Uchiha Shigure dragged his battered body across the rocky battlefield, each step heavier than the last. His sandal scraped forward, his breath rasping, until his knees finally buckled. He toppled into the dirt beside the unmoving figure of Kaguya Kanbei.
The man's chest no longer rose and fell. His eyes were still, dull, emptied of life.
Shigure had won.
But what a victory it was. He was barely five years old—his limbs still thin, his body still growing—yet he had faced a hardened shinobi with a dreaded kekkei genkai, armed only with meager chakra and pure will. He had relied on every technique he knew: flickers of taijutsu, bursts of ninjutsu, and indomitable resolve. And somehow, he had prevailed.
Still, victory had come at a cost. His chakra was scraped clean, his muscles screamed as though knives were buried in them. Right now, a wandering genin could end his life before he could lift a finger.
Shigure rolled onto his side and forced a trembling hand against Kanbei's chest. His fingers brushed past the dead shinobi's tunic until they found the smooth tube of a scroll tucked into an inner pocket. Pulling it free, Shigure recognized the shimmer of a complex seal etched into the parchment.
"A specially encrypted scroll," he muttered, exhausted lips twitching at the corners. He slipped it into his pouch and whispered, "This will come in handy."
Then, curiosity overcame fatigue. He pressed his hand to Kanbei's forehead, half-expecting nothing more than the chill of a corpse. Instead, something surged—an unfamiliar yet magnetic pull. A current of power stirred within his own veins, drawing out the remnants of the Kaguya clan's bloodline and pulling it into his body.
A faint spark ignited in Shigure's chest. Some of his energy trickled back, like cool water filling a cracked cup. His exhaustion dulled just enough that he could move again.
And then, a voice echoed inside his mind.
"Hello, host! Hello, host!"
Shigure froze. His heart thudded. That voice… it had been months, perhaps longer. He hadn't heard it since the very first days after he arrived in this world.
He sat up abruptly despite the pain. "Oh my god… Are you? System?!"
The voice crackled to life, mechanical yet oddly familiar. "Hello, host! It's me! Long time no see—I am the strongest bloodline system!"
Shigure's breath caught. Against all expectation, his constant but long-silent companion had returned.
"System, are you really back?!" Shigure asked, almost laughing from shock. "It feels like it's been forever. You sent me to awaken my Ōtsutsuki bloodline—and then you vanished without a trace. What happened to you?"
"I encountered… complications," the system replied flatly. "Two reasons: first, the system crashed. Second, the system ran out of energy."
"Crashed?" Shigure frowned. "Why would you crash?"
"Because when I attempted to gift you the Ōtsutsuki bloodline, I discovered you already carried it. Your father is of the Uchiha clan, your mother of the Hyūga clan. Both clans stem from the Ōtsutsuki lineage. What I granted was not a gift, but an awakening. This overloaded me, and I collapsed."
Shigure's brows furrowed, but after a moment's thought he nodded. "Makes sense. I crossed over into this body, and it already had both bloodlines lying dormant. Guess that threw your circuits into chaos."
"Correct, host. As compensation, the system will provide you another chance to strengthen your bloodline. And…" The voice paused slightly. "Hmm. It seems you have just absorbed another branch of the Ōtsutsuki blood: the Kaguya line. You may now choose to fuse this into your existing bloodline. Whether you strengthen or fuse, I will fall into dormancy again until you awaken me with fresh bloodline energy."
Shigure hesitated, ignoring his excitement for a moment. "System, tell me—why can I absorb the blood power of others?"
"You are an Ōtsutsuki heir," the system answered. "The Byakugan of the Hyūga, the Sharingan of the Uchiha, the Mokuton of the Senju, the chakra vitality of the Uzumaki, and the corpse bone veins of the Kaguya—all these are branches. You may absorb them freely. Normally, the absorption alone strengthens you. But fusion requires me, and fusion yields greater purity."
Shigure's breath quickened. "So if I fuse right now… How long will it take?"
"It is recommended you fuse the bloodlines. Doing so will purify your lineage and vastly increase chakra capacity. Upon completion, both chakra and physical stamina will restore immediately. Consider fusion an evolution. Strengthening alone is merely a temporary breakthrough."
Shigure didn't need further convincing. "All right. Then fuse it—fuse the Kaguya blood!"
"Fusion begins," the system confirmed. "Integrating Hyūga heritage with Kaguya line."
Shigure felt it instantly. His inner world spun, pulling him back to that first surreal moment of awakening his blood. Rivers of inherited power flowed together, not clashing but conversing—two armies sitting at the same table, negotiating peace. With eerie clarity, he watched them intertwine until they moved as one.
A warmth spread through his chest. Unlike before, there was no searing agony, only blissful release. Muscles across his body thrummed with vitality. His chakra swelled—no, it surged, smashing through the bottleneck he had long fought against.
"I… I broke through…" Shigure whispered. His reserves weren't merely refilled, they erupted. He was no longer confined to Kage level. He had stepped beyond, into the ranks of the Super Kage.
Energy spiraled through his coils with startling speed. His chakra recovery was no longer sluggish; it refilled like air filling a balloon. Even if he unleashed torrent after torrent of jutsu, exhaustion would never come so easily again.
Excitement tingled at his fingertips. He curled them into a fist, felt raw strength roll through his arms, then grinned.
"Dance of the Early Ferns!"
The ground around him ruptured as bone spears—towering, jagged, white—erupted ten meters in every direction. Even Kanbei's own final attacks had paled beside this brutal technique.
"Dance of the Larch!"
Sharp spikes jetted from his limbs, wrapping him in a defensive cocoon of bone even fiercer than Kanbei's attempt.
Shigure flexed his hand, then retracted the weapons into his body. They folded away seamlessly. He exhaled in satisfaction.
"My taijutsu will skyrocket with this…" he murmured. Though his ninjutsu was advanced, his physical combat was always lagging. He was young, too young, and though he possessed the Hyūga's Gentle Fist, he dared not use it publicly. Rasengan aided by Flying Thunder God was impressive but still firmly in ninjutsu territory.
Now, though—now he carried within him a secret arsenal of sheer physical might. A death trump card, hidden until the day he truly stood as a full-fledged Kage. For now, he would keep this power close, restrained, and unseen.
"We have to regroup fast…" Shigure whispered. Making a seal, he vanished in a flicker of light. His Flying Thunder God kunai—scattered by Kusuo Hatake in retreat—blazed like beacons. With each teleport, he drew closer to his teammates.
And then—familiar voices.
"Damn it! They're catching up!" cried Kusuo, bracing himself as kunai glittered in his hands. "Go! I'll cover you!"
"No!" Hyūga Akane's voice was fierce, stubborn like flame. "If we leave you, we leave together!"
Nearby, Rin's soft voice cut in, urgent. "Kakashi, please! You have to wake up!"
Obito, nervous eyes darting, clenched his fists. "This time… it really feels dangerous…"
The forest rang with the whistle of steel.
"Ch-ch-ch—!"
Dozens of shuriken cut the air in a deadly storm, whirling out of the shadows straight toward Shigure's teammates.
Shigure's vision narrowed. His hand went to a kunai marked with his seal. The battle wasn't over.
Not by a long shot.
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