Chapter 48 — Spinning Like a Top, Lashed by a Whip Without End
There was a saying: the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
In Hyūga Ritsu's eyes, the Uchiha clan—constantly watched, guarded against, and suppressed by the village's upper echelon—were natural allies. Sure, most of them had… issues, mental ones at that, but nobody was perfect.
Besides, the Uchiha valued strength above all else.
As long as you were strong enough, you would earn their respect.
That said, Uchiha Shisui was not a good person to communicate with.
The Uchiha clan's greatest prodigy—and strongest fighter—had been thoroughly "brainwashed" by that so-called Will of Fire. He stubbornly believed that a handful of old men in high positions truly represented Konoha itself.
If Ritsu wanted to draw the Uchiha clan into opposing those old bastards at the top of the village, he would need to find someone else—someone more suitable—to approach.
He quietly committed that thought to memory.
---
Afterward, Shisui couldn't sit still. He went off to help clean up the battlefield and repair the defenses.
Ritsu didn't involve himself in any of that.
Instead, he remained inside the fortress at the mountain's summit and began training—fully focused on studying and refining the Shikotsumyaku, the Dead Bone Pulse.
Ever since he had acquired Shikotsumyaku through the Chimera Technique, he had never stopped working to develop it. Still, time had been short, and events had been relentless. As a result, his mastery of the bloodline remained limited.
That said—
Both Shikotsumyaku and the Byakugan were bloodline limits with extremely high baseline potential.
Once awakened, most of their fundamental abilities came naturally. Training was less about unlocking new powers and more about deepening and refining what was already there.
Take the Byakugan, for example.
When first awakened, most users had a maximum range of about one kilometer. Through continuous training, that range could be gradually expanded—but no amount of effort would grant abilities the Byakugan did not inherently possess.
However, Shikotsumyaku and the Byakugan were not identical in nature.
The Byakugan itself possessed no offensive capability. Unlike the Uchiha's Sharingan—the progenitor of genjutsu—it could only exert power when paired with techniques like the Gentle Fist.
Shikotsumyaku, on the other hand, was a bloodline with innate offensive and defensive strength.
Yet it came with its own limitations.
Its solid, materialized nature and extremely short effective range severely restricted its versatility. Unlike ninjutsu-based bloodlines such as Wood Release, Magnet Release, Storm Release, or Ice Release, it could not be developed into a wide array of diverse techniques.
In the end, Shikotsumyaku—much like the Byakugan—still required integration with taijutsu styles to fully realize its lethal potential.
But—
Nothing in this world was ever absolute.
Every rule came with its exceptions.
Setting aside the distant, almost mythical killing technique All-Killing Ash Bones, the Shikotsumyaku possessed another signature move—Dance of the Clematis.
That technique shattered the bloodline's greatest weakness: its excessively short attack range. When paired with the bones' solid, materialized structure, it unleashed astonishing destructive power.
"At its core, Shikotsumyaku is nothing more than the manipulation of calcium—its creation, density, and distribution."
"But calcium isn't found only in the human body. The earth itself is rich in calcium."
"Creating an entire forest of bones purely from chakra would be far too costly… so the technique must be drawing upon the calcium already present in the soil."
"The real question is—how do you mobilize calcium that's dispersed throughout the ground?"
Hyūga Ritsu rested a hand against the cold stone beneath him, muttering to himself.
---
"Ritsu-senpai."
No response.
"Ritsu-senpai!"
Uchiha Shisui raised his voice.
Ritsu finally rolled his eyes in annoyance and replied without turning around.
"What is it now, Shisui?"
"Well… how long are we supposed to stay here?"
Shisui stared helplessly at Ritsu, who was sitting cross-legged atop a rock. This was already their fifth day at Ishigoryu Mountain.
By all logic, once they had stabilized the defense line and repelled the Mist ninja, they should have returned to the forward camp to report in.
But Ritsu had insisted the mission wasn't over.
The original garrison had been crippled—what remained were barely functional remnants, utterly incapable of holding the mountain alone. If Ritsu and Shisui left now, the Mist could break through the Ishigoryu Mountain line with a single push.
Thus, Ritsu insisted on staying until the relief forces arrived.
"Has the rotation unit arrived yet?" Ritsu asked.
"No."
"Then what's the rush?" he replied calmly. "Didn't we agree we'd report back after the defense was fully stabilized?"
Ritsu was utterly unhurried.
Why rush back to the forward camp just to let Aburame Ryūma assign him yet another exhausting, dangerous mission "for training purposes"?
That held no meaning for him.
Ritsu wasn't some rookie locked away for ten years, lacking combat experience. His fundamentals were solid. His battle experience was already abundant. He didn't need to gamble on some miraculous breakthrough in the middle of a fight.
What he needed were broader methods of combat—stronger, more decisive tools for victory.
At that moment, on the western slope of Ishigoryu Mountain, Ritsu wasn't the only one experimenting with the calcium buried deep within the earth.
More than ten Ritsus were scattered across the slope.
Some experimented with Water Release.
Others tested Earth Release.
Far in the distance, two Ritsus even leaned together, forming Rasengan-like spheres.
All of them were shadow clones.
Originally, Ritsu's chakra nature had been purely Water. But after acquiring the Shikotsumyaku bloodline, he gained dual affinities—Water and Earth—allowing him to study Earth Release alongside Water techniques.
In short—
Rather than rushing back to report and immediately being sent out again, Ritsu preferred to buy time and invest it in strengthening himself.
After all, this mission had no explicit deadline.
Most Konoha ninja, like Shisui, were dutiful and obedient—eager to report back as soon as possible so they could rush off to the next mission and "contribute to the village."
Few ever considered whether they could spare time to rest—or improve themselves.
"But even so," Shisui said helplessly, "what if the relief force never comes? Are we just going to stay here forever?"
"They will come," Ritsu replied flatly. "Unless they plan to abandon Ishigoryu Mountain entirely."
"That's not what I meant…"
Shisui's face was full of frustration—an overwhelming sense of wanting to do something, yet not knowing how to change Ritsu's mind.
"I know what you're thinking, Shisui," Ritsu said, standing up and turning to face him. "You think staying here is a waste. You believe we should be spinning nonstop—like tops whipped by a lash—never allowed to stop."
He met Shisui's gaze directly.
Then, without waiting for a reply, he strode forward. As he passed Shisui, he said:
"Congratulations, Shisui. The relief force has arrived."
"We can go back now—throw ourselves once more into the most dangerous battles for the village, dancing beneath the whip like spinning tops."
The moment his words fell—
Every single Ritsu on the slope vanished in a puff of milky-white chakra.
The real Ritsu staggered slightly as the feedback hit him, swayed for a moment, then steadied himself and continued walking forward as if nothing had happened.