Kawaki Arc

The Kawaki Arc ( カワキ編 , Kawaki-hen ) is an arc of the Boruto: Naruto Next Generations manga. It covers chapters 24 to chapter 55. In the anime it is subdivided into distinct arcs, with the Kawaki Arc: Kara Clash ( カワキ編 「殻」激突 , Kawaki-hen: "Kara" Gekitotsu ) covering episode 188 to episode 205 and the Kawaki Arc: Ōtsutsuki Awakening ( カワキ編 大筒木覚醒 , Kawaki-hen: Ōtsutsuki Kakusei ) covering from episode 206 to 220. In both medias, it is preceded by the Ao Arc . In the manga, it is succeeded by the Code's Assault Arc , while in the anime, it is followed by the Chūnin Re-Examination Arc .

## Summary [ ]

### The Vessel [ ]

In the base of Kara , Jigen and Delta eat a meal where Delta expressed her exasperation at Koji 's lack of progress and kicked the meal table hard enough to destroy it completely. Jigen simply manifested another meal and calmly allowed her to shadow Koji's mission, provided she does not interfere with his methods. Delta requests the help of Garō , an Outer of Kara, and rendezvous' with Koji. As Boruto and the rest of Konohamaru 's Team observe the unconscious Kawaki , suddenly Boruto's seal hurt, also irritating Kawaki, who after being furiously reminded of his adoption at Jigen's hands unleashed a repelling shockwave before engaging in an uncooperative discussion with the Konoha ninja, unaware that Koji and Delta are watching. When Garō arrives, Kawaki fought him and after being overpowered, activated his seal and effortlessly killed him and nearly killed Boruto and the others had Boruto not activated his own seal. Although Kawaki made it clear he saw them as Kara members, he collapsed due to overexerting himself and after Katasuke inspected Kawaki, he revealed that Kawaki's body had been significantly modified by microscopic Scientific Ninja Tools that have altered his body down to the level of his nervous and circulatory systems and his level of advanced Shinobi Ware was even greater than Naruto 's own prosthetic. Team 7 and Katasuke decided to take him back to Konohagakure , with Koji allowing it much to Delta's angry surprise.

### Integrating Into Konoha [ ]

Once back in Konoha, having decided to allow Kawaki to experience normal life in Konoha, Naruto tried to befriend him but Kawaki remained guarded and hostile, trying to escape before he reached Naruto's house until Naruto foiled it and dismissing his value to Naruto as he couldn't provide much intel on Kara, and once he broke the vase Himawari had given to Hinata and tried to escape from his home, Naruto finally snapped and unleashed his power, terrifying Kawaki who believed he may be even more powerful than Jigen. Soon Boruto came home and was furious over Kawaki having broken the vase Himawari made. Kawaki coldly told him off and hardly apologised to Himawari, which only made Boruto angrier and after Kawaki introduced himself vulgarly, Boruto responded in kind. Although Hinata and Himawari were fine with the vase broken as the most important thing was her feelings conveyed to Hinata, Boruto and Kawaki soon had a violent altercation when they wanted to go to the toilet only to have to go outside the house, only being stopped by Naruto.

Eventually, Kawaki revealed his past to Boruto and how he obtained Kāma : he had obtained it from Jigen, who had experimented on many other children, causing their deaths, before succeeding with him. Boruto, who could not help but feel somewhat sorry and impressed by Kawaki's harsh treatment that even he himself noted was worse than death and yet he still survived for so long, agreed to consider working with Kawaki but still insisted he repair Himawari's vase before leaving for a mission. Naruto offered to help him as he couldn't let Kawaki steal money to buy another vase and the two went out and Kawaki's little regard for social manners and lack of knowledge of simple joys quickly showed themselves as he rudely ignored Sarada's advice on buying the custard snack and expressed quick infatuation with it and refused to share Sarada his snack, annoying Sarada. Even Naruto's tolerance was soon pushed to the limits when Kawaki ruthlessly attacked a child just because he bumped into him, which would have certainly killed the boy had Naruto not stopped him, and openly showed a lack of remorse for it. When he went to Ino 's shop to buy a vase to replace the original, however, Kawaki displayed his vulnerable and traumatised side as just seeing the flowers caused him to remember Jigen, which Naruto comforted him for, and Sarada softened up to Kawaki and offered him help anytime but Kawaki did not acknowledge her as a friend. However, Boruto coldly refused it and told him to repair the original, frustrating Kawaki. Meanwhile, Koji entered Konoha undetected while leaving Delta behind, angering her as she could no longer watch him.

### Delta's Assault [ ]

When Naruto sparred with Boruto, effortlessly overpowering him, Kawaki activated his seal to make Boruto use his own to begin studying Kāma, at which point Boruto quickly became significantly stronger but was still defeated easily. Nevertheless, Naruto applauded Boruto and the two mutually shared a seal of reconciliation, which surprised Kawaki who remembered how harsh Jigen was with him whenever training him as he could never remember being praised and was only ridiculed for his lack of appreciation for the Kāma and physically beaten whenever he questioned Jigen. Naruto then offered to have Kawaki spar with Boruto but Kawaki declined as he couldn't use chakra and unmoved by Naruto's explanation of chakra being a power that connects to others, which is the key to happiness, only expressed interest in the Shadow Clone Technique just because he could use it to beat himself up in a melancholic and self-bitter tone, which Naruto advised him against as he told him that self-hatred would mean nothing and that with friends, he could change for the better, which affected Kawaki enough that he bitterly decided to repair the vase despite struggling, unaware that Koji has found him but decided to not try to capture him as he would not win against Naruto and chose to watch him and Boruto to gather information, which caused Boruto to open up to Kawaki and offered to train with him to better use Kāma. During the spar, Kawaki easily handled Boruto's attacks before proceeding to unleash a blast that Boruto could not absorb and was injured in the process. When the two made a seal of reconciliation, suddenly Boruto's hand healed as he and Kawaki felt a reaction from their seals, which worried Koji as he felt that meant Boruto could have the same power as Jigen.

Meanwhile, the livid Delta had found Kawaki using a drone and proceeded to enter Konoha to bring him back herself. A fierce fight quickly ensued between Naruto and Delta, with Naruto successfully overwhelming and wearing down his opponent while holding back to not harm his watching children as Kawaki noted how far Naruto surpassed Delta and that it was obvious as a dance that Naruto was leading the fight. However, when Delta revealed her trump card, that of a destructive beam that not even Naruto could heal from, Naruto began to be pressured enough that Boruto tried to help only to make Delta attack Himawari, causing Naruto to shield her only for Kawaki to take the attack, infuriating Delta and Naruto, with Delta being angry that Kawaki had damaged his valuable body and Naruto being infuriated with her tactics. Now angered, Naruto decisively pummelled Delta and soon overloaded her absorbing eyes and defeated her. However, the drone Delta used exploded Delta's body and fled as Koji expressed that Naruto's power, while terrifying, still could not defeat Jigen and only the Kāma could do it. At the base of Kara, Delta raged at her defeat as the other Inners mocked and made it clear that the next time they try to retrieve Kawaki, they will send in someone stronger than her. Jigen swiftly silenced the argument, noting on how Delta had defied his orders and questioning about Koji's whereabouts. As Boro is perplexed by how Koji is disobeying the order of retrieving Kawaki before Konoha came in, Jigen, interested when Delta said Koji was gathering information, asked Delta about it and Delta told the other Inners about Boruto having Kāma, surprising all of them, even Jigen, as Code noted that he had searched Naruto and Sasuke but found neither of them had the seal, along with also noting that Boruto wields a real Kāma as his could increase in strength with Kawaki's upon resonating, which caused Jigen to smirk as he knew that Momoshiki chose Boruto as a vessel, therefore.

### Jigen's Surprise Attack [ ]

Meanwhile, Kawaki, inspired by Naruto giving a prosthetic hand to him despite it inhibiting his chakra, asked to learn ninjutsu from him and gradually opened up to others. He was eventually moved to tears when Kurama reveals just how similar Naruto's childhood was to his own when he was searching for the last piece of the vase and was confronted by Kurama. However, as Boruto and Mitsuki left to ask Tsunade about the similarities of the Strength of a Hundred Seal to that of the Kāma, Sasuke, in his investigation of a location from the coordinates retrieved from Kara, discovered two terrifying revelations: Kaguya had come to Earth with a partner and that another Ten Tails was imprisoned in the location. To further his concern, he saw Jigen came and absorb chakra from the Ten Tails to transform into Kaguya 's partner, the power of the resulting form is such that it caused Sasuke to retreat and warn Naruto rather than face him.

After gaining a significant amount of chakra, Jigen decided to personally retrieve Kawaki and forcibly synchronised Kawaki's Kāma to make it open a portal for him, a process that alerted Boruto, and arrived on Konoha himself right in front of Kawaki as Naruto was just worried about him. Koji, who had been watching all along and had been anticipating Jigen making a move, was astonished and perplexed at Jigen's ability to just so easily appear before Kawaki, as he wouldn't have needed to order the vessel retrieval mission, only to be soon caught by Jigen, forcing him to stop watching the events, as he came to the realisation Jigen was never fooled by him and had been merely baiting him to know his motives. His immense power being instantly sensed by Ino, terrified by the level of darkness she sensed from him, Ino immediately contacted Naruto who had her station the Police Force as a backup but not to intervene immediately in his one-on-one fight with Jigen. Jigen voiced his lack of interest in fighting the Seventh Hokage and even apologised for his rude arrival and when Naruto coldly rebuked his civility and attacked him, Jigen easily overpowered and subdued him with a kick and several black rods impaling his person. Jigen then turned his sights on Kawaki and commanded him to prepare to return and effortlessly restrained his adopted son when he tried to punch him, expressing disgust and exasperation at his prosthetic arm and on how Kawaki favoured it over the Kāma he gave him, noting it was just a tracking device no different than Kāma, and Kawaki's defiance only caused Jigen to tighten his grip on his hand, twisting it, as he continued to degrade Naruto and Konoha as a whole, berating Kawaki for believing that he wasn't anything more but a bait for Kara and dismissing the Hokage as being a mere peace-obsessed foolish coward who cares only for the peace of his village, but Kawaki resisted him and in his anger, his Kāma progressed to the point a horn came out of it, shocking Jigen on how much Kawaki had progressed. Naruto, now freed, kicked Jigen aside and Jigen, seeing Naruto won't stop interfering, finally decided to engage the Seventh Hokage and activated his Kāma. Before they could begin fighting, Kawaki decided to surrender to Jigen, fearing Jigen could kill Naruto in their battle, in exchange for no fights between him and the Seventh Hokage. Although Jigen agreed to the terms, Naruto refused to cooperate so Jigen teleported him to another dimension but was stopped from leaving by Sasuke, who along with Naruto decided to face Jigen there as they could fight fully, which merely caused Jigen to laugh at them.

While Sarada arrived on Naruto's house to find the despondent Kawaki, who believed Jigen would defeat and kill Naruto and he was powerless to stop it, and Boruto and Mitsuki closed in, with Boruto's Kāma receding, Naruto and Sasuke fought Jigen only to quickly be pressured by the Kara leader's overwhelming might as they were not only unable to land any meaningful hits due to Jigen's Kāma easily handling their attacks that did connect with both sheer physical prowess and the ability to absorb jutsu but was also unable to anticipate his pattern of attacks as he somehow caused black rods to appear in their person to stab them and vanished whenever about to be attacked to dodge their attacks before swiftly retaliating with the rods. Eventually, Sasuke realised that Jigen's true ability was to manipulate matter to a molecular level to shrink objects and himself to a microscopic level and just as easily return to normal, which caused Jigen to deem Sasuke the more dangerous foe and declare him as the first one he will kill. With Jigen's ability revealed, Naruto and Sasuke managed to anticipate his patterns and began cornering him, with Naruto distracting Jigen while Sasuke attacked him with his sword and though Jigen repelled the attack and escaped using his shrinking technique, Naruto managed to trick him into revealing himself by having him absorb his jutsu for Sasuke to attack but Jigen managed to escape using his Space-Time Ninjutsu and after praising them for their abilities and having revealed to him his weakness, calmly activated the transformed state he was in when he absorbed the Ten-Tails' chakra, leaving even Naruto and Sasuke nervous at the power of the form.

As Sasuke revealed his knowledge of Jigen's mysterious form, earning him Jigen's ire who angrily questioned how he was able to find the dimension he trapped his Ten-Tails in, and deduced Jigen's goals, he and Naruto activated Complete Body Susanoo and Tailed Beast Mode only to be swiftly outmatched by Jigen's drastically greater power as he easily dodged their attacks and plunged through their avatar forms, even when Sasuke managed to catch him off-guard with his Rinnegan's Amenotejikara to have Naruto to attack him which he easily dodged and countered with large black stakes to impale Kurama's tails for him to punch Naruto out of the form, and even Sasuke's attempt to switch place with Naruto when Jigen tried to absorb his Rasengan doesn't work as he simply summoned rods around his neck to block it and downed Sasuke with a single kick and soon overpowered Naruto and downed him as well. However, despite Jigen's dominance, he soon found that he was at his limits and his body couldn't keep pace with his power and to end things quickly, he restrained them using black rods and intended to seal Naruto while killing Sasuke. Realising they were outmatched, Naruto ordered Sasuke to flee and with a heavy heart, Sasuke teleported back to Konoha at his home, surprising Sakura who had just arrived, as he could only weakly pray that Naruto would survive. Jigen, having no interest in killing Naruto, ignored his insults, revealing he was only after Boruto for his Kāma and as he sealed him away in a large coffin, Jigen promised to kill Naruto if he escaped, which Naruto swore to return back to Jigen. As Jigen shrunk the coffin to normal size, he collapsed from the strain of using the form, even shedding a tear of pain, it is revealed that Isshiki Ōtsutsuki had been possessing him all along and the mysterious enemy cursed Jigen's limits before teleporting away. The Kara leader, heavily weakened, was forced to return back to the base and rest for 2 days, but Jigen is unconcerned as Kawaki and Boruto have both grown tremendously and he could now see that they will become a "perfect Otsutsuki". Meanwhile, Koji, realising that Jigen had been weakened even though he believed that Naruto, even aided by Sasuke, would be no match for Jigen, returned to the base to kill Jigen himself.

### The New Team 7 [ ]

As Kawaki was left to realise in horror that Naruto had lost to Jigen, Boruto, Sarada and Mitsuki came in and soon Shikamaru and Konoha shinobi arrived and as Kawaki let them on the situation, Shikamaru was left perplexed with the situation as if Jigen had only planned to strand Naruto in another dimension, he could just come back for Kawaki and as he hasn't, the only possibilities are that either Jigen had defeated Naruto but had been left weakened so couldn't come back or they're still fighting. The best possibility would be that Naruto had defeated Jigen but cannot come back on his own but with him unable to contact Sasuke, they have no choice but to wait for his return and Shikamaru allowed Kawaki to remain free but refused to let him wander around as he never trusted him while they wait for Sasuke to retrieve Naruto. Eventually, Kawaki was able to open a portal to Naruto's location along with Boruto and easily absorbing Shikamaru's attempt to paralyse him, left with Team 7 to rescue Naruto. The worried Shikamaru was soon even more concerned when it turned out that Sasuke had returned with severe injuries and a massive loss of chakra that effectively meant Konoha won't be able to retrieve Naruto or Team 7 anytime soon, leaving the Hokage adviser only able to pray that Boruto and the others survive until they could rescue them. Once arriving, they meet Boro , who Kawaki described as being in some ways even worse than Jigen.

As Boro and Kawaki bantered on Kawaki's change and Kawaki's question on Naruto's situation, Boro revealed that Naruto had been sealed inside the coffin as he then threw it down at Team 7 before cautioning that they don't break it as it would kill Naruto and only Jigen could undo the seal. Team 7 soon got attacked by Boro, who nearly killed Naruto with his Lava Release: Planet-Branding Blast before he managed to easily shrug off Boruto and Kawaki's attacks with his Self-Healing Technique and soon paralyse them with Dark Cloud , expressing joy on how he could bring them both back, and even Mitsuki's intervention proved to be ineffective as Boro's dark mist wasn't blown away by Mitsuki's Wind Release and he swiftly overpowered his efforts, purging the snake's venom with his regeneration technique. Only Sarada's intervention kept them from being defeated as they fell back. They were able to figure out that the origins of the mist were physical matter and with the substance inside Mitsuki's snake, Sarada managed to figure out they were viruses and Boro used Scientific Ninja Tools to project them. After Sarada was made the leader of the new Team 7, she confronted Boro alone and though no match for him, Sarada was able to trick him into getting close and use her Fire Ball Technique to damage him before Boruto and Kawaki unleashed their Rasengan: "Unison" on him. However, Boro was still able to recover even after his body was blown apart with his healing technique and proceeded to attack Naruto to break their team-work.

Despite the virus being neutralised, Boro quickly compensated for this by using gunpowder to detonate them, managing to injure Kawaki who was shielding Naruto, as he voiced his desire to take him back as soon as possible along with Boruto to train them from scratch. Even with the virus neutralised, Boro's regeneration technique swiftly overwhelmed Team 7 as he regenerated every damage and landed punishing blows on them. Kawaki revealed that all members of Kara had been modified with Shinobi Ware by Amado but even Amado's genius skills have limits and that there must be a giant core with Boro's abnormal regeneration before he had Sarada search for it and joined Boruto and Mitsuki. Although their attacks failed to do any effect on Boro, Sarada was able to deduce Boro's core's location and that he could move it with hand seals and managed to blitz him with Chidori. However, while succeeding in destroying the core, Team 7 was faced with new trouble as Boro lost control of the scientific ninja tools in his body and began mutating in a wild rampage. Unable to handle Boro in their exhausted state, Team 7 free Naruto using Boruto and Kawaki's collaborated Space-Time Ninjutsu in the hopes he may kill Boro once and for all only to find Naruto unconscious. As Boro attacked and overpowered them all, Boruto was taken over by Momoshiki and easily killed Boro before returning control, stating that the time where Boruto will lose everything is still far away.

### Mutiny Within Kara [ ]

Koji returned to Kara's base, intent on killing Jigen. Amado is revealed to be a conspirator, informing Koji that Jigen has only accumulated 10% of his power. After Amado prepared himself sufficiently, Koji used reverse-summoning to teleport Amado to Konoha while he heads to battle Jigen. Delta attempted to stop the duo, though she was immediately shut down by Amado's voice command. At Konoha, Naruto and Sasuke have both recovered from Jigen's assault. Sasuke found out about Boruto's brief manifestation of Momoshiki's will from Sarada and recognising it from a talk with Mitsuki, realised that Jigen too was a vessel of another being. As Inoijin, Chōchō and Shikadai trained, they were attacked by Amado, who quickly subdued Shikadai and held him hostage with an exploding collar. After the Konoha-nin reluctantly agrees to negotiate with him, Amado reveals that he wants to defect to Konoha and in exchange will tell them all he knows about Kara, Jigen, Ten-Tails and Ōtsutsuki. Forced to accept Amado's terms, Naruto allowed Amado to enter Konoha bound and Amado kept his word, revealing that Kara's goal is to use the Ten-Tails they had to create a new God Tree to make a Chakra Fruit and that Jigen was originally a human but became an Ōtsutsuki via Kāma.

Meanwhile, Koji confronted Jigen, who questioned the former's reasoning for betraying Kara. The exchange was simultaneously relayed to Konoha via Amado's glasses, which were connected to Koji's spying toad. Koji suddenly attacked Jigen but his shadow clone was quickly defeated. As Koji and Jigen continued to battle, with Jigen easily countering all of Koji's attacks, Amado revealed that Jigen's true form was Isshiki Ōtsutsuki. He had once partnered with Kaguya and came to Earth to harvest a Chakra Fruit from it, killing all life on the planet, as the Ōtsutsuki Clan had been doing for decades to evolve. However, Kaguya mysteriously betrayed Isshiki, catching him off-guard and nearly killing him. However, he managed to take over Jigen as a vessel first by using his special ability Sukunahikona to shrink himself and enter Jigen through his ear until he regained the energy to bestow upon Jigen his Kāma. Isshiki eventually learned that Jigen's body was not strong enough to bear his power, with the reincarnated body lasting only a few days. Amado furthermore revealed that the Kāma is a seal that compresses the biological profile of an Ōtsutsuki and once implanted on a target, would allow the Ōtsutsuki to resurrect in time upon completely overriding the host's personality: As such, Boruto would eventually cease to exist and Momoshiki would revive. Amado knew no method to stop Boruto's aside from killing him and confirmed Isshiki's power at it's full form, should he take over Kawaki, would be too immense for anyone to stop him. Koji finally managed to catch Jigen off-guard by trapping him in a massive wall of unabsorbable natural flames. Although Jigen temporarily resisted by shrinking the flames, he did not have enough power to do so for long and soon burned to death. Amado disclosed that because Kawaki's Kāma had not completely extracted the Ōtsutsuki's data, Isshiki would have no choice but to be reborn in Jigen's body as the latter was fully ready. To prevent duplicates Kawaki's Kāma vanished, while Isshiki was reborn and easily shrunk all the flames around him.

He quickly began assaulting Koji, shrinking anything he saw, as Amado revealed that Isshiki was far too strong for Koji to defeat and he was only used as a tool to lure him out. Noticing that Koji's fighting style was reminiscent to his former master's , Naruto felt concerned for him. Isshiki destroyed Koji's mask, revealing him to be a clone of Jiraiya created by Amado. Isshiki acknowledged that Jiraiya bore a mighty fate, but in the same vein as his genetic template, Koji's predestined fate was a sacrificial death. Koji attempted to assault Isshiki but found himself vastly outmatched by the Ōtsutsuki, whose powers were on a completely different level than before. Despite Isshiki's condescending remarks, Koji entered Sage Mode and went on the offensive.

Meanwhile, Amado's defection rights were granted and recognised, though only around Konoha and he would only leave if Naruto and Shikamaru were to allow it and he wasn't allowed to work on the village's lab without Katasuke. Amado then revealed that he never planted a bomb collar on Shikadai and it was just a sophisticated trick, as he knew that Shikamaru wouldn't be able to think otherwise as he had seen a real bomb collar go off. Getting serious, Amado told them that Isshiki would soon be coming as Koji would eventually be defeated and only the combined strength of Naruto and Sasuke could challenge him. He also revealed that sending backup to Koji would only lead to Kawaki being left unguarded as Isshiki would have no reason to engage Naruto and Sasuke or any other backup they sent if they challenged him so soon and would instead prioritise branding Kawaki once more and thus attack Konoha. Knowing fully well that Isshiki could destroy Konoha with his power, Amado advised the civilians be evacuated, which Shikamaru immediately had Sai arrange, and Kawaki be put into somewhere safe with Naruto and Sasuke around to guard him against Isshiki.

As Koji, now in Sage Mode, attacked Isshiki, the increase in power allowing him to be more of a challenge to the Ōtsutsuki but still being outclassed in straight combat, his attacks being casually repelled and outmatched in physical combat, he eventually attempted to catch Isshiki off-guard by using Sage Art: Five Fire Gods' Fan of Flames to temporarily cloud his vision and then attacking with an Ultra Big Ball Rasengan, only for Isshiki to reveal his Daikokuten and summon the pillars he had shrunk earlier to pin down Koji, decisively ending the battle. As Isshiki explained the technique and gave an example by summoning his original clothes and a glass of wine to drink, he commented on how Koji should have known the fight would have ended with him dead and that it may look like he was trying to die as a proud shinobi but he knew that he didn't want to acknowledge Amado's betrayal and admitting that Amado had outwitted him, asked Koji for any message to Amado, which he would deliver as a favour for a former comrade before killing the old man. Koji instead summoned a toad to swallow him and escaped but Isshiki couldn't care less if Koji lived or died, choosing to teleport to Konoha immediately to retrieve Kawaki.

### Isshiki's Time Limit [ ]

Meanwhile, Naruto and Boruto were arguing as Boruto wanted to help but Naruto refused, as Isshiki is a complete monster who only he and Sasuke could fight against, but Boruto pointed out how Isshiki, while weakened, had defeated Naruto and Sasuke. Sasuke told Boruto he and Naruto would gladly die at Isshiki's hands to protect Konoha and told him if he had the same will just as Isshiki finally appeared in Konoha and Ino notified Naruto. As the shinobi quickly evacuated the civilians, with the order not to engage Isshiki, Isshiki soon approached two shinobi and easily neutralised thrown shuriken and used them to kill the other before getting the information that they weren't given any info on Kawaki and proceeding to find those who were. Quickly rushing to battle Isshiki after ordering Boruto to not get in the way, Naruto soon ran into him, with Isshiki being surprised that Naruto had broken out of his seal. While Naruto engaged Isshiki, Sasuke and Boruto then talked on how dire the situation was as Sasuke freely admitted his and Naruto's fight with Isshiki could end badly as the last time they fought him as Jigen, they could barely stand up to him. Sasuke then questioned Boruto's Kāma and Boruto admits he is scared of losing control and rampaging in the village.

Isshiki and Naruto conversed tensely on how Naruto had escaped meant Boro was defeated and that Naruto intended to end Isshiki once and for all. They quickly fought, with Isshiki effortlessly overpowering Naruto with simple kicks, sending him flying through buildings and inflicting considerable damage on the surroundings and injuring Naruto himself. Before Isshiki could deliver a lethal blow, Sasuke saved him, and after indiscriminately throwing shuriken, which Isshiki easily shrunk, threw his katana, which was actually Boruto in disguise, and had him teleport Isshiki away to another dimension with him and Naruto following suit. Now free to use all their power, the three prepared to battle Isshiki, who while surprised that Boruto could wield Momoshiki's powers that well was still confident he could defeat them, promising they'll regret it.

Isshiki blitzed the trio and grabbed Boruto, floating into the air. He inspected Boruto and determined the decompression of Momoshiki's Kāma to be about 80% complete. Sasuke switched positions with Boruto and attempted a Chidori, but Isshiki swiftly neutralised the attack and after downing Sasuke, declared that while he could easily teleport back to Konoha, they would just follow him there so he would defeat and kill Naruto and Sasuke and then present their corpses to Konoha to intimidate the villagers into surrendering as Naruto activated his Six Paths Sage Mode. Back in Konoha, Kawaki dreamt of Jigen's words before waking up next to in a hidden location with Amado, Shikamaru, Katasuke, and Sumire. Kawaki noticed his Kāma has disappeared, and Amado updated him on what has happened since he passed out. Kawaki was worried that Isshiki, even more of a monster than when he was Jigen, would defeat Naruto, Sasuke and Boruto, a concern that the others also shared, but Amado assured them that as long as they could hold Isshiki long enough for his lifespan to run out, they would win and eventually revealed that Boruto had something that could potentially allow them to achieve victory. On the battlefield, Naruto attacked Isshiki but he easily shrank Naruto's Rasengan and withstood being pummelled by his Chakra Arms unfazed before escaping and swiftly kicking Naruto down. Even when Naruto attempted to hold Isshiki in place with chakra arms for Sasuke to land a Chidori, Isshiki retaliated by manifesting several large cubes, trapping Naruto in the debris. Isshiki assaulted Sasuke with a black staff, with the latter blocking the former's attacks with his sword. Isshiki shrank the katana out of his grasp, knocking him down, and enlarged the sword to kill him. Boruto noticed Sasuke's dire situation and rushed to his side. Isshiki froze when Boruto put himself between him and Sasuke, allowing Boruto to take him to safety and determine that Isshiki can't kill him.

Boruto shared what Boro let slip about Isshiki's plan, causing Sasuke to realise Isshiki intended to use Boruto in his plan for a new God Tree. Boruto threatened to kill himself to stop Isshiki's plan, but Isshiki incapacitated him, and continued to assault Sasuke. Boruto passed out from his injury. Amado further explained that an Ōtsutsuki must be sacrificed to make the tree bloom, and the changing circumstances of Ōtsutsuki availability, from Kaguya's betrayal to Boruto becoming Momoshiki's vessel. Noticing Naruto's determination, Kurama proposed utilising Baryon Mode , a secret power that grants Naruto enhanced strength and the ability to reduce his enemy's life force, in exchange for the user's own life. Realising his dire circumstances, Naruto accepts Kurama's proposal and undergoes his new transformation, shocking everyone present on the battlefield. Naruto and Isshiki continue to clash, with the latter shocked by the drastic improvement of his opponent's strength. With his new power, Naruto is able to diminish Isshiki's lifespan from twenty hours to just five minutes.

Running out of options, Isshiki senses Kawaki's location from the chakra Naruto uses to power Kawaki's prosthetic hand, and thereby transports Kawaki to the battlefield. Isshiki immediately captures Kawaki, though Sasuke switches places with him and provides him with a smokescreen to hide from the enemy. After neutralising Sasuke, an enraged Isshiki threatens to kill Naruto should Kawaki not reveal his location. Kawaki offers himself to a gleeful Isshiki, who implants another Kāma onto his vessel. However, as Isshiki's body begins to disintegrate, Kawaki reveals that he previously used a shadow clone, thus preventing Isshiki's revival. Out of options, Isshiki perishes as Kawaki finally relishes in the death of his persistent tormentor.

### Lingering Adversaries [ ]

After Isshiki's defeat, Sasuke and Kawaki inquired about Naruto's health after using such a tremendously powerful transformation. Before Naruto could explain his condition, Sasuke's left eye was suddenly stabbed by a Momoshiki-controlled Boruto. With Sasuke's Rinnegan destroyed and Isshiki dead, Momoshiki's vessel gloated that the remaining combatants were the only thing standing in his way of achieving salvation. Momoshiki reveals that due to the Kāma's accelerated extraction previously ingrained in Kawaki, the boy's DNA is almost entirely Ōtsutsuki. Therefore, Momoshiki determines that Kawaki is a worthy sacrifice to feed to Isshiki's hidden Ten-Tails, thereby cultivating a healthy God Tree.

An irritated Kawaki attacks Momoshiki's vessel, but is quickly defeated and saved by Sasuke. The two battle against Momoshiki, while Naruto passes out due to the side-effects of the Baryon Mode. During the fight, Sasuke notices that Momoshiki does not use Boruto's Kāma to absorb chakra -based attacks , and postulates that forcing Momoshiki to absorb chakra may allow Boruto to regain consciousness. Before he can formulate an offensive, Momoshiki neutralises Sasuke with Boruto's Vanishing Rasengan . Understanding Sasuke's plan, Kawaki begins to self-immolate, forcing Momoshiki to absorb the fire so as not to lose his only sacrifice. Momoshiki attempts to teleport with Kawaki, but Boruto awakens and breaks Momoshiki's horn off, leading the Kāma to recede. With the Ōtsutsuki threat diminished, Sasuke turned his attention towards an unconscious Naruto, showing great concern for his friend's condition.

Inside his subconscious, Naruto had a final conversation with Kurama. He told the kitsune that he had no ill will to Kurama despite the loss of his parents. As Naruto was prepared to die, Kurama revealed that Naruto would awake soon and fine, as it was Kurama's life that was gambled from using Baryon Mode, knowing Naruto would not agree to the plan if he knew the truth. As Kurama's life began to fade, he warned Naruto that he would lose all access to Kurama's chakra and abilities, meaning he would have to be more careful from now on. Naruto desperately reached out for Kurama before waking up to see Boruto, Sasuke, and Kawaki standing over him. With Sasuke's Rinnegan and Kawaki's Kāma gone, it was up to Boruto to use his mark to bring everyone back to Konoha. With encouragement from Kawaki, the group were able to safely return to the village.

Elsewhere, Code awakens from a nap and checks on the Ten-Tails. Code solemnly looks at a defective Kāma on his palm, and laments his failure as a vessel to Isshiki. Suddenly, his Kāma activates, manifesting Isshiki's spirit. Isshiki explains the events that resulted in his permanent death to Code, who vows to avenge his fallen master. Isshiki declares the White Kāma is his legacy, and that Code will inherit his Ōtsutsuki Will as well. Unwilling to let that die, Isshiki instructs him to do as the Ōtsutsuki have done for thousands of years, consuming the life of planets, and specifically to cultivate a God Tree by feeding either Boruto or Kawaki to the Ten-Tails. By consuming the new tree's chakra fruit, Code will become a new Ōtsutsuki and attain the power of a God. As Isshiki fades from the land of the living, Code recites the names of those he will seek vengeance upon.

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## Trivia [ ]

- According to Amado during his interrogation, the Fourth Shinobi World War took place sixteen years prior.

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