Anna Karenina

That was close!

I can't just leave you behind.

I can't get caught here either.

I gotta get back to the rendezvous point as soon as possible, or else…

Ohnoki's Thoughts, Ku's Thoughts

Where am…I?

You're finally up, Old Man.

Boruto!

You saved my life?

I wasn't really trying to.

I didn't even realize I was carrying you.

Anyway…

What were you doing with those guys?

What the hell is going on?

I already told you. I'm doing it for peace.

I don't get it.

Because of them, a lot of Leaf shinobi died!

That is something I deeply regret.

But this is all for the sake of peace in the Ninja World.

It's also to help protect you, as well.

Why do we need to be protected?!

It's because you're weak.

Huh?!

Do you even know what I can do, Old Man?

I do.

Young people these days are weak and unreliable.

What did you say?!

I defeated the Otsutsuki!

Don't let it go to your head!

I have my own reasons for doing what I'm doing.

Though right now, you probably won't understand.

Oh, is that right?

I've had enough of this!

You're on your own from here!

I'm going back to my friends.

You can't.

What?!

I never thought we'd end up here…

What the hell are you talking about?

This is the Sanzu Plains.

It's surrounded by a powerful barrier.

Once inside, you can't get out easily.

You're just lying to keep me from leaving.

I'm not lying.

I don't believe you!

I'll just go out the way I came in.

Then go ahead and try!

What the hell's happening?

No matter how far I walk, I end up in the same place.

The Sanzu Plain is a Hidden Stone shinobi training ground.

The only way to get out is to find your individual "heart stone"

that lies somewhere here.

Then all I have to do is find that heart stone?

How about…

this one.

This will be my heart stone!

It's not that simple.

Then is there an easy-to-follow strategy?

Nope.

The heart stone's glow is visible only to self-reliant people

who truly confront who they are.

A person who is unwilling to train will never find it.

Are you serious?

Damn it!

In that case, I'll use my shadow clones to find a way out of here!

Shadow Clone Jutsu!

Hey…

Just so you know, you can't use jutsu within this barrier.

No jutsu, either?!

Just how important is this stone?

That depends on how you look at it.

It is, after all, just a pebble.

Just a pebble? With no powers?

It's not the stone itself that has value.

It's about how you found it.

The significance is in the process.

Wha—?!

That is so old-fashioned!

The young people in the village say the same thing.

They all mock tradition.

Nowadays, nobody comes here to search for their heart stone.

Huh? Wait a second…

When you say nobody…

You mean…?

That's right.

The two of us are doomed to rot in here without ever getting out.

Quit messing around!

There's no way we can accept that!

Well, that's our reality now.

Rather than finding an exit,

we have to think about how we can survive here.

EARTH

Have you found the master yet?

Regrettably, no.

I had the Akuta comb the area, but we still haven't found him.

Then assign more Akuta to the search!

But if we expand the search too far,

the villagers will become aware of the Akutas' presence.

That's what we have Kirara for.

Have her keep things quiet.

Lord Ku, there is a human saying,

that you just can't keep people from talking.

It means you can't keep rumors from spreading.

Then what would you do?

It's simple, really.

Eliminate every witness.

No. That would be against the master's wishes.

We must keep any harm to the humans, at an absolute minimum.

Then we will lead the search by the Akuta ourselves.

Requesting permission to head out.

I said no!

This is an important moment in realizing Master's plan!

Your task is to increase production of Akuta.

Use the Akuta to search for the master

and do it secretly!

– Yes, sir! – Yes, sir!

What is all of this?

I collected all of this myself!

Isn't it quite human?

It is?

What?

You've lived among humans, but you don't even know?

No one I knew did anything like this.

Huh? Is that right?

That's weird.

That's not what the intel I gathered told me…

Hey, Mitsuki. What are you doing?

Kirara was showing me her things.

A messy room as usual.

Why don't you just dump all this stuff?

Keep your dirty hands off of my things!

Don't you see how wonderful these are?

Who cares? It's all trash.

I'll kill you.

Well, you can do that later. Right now, Lord Ku has orders.

He wants you to clamp down further

on information going around in the village.

Humph…

You'll never understand humans.

Hey, I've noticed things have been pretty noisy since yesterday.

Is there something going on?

I heard some Hidden Leaf shinobi came looking for you.

Lord Ku chased them away.

Anyway, when will I get to meet Lord Ku?

Things are pretty busy today.

I see. I can wait.

Shikadai.

Shi-ka-da-i.

I guess it's not working.

Okay… How about this one?

Cho-Cho.

Too hard, huh?

This is Cho-Cho. Do you understand?

Cho-Cho, the Chubs.

Chubs!

Chubs! Chubs!

Very good, Akkun!

Who's there?!

Sarada! Cho-Cho!

I'm destroyed. I lost weight.

Are you being pursued?

It's crawling with Akuta over there.

Where are Boruto and Shikadai? Aren't they with you?

Are you saying… they're not here yet?!

Maybe they're lost.

Should we look for them?

It's too risky to move right now.

We should wait and see first.

I can't walk another step!

Chubs!

I can't…

I'm so hungry, I can't move.

Damn it.

At this rate, I'll die.

So uncool. This just shows that I'm just all talk.

I'm so thirsty.

Water…

That's cold!

Oh, Old Man?!

Like I said… Looks like you can't survive here.

Come with me.