Cover this time is Hidari/Sasuke. I don't have much to say except what the hell is wrong with his feet? I never looked before, but I guess they are on model. It's just they're weirdly huge for some reason.
We open with Jura pondering over Mamushi's death. He says that his basic animal instincts was some form of love, lmao okay. He asks Hidari what he thinks. Hidari says it's a shame they didn't have enough time to collect his bulb. Okay, we're just rolling with that now apparently. There was time to save Ryu/Matsuri, but Jura didn't. He asks Jura why he saved his though. Jura replies that he tried to ponder a world without Hidari and it made him sad. Which gives Hidari the ick. Jura tells him not to disappear on him, to which Hidari says while it's icky, he's okay with the way Jura views this. Jura for the first time in the series, smiles at this. I don't like Jura smiling. Eida is watching and asks if they're seriously...and doesn't finish the thought. Since she doesn't, I'm just going to assume there was some booty cheeks clapping with the undertones we're getting.
ANYWAY, Boruto at some point learned to just hover in the sky and throws a kunai to Sarada telling her to follow him. Then he just flies off like it's DBZ and I'm sorry but this will never not be stupid. How, when, and why can everyone just suddenly fly like this? I can get Delta flying but how does Boruto just fly around like this? Anyway, Koji tells Inojin that he's going to monitoring him at all times and be ready to use his Mind Transmission Formation at a moment's notice.
Meanwhile, Kawaki runs into a toad. He's told to come to Amado's lab where it turns out he's created quite a few of them. They're all scientific ninja tools and Sukuna Hikona will work on them. They're for Kawaki's combat abilities. He developed these toads as a proxy for chakra control for Kawaki to switch him between offense and defense remotely. Granted, he must keep these toads on him 24/7. This is will be Kawaki's newest power up moving forward. He also asks him to do something very urgent for him, but we'll come back to that later.
We cut back to Boruto and Sarada. She's envious he can fly. Oh okay, we're just going to joke about it and not give an explanation. Fine. She apologizes for his right eye but Boruto doesn't mind. He says that there was so much going on at the time that he never got the chance to worry about it and that it makes him look like a badass. Finally, at long last after 35 CHAPTERS. 35 FUCKING CHAPTERS, that are 40 fucking pages each. Mind you, that's THREE YEARS in real time and 1400 pages. Boruto, at long last, FINALLY smiles. It's the tiniest smile on the tiniest panel, but it's the first time in the entire series he hasn't had that stupid scowl on him 24/7. Hallelujah! Ikemoto learned to draw other facial expressions. Oh and Boruto gives her two emblems and tells her to let herself get captured by Code to trap him and something about hope. Honestly it's not as important as Boruto having another facial expression that isn't brooding.
We cut back to Jura and Hidari. Jura asks him about a book Hidari has been reading lately. Hidari says gazing, not reading. Jura doesn't understand. Hidari hands him his book, "Neko, Para Cat, Cat Paradise". It's a picture book of cat photos, LMAO. Hidari asks Jura what he thinks of it. Jura says there's nothing to think about. Without words, he doesn't learn anything from it. Hidari asks if he finds them cute.
Amado meets up with Inojin, he gives him a scroll with data from the battle with Mamushi. He wants him to give it to Kashin Koji. He asks if it would be faster to just give it to Boruto but Amado insists Inojin take it. Before I move on, I just have to reiterate once again...Is Kashin Koji stupid? Does he not understand the subtext of this situation is "I KNOW YOU'RE WATCHING RIGHT NOW, KOJI". Wtf. This should set off every red flag. That being said, what he says next is ALSO a red flag. Koji finds this all strange. He has never once seen this scene and there's no Prescience update yet meaning he hasn't gotten a vision lately. Yet Koji, finds none of this odd. He takes the scroll anyway but decides not to open it until he gets an update. Upon reverse summoning, he's immediately ambushed by Kawaki and Amado knocks him out with a frog and a Command Code to shut him down. Amado captures Koji back to the lab.Seriously, WTF.
The chapter is...kind of light honestly. We're setting up the dynamics for what I think is going to be the finale of this little Tree Arc. I think once we get going, it's going to be a straight shot to the end without any breaks. That being said, there's a theory I've had for awhile now but I think it's time to bring it up. Amado is essentially Black Zetsu and his daughter is actually a vessel for Shibai, or is Shibai him/herself. I think ultimately Ikemoto is redoing Naruto's finale, but fixing it in the ways he can. Which isn't a tall ask, but still. I think Koji's future sight is ultimately leading him to a future where Shibai is revived/restored and he simply never thought of what the end game of these visions was. Anyway, that's just my 2 cents. I could be wrong.
