Another Sand ninja barely managed to deflect a few shuriken with his kunai—only to have his body snagged by tightening copper wires.
He twisted away just in time, but still ended up with deep slashes across his torso, his stance completely broken.
"Lightning Release: Lightning Stream!"
Kiyohara flashed through seals; lightning raced down the wires.
The last remaining Suna Anbu saw this and tried to dodge, eyes fixed on Kiyohara's fingers to predict how he'd control the lines and shuriken.
Left!
He jumped right, secretly pleased with himself—good thing he'd also trained Manipulated Shuriken.
Schk!
A heartbeat later, shock froze his face under the mask.
A searing pain tore through his back; lightning surged over his body, accompanied by the smell of burning flesh.
"Why… is this…?"
His eyes went wide as he collapsed with a thud.
Why hadn't the shuriken followed Kiyohara's finger movements?
"Haa… as I thought. Magnetism can influence metal," Kiyohara murmured.
He thought of Kumo jōnin Toroi.
Toroi's Magnet Release focused on magnetization—turning people and objects into magnets.
Just now, Kiyohara had magnetized two shuriken and made them attract each other—pulling a shuriken that "should" have gone left sharply to the right.
With that, the two Suna Anbu were down.
Only four Sand shinobi remained.
While Kiyohara had been fighting, Hayate and Yugao hadn't been idle either.
Hayate had swallowed a pill to recover some chakra; his body turned transparent as he activated his Kekkei Genkai—Transparent Technique—and killed one Sand ninja on the spot.
Yugao used her sword to cut down another.
Now only Maki, Pakura's student, and the Suna jōnin Ōta remained.
Kiyohara's brows twitched.
He couldn't help wondering if, in some future, there'd be a "Transparent-Release Kiyohara," too.
That bloodline was really useful for ambush and stealth.
It was just that in the original story, Hayate hadn't been able to make full use of it.
"Captain Ōta, what do we do?" Maki asked tensely.
Ōta answered by forming seals and unleashing a Wind Release.
Wind Release: Wind Cutter Technique!
Thin, slicing wind blades shot toward Kiyohara.
He knew the most dangerous enemy on the field now was Kiyohara. Kill him first, and he'd still have energy left to deal with Yugao and Hayate.
"Coming at me, huh?"
Kiyohara formed his own seals, casting Wind Release: Great Breakthrough, while coating his sword with a thin layer of iron sand.
It was such a small amount that no one would notice.
The wind blades clashed with his gale, whipping the wire net into a wild sway.
Then Kiyohara vanished—leaving only a storm of spinning green leaves behind.
"Damn it, where'd he go?"
Sweat beaded on Ōta's forehead.
Kiyohara had thrown so many shuriken; all those copper wires were specifically crafted for ninja use.
There was no way for him to locate them all in this chaos.
Fwoosh!
Suddenly, Kiyohara's sword whistled through the air—thrown straight at him.
Ōta reacted instantly, raising his kunai to block.
He never noticed the grains of black iron sand that shook loose and sprinkled onto his weapon.
When Kiyohara jerked the attached wire, the line pulled taut, dragging the sword back into his hand mid-charge—and he surged forward, bringing it down in a heavy chop.
Ōta felt a spark of triumph.
So the brat had abandoned his net advantage to fight in close quarters?
Just as he confidently moved to parry, he felt resistance in his kunai—his movement slowing.
"What?!"
He chalked it up to fatigue.
But Kiyohara's blade didn't wait.
Schhk.
Half of Ōta's head was lopped clean off and hit the ground.
To any observer, it looked like he'd simply been too slow—unable to block Kiyohara's strike—and died for it.
Magnet Release really is convenient against enemies like this, Kiyohara thought with a quiet exhale.
Ōta had been too on edge to even feel the iron sand on his weapon.
Even if he had, he probably wouldn't have thought anything of it—just some stray grit in the wind.
Magnet users were rare, after all.
"Leave the last one as a prisoner," Kiyohara said.
"Got it," Yugao replied.
She quickly subdued Maki; the girl was more of a support-type with sealing techniques.
"And you are…?" Hayate's voice drifted in on a thin cough.
"I'm Kiyohara. Orochimaru-sama sent me as additional support," Kiyohara said, finally showing his forehead protector and giving a code phrase.
Every shinobi in the area shared an identification cipher to ward off enemy impersonation.
Only after hearing the correct response did Hayate fully step out of his transparency, coughing twice.
Looking at his sickly, tubercular face, Kiyohara couldn't quite figure out how he ever got into Anbu.
He chalked it up to special talent recruitment. After all, Anbu was short for "Black Ops Assassination Unit"—Transparent Release was perfect for assassins.
"Keep her for interrogation. We'll squeeze her for information on Suna," Kiyohara said, eyeing the bound Maki in Yugao's grip.
It was a shame he didn't know torture genjutsu himself.
Otherwise he'd have handled it personally.
"My mission isn't over yet. You two take her to the closest base," he said.
His orders were to scout this zone.
Once he double-checked for any remaining Sand shinobi, he could return and report.
He had two days maximum—one day patrolling here, then a boat ride back.
He'd considered bailing, looking for some excuse—but that road ended in one place: being branded a rogue ninja.
In a crisis like this, Konoha would not tolerate cowardice.
As he was looting, Yugao called out to him.
"Thank you for saving me," she said, watching his handsome profile as he rummaged through the dead ninja's gear.
Kiyohara turned his head slightly toward her mask.
In the original, she and Hayate were doomed lovers.
Even with the mask on, he could imagine the delicate features beneath.
Yugao was known as one of Anbu's great beauties.
He shook his head.
"It was nothing," he said.
He'd mostly been working off a desire to preserve allied strength—so he'd have help later for cleaning up.
The fact that the enemies had been this much weaker than him had just made it quicker.
"Alright. I'm heading out," Kiyohara added, slipping away.
All Yugao was left with was his retreating back.
She stared for a while.
The guy was strong—and definitely not normal.
"What is it?" Hayate asked between coughs.
He'd burned a lot of chakra earlier and only recovered thanks to a soldier pill.
"Just feels like I've seen him in the village before," Yugao said, shaking her head.
"Let's get back."
She and Hayate marched Maki toward the nearest outpost.
Kiyohara's patrol for the rest of the day passed without further incident.
The next morning, he took a boat back to Uzushio.
As soon as he stepped onto shore, he could feel the atmosphere had grown even heavier.
After reporting in, he received his war merits.
By his math, it was enough to redeem two jutsu.
He picked one Earth technique: Earth Release: Earth Flow Spears.
Leaving merits unused was pointless. Only by turning them into ninjutsu could he convert them into real potential for his path.
Otherwise, they were just numbers on a page.
At that moment, only four hours remained until the Mist invasion began.
~~~
Patreon(.)com/Bleam
— Currently You can Read 100 Chapters Ahead of Others!