Cliff Notes Boruto Chapter 16
Boruto has entered its trainwreck era and I can't look away.
So the first seven pages - not panels, pages - show Kashin Koji sitting on a log and explaining Boruto's teleportation powers to him. In an alternate timeline, Boruto takes 6 years to learn this technique, but our Boruto gets to learn it in a few minutes.
Honestly, I think this is one of the big problems with Boruto: He spends the whole first arc learning the value of hard work and how even geniuses can't take shortcuts to success. But then most of Boruto's powerups come from shortcuts, whether the power is hardcoded into his DNA or spoonfed him via Kashin Koji's clairvoyance.
Anyway, then we get a second exposition dump, in which Kashin Koji explains why they can't just tell Konoha the future. He says the more people know the future, the less certain it is. It's safest to only let a few special people, "Singularities" like Boruto and Eida, in on the secret. Because if there was one thing this manga was missing, it was more computer puns.
Speaking of Eida, she finishes spying on Boruto and returns to the conversation with Sarada and Sumire. Sarada wants to know where Boruto is and how to help him, and Sumire scolds her for not respecting Boruto's feelings. Sumire then complains Sarada ignored her feelings as well.
How rude of Sarada, to hug her long lost childhood friend after 3 years of exile. As Sumire was watching, no less. Didn't she remember that one-minute conversation from their genin days, where Sumire clearly called dibs?
The mood is so awkward that Eida leaves to go flirt with the Hokage. She confirms that Gaara is hibernating and Shinki is a tree. But she can't give Shikamaru any current intel, because when she tries to spy on the Tree People in real time, Squid Face gives her the stink eye.
A toad then hops out of her hair and tells Shikamaru to send team 7 to Land of Sand. Also, Konoha can't provoke Jura no matter what. Even if he appears at the local bookstore and camps out in the adult section, Shikamaru just needs to let Toupee Man do his thing.
So Team 7 heads to Suna to meet with the non-treeified members of Team Shinki. Araya has a goatee and a sock over his head, and Yodo...I'll be honest, when I first saw this, I thought she was wearing a thong, but I think those are just belt panels.
Yodo immediately says Sarada's "aura" is different and asks if she has a crush on a boy. Sarada is weirded out at how literally everyone has started shipping her with Boruto. Before they can talk further, the squad finds two Divine Tree People.
They focus and try to see what nefarious deeds Ryu and Matsuri are performing. But the Tree People aren't doing anything. They're just standing in the middle of the desert...staring at a dead toad...because toads are Boruto's thing, right? Maybe if they poke it with a stick, he'll show up.
Next time - Team 7 sacrifice their lives for an unnamed amphibian.
