That's Reality

Kawaki's sudden appearance on the battlefield catches both Naruto and Sasuke off guard, and Isshiki calmly welcomes his intended host. Back in the village, Amado and the others realise their options have run dry now that Kawaki has been pulled to Isshiki's side. Kawaki understands he is meant to be branded for a takeover, while Isshiki broods over his dwindling lifespan and the desperation that drove him this far. When Naruto shouts for the boy to run, Isshiki drives him into the ground hard enough to shatter his Baryon Mode. Catching the fleeing Kawaki, Isshiki locks a hand around his throat, only for Sasuke to swap positions with the boy through Amenotejikara at the last second. On Sasuke's cue, Kawaki drops a sphere at the enemy's feet, releasing a smoke bomb.

Isshiki beats Sasuke into the dirt and scoffs that no trick can hide anyone from the Byakugan, but the bomb is forged from a rare mineral that blinds even that sight, buying Kawaki time while Isshiki's life ticks away. Enraged and unable to locate his target, Isshiki crashes down beside Naruto and threatens to kill him unless Kawaki gives himself up. Gripping his prosthetic, Kawaki remembers cowering from Jigen and the punishments that followed, then the day Naruto took him on as a student, and he steps back into view. He throws a Fire Release that Isshiki shrugs off before seizing him and mocking the notion that a mere vessel could call himself a shinobi. Kawaki insists Naruto saw real talent in him and gave him a reason to live, and though Isshiki brands him with a Kāma and celebrates as his own body starts to crumble, the mark soon fades. The Kawaki he branded was a shadow clone, and the real one emerges to gloat that a discarded vessel has outwitted him, landing atop Isshiki's collapsing form. A stunned Naruto notes he can barely manage a clone himself, and both Sasuke and Kawaki press him about the source of his new power. The moment breaks when Boruto abruptly lunges and stabs Sasuke's Rinnegan; speaking through the boy, Momoshiki admits his surprise that Isshiki fell, welcomes it, and marks the survivors as the last nuisances in his path.

The chapter is part of the Boruto: Naruto Next Generations manga, collected in volume 14 during the Kawaki arc. It ran in the February 2021 issue of V Jump and keeps the title "That's Reality" in the Viz edition.