Episode 158 of the Boruto anime exposes the true, disheartening cost of the Fourth Great Ninja War from the Naruto series.

WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Episode 158, "The Man Who Disappeared," now streaming on Crunchyroll.

In the Boruto anime and manga, we've seen that the Fourth Great Ninja War fought in the Naruto series hasn't had the positive effect we first thought it did. Sure, the shinobi alliance saved the planetbut only the major nations benefitted, with smaller ones and those considered to be at-risk, such as the Village Hidden by the Rain (aka Amegakure), left tofester with criminals.

In the latest episode, "The Man Who Disappeared," we learn the true cost of the war, and it's a dismal truth -- exposing leaders like Naruto and villages like Konoha as being ignorant, or perhaps even uncaring, about the collateral damage of old.

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Boruto, Sarada and Mitsuki are sent by the Hokage to investigate a missing scientist for a medical/tech firm by the name of Anato. His wife, Mia, sent word from the Land of Valleys as she thinks the company's covering up his absence so the ninjas are here to find out if he's dead or kidnapped, especially as Kara's coming out the shadows. With Konohamaru mentoring Boruto's Team 7, Mugino joins them, but rather than impart happy-go-lucky advice, this senior ninja is despondent, revealingto Boruto that smaller villages have been sufferingover the years.

Small-scale crime is still occurring but the greater nations are preoccupied with the glitz, glam and politics, making the alliance look more or less like a faade. Victor, the owner of the firm, later confirms this, admitting that smaller villages don't have resources, infrastructure and money like the other big nations. In fact, promises haven't been kept at all, leaving them by the wayside after terrorists like the Akatsuki, Orochimaru, Kabuto, Madara and Kaguya plundered their lands. The war took a heavy toll on them: a lot of soldiers joined the alliance only to die or suffer severe damages without proper compensation.

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It's why Victor formed his company, to experiment on DNA to help them regrow limbs, eyes and even brains. He lost his limbs in the war, too, and with the elite turning a blind eye to areas like his, it's his duty to find some sort of road to immortality. Poor people can't afford healthcare after all, so Victor has a humanitarian agenda to try to fix them himself permanently. There aren't many who can do what he does, though, leaving many villages vulnerable without people to commit to similar ventures. It's why the smaller nations basically become filled with ghettos and crime, because with no health industry, jobs or diversification -- not to mention tech -- they're left to suffer.

This caused Victor's workers to take great risks to harvest animals and plants, endangering themselves in the name of medical and tech advancement, which appears to be the case with Anato's missing team. As a result, Boruto appreciates Konoha even more as he sees how the outside world is lagging behind, but it hits home hard that his dad might be a typical politician whose alliance is filled with lies and a lack of compassion for the very people that helped them win the war. It might not resonate much with Mitsuki and Sarada but Boruto's ambition has always been to unite all the people, so this may well be a lesson he needs to see for himself firsthand -- one that might not be found in textbooks back home. And it seems like Naruto himself is interested in revisionist history rather than the truth, which leaves Boruto torn as to who to look up to when he gets back home.

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The Boruto Anime Reveals the Real Cost of Naruto's Last Great Ninja War - CBR - Comic Book Resources