"All the things you believe in… are nothing but illusions.
Look at Kakashi. He inherited your eye, and yet he even forgot Rin's birthday.
That brat Kiyohara… he's already taking your place in her heart with almost no effort."
Madara's words, paired with that searing image, made Obito's chest tighten until he couldn't breathe.
Memories of laughing with Kakashi and Rin crashed against the brutal scene in front of him and crumbled into gray despair.
His remaining right eye snapped wide open, tomoe spinning violently. His fists clenched so hard his nails dug into his palms.
"I want to go back… I have to go back… I'm going back to Rin's side!"
Watching him slide deeper into obsession, Madara's lips curled faintly in the shadows.
As expected, Obito was simple.
Far too easy to manipulate.
Just a few words were enough.
A perfect pawn.
Madara wondered what kind of Mangekyō Obito would awaken.
A powerful Mangekyō jutsu would be a tremendous asset for its wielder.
...
On the other side, Kiyohara had only been talking with Rin for a little over three hours when shrill alarms suddenly tore across the Konoha camp at Uzushio's ruins.
"Enemy attack!"
"Mist forces have landed!"
Almost at the same time, countless silhouettes surged out of the fog along the shoreline.
Bodies everywhere—too many to count—pouring forward like a flood.
Kunai and shuriken rained down like a storm, followed immediately by large-scale Water Release techniques.
"Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!"
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!"
Roaring waves and snarling dragons smashed into Konoha's hastily erected defensive line, wiping out several forward outposts in an instant.
Shouts, explosions, screams—
The once relatively quiet island turned into a bloody hell.
Orochimaru stood before the main tent.
He knew they couldn't hold. Not like this.
Even if Jiraiya were commanding here, it would make no difference.
His raspy voice carried over the chaos:
"Everyone, follow the plan. Use the terrain to delay and withdraw in stages."
"Yes, Orochimaru-sama!"
A Yamanaka ninja answered. He would carry the orders.
"And escort the Hyūga out," Orochimaru added.
"All Hyūga, sir?" Yamanaka Satoshi asked.
"No. Only those few from the main family. The branch family has the Caged Bird Seal," Orochimaru said with a shake of his head.
He flicked a spark onto the tent, flames jumping up to consume it.
Leaving it standing would only give the enemy intel.
Mist shinobi were already punching through every segment of the defensive line; it wouldn't last long.
"Understood," Satoshi nodded, hurrying off to organize the evacuation.
Cruel as it was, it was the best available choice.
The Byakugan could not be allowed to fall into enemy hands—or Konoha's opponents would grow even more dangerous.
"Didn't think Mist had this kind of resolve," Orochimaru said quietly, watching the chaos outside.
Far away, the front was one continuous roar of battle.
Over two thousand Mist shinobi, fully committed, were crashing against barely seven hundred Konoha defenders.
Konoha was instantly on the back foot.
Under the relentless assault, the line shook like a sandcastle under pounding surf—on the verge of collapse in multiple places.
Fire lit the sky. Smoke rolled.
Every passing second, lives were being snuffed out.
"Heh… I wonder if that kid will survive," Orochimaru thought, Kiyohara flashing through his mind.
Even after handing over Konoha Body Flicker, he still didn't rate Kiyohara's survival chances very highly.
Only a very small number of civilian-born shinobi had the kind of chakra reserves needed to climb higher.
Namikaze Minato was one such exception.
Flying Thunder God cost a lot of chakra; you couldn't even consider learning it without a massive pool.
From what Orochimaru had seen, aside from sharp thinking and good sensory talent, Kiyohara was… ordinary.
The only remarkable thing was his growth rate.
But in a crisis like this, potential that couldn't be converted into raw power now might as well not exist.
"It's about time I joined in."
Seeing Mist forces only a few kilometers away from breaking into the main sector, a snake slid from Orochimaru's sleeve.
...
In that crisis—
Kiyohara and Kakashi's squads were thrown into the fight.
The two teams were scattered under the onslaught; they could only battle in small groups—or alone.
Lightning flared in Kakashi's hand as he darted through the chaos, each blow taking down another Mist shinobi.
Rin worked in the rear, green medical chakra flickering as she worked frantically to keep people alive.
Kurenai and Genma fought shoulder to shoulder with Kiyohara, straining to hold back the tidal wave of enemies.
Kiyohara's lightning-wreathed blade flashed, combined with Leaf Body Flicker and thrown weapons whose paths bent subtly under magnetic force.
Blood sprayed again and again.
He didn't even have time to loot—there were simply too many enemies.
And more were arriving by the moment.
He knew full well: ninja could layer combo techniques.
If too many Mist shinobi gathered and launched wide-area Water Release attacks, there would be almost no way to evade.
Worse, Uzushio was an island surrounded by sea—prime terrain for Mist shinobi, and a nightmare for everyone else.
"Like this, the line won't hold!" Genma gritted out around his senbon.
They were actually one of the lighter sectors. Other places were worse.
Against Mist's overwhelming numbers, Konoha's line was failing.
The defense rocked under the weight of Mist's low-tier and high-tier superiority—a small boat in a storm, taking water from all sides.
"Don't panic. The retreat order should come soon," Kiyohara said.
Mist had landed in multiple spots and were converging toward the main camp.
This kind of multi-pronged assault would end the same way as in canon—Konoha's defeat.
Even someone like Orochimaru couldn't shoulder a tide like this alone.
Especially not with the Seven Ninja Swordsmen deployed.
Facing a foe who outclassed them in both numbers and elite power, there was no long-term defense.
They'd be forced to fall back from Uzushio to Fire Country's coast.
And the boats absolutely couldn't carry everyone—or the enemy would have already sabotaged them.
That meant everyone else would have to cross the sea alone.
"Take out the medic first," a few Mist shinobi hissed.
They'd spotted Rin.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Whip!"
Two high-pressure whips of water lashed toward her.
Rin wasn't a fighter; she could only dodge desperately.
Every step peeled her further away from Kiyohara's group.
Kiyohara's eyes went flat and cold.
If it went on like this, she'd run out of stamina—and die.
He knew he couldn't hide Magnet Release any longer.
Kakashi was tied down by two jōnin. He couldn't disengage in time to help, not with only his usual tools.
Sooner or later, the bloodline would be exposed anyway.
If he wanted to last until the retreat, he'd have to use it.
Losing a medic like Rin would cut everyone's margin for error sharply.
Yes, Magnet Release would draw attention.
Yes, the elders would be stunned.
But stacked against their lives? That could wait.
Keeping his power hidden at the cost of his own neck would be the real stupidity.
If he died, there'd be nothing left.
From now on, he'd start showing his edge.
He wasn't just borrowing from the future anymore.
He was becoming a genius.
All he had to do now was cement that image in everyone's minds.
Then, even if he did something outrageous, people would simply say, "Well, he's a genius."
"Use Rotating Magnetic Field," Magnet Kiyohara said, drifting out.
"Now that your body truly holds Magnet Release on its own, it won't strain you as much. You can start using the real thing."
"Okay."
Kiyohara began rotating his chakra the same way Magnet Kiyohara had done earlier.
Once more, he borrowed strength. The magnetic field around him stirred—then spun.
But this time, his body didn't feel like it was about to collapse under its own weight.
Moving was no longer a near-impossible task.
"As I thought—it's because the power is really mine now," Kiyohara realized.
Trying to use a jutsu without the right chakra nature would always be inefficient.
Now…
How strong was it?
He intended to find out.
He planted his feet and felt—really felt—the push of force rising up from the ground beneath his soles.
~~~
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