Step Aside, Orochimaru—Kawaki Is Boruto’s Most Defining Villain
Kawaki isn’t the misunderstood hero fans imagine—he’s the villain Boruto needed, a catalyst for his growth that mirrors Orochimaru’s pivotal role in Naruto.
People love to defend Kawaki because of his rough backstory, but let me be blunt: in Boruto, he is the villain that matters. Not misunderstood. Not edgy-bro antihero. The villain. And in a weird way, he works better in that role for Boruto than Orochimaru ever did for Naruto. Here is why that comparison actually tracks, and why Kawaki deserves more conversation as the dark center of this series.
Why Kawaki hits harder than Orochimaru
Orochimaru loomed over Naruto, sure, but he was really Sasuke's problem. For Naruto, Orochimaru was one of several big bads the village had to swat away.
Kawaki is different. He is the engine of Boruto's growth, pain, and worldview. From the moment Naruto took him in, Kawaki was inside the house shaping the protagonist's life. Not as a random foe who bursts in with snake jutsu, but as a son and a brother figure who believes his way is the right way. That conviction pushed him to manipulate the very people who protected him and to betray Naruto and everyone who backed him. That is cold. And because he was literally part of the Uzumaki family, the fallout is personal in a way Orochimaru could never replicate from the sidelines.
No legendary rogue can cut as deep as family turned against you.
After the time skip: Kawaki 2.0
The time skip basically rebuilt Kawaki and dialed his threat level way up. The exile arc, Konoha's collapse, the way the series reframed Karma, and the ideological knife fight between him and Boruto — all of it pivots on Kawaki's choices. It is not subtle, and it is not accidental. The story is clearly steering him into main-antagonist territory, and it works because the conflict is intimate and messy, not just a bigger laser in the sky.
The Madara theory, unpacked
Fans have floated a spicy theory: Kawaki as a new vessel angle for Madara Uchiha. Sounds wild, but here is why some people think it holds water. First, there is a pattern play — earning Naruto's trust as a longer con echoes how Madara once twisted Obito. Second, Madara has already pulled off resurrection-level tricks in the past, so the idea of him piggybacking back through someone is not exactly outside the franchise's power ceiling.
Is it confirmed? No. Is the text setting Kawaki up as the Big Bad regardless? Absolutely. Whether or not Madara is lurking in the background, the groundwork for Kawaki as Boruto's defining enemy is already there.
Quick refresher: what, when, where
- Title: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations
- Studio: Pierrot
- Premiere: April 5, 2017
- Genres: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
- Streaming: Crunchyroll
Boruto: Naruto Next Generations is streaming on Crunchyroll right now, and the original Naruto series is there too if you feel like revisiting the roots before diving back into Kawaki chaos.