The Real Thing

Her outburst spent, Sarada tells Naruto that with everything she believed now exposed as a lie, she plans to abandon the village and travel on by herself. Naruto blocks her path and explains that blood ties are not what matter to him; to him, Sarada and the rest of Konoha are already family. When she snaps that he understands nothing of her situation, the words stir his own boyhood memories of Iruka and Sasuke.

Naruto tells her that a family is defined by the connections people forge, not by shared blood, and asks her to hold onto that feeling one more time. Thinking back over her life with Sakura, Sarada admits to herself how deeply she cares, and decides she wants to help her mother. The two rejoin the others, where Sasuke scolds them for straying off.

Orochimaru suggests Sakura may already be dead, but Sasuke is certain she can protect herself. He activates his tomoe Rinnegan and Mangekyo Sharingan, having at last recovered the chakra drained during his search through Kaguya's dimensions, and manifests his Susanoo to lead everyone to Shin's lair.

Elsewhere, Shin finishes his operation and reveals his aim to wipe out the genes of those who cherish peace, a plan Sakura rejects as she braces to fight him. Published as chapter 708 in volume 73, part of the Naruto Gaiden storyline, the installment briefly draws Sasuke's right Mangekyo Sharingan in its plain form rather than the Eternal pattern, an error later corrected in the collected edition.