Warning: The following contains spoilers for Boruto: Two Blue Vortex Chapter 19!!

One of the Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, the power level of the antagonists was increased by introducing divine beings with the arrival of the Otsutsuki, they have failed to be as memorable and compelling as the ones in Naruto.

Yet, this has changed with the release of Boruto: Two Blue Vortex chapter #19, which not only shows how the sequel is separating itself from Naruto in a positive way, but also how it is improving the lack of depth of its villains thanks to the development of the Divine Trees.

Boruto's Story is Giving the Divine Trees a Much Better Motivation

All Villains In Boruto Had The Same Goal

The villains in Naruto had their own conflicts and philosophies correctly linked to the circumstances of their lives, such as Pain and Obito. This gave them a sense of humanity and a morally gray vision of the world that allowed readers to understand their perspective and relate to their suffering. However, trying to differentiate its villains from Naruto by making them more evil, has caused Boruto's antagonists to feel underwhelming. Such as the Otsutsuki, who, despite being definitely more powerful than the Akatsuki, lack their own background and objectives different from those of their species, which will make them feel unique.

Characters like Isshiki and Momoshiki, just like the rest of Otsutsuki, are only driven by their greed for power and self-gratification in destruction and the story makes up for this unoriginal motivation with their overwhelming presence and charisma. Likewise, Code, despite having potential and being responsible for starting the current plot after creating the Divine Trees, his motivation is the same as the Outsutsuki’s, making it unremarkable.

Yet, even though the Divine Trees also appear to have the same goal of harvesting the chakra fruit on Earth only with the addition of having a specific target on their own, in Boruto Two Blue Vortex chapter #19, Jura’s speech about love has given another layer to their characters going from recently-born and one-dimensional villains seeking knowledge to ones that challenge the very definition of humanity and reject a concept that has been heavily present in Naruto’s story.

The Divine Tree’s Overcoming Love in Boruto Parallels Pain Trying to Overcome Hatred

Boruto’s Story is Using Love to Develop the Divine Trees

Pain is considered one of the best villains in Naruto, not only for being one of the most powerful in the story but for his formidable philosophical conception. Pain had a unique vision of justice, believing that pain leads to hatred and revenge, a well-crafted thematic consistency that is also appreciated in several other villains in Naruto. This way, Jura’s words hint that Boruto’s story is taking a different approach than Naruto, switching from the consequences of hatred in the Pain Arc to the impact of love and its influence on humanity with the Divine Trees.

I’m sure you hear it too… our instincts, screaming in warning. That we must understand this dangerous concept of love and overcome it. - Jura

This is a complete opposition to Pain’s ideals, as he believed hatred divided the world, but now Jura is reneging on the impact of love because it causes irrationality and leads people to make wrong decisions. Yet, Naruto proved both concepts to be connected as love can lead to hate, as expressed by Madara when he said that hatred is born to protect love. Love has always been a concept present in Naruto as the very functionality of Sharingan was linked to it, since to awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan it was necessary to witness the loss of a loved one.

Additionally, Jura even ties love with sacrifice—using Inojin protecting Himawari as an example—which is a fundamental part of Naruto, like the sacrifice of Minato and Kushina, Itachi, and Neji. Because of this, Naruto’s influence has inspired Kishimoto and Ikemoto to develop the Divine Trees using the human traits they inherited from their models throughout their relationships, presenting love realistically and philosophically and using it as a vehicle to explore their humanity, as seen by the conflicted feelings of Matsuri for Konohamaru.

The Divine Trees Are Becoming More Complex Villains

Boruto: Two Blue Vortex is Slowly Building Up its Antagonists

The Divine Trees may not have tragic backstories or a justifiable vendetta after being wronged by society, like the villains in Naruto, but the fact that they are trying to overcome a fundamental human concept from the ninjas that were their base models and develop as individuals is more interesting than only seeking to “devour” their targets and destroy earth.

Moreover, this could expand to explore the extent of where humans can go for the sake of love, which would point out to Amado, whose scheming nature has turned him into the most interesting antagonists in Boruto so far, as his plans are still a mystery, and he could be willing to sacrifice everyone just for his daughter to return. Nevertheless, these developments in Boruto: Two Blue Vortex show that the story is steadily evolving thanks to the influence of Naruto, but in a way that the series' universe remains connected and interesting for both recent and older fans.