The Chidori Current released by Ryūjin Uchiha was not an ordinary one.
It was Chidori Current enhanced by Sage Mode, and its power was several times stronger than the version normally used by Kakashi's student. Lightning chakra surged violently around him, spreading across the battlefield like a storm.
The group of Kaguya clan members who had rushed toward him were instantly struck by the overwhelming current.
In a single moment, they were all blasted off their feet.
More than half of them were either dead or severely injured the moment the lightning touched them. Some of the weaker members did not even have time to scream before their bodies went rigid and collapsed to the ground, lifeless.
The rest fared little better.
Even those who survived were left trembling on the ground, their bodies charred and muscles locked by the lightning. None of them had the strength left to continue fighting.
Only one person remained standing.
The Kaguya Clan Patriarch.
At the critical moment, the patriarch had reacted quickly. Using the Shikotsumyaku bloodline limit, he forced countless bone spurs to burst out from all over his body.
The dense bones expanded outward, forming a hardened shell that covered him completely.
That layer of bone insulated him from most of the lightning attack.
Without such a defense, he would have ended up just like the others.
The battlefield fell silent again.
The Kaguya Patriarch stared at Ryūjin with widened eyes, the madness in his gaze replaced by a hint of seriousness.
"I have never seen a Lightning Release technique this terrifying," he said slowly.
"Even Raiga Kurosuki, who wielded the Lightning Blade, could not produce Lightning Release of this level."
His eyes narrowed.
"You are not a Hidden Mist ninja. Who exactly are you?"
Ryūjin had no interest in answering.
Before he could even speak, the Kaguya Patriarch suddenly licked his lips, his expression twisting back into something unhinged.
"Actually, it doesn't matter."
His voice grew excited.
"No matter who you are, I will just kill you. Fighting someone this strong is rare."
Then he raised both hands toward Ryūjin.
"Shikotsumyaku: Ten Finger Drilling Bullets!"
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
A sharp whistling sound filled the air.
The Kaguya Patriarch opened his palms, aiming directly at Ryūjin. The bones of his fingers shot outward one after another, launching like high speed projectiles.
Each bone bullet was a phalanx torn directly from his own hand.
Under his control, the bone bullets fired rapidly, forming a relentless storm of projectiles that poured toward Ryūjin like rain.
The attack was extremely dangerous.
During the battle against Gaara, Kimimaro had used the same technique. Even Gaara's absolute defense of sand had struggled to withstand the barrage.
Against an ordinary shinobi, the result would have been immediate death.
Yet Ryūjin stood there calmly.
He did not dodge.
He did not block.
He simply watched the attack arrive.
The Kaguya Patriarch frowned slightly.
"Is this idiot trying to die? Or did he not react in time?"
In the blink of an eye, the bone bullets reached their target.
They pierced straight through Ryūjin's body.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Bone fragments slammed into the ground behind him.
The Kaguya Patriarch's lips curled into a cruel smile.
Being struck by that many bone bullets should have turned anyone into a corpse riddled with holes.
There was no way this man could survive.
But in the next second, the smile froze on his face.
The bone bullets had indeed passed through Ryūjin's body.
They had literally passed through him.
They continued forward and embedded themselves in the earth behind him.
The man in front of him was completely unharmed.
"Nani?"
The Kaguya Patriarch's eyes widened.
For a brief moment he thought he had seen wrong.
"An illusion?"
But the chakra fluctuations coming from Ryūjin's body were completely real.
"I don't believe it!"
Anger replaced confusion.
The Kaguya Patriarch immediately fired another barrage, even denser than before.
Bone bullets poured out endlessly toward Ryūjin.
At that moment, Ryūjin moved.
"Kamui."
His Mangekyō Sharingan activated instantly.
Crack!
A horrifying sound echoed.
"Ah!"
The Kaguya Patriarch suddenly screamed.
He grabbed his right wrist in shock.
His entire right hand had disappeared.
It had been severed cleanly.
The cut was so precise that for a brief moment he had not even realized it had happened.
"Impossible!" he shouted in disbelief.
"My hand... how could it be cut off?"
Earlier, after seeing Ryūjin's lightning technique, the patriarch had kept his bone armor extended. Sharp bone spurs surrounded his entire body, including his wrists.
Those bones were incredibly hard.
In terms of durability, they were stronger than most ninja tools.
Cutting through them with an ordinary weapon was almost impossible.
Yet Ryūjin had sliced through several layers of those bones instantly.
Even worse, the patriarch still had no idea how the attack had been performed.
He had sensed danger, but the strike itself had been invisible.
Ryūjin looked at him coldly.
"Take me to Kimimaro."
His tone was flat.
"Or die. Your choice."
The Kaguya Patriarch did not respond with words.
Instead, his eyes filled with murderous intent.
"Shikotsumyaku: Dance of the Languid Serpent!"
The ground suddenly trembled.
Bone spikes burst upward from the earth.
One after another, they erupted violently across the battlefield.
The growth speed was terrifying.
In the blink of an eye, countless bone pillars covered a massive area, stretching hundreds of meters in every direction.
The entire battlefield turned into a forest of white bones.
This was the strongest technique the patriarch could currently use.
Kimimaro had used the same technique against Gaara. Using the bone forest as cover, he had nearly killed the Kazekage with a surprise attack.
If Kimimaro had not died from illness at that critical moment, Gaara would have likely died.
The destructive potential of this technique was obvious.
However, against someone like Ryūjin, it was almost useless.
The instant the bone forest erupted, Ryūjin activated Kamui's intangibility.
Every bone spike passed directly through his body without harming him.
Swoosh. Swoosh. Swoosh.
The bone forest continued growing wildly.
But the victims were not Ryūjin.
Instead, the Kaguya clan members who had been lying on the ground were pierced through their hearts.
Those who were already dead had their corpses impaled.
Those who had still been breathing moments ago were instantly finished.
The scene was brutal.
The Kaguya Patriarch himself disappeared beneath the forest of bones.
He had merged into the technique.
The Dance of the Languid Serpent did not only grow upward.
It extended underground as well.
Using the bone structures beneath the earth, the user could move silently through the entire forest and appear anywhere at any moment to launch a surprise attack.
Gaara had nearly died because of this exact tactic.
"As expected of the Shikotsumyaku bloodline," Ryūjin thought calmly.
"It is troublesome."
Even so, he was not worried.
Ryūjin simply had too many abilities at his disposal.
Against ordinary opponents, avoiding the user's underground ambush would be nearly impossible.
Once the enemy merged with the bone forest, they could move through it without making noticeable sound.
Unlike movement on the ground, there were almost no footsteps or disturbances to detect.
But Ryūjin was different.
He possessed Perfect Sage Mode.
The sensory ability provided by Senjutsu was incredibly powerful.
When Nagato destroyed Konoha, Naruto had just returned after mastering Sage Mode. At that moment, Naruto had instantly sensed the chakra of every shinobi across the entire village.
He had even sensed the moment Kakashi died.
That level of perception was terrifying.
As long as even the slightest chakra fluctuation existed, it could not escape detection.
And the Kaguya Patriarch was still emitting chakra while moving within the bone forest.
Which meant only one thing.
Ryūjin could track him perfectly.