Rift (chapter)

Summary[]

Naruto rushes beside Boruto. Code weighs his options, and Ada warns him she won't allow him to sacrifice Kawaki. He prepares to leave, releasing Shikamaru and telling Kawaki someone will always manipulate him. Kawaki shrinks his Claw Marks, stopping him from retreating, and keeps doing so as Code creates new ones. He points out he'll kill anyone who is a threat to Naruto, even Boruto, and asks why he'd let him escape. Code dodges Kawaki's attack, and attempts to engage with taijutsu, but Kawaki overpowers him, and Code grows concerned. Shikamaru joins Naruto, who is shocked enough to be unable to maintain Sage Mode, and tries to snap him out of it. He stresses they should help Kawaki deal with Code, and yells at Naruto that Boruto chose this to protect them. Kawaki prepares to blast Code, and warns that if his ally is against Naruto, he'll show them no mercy either. Code reaches through the Claw Mark on his face as Kawaki blasts him. As the smoke clears, Shikamaru is surprised to see Kawaki blown back. Code pulled Daemon through, waking him up, to reflect Kawaki's attack. Daemon is excited to fight, but Code sends him back to Ada, much to his disappointment. Heeding Ada's warning, he checks on Kawaki and assures Ada he's alive. She says if he wasn't, she'd send Daemon to kill him. Code begrudgingly admits he's no match for Kawaki as is, decides to have Amado remove his limiters, and leaves. Shikamaru tells Naruto they have to consider how to deal with Kawaki, who killed his comrade without hesitation. Naruto protests it wasn't his fault alone, but Shikamaru is resolute that measures should be taken. He points out they have the other villages to consider, and that even in Konoha, they'll face backlash as there were already negative reactions towards Kawaki. As Kawaki became part of their family, Naruto wants to stand by him, and Shikamaru ponders if he can really do that when Kawaki killed his son. Boruto reaches out to Naruto, asking who was killed, and joking it's rude to write him off. Shikamaru is shocked, and Naruto cries as he hugs Boruto. Shikamaru notices the hole in Boruto's chest is completely healed. Momoshiki's soul manifests itself for Boruto, and explains that his destruction as a vessel would extinguish his soul, so he's too precious for Momoshiki. He used part of the Kāma to resurrect Boruto, rewriting the remaining compressed data with Boruto's data, so it could form Boruto's tissue and heal him. However, in doing so, this makes it impossible for Momoshiki to resurrect in his body, which Boruto takes as a victory. Momoshiki tells him not to get excited, as rewritten or not, all the Kāma data was Ōtsutsuki, meaning Boruto is now a complete Ōtsutsuki, which makes him appropriate to sacrifice to the Ten-Tails, something Code will realise soon. Boruto thinks this will save him time hunting Code down, but Momoshiki warns this resurrection won't happen again, and he'll stay dead next time. He asks if his death is what Momoshiki meant when he first appeared to him in a vision, and Momoshiki laughs it off, saying it's completely unrelated, having no idea of why that will come to pass, but knowing it will happen soon. Back with Ada, she points out to Code that Amado is being protected in the middle of Konoha, where he doesn't have a single Claw Mark. He says he has already taken measures.