Summary
Konohamaru Sarutobi is one of the characters fromNarutowho ended up receiving a much bigger role inBoruto. Konohamaru was to follow in the footsteps of Kakashi as the leader of Team 7 inBoruto, which included Boruto Uzumaki, Sarada Uchiha, and Mitsuki. Later on, Kawaki also joined this team, and quite evidently, they were a class above the rest.
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As such, it was expected of Konohamaru to rise to the challenge and showcase himself as an incredible team leader as well. Unfortunately, that never ended up happening inBorutoand he remains to be one of the most underutilized character in the entire series. Now thatBorutohas entered part 2and the timeskip is over, the time could be here for him to redeem himself and shine in the eyes of the fans with his newfound abilities.
Konohamaru’s Strength Before The Timeskip
Konohamaru is an exceptionally powerful ninja. For one, he is the apprentice of Naruto Uzumaki and he aims to become the Hokage of the village at some point. Attaining this position is certainly not easy and that automatically means that reaching a certain level of strength is expected from him. Having learned quite a lot from his idol, he has fared decently inBoruto. In fact, one could argue that he is definitely stronger than an average Jonin.
Sadly, with the level of threat that the world of ninja is faced with at the moment, that level is certainly not impressive in any way. In fact, his own students appear to be much stronger than him, which is embarrassing. Boruto Uzumaki ranks among the strongest in the entire world, and the same can be said for Kawaki as well. Meanwhile,Mitsuki possesses hidden powersthat put him on a level beyond the Sannin, while Sarada recently tapped into the powers of her Mangekyo Sharingan.
These are ninjas that have fought against Kara Inners and fared extremely well. They are powerful in their own right and they have earned every bit of respect and praise that they get. The same cannot be said for Konohamaru. In fact, the biggest enemy that he has fought in the series so far is a Kara Outer. What is even more shocking is the fact that even against him, he was seen struggling quite a bit, which further establishes the fact that he wasn’t strong at all before the timeskip.
Konohamaru During The Timeskip
Given his level of strength, Konohamaru certainly had a mammoth task at hand to improve himself and become worthy of leading Team 7, and, at the same time, be a worthy contender for the position of Hokage. Konohamaru is certainly not all that special when compared to the likes of the Uchiha or the Hyuga. However, that is not to say that he doesn’t have abilities that he can train to the fullest. Konohamaru hails from the Sarutobi Clan and these people are known for their incredible reserves of chakra. They are also known for exceptional control over Fire Release and one of their strongest shinobi, Hiruzen, went on to become the God of Shinobi. His understanding of Jutsu was absolutely incredible and there was no jutsu in the existence of Konoha that he did not know how to perform,apart from Kekkei Genkai.
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Konohamaru only needs to look at his grandfather and attempt to emulate him in order to become a powerful ninja. For one, mastering all five Nature Transformations would be a beginning and, from there onwards, learning a plethora of techniques would be essential for him as well. He also has incredible summons at his disposal, and just as Hiruzen had Enma, the Monkey King, Konohamaru can have his very own as well.
Konohamaru’s Strength After The Timeskip
The 3 year time skip ofBorutois finally over now and that only means that the various characters that were seen in the story will be much stronger than before. For instance, fans have already seen the likes of Kawaki and Boruto grow tremendously in terms of strength. The same should apply to all the other main as well as side characters in the story. This should especially be true for the likes of Konohamaru and all the others like him who were neglected inBorutoPart 1.
Konohamaru should have seen this time skip as a challenge for him to raise himself to the level of his students. If he is weaker than his own students, he doesn’t command much respect to begin with and, at the same time, it weakens his position in the entire story. As such, he has to rise to new levels. A perfect example of this would be Kakashi gaining the powers of the Mangekyo Sharingan After the timeskip inNaruto. Even though every student of his grew stronger, Kishimoto made sure to give him a power-up as well to keep the competition going and remind the fans that he wasstill the leader of Team 7.
Similarly, Konohamaru would need a boost and strength as well and this could very well come from either him mastering all Nature Transformations, or, learning a powerful ability such as Sage Mode. It must be remembered that Konohamaru has all the prerequisites to learn Sage Mode and, given that he is the apprentice of Naruto, there is no reason as to why he could not learn this skill in 3 years of the timeskip.
Konohamaru’s Role In Boruto Part 2
Fans have not seen much of Konohamaru inBorutoPart 1 and they can only hope thatBorutoPart 2 sees to that and fixes it. Apart from his involvement in the Ao arc, he has been largely irrelevant inBorutoPart 2. The author needs to see to it that he gets the importance that he deserves in the series. While it is difficult to fight against the likes of Code, the onus lies on the author to make the series competitive for other side characters as well.
InBorutoPart 2, fans can expect Konohamaru to have grown tremendously in terms of strength. If that is the case, then his importance in the story will automatically increase. Perhaps, he will be one of the main fighters in the war that is to come in Konoha. When Konoha is destroyed, fans expect him to be central to this plot line as well, given that he is among the strongest shinobi in the village. If Naruto is to be rescued, he, once again, should be involved here as well, given that he isthe apprentice of the 7th Hokageand someone was once entrusted to follow him up and become the Hokage as well. There are a lot of expectations that fans have from his character and only the authors can deliver upon them.
Boruto is available to read via Viz Media. The series can be read by the fans officially and for free on the Shonen Jump and theManga Plusapp. The release date for the next chapter of Boruto, Boruto Part 2 chapter 2, is set to be June 16, 2025.
