Ash Bones! Ash Bones!

Seeing Isshiki turn and chase after Qing Si, Genji had no time to dwell on the countless guesses that had just surfaced in his mind. With difficulty, he pulled the black rods embedded in his body free.

Every rod he pulled out brought with it a torrent of blood. Genji grew weaker and weaker, the flame of his life liable to go out at any moment.

Enduring the pain, Genji once more gathered the twenty or thirty percent of chakra remaining in his body and staggered toward Qing Si.

Elsewhere, Qing Si had already been caught and was forced to fight Isshiki.

With no combat experience whatsoever, Qing Si could only begin by testing him with a long-range attack.

Qing Si used the Prince Battle Style.

"Dead Bone Pulse: Ten-Finger Drilling Bullets!"

Qing Si aimed all ten fingers at Isshiki. The chakra within him, already at the level of a jonin, rapidly gathered at his fingertips. Waves of bone bullets shot toward Isshiki, dense high-speed projectiles striking his body and the ground around him, kicking up an enormous cloud of dust.

Seeing his attack land, Qing Si could not help but smile.

If nothing unexpected happened, then something unexpected was bound to happen. Following the rule that there were no injuries beneath the smoke, when the dust cleared and Qing Si saw Isshiki standing there expressionlessly, not even his clothes torn, his pupils contracted. Fear rose in his heart, and he involuntarily took half a step back.

Compared to other children his age, in the Shinobi World, a cannibalistic place where one might step onto the battlefield at five or six years old, Qing Si was as immature as an infant. Though he possessed a resilient heart, he had never experienced any conflict at this point in time.

"Give up struggling, mortal! This god is Isshiki Otsutsuki, the god of this planet! Obediently merge with this god and become the vessel for this god's resurrection!" Seeing the fear on Qing Si's face, Isshiki revealed a satisfied expression. He had finally recovered the bearing a god ought to have toward mortals, and he slowly walked toward Qing Si with an arrogant look.

Now I can finally sleep peacefully. Isshiki thought as he walked. His steps were slow, yet every step he took landed precisely in time with Qing Si's heartbeat.

Damn it, move! I can't die like this! Cold sweat covered his face as Qing Si roared inwardly, his expression full of unwillingness.

Genji, who was racing over from afar, saw this scene and his eyes nearly split apart. Enduring the agony throughout his body, he accelerated once more.

"Pfft!" Just as Isshiki was about to reach Qing Si, Qing Si finally used all his strength to break free from his fear. He grabbed the bone blade Genji had given him, which he kept close to his body, and viciously stabbed it into his own thigh. Blood immediately gushed out.

Using pain to free himself from fear, Qing Si finally moved. He forcefully kicked off the ground with his uninjured leg and retreated at top speed.

"Oh? Not bad, mortal." Isshiki sneered disdainfully, his face carrying the arrogance of a cat playing with a mouse. With a casual wave of his hand, an enormous wave of chakra blasted toward Qing Si.

Though the physique awakened through the Dead Bone Pulse could heal injuries on its own, Qing Si had awakened it too recently. Moreover, the gap in strength between him and Isshiki was far too great. Unable to dodge in time, Qing Si was violently sent flying by the chakra wave and crashed onto the ground like a rag doll.

Isshiki looked at Qing Si sprawled on the ground. Several black rods appeared and pierced into Qing Si's body.

"Aah!" Qing Si, who had never fought anyone in either his past or present life, could not help screaming miserably. The enormous disparity in strength left him utterly unable to resist, and he was grievously injured at once.

Genji grew even more anxious. Seeing his son so badly wounded and miserable, his heart ached beyond measure.

Isshiki walked up to Qing Si and lifted the already battle-incapable Qing Si with his right hand. The Kāma activated, and black markings rapidly spread across Qing Si's body.

Isshiki increased his chakra output, and the Kāma he had just imprinted rapidly began to thaw.

Isshiki's earlier disdainful indulgence and playfulness had ultimately bought time for Genji to arrive. Just as Isshiki was about to press on and make the Kāma thaw further, Genji, having exhausted all his strength, finally reached Qing Si and viciously kicked Isshiki away.

Genji, whose strength was completely spent, could no longer suppress his battered body. He spat out another mouthful of blood, braced both hands against the ground, and fell to one knee. His breath suddenly weakened, and only ten to twenty percent of the bloodline power burning within him remained.

Isshiki, who had been kicked away in the sneak attack, rose to his feet and straightened the faint wrinkles in his clothes caused by the earlier child's play. He stepped toward Qing Si again. At this point, neither Genji nor Qing Si possessed any ability to resist in Isshiki Otsutsuki's eyes.

Qing Si, lying on the ground and unable to move, could only wait like a lamb for slaughter. Powerless to resist, he waited for Isshiki to completely thaw the Kāma he had just imprinted and ultimately complete his reincarnation.

Genji, nearly collapsed on the ground, stood between Isshiki and Qing Si. Isshiki disdainfully raised his foot and kicked at Genji.

In that instant, with preparation against an unprepared foe, Genji used the last of his strength to tightly wrap both arms around Isshiki's incoming leg.

"Heh, how can an ant contend with a god!" Isshiki paid no attention at all to Genji's final struggle. He bent slightly and raised a hand, about to grab Genji by the hair and throw him aside.

Genji forcefully turned his head to look at his son, his eyes filled with boundless love, attachment, and reluctance.

"Let's die together! You self-proclaimed god, feel the fury of the so-called ant!" The remnants of Genji's bloodline power all burst into flames. Every last bit of chakra and life force in his body gathered together, and a gray bone spike rapidly emerged from his right palm. He drove it viciously into Isshiki's thigh, which was within arm's reach.

"Dead Bone Pulse: Ash Bones Technique!"

"This is the final strike of the ninja known as Kaguya Genji!"

"Those are the ash bones of that bitch Kaguya!" Isshiki, who had remained calm until then, was shocked pale when he saw the gray bone spike in Genji's hand. The lofty god finally revealed fear.

Back then, Kaguya had ambushed him with the Ash Bones Technique. Even at the height of his power, he had completely lost his ability to fight after taking that attack. In the end, fleeing in panic, he had been devoured by the berserk Ten-Tails, losing half his body.

(The All-Killing Ash Bones was a Bloodline Snare-level ability. When Kaguya Ōtsutsuki ambushed Isshiki Otsutsuki, it was uncertain whether she had consumed the Chakra Fruit.)

Isshiki, who had yet to recover and was still seriously injured, simply could not block the special annihilating power contained in this attack.

Thus, Isshiki hurriedly tried to erupt with chakra and get away from Genji. But everything had happened in an instant. Having enjoyed a one-sided advantage and never imagined Genji could pose any threat to him, it was already too late for Isshiki to retreat or use his dojutsu.

The moment Isshiki saw the gray bone spike, the spike emanating an aura of annihilation had already touched his body.

"Ugh... Aah...!" Isshiki Otsutsuki let out an ugly whimper.

Although Genji's Ash Bones Technique possessed an annihilating effect that killed upon contact, there was ultimately an enormous gap between a mortal and a god. This strike could not kill Isshiki outright.

But for Isshiki, who had forcibly reincarnated while his severe injuries had yet to heal, such a fatal blow finally brought his life close to its end.

Ignoring Genji beside him, whose body was already covered in cracks and whose face was full of terror upon seeing that Isshiki had not been annihilated, Isshiki forced himself onward with his final breath and returned to Qing Si.

He forcefully lifted Qing Si, circulated his chakra, and tried to completely thaw the Kāma in the final moments of his life to complete another reincarnation.

Bang!

At that moment, Qing Si, whom Isshiki held in his hand, turned into a cloud of white smoke and drifted away with the wind.

"Hehehe!" Qing Si's figure appeared on the other side. He barely supported himself on the ground with one hand, kneeling at an angle. Though blood continuously spilled from the corners of his mouth, his face was filled with the relief of having survived a disaster.

It turned out that what Isshiki had been holding was one of Qing Si's Shadow Clones.

The short Boruto clips he had watched in his previous life had proven immensely useful. While Isshiki's attention had been entirely focused on Genji's Ash Bones Technique, Qing Si endured the intense pain and successfully used the only ninjutsu he remembered from his previous life—the Shadow Clone Technique created by the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama. His real body had secretly hidden nearby.

It could only be said that Qing Si was not fated to die. Thanks to his extraordinary talent, after awakening his memories of his previous life, he had quickly learned the Shadow Clone, a ninjutsu that ran throughout Naruto from beginning to end.

Looking at his empty hands, Isshiki's body began to gradually collapse amid his stunned disbelief and unwillingness. His life had reached its end.

Genji, who had used the Ash Bones Technique, also began to develop cracks across his body, like shattered porcelain.

A gust of wind passed by. Seeing that his son Qing Si was safe and sound, Genji's body gently scattered away with the wind, leaving only a pile of ashes on the ground and a faint sigh that was nearly impossible to hear.

"Hidden Mist Village... Kaguya Clan... my son... sigh...!"

"No!" Qing Si cried out in agony, tears streaming uncontrollably down his face. His last remaining family member was gone as well.

The black rods embedded in Qing Si's body suppressed his chakra, causing his self-healing ability to fail and leaving him in immense pain. But no matter how painful his body was, it could not compare to the pain in his heart.

In agony, Qing Si clenched his fists and repeatedly pounded the ground. The pain of losing his family pierced through his heart like a sharp sword, endlessly gnawing at his soul.

At this moment, Qing Si hated his own weakness more than anything.

The path of growth was always accompanied by hardship and pain. This cruel upheaval allowed Qing Si, who had lived in a peaceful era in his previous life, to rapidly adapt to the Shinobi World, a place filled with conflict everywhere, and accelerated his growth.

Qing Si's voice had begun to grow hoarse. He raised his head, his once delicate and bewitching face covered in dried tear tracks. The light in his lively eyes had vanished, leaving them utterly dim.

After a long time, he finally gathered his grief. Enduring the pain, Qing Si gritted his teeth and pulled the black rods from his body. The chakra that had been suppressed by them and flowing extremely slowly began rapidly circulating through his body once more.

The strengthened physique brought by the awakening of the Dead Bone Pulse bloodline began to take effect, and Qing Si's body quickly recovered.

A quarter of an hour later, Qing Si's body had recovered a little mobility. He picked up a black rod nearby, used it to support himself, and staggered away step by step.