Boruto Naruto Next Generations Graphic Novel Volume 4 cover image

He is Uzumaki Naruto, and once upon a time, he was a young shinobi (ninja) who lived in the shinobi Village of Konohagakure.  He had an incorrigible knack for mischief and was the biggest troublemaker at the Ninja Academy.  However, Naruto was serious about his quest to become the world’s greatest ninja and the Hokage, leader of his village.  But this is not Naruto's story.  This is the story of  Naruto's son, Boruto!

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Vol. 4 (entitled The Value of a Hidden Ace!! – Chapters 12 to 15) finds Boruto with an assignment as a bodyguard.  His job is to watch over the Fire Daimyo's son, Tento.  Boruto finds himself liking the talkative kid and is surprised when Tento asks him to give him some lessons on being a ninja.  After a group of villains makes a movie, the boys discover that they are more alike than they seem.

THE LOWDOWN:  To be honest, the Boruto: Naruto Next Generations manga is very much like the Naruto manga.  The difference is the lead characters.  Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto supervises this series and he and his Boruto creative team, artist Mikio Ikemoto and script writer Ukyo Kodachi, approach Boruto from a different point of view than Kishimoto did with Naruto.

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Volume 4 has a star who seems more level-headed than his father was as 'tween or as a teen.  Early in his manga, Naruto often came across as a scamp who was desperate to be loved.  Boruto is less needy and is also ambitious, but is more focused and perhaps more mature.  Boruto, at least by my reading, has a sense of self-possession and is self-aware in ways that separate Boruto from the ninja characters that came before him.  That is a good thing, and Boruto is, just like its predecessor, a blast to read.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Naruto will want the Shonen Jump title, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations.

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9 out of 10