"Cough… cough… cough…"
"Told you… not to leave… and you were still over there showing off your romance…"
"Cough, damn it… too far, I can't see a thing…"
More than a kilometer outside the Tailed Beast Bomb's blast zone, Huiye Lian—soaked in blood—coughed violently while clutching his left hand. Every bone in it had been shattered clean, and the hand was only now crawling back together under the power of the Shikotsumyaku.
He sank into the ground, trying to flee even farther underground.
But he hadn't made it far before the pain surged up from every single cell in his body—white-hot, all-consuming—and forced him back to the surface.
"Hah… hah… damn it. That fast?"
No time to hide the trail anymore.
Dragging a body that felt like it was burning from the inside out, Huiye Lian staggered into a hollow in a tree and collapsed inside. He pulled out every [Biscuit] he had on him and began forcing them down, one piece at a time.
If he opened his personal panel right now, he'd see his vitality had dropped below 40% from the Tailed Beast Bomb—then plunged further to around 20% after producing the Gray Bone.
Under the effect of the [Biscuit], it was recovering quickly.
But every so often, his vitality would suddenly nosedive again. Huiye Lian would vomit blood in great mouthfuls—and the pain that followed would gnaw into his bones, enough to strip him of the ability to move at all.
From the outside, his condition looked exactly like those Kaguya clan members who had been tortured by their bloodline sickness until only a single breath remained.
This was the greatest flaw of the Shikotsumyaku bloodline limit.
Much like the Hyuga, Uchiha, Senju, and Uzumaki, the Kaguya were an ancient lineage that could be traced back to the Sage of Six Paths—perhaps even to the progenitor of chakra herself, Kaguya Otsutsuki.
And among those ancient clans, the power the Kaguya inherited was, without question, the most dangerous—
Because it most likely came from Kaguya Otsutsuki's unique kekkei mora…
All-Killing Ash Bones.
Even if that inheritance had degraded into a warped shadow of itself over the long flow of time.
Huiye Lian was so certain of this for one simple reason.
When he was nine, he had actually produced bone with a faint gray hue. Those gray bones possessed several times the destructive power of ordinary bone.
Back then, he'd been overjoyed—convinced he'd found yet another road to rapid growth.
Then, that very night, he began coughing blood without end.
In just three days, he'd become so weak he could barely breathe. He lay in bed unable to move even a finger.
The clan's doctors checked him and declared it the bloodline sickness that had plagued the Kaguya for over a thousand years—one with no known cure. They even sighed and told his parents they could start preparing funeral arrangements.
If Huiye Hemei hadn't stubbornly insisted that the genius little brother who had weighed on her since birth couldn't possibly die so easily…
If she hadn't abandoned her genin duties to sit by his bedside every day, holding his hand, talking to him—giving Huiye Lian a target to repeatedly trigger [Undying Grasp]…
He would have died back then.
And because he miraculously survived the bloodline sickness and returned to being lively and kicking, his reputation within the clan leapt from "genius" to "monster."
From that point on, the elders began watching him closely—investing in him.
Afterward, Huiye Lian cautiously tested producing gray bone several more times, and from those attempts, he extracted a rough set of rules.
First: when using Shikotsumyaku to create bone, if he simultaneously burned a massive amount of chakra and vitality, he could produce gray bone with far greater destructive power.
Second: once gray bone was successfully produced, the body would instinctively attempt to produce more.
That stage would devour the user's chakra and vitality at terrifying speed. If the user wasn't strong enough, they would be drained into a dried-out corpse.
And even if the user endured that violent backlash—forcing all the gray bone out of the body—the "toxin" left behind by the gray bone would continue eroding the body, slowly squeezing it dry until nothing remained.
That…
Was the true face of the Kaguya clan's bloodline sickness.
For someone like Huiye Lian—whose vitality was already approaching that of a tailed beast—the chronic erosion wasn't too threatening. As long as he prepared carefully to endure the early backlash, he could manage.
But for ordinary Kaguya who had merely brushed the edge of gray bone… who hadn't even truly created it…
It was already a death sentence. Their lives would wither within half a year.
Maybe this was the curse placed upon anyone who tried to tread into the realm of the Otsutsuki with a mortal body.
After downing more than a dozen [Biscuits]—special and standard—and resting in place for half an hour, Huiye Lian's vitality finally stabilized above 50%.
He swayed to his feet and began reviewing his system notifications.
[Skill acquired — Four Symbols Seal LV4]
[Four Symbols Seal LV4: A powerful sealing formula that uses the circulation of the Four Symbols to lock away evil forces. This seal leaves an imprint on a human body or other target, and can completely seal a powerful enemy inside the host for an extended period of time.]
[Optional Quest 2 completed. Draw a Keystone Rune?]
[Optional Quest 3 completed. Draw a Keystone Rune?]
"Oh? [First Strike] actually dropped a level 4 skill? Not bad," Huiye Lian snorted, pleased. "Looks like that Gray Sulfur Piercing Spear did a number on Kushina. Even if you're an Uzumaki and the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki, you're still gonna be bedridden for months before you fully recover."
"In that case, Optional Quest 4 should be easy to clear in the next couple of days…"
"But will that make Minato bring Tsunade back early?"
He narrowed his eyes, thinking.
"Still… Minato isn't Naruto. He might not be able to cure her hemophobia. If that problem isn't solved, even if Tsunade returns to Konoha, it won't matter…"
Seeing [First Strike] drop a rare level 4 skill gave him a rough read on Uzumaki Kushina's injuries. After briefly considering the ripple effects, he shifted all of his attention to the three Keystone Rune draws he'd earned.
"Tch. Three draws at once… that's enough to make a man's heart race."
"But only with this kind of luck do I even have a chance of surpassing the cheaters who had the Sage of Six Paths opening doors for them."
"Come on. Let me see what I get this time."
In his mind, Huiye Lian hit [Confirm Draw ×3].
[Choose three Keystone Runes from the following as your reward]
[Arcane Comet: Keystone Rune. Obtain or strengthen Fire chakra nature.]
After hitting an enemy with any attack, locks onto the target's coordinates at the moment of impact and summons a comet to strike the area. The comet's size and damage depend on your Fire Release, Earth Release levels, and your ninjutsu power.
[Glacial Augment: Keystone Rune. Obtain or strengthen Wind/Water chakra nature, and unlock Kekkei Genkai: Ice Release.]
All your ninjutsu applies a slow. Targets affected have all movement speed reduced by 10% and deal 15% less damage.
[Fleet Footwork: Keystone Rune.]
Moving builds up an Energized effect. When fully charged, your next attack restores 4% of your max vitality and increases all your speed by 30% for 5 seconds.
[Stormraider's Surge: Keystone Rune. Obtain or strengthen Wind chakra nature.]
All your speed increases by 15%. When you deal damage equal to 30% of a target's max vitality, you gain Surge: an additional 30% to all speed for 5 seconds.
Gaining multiple Surges refreshes the duration.
[Electrocute: Keystone Rune. Obtain or strengthen Lightning chakra nature.]
After you hit an enemy by any means, within 3 seconds you can trigger one unavoidable, distance-ignoring Lightning Release ninjutsu follow-up. Damage depends on your Lightning Release level and ninjutsu power.
[Aftershock: Keystone Rune. Obtain or strengthen Earth chakra nature.]
You can temporarily activate an Earth armor, doubling all resistances for 3 seconds. When the duration ends, the armor explodes automatically, damaging nearby enemies. Damage depends on your Earth Release level and resistance strength.
[Summon Aery: Keystone Rune. Obtain or strengthen Yang chakra nature.]
Your medical ninjutsu/self-recovery is increased by 15%. When you heal other targets, they gain a shield equal to 5% of your vitality for 10 seconds. Before the shield breaks, the target also gains resistance equal to 5% of your max resistance.
Advance Chapters available on Patreon
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