WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Episode 186, "How You Use It," now streaming on Crunchyroll.
In the Boruto anime, the Hokage's son has been plunged into despair following the untimely death of one of his mentors, Mugino. The war against Kara has finally come close to Konoha's borders and sadly, the traitor Ao took the shinobi out and is now aiming to finish Team 7.
Thankfully, Episode 186 has Boruto crush Ao in a brilliant show of tactics, maturity and guile, but it's a short-lived victory as an even more dangerous enemy arrives, hungry for blood.
Ao uses one of Katasuke's jutsu-absorbing gauntlets to stymie the opposition, sucking in all of their moves. Konohamaru and Sarada attempt to use their firebombs while Mitsuki uses his lightning blasts, but Ao quickly shifts from defense into offense. Beyond that, he knows the team is depleting their chakra, which means it's just a matter of time.
However, the first major strike comes thanks to Boruto's shadow clones. Ao takes the chakra blade from Boruto, taking out a clone and wielding it himself. It's all part of the plan, though, as Mitsuki extends his arms and locks the blade in place inside Ao's grip. This drains Ao's chakra and while he escapes, he suffers the after-effects. Ao decides to use drones to drop jutsu bombs, but once more, Boruto's ahead of the curve.
He sends more clones at Ao, but the villain is able to find the real Boruto, who's wearing an absorption gauntlet of his own. Thinking he's won by finding the actual Boruto, Ao stabs him, leaving Team 7 screaming in despair. But Boruto makes a genius play as he slipped the gauntlet to a clone, knowing that once it disappeared into a cloud of smoke, Ao would be distracted. So said, so done, because by the time it poofs away and Ao realizes he's been duped, the real Boruto charges in and blasts him with a Rasengan to the chest.
Ao's defeated as his body flies into a wall, but rather than exact revenge for Mugino and kill him, Boruto tells Ao there's still time to walk back being Kara's deadly tool in the field. But just as it seems Ao may entertain the thought of redemption, his eyes open wide as he sees someone on the horizon.
The reason for his surprise: Koji Kashin has touched down, eager to make Konoha pay. They've endangered his search for the Vessel, plus he's really pissed Ao failed the mission. Koji quickly summons his giant toad, ready for a fight against wounded heroes who are drained of chakra. The worrisome thing is Koji's fresh, and an expert assassin, which means Team 7 will definitely have a difficult battle ahead.
