With Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto series concluding in 2017, the series continued with a sequel show titled Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, which features the son of our beloved protagonist in the limelight. Anyone would be immensely respectful if their father were the Hokage of the village, but not Boruto Uzumaki, as he shares a very rocky relationship with his father.
A ton of fans believe that this is because the character is in his teenage years. However, others feel that the young protagonist has a rocky relationship with his father because he has been absent from his life most of the time, as being a Hokage is not easy at all.
The sequel series features a scene featuring our young protagonist and Uzumaki Naruto, where the Seventh Hokage demands respect from his son, which makes the fans criticize him for his actions, making him look like a jerk.
Naruto’s Demand for Respect From His Son Creates an Outrage Among The Fandom
In Masashi Kishimoto’s magnum opus, almost every Hokage has left a lasting legacy and has wholeheartedly worked for the progress of the village. As a person, they might not be the best, where fans often showcase intense detest towards Hiruzen Sarutobi, The Third Hokage.
Though it might not be a surprise to the ardent fans, the Hokages have been pretty bad human beings, and Sarutobi allowed the residents to treat Naruto Uzumaki as if he were some kind of monster. Moreover, in one of the episodes of the shot, Uzumaki expresses his long, culminating rage at Hiruzen, where he complains to him for not protecting him and letting the other villagers treat him.
The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki was utterly disappointed and expressed his frustration with Minato Namikaze. He mentioned how his heroic actions made people hate him as he was a vessel for Kurama. However, that’s not all, because he even complained about Tsunade Senju, as he criticized a lot of her actions during her reign as the Fifth Hokage.
He pledged that he would not repeat their mistakes and would become a better father and an even greater Hokage than them. In one of the episodes of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, he became a target of the fans’ hatred because he did the very thing that other Hokages before him repeated.
The scene showcased Boruto asking his father, “Hey dad, I’m not talking to a shadow clone now, am I?” The Seventh Hokage replied, “That’s Lord Hokage to you, son. And no.”
The scene was a hot topic of conversation among fans because they knew that the father-son relationship was quite rocky and they did not get along with each other at all.
The root cause of the issue was that Naruto was never home, and he was absent from his children’s lives, where he would often overwork himself. However, the demand for respect, too, from his son was not well-resonated by the fans, making the jinchuriki a hypocrite himself.
Boruto Fans React To Naruto’s Hypocrite Action as The Hokage
The sequel show features Uzumaki Naruto in a new role, where he is a father to Boruto Uzumaki and Himawari Uzumaki. However, he is not at all excelling in this role, and fans are calling him out as a bad father.
The character fails to maintain a work-life balance, often returning late and sometimes not even making it to family events. However, his reply to his scene made the fans despise him.
In r/Naruto, a Reddit user shared a still of the scene, and fans of the Shonen series were calling out the Hokage for his poor choice of words, but some decided to save Naruto from the unwanted criticism. They commented,
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There’s no denying that the scene has split the fandom, and the community is trying to justify their reasons for both characters. However, one thing is for sure: being a Hokage has put Naruto under immense pressure. Primarily because the kid, who once strived to give their 200% to a task, is now struggling with their day-to-day responsibility of being a Hokage to the point he can’t even form Shadow Clones.
Boruto: Naruto Next Generations can be streamed on Crunchyroll as of August 16, 2024.
