The Whereabouts of the Sun

The chapter opens with Mitsuki brooding over how essential a sun becomes to anyone who pictures himself as the moon. He lashes out first, sending chakra serpents that swat aside the blades Boruto throws, though Boruto slips away by warping to one of his shuriken and immediately asks after Kawaki. Relaying his thoughts through a mental link, Shikamaru reveals that Mitsuki drugged Kawaki into a stupor so nobody would sense the approach. Mitsuki argues that Boruto now towers over both Code and Kawaki, and Boruto flips the reasoning around, branding their duel a waste. Even so, Mitsuki insists he arrived alone precisely so he could cut loose without deferring to anyone.

He presses on with snake clones that tear up the surrounding terrain, prompting Boruto to scold the reckless destruction and remind him that piling on power is not the same as winning. Mitsuki simply wants him gone as the source of every problem, but Boruto, admitting his share of the blame, refuses to fall with matters unresolved and carves the clones apart. When Mitsuki answers with a lightning technique, Boruto snuffs it out using a bolt of his own, then closes the gap to lay his sword flat against his rival's throat.

Rather than plead for his life, Mitsuki drops out of Sage Mode and dares Boruto to strike the final blow. Boruto refuses the bait, telling him that what he mistakes for a willingness to die is really despair, the collapse of faith in whatever he wanted to trust. He insists Kawaki's light has stopped falling on him, then stuns Mitsuki by naming himself as the sun being searched for. Accused of being a bitter traitor, Boruto sheathes his blade and stays perfectly calm even as Mitsuki loops a snake around him, coaxing his rival toward the truth he already suspected: no amount of closeness to Kawaki will ever make Kawaki shine on him. The standoff ends when Boruto reveals that Naruto and Hinata are both alive, then turns to leave with an open invitation for Mitsuki to seek him out whenever he wants a sun of his own.

Boruto warns Shikamaru against chasing the secret of Omnipotence, since the very concept slips out of memory the instant anyone tries to grasp it, which explains why he keeps forgetting the warnings Sarada and Sumire gave him. He also lays out why he refuses to simply free Naruto: the seal was cast to protect him, so only a willing Kawaki can undo it, and forcing the matter would just trigger another sealing. The two agree to keep Kawaki's role concealed until they are prepared, avoiding any move that would make him feel cornered. Elsewhere, Kawaki stirs awake at the home of Ada and Daemon, while Jura, buried in books beside Hidari, grows humbled by how much he still does not understand and resolves to pay Naruto a visit.