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GSiN: Ch. 58
🕑 Added 2025-04-07 17:29:51 +0000 UTC---Third POV---
Ryouma's body bent slightly, forming a spear-like stance, with his eyes firmly locked onto the Kiri ninjas. A deep blue light began to flicker at his fingertips, gradually gathering to form a fist-sized Rasengan that emitted powerful chakra waves, distorting the surrounding air with its force, accompanied by a low buzzing sound.
Under his control, the Rasengan shot forward like a cannonball.
While in flight, it rapidly split into countless chakra bullets, expanding its range to encompass Shin and two other Kiri ninjas.
"Incoming attack!" one of the Kiri ninjas shouted.
The second ninja swiftly formed seals. "Water Release: Water Formation Wall!"
"Strengthen it! Pour every drop of chakra you have!" Shin commanded, recognizing the immediate threat.
The water wall rose, but the Rasengan bullets bombarded it like a torrential storm, shattering it instantly with their sheer impact.
Shin's expression shifted slightly, realizing his the water wall's defense was utterly ineffective.
Without hesitation, he activated his Shikotsumyaku, channeling chakra rapidly through his body to generate an unbreakable bone membrane over his skin. It resembled an impenetrable suit of armor, shielding him from harm.
However, the remaining two Kiri ninjas weren't so lucky. In an instant, they were riddled with the barrage, their lives cut short.
One couldn't help but acknowledge the vast difference between shinobi with a bloodline limit and ordinary ones, comparable to the gap between a baby and an adult.
Ryouma's overwhelming Bullet Rain had scarred the forest floor, leaving craters scattered everywhere. Yet, Shin, protected by his bone membrane, emerged unscathed.
Ryouma wondered briefly if even a Rasenshuriken could penetrate this "turtle shell," but he didn't bother testing it. The Kaguya clan member's strength was decent, but nothing extraordinary.
Sheathing Lostvayne, Ryouma decided against further close combat. He had no interest in clashing blades with a pile of hardened bones.
Shin, seeing Ryouma put away his weapon, didn't relax. He realized his opponent was likely preparing to rely on taijutsu instead. Shin's expertise lay in close combat; his only chance of winning was closing the distance.
With this thought, he reached behind his back and shockingly pulled out his own spine, his face contorting in a grimace that was equal parts pain and ecstasy. With a tearing sound that echoed through the clearing, his spine emerged vertebra by vertebra, connected by chakra-infused cartilage.
The sight made Ryouma grimace with revulsion. He had seen the Kaguya's techniques in the series, but seeing them in person was another matter entirely.
Shin wielded the entire spine like a whip, swinging it fiercely at Ryouma. In his hands, the extracted spine transformed into something more deadly than nature had intended. Enhanced by the Shikotsumyaku's immense power, the bone whip extended far beyond the gap between the two combatants.
As it sliced through the air, the whip created a sharp whistling sound, almost tearing through the atmosphere.
"Dance of the Clematis: Vine!"
This technique was specifically developed by the Kaguya clan to deal with enemies outside their taijutsu range.
In the past, whenever he used this technique, the area within a dozen meters would be completely swept by the bone whip. Without specialized defenses, most opponents would either die on contact or be gravely injured.
Ryouma's eyes narrowed as he clapped his hands together. Drawing deeply on his chakra, he felt the familiar heat building in his lungs. A moment later, a mass of dark purple flames erupted from his mouth, surging like a torrential flood to form a circular wall of fire several meters high.
The fire wall radiated intense heat and powerful energy waves, distorting the surrounding air with its extreme temperature. When the bone whip struck the flame wall, the bones began to melt like candles under intense heat, calcium liquefying and dripping away in glowing droplets.
Shin was momentarily stunned, realizing the flames were far from ordinary. Their power far exceeded that of typical fire jutsu. After all, the bones produced by the Shikotsumyaku possessed extreme hardness and toughness. Normal Fire Release techniques couldn't harm them in the slightest, let alone melt them. Yet, the flames before him easily achieved this.
Is this also a bloodline limit?
While analyzing the enemy's technique in his mind, he didn't let his actions falter.
The moment his attack was blocked, he transitioned to the second form.
Shin's entire right arm began to change, bones thickening and extending, calcium deposits accumulating at an accelerated rate. The limb transformed into something that barely resembled a human appendage. It was a massive, bone-crafted spear.
"Dance of the Clematis: Flower!"
This technique was the most piercingly powerful move in the Shikotsumyaku arsenal, though it came with a considerable burden on the user. For Shin, however, as long as it could penetrate the dark purple flame wall in front of him, the cost was worth it.
A crazed grin spread across his face as he charged at the flame wall, wielding the giant bone spear without a trace of fear. With a battle cry that echoed through the forest, he ran directly at the wall of purple flames. It was suicide by any rational calculation, but the Kaguya clan had never been known for prioritizing survival over victory.
When the spear pierced the flame wall, he pushed the limits of his Shikotsumyaku, continuously increasing the calcium concentration in the spear to raise its hardness to unprecedented levels.
Against all odds, the spear managed to breach the wall of flames, closing in on Ryouma.
"No defense... is impenetrable!" Shin growled through gritted teeth.
The cost, however, was severe burns across his body. Although the protective bone membrane saved his life, his appearance was now pitifully charred. The flames ravaged every inch of exposed skin, blackening and charring flesh that even his bone membrane couldn't fully protect. The stench of burning hair and skin filled the clearing, yet his momentum never faltered.
To Shin, though, such injuries were nothing unusual. As a battle-hardened warrior, this was mere routine. Moreover, the Shikotsumyaku granted him rapid wound-healing capabilities. Even now, the burns on his body were sizzling and emitting white smoke as they began to heal.
The bone spear drew ever closer to his enemy's chest, its tip now just meters away.
Facing the gleaming, bone-crafted spear before him, Ryouma chose not to engage directly. Instead, he used the Flying Thunder God Technique, instantly teleporting to the location of a kunai he had thrown earlier.
As the bone spear closed the final distance, Ryouma made no move to evade, physically. Instead, he formed a single hand sign, chakra flaring briefly around his body. In an instant, he simply ceased to exist where he had been standing.
He suddenly realized that the Kaguya clan's Shikotsumyaku had a surprising counter-effect against his Full Counter strategy.
In the past, no matter how powerful the attack, he could easily reflect it by swinging Lostvayne, even against Tsunade's Chakra Enhanced Strength. His chakra-modified Full Counter worked by synchronizing with the opponent's chakra frequency and redirecting the energy flow back at twice the power.
But the Shikotsumyaku technique fell outside Full Counter's reflective range. Unlike external chakra attacks, the Kaguya bloodline manipulated the body's osteoblasts and osteoclasts to produce what were essentially natural bone structures. Though chakra initiated the process, the resulting weapons were physical extensions of the user's body, not chakra constructs that Full Counter could recognize and reflect.
Meanwhile, Shin's expression twisted as he realized his powerful strike had missed. Quickly turning around to locate his enemy, Shin was met with a blazing, dark purple fireball radiating intense heat heading straight for him.
"Damn it."
He cursed under his breath. The opponent's jutsu was terrifyingly fast. It seemed he had no choice but to use that move.
Just as the Flame Rasengan Sphere was about to hit him, he abruptly started spinning rapidly in place.
With his movements, sharp bone spears burst from the ground. In the blink of an eye, a dense forest of bone spears surrounded him. These spears were packed closely, razor-sharp, and gleamed with a chilling cold light.
At the same time, he merged into one of the bone spears closest to him, evading the first wave of the Grand Flame Rasengan's attack.
But it wasn't over yet. The number of bone spears continued to grow rapidly, spreading in an instant to the area under Ryouma's feet.
"Dance of the Seedling Fern!"
This was the ultimate technique of the Shikotsumyaku, the final dance. It could transform an area hundreds of meters around the caster into a deadly forbidden zone, a forest of bones.
Historically, every Kaguya clan member who had used this move ended up dying prematurely due to extreme life force exhaustion.
"Shukaku, take me up."
"Got it, partner."
Shukaku, finally given a chance to shine, swiftly controlled the sand under Ryouma's feet, lifting him directly into the air.
Now Shin was truly out of options. The Kaguya clan didn't have effective means of dealing with aerial opponents. At this height, all he could do was fire off a few Ten-Finger Drilling Bullets, but such attacks were ineffective against his opponent.
While airborne, Ryouma recalled the Flame Rasengan Sphere back to his side and stretched out his hands, infusing it with a massive amount of chakra.
It then rapidly expanded, growing nearly as large as a small house. Ryouma then propelled the sphere outward. He controlled it to rotate around him, melting all the bone spears on the ground to nothing.
With all the bone spears destroyed, Shin was forced out of his fused state with the bone forest. The moment he reappeared, Ryouma formed a single hand seal and manipulated the massive sphere to undergo a transformation. Its ends elongated, eventually forming a massive flaming arrow, which floated silently by his side.
With a thought, he launched the arrow, as if it were fired from an invisible bowstring, directly at Shin.
"Flaming Annihilation Arrow!"
This technique was a jutsu Ryouma had developed after studying Tobirama's notes on chakra nature manipulation. Its piercing power far exceeded that of the Flame Rasengan Sphere.
Faced with such a powerful attack, Shin could only fully activate his Shikotsumyaku, frantically thickening the bone armor on his body.
However, against the arrow, infused with an immense amount of Blaze Release chakra, this defense was utterly inadequate, like trying to stop a flood with a teacup.
The massive, dark-purple flaming arrow, resembling a burning meteor, carried overwhelming heat and destructive force. Without mercy, it melted through the astonishingly thick bone membrane. With an unstoppable momentum, it pierced straight through Shin's chest.
The arrow's power was so immense that his body was instantly penetrated. No blood flowed from the wound because the tissues surrounding the entry point were carbonized upon contact.
His eyes widened in shock and agony, as if he couldn't believe he had suffered such a grievous blow.
Meanwhile, the dark-purple flames ravaged his insides, mercilessly scorching his internal organs and muscles.
Shin let out a heart-wrenching scream as his body convulsed violently. He desperately attempted to manipulate his bones to grow internally, trying to resist the terrifying force, but it was futile.
Within seconds, his life force rapidly diminished, and he collapsed to the ground, motionless.
The smell of charred flesh and smoke lingered around his corpse.
With the fight over, Shukaku lowered the sand cloud to the ground.
Ryouma approached the Kaguya ninja's lifeless body, pulled out a sealing scroll, and formed hand seals. He sealed Shin's corpse into the scroll.
The reason he didn't detonate the Flaming Annihilation Arrow was to preserve the body as much as possible.
It wasn't out of respect for the opponent, rather, as a possessor of a bloodline limit, the corpse held significant research value. Ryouma planned to bring it back to Konoha for study.
That was all.
To be honest, the opponent was quite strong. He had initially thought Shin would be no more than a slightly tougher Kiri jonin.
While there were ways to counter it, if he were to compare Shin to the other opponents he had faced so far... well, Shin was probably about one and a half times stronger than Rasa.
After the fight, Ryoma realized that taijutsu specialists were his counter at the moment, especially fast and sturdy ones like Shin who could capitalize on his weaknesses.
