Read: Boruto Manga Online – Chapter 18 (Only Babble in Your Sleep) Free in High Quality

Boruto: Two Blue Vortex Chapter 18 is finally here. It features Sarada getting controlled by Ryu, Kawaki taking his fifth nap in TBV, and the reveal of Akebi’s body. We have a lot to discuss, but we will start from the top.

This month’s cover features Matsuri, and the title is “Only Babble in Your Sleep,” which references something that happens later in the chapter. Let’s get into it!

The chapter starts with Sumire, who heads in the summer. And yes, I’m being very descriptive, but she seems lost in thought, most likely regretting what happened with Sarada. She then enters Amado’s lab, which reveals Kawaki pinning Amado to the wall. Of course, this continues the conversation they had in Chapter 17.

Sumire’s Internal Struggle and Kawaki’s Bold Ultimatum

Sumire is understandably shocked by this, so she shouts Kawaki’s name. Kawaki replies, saying, “Relax, Sumire, I’m totally sane,” which, of course, is something someone sane would say. He then adds, “It might look a tad bit violent, but we’re just having a talk. I don’t care that you’ve been tinkering with my body like it’s a toy. However, that ends now. I’ll decide things from here on. Change my settings and put my offensive power to the max. If you don’t, then you’re of no use to me, and I’ll kill you.”

He continues, “Look into my eyes. Your soul is stained by the blood of the innocent. Feel their pain.” Kawaki then slightly releases Amado’s neck, and Amado starts coughing. Kawaki adds, “Choose your answer carefully if you want to keep living.”

Amado replies, “Only babble in your sleep, Kawaki.” Of course, this is the title of the chapter. Kawaki’s eyes then seem to show some light moving inside them—something you’ll notice more clearly when the anime is animated. He suddenly falls to the ground, sound asleep in his usual face-down position.

Sumire is shocked by this and says, “It’s a failsafe, just like with Delta. An emergency shutdown code.” Amado then says, “You have impeccable timing, Sumire. Can you help me move him?” She’s going to comply.

This failsafe was revealed in Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Chapter 71, where Amado discussed having such a code.

Next, we skip to the Sand Village, where Mitsuki introduces Ryu to the members of Team Shinki. He says, “Meet Yodo, the girl on the left, and the one with the blade is Araya.” Araya greets him with a “Hi there,” but Yodo says nothing.

Ryu notices this and says, “Is it my imagination, or is she totally glaring at me?” Araya jumps in, saying, “Sorry, she’s shy. It takes her time to warm up.” Araya then turns to Yodo and says, “Tone it down, Yodo. You’re not a kid anymore.”

However, Yodo, having the emotional maturity of a dolphin, continues glaring. This was so obvious, as I mentioned in my article—Yodo was bound to spoil this mission due to her emotional immaturity. This was hinted at multiple times in Chapter 17 of TBV, and it’s now playing out.

Next, we switched to Konohamaru, and this part surprised me. I did not predict this! They talked briefly, and she said, “That is the situation.” She then asks him, “What do you think?”

He replies, “I don’t know if I get it completely, but at least you seem fine physically. Your color is good.” (By the way, “color is good” means her temperature is acceptable.)

She then says, “I have no idea why, but for whatever reason, I was super nervous. As we talked, I started feeling more and more normal. How could that be?”

He responds, “Maybe that’s because we just met. It’s not uncommon.”

She says, “I’m finally being my true self. I’m really enjoying talking to you.”

He replies, “I see. I guess that’s a good thing.”

Seemingly out of nowhere, she asks, “Would it be okay if I called you Konohamaru-chan?” This prompts a flashback of younger Moegi calling Konohamaru “Konohamaru-chan” multiple times. By the way, “-chan” in Japanese can express that the speaker finds the person endearing, though it can also be used to address younger people.

Switching back to Ryu and Sarada, he says, “So, where is it? This clue that might lead to Boruto? You said you saw something around here, right?”

This catches Sarada off guard, and she stutters, “That would be…”

We then see Sarada’s internal dialogue. This is the crux of how she got him over here in the first place. Why wasn’t this planned? Did they plan something and forget, or did they not think ahead to this portion of the mission? It’s wild to me!

Ryu activates his iron sand and spreads it across the open area. Sarada exclaims, “Ryu, what are you doing?”

He replies, “This? I’m spreading iron sand around. It’s my detection ability. I’ve learned a lot of things using it. I’m going to poke around this area a bit. If Boruto is anywhere nearby, I’ll find him real quick.”

Interestingly, the sand seems to be able to detect intent. When it approaches Yodo, it starts to fidget. Naturally, Ryu notices this.

He says, “What mighty bloodlust you’ve got, Miss Yodo. I was right about you—your bloodlust is off the charts.” She then tries to gaslight Ryu by saying, “Don’t let it bother you. I’m always like this. All of us ninjas are.” Of course, it doesn’t seem that Ryu is convinced.

That’s when Mitsuki pops in and says, “Hey, Ryu, can I ask you something? The Leaf Village considers Boruto a criminal—that’s why we’re hunting him down. Why are you looking for him?”

Ryu replies, “Honestly, I have no idea myself, but he apparently knows too much about stuff like the Thorn Bulbs.”

Of course, this refers to the small chakra fruit-like object that Hidari transformed into after Kawaki destroyed his body. This can be used to revive the person currently stuck in a tree, which is why they’re going after it.

Sarada, somewhat of a good actor here, says, “Thorn Soul?”

Ryu goes on to explain, “A lot of other things too. He has become rather inconvenient for us, so Jura decided to kill him.”

She says, “Hey, Ryu, maybe we can use one to lure Boruto out. What do you think?”

Before we get Ryu’s answer, the scene shifts to Kawaki waking up in Amado’s lab.

Amado’s Mysterious Plan and the Otsutsuki Threat

Amado says, “Don’t flip out, Kawaki. Let’s have a civil talk. I do hear your point. The Divine Trees are definitely a threat, and I did not foresee their emergence at all. I would have to modify your ability settings to a fully offensive power form in order to stand against them—but only under one condition.”

He then walks over to what appears to be Delta in a tube. Of course, this isn’t Delta—it’s Akebi.

Amado continues, “That’s not Delta. She’s a separate, fresh clone body I prepared for Akebi to inhabit—a resurrection vessel. All I need is for you to implant this vessel with Karma, and my daughter can be reborn. Resurrection using Akebi data, which I added to your Karma, will result in her existing in this world once more. I feel that recreating her soul time after time is not permitted—only to gods. Every single thing I’ve done up until this point, it has all been for this. This is my one and only purpose in life. Help me achieve this divine feat, only possible via Karma. Please, I beg you, Kawaki.”

Kawaki then says, “I’ll say this again: if your revived daughter turns out to be an Otsutsuki, I will kill it. No exceptions.”

Interestingly, Kawaki says, “Kill it” rather than “Kill her,” which shows how he views the Otsutsuki as things to be disposed of, not as people.

Amado replies, “In the unlikely event Akebi truly happens to resurrect as a non-Otsutsuki, fine, you can do as you please. Though I’ll fight you with everything I’ve got.”

This, of course, is not a good deal for Kawaki, and I wouldn’t take it either because Amado is essentially saying that even if she resurrects as an Otsutsuki, he doesn’t want her to be killed by Kawaki. Amado is even willing to fight Kawaki to prevent this.

This isn’t a good plan for Kawaki because Amado can still put him to sleep even after this. It is a bad deal overall. However, it depends on what “Otsutsuki” means in this context. It could mean she’s of the Otsutsuki race, like Boruto, but not inherently evil. If she’s cruel, they should dispose of her. Kawaki, however, isn’t thinking about morality—he wants to eliminate all Otsutsuki, regardless of whether they’re good or bad.

It’s also interesting that Kawaki isn’t surprised Amado is unaffected by omnipotence. Perhaps Kawaki is perceptive and doesn’t care since he is unaffected, like Sarada and Sumire.

Kawaki then says, “Amado, I can’t accept your terms. Powering me up comes first. I’m not interested in creating something that might become a new enemy right now.”

This makes sense—you don’t want a new threat while dealing with existing ones.

Amado pleads, “Kawaki, please, just hear me out.”

But Kawaki says, “You know the sequence of events is the issue. I swear that I will put a Karma seal into that clone on the premise that I might kill her right away—but only after all our current foes are wiped out.”

This part is really interesting because Amado goes on to say, “Listen, Kawaki, you are currently endowed with near-immortal defensive and recuperative powers. If I redirect all of that to offensive power, I can’t guarantee your survival. And if those bastards manage to kill you, my dreams die, too.”

Of course, Amado’s position also makes sense because if Kawaki is sent off to fight these powerful enemies, he could kick the bucket before resurrecting Akebi.

What I found strange about this is that Amado says Kawaki has near-immortal defensive and recuperative powers. This is a bit weird because—is this really near-immortal? Whatever that means, the defensive power Kawaki supposedly has still allows him to get one-tapped by base Boruto, who isn’t even trying to kill him. Then, you have Kawaki in his Karma state, getting two-tapped by Jura. And this is Kawaki in his most potent form.

It would weaken his defense if Amado turned off Kawaki’s limiters and redirected the power to his offense. So, at this point, we’re seeing Kawaki in peak defensive form—even beyond his limits, by the way. It’s not like Kawaki is maxed out at what he can do; he’s beyond that right now. Yet, he’s still getting one-tapped by base Boruto and two-tapped by Jura.

If his defensive capabilities are decreased and Kawaki goes into a fight with Jura, he will likely die from a single punch. So, I’m not sure what this “immortal defense” is supposed to be. It may prevent Kawaki from being pierced, but it doesn’t protect against concussive force. We’ll see how that one plays out.

Kawaki says, “What I want isn’t a guarantee of survival—it’s the potential to kill them.”

Of course, this directly opposes what Amado wants because Amado’s goals depend on Kawaki’s survival. Kawaki tells Amado to quit worrying about his welfare and to make him an even bigger monster than his enemies. He tells him to use any means—scientific or otherwise—to make him stronger beyond his limits.

“The Divine Trees, Code, and Boruto—you will only reunite with your daughter after I slaughter them all,” Kawaki says.

Amado’s plan to resurrect his daughter isn’t resurrecting her in the traditional sense. The Karma seal can’t bring someone back from the dead as in the dead. If it could, Isshiki would still be alive. Akebi’s soul—the real one—has already moved on to the afterlife. What Amado is doing now is creating a clone of Akebi that also has her personality and mannerisms.

This is a function of Karma that Amado himself mentioned in Chapter 46 of the Boruto manga. Karma can create duplicate personalities, which is also why it erases them from other vessels when the Otsutsuki resurrects. I just wanted to make this clear. I’ll probably write a blog because there’s more to this with the Otsutsuki angle.

But to summarize, this isn’t bringing Akebi’s soul back from the afterlife, similar to the Tensei. Instead, unlike Delta, it’s creating a clone of Akebi with her personality.

We then shift over to Konohamaru, blowing the mission with Matsuri.

She says, “This is the best day of my life, getting to talk so much to Konohamaru.” She continues to call him “Konohamaru-chan” and adds, “Well, not that I’ve been alive very long, but still, I’m so happy, Konohamaru will—”

Before she finishes, Konohamaru interrupts and says, “Wait, hold on. I’m so sorry, but could you not call me that?”

She then asks, “Why? What’s wrong?”

He explains, “There’s only one person who calls me that. So, you see, it surprises me too, but it’s giving me goosebumps. You don’t mind, do you? Just calling me Konohamaru?”

That’s when Matsuri’s expression changes completely. She looks furious and says, “Only one person? And who is that?”

He panics, saying, “Don’t read into it too much.”

But she’s not having it. She says, “You wouldn’t happen to be referring to Kazamatsuri Moegi, would you? I’m right, aren’t I? So, what is that woman to you, exactly?”

She then shouts, “Answer me, Konohamaru!”

It seems she’s using her clothing to encase him, so we’ll see what happens next month.

We then skip over to Ryu and the squad, and he says, “I see, use the Thorn Soul Bulb as bait. That’s some super smart thinking—I didn’t see that!”

The bulb itself leaves his body with no problem at all. He’s okay; it doesn’t need to be inside him for him to be alive. Now, I wonder if they can use it to resurrect the person while the Shinju remains alive or if the Shinju will fade away once that is done. Of course, it could go either way—we’ll see.

The bulb then flies into the sky, and we have this idiot, Yodo, saying, “The Thorn Soul!” She looks furious.

Ryu says, “Now then, let’s see if they bite.”

That’s when Araya notices Yodo about to take off, and he tells her, “No!” But she does it anyway and tries to go after the Thorn Soul Bulb. Just before she can grab it, she stops midair and says, “What the…? I can’t move!”

Ryu starts laughing and says, “Gotcha! I thought this might be the case.”

We then skip over to Mitsuki, who’s also frozen, and he’s like, “He’s not as dumb as he looks, huh?” That’s just a backhanded compliment—that’s wild.

The same applies to Araya and Sarada; none of them can move. Sarada then notices that Ryu’s iron sand covers their entire bodies.

Ryu goes on to say, “That is so low. Your betrayal, shinobi friends, is going to give me some serious trouble. I think you need to be punished.”

Of course, this is what everyone predicted would happen. Betraying the Shinju leads to them hating humans, which they don’t do now. This is on Shikamaru because this was his plan, guided by Kashin Koji. But, of course, the plan failed because Konohamaru couldn’t keep his mouth shut and because Yodo was just a child.

Ryu then uses his iron sand to control Sarada’s body, has her pull out a kunai, and charges towards Yodo. Mitsuki then figures out what’s happening and says, “It’s the iron sand! We’re all being manipulated—just like puppets!”

But just before Sarada can slash Yodo, something stops her. She says, “I’m back in control! The iron sand was dispelled.”

We then get Araya’s last panel with his sword cloaked in iron sand. He says, “Lodestone Sand Sealing Blade… Shinki, I never thought I’d have to use this jutsu that I created for us in this way. Shinki, will you lend us a hand with this battle too?”

Ryu then says, “What the heck?! That’s so not fair!”

And that’s where the chapter ends.