Sumire Boruto Guide: Ninja Academy’s Class Representative Explained

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Cody is a writer who was shaped by manga and anime at a young age. From discovering series like Dragon Ball and Gundam, he fell in love with this medium. Though he walked away for a time in his teenage years, he came back in his adulthood to fall back in love with manga and anime. Nowadays, he can be found reading the latest manga series and catching up on all of the new seasonal anime. And, of course, writing about them at the same time.

Bottom Line Up Front

Sumire Kakei, or Sumire Shigaraki, whichever you would like to call her, is one of the supporting characters in the Boruto: Naruto Next Generations series. She is the class representative for the class that Boruto and the other main characters are part of in the ninja academy in Konohagakure.

Later in the story, she joins Team 15 as one of the prominent members of that ninja squad. The young girl is an expert in ninjutsu, having a wide range of abilities at her disposal, not least of which is the Gozu Tenno that is embedded inside of her.

She is also quite brilliant, contributing to the Scientific Ninja Weapons Team these days in the story. However, some dark secrets lie underneath the surface with this character, who is in love with Boruto.

Who is Sumire from Boruto?

Sumire has a couple of different family names, depending on her situation. She was born as Sumire Shigaraki before taking on the name Sumire Kakei later on in life. She is an orphan who lost both of her parents tragically and adopted her name to show the new path she was on.

When manga readers and anime viewers meet Sumire, she is simply the class representative for the ninja academy that Boruto, Sarada Uchiha, and Mitsuki are attending. However, there is so much more to her than meets the eye. For one, she is knowledgeable and at the top of her class in her studies.

But she also hides the immense power that she has with her chakra, allowing her to use ninjutsu that far outweighs that of many ninjas in the village well beyond her years. She holds a dark and tragic past in her heart, carrying the weight of those burdens all on her own.

Without a doubt, Sumire is one of the most complicated and interesting characters in the Boruto series. Despite her status as a supporting cast member, she plays a significant role in a few of the story arcs, including one that she stars in entirely.

The main problem with much of Sumire’s storyline is that the best part of her character is relegated to the anime only with no inclusion in the manga at all. Because of this, I recommend manga readers give the first anime arc a watch.

Appearance

Sumire has a gentle and peaceful appearance to her, but there are some surprises in store when it comes to her design. I recommend treading lightly in this next section, as I will go over some deep spoilers for the first part of the Boruto anime. This is due to the two different looks that she has in the series.

Typical Look

Sumire’s traditional look that you can see early in the series features her typical school outfit and, later, ninja garb. The look that Sumire wears regularly involves a whole lot of purple from head to toe. It starts with the dress that she is wearing.

It is a decently long dress that goes to her knees while not being too short, and the entirety of it is covered in a lavender purple color. It is similar to a sailor schoolgirl uniform outfit mixed with a dress style instead of the usual mix of a shirt and skirt.

The purple dress is short-sleeve, with a darker purple belt around the middle of her waist. There is the white sailor collar around her neck and a magenta-colored necktie that brings it all together.

She wears very long sandals/socks (it’s kind of hard to tell where one begins and the other ends) that go past her knees, almost covering up her legs entirely. The sandals expose her toes.

It is also clear that she is wearing some sort of undershirt beneath the purple dress that we can see on her arms, and it is black, matching her socks and shoes. There also appears to be a small white bandage around her right knee.

She has a kind smile and face, with small dark eyes and purple hair that is exceptionally long. It is in a single ponytail that goes down the length of her back. The general color of Sumire is purple, which is understandable since her name Sumire can mean violet in Japanese.

Other Outfits

The other appearances that Sumire has, light spoilers, have to do with her later looks. In the first arc of the anime, she has a villain outfit that she wears. This one has bandages around her feet and legs up to her ankles, where it meets her dark purple pants.

On top, she has a tank top that is a purple hue that is slightly lighter than her hair. She also wears black sleeves on her arms and a sash around her waist.

The main draw of this look is that she has a much more serious expression and removes the ponytail, letting her flow out completely. Later in the story, she becomes a ninja and wears slightly different gear. It is similar to her school uniform, but she wears shorts and a no-sleeve top.

Lastly, there is the Scientific Weapons Department uniform that she wears. In this way, she retains the purple top and darker pants, but she brings back her dark undershirt and a white lab coat that she wears over everything, giving her a much more mature appearance.

Personality

Sumire has a gentle personality which is her strongest trait as a person. She is kind, soft-spoken, and always there to help everyone. There is a reason that she is the class representative, and it does not necessarily have to do with her intelligence.

She is someone that people look to because of the calm and peaceful mind that she has. Sumire tries to be the peacemaker in the group, resolving issues. However, there is a demanding side to her that she rarely shows. This serious side seldom comes out, but when it does, she puts her goals first and loses much of the gentleness of her usual character.

Key Relationships

There are a few key relationships that Sumire has within Boruto. The first of these are her two best friends, that hang out with her at school much of the time. They are standard side characters with little importance to the story plot, but they are the girls she hangs out with most of the time.

They later get a more critical role in the story when they form Team 15 alongside Sumire. The members of the group are Sumire, Wasabi Izuno, and Nanika Suzumeno. The leader of the group that she answers to is Hanabi Hugo.

Within the anime only at this time, Tsubaki Kurogane is another member of the group and someone that Sumire is not initially super close to. Outside of the Team 15 members, Sumire also connects with a couple of characters, most notably Boruto.

The titular protagonist of the series, Boruto, has an exciting relationship with Sumire. They are, at first, simply classmates, but they grow into friends throughout the beginning of the story.

Over time, Sumire even begins to fall for Boruto, and these feelings are kept secret from him. However, she makes it known to Sarada Uchiha and others that she likes him. It is unknown at this time if they will end up together or not.

Abilities

There are a few different abilities that Sumire has at her disposal. These abilities range from the unseen tactics that she uses in the battles to the latent powers that are within her. While she may not seem like much at first, there is a lot of potential and strength that is within Sumire. Of course, some of these are light spoilers so beware of that.

Deception and Ninjutsu

For starters, one of the greatest strengths of Sumire has to do with the deception that she uses in battle. No one expects certain events and things to happen, which she uses to her advantage. We see this in action during the first story arc as she enacts her plan without anyone knowing better.

This stealth aspect helps her to surprise her foes when they fight, too, and it is benefited by the intelligence that she has. She outthinks her opponents on every level and bests them mentally, allowing her to gain the edge.

Then there are the general ninjutsu abilities that she uses in combat. Water is her main element in action, and it allows her to perform various techniques, such as creating clones and firing off waves at enemies. She is also superb at recovery abilities when someone is in need.

Gozu Tenno

The central aspect of Sumire’s abilities comes down to her prowess with the Gozu Tenno. The symbol that was placed on her back allows her to use summoning abilities that are well beyond her years, though it did require some preparation to happen.

After it was ready, Sumire was able to summon the massive Nue to attack the village. The unbelievably powerful pet that she summoned is capable of destroying entire cities and defeating countless ninjas. It took the combined force of many powerful ninjas to take down the beast.

However, at this current point in the series, Sumire’s summoning of Nue is on a much smaller scale, and her ability to steal the chakra of her opponents is significantly minimized. That said, it is a testament to her abilities that she was able to do this as a young girl and speaks volumes about her powerful potential as she gets older and trains more.

History

Much of the history of Sumire in the Boruto series has to do with her events in the anime-only, and there are tons of spoilers for the first story arc. Beware of spoilers for the first dozen or so episodes of the series, as well as some light spoilers for events that come in the later arcs as well.

Gozu Tenno Vessel

Sumire Shigaraki (the name she was born with) had a troubled existence at the start of her life. Her mother died at a very young age, enough so that she has essentially lost all memory of her. Soon after, her father, Tanuki Shigaraki, began his plan for revenge against the village.

Tanuki was a member of Danzo Shimura’s inner circle of crazy people who were trying to take down the village. He wished to continue his master’s work and prepared Sumire to be part of that. To this point, her father implanted the Gozu Tenno in her, a device that would allow her to summon Nue and destroy the entire village.

Unfortunately, soon after putting the Gozu Tenno symbol on Sumire’s back, her father also died, leaving her alone in the world. She continued his wishes in hopes of destroying everyone in the village as revenge. As a newfound orphan, she now took the name Sumire Kakei and bided time until she could enact her plan.

Nearly Destroying the Village

Sumire suffered on the streets for many years as an orphan who had to fend for herself. She survived, though, and grew in strength and intelligence, eventually enrolling in the ninja academy in the village. It was not long before she was awarded the role of class representative due to her intelligence and peaceful attitude.

It is here that her story begins in the Boruto anime series, and she began gathering chakra and preparing for her plan by sending out the Nue using Gozu Tenno to steal from other ninjas. It started with stealing from various characters and corrupting them, including her teacher, before allowing herself to fall victim in the process.

This put her in the hospital and was an attempt to misdirect any attention that could come to her. However, it does not stop Boruto and others from figuring out the truth. Mitsuki and Boruto try to stop her on the night of her final plan, but she is able to summon the Nue regardless.

Thus begins a twofold battle as those in the real world were fighting the Nue that was summoned while Boruto and Mitsuki tried to stop her in the other realm. In the end, the two main characters were able to bring her to her senses and stop her from causing destruction.

She is injured and sent back to the hospital to heal as she awaits the verdict from the 7th Hokage and the other leaders about her fate due to her treachery.

Finding Her Path in Life

In the end, Naruto and the other village leaders gave Sumire the chance to decide what to do. She could have left and gone elsewhere, but she remained behind and rejoined the ninja academy. She eventually graduates from the academy and becomes a member of Team 15, where the manga also picks off.

As part of Team 15, she plays a significant role in many of the story arcs and missions that the main story of Boruto goes through. She has an especially important role in another anime-exclusive arc as she helps to find Mitsuki, who seemingly defects from the village.

She engages in more missions, helping Team 7, which included her love interest, Boruto, until the Jugo Arc. At the end of this storyline, after assisting Boruto in fighting, she decides to leave Team 15 and is replaced by Tsubaki Kurogane.

In turn, she joins the Scientific Ninja Weapons Team to be a valuable member there. More recently, she reveals her feelings for Boruto to Sarada to see if the other girl is also interested in him. Finally, her most recent role in the story was helping the hospitalized Kawaki after his rescue and learning the truth about what was happening to Boruto.

Sumire in Other Media

Sumire is a well-liked character from the Boruto: Naruto Next Generations series. I would not go so far as to say that she is immensely popular, as she may not even be the second-most popular new female character in the series. However, I am a massive fan of her, and she does have other passionate members of the community.

Because of this, there are some decent cosplays I’ve seen of her in real life and plenty of merch surrounding her. Despite Sumire’s strong role in the Boruto series, especially at the beginning, she has little love outside of the main series.

The only video games that she features in are Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Online and the Naruto x Boruto: Ninja Voltage mobile game. She is not either of the two Naruto and Boruto fighting games that feature characters from the Next Generations series.

I think this is quite unfortunate for a phenomenal, underrated, and underused character from the Boruto series.

Fun Facts about Sumire

Here are some fun facts about Sumire from the Boruto: Naruto Next Generations series that you may not have known about before:

Sumire’s name and kanji character in Japanese means violet, which is fitting since almost the entirety of her character design involve the color purple.
Many of the characters, including Boruto and Sumire’s best friends, give her the nickname “class representative” in Japanese. This sticks, and they keep calling her this even after graduating from the academy.
Her favorite food is fried bread, while she has no disliked food items since she is not a picky eater due to being a poor orphan in the past.
Sumire is the first confirmed girl to have feelings for Boruto, but she may not be the last.
Speaking of feelings, there are a few parallels in both the color scheme and personality between Sumire and Hinata before her. This could indicate her possible story arc in the series or even hint at what is not at all going to happen with her and Boruto in the future.

FAQs

Question: Is Sumire in Love with Boruto?

Answer: Yes, Sumire is canonically in love with Boruto. The series hints at her feelings for him for a while but makes it abundantly clear when she brings them up with Sarada Uchiha.

Question: Is Sumire a Traitor in Boruto?

Answer: Of course, this answer will come with spoilers. The traitor is an interesting word, but, yes, in a way. It is better to simply say that she is one of the villains in the series, being the big baddie in the first arc of the anime. I would not necessarily say traitor since betrayal was not necessarily part of her plan.

Question: What Happens to Sumire in Boruto?

Answer: Sumire attacks the village and enacts her plan but fails and is rehabilitated as a member of Konohagakure. She then joins Team 15 as a ninja. At this point in time in the manga and anime, she is a member of the Scientific Ninja Weapons Team.

Sumire Boruto: Conclusion

Sumire is my second-favorite character in the Boruto series, largely in part due to the fantastic anime-exclusive arc that she gets at the very beginning of the story. Her kind and caring nature are refreshing compared to the strong personalities of the rest of the cast. This is only helped by the tragic story that she has and her unique placement within the cast.

I hope that more is done with Sumire in the future, even if she does not end up with Boruto in the end. In many ways, there are some deep parallels between Sumire and Boruto, similar to other shounen protagonists like Deku in My Hero Academia.

Sumire is very much like the equivalent of Ochaco Uraraka from that particular series.