Chapter 42: Chapter 42
"What an incredible bone structure." I said out loud as I looked at the notes I did when I examined the Kaguya Clan member's body
I realized that right below his skin was an entire layer of bone armor that protected his muscles, organs, and the traditional human skeleton.
It worked like an exoskeleton that was covered by human skin which could be disregarded as this skin was merely cosmetic.
This armor wasn't covering the whole body, there were holes for the external organs as well as one opened vertical line at the neck.
My strike was extremely lucky because if I aimed for his heart, I would only cut his skin and show his exoskeleton without any damage done.
The lack of blood right beneath the skin was also the reason for their pale tone.
This exoskeleton was able to produce bones of any size or form that ripped the skin open and was used to fight.
They can also destroy it whenever they wanted.
This didn't cost an ounce of chakra and instead was usable as long as the user's body isn't tired.
I already absorbed him and only digested the memories right after so my clone could impersonate him.
It took me some time to digest the Shikotsumyaku and thankfully, my body structure didn't change at all but I could instead generate the bones directly on my skin.
Those bones could be infused with specific chakra exactly like weapons, giving them a much better versatility.
I could form bones around me which changed the landscape without them being linked with my body and travel inside of them with ease.
I could also repair my skeleton if it was broken somehow.
In the end, I got something more akin to a Bone Release than the Shikotsumyaku which had a modified body structure.
When I wanted to use it, both Earth Release and Yang Release were needed and unlike the Shikotsumyaku, my chakra was required to produce bones.
'Anyway, time to visit Kirigakure' I thought as I put away my notes and got up from the armchair I was resting on
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Kirigakure's architecture is composed of several cylindrical buildings with the Mizukage's office being the widest and largest.
Almost every roof was filled with vegetation and the place was in a never-ending thick mist with mountains surrounding the village.
Unlike the Third Raikage, Gengetsu's memories didn't help as much as I thought they would.
The different noble clan compound layout was unfamiliar to the Mizukage except his clan, the Hōzuki Clan.
The different swordsmen of the mist could also be outdated so I had to gather information.
I at least knew that the Six-Tails Jinchūriki was sealed inside the Third Mizukage.
He was gifted with the Bubble Ninjutsu style and his name was Hirotaka.
I decided to stay near the Mizukage Office and listened to the conversion that just started.
"Mizukage-sama! How can you disagree with the decision of the elders!" a man with the Yuki Clan symbol on his back shouted
"Your decision is stupid that's why! Joining the war is already unreasonable, but you only want to take revenge against Konoha! This young man single-handedly killed more than a thousand shinobi from our village as well as those from Kumo and two Kage!" Hirotaka replied as he looked fiercely toward the elder
"So what? We lost two swords and our Second Mizukage to this b*stard! What could he do against us if we assault Konohagakure while they are facing Sunagakure!" the elder replied as he was angry about the decision
Suddenly, a huge pressure left the body of the Mizukage which made the elder kneel as he replied "I and only I have the last word. We. Won't. Join. The. War."
The elder completely pissed himself as he nodded before leaving the office.
The Mizukage then sighed and mumbled "This village system is rotten since the Second Mizukage started ruling... And I have to take care of the mess he left now."
I smirked after hearing all of this and said "Yo." as I appeared laying on a desk to the side with my hands behind my head after taking out each ANBU.
He got startled and let out "who?!" before seeing me and taking a defensive stance
Looking at my carefree attitude he realized soon who I was because of my uncommon appearance and asked "What are you doing here?"
I gazed right into his eyes and said "Simple, I planned to do the same thing I did with Kumo and murder most of your village shinobi... But maybe we can have an agreement." as the Yuki Clan member was forced back inside the office wrapped in vines
Because the Mizukage gazed for too long into my eyes, I used Kunitokotachi and brought him inside my rift.
"You seem different than the previous Mizukage... I guess you learned what I did to Kumo too." I said to which he nodded
I smiled and asked "What is your goal while ruling Kirigakure?"
"I want to change the way we are teaching our shinobi which the 2nd Mizukage established." he replied mindlessly
"Would you ever try to assault Konoha one day?" I continued to question him
"No. But most Clans disagree with my decision." he answered still under my influence
'He can't lie under my realm' I thought as I got an idea
"Then you shall rule like you intended to and in exchange, tell me which Clans are against you and where the Three-Tails Jinchūriki is." I declared as unlike what I did with the Fifth Raikage, I didn't make him loyal to me
I placed a mental command that would force him to kill himself when he tries something against Konoha... But he won't know about that.
I then learned that the Three-Tails was resting inside a lake hidden in the innermost part of the island because no one could bear to be its Jinchūriki right now.
He told me every noble clan who was against his decision and there was the Hōzuki, Yuki, Hoshigaki, and Karatachi within them.
Not everyone within the Yuki Clan was against the Mizukage decision, but I learned something that piqued my interest.
Apparently, they had a hidden leader who wasn't simply a user of Ice Release but a user of the Frostbite Release which, unlike its Kekkei Genkai counterpart, wasn't used to create cold projectiles but made the user extremely dangerous to touch.
In the end, the Terumi Clan was one of the few that followed the Third Mizukage decision.
I took a portion of the Six-Tails chakra and thankfully didn't blackout like last time.
I stopped my technique and moved toward the elder of the Yuki Clan, killed him, and used Suijin.
I then vanished from the office to take care of my targets.
I used Impure World Reincarnation to bring back Gengetsu and because I didn't want to talk with him, I forced him to stay silent.
"Go and kill every shinobi from your clan as well as the Hoshigaki Clan." I ordered as he could only nod and do as I asked
I moved toward the Yuki Clan compound stealthily to find the elder who had the Frostbite Release first before killing everyone who was against Hirotaka.
They were quite isolated from the village and the mist was more chilling around their compound.
I got the information about the place from the elder so I knew that the innermost part had a cave-like entrance where the man I looked for was meditating.
The more I approached the cave, the colder it became around me, and when I sensed the place to learn its configuration, I located my target.
I was surprised because it was supposed to be an extremely old man but he only looked to be in his forties.
Maybe a side effect of his Release because it made his body extremely cold and slowed aging.
It was so cold that upon contact, anything would be frozen and never recover from such a state.
My only chance to assassinate him is with something that cannot be frozen.
And one of the only Ninjutsu I had that couldn't be frozen because of the temperature was... Light Release.
'I didn't expect the light projectile to be useful so soon' I thought as I smirked and was now in the same room as my target
He was meditating while facing the opposite wall making it a perfect opportunity for me to assassinate him.
I raised one of my fingers and used 'Light Release: Light Pistol' which created a small but deadly projectile made of light at the end of my finger that moved straight toward his heart.
No matter how cold his body is he shouldn't be able to resist such a projectile by staying immobile.
And as expected, my attack pierced his heart but no blood was rushing out of his body.
'Even his organs are completely frozen' I realized as the man was more or less dead organically speaking
I moved near him and was facing a huge dilemma.
'Even dead, his body is still dangerous to touch, and I can't absorb him if I don't lay my hand on his body'
I guess I will need to seal the body away until I can touch it without losing my hand.
As I finished taking his corpse I closed my eyes and saw from Gengetsu that he finished decimating one of the two Clans I asked which was the Clan where Kisame originated.
'Well, Kisame won't exist now'
Talking about the Hoshigaki Clan, I saw Samehada, which had yet to be wielded by Fuguki, so I asked Gengetsu to bring it to me once he finishes his task.
Out of the seven special swords, I found three of them interesting.
There was the Hiramekarei which I already had and that could change form with chakra.
There was Samehada the 'Sentient Sword' and its various abilities.
And lastly, I liked Nuibari which could sew people together.
A pity I won't be using them because I have Masamune.
"Anyway, it's time for me to kill everyone who wished for war in this Clan." I said out loud as I vanished from the cave
I reappeared in the sky with my wings materialized and closed my eyes to properly sense the whole compound.
I then started using Crystal Release to make a giant pillar with a multitude of irregular surfaces that made it completely weird looking but that wasn't the purpose.
This did make some people realize that something happened as it wasn't furtive at all.
I smirked and flew right over the crystal pillar, extended my hand on top of it, and generated a giant beam of light that penetrated the pillar.
The moment it ran through, a bunch of light projectiles was sent in every direction, and while from an outsider's perspective it seemed to be random, each one of them ended up piercing the heart of each of my targets no matter how far they were.
My shot also took into account the mist and every people inside their house by reflecting perfectly on their windows.
And just like that, by using a single beam of light I was able to kill hundreds of shinobi from the Yuki clan.
My heightened perception was the true winner of this technique as calculating such trajectories was near impossible without such eyes.
"Well, that was quick." I thought as the civilians and some shinobi whom I didn't target started panicking from the sudden display of power
I didn't waste any more time and vanished again.
This time I will be killing the Karatachi Family, the one where the Fourth Mizukage was born into.
They weren't a Clan but a family where each kid was trained to become an elite shinobi.
And they were also eager for war and conflict...
'Let's take care of them fast too'
Thankfully, I could use a bigger technique to kill them all at once, unlike with the Yuki Clan.
So I flew above the giant mansion that was their house and sensed around eight people inside.
I made a barrier around the mansion making it impossible to leave.
I choose to use 'Wood Release: Buddha's Palm' which created a giant hand at the top of the barrier that slowly started to fall on my command.
It slowly crushed the entire mansion and everything inside until only ruins and blood were left to the bottom of the barrier.
I didn't sense any life force left inside the barrier which meant that everyone died.
There was surely a young Yagura inside of the mansion who got crushed to death before he could reach adulthood... Well, in this world it isn't that uncommon to lose a life when you are young.
Because of the commotion I made, I sensed that someone was dashing towards me from behind.
The crackling sound of thunder started to be heard too as I turned myself while making Masamune appear in my hand to parry a strike coming from two swords.
A strong current of lightning was sent through my body as I saw a small woman with long red hair and black eyes smirking at me with shark-like teeth.
"I didn't expect the intruder to use a sword too." she said with a bright smile as I was still being shocked
"And I didn't expect Kiba's wielder to still look like a child." I replied while smirking
I knew that she was Ameyuri Ringo and the oldest member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist that the canon displayed to us.
She frowned at my words as I quickly kicked her away with a push from Masamune.
She was pretty agile but our strength was far from being comparable.
She chuckled as she said "Nice hair you got now pretty boy."
I looked quickly at myself using the reflection from Masamune and saw that my hair was now messy, which was uncommon.
I simply brushed them instantly with my free hand and they were now as wonderful as they were before.
"Your lighting is far weaker than I expected... My wife's finger tickles more than it." I said with a smirk
I won't let her win a talking battle that's for sure.
She didn't like how I behaved and started gathering lightning around her, before charging at me.
When we were going to have contact again, she launched an enormous lightning bolt to nuke me but I used the Hydrification Technique to change myself and Masamune into pure H2O, making her charge ineffective.
She was surprised to pass through me and I took this opportunity to slam Masamune down on her.
She barely succeeded to parry me but still got sent on the ground because of the strength I put in my blow.
I saw her recover by planting both her sword in the ground and I knew why, so I looked up and saw lightning forming in the sky that started to fall everywhere on our surroundings.
But it was in vain as I already found the perfect counter for Lightning Releases techniques since I digested Gengetsu and mastered his clan's Hiden.
As I was getting bored because of her useless attempt to hurt me, I sensed someone else coming towards me while smoke was rising because of the destruction her earlier attack caused.
I prepared myself, moved Masamune to block the incoming attack, and the moment our swords had contact I sensed an upcoming explosion so I teleported away to not get caught in it.
"Two on one uh?" I said as I saw a middle-aged man with blond hair and a slender figure who was holding Shibuki
"Pah! I can't let her have all the fun!" the man said as he madly grinned
"I won't let you have fun." I said as I vanished from the spot and appeared right behind the man before kicking him right in the spine
As soon as I appeared, I heard two thunderbolts surging at me.
She surely wanted to take advantage of the moment I had to be physical to strike me.
But I vanished once more, reappeared in front of her, and I realized how our height difference was large as she barely reached my stomach.
I grasped her by the jaw with my hand as bones surged from my body to incapacitate both of her arms.
She couldn't keep her grip on the swords because of the pain and I raised her so our eyes could meet, she couldn't speak as she was under my grasp.
"Playtime is over now." I said as I looked coldly at her and started to put more strength in my grip
I heard the other guy dash back at me so I extended Masamune, infused wind chakra, and slashed swiftly in his direction multiple times, which sent extremely strong air slashes.
He was taken aback by this and couldn't evade so he adjusted his sword in front of him and prayed it would block.
But the slashes were too strong and he ended up being cut in half while the sword lost many explosive tags from its blade.
The rest of my slashes completely cut anything left behind him too.
"The nuisance has been taken care of." I said as vines started to wrap his sword to keep it safe
I felt some kicks coming from Ameyuri but they were weak, she even desperately tried to bite my hand.
"Careful with your teeth girl, I'm not into that kinky stuff." I said as I gazed back at her
I then crushed her head with my hand which killed her on the spot.
I didn't waste time and used Suijin on both shinobi before attempting to pick up the swords.
But I noticed something, like Masamune, those swords had a visible life force for me now and an idea popped in my mind.
I settled my hand on Shibuki and tried to use Suijin, which surprisingly worked.
The sword didn't disappear but the life force it had got reduced to an abysmal amount as if it was barely enough to keep it 'alive'.
I then took off my hand from this sword and gazed at Masamune, laid the same hand on the blade, and tried to insert the life force I just got.
When I did, I saw that Masamune's life force ate Shibuki's, and a pattern appeared on the blade.
'Don't tell me it worked' I thought with excitement before throwing Masamune into a trunk that was still standing and mentally ordered something
The sword then produced a giant explosion around it, destroying what little left there was.
Masamune then came back flying in my hand and was completely unscathed.
'It absorbed the ability of Shibuki' I thought as I was extremely satisfied
This Dōjutsu I recently got mixed with my existing abilities was such a pleasant surprise.
And Shiburi didn't seem to have lost its ability to produce explosions...
'If I can do that with every weapon I cross path with...' I thought as out of the seven swords from Kiri, I only missed two which were Nuibari and Kubikiribōchō
I know that both wielders are not in the village, let's hope that I will find them one day.
Those who agreed to join the war, mostly against Konoha, are now dead.
Some survivors that didn't want war may hate me now, but they will be too scared to do anything since they saw what I am capable of doing.
I just need Gengetsu to regroup with me, talk with the current Mizukage and I will go find the Three-Tails.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Yasashiki
Yasashiki Sorry for the delay, I had most of my exams those last three days.
My year isn't over though, but I can take the time to write like usual except next Monday and Tuesday.
Once I am done with this part of the Third War, I will revamp the status page to make it clearer to understand.
As always, tell me if there are any grammar mistakes, I will only update it only once and I'm not the one deciding when it gets online.
Regardless, I hope you enjoyed it, and thanks for reading!
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