In late October 1942, "Shōkaku" was again dispatched to Solomon Islands to support the Imperial Japanese Army ground assault on Henderson Field on Guadalcanal. During the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, Furuta was again the pilot of Lieutenant Arima, whose division was part of Lieutenant Commander Seki's second strike wave that consisted of 27 D3A dive bombers and 5 A6M Zero fighters. Arima's division again attacked "Enterprise". Furuta approached the carrier from astern and released the bomb at an altitude of between 450 and 500 meters and scored a hit. The 250 kilogram semi-AP bomb penetrated the center of the flight deck, around six meters from the forward edge, and detonated inside the carrier causing fires. They did not encounter any CAP on the way out and Arima instructed Furuta to climb to 6000 meters, where he could estimate the damage they had caused on "Enterprise". Since a simultaneous USN strike damaged the flight deck of "Shōkaku", Furuta was forced to land on "Zuikaku" upon return to the IJN fleet.