What If the Kaguya Clan Knew the Eight Inner Gates...

Pat...

The warehouse door swung open as Kazama Kaguya led in six children around ten years old.

The interior was divided into three compartments, storing the Kaguya Clan's money and land deeds, ninja tools and supplies, and various ninjutsu scrolls plundered over the years.

Time was tight and the task heavy.

Kazama Kaguya didn't have a moment to inspect anything. He simply pulled out several blank Summoning Scrolls, handed them to the children following him, and gave quick orders:

"Eita, Yusuke, you two collect the ninja tools and supplies. Chihiro, Shizukako, you gather the money. Shinichi, Kazushi, you're the oldest—collect the Explosive tags and plaster them all over the warehouse. Be careful not to detonate anything."

Ten minutes had passed since the main force launched their assault.

In those ten minutes, Kazama Kaguya had once again activated [Talk no Jutsu: Art of Opening the Heart], delivering a tearful, heart-wrenching speech.

To sum it up in one sentence: he wanted to live, he wanted to defect, and he wanted to take the Kaguya Clan's Bloodline seeds out with him.

Even if the hope was slim, only by trying would he know the outcome.

If they just waited to die, there wouldn't be a single chance left.

Fortunately, not one of the remaining women wanted their children to die.

Kazama Kaguya's Talk no Jutsu worked perfectly, and the reasonable women ultimately selected six children.

Four boys and two girls, all of whom had spent three or four years at the Ninja academy. They had some combat ability, were sharp and quick-witted, and obeyed orders.

Now, all Kazama Kaguya had to do was gather supplies as fast as possible, then roll up the money and run.

After assigning the children their tasks, Kazama Kaguya quickly moved to where the ninjutsu scrolls were stored.

The Kaguya Clan possessed the Shikotsumyaku and only loved the visceral thrill of fist-to-flesh combat. They almost never fought with elemental ninjutsu, but that didn't mean they didn't collect elemental techniques.

He looked up and saw about fifty or sixty scrolls arranged on shelves, divided into four tiers. Each tier had its own category: Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, and Sealing.

Taijutsu scrolls made up the majority, and almost all of them were dog-eared from use. The remaining Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, and Sealing scrolls were covered in a layer of dust, clearly untouched.

The scrolls varied in style—every major Ninja Village was represented. Some even had bloodstains on them, obviously looted.

"Now this is treasure! Warriors are strong, but artillery mages are the real romance."

Kazama Kaguya's eyes lit up. He didn't have time to examine them, just quickly formed hand seals and stored everything into the Summoning Scroll.

All of this would be the foundation for his future rise.

In the Ninja World, all kinds of bizarre and wondrous techniques existed.

Playing Taijutsu just wasn't as comprehensive or convenient as elemental ninjutsu.

Take Kimimaro's final glorious battle before his death—Gaara only had to fly into the sky, and Sawarabi no Mai missed completely. It was truly frustrating and regrettable.

In two minutes, the warehouse was emptied. Kazama Kaguya led the six children out at top speed.

The remaining women and children filed into the now-empty warehouse. Amid the rustling sounds were the quiet sobs and fearful whispers of children.

"Mommy, I'm scared of the dark. Are we going to die?"

"No, sweetie, don't cry. We'll go find Daddy together."

Kazama Kaguya watched them walk into the pitch-black warehouse, as if they were willingly stepping into Death's belly. A feeling of angry oppression lodged in his chest, stuck there, suffocating.

"Obito Uchiha, you deserve to die!"

Kazama Kaguya clenched his fists. A heavy sense of powerlessness washed over him.

The children's sobs and whispers were like red-hot branding irons, searing deep into his heart.

"I will escape the Village Hidden in the Blood Mist. I'll go to Konoha, hunt down the Byakugan bloodline, and evolve into the Otsutsuki bloodline."

"Obito Uchiha, you'd better wash your neck and wait."

Kazama Kaguya turned and left without looking back.

Hesitation leads to defeat.

He wasn't Naruto Uzumaki. He didn't have the Nine-Tails as a cheat code. He couldn't pull a miracle out of nowhere. Staying wouldn't do a bit of good.

The six children selected to follow him bit their lips so hard their nails dug into their flesh. Their eyes were bloodshot, filled with thick hatred.

Kazama Kaguya looked at the six pairs of eyes, red as demons', and sighed. "Let's go. Where there's life, there's hope. This grudge—sooner or later, blood will pay for blood."

Shhh...

They started running, passing through the clan's Torii gate.

Just before leaving, Kazama Kaguya flicked out several Explosive tags and stuck them onto the Torii gate. Then he formed the final hand seal.

"Explode!"

With a loud shout, a thunderous boom rang out, and the Torii gate was blasted into rubble.

Kazama Kaguya curled his lip. "I did promise the Clan Head that as long as I lived, no one would breach the clan's gate. Now that I'm running, I just had to blow the gate up first."

"Since the gate doesn't exist anymore, it's not like I broke my word."

He took one last look back at the place he'd called home for two years. Kazama Kaguya sighed inwardly. "Too bad. I actually liked the Kaguya Clan."

The Kaguya Clan, also known as the Battle Clan, were mostly straightforward people with little scheming or infighting.

In the Ninja World, earning such a title meant fighting through mountains of corpses and seas of blood—the Shikotsumyaku's combat prowess was beyond doubt.

This bloodline, inherited from the Otsutsuki, even in its degraded and incomplete form, possessed unimaginable abilities.

Free control over the growth of all bones in the body, condensing them into various bone weapons of extreme hardness, and even powerful physical regeneration.

Shikotsumyaku could be said to be the most powerful Kekkei Genkai for Taijutsu in the Ninja World.

Compared to the Byakugan bloodline, which excelled at fine Chakra manipulation from the same origin, this hard-boned, fist-to-flesh combat was undoubtedly several times more lethal.

If one were to train in the Eight Inner Gates, the image was simply brutal.

Emperor Kai nearly kicked his way to the series finale, only to lose because his leg bones shattered—that was the greatest regret.

If someone with Shikotsumyaku had used it, such an embarrassing blunder would never have occurred.

"If the Kaguya Clan had the Eight Inner Gates..."

Kazama Kaguya's thoughts wandered, unable to help imagining that scene.

"Then Obito Uchiha would probably only dare to hide in Kamui space and play in the mud."

Unfortunately, that was just a hypothetical.

Perhaps after he went to Konoha and schemed to obtain the Eight Inner Gates, he could display the ultimate power of Taijutsu.

For now, the important thing was to lead his people out of Kirigakure.

Kazama Kaguya leaped onto a tall building; through the pale moonlight, he could faintly make out the battle erupting at the Mizukage Building.

The rumbling sounds grew heavier, drawing more ninjas to investigate.

"Kimimaro, I wonder if you've met that person yet."

Kazama Kaguya led his group toward the direction Kimimaro had gone, which was opposite the Mizukage Building, where a cliff ahead led straight to the outside world.

Leaving through Kirigakure's main gate was impossible; the ninjas guarding it would surely include Jonin, and charging the gate would be like smashing an egg against a rock.

Now with six extra dead weights, plus himself as a sickly wreck, the difficulty of defecting increased geometrically.

Kazama Kaguya brainstormed as he ran.

The Kaguya Clan in Kirigakure was destined for extinction. If he abandoned these six, then the promises he made to those women today would be slapping his own face.

Kazama Kaguya had always kept his word; otherwise, he wouldn't have blown up the Torii gate before leaving.

These six were the bloodline seeds of the Kaguya Clan. He couldn't act as a stud to breed an entire clan himself—he had to find them a path to survival.

Looking back at the six following closely behind him and the supply scrolls at their waists, Kazama Kaguya suddenly thought of a way.

"Kimimaro, you absolutely must meet that person."

"Whether we live or die depends on whether fate still follows its usual course."

"Gamamaru, I'll trust you just this once."