A Wish

Guiding Kawaki along the fastest path toward the Land of Calm Seas, Mozuku hopes to head off Kurobane, an Anbu working for the local daimyo. In Konoha, Konohamaru reports that every recently murdered boy traced back to that same country, prompting Naruto to send backup and recall that another team is already in the field. Boruto, Sarada, Shikadai, and an injured Chocho converge on the trouble after noticing suspicious shinobi near their own assignment.

Kurobane refuses Mozuku's plea to spare a fellow countryman, insisting a shinobi serves only his employer. He raises a fog that spawns doubles and slowly draws the moisture from anyone caught in it. Kawaki works out that the blade striking at him is real and guided from nearby, clears the mist with Fire Release to expose the enemy's blood threads, and lands a decisive hit. Boruto arrives to shatter the recalled sword with a Rasengan, and Shikadai pins Kurobane with his shadow.

Mozuku shields Kawaki with his own body, entrusts him with the medicine meant for his homeland, hands over his money and his thanks, and dies. Kawaki carries the package onward, tricking a final ambusher with an empty box before handing the real cargo to Mozuku's teacher at a checkpoint. Rain falls as the group returns to Konoha, and Kawaki, blaming his own defiance for Mozuku's death, collapses under the weight of it.

Recovering later, Kawaki is taken by Shikadai to the Konoha cemetery, where his grandfather Shikaku lies among those who died for the village. Shikadai reminds him that a captain carries the mission's burden and that the living must keep moving forward. Naruto tells Kawaki that his conduct already proved he can operate as a genin, so no further exam is needed, and leaves him to puzzle out for himself what being a shinobi truly means.

The episode sits in the Chunin Re-Examination Arc and centers Kawaki's growth toward accepting the shinobi path. Konoha cannot act directly against the Calm Seas daimyo but arranges medical relief instead. It opens on Reckless and closes on Prologue.