone as smart as Shikamaru. But I guess the creative team needed to have Ino step away to amp up the tension during the interrogation scene.

And if you think about it, Ino’s unwillingness to help Shikamaru to save Boruto could be chalked up to Omnipotence and Inojin’s near-death encounter with Jura.

‘Duty’ showed that even though Himawari was able to use Kurama’s chakra to heal Inojin, he was still unconscious because his chakra pathways had been blocked. I liked how the chapter used the situation to bring in Sakura (I’ve missed her!). Of course, as someone with perfect chakra control and being a genius medical ninja, Sakura would know how to unblock chakra pathways ASAP.

Sakura’s ability to do so served as more support when it comes to certain fans stating that Sakura should know how to counter the chakra-blocking effects of the Byakugan.

While I was glad to see Sakura be part of the latest chapter, I’m still waiting to see her emotions regarding Sasuke being deemed a rogue Konoha ninja helping the traitorous Boruto and Salad spending the past three years trying to tell anyone who would listen about Omnipotence. Due to Sakura’s love for Sasuke and their shared past, she should be one of the characters willing to believe Salad. Sakura should also be analytical enough (similar to Shikamaru) to decide to help Boruto. Let’s see what happens with her as the story continues.

Coming back to Boruto’s interrogation, we learn that while Hidari and Matsuri were based on Sasuke and Moegi, respectively, Jura was different. The leader of the villainous group didn’t have a human origin. Jura was directly created from the Ten-Tails. No wonder he’s incredibly powerful.

With Ino refusing to help, Shikamaru had to scramble to pivot his initial plan and that led to Mitsuki playing an important role. I was wondering where he was after his confrontation with Boruto. I really thought one of the humanoid Shinjus had gotten to him. But nopes, Mitsuki’s okay and he’s called in by Shikamaru to get Boruto to talk. However, Shikamaru had set a secret plan in motion.

I enjoyed the entire little sequence of Mitsuki pretending to attack Boruto only to use one of his snakes to put in the code to release the handcuffs. Yes, to Mitsuki being on team Boruto even though his actions went against Omnipotence. Mitsuki’s search for his “Sun” proved to be more powerful than the Omnipotence Shinjutsu. Yay to “queer love”! Ha!

Due to Boruto making his escape (but not before retrieving his belongings), I liked how ‘Duty’ seemed to suggest that Konohamaru had figured out what Shikamaru had done. I’m looking forward to seeing the two having a conversation about how to deal with Boruto, especially with the village Elders warning Shikamaru about the consequences he would have to face because of Boruto’s sudden exit.

‘Duty’ concluded with Jura welcoming a new member, named Ryu, to the team. From what I could tell, some in the fandom speculated that Ryu was a version of Naruto. However, I think most could tell that Ryu was the humanoid Shinju version of Shinki.

The latest chapter proved that much by having Kankuro contact Shikamaru and sharing that both Gaara and his adopted son Shinki were recently attacked by the humanoid Shinju (apparently, it was Matsuri and Mamushi who attacked them while Jura and Hidari kept the Konoha ninja busy). The confrontation had led to Shinki being trapped in the Shinju Tree thus leading to Ryu’s creation.

With every humanoid Shinju wanting to devour specific people, I wonder whom Ryu will go after. It would make sense for him to attack Gaara or he might want to target Mitsuki due to how things played out between the two young shinobi during the Chunin Exams. 

All in all, ‘Duty’ was a fun read because it answered a bunch of questions. And with the threat continuing to worsen with each new chapter, I have no idea how our heroes will be able to fight the humanoid Shinjus without some sort of scientific ninja tool up their sleeves. The current villains are in a league of their own.

What did you think of Boruto Two Blue Vortex manga issue 14 ‘Duty’?

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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