Akebi's return in Boruto may force Kawaki to kill his own mother

Modified Nov 27, 2024 19:00 GMT

Akebi's return in Boruto may force Kawaki to kill his own mother (Image via Studio Pierrot)

The Boruto series is known for many things, including its untapped narrative potential and the fact that its overall story results from multiple character stories stacked on top of each other. Although Boruto, the main protagonist, experienced development and character growth during the three-year time skip between Part 1 and Part 2, Kawaki has remained rather immature.

Kawaki's entire story has currently pitted him against every single Otsutsuki in existence, which might be a rather elaborate setup for him to eventually revive Amado's daughter, Akebi, and then proceed to eliminate her in his pursuit of Otsutsuki's extermination. While no actual dialogue hinting at Akebi and Kawaki's relationship currently exists, their respective ages and Delta's attitude toward Kawaki might be a subtle hint at their former relationship.

Disclaimer: This article is speculative and contains spoilers for the Boruto series.

Boruto Two Blue Vortex: Akebi's return might be Kawaki's most impactful moment

Delta as shown in the Boruto manga (Image via Shueisha)

Kawaki has been one of the key figures within the story, with most of the current scenarios being a direct result of his desires and actions. Although Kawaki doesn't have many true allies within the current narrative, Delta has been the only character present throughout most of Kawaki's screen time. Delta's usual personality is that of a brash battle cyborg, which suits her actual origins, but many times, she has also expressed a rather caring and motherly attitude toward Kawaki.

Delta originated from Akebi's demise due to a mysterious disease that Amado couldn't cure. Amado then proceeded to preserve Akebi's memories and clone her, which was then implanted with all of Akebi's preserved memories. While the cloning and memory implants succeeded, the clone did not develop a personality resembling Akebi's in any manner, even after multiple iterations.

Amado as shown in the Boruto anime (Image via Studio Pierrot)

This clone was later named Delta. Akebi was 24 years old at the time of her death, which the story has confirmed, and the time disparity between that event and the events of the current story is estimated to be around 15-16 years, including the three-year time skip.

Akebi's father, Amado, who created Delta, also implanted much of Akebi's data into Kawaki's Kama seal, hoping that Kawaki would revive her someday. Although the revival is mostly limited to the Otsutsuki bloodline, Kawaki's questions regarding Akebi possibly becoming an Otsutsuki were left unanswered by Amado, who mostly has all the answers.

Kawaki as shown in the Boruto manga (Image via Shueisha)

Amado might be hiding any and all information about Akebi being Kawaki's mother since he wouldn't risk reviving his own mother as an Otsutsuki while having the goal of Otsutsuki's extermination. Kawaki might need to eliminate his own biological mother after reviving her, which would be used by the authors to "break" his character and develop it into something more grand.

The timelines of Akebi's and Kawaki's ages match up since Akebi dying at 24 years old would make her around 40 years old with current estimates, which makes it possible that Akebi died shortly after giving birth to Kawaki. Delta exhibiting a caring attitude toward Kawaki might be one of the only traits she inherited from Akebi's memories.

While this would raise questions about why Amado would mutilate and experiment on his biological grandson, it can be answered by him caring only about his daughter over Kawaki, which would also give him a rather huge but humane flaw.

Final Thoughts

The story's main protagonist has already received his character development and power-up due to Kashin Koji. Kawaki's development will be the next narrative the authors address, as stated during their interviews. Most villains in the original Naruto series had a defining event that solidified their personalities and worldview. Akebi's death at Kawaki's hands might be the defining moment that shapes his character.