Chapter 49: Bones of Yomi-no-Kuni
"Seriously—how many drinks did Kirigakure have to down to come up with this?"
Using the Flying Thunder God to retreat at extreme speed, Namikaze Yami barely had time to mutter that incredulous remark before his figure vanished—reappearing several kilometers away in a safe zone.
He was genuinely stunned by the Third Mizukage's astonishing wisdom.
Placing the Three-Tails, Isobu, directly beneath the Mizukage Tower?
That was no different from working in an office built on top of a nuclear warhead.
In truth, the Third Mizukage had his own bitter reasons.
Kirigakure's internal situation was notoriously volatile—bloodline clans entrenched like warlords, internal strife constant and vicious. The recent mutual slaughter between two major bloodline clans, while devastating in manpower, had paradoxically strengthened the Mizukage's grip on the village more than ever before.
Under such circumstances, stationing the Three-Tails within the sphere of any faction would have immediately sparked suspicion, resistance, or outright rebellion.
Thus, ever since the era of the Second Mizukage, Kirigakure had taken the dangerous gamble of sealing the Three-Tails' core beneath the Mizukage Tower itself.
Only after acquiring sealing techniques from the fallen Land of Whirlpools did a new ambition arise—
to research a perfect jinchūriki,
to completely dominate a tailed beast.
Using the Uzumaki clan's unique constitution, they constructed a partial sealing system—a state neither fully restrained nor fully released—allowing sustained experimentation.
And then Yami happened.
With all the finesse of a bandit kicking in a laboratory door, he had simply packed up every Uzumaki subject and walked away.
The critical "fuel" and stabilizing core of the sealing array vanished overnight.
The delicate balance between energy supply and containment collapsed instantly.
The Three-Tails—suppressed, dissected, and studied for years—seized its chance.
---
"ROOOAAARR—!"
A deafening, low-frequency roar erupted as an overwhelming wave of chakra detonated beneath the Mizukage Tower.
The stone foundation shattered like brittle glass.
The reinforced structure above crumpled as if made of paper.
Three massive, coral-armored tails burst from the ground, whipping wildly as they tore through everything in reach—pure destruction incarnate.
"Three-Tails breach!"
"It's rampaging—evacuate immediately!"
"Where's the Third—?!"
The shinobi surrounding the tower reacted with disciplined panic, quickly organizing evacuation and response teams.
The Third Mizukage—rushing back toward the tower—felt his vision go red.
Any thoughts of hidden masterminds, conspiracies, or unseen manipulators were swept aside.
None of that mattered now.
If the Three-Tails wasn't contained—
Kirigakure would cease to exist.
"ALL ANBU AND JŌNIN!"
"NO MATTER THE COST—FORCE IT OUT OF THE VILLAGE!"
The order rang out like a death sentence.
And in the distance, unseen by any of them, Namikaze Yami watched the chaos unfold—
silent, composed, and already planning what came next.
The bones of the underworld had begun to rise.
The Third Mizukage's voice rang out, instantly carrying across the entire battlefield.
In that moment, every Kirigakure elite seemed to regain their backbone. Coordination snapped into place almost instinctively.
For a time, countless flashes of ninjutsu lit up the sky, layer after layer of techniques detonating to draw the Three-Tails' attention.
Yet Isobu's massive, turtle-like carapace was absurdly durable. The bombardment struck its shell like nothing more than irritating scratches.
Fortunately, the Three-Tails possessed a comparatively gentle temperament. After breaking free of its seal, it showed no deliberate intent to slaughter Kirigakure's shinobi.
But a tailed beast was still a tailed beast.
Its colossal body and casually sweeping tails crushed everything in their path. Buildings collapsed one after another, leaving only devastation behind.
The Third Mizukage personally stood at the front of the line, disregarding the immense chakra drain. With sheer willpower, he slowly herded the rampaging Three-Tails away from the village's core and toward the barren outskirts.
Meanwhile, the true instigator—Namikaze Yami—had already retreated to a safe perimeter, watching the enormous upheaval within Kirigakure from afar.
At that moment, the system's notification chimed.
[Ding! Current pawn points have exceeded 10,000. System upgrade conditions met…]
[System update complete. Please review at your convenience.]
Yami focused inward, examining the update.
---
Multiversal Rare Pawnshop System
Host: Namikaze Yami (Platinum Card)
Multiversal Credit (Upgraded): Overdraft limit available / 2000
Redemption (Upgraded): Pawned items may be redeemed, service fee: 0 per use
Targeted Trace Function (New): When samples are insufficient, points may be spent for targeted traceability
---
Another system upgrade.
Yami's eyes gleamed with satisfaction. He had no time to study the new functions in detail, but an upgrade was always a good thing.
Lifting his gaze back to the chaos consuming Kirigakure, a bold—and dangerous—idea took shape.
"Redeem: Kaguya Sage Bone."
At his command, the points he had so painstakingly accumulated plummeted.
[Current pawn points: 9155]
The moment the exchange completed, Yami had no attention to spare for the loss of points.
A surge of power far more violent than when he had redeemed the dense Kaguya bloodline detonated inside his body.
It felt as though his bones were being crushed and reforged from nothing. The agony was so intense that he nearly blacked out. Cold sweat instantly soaked his clothes.
Then the pain transformed into a strange, crawling numbness—as if countless ants were racing beneath his skin.
Bone spikes erupted from his body in an instant, weaving together into an airtight, unyielding suit of skeletal armor.
At the same time, his original Uzumaki Sage Body reacted violently to the stimulus of the Kaguya Sage Bone.
The powers of Kaguya and Uzumaki bloodlines nourished and stabilized his transforming skeleton, reinforcing one another in a rare and perfect resonance.
Two supreme bloodlines—once thought incompatible—merged in harmony.
Moments later, Yami felt a solidity and strength he had never known before.
Every bone in his body—including the skeletal armor outside it—felt alive, brimming with terrifying energy.
At the instant his Uzumaki Sage Body and Kaguya Sage Bone reached equilibrium, a dormant memory buried deep within his bloodline awakened.
Several radiant golden chains—condensed from chakra and bone—burst forth from his back.
Unlike the pure-chakra Adamantine Sealing Chains, these were living constructs: golden spinal dragons that coiled and danced around him, exuding overwhelming binding and sealing power.
With a mere thought, the chains moved in perfect obedience, as natural as extensions of his limbs.
A brand-new bloodline fusion was born—
Bone as its core, Uzumaki chakra as its sheath.
Yami named it:
"Yomi-no-Kuni Bone."
---
While he familiarized himself with this newfound power, the Third Mizukage finally succeeded in forcing the Three-Tails completely out of the village.
But Isobu did not submit meekly.
Its massive body twisted, unleashing its signature taijutsu—Rolling Attack.
Like a colossal wheel, it abruptly altered its trajectory and plunged straight into a massive lake connected to the sea beyond the village.
The Third Mizukage's expression changed instantly.
A Three-Tails on land was dangerous—but in water, it was an entirely different monster.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!"
Without hesitation, he unleashed the technique at full power—the same jutsu that had shattered Kaguya Naoto's defenses and killed him in a single strike.
But Isobu was a tailed beast whose physical techniques could rival even the Eight-Tails.
A mere water-style ninjutsu was nowhere near enough.
Seeing it fail, the Third Mizukage pressed the pursuit—but the Three-Tails was faster. Its massive form vanished completely beneath the lake's surface.
"ROAR—!"
From within the water came a thunderous, exhilarated bellow. The lake churned violently, waves surging skyward.
Instead of fleeing, Isobu turned back.
Its feral eyes locked onto the Third Mizukage standing at the shore, chakra surging wildly around its body.
With terrain advantage firmly in its grasp, the Three-Tails was preparing to counterattack.