If the Kaguya Clan Had the Eight Inner Gates...

Pat...

The storeroom doors swung open, and Kazama Kaguya rushed inside with six children around ten years old.

The room was divided into three sections, which held the Kaguya Clan's money and land deeds, ninja tools and supplies, and various stolen ninjutsu scrolls.

Time was short, and the task was urgent.

Kazama Kaguya had no time to look around. He pulled out several blank Summoning Scrolls, handed them to the children, and quickly gave his orders:

"Eita, Yusuke, you two collect the ninja tools and supplies. Chihiro, Shizukako, you collect the money. Shinichi, Kazushi, you're the oldest, so gather the Explosive tags and cover the storeroom with them. Be careful not to set them off."

Ten minutes had passed since the main force launched its attack.

During those ten minutes, Kazama Kaguya had once again used [Talk no Jutsu: Art of Opening the Heart], giving a tearful, deeply moving speech.

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

Even if their chances were slim, they wouldn't know the outcome unless they tried.

If they just waited to die, they wouldn't have a chance at all.

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

Kazama Kaguya's Talk no Jutsu had worked perfectly. In the end, the understanding women had selected six children.

Four boys and two girls. They'd attended the Ninja academy for three or four years, had some fighting ability, and were quick-witted, clever, and obedient.

Now Kazama Kaguya's job was to gather supplies as quickly as he could, then grab the money and run.

After assigning the children their tasks, Kazama Kaguya hurried over to the ninjutsu scrolls.

The Kaguya Clan possessed Shikotsumyaku and loved nothing more than the satisfying impact of fist against flesh. They hardly ever used elemental ninjutsu in battle, but that didn't mean they didn't collect it.

He looked up at the shelves. Dozens of ninjutsu scrolls sat there, about fifty or sixty in all, arranged across four tiers. The scrolls on each tier were sorted into categories: taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu, and sealing techniques.

Taijutsu scrolls made up more than half, and nearly all of them had frayed edges from frequent use. The remaining ninjutsu, genjutsu, and sealing scrolls were covered in dust, clearly neglected.

The scrolls had all been made in different styles, and some came from various Ninja Villages. A few even had bloodstains on them—they were obviously stolen.

"This is the real treasure! Warriors are impressive, but artillery mages are the height of romance."

Kazama Kaguya's eyes lit up. He had no time to inspect them, so he quickly formed Hand Seals and stored everything in the Summoning Scrolls.

Every last one of these would be an asset he could use to rise to prominence in the future.

In the Ninja World, all kinds of bizarre ninjutsu appeared one after another.

When it came to fighting with taijutsu, elemental ninjutsu really was more versatile and convenient.

Take Kimimaro's glorious final battle, for instance. Gaara simply flew into the air, leaving Sawarabi no Mai striking at empty space. It was a frustrating, regrettable end.

Within two minutes, they'd emptied the storeroom. Kazama Kaguya led the six children away at a run.

The remaining women and children filed into the empty storeroom. Their shuffling footsteps mingled with the children's quiet sobs and frightened whispers.

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

"No, sweetheart. Don't cry. We'll go find your father together."

Kazama Kaguya watched them enter the pitch-black storeroom, as if they were willingly stepping into the belly of the Grim Reaper. An angry, stifled feeling piled up in his chest and stuck there, leaving him struggling to breathe.

"Obito Uchiha, you deserve to die!"

Kazama Kaguya clenched his fists, a crushing sense of helplessness washing over him.

The children's sobs and whispers were like red-hot brands, searing themselves 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 an Otsutsuki bloodline."

"Obito Uchiha, you just wait. I'll make you pay."

Kazama Kaguya turned and left.

Hesitation meant defeat.

He wasn't Naruto Uzumaki. He didn't have the Nine-Tails as a cheat, and he couldn't suddenly power up. There was no point in staying.

The six children who'd been chosen to leave with him clenched their lips, their fingernails digging into their flesh. Every one of their eyes was red, brimming with hatred.

Kazama Kaguya looked at the six pairs of bloodshot eyes, like those of vengeful ghosts, and sighed. "Come on. As long as the green hills remain, we'll never run out of firewood. Sooner or later, we'll make them pay in blood."

Whoosh...

They broke into a run and passed through the torii gate at the entrance to the clan grounds.

Before leaving, Kazama Kaguya slapped a few Explosive tags onto the torii gate, then formed the final hand seal.

"Explode!"

With a loud shout and a rumble, the torii gate was blasted into rubble.

Kazama Kaguya pursed his lips. "I promised the clan leader that as long as I was alive, I wouldn't let anyone break through the entrance to the clan grounds. But now I'm running away, so I have no choice but to blow up the gate first."

"Besides, there's no gate left, so I haven't broken my promise."

He looked back one last time at the place where he'd lived for two years and sighed inwardly. What a shame. I really did like the Kaguya Clan.

The Kaguya Clan was also known as the Warrior Clan. Most of its members were blunt and straightforward, with little interest in scheming against one another.

In the Ninja World, anyone who earned such a title had fought their way through mountains of corpses and seas of blood. The combat prowess of Shikotsumyaku was beyond question.

This bloodline, inherited from the Otsutsuki, had powers beyond imagination, even in its degraded and incomplete state.

It allowed its user to freely control the growth of every bone in their body, forming an array of weapons with tremendous hardness. It even gave them powerful regenerative abilities.

Shikotsumyaku was arguably the most powerful Kekkei Genkai for taijutsu in the Ninja World.

Compared to the Byakugan, a related Kekkei Genkai suited to fine chakra control, this brutal fighting style of hard bones and blows that landed flesh to flesh was undoubtedly several times more lethal.

If its users learned the Eight Inner Gates, the result would be absolutely savage.

Emperor Kai had nearly kicked his way to the finale, only to lose when his leg bones shattered. It was one of the greatest regrets.

If someone with Shikotsumyaku had used the technique, that kind of blunder would never have happened.

"What if the Kaguya Clan had the Eight Inner Gates..."

Kazama Kaguya's thoughts wandered, and he couldn't help picturing the scene.

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

Unfortunately, it was only a what-if.

Perhaps after he reached Konoha and got his hands on the Eight Inner Gates, he'd be able to show off the ultimate power of taijutsu.

For now, the important thing was to get everyone out of Kirigakure.

Kazama Kaguya leaped onto a rooftop. In the pale moonlight, he could just make out the battle raging at the Mizukage Building.

The rumbling grew louder and louder, drawing more shinobi over to investigate.

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

Kazama Kaguya led the group in the direction Kimimaro had gone. It was the opposite direction from the Mizukage Building, and farther ahead, a cliff led straight out of the village.

There was no way they could use the main gate of Kirigakure. The guards would undoubtedly include Jonin, and trying to force their way through would be like throwing an egg at a rock.

Now they had six more deadweights to drag along, on top of Kazama Kaguya, a sickly weakling himself. The difficulty of defecting had increased by several orders of magnitude.

Kazama Kaguya ran, his mind racing.

The Kaguya Clan of Kirigakure was doomed to be wiped out. If he abandoned these six, the promise he'd made to the women today would be nothing but a slap in his own face.

Kazama Kaguya had always kept his word. That was why he'd blown up the torii gate before leaving.

These six were the Kaguya Clan's Bloodline seeds. He couldn't breed an entire clan on his own; he had to find them a way to survive.

He glanced at the six children following close behind, and the supply scrolls at their waists. In an instant, Kazama Kaguya came up with a plan.

"Kimimaro, you'd better run into that person."

"Whether we live or die depends on whether fate still follows the same course."

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