The Cursed Forest

Mitsuki tells Boruto their squad will team up with Team 15. Boruto mistakes a man crouched in a tree for a peeping tom and startles him with a kunai, only to find he was holding a nest of eggs. The stranger, Tosaka, shows off his knack for identifying species by licking their eggs, returns the nest, and lectures on how genes shape traits. When Boruto insists he is more than his genetics, Tosaka asks to lick him, and the genin promptly leave. Konohamaru explains that Hanabi is away on border patrol over a suspected infiltration, so he will lead both teams. Suika Kannonji assigns them to look into bird attacks plaguing a village on the fringe of the Land of Fire, with the bird specialist Tosaka attached to help. On the way, Sarada is revolted when Tosaka licks droppings to determine the birds' diet, and Team 15 counts on their prior animal-related mission for an edge. After a day of research aided by Wasabi's Cat Covering, the group nears the village, notices the eerie silence of birdless woods, and rescues a villager under attack. A fully transformed, raging Jūgo pins Boruto near a ledge before Nue shoves him into a river, and Boruto thanks Sumire. Rejoining the others tending the injured villager, they warn of the creature.

Namida senses something off about Sumire as the villager's breathing grows shallow and his fever climbs. In the village Tosaka suspects a bird-borne illness. An elder recounts that the birds began mutating a month earlier, ruining crops and attacking people, with beastly howls echoing from the forest, and that the waterfowl along the river running from the mountain toward the Land of Rivers were the first to change. Konohamaru advises drawing only from well water. A creeping pattern spreads across the afflicted, and the villagers carry in an unconscious Jūgo found by the river, who claims he simply slipped in. Nue remains wary of him. When a sick villager wakes and attacks, Konohamaru sends the genin to evacuate while Jūgo lures and subdues the man, hiding a partial transformation and warning Boruto to avoid the forest. Mitsuki observes the pattern has vanished from the villager. Konohamaru explains cursed seals and grows suspicious of Jūgo given his ties to Orochimaru. Splitting up, Boruto tests his hunch that the cries were echoes, traces them to a cave with a door, and finds Jūgo fighting to hold back his transformation. Recognizing him as his attacker, Boruto warns Sarada to run as Jūgo turns and declares he will kill them.

Boruto's team and Team 15 are joined by the specialist Tosaka for a mission into bird attacks near the Land of Fire. A berserk, transformed Jūgo assaults Boruto and is driven off by Nue. The village is struck by a spreading cursed pattern tied to the mutating birds and the mountain river. Jūgo is brought in feigning innocence, and Konohamaru links the phenomenon to Orochimaru's cursed seals. Boruto traces the forest cries to a cave and discovers Jūgo losing control, who threatens to kill him and Sarada.

This is episode 98 of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, the opening chapter of the Jūgo Arc. It aired in Japan on March 17, 2019, and in English on January 12, 2021. The opening theme is Lonely Go! and the ending theme is Tsuyogari LOSER.