The Vessel

Jigen breaks the news of the Vessel's disappearance to the other Inners, who fall to bickering over the setback and lay most of the blame on Victor. Victor tries redirecting suspicion toward the absent Amado, but Jigen shuts him down, saying Amado's work no longer concerns him. Koji Kashin volunteers to recover the Vessel, since the airship went down in territory he oversees, and the others let him handle it while he arranges for the Outer agent to help. Once the meeting ends, Victor privately schemes to claim the Vessel himself, pleased his data theft has gone unnoticed, only for Koji to reveal he had been present in the room the entire time.

When Victor lunges, Koji strikes first, reducing him to ash with flames fierce enough to outpace his regeneration, and destroys the drone holding the stolen data. Amado, meanwhile, extracts what Deepa knew after regrowing enough of his head to speak, after which Jigen orders the head discarded.

Koji reports Victor's death, and Jigen gives him the exact crash coordinates with orders to eliminate anyone who has laid eyes on the airship, as Konohamaru and Mugino close in on the wreck. In Konoha, a crowd of genin gathers to watch Boruto and Naruto spar, with Mitsuki helping Boruto ready himself and Shikamaru quietly noting that Naruto has not told his son he plans to test a new prosthetic hand.

Boruto opens with shadow-clone decoys and a Rasengan that Naruto snuffs out, then blinds his father with electrified shuriken, though the second Rasengan is extinguished all the same. A feigned clash of Rasengan masks the real Boruto's distant Water and Lightning combo, which Naruto blocks with an earthen wall before punching through and absorbing the attack outright. A kick from behind drops Boruto and ends the match, with Naruto praising how far he has come.

Afterward Naruto admits his prosthetic was a scientific ninja tool built by Katasuke from Momoshiki's power, though it cannot re-release what it absorbs, and Boruto scolds him for using the very kind of device he once condemned. Sasuke arrives to note that the real difference lies in how such tools are wielded, mentioning he has just returned from probing Kara. At the crash site, Konohamaru and Mugino board the ruined airship to find an empty container, and something begins approaching them from outside. The episode adapts chapter 16 within the Ao arc.