Ōnoki's Justice

Boruto demands an answer from Ōnoki, who offers none and lets Kū freeze the boy in place, stunning the rest of the genin. Ōnoki apologizes, waves off Akatsuchi, and insists everything is being done in the name of peace. Elsewhere, Naruto phones the Kurotsuchi's office and reaches Kontsuchi, who reports she has not come back and that nothing urgent is pending, though he is secretly under Kirara's genjutsu. Sensing trouble, Naruto and Shikamaru wait on word from Konohamaru, who is finding paralyzed Leaf shinobi on his way to the Hidden Stone. Ōnoki finally explains that five years earlier rogue ninja struck the village and killed many of its young, and he wants soldiers like Mitsuki to face such threats so that no more youth have to die.

Sekiei brings Mitsuki to meet Kū and shows him how the Akuta are manufactured, boasting that they will soon outnumber the village's own shinobi. Kokuyō and Kakō, annoyed at Sekiei parading Mitsuki around, debate whether to eliminate him now or await orders. When Boruto engages Kū and his Akuta, the group learns the creatures' masks are a weak point after Sarada shatters one and drops its wearer. Kū cages Boruto in earth, only for Akatsuchi's golem to break it, which Kū then destroys with Dust Release. In the clash a toppling pillar crushes Ōnoki's vehicle, and Boruto pulls the old man clear, while an Akuta captures Shikadai.

Held in a cell beside Kurotsuchi, Shikadai learns the roots of the scheme: after the attack years before, she refused one of Ōnoki's proposals, and though his early prototype Akuta were meant to guard the village, they turned on their makers. Kurotsuchi shut the program down to honor the villages' pact of mutual aid, but Ōnoki pressed on in secret with both the Akuta and artificial humans. A doctor's exam of Mitsuki, meanwhile, exposes the cursed seal set to destroy him and hide Orochimaru's research. This Boruto episode belongs to Mitsuki's Disappearance arc and aired in Japan on November 25, 2018, with Lonely Go! as its opening and Polaris as its ending.