The New Team 7

Kawaki insists the group steer clear of Boro's lingering fog, which keeps harming them long after they have left its reach. Sarada and Boruto struggle to make sense of it: she watched Boro form hand seals, which points to ninjutsu, yet Boruto's Kāma failed to draw the mist in even though it swallowed his Lava Release without trouble. Kawaki clears up the puzzle, noting that Kāma can only take in substances built from chakra. A Water Release conjured from one's own chakra qualifies, he says, while water merely being steered does not, so the fog must not be chakra at all.

Mitsuki reveals that his snake pinned down a sliver of the mist, and he urges Sarada to sharpen her Sharingan on it before it scatters, warning her that she gets a single look and must never let it touch her. Peering in, she finds the substance is packed with viruses, which means the others who breathed it are now infected. Mitsuki is pleased to see his theory confirmed by the symptoms, and since no known jutsu spawns viruses, the team concludes Boro must be manufacturing them with scientific ninja tools.

Mitsuki has a plan but says it needs a leader, and pointing to Sarada's earlier call to fall back, he puts her in charge. She steps forward and tells Boro they have cracked his method, then asks what he intends to do about it. He answers that no ninjutsu can touch his creation and rushes her, his Lava Release met by her Fire Release as she keeps her distance. Sensing he is slow on his feet, she spreads a broad blaze at him, which he shrugs off behind a wall of water. When she loses track of him, she realizes he has looped around and hemmed her in with his viruses; her leap plays right into his hands, letting him swat her down into the cloud.

Hoisting her up, Boro brags that the infection works fast and waves off her seals, only for Sarada to reply that she cannot miss at point-blank range. She scorches his face, drives in a punch, and flashes the signal that frees Boruto and Kawaki to move. With both boys' Kāma lit, Boruto drives home a Rasengan that Kawaki amplifies, shredding Boro's head and much of his torso. Mitsuki turns up and the team cheers that the antibodies are doing their work.

The celebration is short-lived, as Boro twitches back to life and knits himself whole again, his recovery outpacing what Kawaki had braced for. Baffled that they hold antibodies found only in his own blood, Boro finally grasps that Mitsuki skimmed a sample when the snake bit him. Mitsuki admits he enjoys collecting things, crediting the habit to Orochimaru, and adds that had the weapon been true viruses rather than jutsu, Boro alone would carry the cure. As Boruto taunts that the attack is now useless, the four close in, prompting Boro to bolt for the seal holding Naruto and forcing Kawaki to break ranks to chase him. The chapter appears in volume 11 within the Kawaki arc and first ran in Japan in the February 2020 issue.