Boruto is Ripping Off One of Dragon Ball Z’s Best Movies

Warning! Spoilers ahead for Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Chapter 62!

The villain Code just revealed his latest plot to destroy the entire world in the latest chapter of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations and it involves cultivating a rip-off of the Tree of Might from Dragon Ball Z.

In the film The Tree of Might, the Saiyan Turles plants the eponymous tree on Earth to harvest its fruit as those who eat them are granted immeasurable power. The problem, however, is that in order to spawn such incredible foods, the tree sucks its planet dry of all nutrients, leaving nothing but a desert wasteland.

In chapter 62 of Boruto, the villain Code from the organization Kara reveals his plan to create his own Tree of Might to Kawaki, a boy that was raised by the members of Kara to serve as the future vessel for their leader Isshiki Ōtsutsuki. Kawaki had originally escaped Kara’s hold and gone to live at the Hidden Leaf Village where he become enamored with the village Hokage Naruto whom he came to view as a father figure. But the lost boy soon became filled with despair upon the death of Isshiki, aware that Code would seek vengeance on Naruto and his village. So Kawaki left the protection of his village’s Sensory Net to implore Code to spare his new family and home.

Upon hearing this presumptuous request from Kawaki, Code divulges his true intentions to the former vessel. Although Code plans on killing Naruto, he has much loftier goals beyond the Hidden Leaf Village. He wants to plant the so-called Divine Tree that sucks all of its planet’s chakra, killing nearly everyone and everything on it. Although Code reveals he will procure the tree’s chakra fruit, it’s unclear whether or not he will eat said fruit and if ingesting them will boost his own chakra. Regardless of these discrepancies, the correlations are unmistakable.

It would be interesting if writers Ukyō Kodachi and Masashi Kishimoto decide to copy more from the Tree of Might movie besides the detrimental effect the Divine Tree has on its planet and the powers their fruits bestow upon those who eat them. For example, Turles also uses the extract from the Tree of Might to revive his minions Rasin and Lakasei. This would be problematic if the Divine Tree possesses similar powers as Code would undoubtedly take advantage of this to bring his master Isshiki back to life. Even though he turned to dust, the Ōtsutsuki is a versatile race that has been continuously evolving over thousands of years through the consumption of life energy and genetic material.

Regardless, the Divine Tree will be a welcome addition to the Naruto universe as the Tree of Life only appeared in one movie, which isn’t even considered canon. Mangaka Akira Toriyama originally canonized the villain Garlic Jr. from his first Dragon Ball Z film, The Dead Zone, by having him star as the main antagonist in an anime-only saga. But that move was met with such fervent negativity that it’s unlikely he’ll revisit his older movies for any future material (other than Broly, that is). It’s a shame as the Tree of Might was one of his most compelling Dragon Ball Z films from his original 13. Hopefully, the shinobi will fail in preventing Code from planting the Divine Tree in future chapters of Boruto so fans can experience some iteration of the Tree of Might one more time.

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