Naruto is an incredible series that’s absolutely earned its reputation as one of the greatest shonen anime in history…but it’s also a long-running shonen anime that leaves a whole lot of unanswered questions. It’s not that the series needs to answer every single one of them – after all, some of the Naruto mysteries can be a source of entertaining speculation among fans – but it’d be nice to learn the truth behind at least a few.
What are some of the most burning unanswered Naruto questions? Well, here’s one at the core of the series: why was Naruto left totally unsupervised when he has one of the most valuable weapons in history sealed into his body? Also, why did the Akatsuki rings, which were critically important at first, suddenly stop mattering? And when and how did Hashirama kick the bucket? There are also a few from the Boruto timeline that we hope will be addressed eventually, like who exactly is Metal Lee’s mother?
1. How Did Hashirama Die?
Hashirama passed away at a young age, just as Konoha was starting to bloom into the village he envisioned. But how that happened is never explained.
As one of the greatest ninja in history, it’s unlikely that there was anyone who could have taken him down – especially since he’d already felled his greatest rival, Madara. If there was such a person, you’d think that we would know about them, as they would probably have also been one of the key figures in Konoha history.
Another possibility is that he was ill, or that he passed away from residual injuries after fighting Madara years earlier, or accumulated injuries from battling other foes. Also, some have speculated that his regenerative abilities could have shortened his lifespan.
Whatever happened, it’s never properly explained.
2. Why Is The Senju Clan Inactive?
Aside from members like Tsunade, the Senju clan seems to be largely inactive. It’s rare for anyone to crop up with the Senju name, and Kiba once noted that he’d only heard of them in history books. Not that what Kiba’s heard of necessarily proves anything, but there’s no other evidence showing that the Senjus are a thriving clan.
So what happened? While there are a million possible explanations, we don’t know. It’s a pretty big deal that one of the city’s foundational clans just petered out of existence, with seemingly fewer surviving members than the massacred Uchiha clan, so it’d be nice if this were ever addressed.
3. What Clans Or Families Do Orochimaru & Jiraiya Come From?
The Legendary Sannin are among the most important ninja in Konoha history, but only one of them has a last name.
Orochimaru is known to have parents who passed away, while Jiraiya apparently had living parents throughout his childhood. But who those parents were is totally unknown.
Most of the strongest shinobi in Konoha come from identifiable clans. While one doesn’t have to be from a known clan to be strong, it’s rare enough that it would be worth noting. They aren’t the only characters who don’t have last names or identifiable families, but it seems like more of an oversight for the two of them than for, say, Ten Ten.
4. What Happened To The Uzumaki Clan?
The Uzumaki Clan and its home village Uzushiogakure have been allied with Konoha since the Warring States Period. They had a blood connection with the Senju clan, and provided each other with aid as necessary. Konoha especially benefited from the Uzumaki Clan’s prowess in fūinjutsu.
At some point after Kushina Uzumaki moved to Konoha, her clan was wiped out and her village destroyed. The survivors scattered all over the world. This happened because several other nations banded together to take out a clan they thought was so powerful that they had to be eliminated.
We don’t know which nations were involved in this, or how they did the deed. We don’t know why Konoha didn’t retaliate after their ally was felled, or why they didn’t help them in the first place. We don’t know why no one went after Kushina, arguably the most powerful clan member alive at the time thanks to her status as a jinchuuriki. We don’t know why Uzushiogakure was never seen at Kage summits or why they never seemed to play an important role before their demise.
5. Who Is Metal Lee’s Mother?
Metal Lee is Rock Lee’s son, and plays a minor role in Boruto. While most of the other next-gen kids have two identifiable parents, we only know about Metal Lee’s father.
There are exceptions to this – Shinki was adopted and raised by his single parent Gaara, and Mitsuki is Orochimaru’s clone.
But while Metal doesn’t have to be raised by more than one parent, he does need to have been born somehow. So, who actually gave birth to this kid? A lot of people think that it might have been Rock Lee’s former teammate Ten Ten, but that’s a hypothesis, not a canon fact. For now, his origin is a mystery.
6. Why Does Moegi Kazamatsuri Know Wood Release?
One of the strangest, most unexpected details about Boruto is the fact that Moegi Kazamatsuri knows Wood Release. The series isn’t over yet, so it’s entirely possible that we will get an explanation for it – but so far, it’s not really clear.
Wood Release is a kekkai genkai that combines water and earth release. It is apparently possible to learn some kekkai genkai through training, as Ohnoki did when he learned Dust Release (technically a kekkai mora but the same principle applies) from Mu. But this is extremely rare – most people require a genetic connection.
Wood Release, specifically, is a sacred technique that belonged exclusively to Hashirama and those who had access to his cells. Orochimaru tried to imbue 60 children with Hashirama’s cells and only one, Yamato, survived the process and gained access to Wood Release.
It’s technically possible that Moegi could learn the technique on her own, but it’s extraordinarily unlikely. What seems more likely is that she’s somehow related to the Senjuu clan. But is she? Hopefully we eventually get an answer, but that remains to be seen.
7. What’s Up With The Akatsuki Rings?
The Akatsuki Rings are supposed to be incredibly important. They’re so important that when Orochimaru left the organization with one of the rings still in his possession, he couldn’t be replaced unless the ring was recovered. Deidara loses an arm with the ring attached to it, he cares a lot more about getting the ring back than finding his arm.
But the rings quickly fade into irrelevancy for reasons that are never explained. Obito needs Sasori’s ring to take his position, and great lengths are taken to find it – but once Obito’s in charge, the rings don’t matter. After fighting Konan, Obito just dumps his ring along with his destroyed robe.
Why were they so important to begin with, and why are they so unimportant later? There are hints that they were supposed to have a role in sealing the tailed beasts into the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, but it’s never explained why they stop being important, or what their full significance was to begin with.
8. Why Anything About Naruto’s Childhood?
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again – Naruto’s childhood makes no sense.
His mother was a jinchuuriki, and his father was the hokage, so the two were essentially the most important couple in the whole village at the time. They sacrificed themselves to save their village, and were considered heroes. They asked Jiraiya to be their son’s godfather, and they asked Hiruzen to ensure his care after their demise.
None of this happened. He was inserted into a random apartment, raised by no one, checked in on only occasionally, and given no information whatsoever about his storied lineage. He was treated like a social pariah because he was a jinchuuriki, and was basically miserable throughout his entire childhood.
This is all very sad, but it makes no sense. Even if we assume that neither Hiruzen nor Jiraiya care about their promises to Naruto’s parents, it still doesn’t make logistical sense.
The Tailed Beast is one of the most important weapons in Konoha’s possession – why would they just let its jinchuuriki wander around unsupervised? With such a difficult life, chances are high that he would have resented Konoha and used his powers to attack them. Why on earth would they leave something like that up to chance?
Hiruzen himself could have easily adopted Naruto, and if he didn’t want to do it he could have figured something else. Maybe the Naras, who were notably not prejudiced against Naruto after the Nine Tails attack? Or literally anybody else?
9. Why Can’t Rock Lee Use Jutsu?
One of Rock Lee’s defining characteristics is that he can’t release chakra externally. While he can concentrate chakra in his feet well enough to walk on water, he can’t use ninjutsu or genjutsu, and must rely on taijutsu. He manages to make the most of this, and becomes a taijutsu master with help from his jonin instructor and personal mentor, Might Guy.
But Naruto never explains why he can’t release chakra. If it were a block in his tenketsu pathways, Neji could have probably taken care of that for him, so that’s probably not the issue. Is it a physical issue or a psychological one? Is this a common problem in the Naruto-verse? Is it recognized as a disability? Is there a surgical procedure, a therapeutic process, or a medication he could take to deal with it? We just don’t know.