A Shinobi's Resolve

Kakashi holds Boruto in a lock so tight that freeing himself would mean snapping his own arm, and he berates the boy for lacking any drive to grow before dropping his Sukea disguise. In Kakashi's view, Boruto's example has left his classmates unfit for shinobi life. Mitsuki and Iwabee rush in, forcing Kakashi to release his grip, and Iwabee helps Boruto slip away. After dark the students regroup, Wasabi tending Boruto's wounds while he apologizes and worries over the injured Mitsuki. Iwabee cuts him off, crediting Boruto for how far he has come and vowing to say as much to Kakashi, a stance Denki and Sumire echo.

Studying the situation, the group notices the twenty-four-hour clock, the fact that they still hold their bandannas even after some were knocked out, and that the instructors never chased the wounded. Boruto pieces it together: the bells, targets, and bandannas mask the real question, which is how the students choose to face the challenge together. He drafts a plan. Metal and Wasabi bait Anko, Sumire's Nue slips earplugs onto the captives under a smokescreen while Namida creeps in, and when the Anko they engage proves to be a clone, the real one is felled by Namida's terrified sonic scream.

The freed students press on. Boruto occupies Konohamaru while Denki, Iwabee, and Mitsuki pin him with fuinjutsu, and a swap of appearances lets Sarada, disguised as Boruto, slip close enough to catch Konohamaru in a Sharingan genjutsu. Tsuru reports that only Kakashi is left. At dawn Boruto swarms Kakashi with shadow clones hiding classmates among them, and after Kakashi scatters them, they clamp him down with fuinjutsu just as before.

Boruto rings the bell in the final seconds of the twenty-four-hour window, and Kakashi passes the entire class despite none of them ever claiming the bell itself. He explains the bell was never truly obtainable and repeats Obito's lesson that those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse; the moment they moved on him as one team is the moment they succeeded. Shino then dispels a transformation revealing the bandannas were forehead protectors all along, and the students celebrate while Iruka chides Kakashi for handling them so harshly.

This installment belongs to the Graduation Exams Arc of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations. It first aired in Japan on 13 December 2017 and in English on 30 June 2019. The opening theme is OVER and the ending theme is I Keep Running. Kakashi's Sukea alias, a callback to his earlier undercover persona, features prominently.