Predestined Fate

Boruto cannot believe Isshiki is soaking up so much fire, and Kawaki explains he should not be able to, since these are true flames rather than a jutsu. In reality Isshiki is shrinking them, not absorbing them. Amado clarifies that Sukunahikona can miniaturize or restore anything except living beings and its own wielder, and admits the trap hinged on exactly this. As Jigen's borrowed body runs dry of chakra, Isshiki loses the power to shrink the blaze, which starts to devour him. Amado adds that his opponent was still worn down from the earlier clash against Naruto and Sasuke, limiting how much fire he could reduce.

Naruto hopes this is the end, but Sasuke notes the enemy still carries two Kama and could reincarnate twice over. Kawaki storms in and strikes at Amado, only for Sasuke to block him, and Amado insists it is all a misunderstanding. He explains that once the flames claim Jigen, the Kama will trigger reincarnation on its own, beyond even Isshiki's control, and that Jigen's fully extracted seal makes him a usable vessel while Kawaki's half-decompressed one does not. When Boruto asks whether the plan is to kill Kawaki before his Kama finishes forming, Amado concedes it is one possibility, which enrages Naruto.

The decisive twist comes as Kawaki's Kama flares, spreads, then abruptly vanishes from his hand at the same moment the flames on Jigen shrink away. Amado reveals that reincarnation erases every Kama a given Otsutsuki has planted, a built-in safeguard against duplicate selves, meaning Isshiki now has no vessel left and can be destroyed for good. His true form emerges and shrinks everything nearby, including the scout toad, cutting Konoha's feed. Koji's mask then cracks, exposing him as Amado's clone modeled on Jiraiya, his fate sealed by the very genes he was born from. The chapter appears in volume 12 within the Kawaki arc.