Chapter 52: New Equipment


"What...what is that?" Katasuke blinked.

Boruto held up his arm, a thin shield-like object now attached to his kote.

"This?" Boruto said, "This is a lot of things. Well, it's mostly a chakra bank."

"A chakra bank?" Katasuke said, surprised, "That giant thing?"

"Yeah." Boruto smiled tiredly, "This thing has a whole weeks' worth of chakra in it."

"A week?" Katasuke growled, "So you managed to recharge your kote. What about it? My kote has infinite chakra."

"This is not just a recharge." Boruto explained, "Full Function allows for experimental functions to be used in actual combat scenarios. This is that experiment."

Boruto held up a small capsule in his bloodied hand.

"What is that?" Katasuke frowned.

Instead of answering, Boruto inserted the capsule into his kote and pointed it at Katasuke.

"Catch."

Katasuke's eyes widened as the kote fired the capsule at him.

"Earth Release: Dividing Wall!"

A rock wall rose from the earth and blocked the capsule. As the wall dissolved, Katasuke watched as a thin, odd mist begin to coat the area.

"What is this?"

"Chakra Chaff."

"Chakra Chaff?"

"It's a special alloy based off normal chakra absorbing steel." Boruto explained.

"What's the point of something like that?"

"You mean you don't get it?" Boruto tilted his head.

"Are you mocking me?" Katasuke scowled, "Fire Release: Fireball Jutsu!"

Katasuke fired a large sphere of fire that flew through the air towards Boruto.

"Water Release: Azure Shock."

Boruto shot out a thin blast of water that crashed against the fire and quickly made it's way around the fireball, disabling it and dispersing it.

"...I see." Katasuke sighed, "This chaff disrupts ongoing chakra by leeching off small bits of chakra. What's more, whenever a technique is dispersed, the chaff absorbs the remaining chakra as well."

"Wow, you must really be a genius scientist."

"You seem quite confident for a barely moving corpse." Katasuke growled, "But this chaff is not nearly enough to disrupt my techniques. Universal Pull!"

Boruto was pulled towards Katasuke.

"Water Prison!"

Water formed around Boruto as he flew towards Katasuke.

"You think that'll work?" Katasuke scoffed, "Chidori!"

As the prison was pulled into range, Katasuke sliced the prison apart with his lightning. The inside of the prison was empty, its supposed prisoner was right behind it. Boruto roared as he charged forward with his fist infused with chakra. Katasuke quickly drew back his chidori to block Boruto's punch. The impact scattered the chakra from both of their techniques, the remaining recoil opening a myriad of wounds on Boruto's arm and shaking Katasuke's arm down to it's core. The two cried out in pain as they stumbled back nursing their respective arms.


"Ha...ha..." Katasuke winced, "If it wasn't for your chaff, my chidori would have taken your arm!"

"Still think it doesn't matter?" Boruto smirked.

"Yeah." Katasuke smiled as he pointed his other arm downward, "I can just blow all of this dust away! Wind Release: Cyclone Alley!"

Boruto covered his eyes as Katasuke released a torrent of wind from his kote, scattering dirt and dust all over the place. But no matter how much he tried, the chaff refused to scatter away.

"Why...why?!" Katasuke scowled, "What is-"

His eyes widened as they caught something shimmering in the wind.

"Chakra Strings?"

Looking around him, Katasuke realized that each and every piece of chaff around him was connected together, holding each other in place, preventing them from being scattered. Following the strings, they all began to converge back at Boruto and his kote.

"You...you're using strings to keep them in place?" Katasuke scowled.

"Thanks for that by the way." Boruto smiled, "Using such a wide ranged technique like that really fed the particles."

"Fed?" Katasuke frowned.

"Yeah. It's feeding time after all."

"…You're full of tricks aren't you?" Katasuke scoffed, "But the true power of my kotes has yet to be revealed. Shadow Possession Jutsu!"

Boruto's eyes widened as Katasuke's shadow moved through the ground and attached himself to his.

"Heh...how about that huh?" Katasuke sneered, "Now you can't move."

"Not like I could move that well to begin with." Boruto smiled back cautiously.

"Act calm all you like." Katasuke chuckled, "But now that I've caught you with this technique, I can make you take off that kote of yours."

"You can try." Boruto replied.

"Hmph. Or perhaps I will make you destroy your own kote." Katasuke said as he slowly made Boruto raise his arm.

"Like I said. Take your shot."

"I will." Katasuke licked his lips, "Because with my kote I don't need to form hand seals to preform ninjutsus. Kirin!"

Lightning poured out of Katasuke's kote as it formed together into a giant cat.

"So scared that you can't move?" Katasuke jeered, "I managed to capture this ninjutsu a few days ago."

"I've taken worse." Boruto said, restraining his nerves.

"Then take it! Kirin!"

The lightning rushed forward, baring it's fangs at its paralyzed opponent.

"Earth Release: Imploding Quake."

Boruto's kote released a small stone that dropped into the earth, creating a quake and a spire of earth to burst forth from the ground in front of him, tearing apart the shadow connection, allowing Boruto to hide behind the spire he created as the lightning descended upon him.


Katasuke laughed manically as lightning poured out from the point of impact, showering the area with light.

"Hiding from lightning with earth? Earth crumples before the might of lightning! Break apart! Die! Die along with Konoha!"

"Shut up."

Katasuke stepped back as the lightning suddenly dispersed.

"Even if I did die, you're so noisy that I can't rest in peace."

"How...how?!" Katasuke cried.

"Turns out." Boruto gasped as he stumbled back and forth, "This thing can be used as a shield."

"You blocked it with your kote?" Katasuke scowled, "How?! That much damage should have destroyed it!"

"If it was your kote perhaps." Boruto smiled. But my kote is built different from yours."

"Built different?"

"I've done extensive testing to environmentally proof it as much as possible." Boruto sighed, "But no matter what material I used, it eventually begins to break down."

"Yeah...that happens to all things eventually."

"But ninjas suffer harsh conditions. Be it in fights or through long travels through harsh lands. My kote has to survive those conditions alongside their users. In order to create that kind of durability, I used chakra."

"Chakra?" Katasuke frowned, "That's impossible."

"That's what I thought as well." Boruto nodded, "After all, using chakra to maintain structural integrity means that the chakra from the bank would get drained even when it's not in use. However in a zero-emission environment, chakra propagates. But if it continues to propagate without expulsion at intervals, the kote will fry itself. But carefully measuring the amount of chakra in the environment, the rate of propagation and the amount of chakra used, I managed to perfect the balance and keep it stable with chakra. This way, it can survive any environment."

"...You're...particularly considerate with your kote's design aren't you?"

"I'm not the only who will be using my kote. So it's up to me to create a kote that lives up to their expectation."

"...Hmph. Well, I guess that's enough time."

"Hm?"

Katasuke smiled as he pointed upward. Following his direction, Boruto looked up as he saw a meteor falling overhead.

"Tengai Shinsei."


Sarada fell to the ground as the ground recoiled from the impact of the meteor.

"He's completely copied not just Nagato but Madara's techniques?" Sasuke scowled as he summoned Susano to cover the group, "He's more of a danger than we first thought. If he continues, what else could be possible end up copying?"

"...If we never exiled him..." Konohamaru mused.

"Don't even think about it." Mitsuki said, "I...would never use a kote of Katasuke's."

"Heh. I wasn't thinking of that." Konohamaru smiled, "I was just thinking that we'd be able to make sure something like this doesn't happen."

"...Something like this is bound to happen again." Sarada said, "People like him...who would give up anything for what they want will find power like this again and again."

Sasuke looked at his daughter.

"And it is that kind of power that I want to protect the ones I care about from. That is why I will become the Hokage."

"...Heh." Mitsuki chuckled,

"What?"

"I think, I'm starting to see you as the Hokage one day."

"Oh? That's some high praise coming from you." Sarada said as she stood up, "But I will never become Hokage. Not without Boruto."


Katasuke watched silently as the meteor crushed Boruto. Boruto has managed to escape every attack that Katasuke had thrown at him so far. There was no doubt in his mind that Boruto would escape from this as well. And that missing doubt disturbed him. Why did he all but know that Boruto would overcome this? There was no other man that could rival him. He believed that to the core. So why was it that everything he has thrown at this small child been equaled? Why was it that even now he expected to be matched? And why was it that if that happened, Katasuke would be okay with that?

Boruto forced his body to move. The only thing preventing the meteor from collapsing on him were four rasengans, winding at full speed grinding away and staving it off.

"It's...the same principle." He said to himself, "Use...the rotations...to speed up your own."

Boruto took a deep breath and for an instant, he hesitated. Would his body even be able to handle it? Taking such high rotational speeds? As be begun to spin, he did his best to empty his mind of doubts.

"It'll just be like becoming the rasengan."

And for an instant, he felt natural energy enter his body.

"Eight Trigrams. Rotating Heaven!"

Boruto spun, unleashing as much chakra as he had left to shield him. His technique touched the edges of the rasengans, collectively spinning him faster and faster until he felt himself lift off the ground, no longer spinning of his own free will but being thrown around like a leaf in the wind. The centrifugal forces pulled at his arms and legs. At the farthest tips of his body, he could feel pain but his mind had retreated so far into itself that he couldn't sense anything.

"Heavenbound, Ascending Messenger!"