Shikotsumyaku

To Kanna, the Kaguya Clan seemed like primitive people from his past life living in some remote corner of the world. This was not meant to disparage them; rather, the Kaguya Clan's standard of living was completely disconnected from the rest of the world. They dug their own wells for water, used firewood to cook, hunted wild beasts for food, and built houses out of logs. Consequently, their settlement was truly nothing special to look at, at most a novelty.

Shime led Kanna around, and when they reached a slightly cleaner, more ornate ancestral hall, he pointed at it casually and said, "That is the place where we worship our ancestors. In your lands, it's called... um, an ancestral temple, right, an ancestral temple."

Kanna's eyes lit up, and he said nonchalantly, "So it's an ancestral temple. Shall we go in and take a look?"

Throughout the journey, Kanna had asked to visit almost every unique building he encountered, so his suggestion to visit the ancestral hall did not seem abrupt.

Shime said indifferently, "If you want to see it, go ahead. But it's just a pile of dead bones; what's there to see?"

Should I call you straightforward or just dense? Kanna thought, amused. But, are those bones the thing I'm looking for?

The Kaguya Clan's ancestral temple had no tight security; there was only an old man acting as a night watchman, guarding it symbolically. After all, not every clan was like the Uchiha, who left behind stone tablets or treasures from their ancestors.

At this, Kanna's heart sank. This was bad. No matter how careless the Kaguya Clan was, they wouldn't completely disregard the bones left behind by those who had awakened the Shikotsumyaku, would they? Could it be that there was nothing inside at all?

Shime negotiated with the old man who was leisurely basking in the sun, and the old man waved his hand, signaling them to enter.

As soon as he entered the room, Kanna felt a wave of disappointment. The ancestral hall was filled only with rows of spirit tablets and a circle of burning candles; apart from that, there was nothing.

"Heh, so these are the seniors of the Kaguya Clan." Kanna forced a smile, suppressing his disappointment.

Dead bones—so that was just a reference to the deceased? It seems I really overthought this.

However, he couldn't blame himself. He had heard of "hard bones," "soft bones," and "cheap bones" as metaphors, but he had never heard of "dead bones" being used that way.

"That's all there is. The clan comes to worship once a month," Shime said, bored.

"Is that so? As a junior, I should pay my respects as well." Still unwilling to give up, Kanna walked forward, bowed several times, and took the opportunity to carefully examine the spirit tablets, trying to find something hidden among them. Like bones, bones, and more bones.

Isn't that how it's written in novels? The thing you're looking for is hidden right under your nose.

However, there was nothing. Aside from fine dust, there was nothing around the spirit tablets.

Not only was there nothing in the ancestral hall, but Kanna had found no information throughout his entire investigation. Helpless, he had no choice but to take his leave.

Before leaving, he followed his original plan and prepared to give the Flying Thunder God kunai to the Kaguya Clan.

"Thank you for the hospitality. I'm very happy to have visited the Kaguya Clan. This is a gift from me, something I carved myself. Please, you must accept it." Kanna held the Flying Thunder God kunai with both hands, blinking his large eyes with an innocent, naive expression as he handed it to the Kaguya Clan Head.

He had not given up after all; he figured that there would be plenty of time in the future. He would just "visit" every few nights, and he didn't believe he wouldn't find it!

"Ah, a gift." The Kaguya Clan Head accepted it readily, then touched his waist and pulled out something shiny. "Since it's a gift, there must be a return gift. Here, kid, take this. This is the real deal."

Bones! Bones! Bones! When he saw the Kaguya Clan Head preparing a return gift, Kanna shouted in his heart, You must give me a bone! However, reality played a joke on him again; the Kaguya Clan Head also gave him a kunai, but it was a real, sharpened iron kunai. Judging by the silver glint on the blade, it seemed quite sharp.

After the exchange of gifts, Kanna prepared to leave, but at that moment, he caught a glimpse of something white in his peripheral vision.

He saw the Kaguya Clan Head lift his robe and casually hang the Flying Thunder God kunai on his waist. Right there, a white Bone Magatama hanging from a thick cord swayed slightly with his movements.

Kanna's pupils constricted, his focus locked tightly onto that magatama.

The next moment, his expression returned to normal. He smiled, said goodbye to the Kaguya clansmen, and set off on the road home.

The Kaguya Clan's bloodline is inherited from Otsutsuki Kaguya, so it is only natural to use a magatama as a symbol. It can't be wrong; it is definitely it!

Back home, Kanna suppressed the agitation in his heart and went about his usual training and eating. Although he was restless inside, he showed no signs of it on the surface.

At night, Kanna sat on his bed with a serious expression, pondering a matter.

I cannot act! At the very least, I absolutely cannot act for a while! Kanna warned himself silently. If I steal that bone tonight, I will be a prime suspect. Anyway, the Flying Thunder God kunai is already with the Kaguya Clan. I can't be impatient, I can't be impatient!

But then, a thought occurred to him, and Kanna suddenly wondered if he had been thinking about it the wrong way.

No! No, no, no! I only need a bit of Shikotsumyaku DNA; I don't necessarily have to keep that bone magatama with me! Hahaha! That's right, I'll go steal the bone tonight! Then I'll scrape off a little bit of bone powder, run an experiment, and send it back!

Having figured this out, Kanna's mood finally improved. He began to replenish his chakra, then, without even taking off his clothes, he pulled up his quilt and lay on the bed, feigning sleep.

At three in the morning, Kanna opened his eyes and activated the Highland!

Inside the Kaguya Clan Head's room, a black shadow appeared silently.

Very good, I haven't been discovered! Kanna slowed his movements and, aided by the moonlight, began to observe the room.

On the bed inside the room, someone was sleeping soundly. To the left of the robe, a wooden hanger held the white robe that the Kaguya Clan often wore. Beneath the robe, two thick cords hung down naturally; one held the Flying Thunder God kunai that Kanna had given, and the other held that Bone Magatama!

Breathing. Kanna adjusted his breathing to the same frequency as the sleeping Kaguya Clan Head, then gently took the robe off the hanger. The next moment, the Flying Thunder God Technique was activated again, and he instantly returned to his home.

Success! Kanna was inwardly thrilled. He walked to the window, held the magatama in his palm, faced the moonlight, took out the iron kunai the Kaguya Clan Head had given him, crouched down, placed a piece of white paper on the floor, and began to slowly scrape the hole of the magatama.

This Bone Magatama was extremely hard, almost like some kind of metal. However, it was a dead object after all and could not compare to a living Shikotsumyaku bloodline user. To avoid making any sound, Kanna scraped with extreme caution. He was drenched in sweat, but finally, he managed to scrape off about three grams of bone powder.

He folded the white paper, wiped his sweat, spent half an hour recovering his chakra, and then returned the items without anyone noticing. Everything went smoothly!

After using the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport home again, Kanna let out a sigh of relief. Then, he pinched a bit of bone powder, smeared it onto the Highland on his chest, and circulated his chakra!

There was no reaction. Kanna's expression sank instantly.

It should be the bones left by a Shikotsumyaku user, that can't be wrong. So, either the Highland's function is limited and cannot analyze bloodlines, or my method of analyzing the bloodline is wrong?

Thinking of how Madara Uchiha had transplanted flesh and blood into his own body, Kanna pondered for a moment, picked up the kunai, cut a shallow wound on his chest, poured out half of the bone powder, and smeared it into the wound.

The next moment, the Flying Thunder God seal within the Highland began to fade rapidly, and a new type of rune naturally revealed itself. Crack! Crack! As time passed, the bones throughout Kanna's body began to pop and crack, and the wound on his chest closed miraculously.

More bones began to grow from his abdomen, underarms, and temples, firmly protecting his vital points. His ear bones, finger bones, and vertebrae began to harden, while his original ribs twisted slightly, interlocking to form an unbreakable bone shield!

Is this the Shikotsumyaku? What a miraculous power! It truly is the strongest bloodline for close-quarters combat! With these bones, my combat strength has definitely reached the level of a Chunin! Or even higher!

This was not all. As Kanna's body adapted to the power of the Shikotsumyaku, a new stream of consciousness poured into his mind.

"Is this? The Dance of the Larch?"

Manipulating osteoblasts and osteoclasts to produce more, harder bone, then erupting them from every part of the body to form a hedgehog-like defense—isn't this exactly the Dance of the Larch?

Kanna had a faint realization; it seemed that after absorbing flesh and blood, this Highland could also extract a fragment of memory regarding ninjutsu, essentially a form of alternative lottery.

However, this was not strange. If the autopsy squad could extract the memories of the deceased from their corpses, then it was no big deal for Highland to be able to do the same.

According to the memory received from the void, this newly acquired technique was not called the Dance of the Larch, but its concept and form were largely the same, so Kanna simply decided to name it the Dance of the Larch.

"The densest point of defense for the Dance of the Larch should be the chest. It seems this Bone Magatama was crafted from the sternum of that Shikotsumyaku awakener." Kanna's eyes flickered as he muttered to himself.

Sshhh, sshhh, sshhh, sshhh! With a twist of his body's strength, stark white bones tore through his flesh and jutted straight out, ferocious and grim, making Kanna look like a demon from hell.

Unlike other ninjutsu, the power of Shikotsumyaku lies in strengthening and creating bone; the chakra cost for manipulating the shape of the bones is actually quite low. With Kanna's current chakra levels, he could freely execute the Dance of the Larch, though naturally, the hardness of his bones could not compare to Kimimaro's.

"Not only cells related to bone, but can it also manipulate flesh and blood to a certain extent?" Looking at the spots where the bones had broken through without a single drop of blood flowing out, Kanna fell into deep thought.