Mitsuki’s Will

Bottom line

Boruto Episode 72 opens the Mitsuki Disappearance Arc by taking the quietest member of Team 7 offscreen and letting everybody else decide what his silence means. Two Konoha gatekeepers are attacked. Mitsuki vanishes. His forehead protector appears at the scene. Ino reads a guard’s memory and sees Mitsuki leave with the attackers. By the time Boruto hears the adults talking, Mitsuki has become a possible traitor, an Orochimaru security risk, and a political argument before anybody has heard his side.

Boruto refuses the easy verdict because the Mitsuki he knows does not fit the evidence. Sarada argues that shinobi have to consider every possibility, which is sensible and painful. Konohamaru learns that his student may be connected to an attack and has to admit how much Naruto kept from him. Tsunade discovers that Orochimaru’s son has been living as a Leaf genin and responds with the exact amount of fury you would expect from the woman who survived Orochimaru’s first era.

The episode lands when Boruto finds one of Mitsuki’s snakes near the gate. A strange remnant attacks the message before Boruto can retrieve the snake. Boruto wins, and the snake tells him only that this is Mitsuki’s will. That phrase is not an explanation. Boruto treats the uncertainty as a reason to find his friend. Sarada chooses to go with him, and Team 7’s crisis becomes an unauthorized rescue mission before the night is over.

Episode file

• Series: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
• Episode: 72
• Title: “Mitsuki’s Will”
• Arc: Mitsuki’s Disappearance Arc
• Japanese airdate: September 6, 2018
• Previous episode: “The Hardest Rock in the World”
• Next episode: “The Other Side of the Moon”

The official guide begins with the attacked gatekeepers and Mitsuki’s disappearance, then follows Boruto and Sarada into his empty home and toward the high-level meeting they are absolutely not invited to hear.

The gate attack makes Mitsuki guilty by morning

Uō and Saō are attacked while guarding one of Konoha’s entrances. The assault happens at night, the attackers leave before a clean alarm spreads, and Sai finds a Leaf forehead protector near the scene. Mitsuki is missing when the village begins checking names.

Every piece points toward him without proving the whole story. His headband places his property at the gate. His absence connects him to the timing. The injured guard’s memory later shows him leaving with the foreign shinobi. None of those facts explain whether Mitsuki planned the attack, cooperated under pressure, protected the guards, or followed the assailants for another reason.

The village cannot ignore the evidence. Boruto cannot accept the conclusion. That gap gives the arc somewhere useful to begin.

A cancelled mission reveals the empty apartment

Boruto and Sarada do not know about the attack when their mission is cancelled. They go to Mitsuki’s home to tell him, find the door open, and enter an apartment that feels barely lived in. The space is sparse enough to make Boruto uncomfortable.

Mitsuki has eaten with them, fought beside them, and appeared whenever Team 7 needed him. Neither friend has spent much time asking what home looks like after he leaves them. The apartment exposes the difference between knowing somebody’s routine and knowing somebody’s life.

Boruto finds a picture of himself near Mitsuki’s bed. The detail confirms that Boruto occupies a large place in Mitsuki’s private world. Boruto has not returned the same level of curiosity. That imbalance will follow him through the whole arc.

Everybody assumes Boruto should know

Boruto and Sarada ask the other genin whether anyone has seen Mitsuki. Inojin assumes Boruto would know where to find him. The response sounds ordinary because Mitsuki’s attachment to Boruto is obvious to everyone around them.

Boruto does not know. That small embarrassment grows into the episode’s emotional question. Being the person Mitsuki follows does not mean Boruto understands where Mitsuki goes when he stops following.

Chōchō contributes the clue that all the jōnin have been summoned while regular missions are being cancelled. Something larger than one absent teammate is happening. Boruto and Sarada head toward Konohamaru for answers.

Konohamaru knows too much and says too little

Boruto and Sarada tell Konohamaru that Mitsuki is missing. Their team leader brushes them off badly enough that both genin recognize the lie. Konohamaru has been pulled into the official response, and he cannot disclose an active investigation to two students.

His position is miserable. Mitsuki is his responsibility. The evidence points toward the student, while Naruto has withheld the full truth about Mitsuki’s origin even from the jōnin leading his team. Konohamaru has to protect the investigation and process his own sense of betrayal at the same time.

Boruto reads secrecy as another reason to investigate alone. The adults have valid reasons to limit information. Their silence still guarantees that Boruto will create his own plan from whatever pieces he can steal.

Of course Boruto and Sarada spy on the meeting

The Hokage gathers Sai, Shikamaru, Konohamaru, and other senior shinobi to discuss the gate attack. Boruto and Sarada eavesdrop because asking politely has already failed. Their choice crosses another boundary, but the scene makes the temptation understandable. The meeting concerns their missing teammate, and nobody will tell them why the entire village is locking down.

Sai presents the forehead protector. Konohamaru confirms the item belongs to Mitsuki. The adults begin considering whether Mitsuki was the target, an accomplice, or something more dangerous.

Boruto listens from outside the room as people build a case around his friend. Every official sentence feels colder because he has no way to interrupt without exposing himself.

Tsunade enters angry and gets angrier

Tsunade arrives after hearing Leaf shinobi were attacked. She expects a security briefing and receives a revelation about a genin she has never met. When Naruto finally explains that Mitsuki is Orochimaru’s son, Tsunade’s patience leaves the building.

Her anger is historically earned. Orochimaru experimented on people, attacked Konoha, killed Hiruzen, pursued immortality through stolen bodies, and turned human lives into research material. Naruto’s generation lives in a political arrangement where Orochimaru’s knowledge is monitored and occasionally useful. Tsunade remembers the price behind every clean sentence in that arrangement.

Homura and Koharu also view Mitsuki through Orochimaru’s threat level. The meeting begins treating a child as the possible return of his creator before anyone discusses who Mitsuki has been inside the village.

Ino reads the memory nobody wants

Ino examines the injured guard’s memory and sees Mitsuki leaving with the attackers. The image gives the officials stronger evidence than a dropped headband. Mitsuki appears to move with the group voluntarily.

Memory still shows a moment, not the reason beneath the moment. The guard was injured, the scene was chaotic, and Mitsuki’s expression cannot explain what preceded the departure. The characters do not have the later revelation that Mitsuki stopped the guards’ hearts to protect them.

Boruto sees enough to feel betrayed and refuses to let that feeling become a verdict. Sarada sees the same evidence and insists they cannot rule out Mitsuki’s involvement. Their disagreement is exactly what good mystery needs: emotion challenging evidence and evidence challenging emotion.

Naruto reveals the secret he allowed into Team 7

Naruto tells the room that Mitsuki is Orochimaru’s son. Konohamaru’s reaction matters as much as Tsunade’s. Naruto assigned Mitsuki to Team 7 while withholding the origin from the man responsible for leading and protecting him.

Naruto explains that he accepted Mitsuki as a Leaf shinobi. Shikamaru adds that Orochimaru’s research may be important against the Ōtsutsuki. The arguments sound practical, but they also reveal that Mitsuki has been living inside an arrangement where adults value what his existence can provide.

Nobody at the meeting knows whether Mitsuki left to reject that arrangement. The possibility should make the village more curious and less eager to call him a weapon.

Konohamaru cannot defend a student he was not allowed to know

Konohamaru suggests contacting Mitsuki’s guardian before Naruto reveals the identity. Learning the truth in front of Tsunade, advisers, and security officials leaves him no private room to process the news.

His uncertainty should not be mistaken for rejection. Konohamaru knows Mitsuki’s behavior on missions. He knows the student who protected teammates and followed orders. He now has to reconcile that person with Orochimaru’s experiment and the memory of Mitsuki leaving an attacked gate.

The episode could spend more time on that wound. Team leaders cannot protect students when the Hokage decides a student’s most dangerous context belongs outside the briefing.

Boruto and Sarada argue over what trust requires

After the meeting, Sarada says shinobi have to consider every possibility. She does not call Mitsuki guilty. She refuses to declare him innocent before understanding the attack. That is a fair position for somebody who wants to become Hokage.

Boruto hears hesitation as abandonment. He wants Sarada to offer Mitsuki the same immediate trust he feels. His anger carries love and arrogance. Boruto assumes his emotional knowledge of Mitsuki outranks the evidence because accepting doubt feels like betraying the friendship.

He lashes out at Sarada’s Hokage ambition, asking whether leadership is only about skill. The criticism is unfair, though Boruto touches a real question. A leader has to hold security and compassion in the same hand. Sarada is trying to do exactly that before Boruto storms away.

Shikadai gives the sensible warning

Shikadai tells Boruto that the village has increased security and formed a tracking team. He also tells Boruto not to do anything stupid. Shikadai knows his friend well enough to understand that this warning is closer to weather reporting than prevention.

The exchange establishes Shikadai as the person most likely to anticipate Boruto’s next move. He respects the village response and cares about Mitsuki. Soon, those loyalties will place Team 10 directly in Boruto’s path.

Boruto does not argue because he is already looking for the gap where official search and personal knowledge meet.

Mitsuki’s snake waits near the attack site

Boruto returns toward the gate and finds one of Mitsuki’s snakes carrying a message. The snake’s location suggests Mitsuki planned for Boruto to discover something after the departure. Before Boruto can collect the message, a strange remnant from one of the attackers tries to destroy the snake.

The attack proves the message matters to somebody. Boruto fights the remnant and protects the tiny creature, giving the episode a burst of action that directly serves the mystery.

Once safe, the snake repeats the recorded statement: this is Mitsuki’s will. Four words become the engine for an entire arc.

“My will” answers nothing and changes everything

Boruto wants the message to clear Mitsuki. Instead, the phrase appears to confirm that he left voluntarily. “My will” could mean the departure was chosen, the message itself was chosen, or Mitsuki wants Boruto to question what will means for somebody created through Orochimaru’s experiments.

Boruto refuses to accept the worst interpretation without asking Mitsuki directly. That instinct is loving. His next choice is still dangerous. He decides to leave Konoha during a lockdown and pursue a teammate connected to an attack.

The message gives him purpose without a plan. Boruto has always been excellent at supplying the rest through momentum.

Sarada chooses the road after choosing doubt

Sarada joins Boruto at night despite their earlier argument. Her decision does not mean she has abandoned evidence or suddenly agrees that Mitsuki must be innocent. She believes the unanswered evidence justifies finding him.

She proposes taking the snake to Orochimaru for more information. That plan is terrifyingly logical. Orochimaru created Mitsuki, understands his snakes, and controls records nobody else possesses. Orochimaru is also Orochimaru.

Sarada’s presence improves the mission because she brings questions Boruto may avoid. Boruto wants confirmation. Sarada wants an explanation capable of surviving scrutiny.

The adults create the rebellion they feared

Naruto has real reasons to limit information during an attack investigation. The council has real reasons to worry about Orochimaru. Konohamaru has real reasons to keep students away from a security meeting. All of those reasonable choices combine into an environment where Boruto and Sarada believe leaving secretly is the only route toward Mitsuki.

That does not make their departure correct. The episode becomes stronger when institutional failure and personal recklessness coexist. Adults withheld context. Children responded by crossing the village boundary toward the most dangerous source they know.

The search has now gained two more missing genin. Excellent crisis management, everybody.

What changed for me on replay

The first watch centers the reveal that Mitsuki left with the attackers. On replay, the empty apartment hurts more. Boruto finds his own picture beside Mitsuki’s bed and still cannot name where Mitsuki came from, who raised him, or what “will” means to him.

Naruto’s defense also becomes more complicated. He says he accepted Mitsuki as a shinobi, yet kept the origin from Konohamaru and allowed Shikamaru to justify Mitsuki partly through Orochimaru’s research value. Acceptance without full support can still leave a child alone.

Sarada’s caution ages well. She does not betray Mitsuki by asking whether the evidence could be true. Her choice to join Boruto means more because she carries that doubt with her rather than pretending doubt disappeared.

What works

The mystery has a strong chain of evidence: attacked guards, a dropped headband, an empty home, a memory of Mitsuki leaving, a snake message, and an enemy trying to destroy that message. Each clue advances the plot while leaving motive open.

Tsunade’s return gives the Orochimaru reveal historical weight. Konohamaru’s shock exposes Naruto’s secrecy. Boruto and Sarada’s argument keeps trust from becoming a simple moral badge. The quiet apartment gives Mitsuki presence even while he remains absent.

Most importantly, the episode understands that “will” is not a clean answer for a person whose creator designed his early choices. Mitsuki’s search for agency begins by making everyone else uncomfortable.

What does not work

The high-level meeting allows two genin to hear an extraordinary amount of classified information from outside the room. Konoha can detect hostile chakra across borders, but apparently needs better hallway security.

The adults also move quickly from Mitsuki’s origin to threat comparisons. Tsunade and the advisers have legitimate trauma around Orochimaru, yet the episode gives little space to Mitsuki’s record as an actual Leaf shinobi before suspicion takes over.

Boruto’s fight with the remnant is useful but visually vague. The creature establishes outside interference without giving viewers much to understand about the people behind the attack. Mystery is the goal, though the action can feel like a delivery mechanism for the snake message.

Konoha built this crisis out of classified silence

The village has every reason to treat the gate attack as an emergency. Guards lie injured, Mitsuki has vanished, and the available memory places him beside the attackers. Security cannot wait for Boruto’s feelings to settle. Yet Konoha also created the conditions that make a sensible investigation almost impossible.

Naruto knew Mitsuki came from Orochimaru. Senior leadership knew. The people training beside Mitsuki every day did not. Konohamaru receives responsibility for Team 7 without the information required to understand one third of his team. Boruto and Sarada hear the truth only after spying on a meeting. Secrecy protects the village from panic, but secrecy also ensures that the first crisis explodes through shock rather than trust.

Tsunade’s anger carries history. Orochimaru hurt countless people, violated bodies, chased immortality, and treated human lives as laboratory supplies. She has no obligation to greet his child with cheerful optimism. Her suspicion is earned. The problem comes when suspicion becomes a complete answer before Mitsuki can speak.

Naruto occupies the ugliest middle position. He approved Mitsuki’s place in Konoha because he believes a child should not inherit a creator’s guilt. That choice reflects the best part of Naruto’s leadership. He then surrounded the decision with silence, which leaves Mitsuki protected on paper and isolated in practice. A welcome nobody can discuss is not the same as belonging.

Konohamaru pays for that contradiction. He wants to defend his student, but the revelation tells him that his own superiors never trusted him with the full assignment. How can a team leader notice warning signs when leadership withholds the context? His hurt is not vanity. The village asked him to build trust while reserving facts that could redefine every conversation.

Boruto reacts badly and honestly. He hears “Orochimaru’s child” as proof that the adults never saw Mitsuki the way Team 7 did. Then the snake says Mitsuki acted by his own will, and Boruto immediately tries to reinterpret the message into something less painful. He wants loyalty to settle the facts. Sarada understands that loyalty should make them seek the facts instead.

Her hesitation gives the episode balance. Sarada does not abandon Mitsuki, but she refuses Boruto’s certainty. A teammate can care about them and still choose a path they hate. Trust cannot mean deciding somebody’s answer before asking the question. When Sarada eventually leaves with Boruto, she chooses investigation, not blind agreement.

The adults fear exactly this unauthorized pursuit, yet their locked meeting and partial explanations make the pursuit inevitable. Boruto and Sarada are reckless. Konoha is also asking two frightened children to sit quietly while every authority figure debates their missing friend as a threat, secret, experiment, or political liability.

Mitsuki’s four-word message lands because every side can use the phrase. The village hears confession. Boruto hears a clue. Sarada hears ambiguity. Orochimaru may hear success. Mitsuki remains absent, which means everybody keeps filling his silence with the answer they already wanted. The arc begins when Team 7 decides that borrowed answers are no longer enough.

Final take

“Mitsuki’s Will” is an effective opening to a long arc because the missing character controls every scene without appearing in most of them. Konoha sees a security risk. Tsunade sees Orochimaru’s legacy. Konohamaru sees a student he was never fully briefed to lead. Sarada sees evidence that needs testing. Boruto sees a friend who deserves to answer for himself.

My verdict: a strong mystery episode with excellent emotional groundwork. The empty apartment, Boruto’s portrait, Ino’s memory reading, Naruto’s secret, Tsunade’s anger, and the snake’s four-word message all deepen the same problem. Everybody wants to define Mitsuki’s will before Mitsuki can speak.

Boruto and Sarada leave Konoha to find Orochimaru because caution and common sense have apparently clocked out for the night. Their method is reckless. Their reason is human. Team 7 cannot return to normal until somebody learns what Mitsuki meant by choosing his own will.