Which Naruto Characters Die in Boruto?
Most of Naurto's beloved characters are alive, but a few didn't survive the sequel series Boruto.
Naruto is one of the most popular anime and manga series of all time, so it is not surprising that it would receive a sequel series. Boruto follows a new generation of shinobi who grow up in a relatively peaceful ninja world. That being said, there are still conflicts and dangerous enemies to deal with. A number of good and evil Boruto characters have died in these conflicts, and a small number of Naruto characters have also died. Boruto's first manga chapter showed a destroyed Hidden Leaf Village, which led many fans to assume that either Naruto or Sasuke were dead, but they are both alive, at least for the time being.
Whenever a named character died in Naruto, it was a fairly significant moment, and each death in Boruto has had an impact as well. A sequel like Boruto would normally kill off legacy characters in order to make room for new characters, but that has fortunately not been the case. At most, only two Naruto characters who died in Boruto were important and/or well-developed characters, but they all ultimately died to save others, and for that, they are heroes.
The Stone Village Loses Its Tsuchikage
Onoki served as the Hidden Stone Village's Third Tsuchikage for decades. He was 79 years old when he debuted during the Five Kage Summit Arc – which made him the oldest Kage at the time. That being said, he was still a strong and dangerous shinobi. His experience was a huge asset in battle, and he was capable of using Dust Release - an extremely rare nature transformation which allowed him to create three-dimensional objects. Once fired, these objects would expand, and anything caught within them would be disintegrated at a molecular level. When the Fourth Great Ninja War ended, Onoki led the Stone Village for a few more years until he finally decided to retire. His granddaughter Kurotsuchi succeeded him as the Fourth Tsuchikage.
At some point during the New Era, Onoki's grandson died while trying to stop a group of rogue ninja from stealing some of the village's secrets. Onoki blamed himself because he told his grandson that a Tsuchikage must face problems head-on. As a result, he used the remains of a White Zetsu to create artificial beings that would fight battles instead of humans. These beings were known as Akuta and Fabrications, and Ku was a Fabrication who also happened to be a partial clone of Onoki. This is the reason why Ku could use Dust release as well.
Ku was the main villain of the Mitsuki's Disappearance Arc. He was loyal to Onoki and admired the fact that he wanted peace, but he decided that bloodshed was needed to accomplish this. He attacked and successfully abducted Kurotsuchi, and later attempted to take over the village by force. Boruto and his friends try to stop him, and Onoki eventually steps up to put an end to Ku's actions. At 100, Onoki uses a final Dust Release to counter and destroy Ku. Before dying from exhaustion, Onoki tells Boruto and the other genin to hold onto their will, and that they can always start anew even if they fall into despair.
The Man Who Survived The Ten-Tails
Many shinobi died during the Fourth Great Ninja War, including Shikaku Nara and Inoichi Yamanaka – who were killed when Madara Uchiha used the Ten-Tails to fire a Tailed Beast Bomb at the Allied Shinobi Force's headquarters. Ao was the right-hand of the Mist Village's Fifth Mizukage, and he was an accomplished Anbu. As the captain of the allied Sensor Division, Ao was at HQ too, and he was also caught in the blast. Miraculously, Ao survived the attack, but he was left severely injured, and he spent several years in a coma. He was placed under the care of Katasuke Tono – a Leaf Village scientist who used Scientific Ninja Tools to rehabilitate him.
Ao was equipped with an advanced prosthetic arm and leg which allowed him to live a normal life, but his days as an active Mist ninja were over. Over time, Ao felt as though he had no place in the current world because of his disability and the lack of conflict. Some time later, he met a member of Kara, who offered him a position. Kara wanted to produce a new God Tree, which was something Ao fought against during the 4th Great Ninja War, but he joined the organization as an Outer anyway.
Ao placed Katasuke under a genjutsu and used him to obtain information on Scientific Ninja Tools for Kara. He was able to upgrade his body and give himself new weapons, including drones that fired lasers. He became the main villain of his own arc, and he even killed a Leaf Jonin he had become friendly with. Ao battled Boruto and Team 7, and he was willing to kill them all in order to retrieve Kara's lost vessel – which turned out to be Kawaki. Ao was eventually defeated, and he felt at peace when Boruto said that his life did have meaning. When he realized that another Kara member was about to kill Boruto with a summoning, Ao saved Boruto's life by pushing him out of the way with a Water Release. He ended up being crushed instead.
Kurama's Sacrifice
Naruto became the Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails the day he was born. Over the course in the original series, Naruto used more and more of the Nine-Tails' power, and during the Fourth Ninja War, the two finally became true partners, and Naruto learned that his name is actually Kurama. Naruto's first episode made Kurama seem like a real demon fox, and for much of the series, he was assumed to be nothing more than a mass of hatred. Naruto was able to get through Kurama's rough exterior, and they became very good friends. In Boruto, their bond is still incredibly strong, to the point that Kurama will try to help Naruto if he senses a threat.
Together, Naruto and Kurama were able to fight members of the Otsutsuki Clan, but Isshiki Otsutsuki proved to be too powerful. Isshiki wanted Kawaki to be his vessel, and he was willing to attack the Leaf Village to get him. Luckily, the final battle took place in another dimension. When all seemed lost, Kurama told Naruto about a new transformation called Baryon Mode, which would consume their chakra and life force until they die. This mode granted Naruto incredible physical abilities, and he was able to delete most of Isshiki's remaining life span. After the fight, Kurama revealed that Baryon Mode only consumed his life force, and that he lied to Naruto because he would have never agreed to use it otherwise. Kurama was the reason Naruto spent his childhood alone, being hated by most of the Leaf Village, but after forming a bond with him, he sacrificed himself so that Naruto could save his son and the entire world.
The ninja world may be a relatively peaceful place in Boruto's time, but there are still dangerous enemies and conflicts that can kill a seasoned ninja. So far, only a handful of characters from Naruto have died in Boruto, with the most significant being Kurama. Many fans were surprised that Onoki was still alive in Boruto, which shows that his longevity was more shocking than his death. Ao was presumed dead at the end of the war, and he was a very minor character so it was hard to build a real connection with him. Code and Kawaki are basically god-level threats, so it is hard to believe that more legacy characters from Naruto will not die by the time Boruto ends.