Why do you think Naruto is no longer wearing his hitai-ate in Boruto?
Short answer: to show off his sexy receding hairline.
Really long heavily SNS-based answer:
Here we get the first glimpse of its meaning.
But in general it is described as something to be an honorable and important part of a village’s tradition. Not wearing it could be seen as disrespectful some say yet it isn’t really necessary. Akatsuki members still wear theirs but their villages’s symbols are scratched out. A statement. Although this is different for Pain and Konan.
So, what does this mean for Naruto?
A lot.
Look, you may say I’m overthinking it but I honestly believe that Naruto not wearing his Hitai-ate now is a statement in itself. If you consider everything else as well. Chapter 700 was written with so much haste and it was lathered in defeat. Nothing about it said “satisfaction” or “happy Shonen ending” the way it was supposed to be.
Naruto hated the people from his village (naturally), but that had changed-yes?
In the end he was loved and acknowledged by many.. (Yet in Gaiden he tells Sarada that former Hokage have said that they see the village as family not necessarily talking about himself. Which is... funny.)
But apart from the feelings he held for Sasuke which he talked about later in the story, Iruka was the first person to voice out what he truly thought about Naruto. He was acknowledged as not “a demon fox” but as himself. “Uzumaki Naruto!!”.
((Naruto to Sasuke:))
And it is through that acknowledgement and through that bond that kid Naruto receives that Hitai-ate:
Naruto ends up hugging Iruka after that.
It’s no secret that he’s very proud of it too. As he should. It is mentioned again when he comes back to the village after the Tsunade Arc.
And after talking with Iruka for a while again:
It highlights the importance it holds for Naruto as a chapter later he says this to Sasuke:
He’s telling him to put on the Hitai-ate because:
Sasuke refuses. I always wondered and haven’t really seen people talk about it but it seems like Naruto and Sasuke hold a slightly different meaning towards this. Or the same but it means more to Naruto than Sasuke. Obviously Naruto wants Sasuke to wear his Hitai-ate to fight on equal grounds as Konoha Ninja. However Sasuke here is being cocky and says Naruto is below him when it comes to strength. But he’s also frustrated, traumatized and pissed off. Naruto is only egging him on by calling him “Sasuke-chan” and getting cocky himself.
The symbol isn’t just about strength. Naruto wants Sasuke to acknowledge him even though Sasuke already has before by saying he wanted to fight him.
Naruto in the raw Manga has “shivering feelings of excitement”, sfx’s that are apparently used in Hentai.. (Hey, that’s what I read. Go complain to Kishimoto.) And instead they fight both verbally and physically without understanding the other. Both of them are so frustrated and hurt that if Kakashi didn’t interfere, we would’ve had a very short story. It isn’t the fight they wanted.
Nor was their next fight.
But in VotE1, Sasuke calls Naruto his closest friend and they both acknowledge how strong their bond is. Which is why Sasuke needs to cut Naruto off and can’t in the end. It is also the fight where they slowly start to understand a little more about each other. Sasuke putting on the Hitai-ate I think wasn’t just because he acknowledged Naruto’s strength. He could’ve done that earlier in the fight but he didn’t. It was obvious Sasuke lied about that. (Manga composition rule.. shadows and all.) Naruto not being able to scratch his forehead was just a poor excuse and a brilliant segue towards anti-Konoha symbolism. Could it be that Kishimoto is a great writer? Well, yes!
He put it on after Naruto said:
And after he thought of them smiling at each other when they were kids. (Edit: uh, younger. The lake scene.)
He awakened his third Tomoe then.
And it’s also really interesting that when Naruto went to face Sasuke much later he was calm. They exchanged fists and went to their own little space unreachable to others:
When Naruto went to tell him how glad he was to have met Sasuke, to not become a victim but also have his resolve set to not ever give up on him- he wasn’t wearing his Hitai-ate.. why?
Because Naruto didn’t go ranting to Sasuke as a villager of Konoha. And I think this detail is what makes this scene even more special. Konoha was set on “getting rid of rogue Shinobi Sasuke” and Naruto wasn’t having it. He wasn’t going to stand before him wearing his Hitai-ate proudly when that symbol now feels too heavy. Naruto was the only one to not give up on Sasuke while everyone else including his “team-mates” were ready to kill him. Literally standing next to him, weapons ready.
Instead Naruto asks Sasuke if he saw what was inside his heart and continues to ramble on a little embarrassed.. touching his forehead as if to hint something to the reader.
“Heheheh.. if we really do take this all the way to the end, and we both die.. we won’t be Uchiha, Jinchuuriki’s or anything.”
Just Naruto and Sasuke. No burdens or responsibilities and if that means dying, being together with Sasuke in another world/afterlife then he’d be okay with that. Do you understand the severity of that?!! Sasuke himself acknowledges Naruto’s confession as caring asking him why he does so much but still feels like he needs to reject what he stands for. Which is a lot.
In the Manga during VotE2, Naruto’s Hitai-ate falls off right after Naruto and Sasuke are unable to make the “seal of reconciliation” as kids in a memory.
In the end they lay side by side both not wearing the Hitai-ate but on the reconciliation seal with a heart-shaped pool of blood between them.
I could go on and on about this last conversation they have, but the point about this is that it all came full-circle and it makes sense. The Hitai-ate is an important detail and Naruto isn’t wearing it randomly. Kishimoto in the end didn’t just let it fall off his head randomly either because he timed it perfectly with the reconciliation-seal memories. Starting VotE2 with the Hitai-ate and ending on “equal grounds” without it is intentional. Remember Naruto’s words?
“Heheheh.. if we really do take this all the way to the end, and we both die.. we won’t be Uchiha, Jinchuuriki’s or anything.”
Naruto there thought he was in heaven when he looked at his side and saw Sasuke.. and he was fine with that. Burdens and responsibilities are tied to Konoha and so is the Hitai-ate.
Former Hokage like Hashimada and Minato were wearing theirs.
And if the thing means so much to Naruto, which it does, then why the hell did this happen in Chapter 700?:
I did the work, you come with your own conclusions for this one. Because at first I was really mad and have been for a long time.. but on the other hand.. doesn’t it kind of make sense? Naruto chose to get a prosthetic but refuses to wear his Hitai-ate, something he used to wear proudly. It could be connected to VotE2 like Sasuke refusing to get a prosthetic. It could be less connected to Konoha and more to Sasuke don’t you think?
Which in turn, makes Chapter 700 all the more sad...
They didn't die, they carry the weight of the world and ended up not how they wanted to despite the "co-operation" they planned for. Meaning there are still many burdens.
And before anyone else says it: In ‘Boruto’ when Naruto removed Boruto’s Hitai-ate when he cheated during the Chunin Exams it was because “he wasn’t qualified to be a Ninja”.
Boruto was disqualified and it’s an entirely different situation.
Naruto not wearing his Hitai-ate as Hokage is deliberate and not a design choice.
