The Blood of the Funato

Ikada tends the still-unconscious Seiren, swapping her IV drip, when young Kobuna arrives with an armful of seashells. The boy shows off his blowpipe skills, admits his mother sent him to coax Ikada outdoors, and shares his dream of one day fighting Kirigakure once his father teaches him. He cannot understand why Ikada refuses to fight, and Ikada quietly points out that, unlike his siblings, he was born without gills. Araumi and Isari interrupt, Araumi scoffing at how much care Ikada wastes on Seiren, but Ikada pulls away and tells his father to stop dictating his choices.

Among the women repairing ships, one whose husband died to Kirigakure asks whether Ikada will ever take up arms. Elsewhere, Jibiki lays out the clan's grim position: supplies are thin, the mobile fortress cannot be repaired, and it is only a question of time before Kirigakure finds them. Isari argues for pulling back to regroup, which enrages Araumi, who accuses his son of turning coward during his imprisonment and blames him for their lost ships, Tenma's death, and Seiren's ruined condition. Stung, Isari transforms the harpoon Araumi once gave him, then storms off. Alone, Araumi sinks to the seabed and sets a pearl before Minamo, frozen solid, and remembers the battle in which Kirigakure's ice caught her; before she sank, she made him swear to raise the newborn Ikada into a fine leader.

Word then reaches Araumi that Funamushi is dead. Gokai explains that they could not abandon their revenge for Seiren, that they killed Kagura but failed to finish the Leaf shinobi Ikada realizes must be Boruto. Kobuna and his mother collapse in tears, and when the boy asks who is to blame, Ikada tells him vengeance is a matter for adults. Araumi rounds on Ikada, furious that he will not avenge his family and more furious still when Ikada admits he cannot even remember his mother. Ikada insists he never asked to be chosen. Soon a guard brings news that Seiren is awake and calling for him. Ikada rushes to her, but her mind is clouded; rising from the bed, she scatters Kobuna's shells, steps on one, falls, and begins to bleed. She speaks of a bright future and of reclaiming their seas, and Ikada lies to give her peace, telling her the ambush succeeded and Kirigakure has been wiped out. She dies believing it.

Kobuna has Gokai mark him with his father's tattoo and begs to be led to the killers. Isari, meanwhile, confides to Jibiki that Araumi's hatred has clouded his judgment, and reveals a plan to secretly seek peace with Kirigakure while the Funato still hold the waters. At dawn, Ikada tears up the ship design he had been sketching and dives into the ocean. The waves fall still as his power stirs, the water lifts him back up bearing new gills, and Araumi rejoices. Ikada surfaces in fresh clothes with a hardened look in his eyes.

Ikada's refusal to fight is contrasted against the whole clan's expectations, and the flashback to Minamo's freezing explains the promise Araumi carries. Funamushi's death is confirmed, along with Kagura's killing and Boruto's survival. Seiren dies after Ikada comforts her with a lie about a victorious ambush. Isari quietly resolves to pursue peace with Kirigakure. At the episode's close, grief triggers Ikada's transformation, giving him gills and a new, colder resolve.

The episode is part of the Great Sea Battle of Kirigakure arc in Boruto: Naruto Next Generations. It aired in Japan on May 22, 2022, and in English on November 14, 2023. Its opening theme is GOLD and its ending theme is Twilight Fuzz.