A Chance Meeting 2

Chocho is stunned that Naruto himself has come to their aid against Shin's attempt to snatch Sarada. Shin bares his Mangekyo Sharingan and swings his chained sickle at Naruto from behind, but the strike is caught by several arms of chakra. When the watching creature signals him, Shin uses a space-time technique to vanish. Naruto decides the safest course is for the girls to travel on with him, and he brushes aside Chocho's guess that she had been the intended prey. Sarada gives him Boruto's lunchbox.

Over the meal, Naruto calms Sarada's uncertainty about her family, telling her she takes after her father in looks and her mother in temperament, and sharing tales of his old rivalry with Sasuke that leave her thrilled at the thought of meeting him. Nearing the Ridge Tower where Sasuke waits, Chocho drops from exhaustion and insists on resting. Unwilling to linger, Sarada invents an excuse and presses ahead alone, her Sharingan awakening from the emotion of the moment. Yet when Sasuke sees her, he levels his sword and asks whether she is one of Shin's.

Naruto blocks Shin's Mangekyo Sharingan ambush with chakra arms, and Shin retreats via a space-time jump. Naruto reassures Sarada about her parentage over lunch, sharing his rivalry with Sasuke. Sarada awakens her Sharingan on the way to the Ridge Tower, only for Sasuke to draw his sword on her, suspecting a link to Shin.

The second of the two same-named Naruto Gaiden chapters, this installment marks Sarada's first Sharingan awakening and sets up the tense father-and-daughter confrontation that opens the arc's next stretch.