[note: Only vague spoilers]

Before starting this review of Naruto's side story, I want to point out something. Yes it's a side story, not another arc of Naruto and not a sequel. So it's very baffling how some took this as seriously as the main manga, even though this is just an epilogue, with a self contained villain.

From the beginning, this is about the next generation of Ninja, and severing as an epilogue for the upcoming movie. It's not about Naruto and Sasuke, so them not taking the spotlight makes sense, yet, so many people think they are nerfed or something. It's not that Naruto became weak. He is still as strong as he was in the war, if not stronger. It's just there is no point for him or Sasuke to one shot the villains. The focus and spotlight is not on them, it's on Sarada. The same goes for the Boruto movie, they will most likely won't defeat the main villain in it, Boruto and Sarada will.

[Story] [7/10]

The story is simple and straight forward. It mainly driven by Sarada's conflict with her father, with the mystery of who is her real mother, as there were hints, that made her feel doubtful that Sakura is her biological mother. Which they are later confronted with a new villain. It's nothing complex or impressive, but it did serve, as an engaging narrative for Sadara's small journey, and self reflection, as she find her own ambition and goals by the end of it, and feels satisfied by herself.

That and accompanied by a plot twist, albeit an obvious one, regarding her birth mother. Which led, to very endearing and emotional moments, so it was used well.


[Characters][10/10]

Since this is mostly character driven, the characters shine in it. I just loved seeing them as grown ups, felt like I would never get bored if this went on a 100 chapter, of simply just their interactions. Naruto became wiser, and helped Sarada along her journey, his Hokage look, really suits, gives him the air of a mature person.

From the next generation, mainly Sarada and Chocho got a lot of screen time. and Chocho is a really funny comic relief character, so I liked her. Sarada is a well written character, being a female uchiha makes her really refreshing, as she develops after finding the Sakura might not be her mother, and realizes, there are more important things than blood relations, there are much more deeper connection. Which delivered the most endearing and heartwarming scene in this manga, her flashback with Sakura. It's emotional moments like this, is where the series as whole, really stand out at the top for me.

This manga also showed, the more caring side of Sasuke, which was quite awesome, and made the story being about their family worth it.

[Enjoyment] [10/10]

I honestly had low expectations of this. I just thought it would be about the new kids, with nothing interesting happening and them being mirror images of their parents. And thankfully, I was really wrong. I enjoyed it so much, and it gave me some nostalgia, and made me very excited for the upcoming movie, it has everything that I ever want.


As long as you don't expect another serious arc from Naruto, I think many will enjoy this, especially if they cared/had emotional investment of the main series. But if you are one of the fans, who only liked/read for the action and story, you will be disappointed, as this is a character driven side story, with a focused emotional aspect.