Who Is Kawaki & Does He Kill Naruto & Sasuke? Explained
In fictional media, new, fresh characters can influence and change the “flow” of the project. The Naruto series did that quite alright by adding characters like Yamato, Obito, and Killer B, who positively influenced the plot. In the sequel, Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, we see new generations of Konoha ninjas facing new obstacles and dangers of the Shinobi World. One character greatly impacted Boruto’s plot – a troubled teenager Kawaki. The vessel of Isshiki Ōtsutsuki seemingly came out of nowhere, but as the story progressed, the character’s importance to the storyline got more significant. This article will discuss who Kawaki is and whether he kills Naruto and Sasuke in the Boruto series.
Kawaki is a vessel of Isshiki Ōtsutsuki and the son of a violent and abusive father. After being bought by Jigen, Kawaki was placed under many experiments and rituals to become a vessel of Isshiki Ōtsutsuki. After Team Seven found him, Kawaki was welcomed with open arms by Konoha, especially by Uzumaki, with Naruto taking him under his helm. Despite the flashforward suggesting that Kawaki killed Naruto and Sasuke, the latest Boruto chapter revealed that Kawaki used his Time Space Ninjutsu to send Naruto and Hinata to another dimension to protect them from harm and stop him from killing every member of Ōtsutsuki, including their son Boruto. We still don’t know if Kawaki will kill Sasuke.
We will discuss this topic more by explaining the origins of Kawaki, if he really killed Naruto and Sasuke, did he become the main villain of the series, and who is currently “inside” Kawaki. If you are interested in this topic, stay with us until the end.
Kawaki origins
Kawaki is a tragic character in the Boruto series. Kishimoto really didn’t spare the teenager and wrote his childhood as “nightmarish and full of domestic abuse.” Young Kawaki lived with his abusive and alcoholic father, who used him for hard labor to finance his drinking problem. Whenever he made a slight misstep, Kawaki’s father would punish the young boy, mostly with abuse. Because of his father’s negligence, Kawaki was afraid he would “mess up” so badly that he would make his father leave him.
Kawaki eventually meets a mysterious merchant who takes an interest in the young boy, who is ecstatic that someone is actually giving him any attention. However, it is revealed that the merchant is Jigen, who wants to buy Kawaki for his own needs, and the negligent father immediately takes the offer.
Kawaki is brought to the special hideout held by the group Kara, who conducts special experiments on young children and possible candidates for the vessel of Ōtsutsuki clan members. Kawaki and Code are the only survivors, but Kawaki is the only one whose body accepts Kāma. This strange brand carries the Ōtsutsuki clan’s biological data, which will eventually activate and overwrite the bearer’s DNA, ultimately releasing the member of Ōtsutsuki whose DNA is implanted into the host body.
Of course, the experiments, gruesome training with Jigen, and just pure brainwashing made Kawaki think he was only a tool for Isshiki Ōtsutsuki. That carried on his own life until he accidentally met Team Seven, who found him abandoned in the middle of the field after failed tests of powers. Kawaki is brought back to Konoha, where he is welcomed by warmth, kindness, and openness he never experienced before, especially from Naruto.
Kawaki found adaptation to Konoha extremely difficult, which got him in trouble multiple times. Still, with support from Naruto and, eventually, Boruto, all of a sudden, Kawaki was part of the Uzumaki family. Of course, the idealistic family life didn’t last long because Ōtsutsuki didn’t want to give up on their vessel and started posing a danger to the Shinobi World. This brings us to the next section of this article.
Does Kawaki kill Naruto?
One of the more interesting parts of Kawaki’s character is his timing of appearance in the Boruto series. Kawaki actually debuted in the first episode of the Boruto series, including manga as well, where we are shown Boruto and Kawaki standing on the ruins of Konoha just before the huge battle.
That moment was a flashforward that suggests that something bad will happen to Konohagakure and beloved characters like Naruto and Sasuke. Kawaki asks Boruto if he wants to end up like Seventh Hokage, which hints at something bad happening to Naruto. This moment made fans speculate that Kawaki killed Naruto before the faithful battle against Boruto in the flashforward.
However, the latest chapters of Boruto manga debunk that speculation – Naruto is probably still alive. How? The reason why Naruto is alive lies in the feelings Kawaki has for Seventh Hokage. When no one wanted him, Naruto was always there to support him and was the first to show the boy some affection. Naruto even took in Kawaki and made him part of the Uzumaki family, which made the Gutsy Ninja Kawaki’s father. Naruto actually says such to Kawaki, who is stunned by the declaration.
During the fight against possessed Boruto, Kawaki says he will do anything to protect Naruto from Ōtsutsuki members, even if it means he’ll need to put his life on the line. Furthermore, when Naruto joined the battle, Kawaki was desperate to remove Naruto from danger so he didn’t get hurt.
Kawaki shows his love for Naruto through actions and even kills possessed Boruto in front of his eyes to prove his point. Of course, Naruto didn’t appreciate Kawaki killing his son, but thankfully, Boruto awakened with the help of Momoshiki. Unfortunately, the consequences are inevitable, and Boruto’s biological data is fully Ōtsutsuki’s, which means that any day, Momoshiki will resurrect through Boruto’s body.
Kawaki senses that and decides that he will have to kill Boruto to stop Momoshiki. Naruto is unaware of that, but in the fateful encounter in Uzumaki’s residence, Kawaki comes clean and tells Naruto and Hinata of his plans – he will kill every single Ōtsutsuki member, including Boruto, even if it means Naruto will hate him forever.
After Naruto says to Kawaki he will get to his son only over his dead body, the vessel of Isshiki Ōtsutsuki seals Naruto and Hinata away to another dimension. This moment confirms that Kawaki didn’t kill Naruto; he just removed him from his way to kill every Ōtsutsuki, including Boruto.
Does Kawaki kill Sasuke?
This one is interesting since we still don’t know the fate of Uchiha genius. Kawaki never inherently had relations with Sasuke, who mostly interacted with Kawaki through Naruto. Sasuke is more preoccupied with Boruto and his mentorship of the young Uzumaki. Of course, Kawaki would try to remove Sasuke from his way to kill Boruto, but he most definitely won’t kill him for every good reason. Kawaki only wants to kill Ōtsutsuki members, and he probably wouldn’t add more people to his conscious.
Moreover, Kawaki wouldn’t want to hurt Sarada, whom he knows just got her father back to the village. Ultimately, Kawaki wouldn’t kill Sasuke if we had to speculate. However, I would say that for Sasuke’s character to come full circle, the death of his character wouldn’t be that far-fetched, which is good to have in mind if that actually happens.
Is Kawaki evil?
If we had to look into Kawaki’s character, especially after the newest manga chapter of Boruto, his character becomes the villain but not necessarily evil. Kawaki loves his adoptive family, friends, and new teammates, but his way of thinking is plagued by bad and selfish people who used him until he made it to Konoha.
The teenager is a tortured soul who was given another chance to live by Konoha and Uzumaki family, but his greater goal is to protect them by killing the biggest danger to the world and peace – the Ōtsutsuki clan and shinobi, who use their abilities to do bad things.
“The era of shinobi is over.” is a quote that Kawaki tells Boruto in the flashforward – he wants to stop the violence by destroying everything that threatens the world’s peace. This strongly reminds us of Sasuke’s motivations by the end of the Fourth Shinobi World War, where he skewed Itachi’s words and interpreted them by deciding to kill all Kage, jinchuuriki, and Tailed Beasts. Those were, at some point, the biggest reasons why historic conflicts happened.
Basically, Kawaki has good intentions but a lousy way of doing them – he is desperate and doesn’t want his loved ones to go through what he went through.
So no, Kawaki isn’t inherently evil but has become a villain in the Boruto series.
Who was inside Kawaki?
As you can see, Kawaki’s life is filled with grief and abuse and is constantly passed from one bad situation to worse. From an abusive father to a test subject for other people, Kawaki is truly a tragic character. He was kidnapped/bought by Jigen to prepare him for being a vessel to Isshiki Ōtsutsuki and eventually let the notorious being feed him to Ten-Tails.
Kawaki was Isshiki’s vessel until he killed him in the epic battle that saw Naruto losing Kurama and Sasuke his Rinnegan. However, it seems that Amado’s meddling with Kawaki’s arm brought the boy Isshiki’s powers back, but in a different vessel this time. Isshiki is surely dead in the series, and Code is his blind follower who wants to conduct the Ōtsutsuki Will, which means he isn’t in Kawaki anymore. Amado is likely trying to resurrect his deceased daughter Akebi through Kawaki, speculation posed by the fans, and frankly, that isn’t that far from the truth.
