Three more Kirigakure Ninja surrounded him with Ninja Blade flashing cold light. Kimimaro spun like a dancer, and thin, sharp bone spikes shot from his joints.
Puchi. Puchi.
The three were riddled through.
Kimimaro's face showed no emotion as his gray-white eyes reflected blood fog and Death without a ripple. There was no anger, pleasure, or even awareness of killing.
He was only following orders, killing all Kirigakure Ninja. He did not care about reasons, glory, or his own life, only that he was needed.
That hollow sense of being needed drove away his long loneliness and confusion. But he was still only one person.
The Kaguya clan numbers dwindled rapidly as they fell. Their mad charges shattered against disciplined formations and cold coordination like waves against rocks.
Shouts grew fewer and resistance weaker. Only a handful remained standing, surrounded and struggling.
Fourth Mizukage never acted, remaining inside the Mizukage office. Wearing the Mizukage hat, Yagura stood by the window, his face young and almost childish beneath the shadow.
He watched the massacre below like a distant play. Blood sprays, bones shattering, dying screams, none stirred any emotion in his eyes.
From beginning to end, he did nothing and released no Ninjutsu, simply watching the Kaguya clan rush toward extinction.
Originally, the Kaguya clan would not have reached the Mizukage Building and would have been wiped out on the outskirts. Kimimaro would have survived by chance and later met Orochimaru.
But now, an unexpected variable appeared.
"Hmph. No matter where, there are always fools who overestimate themselves."
A figure stepped from the darkness behind Yagura, his ugly and gloomy face revealed under the light. It was Obito Uchiha, who had fled from Konoha.
Madara Uchiha had once controlled the Third Mizukage and turned Kirigakure into his domain. After Madara Uchiha's death, the Mizukage was overthrown and killed, and Kirigakure briefly found peace.
Later, Obito Uchiha did the same thing, controlling Fourth Mizukage Yagura and using Kirigakure as his base. With Akatsuki and Konoha no longer options, he could only return here.
Thinking of what happened in Konoha, darkness flickered in Obito Uchiha's right eye, while his blind left eye remained empty. His identity was fully exposed now, and his only gains were the blind Mangekyo Sharingan and Itachi Uchiha, who might awaken Rinnegan.
All hope now rested on Itachi Uchiha.
"Zetsu," he asked coldly. "Has Itachi Uchiha been settled?"
White Zetsu slowly emerged from the wall, speaking with its strange, playful tone. "All settled. But what about his severed arm?"
Obito Uchiha frowned, thought briefly, and said, "Transplant your arm to him, and implant a seal in his heart."
"Alright," White Zetsu shrugged without objection.
Transplanting White Zetsu and implanting a seal was exactly how Obito Uchiha had survived before. It now only had one arm left, appearing whole only because of Black Zetsu.
Obito Uchiha was repeating what Madara had done to him, this time on Itachi Uchiha. White Zetsu wisely kept silent.
"Black Zetsu," Obito Uchiha said coldly. "You made me leave Konoha and even let Kakashi Hatake live to expose me. Why?"
Black Zetsu stepped forward and handed over gathered intelligence. Obito Uchiha took the scroll and read, his expression darkening.
"Again, that 'Shadow'," he growled. "Great Hollow, Espada, Void Realm. Is that his faction?"
He looked up sharply. "What exactly is this 'Great Hollow'?"
"Based on intelligence and my deductions," Black Zetsu said hoarsely, "it should be a creation of Yin Release. Humans twisted after death by intense emotions and an external force."
Obito Uchiha froze. "An external force? So Shadow interfered with Fugaku Uchiha from the start?"
Black Zetsu fell silent. Even it did not know the answer.
Their thoughts were interrupted when Obito Uchiha suddenly pointed out the window. "Then tell me, what is that?"
Black Zetsu rushed forward, unease rising.
Outside, the last Kaguya fell. Only the small figure remained, still killing, yet doomed.
Kimimaro felt cold. Not from the mist, but from life slipping away. He felt fear, not of Death, but of endless emptiness.
"I am going to die?" he thought.
A powerful terror and unwillingness erupted within him. "I want meaning. Even in death, I want proof that I existed and was needed."
His gray-white eyes burned with longing for existence itself. But his life still faded, and he fell beneath a blade.
Then, change came.
Souls filled with resentment, hatred, and madness rose from fallen Kaguya bodies and poured into Kimimaro. He screamed as his body mutated, bones cracking with a harsh kacha sound.
Muscles swelled, skin tore, and a monster burst forth. Blood exploded outward.
What stood there was a creature in a bone mask, covered in sharp spikes.
With a roar, it smashed the ground. Bone spikes erupted everywhere, impaling dozens of Kirigakure Ninja in an instant.
Screams filled the air as blood flowed like streams down pale bone pillars.
At the window, Obito Uchiha and Black Zetsu watched in shock. Obito Uchiha stared at the monster and the bone forest.
"Damn it! Enough already!" Obito Uchiha roared. "Twice already! Is that still not enough?!"
"Obito Uchiha," Black Zetsu said gravely. "It just transformed. Its power is unstable. We must control it now."
Obito Uchiha's eyes flashed as he looked at Yagura under Genjutsu. "Go," he ordered coldly. "Bring that thing to me."
He did not want this to happen again.
The surviving Kirigakure Ninja pulled back at once as they stared at the pale creature radiating terror from the depths of the Bone Forest. Fear from surviving mixed with shock and doubt on their faces, and no one dared stay close.
Yet the shinobi of Kirigakure who had lived through the name of the Bloody Mist Village were known across the Ninja World for iron discipline. For them, the mission always came before comrades and before their own lives.
Because of that, the choice once made by Sakumo Hatake to abandon a mission for teammates could never happen here, and everyone knew the price would only be death. Even facing such a bloody and brutal scene, the Kirigakure Ninja did not collapse and instead regrouped and charged the pale monster again.
"Water Release·Hidden Mist Technique!"
Several Kirigakure Ninja formed seals together with precise timing, and the mist thickened as they vanished inside it. Visibility dropped to only a few meters, and the fog concealed presence while interfering with most Sensory Ninjutsu.
Using this special Ninjutsu, Kirigakure developed a complete assassination system known as "Silent Killing." The one most famous for it was the former "Demon of the Hidden Mist," the traitor Zabuza Momochi.
Shadows burst from the fog as several Kirigakure Ninja rushed out without a sound, their Short Sword slashing toward the pale monster at the center of the Bone Forest. The bone covered arms lifted sharply, and the outer bones twisted and reshaped.
Crack. kacha.
Both arms became massive hammers covered in savage bone spikes, smashing down with overwhelming force. The impact shook the ground violently, and the shockwave tore outward.
Those struck directly were crushed into pulp before they could scream, while others were hurled away by the blast. Only two reacted in time, leaping up and sticking close to the monster's ribs at a blind angle.
Their Short Sword struck solidly, but instead of cutting through, sparks flew with a harsh metallic screech. Shallow marks were all that remained, and their faces changed at once.
Before they could retreat, bone armor under the ribs writhed and bulged, and sharp Bone Spear speared out. The two bodies were pierced and lifted, hanging lifeless on the spikes.