Chapter 28: The Chive Patch and Kaguya Jōsuke

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Inside the archives room hung a map of the dungeon, marking not only the offices and rest areas but also the numbered sections where prisoners were confined. There were three zones in total, labeled One, Two, and Three. However, the dungeon’s layout struck Uchiha Gin as oddly asymmetrical, unsettling his innate appreciation for balance and order.

Locating the area marked Two, Uchiha Gin grasped the scroll and stepped outside. The number Two cellblock was relatively close to the archives; after a few minutes' walk, he arrived before a heavy iron gate. Two Uchiha clan members stood guard there.

“Who goes there?” one challenged.

The voice sounded oddly familiar. The more Uchiha Gin looked at these two, the more their faces stirred a vague memory.

“Aren’t you supposed to be on patrol? What are you doing down here in the dungeon?” he asked curiously, recognizing them as the two clan members he had encountered just after returning to the Uchiha territory. He never expected to run into them again, here of all places.

“This is it!” Uchiha Tiedan’s heart sank with despair. Uchiha Gin had actually come all the way to the dungeon seeking revenge on him.

Having learned only the day before from his teammates who this Uchiha Gin really was—a man notorious for committing every imaginable evil—he was terrified of retaliation. That very night, he submitted a request to be transferred to some godforsaken post. Yet, on his first day at this new duty, the so-called “demon” had already come knocking.

“Cuixia, I’m sorry. Please don’t live as a widow for my sake—be happy,” Tiedan muttered with tearful resignation, eyes closed, as if preparing to be slaughtered.

“What are you standing there for? Open the door! I need to verify the prisoner,” Uchiha Gin snapped impatiently, noticing Tiedan had his eyes shut and was murmuring to himself, while the other guard’s gaze drifted away, as if ignoring him.

“Huh? You’re not here for me?” Tiedan, who had been resigned to death, opened his eyes in confusion.

“What would I want with you? I’m busy. Move aside,” Gin replied.

“Tiedan, open the door for Lord Uchiha Gin!” the other guard urged, nudging Tiedan near the lock. Suddenly awakened, Tiedan hastily pulled out the keys and opened the gate, letting Uchiha Gin inside.

“This is just bizarre,” Gin muttered, baffled by Tiedan’s odd behavior.

“Which cell is Kaguya Jousuke in?”

“My lord, I will lead you there,” the other guard volunteered, sensing Tiedan’s awkwardness.

Following the guard, Uchiha Gin stepped into the dungeon’s prisoner section for the first time. Rows of wooden bars lined both sides, seemingly fragile, yet each was imbued with the Uchiha clan’s distinctive fire talismans. Without the proper jutsu to dispel them, anyone who recklessly touched these bars would be instantly engulfed in flames—ranging from burns to being reduced to ashes.

As their footsteps echoed, the prisoners behind the bars began to stir restlessly.

“Uchiha scum! Let me go, or I’ll tear you to pieces...” one bellowed in rage.

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“Ah, this one’s got smooth skin—wish I could pin him down...” another muttered lecherously.

“Kill me now! Just kill me!!” someone else screamed in despair.

The dungeon erupted in a cacophony of voices. But to Uchiha Gin, these weren’t just angry shouts—they were filled with an unmistakable fighting spirit.

“Host has encountered combat. Heart of Steel treasure chest accumulation initiated...”

“Host has encountered combat...”

“Host detected...”

A system alert had been repeating endlessly in his mind since he entered this cellblock, cycling like an unbroken loop.

These people were practically frothing at the mouth for a fight with an Uchiha—this place was basically a green pasture full of ripe targets!

Suppressing his internal excitement for the moment, he followed the guard to the innermost cell. Inside, a middle-aged man sat with his limbs tightly bound, his frame emaciated to the point of fragility.

His hands and feet were twisted at unnatural angles, his gray hair framing a face marked by two classic crimson “maru” eyebrows, a defining trait of the Kaguya clan.

“That’s Kaguya Jousuke. Lord Gin, be careful. His chakra is sealed, but we can’t suppress his body techniques. We have to starve him and keep breaking his limbs,” the guard explained.

“No problem. Open the door. I want to ask him some questions,” Gin said, reassured by the fact that Jousuke’s chakra was sealed and his movements severely limited.

“Yes, my lord.” Though it was against regulations to open the cell doors, the guards knew better than to resist Uchiha Gin. They obediently unlocked the gate.

“What’s your name?”

“I’m Uchiha Ryocha,” the guard introduced himself hastily.

“Alright, Uchiha Ryocha, you wait outside. I’ll question this prisoner alone.”

“But...” Ryocha hesitated, aware of the risk. If anything happened to Gin, his own head would be on the line.

“Don’t worry. This guy can barely move. I’m just going to speak from the doorway,” Gin reassured him.

“Understood. Lord Gin, be careful. If anything happens, call for help immediately,” the guard said and left promptly.

Uchiha Gin stepped inside Kaguya Jousuke’s cell. The middle-aged man sitting on a straw mat slowly raised his head at the sound of movement. His cloudy eyes were lifeless, like a puppet’s.

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“Kaguya Jousuke?” Gin furrowed his brow, studying the vacant-eyed man before him.

“...” The prisoner remained silent, ignoring the question.

“According to the records, you were captured six years ago after slaughtering Uchiha clan members on a mission,” Gin continued, flipping through the scroll.

“Do you know that six years ago, your Kaguya clan launched a surprise attack on our Uchiha territory?” he pressed, unwilling to give up despite the man’s apparent withdrawal into himself.

“Ah? Hahaha... Ahhh!” Suddenly triggered by something, Jousuke’s expression shifted from blankness to a strange smile, then to sheer terror as if he had seen a ghost.

A flicker of clarity returned to his vacant eyes as he looked at Uchiha Gin standing before him. Slowly, he lifted his bound hands.

At that moment, the system alert rang in Gin’s mind again.

“Host has encountered combat. Heart of Steel treasure chest accumulation initiated...”

Without hesitation, Gin took a step back just as slender bone spikes erupted from Jousuke’s fingertips, embedding themselves in the very spots Gin had just occupied.

“He actually has a bloodline limit...” Gin muttered, heart pounding. Jousuke’s file hadn’t mentioned any special bloodline abilities—this must have been a hidden trump card.

Strangely, after all this time, why would he so easily reveal it to a seemingly ordinary Uchiha he was meeting for the first time?

Seeing his first attack fail, Jousuke tried again, aiming his bound hands at Gin.

But this time, Gin braced himself, gathering chakra into his fist, which was wrapped in a surge of mysterious power. His punch smashed straight into Jousuke, who was preparing another volley of bone spikes.

[Bone Pulse: Ten Fingers Piercing Shots]

Instead of dodging, Gin met the incoming spikes head-on, channeling more chakra into his iron fist.

With a dull thud, the bone spikes shattered under his punch, which landed squarely on Jousuke’s chest.

Already emaciated and battered, Jousuke’s chest caved inward under the blow. Gin’s fist was caught against the man’s broken ribs.

Just as Gin wondered how effortlessly his strike had connected, Jousuke’s bloodthirsty, deranged face turned toward him with a strange smile. Blood dripped from his mouth as he rasped,

“Got you.”

[Bone Pulse: Dance of the Larch Pines]

Gin’s expression darkened as the broken bones inside Jousuke’s chest suddenly blossomed into a massive, ghostly white bone flower. Dozens of crazed ribs surged outward, stabbing toward Gin’s face.