Chapter 400: Secret Medicine and the Ritual

Chapter 400: Chapter 400: Secret Medicine and the Ritual

"You ignorant little brat!"

Staring at the arrogant young clansman before him, who seemingly didn’t take him seriously at all, Renge’s lips curled upward into a chilling, savage grin.

At the same time, long, razor-sharp bone blades slowly protruded from the joints of his palms, elbows, knees, and other parts of his body!

Kimimaro’s expression remained unchanged. He lowered his stance slightly, and sharp bone blades identical to Renge’s emerged from the joints of his palms, elbows, knees, and elsewhere.

"Hm...?"

Renge’s expression stiffened.

Producing bone blades from the joints was one of the secret techniques of the Shikotsumyaku—the Dance of the Willow. Although it could hardly be considered a trump card, the fact that Kimimaro could use it so effortlessly at his current age still surprised Renge.

But the surprise quickly vanished from Renge’s face, replaced by surging battle intent.

"Brat, today I’ll show you what the true Shikotsumyaku looks like!"

Whoosh...

The instant he finished speaking, Renge shot forward, leaving a long afterimage behind him as he charged fiercely toward Kimimaro.

Without saying a word, Kimimaro coldly rushed forward to meet him.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

In an instant, what were very likely the last two surviving members of the Kaguya Clan in the entire shinobi world became locked in fierce combat.

Sharp bone blades collided again and again, ringing out with a series of metallic clashes!

There was no doubt that both of them were experts in taijutsu. But Renge was older, after all, and whether in strength or experience, he was clearly superior to Kimimaro, who was only around ten years old.

However, Kimimaro had advantages of his own.

Having followed Orochimaru, he had studied many different schools of taijutsu. Coupled with his own exceptional talent, although Renge had temporarily gained the upper hand, the battle was far from one-sided. The two remained locked in a stalemate.

Finding his offensive blocked by a junior of his own clan, the hot-tempered Renge gradually grew impatient. Amid his overwhelming killing intent, he suddenly stimulated the power of his bloodline, further strengthening the bone blades of his Dance of the Willow!

Clang...

The bone blade protruding from Kimimaro’s elbow slammed violently against the bone blade extending from Renge’s palm, producing a deep, heavy impact!

Crack...

Immediately afterward, with a crisp cracking sound, fractures spread across Kimimaro’s bone blade.

Noticing this, Kimimaro’s brows furrowed slightly, a trace of surprise appearing on his face.

Renge seized the opportunity and poured even more strength into the clash, shattering Kimimaro’s bone blade in one blow. Then, twisting around, he delivered a heavy kick that sent Kimimaro flying.

"Hahahaha!"

After landing the hit, Renge burst into wild laughter before declaring arrogantly,

"See that? This is the difference between you and me!"

Kimimaro, who had been sent crashing to the ground, calmly climbed back to his feet. There wasn’t the slightest unnecessary emotion on his face as he said coldly,

"Curse Mark... activate!"

In an instant, ink-black patterns appeared across Kimimaro’s skin.

The markings rapidly expanded, and within moments, his originally pale skin had been dyed a dark, ashen gray-black.

At the same time, a violent and ferocious chakra surged out from within his body!

"What kind of technique is this?!"

The smile on Renge’s face gradually froze. Although he wasn’t a sensory-type ninja, the chakra spilling from Kimimaro’s body was so dense that it had nearly become tangible. From that alone, he could tell that Kimimaro’s chakra reserves had at least doubled.

By now, Kimimaro had grown a tail and looked almost like a monster. Reaching behind himself, he slowly pulled out his own spine, then casually flicked it, transforming it into a vicious bone sword covered in sharp spikes!

Renge stared at him in shock.

"Dance of the Clematis!? Th-That’s impossible! No one could master that technique at your age!"

Kimimaro’s expression remained as cold as ever.

"If those are your last words, then it’s time for you to die."

"To have developed the Shikotsumyaku to this degree at your age... your talent is beyond anything I imagined. If you had been born twenty years earlier, perhaps our clan wouldn’t have been wiped out..."

Looking into Kimimaro’s cold yet clear eyes, Renge’s expression inexplicably dimmed.

Renge’s lament wasn’t merely because he was astonished by Kimimaro’s extraordinary talent. What shocked him even more was that despite having developed the Shikotsumyaku to such an astonishing degree, Kimimaro could still maintain his rationality. His mind and emotions seemed almost completely unaffected by the influence of his bloodline power.

One had to understand that among members of the Kaguya Clan who possessed the Shikotsumyaku, the stronger they became, the more violent their temperaments tended to grow. Nearly every clansman who reached the level of jōnin was a battle-crazed maniac.

Compared to the lunatics of his clan, Renge had already been one of the rare Kaguya capable of controlling his emotions. That was also the main reason he had managed to survive and infiltrate Kirigakure’s ANBU.

But compared with Kimimaro, Renge realized that the boy before him was the true unparalleled genius—someone capable of completely controlling his emotions without being corrupted by the power of his bloodline.

If Kimimaro had been born twenty years earlier, perhaps the Kaguya Clan, once one of the great clans of the shinobi world, would never have fallen to the point of complete extinction.

At that thought, Renge curled his lips.

"Too bad. You won’t live much longer!"

Kimimaro remained perfectly calm.

"I won’t be the one dying today."

Renge shook his head.

"Without the clan’s secret medicine and blood-exchange ritual, the deeper you delve into the power of your bloodline, the faster you’ll die. With your talent... you probably won’t live past fifteen!"

Kimimaro’s expression finally changed slightly.

Recently, he had already begun to faintly notice that something was wrong with his body. At first, he had assumed it was simply the result of overusing his Kekkei Genkai. But after hearing Renge’s words, he realized there was probably another reason behind it.

Renge explained, "Ordinary clansmen don’t need the secret medicine or the ritual. Only those who delve too deeply into the power of the bloodline need them to counteract the bloodline’s corrosive influence.

"This is a secret our clan discovered only after hundreds upon hundreds of years of research. Even within the clan, very few people knew about it. Usually, only those who reached the level of jōnin—or even elite jōnin—were qualified to learn of it."

Renge himself had only barely qualified to take the secret medicine when he was seventeen.

Yet by his estimation, Kimimaro would have qualified as early as a year ago—when he was only around nine years old.

Kimimaro quickly suppressed the slight change in his expression and said indifferently,

"I don’t need it."

Kimimaro had absolute faith in Orochimaru.

He believed that whatever problem existed with his body, Orochimaru would undoubtedly be able to solve it. There was no need whatsoever for some so-called secret medicine or ritual Renge was talking about.

Renge replied, "It’s not like I’m trying to save you. I’m just letting you know—you’re doomed!"

Both the secret medicine and the ritual had been controlled by the clan head.

Now that the clan had been wiped out, even if Renge wanted to help Kimimaro, there was nothing he could do.

Moreover, the blood-exchange ritual required another member of the clan to exchange blood with the recipient. And now that only Renge and Kimimaro remained of the Kaguya Clan, there was naturally no chance Renge would exchange his own blood with Kimimaro...