The rain hissed where it struck the smoldering remnants of Amaterasu clinging to Naruto's bone shield. Steam rose in ghostly plumes around him, mingling with the downpour. He stood, anchored by bone spurs driven deep into the cracked plaza stone, the massive shield cracked and scorched but defiantly whole. Blood streamed from his nose, hot against the rain-chilled skin of his face. The drain was immense – the Gedo chains binding his internal chaos flickered violently, sucking at his life force to maintain the shield and contain the Kaguya-cells' excited surge triggered by the near-annihilation. The whispers screamed in triumph and hunger.
Across the devastated plaza, Sasuke stared, his skeletal Susanoo flickering erratically. Disbelief warred with incandescent fury in his Mangekyō eyes. The black flames of Amaterasu sizzled and died on the wet stone, defeated. His ultimate attack, fueled by hatred and cursed power, had been *blocked*. By bone. By the monstrous power radiating from the usuratonkachi he barely recognized.
"Im…possible…" Sasuke rasped, the word choked with rage and something perilously close to despair. His Susanoo solidified, the ribcage expanding, forming a full torso, a spectral arm reaching for the colossal bow again. "You *dare* stand? You *dare* defy me with that… *serpent's filth*?!"
Naruto lowered the cracked bone shield slowly. The movement sent fresh waves of agony through his strained arms and back. He met Sasuke's burning gaze, the Rinnegan swirling with cold, exhausted focus. "Defiance?" His voice was a raw scrape, amplified unnaturally by the bone resonating in his throat. "This is survival, Sasuke. You're just another obstacle on the path." He saw Hinata scrambling to her feet nearby, her Byakugan wide with terror and a desperate, protective light aimed at him. Her presence was a vulnerability he couldn't afford. He needed to end this. Fast. Before the chains snapped.
He focused inward, past the agony, past the Rinnegan's drain, past the Gedo chains straining at their limit. He reached for the *source* of the bone, the hyper-aggressive Kaguya-cells chafing against their restraints. He didn't suppress them this time. He *unleashed* them – not randomly, but with a specific, brutal intent. He channeled the searing pain, the cold fury at Sasuke's blind hatred, and the desperate need to neutralize the threat, directly into the alien structures within him.
**Intrinsic Armament: Bone Lash – Seizing Chains!**
Not a shield. Not a forest. A whip.
From the cracked surface of the bone shield still held before him, a thick, segmented cord of gleaming white bone *erupted*. It wasn't rigid; it was unnervingly flexible, snaking through the rain-lashed air with the speed of a striking viper. Barbed hooks of the same material lined its length. It bypassed the reforming Susanoo entirely, aiming not for Sasuke's body, but for the ground *around* him.
***CRACK-THUD! THUD! THUD!***
The barbed bone lash struck the wet stone plaza like a series of detonations. But instead of shattering, it *anchored*, driving deep. Three points of impact formed a rough triangle around Sasuke. Instantly, more bone erupted from the anchor points – not spears, but thick, coiling tendrils, fast as constricting snakes, wrapping around the legs and lower torso of the skeletal Susanoo.
Sasuke roared, pouring more chakra into the spectral avatar. The Susanoo strained, its purple-black energy flaring, attempting to shatter the bone bindings. But the Kaguya-bone, infused with Naruto's will and the cells' inherent, ancient resilience, *held*. It creaked under the strain, cracks appearing, but didn't break. The tendrils tightened, digging into the Susanoo's energy structure, sapping its stability. Sasuke was trapped within his own defense, immobilized.
"Release me!" Sasuke screamed, his voice distorted by rage and the Susanoo's energy. "Fight me properly, coward!"
Naruto ignored the taunt. His focus was absolute, cold, efficient. He saw the strain on the Gedo chains, felt his life force bleeding away faster with every second the bone lash and bindings were maintained. He needed to incapacitate, not kill. He pulled back slightly on the bone lash connected to his shield. The tendrils constricting the Susanoo tightened further, eliciting a groan of stressed energy from the spectral construct. Naruto raised his free hand, fingers splayed.
**Shinra Tensei: Micro-Concussion – Focused Burst!**
A pinpoint sphere of repulsive force, no larger than a marble, detonated *inside* the Susanoo's ribcage, directly in front of Sasuke's physical body.
***THUMP!***
The concussive blast wasn't meant to penetrate the Susanoo's defense, but to *disrupt*. Sasuke, focused entirely on breaking the bone bindings, was caught completely off guard. The force slammed into him like a physical hammer blow inside his protective shell. The breath exploded from his lungs. His chakra control faltered. The Susanoo flickered violently, its form becoming translucent, unstable. Sasuke gasped, staggering within the spectral ribs, clutching his chest, momentarily dazed.
*Now!*
Naruto surged forward, abandoning the bone shield. It dissolved into dust as he moved. He crossed the shattered plaza in a blur powered by desperation and the last dregs of his strength, the bone spurs retracting from the ground. He leaped, aiming for the flickering, unstable Susanoo near its weakened head. His right hand shot out, not with a fist, but with fingers extended like claws. Bone-white material sheathed his fingertips, forming needle-like points.
He wasn't aiming to kill. He was aiming to *inject*.
His bone-clad fingers pierced the weakened Susanoo energy near Sasuke's shoulder, where the curse mark pulsed its darkest. The spectral armor offered less resistance than water. His fingertips found flesh.
**Kaguya-Cell Transfer: Targeted Suppression!**
He didn't inject raw chakra. He injected a micro-dosage of the hyper-aggressive Kaguya-cells *he* controlled, guided by the Rinnegan's precision. It was a brutal, desperate gamble. The cells, sensing the potent Uchiha vitality and the cursed seal's dark energy, latched on with terrifying speed.
Sasuke screamed. A sound of pure, visceral agony that cut through the rain. It wasn't the pain of the puncture; it was the feeling of *cold fire* flooding into his system, attacking the curse mark's network, violently disrupting its connection to his chakra pathways. The curse mark flared purple, then sputtered, its energy suddenly chaotic, uncontrolled. The Susanoo winked out completely, dissolving into dark mist. Sasuke collapsed to his knees on the wet stone, clutching his shoulder where Naruto's fingers had withdrawn, leaving tiny, bleeding puncture marks that already showed a faint, spreading white discoloration beneath the skin. He trembled violently, gasping, his Mangekyō spinning wildly, unfocused, overwhelmed by the internal conflict and the invasive cold spreading from the injection site.
Naruto landed heavily beside him, swaying. The Gedo chains flickered out completely, unable to sustain themselves. The backlash was immediate. The Kaguya-cells, momentarily focused on the external task, surged back inwards with renewed ferocity, unchecked. The whispers became a deafening roar. Bone-white flecks flared brightly across his face and neck. He tasted blood – his own, hot and metallic. He needed to secure Sasuke, to—
A high-pitched, unnatural *hum* split the air. Not thunder. Not chakra. Something alien.
Time seemed to slow. Naruto's Rinnegan snapped upwards, piercing the rain-lashed gloom. High above the devastated plaza, space itself *rippled*. A figure materialized, floating effortlessly. Tall, pale, clad in strange, form-fitting white fabric. Long, lavender hair whipped around an angular face dominated by cold, golden eyes. A thin, cruel smile played on his lips. In one hand, he held a long, ornate rod ending in a glowing, multi-hooked blade. In the other, a fishing line made of pure, crackling red energy extended downwards, its hook gleaming wickedly.
**Ōtsutsuki Kinshiki?** The name flashed in Naruto's memory, but the Rinnegan instantly corrected the perception. No. The eyes… the demeanor… the *red* energy.
**Ōtsutsuki Urashiki.**
The Otsutsuki tilted his head, his golden eyes locking onto Sasuke, writhing on the ground, then flicking dismissively to Naruto. "Well, well," his voice was light, melodic, yet carrying an undercurrent of chilling indifference. "What a fascinating mess. The little Uchiha sparrow, tangled in thorns…" His gaze lingered on the faint white marks spreading from Sasuke's shoulder puncture. "…and marked by *her* touch. How… curious." His smile widened, showing sharp teeth. "And the Jinchūriki vessel… leaking power like a cracked pot. Barely worth the reel."
He raised the red-energy fishing rod casually. "But a sparrow caught is a sparrow caught." The glowing hook shot downwards with impossible speed, not towards Naruto, but towards the immobilized Sasuke.
"NO!" Hinata's scream tore through the plaza. She lunged forward, Byakugan blazing, her Gentle Fist stance forming.
Naruto moved on pure, desperate instinct. He shoved Sasuke aside with the last of his strength, putting himself between the falling Otsutsuki and the Uchiha. He raised his bone-armored arms, the Kaguya-cells surging in response to the overwhelming, alien presence.
**Intrinsic Armament: Bone Barrier!**
A thicket of jagged, interlocking bone spurs erupted from his forearms and shoulders, forming a dense, defensive thicket before him.
Urashiki's red fishing hook struck the bone barrier.
It didn't *clash*. It *phased*.
The red energy passed *through* the bone like it wasn't there. Naruto felt a searing cold, not on his skin, but *inside* his chakra pathways, as the hook pierced his defenses effortlessly and buried itself in his raised left forearm.
***SHINK!***
Agony, cold and absolute, unlike anything he'd felt before, lanced through him. It wasn't physical pain; it was the sensation of his very *chakra* being speared, hooked, and *yanked*.
Urashiki chuckled, a sound like ice cracking. "Wrong catch, little minnow. But… a useful appetizer." He flicked the fishing rod upwards.
Naruto felt his feet leave the ground. He was hauled violently upwards, suspended on the red energy line, the hook buried deep in his arm bone. He looked down, dazed, through the rain. He saw Hinata's horrified face, frozen mid-lunge. He saw Sasuke, trembling on the ground, looking up, his Mangekyō wide with shock, momentarily freed from his internal agony by the sheer, overwhelming presence of the new threat. He saw the cracked memorial stone, the names blurred by rain and distance.
Urashiki reeled him in with casual strength. As Naruto neared the floating Otsutsuki, the alien being's golden eyes gleamed with predatory interest. "Such interesting bone… and *her* resonance… strong in this one. Perhaps not entirely worthless after all." He raised his ornate rod, the blade glowing with concentrated annihilation energy. "Let's see what makes you tick, vessel."
The blade descended towards Naruto's chest, aimed to bisect him.
Naruto, dangling helplessly, chakra bleeding from the hook in his arm, the Kaguya-cells screaming in furious resonance with the Otsutsuki power, did the only thing he could. He poured every shred of his remaining will, his life force, his desperate fury, into the bone of his *other* arm. Not to block. To *strike back*.
**Intrinsic Armament: Bone Lance – Soul Piercer!**
A single, thick spear of condensed, gleaming white bone, etched with intricate, glowing purple Rinnegan patterns, erupted from his right fist. It shot upwards, not at the descending blade, but straight at Urashiki's smirking face, a final, defiant lash from the chained beast caught on the hunter's hook. The red dawn of the Otsutsuki had arrived, and its first light was the glint of a butcher's blade and the desperate thrust of damned bone.