The Byakuya Gang Surfaces!

Kōtarō and Konohamaru reveal to Boruto, Sarada, and Mitsuki that the hostage standoff was only a decoy, cover for a group of honorable thieves known as the Byakuya Gang to empty a vault of its jewels. Feeling an unnatural chill from the security system, Boruto insists on inspecting the vault himself, and the tight defenses lead Kōtarō to suspect help from within. Sarada turns up a frozen flower outside, a clue that points toward an Ice Release user who could lower their body heat past the thermal sensors.

Days pass without movement on the case until Sarada shares her theory. To stay involved in the investigation, the young shinobi keep their conclusions to themselves and quietly consult Katasuke, who confirms the Ice Release angle and shows them a hidden corner of the village where the gang might surface.

The trio locates a posting offering the stolen jewels for sale and poses as buyers, only to find the thief they meet is a rigged decoy laced with explosive tags. The genuine culprit challenges their loyalty to the rich, brands them thieves in their own right, and flees using a jewel as a diversion while deliberately leaving a trail of frozen footprints. Following the tracks to a mountainside waterworks and up to a poor village, they are trapped in ice and told the jewel has already been sold, its proceeds spent repairing the settlement's water system. The thief releases them, and Boruto lets him go, left uneasy about the whole affair.

A parallel thread follows Shikadai, who is wrestling with a shōgi strategy when a passing bystander returns a dropped piece and joins him for hours of play. Shikadai gives the man the set and hopes to face him again, then presses his father for new tactics; Shikamaru grows so absorbed in teaching that he ignores Temari's call to dinner and earns her anger. The thief later reports to a partner that another scheme is already in motion before heading off to guard duty, while Shikadai waits in vain for his shōgi companion to return.