Chapter Summaries

Boruto killed three hunters and explained to Tsukine that he had saved her because he had promised her cousin, though he was also counting kills to rank up. As they reached the safe zone, a dozen hunters ambushed them, and Boruto sent Tsukine running before facing the attackers with his dwindling chakra.

• Boruto killed three hunters with Wind Style: Vacuum Sphere and counted them as his fourth, fifth, and sixth kills toward ranking up.
• Tsukine feared Boruto had saved her only to complete his mission, but he told her he had come because her cousin asked him to.
• Boruto and Tsukine crossed the forest through the night and reached a meadow near the safe zone, where Boruto warned that danger could be waiting.
• A group of hunters led by a young woman confronted Boruto, who refused to hand Tsukine over despite his depleted chakra and the pain in his left arm.
• Boruto shoved Tsukine toward the safe zone, then used a Rasengan to strike the first hunter as the attackers charged.

Boruto’s Karma Seal awakened with Isshiki’s power and wiped out the hunters pursuing him. After escorting Tsukine to safety, he chose to return to the hunt, determined to become strong enough to change the Ōtsutsuki Clan’s brutal game.

• The woman discovered Boruto’s Karma Seal, and Isshiki’s will took over his body.
• Boruto used Divine Art: Heavenly Realm (Pseudo) to pull the hunters into a black vortex and kill them.
• Boruto caught up with Tsukine and promised not to kill her, then led her to the safe zone.
• Boruto told Tsukine he needed four more kills to qualify for advancement and prepared to return to the hunt.
• Boruto said he wanted to become strong enough to protect others and end the clan’s game, while Tsukine warned that he would die.

Boruto met Yamada, one of the hunting game’s organizers, who offered to advance him and spare Tsukine in exchange for accepting help. Yamada revealed that the Karma Seal could grant immense power but would eventually overwrite Boruto’s consciousness; Boruto accepted the danger and vowed to master it.

• Boruto returned to the forest despite his injuries, where he encountered Yamada, the former butler who revealed he was an organizer of the hunt.
• Yamada offered to advance Boruto and spare Tsukine, but threatened to have her killed if Boruto refused.
• Boruto agreed to Yamada’s help on the condition that he explain the Karma Seal.
• Yamada explained that the Karma Seal held the Ōtsutsuki’s power but would eventually consume Boruto’s consciousness and turn him into a vessel.
• Boruto chose to accept the power despite its cost, and Yamada advanced him while promising that Tsukine would leave safely.
• Boruto watched Yamada vanish and vowed to control the Karma Seal and prevent his own disappearance.

Boruto recovered at Yamada's residence after the trials and learned that the girl had survived, while the Karma Seal remained dormant within him. Yamada claimed Naruto had killed his best friend to rise to Clan Head, leaving Boruto shaken and determined not to become ruthless.

• A servant brought Boruto ramen and told him he ranked seventh and that the girl was safe in a medical room.
• Boruto saw that the patterns on his hand had vanished but feared the Karma Seal still lurked within him.
• Boruto found a photograph of his young father among the family portraits, and Yamada explained that Naruto had also ranked seventh in his first trials.
• Yamada claimed Naruto had killed his best friend and teammates during the trials to survive and advance.
• Yamada urged Boruto to become ruthless and called his deal to save the girl a first step toward corruption, but Boruto insisted he would not become like that.

Boruto and Sarada discovered that the maze was an Ōtsutsuki Training Ground after surviving an attack from chakra-draining vines. A staircase opened into the darkness below, and Boruto's Karma Seal began burning again.

• Sarada treated Boruto's wounds and urged him not to let the Ōtsutsuki voice take control of him.
• Boruto's Karma Seal opened an ancient stone door, revealing a crystal orb in a spotless circular room.
• Black vines erupted from the walls and drained their strength, so Sarada covered Boruto while he used the Karma Seal to absorb the orb's energy.
• Boruto resisted the voice in his mind and shattered the orb, causing the vines to wither and his Karma patterns to fade.
• Sarada read a fragment identifying the orb as an energy collection device on the Training Ground's third level, and Boruto realized the maze was an Ōtsutsuki testing facility.
• A staircase opened to a strange murmur below, and Boruto's Karma Seal began burning again.

Boruto and Sarada reached the Tower, where Yamada revealed the truth about the Karma Seal vessels and the trials. Boruto began the third trial alone, climbing toward a mirror that would confront his deepest fear as the voice in his mind taunted him about his desire for power.

• Boruto and Sarada entered the underground cavern and approached the Tower, where the Karma Seal pulled Boruto toward it.
• Inside the Tower, Boruto found Karma Seal bearers trapped in crystals and learned that the stele held the names and consciousnesses of former vessels.
• Yamada revealed that Boruto had passed the second trial and admitted he intended to help resurrect Ōtsutsuki Isshiki, while claiming Boruto could become a symbiont rather than a vessel.
• Yamada explained that Boruto's third trial required him to face his deepest fear at the top of the Tower, and warned that failure would leave him trapped in a crystal.
• Boruto refused Sarada's offer to accompany him and began climbing alone as she promised to wait at the Tower's bottom.
• The voice in Boruto's mind taunted him about fearing the loss of himself and secretly craving power, and Boruto insisted he did not need that power.

After Boruto fused with Ōtsutsuki Isshiki in the trial, Naruto isolated him and Sarada, then began training Boruto to stabilize the dangerous power within him. A month later, Boruto’s Chakra was changing and Naruto decided to enter his Consciousness Space to investigate the fusion.

• Boruto and Sarada escaped the collapsing maze, and Naruto recognized Isshiki’s power in Boruto’s golden eye.
• Naruto overruled the elders’ demand to isolate Boruto and Sarada, then questioned them in a sealed room about Yamada and the fusion.
• Naruto ordered Boruto to train in Fuinjutsu and the Will Training Method, with Sarada observing his Chakra for abnormalities.
• Over the next month, Sarada recorded Boruto’s Chakra shifting toward Ōtsutsuki patterns as his behavior grew quieter and sometimes cruel.
• Naruto decided to intensify Boruto’s Illusionary Space training and enter his Consciousness Space, despite Sarada’s warning that it was dangerous.

Boruto entered his mental world with Naruto and negotiated a symbiotic pact with Isshiki’s remaining consciousness to stabilize their merging powers. The pact succeeded, leaving Isshiki’s power controlled by a seal on Boruto’s palm and the two in balance.

• Naruto connected to Boruto’s mental world and learned that Isshiki’s memories and instincts were expanding into Boruto’s reality.
• Boruto told Naruto he wanted to negotiate with Isshiki, but would seal him if he refused to cooperate.
• Boruto reached the core of the starry sky and offered Isshiki a pact in which they would share power and consciousness as partners.
• Isshiki accepted Boruto’s pact, and his consciousness merged into Boruto as the mental world stabilized.
• Boruto woke in the training room with Isshiki’s power under control, and Sarada and Naruto confirmed the balance had held.

Yamada revealed that he had altered Boruto’s genes before birth to create a perfect Ōtsutsuki vessel, then offered a way to remove the Ōtsutsuki factors. Boruto agreed to travel to the Sea Country ruin for the antidote, leaving with Naruto and Sarada’s support.

• A messenger reported that Yamada had appeared outside the village and claimed he could remove Boruto’s Karma Seal.
• Yamada showed Boruto a sealed memory and revealed that he had secretly altered Boruto’s genes before birth to make him an ideal vessel.
• Yamada said an ancient ruin in the Sea Country held Ōtsutsuki gene samples that could be used to make an antidote, but it also contained the remains of the Ōtsutsuki God.
• Boruto agreed to enter the ruin in exchange for the antidote, despite Naruto warning that Yamada was using him.
• After Yamada left, Sarada and Naruto reassured Boruto, and Boruto committed to finding the truth and ending the conflict with them.

Boruto, Sarada, Naruto, and Yamada reached the Ōtsutsuki God’s tomb after crossing the Eye of the Storm. Yamada revealed that Boruto could communicate with the tomb’s guardians, and Boruto led the group down the path of the Void, where his senses and sense of existence began to disappear.

• Yamada explained that the rune-covered ship could cross the sea in three days, and Boruto sensed his Kāma responding to the approaching ruins.
• Shiki told Boruto that all Ōtsutsuki were continuations of the God and that the God’s remains might grant power or consume him.
• The group entered the Eye of the Storm and emerged on a floating island in The Void, where they found the pyramid known as the God’s tomb.
• Sarada recorded the pyramid’s murals, while Naruto warned that their revelations could start a war if they became known.
• Yamada said Boruto alone could communicate with the three guardians, so Boruto chose the right-hand path of the Void.
• Boruto, Sarada, Naruto, and Yamada entered the passage, and Boruto gradually lost his senses and feeling of existence.

Boruto and his companions reached the Guardian in a nothingness that began assimilating their consciousnesses, and Boruto learned that his bloodline carried a trace of God. The Guardian revealed that it was a fragment of God’s shattered consciousness, and Boruto asked what state God was in.

• Boruto, Naruto, and Sarada kept themselves present in the nothingness by talking, while Yamada walked in silence.
• Boruto asked the Guardian whether it had a name, and it answered that distinctions did not exist there and all things eventually returned to the same state.
• The Guardian told Boruto that his bloodline contained a trace of God and that Naruto, Sarada, and Yamada were fading.
• Naruto used the Nine-Tails' power to anchor himself, while Sarada used her Sharingan to keep her consciousness clear.
• Boruto asked whether the Guardian was part of God, and it said it was a fragment of God’s consciousness left behind after God fell asleep.
• Boruto asked the Guardian what state God was in now.

Boruto learned that his birth and the Shinobi World were part of the Ōtsutsuki God’s design, and that Shiki was another of the God’s pieces. After passing the Guardian, Boruto, Naruto, Sarada, and Yamada reached the God’s core, where Yamada asked Boruto to connect with it.

• The Guardian showed Boruto fragmented images suggesting the Ōtsutsuki God had designed his birth and made the Shinobi World its board.
• Boruto confronted Yamada about using him as a pawn, and Yamada admitted he had known part of the truth.
• The Guardian confirmed that the Ōtsutsuki God knew about Shiki and had made him another piece; Shiki questioned the truth of his identity.
• Boruto thanked the Guardian and followed its guidance deeper into the pyramid with Naruto and Sarada, while Yamada followed behind them.
• The group found a vessel containing the sleeping God’s core, and Yamada asked Boruto to establish a connection and assess its condition.

Boruto learned that Yamada planned to use him to activate the core, dispersing God's consciousness into people with the bloodline. The process would erase the vessel's independent consciousness, but Boruto questioned whether that meant death or a different fate.

• Yamada admitted that he wanted to activate the core so God's consciousness could merge with people who possessed the bloodline, including himself.
• Shiki accused Yamada of planning to use Boruto from the beginning, and Yamada confirmed that he had concealed the plan without technically lying.
• Naruto threatened to fight Yamada, but Boruto stopped him and demanded to know every risk before deciding whether to cooperate.
• Yamada revealed that the core's activation required a vessel and that the vessel would lose its independent consciousness after the process.
• Boruto asked whether the vessel died or disappeared another way, and Yamada said the ancient text described the consciousness as returning to the core.

Boruto challenged Yamada’s plan to use a human medium to return divine consciousness to its core and proposed that Shiki could take the medium’s place. As Yamada’s motives came under scrutiny, Shiki had yet to say whether he was willing to return.

• Naruto rejected Yamada’s plan and urged him to find another way.
• Yamada revealed that a human medium’s consciousness would be shattered and reassembled, never returning to its original state.
• Shiki asked Boruto what he was, prompting Boruto to ask whether a consciousness from the core could serve as the medium instead.
• Sarada asked whether Shiki was willing, and Shiki asked Boruto what his return would mean before requesting time to speak.
• Boruto questioned what Yamada stood to gain and how much damage he would accept, while Yamada fell silent.
• Sarada accused Yamada of wanting Boruto to sacrifice Shiki so Yamada could reap the benefits of evolution.

Boruto questioned Yamada about the vessel’s process and learned that the settlement had less than seventy minutes before the danger escalated. He prepared to make a final handoff with Shiki while Naruto went outside to keep others away and call for backup.

• Boruto asked Shiki whether he would still exist or remember their experiences after returning to the core, and Shiki said he could not promise either.
• Boruto demanded details from Yamada, who explained that the process required a burst of chakra and could not be stopped once it began without unleashing a chakra storm.
• Boruto discovered that Yamada had noticed the vessel’s change fifty minutes earlier, leaving less than seventy minutes before the danger worsened.
• Sarada condemned Yamada for withholding crucial information, and Boruto told her they would settle the matter later.
• Boruto asked Naruto to leave because his powerful chakra would accelerate the collapse, and instructed him to keep others outside and call for backup.
• Naruto asked Boruto if he was sure he knew what he was doing.

Boruto agreed to help Yamada stabilize the container by returning Shiki’s consciousness to the core, after Shiki left him information about divinity and asked him not to search for what remained. The process succeeded, but the container’s evolution remained unknown, and Boruto and Sarada prepared to take Yamada to Naruto.

• Boruto promised Shiki he would not search for him after the process and accepted Shiki’s chakra marks containing information about divinity.
• Sarada watched Yamada while Boruto entered the platform and steadily sent his chakra into the container.
• Shiki sank back into the core as the container’s light reversed its rotation and settled into a stable pattern.
• Yamada confirmed that the consciousness had returned to its place and the core was normal, but admitted he did not know how evolution would proceed.
• Boruto recovered enough to leave with Sarada, who was to take Yamada into custody before they found Naruto.

Boruto and Naruto fought off mercenaries who ambushed them outside the underground passage while Boruto struggled with Shiki’s absence. After they subdued the attackers, Naruto checked on Boruto, who said he was fine despite taking a punch.

• Boruto sensed several ambushers ahead and told Sarada to guard Yamada while he went to warn Naruto.
• Yamada confirmed the attackers were not there for him, and Boruto realized they were after the core.
• A hidden attacker targeted Boruto as he emerged, while Naruto faced four other mercenaries.
• Boruto hesitated when he instinctively sought Shiki’s advice, letting his opponent land a punch; Sarada’s warning helped him refocus.
• Boruto subdued and tied up his attacker while Naruto dealt with the other four, then checked whether Boruto was hurt.

Boruto, Naruto, and Sarada captured Yamada’s accomplices and learned that an Otsutsuki remnant organization wanted to destroy the core. They left with Yamada as their prisoner, carrying a method to accelerate recovery from erosion and learning that Yamada’s research began after his student Hikari died.

• Naruto checked Boruto’s injuries, and Boruto told him the core was stable, Shiki was gone, and Sarada had Yamada in custody.
• Boruto questioned Yamada about the six captured accomplices, and Yamada revealed that an Otsutsuki remnant organization planned to destroy the core.
• Yamada explained that erosion would weaken after the God’s consciousness returned, and Boruto found Shiki’s instructions for shortening recovery to one or two weeks with Sharingan or Byakugan assistance.
• Boruto ordered Yamada to accompany them, and the group began the return journey with him bound but given some slack.
• Naruto asked how long Yamada had researched the core, and Yamada said he had spent thirty-one years pursuing it after his student Hikari died from Otsutsuki erosion.

After Shiki’s loss left Boruto feeling an unfamiliar emptiness, he and his companions rested at the settlement while the Anbu uncovered vital information from Yamada’s belongings. As dawn approached, Boruto prepared to say something in front of Yamada before returning to the Leaf.

• The medical ninja treated Sarada’s scrape, while Naruto asked Boruto how he was coping with losing Shiki and shared his own experience of feeling incomplete.
• Boruto said the core would be sealed away until the Five Kage summit and offered to prepare an official report about the information Shiki had left behind.
• After learning a prisoner carried a coded document, Boruto told the Anbu where to find Yamada’s hidden notebook, which proved to be the codebook.
• Sarada asked how Boruto had known about the notebook, and he explained that Shiki had noticed Yamada protecting it at the port.
• Boruto admitted he could not name the brightest star, which Shiki had known, then said he would speak in front of Yamada after sunrise before the group returned to the Leaf.

Before dawn, Boruto told Sarada what Shiki’s remaining information revealed about the Kāma and the Ōtsutsuki, then went alone to question Yamada. He showed Yamada an old Leaf forehead protector, and Yamada recognized it as Hikari’s.

• Boruto and Sarada discussed his sense of emptiness and the fragments of information Shiki had left him.
• Boruto explained that the Kāma was originally designed to pass knowledge between generations before war turned it into a reincarnation weapon.
• Boruto told Sarada that Shiki had left a note about a constellation pointing toward an Ōtsutsuki holy site.
• Boruto woke Naruto and said he wanted to question Yamada alone; Naruto agreed on the condition that Sarada wait outside.
• Boruto showed Yamada an old Leaf forehead protector, and Yamada said it had belonged to Hikari.