Chapter 45 – Dance of the Young Ferns
The plaza before the Mizukage Tower had become a grinding mill of flesh and bone.
What was once Kirigakure's sharpest blade against its enemies was now being driven mercilessly into its own heart. Countless members of the Kaguya clan fought on in blood-soaked frenzy, their instincts screaming at them to advance even as death closed in from every side.
At the center of the carnage stood Kaguya Naoto, drenched head to toe in blood.
The grotesque bone armor that once encased his body was now shattered and broken, exposing wounds so deep that white bone gleamed beneath torn flesh. Yet he fought on like a wounded lion, roaring as he swung his skeletal blades—each strike carrying the resolve to perish together with his enemies.
"Dance of the Larch!"
With a furious bellow, dozens of razor-sharp bone spikes erupted from his body like a forest of death, forcibly bracing against the crushing downward strike of Kubikiribōchō, wielded by Biwa Jūzō.
Just as Naoto prepared to counterattack, Jinin Akebino—wielding the blunt blade Kabutowari—brought it crashing down from above.
Knowing better than to meet the armor-piercing blade head-on, Naoto retreated instantly.
"Dance of the Clematis – Vine Form!"
His exposed spine tore free, whipping outward like a steel lash. Akebino reacted in time, raising Kabutowari's thick blade to block the strike.
"Exploding Blade Technique: Detonation!"
From the flank, Munashi Jinpachi charged in, swinging the explosive blade Shibuki, its surface layered with detonating tags. The ensuing blast sent Naoto flying through the air like a broken doll.
Watching from afar, Namikaze Yami couldn't help muttering inwardly—
What a waste. Who the hell dragged a money-printing machine onto the battlefield?
Surrounded and methodically hunted by three members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, even someone as powerful as Kaguya Naoto was forced onto the defensive.
The Kaguya bloodline granted terrifying regenerative power—non-lethal wounds sealed themselves almost instantly—but chakra and stamina drained relentlessly.
This could not continue.
Seeing the three swordsmen close in once more, Naoto made his decision.
To gamble everything.
"Dance of the Young Ferns!!"
With a thunderous roar, he slammed both arms into the ground.
In an instant, countless bone spikes erupted upward, forming a vast forest of ivory spears that swallowed the battlefield.
The swordsmen reacted swiftly—some leaping clear, others blocking with brute force. None were critically injured.
But several Mist ANBU were not so fortunate.
They were impaled where they stood, screams echoing as blood sprayed across the plaza.
"Pathetic, dying thrash," sneered Samehada's wielder, Kisame Hoshigaki, stepping into the fray at last.
With the arrival of the so-called uncrowned king of the Seven Swordsmen, the tide turned decisively.
Each devastating swing of Samehada drained Naoto's chakra directly from his body. Strength flowed out of him and into his enemy, and within moments, his movements began to falter.
Elsewhere, the Kaguya clan was collapsing as well.
Other swordsmen carved through their ranks like whirlwinds—every flash of steel claiming another life, bone and flesh cleaved together.
Meanwhile, the Yuki clan elites refused to engage in close combat at all.
Ice Release techniques flooded the battlefield, freezing terrain, binding limbs, and turning the plaza into a frozen killing field. Senbon made of ice rained down relentlessly, and the ground itself betrayed the Kaguya warriors as slick frost robbed them of footing.
And as if that weren't enough—
The Hōzuki clan moved freely through the chaos, their Hydrification Technique rendering physical attacks useless. Bone blades passed harmlessly through liquefied bodies.
The Kaguya clan had charged into hell—
and now hell was closing its jaws.
An elder roared as he drove a bone blade straight into a Hōzuki clan ninja's chest—
only for the body to dissolve instantly into a splash of water.
The next heartbeat, the Hōzuki ninja reformed behind him, launching a Water Bullet Technique at point-blank range. The harassment came endlessly, impossible to guard against.
The battle had devolved into a one-sided massacre.
Individually, the Kaguya were ferocious—born killers whose blood remembered war—but against the Mist's fully prepared elite forces, fighting in perfect coordination and backed by complete elemental counters, their resistance was tragically futile.
Kaguya Naoto himself had been driven into a corner.
His chakra was nearly exhausted, his body riddled with wounds. Even the terrifying regeneration of the Dead Bone Pulse could no longer keep pace with the damage being inflicted.
"This farce ends here, Kaguya Naoto."
The Third Mizukage's voice cut through the chaos—cold, detached. At some point, unnoticed, his hand seals had already been completed.
"Water Release: Great Waterfall Dragon!"
Massive torrents of water erupted, intertwining into roaring dragons that slammed into Naoto with impossible speed.
BOOM!
The explosion shook the entire plaza. Water, blood, and shattered bone fragments blasted outward in all directions.
When the mist cleared, Kaguya Naoto lay collapsed on the ground, motionless. Blood poured freely from countless wounds.
His eyes were wide open, locked in the direction of the Mizukage—but the rage and defiance within them had already faded, replaced by hollow stillness.
The clan head was dead.
With his fall, the Kaguya clan's morale shattered completely.
Aside from a handful of fanatics who fought until their final breath, most surrendered outright, weapons slipping from numb hands.
Nearly half of the Kaguya elite who had participated in the coup were wiped out. Bodies lay piled high, and the plaza before the Mizukage Tower was stained a deep, dark red.
All captured Kaguya shinobi were forced to kneel.
Their once-proud expressions were gone—replaced by emptiness and fear for what lay ahead.
---
Aftermath
Days later, the Mizukage Tower announced its final judgment.
Taking into account that the Kaguya clan had been one of Kirigakure's founding bloodline families—and that continued internal slaughter would only weaken the village and incite fear among other clans—the Third Mizukage displayed what he called the mercy of a Kage.
Kaguya Naoto, the ringleader, was executed.
The remaining clan members were granted amnesty.
The bodies of the fallen were returned for burial.
However—
The Kaguya clan was exiled to the farthest edge of the village, assigned a new, tightly controlled territory.
They were stripped of all positions of authority, barred from meaningful missions, and reduced to minimum resource rations.
With the former leadership nearly annihilated, Kaguya Gengon was appointed as the new clan head.
---
The new Kaguya settlement was desolate.
Crude huts replaced former estates—what remained resembled a refugee camp more than a noble clan compound.
After burying the returned bodies in a quiet corner of the land, grief, humiliation, and uncertainty spread through the survivors.
Gengon stood silently amid the ruins, fists clenched so tightly that his nails bit into his palms.
"Clan Head… what do we do now…?"
A one-armed clansman asked hoarsely, his voice heavy with despair.
Gengon didn't answer.
But the hatred burning in his eyes spoke louder than words.
And somewhere beyond the edge of the settlement, another gaze remained fixed upon them—unmoved by their fall.
With little space left inside the new territory, Namikaze Yami lingered at its outskirts, hidden and patient.
The Kaguya clan still had value.
Once the Mist's sharpest blade, they were now reduced to a broken edge.
But a broken blade could still cut—
and wielded correctly, it could carve deep wounds into Kirigakure itself.
Gengon's ascension was perfect.
Ambitious, resentful, and lacking the restraint of his predecessor—he needed only the slightest push to be ignited once more.
And Yami was already preparing the spark.
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