Konohamaru-chan

A flashback opens the chapter with Shinki channelling his chakra into Araya's blade so his comrade can bend iron sand to his will, insisting it is all in service of shielding his father, Gaara. Araya counters that Shinki ought to be looking out for Yodo instead. Back in the present, Araya snaps Mitsuki free of Ryū's Magnet Release control, and the four shinobi close ranks. He directs Sarada and Mitsuki to charge in directly while he handles the enemy's Iron Sand himself.

Stung at being underestimated yet spurred on by it, Ryū hurls a towering surge of Iron Sand, which Araya scatters with his sword as Yodo's keen hearing catches a strike coming from their flank. Sarada opens with the Great Fireball Technique, only for Ryū to raise a wall of sand against it, while Mitsuki, now in Sage Mode, binds him with enormous serpents. Ryū slips the coils by dissolving his own body into Iron Sand. When he begins to reform, Yodo pinpoints him and Araya gathers the surrounding sand with his blade to leave the foe exposed; Mitsuki's snakes and Sarada's Chidori land, but the blows run too shallow and Ryū scatters into sand once more.

Elsewhere, Matsuri's collar coils around Konohamaru as she rages at being called Konohamaru-chan. His attempt to defend himself, branding her selfish, only pushes her to bind him with Wood Release. Watching through her Senrigan, Ada briefs Koji Kashin: Konohamaru has provoked Matsuri and is close to being consumed, while the shinobi holding off Ryū are too pressed to spare him any aid. Koji senses Boruto's urge to intervene and tells him he must remain where he is.

At the base of the Human God Trees, Jura shares the freshly grasped idea of love with Hidari and Mamushi, warning that such a feeling could bring even beings like them to grief. Matsuri, staring at Konohamaru, wrestles with her own emotions and burns to devour him just to be rid of the sensation. Jura recalls the Ino-Shika-Chō trio throwing themselves in front of Himawari Uzumaki despite knowing the folly of it, and Inojin Yamanaka unravelling at the sight of her wounded, all of it, he concludes, love warping their judgement, a force scattered across countless texts yet impossible to fully fathom and one they must conquer.

Yodo tracks Ryū overhead and Araya again forces him to take shape, but a swarm of Claw Grime bursts from the Claw Marks on his cloak. Mitsuki's serpents and Sarada's Phoenix Sage Fire Technique cannot stem the tide, and the grime overwhelms them; one bites Yodo, and when Araya stabs another, his blade lodges in its body and Ryū drives that creature into a second's Claw Marks, dragging the weapon away. Stripped of a defence against the Iron Sand, the shinobi are boxed in, while Matsuri, tightening her transformed collar around Konohamaru, vows to swallow him whole.

Araya releases Mitsuki from Ryū's Magnet Release, and the Sand team coordinates an assault that Ryū repeatedly escapes by becoming Iron Sand. Matsuri, enraged over the nickname, ensnares Konohamaru with Wood Release and resolves to devour him. Jura explains love to the Human God Trees, framing it as a weakness they must overcome. Claw Grime pour out of Ryū's Claw Marks, biting Yodo and stealing Araya's blade, leaving both the shinobi and Konohamaru cornered.

This chapter is part of the Matsuri and Ryū Arc within Boruto: Two Blue Vortex and was collected in Volume 5. It ran in V Jump for the fourth issue of 2025, dated April 2025. The Japanese title is Konohamaru-chan.