Franchise might be attempting to shift its spotlight from old characters onto the new ones.
While some manga titles waste 300 chapters of storytelling to take their plot and characters absolutely nowhere — yes, we’re talking about you Rent-A-Girlfriend — others pull no punches and are not scared to sacrifice even their most beloved heroes in order to move the story in a meaningful direction. This seems to be exactly the case with Boruto: Two Blue Vortex which, just two chapters in, has seemingly just killed one of the most crucial characters of the whole Naruto/Boruto franchise — Sasuke Uchiha.
Well, first things first. No, we do not know for sure that Sasuke is indeed dead, but we do have some pretty convincing evidence that more or less confirms his demise. And while we have to admit that Naruto as a franchise does have a nasty habit of bringing its characters back from the dead (some even more than once) — it is, at the same time, not afraid of forever parting ways with some of the most influential and fan-favorite members of its cast: Jiraiya, Might Guy, The Third Hokage etc. It is, of course, nothing when compared to something like Game of Thrones, but — by anime standards — Naruto’s characters are very mortal.
Thus, in theory, Sasuke’s supposed death might by all means end up being permanent. Not only just because the franchise, like we have just pointed out, has already killed some of its central characters in the past, but also because that would, surprisingly enough, keep in tone with some of the new themes that Boruto has been introducing ever since its start. That is — gradually shifting the spotlight from the old heroes onto the new ones.
The first thing Boruto does with its story is establish the fact that Naruto himself is not a major part of it: he has been sealed away and physically taken out of the plot. For a brief period of time this made Sasuke take center stage. But now his time seems to be up, too — and Boruto: Two Blue Vortex uses a very distinct way to demonstrate that by combining Sasuke’s disappearance with Boruto himself coming into battle wielding Sasuke’s sword and wearing his headband in a very metaphorical passing of the torch moment.
It’s fair to say that with franchise’s unpredictability it would be entirely possible for Sasuke to come back alive and well but, considering the fact that despite having younger characters Boruto is attempting to tell a slightly bit more mature story — we wouldn’t be surprised if the last member of Uchiha clan never made a return.