Secrets

Outside Yuan Shi's home—or rather, Qing Si's home now—Qing Si happened to run into Kenbei, who was about to head out to handle some business for Yuan Shi.

"Uncle Kenbei! Long time no see!" Qing Si greeted him, still the same humble young man as ever.

"Young Master Qing Si, good morning! Looks like the mission went smoothly. Hurry inside—Lord Yuan Shi has been waiting for you ever since he learned you were back!" Kenbei replied just as kindly.

As an ANBU member, Qing Si's whereabouts and mission details were normally kept absolutely confidential.

But Kenbei was Elder Yuan Shi's personal guard and butler, so it was hardly strange for him to know Qing Si's situation. Moreover, Yuan Shi was an elder whose authority rivaled that of the Mizukage. Though he no longer involved himself much in affairs, his influence remained. The moment Qing Si and the others entered the village, someone had already informed Yuan Shi of Qing Si's return.

"Grandpa! I'm back!" Qing Si felt nothing but closeness and respect for this old man, who truly treated him as his own grandson.

"Come, little Qing Si, let Grandpa take a look. You weren't hurt, were you?" Though he already knew the mission's outcome and understood that his grandson's strength was not to be underestimated, Yuan Shi still showed concern for Qing Si's first ANBU mission.

"How could I possibly be hurt? I'm very strong!" Qing Si said smugly.

"Hahaha, that's right! Of course my grandson is strong!" Yuan Shi smiled at Qing Si kindly, his eyes full of satisfaction.

"Come, to celebrate your first completed S-rank mission, Grandpa has a reward for you." As he spoke, Yuan Shi rose and walked to the side, picking up a scroll he had prepared long ago and handing it to Qing Si.

"This was given to me years ago by an old fellow from the Kaguya Clan. Back then, he asked me to give it to Genji at the appropriate time." Mentioning Qing Si's father, Yuan Shi unconsciously paused before continuing, "But I never expected that I would never see him again."

"Grandpa, that's all in the past." Qing Si called softly.

"Yes, it's all in the past." Yuan Shi sighed. "Now, I'm giving this to you. It is said to be the only surviving scroll that records the complete history and secrets of the Kaguya Clan. Carefully use the power of your bloodline to sense it, and you'll know how to open it. Go back and study it well!"

Qing Si accepted the scroll, greatly satisfied with Yuan Shi's reward.

Qing Si did not lack ninjutsu. Isshiki's gifted memories contained countless techniques he had seen and collected over the millennia, waiting for Qing Si to slowly uncover and learn.

The information from those memories had given Qing Si a fair understanding of the Kaguya Clan, but it was utterly impossible for him to know everything about the clan as this elder did.

"Go on. No need to keep this old man company. Study hard and continue improving yourself. I look forward to the day you become Mizukage." For the first time, Yuan Shi voiced his expectations for Qing Si.

Qing Si froze at those words. He had not expected Yuan Shi to have such confidence in him, though thinking it over, it made sense. A nine-year-old genius bloodline Jonin, born of a prestigious family, with Elder Yuan Shi as his grandfather—Qing Si already possessed every prerequisite for becoming Mizukage. His background was impeccable.

Qing Si gave Yuan Shi a bashful smile, silently acknowledging his hopes. Then, after respectfully bowing to Yuan Shi, he turned and returned to his room.

Sitting cross-legged on his bed, Qing Si placed the scroll on his lap and guided chakra infused with the power of the Dead Bone Pulse toward the seal on it.

As a large amount of chakra containing the power of the Dead Bone Pulse flowed into the scroll, a crisp crack rang out before long, like the sound of a lock opening. The scroll unfurled on its own.

Qing Si began reading carefully, and the opening introduction already surprised him.

"The Kaguya Clan's bloodline originally descended from the Divine Bloodline. The name of its ancestor was Hamura Otsutsuki." Qing Si knew this because he possessed Isshiki Otsutsuki's memories. Yet in this era, when even ancient clans like the Senju Clan and Uchiha Clan had lost most of their history, it was incredible that a clan like the Kaguya, known only for brute force, still possessed a scroll recording events from a thousand years ago.

"Ancestor Hamura passed down three bloodlines. Only two remain in the Shinobi World: the Hyuga, who inherited the eyes, and the Kaguya, who inherited the body." Qing Si remembered that both the Kaguya and Hyuga bloodlines had been passed down by Hamura's descendants, who returned to the Shinobi World from the moon. It seemed that while the Kaguya Clan had preserved some events from a thousand years ago, they knew nothing about the moon, nor were they aware that another branch of Hamura's bloodline remained there.

"It is believed that the eyes and body can complement one another. When both appear together, they can obtain the ultimate power of this world." Qing Si paused when he read this. It was information he had never known. Though he knew the Kaguya and Hyuga were both Hamura's descendants, he had never considered that there might be some connection between them.

But a moment later, he seemed to realize something, and understanding dawned on his face.

That was it. Qing Si recalled fragments of information he had seen in his previous life. The Uchiha Clan and Senju Clan were descendant clans that inherited the eyes and body of Hagoromo Otsutsuki, the Sage of Six Paths. When the powers of the Senju Clan and Uchiha Clan became one, they would draw forth the power of the Six Paths.

Then the combined powers of the Hyuga and Kaguya, also clans descended from a sage, should likewise be able to produce a similar power.

"For a thousand years, our clan maintained close ties with the Hyuga, exchanging what each possessed and even intermarrying many times. The results of this complementarity were gratifying. In the Hyuga, the purity of the Byakugan increased, allowing them to see farther and even granting the Byakugan an ocular technique capable of intimidating others with chakra pressure. In the Kaguya, it greatly strengthened the Dead Bone Pulse, making their bodies even more powerful and allowing them to easily use the Ash Bones Technique, which ordinary clansmen could only wield by burning their bloodline and life force. Yet regrettably, after all these years, the so-called ultimate power has never appeared." Qing Si gradually accepted the theory of complementarity. He possessed more information, and comparing it against this record made it clear that the theory was correct.

As the bloodline source above Hamura Otsutsuki, Kaguya Ōtsutsuki possessed both the Byakugan and All-Killing Ash Bones. The so-called ultimate power most likely referred to a complete Kaguya Ōtsutsuki bloodline.

As for why no one had achieved it after all these years, it was likely because their bloodlines were not pure enough. But this was not a problem for Qing Si. After all, he already possessed a rudimentary Ōtsutsuki bloodline, and the bloodline within him was still continuously evolving. In fact, Qing Si's initial ancestral reversion of his bloodline was thanks to his mother's side. Few knew that the Sixth Elder's mother had come from the Hyuga Clan's main family.

Having obtained this secret information, Qing Si saw a brand-new path toward strengthening his bloodline. While he would not go so mad as to head to Konoha and "borrow" a few members of the Hyuga main family—or several pairs of Byakugan—for experiments, Qing Si firmly believed that the Hyuga bloodline contained something that could benefit him, perhaps even accelerate the evolution of his bloodline.

"Our clan and the Hyuga Clan have been friendly for generations. Even after our clan relocated to the Land of Water, we never lost contact with the Hyuga Clan. Though intermarriage between us ceased, we continued exchanging letters." Qing Si's eyes lit up when he read this. The Kaguya and Hyuga still had contact even now, though the channel for such communication was likely limited to their upper echelons, perhaps even held solely by the clan heads.

"After Tennin's passing, the Hyuga suffered several upheavals and lost this related information. Though contact between us has not been severed, the two clans belong to different shinobi villages and are destined to be unable to continue experiments concerning their bloodlines. Descendant, whether you tell the Hyuga the secret of their bloodline is for you to decide. This old man, already a relic of a bygone era, will not interfere." Qing Si let out a long breath after reaching the end.

Qing Si had truly received too many secrets today that he had never known before.

Though he still could not establish contact with the Hyuga Clan, that did not stop Qing Si from making plans in advance.

(A small clarification—this is a personal conjecture and part of this novel's setting.)

What the Kaguya Clan inherited should have been Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's All-Killing Ash Bones bloodline. But All-Killing Ash Bones was a Bloodline Net-level ability. Once the Dead Bone Pulse was developed to its limit, it would gradually display some of All-Killing Ash Bones' lethal-on-contact traits. For clansmen whose bloodline was not pure enough, their natural healing could not keep up with the rate of erosion, causing their bodies to collapse. This was the Kaguya Clan's so-called Bloodline Disease, and it was also why the Ash Bones Technique required burning one's bloodline and life force.

But if the bloodline was sufficiently pure and close enough to the original bloodline—or if one simply awakened a higher-level Ōtsutsuki bloodline—then there would be no problems at all, nor any so-called Bloodline Disease.