"Target: The School Festival" (狙われた学園祭, Nerawareta Gakuensai) is episode 268 of the Boruto: Naruto Next Generations anime.
Synopsis[]
Kae wakes up right after Kawaki fends off the assassin. He insists on walking her home, instead of reporting the attempt to the Hokage's office immediately, and decides to protect her on his own until the festival is over. The next day, the students prepare the Academy for the festival. Shino notes the students are putting a lot of effort into it, Hana wishing they'd put the same effort in class, feeling tired of having worked until late preparing for the festival. Back in the Jiraiya role, Eiki promises Kae to make up for earlier. Kawaki speculates that whoever tipped Eiki knows he's guarding Kae, and wonders if they also infiltrated the Academy. Himawari asks him about what happened in the infirmary, but he brushes it off, feeling the situation has gotten too dangerous for her to be involved. Teams 7, 10, 5, and 15 attend the Academy festival. Teams 7 and 10 are interested seeing Kawaki in the play, having heard he's playing a slug. Hana feels unwell, and agrees with Ehō's suggestion that she should rest in the infirmary. Kawaki remains concerned.
Chōchō praises Konashi's sweets, and offers criticism for improvement. Ran Sōgi and Suzu made use of their experience with the Seven Mysteries to make an effective haunted house attraction, which thoroughly scares Team 5. Neon and Harika comment on their use of drones and insects, and Denki promises to put in a good word about developing those technologies. At Mimi and Kura's booth, Boruto, Shikadai, Inojin, Sarada, and Tsubaki collect several prizes hitting targets with kunai, causing them to wonder if they should have banned shinobi from playing. Hibari finished all her scenes of the day early so she could watch Osuka's debut in the play. Sōsha takes their photo, preparing an album about the festival. Kawaki asks about Batora, but Kae says he had unavoidable business to attend, which Kawaki finds suspicious. Kawaki mistakes an attendee for the assassin he fended off. The assassin watches Kae in the festival from above. The start of the play is announced, and the audience take their seats. Kae is nervous because the play was a collective effort, and thanks Kawaki for helping her all along. An explosion is set off, and an anonymous note is delivered to the Academy. Until safety can be verified, everyone is to remain on Academy grounds. Academy staff discuss the threat, which includes detonating more bombs if anyone tries to leave or contact the outside. The former students offer to help deal with the situation. Kawaki wonders if the attack is a diversion to target Kae. Osuka decides to obey and stay put, while Eiki and Ehō decide to help out. Inojin flies on a drawing, directing the shinobi to where there are explosive tags to be disarmed. Shino targets them through the ventilation system with his kikaichū. Eiki and Ehō find an explosive tag circuit behind the school building. Eiki stays behind to try defusing them while Ehō rushes back to warn the students. Kawaki decides to go help Eiki, and tells Himawari to keep an eye on Kae. Eiki manages to defuse most of the circuit, but the main explosive tag has already started to burn. Kawaki removes it, and uses a shadow clone to take it as far above the building as he can, so it detonates without harming anyone. Inside the building, several smoke bombs go off, allowing an assassin to sneak near Kae. Recalling Kawaki's order, Himawari activates her Byakugan, and seeing through the smoke, knocks the assassin aside. Outside, Himawari tells Kae there was someone going after her. The assassin catches up, but so does Kawaki. Kawaki gives chase, but the assassin throws several explosive tag kunai to cover their escape. Kawaki finds Hana among the explosion debris, and feels guilty she was hurt when going to look for them after they left. Kae realises she was the target by how her father was acting, and based on Kawaki's reaction, asks if he was guarding her.
Trivia[]
- Despite voicing Chōchō Akimichi and Sarada Uchiha, Ryōko Shiraishi and Kokoro Kikuchi are not credited for those roles in this episode.
