The four or five figures receded into the distance.
Only Kei and Heiji remained in this open space.
A murderous air filled their surroundings.
Heiji Kaguya looked at Kei opposite him with a savage grin.
"Hah!"
He gave a low shout.
As Kei's eyelid twitched, Heiji drew a pure-white bone spike straight out of his own body.
Its tip radiated a keen sharpness.
Kei had long known about the Kaguya Clan's kekkei genkai, not just from the original story. Over the past three years, he had also witnessed Heiji and another boy from the Kaguya Clan fight several times.
But this way of fighting by pulling bones out of one's own body-
No matter how many times he saw it,
Kei still found it a little unsettling.
"Let me see what you're made of, Minazuki Kei. I hope you won't be even more boring than those two!"
Heiji's eyes brimmed with brutality.
Almost the instant his words fell,
Boom!
Chakra burst from beneath his feet.
The speed at which he hurtled toward Kei already exceeded that of the average genin!
It was a simple, brutal frontal assault.
Kei narrowed his eyes and instinctively assumed a defensive stance.
Whoosh!
He stepped forward, then likewise leaped into the air.
His kunai swung.
Clang!
Head-on,
The kunai and bone spike collided violently.
As fierce sparks erupted, an ear-piercing clash rang out.
So heavy!
Through their crossed weapons,
The force traveled into him.
It clearly felt a cut above his own.
Kei's expression shifted slightly.
For a shinobi clan focused entirely on taijutsu, physical prowess manifested most directly in overwhelming strength!
To members of the Kaguya Clan,
Ninjutsu and genjutsu were nothing!
Taijutsu that complemented their kekkei genkai-Shikotsumyaku-was the foundation of their strength!
At their very first clash,
Kei could clearly feel that his opponent's strength slightly surpassed his own, and that speed he had just displayed-
Clearly, it was not his limit yet.
I can't fight him at close quarters. I have to put some distance between us!
Both his past experience fighting him and the situation in their present clash
Were enough for Kei to reach a decision in very little time.
Fight a member of the Kaguya Clan hand-to-hand!?
Only an idiot would make that choice.
"Freeze!"
A trace of icy cold surfaced in his sharply defined eyes.
He murmured the word.
Hum!
In an instant,
The temperature plummeted.
Ice crystals rapidly condensed in the air.
In less than three or four seconds,
Ice crystals spread from Kei's kunai straight toward the bone spike in Heiji's hand!
"!?"
"So cold!"
The bone spike froze over almost immediately.
Piercing through its surface,
The chill spread into its interior.
Heiji Kaguya's expression grew increasingly frenzied.
"Hah!"
He gave a heavy shout.
Crack!
Crash!
He forcibly shattered the ice!
He was about to press his attack against Kei nearby.
But Kei clearly would not give Heiji that opportunity. Taking advantage of the brief delay caused by the freezing, Kei had already retreated again and widened the distance.
"Ice Release: Ice Crystal Pillars!"
He clapped his hands together, then rapidly formed hand seals.
Chakra gathered.
In the air,
Moisture gathered out of nowhere.
Six enormous cylindrical ice pillars formed directly, surrounding Heiji Kaguya and bearing down on him in the center.
This was the Yuki Clan's most basic application of Ice Release: condensed ice crystals.
A biting chill spread.
The enormous ice pillars
Raced in, bearing down on him.
"Hmph!"
Heiji Kaguya showed no fear whatsoever.
"Ten-Finger Drilling Bullets!"
Heiji thrust his arms forward as well.
His expression twisted savagely.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Gleaming white bones shot from his fingertips one after another!
They hurtled toward the ice pillars with tremendous speed and force.
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
Crack!
Crash!
The two collided, cracks bursting across the surfaces. Though the ice pillars were very sturdy, the gleaming white finger bones stubbornly forced their way inside, piercing through.
They forcibly shattered a layer.
Ice crystals fell.
The ice pillars snapped apart at their centers, one after another.
Bang!
They scattered across the surrounding area.
What a troublesome kekkei genkai!
Kei watched Heiji Kaguya a short distance away with a grave expression.
Although the original story had never explicitly stated the relationship between the Kaguya Clan and that Rabbit Goddess, the clan's Shikotsumyaku really did bear a strong resemblance to Otsutsuki Kaguya's strongest attack-All-Killing Ash Bones.
Kei had ample reason to suspect a connection between the two.
After all, the hardness of the Kaguya Clan's bones already surpassed the vast majority of things in the Shinobi World. The stronger someone's bloodline power, the more unparalleled the hardness their Shikotsumyaku could achieve!
At the very least, destroying Heiji's bone weapon was absolutely impossible for Kei as he was now!
However, Kei had no need to target his opponent's bone weapon.
No matter how strong or hard those bones were!
They could not change-
"The fact that you're made of flesh and blood too!"
A cold gleam appeared in Kei's eyes.
"Hah!"
He clapped his hands together.
Hum!
Ice crystals trembled on the ground.
"What!?"
Heiji Kaguya had only just broken through the encircling ice pillars and was about to advance when his heart suddenly chilled at the icy cold he sensed.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Below and to his side,
Ice crystals had crept upward at some unknown point.
They forcibly bound Heiji's feet.
Below and to his sides, as well as behind him, slender ice needles gathered.
"Ice Release: Flying Swallow Snow Storm Technique!"
He formed hand seals at tremendous speed.
The next moment,
The ice needles shot upward.
"Bastard!"
Heiji Kaguya's expression changed.
"Dance of the Willow!"
Chakra erupted fiercely, and his figure whirled rapidly.
Clang!
Clang!
Clink, clink, clink, clink!
The ice needles drove in, striking one after another and producing piercing clashes.
The force bearing down on him with them
Made Heiji Kaguya's defense extremely strained.
Although he blocked most of the incoming ice needles, his legs were temporarily restrained, and his limited counterattacks made it difficult to evade every last one.
Squelch!
The ice needles that slipped through easily sliced Heiji Kaguya's skin. Blood seeped out, and pain traveled through his nerves.
Heiji Kaguya's expression grew increasingly frenzied.