Defection

Amado pitches his defection to Konoha as a bargain, promising intelligence of enormous value along with the release of Shikadai. Sumire fills Boruto in on who the man is, while Kawaki treats him with suspicion. To Shikamaru's surprise, Naruto agrees to conduct the interrogation, reasoning that it is the only route to freeing Shikadai and that the question of trust can wait until afterward.

Away from the village, Code stands guard over the Ten-Tails and reports in to Jigen, who cautions that Konoha has learned the location. When Code raises Boro, Jigen notes that Boro has missed his scheduled check-in, then dismisses him and calls on the newly arrived Koji for a report. Back in the interrogation, Amado needles Shikamaru by invoking Shikadai after being denied a cigarette, even pinning him to the wall, until Naruto orders him to talk. Boruto, Kawaki, Katasuke, and Sumire look on. Kawaki lays out that Amado is Kara's lead researcher with unmatched access, one Jigen never allowed to leave, and reads him as a man ready to die. He also tells Katasuke that Amado is the engineer behind his own modified body and those of the other Inners, which delights the scientist. Naruto asks for a sample of Amado's intel so the village can weigh whether to grant asylum, and vows not to turn on him once they finish.

Amado reveals the core truth: Jigen has become an Ōtsutsuki, a species he describes as alien parasites that drain a planet's chakra through a God Tree. That tree yields a Chakra Fruit dense with energy and knowledge, and consuming it is how the Ōtsutsuki evolve. He admits he planted the data that led Sasuke toward a certain site, wanting Konoha forewarned about the curved-horn Ōtsutsuki, and confirms that the Ten-Tails Sasuke would have found there is one such God Tree seedling, a tool the Ōtsutsuki always rely on. Sasuke suspects the real threat is not Jigen but whoever bestowed his Kāma, deducing that the mark itself turned Jigen into an Ōtsutsuki, and presses Amado to explain it.

Naruto commits to interrogating Amado in exchange for Shikadai's freedom, deferring the trust question. Kawaki identifies Amado as Kara's head scientist and the architect of the Inners' modified bodies. Amado exposes Jigen's transformation into an Ōtsutsuki and the parasitic God Tree cycle, and reveals he deliberately seeded the intelligence Sasuke uncovered. Meanwhile Amado's glasses stream a live feed of Jigen and Koji's meeting, where Koji, revealed as a creation made solely to kill Jigen, turns on his master and strikes, though the Koji that Jigen impales with chakra rods proves to be a shadow clone.

Drawn from the Kawaki storyline of the original Boruto manga and collected in the twelfth volume, the chapter is a heavy exposition beat that reframes Kara's leadership as a front for Ōtsutsuki interests. Amado's glasses double as a surveillance link, letting the interrogation and Koji's rebellion play out at once, and Shikamaru recognises Koji from Konohamaru's earlier report while Boruto knows his mask from their prior fight. Jigen also confirms that the airship crash which let Kawaki escape was a staged attack rather than an accident, tying together the schemes converging against him.