Warning: Spoilers for Black Clover chapter 351A flashback into another country’s equivalent to the Wizard King inadvertently shows fans how Black Clover could have continued had the series’ creator never announced that this will be its final arc.
In chapter 351 of Black Clover by Yuki Tabata, readers learn that the shogun Ryu of Yami’s home country of Hino in Black Clover saved his people from a disease that only killed those with weak magical powers. The shogun sacrificed his own magical abilities to obtain an eye called Tengentsu which allowed him to find the only cure – soul-quickening grass.
Black Clover Could Continue If Asta Caught the Disease
This unexpected flashback could have been a form of foreshadowing for a future arc if Black Clover wasn’t ending. Although the series is still ongoing, it’s obvious that Black Clover will likely end with Asta attaining his dream by becoming the Wizard King of the Clover Kingdom. But because Asta possesses little to no magical powers himself, he would be highly susceptible to the disease that Ryu initially cured if it ever resurfaced again. This hypothetical arc could have involved Asta succumbing to the disease and his friends or the next generation venturing out to find soul-quickening grass.
Of course, the only way for this plot to work would be for Ryu to have either passed away or somehow lost Tengentsu, complicating the search party’s ability to locate and obtain the soul-quickening grass. There would also have to be a reasonable explanation as to why Hino Country no longer has any soul-quickening grass in their possession. This development is actually not so farfetched when taking into account how most manga, including Black Clover, function. Manga are normally celebrated for going out of their way to foreshadow entire arcs and sagas within their ongoing story to create a sense of continuity. Ryu’s flashback also aligns almost too perfectly with Black Clover’s main protagonist and his own proprietary attributes to the point where not addressing the correlation would be sacrilegious.
Black Clover Draws Another Parallel to Naruto
Ironically, such a plot line would actually work for a completely other reason since it addresses a running joke among the manga community. A similar story is unraveling now in Naruto: Sasuke’s Story—The Uchiha and the Heavenly Stardust: The Manga where Sasuke and Sakura search for a cure to a disease that has only afflicted the protagonist of their world, Naruto. Many have pointed out the many parallels between both series, the latest being when Yami’s past in Black Clover shared a resemblance to Itachi’s in Naruto.
Black Clover adopting a storyline where heroes must search for a cure that has afflicted Asta would continue the conversation. Of course, Sasuke’s Story wasn’t always canon, which would have made these correlations unfounded if nothing had changed. However, now that the light novel has not only been adapted into a manga but recently aired in the Boruto: Naruto Next Generations anime, it’s all fair game but, unfortunately, only in fan fiction unless Yuki Tabata decides to bring Black Clover back after his final arc.
Black Clover chapter 351 is available at Viz.com.
